Chapter 37: Buildup

“Text” – Normal speech

‘Text’ – Thought

“Text” – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world

“Text” - Attack

“Text” – Radio/Communication lines

“Text” – None Japanese speech

(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word

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After being able to experience the wonder that came from being able to see and compare their quirk personifications, Eraser's words about the upcoming festival had managed to strike. At the same time, the iron was hot, leaving all but the most stoic of them visibly excited as they went through their morning classes, something their lecturers didn't mind in the slightest as it made him much more engaged with people like Ashido, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Tetsutetsu being much more willing to raise their hands to answer.

It didn't improve their answers, but the increased participation was appreciated. Their high morale was only bolstered when they had their class with All Might, who could play off his being late to the USJ as just an unhappy but ultimately, in hindsight, funny accident as they quoted just how done Eraser had sounded when All Might did arrive when most of the fighting had passed.

Their class with Midnight was one where their morale peaked. The woman was eager to see them express how they would approach their duties as not just heroes but beacons for the people to look towards. The class managed to rope Todoroki into it, even if he was so utterly lost that it was just adorable. The sight of this left several, including Uraraka and Tokage, laughing.

The mood dipped after that, but not by much as they went through hero theory with Eraser and studied basic human anatomy concerning the most common kinds of injuries one could find in the field with Snipe. As the lunch bell went off and Sniped turned off the monitor, the man bid them a good day before he strolled on out, the door closing behind him being the signal for their ever-building excitement to burst.

“I am so ready for this!” Kirishima roared, having jumped to his feet, followed by Tetsutetsu.

“Right with you, we gotta show off our metal at the festival!” The white-haired boy was just as excited as his fellow defense specialist. How could they not after the morning they had? Besides, the Sports Festival was something each of them had watched at least a couple of times, and it was always worth it. Its events were the talk of not just U.A. but Japan for weeks afterwards.

"Just think, we put on a good show, and we'll be one stop away from becoming legit pros!" Sero approached them, Tokoyami in toe.

"Man, getting into U.A. was really hard, but this makes it all worth it!" Sato cheered as the entrance exam had been hard, not just the practical portion but the written one, which he had studied for 4 months and still struggled with. But it was time to see some of the fruits of his labor.

Tokoyami was more reserved in his excitement, focusing more on what this meant for them as future heroes. “It's just one chance out of three; we don't have the luxury to fail or play it safe."

"Do that, and you'll be forever doomed to the shadows and mediocracy," Kuroiro added from his seat before he chuckled and added. “Well, there is some benefit of serving the public good from the shadows.”

“You can do that; I'm aiming for the top, where everyone will see me!" Kamakiri yelled, eying his classmates as little more than competitors, a look that a few returned.

"My good man, you'll need to settle for second place compared to me." Aoyama retorted, only for Ashido to push him down, supporting herself on his back.

"Maybe you two can share, as first place is gonna be this sexy pink lady." She declared as she could already see it now, holding up a giant gold trophy as she flashed a peace sign to the thousands of cameras. She stood atop a hill made from the groaning bodies of her defeated classmates…and a couple of aliens thrown in.

"Ojiro, I'm getting kind of nervous. The festival is like the most watched thing in Japan; imagine all the eyes on us." Hagakure admitted though the tailed boy thought it strange that she, of all people, would have such concerns. "Well, I will do my best to stand out!"

Well, nevermind, as it was the opposite, but that didn't remove the issue he had with it. "Well…you already have that issue, but I'm sure you'll figure something out; you always do." He sincerely told her that, as she might be invisible, he might struggle to understand what she was feeling and what to say without a face to read. Still, she had proven that she was more than capable of that.

She could be expressive in other ways, such as how she twisted; he could bet she was smiling at his response as she let out a pretty laugh.

Kaminari and the others saw that, and he sighed as he leaned into his chair. "Man of us have the opposite problem to Hagakure; they stick out too much." He looked towards Shoji and Shishida. Even without their quirks, they were absolute units. The former was nearly 2m tall and looked like he weighed half what a horse did. Shishida was smaller but seemed to be the more muscular of the two.

"I would still prefer to make progress in my education and hero career because of merit, not because of how I look," Shoji replied, to which Shishida agreed.

"I couldn't have said it better myself. We need to demonstrate our potential to the public and pros so that they might have faith in our abilities when we must protect the people and fight alongside our heroes." The furred-covered student added. He understood the idea, but it felt…disingenuous to slack off when others would be working as hard as they could and more to leave their marks.

“You’ll stick out plenty for all the reasons, Kaminari.” Jiro joked, to which Kaminari whined back.

“Hey! I know my limits; I don’t short-circuit that often.” Jiro smirked in response, as she didn't say anything about him shorting out, which Kaminari caught too late as he groaned and slumped forward, having been played.

"Everyone's so into this," Midoriya smiled as he watched the class. Whatever lingering tension from the USJ had vanished, replaced with the optimism and cheerfulness he loved to see.

“Of course, we all enrolled into this school knowing this would happen-no, waiting for it to happen with baited breath.” Iida stood up before he started moving in a way that looked close to the weird character idle animation for a video game. "Of course, it would get people fired up."

"You have an odd way of showing that, Iida," Yaoyorozu noted as she approached the two, Yanagi in toe. "Though I agree with you that it had to be part of why we all chose to apply to U.A."

Midoriya shook his head. "It's just a little humbling, you know? The sports festival is the biggest event of the year and is the focal point for heroes in Japan. All Might, Endeavour, Edgeshot, and Jeanist all made their marks there, and look where they ended up."

"Oh yeah, they all won gold on the first try, right?" Asui asked as it seemed like a prediction that you'd become a top hero if you performed well at the sports festival.

Midoriya corrected her without needing to think that hard. “No, it was just All Might. Endeavour took 3rd in his first year and then first in his 2nd and 3rd. Edgeshot and Jeanist took 2nd and 3rd place throughout their time, though they swapped who was who in their 3rd year.”

His knowledge left the group surprised, as it was…detailed and stuff none of them would have known, as the younger heroes would have graduated almost 20 years ago. Top pros they might be, it was very much information that wouldn't just be common knowledge anymore.

There was a laugh from Aoyama as he approached, Ashido following behind him after they finished their little argument about who would top the others. "Leave it to you to know such info. But if top heroes couldn't take the first spot all 3 times, who did?" Aoyama asked, as someone would need to be exceptional or have the best luck to take the gold not once but twice in a hero-centric tournament that had Edgeshot and Jeanist.

"It was Lone Star Hero: Coyote," Midoriya replied, the group recalling images or videos of the pro. He wasn't cowboy-themed per se, but he was someone who, like their teacher, Snipe, was a gunman-based pro. However, where Snipe only uses a pistol, Coyote resembles the disgraced former heroine Lady Nagant. He makes his weapons, primarily pistols, and swords, out of the unique energy his quirk created.

“He retired, didn’t he?” Ashido asked as she recalled that he was a popular hero about a decade prior, in the top ten and everything, with an attitude appealing to plenty of young girls like the ones in her neighborhood.

"It was a tragedy what happened to him; I hope he's doing well these days." Yaoyorozu sighed as the man suffered an extremely public tragedy when he was wounded while on the job, and as he recovered, an associate of a villain he put away killed his partner and sidekick, a student much like them. He was visibly a different person after that; it was like the spark in his heart had been drowned in grief, and he went off the deep end, tracking down the murderers before putting them down before he surrendered to the police without a word.

He got a sweet heart plea deal, and public support was on his side, so he could have quickly returned to hero work after some time on probation, but…he just declined it and fell into obscurity. Her parents believed he moved to Australia. Honestly, his story and how it ended was one reason her parents had been concerned when she came out as wanting to be a hero, not just supporting the hero industry like they did.

“Everyone…” The dour mood of the group remained when they turned to Uraraka, who had just joined them.

Said mood was blown out of the water and replaced with shock and confusion when they saw the look of determination and fury in her eyes. "Let's do our best at the Sports Festival," Iida swore that she breathed out smoke like a dragon there.

“Oh my!” Yaoyorozu covered her mouth.

“U-Uraraka? What’s up with your face?” Midoriya asked, as she only seemed to grow more threatening-looking.

"So intense," Yanagi stated as the girl was spooky with that look.

"That is the visage of a woman on a mission; may the Lord have mercy on whoever tries to stop it," Aoyama noted.

"It's a weird look on her. She's supposed to be the carefree marshmallow. Leave the serious looks to Jiro or Yanagi." Ashido commented, but it didn't seem to affect Uraraka, as she turned to another group, just as intense.

"Marshmallows can be hard, too," Uraraka said with such conviction that they could almost ignore the contradiction as she raised her fist high. "Everyone, do your best!"

“What sort of marshmallows…?” Sato asked but ultimately went along with it, like Sero and Tokoyami, Dark Shadow peeking out to follow suit.

"I'm going to do my best, so come at me!" Uraraka turned to another group again, seemingly trying to hype up the entire class.

“Very well.” Todoroki raised his fist but looked as confused as the rest of them as Tokage laughed, sending her first to the ceiling.

“Hey, don’t complain when I win then!” she declared as Uraraka turned her way and blew her away with her intensity. The girl looked like she was about to charge into the literal gates of Hell with nothing but her fists and no plans to leave until she boxed with the devil himself and won. Though Midoriya found himself curious as he watched this.

Line Break

“Uraraka.” He would later bring up the issue, the group having gone out for lunch and selected the Mexican, which had become a norm. Like many of the establishments close to U.A. proper, it was well accustomed to student customers around lunch hour, and they weren't the only ones as at least half the other diners wore school uniforms.

“Yeah?” Uraraka looked away from her conversation with Ojiro and Kamakiri, the girl once more eating on Midoriya's dime, much to her amusing embarrassment. Really, he and the rest had made it clear Izuku had no issues with it, and if spending a little extra meant they could all just hang out at lunch, he would happily do so.

"I wanted to ask, but he disregarded that to focus on the issue at hand. Why did you decide to train to become a hero? And at U.A. of all places? I can imagine that the tuition costs would have dissuaded you."

“Way to hit a girl where it hurts.” Aoyama nudged him in the side, to which Jiro rolled her eyes.

"She's made it clear she's as frugal as Hell, and U.A. isn't cheap. Sure, it's the best school for heroes, but that doesn't mean cheaper options are trash." Jiro came to his defense, which…was another thing Midoriya hadn't considered. Was Uraraka and her family spending that much on school fees? She didn't have much of a 'pocket change' budget.

Uraraka, now on the spot, looked slightly shy as she replied. “Well, with the U.A. thing, it was pricy, but the school has pretty good bursary programs, so as long as I keep my grades up, my parents only need to pay a quarter of the fees." Midoriya didn't know that, but it was probably something U.A. wouldn't have hidden. As his mother could easily afford it, it just never came up for them. The same for Aoyama.

However, there was the question of why she was shy about it. Plenty of talented people need financial aid; they all know that. It was why U.A. even had the program, and they wouldn't look down on her for it.

Uraraka knew that, and truthfully, that wasn't what she was embarrassed about. It was her reason to become a hero, to begin with. “For the part of why I wanted to be a hero…it’s money.”

The entire table turned to her. They had been listening loosely but still carrying on their little conversations. However, the notion that Uraraka Ochaco, the marshmallow girl with cheeks that looked like granny-pinching bait, was in it for money just couldn't be ignored.

"Wait, you're in it for the bag?" Ashido asked to be sure as Uraraka looked even more bashful about it, rubbing at the back of her head and pointedly not looking at any of them.

“Well, that is kinda most of the reason, yes…” She confirmed before she bowed her head to them. "Sorry, I know it's not a great reason to want to be a hero. Compared to you all, I must come off as pretty shallow."

Iida frowned at that. "By whose judgment? Here is nothing wrong with wishing to find stable and gainful employment."

"If anything, the fact you chose heroics when it's such a demanding and dangerous career path just shows that you're still a good person who wants to help others," Yaoyorozu added, as while she wasn’t the best person to speak on this, she had always been taught that to seek wealth itself wasn’t an evil, it was only the method and use of said wealth that could be considered such.

"Sure, as Hell beats out my reason. I just want to get into as many fights as I can." Kamakiri shrugged, as he knew himself well. Sure, he wasn't a battle-crazed lunatic, but that was the part of the job that really sold it to him through the years.

Midoriya agreed with them, as he felt a little bad for putting Uraraka in the spot and didn't wish her to think they thought less of her for it. "It's just more unexpected. You don't hear that often, but it's not like they aren't heroes with selfish desires. Like Mirko, she was getting into illegal fights in high school and only took the hero route to keep fighting.”

"I know, but it's not like wanting to be crazy wealthy and have 20 cars and 5 homes. No offense, Yaomomo." Uraraka turned towards Yaoyorozu, who had been offered a chance to join them for lunch and had, thus far, been a pleasant addition to the table.

“None taken.” Yaoyorozu was still new to mingling with people outside her tax bracket. Still, she wasn't so disconnected from them that she didn't realize she was incredibly wealthy. It came with being the daughter of a family controlling one of Japan's biggest conglomerates.

"It just that…well, my parents own a construction company, but ever since I was little, they struggled to get work, so money was always tight." Uraraka phrased it in a way that made it sound better than it was, but well…it was closer to saying they were broke most of the time.

You would think that construction would be a solid bet for work, as even with All Might keeping so low for years, it just took a single villain to cause damage to public and private property. It was a good observation, but the thing was that most work was rewarded to larger firms or those with inside connections. Uraraka Construction was neither a large operation nor one with friends in high places, so they often lost bidding wars for contracts, something which Ochaco knew took a toll on her hard-working parents.

"You must have been a big help to them. With your gravity powers, you wouldn't need heavy machinery and could move stuff around faster," Iida mused.

"It would keep construction cost and time down, a great edge over the competition," Midoriya added. With a quirk like hers, you wouldn't need nearly as much heavy equipment. Just bringing so much within could be a game-changer, even for smaller jobs.

“That is true, though I’m not sure about the legality of a minor doing so, so she probably could only aide them when she entered high school.” Yaoyorozu could see the benefits, the same as the rest.

“Right? That’s what I said, but my folks never let me.” Uraraka shot up. At least they could see it, but…well, her folks never would entertain it. "But no matter how much they seemed to worry about bills, they would just smile and refuse my help. Ma and Pa always said I shouldn't be tied to the family business and that I should follow my dreams."

She could remember when she first brought it up, and her father just messed with her hair. He told her to seek her happiness and, if she really wanted to help, when she was a big successful hero, she could send them to Hawaii for a holiday. Even then, she knew he was just kidding. If he wouldn't let her help them, no way would he expect or want her to pay for what would be a really expensive trip…but she would, that and more.

She looked up at them, a familiar determination returning to her, similar to what she displayed in class. But where that was like a woman about to fight the devil, now she was a woman about to stand up to him and not give an inch. "But I can't just forget them or how much they struggled to raise me like they did. So yeah, I want money. I want to pay them back and make sure they can live easier lives."

“Bravo!” Of all the responses she was expecting, she didn't see Iida loudly clapping for her, his hands over his head as he cried; he wasn't the only one as, just about the entire time, he had a tear in their eyes, not even Jiro caring for how much attention Iida's thunderous and visible response was getting them.

Midoriya offered a shaky thumbs up, shedding tears at the beauty of Uraraka’s soul. “That’s amazing, Uraraka. How could that be lesser than our reasons for being a hero? It's one of the most altruistic reasons I've ever heard."

“That is the manliest thing I’ve ever heard.” Kirishima was balling his eyes out, his clenched fist on the table as his other hand tried and failed to wipe away the tears.

“She’s like…the greatest among us.” Tetsutetsu was the same as God; that was just too good.

 "Damn, girl. You're really showing off those steel balls, aren't you? You're trying to get into the most dangerous job possible and deal with all the shit that entails if it means your folks can relax? You're making all of us look bad." Kamakiri tried to act like his gruff self, but his sniffling gave the game away.

"I feel you're the type of girl that goes all out on Mother's and Father's Day." Jiro joked even as she wiped the tears away with a tissue.

“Perhaps I speak for all of us when I say that you were selling yourself quite short, Uraraka. That is a wonderful reason to become a heroine. Your parents raised you into a fine young lady.” Yaoyorozu added that Komori, Hagakure, Ashido, and Aoyama nodded, leaving her flustered but for different reasons.

However, attention shifted off her when not just their table but the entire restaurant heard a familiar laugh in the distance.

“Wait, is that?” Midoriya looked up, seeing someone coming in fast. The sun made it hard to see, but he could make out those familiar blonde hair tuffs.

“Can’t be…!” Ashido cried as All Might landed in the middle of the street in a classic superhero landing. Standing to his full height, all eyes were drawn to him as he flashed his iconic smile. Out of costume, he still struck a powerful, inspiring image as he approached the restaurant with confident strides, the manager who had been at the entrance rushing to meet him.

“All Might, what brings you here? Are you perhaps looking to get some food? I don't have any free tables, but I'm sure the kitchen can prepare something for you to go.”

All Might let out another hearty laugh. "Well, I would certainly need to return for that, as I enjoyed eating it when I was stateside; I am here for another reason."

“That being?” The man asked about the rest of the place, and even people on the street turned to the interaction. In response, All Might looked over the place till he landed on their table, his smile growing slightly larger.

“Young Uraraka! Could we perhaps talk? I noticed something about your quirk that could prove beneficial to you.” He called out, Uraraka pointing to herself in shock that he would seek her out and put her in such a public place.

‘He came all the way here to speak with her? He’s taking his role as a teacher quite seriously.’ Iida thought to himself, once more amazed by the kind of man All Might was.

‘He hasn’t seen us in action for himself yet, and yet he could spot ways she can improve herself already? No wonder he’s the number one hero, so cool!’ Midoriya had to hold back the urge to squeal like a fan-boy, even if he was one. He had to restrain himself; he could ask for an autograph later.

Uraraka looked unsure about the offer. She had only finished half her meal, and she didn't just want to dip, either, but Komori placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Go on, Uraraka, we’ll catch you later.” She encouraged her.

“Right, see you guys!” Uraraka smiled and thanked them, those on her side of the table moving out so that she could leave, meeting with All Might on the street; she tapped herself with her quirk, rendering Ochaco weightless to make it easier for All Might to gently hold her and launch off.

“You know, if he was anyone else, I would be calling the cops about a kidnapping…” The manager noted the bizarre sight, but he had seen weirder things during his time working in this town.

“Old man, who would believe you if you tried.” His son quipped in Spanish as he returned to bussing tables, with All Might now becoming the day's topic among their diners.

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“Ashido, you saw Uraraka after lunch, right?” Ashido had just taken her seat for her last class of the day, Hero Agency Basics 101 Saffron-sensei, when she was approached by Hagakure, followed by Yanagi and Kamakiri. Yaoyorozu and Midoriya were also present, but they were close enough that they didn't need to leave their seats.

“Yeah, we share two electives. She said she finished her lunch with All Might.” Ashido replied. Todoroki and Mineta, who had also taken this elective, turned their heads to listen in after hearing that, though the former was much more tactful about it.

“Did she talk about what All Might wanted to talk about?” Kamakiri asked, as while it was really cool, it was kind of out of the blue.

Ashido hummed as she recalled her interactions with the bubbly gravity user. “You know, it didn’t come up.”

“She spent private time with All Might…and you didn’t ask why?” Yanagi was unimpressed with that, especially as Ashido was the self-proclaimed 'info queen', always digging into their lives and pasts. Yet, she didn't ask Uraraka about her one-on-one time with All Might.

Ashido wiggled in her seat in discomfort. Pouting back, she replied, "Look, she showed up right as class was about to start and was already in the zone. You know what the zone is like."

“I’m sure Supercharge would slow down if you just asked; there's no point in you attending class if you struggle to keep up with her," Yaoyorozu told her as Ashido wasn’t what many would call book smart, but she was a determined young lady who did want to learn and studied hard, how else would she have cleared the entrance exams. That said, Ashido would also be the first to tell you how hard sociology and citizenship were for her, as she had to remember laws and customs and then interpret them to suit the situation.

"Hey, you think All Might was sharing his secrets to being the number one with her? They both have insane power, after all." Hagakure asked.

"I doubt he would share whatever secrets he had just for that," Midoriya retorted. The group continued to discuss it before they switched to other mundane topics until their teacher walked in, and they picked up where they left off in the previous class.

As Mineta was told to pay attention, Todoroki’s eyes lingered on his open textbook, but not reading anything as he considered that he had just heard. ‘Uraraka Ochaco…and All Might.’ It was odd that All Might would see her out, and even he would hardly know Ashido, knew she was always hungry for info. It was why he made it a point to avoid her, so why didn't she push Uraraka for details? Or…did Uraraka steer the conversation away from it?

He would need to look into that.

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“What’s happening up ahead?” Midoriya asked as he and the rest of his friend group from Hero Agency Basics approached the entrance to their building, finding the rest of the class present.

"I don't know, but it seems like an issue?" Hagakure guessed as Iida and the rest saw them.

“Guys, you’re here! They won’t let us out!” Uraraka yelled.

“They? And whom might that be?” Yaoyorozu asked, her brow creased. In response, Uraraka pointed towards the doorway, blocked off by a crowd of other students, none of whom recognized it.

“My guess? They’re scoping out the competition. The Sports Festival is when we dominate, and we only made ourselves look better by fending off real villains.” Honenuki mused as Bakugo walked past them towards the exit, wanting to get home and do…whatever he did.

"I'm more surprised so many could get here before any of us could leave; it's not like we're close to the other course buildings." Sero noted that it wasn't like this was a high school anymore; the courses weren't built in buildings next to one another.

“It’s all just pointless shit from pointless people, so move out of the way!” Bakugo yelled the last part towards them, mortifying his fellow hero students.

“You can’t just call people pointless! It’s incredibly rude!” Iida yelled back at him.

“Come on, dude, don’t ruin our rep with them!” Kaminari agreed, though more for the reasons of it making it harder for them to date if the other course girls thought they were douchebags.

"Wow, I didn't know what to expect when I came to see the vaunted hero course with my own eyes, but I sure as hell didn't think they'd like…this." Someone retorted as they made their way to the front, presenting a tall, purple-haired boy with an absolutely exhausted look comparable to Eraser's.

He even had that same deadpan observation down as he eyed the group. "Are all of you this arrogant, or is he just the top of the pile?"

“Pile?” Yaoyorozu quietly asked if this was some sort of term she didn't know.

Kendo didn't have that issue and quickly handled the situation before their most…troublesome tanked their chances of goodwill from other courses. "Bakugo's very much the exception; the rest of us would never think or say such things about our fellow students."

The name seemed to spark some recognition in the guy, who looked back at Bakugo, who looked as angry as ever, only for the purple-haired boy to smirk. "Bakugo…oh, I've heard the name. Weren't you barred from classes because you're a psycho?”

“What was that?!” Bakugo growled as he made an aggressive step forward, only for Kirishima to grab onto him and hold him back.

“Dammit, Bakugo, you’re not helping your case!” Kirishima tried to tell him, but he kept struggling to escape, with Tetsutetsu and Sato having to step in to ensure he didn't break free and earn himself a suspension.

The violent response unnerved some of the gathered non-hero course students. Still, the instigator seemed unmoved by it, only sighing as he turned to the rest of them and ignored Bakugo. "Well, I'll be damned. I thought it was just a rumor, but if someone like that could get into the hero course…” Bakugo only glared at him as he knew what and who he was referring to. “Really leaves me feeling disillusioned, but so much that I’ll give up.”

“Give up?” Jiro asked. They were the ones who came here to pick a fight, not the other way around.

"Quite a few of us enrolled here aimed for the hero course but didn't get in. However, we have another way in. That would be the Sports Festival; if we performed well enough, they'd take a second look at those applications." The purple-haired guy explained, which got them to pay and be interested.

His gaze swept over them, no fear in them even when facing a room of people training to fight and, by his own admission, had been deemed better suited for it. "But, that means that one or more of you would need to mess up so that you'll be transferred out of the hero course to make room, and right now, I'm seeing one person that looks like he needs anger management…and a muzzle."

Sero had to tape up Bakugo before he could react to that dig at his deposition, which only proved the guy's point. Well, even if they hadn't silenced him, he would have said something that would warrant such and make them look worse by association, but at this point, they had come to understand Bakugo was a classmate in the loosest possible terms.

“You said scoping out the competition, right?” The guy asked, to which he shrugged and turned to leave. "Well, maybe for the rest, but me? I came here for one simple reason."

"I just wanted to make sure of two things, that you all knew that if you slip up, I'll be there to make you regret that. The second was a declaration of war." He stated.

‘This person’s bold!’ Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida thought.

“That was all, so…see you then.” And just as quickly as he appeared, he was gone.

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The weather's been good, at least in the way that it's been pretty British: cloudy, with drizzle coming and going. It's been a welcome reprieve from the heat, certainly making sitting down to write this much better than the norm, i.e., needing a fan and open window.

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I'm thinking about taking a week off to work on finishing the Sports festival plans. I've now written two different versions of them: one close to cannon, the other not. This one would be something of a middle ground, but it's not polished yet. What do you all think?