Not too many had showed up during the first scenario, which Aizawa had reminded not to get too discouraged over – it was still early morning and it would fill up later. It had given them some extra time to practice in front of a real audience and focus more on real emotions. All in all, it was successful and the few guests they had enjoyed their room – one had even figured out Ashido's conservative teacher character was the killer and suddenly became enthusiastic when it proved he was right. He proudly accepted his certificate for a free bento meal (a deal they had work out with one of the vendors) and happily moved on.

"Well, that was successful at the very least!" Iida tried to happily declare.

"That's one word for it," Bakugo scoffed, snarling as he moved a dirty plate from one of the abandoned tables. "Deku here almost ruined the whole thing. Do you know how to form a sentence, Deku?!" Izuku sheepishly stared in the corner, away from where Uraraka currently stood. She been dressed in a scarlet gown with a slit up the side of her leg and a neckline that wasn't too low but possibly lower than any of the boys in the class were used to see. And it had been true – Izuku stumbled over many of his sentences, making five of the guests believe he had been guilty. Unable to pull his eyes away from her in her daring dress and smoky outline of her eyes, it hadn't gone unnoticed how distracted he was by her appearance.

"I, I er... I'll do better next... next round!" He promised unconvincingly, face still the shade of beets.

"Then you better get your act together, Deku!" Bakugo stacked another plate on top of his small tower in his hands.

"Mineta, just a reminder..." Iida began cautiously, trying hard not to grit his teeth. He tapped a pen against a clipboard he swiped from the nearby table. "You are a character who is constantly berating young folk for how they act and doesn't go on about the all the women he had while serving in the war. He would also not be constantly making jokes to the Thorncotts to get a room!" He innocently grinned, while taking a moment to look over at Kairi and Shoto. While Shoto had only appeared mildly annoyed, Kairi's face flared with a brewing wrath. She held clenched fists at her sides, feet vibrating in her heels with a desire to launch herself forward and strike.

"I figured I would get into the character of a man who had once been so lonely while away at war and really thought hard about how that would affect him," Mineta defended, trying his hardest to look blameless dressed in a worn military uniform with unknown origins.

"This time just... remember to stick to your character," Momo said gently. "Everyone take a moment to grab something to eat quick and hit the restrooms if you need to. We will start the new scenario in the next ten minutes." Everyone around the room relaxed for a moment, breaking their characters to reach the small buffet table where the small appetizers were laid out. Shoto abandoned Kairi for a moment to retrieve a crostini from a tiered serving tray. She fidgeted, apprehensive for his thoughts as he bit into it.

"Hmm... you put corn on this?" he asked. She quietly nodded, stomach flipping.

"Yeah... English cooking isn't really my forte," she said, clenching her hands behind her back. "I found a recipe online though and it seemed similar to something I had when I was young. Maybe not exactly crostini, but similar taste."

"Unexpected, but not bad," he replied, moving onto to taste of the tatties she had made. Deciding she couldn't stand there waiting to know what Shoto thought of everything she had made, Kairi swiftly turned and found herself standing beside Yuga. While everyone else had fallen away to their old selves he was enjoying his character and continued to pretend to sip at an empty martini glass.

"Ahh, cherie, you really quite are the lady of the hour!" he laughed, standing in a cool pose against the piano. He winked and pretended to drink again. Kairi wrinkled confusion on her face. "You gave quite a marvelous performance. Why, I almost believe you were truly in amour!" Her body rippled with embarrassed dread. She puckered her lips, halting the next words rising to her lips. Arms crossed in front of her chest.

"I was just following Shoto's lead. Held his hand when he needed me to, and just agreed with him."

"Ah, but it was all there in your eyes! Besides, you weren't the only convincing one. Todoroki was as well."

"He's good at everything he does," Kairi said, her voice faltering away with something similar to regret. Yuga frowned and set his glass on the piano.

"Oui, it does seem that way," he sighed. "But please don't think you can't do things as well. You have many talents."

"These beef wellington bites are amazing!" Kirishima shouted, halfway through chewing his third one. Kairi turned and laughed at the ecstatic expression as he shoved the rest of the food into his mouth. She glowed with warmth. Yuga cocked a brow, telling her "I told you so."

"Finish up everyone! Guests will be coming in soon!" Iida announced, clapping to ger their attention. Just as they had gathered together, two more guests filed in and they selected their next killer. Relieved again that it hadn't been her, Kairi shut her eyes. As they began, the feel of Shoto's hand in hers had become so familiar the last round that while it still threw her in a whirlwind, it was no longer surprising. It didn't catch her off guard and in round two, she found it a little easier to keep her emotions moderately tame. Breathing through it, she found it comforting that he was beside her. While his hand in hers was a part of the show to represent them as a married couple, it felt more. His touch reminded her he was there through it all, no matter if it went perfectly or failed miserably. Soothed, she fell into a pattern and the second round was easier to get through. Feelings temporarily stable, it was much easier to be beside him, to play her role. With just him being beside her, she was able to be more vocal round two, play a better part. Glowing with gratitude with every look she gave him, Kairi broke through that shell and found a strong dedication. In herself, for the role, for how he was guiding her through it. That hand... it had previously wracked her with anxiety and sent her in a torrential storm of emotions. Now, it had become a method to soothe her. So she gripped tight through the rest of the set, glad for him to be there.

"Much better that round," Iida said as the last of the guests left. The students slumped back into their selves again.

"Good job everyone!" Hagakure said, stacking a few abandoned cups together on her tray. "The guests really seemed to get into it!"

"It was quite a bit better," Momo agreed with a smile.

"Yeah, and Midoriya only stumbled over a few sentences this time," Kaminari teased, smirking over at him. It was true that Izuku had collected himself but considering that Uraraka was playing her role as someone who knew she was attractive... a couple of moments when she brushed past him, he made a noise like he had been in pain.

"At this rate, we'll just keep improving with each set!" Iida enthused proudly. The rest of the students were also beginning to get into it more too, and eagerly slipping into their roles just before the next scenario. Eyes closed again and Kairi breathed deeply, remembering Shoto beside her.

And then her shoulder was tapped. She swallowed, tensing.

Eyes opened again. Her mind sprung forward and then back, zipping through every possibility that could occur that would sabotage the whole thing. She forced herself not to appear too surprised, but the waves that distorted her emotions would likely give her away, she was convinced. She held her hands behind her back, making sure to hid her fidgeting fingers from everyone else. Instinctively, she leaned herself against Shoto's shoulder, drinking in his warmth and letting it serve as a balm for her nerves. One look at his eyes and she mellowed, closing off her senses to the rest of the world around her. He was here. It would be fine. He would make sure of it. She could survive. It was just silly cultural festival. It wasn't a hero mission, and the weight of the world wasn't on her. Strange how she had done so much hero training and a stupid school project seemed to be the thing that was a big deal.

"We welcome you all to our humble mansion!" Iida announced just after finishing reading off the names of their characters. A few stragglers entered the room and took their seats, being greeted by Tokoyami who directed them to their seats. Kairi's throat flipped at the sight of her father entering the room, nodding her direction. She blinked, and then forced herself to remember how she was meant to act. Plastering a proud smile, she looked over at Iida speaking. She leaned over to whisper at Shoto before slipping from his grasp and leaving the room, smiling at Kaminari as she did. Kairi passed down the hallway once, taking a moment to peer into the elaborately decorated rooms and listen to music blasting from one of them before running back just as screams were coming from 2-A, passing Kaminari along the way. She ran back into a now darkened room and recalled their blocking to stand where she was meant to be. The lights flipped on and on the floor was their body – a dummy they had used to stand in for their host.

"My employer!" Iida cried dramatically, running over the very clearly fake doll. "It stands to reason... one of us must have done it! And I'm afraid we cannot leave this room until the police arrive and one us is arrested. I shall make the call right now!"

"You could be the killer! How can we trust you?!" Ashido snapped, tapping her foot. And thus began their game, a childishly corny iteration of every tropey murder mystery that existed. As they began their arguments of distrust and debating about calling the police, their guests watched with deep interest, only half focused on their hors d'ouevres in front of them.

"Mr. Hobson was missing when the lights turned back on!" Uraraka accused, brushing her hair aside before she pointed an accusatory finger at Kaminari. Horrified, he looked over the rest of the crowd. Kairi jumped in.

"No, Matthias – I mean, Mr. Hobson couldn't have! I mean, he's a gentle gardener, and has been quiet this whole time. What could he possibly gain from killing him?" Kairi said, receiving both a tender look from Kaminari and a confused look from Shoto. She smiled politely and rested her head on Shoto's shoulder, trying hard to cement her sweet affection for him. The accusations continued until it was opened up the rest of the room, and the students carted themselves around to the various tables. Kairi rolled her eyes, seeing her father of course, waving them over. He smiled with glee, as if he had been waiting forever for this. She clung closer to Shoto, as if pleading for help. He chuckled quietly.

"I saw you leave just before the lights went off, where did you happen to be?" Mr. Hoshino asked.

"Oh, I was just powdering my noise," Kairi smile. "Pure coincidence."

"And why were you so quick to defend Mr. Hobson?"

"Please, he's a mere gardener!" she scoffed, waving her hand. "You really believe a simple gardener to be intelligent enough to pull something off like that? He's too much of an idiot, really."

"You are correct as ever, darling," Shoto played along. Her heart raced at his words.

"How do you know he's an idiot?" Mr. Hoshino asked again. She squinted her eyes, scrutinizing him. Could you stop the detective thing, Dad?!

"Because he's a gardener! It's obvious!" She laughed loudly, trying to sell it. "You should see the gardener my Tobias and I have at home, he's really quite the nitwit if I do say so!"

"And how long have you two been together?"

"Married three months," Shoto answered. "And every day has been a real joy. She may have become a lady only the day we married, but she was always quite the lady to me." A spark shot through Kairi again, legs threatening to collapse under her weight. Her breath caught as she looked sharply at him. Trying to cover up her sudden lapse in judgement, she laughed loudly, hoping it would cover the dizziness she was feeling and changed the quickly altering atmosphere. While her pulse still quickened, she raised her left hand and tapped Shoto's arm gently. Mr. Hoshino's eyes fell... narrowing on her hand. Kairi swallowed, noticing his line of sight towards the ring immediately.

"Where did you get that ring?"

"Uh, I don't think that's a polite question to ask," Shoto immediately thought to ask as Kairi dropped her hand behind her back.

"That's not... pertinent," she stammered.

"It looks rather familiar. Do you know theft is a crime Lady Thorncott?" The words cut into her, making her flinch.

"Yes, yes, of course but I do think we should take a turn about the room now!" The words spilled out of her quickly. Urgency pushed her along and dragged Shoto behind her. She dropped her gaze from her father quickly, swallowing the dread that would eventually arise again when she needed to speak with him at home. At the moment, it would only upset their whole project. She looked back at him apologetically before escaping to a nearby table and catching the end of their current curious conversation.

"... So he's feeling a bit overwhelmed with his marketing," continued the woman at the table, holding one of the small cakes Sato had baked in her hand. She was dressed well, not a wrinkle on her clothes. Her attention seemed to be less involved with the students around the room and more focused on her equally well dressed male companion with her. "He doesn't think his quirk will really serve him much good in the industry. He asked if I would be displeased if he chose a different field of study. Of course, I would and marketing would serve him best in our industry." Initially, Kairi blazed with anger at how dismissively she seemed of the interests of who Kairi assumed to be her son. However, she remained quiet and was too enraged by the conversation to turn away from it. "So I told Ryo that if he is searching for a quirk that would best serve business, QuirKey just opened up applications and he could become a subject. He was nervous about it of course, but I'm certain he'll agreed to it since he is such a good son. After some consultation, it seems as if there's a quirk available where he could essentially make anything! Can you imagine? We could literally sell anything and because he would be making it for free, we could afford to sell it at a lower price and always earn one hundred percent of the profits!" A chilling laugh from the woman wound around Kairi, and she found her jaw aching from how tightly clenched her teeth were. The rage had been flaring, and was now driving her. She cleared her throat, as lady like but as loud as possible. The table looked up to her.

"Oh, that's right..." the man said, turning his body to face them. "The famous class 2-A students... What it's like being as famous as you are?"

"I fail to understand what you mean, good sir," Kairi laughed, holding them strongly in her gaze. Shoto eyed her cautiously. She looked back over at him. Did you just hear what they said?

"Oh, right... You're the married couple, aren't you? We have to pretend like they're actually their characters..." the woman reminded the man, patting his arm. "So why did you kill him?"

"That's preposterous!" Kairi spat, a bit too aggressive. Beyond herself, she buzzed with rapid energy, ready to snap. "I had no reason to, and it's rather a boring subject. I'm most curious about what you're discussing!"

"Kairi," Shoto whispered, lightly tugging at her arm. She didn't make any motion that she had heard him. "Darling, perhaps we ought to leave these two alone and mingle with other guests?" She quickly slipped from his arm and slapped both her hands against the table. Amber eyes bore into them, pressing for information. Uncomfortably they wriggled in their seats, but the two of them shared her discontent. Both of their eyes echoed back her challenging gaze and the hum in the room quieted. Guests on either side of them spoke to each other more sharply and one even snapped at another attendee. Iida drew up from the table he was speaking with and instinctively looked over to where Kairi was standing. Finally successful, Shoto led her away, hand pressed against the center of her back. She allowed him to pull her away, but she still fumed with her fire. Even the electric spark from his touch was barely noticeable, shadowed by the agitated wrath.

She had changed the attitude of the room, but not in the way she expected. Questions among the students had become nastier, and more accusatory. People weren't enjoying themselves too much and instead just became annoyed with the whole scene. Three people left before the end and Tokoyami and Sato begged them to stay with trays of food. Dismissing them, they stomped away and Momo and Iida exchanged desperate looks.

"What happened at that table?" Shoto whispered. He hadn't tried to, but the closeness he had kept himself to Kairi while whispering close to her ear had continued to create the illusion they were a couple.

"To begin with, did you hear that way that woman was talking about her son? Disgusting. I don't understand how parents can try... try to force their kids to be one thing and do one thing, all for their glory." Shoto's eyes sunk, pain pulling them down.

"Yes, it is pretty despicable," he sighed with an ache.

"But then she mentioned QuirKey! And making him get a quirk to make anything in order to profit them! Using her own son for profit, for money! That's... completely horrible really. It's exploitation!"

Iida gathered the rest of the students as quickly as possible, trying to rush the scenario to keep the attention of the remaining quests. Kairi turned her eyes away from her father who was continuing to look over at her, eyes tilted with his own disappointment. Her anger faded as guilt became comfortable, and the crowd refused to look each other in the eyes. She swallowed and tried to pour her focus into her role.

"Analyzing the evidence, it seems clear to me that the murderer is none other..." Iida began, and then shot his finger Kairi's direction. "Lady Iris Thorncott!" Shoto spun to look over at her immediately dropping her hand. Taking a moment to register the accusation, she dropped her mouth with shock. Then, she smirked and wore the cruelest smile she could imagine.

"And what makes you say that, Butler?" she snarled. He looked out to the guests.

"Who thinks they know the answer?" Four random guests and Naoko Hoshino rose. A woman on the far end raised her hand.

"The gardener let it slip he saw Lady Thorncott far too often. Our host would have seen them together when he was leaving the grounds and met up with him as he went to make his errands for the day," she said. A man beside her spoke up.

"This was also the same hour the Lord Tobias left for polo every day," he answered. "When I asked the Lady if there was any grudge the host had against her, she got nervous." Mr. Hoshino then rose, looking casual but also fixated on Kairi. She lowered her eyes and shivered, feeling the weight of his disappointment.

"Our host had pictures and threatened to blackmail Lady Thorncott if she didn't agree to invest in the company. When the Lord Thorncott wished to break away from the contract, he threatened the pictures again. So Lady Thorncott used this opportunity to kill him, and also as an opportunity to call the whole thing off with the gardener." Prideful, Mr. Hoshino looked across the room before sitting back down. Kairi swallowed. Of course it was too easy for him. He probably had her pegged the second they spoke. That was just how her father operated. She even considered that he might have read her mind. She huffed, more annoyed at him but it worked well for her character.

"That's quite the tale you've spun!" she chuckled, and looked back at Shoto who was giving his best impression of a broken man. It was only acting, she told herself. Yet something about it sliced through her and fractured her with a deeper guilt. Kairi forced away her apologetic expression. "What makes you think I want anything to do with the filthy gardener?" She snorted and looked in the direction of Kaminari, appearing to try too hard to not look guilty.

"You kept looking his way and smiling despite how much you tried to appear disgusted by him," said the man on the end. "The Lord would be looking at you and you continued to look over at him. Quite frankly, the two of you were far too infatuated with each other for me to believe it. It was clearly an act."

Kairi looked over at Shoto, then back to Kaminari. She threw up her hands and then ran over to Kaminari, taking a hold of his arm.

"Sorry, darling, but now that I have the title, I have influence. And that influence will buy me out of jail!" she laughed wildly, playfully resting her head on the shoulder of a blushing Kaminari. She giggled and the two of them ran between the tables towards the door. At that moment, Momo flicked a switch on a small box that was hidden in the corner. Red and blue lights flashed just over the threshold, a signal that police had arrived and ending the scenario.

Despite the emotions that had been thrown about, the guests clapped and cheered for the dramatics they had put on. Talking animatedly with how much they enjoyed the show, the guests gathered their coats and bags before meeting at the door. Mr. Hoshino pulled Kairi aside as she left Kaminari's side. She bowed her head, already admitting her mistake. He rubbed her shoulder first, and then dropped his chest before speaking.

"You're to return it to me as soon as the festival is over. Do you understand?" he told her gently.

"Yes, Dad," she mumbled.

"I would have found you a cheap one you could have just used."

"Yeah but I... I wanted... a piece of her here. I mean I was... so proud of what I..." She left the sentence hanging while her insides grew glum.

"Yeah... I know." He looked up, and glanced at the surroundings that added to the illusion. "You all really did do a good job. Hell, I believed you and Todoroki were more than just friends!" Her stomach lurched. He patted her shoulder again. "You're right. She should be here. All of you should be proud of yourself. It was quite a bit of fun... and you made the food, didn't you? I recognize the tatties." A gentle smile crawled onto her lips as she shrugged.

"Some of them," she replied shyly.

"We'll talk more later, Riri. For now just... have fun for the rest of the festival." Mr. Hoshino pressed a kiss against her forehead. Moisture clung close to her eyelashes. Sorrowful disappointment melted into comforted pride, and she looked back at her dad. She clasped him in a tight hug before releasing him to the rest of the crowd. Feeling much lighter and less stressed, she stole one of Sato's cookies and nibbled on it quietly, leaning in a chair.

"So, what do you say we get out of here, Lady?" Kaminari said in a low tone as he stood in front of her. Unlike Mineta, his manner was clearly teasing and obviously not meant to be taken seriously. She chuckled and winked.

"What a charmer you are," she teased back. He nodded and turned away, allowing for Shoto to step in. He nodded towards the door.

"He wasn't upset?"

"I'm sure he was..." Kairi moaned, finishing the last of the cookie and reached for a second one already. "But he understands and is letting go. I might still receive a lecture later."

"Well, the worst is over for you. You were the killer and your father saw the production. You can relax for the next few," he remind. "By the way, you and Kaminari make a cute couple."

She hacked, choking on her cookie before bursting into a fit of laughter.