"Oh, that all you got?" Shinsou teased with a shit eating grin as another team passed by, Ojiro already making a sharp U-turn, knowing where this was going.

"I'll show you-!"

With that, their rider was now under Shinsou's control.

"How about you just hand over your headband to us and get this over with, huh?" the purple head demanded, having their opponent grab his own headband and hold it out for Izuku to grab as they ran by.

"Thanks!" he called out before tying their new addition to his neck. "Great work, Shinsou-kun! We're crushing them!"

They'd gathered quite some headbands like that already. All while avoiding both Kacchan's and Shoto's teams. Izuku had been careful about that, knowing that if they faced off against one of them, chances were he'd lose his band. His support items were there to prevent that from happening but you never know, right? Besides, he'd rather have some insurance, some extra points, so they weren't fully dependent on keeping the one million for the full cavalry battle.

"DEKU!"

Of course Kacchan wasn't one to give up easily.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"I'd like to see you try, Kacchan!" Izuku laughed, actually enjoying himself despite what was at stake here. "Like you said yourself, I'm in this to win!"

With that, he stuck his tongue out at the blonde, almost losing his balance as Ojiro veered to the left in order to avoid Shoto's team. Shit. That's right, Kacchan wasn't the only one gunning for his points...

"That guy's gonna be annoying," Shinsou groaned, talking about Shoto. "He hasn't answered me once."

"He doesn't have to," Izuku said. "I just need to be able to block him if he comes too close."

"Let's not risk that, okay?" Ojiro said. "That guy is crazy strong, and we don't know whether your support item actually works."

"It works!" Izuku pouted, kind of hurt by the lack of confidence from one of his former friends. Ojiro wouldn't know about that, though. Nobody knew about it, that was the whole point. It was his plan, his idea, and yet he couldn't help but feel weird about it. Thinking about the what ifs, about their past, the lives they used to share... And could you really blame him? He'd spend several lifetimes with these people, building friendships and trust and bonds that could never be broken. It shouldn't surprise him he had some trouble adjusting to this new reality.

"Duck!" Hatsume called out. Izuku's body moved before his mind could catch up, blindly following the instruction. It was his hero training kicking in, knowing every second he needed to react could mean the difference between life and death in a crisis situation. And so Katsuki reached over him, an explosion sounding over his head as their teams ran past each other. When did Kacchan get in front of him..?

"Midoriya! Look out!"

Ice flew by his head, and Shinsou stumbled trying to avoid it. Shoto was trying to force them into a corner. That plan hadn't changed over the course of their lives, so it seemed. They couldn't let that happen, though. Because even if Izuku's support item worked, it wouldn't prevent Shoto from pushing them out of bounds if push came to shove, effectively eliminating them and all of their points. Izuku knew Shoto wouldn't be above such a thing, knowing he'd do anything to win, to prove his worth to his father- or rather, reject him while claiming victory.

"Don't dodge the next one!" Izuku told them.

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Ojiro yelled back.

"I have a plan, just trust me," Izuku grinned, leaning down over Ojiro's shoulder. "I won't let him put a scratch on you."

It didn't take long for Shoto to blast another wall of ice their way, but they weren't going to dodge or slow down. Instead, Izuku held his arm over Ojiro's chest, activating his bracer, shattering the ice in an instant and sending the blast right back at them. You see, this little device used energy manipulation and quirk cancellation in combination with a powerful absorption material that repelled everything that was thrown at it. It was basically a quirk reflection shield. A good one, at that, since the brace didn't break from the force of the attack like Izuku had feared at first.

"Told you it works!" Izuku laughed, feeling the rush of adrenaline as he sat back up. He could see Tenya fumbling, stumbling backwards. Denki and Momo almost lost their footing as well, and Shoto flailed for a moment there. Ha! They almost made them fall! "Take that, Todoroki!"

Izuku was still grinning as he watched Kacchan rage and jump up, coming in hot. The timer was almost finished, but Izuku didn't doubt Kacchan's ability to make it before the clock ran out. He also knew that dodging would only anger him even further, so Izuku would face him head on.

"Come at me, Kacchan!" Izuku called out, holding up his arms to form a protective barrier around him. Katsuki grinned, too, as he propelled himself towards him, using all his force in order to try and blast him away. Izuku was able to block his explosions, but not without his horse losing his balance. The timer ran out the moment of the impact, though, so the round was already over when he hit the ground. Kacchan fell seconds after he did, his team too far behind to catch him. All Izuku could do was laugh, even if he was sure he'd have a nasty bruise on his shoulder tomorrow.

"You're a psychopath," Shinsou commented. "A reckless psychopath."

"But we won, didn't we?" Izuku said, smiling up at the purple haired insomniac.

"You're more like Bakugou than I thought you would be," Ojiro breathed, still trying to calm down from facing that ice attack head on, only to be blasted off his feet moments later at the end of the round. "I can see why the two of you are friends."

"That was amazing!" Hatsume exclaimed, pushing the boys aside as she fell down on top of Izuku in her excitement, with no regard to personal space, as always. "It worked! Your baby actually worked! Your arms aren't damaged at all! You have to tell me what kind of absorbent you used! It's quirk infused, isn't it? It has to be! And the reflective ability is just-"

She rambled on as Izuku sat up straight, causing her to sit in his lap as she tried to pry answers out of him.

"Sorry, I can't tell," Izuku chuckled. "It's licensed and actually still in its testing phase, so I don't think auntie Mitsuki would appreciate me telling you about it."

"My parents helped you build that thing?!" Katsuki hissed, and suddenly Izuku was pulled up from the ground by the helm of his shirt. Izuku hadn't seen the ash blonde approach, didn't see him at all until he was forcibly turned around on his feet. "No wonder it's so damn annoying!"

"What can I say? Your parents are the best in the business," Izuku smiled, a little nervously. "Auntie was more than happy to help when I told her about our bet."

"Oh you little-" Katsuki seethed, ready to explode his face off. Izuku was sure he would've if not for the fact they needed to clear the arena and head back inside. That didn't mean he wasn't yelling at him the whole way there. "You played fucking dirty, Deku, and you know it! Involving my parents is cheating!"

"It's not, according to the school rules," Izuku told him. "And we never made any explicit rules for our bet- One you insisted on, by the way. If you hadn't forced me to play all my cards, I wouldn't be trying half as hard as I am now."

Now that seemed to piss Kacchan off even further. But what could Izuku say? It was true! He intended on laying low in this life, on letting things play out while watching from the sidelines. He had no idea whether Jikan would be happy if he was still in the picture, dead and center, for being quirkless and still being successful. Izuku had no idea how far their hatred for him spread, whether it was just his title as successor or he himself they were after. Trying to win the sportsfestival was a risk, a big one, but Izuku couldn't afford to have Kacchan know, couldn't have him meddle in this timeline if his plan were to succeed.

"You push me to be the best version of myself," Izuku smiled as Eijirou held back the raging bull that was his childhood friend. "So I hope you can forgive me for taking the spotlight from you and making you break your promise. You won't win this one, Kacchan."

That's when their classes got separated and they were guided to their individual places in the stands. It wasn't until the one on one battles were announced that Izuku stopped to think about the implications of changing up his team for the cavalry battle. Because now Ojiro and Shinsou were on his team, meaning Tetsutetsu's team was fourth, not fifth, and no students opted out of the final. It meant neither Ochako nor Fumikage made it to the last round... Would they still be scouted after the festival..? They wouldn't be able to show off as much, nor would Ochako have the chance to face Kacchan in battle- She wouldn't realize the lack of skill, wouldn't be motivated to train her combat skills-

"Nervous?"

Izuku jumped up as he yelped, turning around to face Hatsume.

"We're up against each other in the first round, after all," she grinned. Izuku blinked, glancing back at the brackets to see she was right. They were fighting the third match. The first match, Denki versus Tetsu, was going to start soon, too, and Izuku winced a little at that matchup. Electricity and steel... Poor Tetsu... "You know, none of the rules say we have to fight during the match. They just say one wins if the other steps out of bounds or is unable to continue. So~"

A smile rose to his face, knowing what she was about to suggest.

"You have to give me the win at the end, though," Izuku told her. "Otherwise I'm just going to punch you."

"Deal!"

//\\
\\//

Denki won his match, like Izuku expected him to, and Tetsu was brought to the infirmary. The second fight was Kacchan against Hanta, which wasn't exactly fair, either. Sero went for his hands right away, but Kacchan's reflexes were no match for him. The ash blonde wiped the floor with him in under a minute. So now it was Izuku's turn to show the world what he's got! Well, he already showed them he was strong by winning the first two rounds of the sportsfestival, but he hadn't had the opportunity to really show off his inventions yet!

"Dear ladies, gentlemen, and everything in between!" Hatsume called out once their match started, ever so kindly providing Izuku with her second mic so he could talk, too. "Behold! The shoes of the future!"

"They can make you leap twice as high!" Izuku continued as Hatsume started her demonstration. "And make you trice as fast! The ideal support item for heroes with a need for speed and agility!"

"But that's not all!" Mei interjected as she jumped up, activating the hover mode. "With this baby, you can effortlessly stay up in the air! Perfect for surveying a crisis!"

They continued like that, showing off Hatsume's babies to the public. Mei insisted she could see potential investors looking interested by using her quirk, so Izuku kept going along with her, rattling off the script as he helped her demonstrate the features of her inventions.

"And now, for the big final!" Izuku announced, holding up his arms to show off his bracers. "I'm sure you all saw me block Todoroki's ice attack with my quirk reflectors! You heard that right folks! These bracers can absorb and reflect the impact of almost any type of quirk!"

"They were made in collaboration with the famous M2B Hero Fashion!" Hatsume continued. "A new technology in the making! Perfect for close combat heroes who need to get right up to the target!"

"Or for long distance heroes who want higher defense without losing any mobility!" Izuku added. "This type of support item can be used for offense and defense with little to no modifications!"

"Please save your questions for after the show, because Izuku here will continue to demonstrate this marvelous invention next round!" Hatsume announced. "That was all! I, Mei Hatsume-"

"And Izuku Midoriya!" Izuku quickly added.

"-like to thank you for watching! Please don't hesitate to contact me for any of your support needs!"

"Or me!" Izuku smiled as he waved at the public in the stands, seeing Hatsume walk out of bounds in the corner of his eye. Midnight announced him the winner of the fight, or what you'd like to call it, and he could hear Mic asking about his quirk from the commentators booth.

"Izuku Midoriya is quirkless," Eraserhead said, for all to hear, and it was like a knife cut through the air. Izuku was quick to make his way back inside, not wanting to listen to the reaction of the crowd. He also wasn't able to hear how Aizawa continued, telling everyone you don't need a quirk to be strong, and that because of UA's unfair testing system, talents like him fell through without being given a chance. Izuku blocked it all out, though. He didn't want to hear it, didn't want to be reduced to the one thing he never wanted to be.

It reminded him of One For All in the most painful way. Reminding him of his past lives, of the vestiges, of the loneliness he felt now that they weren't there to guide him anymore. They'd become like family to him, always there, right over his shoulder. Izuku shivered, quickly darting around when he felt the faintest of touches on his shoulder. There was no one there, though. No, he was imagining things. Stuck in a past he couldn't possibly bring back. One For All wasn't his to wield, not in this life, and he'll have to deal with that.