Here it is, the eighty-sixth full chapter of Miraculous Quirks released on the set day that I promised each week. Well, at last it is time for the School Festival and Class 1-A's concert. I know that there is something I have skipped, I will address that at the end and explain why I've not done it, so if you are curious about that then check out the post chapter note. The only other thing is that I have opted not to write out 'Hero Too' in a songfic style as I am sure y'all know the lyrics and can play it while reading and because I want to focus on the actions on stage and how one of the duo affects them. That is all the administrative stuff I have for now though and as there are no review questions to answer or guest reviews to respond to I will end this note here. Do keep the reviews coming as I enjoy hearing from y'all. Now, though, it is time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the 86th full chapter of Miraculous Quirks.
Disclaimer: I do not own either of these great works of fiction.
Chapter 86: It's Concert Time!
At last, the day of the U.A. School Festival was upon them, and it was almost time for the band and the dance crew to go on stage while the backstage crew were in position to do their part with the special effects and other elements to the performance. A month of intense practice for all groups had culminated in this moment where they rocked the house and destressed the rest of the school with killer music.
It was 9:45am and the performance began in a quarter hour but there was just one slight issue that was worrying most them, Midoriya hadn't arrived yet. He was critical for the performance given his role with Aoyama and they couldn't start without him because they didn't really have a backup plan for Aoyama if Midoriya missed the performance. Plus, they knew that Eri would be in the audience and really wanted to see Midoriya dance, so he had to be here but he'd yet to return.
The issue was that the night before when some of the class couldn't sleep or were making final preparations, Midoriya and Aoyama being in the latter group, it was noticed that the rope for Aoyama's flying disco ball moment was starting to look haggard. It might hold but Midoriya wanted to avoid any issues, so he wanted a fresh, sturdy rope for it and offered to go to a hardware store near campus that the students were allowed to go to after his early morning training to get it right before the performance.
Of course, the logical thing would have been to ask Yaoyorozu to make the rope, she would have more than willingly done so for the performance, but at the time of realization she was asleep and Kaminari, who'd made the suggestion, was told off for using her Quirk as a resource maker even though he was the class's portable phone charger. Still, Midoriya insisted as the hardware store opened at 8 and was only 15 minutes away so he'd have plenty of time to get it, but nothing was deterring him.
Now, though, as the performance neared they were missing one of their own. Aoyama had been sent with Midoriya's outfit to go see if he'd arrived from the store yet, but the boy was certainly cutting it close. The festival had already begun with the normal booths and day long events but the set events like the concert, the beauty pageant and Class 1-B's play had to go off at specific times, so they needed him.
"Why do I get the feeling that Midoriya has gotten into trouble again?" Momo whispered to Adrien in French; the band was in a separate spot behind a curtain for the reveal while the dance troupe were split into their two groups and in their respective wings. "If he got to the store right at opening it shouldn't take him almost two hours to get rope and return to campus."
"Because this is Midoriya." Adrien whispered back. "Trouble finds him even when he's not looking for it. Knowing Midoriya, he's likely accidentally ran into some villain planning on ruining the festival and stopped him or her by himself but got a bit roughed up in the process and is sorting that out."
"That does sound like him." Momo said with a sigh. "I don't think there's been a single event this year he's not somehow been in the center of."
"True but remember that he's also driven to be here for Eri, so he'll be here." Adrien said as the time ticked closer. "Let's focus on what we have to do and trust our classmate that he will be back in time."
"Right." Momo said with a nod as they all set up with 5 minutes to go, they had to focus, and the gym was packed for the concert so Adrien was right they had to trust that Midoriya would make it back in time.
Thankfully, he did, just, arriving a minute before the lights went out to start the concert all changed and ready in the golden outfits Marinette had designed and made for the dance troupe with the exception of Aoyama who was in his hero outfit for the performance as that was what worked best for him and allowed him to twinkle brightest. The band and backstage team wore simple orange shirts with a roman alphabet A in the center of them and either pants, shorts, or skirts depending on personal preference so they would all look uniform and allowed the dancers to shine while the music played or worked the effects.
No one knew the reason for Midoriya's delay, he'd told Aoyama that he'd tripped on the way back, and they had a quick detour to get healed up as they just had the time, because he didn't want to worry anyone. He was back and that was all that mattered for the moment.
The reason why Izuku had been late was because he'd accidentally run into a villain known as Gentle Criminal, some minor villain who posted his exploits on the internet with the aid of his sidekick La Brava while also ranting about tea at times. Izuku had recognized his voice from a video he'd accidentally seen back when Uraraka had gotten him to get some of Momo's fancy tea during his attempt to find videos of All Might using support gear after learning that his mentor had once used the stuff which was somehow something Izuku hadn't known about All Might.
That had led to the confrontation with Gentle Criminal, some rants from him about his goals, and a battle that extended to a building sight nearby and then the woods that surrounded U.A. which was one of the toughest Izuku had ever had. It wasn't just because he was alone against a villain with a Quirk that made anything he touched elastic for a period of time, including air, nor that his assistant's Quirk seemed to allow her to boost the power of someone so long as she was in love with them and declared it, no it was the man himself that had made it hard for Izuku.
Gentle Criminal had a similar mentality to Izuku in a lot of ways, at least in the past as he revealed during their fight, and it was a stark awakening to Izuku about how his path had gone well when Gentle's had not. It was the first time he truly empathized with a villain, but he still took him down because he was a hero and he couldn't let the festival be shut down, not after all the hard work the class and school had done for it and not after they'd gotten permission for Eri to see it. Izuku wanted to make that girl smile again and he was going to see it, he wasn't going to let a villain ruin that moment for her.
Thus, in the end he managed to delay Gentle Criminal and La Brava in time for Hound Dog and Ectoplasm to get there and take him into custody though Izuku got a deserving lecture for it as well. Thankfully, he still had time and rushed back to the school to find Aoyama just inside the entrance, get healed and changed and return in time for the performance but he couldn't tell them why he'd been late because the performance and Eri's happiness came first.
In time he would, he'd probably go chat with Agreste that night and get his insight as the French boy clearly had more real-world hero experience than any of the other guys in the class as Izuku well knew, but that would come in time. Now, though, the clock ticked over to 10 and the lights in the gym went out meaning that it was time for Class 1-A's concert to begin.
All light in the gym was extinguished and the room plunged into darkness. Then the curtains on the stage opened to reveal the band there, illuminated from behind so that only their silhouettes were initially visible with Jiro front and center on her bass and mic in front of her, Bakugo on the drums at the back flanked to the sides and just in front by the two keyboards with Tokoyami and Kaminari on electric guitars in the middle.
"This is it!"
"We're rooting for you!"
"Show us what you've got first years!"
These were just a few of the phrases the class heard as the initial cheers began to come from the packed crowd. That was quickly drowned out by a surprisingly large contingent of male students suddenly yelling 'Yaoyorozu' over and over again showing the underground following she'd gotten from the commercial she and Kendo had ended up in during their internship that she was currently unaware of though Kendo herself was keenly aware of their supporters.
As this was happening, Togata was holding Eri so that she could see the stage and making sure that she was ok. They'd heard that Midoriya might be delayed, a slip by All Might when he went to tell Aizawa that Midoriya was back with 10 minutes to spare while Aizawa had been with Eri and Togata, but Togata assured her that it would be ok and now it was time to watch Midoriya get down with his class.
While all this was going on and the cheering for Yaoyorozu continued the dance team filed onto stage from both sides to stand in Mina's set order flanking the band so as to not obscure them and right at the front of the stage with their left fists raised high just like All Might did at Kamino and smiling. It was time to start and time to see Eri smile.
This was held for a moment before the light behind the band went out signaling that it was about to start, and Jiro took a deep breath as she focused. She thought on her path to this point, how she'd decided to become a hero rather than a musician like her parents and their acceptance of her choice to help people as a hero rather than with music. Now, for the first time in her life, her music was going to help, she'd poured her heart into this performance and the one afterwards and it was time to show that to the school, time to use her music for good at last.
"Do this shit!" Bakugo roared from behind them as he was the literal explosion to start the performance. "Where going to murder U.A. with killer music!"
With that he let off a controlled explosion and slammed his drumsticks into the drums, the guitars began to strum, the keys played, and the band kicked off with a massive blast of music that sent a shockwave of air from the powerful speakers over the whole crowd. There were a few intro bars of music as the dance crew leant forward in their synchronized dance, the 12-person team had 6 on either side of the band, and dry ice billowed across the stage while Mina and Ojiro leapt high in the air in their respective spots on the nearest points of the dance sections to really show off that things were about to go down.
"Thanks for coming out today!" Jiro roared into her mic before she transitioned into English and began to sing her original song, 'Hero Too'.
It was a song with a deeply personal meaning to Jiro as it was her own story of how she wanted to be a hero despite her parents careers as musicians and her own passion for the musical arts. It was how she was determined to be a hero, to make her own path, and become a hero no matter what others said or how they saw her, she'd be a hero as well.
It included how she'd been accepted and supported by her parents for her path because it was her own as well as how she'd seen so many heroes in her time that inspired her both in the real world and those in the class who she admired and looked up to. This was for all of them, this was them being heroes for the school, for everyone who had a hero to inspire them, save them, and comfort them when they needed it and with that she went all out with her song.
The dance crew was the main focus as they moved to the music, in synch with their light dancing, pointing out to the crowd as Jiro sang, and it looked really good with the outfits standing out just as much as how the moves were all in perfect time and really getting the crowd going. This was just the start though as Jiro gave out a throaty 'Ohhhh' and went into her chorus and the dance team all leapt up before coming down as one, this had been tough to work with some of their strengths mainly Tsu and Marinette who could naturally leap higher, to light punch the stage in time with the music before slowly rising fists raised.
This was also the moment the dance became more, and they moved in synch raising their right arms to the side as Ida stepped forward and did a solo robot dance as Mina had incorporated his natural stiff movements into a perfect robot dance that he'd then show off for the school as everyone really got into it. There was another purpose to this as it allowed for Izuku and Aoyama to peel off and run to the sides, then as Ida's solo ended and the rest of the dance troupe did another jump in the air to punch the stage as Izuku and Aoyama ran at each other across the stage.
Then they leapt up at the same time, Izuku turning on One for All, and locked arms in midair at the center of the stage before Izuku used his strength to launch Aoyama high into the air above the stage, though not hard enough to hit the ceiling of the gym. As he was launched up, Aoyama spun to really show off before unleashing a weak Naval Laser from all points of his costume at the apex of the leap as he spread his arms wide.
This really got the crowd excited and going as they gasped and cheered the lasers, but it was only a taste of what was to come and done to allow for Midoriya to hustle off backstage and get into position without anyone noticing. Well, almost everyone as Eri did notice and got worried but Togata quickly reassured her, and she continued to enjoy the music and dancing even if she didn't understand it given that it was being sung in English.
All eyes were on Aoyama just as he liked it as he continued to unleash his lasers and then fell to be caught in a perfect cradle catch by Ojiro and flipped up, their moves in synch as Aoyama landed while the crowd cheered. The dancing continued and both Aoyama and Ojiro also used that as a moment to slip off for what was to come as the later was in charge of sorting out the harness and rope that Izuku would use to lift and swing Aoyama around above everyone. To help cover this, Mina had made sure that Mineta's harem moment was at this point in the dance.
It started with Mina sliding into position right in front of Jiro, then Toru following her, Ochaco after that, Tsu and finally Marinette at the front, each doing a little unique move to get into position before forming a star with their arms and then in an instant either sliding to the side and falling to a knee or in Marinette's case flipping back twice over them in shallow leap back to land at the same time as the others fell to a knee, head down and arms out to a smirking Mineta that they'd just revealed in the middle.
Right after that Ida went into another solo and everyone began to gear up for the big moment while even the biggest doubters were trying hard not to be overcome by the music and the dancing. It was really ramping up now, the backstage crew above the performance were gearing up for their own moment to unleash the big effects. Aoyama was getting roped up backstage, Todoroki and Sero were ready to unload with their Quirks and Koda had his birds ready for the signal. It came on another 'Ohhhh' from Jiro.
As soon as that was heard Todoroki unleased with his ice, aided by Sero's tape, to form ice paths all over the upper portion of the gym. At the same time Momo unleashed several pop streamers from her arm that were then carried over the crowd by the soundwaves and Koda sent the birds flying over all this. More dry ice went off to signal the explosion and in all this no one noticed Adrien slip out back as Momo took over full keyboard duties and he began to change for the second performance.
This was the final thing to get the crowd rocking out hard as they all began to raise their arms and dance in time with the music. Meanwhile, on stage the girls did a full dance around Mineta before they all leapt up for another punch to the ground. As they rose, Marinette rushed forward and leapt into the air, it was time for her own addition to the freestyle end of the show and placed a foot on Sato's shoulder as he rose using his strength to add to her leap up and out over the now fully in it crowd that gasped as Marinette flipped in the air before opening her arms and legs in a star formation and showed how far she could leap.
Then, as she reached the apex of it, she reached into her jacket and pulled out her yo-yo that she'd been allowed to check out for the performance and tossed it in a smooth motion to loop it around one of the ice paths and swing on it the way she would as Ladybug with her legs together and out in front of her as swung down towards the crowd, her years of control ensuring that she would hit them but many raised hands, so she slapped them as she passed on her arc up, yanking the yo-yo back to her and spinning in the air as ice dust Kirishima had prepared and was now running around poured over the crowd.
Marinette twisted in the air to right herself and tossed her yo-yo to the walkway in the center of the gym and wrapped it around it to pull herself across the room as Midoriya began to run out with Aoyama and the lights from his laser showed off all. Marinette twisting and moving around them as she swung never letting one touch her but rather show off her own aerial dexterity around them as the crowd cheered.
She reached one of the side walls and ran along it, yanking the yo-yo back to her in the process so that it didn't trip Midoriya while still wall running for a good few strides, and then tossing it back to the pathway to lasso it again and leaping off the wall to swing back to the stage. Her years of control with the yo-yo and her enhanced constitution making her normal body on par with her suit before the incident ensuring that she easily knew how much string and power she needed.
This was important as the next stage of the move had Marinette swinging over the stage, her right hand on the string and left down legs straight and to the side as she looked down. At the same time Tsu used her Quirk to leap up as Marinette moved over the stage and Marinette grabbed her friend's left forearm in her own left hand as Tsu repeated the grip on her while Marinette swung now holding Tsu beneath her with ease as she arched out and over the crowd again. As she did this, Tsu spat her tongue out and grabbed Ochaco with it, Ochaco making herself weightless to help Tsu out, and yanked her up and off the stage.
For a brief moment Marinette was now high in the air arms spread as she held her yo-yo tightly in one hand with the end loop around her middle finger, Tsu's arm in the other and Ochaco dangled beneath them being moved by Tsu's tongue over the crowd, her finger pads glowing, and making members of the class float in the process. This was their special move to really get the crowd even more into it by using Ochaco's Quirk on them.
Only their combined trust and friendship could make this work and boy did it work as the crowd loved it. Marinette didn't say anything as she neared a wall and let go of Tsu's arm as she threw her friend at the wall knowing that Tsu would reorientate herself in the air to land there and continue to arch Ochaco over the crowd.
This was it for Marinette's part in the concert and she reached the wall and ran along it for a few strides before pushed off it hard, reeling herself in fast to avoid the now floating bodies of students, swung under the walkway before flipping up and spinning in her flip to land on the walkway, yanking her yo-yo back to her in the process and into her hand. The song was almost over and the music going strong, the crowd rocking out hard, and Eri was finally smiling as the darkness of Overhaul was lifted from her, but Marinette didn't see any of this as she ran to the end of the walkway towards the stage.
As Marinette ran she literally ripped her top off, including the full purple undershirt thing that covered their exposed bellies as the jackets didn't go that far down. Then she unclasping her specially designed skirt with her free hand so that it fell off and onto the catwalk she was on.
Marinette was suddenly in just her special bra and the purple tights that the girls were wearing as part of their outfit and the brown boots. She'd even removed her navel piercing as it would have caused issues with the undershirt and all the girls had to look uniform for the dance to work. She'd probably have to apologize to the backstage crew for the sudden indecency, but she needed to make a quick change and that meant shedding the outer layers before she reached the end of the catwalk.
When Marinette reached the end of said catwalk she didn't hesitate before she leapt off it, falling almost the height of the gym down to the area behind the stage and landing in a crouch were she unlaced and removed her boots and then tights as fast as possible. Her outfit for the duet was where it was being kept and quickly pulled it on before moving into position and catching her breath.
The first song was about to end, so she needed to be in position, and she knew that Adrien was as well as he had more time to change and be so, so it was almost time for the second song. Marinette was nervous but ready. The crowd had clearly liked this one so now it was time to really tug at their hearts.
As this was happening the song was reaching it's end with a few more bars of music and the final dances. By this point all of the dancers except Marinette were now standing on the ice that Todoroki had made, Toru was reflecting the lights, so she was really standing out, several students were floating and now secured with Sero's tap for a gentle release down, and the birds were flying in set points around the gym. The whole class on the ice raised their hands as the song reached its end, and the crowd went wild with cheering.
"Thank you all for coming out to Class 1-A's concert!" Jiro said into the mic as Ochaco released her Quirk and the tape was used to help the people down while they cheered. "Are you enjoying it!"
There was a massive cheer at that, along with several more yells of 'Yaoyorozu', and other exclamations at this at Jiro's words. The concert had done exactly what it had been billed to do which was to make the whole school blow off some steam, have a good time, and forget about how the whole move to campus happened. Even the strongest of doubters couldn't deny that they'd rocked out hard to Jiro's music and that Class 1-A hadn't just succeeded with what they were planning on doing but blown the entire crowd out of the water with their concert. However, it wasn't over yet.
"Good because we have one more piece for you!" Jiro said as she took off her bass and handed it to Kaminari who took it to her case in the wings. "A special piece not even the whole class knows about."
That really got the crowd going both for more music and the excitement of the mystery around Jiro's words. The whole dance and backstage crew present were all confused by this but trusted Jiro and didn't move from their positions. As was Mr. Aizawa who was in the back with Present Mic rocking out harder than any of the students next to him as Mage, Midnight, and some random woman who seemed to be in her 20s that he'd never seen before but looked Chinese with a pink streak in her hair suddenly appeared next to him for some reason. What was going on?
It seemed that Jiro had something else planned and the class members who didn't know looked around as the crowd roared and noted two things. One was that Marinette was no where to be seen after her little swinging moment and two Adrien wasn't on the stage anymore. That meant that whatever was about to happen had to involve them.
"This is a festival to show all that U.A. has to offer and highlight all the students here." Jiro continued. "As you saw in the Sports Festival, this year Class 1-A has been honored to accept two transfer students from Francois Dupont High School in Paris as part of the U.A. transfer program with foreign schools, a program that is not just limited to the Hero Course though this year has only been us."
The crowd started to simmer down at this as they seemed to get what was coming though the eager anticipation was still there in droves. Many of the second- and third-year students in the other courses knew of the program, they'd had a few transfers from America and Europe themselves, even one from Australia in the third year Business Course, so they knew it well.
It was rare for the Hero Course to have transfers from the program, maybe once every 5 years or so, but they all watched the first year Sports Festival so they knew who they were, and few could forget the battle one of them had had had with Todoroki. Clearly Class 1-A was going out of their way to welcome and show off the transfers as other classes had done in the past.
The rest of Class 1-A though were starting to get it but had no idea what was coming. They'd mentioned honoring the French pairs' culture and background briefly in the planning session for the School Festival if they could do it right, but they hadn't realized that this had struck something with Jiro to the point that she'd actually done something about it, something clearly only the band knew about.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste have been welcomed by our class and our school and we've all seen what they can do." Jiro had and at least the girls in Class 1-A understood, they all looked up to Marinette in some way for her leadership, compassion and skill, so this was a great way to include her talents for all to see. "And now we further honor them by incorporating something from them into our set and in turn they wish to do this to thank all of U.A. for welcoming them with open arms."
At this the crowd cheered and showed their appreciation for the transfer students. Few had actually done what Jiro was saying, the Hero Course was rather separate from the other courses, but other transfer students had been accepted and embraced in the past so clearly something had worked. Now they were going to give back to U.A. and no one could wait having been so thoroughly energized by the first song.
"There is going to be a recording of both songs put online with subtitles for those who wish to know what is about to be sung." Jiro continued. "Because I now present my classmates, Marinette and Adrien, as they sing a duet in their native French that tells their story and the nature of where they have come from."
With that Jiro backed up and Tokoyami handed her the violin case. She opened it and then took out the instrument, Tokoyami taking the case away as soon as Jiro had the violin out, and nestled it correctly, the bow in her hand and fingers on the strings as the lights suddenly went out and the crowd went silent. Then, the piano music began and…
Ah a good old cliffhanger, I know I use them a lot, but I can't resist a good one when the opportunity is just too hard to pass up. I know that I just skipped over the entire Deku v. Gentle Criminal and La Brava fight but the reason for that was that I couldn't find a plausible way for either Marinette or Adrien to be part of the fight (it only takes one to get rope from a hardware store) and this fight is one of the more important developmental ones for Deku given the nature of it and how it's his first legal villain fight on his own so I left it as such (similar to how I left his fight with Muscular as was during the Summer Camp arc). That doesn't mean that I am going to ignore it, I did tease what will come of it and that will be seen in a few chapters time when we do see how one of the Miraculous Duo help in the aftermath and with Deku coming to terms with the fight but as they say the show must go on and Deku needed to get back for Eri so he couldn't address it right away but will later. Next up, well I've been teasing it for a while and in a week's time you will have the moment all these little things have been building. That is all I have for this week however so I will leave this chapter off here. As always, if you like it or have any questions please let me know in reviews or PMs, I will try to answer them as best I could and post any questions asked between uploads at the start of the next chapter and do follow and favorite this, so you are alerted to future uploads. Do keep the reviews coming as I like hearing from y'all as you enjoy my work, it motivates me to keep producing the best work I can for y'all to enjoy. Until next time.
Stringdog
