The staging and dance teams settled into the common lounge, talking about their plans for the culture festival. Their excitement died down when they heard the unmistakable bickering of the band team. Well, two members in particular. Everyday they had a new complaint about how the other played. It was starting to aggravate the others as well as give them doubts about their idea.

"Your pacing is all over the place!" Bakugou snapped. "It's screwing up the sound!"

"Well I'd know where we are if you'd stop improvising!" Kaminari shot back.

If Jirou wasn't nervous before about the upcoming performance, she certainly was now. They were completely out of sync with one another and it felt like they weren't getting any better. She supposed that was to be expected when people of different skill levels were suddenly grouped together. Not to mention, she could actually hear the notes that Kaminari missed and the beats that Bakugou made up.

"Guys, stop it!" Yaoyorozu chided. "We won't get anywhere arguing like this."

Tokoyami nodded in agreement. "Infighting will only result in our demise."

Their lead singer wanted to give a suggestion on how to improve. She knew what kind of mistakes they were making but she worried that they would just redirect their anger at her. It seemed like they had noticed they were unintentionally making her upset because they became somber in the middle of their spat.

Kaminari bit his tongue from making another scathing remark. So instead, he picked up his guitar and started strumming new chords, ones that weren't in the song or even taught to him by Jirou. He had picked them up from watching Tokoyami practice on his own and some online tutorials. "This is what you sound like Bakugou. You're playing a completely different song!"

The others thought this would result in more fighting. But then Bakugou pulled out his drumsticks and started playing really fast.

"Yeah? Well this is you," Bakugou retorted, a smug look on his face. "You're like a hyper-caffeinated chipmunk!"

The rest of the band members were stunned. Their classmates, overhearing the disorganized and almost chaotic music, showed up in their makeshift practice room to find out what the ruckus was. They watched as the pair made what could only be described as clamorous noise, two instruments battling it out to be heard.

"I'm glad you guys are enjoying this," Tokoyami stated, referring to their smiles, "because it's absolutely pointless."

Kaminari abruptly changed tunes, slowing down and making the sound sad. "Does this suit your tastes more?"

That line actually caused Bakugou to genuinely burst out in laughter and not the malicious or triumphant kind they were used to hearing. He then started matching Kaminari's tempo and tone. "Hey bird brain, don't you think this kind of music pointless?"

"What?!" Tokoyami snapped, personally offended by that comment. "I at least don't play like a child!" As a demonstration, he began mimicking what Kaminari had done earlier. The sounds were once again all over the place, wild and untethered as the strings vibrated against the air. "This is how you both sound like!"

The girls glanced at each other as the other three increased in speed and randomness. They shrugged before joining in on their erratic behavior, laughing as the keys and bass added brand new layers to the noise. It was loud and haphazard yet there was a certain rhythm to it. Their audience was enjoying it as well.

"They get along better than they let on," Iida smiled.

Kirishima nodded along, punching his fists together. "They make such a manly sound too!"

Suddenly, Ashido broke away from the crowd, kicked off her shoes, and started dancing. But it wasn't the organized and graceful moves she had been teaching her classmates. It was like she had turned the music into motion, gyrating her hips and pumping her arms, throwing her body in all directions. A big smile was on her face as she felt every set of eyes on her.

"Ashido's pretty amazing too," Sero chuckled.

"Yeah!" Hagakure cheered. "Go Mina!"

Ashido returned to the audience and took Sero by the wrists, pulling him out onto the main floor. He was caught off guard by the action but then just fell into the sound with her, spinning and jumping and dancing like no one was watching. Soon, the rest of the class joined in, barefoot and reckless as they made the entire building tremble underneath their feet.

Almost a whole hour passed before they finally came to a stop. They were all out of breath, sweat pouring from every gland, and legs numb from dancing. Everyone was laughing while trying to cool down in the hot room, trying to keep their clothes from sticking to their skin and getting oxygen back into their lungs.

"Okay," Yaoyorozu stated breathlessly. "I think… it's about time we all got to bed."

Ashido, who was lying with her limbs splayed out, sat up straight. "Hold on, it's not fair that only we get to dance." The band team managed to blink in unison. "You guys seem the most stressed out so I say we have one last dance!" She ran up to the laptop where they recorded a first take of their song and she pulled up a romantic slow song on YouTube, putting it on loop. "You may now choose your partners."

"Ashido!" Jirou snapped, red as a tomato.

Ignoring her friend, Ashido turned to the rest of the class and stage-whispered, "You guys can go up and offer too."

"I feel set up," Tokoyami muttered.

To everyone's surprise, Bakugou shot up and pointed right at Kirishima. "Hair for Brains! Let's see if you can keep up with me!"

Kirishima was fatigued but he rolled up his sleeves and marched right up to his friend. "Alright, let's do this!"

The others were stunned as they stared at the pair take each other's hands and start circling around in their own private whirlwind. It didn't matter how many of their classmates tried to remind them that it was supposed to be a slow dance but they were clearly enthralled in their little competition. Well, it didn't really matter since it seemed like they were really happy dancing violently.

Yaoyorozu was hitting some notes on the keyboard, trying to match it with the background music. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ojiro and Satou stuffing Mineta into a burlap sack. Because of that, she almost didn't notice when someone appeared in front of her.

"Yaoyorozu," said Todoroki, a small smile on his lips as he held out a hand. "Would you like to dance with me?"

A tinge of pink rose up to her cheeks. "Todoroki-kun…" She took his hand, giving him a small nod. "Sure."

Tokoyami was occupying himself with tuning his guitar. One of the strings broke from playing it so hard but he hadn't noticed at the time. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned to be face to face with a mouth attached to an arm. So he knew that it was Shouji, standing over him.

"Dancing probably isn't your thing," said Shouji, "but would you like to be my partner?"

Tokoyami's expression stayed unreadable as he removed the guitar from off his shoulder. "Well… since it's you."

Jirou wanted to hide away, wishing she hadn't removed her hoodie earlier since she could've buried her face in the fabric. But before she could retrieve it from the coat rack, someone gently grabbed her by the elbow. The only person that could still possibly be behind her was Kaminari.

"Jirou, let's dance," he beamed. "The others have already paired up so might as well, right?"

One of her earphone jacks hovered up, pointing at him. "You're really annoying, you know that?"

"So I hear," he chuckled. Kaminari walked around so that they were facing each other and he was still smiling broadly as he took her by the hands, leading her backwards and onto the floor. "Come on, it'll be fun. And if you're not into it… then we'll stop."

Jirou let out a sigh and surrendered to his pull. "Fine."

The ones that still had the energy went up to dance as well. Koda continued sitting cross-legged on the sidelines, watching as Kaminari and Jirou fell into their own little world. He had wanted to ask Jirou to dance but his legs turned to jelly at the prospect of even going up to her. Midoriya and Tsuyu, two of the more observant members of class 1-A, slid over to his side.

"You okay, Koda?" Midoriya broached.

"You must've wanted to ask Kyouka-chan too, ribbit," said Tsuyu.

"I'm fine," Koda replied quietly. "Besides… it's more important to me that Jirou-san is happy." There was a sadness in his pupils as he looked at Jirou's timid smile and tried to mirror the expression. "And I think she is."

Midoriya and Tsuyu could tell that their classmate was hurting. Unrequited romance can be painful, especially if it's a first crush, but Koda was strong enough to handle it. Still, they were about to offer to dance with him in hopes to make his smile more authentic when a new voice cut through to them.

"Koda," said Satou, beaming as he came over. "You want to dance with me?"

The other boy jumped a little in surprise, not used to being called out to. But he relaxed when he saw who it was. With a smile that was a little more real, Koda reached out took his friend's outstretched hand. "Sure."

Once they hit the dance floor, Midoriya and Tsuyu were able to rest easy knowing their friend was going to be okay. Just then, Ashido skipped over to the pair, took Tsuyu by the hands and pulled her to dance. After that, Iida rushed in, pushing Uraraka forward until her cherry-hued face was directly in front of Midoriya and they both shyly joined the rest.

Bakugou and Kirishima gradually slowed down as they progressively became more tired. Their breaths were in each other's faces and their smirks flashing in their eyes. But they weren't ready to stop when everyone else was still going.

"Not bad," Bakugou remarked. "You sure you're not on the dance team?"

"I could say the same thing about you," Kirishima chuckled.

Bakugou glanced over the band equipment. "You know… we're all counting on your team to do really well. It doesn't really matter how good my sound is if you guys can't make the stage attractive enough to draw in a crowd."

"Of course," Kirishima nodded. "But after I bring in the people, you better keep to your word and blow them away!" He then let out a laugh, accidentally brushing his spiky hair against his partner's cheek. "But since it's you, I have plenty of faith that you'll do it."

"You bet I will!"

"Let's make a great show!"

Yaoyorozu and Todoroki looked like professional ballroom dancers just without the fancy dress and suit though it wasn't hard to picture them in such attire. Their steps were elegant and coordinated, like they had been doing this together since they were little kids. They knew exactly how the other would arrange themselves and how to accommodate for the other person.

"As expected of you, Todoroki-kun," Yaoyorozu giggled. "You're really good at this."

"Don't sell yourself short," Todoroki smiled. "You're impressive as well."

Yaoyorozu looked down, not wanting to make eye contact. "My mother put me through lessons."

Todoroki paused, causing his dance partner to do the same and for her to look up, wondering what was wrong. He seemed to have this faraway look in his eyes. "Your mother… sounds like she's put a lot of pressures on you. Piano, dance, academics, and hero work… isn't that too much?"

"Sometimes," Yaoyorozu admitted. "But if those skills can be useful…"

"Yaoyorozu… you're really amazing," he said suddenly. "I've always worked hard but I don't think I could have been able to handle all of those things. Even more so… it seems like you're able to enjoy them. So I think you're truly an incredible person."

Yaoyorozu could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. She got closer to his right side, hoping to cool down a bit and also use her hair to hide the redness on her face. The boy probably didn't even know that his words had such an effect on her.

Todoroki suddenly pressed a palm to her forehead. "You're heating up. What's wrong? Are you getting sick?"

Tokoyami and Shouji were much more reserved in their dancing. They didn't pull off anything fast or extravagant, they just liked the company of one another. With Tokoyami reaching up and placing his hands on the taller boy's shoulders and Shouji's main set of hands on the smaller boy's waist.

"I forget how short you are sometimes," said Shouji.

"I forget how blunt you can be," Tokoyami retorted.

It wasn't even like the bird-man was that sensitive about his height. It did sting a little bit to be the second smallest boy in the class so he preferred it not to be mentioned. But at least when it came from Shouji's mouth—or hand—it at least wasn't poking fun at him. It was just very matter-of-fact.

"I do tend to speak my mind," Shouji professed. "Do you know what I'm thinking about right now?"

As straightforward as he was, Shouji never gave away how he was feeling on his face. Even if someone wanted to take a wild guess, they wouldn't even have a hint. His mask and bangs completely obscured his face from prying eyes.

"I don't know," Tokoyami shrugged.

"That you look really cool playing guitar," said Shouji.

Tokoyami scoffed, turning away. The black feathers on his face shrouded any sign of a blush that could appear. "Well, I personally think you look ridiculous when you dance with all your arms flailing about. But I… can't ever take my eyes off you."

"You're not looking right now."

"You know what I meant!"

Jirou and Kaminari were clumsier than the rest, having never done anything like this before. But they didn't get mad at each other if they accidentally stepped too close to the other person's foot. It was more of a funny occurrence that they ended up laughing about. There wasn't anything aggressive, enchanting, or calming about the way they danced. It was stumbling, bumbling, awkward pubescence at play.

"I'm sorry," said Kaminari, "about earlier. Bakugou and I were being stupid and petty."

Jirou shook her head. "You were… but it's fine. Besides, I know you guys were trying to make up for it afterwards."

Kaminari could tell there were still some worries on her mind. He also knew that they probably had to do with their performance. "You know we're going to be awesome at the culture festival, right? You're an amazing teacher and you have a really beautiful voice. Everyone will instantly fall in love with your singing."

This surprised the other hero. And it showed in the way she looked up at him, cheeks flushed. "You…" She honestly wasn't sure what to say after that, the compliment just came so abruptly. "You really say the most annoying things don't you?"

Kaminari couldn't help laughing. "Guilty as charged."

"Well… you're also right," Jirou nodded. "We're going to put on a killer performance. All of us."

Jirou's smile and her newfound enthusiasm was infectious. But it also made Kaminari's heart skip a beat and he was beginning to think that having her so close was going to make him do something stupid. Yet at the same time, he didn't want to let go.

"Yeah… we will."