Johnny watched as the bastard known as Ronove danced around the room. "The Music Festival, the most spectacular and shiny part of the year! Truly wonderful that someone such as myself, Ronove, can view it in full!"
"Why couldn't we have kept Midoriya instead of this prick?" Johnny groaned.
"Midoriya quit. As much as we could have used his deductive reasoning and semi questionable sanity, it was still his choice to leave in the end if he so wished." Grave spoke up. "Regardless, we must act as we do, and simply punish him when needed."
"Nagayo." Their first year, Nafra, nodded in agreement. They never saw the little guy's face and he smelled like rotten cheese left out in the sun, but he was WAY more likable than the dazzling douche that was Ronove.
"You've got that right." Smoke came in, still very steamed about Ronove's actions involving the disillusionment debate.
"Regardless, we must take this with order and calmness like always." Quichelight spoke, adjusting their glasses. "After all, it's not like anything vital is being given to Ronove." Well that was true, give him the minor stuff and he complains, but it was better than fucking up.
"Ronove, you and Nafra shall be interacting with all the first years." Madame President came in, their usual voice of reason, announcing the terrible news for their first year. "It's our job to make sure the school is still running smoothly, so I need you two to look over the performances."
"Nagayo!" Even the little guy looked offended at having to do this.
"Ronove refuses!" The prick refuted. "Only the beautiful tasks shall be assigned to Ronove! Ronove won't soil the name of Ronove for anything less than what Ronove deserves." Ronove held his nose. "Plus, this guy stinks! His stench ruins Ronove's beauty standards!"
"What you deserve is getting your teeth knocked out." Johnny muttered to Smoke, who giggled at the mental image.
"Oh, then I guess I'll do it." Really? Madame president never folded like that. Everyone looked confused.
"Ronove sees you've come to your senses." The man gloated.
"After all, not every situation lets you wiggle your way out of it with magic." He froze. "I suppose charisma won't let you check on their progress, or even give good advice. Maybe I was wrong to give someone like you the honor of a simple task."
Ronove was silent for a few seconds. "Was that a Jab?"
"Mighta been."
"Was that a challenge?"
"Mighta been."
"Hmm … hmm!…" Ronove stared at the president. "It seems Ronove's honor has been challenged, and the only way for Ronove to restore it-" The flamboyant man stated, cracking his neck. "Is to make sure every first year of Bablys knows the name of Ronove! Let's go, Nata-sha!" He dragged Nafra out the door. "We'll fix your awful odor before anything!"
"Nagayo!" He couldn't understand the guy, but even he knew a cry for mercy and help, that was obvious.
"Fantastic work as always, Madame President." Smoke bowed her head. "But why did you send Nafra with that asshole? Seems to be more of a punishment for him than an assignment."
"She knows what she did." Ominous.
"Okay, but that rounds back to why you sent him in the first place." Not that he didn't trust him … okay he didn't.
"The Music Festival and creative arts are the one place Ronove excels. It's how he beat me and obtained the rank of He(5)." That must've physically hurt to actually compliment the guy.
"He beat Madame president?" Quichelight asked with wide eyes. "What kind of performance did he do?"
"Every." … what? "Everything, simultaneously, at once. It was a chaotic masterpiece of insanity."
"Heh, chaotic. Makes me wonder what the Misfits will do. You don't get more chaotic than that."
"They'll probably do something spectacular." Grave said. "They surprised us at the Harvest Festival after all."
"Plus we sent Ronove and Narfra after them, so they'll be fine in terms of being workable." Smoke nodded.
"Yes..I sent Ronove and Nafra to the Misfit Class….I sent Nafra to Izzy-kuns' class...I sent her to Izzy…" Madame President repeated over and over. She still hasn't lost the habit of saying her nickname of the Honor Student out loud. "COME BACK! I MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE!"
"We tried telling you Ronove was a bad idea." Johnny said. "But did you listen, no, you-" he made the critical mistake of being in front of the president, and thus was thrown out the window. They really needed stronger material.
Wait...Nafra was a girl?
"One more time Orobas, really work the pipes." The student next to him said. He nodded, coughing before extending his voice out once again. "Great job, I didn't know singing was one of your talents."
"I wouldn't call it talent per-say, but I've practiced a little in my down time." Orobas admitted. "I'm just glad I can contribute something to the Festival. I'm not just working to improve myself this time around."
Class A decided to perform a recital, singing songs about myths and folklore from the demon history … well MOST of them did. As much as he wanted to not hate them, the girl from the Calamity Cult was making it hard.
She just sat at the window, staring without saying a word. They needed to tie her down and everything because she wanted to help the competition! "Sorry about her, she's still a bit angry about the illusion." Koopa, the other member of the Calamity Cult apologized on Oni's behalf.
"Look, I could handle that. Everybody is going to hate me somewhat for that." He even accepted the nickname of Orobastard at times. "But she outright refuses to help the class."
"I know, it's annoying, but Izuku's the first person she's met at Babylys who helped her in such a big way." Koopa sent her 'friend' a look of pity and understanding. "Heck, she's only ranked up to Gimel(3) because she was so dedicated to helping him back."
"We'll it's fine." The student leading choreography stated. "One student won't make a difference. We'll just sing our hearts out and outdo the other classes."
"WRONG!" A shrill voice entered the room. "If that's your attitude, then you might as well give up any chance at standing out now and head home! So decrees Ronove!"
"No, impossible! We left you to the wolves at Walter Park you son of a bastard!" Koopa shrieked at the flamboyant man.
"And Ronove returned! Now then, lovely lady, Ronove senses a tale in you." He sat down in front of Oni.
"Open the window and I can show you that tale." Wow, the girl has spunk, even when tied up next to a headache.
"And yet here you sit, letting the tale die instead of letting it shine!" The second year looked down at the cult member. "Your dedication to your tale is admirable, but you refuse to show anyone how much it means to you!"
"What are you talking about! I declare my love all the time!" Oni yelled back.
"You declare love in such a pathetic manner as saying 'I love you?' How quaint. Well, Ronove guesses that's just you being a child compared to Ronove. Ronove shall take Ronove's leave now." The second year left a trail of roses in his wake, with a smaller hooded figure leaving behind a giant cue card reading 'we're sorry' right on top of the pile.
"Can you believe the nerve of that guy, calling you childish Eiko?" Koopa turned to Oni. "Uh, Eiko? You alright?"
"… He's right." They all turned to the girl. "All this time he's been so outstanding and I've been just … saying and building stuff … how am I going to get the attention of someone that dense … with simple words?!" She screamed as she broke through her binding … steel binding.
The blond walked up to the script and began ripping it to shreds. "What the hell, Oni! Just because you want the competition to succeed doesn't mean we want to lose!" Orabos called her out. "If this is about Trauma, I deeply apologize, but don't set us back..!"
"I have an idea for the festival, and I need all your help to pull it off." Oni stopped his rant, actually acknowledging the class as a whole for the first time he's recalled. "Help me, and I can guarantee at least a few of us rank up this time around, I, please!" She bowed her head. "I know I've been a jerk to the rest of you, but please, please help me do this!"
He was silent as he looked at her, other students muttering in confusion at what to do. "If you're sure we can rank up … i'll accept." He spoke.
"Thank you Orobas, I won't let you down." She smiled at him for the first time … it felt nice to make someone smile for a change.
"That's our number three, the nicest and most determined guy you'll find!" He suppressed a twitch.
"So, what song are we singing?" Orobas asked her.
"Nothing you guys know...it's something I've been thinking about on my own for a while." Oni admitted. "It's a tale about an uprising hero, and the struggles they've lived through their entire life. Orobas, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but you have the most important role here." Well that seemed promising. "You're going to play the guy I have a crush on." He was wrong, that wasn't promising in the slightest.
Azuki clicked her heels idly, holding up the branches for her tree costume. "Remind me again what we're doing as trees if we're not acting it out?" She asked.
"It's a matter of realism, be the tree blowing in the wind." Haruna pointed out. "We guide the path of wayward souls seeking shelter, extending a branch to anyone that needs a hand. It's all symbolic, you know?" Symbolic her ass, if she had to do this for an hour straight her legs would give out.
"Oh prince, how I long for thee." Konatsu waved her hands dramatically. "How I long to tenderly touch thy cheek." She called bullshit on casting, it didn't sound genuine at all to her.
"Okay, if we're the trees, then how the hell did Donsanko get the role of Empress Koopa? I mean, we were her loyal servants, as well as the first to join her cause." Azuki frowned. "Why aren't we getting the royal treatment?"
"Because she's been trying to reset her dom status ever since she pledged loyalty to the love bunny." Haruna explained. "Do YOU want to argue with that?" She pointed to the eyestalk, already red eyed, and armed with a whip."
"I shall ruin your love pathetic whelps, the power of love is mine and mine alone, you shall never find each other no matter how much you search!" She knew the girl was insane but it seemed the Harvest Festival really took a number on them.
"Ronove is appalled by this display!" They turned to see a sparkly demon stand before them. "Such cliche stories, a rehash of what we already know, why not put a twist on it, make the background less bland with Ronove's Flowers, and bring forth the sparkling passion of Ronove's beauty." He brought out props and dumped them onto everyone.
"Wait, aren't these some of the flowers from OFA's first Legendary Leaf?" Azuki looked at some of the petals that were now scattered all over. "Funny, the guy made something out of this world long before anyone expected him to."
"I mean we expected him to do something crazy, just not never-before-seen crazy." Haruna stated. "But … he's got a point. Wald, give me the script again."
"You mean the holy tomb of the great war, bound for generations for relations to the almighty-"
"Yes, that. We told you to stop calling it." The book was handed over as she flipped through it. "Alright, we can mess some stuff up. We were going to make Koopa the misunderstood villain, but what if they were the love interest instead?"
"Yeah, yeah, and what if we up Asmodeus' part in the war? She wanted him by her side at the end, but what if we make it so he was always there, killed tragically in battle?" Konotetsu suggested.
"Yes, and this entire war is to avenge him against that killer, the queen of beasts! And the stage takes place in the neutral ground, the castle of the lord Angres." She added in.
"And what if we made One For All the angry spirit of the forest, both sides of the war fighting to appease him, only for both sides to stir his anger in the end anyways." Haruna included. "A tale of tragedy all around."
"But wouldn't the forest be guarded by the queen of beasts?"
"Maybe we could give her an elf role that makes her uncaring to the lives of demons."
Alright, now they were getting somewhere! And she'd have the option to advance to a better part.
Class C sat, tied up and silent as they just got ambushed by a flamboyant asshole. "What the hell man!? We were just about to decide what we were going to do!" Rock, obviously.
"Yes, such an uncouth demon with no class. He didn't even use the triple not, only the double!" The bitch still had weird priorities.
"Anyone have a pair of scissors?" One random classmate he never got the name of asked.
"My guitar doubles as an ax, anyone who has eyes on it will try reaching." Footsteps and a stool signed them to look at the bastard they thought left.
"Fools! Ronove knows best! You all want to show off your musical prowess, but can't get past your own moronic egos!" What right did this prick have to call them egotistic morons!? "Answer me this correctly, and Ronove shall release you. What music is the best out of all music?"
"Rock." "Classical." The two glared at each other. "Classical is boring!" "Rock is classless!"
"Wrong, the best music is Ronove's music." … What? "Ronove plays all because Ronove pleases all! No one would dare look away from Ronove, because Ronove has everything everyone wants!" Did this senpai just insult years and history of music by saying he was BETTER?
The … bastard! "You think you're better than us!" For once he and the bitch were in complete agreement. "We'll drive you to the ground."
"Then make the impossible possible and make music that surpases Ronove beyond genre, goodby now." … The man left without untying them.
Grand Master, or Utsu Lehrer as the unwise say, watched the boy frantically write on long piles of sheets. "Soon, very soon, I will surpass you!" This had been going on for forty hours straight ever since the Music Festival was announced. "Izuku Midoriya, you will pay for the sin of standing out!"
"Have you considered a pillow? Or at least coffee before spite finally stops being able to fuel you." Sharon hasn't calmed down his hate for Midoriya ever since the school year started, ranking to Bet(2) during execution cannonball, then winning the division party, then becoming a national known hero. He couldn't even enjoy his own Bet(2) rank during the flying race, because it was outshined by Midoriya's rainbow tree.
And the Harvest Festival didn't help either, only scoring a thousand points from a single monster … far far behind everyone else, especially Midoriya, who grabbed the Legendary Leaf. "Yeah, we can do other stuff to relax. Like throw bombs and see who survives." Zom spoke like that was a solution.
"Or you know, eat a meal." TonTon spoke while devouring a helpless bag of chips. "It's not healthy to push yourself to death."
"You obviously haven't seen the guy in action." Sharon accused. "Pushing oneself to death is the ONLY way to keep up!" These idiots weren't going to help Sharon, and the demon himself was probably going to kill himself if it made him shine in any way by this point.
"Ronove disagrees, you can't keep up." They turned to see the sparkling new demon enter the room. "Because you're not as sparkly as Ronove." … Wow, and people thought giving a guy the name 'Grand Master' would give him an ego. Yet he still found this guy a douche.
"What the hell do you mean I can't keep up! I'm more than a danger-junkie! I'm a Danger-Enthusiast! I'll out-crazy that bastard any day of the week." That wasn't a good quality to have.
"It is quite simple. Either you are born Ronove and you are not born Ronove. You are either born with a bloodline or not. You're either born sparkly or you're doomed to be outshined." The sparkly man spoke.
"Nagayo." The smelly hooded figure shrugged with a bit of pity in their voice.
"You seriously wanna go at it punk?" Zom asked, getting defensive with some bombs.
"Ronove dislikes violence, but he supposes you're just born bad at peaceful negotiations, like Ronove."
"What're you talking about? Violence is Zom's whole thing." TonTon shrugged. "It's his power, he uses it how he pleases."
"Says the talking familiar." The sparkly man said.
"So we're not born right is it …" Sharon growled. "Then it's not Midoriya's fault … it's this whole universe's fault! Screw you!" He shouted at the sky like a madman.
"Sharon, you can't just scream at the sky and expect an answer." GrandMaster spoke. This caused the boy to look down at his sheets. "... Maybe I can …" Oh, there was a crazy spark. He better grab the bandages.
Ah, Ronove felt accomplished and fulfilled. A whole day of spreading the glory of Ronove to all the little first years to help them achieve greatness of Ronove proportions. In the words of Little Ronove, Ronove made them Go Beyond! Plus Ronove! He was sure that's what his Kohai said.
"Speaking of, the Misfits are the last class to visit. Are you as excited as I am, Nata-sha?" Ronove asked the mini stinker.
"Nagayo." Ronove would take that as a yes.
"Now then, Misfits!" Ronove kicked open the doors in a beautiful manner. "Show Ronove what you have done." Ronove opened Ronove's eyes into despair and desperation, surrounded by papers and chalk boards.
"How did we spend an entire day and STILL not have something down pat?" A ringed man shouted.
"We're trying to keep it something everyone will find super cool, but makes Purson's alias popular!" The short sidekick of Little Ronove shouted. "I still say band. We get most of the Gimiel(3) and Purson to play and have Elizabetta take the lead in singing."
"But Clara has no definition of music." The anonymous glasses girl spoke. "Besides, we need something more modern, retro isn't the way to go."
"Why don't we just focus on the effects?" The Pink haired servant of little Ronove asked. "I'll shoot fireworks at all of you as you dodge while Purson performs from the background. Easiest solution we have."
"Nobody wants to risk their life for a performance, that's too much effort." The sidekick stated blandly, before the glasses girl suddenly froze the boy over.
"You're lucky I'm going easy on you."
"How was that easy!?"
"I let you live." At least SOMEBODY understood the life or death consequence of taking the spotlight.
"Ronove sees the Misfit Class isn't performing!" Ronove shouted as all the commotion stopped and turned to Ronove, as one should when they realize Ronove is marvelously in their presense. "Ronove's job is complete, and thus the report will be turned in to the president!"
"WAIT!" Oh, Little Ronove needed something.
"Yes, my little kohai?" It was times like this that made him proud to be a second year.
"Um, the truth is." Oh, he seemed nervous. No need to be, Ronove was happy to teach beauty. "Ameri said you won the Music Festival last year-"
"This poser won it?" Asked the pink haired one, the muscly one, and the cloudy fake Ronove. Ronove would deal with that later.
"We have a list of options but we can't narrow it down, or even agree on anything. You won by combining literally everything together, so I have to ask…"
"How do you combine everything together?" The sidekick muttered. It was quite simple, just find the common melody, and work on it for a month without sleep.
"No..well, actually I'll ask that question later, but, how did you come up with it? How'd you know it would be popular? You're the master at getting attention after all." Yes, praise! Little Ronove may be good, but he understood where his position was.
"I didn't care." Ronove shrugged, as the Misfits eyes widened. "Ronove found what was beautiful and showed it to the world with Ronove's ambition. From what Ronove overheard you're all just trying to be trendy. Nata-sha, when has trendiness ever won the Music Festival?"
"Nagayo."
"See, Nata-sha's a hillbilly and even they get it."
"Oh, hey Nafra. You were sent to work with Ronove all day, huh? That's rough buddy." Little Ronove asked the hooded stink bomb.
"Nagayo." Nata-sha shrugged.
"If you want to win, then you must show your desires are stronger than everyone else's, and beat them down with them! Above all, you must have passion! ONLY those who enjoy themselves are worthy of winning the Festival!"
"... Right, we almost forgot." Little Ronove smiled. "This is a festival, we need to enjoy it too. So let's enjoy it more than anyone. What's something we can all have fun doing together? All thirteen of us?" Everyone looked at him.
"Right, we were all by ourselves in the death jungle, I didn't even spend time with Izuku-kins and I didn't rank up at all!" The crazy girl in green shouted in agreement.
"If we're going to win this, we have to stay together completely through it all the way." The muscley fella nodded. "All For One and One For All and all that."
"There is one option." Glasses spoke, a determined yet nervous look on her face. "We can perform … The Demdoll Forbidden Dance." Organ music and lightning struck out of nowhere.
"... That was weird even by our standards, right?" Ring man asked.
"You can't mean that!" Sidekick shouted, a fearful look on his face. "No demon alive can perform the Demdoll Forbidden Dance." Once again, organ music and lightning stuck out of nowhere.
"We don't even have windows, or an organ." Pink hair looked at the ceiling.
"Are you questioning the logic in the world where we have demon eating plants right in the backyard of the school, or one where Clara can make literally anything just by looking at it once, or where I can somehow survive multiple transformations to my body and the only side effect being the horn growing out of my head now?"
"I like to keep consistency to the weirdness, not willy nilly."
"The Demdoll Forbidden Dance." More organ music and lighting. "Is a dangerous movement where six demons dance in synchronization." Everyone, including Ronove, was frozen in absolute horror.
"Oh, well that's not too bad." They turned to Little Ronove like he was insane … well more than usual. "What now?"
"Have you ever seen six demons acting as one at any time?" Sidekick asked. "It's like trying to herd a hundred mice with a paper bag. Next to impossible. No one has the patience for that kind of training."
"And it's extra impossible since we'll be doing it with thirteen, more than twice the number as usual."
"How do they even get Demdolls to do that labor? It seems extreme." Muscle man asked.
"They tie up their arms and legs and force them to move in usion, even if their limbs break or bleed. And even then the last attempt at the Demdoll Forbidden Dance-" Even more lighting and organ music.
"That's getting a bit redundant at this point." Little Ronove muttered.
"Resulted in the hospitalization of four Demdolls … only one girl and myself survived." Glasses mumbled.
"Oh right, because you're.." The bird guy pummeled himself into Sidekick.
"Don't spread my Queen's secrets, you scum!"
"Oh, secret time!" Crazy screamed. "Sometimes I take two candies from mommy's jar instead of one."
"Regardless, it's our best shot at winning this." Glasses spoke. "Who's ready to go Plus Ultra for this Music Festival?" She asked with an authoritative tone. She was oddly well informed. Why hasn't she capitalized on making herself more Ronove?
