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CHAPTER START---
As the bell for lunch rings, everyone begins packing up, and Sero turns back to look at Horizon. "Hey you gonna disappear during lunch again, you can totally eat with us if you want."
"I'm actually gonna head down to the support department to talk to Power Loader, I need new shoes for my Hero Costume," Horizon says.
"Oh...that's too bad," Sero mutters sadly.
"Ugh, ignore him," Jiro walks up and says, ready to go have lunch with Momo. "He just wants you to have lunch with him to get noticed by your fan club."
"Well, some of them are pretty cute," Horizon adds. "Can't blame a guy for trying and all that..." He sees Sero give him a thumbs up. "It is kinda creepy the way they're always lurking around me, but that's part of the whole being famous aspect of heroics these days."
"Well I'm certainly not jealous of that, having people always watching you and following you around seems like a nightmare," Jiro mutters as she walks past them and toward Momo at the back of the room.
Tokoyami nods in agreement, "unfortunately it's the life we signed up for by attending UA.""Once you---" Horizon stops talking, head snapping to the doors on the other side of the room, "there's a mob outside."
Everyone remaining in the room gets on alert immediately, silently looking at the windows leading into the hallway.
"What the hell do these people want now, how many selfies do I need to take with students before it gets old," Horizon mutters while getting up and walking to the door at the front of class, walking past Bakugo who was still packing his bag.
Pulling open the door he finds himself staring at a horde of first-years, towering over them.
"Wow he's huge!"
"So he always wears the mask?"
"Does he have the sword? I can't see!"
"He's intense."
And a dozen other lines are fired off as the crowd gets a bit rowdy.
"I see...only first years...so you're here because the Sports Festival is tomorrow, right?" he asks.
A few people nod nervously in response.
"Well, now you've seen us, so you can stop blocking the doorway now, my classmates want to go get lunch," he says casually, ignoring a few people who were blatantly taking pictures of him.
"Wow," a purple-haired boy with tired baggy eyes pushes his way to the front, now standing beside a short girl who was seemingly recording. "I can't tell if you're arrogant or confident, but you know we've heard a lot about you, constant chatter in our ear from the news, from clips online, from our friends. But don't think that means that we can't take your spo---"
"Shut up," Horizon commands, causing everyone to freeze, feeling waves of annoyance radiating from him. "Whatever declarations of desires, dreams, promises, and feelings you're about to vomit at my feet, swallow it. The truth is nobody in the world cares about any of that trash, we got the speech about you taking our spots, we're over it, you want them? You want to prove to UA and whoever else that you belong here instead of us? Then shut your mouth, and get to work."
He gestures to the gathered mob that was now getting annoyed.
"Win," he says, catching them off guard. "It's literally that simple, no talk, just action. Prove you should be here instead of us, because your words don't matter if you can't back up the talk. So how about you go plan your strategy for tomorrow, or literally anything more useful than this crap, now, get out of our doorway..."
Horizon immediately begins walking forward, and everyone gets out of his way, an ocean of people that were all talking parting to get out of his way.
Annoyance transformed into respect, although they had to admit they didn't like his abrasive manner of speaking.
Meanwhile back in the classroom, his classmates were more than a little surprised that he was so pleasant to the visitors, but their determination only grew, now seeing the mob of people that were aiming to replace them.
---20 Hours Later...
Standing with 11 other first years Horizon nods along to everything Ms. Midnight says, all wearing their PE Uniforms, with his having his logo in black at the back of it. The shirt of his PE Uniform opened to show off his white body glove beneath, his logo in blue on his chest.
"---I expect all of you Class Reps to keep everyone in line out there, at least while in the stands, I want you young and hot-blooded students running wild in the games," Midnight says in a completely serious tone.
"Yes ma'am!" everyone yells while Horizon only nods.
"Good, we start in 5 minutes, get to your waiting rooms, and wait for the announcements..."
Leaving the room Horizon is walking beside Kendo, her PE Uniform on with the arms rolled up to her elbow and legs rolled up to her knees.
"So you excited for this?" Kendo asks, her nervousness showing as she looks up at Horizon.
"It's just a competition, all I've gotta do is win."
Kendo frowns at that, "yeah I figured you wouldn't be nervous, you've been in the public eye for weeks, half the people are here for you... and you're so strong," she mutters quietly.
They arrive at 1Bs locker room in the stadium and stop at the door. They both face each other as he speaks, "no need to be nervous, just do your best, that's all you can do anyway," he raises a finger to her chin, lifting her head to get a proper look at her large teal eyes. "And besides, even if the gold is mine, you'll look incredible in silver...good luck."
He casually walks away leaving her to stare at his back, her face sporting a faint blush as her mind catches up to her body, "huh? Wait a minute...THAT JERK!" she takes a breath to compose herself before entering the room to address her class.
Walking into the 1A locker room Horizon sees Deku and Todoroki looking one second away from a fight, with Kirishima standing beside them, the entire room tense and silent, everyone looking at the duo.
"Save whatever crap this is for later, we go out in four minutes," he announces and closes the door behind him.
Everyone started getting more nervous or excited as Horizon takes out his phone, doing one last check on his online presence.
'Hmm, that video of my speech yesterday is trending, guess that girl was recording, not just taking pictures...and people think I was being motivational to our competition...ok, I'll take it...' he can't help but smile at that. 'Even when I'm not trying this is too easy.'
Minutes later they're all walking into the stadium as Present Mic announces all the classes, A through K, all 11 years-1 classes. 220 students competing for the top spot.
"Holy crap," Sero mutters nervously, standing toward the back with Horizon and Sato as they all walk into the arena. "This is a lot more intense than it looks on TV..."
And in truth, it was, even for Horizon. Standing in the arena, soft grass all around, a twenty-meter raise at the edges where the first row of views was sitting above. The absolutely gargantuan stadium was nearly 70 meters -220ft- tall, with rows and floors of seats for all 200 thousand spectators, including the private boxes at the top behind tinted windows.
Looking around as the other classes enter the arena he can see a few people holding up posters with his symbol on them, fans cheering specifically for him.
He smiles at that, raising his hand to give a polite wave before Midnight begins talking.
"Now, for the student pledge, we have... KATSUKI BAKUGO!" Midnight proudly announces, and while Bakugo stalks up to the stage, both hands in his pockets, a fair amount of the students look at Horizon in surprise.
He shrugs, "Bakugo got first on the public entrance exam, he represents more of you, its the logical choice..." was all he said before Bakugo began talking.
Bakugo opens his mouth to speak, then closes it, glaring at all the other students before focusing his gaze on Horizon at the back of the class. "I'll give it my all, and I won't let anyone stop me from being the absolute best Hero...not even you Glass Face..."
Horizon lifts a hand, and where his entire class expects a middle finger, he gives a thumbs up, "do your best Bakugo!" he cheers on his classmate.
Everyone who knows him is surprised by this, until they remember exactly where they are, 'public appearances...' they recall he's always talking about that.
But they also knew exactly why he meant, 'do you best, it won't be enough.' And clearly, Bakugo understood this too as he stomped off the stage fuming mad.
"Alright, time for the first game!" Midnight gets the crowd stirred up once more. "An obstacle race, the course is 4km around this stadium, Quirks are allowed of course, do whatever you'd like as long as you stay on the course, first to cross the finish line wins!"
"It's like they're handing me that gold medal," Horizon chuckles as his classmates just glare in envy, already knowing how this will go.
"Now get to your starting positions!" Midnight gestures to the large red hallway built into the stadium.
Everyone immediately rushes for a front spot, toes against the starting line, but when the crowd moves Horizon is just left standing alone in the middle of the arena. Midnight has to stop herself from telling him to get to the starting point, saving herself from looking foolish on TV.
As everyone gets settled the stadium falls completely silent, and the timer begins.
3
Horizon opens a room, 700m in every direction, just enough to cover the entire track. A quick SCAN feeds him all the information he needs.
'A minefield, a horde of robots, and...when did they even have time to dig that hole...god damn Power Loader...'
2
He finds a pebble at the finish line, identifying the banner held between two posts.
1
Horizon takes one last look at the crowd, most people excitedly watching the starting hallway, some of his fans looking at him in worry.
'This is the first time the public will know what my Quirk is...time for the big debut.'
"START!" Midnight announces.
SHAMBLES!
"WINNER!" Present Mic immediately announces, and Horizon truly takes the stage...
END CHAPTER---
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