Try not to freak out. Try not to freak out. Try not to freak out.
Uraraka was freaking out.
This was mainly because of three reasons:
She was going to be assigned to a group where half of the people in it considered her a romantic rival.
If she didn't smooth things over with them before the end of the break she could find herself expelled from UA
Perhaps most importantly, one of her closest friends had just found out that she had a crush on him in what was perhaps the most embarrassing fashion.
She could not focus on Iida breaking down the team assignments. They passed through her like a blur.
Uraka looked over to Deku who was concentrating on his desk a little too hard. The still present blush on his cheeks made it obvious what he was thinking about. She felt a ping of pity towards him; he must feel so overwhelmed with the situation.
Part of her wondered what could have happened if things had gone differently. What would he have said if she had asked him out to the dance directly? As things stood now, she would most surely get rejected. There were too many other suitors all vying for a date with him, and Deku, even if he did reciprocate her feelings, wouldn't want to upset so many people, especially with Aizawa's threat weighing down their minds. He, like her, was probably trying to think of a solution to make everyone happy.
The least she could do would be to make his life easier.
Slowly, she tore off a piece of paper from her notebook and began to write a small message for Deku. She would have wanted to talk to him alone in a more private setting face-to-face but she knew the other four Dekubowl participants (she hated that this was now a thing) would misinterpret it and get even more angry at her.
No, with this private note she can clear things up with Deku and then talk with the other four individually. It would save her a lot of embarrassment and at this point, she doesn't think she could take anymore. She could deal with this in a nice civilized manner.
She slowly began to slide the note onto Deku's desk.
"Uraraka! Are you passing love notes in class!" Iida shouted from the front of the class.
Everyone turned to look at her.
Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Jiro glared at her.
"N-no it's not a love note!"
"Really? Then you wouldn't mind if I read it to everyone?" Iida gave her an accusing look.
"Yes, I do!"
The note floated away from her desk much to her horror and surprise.
"Too bad, Uraraka." Hagakure said, holding the note out on her invisible hand. "Besides, I think the rest of us want to get a scoop on the competition."
Uraraka's face was a scarlet red as she watched Hagakure handed the note off to Iida. Deku hid his face in his arms and slid down his chair, embarrassed to be the focus of all of the class conflict.
This could have gone a lot better.
"Iida, no!" she begged one last time.
"I'm sorry Uraraka but you must be considerate of your fellow competitors. No flirting during class hours!"
Don't put it like that!
Iida unfolded the note. "Deku, I'm so sorry but this is all a big misunderstanding. I'm not going to ask you… oh." Iida put the note back down on the podium and a long pause followed. His face spoke of guilt and embarrassment.
Good. He deserved it.
"Uraraka, is this true?" Iida began. "Do you not have feelings for Deku?"
Don't ask her that now! Not when he was right here!
Before she could say anything though, Kaminari raised his hand.
"So, does that mean she is fair game for the dance?" Kaminari asked.
Thankfully for her already tarnished dignity, Jiro stepped in and slapped Kaminai viciously across the head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Don't be a sleaze."
"But Deku is getting all of the girls! How am I supposed to-"
Jiro slapped him across the head again.
"Ow! Ok, that's it! I'm throwing my support behind Hagakure!"
The entire class paused.
"What are you talking about Kaminari?"
"I was going to help you get a date with Deku, Jiro!" Deku slid further down in his chair. "But since you're being so mean to me, I'm gonna help Hagakure instead!"
"Yay! Team Invisible Girl for the win!" Hagakure jumped out of her chair, raising her uniform sleeve in the air.
"Wait, you can't form teams!" Jiro protested.
"Of course we can! I've seen Ashido do it all the time on trashy shojo forums-"
"Hey!"
"-why can't we do it in real life?"
"Enough!" Iida shouted bringing the chaos to a temporary standstill. "We can't divide the class like this! If we do then we cannot show our faces in front of Aizawa once the break is over!"
"Why don't we just let them murder each other over it?"
Everyone in the class turned to look at Bakugo, who leisurely lounged in his chair with an amused smirk on his face.
"Bakugo how can you be so heartless about your fellow classmates?!" Iida reprimanded
"Shut up, Four-Eyes! If they all want him so bad, then they should fight it out with everything they got! If you make them half-ass it, then they're just going to be whiny bitches about it once it's over."
Bakugo let out a huge laugh. "Plus, it's fun to see Deku freak out." Deku slid so far down his chair that he had left the chair entirely and was now hiding beneath his desk.
That is so mean!
"That is so mean!"
…
Thank you, Hagakure.
"You know what?" Jirou spoke in a teasing tone. "I bet he's just jealous that Midoriya has so many people pining for him when he can't get anyone to like him."
Before Bakugo could scream a retort an unexpected voice spoke up.
"As if! He's got a date with the manliest person here!"
Everyone turned to look at Kirishima, then back at Bakugo, then back at Kirishima.
Uraraka thanked whatever deity listened to her prayers.
"You sure you want to do that man? I'm not sure dating Bakugo of all people would be good for your health." Sero questioned.
"SHUT YOUR GODDAMN FACE TAPE-ARMS!"
"I-I think K-kachan has a point."
The small voice stopped the impending Bakugo rampage from breaking out as everyone's attention turned to Deku's desk in the middle of the room. There, Deku's raised hand stuck out from beneath it.
So, cute!
"You think so, Midoriya?" Yaoyorozu said.
Uraraka frustratingly noted that Deku blushed even harder at hearing Yaoyorozu address him. She tried to rationalize it as him just finding out about Yayoruzu's crush, but an equally frustrating part of her refused to believe it.
"Y-yeah." Deku took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "I would hate it if any of you had to leave UA over me. So, I would appreciate it if we could… um, s-settle this before the break ended."
"So then just pick someone and get it over with, Deku," Bakugo said mockingly.
"Umm, I-I don't want to hurt anyone's f-feelings."
"Then death battle it is!" Bakugo slammed his fist into his open palm with a vicious look on his face.
Before Deku could respond, Kirishima pumped his fists into the air. "Hell yeah! Dekubowl is officially on! What team is everyone going to be on?"
Huh, maybe them dating made more sense then she originally thought.
For a split second, an air of pure focus filled the room as Uraraka felt everyone's eyes dart around the room. Every single one of the Deku Bowl participants began looking for allies, the other classmates began searching for who they were going to put their own support behind. In a single second, the entire class room threatened to split apart at the seams as everyone decided which team they were going to be on.
"I already have the team assignments!" Iida declared with a proud look on his face.
Everyone stared at him in confusion.
"As stated earlier, I have put all of the participants of the Dekubowl on the same team and Midoriya on the other.."
Everyone groaned.
Oh, right. She forgot about the assignment for a second.
/-/
Awkwardly enough, Iida still assigned her to the group with all of the participants of the Dekubowl.
…
On second thought, it was awkward enough! It was plenty awkward!
Iida had put himself in the same group to help mediate any disputes and keep everyone focused on the tasks at hand. Unfortunately for everyone involved, many of the Dekubowl participants proved quite talented at multitasking and were able to follow Iida's remarks while still glaring at the everyone else.
Todoroki's glares never left their target. Even when Iida questioned him to make sure he was still paying attention, Todoroki was able to repeat everything back with perfect precision, all without ever breaking his cold, haunting glare. Uraraka had become quite familiar with it, considering it was still focused on her!
She had thrown in the towel already! Did he not get the super embarrassing memo!
Even aside from Todoroki being scary, the tension between everyone else there was so thick, she might have been able to make it float away with her quirk!
Wait, a second.
"Uraraka, why are you waving your arms around?" Iida asked.
Everyone turned to look at her. Todoroki continued glaring at her.
"No, reason."
Everyone turned back to Iida, who continued explaining his plans. Except for Todoroki.
"What do you want!" Uraraka begged with her eyes.
Cold, indifferent silence was Todoroki's reply.
Uraraka turned away from him and tried to focus on Iida explaining that they were in charge of decorating the Christmas tree. Iida had assigned her as the "muscle." Her role was to help others get closer to the top of the tree safely and to deliver some of the heavier decorations, like the giant star on the top. She giggled as she thought of herself in a dark suit, arms crossed, standing next to some gangster.
At least the assignment wouldn't be the worst. She was fortunate to have Tsuyu on her team. Over the course of the year, they'd become the best of friends, and it had only gotten stronger through their shared internship. Tsuyu would definitely be a great comfort with all of the drama going around. Uraraka had noticed Tsuyu giving her concerned glances ever since Iida read her note. It felt her heart warm up a little to have such a caring friend at her side. And Uraraka was going to need it during the next week. Especially since…
Uraraka gulped.
...she was going to have to pick a side in the Dekubowl.
Sure, she would love to stay out of it and she probably could if she really wanted to. But Deku was her friend! A friend she cared about deeply!
And maybe even loved a little but Uraraka was trying her best to ignore that fact.
Regardless of her own personal feelings, Deku was caught in the middle of a messy love… pentagon? A love hexagon? A sexago-
Nope! She was going to throw that Pandora's Box out of her mind right away.
Anyway, Deku was struggling, and she had to do everything she could to help him. And, if he had no idea who to pick, she might be able to pick someone for him. She knew he trusted her opinion on things so why shouldn't pick someone to be with him romantically?
A person that wasn't herself.
A person that wasn't herself going to the dance with Deku.
…
Uraraka shook her head and looked at each of the Dekubowl contestants. First was Todoroki. Todoroki at first glance would be the perfect candidate: smart, strong, a face so drop-dead gorgeous he could have won the beauty contest at the Cultural Festival. He also seemed to get along well with Deku considering they always eat together during lunch.
"Along with Iida!" her inner-hope pointed out. Which was surprising since she didn't think she had much left after the events of the past day.
Still, Uraraka had some hesitation for supporting Todoroki. For one, he is the reason Deku broke his arms during the Sports Festival; an incident Uraraka had not fully forgiven him for. There was also his cold demeanor which could be off-putting sometimes.
Like now, for instance.
She didn't even need to look at him to feel his chilling glare on her.
Uraraka moved on to the other participants. She threw out Hagakure immediately because of her… unique reason for liking Deku. She could go for Jiro which could be a good option. Jiro was a super cool girl that apparently had a crush on Deku longer than Uraraka had one. Which was interesting because Uraraka didn't remember the two of them interacting that often.
A tiny part of her wanted to support Jiro just to find out why she has a crush on Deku, but that part of her was immediately squashed when Uraraka noticed a small detail about her. It was something that Jiro didn't seem to notice herself.
Uraka giggled to herself. Well, Deku said he didn't want anyone to be hurt so maybe Jiro would be a bad call. That left…
"Iida these assignments are essentially the same as the ones we discussed earlier aside from Mineta and I switching teams." Yaoyorozu pointed out.
"Yes, well even though your assignments came from a place of debauchery, they were still sound suggestions with good reasoning. It was the reason I didn't catch them until Todoroki pointed them out to me."
"Momo is crafty like that. She'll make you think she has your back until she steals your crush away from you."
"Jiro, please! Do not insult your fellow classmate!"
"No, she has a point. Please, let her talk more about how Yaoyorozu is plotting to take Midoriya away from us." Todoroki and Jiro shared a small fistbump, a sign of camaraderie against a common enemy. The fistbump itself was an impressive feat considering Todoroki's eyes never left Uraraka.
Yaoyorozu stood up.
The tension in the room reached a fever pitch as she walked over to Jiro and Todoroki. Everyone in the room's eyes widened as violence threatened to break out. For the first time, Todoroki's eyes tore away Uraraka and went to the approaching figure. Iida quickly stood up and made to stop Yaoyozuro before she could do anything rash. He wasn't fast enough and couldn't stop her from doing something that shocked everyone there:
She bowed.
"I apologize for my disrespectful behavior! I did a dishonor to myself and most importantly to both of you; two people who I respect and admire greatly! These feelings are new and difficult for me to deal with and I am unsure how to approach them. I tried reading some material on the matter but it has not led to the desired effect. I am so sorry and I hope you could find it in either of your hearts to forgive me."
Tears began to fall from her face as she spoke. Jiro's face was frozen in shock before it melted to one of pity for her friend.
Jiro put her arm on Yaoyorozu's shoulder and smiled at her comfortably. "It's okay, Momo. I didn't realize this whole love thing was new to you. Don't worry, we're still going to be friends after this is done, right Todoroki?"
Todoroki shifted his glance back to Uraraka without changing at all, much to her chagrin.
"You are simply chasing after what you desire in any way you can. I can respect that much like I respect you as a person. I was never upset at your actions, just frustrated at their effectiveness."
So why was he upset at her?!
"Kyoka.. Todoroki.." Yaoyorozu cleared the tears away from her eyes and smiled.
"I am so proud of the three of you! I am so happy to be your representative!" Tears freely fell from Iida's smiling face, breaking the tension in the room with the sheer ridiculousness of it all.
"Yaoyorozu, you mentioned some reading material you got your strategies from. What were they?" Todoroki asked.
"I borrowed some shoujo magazines from Ashido."
"Really? What were their titles?"
Jiro cut in. "No. Please don't get any more love advice from shoujo manga. Especially not the kinds Ashido reads."
"Well then, what titles would you recommend Jiro?"
Jiro pinched the bridge of her nose.
"This is so sweet!" Hagakure cheered.
It was, wasn't it?
Uraraka had a small smile on her face as she looked at Yaoyorozu. Directly going up to her friends and admitting her mistakes was probably the best way to go about things and Uraraka respected that Yaoyorozu was able to do that. And if she was being a little honest with herself, a little jealous that she had difficulty doing the same.
Yaoyorozu was someone Uraraka had always admired as a person. Aside from being one of the prettiest girls in the school, Yaoyorozu was super smart and capable, always willing to lend a hand to anyone, especially her peers. She came from a really rich family but never looked down on anyone who didn't have the same upbringing she had. In fact, she went out of her way to share the things she loved most with her friends. Yaoyorozu was the textbook definition of a perfect girl.
A perfect girl for a perfect guy like Deku.
Uraraka had found her team.
"Ribbit. Now that's all cleared up. Maybe we should all take a bit of a break to air things out?"
"An excellent idea Asui! We've actually covered most of what we need so we should adjourn. I will see you all at the dorms. Make good use of your time to rest and relax!" Iida's announced as he walked back to his desk.
Hagakure jumped up. "And don't forget to flirt and fight over Midoriya!" She turned and faced her three other rivals. "I know you haven't fully acknowledged my feelings yet. But I'll show you just how determined I am to win Midoriya's heart!"
Jiro smiled back at her with a competitive glare. "Bring it Hagakure! We'll see who makes it out on top!"
Yaoyozuro wiped her arm across her face drying the last of her tears. When she was done, she too gave Hagakure a friendly, competitive glare.
Todoroki began to walk out of the room, finally breaking his glare as he gave Hagakure a short nod. "I look forward to seeing your efforts, Hagakure." He picked up his stuff and proceeded to exit the room, walking just past Uraraka's desk.
"I can always respect anyone actually willing to try." Todoroki coldly stated as he walked by, just loud enough for Uraraka to hear.
Ouch.
She stayed rooted to her seat as everyone else filed out of the class. Tsuyu saw her conflicted expression and walked up to her. "Are you sure you're making the right decision?"
No.
"What are you talking about Tsuyu? I am not conflicted over anything. I am in love with my job! Wouldn't Yaoyorozu be good for Deku. I THINK SHE WOULD BE GREAT FOR DEKU!" Uraraka barked a laugh, eyes as wide as the moon.
Tsuyu looked even more concerned. "If you say so, ribbit. Why don't we get you some fresh air? You look like you could need it, ribbit."
Now that was an idea she could get behind.
As they left, Uraraka mind was fully focused on her next steps. She was going to have to meet with Yaoyorozu and explain her intentions. If Uraraka could get Yaoyorozu together with Deku, she would be able to solve his current dilemma. Now, if she could shut out that tiny voice telling her that this was a bad idea she would be perfect.
Uraraka was so distracted by her thoughts she failed to notice another person in the classroom watching her leave.
Someone watching her with a dazzlingly disappointed expression.
Shorter chapter this week since my idea for the next scenes would have made this chapter a little too long.
As always, please leave any feedback you can!
-Dorky Desperado