Izuku's classmates greeted him when he came back to their little corner of the stadium.
"Congrats for winning the match!" Kaminari patted Izuku on the back.
"Thanks," Izuku made his way back to his seat, "but I think Todoroki deserved a much higher ranking."
"Still, though, you gotta be proud of yourself," Sero said, "I literally lost my round against Todoroki in two seconds. So honestly, he could've easily demolished any of us out there, but you sure made defeating him look... straightforward."
"Todoroki is really strong," Izuku said, "I only won because he has relatively less expertise in his fire."
"But you forced it out of him," Uraraka pointed out, "By the way, how are your wounds now?"
"You know Recovery Girl. I'm feeling much better now."
"You broke your bones again, right? Just like the entrance exam," she sighed, "people will start thinking that self-destruction is your default mode."
"Recovery Girl already does," Izuku said with a shrug.
"Also, Iida just won the match against Shiozaki from class B," Uraraka said.
Izuku nodded, "Which means I'll be going against him next."
•••
Iida Tenya marched onto the area for the third time. He couldn't help but feel proud, a buzzing excitement mingled with nervousness tying a knot in his chest. He was not going to let his brother down.
On the other side of the arena, Tenya spotted his friend, Midoriya, whose bushy green hair bobbed up and down in the breeze. As usual, Midoriya's mouth fluttered as he muttered to himself in an unintelligible way, and Tenya wondered for the millionth time what was happening in his friend's mysterious brain.
But whatever Midoriya had planned, Tenya would do his best to win.
"THREE, TWO, ONE... START!"
Tenya's engines whirred to life and burst forward toward his opponent. When it came to long-range attacks, Midoriya had the upper hand, so Tenya's priority was to close the distance.
He mentally prepared for anything Midoriya might do in response. Maybe Midoriya will use his new Blackwhip move to bind Tenya, which would be easy to dodge. Or... maybe Midoriya will just demolish him with one of those All Might-level hurricanes.
But none of the attacks arrived.
Midoriya stood still in his place, not attempting to dodge or attack. Instead, his sharp gaze studied Tenya's movements, and for a moment Tenya felt exposed -- as if all his possible moves and thoughts were written down in a script, and Midoriya simply had to glance at it to predict everything Tenya would do.
At the audience stands, the 1-A students were also confused.
"What is Midoriya doing?" Kirishima squinted at the arena.
"He's throwing his long-range advantage away," Yaoyorozu analyzed with a frown, "if Midoriya simply let Iida get close, it would be purely a competition of close-range fighting skills and speed."
When he got close enough, Tenya blasted off the ground and his kick propelled toward Midoriya at breakneck speed.
Green lightning surged around Midoriya and he sidestepped to dodge Tenya's attack, but Tenya still managed to graze Midoriya's arm.
Giving no time for his opponent to recover, Tenya immediately twisted around and sent another kick flying at Midoriya's face.
This time, Midoriya stepped towards Tenya and blocked the kick with his arm, then followed it with a swift punch, which Tenya barely ducked away from.
However, any person with a brain could see that Midoriya was holding back. A lot.
"I have no idea why you're treating this like a sparring match," Iida leaped back, "but since you're not taking this seriously, this is ending now."
Midoriya simply lowered his stance and raised his fists in a seemingly relaxed manner. However, what Iida didn't realize was that Izuku had never been as focused as he was then.
His eyes were fixed on Iida, his attention so concentrated that everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. He followed every movement Iida made, analyzing, predicting, and reacting.
Of course, if he just used the brutal power of One For All or Blackwhip, he would probably win this match easily. But to Izuku, Iida was more than a simple obstacle to overcome. Izuku's goal wasn't just to win the sports festival.
"RECIPRO BURST!"
He could hear Iida's engines suddenly accelerate, and in the blink of an eye, Iida had launched himself toward Izuku like a comet, a bright blue line of fire trailing behind him.
Izuku saw it coming. But even though he saw it coming, it still came upon him with a speed that made his shoulders tense and his stomach drop.
Before Izuku could do anything to react, he felt himself get knocked back violently and all of a sudden his surroundings were zooming away from him.
He tried to grip the ground but everything was moving too fast for him to see clearly.
Focus, Izuku told himself, his jaw clenched.
He strengthened his body with the power of his quirk, but immediately after, he felt the energy being channeled upward...
And for a split second, he felt a familiar sensation, not unlike the piercing feeling of Danger Sense, the quirk of the fourth One For All wielder. However, the feeling was clearly not Danger Sense or any other of the dormant quirks but was instead a strange shift in One For All's power-storing ability.
But none of that was important now. Izuku decided to save his questions for later and focused on the feeling before it faded away.
He concentrated hard on the blurry image of his opponent and simultaneously heightened the power of One For All. He imagined his senses heightening and energy shooting through his attention like a bolt of lightning --
Then everything stopped.
... At least it seemed so. Everything was suddenly moving so slowly.
Or, more accurately, Izuku could see clearly now.
He could see everything.
And for a brief moment, he thought he was able to see the cracks on the ground, the nearing arena boundary line, the movement of Iida's engines, the lonely cloud drifting in the sky.
Then Iida tripped. It was a violent tug at his leg that sent him crashing to the ground, and he lost his grip on Midoriya, whose momentum sent him tumbling forward, skidding to a stop dangerously close to the arena border.
"What the --" Iida whipped his head back, only to see Midoriya's black whip tightened around his leg.
Iida's gaze followed the other end of the whip back to Midoriya, where the black tendril sprouted from the green-haired boy's trembling hand.
Not just his hand, Midoriya's entire body was shaking as if he was just electrocuted by Kaminari's quirk. But his unwavering green gaze shone with a chilling... perceptiveness.
"H, how..." Iida struggled to connect his thoughts. Recipro Burst was his fastest move. Probably the fastest move in the entire festival. And Midoriya reacted to it, somehow found the perfect timing between Iida's steps to tie his leg and yank him off balance--
"YOOO!! WHAT just happened?!" Mic's excited voice screeched through the speakers, "Midoriya Izuku just tripped Iida in the blink of an eye! Was it a lucky coincident or did Midoriya actually react to Iida's crazy fast move?!!"
With a strong jolt, Iida broke free of Midoriya's quirk and sped toward him.
Iida couldn't let his surprise distract him. He could still win. He pushed his engines to go as fast as they could and kicked toward his opponent, who was still trembling.
Again.
Izuku augmented his focus with his quirk again, and Iida's movements were again presented to Izuku's vision like a frame from a paused video.
Before the audience realized it, Midoriya had already countered Iida's attack with a punch to the shoulder, then immediately followed it with a kick to the stomach.
But before Midoriya could land the third blow, Iida had learned. The boy with the engine quirk started his attack with the motions of a kick, but promptly changed its direction, ducked low, and jabbed at his opponent's ribs with his elbow.
Midoriya's eyes widened but he still managed to block the blow, the light of his quirk blazing like an emerald fire.
Then green-haired boy quickly glanced down and realized that he was merely an inch away from the boundary.
"All right, I think we've done enough for today," Midoriya uttered. With a swift movement, he spun on his heel and shoved Iida outside the boundary with a powerful burst of his quirk.
Iida crashed on the ground, then felt his heart sink when Midnight's voice announced his loss and Midoriya's advance to the next round.
...The cheering of the crowd never seemed so deafening.
"Hey."
Iida heard Midoriya's voice and looked up to see the green-haired boy's trembling hand. Iida took it and his friend pulled him back up to his feet.
Iida sighed, "I admit my defeat. No matter how hard I tried, you just seemed to be a step ahead of me."
Midoriya just nodded absently, his gaze staring off into the distance. It wasn't until the two of them made their way off the arena and back into the building did Midoriya talk again.
"I'm glad we had that round just now."
Iida listened to their footsteps for a moment longer, then pushed his glasses into place.
"I'm glad, too. However, I do wonder... Why did you deliberately choose to fight close-range?"
Midoriya considered the question, then said simply, "Because I wanted to learn."
"Learn?"
"Recipro Burst is one of the fastest moves that I know. If I can learn to face it directly, maybe I'll stand a chance against even faster villains in the future."
Iida nodded. He felt a little frustrated that Midoriya seemed to be using him for personal training purposes like a tool, but Midoriya wasn't the only one who gained valuable experience from the fight.
Iida chopped an invisible plank in the air with his arm, "Even though I lost to you today, I will still do my best to catch up with your improvement."
"Thanks." Midoriya said with a slight smile, which confused Iida because he couldn't think of why his friend would reply with thankfulness to his last statement.
However, only as Iida studied Midoriya's expression more closely did he realize something wasn't right.
"Hey, Midoriya, are you ok--AY MIDORIYA--"
Iida lunged forward to catch Midoriya just before he crumpled to the floor.
Immediately, small robotic nurses scurried to the two boys, and two robots carried an unconscious Midoriya to the infirmary.
•••
The first thing that Izuku felt when he woke up was the headache. When he blinked open his eyes, the mere action of tilting his head sent a wave of throbbing pain from his temples.
"Midoriya!!"
"He's awake!"
Izuku pressed on the side of his head and used his other arm to hoist himself up to a sitting position. He realized he was in Recovery Girl's infirmary, and standing near his bed were Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki, and Recovery Girl herself. A couple of other 1A students were bunched up near the door. Skinny All Might stood gloomily to the side like a scarecrow.
"OK all right you kids, shoo! Give him some space. Yes, all of you," Recovery Girl waved her hand at the students, and they left the room reluctantly after wishing Izuku to "feel better soon."
After the students left the room, skinny All Might closed the door gently, then turned back to Izuku with a stern expression.
"What did you do this time?" The hero asked.
The concern in All Might's voice surprised Izuku.
"... I--"
"All Might, we'll ask questions later," Recovery Girl interrupted Izuku, then handed the boy a cup that seemed to have some sort of herbal tea in it.
"Drink this," she said, "It'll help you feel a bit better."
Izuku obeyed and took a large sip from the cup. The warm tea seemed to relieve some of the headache pain.
"You have a headache, right?" Recovery Girl stated rather than asked, "My quirk helped you relieve the worst of it, but as you know, it doesn't work as well as healing physical injuries. It'll go away soon, though. It's not a big problem."
Izuku nodded, the movement of his head shaking up another wave of pain, but not as bad as when he just woke up.
"But," her voice suddenly grew ten times as serious, "your headache was an after effect of something much more problematic."
"What do you mean, ma'am?"
"You came in here with no physical injuries apart from some minor scrapes. Your blood sugar is fine, you're hydrated, and you had no other problems that would've caused you to pass out for such a long time. With my quirk, I could've also aided your body to return to normal in less than a couple of minutes."
"How long was I out?"
"Twenty minutes." All Might replied, "Bakugo's round with Tokoyami ended ten minutes ago. The short break before the final round was supposed to end around now, but because of your situation, the final round is being delayed for another fifteen minutes. If you don't recover before then, you will be disqualified."
"You were supposed to be disqualified right now, but because you had no physical injuries I managed to persuade them to wait a while longer," Recovery Girl snorted.
"Thanks--"
"Don't you thank me!" She suddenly snapped, surprising Izuku, "Please consider the severity of this situation. As you know, my quirk boosts your body's own self healing ability to recover your wounds, but it barely worked on you this time. That means that your body struggled to heal this injury itself, which means that you were messing with..."
"... My nervous system." Izuku finished the thought. Neurons were typically the hardest to repair.
"... What happened?" All Might asked, his tone softer this time.
Izuku took a deep breath, then explained his new discovery. He told them how he was able to harness the power of his quirk to directly strengthen his sensory input and heighten his reaction.
"That's impossible," All Might shook his head, "I specifically tried that before when I was younger, and it didn't work."
"Ever since I started training the core of One For All, and especially after I awakened Blackwhip earlier today, my control over the quirk has changed dramatically," Izuku explained.
"And look what you did because of it? You nearly fried your brain!" Recovery Girl huffed.
Izuku gulped down the rest of his tea, "But now I would know what to do when facing even faster villains--"
"No." Recovery Girl said with finality, "you may never use this technique ever again. You're fine now, but it's only because you used it for a short moment today. Who knows what will happen if you use it for even a second longer? The consequences would be detrimental."
Izuku wanted to object but stayed silent. He was frustrated: something that should've made him stronger could've killed him in the process.
"...I'm sorry," was all Izuku could manage.
Recovery Girl seemed genuinely angry this time, and Izuku felt bad for worrying her and All Might like this.
All Might sighed. "Young Midoriya, your desire to get stronger and willingness to do whatever it takes is what makes you a great hero. But don't let that be your downfall. People in the future are counting on you."
"I'll never harm myself in this manner again," Izuku promised, and he meant it. He raised his gaze to All Might, realizing his headache was much better now. "Just like when you trained me for the entrance exam, the only way to get stronger is by doing it one step at a time."
All Might nodded, then peeked at the clock on the wall. Izuku peeked at it too, then tried not to stare at Recover Girl.
"All right, I know that expression," Recovery Girl sighed exasperatedly, "you still want to go to that final round, right?"
"...If I'm allowed to. I'm feeling a lot better now." Izuku did in fact feel recuperated, but he didn't want the healer to think that he would be off killing himself again.
"You may go."
"Really?!"
"Go, shoo!" Recovery Girl waved her hand toward the door, "And please, please, please do not come back in here."