I returned to my seat with the rest of the class.

The next match was Tokoyami vs Bakugo.

Dark shadow was no match for the light caused by Bakugo's explosions. He put up a good fight, but in the end, Bakugo won.

The final fight was between Shoto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugo.

"Begin!"

Immediately, Todoroki sent out a wave of ice, intending to immobilise Bakugo before he could do any damage. However, Katsuki sent out explosions to shatter the ice in all different directions at super sonic speed. However, he got burred in the ice.

There were sounds coming from inside the ice. Booms. Just then, the ice cracked, and Bakugo exploded out of the ice. Bakugo tried to throw Todoroki out of bounds, but he created an ice wave to avoid going out. He surfed round to Bakugo and everyone was expecting him to use his left side. Even his dad told him to do it from the crowd. But he wouldn't do it. He threw Bakugo away. Not using his fire angered Bakugo, obviously.

Behind me, Midoriya yelled out, "Come on Todoroki, do your best!"

Below, flames emerged from Todoroki's left side. My mouth hung open a bit. Midoriya. Again.

Bakugo grinned. He flew towards Todoroki in a tornado, using his quirk. But suddenly, Todoroki's flames extinguished. Bakugo threw a massive attack on Todoroki.

After the dust and smoke cleared, I could see what had happened. Todoroki was out of bounds, caught on his ice; unconscious. He hadn't used his fire. He'd sacrificed the win.

Bakugo had won. Though, he was furious. Furious that Todoroki had let him win. Furious that he hadn't used his flames on him. |He charged towards Todoroki in anger. He looked close to tears. He grabbed his collar, shaking him, telling him to wake up. But Midnight got there and put him to sleep. She declared Bakugo as the winner, and the crowd cheered. What were they cheering for? They were both out cold. Bakugo himself hadn't been happy about the win, so why should they be. I didn't clap or cheer or smile. Neither of them wanted it or deserved it.

A few minutes later, I was called for the award ceremony. I stood next to Tokoyami on the podium; we had come joint 3rd. Todoroki was second. Bakugo was first.

They'd strapped Bakugo up to the podium in chains. They'd put a muzzle on him. They'd dragged him and forced him to take his place on top of the podium. It was sick. He was resisting, but couldn't escape. It was wrong. I'd asked them why they had bothered, but they'd said Bakugo would appreciate it if he received his award. They were obviously wrong. But ngl, it was kind of funny. Although, his movements were similar to the ones he made when the sludge villain had captured him. Maybe the memories of being helpless were rushing back to him, mixing with the already boiling rage he had inside of him.

"He's acting like a feral animal," said Tokoyami beside me. I said nothing. He was also being treated like a feral animal. They were disregarding his rights, just to give him a medal, for the crowd, the publicity and the ratings.

I gave Todoroki a side eye, and he looked sad. I looked back, showing no emotion on my face.

They'd gotten All Might himself to distribute the awards. I couldn't look at him the same way after learning those things he'd probably wanted to keep a secret. The crowd went wild for him.

"Young Tokoyami. Congratulations." He draped a medal around his neck. "You showed great strength out there." He hugged him. "However, you have more training to do if you want to be able to fight against different kinds of villains. You're not going to be able to rely on your quirk in every battle you face."

He then turned to me. "Young Kasai. You too did very well today. I wasn't sure you'd be able to do it, but you showed a great deal of power today. I didn't know you had such a great quirk. And you're obviously very experienced with it. I wonder why you didn't show me what you could do before." He put the medal around my neck. "I think you have great potential." He attempted to hug me, but I just grabbed his hand and turned it into a handshake. He awkwardly played along, and moved onto Todoroki. He didn't think I would make it this far. He'd underestimated me.

"Young Todoroki. Congratulations." He put the medal around his neck. "I'm assuming there's a reason you didn't use your left side. It cost you the final."

"Midoriya opened my eyes during our match. But then I started to doubt myself. I think I now understand a little about why you're so interested in him. I want to be the type of hero you are, but my path isn't as clear as I thought it was. I still have a lot of things to think about. And I still have to settle things with someone very soon."

"I've never seen this sort of look on your face before." He hugged him. "I won't ask for details, but trust yourself. I'm sure you'll work things out."

He moved onto Bakugo. "And now, young Bakugo. You did what you said you'd do in the pledge. You're true to your word." He took the muzzle off him.

"All Might. Winning first place this way doesn't prove that I'm the best one here!" He was the embodiment of rage. "Even if the world considers me the winner, I refuse to accept it like this!"

At this, All Might is supposed to respect his decision, and move on. But of course, he doesn't do this.

"In a world where we're constantly being compared to one another, there are very few who can keep their eyes focused on the top spot. You're one of them. Please accept this medal, even if you have to think of it as a scar. Something you'll never forget."

"I don't want that piece of garbage!"

All Might still attempted to put the medal around his neck. "Come on now."

"Get that trash off of me you idiot." The medal ended up hanging off his mouth. All Might was just embarrassing the kid now.

All Might turned to the crowd with that ridiculous smile on his face. "Here they are: the winners of the UA sports festival. But listen closely, any of you 1st years could have ended up standing on these podiums. Think about what you've done today. You've challenged each other, learned, and climbed even closer towards your goals as being pros. I think the next generation of heroes is proving to be the most promising one yet."

The festival was over. I pushed past the press as I left, ignoring all of their questions. We had to change and go back to school.

Mr Aizawa met us in class. "Nice work. Don't expect you'll have any days off school to recuperate; I'll see you here tomorrow. I'm sure the pros who watched the festival will want to recruit some of you. We'll look at the draft forms and updates when you return. Get some rest, you still have a lot of training.

"And Kasai, Principal Nezu wants to see you in his office." I felt eyes on me as I left. What does he want. I wasn't in the mood to be answering stupid questions.