Chương 35: Opening Ceremony

The morning of the Sports Festival began with three alarms. Ren Akiyama woke before the first one. That was not unusual. The body often woke before things it feared. It had done so before exams, medical appointments, entrance gates, USJ, and the first day back after the attack. Fear was efficient when it came to timing.

It did not care whether sleep had been adequate, whether Recovery Girl had written rest in angry red pen on his latest clearance form, or whether Hana had placed his phone across the room specifically to prevent immediate notebook access after waking. Fear opened his eyes at 5: 17. The first alarm was set for 5: 30. He lay still. That was newer. Not natural. Learned. His ribs no longer hurt unless he breathed too deeply, twisted too quickly, carried too much, or forgot himself.

The forearm laceration had closed enough to reduce the bandage to a thin protective wrap under his uniform sleeve. The old burn scar stayed quiet, though quiet had become less reassuring as the Sports Festival approached. The body did not always warn before changing the rules. He breathed in for three. Held for one. Out for four. No dizziness. No scar heat. No fragment overlap. Present orientation intact. Room. Bed. Morning. Sports Festival day. Not USJ. Not ice. Not crowd yet. The word yet was unhelpful.

He ignored it. The first alarm rang. Ren turned it off after standing slowly, not because standing slowly felt necessary, but because too many adults had become difficult and because he had no intention of losing Sports Festival participation to something as humiliating as morning posture. The second alarm rang three minutes later. Recovery protocol. He turned that off too. The third alarm rang from outside his room. Hana.

"Ren?"

"I'm awake""Pain level?"

"Ribs two at rest. Arm one. Shoulder one. Scar quiet. No dizziness. Sleep six hours broken" There was a pause outside the door. Then"Nightmares?"

"Yes. Mild. Stadium and USJ overlap. Resolved without notebook" Another pause. Longer.

"Good" The word came through the door softer than usual. He stared at the handle.

"I dislike that this is impressive""I know""Still true?"

"Yes""Annoying""Yes" She did not enter until he opened the door himself. That was part of the current rules. Privacy where possible. Supervision where necessary. A perimeter with doors. Hana stood in the hallway already dressed, hair tied back, face calm in the way that meant she had been awake long before him. Daichi stood behind her with two printed sheets, a small bag, and the expression of a man who had turned worry into logistical infrastructure. Ren looked at the sheets.

"No" Daichi lifted one.

"Participation checklist""I know the checklist" Hana lifted the small bag.

"Food checklist""I am aware food exists" Daichi lifted the second sheet.

"Emergency communication plan" Ren closed his eyes.

"I am also aware emergencies exist" Hana's voice sharpened.

"Ren" He opened his eyes. She did not look amused. Not today.

"Let us be parents badly if that's what today requires. This is not an ordinary morning" The argument died before reaching his tongue. He looked at the sheets. Then at the bag. Then at both of them.

"Understood" Daichi's shoulders lowered slightly.

"Thank you" That made Ren feel worse than losing the argument would have. They moved to the kitchen. Breakfast was already arranged. Rice, egg, miso soup, fruit, water, recovery snack for later, backup snack for later than later, and a protein drink Ren had not agreed to but would probably consume because refusing would create a discussion longer than drinking. The table also held his three decision cards. Green. Yellow. Red. Hana had laminated them. Ren picked up the red card.

"You laminated my failure conditions" Daichi sat across from him.

"We laminated your stopping conditions""That is worse""It survives sweat""It should not need to survive sweat" Hana placed chopsticks beside him.

"Eat" He ate. Dinner came first. Breakfast apparently did too. Daichi reviewed the plan while Ren consumed food under observation.

"Medical clearance remains conditional. You report to U. A. medical before and after participation. If symptoms move to yellow, you report. If red, you stop. If a faculty member, referee, medical staff, or authorized parent instructs you to stop, you stop" Ren nodded.

"Yes""No independent Quirk testing""Yes""No interpreting sudden pain as opportunity" Ren looked up.

"That wording is aggressive" Hana said "Necessary""Yes" Daichi continued.

"No making yourself more visible by accepting unnecessary damage""Yes""No turning Todoroki into destiny" Ren froze. Hana looked at Daichi. Daichi looked back.

"What?" Ren set down his chopsticks.

"That was not on the official list" Daichi's expression softened.

"No" Hana's hand moved toward Ren's, then stopped before touching.

"He is already in your eyes when people say Sports Festival" Ren looked away. Too visible. Again.

"It is only a fragment cluster" Hana said "Only is doing too much work there" He had no efficient response. Daichi folded the checklist.

"Then he belongs on the home list" Ren breathed in. Out.

"Todoroki is not the goal" Hana waited. Ren continued.

"Advancement if safe. Evaluation if advancement is impossible. Judgment preserved. No accepting damage to force recognition" Daichi nodded.

"Good" Ren looked at him.

"Your relief is poorly hidden""I am your father. Poor hiding is permitted" Hana finally touched Ren's hand.

"Be seen. Do not be spent" The sentence had become their final rule. Not official. Therefore harder to evade. Ren nodded. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Yes" His phone buzzed. Shinso. Alive? Ren typed: Alive. Green. A reply came fast. Unfortunately alive. Also green. Hostage negotiator sent breakfast threat. Ren looked at Hana. She looked innocent. Impossible. He typed: Did you eat? Shinso: Yes. Ren: Specific. Shinso: Rice ball and tea. Happy? Ren: Acceptable. Shinso: She infected you beyond repair. Ren almost smiled. A second message arrived. If there is one seat. Ren typed: We continue. Shinso: That wasn't the line. Ren: I know. A pause. Then: Good.

Ren put the phone away. Hana pretended not to have read over his shoulder. Daichi did not pretend well. They left the apartment at 6: 28. The city was already awake in the way cities became awake for public spectacle. Train stations carried more students than usual. Screens showed U. A. Sports Festival graphics between morning news segments. People in suits checked phones with event feeds open. Children with U. A.

merchandise walked with parents, some excited, some too young to understand why the adults looked relieved and frightened at the same time. The car moved slowly through security reroutes near U. A. Daichi had planned two alternate routes. Of course. Media presence intensified as they approached the campus perimeter. Vans. Cameras. Police. Barricades. Hero agency representatives. Vendors outside permitted zones. Public attention made physical shapes.

It occupied pavement, controlled doors, redirected traffic, and turned every arriving student into potential footage. Ren sat in the back seat and watched the walls of U. A. rise ahead. The gate was no longer only fear-trained. It was performance-trained. Banners hung from reinforced points. Welcome to the U. A. Sports Festival. Plus Ultra. Security personnel stood behind smiling volunteers. Professional warmth layered over tactical watchfulness. Parents entered through separate lines. Students through another.

Staff through a third. Everyone was guided, checked, scanned, reassured, and moved along. Public reassurance. Private cost. Ren's scar remained quiet. Good. Maybe. At student drop-off, Hana turned toward him before he opened the door. For a moment, she looked like she wanted to say too much. Instead, she said "Food""In bag""Water""In bag""Cards""In pocket""Phone""Charged""Pain""Two""Fear" Ren paused. Daichi looked at him in the mirror. Ren answered.

"Present. Manageable" Hana's eyes softened.

"Good" He opened the door. Daichi said "Ren" He stopped. Daichi did not smile.

"Your years were not useless before today" The sentence struck harder than it should have. Ren's hand tightened on the door. Daichi continued.

"Do not make today carry all of them" No. That was too direct. Too accurate. Too father. Ren looked away. Then nodded once.

"I will try" Hana said "Demonstrate understanding" Ren almost laughed. Almost.

"Yes" He stepped out. The door closed behind him. Security accepted him. U. A. received him. The Sports Festival began swallowing everyone. Inside the student preparation wing, controlled chaos wore uniforms. Support staff checked equipment. Medical teams verified names. Students from all departments moved through assigned corridors. Hero Course students had designated rooms. General Studies shared a larger staging hall with Business and Support candidates before department grouping.

Signs directed movement with bright arrows and calm language that failed to hide the fact that hundreds of children were being arranged for national broadcast. Ren found Shinso near the wall beneath a sign reading FIRST-YEAR PARTICIPANTS — STAGING B. Shinso looked like he had slept badly and resented light. Therefore normal. His hair was worse than usual. Therefore perhaps worse than normal. Ren stopped beside him.

"Status" Shinso did not look over.

"Green. Tired. Fed. Annoyed. No unethical urges beyond baseline""Specific and useful""I hate what we've become""Functional?"

"Unfortunately" Kenta arrived next, rolling his shoulders.

"Tell me I look intimidating" Sano limped behind him.

"You look like someone who asked to be told he looks intimidating" Kenta looked wounded. Arai arrived with soft dampeners at the base of her horns and a small sensory kit clipped to her belt. Nana and Reina came together. Fujimura held a sketchbook like a shield. Yabara had drawn teeth on the corner of his participation badge before a staff member noticed and made him replace it. Kurose arrived last. Or rather, she arrived at exactly the time that made everyone else feel late.

She wore a formal faculty jacket and carried a tablet, two folders, and the expression of someone prepared to dismantle any student who confused adrenaline with destiny.

"Status line" The 1-C cluster straightened almost involuntarily. Kenta said "Green. Shoulder stiff. Angry but productive" Sano said "Green-yellow. Knee annoying. Excited. I hate that" Arai said "Green. Noise controlled with dampeners. Yellow if crowd volume spikes without warning" Nana said "Yellow. Scared. Still participating" Reina said "Green but nervous. Staying with Nana until lineup" Fujimura said "Green. Light okay. Headache risk if screens flash" Yabara said "Green.

Existentially offended by event branding" Kurose nodded.

"Accepted" She looked at Shinso. He sighed.

"Green. Fed. Tired. No plans to emotionally punish strangers for fearing my Quirk" Kurose's mouth almost moved.

"Excellent specificity" Shinso looked personally betrayed by praise. Kurose looked at Ren.

"Green. Ribs two, arm one, shoulder one, scar quiet. Fear present, manageable. Todoroki not goal. Visibility not survival. Stop conditions present" Kurose held his gaze. Then nodded.

"Good" The word did not feel like reward. It felt like entry. She turned to the group.

"Listen carefully. Once you enter the stadium, everything around you will encourage you to mistake being watched for being understood. Do not. The crowd does not know you. The cameras do not know you. Present Mic's commentary does not know you. Applause does not certify you. Silence does not erase you" Ren felt the words settle around them. Kurose continued.

"Your task is not to become the story the audience understands fastest. Your task is to act with enough judgment that faculty has to evaluate you honestly afterward" Kenta's jaw tightened. Arai lowered her shoulders. Nana breathed in slowly. Shinso looked at the floor. Ren looked at the stadium corridor ahead. Kurose's voice lowered.

"For some of you, participating today is courage. For some, stopping will be courage. If I have to remind you which one applies, you will listen" Sano muttered "Terrifying pep talk""Yes. Now go" They moved. The corridor toward the stadium widened gradually, as if the building itself were preparing them for exposure by degrees. Sound grew before sight. Crowd noise at first like weather behind walls, then like ocean, then like a living thing with thousands of throats. The floor vibrated faintly beneath Ren's shoes.

Not danger. Infrastructure. Sound systems. Foot traffic. Applause testing itself. Arai's face went pale. Kenta stepped slightly to her left without making a show of it, blocking part of the visual rush from the open entrance ahead. Good. Shinso glanced at Ren. Ren answered before he asked.

"Yellow risk. Not yellow yet" Shinso nodded.

"Same""For what?"

"People""Broad""Accurate" They reached the tunnel entrance. Light spilled in. The stadium opened beyond it. Ren had seen it in footage. Footage had lied by being too small. The U. A. Sports Festival stadium was not simply large. It was designed to create impact before competition began. Tiered seating climbed in every direction, packed with spectators under banners, screens, flags, agency sections, family areas, media booths, reinforced barriers, and camera rigs.

The arena floor stretched below bright enough to seem unreal. Giant monitors displayed the U. A. emblem. Drones moved along restricted paths. Staff and security were everywhere and somehow invisible beneath spectacle. The crowd roared for a department entering before them. Ren's body reacted. Breath tightened. Ribs answered. Not severe. Yellow edge. Present orientation. Stadium. Sports Festival. Not USJ. Not attack. Crowd noise. Public event. Security visible. Exits controlled. The scar stayed quiet.

He touched the green card in his pocket without taking it out. Shinso said "You good?" Ren looked at him.

"Green with yellow border""That is a terrible color""Accurate" Shinso's mouth twitched.

"Same" The staging official signaled. Class 1-C moved into the light. The crowd did not roar for them the way it had for Hero Course. That was expected. It still landed. Noise dipped, shifted, searched for context. Some spectators clapped politely. Others looked at programs. The giant screen labeled them. GENERAL STUDIES — CLASS 1-C Ren felt the words magnified. Not Hero Course. Not main story. Not invisible either. Cameras moved across faces. The screen caught Kenta first, then Arai with dampeners, then Shinso.

The crowd reacted slightly. Not loudly. A ripple. Recognition from rumor? From internal broadcast notes? From USJ leaks? From the strange magnetism of a boy whose Quirk unsettled people even before he used it? Shinso's face did not change. His hands in his pockets did. One thumb pressed hard against fabric. Ren saw. Then the camera found Ren. For one impossible moment, his own face appeared above the stadium, larger than any mirror had a right to make him. Healing cut. Controlled eyes. General Studies uniform.

Not enough bandage visible to explain him. Not enough context to protect him. The crowd reaction changed. A murmur. Ren did not know what story they saw. Quirkless applicant? USJ survivor? General Studies oddity? Transfer candidate? Injured boy trying too soon? Nobody with good posture? Something for commentary to fill? His ribs tightened. He breathed. In for three. Hold. Out for four. Do not become the story the audience understands fastest. Act so faculty must evaluate honestly afterward.

He looked away from the screen. That helped. They crossed to their assigned formation area on the arena floor. Other first-years filled spaces around them by department. Support Course students carrying permitted gear. Business Course students already scanning agency boxes. General Studies clusters from different classes. Hero Course 1-A and 1-B entering to the largest noise by far. The stadium changed when 1-A appeared. The crowd recognized them. Of course it did. USJ had made recognition sharper.

The broadcast screens cut to them longer than others. Izuku entered between Iida and Uraraka, posture careful, hands intact, eyes wide but less overwhelmed than Ren expected. Bakugo walked like the applause was an insult he intended to defeat. Todoroki entered quietly beside no one, and somehow the crowd made space around his silence. Ren's vision narrowed for one second. Ice. Arena. Cold. Recognition. Scar heat. No heat. He named present. Stadium. Opening ceremony. Todoroki across formation. Not match. Not yet.

Shinso shifted beside him.

"Yellow?" Ren answered quietly.

"Yellow. Controlled""Report later?"

"Yes""Good""You too" Shinso frowned.

"What?"

"You looked at Midoriya" Shinso's frown deepened.

"So?"

"Yellow?" He looked toward Izuku. Then away.

"Green. Annoyed""That is baseline""Exactly" The students finished forming rows. Present Mic's voice exploded through the stadium.

"WELCOME, EVERYBODY, TO THE U. A. SPORTS FESTIVAL!" The crowd answered with enough force that Arai flinched visibly. Kenta's hand moved, not touching, just near enough that she could orient. Present Mic continued, voice turned into electricity by speakers and expectation.

"After everything that happened, after the attack that shook the nation, U. A. is here! The students are here! And let me hear you if you're ready to see the next generation go beyond!" The roar was enormous. Ren hated how effective it was. His own pulse rose. Not fear only. Something else. Want. The shameful, undeniable want to stand inside that noise and make it mean his name. He pressed his fingers against the green card. Visibility is not survival. Being seen cannot mean being spent.

Present Mic's commentary rolled on, naming departments, praising resilience, hyping the first-years, turning institutional pressure into rhythm. Then the official speeches began. A senior staff representative welcomed the audience. A Hero Public Safety Commission delegate said careful things about courage, safety, and public trust. Nezu appeared on the main screen rather than the stage. Of course. The crowd quieted more than Ren expected. Nezu smiled.

"Thank you all for attending" His voice reached the stadium with surgical softness. The principal spoke of education, vigilance, fear, preparation, students as students rather than symbols, and the school's duty not merely to display strength but to cultivate judgment. It was a beautiful speech. Dangerously beautiful. It contained enough truth to make the framing stronger. Ren wondered how many lines Kurose and Recovery Girl had forced into it. Then came the student oath. A first-year representative had to speak.

In previous years, it was often the student with the highest entrance score. This year, the stadium screen showed Katsuki Bakugo walking toward the stage. The reaction was immediate. 1-A shifted. Izuku's face changed in predictable alarm. Uraraka whispered something Ren could not hear. Iida looked like he had been asked to supervise a bomb with a microphone. Shinso leaned slightly toward Ren.

"This should be educational" Ren said "Catastrophic""Same hallway sometimes" Bakugo reached the microphone. He looked out at the crowd with his hands in his pockets, posture arrogant enough to seem armored. The stadium waited, hungry for inspiration. Bakugo leaned toward the microphone.

"I'm gonna win" Silence. Then noise. Not applause exactly. Shock, laughter, boos, cheers, outrage, delight, commentary exploding from Present Mic's booth before even Present Mic could fully decide whether to intervene. Ren closed his eyes briefly.

"Efficiently divisive" Shinso said "I respect the lack of decoration" Kenta whispered "He's insane" Sano said "Hero Course confidence is another species" Izuku looked mortified and resigned from across the formation. Todoroki looked unchanged. Bakugo stepped away from the microphone like he had completed a civic duty. The first-years erupted as he returned, especially 1-B. Voices rose.

"Who does he think he is?"

"Typical 1-A""Arrogant jerk" Bakugo ignored all of them with the selective attention of a professional disaster. Then his eyes found Ren. For one second, across the formation, through the noise, Bakugo's grin sharpened. Not friendly. Not dismissive either. Challenge. Ren did not react. Much. Shinso noticed.

"You've been invited to explode""I decline""Can you?"

"We will see" The next portion of ceremony moved faster. Rules would be explained at the start of each event. Medical exits were marked. Emergency stop signals introduced. Security protocols mentioned in sanitized language. Students were reminded that force beyond event parameters could result in disqualification. The audience cheered every phrase it recognized and ignored most of the ones that mattered. Ren listened to all of them. Force beyond parameters. Disqualification. Medical exits. Emergency stop.

Ring staff. Camera blind spots? No. Stop. Not now. A drumroll began. The first event reveal approached. Ren felt the entire student body sharpen. Even students pretending otherwise. The giant central screen flickered. Present Mic's voice dropped into theatrical suspense.

"And now! For our first-year opening event!" The screen flashed through possibilities from previous years. Obstacle courses. Capture zones. Survival mazes. Urban terrain. Mechanical hazards. Ren did not breathe too deeply. His ribs appreciated restraint. Shinso's hands came out of his pockets. Arai adjusted her dampeners. Kenta rolled his neck once. Sano's knee bounced. Izuku's eyes widened. Bakugo grinned.

Todoroki looked toward the screen as if the event owed him nothing and would receive nothing more than necessary. The screen stopped. Mass Start Obstacle Race. The stadium erupted. Present Mic shouted over it.

"All first-year participants! A full-stadium course built across U. A.' s outer arena route! Anything goes as long as you stay on course! Top finishers advance to the second event!" Ren's mind opened. Then stopped itself. Principles. Not full plan. Mass start. Crowd crush risk. Visibility load. Early lead target. Terrain unknown. Top finishers advance. Advancement, not victory. Medical status green with yellow border. No unnecessary damage. No running?

He had been cleared for competition-specific exertion within stop conditions after final medical approval that morning, but sprinting outside event had remained prohibited. In-event running permitted unless pain escalated. He had the clearance. He had the condition. The gate to the starting tunnel opened at the far end of the stadium. Students began moving toward it. Noise became physical. Ren took one step. Then another. Shinso walked beside him.

"If you collapse, I'm telling your mother""If you use Brainwashing unethically, I'm telling Kurose""Low blow""Accurate" Kenta appeared on Ren's other side.

"If both of you start having a tragic rivalry moment in the first event, I'm stepping on you" Sano said from behind them "Careful. Medical restrictions" Arai said "Noise rising" Ren said "Present orientation" She nodded.

"Stadium. First event. Crowd. Not danger""Good" Shinso groaned.

"It's everywhere" They entered the starting tunnel with hundreds of students. The space compressed immediately. Bodies gathered. Quirks hummed, glowed, steamed, crackled, stretched, hardened, sparked, and shifted in countless small preparatory movements. The air smelled of fabric, metal, nervous sweat, and ozone from someone's electrical discharge three rows ahead. Ren placed himself slightly off-center. Not front. Not back. Near enough to see the gate. Far enough from obvious leaders. Shinso noticed.

"Controlled mediocrity?"

"Temporary resource positioning""You are allergic to short phrases""You weaponize them poorly" The crowd sound dulled inside the tunnel, becoming a roar behind concrete and amplification. The starting gate ahead remained closed. Red lights lined the top. Izuku was somewhere ahead-left. Bakugo near the front. Todoroki near the front but not fighting for space. Iida tense like an engine waiting for permission. Uraraka lighter on her feet than most. Shinso beside him. Kenta behind. Arai farther back, safer from crush.

Sano somewhere muttering about knees and destiny. Ren touched the green card once through his pocket. Then let it go. The event had not begun. The test had. Present Mic's voice boomed.

"FIRST-YEARS! GET READY!" The tunnel tightened. Students leaned forward. Ren did not. Not yet. Early movement revealed expectation. The lights shifted. Red. Red. Red. Yellow. Ren breathed in. No USJ. No ice. No proof. Only course. Only rules. Only one action after another. Green. The final light flashed. The gate opened. And everyone moved.