After Aizawa-sensei dismissed class, they all had to sit down and do their normal academic lessons. This was usually quite easy to do but after the news of the U.A Sports Festival, everyone seemed like he or she were hyperactive or something. Even the lethargic Hayato was full of energy and excited by the end of the lesson.

After the lesson, everyone was speaking about the Sports Festival. "Tagami, you'll probably do pretty well in the festival, you have a quirk that can help you in so many ways!" Kendo spoke with an envious look in her eye. Hayato looked at her with a questioning glance "What do you mean? You can do the same things I can but with your arms. You're plenty powerful and versatile." Hayato answered her with a bright smile on his face, as he tried to reassure her.

Kendo heard what Hayato said and her discontented look dissipated quite a bit but she knew she had a while to go before she could be compared to Hayato. Just thinking about how strong he was in the fight against the Nomu made her feel like he was already a hero.

Hayato could see that she was still discontent, even after his reassuring words but he couldn't do anything further, other than be there for her. "Well, Kendo, if you ever want to train with me, just message me, you have my number." Hayato spoke with a gentle voice and winked at Kendo teasingly.

Seeing him wink at her, Kendo went a little red and turned her head away from him. As if to her rescue, Toga came out of nowhere and started talking to her.

Hayato didn't butt in and decided to go over to Izuku. When he got there, Uraraka was speaking.

"I'm gonna do my best and win this festival!" Uraraka's usual laid-back voice was full of passion and fervor. Hayato was a bit at a loss when he got near Izuku and saw her doing this. He understood that she was probably excited but, she was really going for it with her yelling.

To her yell, everyone near Hayato and Izuku lifted their hands up, while Hayato barely lifted his hand up, and cheered her on.

She turned to another group and did the same thing but they had the same reaction as Hayato; They were just wondering what was going on with her.

After she said it a few more times, Uraraka seemed to calm down and she, Izuku, Iida, and Hayato went to go get some lunch. On the way, Izuku asked her why he wanted to be a hero. Hearing his question, Uraraka got quite embarrassed.

She answered in the end after Izuku and Hayato kept bugging her for her reason. But her reason shocked Izuku quite a bit.

"For the money?! You want to become a Hero to get rich?" Izuku's voice cracked as he spoke, he was incredibly surprised by Uraraka's answer. Hearing him speak, she kept rapidly scratching the back of her head in an embarrassed and nervous manner.

"I'm sorry if it sounds greedy!..." Uraraka waved her hand in front of her face as she spoke in a rapid way, probably because of embarrassment. "You three have such noble reasons for wanting to become heroes...Wait, Tagami-kun, what's your reason?" Uraraka's sentence started off rushed and spoken in an anxious voice but it soon changed to a slow, questioning voice as she looked at Hayato.

"I was gonna say, I haven't told you my reason yet." Hayato laughed as he smiled teasingly at Uraraka. Hayato looked at Izuku and spoke "When we were kids, I got my quirk and along with my strong body, I was already the strongest kid in the area. But Izuku was a late bloomer, he didn't awaken his quirk until a long time later and for that, he was rigorously bullied." Izuku looked at Hayato with a wry smile and Hayato put his hand on Izuku's shoulder as he looked at Uraraka.

"At that point, I realized an unfair truth; Everyone's born differently. Some are weaker, some are more powerful. It's my personal belief that those with power should look after those who are weaker than themselves. That's why I fought that Nomu, it's why I put myself in front of that Giant Robot in the entrance exam." Hayato's face had a bright and big smile plastered over it "That's why I want to be a hero. I want to be someone who fights for the little guy, you know? Nothing more, nothing less. It's why I and Izuku are such good friends!" Hayato at this moment, with his boisterous voice and bright smile, seemed to exude an aura of heroism.

He seemed just like All Might.

Uraraka, Izuku, and Iida looked at Hayato with admiration in their eyes because they could feel that Hayato was being sincere; that really was the reason why.

"Wow...now I seem like a really greedy person...Please don't think less of me for it!" Uraraka pleaded as she put her hands on her face in shame. Iida stepped forward "Nonsense, you wish to support your wellbeing, it's as admirable as any reason to become a hero!" Iida spoke with passion and enthusiasm as he tried to reassure Uraraka.

"Well...you see, my family own a construction but we haven't got any work lately so...we're flat broke..." Uraraka spoke in a downtrodden voice as she fidgeted about with her hair.

"Ah! If she used her quirk she could bring down costs, quite a lot!" Izuku spoke in an animated voice as he figured out what she meant. Iida quickly spoke up in agreement "Yeah, and she could float everything, so the company could sell all their heavy lifting equipment!" at what both of them said, Hayato nodded his head in agreement.

Uraraka spoke in an energetic voice as she heard how they understood what she meant "I know, right?! I've been telling my dad that since I was a kid, but..." her voice slowly lost it's liveliness as she explained how her Dad would rather have her follow her own dreams instead of slaving away at the construction company just for him and her mother.

Hayato saw her clench her fist tightly as she spoke with determination. "I'm going to become a pro. I'll sign with a good agency and make plenty of money. Then my parents can live however they want!" Uraraka looked up at the trio of boys with her and they saw the determination and resolve in her eyes.

Iida started clapping in a very over the top way as Izuku stood there, shocked at how determined she was. Hayato, however, went up to her and put his arm around her shoulder as he looked off into the distance. "You're just like me, always fighting for the people who need it!" He didn't realize he was being overly-friendly but Uraraka didn't mind and laughed at how silly Hayato looked, doing what he was.

"Ha HAHAHAHAHA!" They all heard a booming laugh from behind them and all turned to see whom it came from.

All Might was running towards them as he shouted "Young Midoriya, is here!" he said this as he pointed at Izuku. He looked around the group and saw Hayato. "And Young Tagami is also here!" he was now pointing at both of them while smiling like some kind of idiot.

"What are you doing here, old man?" Seeing All Might's antics, Hayato asked him with a deadpan expression. The others seemed surprised that he spoke to All Might like that, but the man himself didn't mind as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bento box "Lunch..do you two want to eat with me?"

Hayato shrugged his shoulder and said goodbye to Iida and Uraraka, as he and Izuku walked over to All Might. "You better have enough food..." was all Hayato said to All Might as he was walking over.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

When they were in the teachers' lounge, All Might went from his Muscle form to his skinny, haggard looking form. He then broke the news to Izuku and Hayato.

"Wait, what? You can only stay in your Hero mode for 50 minutes!?" Izuku's voice was filled with regret and despair. "Yeah...that's about as long as I can use my power now." All Might seemed quite nonchalant about what he was saying but he did sound quite worn out as well as if him losing his ability to use his power was slowly grinding away his optimism.

"I overdid it too many times. As you might understand, Tagami, that Nomu was one hell of an opponent." Hearing what All Might said, Hayato nodded his head with a grave expression as he remembered that fight and how he was almost completely destroyed by the Nomu.

Izuku looked incredibly solemn when he said "I'm...I'm so sorry All Might, I should have--" He did sound solemn anyway until All Might started laughing as he was spitting out blood. Izuku and Hayato looked at All Might with shocked and confused faces. Hayato mainly wanted to figure out how a man could throw up blood and laugh at the same time; It kinda seemed like an okay party trick.

As he stopped laughing and bleeding, he spoke "You don't need to apologize for anything! Man...we really are similar. Here, you two, have some tea." He passed Izuku and Hayato some tea as he carried on speaking.

"I brought you both here to talk about the festival." All Might put on a serious face when he spoke about this.

He looked at Izuku "Midoriya, your problem is that you can't control your power yet." he turned his head to Hayato "Tagami, you have the same problem, you usually go for your max power straight away. You need to learn how to tone it down a bit." All Might learned forward as he carried on "So, what are you both planning to do?"

Hayato was eating, so he nodded towards Izuku so he'd go first. He explained that he was gonna try imagining that he was gonna hit someone, to see if he subconsciously put the limit on his power so he doesn't kill someone.

When he heard this, All Might said that he should do this and some more physical training to get ready.

By this time, Hayato had finished most of the food, so he drank the tea and spoke to All Might about his training plans.

"Well, after that fight with the Nomu, and another horn appearing out of my head, I feel like the control of my body and its strength is increasing by leaps and bounds. After 2 weeks of intense training, I should start to get my power under wraps." All Might seemed interested in Hayato's increase in control after he got 5 horns but decided to leave it for another day.

After this, All Might spoke some more to Izuku about how he was coming to his end as the Symbol of Peace and that's why he picked Izuku; so he could become the next Symbol of Peace.

"Do you still want to be a hero, like you said before, Midoriya?"

"Yes!" Izuku answered All Might's question with resolve burning in his eyes.

Seeing this, All Might nodded his head, satisfied with Izuku's answer. He carried on speaking after nodding "Excellent. Now, it's time for you to prove it. This Sports Festival, it's something that the pro's, no, the entire country will be watching very closely. Both of you, I see the both of you as personal students of mine." Hayato was caught off guard by what All Might said, he always thought that All Might saw Izuku as his only personal student.

All Might carried on with his speech "I want you both to think of this Sports Festival as your debut. You're both fledgling Symbols of Peace, the next All Mights!" All Might's passion and fervor put out an invisible pressure that threatened to crush both Hayato and Izuku.

"Midoriya Izuku, Tagami Hayato, I want you to introduce yourselves to the world" All Might's tone of voice went beyond his usual levels of boisterous as he carried on speaking "And proudly say 'I AM HERE' !"

Silence pervaded the room after All Might spoke.

Hayato was shocked that All Might held him that close to his heart, at the same level as the successor of his quirk, One for All. Izuku was shocked for other reason, like how he didn't think he was ready for that yet and how he was nervous about All Might throwing all this responsibility onto him.

"You both know how the Sports Festival is set up, right?" All Might spoke after a sigh, as he looked at the two shocked teenagers.

Izuku quickly responded to the question "Students are separated by class year and then the Support, Management, General and Hero classes are all thrown into one big tournament and fight against each other in a bunch of preliminary trials, whoever makes it through the initial games will face off against each other in the finals." As Izuku exited his information reciting mode, All Might pointed at him and Hayato and spoke.

"Right! Then you'll have plenty of time to sell yourselves as the next big heroes!"

Hayato nodded his head with a resolute expression, while Izuku meekly nodded.

"Some heroes always aim for the top, while some are content with staying where they are." All Might looked both of them in the eye as he carried on "The difference between those mindsets has a big difference on how far you go in the real world as a hero."

After this, Hayato and Izuku left to go back to class. Both of them were distracted all the way through the lesson, Hayato was even called by the teacher Midnight twice but he didn't answer as he was too far into his own world.

After the lesson, Hayato opened the classroom door and saw a crowd of people.

Most of the people flinched backward seeing Hayato's 6"5 tall, muscular figure. His horns and sharp red eyes didn't help either. If anyone looked like a Demon King, it would be Hayato, even though those who were close to him knew that he was a pretty nice guy.

These people at the door didn't know him though, so they saw him as some kind of fledgling villain. Others noticed him as the one who fought the smaller Nomu and that's why they flinched. But they also remembered that he did it to protect his classmates.

"I'm gonna be frank with you all. I'm not gonna hold back in the Sports Festival." Hayato's mild voice quietened the students as they all looked at him with angry expressions.

"Calm down. I don't mean that I'm doing it to make you guys feel weak or to prove that I'm better. I'm going to be doing it because I'm gonna be treating you all as my equals. So get as strong as you can in two weeks!" Hayato's mild voice was replaced with a wild fervor as he thought about battling new kinds of quirks. It would all make him stronger and in the end, that's what Hayato wanted; To be stronger and be able to protect more people.

The crowd realized that they'd judged Hayato wrongly and their angry expressions disappeared.

"Well, seems like class 1-A has at least one sensible student." a tired voice, similar to Aizawa-sensei's, came from the back of the crowd. The crowd parted slightly and out came a tall boy with purple hair and purple eyes. He had black circles around his eyes, most likely from a lack of sleep.

"What's your name, big guy? I'm Shinso Hitoshi." He looked up at Hayato's face and saw the blood red eyes staring right back at him.

"I know who you are, Shinso-san. I'm Tagami Hayato, it's good to meet you." Hayato put his hand out to shake Shinso's hand. Shinso accepted the handshake as he spoke again.

"If you know who I am, why did you answer me?" Shinso spoke with an expression that was a mix of disdain and amusement.

"Because why would you use your quirk on me now? I know you're not a bad guy, so I won't judge you based on your quirk." Hayato calmly smiled at Shinso. Shinso seemed taken aback by Hayato's answer because it was the first time anyone had ever said anything like that to him.

"Hmm. I'll take you up on that full powered fight, later on, see ya." Saying that Shinso turned around and walked off.

'See, I knew he wasn't such a bad guy. Just gotta remember to not answer his questions during the festival.'

Everyone in class 1-A looked at Hayato in a new light, they thought he only knew how to fight but he'd proven to be quite socially intelligent just now. They had a higher image of him in their minds now.

Hayato went to walk out when he felt someone latch onto him.

"Tagami~ Train with me~" Hayato heard Toga's sweet, pleading voice as his eye started twitching. Before he could answer, he heard a loud huff of displeasure as he felt someone trying to drag Toga off of his back, someone who would be his hero. "Toga! Get off of Tagami's back! I won't allow anyone else on his back but me!" Kendo's voice seethed with irritation as she ripped Toga off of Hayato's bag with her massive hands.

'Oi. Who said you could go on my back, huh?'

Was all Hayato could think as he looked at Kendo scolding the teary-eyed Toga.

'Training is gonna be hard to do, isn't it?'

After saying this he ran away after jumping over the crowd outside the door. He ignored the yelling from Kendo and Toga near the door as he ran.