Like everyone else in the school, Class C got deeply involved in their festival event. They spent every ounce of free time working on the haunted house and preparing for the cafe. While there were plenty of students who could use their Quirk to be scary, not everyone could rely on this and as such, costumes were put into development. They weren't anything special, just some masks and props, but with the strobing lights it would work just as well.
Surprisingly, there were more concerns with the cafe than with the haunted house. The first concern of course, was that by no means could the haunted house crew let Mineta through, but they were certain that would be no problem. The second, more important, concern, was food. What were they to serve? At first they were unsure if they could even cook anything decent. Thankfully, Wilhelm and Emica, who declared she didn't want to be a maid, came through. Both were apparently excellent cooks and were happy to fill the role.
In terms of the maids, the list consisted of, Shizuku, Sen, Nikiya, Aika, Hirose, and Shinbou. The rest of the team was stationed inside the haunted house since that was their big show.
While Wilhelm and Emica concocted dishes for the cafe and while the haunted house crew practiced their scares, Shizuku was coaching the girls on how to act as maids.
"D-Do we really have to greet them with 'master' or 'mistress?'" Nikiya asked. She totally fit the stereotype of the shy embarrassed maid and thanks to a few comments from Ryouji, Shizuku knew that some would like that.
Aika and Shinbou would fit the more mature, not body-wise, teacher-like stereotypes and had even been given fake glasses to keep up the appearance. Sen on the other hand, fit the more innocent, child-like personality.
Finally, according to Ryouji, Shizuku and Hirose fit the "ara-ara" category. Hirose groaned at the description, but decided to take up the character anyways after Kaito mentioned that it would be fun to see everyone like that.
"It's how most maid cafes work apparently," Shizuku said, "We could always mix it up, but if they brave the house only to be dissatisfied, then we'll never come out on top."
With the haunted house team, the group was practicing how to use their Quirks in tandem with the theme. Most of the team was basically undergoing stamina training in order to make it work. Kenichi had to be able to hold his Medusa's Armor for the longest stretch of time, so he basically just stood around all day, locked inside the bone. Okami, Daidoji, and even Kaito, were all taking up similar exercises in order to practice.
The house was relatively simple in design. A straightforward path, modeled as a hallway, with a few rooms in-between. The first scare would be Kenichi. Since no one would know what to expect, they would be the most tense starting out. He would mess with the guests, moving in small intervals before fully moving and acting as a weeping angel of sorts.
Okami was next. As the scarer ran from the bone statue, they wouldn't notice the cage poking out of the side of the hallway. Just as they came into view, Okami would leap out, clawing against the bars and reaching for his "victim." The rest… well, that was a surprise.
MHA: 1-C
"Sir? Is it wise to go to UA's festival with the increased villain activity? Project Gaia isn't even completed yet."
Endo shook his head, amused by his assistant's line of questioning, "If the people here can't stop a villain, Hina, then no one can. Besides, I think you know better than anyone that I have a very important task that can only be completed here."
Hina smiled wide, "Yes… I know. Just try and get her as secluded as possible, no one likes to have the public watch them."
Endo watched the buildings fly by as they drove to the high school. He was certain that if he still had legs, they would be incessantly tapping with increasing anxiety. Suddenly, he saw a mess of green hair flare with electricity.
"Stop the car." From a block away, Endo gazed at Midoriya facing down two villains. "It's that Gentle criminal guy."
Hina turned around to face her boss, "Want me to intervene?"
Endo smirked and he rested his chin on his knuckle, "Nah… I wanna watch this."
"You do know that if UA gets an alarm about a villain the entire thing gets cancelled right?"
"Well for starters, we don't even know if he's heading for UA, secondly… you can act if he gets too close."
"What's your obsession with that boy anyways?"
"Something about his Quirk always felt off to me. And Hyperion confirmed that he was indeed hiding something. You could say I'm just craving answers."
MHA: 1-C
All of the classes had their events on simultaneously, so you could only got to one or the other at certain times. There were of course multiple showings if it was a play like Class B, or a concert like Class A. In that regard, Class C had a big advantage since their program was always open.
"It's kinda sad we won't get to see Class A's performance," Ryouji complained as he continued to haul supplies to the cafe and house.
"I'm certain someone will record it," Aika said in an attempt to comfort him.
"Yeah, but still- Ah!" Ryouji stumbled and fell over, landing on the strawberries he had been carrying and smearing his shirt red with the fruit.
"Oops, sorry about that Class C."
Ryouji looked up to see two students from Class D sneering down at him. He could very clearly see the boy's foot sticking out. It was a purposeful attempt to trip him.
Kaito, who had been nearby, stomped towards the student, shadowy mist coalescing around his fist.
Hirose stepped in front of him, and held him back, "Kaito!" She whisper-shouted, "You can't just use your Quirk like that!"
"Pfft, some hero you are." The boy jeered, "Attacking a helpless student for accidentally tripping someone? Class C shouldn't have been the one to become heroes."
"You guys walk around the school like you own the place now. Like you're better than the rest of us."
"We do not!" Aika argued.
"You show up on the news left and right and don't even acknowledge our existence, you're all self-centered assholes."
Kaito was in the boy's face before he could even blink, his fist was just inches away from his nose when, "Hey!"
The two, paused in an awkward position, turned to see Mirio scowling at them, a frightened Eri just behind him.
"This isn't a fighting festival you two! We're here to have fun!" He sighed, "Look, if you both just calm down and walk away right now, I won't report either of you."
Had it been just Mirio, Kaito would've ignored the advice. He had been fully prepared to receive the consequences of attacking his classmate. However, Eri's presence stopped him. He hadn't heard much about the Shie Hassaikai raid from Vincent, but the one thing that stuck with him was the girl who couldn't smile.
He pulled back his fist and apologized to Eri and Mirio, bowing low, before making sure Ryouji was okay. The four walked away without another word towards Class D, their mood ruined by the confrontation.
MHA: 1-C
"Hina… stop him."
The two watched as Gentle Criminal bounced around the forest, delivering blow after blow to Izuku Midoriya.
"Of course." The twenty-five year old secretary removed her glasses and raised her arms, crossing them in front of her face. Uncrossing them created quite a familiar sight for Endo. Blood red plates of metal exploded out from her body and clicked into place, forming the Hyperion Exoskeleton Logistic Limbic Armor, or as Endo had come to call it, the H.E.L.L. Armor.
It was the newest in exoskeletal technology, an upgraded form of Endo's original armor.
Hina thought it suited her quite well, the red went well with her dark hair, which was exposed to the air. In fact, Hina's version of the armor had no helmet at all. For most, this would be a fatal weakness, but for Hina, it was her ace in the hole.
Even to Endo, someone whose vision was enhanced, Gentle was a complete blur. Hina wasn't so easily confused. She pushed off with one foot, the H.E.L.L. Armor sending her flying towards the battle.
Faster than either Midoriya or Endo could see, Hina had grabbed Gentle by the throat and slammed him into the ground, almost instantly ending the fight. A simple paralyzing shock from the armor was all it took to finish off the Gentle Criminal.
Hina "Humphed," And disengaged the armor, smoothing out her suit and putting her glasses back on.
Izuku stared at the secretary as she walked back to Endo and took her place by his side and he hovered along in his chair.
"E-Endo?"
"Hey Izuku!" Endo smiled wide, "Sorry it took so long to get here to help you! We saw a couple of those wind blasts of yours and came running… floating I suppose."
"That armor…"
"The future of defense, or it would be if it's integration didn't kill eighty percent of the volunteers." He gestured to his companion, "Hina here was the only one willing to undergo the experiment. Lucky her."
"Gentle!" A small pink-haired woman, La Brava, his accomplice, came running back to her lover as Ectoplasm and Hound Dog came trailing behind her.
"What's going on here?!"
Izuku looked back to where Endo had once been, only to find the forest void of his presence.
MHA: 1-C
"Alright team, we've got our first customers. Our first real customers… Mineta doesn't count since he only made it halfway to Kenichi." Vincent reported as he spoke into the walkie talkie, "Looks like Yaoyorozu and Jiro! Give em' a show guys."
The first pathway was surprisingly well lit. A single high class hallway with various creepy paintings on the wall. The main attraction was, of course, Kenichi. He stood in a small alcove in the wall, staring straight ahead.
Thanks to his intensive training, he was able to model the statue to look like an ancient greek recreation. Since no one was aware of his Medusa's armor outside of 1-C, the two girls thought nothing of him at first.
As they approached him, he stared straight ahead. Jiro turned to her best friend, "This feels too easy, like any second the walls are gonna explode or something."
"That's silly, no way they'd ruin all their work for two people." She had meant it as a comfort for the musical genius, but it came out more like she was trying to convince herself.
They looked back at the hallway and yelped, "W-Wasn't he facing the wall a second ago?"
"I-I'm sure we were mistaken." They continued onwards, never letting their eyes leave the statue, even as they edged around it, their backs pressed to the wall, they stared at it unblinking.
After a few seconds of passing it, the two sighed, "We really were mistaken, how foolish of-"
"AHHHH!" Kenichi's body snapped into a new position, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as his body turned to face them.
The girls were frozen in fear until Kenichi hopped off of his pedestal and began walking towards them, picking up speed. Jiro grabbed her friend's arm and sprinted for the end of the hallway, desperately making for the door as the statue shambled towards them like a zombie.
The two were so incensed with fear that they didn't even bother to peek through the door, they just ran though and slammed the door behind them. They braced themselves against it, expecting some sort of banging, but none came. Yaoyorozu twisted the knob, attempting to see what had become of the statue, but the door was locked.
"Shit… this is way more intense than I thought it would be," Jiro shivered as she turned around to see a dark room with barely flickering lights. Metal cages with thick bars lined the walls, most of them were broken open.
A voice boomed from the walls, "Welcome my new lab rats! You should be thankful, I will not experiment on you as I have with the others than once lived in this room! Instead, you will be the food for my latest pet!"
Jiro and Yaoyorozu creeped into the center of the room, inching towards the door as they stood back to back, anxiously awaiting the scare. All the cages were too dark to make out anything inside them, which is why Okami was able to scare them so easily.
His wolf form slammed against the bars of his cage, clawing and snarling at the girls, he was foaming at the mouth and some of the spittle even hit the girls as he raged against the bars.
"Do your best to survive my dears!" The voice, Nayuki doing his best creepy impression, cut off.
Suddenly, the bars of the cage began to rise, slowly exposing Okami to freedom. The girls bolted to the door, attempting to wrench it open. It, like the previous door, was locked shut. While Jiro heaved her entire body against the door, Yaoyorozu got a glimpse of Okami squeezing out of his cage and stalking towards them.
Finally, thanks to their well planned antics, the door clicked open and the two fell through it just as Okami went to leap at them. This time, they were the ones to lock the door behind them. The two went through many more rooms, each as terrifying as the last, but the stories of those would be reserved for a different group of people.
After a good fifteen minutes of shocks and horrors, the pair came to a pearly white door that read, 'Your reward awaits.'
Certain that it was a trap, the pale faced girls braced themselves as they spun the handle, stepping into a well lit room.
"Congratulations on making it home, mistresses!" Six beautiful maids bowed to Jiro and Yaoyorozu, their faces sculpted into perfect smiles, "And congratulations on being the first ones to brave Class 1-C's house of horrors!" Shizuku raised her head and gently escorted them to their table of honor.
The two were still recovering from the final room, so it took them a while before they could fully relax, but the excellent service and beautiful girls helped ease their weary souls rather quickly. It was a great cool down after going through such an ordeal and performing in front of their school.
MHA: 1-C
As it turned out, the maid cafe wasn't the main attraction. The main attraction was the screams coming from the house itself. Curiosity drew a veritable horde of students to the scare fest.
Of course, the cafe did draw plenty of students, but some, like a certain purple haired midget, were too scared to brave the horrors to claim their rewards.
Upon entering the cafe the students had a choice of the maids.
As Ryouji predicted Nikiya, Shizuku, and Hirose got the most attention with their performances and looks. Not to say that all did an outstanding job at assuming their varied stereotypes. In fact, they were so well received that the more daring boys attempted to get their numbers. All were easily rebuffed.
Shizuku already had someone close to her, so that was an easy excuse for her. Nikiya wasn't really sure what her relation with Vincent was, but from what Midnight told her during her work study, they had the potential for something far deeper. Hirose simply didn't care for any of the boys that tried their hand at asking her out. The remaining girls all managed to weasel their way out of giving out the numbers as well, but their reasoning wasn't so clear.
The atmosphere drastically shifted when Endo floated into the room. While he hadn't gotten as much attention in the news as Bakugo had, his story quickly drifted through the school. And as stories are often want to do, it evolved into a legend of sorts. The craziest of which involved him fighting off his captors and defeating a Nomu single handedly, losing his legs in the process.
Obviously, these were all false and many refused to believe them, but it was hard to say that they didn't have an impact of some sort. Shizuku's reaction to his entry didn't help things either.
The monster girl quickly excused herself from her current table and calmly walked over to her boyfriend and his assistant. "Welcome home, master." She bowed low, clearly exposing her cleavage.
Endo's eyes were overcome with mirth, "I could totally get used to that greeting."
The other boys in the room glared at him, still unaware of the pair's relationship. That all changed when Shizuku walked over to his chair, leaned down and planted a kiss on his lips.
You could practically hear the jaws drop at the exchange. Endo took a moment to savor the moment before finally gathering up his courage, "Do you have time to talk real quick?"
Shizuku looked at the other girls, getting a bevy of affirmatives. The day was slowly ending and service was similarly losing steam.
She didn't bother with her clothes and simply walked out the locked back exit.
The three walked in peaceful silence for a few minutes before Endo broke the tension, "Shizuku? Do you… dislike who I've become?"
"What?" She asked, completely flabbergasted he would even ask such a question.
"I'm not the same person I was when we first met. My emotions are more unstable and I'm barely around to see you anymore. Not to mention my le-"
Shizuku stopped in place and glared at him with her glowing red eyes, "Stop!" She commanded, "How could you even ask that?"
He chuckled, "See? The old me would've never even thought to ask that question."
She sighed and gave Hina a look, "A minute please?"
"I'm here to protect Endo, per your request."
"Your hair can sense any danger in a mile radius, I think we're fine."
Hina tilted her head as if considering it. It was true that her Quirk, a mutant type that basically turned every strand of hair on her body into an antenna of sorts, could easily detect danger. It was exactly how she had so easily defeated Gentle. "Very well." She slightly bowed and walked away, as professional as ever.
"Don't let her intimidate you. She's much more laid back in the office."
Shizuku ignored the joke and took his hand in hers, "You were literally made for me. I think that, at the very least, says something about how stable we are. Besides, having emotions isn't a bad thing. You care for me more and are willing to ask those questions, even though the thought of asking them is enough to make you panic."
Endo let out a shaky breath, "Oh god you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that." He reached into his pocket, "It makes this, all the more easier." Clutching the velvet box in his hands, he said, "Shizuku Kiryu, I ask you, with all my flaws and all my insanity, will you marry me?" He cracked open the box, revealing a simple, yet beautiful ruby ring.
Shizuku stared with an open mouth, unsure of how to even react. "I… YES!" She practically tackled her partner and planted a deep kiss on his mouth. The words, "I love you," faintly echoed in the air.
MHA: 1-C
Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this more slice of life chapter! Next chapter will have those extra stories mentioned earlier! I know Shizuku and Endo's relationship is greatly underdeveloped, but between his shenanigans and Class C's recent studies, I just haven't found a whole lot of time to put them together. But fret not, after the next chapter, something interesting happens to the pair and it may have something to do with this mysterious Project Gaia.
