Momo Yaoyorozu, who had already been through a bunch of real fights, couldn't help feeling a little nervous about the U.A. Sports Festival. It was going to draw attention from all kinds of people.
After all, this was her first official appearance as a hero candidate.
Momo actually felt kind of lucky that Arthur took the day off.
If someone had provoked him like that, who knows what he would've done.
Momo had just stepped into her home through gate when she froze in shock.
Luckily, after all those real battles and the USJ Incident, she didn't scream.
But the scene in front of her was seriously insane.
In the courtyard, a giant buffalo was lying on the lawn.
Long, thin wounds and the blood flowing from them had stained a big patch of the lawn red. The buffalo was clearly dead.
But what really shocked her was Pet Shop, standing on the buffalo's corpse, tearing off a piece of meat.
It was the same ice Quirk eagle that had attacked her friend Ochaco Uraraka and the others at U.A. earlier.
But compared to what she'd seen before, this eagle was wearing a different outfit.
A clearly custom-made silver helmet was on its head, with three ribbons standing upright, like the helmets worn by ancient dynasty soldiers in battle.
A purple silk scarf made of high-grade silk was wrapped around its neck.
Inside, a short, broken chain extended out.
Pet Shop tilted her head back and swallowed a piece of blood-soaked buffalo meat. Her cold eyes sent shivers down Momo's spine.
The next moment, Pet Shop flew into the sky.
Momo, thinking the bird was about to attack, instantly "created" a pistol.
But unexpectedly, the eagle flew backward toward her doorstep.
Just then, Arthur walked out the front door.
Pet Shop landed perfectly, right on his shoulder.
"Momo, you're back."
Momo stared at this pair in shock. "What… what is this?"
"The user of the Stand 'Horus,' Pet Shop. I named her."
Arthur then turned and glanced at the dead buffalo. "Pet Shop likes raw meat. I had the servants get it for her."
"You… subdued her?"
Momo couldn't believe it.
The aura Pet Shop gave off back then still sent chills down her spine just thinking about it.
"That's no big deal."
Arthur waved his hand. Pet Shop skillfully flew to a corner on top of the mansion, gazing into the distance against the wind.
"Did anything happen at U.A. today?"
He skillfully pinched Momo's chin and asked teasingly.
He was definitely in a good mood after getting Pet Shop.
Being teased like that by her boyfriend, the pleasant feeling in Momo's heart slightly pushed aside the fear Pet Shop brought.
She gently shook her head to free herself from Arthur's hand. "The U.A. Sports Festival will be held early next month. Lots of people from the hero world and the media will come to watch…"
"Pretty boring…"
Arthur wasn't interested.
With his current strength, if he were in the "Teachers' Division," he might be more interested.
"Arthur, you should do well too."
Momo suddenly got anxious for some reason.
"Why?"
Arthur turned his head and asked back.
"Because… because Mom and Dad will be watching too…"
Momo said shyly.
Her words reminded Arthur of something.
The League of Villains, and that All For One guy, would definitely be watching.
All For One, who could steal any Quirk… Thinking about that, Arthur couldn't help recalling the insane combat and destructive power All Might showed during the USJ Incident.
"You're right. If I don't get good results, Mr. and Mrs. Yaoyorozu won't feel safe trusting you with me."
Arthur changed the subject, immediately scooped Yaoyorozu up in a princess carry, and walked into the mansion.
"Ah! Don't do that! People will see!"
Momo's face turned red, and she struggled hard.
But after her butt got firmly grabbed a few times, she could only cover her face with both hands.
In early May, the highly anticipated U.A. Sports Festival finally began.
Before this, no one noticed that when Arthur and Momo arrived at school, Pet Shop had actually been standing on top of the U.A. academic building.
Every day, as soon as the two stepped out of the luxury car, Pet Shop would instantly fly out and land on the roof of the academic building or in the shade of the trees outside the 1-A classroom window.
But while the students didn't notice, the teachers probably did.
Arthur had noticed several times that Shota Aizawa's gaze drifted outside the window, intentionally or not.
On the day of the Sports Festival, the Yaoyorozu family's luxury car couldn't even make it through the school gate.
About two hundred meters before the gate, the road was already blocked.
"YMiss, we can't get through. It's jammed ahead. The U.A. Sports Festival always has tons of cars and people on the day itself," the driver said apologetically.
"Isn't the sidewalk pretty wide?"
Arthur pointed to the sidewalk on the right. "Drive there."
"Young Master, there are people everywhere!"
"Arthur, what are you saying?"
Both the driver and Momo were shocked.
"Just kidding."
Arthur chuckled, took Momo's hand, and stepped out of the car.
Pet Shop, perched on Arthur's shoulder as usual, soared into the sky the moment they got out.
But in reality, her eagle eyes, which could spot a small mouse from several kilometers away, never let Arthur leave her sight.
As long as Arthur gave a signal, she would come back immediately.
Originally, the luxury car Arthur and Momo Yaoyorozu took to school every day would pass through this path.
But today, it was blocked by the bustling crowd and the small shops set up on both sides.
Luckily, the moment the two of them, dressed in their school uniforms, entered the school gate, Shota Aizawa found them and led them to the student passage entrance, telling them to go straight to the changing room.
For the sake of fairness, everyone wore unified sports uniforms for this Sports Festival.
"Is that the key monitoring target this time?"
Just as Arthur and Momo passed through the student-only passage and entered the stadium, not far away, several men in black suits were looking their way.
They were all monitoring representatives sent by the Hero Association for this event.
Although the Hero Association sent people every year to the U.A. Sports Festival to scout for promising talents worth paying attention to, this year they also received another order: to specifically monitor that transfer student named "Arthur" from Los Angeles, USA.
Just as several monitors from the Hero Association looked at Arthur, a chill suddenly ran down their spines.
Turning their heads, they saw a peregrine falcon with a helmet on its head and a purple scarf around its neck, standing on a branch of a large tree beside a tree-lined path, staring right at them.
When they looked over, Pet Shop's mouth curved into an eerie, cold smile.
Chirp!
The next moment, Pet Shop shot into the sky like a small fighter jet, quickly disappearing into the clouds above the stadium.
"Th-that bird is…"
A monitor raised his hand and wiped the cold sweat dripping from his forehead with his suit sleeve.
"The second animal in the world to awaken a Quirk, originally a wanted target of the Hero Association. Rumor has it that Arthur subdued it."
Another person said with lingering fear, "I heard that bird had the strength of a hero ranked within the top 15, but I didn't really believe it. Looks like it's true."
"Is it warning us because it found us monitoring Arthur? That bird seems to have human-level intelligence, just like Principal Nezu."
The monitor wiping his cold sweat frowned and asked, "So, do we keep monitoring?"
Another replied without hesitation, "Of course we do. This is U.A., protected by plenty of heroes. Plus, if that bird attacks without reason, we can notify the Association to arrest it again. This is our job."
After changing clothes, all 20 students of Class A had gathered in the lounge.
Outside, the cheers of the audience at the U.A. Sports Festival stadium, which could hold 120,000 people, could still be faintly heard even from this far away.
They were just waiting for the entrance order to arrive, then they would head directly to the field from here.
Amid the mixed atmosphere of tension and calm, Shoto Todoroki's declaration of war against Izuku Midoriya lit a fuse, spreading tension throughout the whole lounge.
And Izuku Midoriya, not knowing where he got the courage, actually dared to talk back to Shoto Todoroki, who was clearly several levels above him.
"He's really got some fire in him."
Yoru Inasa was excited as always, watching the two confront each other in the lounge.
Arthur let out a soft chuckle.
Speaking of which, his and Shoto Todoroki's goals for participating in this Sports Festival were kind of similar: to show something to certain people.
Shoto Todoroki was targeting the father he hated.
Arthur, on the other hand, wanted to use this opportunity to learn more about All For One.
Although, from a personal standpoint, Arthur looked down on that guy, his ability to steal Quirks was somewhat interesting.
Of course, having too many random Quirks would be overkill.
It was enough to only take what was necessary.
One For All.
It was still Arthur's goal.
"Arthur, you're also someone I have to beat."
Shoto Todoroki, who had been facing off against Izuku Midoriya, suddenly turned around and looked at Arthur. "I don't know why you came to U.A., but the winner will definitely be me."
Arthur didn't expect Shoto Todoroki's challenge to suddenly be directed at him. After staring at the other's cold gaze for a long time, he simply replied, "Oh," not sure if that counted as an answer, just going with his own mood.
Pfft!
Momo Yaoyorozu almost burst out laughing.
She probably understood what Arthur was thinking.
She didn't know what Arthur's real intentions were for participating in this competition, but he definitely had a more important goal than just getting first place.
Shoto Todoroki's declaration of war, in Arthur's eyes, was no different from kids arguing.
Shoto Todoroki's was angry.
Arthur's one-word reply felt more irritating than any verbal insult.
"If… you were willing to serve me…"
Arthur started to say something, but halfway through, he shook his head again and smiled faintly. "No, never mind. I already have someone here with a Quirk similar to yours."
Although Shoto Todoroki didn't understand the second half of Arthur's sentence, the word "serve" in the first half did piss him off.
However, his natural coldness and composure stopped him from lashing out like Katsuki Bakugo.
He just walked coldly to a corner. Silently waiting for the competition to start.
Meanwhile, Katsuki Bakugo, sitting on the other side, clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging on his temples.
"Hey, hey, hey! You three bastards, are you seriously ignoring me?"
"I'm going to destroy all of you later. The real winner can only be me."
Compared to junior high and when he first enrolled, Katsuki Bakugo's personality had actually changed quite a bit.
Normally, he would have jumped onto a table and started yelling.
But the overwhelming defeat by Arthur and his helplessness during the USJ Incident had made him clearly realize that shouting loudly wouldn't change reality one bit.
If he provoked Arthur, Arthur wouldn't hesitate to go after him.
It's not that Katsuki Bakugo was scared. It's more accurate to say the word "scared" wasn't in his dictionary.
It's just that his personality had gradually come to realize how stupid his past deliberate provocations were.