Hard-Fought Results

Barffffffff~ ❀

Izuku held Uraraka's hair back, with Mina holding a bucket under her head while she puked her guts out... as a rainbow-colored, softly-shining goop. It even had a flowery scent to it. Her stomach definitely had some sort of weird mutation like Tokoyami's head, but he didn't think anyone was complaining in the slightest about it. If anything, it made one of the worst aspects of her Quirk a little easier to bear.

Mina grimaced as she watched Uraraka's Quirk consequences manifesting. "Sheesh, girl, you're barfing much worse than usual. I didn't know you had such a dangerous ultimate move already. I just beat Manabi-chan with my usual moves!" Sakuya passed behind Mina, all of her fingertips covered in bandages or gauze - a trait shared by bits of her arms and legs. "Don't push your luck, pinkie. It was just a bad matchup." The alien-looking girl just stuck her tongue out at her teasingly, making a peace sign her way. "Sorry girl, clear liquids reflect and refract light! I'm a dumbass and even I know that much, shi shi shi~"

It seemed as though Sakuya's lasers were split into shards or reflected back at her when hitting Mina's Quirk-produced substances, although Izuku couldn't think of one that could stand up straight for long enough to be used as a shield. Maybe she just held her hands up and let the liquid flow down while moving, but wouldn't she trip then? Was it a fast-evaporating substance like ****? His brain was spinning considering every possibility for a fight he missed. At least, until he felt Uraraka lightly tap his hand.

"I'm... I'm okay, Deku-kun. I'm sorry for making a mess the moment I walked in. It's like I was feeling fine but then all the nausea came rushing to me all at once..." He let go of her hair and used a handkerchief to wipe her lips, giving her a warm smile all the while. "It's okay, you did amazing back there! We just need to work together on your nausea." She nodded, giving him a resolute "Yeah!"

On his side, he had a sneaking suspicion about what had happened, but he couldn't talk to her about it in front of everyone. His mind went back to that fight, looking at her trying her best against Bakugo while cheering her on. At some point during the fight, her thoughts got violent and angry, and multiple images of Izuku from Uraraka's point of view flashed through his mind. They were images of the times they had been snuggling against each other, enjoying their time together. Specifically, the few times she had asked about his past, and he'd mentioned his dreams, his aspiration to be like All Might... and of course, Bakugo. He had never realized how hurt his face looked when he talked about it. Or maybe that was just how Ochako remembered it.

He knew the exact words she was saying even though the dome impeded sound from coming out or going in. He could read her thoughts, after all. Her parents were looking at him weird when he started tearing up instead of cheering for her even harder, his hands struggling to wipe the tears as more kept flowing. Yet, the more he closed his eyes, the more he could see into his own heart. A strange fog covered his vision when they were closed shut, a sensation similar to those strange dreams he usually had...

Yet, instead of seeing the First or Fourth users, he could see Uraraka in the distance, with her back turned to him.

His mind-self ran towards her even though his body remained still sitting next to her parents - it was like using his imagination to move himself in that world. He didn't care back then. He just knew he had to go out and hug her. Tell her it was alright. That she didn't need to push herself so hard. That it was just a bad matchup. That there was always next year, that she didn't need to hurt herself for his own sake, or risk Bakugo's anger being directed at her instead of him. Yet, when he could finally embrace her from behind, the look she gave him as she looked over his shoulder... it wasn't that of a girl in pain. It was that of a girl fiercely defending what she loved, tooth and nail. So rather than tell her any of those things...

"You can do it. I'm here with you. Kick his ass."

By the time he stopped reminiscing about that situation, he noticed he had been idly scribbling about the situation on his notebook. "Can One For All be passed down via the genes in sperm?" "No, I never consented to giving it away" "There must be something else" "Is Attraction of Hot Things also merging with One For All so that it can be moderately passed to people I have a deep relationship with?" "Maybe sex is the trigger? Semen?" "What is that dream-world anyway?" "Ochako was definitely using One For All back then" "Green lightning" "Superpowered Quirk" "She probably used about 5% of it" "Overcharged consequences when One For All faded out" "Ochako's so cute, even her puke is rainbows" "What happens if someone with really bad Quirk overuse consequences receives this OFA link?" "How the hell would Cathleen's Quirk get even stronger?"

"Midoriya-kun." Iida's voice shook him out of his trance, his hands making chopping motions next to him. "The results are about to be made public. Pay attention please."

Mina slid against Iida's arm, a devious grin on her face. "Aha, that R&D girl sure pulled a fast one on ya!" His whole body started trembling, and a vein popped on his forehead. "That girl... how disgraceful, to use the Festival as a simple ad for major companies and then forfeit... using me as her pawn for it no less! Is she really a UA student in heart?!"

While Mina kept poking him, Izuku turned his attention to the screen. Some sort of point metric for their performance was being displayed on the big screens.

"WELL WELL, LET'S LOOK AT THESE CHARTS EVERYONE! LOOKS LIKE THAT SLY DOG MIDORIYA MADE IT TO FIRST PLACE! A BORN WINNER, I TELL YA!"

He shook his head. Yeah, right, born winner. More like born unlucky and then given back all that luck with interest when he graduated high school. Meeting All Might? Luck. Being given his Quirk? Luck - he only impressed him because he was coincidentally passing by Bakugo's **** scene, and so was All Might for no particular reason. Getting this far? Luck - it just so happens that One For All changed inside him in a way it hasn't changed for any of the other eight users before him, and it has been carrying him through this demanding college since then.

He was just lucky. There was nothing victorious about him.

"ON SECOND PLACE, TODOROKI SHOUKO! AS EXPECTED OF ENDEAVOR'S DAUGHTER! THIRD PLACE IS URARAKA OCHAKO! MIDORIYA'S GIRL DIDN'T WANNA LAG BEHIND, LOOKS LIKE! DEAR AUDIENCE, PLEASE LOOK AT THE SCREEN FOR THE RESULTS OF THIS AMAZING FIRST GAME OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL TOURNAMENT!"

The list went on and on. Those who won their matches were mentioned at some point, those who lost were disqualified from continuing to participate. An accurate portrayal of a hero's job - if you lose, it could all be over for you in a flash. His own score was very close to Shouko's, then Uraraka's was a little more distant. The rest of the names merged into known and unknown alike, and quite a few of the familiar ones were missing.

Midoriya Izuku - 100
Todoroki Shouko - 99
Uraraka Ochako - 95
Shiozaki Ibara - 94
Tsuburaba Kiyomi - 93
Honenuki Jiara/Awase Shia - 92
Tokoyami Fumikage - 90
Himiko Toga - 89
Fukidashi Manga - 86
Kirishima Eijiro/Setsuna Tokage - 85/85
Asui Tsuyu - 83
Ashido Mina/Sherry Kodama - 82/82
Kyoka Jiro - 80
Yurei Kagami - 78
Shinohara Kiyo - 75
Hitoshi Shinso - 73
Tenya Iida - 70

A multitude of thoughts flooded his head thanks to Danger Sense.

Mina: Yaaay! I made it!
Yaoyorozu: Shameful. Shameful, Momo. Your indecisiveness cost you victory, to say nothing of doing anything at all. Midoriya-san is a representative too, and he got first place like a proper example should. How can you be relied on like this?
Jiro: Whew, that was a close call. I just hope I don't have to fight the monsters of each class. M-Much less Midoriya.
Cathleen: [Them's the breaks. He beat me fair and square. Izuku better not lose to some rando because of those bruises.]

So on and so forth, they celebrated or felt down about their results. But he didn't know how to feel. None of his achievements felt like his own. He's only here because of luck and borrowed powers - he even has faces to link to each power he makes use of. It was more like watching a movie with VR headsets than actually experiencing it.

Arms embraced him from behind, soft and familiar arms he loved to be held by. It reminded him of how he embraced her in his dream world just earlier. "Hey. What's wrong? You look kind of down even though you got a perfect score. The judges probably saw the odds you went against and thought 'damn, Izuku can power through any kind of villain', hahah~! That's my boyfriend." Ochako gave him a tiny peck on the cheek, setting off the leaky faucets that his tear glands were once more.

That's right. He did have an achievement, and he should get used to that idea before he keeps repeating the same self-deprecating rodeo over and over in his head. And considering how he could pass his power to her, even a small fraction of it... maybe that's why the First User wanted him to build a harem. Perhaps this would be his own way of becoming the hero of his dreams - literally being One man For All the heroines in his bed and spirit world both.

His Quirk sure enjoyed puns.

"EVERYONE, ENJOY YOUR TWENTY MINUTE BREAK, BECAUSE WE'LL BE BACK SOON WITH THE NEXT EVENT OF THE FESTIVAL - THE TEAM BATTLES!"

...

...the WHAT?!