Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Vlad King's Green Bean

Chapter thirty-six: The School Festival

One early October day during class, the students of UA's Class 1-B were wondering what all would be happening when their teacher, Sekijiro Kan, entered the room. "Alright students let's take our seats," the Blood Hero called out.

"Umm... we're already sitting," Itsuka pointed out.

Looking a bit embarrassed, Sekijiro went on, "Umm, yes. Anyway, as some of you may have heard, UA's annual school festival is coming up. The festival gives all classes in all departments of UA a chance to shine, which means you kids will also be doing something for it. Keep in mind that people from outside of UA will also be visiting, mainly civilians, so you'll expect to see quite a bit of people coming in."

The students of Class 1-B suddenly started getting excited, given that the School Festival had just been officially announced. "That all having been said," Sekijiro went on, "You kids gotta agree amongst yourselves what you will be doing for the school festival. You all have until this time tomorrow to decide, otherwise I'll just have you guys run concession." As such, Sekijiro gave his students the rest of homeroom to discuss what all they can do for the school festival.

...

Izuku and Itsuka went to the front of class to take suggestions from their classmates on what they can do, then pick the best slash most popular options and hold a vote for what Class 1-B will go for. "How about we try to do an arcade?" Sen offered.

"I was thinking a maid cafe," Shihai spoke up.

"Maybe we should just do concession after all," Togaru remarked, "Because I'm drawing a blank."

Sighing, Itsuka said, "Guys, we need to try harder than that. The school festival is important for the classes of UA to show what they're made of. Additionally, the festival is our chance to help Eri get over some of the trauma she still has, given it'll be her first special event she gets to-"

"I got it!" Izuku called out, cutting Itsuka off and getting her plus the other 1-B students to turn to look at him.

Jurota gave Izuku a looked of piqued interest. "What is it, Midoriya?"

Gesturing to Itsuka, Izuku explained, "What Itsuka said about how the fetival will be the first special event Eri ever got to go to reminded me that there's going to be children among the people visiting from outside of UA." To his classmates, Izuku said, "That being said, why don't we try to come up with something specifically for the children who will be coming?"

"...Hey, yeah," Manga spoke up, "There are going to be quite a lot of children coming with parents and older siblings. Setting something up specifically for the little kids would actually be a good idea."

"But what, though?" Yui asked, "What can we do to entertain the children who will be-"

"A play!"

Everyone took pause when Eri, who was seated in a desk off to the side, spoke up. Getting from her desk and running to stand with Izuku and Itsuka, Eri said, "You guys should put on a play! I bet that will make the other kids happy!"

"Ah, the theater," Juzo remarked, "It would be nice to stretch our thespian muscles."

"Why do we need to see a therapist about our muscles?" Setsuna asked, "Wouldn't seeing an actual doctor for muscle problems be a better idea?"

"Not therapist, thespian," Juzo said, emphasizing the pronunciation of what he was talking about, "Thespian is a fancy word for actor."

Ibara gently shook her head in disappointment. "And you wonder why people think Itsuka's the girl in our class who got into UA on recommendation instead of you, Tokage."

Before Setsuna could get up into Ibara's face, Izuku said, "Now now, we don't have to get angry with each other like that." After Setsuna and Ibara had settled down, Izuku went on, "Now, who all thinks putting on a play for the children coming to the school festival is a good idea?" Surprisingly, everyone in 1-B agreed with the idea of putting on a play targeted at the young demographic that will be among the people visiting UA for the school festival.

Clapping her hands together, Itsuka said, "Great! Now all we need to do to pick out what play we'll perform-"

"And I will be the star!" Eri declared, looking very much excited to take part in what Class 1-B was going to be doing.

All of the students looked at Eri in surprise. "...Umm, pardon?" Yosetsu said.

"I wanna help too!" Eri said, "I bet I can be super awesome in your play!"

Izuku looked a bit concerned, but he was willing to explain things. "...I don't have any objections to you being in the play Eri, but please bare in mind that when we put on the play during the school festival, you'll have a whole lot of people in the audience looking at you. That being said, are you sure you can handle so many people giving you their full attention?"

"I can do it!" Eri insisted.

Clapping her hands together, Itsuka said, "That being the case, I suggest that we actually write up an original performance." To Izuku, Itsuka went on, "Midoriya, given that you're class rep as well as one of those among us in 1-B who I feel is the smartest we've got, you ought to be part of the team working on writing up the script for the play that will be starring Eri."

Izuku nodded in understand, and at Itsuka's suggestion the 'brain trust' responsible for writing up the play would have Izuku, Juzo, Jurota, and lastly Kinoko. The four of them would be set to meet with one another in UA's school library after classes for the day to start brainstorming what to do for the kid's play that Class 1-B would be throwing as their contribution to the school festival.


After classes that day, Izuku, Juzo, Jurota, and Kinoko met up with one another in the UA school library to begin brainstorming the plot of the children's play they have to write. "Well first off," Jurota began, "Since Eri is apparently going to have the lead role, we ought to consider building around that idea."

Shrugging, Juzo said, "How about we do some sort of Alice in Wlonderland-type deal, except we tone down the level of scary stuff?"

"The play does have to be child-friendly since it's being aimed at children," Kinoko pointed out.

Izuku nodded in agreement. "Alright, so we'll use Juzo's suggestion. Now, what sort of adventure will Eri's character have?"

As Izuku and the rest of his group thought about it, Kinoko said, "How about a group of meanies who've taken over an area of the land she stumbled into needs to be dealt with in order to restore all happy feelings?"

"That's a good starting point," Izuku said, "But what should these mean characters be called?"

"How about the Grumpy Frumps?"

Izuku and his group took pause when they heard someone speak up, and turned to look where the call came from. As such, they saw Bakugo from Class 1-A walk over, followed by Kirishima, Sero, and Kaminari. It had been Kaminari who had spoken up.

"Oh, Kacchan," Izuku greeted Bakugo, "What brings you here?"

"Me and my classmates ultimately decided to do improv for our thing for the school festival," Bakugo replied, "And some of the idiots in class apparently aren't all that sure on how to do improv. That being said, the boys and I came here to find books on doing improv."

"And what's this about mean characters in a play?" Sero asked.

"Oh, our class is going to be putting on a play aimed at the children who are going to be coming to the school festival," Jurota explained, "We have to write up a script for it while keeping in mind that Eri wants to have a starring role in it because she insisted on having a part."

Bakugo rolled his shoulders. "Oh yeah, you guys took over looking after the girl after Ass-awa muttered something about not wanting to be stuck with a little girl Deku." Looking to the group of 1-B students, Bakugo went on, "Well you guys look like you're the smart ones of your class, I figure that you ought to be able to come up with something that'll work."

"It's real manly of you guys that you wanna cater to the kids who will be coming to the festival," Kirishima remarked, "I think you guys are literally the only class here at UA who is thinking about that specific demographic."

Kiniko, blushing a bit, nodded once to Kirishima. "Umm, thanks for the vote of confidence, Eijiro."

Turning to look at Kaminari, Juzo said, "You said we should call the mean guys in the play the Grumpy Frumps?"

Nodding in the affirmative, Kaminari with an amused look on his face said, "Yeah, the Grumpy Frumps. They're a group of mean bad guys who all look the same, given they all have long black hair, wear black long-sleeved shirts, matching pants, matching shoes, and they wear lengths of white cloth around their necks in coiled piles."

"You... basically just described Aizawa-sensei," Jurota pointed out.

"I know," Kaminari replied with a nod, "He's the inspiration." The rest of the group of 1-A students, even Bakugo, chuckled in amusement.

Izuku was also amused by the idea, and decided to take what Kaminari offered. A few more tweaks here and there, and before Izuku's group had to leave the library, they had a working idea on the plot of the play that Eri would be starring in. All they needed to do now was write out the play, as well as gather what all they're going to be needing for the play such as costumes and props.


The next day, Sekijiro went to go see how Aizawa's students were doing with their plans for doing an improv show. Sekijiro brought Izuku and Itsuka long with him, partly because Izuku and Itsuka wanted to see Yaoyorozu for something. Upon entering Gym Gamma where the 1-A students were going through improv exercises, the Blood Hero and his students he had with him saw Aizawa berate Hizashi over some matter.

Walking in, Sekijiro got their attention. "What did he do, Aizawa?"

Turning to see that Sekijiro came in with two students, Aizawa said, "Hizashi decided to help my students with practicing for the show they'll perform during the school festival, and got so worked up he sang loudly while using his quirk while Shinso was within a meter of him. Shinso's been rendered temporarily deaf, but Recovery Girl assures me that Shinso will regain his hearing." Scowling, the underground hero added, "But it's estimated to not come back until after the school festival passes."

"Shinso has to miss taking part in the school festival?" Izuku asked, clearly concerned.

Aizawa gave Izuku an indifferent scowl. "I'm surprised to see you care, Midoriya."

"Hey now, don't start that funny business right now, Aizawa," Sekijiro scolded, "Anyway, Midoriya and Kendo want to see your student Yaoyorozu for something."

Aizawa arched a wry eyebrow out of curiosity, but nonetheless complied and called for Yaoyorozu to come over. After she came over, Yaoyorozu asked, "What do you need, Aizawa-sensei?"

Pointing at Izuku and Itsuka, Aizawa explained, "Midoriya and Kendo from Class 1-B need to see you for something."

The wealthy girl then turned her attention to Izuku and Itsuka. "What is it?"

Itsuka took out a sheet of paper, unfolded it, and handed it over to Yaoyorozu. "Can you make the item detailed here using your quirk? It's a prop we need for the play that our class is putting on."

"Your students are putting on a play?" Aizawa said to Sekijiro while Yaoyorozu went over the details handed to her.

"Yeah, it's going to be a play aimed at the children who will be at the school festival with parents and older siblings," Sekijiro explained, "They're even working things so that Eri will have a role in the play."

The underground hero gave an unsure hum. "...Your students really plan to-"

"There we go, finished," Yaoyorozu said as she handed to Izuku and Itsuka a well made, durable looking light up scepter toy; the body was about a foot long, with the large plastic light up jewel at the top shaped like an apple and given a red hue; there were also lengths of plastic the same color as the scepter's body clutched around the apple jewel head.

Izuku pressed a button on the side of the scepter's body, causing the apple jewel to light up all bright. "Huh, a bit brighter than what were expecting actually, but still perfect." Looking to Yaoyorozu, Izuku said, "Thanks, Yaoyorozu."

"It looks like a toy that someone would buy for girls Eri's age," Yaoyorozu commented.

"That's kind of the idea, given that Eri will be using it in her role in the play our class is putting on for the school festival," Itsuka explained.

Yaoyorozu gave a sincerely amused smile. "Yes, I got it from Kirishima that you guys are doing a play aimed at children. I bet that Eri will have fun." Sekijiro then took off with Izuku and Itsuka, leaving Aizawa and his students be, before going right back to berating Hizashi for how he had ended up rendering Shinso unable to take part in the school festival.


A few days later, the day of the UA school festival had finally come. This saw all classes of all departments put their best feet forward as they all strove to show the people visiting from outside just what UA was made of. In the kitchen area of the 1-B dorm building, the girls aside from Pony came down from the upper floors to see Izuku, Juzo, Yosetsu, Nirengeki, and Pony finishing up a rather large batch of candied apples; there were enough made so that each student in 1-B, Kan-sensei if he wanted, and Eri would have one candied apple each. They were all plain red caramel coated, except for one which had ground-up cookies and cream coating on it over the caramel.

"You guys got the caramel apples made already?" Itsuka asked.

"Yeah, we just need to let them settle," Izuku said, "Also, the one that was made special was made for Eri."

Gesturing to the spread, Setsuna asked, "Did she see all of this yet?"

"No, not yet," Yosetsu explained, "Jurota took her over to where the play is going to be thrown to help her go over some last minute rehearsal."

"This all will be a surprise for the whole of 1-B after the school festival," Nirengeki said.

Itsuka smiled warmly as what the boys and Pony had gotten set up. "I bet that Eri will love this, especially since it looks like there's enough for all of us, Eri, and Kan-sensei to have one."

"That's the idea," Pony said, "Oh, funny story about all of us getting the supplied to make candied apples over to UA. We had bought everything and were carrying it back when we ran into that Kacchan boy in Class 1-A that Midoriya knows. He was a lot nicer than he usually lets on, and he even carried what I was carrying at the time for me all the way to campus before he had to break off to go to his class's dorm."

"Kacchan?" Itsuka said in a curious tone, "...Oh, that's Midoriya's nickname for Bakugo." Clapping her hands together, Itsuka said, "Well, we all ought to get on over to where we're putting on the play, get some last minute practice in before it's showtime." Nodding in agreement, the boys and Pony left the candied apples to settle before leaving with the girls to go see how the rest of their classmates were doing with getting the play ready to be put on.


It was a bit later in the day, and the UA school festival was officially open to the public. This saw all manner of people show up to enjoy themselves at what sort of wonderments the students of UA's various classes and courses were doing. There were the attractions that were normally expected to be at a school festival, like various concession booths, a haunted house, a few cafes including a stereotypical maid cafe, and one classroom was even doing a rummage sale. Indeed, it was very clear that the students of UA were intending to pull out all the stops in order to make their school's festival an event that those visiting would never forget.

In addition to the many attractions that the various classes of UA were hosting, there was also a beauty pageant event that the female students of UA could compete in; Itsuka was entered into the event, as was Nejire Hado of the Dynamic Duo; given that Mirio had died, Nejire and Tamaki couldn't refer to themselves as the Big Three, so Nejire decided to change their group's name, thus she and Tamaki were now known as UA's Dynamic Duo. Tamaki wanted to object, but decided to keep his thought to himself when he saw how into it Nejire was. All that he figured he could do was to let Nejire have her fun.

Tamaki could tell that Nejire, even though she wasn't showing it, was still hurting over the loss of Mirio. He felt that she deserved to have some fun in light of that.

Among the students also entered into the beauty pageant was one Bibimi Kenranzaki, a third year student from the support department. She had won the UA school festival beauty pageant twice in a row, and this year, should she win, she'll have won every year while she was a UA student. That being said, she's determined to win what will be her third and final UA school festival beauty pageant. Bibimi seemed particularly interested in defeating Nejire during the beauty pageant, seeing her as a rival of sorts. Nejire, for her part, said that she'd win for she was being watched over by the spirit of her fallen friend who she didn't want to disappoint.

...

Among the many, many people visiting UA during the school festival were Inko Midoriya, Mitsuki Bakugo, Mika Jiro, and Rei Todoroki. To help further celebrate Rei's continued recovery, the ladies decided to take her to the UA school festival so they could see their children shine. "Why couldn't Beru join us again?" Mitsuki asked, "It's not much of a girl's outing unless all five of us are here."

"...Mitsuki," Inko began, "Beru had to take care of some legal business due to the loss she suffered."

The ashy blonde haired woman had a somber look on her face as she remembered what Inko was talking about. "...Oh yeah. Damn, I still don't know what to say to her to help cheer her up."

Clapping her hands together, Mika said, "Anyway ladies, I got it that Kyoka along with Mitsuki's son and Rei's son are doing live improv with their class, and Inko's son and his classmates are putting on a play for the children who are coming to the festival here."

"Yeah, the girls and I are taking Kota to see the play," a voice called out, making the moms turn and see Mandalay, Pixie-Bob, and Ragdoll in civilian outfits come walking up to them; Kota was following along while holding onto Mandalay's hand, his head still bare since his hat was stolen during the League of Villains's attack on the training camp that the Pussycats had hosted. "We overheard you ladies mention by name some of UA's first year hero course students," Mandalay explained, "The girls here and I, along with our late teammate Tiger, trained UA's Class 1-A and Class 1-B."

Pointing to Mandalay, Inko said, "Oh yes, you must be the Wild, Wild Pussycats! My son Izuku told me about you ladies."

"Oh, so you're the mom of one of Vlad King's students in 1-B," Pixie-Bob said, "Yeah, and we got it from Vlad King that Midoriya in particular is one of his best and brightest. You ought to be proud of him."

Inko nodded once in agreement. "Thank you. I am." Turning to look at Kota, Inko went on, "And you must be Kota."

"I still don't get it," Kota said.

Inko, as well as her friends, all looked confused. "Pardon?" Mika said.

"I still don't get why heroes do what they do," Kota said, looking unsure and a little upset, "Don't they care about how their loved one would feel if they get hurt? How the loved ones will feel if their hero relatives die? Just why? why would heroes do that to their family?"

"Kota..." Mandalay began explaining to the moms, "...Lost both of his parents at an early age. They were the pro hero duo Water Hose, who were killed by the villain known as Muscular."

"Yeah, I heard about that jackoff," Mitsuki said, "Wasn't he killed over at Takoba National Stadium when he and the rest of the League of Villains attacked the place?"

Pixie-Bob nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah, Dabi's monster killed Muscular on accident because he got in the way of an attack he was carrying out."

Inko looked down to Kota, saw that he was upset. "...Young man," Inko said, her kind and motherly instincts kicking in, "Heroes do what they do because if they didn't, then countless innocents would suffer. Disaster, villains, you name it, they'd cause untold levels of suffering if allowed to go on unchecked. That's why heroes go and put themselves on the line, to prevent suffering that's many times worse than any that occurs as a result of them giving their all to save the day." Kota sniffled a bit sadly, showing that he still didn't quite get it. Seeing this, Inko knelt down to get more level with the young boy.

"Right now," Inko said to Kota, "My son and his classmates are about to put on a show with a girl around your age as the star. That poor dear had suffered a lot as of late, and my son and his classmates want to make her fell better by making her the star of a show, who people will cheer for and adore. She's really looking forward to being a star from what my son tells me."

Kota looked surprised to hear from Inko what some of the UA students are doing. "...A bunch of hero students are going that far for one girl?"

"And they'd go that far for you too if they know there's a need for it," Inko went on, "Because they're all training to become heroes. And going to any lengths needed to make a child feel better is just one of the many things a hero would do." Gently ruffling the top of Kota's head, Inko continued, "Because they're heroes."

Kota looked up at Inko for a moment, gave her a look of consideration. "...Are you and your friends here coming to see the play too?"

"Actually, their kids are in Class 1-A which is putting on live improv," Inko explained, "My son Izuku is in Class 1-B which is doing the play. So at least I will be there to watch it as my son and his classmates give a little girl the chance to shine like the star she wants to be."

Kota looked up at Inko in consideration for a few more moments before he turned to look up at Mandalay. "...Can the nice lady here join us when we go in to watch the play?" Kota asked.

Mandalay smiled warmly down at her little cousin. "That sounds like a lovely idea Kota, but it's up to her if she wants to join us."

"Oh I'd love to come along if you'll let me." Inko replied, glad to have some company going in to watch the play while Mitsuki, Mika, and Rei go to watch the live improv performance that Class 1-A was going to be putting on. The two groups agreed to meet up near the front of the main UA building before heading off to their respective destinations, to watch the live performances that 1-A and 1-B would be putting on.

...

In the school theater where Class 1-B was going to be putting on their play, Inko, the Pussycats, and Kota all found seats together. "So what's the play called again?" Ragdoll asked.

"Oh, I got one of the pamphlets for the play," Inko remarked as she took out the pamphlet in question and looked at it, "...Ah, it's called 'Eri in Magicland', which is apparently about how a girl who is teased over not having a cool toy winds up in a place called Magicland, where she helps to save the day." Looking around the theater, Inko saw that many groups with small children came to the theater to watch the play. "My son and his classmates are clearly onto something, catering specifically to a demographic other classes at this festival didn't think about specifically."

"I got a video camera so that I could record everything," Mandalay said, "I bet the play will be adorable."

Pulling out her own video camera, Inko said with a look of amusement on her face, "Looks like I'm not the only one who thought that far ahead."

"Hey everyone," Pixie-Bob said, "Shut up and turn to face forward, the play's looking like it's about to begin!"

END, CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Author's notes;

The school festival shenanigans here won't take as much time to go over for multiple reasons; Izuku's not in 1-A who decided here to do improv instead of a live musical performance, and Gentle Criminal and La Brava had joined the League of Villains so they won't be using the plan from canon to sneak onto UA grounds during the school festival. But that's not here or there. Anyway, the next chapter will actually see the play that Class 1-B here is putting on for the children who came to the festival, and I am seeing that it'll be a cute episode with a few laughs. Until then, see you all later.