Chapter Text
“Settle down. Good to see you so excited after the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. You’ll need it in the coming days. This new standard Sports Festival is coming up, ugh, in a way. That means the preliminaries are starting next week and last until the end of the term.”
Pro Hero Eraserhead, the homeroom teacher of the rambunctious Class 1-A of UA High School, the youngest of the enrolled heroes-to-be, scratches his stubbly chin in mild frustration.
“Over the course of the term, all first year, second year and third year classes will be competing for the right to be featured in the main Sports Festival. The festival proper will begin the week after the term’s finals after the Kimetsu Hero Academy students arrive into the guest dorms you’ve seen outside. …this new schedule is still such a pain.
Don’t think you can just slack off, because while preliminaries, which used to be the entirety of the festival contained within UA and conducted all at once, rather than in stages, aren’t televised, they are recorded and documented. These records will be passed to hero agencies around the country and will determine your chances to land good internships after the summer vacation. Treat them as… midterm exams.”
The hobo-looking man yawns, looking as if he tries to remember something else he has to say to his gaggle of too-hopeful students.
“Ah, yes. Consider the following. Between two hero classes in your year, there are forty students participating in the preliminaries on a mandatory basis, plus a few stragglers from General Education, Support and Management. Other courses used to participate too, but they pulled them out when reorganizing the thing because the current HPSC President got on the principal’s back about the recklessness of the festival. …which is why it and the entire thing got reorganized in the first place, but you didn’t hear it from me.
The point is, there will be around fifty people participating, but only sixteen will remain to contest Kimetsu Academy and make their appearance on National TV. So, I guess, do your best if you want to shine, yadda-yadda, Plus Ultra.”
Students’ enthusiastic shout of “PLUS ULTRA!” makes the man wince and groan from the volume. He isn’t getting paid nearly enough to withstand it.
***
Izuku is vibrating from excitement so hard that someone has to grab his shoulders to make sure he doesn’t fly off in a random direction. Then again, how could he act otherwise? Ever since he was diagnosed quirkless, Midoriya Izuku, for years, hasn’t believed he could ever become a hero. Not truly.
There was a slight lingering hope as he watched videos of the magnificent and unmatched Number Three Hero of Japan, the Quirkless Hero, Hinokami. Despite his lack of a quirk, Tsugikuni Yoriichi made it to the very top.
It’s almost like the man wasn’t human.
Even after his notorious murder of the HPSC President at the time (one that Midoriya knows has him framed), he has remained Izuku’s personal symbol of hope for years. And that was before he encountered the man by chance and he began giving him training tips to actually become a hero like him, if not better.
“You might as well be someone whose talent will surpass mine, I have no knowledge of that.”
That’s what Yoriichi said, with a melancholic, but hopeful look to him.
And now there Izuku is, standing as one of just sixteen people of UA, like, the absolute best hero school in the entirety of Japan, who compete against what’s probably the second best school around, Kimetsu Hero Academy.
In fact, and Izuku can hardly believe it, he’s not just one of sixteen UA students participating, but, after trials and tribulations of the first festival day, one of just sixteen students of both UA and Kimetsu Academy to get through the first two stages to enter the grand finale of the First Year’s Sports Festival, the Fighting Tournament. Even in the days when Sports Festival was a UA-only event, only the strongest and most capable aspiring heroes made it there.
If anything, the move from HPSC President, Kibutsuji Muzan, to force a reform onto UA Sports Festival only made it a more grueling and demanding competition, with two schools in the fray, and even more planned to be included in future.
Yet, there Izuku is. With nothing but the strength he built from years of following his mentor’s advice. Izuku thinks about how Yoriichi must be watching the Festival during his work at his friend’s antique shop.
He hopes to make both him and his mother proud.
“And we’re back for the grand finale, the last great challenge to the brave aspiring contestants of the third interschool Sports Festival!” the loud boisterous voice of Voice Hero, Present Mic, announces.
There are quite likely hundreds of people in the stands of the grand circular arena, cheering onto the lucky students.
Present Mic, however, isn’t the only announcer of the grand event, teasing the audience with promises of a grand spectacle.
“Hyo-hyo! And look at the roster! Perfectly balanced, with eight students of UA and eight students of our very own Kimetsu Hero Academy vying for the ultimate victory!” another man in the commentator booth laughs just as boisterously as Izuku’s teacher. “Let’s give them a round of applause!”
Gyokko, the Vase Artist Hero, the head of the Kizuki Hero Agency and the uncontested Number One on Most Villain-Looking Hero Ranking for almost twenty years straight is one of the most prolific heteromorphs of Japan, drifting in the single digits of the Hero Rankings, most often challenging Edgeshot for the title of Number Five Hero. A long time ago Izuku wouldn’t have even dreamed of being acknowledged by the likes of the man.
The crowd cheers.
“Oh, but first, a word of guidance from our most special guest!” Present Mic interjects to the crowd’s surprise.
Izuku himself is surprised and exchanges glances with a tall and broad-shouldered classmate whose reddish eyes look as confused as his own. Iida Tenya, the class president and one of Izuku’s closest friends at school then just looks back to the arena from the low stands made specifically for the UA School Festival team, including those who didn’t make it to the Fighting Tournament, with the Kimetsu Academy participants located in the stands across them.
A glance to the left has Izuku shares his confusion with Uraraka Ochaco, the auburn-haired girl who fixes the short sleeves of her dark UA-branded sports uniform, the type all members of their team share. Ochaco just shrugs at Izuku’s questioning gaze.
“Ah, thank you, Present Mic. Greetings, Japan!”
It’s suddenly so silent in the arena that you can hear a pin drop despite the hundreds in the stand. And then the stands erupt in even more cheer as people digest the fact that the sixth and by far the most outgoing and beloved president of the Hero Public Safety Commission, Kibutsuji Muzan, addresses the Sports Festival.
Having become a president in a wake of his predecessor’s tragic murder, Kibutsuji enacted several sweeping popular reforms, including the one that transformed the UA School Festival into what it is today, an interschool event to cap off the first term of hero schools rather than an opening spectacle just a few weeks into the term.
“I’m glad to see you all in high spirits today,” Muzan says, his confident, yet, to an extent, serene voice echoing through the stands. “It warms my heart to see the growing generation of heroes putting their all into showing the world what they can do.”
“Say, Kibutsuji-san, what prompted you to attend this year’s festival?” Gyokko asks the man joyfully and the first thing the Vase Artist Hero receives is a subdued chuckle.
“Several reasons,” the president replies. “But I’ve always wanted to see the famed festival up-close, especially after it was prompted to change to a more perfect and certainly more entertaining state. Even if I could have never competed there, my interest in it never waned.”
In the past, Kibutsuji Muzan was one of little Izuku’s heroes, being the most influential quirkless man in Japan. While All Might was his Symbol of Peace and Hinokami, the Quirkless Hero, gave Izuku hope that he could become a hero despite his lack of a quirk, Kibutsuji Muzan’s serene smile and gleeful red eyes gave Izuku hope that even if he wasn’t a hero, he could become someone of note.
Nowadays, however, he feels uneasy regarding him.
Yoriichi never said it outright, but Izuku is a clever boy. Hinokami wasn’t the one who murdered Chihara Nori, Muzan’s predecessor as the HPSC President, yet the Commission and Kibutsuji in particular spearheaded a vicious manhunt for the man. Something is wrong with that picture, even if Izuku’s not sure what it is exactly, a misdirection by the true culprit or an ulterior motive of the Commission itself.
While most of his classmates look as awed as Izuku himself once just hearing Muzan’s voice, one red-eyed person catches Izuku’s frown. Of course Bakugo Katsuki, Izuku’s childhood friend, would note the dissonance.
The blond raises an inquiring eyebrow haughtily when he catches Midoriya’s glance, but the greenhead waves him off with a small smile. Kacchan obviously doesn’t believe it, narrows his eyes, points two fingers to his eyes and then to Izuku. The greenhead cringes slightly, as he’ll have to come up with some explanation for why he’s not as generally excited about the HPSC President as he was in Katsuki’s memories.
“Let the most capable young hero with a heart of gold prevail.”
“Well said, Kibutsuji-san!” Present Mic cheers along with the crowd, the other man likely exiting the commentator booth. “And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The first match of the Fighting Tournament! From UA High School, please, make way for the Turbo Hero: Ingenium, the second of his name!”
Tenya, serious as ever, jumps out of the stands as soon as one of the referees nods his way, flipping in the air graciously, activating engines in his calves to jet right into the circular battlefield in the centre of the arena.
“Hyo-hyo! A lineage of heroes is always spectacular to witness! And what an entrance! One of my dear colleagues, I believe, would describe it as positively flamboyant!” Gyokko cheers. “And the young mantle-successor’s opponent from Kimetsu Academy is modest, but deceptively mighty! Introducing the Hand Hero, Teoni!”
The boy who calmly walks out of the Kimetsu Academy’s stands and enters the arena looks unassuming with his bright eyes and tight bun of black hair, though his green sports uniform, of similar fashion as the UA students’ but with an actual collar and the kanji symbol for “OBLITERATE” instead of UA letters incorporated in, highlights him as one of the hero students of their rival academy.
One of the referees, Pro Hero Cementoss, the man responsible for designing the arena and for keeping the audience safe from the fighters, sits on a concrete throne a little distance away from the actual arena, where he observes the fight. Another UA referee, the sensual R-Rated Heroine, Midnight, stands next to him, gripping her whip and watching proceedings with a smile.
The final referee, a member of the Kimetsu Academy staff, approaches the arena.
It’s a young man just slightly shorter than Iida, rather notable with his reptile-like appearance, bright green scales all across his body and long pinkish hair tied into a neat ponytail. His hero uniform is a combat suit in shades of red and black. The hero nerd in Izuku says that the man looks like he’s taken inspiration from the reportedly quirkless Villain Killer Vigilante, Stendhal, who used to operate a few years back.
Though no one could ever mistake Gyokko’s most famous sidekick, the Swordplay Hero, Spinner, for the notorious vigilante. While a young hero, only a few years fresh off from Kimetsu Academy where Gyokko is know to teach Fundamental Heroics, Spinner has become a minor sensation, doubling down on his mentor’s solid message of heteromorph pride, becoming both a hero and a social activist fighting discrimination of people like himself who don’t quite look human despite being brave and honest people.
“Alright, you two!” Spinner announces, shouting over the crowd with a toothy grin. “Let’s go over the rules! To win, you must force your opponent out of the ring, knock them out or immobilize them! Everything goes except lethal force! We expect a spectacular, but fair fight!”
Off his back, Spinner pulls out a sheathed sword almost as large as the man himself. For the audience’s enjoyment, he spins it around gracefully while two students size each other up.
With a loud clunk, the Swordplay Hero smashes his weapon against the ground, the impact ringing like a gong throughout the building.
“Begin!”
With his first move, Iida rushes at his opponent with supernatural speed granted by his quirk. The crowd goes wild, with some expecting a quick fight. However, despite Izuku’s faith in his friend, he knows Tenya will have to fight for his victory, having witnessed Teoni’s quirk in previous events.
The smaller boy suddenly grows two bulging arms from his back, preventing Tenya from crashing into him, and as the Ingenium successor evades the impact and the lashing limbs, he continues to grow even more hands. To even Izuku’s surprise, unlike previous events, to evade Tenya’s attempt to reach his body, the young Hand Hero continues growing more and more hands from his body, several hands notably enveloping his head like a fleshy helmet.
Suddenly, the size difference is shifted in Teoni’s favor, his fleshy form towering over Tenya who has to jump back and reconsider his approach.
Izuku, at the very edge of their stands, desperately wishes he had his notebooks to make all the notes on Kimetsu Academy student’s quirk. Alas, all he’s left to do is watch and cheer for his friend.
“Go, Tenya! You can do it!”
***
“Now, in the fifth fight of the tournament, we greet one of our most impressive contestants! Not for the mere strength of his quirk, but for his perseverance and resilience!” Present Mic cheers. “Put your hands together for the Quirkless Hero, Deku!”
The stands grow quieter, filled with murmurs of curiosity and suspicion as Izuku steps onto the arena. He’s discomforted by the reaction, even if the greenhead has expected something like that because of his mentor’s infamous reputation.
However, noise erupts from the Kimetsu Academy’s stands.
“You go show us, Mayodoria!” a student’s manly and boisterous voice flies through the arena. “You fight like a man, no stupid tricks needed! Why the fuck are you guys silent like that? Recognize the balls on this guy!”
The guy with a girly face, but muscles to show, strongarms the rest of his stands and even without him, they shout in support of their rival and Izuku’s own classmates quickly catch up.
“Oi, Deku! Go kick their collective asses if they’re asking for it that much!” Bakugo shouts atop everyone else. The crowds, at the sign of the unanimous support of the aspiring hero by both sides in a unique show of unity, grow louder, finally cheering on Izuku and lightening his spirit.
“What an outstanding young man! I can respect such tenacity,” Gyokko laughs, cheering on Izuku as well from his booth. “But let’s see how he does against one of Kimetsu Academy’s finest! Going against the brave new Quirkless Hero is a boy whose heart is burning with courage! Meet the brave and empathetic, Brightness Hero, Coal Burner!”
One of the new conditions Commission President Kibutsuji put onto the Sports Festival is the anonymity of the students’ real names to protect them from both predating press and from opportunistic villains. As such, Izuku doesn’t know a single Kimetsu Academy student confronting his class by name. …even though, despite the butchering, at least one of them seems to know of him.
However, there’s something about Coal Burner in particular that had his attention. As the young man with burgundy hair in a black jacket atop his sports uniform enters the arena with a light and genuine smile, Izuku’s eyes focus on his ears. Or, rather on the earrings he carries, fashioned as hanafuda cards. It’s well-known that hanafuda earrings have been one of the signature elements of Hinokami’s hero suit, so it would have been peculiar on its own, fashioning oneself after a renegade. It’s even more notable given Yoriichi no longer has the original pair on him, having gone underground.
Of course, it’d be pure conjecture on Izuku’s part if not for Coal Burner’s face.
These days, Tsugikuni Yoriichi is a humble part-time worker in the antique shop in Musutafu, known as Kamado’s Relics. The shop’s manager, Kamado Sumiyoshi, carries an uncanny resemblance to Coal Burner, and Izuku can’t help but feel they’re all interconnected.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Deku-kun,” Coal Burner smiles.
Deku nods with a smile of his own.
“Likewise, Coal Burner-san.”
“Ha, such polite brats!” Spinner grins as he stands next to the arena, sheathed blade over shoulder. “Ok, guys, you know the rules! We expect a fair and spectacular fight, you two!”
The Swordplay Hero smashes his sword against the ground.
“Begin!”
Hinokami, the first quirkless hero of Japan, is a known swordsman. And while it’s one of Deku’s many skills, his teacher trained him to think unconventionally, and while he can’t measure up to his overwhelming strength, he covers it up with support items designed for him by a friend from the Support Department.
Smoke covers the arena from one of the marble-like bombs Deku carries on his hips in a string and throws to the ground before Coal Burner can make his first move, Deku’s own speed and reflexes trained to the absolute limit of his teenage body.
“Hyo-hyo! Our first proper use of support items!” Gyokko cheers. “A sustainable strategy if you use your head and have a good arsenal from a good support designer!”
“Oh, trust me, he’s got the absolute best from our Support Department! Hatsume Mei is a genius, I’m telling you, I’ve seen what she can do!”
For misdirection, Deku runs around the arena, taking care to note the shadow in the smoke where Coal Burner is located. Once he’s sure the other’s back is turned to him as he tries to locate Deku, the greenhead jumps at the boy with his blunt katana, the second of the items he’s brought.
Sun Kagura: First Kata — Dance
Izuku is surprised when, as he slashes his katana down in a downward vertical arc, a hand catches the blunt blade with a steel grip and forces Izuku to land.
“An impressive maneuver, Deku-kun, but, ah, I’m good at seeing through misdirection,” Coal Burner grins, grabbing Izuku’s katana with both hands and flipping the UA student over himself with shocking strength, leaving Deku to crash back-first against the floor.
Despite his quiet steps and thick smoke, Coal Burner has managed to detect him, so Izuku naturally thinks of the other possessing a quirk that enhances his senses. He rolls to the side before Coal Burner jumps and smashes his fist against the ground where Deku was, leaving a sizable indent with a trail of heat haze following the fist.
Izuku’s thoughts rush as the contrasting showcases of two abilities. On one hand, an enhanced sense. On the other, superhuman sturdiness. Rather likely, two aspects of mutation quirk making him more durable, which means he has to maintain distance before going for the strike. Especially as it appears that when Coal Burner channels his hardened body into fight, it makes his body run hot enough to leave a heat trail.
As he jumps up from the ground, evading Coal Burner’s low kick in the process, Izuku pulls another of his bombs.
They all look identical and uniform, black marble with a single ring seal and a cute flat little button at the top, but Izuku knows that Mei designed a variety of trick bombs for him that he can distinguish by the perforation right above the seam.
Once the bomb hits the ground, the arena erupts in blinding white light and high-pitched ringing noise of the light flashbang grenade. While Izuku himself is also affected, momentarily rendered just as blind and deaf as his opponent, he memorized their positions in detail. His body moves on preemptive instinct, guided through the motions of a sword fighting style to reach Coal Burner.
Sun Kagura: Eleventh Kata — Fake Rainbow
With Coal Burner’s hearing overwhelmed, even if he sight restores in time to react to Izuku’s strike, the nature of Hinokami’s eleventh technique, grounded in high-speeds and rotations, creates afterimages that disallow one reliant on their sight to perceive the user. Though that motion is purely defensive and after Izuku counts seconds as he performs the kata, he makes it transition fluidly into a motion of attack.
Sun Kagura: Sixth Kata — Solar Heat Haze
Deku rushes forth, his blade, even if he doesn’t see it himself, almost enveloped in a heat haze, masking its length and location in a second strike rooted in misdirection.
To the shock of the UA student, hardened hands still catch him.
“Incredible tactics! But not quite correct still, Deku-kun.”
One hand grabs the blade, the other chops at his wrist forcefully, breaking Izuku's grip on his weapon. Coal Burner then quickly shows himself to be an absolute menace in close combat, just as capable as Deku even without full access to his sight and hearing. The greenhead receives several strong punches in the guts, pretty surely hearing something crack, and gets flipped over the burgundy-haired student’s shoulder for his trouble, completely losing track of his blunt blade.
“What a bang!” Present Mic exclaims. “I could barely see through that explosion, man! But it’s obvious our quirkless darkhorse isn’t out of the game yet!”
“Truly flashy!” Gyokko cackles. “Skilled with a blade and carrying a literal bag of tricks on him! A masterful utilization of the element of surprise, too, I must admit. I know one boy who is very, annoyingly good at it, so I know the worth of a good distraction.”
Deku props himself up on his elbows, wheezing in pain.
“Do you yield?” Coal Burner asks firmly, but not unkindly, and Izuku masks reaching for another bomb with a motion as if he’s holding his ribs and checking himself for damage.
“...not yet.”
Enhancement of sight and hearing has been discounted as the focus of Coal Burner’s quirk, and while there’s taste and touch, Deku’s opponent hasn’t bitten him and wears too much clothing to make use of his skin to the extent he does, leaving only one sense he can obscure. At least, hypothetically, and Deku truly hopes he hasn’t screwed up in completely misreading Coal Burner’s quirk.
Deku throws the marble bomb at Coal Burner, and while his opponent jumps away from it, it still smashes against the floor, breaking into a cloud of green smoke. The sharp irritating smell of ammonia is unbearable to Izuku who knows to cover his nose quickly, but it turns out to be completely debilitating for Coal Burner, whose sharp nose now transforms into his greatest weakness.
The other student’s moment of paralysis gives Deku time to find his blade and jump towards it, readying another attack. This type of smoke cloud is quick to dissipate, but Coal Burner is still left confused, twisting around while shakily trying to keep to his fighting stance, expecting Izuku’s attack.
Sun Kagura: Fourth Kata — Blazing Bones, Summer Sun
It’s like Izuku’s blade reflects the sun’s blazing shine as he rushes towards Coal Burner. In the end the fourth kata is just a singular slash in a spiraling motion that extends in front of Deku, deflecting Coal Burner’s sloppy attempts to counterattack, smashing into the Kimetsu Academy student’s gut with the blunt age and sending him flying off despite his hardened physique.
With a pained shout, Coal Burner flies outside the arena bounds, leaving a trail of heat haze in his wake, and crashes on the ground.
“Out of bounds!” Midnight exclaims, smacking her whip against the ground. “The victory goes to the Quirkless Hero, Deku!”
Izuku grins at the ovation he receives, but the thing he does, even pained as he is after Coal Burner’s assault, is to leave the arena and approach the groaning boy on the ground. One of Izuku’s arms grips his ribs, but he has a free hand that he extends towards Coal Burner, who looks at him with a slight surprise in his dark red eyes, but in the end doesn’t deny the help.
“Such graceful sportsmanship!” Present Mic exclaims. “Give both boys a round of applause for the lightning-quick spectacle of misdirection and utter resolve!”
The crowd cheers and whistles.
“You fought well, Coal Burner-san,” Izuku commends, helping the other teen stand up. The two of them stand at about the same height and should be about the same age, but he has an odd aura of maturity to him.
Coal Burner smiles at him.
“Your technique is also impressive, Deku-kun,” the other nods. “I can’t help but admire your beautiful swordsmanship, you must have had an amazing teacher.”
“He is,” Deku nods, wincing at the pain in his ribs and then it’s Coal Burner’s turn to keep the other upright.
“Hey! You’re all right? I’m sorry if I hit you too hard,” the student apologizes, holding Izuku tightly and looking around to see the closest entrance. “Let’s get you to the nurse’s office, Deku-kun.”
“Yeah… thanks.”
The young men almost pay no mind to the announcer’s loud cheery voices, only giving a nod to the referees and a wave to their classmates in their respective stands before going for the nearest exit. Izuku, pressed against Coal Burner, feels the warmth going through his body, even through the black jacket, lending credence to his hypothesis of Coal Burner running hot. It’s likely the jacket’s material is not to warm him up, but the opposite, to cool him down when he runs too hot.
“Huh, you’re rather perceptive,” Coal Burner hums. “You did figure out my quirk rather quickly– Ah, sorry, Deku-kun, it’s just that I noticed you muttering to yourself.”
“I do tend to do it, heh…” Deku laughs nervously, but then glances at Coal Burner’s hanafuda earrings once more. “Coal Burner-san, if you don’t mind me asking, where did you get, erm… such peculiar earrings?”
“A family heirloom of sorts,” he replies easily, before growing a bit sad. “My… late father gave it to me before he passed this winter. And before that it was a gift to him from my uncle, his younger brother.”
Izuku winces, feeling tears of sympathy coming up just looking at the other hero student and hearing his forlorn voice. Luckily, they’ve already left the open area and entered the grand colosseum’s inner corridors so that the cameras don’t have to catch him crying.
“I’m so sorry, Coal Burner.”
“It’s hard, but my family still has each other,” Coal Burner says with a soft smile before turning to look at Izuku properly as they limp forward. “Kamado Tanjiro. I’d like for us to be friends, if you do not mind.”
“Then call me Izuku. Midoriya Izuku,” Deku replies with a smile of his own. “Your uncle… he would happen to be Kamado Sumiyoshi?”
There’s an understanding warming up between the two of them. They both understand the true origins of Tanjiro’s earrings, the distinct style of Izuku’s swordsmanship and the significance behind Sumiyoshi’s role in all of this, as well as the identity of Izuku’s teacher.
“I take it you’ve frequented his shop.”
The two laugh lightly.
***
Just like there’s a special booth in the middle levels of the stadium for the announcers to comment on the events of the Sports Festival, there’s a special open air booth for VIP guests of the festival. Most of them are high-ranked Pro Heroes, both actively scouting for interns and just curious about the tournament.
Of course, not all of them are like that.
“Oh, come now, Endeavor-kun, we both know little Shoto-kun will only use his ice, not his fire, because he loves his Uncle Douma!”
A man in an easily recognizable lilac formal suit currently annoying Endeavor, the Ice Hero, Douma, is a scandalous hero nowhere near the high ranks of Pro Heroes and no one really knows who allowed him here but he’s like a gum on a shoe and won’t go away anyway, so everyone’s made peace with it.
Endeavor looks halfway ready to strangle the dandy, so Muzan rubs the bridge of his nose and looks away from that trainwreck.
The Chief Analyst of Detnerat, Kuraishisu Aorio, also doesn’t fit the mold of the most VIP guests, the slightly demonic-looking man with two stubby horns excitedly chattering with Number Four Hero, the Fiber Hero, dressed from chin to feet in denim. The blonde seems to share the other’s appreciation of the quirkless contestant’s ingenuity.
In the privacy of his own mind Kibutsuji Muzan, the sixth president of Hero Public Safety Commission and one of the VIP-guests in the booth can admit that he too, is mildly impressed with the ingenuity of the Quirkless Hero, Deku. Or, rather, Midoriya Izuku, born on July 15th to the family of Midoriya Inko and Midoriya Hisashi, the latter of whom works overseas as a quirk analyst to a hero support equipment company.
…he couldn’t help but notice the sole quirkless student UA has this year, especially with how odd the year already is, with All Might of all people taking up a teaching position. If the giant buffoon didn’t show the legit teaching license dated just a few months before the start of the year, Muzan would have raided that accursed school to dig up whatever conspiracy they’re cooking up. At times Muzan thinks the rat in charge of the UA High School is even worse than his cousin with his Kimetsu Academy.
“Comparing a single school’s Sports Festival to the Olympic Games of the past? That might be the most conceited thing I’ve heard from UA, on which I must commend you. This world may be different from the Pre-Quirk Era and after the Olympics broke down people have yet to use their brains and realize they can establish actual Quirk Olympics, but there must be a line in the sand.
Let me put it bluntly, Nezu-san. I’m not like Chihara-san. I have many objections to how you run things and I’ll make them clear.
You put children with what, a week of training for the first years? And that’s the hero classes who actually have combat training in their regiment. You put them into a colosseum and let them have at it. You might not grasp human morality, but I assure you, should I put it in plain terms like that and people will give me free reign to deal with UA as I see fit.
Use that famed brain of yours and optimize this mess.”
Of course Nezu and Kagaya would join efforts to aggravate him. And after three years of reorganized Sports Festival they plan to include Shikketsu and other hero schools across Japan to make it an actual country-wide event. In theory, exactly what Muzan wanted, in practice, a constant aggravation since the rat didn’t take the bait and acted pridefully, denying Muzan control of UA.
Muzan’s red eyes give an aside glance to all the Pro Heroes in his booth. Endeavor, Best Jeanist, Present Mic, Douma, All Might , there are too many of those heroes, touting their quirks, filling people’s heads with pointless dreams and making them rely on their inconsistent presence and power array. What will become of the world once All Might retires? Once their Symbol of Peace dies? Human life is imperfect and finite.
The world will change and it won’t change for the better.
Muzan hates change.
“Muzan-sama.”
The deep whisper of his secretary gets him out of his thoughts and the quirkless man relaxes the tight grip he has on the arms of his seat. The president takes a deep breath and focuses. Right, the Quirkless Hero, Deku. There was something off about his fighting style, something irritatingly familiar. And that brat from the Kimetsu Academy, Coal Burner, had those hanafuda earrings. They could be merchandise, but what a brave decision to wear these after Muzan’s expansive smear campaign against Hinokami.
“Kokushibo?” Muzan raises his eyebrow.
“I have no doubt… that Deku used the sword style designed by Hinokami,” the six-eyed man in a formal suit says, fixing the middle of his sunglasses.
“Have you noticed the earrings?” Muzan whispers in reply without turning towards him, rather looking at the stage where the new contestant, Todoroki Shoto, presenting as the AirCon Hero, Shoto, almost effortlessly demolishes the Kimetsu Academy student, the Mad Fanged Hero, Mountain King, by encasing the wildly jumping and twisting boy into a block of solid ice enveloping half the arena. Only the green-eyed boy’s head remains unfrozen and he swears Endeavor’s son up and down.
“Yes, Muzan-sama,” the secretary nods. “I will investigate if they're genuine articles. This might… provide a breakthrough in seeking Hinokami out.”
“It might indeed.”
Muzan takes another deep breath. For the moment, Kokushibo remains in place, doubling as his unofficial bodyguard, but once they leave, the man will have a lot of investigative work to do.
Content for the moment to simply continue watching the proceedings, Muzan pushes down his white fedora to cover his eyes from the annoying sun and leans his cheek on his fist, slouching just slightly in his seat.
Kokushibo suddenly appears next to him with three packs of chips.
Muzan eyes them silently… before taking the barbecue-flavored one.
At least the snacks are good.