Hearing the echo of the announcement ring from the room he had just left, Renji walked toward the Freshmen Stage, stopping right before the entrance.
"It's time for my debut." Renji breathed deeply, splaying his hands out next to his sides before he intaked sharply.
The light of the arena hit him all at once as he stepped out onto the massive stage. Thousands of spectators filled the stands, their cheers rising into a deafening wave of excitement.
Renji's eyes calmly swept over the sea of people. He noticed the other classes gathering nearby, General Course students whispering among themselves.
And of course, his own Class was stationed at the front of it all.
—
Bakugo stood with his usual manic grin, Todoroki silent, and Kaminari visibly buzzing with excitement.
Up above, in the staff booth, Nezu sipped his tea as if observing a long running experiment entering its next phase.
No one's shown up… Renji deduced, having checked every nook and cranny within three-hundred meters of the stadium. I'm honestly a little disappointed.
Midnight's amplified voice cut through the noise, the speakers rumbling under her energy. "Welcome, everyone, to the U.A. Sports Festival!"
The crowd roared back, banners waving and lights flashing.
"And to open this year's festival," Midnight continued with a mischievous grin, "we'll be hearing from Class 1-A's representative… Kanzaki Renji!"
The cheers turned to a mix of curiosity and surprise. Some of the other students murmured among themselves, already wondering why he had been chosen.
Renji walked forward, expression blank as he took the microphone. For a moment, he simply stood there, letting the noise fade on its own until the entire stadium quieted.
His voice came out calm and steady, but it carried weight.
"There's this idea that heroes are people born special."
He paused, letting the silence stretch. "That they're chosen, blessed, or… somehow built differently from everyone else."
His eyes flickered briefly toward the camera drones hovering above the field, as though speaking to every screen across the globe.
"But that's a lie."
The crowd stirred faintly.
"Heroes aren't born—they're made. And not just here at U.A., not just in these walls." He continued.
"They're out there. Sitting in the stands. Watching from their homes. The people who get up every day, face something impossible, and do it anyway."
His gaze hardened, scanning the crowd with care, lingering on the smaller gestures. The parent holding a child's hand, the elderly hero watching from afar.
"You don't need powers to be heroic. You don't need a costume, or a stage, or applause. You need courage. The will to stand, again and again, against what's impossible."
His tone dropped slightly, sharper now, as if daring anyone to look away.
"Some of you will stumble. Some of you will fail. That's expected. That's natural. But every time you rise again… every time you choose to face what terrifies you… makes you a hero.
A pause. He leaned slightly forward, hands relaxed at his sides.
"So remember this… I'm watching. I see you. Every effort. Every choice. Every moment that makes you brave."
For a heartbeat, the stadium held its breath. Then, the cheers surged like a deafening wave, shaking the stands.
Midnight, grinning ear to ear, took the mic back. "Now that's how you start a festival! Let's give it up for Class 1-A!"
Renji stepped back from the platform, settling back next to his class.
Behind him, Kirishima pumped his fist. "Bro, that was fire! You gave me chills!"
Bakugo snorted, crackling faint sparks in his palms. "Yeah, yeah. Big words. Let's see if you can back them up."
Renji only smirked, "Don't worry. You'll see."
And with that, the festival began.
—
The crowd was still roaring when Midnight, grinning ear to ear, raised the mic again.
"Alright, alright! Settle down, everyone—let's not burn through our excitement too early!"
The noise gradually died down, the last few cheers echoing off the stadium walls.
Midnight spun dramatically toward the students gathered at the front rows. "Now that our wonderful representative has kicked things off, it's time to get down to business!"
Her tone turned sharp and playful. "The preliminary event for this year's U.A. Sports Festival will be…"
She paused for effect, raising a hand as the crowd leaned forward.
"An Obstacle Race!"
The arena exploded with noise. Students shouted, some with excitement, others with dread.
Midnight smirked, letting the energy build before she continued, "Four kilometers—one full lap around the stadium! Everything you can imagine will be waiting to trip you up along the way!"
Renji's lips twitched into a faint grin, he'd already mapped out the entire course.
Beside him, Kaminari groaned. "Four kilometers?! Are they trying to kill us?"
Kirishima pumped his fist, grin wide. "Sounds awesome! Let's give it our all!"
Bakugo cracked his knuckles, his grin feral. "Finally, something worth my time."
Midnight's voice echoed one last time across the stadium. "Don't hold back, kids, because this is your chance to prove you belong here!"
The students bunched up in a crowd near the exit, which was also the start of the obstacle course. Each student was shivering with either anticipation or nervousness.
At the top of the exit gate were three green lights. They watched as the first light at the top of the exit began to flash faintly before dimming.
Kirishima held his breath in wait, looking for the perfect timing to sprint ahead.
Two
Renji jumped in place, warming up his body for his debut.
One—
"BEGIN!" Midnight yelled into the mic, back arching as she sang the word at the top of her lungs.
The second Midnight's voice cracked through the air, the entire mass of students lunged forward like a flood bursting from a dam.
Bodies crashed against each other, elbows locking, shoes skidding across the ground as everyone fought to push through the narrow stadium gate.
"Move it!" someone shouted.
The doorways were wide, but not wide enough for hundreds of students desperate to prove themselves. Within seconds, the crowd jammed, screams and curses mixing with the thunder of footsteps.
Renji, however, was already gone.
He had bolted the moment the word "begin" started to play on Midnight's lips.
He slipped through the smallest gaps between students with surgical precision, as if he'd memorized every possible path before the race even started.
By the time the first of the crowd even reached halfway, Renji was already clear of it, the sun washing over him as he sprinted into the open course.
Behind him, Todoroki growled, stuck among the chaos. His eyes darted forward, catching a glimpse of Renji's silhouette vanishing ahead.
Damn it.
Without another thought, a wave of frost erupted from his feet, freezing everything in his path. Ice snaked across the ground and walls, trapping dozens of students mid-sprint as he shot past, skating effortlessly over his own creation.
"Hey! Watch it!" Kaminari yelled, narrowly dodging a block of ice that surged up beside him.
A few managed to slip through before the passage completely froze over, all of them breaking free into the open terrain.
Bakugo blasted himself forward with a loud BOOM, grinning wildly as smoke trailed behind him. "Outta my way!"
Kirishima hardened his arms and shoulders, plowing through chunks of shattered ice. "Man, this is nuts!"
Outside the stadium, the path immediately split into open terrain—wide, uneven ground littered with debris, jagged panels, and mechanical limbs half-buried in dirt.
And waiting there, were dozens of villain bots, their glowing sensors snapping toward the first student to emerge.
Smiling happily. Renji continued on his way, completely undettered.
The nearest bot swung a steel arm toward him—but he was already gone. His body slipped past the strike with an effortless sidestep, shoes kicking up dust as he twisted through the chaos like a phantom.
Another bot fired a net, but Renji pivoted low, sliding beneath it before springing off his hands into a smooth flip over a second machine. Metal claws clamped shut where he'd just been.
"Whoa-ho-ho!" Present Mic's voice boomed through the speakers, his tone exploding with excitement. "Would you look at that, folks! Kanzaki Renji from Class 1-A just breezed through the front line!"
Cameras zoomed in, catching flashes of Renji weaving between machines with inhuman precision. Multiple recruiters began to take notes on him, eager to see what else he had in store.
By the time the next group of students spilled out of the gate, Renji had already cleared half the section, leaving a trail of toppled bots behind him.
Todoroki's ice stretched into the open field, freezing over the wreckage as he pursued. Bakugo's explosions cracked through the air behind him, and Kirishima's laughter echoed from somewhere in the distance.
But Renji was already too far ahead, the wind cutting past his face, his expression calm and ready for the next challenge.
"Obstacle One—villain bots—didn't even slow him down!" Present Mic shouted. "Kanzaki's setting the pace for everyone else if they can even see him from back there!"
Renji's lips twitched faintly as he landed atop a broken section of the course, the crowd's roar thundering from within the stadium.
"Too easy," he murmured, before leaping forward again toward the next section of the course.
—
Behind him, the course had descended into utter chaos.
The villain bots, now fully active, unleashed a barrage of attacks—nets, cannons, and sweeping metal arms cutting through the air. Students screamed and scattered in every direction, their Quirks lighting up the battlefield.
Kirishima, grinning despite the danger, charged straight through. "C'mon then! Let's go!"
One of the larger bots—easily twice his size—lurched forward and swung a massive limb downward. Kirishima hardened just in time, his skin flashing as the impact buried him under a mountain of debris.
"Whoa! Kirishima's down!" Present Mic shouted, his voice cracking with excitement.
For a tense second, the dust obscured everything—then the rubble exploded outward as Kirishima pushed himself free, laughing breathlessly. "Like that's gonna stop me!"
"Now that's what I call durability!" Present Mic roared.
Beside him, Tokoyami's Dark Shadow burst forward, carrying him through the air in controlled, sweeping motions as he glided above the chaos. "Dark Shadow—up and over!"
The crowd erupted in cheers as more Class 1-A students broke through the initial wave.
Present Mic's voice boomed again, nearly drowning out the noise. "Unbelievable! Class 1-A's tearing through the first obstacle like pros! They're setting the pace, folks! These kids aren't messing around!"
From the booth, Aizawa stood with his arms crossed, his tone calm despite the chaos on screen. "They've had more experience dealing with unpredictable threats than the others. They know not to hesitate."
—
Ahead, the course opened into a massive ravine that split the terrain in two. Jagged stone pillars jutted from the ground like the teeth of some colossal beast, and between them stretched dozens of tightropes.
Renji just laughed at the sight, not even slowing down as he leaped forward.
The first pillar loomed close. He landed lightly on top, the stone trembling beneath his feet. Ahead, a series of ropes stretched across the ravine, thin and swaying in the wind. One wrong step meant a forty-foot drop into the shadows below.
"This is way too easy!" Renji snarled, already making his way over to the rope.
He stepped onto the first rope like it was solid ground. Each movement was calm and exact, his body not even swaying with the wind.
And against all odds… Renji closed his eyes. Still maintaining the same speed he had earlier in the race, Renji rushed along the rope in short fashion.
The crowd went silent.
Present Mic's voice cracked over the speakers. "Wait—wait—he's not even looking!"
Renji moved faster. Each step was light, almost graceful. The rope shuddered, but his body refused to do the same.
To the audience, it looked like a display of impossible balance. Reckless confidence from someone who didn't even bother to open his eyes. But within Renji's mind, the world was utterly still.
It didn't take much effort to use his Quirk this way. After all, if he could easily dodge attacks without looking, what was a puny rope going to do?
Present Mic's voice rose an octave. "He's flying across the ravine! What a display of ability!"
Renji leapt from one final pillar, landing smoothly on the far edge of the ravine without a single pause. His shoes hit dirt, dust rising in a faint plume behind him.
The crowd erupted.
Even the other students were stunned—those still struggling with the ropes stared, momentarily forgetting to move.
In the observation booth, Nezu sipped his cup of tea. "Impressive, don't you think?"
All Might nodded his head seriously.
"Very impressive." But his gaze was focused on someone else, someone who was beginning to lag behind the pack—his successor.
Keep going, Young Midoriya! All Might cheered, hoping that somehow, Midoriya would hear his words and be reinvigorated, ready to prove himself.
Renji glanced back once at the ravine, then smirked. "Almost done," he muttered, turning his eyes toward the final stretch ahead.
The third obstacle loomed in the distance—a glittering minefield of metallic plates scattered across open ground, each one faintly humming with unstable energy.
And with a grin tugging at his lips, Renji broke into another sprint.
The plates stretched out for hundreds of meters, each one faintly dusted over to hide its presence. Most students would freeze at the sight of it, but Renji didn't even slow down.
Wind tore past his face as he broke into a full sprint, coat whipping behind him.
From the stands, the crowd went wild.
"Wait—not again—! He's running straight through it!" Present Mic shouted, his voice cracking with disbelief. "Is he insane?! Slow down, young man!"
From a booth nearby Power Loader and Cementoss watched in silence, the only noise coming from sound of grinding teeth.
"This is just rude." Power Loader remarked, remembering how long it took to set the entire course up.
Cementoss stayed silent, watching the rest of the students tackle the ravine obstacle.
"He's just an outlier." He finally spoke, breaking the silence. "You spend a lot of time with him at the Development Studio, right? I bet he already knew what you were planning."
"Tch." Power Loader balled his fists as if he were watching his favorite sports team lose without getting a single point. "Slip up already, damn it!"
But Renji's feet never missed a step. Each stride landed perfectly between invisible danger zones.
It was like he could see every mine before he reached them.
"This kid is the luckiest person I've ever seen!" Present Mic exclaimed, clutching his head in pure shock.
"Maybe we should've made it harder." Aizawa said offhandedly, tilting his head as if he were seriously thinking about it.
Dust swirled around Renji as he continued, weaving through the unseen traps like he was dancing to a rhythm only he could hear.
Near the beginning of the field, a deep rumble shook the air—then a chain of explosions ripped through the ground behind him.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Renji didn't flinch. If anything, the corners of his mouth lifted higher.
He turned his head slightly, catching the plume of smoke and the green blur of Midoriya flying over the others, propelled by his own improvised explosion.
"Hah…" Renji chuckled, slowing just enough to glance back. "Not bad, Green Bean."
The crowd roared again as he reached the final stretch. Rather than charge straight through, Renji spun lightly on one foot, hopping around a few still-active mines with a carefree grin.
He pranced the last few meters, hands in his pockets, the picture of absolute confidence.
By the time he crossed the finish line, he was laughing. Low, breathless, but full of life.
Every camera drone focused on him as Midnight's voice echoed across the stadium.
"And the first to finish… Kanzaki Renji from Class 1-A!"
The explosion still rumbled faintly behind him, smoke rising like a backdrop to his victory. Renji tilted his head back, letting the cheers wash over him.
"Showtime," he whispered.