(Midorinya)

After getting our meat from the person handing it out -cooked, thankfully- I sigh and look at my team with a serious expression on my face, my eyes meeting those of Shinso and Tokoyami. “By my calculations, our points should put us in first, so thanks for joining, Tokoyami.” I give a short bow.

“The darkness protects those who lie in its embrace, but the Sports Festival is a time to stand in the light.” He nods…a you’re welcome? I’m pretty sure that’s what he said. 

Judging by the look Shinso’s giving him, it seems he doesn’t get it. Which makes sense. Unless you have a friend with unusual speech patterns it’s a bit hard to decipher. Most aren’t aware, but as much as half of all animal-based quirk mutations cause their vocal patterns to change. Though I’m fairly sure that’s not the case with Tokoyami.

He’s just an edge-lord.

“Now, I’m pretty sure I know what, or rather who will be hunting us in the maze.”

Shinso raises an eyebrow, giving me an appraising look. It’s not that he doubts me, probably, since he’s seen how good my analysis skills are when I did his quirk. But I guess he thought they only applied to quirks. Which is fair since it took Catia repeatedly hitting me with one of my notebooks during a long lecture for me to realize that I could apply those skills to other things, such as heroing. Nezu has only helped my skills further develop.

“Did the two of you notice anyone missing from the students who passed?” I start off leadingly, curious if Nezu’s lessons on positive reinforcement and leading people to your own conclusions are really as effective as he said.

“Chainkeo?” Shinso offers up immediately with an air of confusion. We were both there when it was decided that she wouldn’t be continuing, after all. Before answering I look at Tokoyami, who seems to be thinking more deeply about it.

“...I do not recall Akihiro’s threatening aura among those gathered.” Threatening aura? At my look of confusion he explains, a shudder running through him. “I am fairly certain she wishes to eat me. Whenever she consumes poultry dishes she maintains eye-contact with me”

“Ah.” I nod and put an understanding hand on his shoulder. “She probably does, and since she got first place Nezu is having her hunt everyone else.”

Tokoyami gives me a deadpan stare, accompanied by Dark Shadow coming out and flipping himself in my direction. Shinso gives a brief bark of laughter before questioning me. He probably thinks I’m joking. “Hah! Putting cannibalism aside, why would he do that? How would that even work for getting her into the next round?”

“The last round of the tournament has always been one-on-one tournaments, so her conditions for passing to the next round are most likely to reduce the number of participants to an acceptable number for the event. Too many people would cause the audience to lose interest, after all. As for why…”

I think on it for a moment before shrugging. “Daylight heroes are always chasing a higher spot on the ranking boards, and the higher you get the harder it is to keep your spot. Just yesterday Mirko lost her place as number five and got dropped back down to eight.”

“What? How? Isn’t the event not for another few months?” My companions are obviously surprised, and it really reinforces both Catia and Nezu’s lessons about how ignorant the general public are of what goes on in the lives of heroes. Most people just see them fighting villains and rescuing people from disasters, but they rarely see the in-between stages of those. Nor the things that would make them lose faith.

Not that the HPSC hides everything, that would never work long-term. But I’ve discovered that the higher on the rankings you place, the more likely they are to try and make sure the public sees you as a good and dependable hero. Thankfully most of the top ten are genuinely good people as well as heroes, I don’t know what I might do if they were all corrupt. Nezu did show me some plans that I’d help out with if it ended up being the case though…

But those are thoughts for later.

“The boards are constantly updating, the event is just that, a big event to make people excited while the top ten make an appearance and say a few encouraging words. And the raid on the yakuza was good PR for her, especially with how she’d taken on one of their strongest members alone and needed to be hospitalized. Officially, it was to minimize the danger to the others in the rescue team, but everyone knows how much of a battle-maniac she is.” I wave that aside, she’s always careful to try and limit damage to her surroundings so it’s not a problem. Unlike Kachan who wouldn’t care as long as he beats the villain.

“She dropped because reporters got word that the villain who put her there is also being treated at the same hospital, and she offered them a chance to be rehabilitated, and become a hero instead.”

They blink at me. “Ok, but why?” Dark Shadow is the one to ask, and I shrug.

“She’s a battle-maniac,” I say, that being the most simple and direct answer.

Before they can respond, Midnight runs up to us with an irritated look on her face, and we all stare. Around us the walls of the maze start to grow out of the ground, causing a few absentminded people to let out yowls of surprise. But all our focus is on the art history teacher. Or more accurately, on what she’s wearing.

She crosses her arms above a set of hooks that are most likely for us to hang the meat on, but we’re too shocked to do even that. “Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and laugh, I know I look ridiculous.” She starts snatching the meat and hanging it on the hooks, decorating her giant rat costume with pieces…of…delicious meat…

My face pales. “Oh shit.”

“Language, Midoriya!” Midnight wags the last piece of meat at me before reaching around to hook it onto her back. “Honestly, what could Nezu be thinking with all this…”

I swallow as I look at my team, but their badly stifled laughter makes it clear that they have no idea just how badly this can turn out for us. But…maybe it’s not that bad? It’s not like it’s…the worst case scenario, right?”

I swallow my suddenly dry throat as Nezu announces the start of the second event. “Ah, Midnight. You wouldn’t have happened to make our principal…angry, would you?”

“Huh?” She looks at me with wide eyes before furiously shaking her head. “Of course not! Do you think I’m suicidal or something!?”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Yeah, yeah you’re right. There’s no way Nezu would make the second event Catia hunting down you and Present Mic while on catnip.” I chuckle, studiously ignoring the way my teacher stiffens. I’m sure that’s nothing. She said it herself, she’s not suicidal! I’m sure it’s completely unrelated! “Yeah, that would be patently ridiculous. Right? Right!?”

She looks at me with wide eyes as her own face slowly pales. She opens her mouth only for her words to be drowned out by a loud roar that shakes the walls of the maze. But, unfortunately, I’m good enough at lip reading to know what she says and my stomach drops.

“Oh shit.”

`~`

(Nezu)

I chuckle as Young Catia roars, her cat covered form covered in dust from the now destroyed wall that was blocking her from entering the maze. Well, it looks like she finally ran out of patience!

“Nezu. What the hell did you do to my student?” Aizawa’s quirk enhanced glare is entirely ineffective on me, but I have no reason not to answer. In fact, given that I’m the only one who knows the details for this event, it is my duty to inform not only him, but the audience of the situation!

So while Catia prowls the maze looking for students, I turn to the microphone to explain. “As you all can see, the winner of the first event, Catia Akihiro, is the one hunting down the other participants. Now, do not worry about this surprise being ruined for the students! I have enlisted the aid of a certain hero to ensure that those within the maze will only hear the announcement of those eliminated.”

Whisper is quite the effective Underground hero. Being able to silence either individuals, groups, or entire areas makes her excellent for taking out large groups. So long as she can hide the unconscious (or dead, if necessary) bodies, her targets will never hear her coming.

“Now, the most observant of you may notice that Akihiro is moving differently, perhaps being more in-tune with her quirk’s nature?” I chuckle as a low murmur goes through the crowd, which only grows louder when understanding dawns on Aizawa’s face and his glare intensifies.

“That is due to a certain aspect of her quirk, one which is not my place to reveal. I shall simply say that this will truly be a hunt. And it seems that she’s found her first prey!”

Indeed, Catia has just come face-to-face with her first team. It consists of Jurota Shishida, Ibara Shiozaki, and Nirengeki Shoda, along with their Ectoplasm clone. A powerful close-range quirk, aided by a versatile quirk capable of attacking, defending, and restraining. Tie those together with Shoda’s Twin Impact quirk which allows a second, stronger hit from any attack, and you get a team well suited to taking out powerful opposition with little trouble.

A shame that they won’t be continuing on to the finals.

Catia’s claws easily part the waves of vines Shiozaki tries to entrap her with, and her movements simply snap the few that actually manage to wrap around an arm or leg, not nearly strong enough in small numbers to stop her.

Seeing his teammate struggling, Shishida charges at her, having been in his beast form since the start of the event. A good precaution, but the ease with which she avoids his strikes makes it clear to everyone watching how little good strength does against someone who cannot be hit. Additionally, Shoda’s quirk goes unused on his teammate’s hands.

Oh? But the boy has gathered what loose dirt he can from the ground, and hit it? He throws it into the fray, keeping a careful eye on it as it misses both fighters. But when he activates the second impact, it flies towards Catia’s face, getting the dirt into her eyes and temporarily blinding her!

Shishida is quick to take advantage of the opportunity, lunging forward with his fist pulled back to launch a devastating punch that’s sure to do a considerable amount of damage to the construct surrounding her.

Only for her to duck under it, her claws outstretched as they claw the meat hanging over his stomach. The moment her claws touch it, he vanishes, leaving only the meat behind.

“Jurota Shishida, eliminated.” I say calmly as I watch his teammates panic. Once I'm sure enough time has passed for the Whisper to return them to silence, I reassure the audience who are worried. “Do not fear, I have also obtained the aid of someone with a warp quirk, who is removing students before they come to serious harm. Should they lose contact with their meat, or if they would suffer what would be a life-threatening injury to a pro hero, they will be sent to a viewing room where they can observe the rest of the round.”

I quickly announce the elimination of Shishida’s two teammates, the Ectoplasm clone dissolving once they’re warped out, leaving behind three pieces of meat that Catia rapidly devours. I lean back as the hunt resumes, chuckling at the thought of what kind of faces Nemuri and Hisashi will make once they come face-to-face with her.

“Nezu, how much catnip did you give her?” I look at Aizawa to see a concerned look on his face. “Anytime she’s gotten catnip, she’s still been mostly in control of herself. But now she seems more beast than human.”

I hum for a moment before deciding to tell him. It will be quite entertaining to see how he reacts to the news.

“Four ounces.”

I was right. His expression is entertaining.