The students were led to the beginning of the wooden stairwell where the heroes waited for the students to arrive. All the students heard were the pro heroes chatting and greeting each other. Present Mic looped his arm with Midnight's, and they made their way down to the stairwell landing. Silence fell over the crowd as Midnight was given a microphone and a headlight shined on the pair. "Thank you everyone and welcome to the 24th Biennial Hero's Gala," she said, following with applause.
"Present Mic and I are honored to introduce the homeroom teacher from this year's chosen hero course. From UA High School, please give a warm welcome to Class 2-A's Eraserhead, accompanied by Ms. Joke!"
The two pros joined Mic and Midnight as the heroes clapped. Midnight gave Aizawa the mic before they walked down the stairs. "Thank you everyone. I am incredibly proud of what my class has achieved these past two years, and I am honored to be part of their journey to be pro-heroes. Tonight you shall meet my class plus a few others from UA High School and Shiketsu High School. Thank you again, and here they are, Class 2-A," he said, joining Mic and Midnight down the stairs.
The ballroom darkened with only one headlight shining on the stairwell. Hatsume squeezed Iida's hand when she saw it. He looked down at her and gave her a reassuring smile. She took a deep breath as she heard the string music begin to play. The line of students began to descend the stairs beginning with Aoyama, wearing teal trousers with a sparkling silver suit jacket accompanied by a teal ascot, and Kendo in a teal mermaid gown that wrapped around her neck. Each couple paused at the landing for the heroes to clap before walking all the way down to the dancing area. Midoriya and Uraraka walked down the stairs, the last pair before the class representatives. "Are you ready?" Iida whispered.
"More than ready," Hatsume replied.
"We will now announce the class representatives to join us to lead the first dance. First we have Class representative, Tenya Iida, accompanied by Mei Hatsume from U.A. High School's Class 2-H, Department of Support," Mic announced. The pair walked down to the landing. Hatsume and Iida smiled at the heroes clapping before making their way to the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by their fellow classmates.
"And Class Vice Representative, Momo Yaoyorozu, accompanied by Shouto Todoroki," Mic continued.
The pair walked down the landing where they heard, "Shouto, you got this!" from the back. Todoroki squinted to the back of the room where Endeavor stood clapping. Momo felt Todoroki tense up as she squeezed his arm, and once he looked at her, he relaxed as they made their way next to Iida and Hatsume.
"And now, your special guest for the evening, please welcome All Might, accompanied by Inko Midoirya!" Mic exclaimed.
Midoriya's head snapped up when he heard his mom's name announced. "What!" he said.
All Might then walked down to the landing with Inko's arm wrapped around his. She dazzled in her golden dress with her hair half up and curled. The crowd erupted with applause. The students looked at Midoriya, looking like a robot whose program had crashed. Why didn't they tell me?
"Who is that woman All Might has with him?" one hero asked.
Uraraka squeezed his arm. "Deku, are you okay with this?" she whispered.
"I don't know, but she is gorgeous!" Another hero said.
Midoriya watched how big his mother's smile grew as they walked down the rest of the stairs. He recovered from the shock and grinned at his date. "Yeah, it's shocking, but I haven't seen her smile like this in a long time. She deserves this," he replied. Uraraka beamed and leaned against his arm.
Present Mic stood on the second step and shushed the crowd. "The class reps of Class 2-A will now lead us in the first dance," he said.
The strings and piano began to play, and the class reps began to move with their partners and glide around the dance floor. Hatsume beamed at Iida as he led her first dance. She noticed a couple of heroes were whispering from the sidelines. "Oh my gosh, this is working! I bet everyone is going to want to talk to us when this wraps up," Hatsume said.
"I am just grateful that you did not bring any of your babies," Iida replied.
The pink-haired girl smirked. "How do you know that?" She laughed as Iida's eyes grew wide and slowed their pace. "I'm kidding! I am a woman of my word. It's sort of nice to be away from the shop and be like Cinderella for the night. Ha! I never thought I would say that!"
"You look lovely, Mei Hatsume, and thank you for accompanying me tonight."
She chuckled, "No problem, Big Guy. Thanks for not stepping on my feet!"
The odd couple continued to dance. Meanwhile, Momo looked around and noticed quite a few eyes were on them. "Why are so many people looking at you?" she asked.
Todoroki chuckled, "Believe me, they are looking at you, your majesty." Momo then began to laugh with him.
A few moments later, Hagakure and Ojiro joined them along with Kirishima and Mina. Other students entered the dance floor, even Bakugou. Soon, the teachers along with other pro heroes joined them. The Hero's Gala has officially begun.
AAHHHHHH IT'S HAPPENING!
They got through the first dance, check.
Now, what's going to come for the rest of the night? Hmmmmmm...