Chapter 22 - Dinner and Two Shows
Joshua and Jiro met up with Milo and Ashido, who were doing some more shopping. The four walked around some more until they saw Murdock with Tokoyami, Matthew, Bakugo, and Kirishima, and joined them. The group then found Sunshine with Kaminari, and Annabelle with Asui and Hagakure, and joined with them. Around dinnertime, Class 1-A met back up again to leave the mall and head back to Heights Alliance. When they got back, they made dinner for themselves and ate.
After dinner, the class split into their own groups to do their own thing: Matthew decided to do some weight-lifting with Midoriya, Milo hung with Ashido and learned some more break-dancing from her, Sunshine and Annabelle chatted with Yaoyaorozu and Uraraka, Joshua and Jiro uploaded songs onto Joshua's newly acquired MP3 player (using Matthew's laptop to do it, with his permission), and Murdock… well, Murdock had a rather ridiculous idea that he wanted to try.
Murdock went to his room, grabbed his banjo, and spent a couple of minutes tuning it. After it was all tuned up, he went downstairs with it. He then approached Joshua and Jiro, who were lounging on the couch after having uploaded the songs from The Joshua Tree to Joshua's MP3 Player.
Upon seeing the banjo in Murdock's hands, Joshua let out a groan.
"Oh, come on, Murdock." Joshua spoke. "Playing that thing once was bad enough, but now you're gonna play it again?"
"I wanna try something, Joshua." Murdock replied. "Jiro, Hagakure told me that you play instruments, right?"
"Right…" Jiro replied, her tone hesitant.
"Can you play an acoustic guitar?"
"Hagakure did say I can play instruments, and an acoustic guitar counts as one, so… yeah."
"Do you have one?"
"Why do you want to know?" Jiro asked.
"I want you to go get it." Murdock replied. "I want to try something."
Jiro looked at Joshua, who shrugged, and then got up from the couch they both were sitting on. She then went quickly headed up to her room, grabbed the acoustic guitar from it, and came back down to the main area.
"Alright," Murdock spoke, pulling up a chair and sitting on it. "Strum a chord, little missy."
Jiro looked at Joshua again, to which he shrugged again. She then strummed a chord, and Murdock did the same, but on his banjo. He then made a motion for Jiro to do it again, to which she did. Murdock repeated the chord she played, and Jiro, upon getting the idea, played another chord.
(Author's Notes: Play "Dueling Banjos" by Eric Weissberg in order to get the scene.)
Sunshine, who was talking with Annabelle, Yaoyaorozu, and Uraraka, suddenly froze when she heard the notes being played.
"Uh-oh." Sunshine spoke, her tone humorously worried.
"What?" asked Yaoyaorozu.
"I think you guys are about to be subjected to backwoods music." Sunshine replied.
"What does that mean?" asked Uraraka.
"Watch." Sunshine replied, pointing to where Jiro and Murdock were playing.
Murdock then began strumming the familiar chords of 'Dueling Banjos', and Jiro, having never heard the song before, followed. Murdock strummed again, Jiro followed, and then, after the two traded a few more strums and chords, Murdock began speeding up.
"Alright, let's kick it up a notch!" Murdock said excitedly.
The two began trading strums and chords with each other, this time at a faster pace. After a few seconds of going at it, Murdock hit the full speed and began playing rapidly! Jiro, much Joshua's amazement and delight, was able to keep at full pace with Murdock's incredibly fast playing. Upon hearing the two playing, all of the students in the dorm stopped what they were doing in order to watch the spectacle unfold. Even Aizawa, who was reading a book over in the corner, looked up in amazement.
"Is that what I think it is?" Matthew asked, as he and Midoriya approached the spectacle.
"Yep, that's 'Dueling Banjos'." Milo replied, his tone humorously embarrassed.
"Oh, Murdock…" Matthew groaned, trying his hardest not to laugh.
Both Murdock and Jiro continued playing, both keeping up with each other's quick strumming. Finally, upon reaching the end of the song, both broke out into a fury of quick strums, and then cut the song. Class 1-A began applauding to what they just heard, and Jiro ducked her head shyly upon getting recognition for her playing.
"That was awesome!" Kaminari cheered, pumping a fist in the air. "Nice playing, you two!"
"Yes, that was a rather impressive display of skill." Tokoyami added, his arms folded.
"Thank you, my feathered friend." Murdock replied, which caused Tokoyami to look at him weird. Murdock then turned to Jiro and asked, "Not bad for a sorry-looking guitar, am I right?"
"Not bad at all." Jiro replied.
"Alright, what are we going to play next?" Murdock asked.
"We're going to hold a concert or something?" Joshua asked.
"Sure, why not?" Murdock replied. "As a matter of fact, Joshua, I'm calling you out. Why don't you sing a couple of bars, mister?"
"Well…" Joshua replied. "I don't know…"
"Come on, waterworks!" Bakugo yelled from the back. "Start singing!"
"Waterworks?" Joshua asked, before remembering when he began crying all of a sudden. "Oh…"
"Come on, Joshua." Matthew spoke up. "Sing, man."
"Yeah, come on!" Uraraka added.
All of Class 1-A and the American students voiced their approval, which led Joshua to smile, close his eyes, and raise his hand in order to quiet the crowd.
"Alright, but if I'm gonna sing, I want something with soul." said Joshua, opening his eyes. "Murdock, can you do All I Want is You by U2?"
"Got it, but I'm going to need to borrow the acoustic; if I do it on the banjo, the innovators of rock are going to strike me down with lightning." Murdock replied, before turning to Jiro and asking, "Mind if I use that, little missy?"
"Sure." Jiro replied, handing Murdock the acoustic guitar, while Murdock handed his banjo for her to hold.
"Okay then," Murdock spoke, readying himself. "Let's wail."
Murdock began strumming slowly, playing the chords of All I Want Is You. After a few seconds of strumming, Joshua began to sing. As he sang, the students of U.A listened intently, as his calm voice, combined with the strumming of the guitar, pierced the atmosphere.
(Author's Notes: Play "All I Want is You (U2) Acoustic Cover" by Worship Tutorials in order to get the scene.)
You say you want,
Diamonds and a ring of gold.
You say you want,
Your story to remain untold.
But all the promises we make,
From the cradle to the grave,
When all I want is you.
You say you'll give me,
A highway with no-one on it.
Treasure, just to look upon it,
All the riches in the night.
You say you'll give me,
Eyes in the moon of blindness.
A river in a time of dryness,
A harbor in the tempest.
But all the promises we make,
From the cradle to the grave,
When all I want is you.
You say you want,
Your love to work out right,
To last with me through the night.
You say you want,
Diamonds on a ring of gold,
Your story to remain untold,
Your love not to grow cold.
All the promises we break,
From the cradle to the grave,
When all I want is you.
You, all I want is
You, all I want is
You, all I want is
You.
After Joshua had finished singing, Class 1-A clapped for him. But he saw that they all wore solemn expressions; even Bakugo, who normally wore an angry face almost all the time, had softened as well. What everyone didn't know as well was that All Might was listening in on the singing, and even he was moved to tears upon hearing Joshua sing.
"Whoops." Joshua spoke, his tone quiet yet humorous. "Looks like I brought everyone down, didn't I? Uh, anybody got any music to bring the mood back to light-hearted?"
Milo let out a chuckle, and then said, "I know what'll get everybody back to light-hearted."
Sunshine's eyes widened, and she said in a somewhat worried tone, "Milo, don't you dare…"
"Milo, do it!" Murdock yelled, his tone cheerful.
"Do what?" Midoriya asked. "What's Shiloh going to do?"
"You'll see." Matthew replied, a smile on his face as he facepalmed.
Milo pulled out his phone, and went over to the speaker system. He then plugged his phone into it, turned up the volume, and played the song. The song playing was Apache (Jump on it) by The Sugarhill Gang. Upon hearing it, Murdock and Matthew began laughing, while Joshua, Sunshine, and Annabelle looked embarrassed. Class 1-A, on the other hand, didn't know what to think.
"Milo, you are a sick human being!" Joshua yelled out, his tone comical.
"Aw come on; you know you want to do it!" Milo replied.
"I know, and that's why I hate it." Joshua groaned.
"Come on, Joshua; start us off!" Matthew laughed.
(Author's Notes: Play "Apache (Jump on it)" by The Sugarhill Gang in order to get the scene.)
Joshua surrendered and then, as the chorus began, he and Milo started doing the Jump on it dance (like in Fresh Prince)! Murdock joined in, and most of the students of Class 1-A started laughing, because despite dancing goofy, Milo, Joshua, and Murdock were able to keep straight faces!
The chorus then went to the first verse, to which Matthew lip-synched like he was rapping it! The chorus came around again, and this time, Kaminari, Ashido, Mineta, Midoriya, and Uraraka joined in on the Jump on it dance, now that knew the moves to it! Murdock ended up having to stop, because he was laughing so hard at the fact that some of the students of Class 1-A joined in!
The second verse came up, to which Milo took a turn lip-synching! Then there was the instrumental, to which Ashido and Milo did some breakdancing to it! Before the chorus came again, Matthew made a motion for him and Bakugo to join in. With a look that said 'if you'll do it, I'll do it', Bakugo walked forward. Matthew did the same and, as the chorus began again, the two did the jump on it dance, both keeping straight faces as they did it! Kirishima began laughing, to which he had to cover his mouth in order to avoid embarrassing his friend!
Everyone soon joined in, some doing the jump on it dance, while some doing an improvised dance of their own. A minute passed by, and the song ended. At the end of it, all of the students were laughing, giving each other high-fives, cheering, and just enjoying the night.
"I have to say, this is one of the greatest nights of my life." said Matthew, as the cheering died down. "I know this sounds sappy, but I love you all; both my fellow American students, and all of you in Class 1-A. Even you Bakugo, even though you want to kick my butt."
"Which I will do at one point…" Bakugo growled.
"I know you will." Matthew replied, his tone still cheerful. "Anyway, I'm just glad to know you all; you've all been so wonderful to me and my friends, and I hope things just get better as we spend more time here. So, if I had a drink, I would toast you all, as my friends and my family…"
Both the American students and Class 1-A began applauding at the end of Matthew's speech. After they were done applauding, Annabelle asked, "Hey, what time is it?"
"Eight o'clock." All Might spoke, appearing in front of the students.
"All Might!" said Midoriya.
"Thank you, sir." Annabelle replied. "Well then, I think we still have some time. So, who's up for a movie?"
"Yeah!" Everyone cheered in reply.
"How about you, All Might?" asked Midoriya. "Do you want to join us for the movie?"
"Sure, why not?" All Might asked. "What movie are we going to be watching?"
The movie that was picked was Alien, which Annabelle chose. Due to having her first hero name being based off of that particular movie, Ashido was glad to be seeing it. However, she would often let out a squeal of fear during the scary scenes, to which she would hug Milo for comfort. Some of the American students and the students of Class 1-A (such as Joshua, Todoroki, Matthew, Yaoyaorozu, and Bakugo) were not afraid of the movie, while some (such as Midoriya, Uraraka, Kaminari, Murdock, Mineta, and Sunshine) were getting jump-scared by it.
When the scene with the chest-burster came up, Murdock called out, "That happened to my cousin!"
This in turn made some students chuckle, but they still were disturbed by the gory scene that was displayed before them. Even All Might, who had fought the mightiest of villains and lived to tell about it, was clutching a pillow and shaking. As for Aizawa, he went back to his room and decided to go to bed. That, and also to make sure that Eri didn't leave the room without him and end up seeing the movie!
Joshua was sitting on the floor with Jiro, who was leaning against him playfully. Joshua didn't mind, and he often found himself fiddling with her ear jacks. However, his mind was also plagued with the encounter he had with Haruki at the mall. And what Haruki said was also stuck in his mind:
"I'm giving you an ultimatum; either break off your relationship with Class 1-A, including that girl, or I'm going to place a call to your father. Have a good one, Death Wish II…"
This was a difficult decision; Joshua didn't want to break off his relationship with Jiro, or Class 1-A and the American students, nor did he want to go back to being a loner. But he didn't want his father getting involved either; his father did not know what the word 'mercy' meant, and him coming would mean a horrible ending for his friends.
A buzzing came over Joshua's phone, to which he pulled it out of his pants pocket. He pulled it out and looked it; it was an alert from the unlisted number, and it said:
MEETING TONIGHT, IMPORTANT INFORMATION NEEDED!
Joshua texted back his reply:
CAN'T MAKE IT TONIGHT, SOMETHING IMPORTANT IS HAPPENING. WON'T BE ABLE TO MEET FOR SOME TIME.
The unlisted number texted back:
UNDERSTOOD. MEETING WILL BE HELD IN A FEW DAYS OR LESS.
Joshua let out a quiet growl, turned off his phone, and put it back in his pocket. He wasn't going to go this meeting, or the next one, or the one after that. If they wanted to speak to him, they were going to have to find him in broad daylight and talk. That night, Joshua decided to jump off the path of being a villain, and become a hero.
However, the fear of his father coming still loomed in his mind…
Author's Notes: So, I thought this would be a funny chapter for Class 1-A and the American students to just have fun. If any of their actions seems out of character, I apologize for that. Also, I would like to thank Fanfiction user "bluebarnowl" for giving me the idea of having the group watch Alien. As for the songs, Dueling Banjos is by Eric Weissberg, All I Want is You is originally by U2, and Apache (Jump on it) is by The Sugarhill Gang.
R&R,
Heroboy005