Rule #57: Always put your best foot forward

Following 1-A's spectacular performance, the students were then given the arduous task of clean-up duty, something which mostly entailed sweeping up confetti and melting down blocks of ice. Currently, Toru was sat behind a trolley of ice that she was doing her best to shove across the gym and over to one of the large buckets of ice that both Bakugou & Todoroki were melting down into water, and Momo, Ochako & Tsu were siphoning into bottles of water for the class once they were done. The only one of them not there was Midoriya who had been pulled aside no sooner had the performance ended, to be scolded by their teachers for being late and with the rumours of a villain attack floating around; because of course the greenette couldn't stay out of trouble for a measly hour.

"Hey! Good work buddy!" Mirio greeted the greenette as he came rushing back through the doors. At his side stood an excited Eri that Toru couldn't help but coo at; she was sure the little girl had never smiled so big before.

"That was crazy!" Eri beamed, throwing her hands wide as she talked. "At first when there was a loud noise it was scary. But then everyone was jumping with the dance! And then there was a flash! And Deku, you went away for a little bit…and the guys started flying in the air! That was when it started to get cold and I saw birds! And there was spinning light! And a bunch of people went WOW! And y'know what I said? WOW! too! It was sooo fun!"

"I'm glad you had such a good time, Eri" Midoriya grinned through his tears.

"Is that boy ever not crying?" A familiar voice chirped as someone slung their arms around her neck and jumped onto her back.

"Ack!" Toru cried, dropping the trolley's handlebars as blonde hair engulfed her vision; arms snapping up to wrap around thick thighs as she stumbled forward a step or two with the new added weight. "Rio?!"

"Oi Lass, Flashlight actually needs to breathe" Itona drawled in his usual mellow tone; their codenames rolling from his tongue like honey as he came to greet the pair with Nagisa, Karma and Kayano at his side. On her back Rio poked out her tongue in the albino's direction as she loosened her grip enough for Toru to breathe comfortably.

"Guys!" Toru beamed at seeing her former classmates, "You're here! But what 'bout all the security and shit?"

"For shame!" Kayano cackled, acting all high and mighty as Toru's classmates sent side-eye glances towards them or just outright stared at the child star. "Have ye no faith?"

"Security? What security?" Nagisa tilted his head in question, pigtails flopping to the side like dog ears. There was some truth in that statement; with everything they had gone through, a couple of bored heroes patrolling the grounds and security fence was like child's play in comparison.

"Of course" Karma scoffed as he slung an arm around Nagisa'a shoulders, "As if we'd miss the infamous UA festival!"

There was a beat of silence as the group shared secretive smiles and smirks before they dissolved into gleeful laughter that rang throughout the gym like hyenas in the savannah. Off to the side Toru could see Midoriya's eyes widen as the notions from the conversation struck a chord with him. Whatever had happened him in the time before the festival was clearly coming back to haunt him.

"Hey Flashlight" Rio chirped into her ear as Kayano was pulled off to the side by starstruck fans. There she stood with her celeb smile in firmly in place and glitter pen scratching across whatever surface it touched, leaving her autograph behind. She (rightly) refused to sign Mineta's balls however, much to the boy's chagrin.

"Mm?" Toru hummed in question as she turned her head just enough to catch a glimpse of the blonde perched on her shoulder.

"Where's my favourite cousin?"

"Over there" The invisible nodded towards the explosive blonde who was elbow deep in icy water. "Why?" She eyed the red head who had silently joined them at their side and wore a mirrored grin to the blonde.

"We wanna make him explode! See ya!" Rio grinned as she slid from her friend's back and skipped over to where an unsuspecting Bakugou lay waiting, arm-in-arm with Karma. "Oh Suki-poo!"

"Where's Lass & Semi-Senioritis going?" Itona wondered as the mischievous blonde & redhead skipped over to her brash cousin with mirth swimming in their eyes.

"To piss off her cousin" Toru replied.

"Oh? So that's the infamous cousin then?"

"Apparently"

"I can kinda see it"

"Really? I can't—"

"—G'OFF, YOU WITCH!" Bakugou bellowed, his cry echoed out across the courtyard as Rio caught him in a headlock & brandishing his locks with a noogie, cackling like a madwoman all the while. Karma was no better, grabbing slabs of thawing ice from the tub and slipping down the backs of shirts of his unsuspecting victims. Kaminari was so surprised that he ended up shocking himself stupid.

"Should we…do something?" Nagisa worried, biting at his lip as they watched Karma & Rio wreak havoc amongst the hero students.

"No, wait, wait, wait" Itona replied as a mirthful grin danced over his lips, "I wanna see who wins this"

"Since when were they competing?"

"It's Rio & Karma" Toru deadpanned, "They're always competing"

"Yeah…" Nagisa sighed tiredly.

"OI! YOU SHOULD BE WORKING!" Mineta grumbled having trudged over to the cackling assassin students with an armful of ice. His longing & lustful gaze kept darting towards Kayano as she fended off straggling fans whilst Midoriya rushed by with an armful of ice, doing his best to make up for lost work. "TAKE THIS ICE!"

"Hm?" Toru hummed down at the little grape boy as if she had even forgotten they weren't alone. "I've already got ice, Mineta. I'm just catching up with some friends"

"YOU LIAR! NO ONE AS BLAND AS YOU COULD BE FRIENDS WITH A HOTTIE LIKE HARUNA MASE—!"

BONK! SLAP!

"Hmpf!" Toru felt absolutely no remorse for the little perv as she punched him to the floor at the same time Tsu's tongue appeared from thin air, and the two hits connected as one with far more force than was entirely necessary.

"Eurgh! What a perv" Kayano commented, stepping over the boy as she was eventually able to escape the throngs of fans. "I'm so sorry you have to live with that!"

"Yeah" Toru sighed tired, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Me too"

"CLASS A!" A voice called from across the courtyard, pulling everyone's attention to the students still filtering out from class B's play.

"We had a killer time at your show!" Another added.

"Yeah?" Kirishima happily replied, flushing slightly at the acknowledgement and happy that their fellow students had enjoyed themselves. "Sweet! Thanks a lot!"

"Tch! I gotta say, you did well" A troll begrudgingly admitted from the back of the pack, leaving only the tops of his quiff to be seen. "…WE'RE SORRY! WE JUST CAME TO SEE YOU GUYS SCREW UP! PLEASE FORGIVE US!"

"They didn't have to apologise…" Kaminari mumbled as the shock of his surprise wore off.

"We won" Bakugou smugly smirked next to him before shrieking like a banshee as Rio dumped a handful of icy water over his head.

"I wonder if they're some of the people Aizawa-Sensei said were feeling bummed out" Kirishima mused as they watched the pair of students race away with their tails between their legs and leaving the first years to blink dumbly after them. "If they were, our mission was accomplished!"

"Mmhm" Iida hummed with a smile and a nod, "But surely there were those who were unable to attend"

"That's okay, you can almost bet that someone filmed the thing" Toru shrugged as she gave her trolley full of ice to Ojiro, grinning all the while as Rio & Bakugou chased each other around the gym.

"YES! THE FESTIVAL IS STILL YOUNG! WE WILL NOT REST UNTIL EVERY STUDENT—!"

"—Hey, chillax man!" More audience members interjected. "We heard about what you were trying to do when started planning this"

"You totally pulled it off!"

"We'll tell the others all about it!"

"Yeah! Seriously! It was insane!"

"We'll make sure everyone knows how much you put into this! Don't worry!"

"That's perfect! D'ya hear that, Jiro?" Mina chirped as she nudged the musician beside her.

"THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS!" Iida bowed to the students, tie flapping about like a flag as he moved.

"Nah, screw that!" Bakugou surged forward, forgetting about his cousin for the moment, "Go find the jerks who didn't watch us and BRING THEM 'ERE—!"

"—Hey! Calm down!" Ojiro latched onto the brash blonde without a moment's hesitation; they all knew what he was capable of.

"…Your class doesn't do things by halves, does it?" Said Nagisa as he watched the scene play out.

"Nope" Toru replied, popping the 'p' as she leant against the handlebars of her now empty trolley.

"STOP SCREWING AROUND AND FINSIH CLEANING UP THE ICE!" Mineta bellowed as he raced passed with another armful of ice like gerbil on crack.

"Yeah sure…" Kirishima blinked dumbfoundedly after the short boy. "Mineta seems pretty on edge…"

"Gotta hurry so I can score good seats! I will not MISS THE BEAUTY PAGEANT!"

"Oh yeah" Kayano nodded in remembrance as if she had not been thinking about that event all day. It was one of her favourite events of the festival, after all. "That's on now, isn't it?"

"We should go see" Toru suggested as she loaded up more ice.

"But Toru" Mina piped up. "Don't you have another dance thing today?"

"Yeah, but that's not 'til later, after lunch, so there's plenty of time to fill in"

"YES!" Mineta cheered, racing about. "LET'S GO! LET'S GO! LET'S GO! LET'S GO!"


Even moving as fast as they did at Mineta's behest, they still missed the majority of the beauty pageant; yet they were still able to wiggle their way through to a spot in the crowd that surrounded the stage set up outside one of the battle gyms, which let them see better. Thankfully, they did arrive just as Kendo came out on stage in a flowing dress of sky blue. "…NEXT UP: KENDO ITSUKA!" Present Mic cried, his voice echoing out across the speakers as Kendo sliced through the rows of pallets set before her without breaking a sweat. The crowd roared their approval at her show of strength. "SHE STUNS THE COMPETITION WITH A MARTIAL ARTS DEMONSTRATION AND A GORGEOUS DRESS! STRENGTH AND BEAUTY! A MASTERFUL DEMONSTRATION OF SKILL!"

"REALLY? IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!" Kenranzaki swept out onto the stage atop a giant golden likeness of herself and adorned in a violent red yakuta that flapped about her as she moved. "I'M ALMOST OFFENDED YOU'D COMPETE AGAINST ME WITH SOMETHING SO DULL!"

"IT'S THE SUPPORT COURSE THIRD YEAR AND BEAUTY PAGEANT QUEEN HERSELF! KENRANZAKI BIBIMI! PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A STUNNING PERFORMANCE!" Present Mic decreed, although he almost (impressively) drowned out by the proud third year.

"What kind of dance is she doing?" Eri wondered, head titled in question from where she sat on Midoriya's shoulders.

"Maybe I'm not the person to ask about these kind of things!" Mirio sheepishly replied as the girl spun around in dizzy circles. "Coz I'm totally lost!"

"THE GOAL OF BEAUTY IS TO LEAVE YOUR AUDIENCE SPEECHLESS AND DAZZLED!" Kenranzaki swept offstage again like a whirlwind.

Well, we're certainly speechless. Toru stood gaping as she watched the loud third year retreat. I don't know about dazzled, though.

"Aw man! This third year!" Monoma's griped, eye twitching like it hurt for him to say it. "Gotta admit, she's good"

"Heard your play thing went well" Kirishima fist-bumped his metallic twin from class B. "Nice going, man"

"You too, bro!" Tetsutetsu replied in kind.

"NEXT, ANOTHER THIRD YEAR, THE TWO TIME RUNNER-UP: NEJIRE HADO!" Present Mic's voice cut through any and all chatter as Nejire descended from the heavens in a feathery dress of turquoise.

"Nejire! You've got this!" Tamaki cheered into his chest, far too overwhelmed with the crowd and wanting to cheer his friend on. "People are animals! Imagine we're puppies and you'll feel more relaxed"

"Nejire lost last year because she tried to be flashier than Kenranzaki. Sure, no one's gonna out dazzle that girl, but Nejire has her own strengths!" The comment floated over Toru's head as she watched her senpai fly up into the air on golden sparkles.

"So pretty…" Kayano murmured to her right as they watched, just as captivated as everyone else as the third year danced about in the air like a fairy with her Quirk tracing her steps in gold and leaving behind the image of a rose shimmering in her wake.

"WHAT A MAGICAL AIR DANCE!" Present Mic cried as the rose dissipated. "AND I THINK OUR LISTENERS CAN AGREE! AND THAT'S THE END OF THE PAGEANT! REMEMBER! PLEASE VOTE FOR ONE OF THESE EIGHT CONTESTANTS! RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT 5PM!"

Following that announcement, the crowd began to dissipate, voting for their chosen girls as they went and leaving Monoma (who had climbed up on to the stage to rant and rave) yelling at those who remained to vote for Kendo. Of course the ginger wasn't having any of that, so she knocked him out with one chop to the neck and dragged him back offstage with ease that spoke of practise. Once again, Toru was reminded of Tsu's leash on Mineta.

"Oh yeah, man!" Mineta sighed dreamily in content. "Tonight's gonna be so great!"

"Class E's haunted maze looks crazy!" Kaminari piped up. "Wanna go?"

"Obvi!" Mina chirped in reply.

"Yeah, no, I'll pass" Jiro refused, shuddering slightly as she remembered the last time they had participated in a scare dare back at camp. Knowing their record, they'd probably set the place on fire or something.

"There's an obstacle course!" Kirishima beamed.

"And crepes!" Ochako drooled.

"And don't forget to come see Toru's dance later!" Kayano grinned as she pulled the invisible girl and the other remnants of 3-E off into the throngs of festival goers.

"We've still got lots to see, you guys!" Mirio smiled as the group of first years broke apart to explore the festival.

"Yay!" Eri beamed from where she swung between Midoriya & Mirio, hanging tightly to their hands so as not to get lost.


The rest of the afternoon was filled with deadpanned pictures inside UA/hero cutouts, pushing each other over as they raced through the obstacle course to the cheers of their peers (with some underhanded tricks of course), they gorged themselves on crepes, fried chicken and pudding, cackled & screamed their way through the haunted maze (Toru did her best not to whack Hitoshi in the face when he dropped from the ceiling, but it was very close). Balloons were tied to wrists, robots and machines drooled over (Itona and Hatsume had hit it off like a house of fire), until finally it was time for the DFD dance performance and Toru was beginning to regret all the food she'd eaten earlier. They'd worked so hard all year long for this one moment, but that didn't abate the nerves from returning.

"You ready for this?" Gato whispered to her as he helped her up onto the upper most tier of the stage. The stage in question, had been split into three tiers like wedding cake, with the first tier appearing as a ring that wrapped around in a circular motion. This circular catwalk held seven pairs of dancers with enough room for them to spin & dance around second tier was the same as the first, if a little smaller and held the other seven pairs of dancers; which left the final tier upon which the two stood. This was a small circle just big enough for them to move around comfortably.

There hadn't been any real reason the young teens had been placed center stage so to speak, only that with the late change of partners, it allowed the pair to join in the dance without mucking up any of the polished formations. Toru was also the smallest of the class, making her the easiest to lift and fling about without much strife for her partner.

"I hope so" Toru replied in kind as she tugged at her tassel earrings. Put all together, the costume was quite spectacular with its emboldened colours of red and black across the feathered headpiece, tassel earrings, frilly dress and strappy heels. In turn, the boys wore black dress shirts and matching pants, with a red vest tying the two together. And all of them (save for Gato & Toru) bore tribal-like patterns upon their skin in glow-in-the-dark paint which Toru liked to think made them all look like fairies or spirits.

"Me too" Gato replied, his breath tickling at her ear as the two settled into their starting pose; her arms wrapped around his shoulders and his around her waist in a loose, but intimate hug. "Good luck"

"You too"

Down below, the crowd fall into a quiet hush and the evening dusk leant its dimness to their performance. Smoke billowed up from beneath the tiers and the bright black lights that the edges of the stage at their feet illuminated from beneath which gave off an eery sort of glow on whatever it touched. There was a breath of stillness as they all stayed frozen like statues and then those seven on the first tier began to move.

I bust the windows out ya car
After I saw you laying next to her
I didn't wanna but I took my turn
I'm glad I did it cause you had to learn

Hips swayed and arms flowed to the sultry tones of the music as those seven dancers spun around on the circular catwalk. They performed one full rotation before the second tier joined in and the now fourteen dancers repeated the steps. Bow, rise, clasp hands, sway and twirl. Heads moved in opposition to each other as if implying one could not look at the other, legs snapped up into the air before dropping sharply back to earth as they leant against their partners.

I must admit it helped a little bit
To think of how you'd feel when you saw it
I didn't know that I had that much strength
But I'm glad you see what happens when
You see can't just play with people's feelings

And then it was Toru and Gato's turn to join the dance as the fourteen below fell into a similar hug that mirrored their pose. Although already backlit by the black lights at their feet, the invisible girl ignited herself in violet just enough for the light to bounce off of Gato's holographic scales and shine down on the students below like they were a disco ball. She heard more than saw the gasps of awe from the crowd as the pair snapped into action and fireflies (violet & real) danced in the air around them, adding to the spiritual look they had going on.

Tell them you love them and don't mean it
You'll probably say that it was juvenile
But I think that I deserve to smile
I bust the windows out ya car

Gato dipped Toru so low that she felt the tips of her hair brush against the stage at their feet and as the two hung there for a moment, she was able to catch glimpses of the others mirroring their movements on the tiers below. Not far from the speakers, she could make out her peers staring open-mouthed, wide-eyed and impressed as the school's delinquent class danced about.

You know I did it cause I left my mark
Wrote my initials with the crowbar
And then I drove off into the dark
I bust the windows out ya car
I bust the windows out ya car!

And then she was being pulled back to her feet and pushing Gato back across the dance floor before she hooked a leg over his shoulder and hopped up into a sitting position just as they had practised. As the music faded to its end, the dancers froze once more leaving them in their various poses; ones much different from when they had first began. From her position atop Gato's shoulder where she sat cross-legged and glimmering in the dark, Toru happily watched as her classmates—particularly Kayano, Mina and Nejire (adorned in her winner's wreath from the beauty pageant)—cheered them—her—on. It was a good day.

Best. Day. Ever.