Once More (My Hero Academia)

25: Sports Festival Aftermath

The audience erupted into thunderous cheering, whistling, and clapping.

"The winner of the first-year sports festival is... Midoriya Izuku!!"

Izuku couldn't help the smile on his face. How many times in his childhood had he dreamed of winning the UA sports festival? He could hear his heartbeat despite the deafening applause, and he shivered in excitement.

Then, he raised a fist in the air.

Almost impossibly, the applause grew even louder.

The symbolic pose of a standing hero, the pillar of peace.

Show the world you're here.

"I'm here," Izuku breathed.

Bakugo watched on the side as Midoriya held his fist up high, recognizing the pose. Suddenly, they were kids again, opening up their chip bags to find an All Might collectible card, with Midoriya excitedly imitating the hero's posture from the image and Bakugo laughing and saying that Deku could never, ever, be a hero like All Might.

Bakugo stood up, but even though he was now standing, he had never felt as lowly. All he felt was defeat. Everybody's attention was on Midoriya Izuku, not Bakugo Katsuki.

I guess I was wrong, Katsuki thought to himself.

Deku could be -- was already -- the hero he wanted to be.

•••

After the arena was cleared, the first-year students were instructed to leave the audience stands and gather on the field. As the students organized themselves into their assigned standing orders, Izuku followed a school robot to a room underneath the field. When he arrived, Tokoyami and Bakugo were already there.

Izuku avoided making eye contact with Bakugo, and even though he wasn't watching he knew that Bakugo was doing the same. Izuku had no idea how to face him at that moment.

Likely noticing the tense atmosphere and the fact that Izuku and Bakugo weren't acknowledging each other, Tokoyami cleared his throat and made his way over to Izuku.

"Congratulations," Tokoyami gave a slight nod.

"Thanks, you too," Izuku smiled, "Couldn't have done it without you in that calvary battle."

The room returned to silence, the only sound being the muffled noise of the sports festival above.

Izuku glanced around and realized that Iida wasn't there, even though he technically placed third as well. He must have already received the call about his brother, Ingenium.

Then, a robot instructed the three top competitors to stand on the three large, adjacent circles, and with a rumble, the ceiling opened up.

The light blinded Izuku, and he heard fireworks go off around the stadium. Confetti flew around and into his face, and the platform rose above the stadium ground.

Izuku was impressed by the scene. Crowds were cheering, professional photographers were snapping photos of the three top contestants, and, for the first time, Izuku noticed the large TV cameras.

By the time Izuku's first-place platform whirred to a stop, raising him higher than everyone else on the field, the audience's attention was suddenly directed to the upper level of the stadium. Both students and spectators went wild as the number one hero, All Might, lept down and landed with a pose.

"Now," Midnight announced, "All Might would be presenting the awards!"

All Might placed the third-place metal around Tokoyami's neck and gave him a hug with a pat on the back. Then, the hero awarded Bakugo, and for the first time since the final round, Izuku studied the blond boy.