(A/a: Bet you weren't expecting another chapter so soon huh? I know I usually put these at the end of the chapter, but I just wanted to let you know this story maybe dipping a little head into some manga info soon. I'll let you know when because I know a decent amount of you are anime only and I can respect that, but I don't got the patients to wait for Studio Bones to catch up on certain things. Also I'm trying my best to find title images for these chapter, but some I just can't and I don't like reusing images. As always let me know how you liked the chapter! Peace!)

As their attacks met there was a shock wave that blasted the crowd and covered the arena in dust. As the dust cleared Bakugo was laying on his back at the edge of the stage while the stage and surrounding field had hundreds of Y/n's crystals embedded into the ground and where Y/n was standing was a smoking crater.

"L/n is unconscious, Bakugo is the winner!" Midnight called out with a rather sad look on her face.

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-Y/n's POV-

I woke up feeling like shit, simple as that. My head was throbbing and my limbs felt heavy. I groaned as I slowly lifted my hand to my head and felt the bandages around it. I opened my eyes, regretting doing so immediately, and hissed at the light. My right arm was completely covered in bandage wrap.

"Don't move too much there sonny, you took a decent hit out there." Came Recovery Girl's elderly voice.

"Why do I feel like I got hit by a truck?" I groaned out as I rubbed the pain out of my eyes.

"Because you might as well have." She plainly said.

"Come again?"

"That rock armor, or whatever you call it, took most of the blast from that Bakugo's explosion, but that didn't stop the kinetic force from throwing you around like a ragdoll." She explained. "You should have broken something with a hit like that, so consider yourself lucky."

"Uugh...Lucky me..." I said as I sat up. "How long was I out?"

"Hmm, about an hour or so. Enough time to fix the stage from your unneedingly violent fight and the finals to end. They were waiting for you and the Todoroki boy to wake up." Recovery told me.

"For me to wake up? Why?"

"So you can accept your medal of course. Can't have a trophy ceremony without the maturity of the winners." She said.

"But I lost, right?" I asked confused.

"You still tied for third out of the entire first year student body. Take some credit once in a while!" She said rather sternly as she waved a finger. She went to say something else, but Todoroki sat up. "Good, if you are both well enough to sit up you can go stand somewhere else." She said as she shooed us out of the room.

"Cranky old women." Todoroki grumbled.

"She's not cranky, she just doesn't like seeing you young kids hurt so much." Cementoss said, letting us know he was there. "Now if you're both up, follow me so we can wrap up the festival." He said as he turned around and started walking the opposite way to the field.

"The field is the other way." Todoroki said.

"I know, just follow me." Was all Cementoss said. Todoroki and I followed behind him in silence. After a minute or two of walking we were underground, presumably under the field, as we came into a medium sized storage room. In the center was a three tiered marble podium, that I assumed we had to stand on, that was on a lift system. What drew my eyes however was what was on the top podium.

"Are you fucking kidding me..." I said as I pinched the bridge of my nose. Bakugo was up on the podium, but instead of a smug look he was thrashing around as he was chained and bound to a slab of concrete. "Why is he like that?" I asked exasperated.

"It was the only way we could get him up there." Cementoss tiredly said.

"I...but...*sigh* I don't even care." I said as I took my place on the third place step. As Bakugo saw me his thrashing increased. "Oh give it a rest man! You're making my headache worse. Hey, isn't Iida supposed to be in third with me?" I asked Cementoss.

"Iida was excused because something came up he needed to attend to." As I went to ask for clarification Cementoss continued on. "Everyone in their place? Good." He said as he pressed a switch and the platform started lifting up.

As we came up in the middle of the field the light blinded me again and I had to shield my eyes with my hand. The crowd was cheering loudly as we came up. Fireworks were going off around the outside of the arena in a multitude of colors. The sudden breeze I felt let me know my shirt was missing, but I was covered mostly by bandage wrap on my chest, but not enough to hide much skin. I immediately became uncomfortable with all of these eyes on me without a shirt on. Cementoss noticed this and smirked.

"It's not that bad, see?" He said to me and pointed to the crowd. I followed where he was pointing and saw a decent amount of girls of varying ages looking at me and blushing. A couple of guys too. Even more weirded out now.

"And now, we will begin the award ceremony!" Nemuri said and she struck a pose as confetti shot off. "In addition to L/n, there is also Iida in third place, but he left early for family reasons. Thank you for understanding!" She said to the crowd of photographers getting shots of the winners.

As Nemuri was talking I was scanning the crowd. I saw our class in the front. Most of them were staring at Bakugo's antics. I saw Izuku, but he looked like he was seriously thinking about something, then a hand waved behind him and got my attention. Mina was waving me down with a smile on her face, I gave her a small wave back and her smile grew even more as she cheered. I think Nemuri saw this because she shot me a smirk with a sideways glance. My hand shot down to my side as I tried to hide a small blush.

"Now we will award the medals!" Nemuri announced. "The presentation of the medals will, of course, be by this man--" She said as a booming laugh covered the arena. The crowd Immediately recognized it and cheered as All Might jumped from the rim of the stadium and next to Nemuri.

"--Our very own All Might!"

"--I have brought the medals here!"

There was a small lapse in noise as All Might looked at Nemuri as she apologized for talking over him. The crowd quickly started back up as I heard a few comments about our class being watched by All Might himself.

"Now then, All Might, please present the medals, starting with third place." Nemuri instructed. All Might took the third place medal from Nemuri and walked over to me.

"Young L/n, congratulations! You made it so far! I know how frustrating it is to come short as so, but do not worry! With more hard work and dedication you will be there!" All Might said as he put the medal over my head and his hand lightly clapping my shoulder.

"You know this does lose a little bit of the glamor given how much time I spent with you training, right?" I sarcastically said quietly with a smirk.

"I know, but I must say how proud I am to see you come this far. This was your merit, no one else's." He quietly said as he brought me in for a small hug. After he pulled away I grabbed the medal and looked down at it. There was a pride welling in my chest, but after the memories that were brought forward earlier there was one thing that crossed my mind. What would Dad think? Would he be proud or disappointed I didn't pull first place? I was ripped from my thoughts as Bakugo started yelling.

"I said I didn't want it! I got knocked out twice and that bastard didn't even fight me full on!" He yelled with a furious look on his face. I can only assume that meant Todoroki didn't use his flames in their fight.

"Now, now." All Might said dismissively as he tried to put the medal on him, but had a hard time as Bakugo refused it. All Might eventually settled for putting it in Bakugo's mouth. Why does everything have to be difficult with him. "Well, here are your winners!" All Might said to the crowd. "Anyone here could have been up on these podiums. It's just as you saw! Competing! Improving each other! And climbing even further! The next generation of heroes is definitely sprouting!" He said as he pointed to the sky. "So, I have one more thing to say! Everyone, please say it with me! Ready, go--!"

"--Thank you for the hard work!"

"--Plus Ultra!"

"...Reeaally dropped the ball there, huh All Might?" I asked as the crowd started booing for not using the opportunity to say the school motto.

"W-Well, I just thought everyone worked so hard..." He explained as he twiddled his thumbs embarrassingly.

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After the festival was wrapped up and the crowd started to file out, we were told to change back into our uniforms and were taken back to our classroom by Aizawa.

"So there will be no school tomorrow or the day after. I'm sure the pro heroes who watched the sports festival will want to recruit some of you, but we'll consolidate everything and announce it when you get back. So rest well, and look forward to that. Now go home." He finished as he curled up in his sleeping bag. As I got up to leave Mina came racing up to my desk.

"You! You promised that you'd get me some natto tomorrow, even though we don't have school tomorrow I'm holding you to that! I'll meet you at the train station here close to school around lunch. See ya!"

"But--!" I tried to say before she ran out of the classroom. "I really wanted to sleep in tomorrow..." I mumbled to myself. I got up only to come face to face with a glaring Izuku before I could fully stand up. "Gah! What the fuck man?!...Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Y/n..." He said in an almost intimidating way. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked in a low voice.

"Tell you what?" I asked for clarification.

"Why didn't you tell me...that you had another  awesome move like that!?" He started to say in a low voice that gradually turned into his usual excited tone as he got out his journal. Shit. I forgot about that.

"I wanted it to be surprising, you know. Plus I uh...wanted to avoid--this." I said as I gestured to his geeking out about quirks again.

"What do you mean!? This is exciting! If you can do that move with the crystals and change the composition of the stones you make, with practice, who knows what you could do! Maybe you could even--!" Izuku nerded out while he started writing with his one good hand and his book propped up on his cast.

We started walking as I steered Izuku out of the way of people as I tuned him out. We made it back to his apartment and Mrs. Midoriya immediately worried over both of our bandages. After an hour and a half I managed to get out and back to my apartment. I quickly threw my shoes off and my bag into my room and microwaved a frozen dinner as I watched TV. Most channels were just showing highlights of the sports festival. I saw the last match between Bakugo and Todoroki and it was a sight I'll tell you that. I turned off the TV after some two bit channel was showing me hitting the wall over and over and laughing. Dickhead. I went to bed as it got dark, but sadly it was anything but restful with the memories Shinso brought up still in the back of my head.

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-No One's POV-

Flashback 11 years ago

Manhattan, New York

A young Y/n comes running into his father's office, his short dirty blond hair a mess and a shine in his cobalt blue eyes.

"Dad, the nice flower lady downstairs told me about a nature show in the park today! Can we go, please? PLEASE!?!" Y/n begged while putting the flyer in his father's, Mirai L/n, face.

Mirai was an above average height man with cleanly cut and styled black hair and grey eyes. He had average muscle mass for a man his age. He was a reporter that specialized in articles about the local heroes. Mirai loved heroes and what they do, he would love to be one as well if he wasn't quirkless.

"Can it wait bud, I have to make this deadli-" Mirai began to say as he looked down at Y/n and saw the look. He could never say no to it. The boy's mother gave him the exact same look whenever she wanted something. He may be quirkless, but that face was his biggest weakness.

"*sign* Okay buddy, we can go. Just run and get ready while I wrap up what I'm doing." Y/n threw his hands over his head in joy after hearing this.

"Yay! Dad's the best!" Y/n yelled as he ran to his bedroom. The room was covered wall to wall in both posters of Pro Heroes and hand drawn diagrams of plants; he had traced them from the books his father gave him for his fifth birthday last year. His birthday was coming up so he was excited because he was still waiting almost a whole year to get his quirk. He didn't know what he'd get because his father didn't have one and his father never talked much about his mother much, but Y/n did know she was a pro hero. Y/n came running out of his room while trying to put his shoes on and tripped at his father's feet. Mirai laughed and looked down at the little ball of energy, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you need some help down there?" He asked and without saying anything Y/n put his feet in the air while sitting on his back with an innocent smile on his face waiting for his shoes to be tied. Soon enough they were on their way to the park around noon to see the show that started soon.

"Come on! Faster or we're gonna miss iiiitt!" Y/n whined on top of his father's shoulders because his legs got tired a block away from the apartment building. Mirai laughed before picking up speed making the boy yell in excitement.

"CHARGE!" They both yelled into the wind while earning strange looks from people on the busy streets of Manhattan.

They made it to the park just in time and enjoyed the exotic plants and animals that were shown off. Y/n got a rhinoceros shaped balloon from one of the vendors. The smile on his son's face was worth more than anything money could buy to Mirai, even if he had to pull another all-nighter. Soon the event ended and the sun was beginning to set over the city skyline. The day would be in Y/n's memory forever, but sadly not for the reason he first thought.

As Mirai and Y/n rounded the corner holding hands, with Y/n's rhino balloon tied to his wrist, Mirai noticed someone behind them. Becoming curious Mirai looked at Y/n and talked to the boy while observing the stranger. The man had on fitted jeans, worn tennis shoes, and a dark red pullover with holes around the bottom and a faded brand logo on the front. He had his hands in his front pocket with his face covered by the hood and walked at the same pace as the father and son.

Hastening their pace Mirai noticed the man speed up as well. Hardening his resolve and the hand around his belt Mirai moved Y/n in front of him quickly and abruptly stopped. The hooded man stopped on a dime as well and jumped a little. Mirai turned around keeping Y/n behind him as he held him back a little. Mirai looked straight at the stranger with his calm demeanor never leaving him.

"We don't want any trouble, just on the way home from the park." Mirai said in a low demanding voice.

"Hey, I-I was just wondering if you could spare some c-change. Ya see I got l-locked outta my place and I need some fare for the s-subway." The stranger coolly hissed after scratching his arm and taking a step toward the pair. Mirai lightly pushed Y/n back and stepped backwards as well.

"D-Dad?" Y/n asked nervously looking up at his father.

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't have any cash on me. There is a shelter down the road I believe." Mirai answered quickly and pointed in the opposite direction.

"Aw come on, a w-well off g-guy like you has got to have some chump change on him." The stranger slurred out taking another few hurried steps. Mirai then pulled out the pistol he had concealed on his waist. Journalism is a dangerous job now-a-days with all the unstable people with quirks around and for someone without one he needed some way to protect himself and his son.

"That's close enough." Mirai said as he aimed with one hand and dialed the police with the other behind his back. Y/n was clinging to his father's leg too scared to move.

The stranger growled and suddenly ran faster than Mirai could follow. The man's hood fell down to reveal very angular catlike features. He had bright yellow bloodshot eyes and stripes running down his neck and forearms. He swung his clawed hands at the gun to bat it away as it fired off a shoot and missed. The stranger, startled by the shot, tripped and fell into a pile of trash on the side of the road and Mirai dropped the phone as he fell backward from the sudden attack, knocking Y/n down as well.

"Y/n! Run! Go hide!" Mirai shouted to his son. Y/n scrambled up and hid behind a parked car a few yards away.

"Dammit, all I had to do was off this guy and grab the kid!" The stranger mumbled to himself. The man, no older than 20, trudged out of the trash and saw the phone dialed to the police and began to panic. He charged at Mirai and took swing after frantic swing. Mirai tried to dodge or block the attacks, but found many of the hits landing their mark leaving deep bleeding cuts in his arms and shoulders as he was not trained in hand-to-hand combat.

As a swipe got Mirai in the side of the face and the neck the sound of sirens and flashing lights neared the corner the two stopped to look at the coming law enforcement. Mirai ignored the amount of blood on the ground fearing it was primarily his. While the attacker was distracted Mirai dove for the gun on the ground and tried to steady his aim with difficulty because of loss of blood and waning vision. The attacker, seeing this, picked up the heavier pieces of trash at his feet and threw them at Mirai. A small chunk of brick from the scattered trash hit Mirai in the head.

As he staggered from the hit the stranger took the opportunity to close the distance and tackle Mirai to the ground. The stranger brought his claws up to rip out Mirai's throat, but missed and gouged his chest instead because the brick he threw a moment ago hit him in the side of the head. He whipped his head to see a shaking Y/n standing there.

"G-Get o-off of my d-dad!" Y/n choked out, close to tears.

"Why you littl--!" he was interrupted by another gunshot sounding off. Looking down, the attacker saw a bleeding hole in his shirt, he clutched his chest as Mirai pushed him off and crawled to his hands and knees, taking very shallow breaths. Y/n ran up to his father and kneeled next to him with tears falling from his eyes.

"Are you okay Y-Y/n, you're not hurt are you?" Mirai sat up and asked breathlessly with a smile on his face. The boy hugged his father and quickly shook his head into his father's chest. Mirai chuckled heartily and gave a huge smile.

"W-Why are you smiling, y-you're hurt!" Y/n cried out looking up at his father.

"How could I not smile when I know you're okay?" Mirai said as his voice was getting quieter. "Remember Y/n, no matter how scary things get, give the world a smile, as if to say, "I'm a-ok". The people in this world...who can smile are always...the strongest..." Mirai's voice trailed off as an unbearable silence befell the scene.

"Dad?...D-Dad?" Y/n quietly asked, to receive no response other than his father's grip loosening and his body falling forward onto the ground.

The shocked child didn't even register the police and heroes finally showing up, albeit far too late to save anyone. When the heroes tried to walk up to the young boy he leaned forward on his hands and began to wail. The ground began to shake lightly at first. As the boy's cry began to turn to screaming the shaking turned into a full tremor as cracks form out of the ground around them and the memory fades to white.

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-Y/n's POV-

"*GASP*!" I sprang up from my bed in a cold sweat and hyperventilating. I looked at the clock and saw it was one in the morning. After a moment of catching my breath I felt my head pounding again. I rolled out of bed and walked to the kitchen and opened the cabinet to get some ibuprofen, only to find an empty bottle. Why the hell did I put this back in the cabinet!?

"Fuck." I hissed out as I resigned myself to walk to the convenience store down the road. I slipped on a pair of flip flops, yes with my socks still on it's the middle of the night who's gonna care, and grabbed my keys and wallet.

I groggily walked down the street to the 24 hour corner store, they have great hotdogs but that is beside the point right now. I made a b-line for the small first-aid section they had and grabbed a small bottle of some over the counter meds. As I got to the counter the clerk was some college student and was looking annoyed. He was currently helping a young girl who was wearing a beige school outfit I didn't recognize, must be taking some night classes or something. She had dirty ash-blonde that was styled into two messy buns, with numerous wild strands sticking out at all angles from their centers and where they're fastened. She was trying to buy snacks and didn't have enough money.

"Look I can't just let you take this stuff. The boss is just looking for a reason to fire me already." The clerk tiredly explained. It was just a drink and a big bag of chips on the counter.

"Pleeease, I'm sorry I don't have enough, okay? But, I'm sooo hungry, please?" She pleaded. They went back and forth for a minute before my patients ended. The meds in my hand were only like 700 yen and the snacks were like 500, I took out a 2000 yen note and stepped forward.

"Look I'll pay for them and this." I said as I held up the pills and put the note on the counter. "Keep the change or whatever." I said as I walked away. "Enjoy." I said to the girl as I passed her on the way out. I didn't stay to chat because I really wasn't in the mood. I got back home with no problems and popped two of the pills and flopped back in bed.

(4165 words)