"Don't tell me you guys aren't nervous at least a little bit for the festival in a few weeks?"

After hearing about the U.A. Sports Festival during homeroom that morning from their heavily bandaged teacher, practically all of Class 1-A was eagerly anticipating the approaching events that would allow them to show off their talents to the general public as well as compete with one another. Though some showed a little more restraint than others in regards to how vocal they got about their anticipation. Hence why neither Kirishima, Mina, nor Kaori were even remotely fazed by Kendo's question while they ate lunch that day.

"We just had to fight off a bunch of Villains yesterday to protect ourselves," Kirishima stated matter-of-factly, "how is something like this supposed to make us nervous in comparison?" Kaori cleared her throat intentionally to get the others attention following Kirishima's comment.

"I think what he means to say is," she began after the others turned to face her, "after having to fight for our lives even if we are nervous for the games, which of course we still are, it really isn't going to show as much."

"I get what you're saying," Kendo replied, "but you should probably be a little more careful about how you guys say stuff like that. There's a lot of other first years – especially a few from mine and Shiozaki's class – that think you guys just want the spotlight for yourselves after what happened yesterday. Everyone's talking about it giving you an unfair advantage for the events."

"Well they're just being sourpusses." Mina snarked with her trademark grin. "If they really want to prove that they're the best then they should save it for the field."

"I always thought you were more the type for talking and partying than for fighting, Ashido." Kirishima commented with a confused look as he turned to look at his classmate. "What's got you so eager? I thought Uraraka was the only one that was acting odd today."

Mina reached over and gripped the collar of Kirishima's uniform tightly before responding. "Dude, how can you NOT be super excited about this?! It's like a giant mosh pit where we all get to duke it out with our Quirks! I'd figure you of all people would be super stoked for something like that!"

"Are you kidding? Of course I am! It'll be exciting as hell to have that many people competing in one place and showing off their Quirks!"

The two of them slowly descended into their own little world as they piggybacked off of each other's excitement and fell into a back-and-forth session of hype. Meanwhile, Kaori turned her head in both surprise and confusion when she felt a light tap on her arm, turning to face Kendo with a perplexed look.

"Well it seems like you guys are already set for the competition." Kendo started with a smile of enjoyment on her face at Kirishima and Mina's actions. "But just keep an eye out for some of the other first years, alright? I doubt as many of them are as friendly with some of your class as us. Practically none of them really know you guys after all, so they'll start forming their own opinions pretty fast with the way the gossip is travelling."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Kaori replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Don't be so sure of that." Shiozaki spoke up for the first time during this particular conversation. "Not all of our classmates have very…virtuous mindsets…when it comes to their comments on your class. Some of them in general are not the most heroic of people, either."

"Now Shiozaki, just because you dislike Mineta and Monoma, that doesn't mean you should talk about them like that." Kendo scolded Shiozaki much like a mother berating her child.

"I never said any names, simply that some of our class are hardly becoming of the next generation of Heroes." Shiozaki feigned ignorance, much to Kaori's amusement as Kendo gave her a knowing look.

"I'll keep it in mind and keep an eye out for some of the other students. Though I doubt I can say the same for some of MY classmates, either."

"I'm sure Kirishima and Ashido will be fine, despite their eagerness."

"They're not the students I'm the most concerned about." Kaori replied with a look of hesitation and dread.

"Out of the way, you extras."

"Goddamnit, Bakugou." Kaori grumbled to herself internally as she rolled her eyes at the blonde boys comment while everyone else tried to figure out how to leave their classroom despite the large mass of other first years suddenly scoping out their class. She carefully got up from her seat and grabbed her bag to leave for the day now that classes were out.

"…Are all the kids in the Hero Course like you? Because if so, I have to say I'm a little disappointed."

Kaori was just finishing approaching the doorway when she noticed the boy with the large purple haircut step forward from the crowd and address Bakugou's commentary. Despite being an ordinary person, given how many Quirks seemed to alter a person's appearance in some fashion, Kaori had a feeling that there was more than met the eye with someone as straightforward as this boy.

"There are a lot of us here that never made it into the Hero Course and got shifted to General Studies when we applied for this school. But did you ever consider that if we happen to do well during the competition that they might bring some of us up into the Hero Course if some of you are shown to be incompetent? For General Studies kids like us, this'll be the perfect chance to knock you off your pedestals and claim your spots for ourselves. Consider this a declaration of war."

A sudden rise in tension filed the air after the boys final words, though the feeling didn't last long as another voice suddenly piped up from within the crowd as people could be seen stumbling aside from something moving within the masses.

"Is this guy supposed to be all there is of Class 1-A after the Villains you all fought yesterday? Don't make a joke of the damn Hero Course if this is all you have to offer!"

"Kendo and Shiozaki weren't kidding when they were commenting on some of the other students, geez." Kaori thought to herself as she watched Bakugou push his way through the crowd after commenting on reaching for top and not caring about the competition. "But is it really so smart to just disregard the other classes, though? I know Bakugou is smarter than that based on how he fights and uses his Quirk, but why rile them up like that?"

Following that series of confrontations, the following weeks leading up to the festival were filled with hard training and practice whenever they weren't taking their normal classes. For Kaori, this meant working even harder during her sessions with her mentor at his dojo, meaning more bruises and scrapes as she wrestled with other students of the dojo.

"Someone's got a fire in their belly all of a sudden!" Maki stated loudly as Kaori sat taking deep breaths after a particularly strenuous session with a new punching bag. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with any sort of upcoming competition, would it?"

"Not entirely." Kaori gave a short response as she reached for a water bottle and took a long swig of it before standing back up to move over to a nearby set of weights as she continued to work out. "You heard about the attack that happened the other day, right?"

"Hard not to. It was plastered all over the news like it was the news of the century. Still is." The older man sighed as he stood in the doorway to the training room and watched the young girl exercise. "They're not wrong, though. No one has ever attempted an attack like this before on a school as large-scale as U.A. I can't imagine the encounter was pleasant given what you've been through, either."

"It sucked." Kaori replied curtly as she finished a set of lifts with the bench press. "But that's not something I can dwell on. I'll just get caught in a loop and do what I did years ago all over again. I can't do that now, not with everything I promised to myself."

"Good." Maki nodded approvingly as he continued to watch the girl while simultaneously taking a quick peek out into the rest of the dojo to make sure nobody was doing anything stupid. "The last thing I want to see is the fire in those eyes die. There's too much potential in you for it to go to waste like that."

Kaori gave her mentor a look before responding to his latest comment. "Is that you as my mentor talking, or the person who knew my father?"

Maki gave Kaori a strong look before he gave a deep sigh and relaxed his shoulders somewhat. "When your father was here years ago, he was practically like a son to me. So you could say that when it comes to you, it's like helping raise another grandchild. I don't want to see any part of you give up if I can help it. But I also don't want to see you broken. Not again."

Kaori calmly got up from her weights as she quietly moved over towards the man that was training her. She stopped in front of him and looked up into his face for a few moments before moving her arms and body to give the man a tight hug despite the size difference between the two. This caused the larger man to shift somewhat in surprise at the young girl's actions, though he settled into it easily enough as he brought up one hand to gentle stroke at the hair on her head while the other came up to rest on the square of her back.

"I will NEVER let you see me like that again, I promise." Kaori replied with a confident voice as she held onto the man. "You and mom have done so much for me, even though I can't quite remember all of it. It wouldn't be fair to either of you for me to quit now with where I've gotten." The two stood like that for a few silent moments before Maki began to speak once more.

"I still remember the day when your father first told me he and your mother were going to have a child. I'd never seen him so excited and yet scared at the same time. The thought of the two of them raising a new life made him as happy as could be, but at the same time scared as all hell because he wasn't sure if he was actually capable of doing something like that."

"Wait," Kaori asked with a confused look as she turned her face up to look into the man's eyes. "DAD was scared of something like that? No way."

Maki nodded his head with a bright smile. "As scared as anything I'd ever seen. He wanted to make sure you were raised right, and so he fretted over every little thing to make sure he wouldn't screw anything up. I'd say he did okay, all things considered."

"Me too." Kaori replied before breaking the hug and started to move back towards the equipment in the room.

"Now, there's one thing I want to ask of you when it comes to the Sports Festival."

Kaori turned back midstride to look at her teacher. "What's that?"

"When you're out on the field in that competition…knock em dead."

Kaori gave the man a knowing look before she started to turn back to her equipment to finish her workout.

"You know I will."

"ARE YOU READY, FOLKS?!" Present Mic's voice carried over the stadium as the crowds anxiously awaited the coming events. "YOU ALL KNOW WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR, SO LET'S GET TO IT! THE CLASSIC EVENT THAT PITS OUR FLEDGLING HEROES AGAINST ONE ANOTHER TO SEE WHO'S THE BEST! AND I'M SURE YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING TO MEET THEM IN THE FLESH! SO LET'S START THINGS OFF WITH THE CLASS THAT BEAT OFF A BUNCH OF VILLAINS WITH THEIR SHEER FORCE OF WILL! CLASS A!"

"I know he's the announcer and all, but does he have to make it constantly feel like your eardrums are being rattled every time he opens his mouth?" Kaori commented out loud as their class made their way out to the field.

"Just be glad you aren't one of the Villains he goes up against." Mina looked over towards Kaori as they walked out to the designated area that faced the stage.

"I suppose." Kaori relented. "I'll take rattled eardrums over no hearing at all."

As they all stood and waited for the other classes to walk out and join the field, Kaori looked around the impressive structure as her eyes wandered across the masses of people there to watch them in action. She knew that somewhere out in those stands sat her mother and her mentor, but she also knew that the odds of spotting them were next to none given the sheer volume of people. They were here though, and all for her, and that alone gave her a large spike in confidence as she mentally psyched herself up for the challenges to come. Even Bakugou's continued declaration of war that painted an even larger target on their classes back didn't deter her. And so it was, that the year's Sports Festival kicked off as everyone got into position for the first event of the games:

The Obstacle Course Race.

I wanted to make this chapter a little longer initially, especially after the exposition chapter last time, but I also wanted to leave the first event as its own chapter rather than include it with this one. Hopefully you guys are okay with that. Worry not, I have plenty planned for some of the chapters surrounding the different components of the Sports Festival as well as the Internship Arc that follows. And I can't wait to get there and start getting into another meaty portion of the story rather than soft fluff like there's recently been following the USJ attack. You'll just have to bear with my suspenseful ass in the meantime.