A/N: *says the wait between last chapter and this one wouldn't take 6 months like the last time I took a break to work on a side story*

*takes 4 months to update since I didn't feel like working on fic art after posting the side story anyway*

Anyways HI HELLO I AM STILL ALIVE.

Quick life update. I'm done with school atm but I'm taking summer classes rn and am trying to find a summer job (bc I need money lol). My friend also got me into Jujutsu Kaisen back in March. So I've been hyperfixating on it PRETTY HEAVILY lmao (choso bby loml ❤️).

I gave it a bit of thought, and I think I've decided I won't be doing any more art for this fic. I know the art was a big draw for it, but most of what I draw these days is for school assignments or my portfolio and I don't really have as much motivation anymore to dedicate time to drawing for this fic. The art is really what causes a delay between chapters (since I have everything prewritten), and I don't want to keep drawing out this fic when it's been like… 5 years since I started it (DAMN).

I understand it might be disappointing to some readers, but I hope the story content itself will still hold up even without it! And who knows, I may come back some other time to add art to it; maybe even simple sketches like I used to do when I first started this fic.

Anyway, that's about everything. Make sure to read the side story that takes place between last chapter and this one, titled "Serendipity"! And I hope you enjoy the new chapter :3

3 weeks later...

"How are you feeling, Hitomi?" Uraraka asked as her friend put her dirty dishes on the counter.

Hitomi sighed, patting her chest. "Nervous as ever. But… I'm really excited. My heart can't stop racing I don't know if I'll be able to sleep!"

Yaoyorozu had just approached the sink with her own dishes, setting them down. "Oh, in that case, let me make you some chamomile tea! It should soothe your anxiety and help you sleep better."

"Oh, thanks, Yaomomo!"

…

Hitomi had just finished drinking her tea, setting her teacup down as she heard Bakugou yelling at Kaminari.

"Get offa me! I'm going to bed!"

She saw Bakugou shoulder Kaminari off of him, letting out a small laugh as she handed her teacup to Uraraka to wash. "Yaomomo's tea is always the best. My heart doesn't feel like it's buzzing as much anymore."

Uraraka held the teacup under the faucet, laughing as well as she rinsed it. "She's got tea for practically everything!"

"She really does, doesn't she?" Hitomi yawned, covering her mouth. "I guess I should go to sleep. Better get enough rest for tomorrow."

"Ah, good night, Hitomi!" Uraraka called after her.

Hitomi waved, running to the elevator as Bakugou stepped inside. She followed after him, stopping beside the ash blonde as she watched the doors close.

"Are you nervous, Bakugou?" she asked him as the elevator went up.

Bakugou scoffed, shrugging. "Why should I be? We've been practicing for a reason."

Hitomi laughed slightly, clasping her hands together. "I suppose that's true, isn't it?"

She trailed off, the two left in a comfortable silence as the elevator continued to the fourth floor. Unconsciously, Hitomi started humming the tune of their song, her soft voice barely audible over the whir of the elevator. She kept her eyes trained on the door as it opened, stepping out. Bakugou followed after her, the girl turning to him and giving him a soft smile.

"Good night, Bakugou."

Bakugou grunted, trudging off to his room. "We're killing them with our sound tomorrow. Got it?"

Hitomi laughed, giving him a small nod.

"Of course!"

Hitomi brushed her t-shirt down, eyeing her outfit.

She was wearing her uniform skirt and her stockings, but instead of her tie and blazer, she had an orange shirt with the words "A BAND" printed on the front in white. Courtesy of Yaoyorozu, of course.

The festival had already started half an hour ago, and Class 1-A was currently setting everything up before their show would begin at 10.

Hitomi adjusted the mic stand, looking over the wire and making sure the microphone wouldn't fall out. As she checked to make sure the stand was locked in place, Bakugou had just finished rolling the drum set into position.

She blinked when she saw his outfit, finding he was only wearing his uniform pants and a simple black collared shirt. "Bakugou… where's your band shirt?"

Bakugou barely grunted out a "dunno" when Hitomi's mic stand suddenly retracted, falling back into itself. She yelped, turning around abruptly to catch it only for her hand to smack the microphone, the entire pole heading straight for the ground. She and Bakugou both yelled and Hitomi flailed, stumbling forward and barely catching it before it could hit the stage floor. She gripped the stand tightly, standing up straight as she shot him a nervous laugh.

"S-Safe…!" She breathed out shakily, wearing a wobbly smile. "I got it. Crisis averted…"

Bakugou blinked, his eyes narrowing. "What the hell was that, Moon Face? You could've broken that!"

She looked over the stand, reaching for one of the locks. "Uhh, I guess I must not have locked it properly before letting go… My bad." She let out another nervous laugh, fiddling with the clasp.

Bakugou just huffed and stepped around his drums, walking towards her with a small scowl. "Move over, let me do it."

Hitomi immediately nodded and pushed it into his hands, stepping back to let him fix it. She wiped her hands down on her skirt, her eyes widening when she realized her hands were shaking. "Eh…? I guess… I'm more nervous about the performance than I thought…"

"Huh?" Bakugou grunted as he locked the mic in place, making sure it was secure before he looked back at her. "What the hell do you mean? You were all gung-ho about it last night."

Hitomi shook her hands, trying to get rid of her nervous jitters. Still, the trembling in her hands remained and now she could feel her heartbeat speeding up too. "I guess the nerves are finally catching up to me…! Ahhh… I hope I don't mess it up…"

Bakugou checked over the mic one last time before finally letting it stand on its own upright. "Why are you freaking out now all of a sudden?"

"Why do you think?" Hitomi whined, giving her hands another shake. "Singing in front of all those people! Oh, what if it's like that time I was forced to dance in front of everyone?! I'll never live down how off I was with the rhythm…!"

"Hah…?" Bakugou seemed to stare at her in disbelief. "You didn't seem half as nervous back at the sports festival!"

"That was different…! It was a competition, not a performance! And I'm not used to so many people hearing me sing!"

Bakugou suddenly grabbed one of her wrists, holding it up. Hitomi's mouth clamped shut at the intense stare he was giving her. "Then eat a person, damn it!"

She blinked.

"Wha…?"

Bakugou rolled his eyes, pulling her wrist towards him so her hand was palm-up. "Eat. A. Person!" he grumbled out, tracing his finger along her palm. "Eat it!" He suddenly pushed her hand toward her mouth, and it was then Hitomi realized he had written the kanji for "person" on her hand.

He let go, watching as her shoulders slowly relaxed. She pulled her hand away from her face as she looked up at him timidly. "Oh… Right." She smiled at him a bit sheepishly. "I feel a little better now."

Bakugou just scoffed, turning away. "If we're gonna blow those losers away, we can't have one of the singers acting like a wreck." He trudged back towards his drums as Hitomi watched him. "Stop being so nervous. You did fine at practice so you'll do fine with the real thing, idiot."

Hitomi held her hand against her chest, feeling her heartbeat slowly returning to a normal rate. "Okay. Thank you."

Bakugou just let out another grunt and she walked towards his drums as he returned to setting up.

"By the way, you never answered my question. Where's your band shirt?"

"Don't know. Don't really care."

Hitomi puffed her cheeks out. "Whaaat? Bakugou, we all need to match with each other."

"Who the fuck said we had to?"

"Well…" Hitomi paused for a second. "Okay, technically no one said we had to. But it'll look weird if you're not matching with the rest of the band. When you find the shirt, make sure you put it on, okay?"

"You sound like someone's mom," Bakugou huffed as he adjusted the cymbals.

"Mom…" Hitomi repeated before her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh shoot! I almost forgot! Thanks for reminding me, Bakugou!" She patted one of the drums, waving at him before she suddenly ran off.

She ran backstage, looking at everyone running around and getting ready before she spotted Kirishima's bright red hair.

"Kirishima!" she called out to him, running up to her friend.

The redhead was holding some boxes, peering over the top at the sound of his name. "What's up, Hitomi?" he asked once she'd approached.

"Do you think you could get a video of the performance?"

Kirishima raised an eyebrow. "I could probably do that. What for?"

Hitomi scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "My mom's been pestering me to get it filmed. And I might as well get one to show to Nari and Yoshiho! I've been telling them so much about it that they're dying to see how it'll turn out."

"Oh, that's right… Outsiders can't really come to watch it, after all. In that case, you can count on me!"

Hitomi clasped her hands together, grinning. "Really?"

Kirishima readjusted the boxes in his arms, patting Hitomi on the head and ruffling her hair cheekily. "Of course! Anything for you, 'Tomi. It'd be nice to have a video to remember this by, anyway."

…

Hitomi made her way back to the stage, patting her chest as she took deep breaths. She'd handed her phone off to Kirishima so he could set it up to take a video, and now there was about 7 minutes before they were set to start.

"Hitomi, there you are!" Jirou exclaimed as she walked to her mic. "You had me worried for a second… Don't just disappear for a while, Midoriya already scared us doing that!"

Hitomi sighed, scratching the back of her head. "Sorry, I was just up in the wings with Kirishima for a little bit. I asked him to take a video of the performance."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Bakugou in orange, her gaze shifting to him to see he was wearing the band's shirt. "Oh, you're wearing the shirt!"

Bakugou scoffed, glaring at Kaminari. "Dunce Face nearly fucking suffocated me shoving it on."

"You could've made things easier by just putting it on yourself, you know!" Kaminari whined.

"5 minutes, everyone!" Iida called out, halting their conversation.

"5 minutes," Jirou repeated, turning back to the band. "Everyone ready for this? Got your instruments in order?"

Everyone made sounds of affirmation, waiting in anticipation as the minutes ticked by. Hitomi kept taking deep breaths, patting her chest with her hand tight around the mic as the seconds counted down to 10 AM.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1!

A/N: Fun fact, this chapter used to be complete filler when I first wrote it (bc I was still particular about only having a 1K word count per chapter back then :P)

I added the Bakutomi scene since I thought it would make a cute moment hehehe w thought it'd make the chapter a little more fun to read since it's so short anyway