Day 245, 8:40 AM

UA Dorms

Grabbing her guitar, Jirou sits on her bed, absentmindedly playing with the strings. She makes a few adjustments to the guitar before she begins playing a few notes. Making music, she closes her eyes, letting muscle memory take over. As she plays a song to herself, silently humming, a knock on the door interrupts her train of thought. Putting the guitar aside, she opens the door to see Kaminari.

"Hey, Jirou." He steps in, closing the door behind her. "I heard you playing your guitar."

"I wasn't trying to be subtle. But what do you want?"

Kaminari sits on her bed. He pats the space beside her. "Sit down."

She accepts his invitation. "So?"

"Well, I sorta had an idea for everything. You know how morale has been low?"

"It's been a month since," she says suddenly, "since Koji Koda died."

"I know. And... I've been thinking about my parkour incident. You know how Kuroiro, Kenta, and Mineta were absolute trash when they were doing parkour and they hurt themselves? I saw the way you and Komori laughed."

Jirou looks away. "So?"

"It's been a long time since anybody laughed and... I think that... we all need to laugh, especially right now."

"Should we be laughing?"

"We have to laugh. If morale is at an all-time low forever, then who knows what can happen."

"So what are you saying? Are you saying you want to hurt yourself during more parkour fails?"

Kaminair laughs. "No, I was just thinking back to something. Remember the time we spent the whole day in my room and watched movies together; it was after we got back from Isamu."

"Yeah, I remember."

Kaminari looks forward, blushing slightly. "I really enjoy spending time with you, Jirou, and... I want to see you smile again." He looks at her, his blushing face managing a smile. "I want to see the rest of our classmates smile through these endlessly excruciating times. And..."

"If you remember, we were drinking and watching a bunch of horror movies."

"So?"

"And unless you're willing to do your own fail compilation, then-"

"No, not a fail compilation; music."

Jirou snaps her head at him. "What?"

"Remember when you were singing in my room?" He scoots close to her. "You had a totally awesome voice and you can play so many instruments; you're so freaking awesome, Jirou."

Jirou gulps, a blush creeping onto her face.

"You should play some music for everyone; it's what everybody needs right now. Please, please?" He plants his knees on the bed as he crawls toward her. "Please?"

Jirou backs away, almost falling over the edge before she presses her lips together.

"Remember back in school when Mina was showing off her awesome dance moves and Deku said that they can be useful in combat? And how Sato's cooking skills could be useful in hero work? That's the same thing with your music skills!"

"No," Jirou shakes her head. "My music isn't practical in saving lives; it's just a hobby. Mina's dancing and Sato's cooking skills actually help them in combat. But music..."

"Make music to make people smile," Kaminari continues to smile. "Please? We could all use an insane morale boost at this point. We want to smile; they want to smile; they just don't realize it. Please, bring a little color back to this world. If it makes you feel awkward, I can play some music with you." He reaches over and grabs the guitar Jirou was using. He plays a few riffs, making sweet music. "See, those lessons you taught me are still etched into my mind."

Jirou covers her blushing face with her hand before her gaze falls on the guitar in his hand. Thinking back to her parents and the day she made her decision to become a pro hero instead o a musician is still etched deep into her brain. Remembering the looks on their faces, the smiling faces - instead of the disappointed faces she expected - she remembers the feeling she got when they patted her head and told her they supported her with all their might. They told her maybe she could use her music to help people. But how can a pro use music to save people without some kind of quirk relating to music?

Maybe now's the time to find out.

Removing her hands from her blushing face as she cools down, she looks at the guitar. Taking it back, she plays a few riffs in her hands, closing her eyes once again. getting muscle memory take over, she sings.

~As the hours pass I will let you know that I need to ask be-fore I'm alone how it feels to rest on your patient lips to eternal bliss, I'm so glad to know. As the hours pass I will let you know that I need to ask be-fore I'm alone how it feels to rest on your patient lips to eternal bliss, I'm so glad to know~

Kaminari flinches with his mouth open, tears welling in his eyes. "That was so beautiful, Jirou; that song goes with anything."

Jirou chuckles before putting the guitar down. "Yeah, it does."

"Remember those YouTube videos with Mr. Kitty's After Dark playing all the time?"

"I remember them being in those versus shorts."

"Aww yeah, when comparing two characters by stats, they would play this song." He strokes his chin. "We should try that out to see if it's real."

"You mean, I play this song and then you compare two people?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Who are you going to compare? All Might and..."

"No, I wanted to kinda compare us. You know, so..."

Jirou laughs. "Whatever, moron. But when you compare our stats, don't go crying to Mineta when I wipe the floor with you."

"Wouldn't dream of it, girl."

The sound girl laughs again before playing another verse of After Dark by Mr. Kitty.

"Strength," Kaminari bops his head to the beat, "me!"

Jiou nods. "Yeah, you're pretty strong, Kaminari."

"Thank you." He pauses for a second. "Speed, me, duh."

"'Duh' indeed," Jirou nods. "And let's agility to the mix."

Strength - Kaminari. Speed - Kaminari. Agility - Kaminari. IQ - Jirou. Battle IQ - Jirou. Durability/Endurance - Jirou. Stamina - Kaminari. Reflexes - Kaminari. AP/DC - Kaminari. Hax - Kaminari.

Jirou pauses. "Are you sure you're being completely objective, Kaminari?"

"Well, who knows? Ya never know with something like me, right?"

"You're a moron, not a mysterious electric boy."

"You're pretty durable, Jirou. Between the two of us, you've taken much worse punishment and survived. And it's true. You're so freaking awesome. And honestly, I would give the 'Skills' category to you because you can play so many instruments. I would also give you the 'Versatile' category because your quirk is handy in any situation. Spying on people, attacking people, making them rumble, everything. Me, I'm good for shocking people, nothing more."

Jirou looks away, smiling slightly. "Nah, I would say that you're a little more skilled than I am. After all, I can't ride a dirt bike. I can't perform the same tricks you do on a bike. And not only that, but I'm not a parkour guy or whatever they're called. When it comes to using our bodies without quirks, you got a slight advantage over me. I would give you the 'Experience' category as well."

Kaminari clsoes on her. "You're experienced in playing musical instruments. Don't you want to show off your skills to everyone?"

JIrou smiles again, scoffing at the electric boy. "I do. After all, it wouldn't be rocking if I didn't." She stands up, putting the guitar strap over her shoulder. "Let's go play music for our fellow classmates and dedicate it to our deceased classmates."

Kaminari smiles, holding two thumbs up. "Hell yeah! And if you need help, I'll act as a backup guitarist."

"If you say so, dweeb. Remember my warning from earlier: don't go crying to Mineta when I wipe the floor with you on the music floor."

One Hour Later

Standing in the center of the common area, Jirou uses the sofa as a makeshift couch with her guitar in hand. Grabbing the makeshift mic before her, she ignores the sweat drenching her forehead as she begins singing.

~Right, right, turn off the lights, we gonna lose our minds tonight; what's the dealio? I love when it's all too much, 5 AM turn the radio up; where's the rock and roll? Party crasher. Panty snatcher. Call me up if you a gangsta. Don't be fancy, just get dancy. Why so serious?

~So raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways. All my underdogs, we will never be never be, anything but loud and nitty gritty dirty little freaks. Won't you come on and come on and raise your glass! Just come on and come on and raise your glass!

Jirou's beautiful voice carries her words through the crowd of students, even as she speaks English. Kaminari keeps to the theme of her, bopping his head to the beat and silently following along with her, his English coming back to him with each passing second.

You gotta love those P!NK songs, Kaminari says. I'm going to forever miss music. But as long as I'm alive, I wish to make sure that Jirou can still make music.

The hero students cheer for Jirou at the top of their lungs, smiling and giving it their all by thrusting their hands into the air. One of them yells and says that they love her beautiful voice and wish to marry her. Jirou pays no attention to them and loses herself in the song. She hits a loud riff as she concludes the song. With P!INK still on her mind, she thinks of another song. Two seconds away from singing it, she pauses as she recalls the lyrics.

~If someone said three years from now, you'd be long gone...~

While Jirou loves Who Knew by P!NK just as the next person, the lyrics might be a little too early, too soon. She settles on singing a song she's intimately familiar with.

~What am I to be? What is my calling? I gave up giving up, I'm ready to go. The future's left unseen; it all depends on me. Put it on the line to follow my dreams!~

~Yeah!~

~Tried all my life, I've tried to find, Something that makes me hold on and never let go.~

~Oh!~

~Hero too! I am a hero too! My heart is set and I won't back down!~

~Hero too! Strength doesn't make a hero! True heroes stand up for what they believe! So wait and see! So wait and see!~

"Yes!" Kaminari shouts. "Sing that beautiful song, JIROU!"

With Kaminari's words of encouragement, Jirou feels her chest warming up as she continues to sing the rest of her song. This sweet, beautiful song never escaped her, even with all the accumulated stress of the apocalypse. Music is human culture and will always be part of human culture. One can argue that ti is music that separates humans from animals because animals have no practical uses for music. Animals rely on instinct and while they may like certain songs, music belongs to humans and always will. Even if all the instruments in the world blew up, humanity would still find a way to make music. The earliest humans to step foot on Earth made music using primitive tools; the last humans on Earth will continue to make music with whatever they have on hand.

But they were far from the last humans on earth; Jirou wholeheartedly believed that. Society may have collapsed worldwide but humanity was still standing. Heroes and villains may no longer be words that apply to anyone because everyone's main goal alive is to survive by any means necessary, Jirou knows how she's going to save the world.

The music she loves, the musical career she turned down to save people with hero work, she finally gets a second chance. She finally gets the opportunity to save the world as a hero with music and the thought settles into the forefront of her skull, making her nearly cry tears of joy.

As the UA students continue to listen and dance to the music, Jirou finally finishes her chores with Kaminari giving the final riff and ends the song with a bow.

Jirou laughs at his gesture before copying him, bowing humbly to the crowd, who applaud her with smiling faces.

"You have such an amazing voice, Jirou," Kendo says.

Monoma laughs suddenly. "You know, Class 1-B would've crushed this musical performance like it was nothing. In fact, if we were to compete right now"

Kendo karate chops Monoma. "Brilliant performance as always, Jirou."

"You gave such a heartwarming performance, Jirou," Kirishima cries manly tears, "so beautiful."

Deku nods. "You know, if you didn't become a hero in training, you would've made a great musical artist."

"Thank you," Jirou nods, bowing again. "Thank you all. I'm just glad I could bring a smile to all your faces."

"We really needed it," Sero says.

"We all did," Shiozaki nods.

"Bring more music when you can, Jirou," Hagakure almost begs. Tsu croaks beside her.

JIrou continues to hold her smile before stepping off stage and heading to Kaminari's side.

As Uraraka heads into the corner to pull out a small music speaker, she inserts her phone into the device before playing a few music songs. The songs playing are in his downloaded folder she created prior to the collapse of the world and the charging of her phone was from the electricity still running in the building. Kaminari offered to charge her phone before she reminded him that prolonged quirk usage attracts zombies and they didn't need their hands tied anymore than it was.

Caring for someone else's phone who wasn't Jirou wasn't something the electric boy foresaw himself doing but he was feeling generous that day. Besides, there was a part of Kaminari that wondered if he exclusively did things for Jirou, people might get the wrong idea of him. Ie, he has a crush on the sound girl. While true, he didn't want his crush to be public to anyone, not until he was comfortable a little more around Jirou.

I'm going to tell you that I have feelings for you soon, Jirou, Kaminari promises. I promise that I will tell you that I love you.

Jirou heads off to sit on the couch, retrieving her phone off the counter to see a recording of herself. Yes, her phone is able to record without the need for Wifi because the phones UA provided to them allowed certain functions in emergency situations. Though cell towers were down, the phone's still good for recording or two. Looking up any information was off the table. There's also a limit to how much the phone can record without the use of Wifi but Jirou has nothing to fear; she still has plenty of space to record things on her phone.

Do I want to record things in the post-apocalypse? she questions herself. If this apocalypse ends, then I was to remember so I can remember everything that happened to me.

As Kaminari approaches Jirou to be beside her, he pauses when he sees Deku looking at him with a guilty expression on his face. Kaminari paces toward him, helping the green-haired boy to a secluded corner while the rest of the UA students jam their troubles away on Uraraka's speaker.

"What's up?" Kaminari asks.

"Is now the right time to tell everyone about how we're responsible for Koda's death?" Deku whispers.

Kaminari gasps. "No," he whispers back, "not now. People are still not over Koda and we need people laughing and smiling right now. Please." Kaminair closes in on his face. "Please, I practically begged Jirou to do this music performance because I knew everyone needed a musical boost. Please, let's not tell them about Koda, Iida, and Aoyama. At least not right now. Please? We will tell everyone the truth before we suffer the consequences but not right now, please?"

Deku closes his eyes, biting his lips before nodding solemnly. Opening his eyes, his gaze lands on the electric boy's yellow eyes. "You're right; I'm sorry."

"Go dance; there's a party happening. And it looks like Ochako is getting lonely dancing by herself."

Deku's eyes widen, his mouth dropping, a blush sneaking up on him.

Kaminari laughs. "Yep, yep." He pats him on the shoulder. "Go get her, tiger." Offering one more pat of encouragement, Kaminari rotates and heads for Jirou.

As Kaminari closes in on her, the rest of the Kamisquad do the same.

"Man," Mineta sighs, sitting on Kenta's left shoulder and using his scalp as an arm's rest. "You have such a lovely voice, Jirou. A lovely voice and a lovely set of boobs; my favorite kind of combination."

"You're going to have to teach us how to play instruments next," Kuroiro says, "we can be our own band of eternal darkness."

Komori looks at the shadow merger. "Sounds like fun, shroom."

"I might have to upgrade," Kenta shrugs. "I can play classical instruments but... you never know."

"You really want me to teach all of you?" Jirou looks at all of them carefully. "Well, I've been told I'm an awesome teacher."

"By yours truly," Kaminari calls out.

We finally found time in the endlessly excruciating apocalypse to relax and smile. For the first time in a long time, we smiled and had a good time. It was the most fun we had in a long time and the memory never eluded me, even to this day. There WAS something to live for, to look forward to, even when the world gone to shit. And this is the part where I would say things like 'it gets worse in the future' or something like that but not for this story.

Just for today, we were smiling, nothing more, and it was beyond perfection.

Warning: Potential Spoilers

Post-Story Character Status

Alive (206 (48 if you exclude the civilians)): Kaminari, Jirou, Kuroiro, Komori, Deku, Bakugou, Uraraka, Ashido, Tsu, Mashiro, Kirishima, Shoji, Sero, Tokoyami, Hagakure, Mineta, Kendo, Monoma, Shiozaki, Awase, Kaibara, Kodai, Kamakiri, Shoda, Pony, Tsuburaba, Manga, Yanagi, Shinsou, Hatsume, Mogami, Shimamura, Kimura, Kenta, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Honenuki, Setsuna, Dabi, Himiko Toga, Kuroshiro "Circus", Adrenal, Aglaea, Broken Arrow, Empulse, Inasa Yoarashi, Heartache, David Shield, 158 I-Island Civilians.

Unknown (33): Brick, Tumble, Creeper, Iceberg, Cat Kitty, Zen Lion, The Cashier, Samuel Abraham, Godzillo, Wolfram, The Peddler, The Third Vagrant, The Fifth Vagrant, Shino, 16 vagrants, Dentist 103, the Receptionist, Backbone.

Dead (98): Ratchet, Textile, Crying Survivor, Sato, Shishida, Bondo, Koji Koda, Anaemia, Whiteout, K-Hole, Heater, Potshot, Street Rat, Sky High, Dino-Mite, Eagle Eye, Newscaster, Lightweight, Tailgate, 49 Bystanders, Masashi, Manual, Native, Eijiro Kita, Mr. 0, 20 0-Heads, the asshole driver, the man in suit, the man with cross, the nice driver, the old lady.

Zombie (2): The hunter beast, Melissa Shield.

Total Kill Count: 99 (Discounting the hunter beast as he is technically a returning character).

A/N: Yes, I finally finished the sequel. Man, what a rush, and I can't wait to relive that rush with the sequel. I'll see you guys in the third book where there will be more characters and ships to see.