Finally, we've made it to the Fall Festival and Joint Training Arc.

The class decides on what to do for the festival. Suri is reluctant. Very reluctant.

Before anyone knew it, it was the last week of September. So much had been going on that they had all been expecting another storm of villain attacks or something that would put more pressure on them. It didn't help that Suri had a lot to do in the short span of that month and she felt like she was getting run ragged. Between finishing out at the Outsiders Agency and getting the paperwork all finalized from her work studies, doing a few more shifts there, and saying her goodbyes, it was exhausting. Almost as exhausting as having to finally - and properly - oath the pack and coven to her at the next full moon. The high from the power spike had been amazing but it left her completely exhausted for the entire next week as she recovered from one, blood loss, and two, the crash that always came with energy dumps. It was like downing four high sugar energy drinks and being so high and wired from the sudden need to do anything and everything as fast as possible. And then still having the energy to do everything and anything again only to crash, burn out, and end up more exhausted than before in an instant. And finally, dealing with Mineta after he found a room full of naked bodies in Suri's room this time.

She was already exhausted but having to ensure him that no wild orgy had occurred at all?

It was torture.

But she reminded him that, if it did, Izuku would have definitely remembered and would have been a shy, embarrassed, blubbering mess for an entire week. No, he was just a blubbering mess for a day or two because one of his friends had found him in the middle of his girlfriends plus Ryuko and Pazuzu. How all six of them fit on Suri's bed was a miracle. And did she mention all of them were nude? The only pack and coven member that didn't end up in the naked cuddle puddle was Taiga because her beast had the right of mind to end up in Iida's room instead. Which, of course, caused quite a stir on the boys' side of the dorms and was what led to Mineta coming over to Suri's room in the first place.

Mineta, of course, was jealous as fuck to say the least.

He had pestered her all throughout the day and it had annoyed the fuck out of her because it was distracting as hell. She had other things on her plate other than dealing with the hornball, like going over the list she had in front of her. It contained all of the different ideas for what their class could do for the Cultural Festival in a few weeks and there had been a sort of caveat. The festival had been threatened to be called off because of all the villain activity lately, and she had initially agreed with Kirishima. When Aizawa was talking about it in class, he'd voiced his concern about villains but their teacher shot him down, noting that it needed to happen for the sake of the other courses. So with that in mind, they had to figure out something that would be fun and exciting not just for them but for everyone at school.

So there she sat in the common room, headphones in and turned up a decent amount with her bass guitar in her lap. She was idly strumming away and playing along to some nice, peaceful and relaxing, death metal while she looked over the list for the dozenth time. She was plugging away halfway through Chelsea Grin's Recreant when she felt a tap on her shoulder, one that was a bit more firm than Mineta. She was more than happy to pull her headphones out and turn to direct her gaze up at Iida leaning over the back of the couch.

"Kuroyashi, I see you're still going over the list, yes?" he said, once he'd seen she had given him her full attention.

"Yeah, trying to figure out which ones would be the most feasible to do," she answered him.

"I've had some thoughts about the list as well. It's been made obvious that our class has been the cause of so much strain to the other students. I think it might be best to pick something that would raise their spirits to make it up to them, what do you think?" he asked sternly.

"Yeah, I can dig that," Suri nodded and turned back to focus on the list once again.

"I agree," Momo added, sitting with Jirou next to Suri on the couch. "Since we're aiming to be heroes, we need to be better aware of any trouble we've caused for others."

"Yeah, so we need something that's going to go above and beyond," Suri said and leaned forward towards the list. "Honestly, I'm down for food stalls like the mochi shop or the cookie shop, but since everyone's used to getting food from Lunch Rush…"

"Aww, so food would be out of the question?" Sero groaned and scratched the back of his head with disappointment.

"Yeah, probably," Suri sighed.

"There's gotta be another way we can be of service," Iida grumbled, focusing harder on the list and cupping his chin as he leaned over Suri's shoulder.

"We have to keep their needs in mind," Shoji spoke next, standing behind the couch near Iida, Sero, and Mineta. "If we're the only ones having fun, it'll be a disaster."

"You're right," Suri sighed with exasperation. "It's frustrating but we just can't compete with him when it comes to cooking. Even at our best, like Bakugou's cooking, it'd be subpar to what everyone else is used to."

"So I guess we can cut out all of the food ideas," Momo confirmed as she leaned forward towards Suri's laptop and crossed out the food themed options including the mochi shop and cookie shop.

The cookie shop being crossed out hurt cause it had actually been Suri's own suggestion.

"So with those off of the list, we could focus on more experience sort of things instead," Momo continued. "There's things like the maid cafe, petting zoo, or the fun house."

"The petting zoo might be off the list," Suri groaned and let out a deep breath. "Ever since the last full moon a lot of animals are… not so okay with me anymore. Like dogs and cats are cautious around me but wild animals straight up will run from me now."

"That's right, huh," Mina said curiously from the edge of the couch where she and Tooru were cuddling. "Yuwai was scared of you before, now she runs off if you're in the same room."

"Right?!" Suri whined, looking at her girlfriends and thinking about Koda's pet rabbit, "I wanna pet her, not eat her!"

"Plus we gotta stick to an overly strict hygiene protocol so that would be a hassle," Sero added.

"Hmm so stress relief then?" Tooru thought out loud as she laid back into Mina's lap.

"The open mic stand up comedy show is still on the list," Kaminari noted.

"I still think a skit could be good," Jirou said with a little excitement in her voice.

"Yeah, but watching a bunch of amateurs perform would be pretty stressful," Sero chuckled and crossed his arms as he sighed.

"A skit, huh?" Suri quietly thought out loud and thought about it.

"Why don't we all just throw a dance party," Mina suggested. "That'd be fun."

"Why not do dancing," Todoroki asked as he came forward from the back of the group. He crouched in front of Suri and motioned to the laptop. "Can I see this?"

"Sure thing," Suri answered and leaned up to watch what he was looking up, her eyes laying on him with full curiosity because his enthusiasm to help had been unexpected.

"I'm looking for this one thing… I forgot what it's called though," he said as he flipped and scrolled around YouTube rapidly. "It's a bunch of people going crazy on stage and the crowd is dancing and they seem to be having a good time. Ah. Something like this actually, just with more dancing."

When Todoroki leaned back from the computer so that everyone could see, it was playing one of the videos that happened to be in Suri's video history. He'd turned on a metal concert, of all things, but one that was up beat with lots of light and stage production and a crowd that had amazing energy. Suri grinned and chuckled softly as she watched the video, loving that the suggestion had come from Todoroki of all people. What was equally hilarious was him having to defend himself when Mineta accused him of being a closeted raver.

The thought of Todoroki in a rave outfit with the neon shorts, a mesh shirt, and a horde of glow stick bracelets and necklaces on was both intriguing and ridiculously hilarious.

"So a concert dance party, huh?" Suri grinned.

"I think if we can do something like this right it can be something that everyone will enjoy. It made me think of our last hero course assignment," he nodded.

"What are they teaching you over there?" Mineta asked suspiciously and everyone had the thought of Todoroki and Bakugou awkwardly dancing to disco.

"Still, we're a bunch of amateurs," Sero stressed once again. "Wouldn't that be more stressful to make the school watch a bunch of people who can't dance?"

"I can teach 'em," Mina grinned excitedly. "Show them whatchu got Aoyama!"

Aoyama was more than happy to be in the spotlight as he began dancing the simple two-step she'd taught him this morning. Before class, he'd looked like a complete dunce. Izuku was still struggling a little but had the basic concept down because Mina had already been teaching him different dance steps that could help with Full Cowling. Luckily he hadn't looked as bad as the Frenchman, but now? Now Aoyama was moving smoothly and effortlessly.

"The most awkward amateur here learned that in less than a day," Ojirou chuckled. "Ashido's definitely a great teacher then."

"Hold up," Mineta called out, interjecting himself into the excitement. "Dance means rhythm so we need music to get everyone going."

"Well if we're talking music then," Tooru trailed off and literally everyone turned their heads towards Jirou.

"W-What?!" Jirou choked, sinking into her seat and trying to get away from everyone's gazes.

"C'mon, Jirou! We could do a live performance with your instruments," Tooru giggled excitedly as lunged herself towards the purplette.

"H-Hold on a sec," Jirou mumbled.

"Why not? You're amazing at teaching people how to play," Tooru added, remembering how she'd taught her and Ochako a few songs on Jirou's acoustic guitar. "And you've always got a smile on your face when it comes to making music."

"She's right," Suri smiled. "I don't think I've seen you happier than when we've jammed together or when we've been deep diving through each other's libraries. Hell, you pulled out my flute and played it to make sure it sounded right before you gave it back to me!"

Jirou looked down shyly and nervously clacked the jack ends of her wire-like earlobes together. It was a nervous gesture all of them had seen before. She sighed and started speaking quietly but never looked up to meet anyone's eyes.

"But, like Ashido… and the rest of you… all of your hobbies are rooted in your hero abilities. Mine's seriously just a hobby. It's not something I can really be proud of," she mumbled.

"So that's what earlier was about," Kaminari said, before coming around to the front of the couch and taking Jirou's hands in his in an overexcited gesture. "But it's so cool how musical you are. Really, Jirou, you're awesome!"

"Your talent can make people smile," Koda added. "That's tied to being a hero in my book."

"Sweetie, music is more than just a hobby for you," Suri grinned and leaned herself towards the girl. "I mean, look at me. I love playing my baby here, but it doesn't have anything to do with my powers. This is a hobby," Suri motioned to her bass, slightly lifting the five string upwards. "Your passion isn't."

"I understand what you guys are saying," Momo leaned forward, nonchalantly cradling Jirou in her arms in a protective manner. "We have to let Jirou decide for herself."

"Ugh," Jirou grumbled, ruffling her hair. "Turning all of these requests wouldn't make me much of a rock star, would it?"

"Fuck yeah," Suri cheered before everyone excitedly joined in with cheering on and patting Jirou for her efforts to help out. "Looks like we're going to do a dance club with live music. Sounds fuckin' badass to me. I'll talk to Mr. Aizawa and get us on the books then so we can get the gym reserved for our performance."

Admittedly, determining what they were going to do for the festival had been the easier part. Next came literally everything else. Those discussions had been distracting enough throughout class but then there was something else that came up that sort of bugged everyone but served to piss off Bakugou and Suri. It had been while they were heading back to the dorms after wishing Izuku, Kirishima, Ochako, and Tsu luck with their extra classes. They were still having to make up classes from missing the few days during the Yakuza raid. The problem had taken the form of some of the third years of the general studies course.

Suri was about to be snarky because of the guy's tone anyway; because it was completely sarcastic and had way too much passive aggressive venom to take lightly. She was about to hit him with the same amount of sass he was putting off, talking about how they were clueless about the villain attacks. But it had been like what Aizawa said, the repercussions from the two villain attacks on the hero course had been taken out on everyone. She was going to chalk it up to them being stressed out and feeling bitchy and then the girl made a remark to her friend that stabbed Suri like a rusty knife.

"Tch, what do you expect? It's cause they've got one of those animals with them."

The comment disarmed Suri, left her stunned from the blatant hate in it all and it took Atiena driving their body for her to even make it back to the dorms. The awe of the comment simmered into rage after she'd taken the time to process it all. Rage that just about made her tell everyone to fuck off and fuck doing something for the rest of the school. She was simmering in anger until they were in the common room and Iida reminded everyone that they had a month to prepare and they needed to start making decisions quickly.

"First we need to pick out music, right?" Tooru said and it was her voice that snapped Suri back to reality and out of her anger.

"Song," she quickly corrected. "We've only got a half hour time slot that includes set up, a soundcheck, and take down. Without knowing how big of a set up we want, our safest bet is to have one, maybe two songs so we don't interfere with the other acts."

"Only one?" Ojirou asked with surprise.

"Ideally, if it was like normal concerts like Jirou and I have been to," Suri explained. "We'd have a thirty minute set with around five songs to play and pad out the time. Each set would have a fifteen minute break in between for one band to get off stage and the next to get on stage and check levels. Since we're the only ones needing to be run through the PA system… that cuts into our time."

"Ouch, that kinda sucks," he grimaced and then sighed. "Anyway, I dunno much about popular music so I guess I'll leave this to you guys."

"If we're doing this for everyone, we should pick something that's trendy and that everyone knows. So they can dance and sing along with us," Kaminari said excitedly.

Suri had the right mind to ask him what his fixation with Ojirou's tail was because it hadn't been the first time she'd seen him holding it and petting it. It made her wonder if he'd do the same to her tail if he ever got the chance while she was in beast woman form.

"It's gotta be something with a good beat," Sero added.

"With those things in mind, I think I know what would make sense," Jirou said. She looked like she had really been giving everything a lot of thought and was pouring all of her energy into coming up with something that would make their performance a hit. "A hardcore four on the floor club song. It would be like a rave meets rock show. For dance music EDM would probably be the most popular but you guys wanna play instruments, right?"

And those few sentences alone lost quite literally everyone except for Suri and Mina. Basically anyone but the three of them looked like they had been spoken to in a foreign language.

"I know you play bass Suri, but does anyone else know how to play any instruments? Bass, drums, or anything?"

When no one answered, Jirou admittedly looked a little more nervous about the whole thing.

"Okay then, I'd say drums are the backbone of any band. I'd take on the responsibility myself but honestly, I main the guitar, not percussion. Teaching a beginner to play an instrument and play myself would be practically impossible to do in just one month."

"I can sort of play drums but it's more of Dante's thing than mine," Suri admitted.

There was silence for a second and then something incredible happened thanks to Kaminari.

"Hey," he grinned wide and turned around to face Bakugou. "Didn't you say your mom forced you to take drum lessons when you were a kid?"

"Huh?" Bakugou blinked.

"Really?" Suri and Mina squeaked as they turned to face him.

"Dude, take a seat and show us what you got!" Sero said, holding up a pair of drumsticks.

"In your dreams, morons," he scoffed and turned around to walk away from the group.

Then Suri and Sero gave each other a look and began chuckling to each other.

"Oh right," Suri grinned as she teased the explosion user. "I get it, they're too hard for you. You're probably not that great, huh? Wonder if I'm better than you."

Bakugou growled, turned on his heels and went straight for Sero, grabbing the sticks out of his hands angrily before storming to the drum set. It, and several other instruments and pieces of equipment, had been relocated from Jirou's room to the common room. He kicked off his socks, slammed himself down onto the drum throne and took position before lighting the kit up with a few measures of a flawless punk rock beat before finishing up with a quick rolling solo around the toms. It had only been fifteen seconds from start to finish but it was enough to have blown everyone away.

"Shit, looks like we've got ourselves our drummer," Suri said with a half chuckle.

"Tch, no way," Bakugou huffed as he got up from behind the drums and began walking towards the stairs. "Ain't no way I'm getting up on stage and making a fool of myself."

"Bakugou, come on. Do it!" Jirou encouraged as she ran up behind him. "If we rock this, everyone will have a great time."

"Don't you get what's gonna happen? I'll spell it out for you. We're doing this because we wanna let the other courses blow off some steam, right? Well we're the ones who caused their stress to begin with so we're just trying to make ourselves feel better," he sneered as he turned back to look at everyone. "This is gonna feel like a slap in the face from the people they can't stand!"

Suri flinched when she saw the look in his eyes because she knew he was exactly right.

"Don't be rude, we're just trying to help," Tooru snapped at him.

"Yeah, that kind of thinking is what I'm talking about," he roared back at her.

"You didn't help us decide what to do so can't complain about it now," Todoroki shot back.

"Doesn't this all make you mad?" Bakugou questioned and it didn't feel like an accident that he was staring directly at Suri. "It's not like we wanted villains to show up and ruin things for everybody. We didn't ask for people like Shigaraki and Gemini. So why should we care about how these weaklings feel? Stop trying to get on their good side. We're not here to make friends, we're here to fight! If we're gonna put on a show, you better be ready to give it everything you've got and knock everyone in UA dead with killer music!"

And just like that, they had their drummer.

Momo volunteered herself in the moments after that. She cited that she'd been playing piano since she was a kid thanks to all of her classical education, which she hadn't meant to be a complete flex on how wealthy her family was. It still sort of came off that way but she, like everything else, handled it with as much grace humanly possible.

Then came the next point of conversation deciding different details about the performance and the set up itself. Mina, of course, had originally anticipated all of the girls being the dancers and then decided that there would need to be a third group running the stage set up and special effects. Apparently, Aoyama had absolutely zero hesitations about being a human disco ball since it put him in the literal spotlight and he'd be able to shine the brightest. Literally. This was at the same time that they decided Kirishima and Todoroki would use their Quirks in tandem with Kiri chopping away at Todoroki's ice. As Mina put it, with Aoyama's laser reflecting through the ice, the gym would be filled with what looked like stardust. The idea seemed sketchy at first but once Mina explained it in that way, it made the idea sound absolutely fantastic.

It was then that Izuku, Kiri, Ochako, and Tsu came home from their classes and they looked flat out exhausted. Exhausted as they were, the group was more than happy to join in on the conversation once they were filled in about what activity they'd chosen and what they'd started working out the details to so far. Ochako, Tsu, and even Kirishima seemed iffy on Bakugou being determined as the drummer but it didn't seem to surprise Izuku at all. Like he'd known that Bakugou had taken drum lessons and had been great at it. Because of course he already knew about his talents. Everything seemed to be going pretty solid and then, like magic, Suri got hit with a double whammy.

"So with Bakugou as our drummer and Momo on keys, I think it's safe to say either me or Suri can handle bass guitar. We just need to figure out who's gonna sing," Jirou stated in passing as they continued to lay everything out.

"Whoa, what?" Suri choked and stared at Jirou wide eyed. There had been no conversation whatsoever about Suri playing bass for the performance and it floored her.

"It has to be you, right Jirou?" Ochako asked quickly as everyone turned to the purplette and hadn't even noticed Suri squirming.

"Uh…"

"Singers, get chicks! I'll do it," Mineta screeched.

"Hey guys, not to brag, but I'm pretty good at singing," Kirishima casually added.

"I will do it. A singing disco ball would be superbly magnifique," Aoyama said, unsurprisingly trying to make himself the literal center of attention for the performance.

"I-I dunno…"

The girls ignored the three boys who began screeching, squawking, and sounding all sorts of terrible and tone deaf. Aoyama straight up tried to be operatic but he just held one high pitched note for way too long. Kiri… was Kirishima and was trying to sound all macho and manly with that sort of grungy dad rock sort of thing. It was not good.

And then Mineta…

We don't talk about Mineta.

"C'mon, your singing was amazing when you were teaching me to play guitar in your room," Tooru chirped excitedly.

"I'm not that great," Jirou shrank in embarrassment.

"If not you, Suri could do it. She's a great singer," Izuku added, smiling kindly and meaning to have his suggestion not hit his girlfriend with a wave of anxiety as everyone turned their attention to her.

"What?! No! Nononononononono," Suri waved everyone off and started to back away nervously, quietly laughing hysterically. She had backed herself next to Jirou who had been at the back of the group and looked at the two nervously locked eyes. "We um… No, Jirou's got this! Right? I'm sure you have an amazing voice, right, hun!"

"Look! A microphone," Tooru happily exclaimed before grabbing the stand and overzealously shoving it towards them. "Let 'em hear it, you guys!"

Suri stared at Tooru for a long moment, seeing all of the expectation and excitement in her ghostly features. She didn't want to disappoint her girlfriend. She really didn't but there was just that one thing she was scared of. She had been excited during the Sports Festival, ready to show off and perform, she'd always loved going to the courts and show off when her and her brothers played basketball. She was always ready for the spotlight when it came to the prospect of being a pro hero, and a queen of her own wereanimal group. Hell she even loved having an audience when it came to being in the bedroom.

But performing music or singing in front of an audience?

That, for some ungodly reason, mortified her.

"I-I… I can't," Suri muttered as her shoulders dropped and she looked away from everyone. She balled her fists tight and tried to physically squeeze other anxiety before she gave Jirou a weak smile and sympathetic glance. "Show 'em what you got. I know you'll blow everyone away."

Suri turned to walk away but was startled to learn she couldn't make it far from where she'd been standing. She felt a grip on her wrist that squeezed tight when she looked down to see what had stopped her from moving. Following the arm that held her led her up to meet Jirou's gaze which was filled with fear but also sadness. She met her gaze for a long time before turning to find Tooru, Mina, and Izuku with a similar look. Theirs were fearful that they might have pushed her and forced her into something and were now regretting their excitement. It wasn't a look that she enjoyed seeing in their face. When she turned back to Jirou, she saw the girl smile softly and nod towards the microphone where she faced it, took in a long, deep breath and closed her eyes as she pushed her nerves aside.

You know everyone wants to sparkle

Like the stars in the night sky

In this wondrous place

Filled with all the dreams

I've been wishing for

Waiting for the chance

Everyone erupted in praise and cheers once Jirou finished those few lines. She'd had a great voice that was wonderfully melodic with just a hint of sultriness that added to her singing as a whole. Great range, inflection and tone, everything. Sure Jirou had been nervous but she'd proved her nervousness was for nothing because everyone had been right.

Jirou seriously had a gorgeous voice.

And then Jirou took advantage of Suri's awe in her and pushed the microphone into their class rep's face. It made her squeal in surprise, take a step backwards from the offensive object and grumbled at it. Her eyes then rolled up to meet Jirou who was looking at her expectantly. A glance towards Tooru, Izuku, and Mina found the same looks that clearly said your turn.

Suri growled and balled her fists again before she reached up, grabbed the microphone and its stand and then… turned around so that her back was facing everyone. She heard people question her decision but she tuned them out because she was staring down the microphone and was on the verge of freezing up again. She hated that she was nervous or scared over singing in front of everyone. It wasn't like some of them hadn't heard her sing before because Izuku, Mina, and Tooru obviously had, Yumei had, and of course there was all of her family. It was this though; singing in front of strangers.

Even though they weren't technically strangers.

It was then that Atiena had heard enough of Suri mentally struggling and pushed Suri's arms up to take hold of the microphone again and prodded her human counterpart. It was something the beast was very good at doing.

'Cause you brought the flames and you put me through hell

I had to learn how to fight for myself

And we both know all the truths I could tell

I'll just say this that I wish you farewell

Suri groaned and forced Atiena out of the driver's seat and mentally scowled at the beast. Atiena was grinning and giggling as she padded back behind Suri inside their shared mind and pushed Suri forward so that now she had no choice but to finish her lines. And so she did, clenching her eyes as tight as they could go and singing quietly, trying not to fuck up any of her lines or notes.

I hope you're somewhere praying

I hope your soul is changing

I hope you find your peace

Falling on your knees

Praying

When Suri opened her eyes, all she heard was silence. She cringed and hissed, knowing that she had surely just embarrassed the hell out of herself and was terrified to turn around. After a long moment, she began turning slowly, her brow twitching in fear as she faced Jirou first, who had a look of awe on her face. Then she turned to face everyone else, her shoulders tense and expecting the worst only to find similar looks of awe on everyone else other than her mates. Her girlfriends and boyfriend had wide happy grins that said how proud they were of her.

"Dude! You should both sing," Kaminari exclaimed as he practically bounced towards both of them. He was overzealous, awestruck, and joyous with both results and couldn't be happier to get to hear both Jirou and Suri sing. And that was the perfect idea; for both of them to sing.

"I mean, I guess we could," Jirou said shyly, and smiled at Suri. "One of us could play bass and sing and one of us could just handle maining vocals."

"Yeah, both of you totally should sing!" Kirishima, Tooru, and Mina shouted with glee.

Suri smiled and took a deep breath as she saw everyone's looks of expectancy and all of the praise she and Jirou were receiving. It felt great to have that affirmation. She was happy, growing happier by the second for not embarrassing herself in front of her friends. It had gone so much better than expected and with a soft smile she faced everyone with confidence.

"Thank you! I mean it, really… but I still have to say no."

And just like that, in that moment, you could have heard a pin drop.

The tiniest of pin drops to ever pin drop.

Because at that moment, the only thing quieter than everyone's shock was literally the dead. Because that's what had just become of some of her classmate's hopes and dreams; dead.

And this time, Suri was the one guilty of the crime.