As time slowly reached noon, Izuku—who had already spent four class periods running away from Bakugo—was nearly exhausted. In the end, he decided that after this class, he might as well just let Kacchan beat him up and get it over with.
"After he hits me, I'll go eat right away… I'm starving to death."
That was what Izuku thought. But when the bell rang, Bakugo walked out of the classroom as if nothing had happened at all.
"What's going on with Kacchan now?" Izuku muttered. "Whatever—let's just go eat. I'm seriously hungry."
Izuku decided to head to the cafeteria with Iida Tenya and Uraraka Ochaco.
But just as they stepped out the door, All Might suddenly appeared at the corner of the stairwell.
"Yo, young Midoriya! I brought a bento. Want to eat together?"
"…Huh?"
Twenty minutes later, after finishing lunch, Izuku and All Might both lifted their teacups and took a sip.
"So, All Might," Izuku asked, "why did you call me out this time? Has the investigation on that Nomu been completed?"
"No. There's still no conclusion on that matter," All Might replied. "But what I want to talk to you about is actually related to this year's U.A. Sports Festival. I need you to shine brilliantly at the festival."
"…Yeah. I know," Izuku replied calmly, as if it were only natural.
"What kind of reaction is that?!" All Might nearly spat out his tea.
"With my current physical condition and abilities, placing in the top three shouldn't be a problem," Izuku said thoughtfully. "But as for performance… how should I put it? Maybe because I inherited your power, All Might, I don't really feel driven to compete for first place. And this is U.A.—a place full of monsters. It wouldn't be strange for me to stumble unexpectedly…"
Izuku rubbed his chin, muttering to himself.
All Might's mouth twitched. This kid always jumped straight to the worst possible scenario. No ambition at all.
"Still… this Sports Festival could help me gain a lot of experience and reputation," Izuku continued seriously.
"Hey, hey, that's enough," All Might said, holding up a hand to stop him.
Izuku fell silent and looked at him.
"You are my successor," All Might said firmly. "Even though this hasn't been announced publicly, your Quirk will make people assume you're connected to me because of it. Some might even think you're my illegitimate son. That's not impossible."
All Might placed both hands on Izuku's shoulders.
"And because of that, you must show your strength. You cannot retreat."
"Go and tell the world," All Might said with conviction. "You—have arrived."
After school, while packing his bag, Izuku kept thinking about All Might's words.
"Arrived, huh… That means fighting other students. At the very least, I'll have to face my own classmates. In that case, I need to gather information on everyone."
He hesitated.
"It's not exactly right to do that, but… whatever. I'll collect it first. Worst case, I just won't use it."
Just as Izuku was thinking seriously, the classroom door was pulled open. More than a dozen students from other classes stood outside.
"What's going on?" Uraraka asked, confused.
"I'd guess the teachers from other classes leaked what happened when we fought the villains last time," Iida analyzed calmly. "And with the Sports Festival approaching, they probably want to see if Class 1-A really is that strong."
More importantly, he thought, they're here to gather information.
"They're all enemies anyway—just blow them away!" Bakugo barked. As always, he slung his bag over his shoulder and charged straight out, shoving through the crowd blocking the doorway.
"Hmph. So arrogant," someone scoffed.
At the back of the crowd stood a boy with vividly colored hair and long, feather-like eyelashes, staring intently at Bakugo.
"Anyone who makes it into Class 1-A isn't stupid," a girl beside him said. "If we're going to fight them, we should be careful."
"Yes, yes, boss," someone else replied. "Class 1-A may be impressive, but Class 1-B isn't easy to deal with either."
That evening, on the way home, Izuku continued thinking.
"In combat—and especially in war—information is crucial. But now, nearly everyone in Class 1-A, including me, has already been remembered by students from other classes. That's bad."
"So does that mean charging straight in is the only option? No… I should also watch recordings of past Sports Festivals."
Thinking that, Izuku opened the door to his house.
"Hm? Mom, do we have guests?" Izuku asked, noticing a pair of unfamiliar shoes by the entrance.
"Izuku, you're home!" Inko said warmly. "Come quickly—meet your grandmother. She used to take care of you when you were little."
Inko led Izuku into the living room. Sitting on the sofa was an elderly woman with silver hair.
She was Izuku's grandmother—Midoriya Suisui.
"Hello, Grandma," Izuku greeted politely.
"You're home. Go wash your hands," Suisui said, pointing her finger.
A small mass of water formed in midair in front of Izuku—her Quirk, the ability to control moisture in the air.
"Thank you, Grandma," Izuku said obediently as he washed his hands. He set his bag down and sat beside her.
"Grandma, how come you had time to visit?" Izuku asked, clinging to her arm like a child. "Weren't you enjoying life in the countryside?"
"Oh my, our little Izuku is still such a spoiled child," Suisui laughed. "You got into U.A., you know~"
She flicked his nose gently. When Izuku was four or five, he had lived in the countryside with his grandmother for a while. She had always doted on him, and he had grown very attached to her.
"Even if I got into U.A., I'm still your grandson, right?" Izuku said pitifully. "You're not going to disown me, are you?"
"How could I?" Suisui chuckled, patting his head. "You're my favorite grandson. You were much better behaved than your father ever was."
She then reached into her handbag and took out something Izuku had loved as a child. The moment he saw it, his eyes lit up.
"Grandma! How did you even get this? I thought it was really hard to find!"
"I hid it back then because you'd eat too much," she said with a smile. "Now that you've grown up, of course I'll let you have it. Here—these are all yours."
She handed him the bag. Izuku immediately took out one of the fruits and bit into it.
"Mmm! Sweet and sour—and it's chilled! This is amazing!"
The familiar taste instantly brought back memories.
"Slow down, slow down—don't choke," Suisui said. "Oh right, I also brought this."
She pulled out a small photo album and a notebook.
"This notebook was from your grandfather," she explained. "He said it contains some kind of special technique for drawing out one's power to the extreme. He insisted I give it to you. Honestly, I don't know what goes through his head—always thinking about strange things."
Her expression darkened slightly.
"He was supposed to come with me, but then he said he had to research whether Quirks can be inherited. Such a mood killer."
"Haha… Grandpa has always had a lot of strange ideas," Izuku replied awkwardly. "Doing incomprehensible things is kind of normal for him…"
His grandfather was full of wild ideas—and his academic standing was no joke.
"Forget that clueless old man," Suisui said, waving her hand. "Izuku, come out with Grandma tomorrow. I'm going to buy a bunch of skincare products and really show him up."
Thanks to her Quirk, even at sixty years old, Suisui looked like she was only in her forties.
"This really looks like Grandma and Grandpa had a fight and she ran away from home," Izuku thought, his eye twitching slightly.
"No problem at all!" Izuku said cheerfully. "Tomorrow's Saturday—I'll go shopping with you!"