Sitting in my room, I was actually studying for once instead of gaming. Heh. Sort of.
I had music going and studying at the same time. I would often sing to myself. I didn't generally have to worry about anyone hearing me, since I had a floor of the dorm to myself. Well, I was the odd one out after all; But being the odd one out did have it's perks.
Suddenly, something caught my eye. A video.
Curious, I clicked on it.
The image showed All Might, then silhouettes of other people.
"With the symbol of peace, All Might, at the head of the list, there are those called heroes from the days of the vigilantes to the present who shine in the annals of history."
"Wow ok. Who's this prick?" I muttered to myself. The image then changed to showing villains.
"Then there's the legendary leader, All For One. The commander of the Meta Liberation Army, Destro. And the peerless thief, Oji Harima. There are also many called villains by history who have had their names recorded. Before the legislative system of superhuman society became fixed, when the distinction between 'hero' and 'villain' was still vague, there was chaos."
I sighed and rested my chin on my hand. "Hurry up and get to the point..."
"But in that chaos, there was freedom. There was a naked freedom like that of the Anglaise!"
I sat up a little straighter as a man in a tail coat walked onto the screen.
"Nice to meet you, dear listeners."
The man was older, white hair and mustache, small white beard. His eyes almost clear blue. Definitely had the type of face for a screen.
"Here, I will bring you the grand adventure of a man of extraordinary talent. That's right! It is I, Gentle! Gentle Criminal!"
I blinked as the video stopped. I tried reloading, but it popped up saying that it was unavailable.
"So...Someone doesn't want you all over the internet. Gentle Criminal, huh? Who the hell are you, Gentle Criminal?"
I tapped my chin, debating calling Doc. No, not yet.
I went back to studying, and thinking.
I sighed. I'm never going to get anything done with things like the Shie Hassaikai, The League and Gentle Criminal popping up left right and centre.
"The dance choreography and costumes...There's a lot to decide!"
"I'm still not dancing."
"Aww come on, Kitia!"
"Nooope. Sorry Dodo, but I don't dance."
"You're just mad because we didn't pick your idea."
I raised an eyebrow at Kaminari. "Ok, first of all, I am not mad. Why would I be mad about that? And two, where do you of all people, get off talking to me like that, huh?"
"Because I can!"
I glared at him. "Go electrocute yourself, Kaminari..."
"What do you think people will like?"
"We should do what's popular. Right, Jiro?"
Yea, sure. Just ignore me. I rolled my eyes. It was a nice day today. Didn't want to get into any major arguments.
I saw Bakugo looking at some students. "Hey, what's-"
"Sh."
"-doing a concert. For us."
"For us? What's that meant to mean? Aren't they thinking too much of themselves?"
"Seriously, they're too carefree. Even though they were attacked by villains, they went to training camp nonchalantly and were attacked again. They even had people injured. Thanks to that, we had a lot to go through. Even though it was their fault. They've got some nerve."
I watched the two general studies students walk away. I had to bite my tongue. They went through a lot?!
I growled and tugged on Bakugo's sleeve. "The one time I really want to hit someone..."
He shoved me towards the dorm. "Get moving."
I sent a glare towards the students, not that they noticed, and did as I was told.
"The school festival is exactly one month away! We don't have much time, so we should decide various things today!"
"First, we need to decide on a song, huh? What should we do?"
"I don't know much about stuff like that, so I'll go along with what you guys think."
"Same here."
I looked over at Jiro. She was deep in thought about it as everyone else talked it over.
"Anyway, since it's for everyone, shouldn't we do a song most people know?"
I shook my head. "Not necessarily..."
"Huh?"
Looked up and shrugged. "Well, as long as it's got a good beat, I don't think it really matters if everyone knows it or not. I mean, I'm partial to older songs myself." I sweat-dropped. "But that's just me..."
"Yes, something to dance too!"
"If I put together everyone's opinions, we're looking at a new rave type of club rock song."
"Gross." I muttered. I hated clubs.
"For dance music, we should really be playing EDM, but you guys want to play instruments, right? Has anyone ever played bass or drums or anything?"
Nobody spoke. Well then, this shall be interesting.
"Right. First, the backbone of a band is the drums, but I mainly play guitar. I'm still learning drums. Teaching a beginner and practicing myself will be a lot to do in just a month."
I leaned against the wall, thinking. I doubt I'd be able to contribute to this, since I had no experience with playing any kind of instruments. Was I disappointed? I frowned. What an odd feeling...
"Oh, didn't you say you were made to take music classes as a kid?"
I looked up to see Kaminari speaking to Bakugo. Oh this shall be good.
"Really? That's surprising."
"Bakugo, try playing the drums a little."
"Like I'd do that."
I scoffed. "Oh, so there's something he is afraid of doing."
"Well, I hear it is pretty hard, so..."
Sero and I smirked at each other as Bakugo stopped walking.
He snatched the drumsticks off Sero and went over to the drum-kit.
I tried to keep a straight face, but mate...Bakugo killed it. I think I just got a new type of respect for him. Not that I'd tell him that.
"Well?!"
I nearly laughed at all the shocked faces in the room.
"P-perfect..."
"Wow."
"There he is-Mr Talented!"
"Bakugo's gotta be on the drums!"
I shook my head. These guys are gonna give him a bigger head than he already does.
"I'm not doing anything so stupid."
I blinked. Bakugo refusing a chance to show off? What?
"Bakugo, please! I mean, if you do it, it'll definitely turn out good!"
"There's no way it'll be good!"
Ok, now I was worried. He's never this negative...Not about himself anyway.
"It's that, right? Some empty promise to let students from other courses blow off steam?"
I thought back to the students talking about us earlier. So that's what this is about...
"For the cause of that stress to do that; if that's not self-satisfaction, then what is? There's no way they'd take that quietly from people they're mad at!"
"Hey, you don't have to say it like that!"
I sighed. "He's not wrong, Tooru."
"That's exactly what I'm talking about!"
"It's true that we may not have been considerate enough..."
"You didn't participate in the discussion, so don't complain about it now."
"Doesn't it make you mad? It's not like we wanted to be messed around with by the villains."
I looked down. This was becoming more triggering than it should have been.
"Why do we have to think about how they feel? If you guys are doing this to make them feel better, then stop right now! We've gotta hit 'em!"
"I wanted to earlier, but you wouldn't let me." I muttered.
"We're not here to make friends, we're here to fight! If we're gonna do this, we're gotta be serious. Let's kill everyone in UA with our sound!"
I smiled as everyone shouted.
"Bakugo!"
"Your reasoning is scary, but you'll do it?!"
"This is serious!"
"Got it, super serious!"
"You're not being honest with yourself!"
"I'm always serious!"
I shook my head. The noise was giving me a headache. I pressed a finger to my temple. I understood where Bakugo was coming from. Even if he didn't know it, I was one person who could understand the burdens of being held by people, not just villains, as well as the feelings that went with it.
I stood up straight and went to kitchen for a glass of water. Maybe that'll help. I filled a glass and drank half of it.
Suddenly, a pain in my stomach made me double over and dropped the glass in the sink, shattering it.
"Dammit!" The pain brought tears to my eyes, but it went away as quickly as it had come. I stood up straight, wiping my eyes quickly and rubbing my stomach.
"Are you alright?"
I leaned over the sink, staring at the broken glass. "I'm fine."
"You still haven't told Mr Aizawa. If this keeps happening, he's going to-"
"I said, I'm fine, Toko!" I gripped the edge of the sink.
He came to stand next to me and pointed to the glass. "I think you're lying."
I let out a breath. "Yea, yea. Alright. Give me until after this festival, ok? We have to deal with that first. One stress at a time is enough."
He sighed. "This is the last exception I'll be making."
I gave him a small smile. "Thanks. You're the best."
"You say that now."
I smirked and lightly punched his shoulder. "You never know. I might always believe it."
After I had cleaned up the glass in the sink, I went and sat on the couch and listened to everyone continue talking about the band.
"As part of my education, I studied the piano from a young age. Will that be of any help?"
"Then Momo, you'll be on the keyboard!"
"We've gotta have a synth for club music. Momo, it'll be a big help!"
"I will do my best."
"I was gonna have a girls dance group with all the girls-"
"Minus me." I said, lifting my hand and sitting back.
"-but you'll be cute, so it's fine!"
"I'll play bass, so we just need guitars and vocals, then."
I felt myself get nudged. "What?"
"You should try the guitar!"
"I can't play the guitar, Mineta. I'm not talented like you guys." I stood up to stretch my legs. I've been getting uncomfortable in my body lately, and had to start wearing my big jumpers to cover the weight I've slowly put on. It's surprising how nobody has noticed. Yet.
"-use sparks and streamers and that disco ball to fire everyone up?"
I sighed. "What are they talking about now?"
Mineta shrugged. "I still think you should be in the band."
I shook my head, almost laughing. "Yea. Right. No thank-you."
"We can do it like that with everyone participating!"
"We're using the gym for this, right?"
"Yes, Mr Aizawa has already made the arrangements."
"Then what if, Uraraka makes Todoroki and Kirishima float and then Kirishima scrapes at Todoroki's ice to chip away at it! Then, Aoyama can be a disco ball, and it'll look like light's twinkling down like stardust! I call it 'Team Snowmen'!"
"Oh hell..." I muttered, pulling at my hair.
"A human shaved-ice machine!"
"Don't tell me you like that idea, Mineta?"
He nodded at me. "Well, I gotta be interested twice as much, since you're clearly not."
"Hey! I'm interested! Just, not as a band member is all."
"I'm a disco ball? That's not bad!"
"The gym will look spectacular."
"Yes, I think it's a great idea!"
"In that case, we need people working behind the scenes for the effects, huh?"
"Hey."
"Sorry we're late."
Kirishima, Midoryia, Tsu and Ochako had been in catch up classes. They generally got back late anyway.
"We've finally made up all our classes. We can help out for real now."
So, while everyone caught those four up on everything, I made coffee. Momo helped to make the tea. She was better at it anyway.
"I see. We've decided on new rave type club rock for the music, huh?"
"I understand Jiro on bass and Momo on keyboards."
"But Bakugo on drums is kind of...how do I put it...?"
Perfect? I grinned.
"Unexpected?"
"You got a problem with that?!"
I laughed when they shook their heads.
"So, who will sing the all-important vocals?"
"Well, we haven't decided yet..."
"Huh? You're not going to sing Jiro?"
"Huh?!"
"If it's vocals you want, I can do it! It'll make me popular!"
I dropped my head. "Oh hell...Mineta, singing won't make you popular. Not being a dick makes you-"
"I can be a disco ball and sing!"
"Annnd nobody's listening..."
"Yea! I can't play any instruments, but I'm a pretty good singer!"
I covered my mouth as Kirishima started to sing. He wasn't terrible, but-
"Isn't that a different genre?"
Mineta started basically screaming, so I covered my ears.
"He's just yelling, isn't he?"
I nodded. "Yup."
Aoyama started and was something that reminded me of opera.
"I'm with Ochako. I think it should be you, Jiro! When you were teaching us in your room, your singing was super cool, too!"
"Hey, don't make this harder by making people expect-"
"It's fine, it's fine!" Tooru then shoved a microphone in Jiro's face.
I don't envy her, that's for sure.
"You're just gonna disregard the shouts of our souls? Just how good is she, huh? Huh?"
I pressed my fist on Mineta's back and pushed, tipping him over. "Better than you, I'd wager. Besides, if anyone's going to be good at singing, it'd be her."
"Yea. I wanna hear your singing, Jiro! Sing something for us!"
Jiro took a few breaths and then started to sing. Everyone was shocked and a few nearly got literally blown away by the sound.
I smiled. I'm not surprised. She's a music person, so stands to reason she would be able to sing.
When she stopped, everyone cheered.
"My ears are so happy!"
"What a husky, sexy voice!"
I frowned. Please don't say that...
"Right!"
"Alright! It's unanimous, then!"
"Then, let's leave that aside..."
"Wait!"
"Huh?"
Mineta jumped up, shaking his phone. "Why should we only have one singer?"
I sighed. "Come on, Grapejuice. You've had your shot and got shut down. Just leave it alone."
He shook his head and grinned. "I don't mean me."
I frowned as he pressed a button on the phone. An exclamation point appeared above my head as my own voice came through.
"H-hey! Give it here!" I launched myself forward to try and grab his phone. He moved out of the way and someone grabbed me.
"Let go! Mineta, I'm gonna kill you!" I struggled against Shouji for a few seconds, but stopped knowing it was useless.
I looked at Jiro, sweat on my face. "Sorry about this..."
She just smiled and then, to my surprise, started to sing along with my voice on Mineta's phone; and our voice's, surprisingly, worked well together, even though we had different pitches.
When the recording stopped, Shouji let me go. I scratched the back of my neck. "Mineta. Delete that. Now."
He shook his head, grinning. "I don't think so-"
My face went dark and my aura turned blue. "Mineta. You're going to delete it. Right. Now."
"Hey."
I blinked and looked at Jiro. She was smiling.
"You can sing too."
"Uh, I don't think-"
"You're doing it!"
"Yea. No excuses!"
Everyone else just nodded. I crossed my arms and pouted.
"I hate you, Mineta. When did you record that anyway?"
"Who said it's only a recording?"
"What?!"
He turned the phone around and showed me that it was actually a video of one night when I'd been drinking.
"Why you little..!"
"Moving on! We still need guitars. I want two."
"Yay! I wanna do it! It's so cool to be able to play an instrument!"
"Let me do it!"
I stayed back beside Shouji. "Mineta's already forgotten that I'm going to cave his head in later..."
"It's a good thing he recorded it though."
"Pfft. Right. Why?"
"So you could be a part of this."
I looked at everyone, listening to the conversations.
"I feel like I'd cut the strings."
"It's not 'I wanna do it'! Are you gonna kill it?"
"Yea, yea. I totally will!"
Kaminari grabbed a guitar and started to show off.
"Well, he is pretty good. I do remember a guitar in his room actually..."
"The guitar is the star of the band!"
Mineta then tried, but his arms were too short.
"Because of my character design, my hands won't reach!"
I had to laugh. "That's what you get for being sneaky!"
"You shouldn't tease him too much." Tokoyami said, coming over to me and Shouji.
I pouted. "Why not? He does it to me. You see what he did, recording me on his phone, the creepy perv. Makes you wonder what else he's recorded, huh?"
They both sweat-dropped, but said nothing.
"I want to dance!"
I pressed my finger to my bottom lip. Satou dancing?
"Me, too. I can move pretty well with my tail."
"I want to work on effects with my tape!"
I looked around at everybody talking. They really were getting into this, weren't they?
I turned as someone started on a guitar. I widened my eyes as I saw who it was.
"What a heartrending sound!"
"Tokoyami, you can play? Why didn't you say anything?"
I nodded. "Yea, I agree with Shouji. What the Hell, man?!"
"I quit once at the F chord. Besides, you never told us you could sing."
Shouji nodded. "That's true."
"Both of you suck..."
"Mineta, if you're giving up on the guitar, then I will strum for you as well."
"Do what you want, damn it. This is stupid. Let's get this stupid festival over with. I hope you all break a nail."
I narrowed my eyes. "Can I hit him now?"
Ashido squeezed my arm. "I got this." She winked at me as I raised an eyebrow.
"Mineta! If I make a harem part for you in the dance, will you do it?"
I blinked. "Woooow..."
"I will. The school festival can't come any sooner!"
"I'm so glad right now that I'm not dancing..."
Finally, after everything had been decided, I was able to go to bed.
I yawned as I walked down the hallway to my room.
"I can't believe they managed to talk me into singing. What even is this shit? They're going to regret it, guaranteed. I can't sing for shit compared to Jiro." I sighed. "They'll see that when we start practicing."
I looked up as I got to my door and blinked.
"Shouji? Toko? Uh, shouldn't you two be going to bed now? It's like-"
"We need to talk."
I hesitated at the tone of Shouji's voice. "Uh, ok..."
I unlocked my door and let them in.
"What's the problem?"
"You tell me."
I raised an eyebrow and looked at Tokoyami.
"He knows."
I paled. Shit. Then I frowned. "Wait. How?"
"I felt it. Earlier, when I stopped you from hitting Mineta."
I thought back to the scene. Shouji had caught me around the stomach.
"Uh, you're not making any sense here..."
Shouji crossed his arms. "I felt it. I felt it kick."
I paled again. "Oh. Crap."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"And why didn't you tell me it started moving?"
I scratched the back of my head and sighed. "I guess I've just been more worried about people finding out."
"Well, that failed miserably."
A tick mark appeared on my head. "Shuddup! Only you two actually know. I'm pretty sure Bakugo suspects, but I don't know for certain." I sighed again and sat heavily on my bed.
"You know, they're all going to find out eventually. They already suspect somethings not right with you."
"And you still need to tell Mr Aizawa."
I sighed again. "You're right. If everyone is starting to suspect something, I can't hide it anymore." I looked up. These two. These two have been here with me from the start, along with Ashido. Slowly, steadily, the rest of 1-A started to feel more and more like friends, almost family. What I was hiding from them was big. Huge. So, if I told them, would they hate me for it?
"Hey, guys?"
"Yes?"
"Uh...If I was to tell Mr Aizawa tomorrow...Do you think you could help me tell everyone else? I mean, I don't have to tell everyone else, but I have to tell Aizawa, and like you said, they're already starting to suspect something, and I'm pretty sure Mr Aizawa is too, and-"
"Of course we'll help."
"I'll come with you to speak with Mr Aizawa."
I smiled and stood up. "Thanks, guys. You two really are the best."
I jumped a little as I feel something.
"What is it?"
I looked up at the boys, seeing their looks of concern. I smiled and took my jumper off, and lifted my shirt a little.
"Here."
They looked at each other and came over.
"I don't think-"
I grinned and grabbed their hands, pressing them to my stomach as the tiny form moved around.
I almost laughed at the boys reactions. They were shocked, but then they both slowly started to smile.
"See. Not that bad, right?"
Tokoyami smiled, and I swear I saw tears in Shouji's eyes, but he looked away.
"Yea. Not so bad."
I grinned. "I love you guys, you know that?" I pulled my shirt down and nodded towards the door. "Anyway, goodnight. We're all going to need a decent sleep for tomorrow."
Shouji shook his head and Tokoyami smiled a little.
"You know how to ruin a mood, don't you?"
I nodded. "Yup. Absolutely!"
