Here it is, the eighty-eighth full chapter of Miraculous Quirks released a few hours early as a little surprise. Well, the concert is over which means that it is time to enjoy the rest of the U.A. School Festival and all that it has to offer. This is the second of the chapters in this arc that is based off a chapter from the 4th School Briefs book with my own twist to it what with Adrien, Marinette, and others now around and an addition small bit but all that will be explained at the end. This is also of course the last chapter in the School Festival arc (though there is one more chapter after this to finish off the events of the School Festival in an after the fact kinda chapter) before we have some transition chapters to wrap up the events of Season 4 and move into the events of Season 5 at last. Anyway, 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 88th full chapter of Miraculous Quirks.
Disclaimer: I do not own either of these great works of fiction.
Chapter 88: Fun Festival Date
With the performance over Adrien and Marinette quickly changed behind the stage with Adrien putting back on the simple clothes he'd worn as a member of the band. Marinette too had to wear the same, borrowed from the spares they'd made though only the ones for Jiro would fit her as she had a similar body type to the other girl though she made a point to put her Miraculous back in as soon as she could as she'd felt off without it the entire performance.
The rest of the class who'd not been in the band or the backstage crew, or Aoyama, were still wearing the golden outfits that Marinette had designed and made for them. Unfortunately, she'd destroyed the top part of her outfit due to her rush to get changed and had no idea where the skirt had gone though she hoped Mineta hadn't been the one to pilfer it because if, so he was going to wind up in a lot of pain.
Thus, Marinette now in an orange shirt with an A on, a black skirt and sneakers like Momo and Jiro wore as she and Adrien rejoined their class to help the cleanup. Well, most of the class as Midoriya was getting chewed out outside by Hound Dog though out of earshot of everyone in the class so as to not let them know what had transpired while he'd been getting the rope. However, the moment the French pair appeared the other girls were on Marinette.
"What were you singing in that song!" Mine exclaimed excitedly as she, Tsu, Ochaco, and Toru mobbed her while Adrien just hurried over to the ice and began destroying it, Sero's tape and Momo's created streamers with Cataclysm to speed things up and reduce the overall mess. "It sounded so emotional! I couldn't understand it, but I could feel the love in it, it was incredible!"
"Well, it was kinda our story give or take as somethings don't translate well." Marinette said with a smile. "Kyoka asked me if I could sing the night we decided on who was doing what in the concert and as I can only really do so in French it worked because that's what Kyoka wanted me to sing in."
"You do have a lovely voice Marinette, ribbit." Tsu said. "You really sounded great in French, but I guess that's to be expected as it is your native tongue."
"As did Agreste, you two are just so in love." Toru said with a happy squeal in her voice and her clothes moving frantically showing how she felt as they couldn't see her face. "And really showed it even if I had no idea what you were saying. I hope to one day find a man who loves me like Agreste loves you Marinette."
"There's going to be a video with Japanese subtitles so you can learn it, but the gist is how we loved each other in Paris but because of the whole secrecy thing we didn't know that we were in love with each other as we didn't realize the full dynamics of it." Marinette said explaining the overview of the song and having a gut feeling who Toru was referring to but kept that to herself as she wasn't yet certain that Toru actually had a crush yet or not. "In effect our love was hindered and blocked from us by the wall of secrecy that Francois Dupont puts on its Hero Course students so as to keep hero and civilian identities separate. Thus, the use of an actual wall as a metaphor during our song."
"Oh, that explains it." Ochaco said as Midoriya returned, something Ochaco was not going to not notice given her keep Deku sense, and hurried to help with the cleanup. "It was…"
"Hey, help out you lot." Mineta said as he hauled ice towards Midoriya who was currently smiling as Eri smiled at him and talked about how much she enjoyed the show though she didn't understand the second piece but was told but Togata she'd learn of it when she was a little older and to not bug the pair about it too much as she wouldn't understand their responses. "We need to clear this up right away so I can get a good spot."
"Huh?" Ochaco asked as Mineta left them.
"Right the beauty pageant." Marinette said with a groan knowing exactly what the little pervert wanted to se. "We should clean up as fast as we can so that we can go see that. Hado and Kendo are in it after all."
"Right, we need to support them." Mina said. "Shame we can't see the play Class 1-B are doing."
"Yeah from what I've gathered most of the stuff in it is from western pre-Quirk material, the fragments of it that survive at least." Marinette said. "I mean the title alone mixes 3 British works that were apparently era transcendent though from different time periods."
Marinette had to be careful with how she phrased it as she knew exactly what the three pieces they were using were. One was a tragedy of young love between scions of waring families by one of the greatest British playwrights of the late Tudor era set in Italy. One seemed to be drawn from the third installment in the pinnacle of fantasy literature by another British author and university professor from the early 1900s or so. The last came from the third installment of a contemporary British series to Marinette's own time that had been wildly popular.
"Of course, you'd know that." Toru said as they began to get to work helping cleanup the gym, which with three Quirks that could cause mass destruction with little waste or in Mina's case acid left over, and a few other power Quirks in the class that worked well for cleanup it was going fast. "Did you study those in France, what survived at least? I know in junior high here we study various Japanese texts that survive and are age appropriate and that there are advanced courses for it as well, but we don't really look at western material or at least my previous school didn't."
"One of them was aimed at our age range give or take so we did study that one but the other two were too advanced given the fragments that remain, so it is impressive that they've blended them together." Marinette said as she created an item to help her haul as much ice as possible and began loading it up before taking it to the basin where Adrien and Bakugo were destroying it. "And I hear that at least one genre defining American movie series has been blended into it though only the stuff from the oldest aspects of it survive, the rest was very purposefully destroyed during the American Quirk wars, or so I've been told."
"I guess when so much culture was lost we have to make do with what survives from before the advent, ribbit." Tsu said. "We'll have to ask Class B about it though."
The others nodded as they continued to cleanup. It didn't take long with all of them working together to get rid of the mess they had made of the gym during their concert. As they were doing it they got a lot of congratulations for their work, even an apology from the two who'd come to see them fail, and a promise to tell the whole school what they did, why they did it, and how they'd succeeded in their goal of helping the student body blow off some steam during the School Festival after all that they'd caused the school that year.
Of course, Bakugo yelled his annoying at anyone missing the concert and demanded that they be brought here so that the rest of the school could come and see them play, but he was restrained by Kirishima as they finished up and Aizawa dismissed them. Almost immediately they all went to the beauty pageant to see it as it was the next big thing that was on what with their concert and Class B's play now over. Plus, they had a classmate from Class B in it in Kendo as well as the big battle between Hado and Kenranzaki for the third year in a row.
Marinette had to admit, it was a good thing because it was a standard pageant with a mix of showing off beauty and talent at the same time. That meant that it wasn't just about looks but what the girls could do as well which made it a much more rounded and interesting contest.
Kendo showed off that she was both beautiful and strong with a martial arts routine destroying several wooden boards with a single horizontal strike while wearing a stunning blue dress that she pulled off well though Marinette was confused as to why it was ripped even if it really worked with Kendo's more tomboyish style and reminded them all that feminine beauty came in multiple forms. The rip was actually from an adventure the pageant girls had been through involving a crow and Hatsume because of course the latter was involved right before the pageant and had helped Kendo really embrace it.
After Kendo there was the display from the two-time champion who was going for the full 3-year sweep, the Support Course 3rd year Bibimi Kenranzaki. She was certainly gorgeous, all could see that though the eyelashes were a bit much in Marinette's mind, and her design, a gaudy, golden mech tank of her own face, showed that she wasn't just beauty but had serious support skills though the routine was quick, flashy and left them all dazzled and confused.
This was a stark contrast to Hado's one after her were Hado gave a graceful display of her Quirk and flight control in the air while wearing a slightly elaborate dress that really suited her and didn't hypersexualize her or her impressive assets. Given her personality it was the perfect outfit and routine for her to pull off and show off her true beauty. It also really set up the battle between her and Kenranzaki for the crown.
The rest of the girls were all impressive in their own rights, though there was a clear-cut battle for the crown between Hado and Kenranzaki, and once they all went the voting opened with the winner being announced at 5 at the end of the festival. Naturally, Monoma was already on stage hyping up votes for Kendo as Awase tried to stop him but the rest of them decided that it was time to break up and see the festival now that they had the time to explore it. Some went off for food, some for the athletic contests or other game stalls, some for the haunted house, and others to their own thing.
This was the moment that Marinette and Adrien were waiting for, and she took her boyfriend's hand, interlocking fingers, as they moved away from the crowd to explore their first ever School Festival and enjoy this Japanese tradition. As the crowd dispersed they saw Eri with Togata, Midoriya, Tsu, and Ochaco and decided to start by chatting with them and seeing what they were up too before going their own way in a bit, ignoring the glare from Aizawa as they approached.
Aizawa was not happy with how couplie they were being but for the day he decided to let them have it as it was the School Festival and, well, there hadn't been any issues with them being a romantic couple even after the dorm move in so they could have this moment. Of course, Aizawa was still going to put them through their paces when training resumed but until then they could be normal students in a relationship for a day.
"It's good to see Eri so happy." Marinette said with a smile as she and Adrien reached Tsu and Ochaco and watched Eri rapidly gush about the pageant to the boys while also avoiding looking at their homeroom teacher who was chaperoning all of this. "This festival was just what she needed to start her recovery after what she went through."
"It really has been." Ochaco said with a smile as Eri took first Midoriya's hand after a slight pause and then Togata's so that she could walk between them. "Aww, they're so cute, like a big family."
"They're like two protective big brothers taking their sister to her first festival, ribbit." Tsu said with a smile as they all set off and she looked to the French pair. "This is a first for you two as well, isn't it?"
"Yup, we got into Japan probably around the season of School Festivals last year, but we had to focus on fully mastering Japanese, understanding the more formal cultural norms, and preparing for U.A. to even learn about this kinda thing." Adrien said. "So, naturally, we didn't see any back then but now we are really excited to experience this aspect of Japanese culture."
"It's not like we don't have our own versions of this back home, but they certainly aren't like this or on this scale with all the planning and student involvement." Marinette said. "Plus, they tend to be around the end of the semester before a break and not their own thing. Personally, I like this idea, a good way for the whole student body to show off and have fun though the prep work is a lot."
"But worth it." Tsu said. "I'm just glad that we could have it this year after everything that happened. In the past the U.A. School Festival has been a big deal for the public, but I understand the restrictions and in some ways it feels more intimate this way, ribbit."
Aizawa, who was walking behind all of them keeping an eye on Eri, heard this and reflected on how hard it had been to hold the School Festival this year after all that had happened to U.A. since the start of the academic year. Had they been attacked during it, something that almost happened had it not been for Midoriya's intervention, then the nation would have lost even more faith in heroes that had been shaken in the wake of All Might's retirement. Thankfully Nezu had managed to argue for it but with these strict rules around it.
Those strict rules had made it hard to get Eri permission as a special guest but in the end she was allowed to come once it was confirmed that U.A. would be her official guardian now that she was cleared to leave the hospital. It was the best place for her after the raid after all, so it all worked out in the end. Now she was smiling again and having a good time for the first time in her young life and that was what it was all for, her recovery was the sign that U.A. had to remain being the bastion of safety and hope for the nation.
"Crepes!" Ochaco suddenly exclaimed though she used the more generic English pronunciation of the originally French word as she saw what she had been hoping to find in the festival there year. "They have crepes!"
"What are crehpz?" Eri asked the originally French word that Ochaco had used the English for hard for her to say right as she looked back at the Ochaco's outburst.
"They're…" Ochaco began before Marinette put a hand on her shoulder.
"Ochaco, allow me, they are from my nation after all, so it is only right that I explain one of our most famous culinary exports." Marinette said and instantly Ochaco defaulted to her while Eri looked even more curious. "Which given our food is saying something."
"They are from where Ladybug is from?" Eri asked looking up at Marinette curiously and using her hero name as normal names were still a little hard for her let alone a western one like Marinette's.
"They are, they're a classic delicacy originally from a western part of my homeland of France that date back centuries and have been exported all over the world due to how tasty they are." Marinette said with a smile at Eri as she explained one of her nation's delicacies. "They're really thin pancakes that are filled with various things and folded up to be eaten while they are hot. The heat of the crêpes add to the mixing of the ingredients and there are two kinds, sweet crêpes known as crêpes sucrées, and savory crêpes known as crêpes salées."
"Wait there are more than one kind?" Ochaco asked confused though she did note that Marinette pronounced crepes slightly differently likely out of default to the natural French as well as using French for the actual names of the crepe styles. "I thought they were just the fanciest, heavenliest desserts as you get fresh cream and fruit and other sweet things in them."
"That is the standard vision of a crepe, and my personal preference with them, but you can also get savory crepes." Marinette said. "Those can be just as good and are quite popular in their own rights."
"What's the difference?" Tsu asked curiously as Eri was now really excited for some crehpz.
"Part of it is in the flour that goes into the batter that is used to make the crêpes." Marinette explained while Adrien just perused the menu at the crepe stall, it was clear they were stopping here for them so he may as well look at them and enjoy a taste of home. "A sweet crêpe is traditionally made with standard wheat flour and is a dessert or breakfast food depending on what you put into it. They are pretty much what Uravity said and more. The classics being things like hazelnut chocolate spread, sugar, and lemon juice though Americans tend to really like things like maple syrup, marshmallows, and peanut butter in them…"
"Not all together I hope?" Ochaco asked both intrigued by that and slightly stunned. "That just sounds too much."
"No not all together but certain mixes do go down well." Marinette said. "However, a savory crêpe is traditionally made with a non-wheat flour like buckwheat or at least not adding sugar to the batter as, well, they aren't supposed to be sweet. These crêpes are lunch or dinner dishes filled with foods associated with those meals like cheese, ham, eggs, and other meats or vegitables depending on your preference and what's available."
"Huh, I never knew that you could get non dessert crepes." Ochaco said.
"Well, here they're all dessert crêpes, guess that is the more popular option." Adrien said. "Then again this is a festival and likely has other more traditional savory dishes, so the dessert style is going to stand out and sell better."
"Crehpz sound yummy." Eri said now very interested in this treat.
"Well let's get some." Tsu said as they all approached the menu to see what was on there and Eri asked a question as she still couldn't read, something that would be a priority for the U.A. staff when she moved in with them. "What do you want Eri?"
"Are there apples?" Eri asked hopefully.
"Alas no." Izuku said feeling for the little girl though he already had a plan in the works to get her the candy apple he'd promised her by the end of the day. "They have banana, peach, tangerine, chocolate and a few other options but no apples."
"Don't worry." Togata said. "We'll get find you a candy apple but unfortunately they're not a crepe option."
"Apples are a little too hard a fruit for a crêpe." Marinette said. "You want something softer so that the heat of the crêpe works better with it."
"Ok." Eri said as the girls and Adrien watched in a little confusion, but they all waited for Eri to make her decision on which crepe she wanted.
"I know." Togata suddenly said smiling at Eri. "Let me guess what you'll get Eri. This time you'll get peach for sure. I'm certain of it."
"No, I'd like tangerine please." Eri said making her choice and causing Togata to blanch and the others to laugh at that.
"That was my second choice, is there something with peaches?" Togata asked.
Eri just shook her head as they got her a tangerine crepe while Ochaco and Marinette both opted for chocolate, Tsu for banana, and Adrien ended up with peach just to try it. Once they had their crepes though both Marinette and Adrien bade the others farewell to the others.
"You're leaving us Ladybug?" Eri asked, she'd grown a little fond of the kind foreign girl who seemed to be able to understand her pretty well.
"Like you this is my first ever School Festival as well because my homeland doesn't really do this kinda thing." Marinette said crouching down in front of Eri but keeping a distance because of the crepes both of them had. "And I'd like to explore a little with just Adrien, um Cat Noir though you can just call him kitty if that's too hard. It's um…"
"What Ladybug is saying is that she enjoyed her time with us, but this is a large festival so her and Cat Noir want to see other parts of it on their own while we show you the rest." Togata said coming to Marinette's defense as she tried how best to phrase that she wanted to enjoy a festival date with Adrien to a young girl who wouldn't understand it while Aizawa glared at her as she was clearly not in his good graces at the moment after her and Adrien's rather public kiss. "Don't worry about it."
"Oh ok, well thank you for being with me so far." Eri said politely not really understanding but clearly this was something older kids did so she'd learn in time. "And your song was really interesting, and it sounded nine though I didn't understand it or the end."
"It's my story with Cat Noir, I'm sure you will learn more as you grow older." Marinette said with a smile as she felt Aizawa's glare on her intensify. "I'll see you before the end of the day though Eri, we all have to be there when Hado wins the pageant."
"Right." Eri said with a smile before biting her crepe for the first time. "Oh, this is so sweet and yummy."
Everyone smiled at the pure joy Eri was in as she enjoyed her first crepe, apples wouldn't have been as good in one anyway for the reason Marinette pointed out, so tangerine was a good choice for her. With that though Adrien and Marinette headed off as the others continued to show Eri around, ending up at a hero quiz with a prize that was a one-of-a-kind collectable board covered in autographs from all the U.A. teachers held by one of the other classes. Naturally Midoriya entered and won it though Adrien and Marinette would find this out later as they headed out to look over the stalls and events together.
The French couple ate their crepes as they walked enjoying the sights and smells of the festival. It really was something else to them, something unique to schooling in Japan and they were loving it as they just perused the attractions and options around them. It was as they were walking along a busy area filled with food carts and stalls that they ran into Momo and Kyoka sipping drinks from special Cementoss tumblers and wondering what the connection was between Cementoss and coconuts given that the tumblers came filled up with coconut water.
"Hey guys, checking out the food?" Momo said before noticing the crepes they had. "Oh, you found a crepe, wait the correct French is crêpe because of that accent on the first e, stall."
"Ochaco found it, I think she was hunting for it from the start." Marinette said chuckling at how formal Momo was being about the word crepe v. crêpe, but it was a very Momo thing to do. "And as we were with Eri we decided to get some so she could see what they were like."
"They're not too bad, the style and ability to make them has become quite global so I can't complain about how they were made, and I respect the effort that class went to to learn how to make a decent crêpe." Adrien said as he swallowed a mouthful of his crepe. "Certainly, a good little treat but I think we'll next go for something more traditionally Japanese, as well as something to drink to wash this down."
"We are at a Japanese School Festival after all so we should embrace your culture as much as possible at it." Marinette said. "A taste of home is nice, even if crêpes are more or less just associated with France these days then actually traditionally French, and it was a treat to see Eri enjoy her first ever crêpe, but next up should be something we'd not find back home."
"Well, there should be a Takoyaki stall or two around, as well as other traditional dishes like mochi for dessert." Momo said as she sipped the liquid in the tumbler. "Oh, and these contain coconut water which is another thing we like over here plus you get a collectable tumbler with them which is neat."
"What do coconuts have to do with Cementoss?" Adrien asked a little confused.
"No clue, they're not bad though." Jiro said sipping her own. "We were just grabbing some because of the style and to take a breather as we wait for Mina and some of the others to be done with Class 1-C's haunted house before hitting the rest of the festival with them. There is no way in hell I'm going to that attraction though."
"I'm with you there." Marinette said with a shudder. "I can't handle or stand horror and, well, if I get shocked I might forget my own strength and that wouldn't be pretty."
"That is surprising." Jiro said her eyes wide. "You're like totally badass Marinette and yet you can't stand horror."
"I just can't stand horror films and the like, I'm not into scary things." Marinette said. "So, I'll stay away but I'm sure we'll hear more about it from them later."
"Probably." Momo said. "We should get moving though, clearly you two are on a date for the festival now so it would be rude to crash it for too long. Have fun and enjoy yourselves."
"Yup, gotta show m'lady a good time." Adrien said with a grin as he finished his crepe. "We spent some time with Eri but she's in safe hands with the others so now it's our time to wander and enjoy this together."
"But we'll see you at the pageant announcement later, we've all got to be there for that." Marinette said and the other two girls nodded before they moved on as Momo and Kyoka went to find some stairs to sit on to finish their drinks and chat about their performance before going to see the other.
Marinette and Adrien just continued on exploring the festival and after grabbing something to drink from a stall selling various Japanese sodas they decided swing by the haunted house just to look at it and see if their classmates were giving it a go. A few had wanted to and in the end Mina, Kaminari, Toru and Mineta, the latter of whom gone for ulterior motives involving excusable groping rather than to check it out. They were hero students so it should be hard to scare them, right?
It didn't take the French couple long to reach the haunted house set up and run by Class 1-C that they were calling the 'Labyrinth of Doom' and already Marinette was not going to go into it. As much Adrien wouldn't have minded he agreed that it was for the best, so they just walked past it as they heard screams coming from inside it, screams that sounded familiar to them.
"Is that Mina in there?" Marinette asked as they walked past the attraction. "And Toru I think. Given that we've seen all the other girls in our class elsewhere it has to be them if I recognize the screams."
"One sec." Adrien said as he strained his ears using his enhanced hearing to pick out the screams from inside the attraction that they were passing to see if he could identify them, as well as some chatter from the Class 1-C members who were coordinating it behind the scenes but those were too low for him to hear properly. "Yup, that's Ashido, Hagakure, Kaminari and Mineta in there and they're good and scared. Pretty impressive on Class C's part to manage that."
"Why do I get the feeling Mineta only went there to try and use the scare factor to cover for doing pervy things to Mina and Toru just like that incident where he joined in on Tokoyami's horror story session back when we first moved into the dorms." Marinette said referring to an incident were several of the class had had a scary story session in Tokoyami's room as it was the best for such an event that was then compounded by Hatsume's anti-Mineta system the girls had asked her to rig up malfunctioning which ultimately led to them accidentally knocking out Present Mic after a series of events spooked some of the class into attacking him. "He'd better be getting what he deserves if he tries anything."
"Well at least this time it is all sanctioned horror, and we don't have to worry about a lecture from Aizawa on not telling spooky stories." Adrien said as they moved on while inside the Labyrinth of Doom Shinso had unveiled his scary moment to the four Class 1-A students and they'd all turned and run screaming from the haunted house. "Probably for the best that we don't go there, between us we might accidentally destroy it if we let off our Quirks or just raw strength inside it due to being scared."
"I would hope that my charges had learned to control their Quirks to avoid a simple jump scare triggering them by now." A voice said from behind them causing them to jump slightly and turn to find Mage behind them, a Cementoss tumbler floating in front of him so that he could drink from it as he ate what looked like Takoyaki with his free hands with a cane under one armpit for some reason, Fei standing next to him enjoying her own order of Takoyaki. "I know fear can trigger things but you two can be rather destructive when you let lose."
"Which is amusing given how Marinette's Quirk is derived from creation though I am aware of the old addition to that power if used as a Miraculous." Fei said in French and low enough to not be overheard as they approached. "Adrien's I can understand though, his power is pure destruction after all."
"Good to see you up and moving." Marinette said in French with a smile at their legal guardian and his assistant. "And Fei, how are things? Everything going well I take it?"
"I got the all clear to resume normal activities as a member of staff here but not heroic ones and I'm supposed to walk with a cane for another month to keep up appearances." Mage said with a grin though even he had deferred to French for this conversation just in case. "That means that there's no patrolling for me. I get to just enjoy the festival."
"I actually do have a shift patrolling but between my mantis, snake, and eagle forms I've got all this covered." Fei said. "And I am all sorted, thank you Marinette. The paperwork cleared about a week ago, so I'm officially licensed for hero work here along with my employment as a teacher's assistant at U.A. to help my cover though I only aid Mage and run a few language clinics and it's only part time. As for the bakery, well there was a slight incident earlier at the construction site which we're part of, but it's all sorted now and should be finished by the end of the year. All is on schedule on that front."
"Thank you." Marinette said though incident sounded ominous especially today, but she decided not to dwell on it for the moment. "That is good to hear."
"We also caught your little performance, well the second one." Fei said with a grin that made Marinette go bright red. "I was very impressed by your singing talents."
"It was certainly moving, Midnight loved it and the translation Fei provided afterwards only deepened her enjoyment." Mage added. "You two are going to have to thank her when you next see her as that little stunt at the end didn't make Eraser happy, but she talked him down."
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Adrien said. "And it does explain his glares earlier."
"We'll just deal with the intense training he'll give us as punishment and not complain." Marinette said though intense training was fine with her as any increase in her physical strength increased her time limit with Lucky Charm active. "We, um, got lost in the moment hence the end."
"Hey, I thought it was perfect for you two, course I knew what you were saying so it all made sense to me." Fei said and even though she was speaking French she didn't add that she was also aware of the deeper truths at place. "A good start to your first School Festival."
"Yes this is turning out to be fun." Adrien said. "Never experienced it before, it's really a good way to blow off steam and have a good time."
"There are similar things elsewhere, English private schools sometimes do something akin to this around Christmas time as the term ends and the Christmas break begins but nothing on the scale or organization of Japanese schools." Mage said looking around. "Nor do they have the same level of student participation."
"I enjoyed three during my time at Shiketsu back in the day though they are much more traditional and rigid there and that was reflected in the School Festival." Fei said. "If I recall we did a Chinese café that I was the centerpiece of given my heritage, a martial arts demonstration, and some arcade thing. It was a lot of fun."
"Well, we're just wandering around, getting some food, and seeing the attractions." Marinette said. "Just enjoying it now that our event is over."
"I recommend the takoyaki, it's really good." Mage said holding up the container in his hand that was now almost empty. "Though go for the one with the unexpected cooks, that's the best one."
"Yup, the chefs there really know what they're doing." Fei said as she finished her takoyaki. "They even have a choco-yaki variant they've made that is pretty good and a cheese based yaki that is surprisingly delicious once you let it cool a little."
"Huh we'll have to check it out, we're looking for something more traditional after some crêpes." Adrien said.
"Oh, those do sound good." Fei said. "I'll have to get some later."
"Later being the operative word." Mage said as he pulled out his phone to check the time. "Don't you have your patrol soon followed by a meeting with one of your subordinates."
"Oh right, yeah I should get going." Fei said as Adrien and Marinette blinked in confusion at that.
"Subordinate?" Marinette asked. "Is one of the bakery staff here?"
"Nah they still need a lot of training in how to bake and serve in a maid and butler café; this is the other asset we have in place who's separate from my unit but still reports to me." Fei said as she tossed her empty takoyaki container into a nearby trash can. "He's here on official business for Technus though and his pass only allows him specific access so I'm going to meet him in the town afterwards for a debrief before he returns to Tokyo, and I return to this festival for a crêpe."
"He's more covert than the others so best to leave him for the moment." Mage said and Marinette and Adrien decided just to go with it though they assumed this was the one who was currently running the Agreste store if he had ties to Technus, so it was for the better that they stayed out of it while at school. "Fei, best transform now and head over to report in with Hound Dog and don't forget to give him a full rundown of how your Quirk works. He's not in a good mood at the moment so don't be late."
"Right boss." Fei said before her expression briefly changed and then her body morphed and shrunk so that a slightly larger than normal, and clearly very unusual, praying mantis now stood where Fei had been with the same pattern as her clothes on its body complete with a pink streak on its face and down its neck in the same place as the one in Fei's hair. "See you later."
That surprised Adrien and Marinette, they hadn't expected the mantis to be able to speak but mantis-Fei or Lady Mantis as she liked to call the transformation, clearly could as she raised one of her pincer things in a salute before she scurried off using her size to easily zip between two stalls on her way to the woods. That had certainly been a bit of a surprise.
"Just one of her 8 forms and one of the easier ones to see first." Mage said with a chuckle. "It's why the Prodigious is so strong and why she was worthy of my gift back in the day. She's got this covered now go off and have more fun you two."
Marinette and Adrien just nodded as Mage turned and walked off into the crowd to enjoy the festival. The French pair did that as well as Adrien took Marinette's hand and they walked off into the crowd heading towards the sounds of an attraction that had explosions and yelling coming from it which could only mean one thing, Bakugo was there, and he was pissed for some reason. That meant that it had to be worth checking out as the couple continued their festival date.
As this was going on, Mei Hatsume was finishing up her demonstration and explanation of her latest baby, a robot armor suit thing that she'd taken weeks to perfect, along with many fires and explosions, some of which Midoriya had seen when he and Togata had shown Eri the Development Studio, to a gathering of students and a few reps from support companies with special access to the studio for the festival. Hatsume herself had finally bathed and freshened up so that she was in her normal school uniform for once and giving her presentation but once the festival was over she'd crash for two days at least.
Still, the fact that she was showing off for support companies, including no doubt a rep from Technus Support and Development who was here to evaluate her next test in their recruitment of her, was enough to energize Hatsume for this presentation. That and she was showing off one of her best babies in the setting designed for the non-Hero Course students to shine so she had to be at her best, despite her own top 16 run at the Sports Festival having already done wonders for her support profile hence the interest from the one of the two most prestigious Support Companies in the world.
If Hatsume could land that job then she'd be set. Only David Shield's company could compete and while Shield had personal ties to All Might he'd never really breached the Japanese market other than with All Might though his daughter had come once before to show off her talents and struck up a friendly rivalry with Hatsume over how to make Izuku Midoriya's gear but that was an adventure from the USJ that few wanted to remember.
Right now, Hatsume was focused on securing the next stage in her recruitment to Technus's company and a possible foundation position in the Japanese branch. That, along with access to other world heroes, would really give her credit as a top tier support item maker and when you added in that she was effectively the personal designer to Izuku Midoriya and, well, one day the name Mei Hatsume would be uttered in the same sentences as David Shield and Technus.
As such she'd given the presentation of a lifetime with her baby to all the gathered onlookers and had all the materials she needed to back it up. She couldn't properly demonstrate it here given the confines of the studio and what her baby could do, but it was fully operational and even had a video of it at work to back that up. She was doing everything she could to really sell her latest baby.
"Impressive, if it works." A voice said after Hatsume was done and the students and reps moved onto other areas or headed out to check Kenranzaki's latest gaudy monstrosity that she'd used in the beauty pageant though Hatsume did respect her senpai's talents even if she didn't understand the girl's style. "I assume you have the right paperwork and recordings as instructed."
The voice had a distinctive non-Japanese accent to it that Hatsume couldn't place. She just about knew what a French accent sounded like after that detention with that French hero girl who's friend she'd made the mask for that had gotten her to this point in her recruitment, but this wasn't a French based accent. No, it was English based, as any rising student in the Support Course Hatsume could speak fluent English as it was a critical language for the world she was breaking into, but not American English like that Shield girl had to her Japanese.
Regardless, it got her attention and she looked at the speaker. He was an unassuming man to her who appeared to be in his late 20s with messy blond hair, pale skin, and wearing a crisp black suit and copper colored dress shirt with no tie though he was wearing a lanyard around his neck identifying him as a company rep with permission to visit the Development Studio, and only the Development Studio, during the festival. However, the most distinctive feature of him was his eyes, they were entirely green, even the sclera, with darker green iris's and vertical slit pupils like a cat's.
Clearly his Quirk or his heritage affected his eyes, something Hatsume could understand as her own eyes had a crosshair pattern to them as a byproduct of her Zoom Quirk, which incidentally classified her Quirk as Mutant, so she didn't say anything as she looked the man over. It was his lanyard that caught her attention, it didn't have his name but did have a logo on it with four words around it in English 'Technus Support and Development' indicating that he was the Technus rep.
"Of course, it's all here along with copies of the various patent and other legal forms I've filled out regarding it." Hatsume said as she produced the necessary paperwork along with an envelope containing the recordings and other pictures from development through testing. "May I see a card to confirm that you are from Technus's company? He did tell me to ask for it back when he met me."
"Naturally, I am sure that after meeting him you are aware that his cards can't be forged or replicated as they are made using one of his many secret proprietary methods." The man said as he reached into his jacked and pulled out a card the same copper color as his shirt and handed it to Hatsume. "Compare it to the one he gave you at the Sports Festival if you'd like."
Hatsume just took the card, though she noted that the man had oddly sharp canines when he spoke, and his fingernails seemed a little sharp hinting that his Quirk was tied to his eyes and had to be something feline based and examined it. The card itself was a simple, sturdy, and slightly think slab of what felt like plastic that glowed slightly with a copper color and had small wires through it that was part of its identification as one of Technus's cards. In one corner was Technus's logo and in the center was the information of the man before her in cursive English that looked like wiring.
It took Hatsume a moment to read it, she could of course read in English, but the fancy cursive style used by some native speakers was a bit much for her, but she just about made out the man's name along with his position as head of the Technus Japan Branch and manager of the Agreste Fashion Company for the far east. That made sense as the hero student Hatsume had helped was called Agreste if she recalled, and his family had made some costume deal with Technus back in Europe that they were partnering on for the Japanese launch in the coming years.
However, Hatsume had to confirm that the card was authentic, and she reached into her jacket to pull out a high-tech card holder she'd created and withdrew a matching card she'd gotten from Technus himself the semester before when he'd personally come to congratulate her Sports Festival performance and offer her a once in a lifetime recruiting chance.
The cards were the same minus the info in the center as Technus's card simply said Technus and founder on it but to confirm Hatsume tapped the cards together. Technus, a man easily identifiable due to his cybernetics, had explained that his card would be able to recognize a fake. There was no reaction from the tap thus proving that the card she'd been handed by the man was legit and she kept the new card before putting them away.
"Just had to be sure, I know that there was a higher scrutiny to get approval to come here and with Technus's name there's always going to be those who try to mooch off it, but this confirms it." Hatsume said as she handed over the copy of the documents and recordings she'd made especially for Technus to his represented. "As requested, the School Festival project information and my detailed write up on it. I thoroughly enjoyed making this baby, I hope he approves of it."
"Thank you, I'll take these back to the office and send them onto Technus." The man said reaching into another pocket and producing a cube that he pressed, and it morphed into a briefcase that instantly fascinated Hatsume as he opened it and placed her documents inside before locking it with what looked like a biometric lock. "You will hear back from us within the fortnight about your next test, should you progress to it, but my boss clearly sees something in you, so I expect you to manage that. Until then I recommend brushing up on specialty costumes and items designed to work with naturally destructive Quirks if you know what I mean."
"Sure do." Hatsume said, she knew of the few in the school with special costumes designed to work with their clothes destroying or negating Quirks, so they were made from materials like skin or hair from said individuals. "I'll read up on the theory when I have a moment."
"Good, I hope to work more with you and other talented U.A. students in the future as we expand to this part of the world." The man said before he turned and left to go to another meeting with his unit's commander that of course Hatsume had no idea about. "Until then get some rest, I can smell the fatigue on you."
That surprised Hatsume but she did agree that now that the biggest hurdle was over for her she would sleep for a few days straight. She had done her job, shown off her invention and even made Midoriya a new item on the side which was good because she had a feeling that that boy was going places so being his personal support girl was going to help. Well, her and that Shield girl she had a rivalry with, but she'd show her and everyone in time that Mei Hatsume was the top support maker in the world. First though she needed to make sure everything was cleaned up, not likely to explode, and get some much-needed sleep.
While Hatsume was doing her thing, Adrien and Marinette had continued on their festival date and headed to an obstacle course that was a staple of the U.A. School Festival. Apparently it was the same course each year and dated back to All Might's days as a student when he set a record that no one had ever come close to. It was that fact that had caused Bakugo to just go through it over and over again determined to break the record and prove that he was the best. He had the best time of the current festival, but he was still nowhere close to All Might's record of 5 seconds.
Both Adrien and Marinette did have a go at the obstacle course as Bakugo took a break to recharge for, yet another go at it, which happened earlier than planned when Marinette matched his best of 10 seconds thanks to Lucky Charm giving her something to boost her leap while Adrien got 11 without the need for a Quirk as just destroying the course with Cataclysm probably wasn't a good idea. They opted to leave it at one go through as Bakugo roared and tried again while Ojiro, Kirishima, and Sero watched and apologized to anyone for Bakugo's actions and hogging of the course.
Bakugo would continue to run the course for the rest of the day managing a 9 second run to be the best of the day and break his tie with Dupain-Cheng but still nowhere near the 5 second record. Naturally, he demanded to do it again tomorrow, but it was going to be put away until the next School Festival, so he had to wait a full year before getting a second crack at it and that record.
Naturally, Marinette and Adrien didn't see any of this as they continued on and headed back towards the food area to check out the Takoyaki stall Mage had recommended. They found it without an issue as there was a long line of eager patrons at it that they joined but what surprised them was that the line martial, yes it had one, was Aoyama who was barking orders, punctuated by his usual poses and twinkling, at the line of students and occasional slipping into French.
"Aoyama?" Adrien asked as the line progressed. "What are you doing here?"
"Moi, well I was just enjoying my cheese, some fine Pont l'Évêque, when I ran into Shoji and Sato running this stall." Aoyama said and Adrien was glad Plagg wasn't around as just the mention of cheese was enough to get him going and with Aoyama having a similar of love for the good French stuff Plagg had been on a short leash lest he steal and eat Aoyama's stash and cause issues by doing so. "Ze Business Course students running ze stall weren't doing as well as the other one here so had a meeting when those two arrived and asked them to run it for them. They even let them cook if they wanted to."
"Right, Sato does enjoy baking which would explain why there's a chocolate variant we heard of." Marinette said as the line moved forward.
"And if I recall Shoji suggested a takoyaki stall so he likes the stuff and with his Quirk he can really cook up loads." Adrien said. "It is a classic Japanese dish so we may as well try it."
"Oui it is now the more popular one." Aoyama said pointing to another takoyaki stall that was nearby but no longer as popular while they neared the front to see Sato and Shoji in the stall running it while the actual class running it supported them in whatever way they could. "But I've been roped in as a line manager."
"You're doing an excellent job." Adrien said patting Aoyama on the shoulder and switching to French for a moment. "Show them French queuing customs."
"You got this Aoyama." Marinette said in French as well with a grin as they reached the front of the line and she switched back into Japanese. "Hey, Sato, can I get some of those chocolate-yaki things I've heard about? I want to see how they taste, sounds like an interesting and potentially new pastry with a Japanese flair to it."
"And some cheese and normal ones as well, thanks boys." Adrien said as he pulled out the cash to pay for the items. "Figured we should enjoy something traditional, and I know you guys like this stuff."
"Dupain-Cheng, Agreste, we thank you for your patronage." Shoji said, his dupli-arms making easy work of the cooking and taking orders though he was leaving the non-meat yaki stuff to Sato. "One sec, thanks to the popularity of this the Business Course that runs this has gotten us the needed cheese and chocolate, the rest they already had."
"It's an attempt at something new so I hope you like it." Sato said to Marinette as he handed her a container of the choco-yaki he'd made glad that his baking sensei was here to try his latest creation. "It's not a traditional Japanese sweet, takoyaki is an octopus snack after all, but this is the batter with chocolate."
"Ah a Japanese twist on a concept that many countries use." Marinette said as she took the container while Shoji loaded up two more, one of cheese-yaki and one of normal, and handed them over as Adrien paid one of his other hands. "I look forward to sampling them. Not traditional baking but still something good I hope."
"I appreciate your expert taste in this regard." Sato said. "But, um, we're busy so tell me later."
"Will do." Marinette said as they moved on and the next in line placed their order at the now really popular stall and used the skewer provided to pierce one of the balls and pop it into her mouth to chew the hot batter and chocolate filled snack. "Mhm that is good. A little too hot for the moment, in fact if I didn't have this enhanced constitution I don't think I could safely eat it right now, but still really tasty."
"Let's find a place to sit and enjoy them." Adrien said his hands full. "By then they should have cooled down enough to really enjoy."
"Ok but first open up kitty." Marinette said playfully and Adrien obliged as Marinette skewered another ball and popped one of the choco-yaki balls into his mouth. "How does it taste my love."
Adrien paused for a moment as he carefully chewed to fully get the taste of the rich chocolate and the special batter usually reserved for takoyaki. It was certainly delicious, kinda like a filled donut only the batter was done a little differently and the mix of the chocolate was more in it rather than the injected style that donuts had.
"Definitely different but really good." Adrien said as he swallowed the snack. "Both sweet and savory at the same time, Sato knows his thing with it."
"I thought so, might have to add it is as a special to the bakery menu, with his permission of course and he'll get credit for the invention of it and some royalty from sales." Marinette said as they found a picnic table set up in the more relaxing area of the festival and sat down at it. "I'll see what Fei thinks of the idea later."
"Well let's try the others though I'm going to save one of these cheese ones for Plagg." Adrien said using one of the napkins provided to pick up and pocket one of the cheese-yaki things knowing that just the cheese alone would be enough for Plagg. "He'd throw a fit if he didn't get any."
"We should pick up some sweets for all of them." Marinette said doing the same with one of the chocolate ones as Adrien tried a cheese one. "It's the right thing to do seeing as they couldn't come."
"Agreed, they'd like that." Adrien said. "And Plagg will love these, the cheese really goes with the batter. Trust Aoyama to know the good stuff. I think he could give Plagg a run for his money when it comes to knowing his French cheeses."
"He does have the pallet for it." Marinette said trying one herself and enjoying it. "Yes the savory nature of the cheese complements the batter really well, and not in the way a savory crêpe would be due to the differences in the batter. Guess we should enjoy the traditional ones now though, that is why we got the takoyaki in the first place."
"Let's see how good a cook Shoji is." Adrien said as he and Marinette speared one each of the normal takoyaki balls and ate them at the same time. "Mhm that is good, certainly different and chewy but not bad with an interesting texture to it."
"Yes, octopus isn't a common dish back home, so it is nice to try it and given our own cultural tastes it's not unusual to eat something like this." Marinette said taking another. "Just what I was looking forward to from this festival."
Adrien just nodded as they finished off the various yakis that their classmates had made and then got up to get some drinks to wash it all down, naturally going for the Cementoss tumblers this time, and wandering around a little more. As they walked they picked up various sweets and other snacks for the kwamis and themselves to have later as they continued to enjoy the festival.
They didn't really do anything else; the train was a little childish for them but looked cool and neither were going to get cutout head pictures in the area where you could with the various teachers painted as the bodies, but it was still interesting to see them. Of course, the maid café was given a wide berth, that kinda thing was fun in the mall but it was a bit of a fetishization of their culture so they gave it a pass, same with the human cat café that just looked weird.
It was as they were walking that they ran into Ida and Todoroki sitting at a table in the kiddie attraction area. It was just them and they were chatting about the day and how Midoriya had barely made it in time because he tripped when they arrived.
"Hey guys, taking a break?" Adrien asked as he sat down next to Todoroki and drained the last of his drink, he was definitely keeping this tumbler as it was really cool, while Marinette plopped down next to Ida.
"Yeah we just enjoyed the train and got some cutout pictures taken." Ida said in his usual tone with a stiff nod of his head. "It was a lot of fun."
"Yes, a good experience." Todoroki said in his usual tone. "I've never been to a festival like this before, so I am enjoying it."
"That makes three of us." Marinette said while Adrien understood the deeper meaning of Todoroki's words knowing more about Todoroki's troubled past than most. "So, we really wandered around enjoying it."
"I am glad that we can share some of our culture with you two." Ida said. "Even if, um, we do have those maid cafes that clearly aren't part of your culture."
"Yes well it's not like we don't do things that aren't exactly true to the cultures their based on." Adrien said with a shrug. "So don't worry about it."
"Is it just you guys?" Marinette asked.
"Koda and Tokoyami were with us, but they went off to get drinks because Dark Shadow wanted some." Ida said. "We were just discussing how changed up the school is during the festival and if Eri is having a good time."
"She is." Marinette said with a smile. "We started with her but left after getting crêpes to do our own thing. I'm sure Midoriya and Togata are really showing her a good time."
"They will though Midoriya was seriously irresponsible being late and almost missing the performance." Ida said his tone getting very serious. "I'm going to have words with him later."
"He tripped so it's understandable." Todoroki said.
"And no doubt he's already been chewed out by Aizawa for it." Adrien said. "So don't worry about it."
"Still…" Ida began before an excited voice interrupted them.
"Hey, it's Ida, Todoroki, Marinette and Agreste." Ochaco's voice called out to them causing them to look over to where it was coming from.
Approaching them was Ochaco, Tsu, Togata, Eri, and Aizawa. Noticeably Midoriya wasn't with them which was a strange sight seeing as he was so determined to make this a memorable and fun day for Eri.
"Where's Midoriya?" Adrien asked. "He was with you when we left."
"He said he some business to take care of." Ochaco said with an annoyed face though Marinette wasn't sure if it was because he'd ditched Eri or because Ochaco couldn't enjoy the festival with him by proxy, likely both knowing her. "Then he ran off."
"I dunno where Deku is." Eri said sadly.
"Don't worry Eri." Togata said reassuringly. "He was moving really moving when he left so he'll be back. He probably just had to take a tinkle after those drinks we had, that's all."
"Yeah you know he'd not leave you if it wasn't for a good reason, have some faith in him." Marinette said with a smile at Eri. "He doesn't let people down, especially not you Eri."
"True." Eri said slightly reassured by Ladybug's words.
"Eri, how about we check out the Cat People Café and take a break." Aizawa said deciding it was a good time to check it out and give them a set location for a bit should problem child number 1 return from whatever he was doing, which Aizawa hoped didn't involve another potential villain attack like the one this morning. "Would you like that?"
"Are they cats or people?" Eri asked confused but clearly intrigued so it was settled that they'd be going there.
"Tell Deku if you see him that we're at the Cat People Café." Ochaco said before they all left leaving the four a little confused though Marinette and Adrien had seen that café and figured it would be an experience for them if nothing else. "Hopefully, he gets back in time to meet us there."
"I doubt Midoriya is off to take a simple piss." Adrien said once that group was gone. "This is Midoriya after all."
"Knowing him he's probably off doing something he shouldn't or interfering where he's not needed." Todoroki said. "And likely he's ended up there by accident."
"That does sound like Midoriya." Marinette said with a sigh. "He can't seem to avoid it. It's like he's a magnet for trouble at times."
"Gah, Midoriya doesn't know the first thing about ICE!" Ida said annoyed.
"Er is that something I can help with?" Todoroki asked confused. "I can make some if need be."
"Huh oh no I meant ICE, not ice, it's an acronym I have that stands for 'inform, communicate, explain'." Ida said. "He's always dashing off without communicating with us or explaining what he's doing so we're going to worry. It's like before with the rope, though he at least informed people but didn't communicate his delay, and now with this."
"Ida, you're not exactly the model with this either." Adrien said bluntly looking the other boy in the eye with a serious look. "You know what I'm talking about."
"Adrien does have a point." Todoroki said surprising Ida with the use of the French boy's first name. "And doesn't Dupain-Cheng now know about that incident."
"Adrien informed me before Kamino but only of his involvement." Marinette said idly sipping the rest of her drink through the straw. "Which he should have done sooner."
"Yeah I know but it was classified, still is." Adrien said.
"And you're right Agreste, I didn't follow ICE in that instance, and I paid for it." Ida said seriously with a bow if his head. "I thank you, Midoriya and Todoroki for being there when I needed it the most and I've never forgotten your words to me that night. I developed ICE as one of my many responses to my failures that night."
"Good." Adrien said simply. "It's a clever concept so we should start introducing the others to it."
"This is coconut, it's yummy." A new voice said interrupting, and they looked over to see Tokoyami and Koda returning with the drinks while Dark Shadow was out and enjoying the drink Tokoyami had bought him. "I like it."
"Glad to hear that." Koda said as they reached the table and he and Tokoyami handed over the second drinks they were holding to Todoroki and Ida. "It should be good then."
"What's up?" Tokoyami asked them noticing the mood right away. "Something's off."
"Midoriya, he's run off without explanation, again." Ida said annoyed at his friend's antics.
"Oh, we just saw him heading to the dorms." Tokoyami said jerking his free thumb over his shoulder for emphasis. "He was really booking it too for some reason."
"That's it, let's go have some words with him." Ida said standing. "We need to know why he just left Eri like that. I'm sure he has a good reason, but he needs to learn to communicate and explain them to us."
"Have fun." Adrien said as Todoroki rose as well. "We'll see you later."
"You not joining us?" Ida asked confused.
"There's still plenty of festival to enjoy." Marinette said as she reached across the table to take Adrien's hand to help make her point. "And we are in the middle of a date day, something we don't get that often. Midoriya's a big boy, he knows what he's doing."
"Besides, 6 is a bit much." Adrien said as Ida understood what was going on. "4 is plenty of people to confront him."
"Very well but do behave yourselves, you may be a couple but you are representing the Hero Course, so standards of decorum still apply." Ida said before the others left.
"So formal." Adrien said with a light chuckle. "But he wouldn't be Ida without it."
"Just a different culture kitty, I'm sure Ida will loosen up in time." Marinette said. "Now let's go enjoy the rest of this festival. The reveal of the pageant winner is soon, and we want to be there to see if Hado's finally won it."
Adrien nodded and smiled at his love as they got up and left hand in hand to enjoy the rest of U.A.'s School Festival. They didn't get many days like this, so they had to maximize their enjoyment of the ones they got, and they fully planned on doing that.
The rest of the festival passed in a blur for Adrien and Marinette. They continued to walk around, enjoyed several attractions and games for the fun of it, won some prizes, and ate plenty of food that would give a strict dietitian a heart attack, but they didn't care they were here to have fun and enjoy the day and they did.
It was all capped off with the pageant announcement where Hado finally defeated Kenranzaki on the third attempt and was crowned the winner. Kenranzaki was gracious in defeat and acknowledged Hado's win with a smile and Hado herself beamed as she finally won the competition while Amajiki and Hado's best friend, classmate, and three-time assistant in the pageant Yuyu Haya cried at her victory. It was the perfect cap to the day.
Throughout the day the couple did get the occasional comments from various people who saw their performance, both the full one by their class and their own personal one afterwards, and congratulated them, gushed over them as a hero couple, or even understood enough French to know what was going. Surprisingly, a small portion of the school actually knew their native tongue, almost exclusively Business and General Studies students who wanted to go into European business or international diplomacy where French was either useful or still actually a required qualification, so they were especially talkative to the pair.
Overall, it was a good day and a needed break from the usual hero work, the training they were constantly doing, and standard school work. They'd had a lot of fun, shown off with their performance, and had a great date at the end but the day was wrapping up and the pair made their way back to the dorm as the festival ended. Cleanup would occur tomorrow so for now they could return to the dorm and relax.
Well, that was their plan but when they arrived they found that most of the class was already back, and that Sato and Kirishima were in the kitchen in aprons in front of a boiling pot dipping fruit into it. The smell hit them at once and instantly Marinette knew what it was, or at least she was pretty sure she knew.
"Glazing?" Marinette asked confused as she headed over to the kitchen where Sato and Kirishima were while Adrien went to chill in the common area with the others and looked at the boiling mix of sugar, water and of all things red food dye. "Yeah, candy glazing. What's this for?"
"Oh Dupain-Cheng, good you can make sure things are going well." Sato said as he dipped another piece of fruit, a strawberry it seemed, into the glazing and carefully removed and spun it to get the glazing as even as possible before letting it cool enough to be put on a platter with a selection of other fruits on it. "It's pretty simple but your expertise is always appreciated. Midoriya was making a candy apple for that Eri girl earlier as there wasn't any available at the festival and she really likes apples, but he made too much of the glazing for it, so I figured that we shouldn't let it go to waste. Don't worry, the red dye is from my stash not yours."
"If it was for Eri then I wouldn't have minded." Marinette as she pulled an apron on from the handful in the kitchen and came over to inspect the work enjoying the smell. "Mhm, glazing fruit isn't my specialty but it's pretty straightforward and I know how to apply icing which has some similar concepts, so I'll help out. Um, where is this fruit from though?"
"Oh, we got it as a gift for the takoyaki stall we helped out earlier, so we figured we'd use it and the candy glazing for a wrap up party to celebrate the School Festival." Sato said. "We're almost done here."
"Alright sounds good." Marinette said as she noted the apples, peaches, bananas, strawberries, grapes, what she thought were called mikans that were part of the orange family, and other fruits present though she had no idea why there was chili pepper in the prep cue and pointed to it. "Though, er, why is that here? Sweet and spicy don't usually mix well."
"It's special, an addition so that all of us can partake in this." Kirishima said with a grin as he plucked it up with some tongs and dipped it into the glazing. "Don't worry about it."
"Right, I'll leave that to you." Marinette said as the door opened and the last of them, Midoriya, came in having given Eri her apple and loving her reaction to it though he'd had some deep introspection over his fight with Gentle on his way back that he intended to talk to Agreste about later but that was driven from his mind by the smell upon his arrival. "Ah, Midoriya's here that should be everyone, right?"
"Yup, let's have this candied fruit wrap up party!" Mina said from the couch as Sato and Marinette finished getting the platter ready while Shoji explained to Midoriya what was going on and he explained how much Eri liked her candy apple which made those who knew Eri happy to hear. "Come on, I can't wait to have some candied fruit!"
"Well ladies, I've got a very special candied banana for you right here." Mineta said with an ominous chuckle as he approached them a hand going to his crotch. "One condition, however, you gotta focus really hard on licking. No teeth and then sw…"
Mineta didn't get to finish his exceptionally perverted rant as Marinette had dropped the last of the fruit onto the platter, leapt across the room in a single leap, thankfully Mineta was still in the open area and not the sofa area, and landed I front of him before anyone else could react. Mineta didn't have time to even yelp in fear before Marinette had planted her left leg and kicked him full in the face as hard as she could.
There was a boom as Mineta was knocked clean out and then blasted back, nose and lip bleeding, to slam into the nearest wall with enough force that he imbedded into it deep enough to stick there thus adding another issue for Marinette to deal with though with Mineta's comment she'd get away with just having to repair it herself. Marinette wasn't done though as she raised her right hand and thought of something to hold Mineta in place as she activated Lucky Charm. There was a flash of pink sparkles and a high-tech looking handgun in the same pattern as her clothes appeared and fell into her hand.
Marinette grabbed it and lowered her arm looking at Mineta as she leveled it and pulled the trigger in one smooth motion so that a blast of goopy stuff shot out of it and across the room to slam into Mineta's chest. It exploded on impact and then hardened almost instantly to hold him in place with only his head, that lolled forward given his unconsciousness and caused some of his blood to drip onto the wooden floor, the only thing free.
"That should hold him for about half an hour or so." Marinette said calmly as she spun the gun in her hand and turned from the scene to place it on the counter while the class blinked at yet another time when Marinette's reaction time had impressed most of them. "Momo, we could use something more permanent for him I feel."
"Right." Momo said as she recovered, and the class gathered around the counter with the exception of Bakugo and Mineta. "I'll get on that."
"Damn girl, you know how to quickly punish that little cretin." Mina said with a grin as she approached. "Between you and Tsu he never gets far with his shit these days."
"That was bad even by his standards though, ribbit." Tsu said. "He's never implied that before and he wasn't near one of my traps so thank you Marinette."
"I may have gone a little overboard that time but that was way too far to be ignored." Marinette said as Kirishima went to get Bakugo and tempt him to join in with the candied chili pepper as he'd made it just for Bakugo given his love of spicy food and hatred of sweet food. "He deserved it."
"Without a doubt." Toru said before turning to the candied fruit. "But now let's enjoy the food. I want a strawberry."
"It's apples for me." Tokoyami said going for his own favorite food.
"Oh, I think I'll go for a peach."
"Gotta be that tangerine for me."
"Mineta ruined the banana idea, so I'll go for a mikan."
Everyone began to declare their food as Bakugo actually spoke to Midoriya about the obstacle course. Clearly it was to check out if the boy had done it so he could claim he beat him even if he couldn't beat All Might's time.
It turned out that Midoriya hadn't even known of the course as he was so focused on Eri's enjoyment and thus missed his chance to compete on something All Might had but promised to do so next year and accepted Bakugo's challenge. Bakugo just swore to best him and All Might the next year, as well as dropping that he'd bested Marinette as well this year and trying to goad her as well, but Marinette was too busy being praised for her latest Mineta takedown to notice.
All this got Ida in the spirit of competition and declared that they will all try it next year when it came out again so that they could see who in the class was the best at it. This was of course cheered but also the level head of Momo Yaoyorozu showed up to remind them that they had to close this year's festival first and not focus on next year's just yet.
"Yaoyorozu is right." Ida said as everyone grabbed their chosen fruit or in Bakugo's case his chili pepper. "We all sacrificed many days' worth of time, energy, and sleep to bring our performance to life despite how much we struggled to come up with an idea at first. When Mr. Aizawa scolded…"
"Move it along, we don't need a flashback." Kaminari said. "Keep it short and sweet class rep, my mouth is watering for this fruit."
"Oh right, sorry." Ida said with a cough. "Short and sweet then. Amazing work everyone, cheers!"
"Cheers!" Most of the class said as they raised their candied treated and then ate them as one enjoying the sweet taste of the sugar mixed with the natural flavors of the fruit or the mix of sweet and spicy in Bakugo's case.
It had been one hell of a School Festival both with the prep work and the festival itself, but they'd pulled it off, succeeded in raising the spirits of the school and releasing their stress, and had fun doing it. Now was the time to kick back and relax for a moment as the year came to a close. Classes would resume soon enough with a special training session in the near future and other events around the nation were about to shape the events of the coming months but for the moment Class 1-A just enjoyed the successful close of their first U.A. School Festival and celebrated into the night.
Well, there it is, a nice, long, chapter to describe the School Festival and Adrien and Marinette's fun little date day at it that we all know they needed. This chapter is based off the festival chapter in the 4th School Briefs books that details the various aspects of the festival for the students of Class 1-A in the wake of their concert, basically an expansion upon some of the scenes seen in the anime episode, but rather than go with the disjointed style of it that goes into more specific detail for various things like the interior of the haunted house I went with it as a telling from Adrien and Marinette's perspective as they went around the festival and enjoyed it with some twists here and there. Even the ending, including the Mineta comment (though of course not the Marinette teaching him another lesson), is from that chapter so it covers all aspects of it. The only thing not from the chapter is of course the Hatsume thing but that is something relevant to a potential side plot or even side story for Hatsume that with be going on in the background and play into Fei's role a bit as well, but I do reference something from the first Team-Ups manga and I'll be using one of the chapters from the second for a later chapter because it just works so well with one of the French dup. Other than that, the crow and Hatsume thing relating to the beauty pageant is actually from a chapter about the pageant prep and incident in the School Brief book and that book also contains Class B's play as told from their perspective of performing it so if you've ever wondered what the play was like that's the best source I'd say. Anyway, that's all I have for y'all, so I'll 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
