I'm gonna be so silly.
Anyways, please enjoy this chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
"Heyyyyy! Everyone! Watch this!" Mina said in class, one morning.
WIthout any hesitation, Mina just started breakdancing unexpectedly. Complete with a flip and a few quick movements. It was a good way to get the blood pumping.
"Woahhhh." Alan said. "Where'd you learn how to do that?"
Mina flipped back onto her feet. "Ahhh, I picked it up from a few vids online. Pretty cool, right?"
Tokoyami nodded. "A good hobby...and applicable to the hero course."
"Tokoyami's right," Momo said. "You've got impressive command over your body, Mina!"
Izuku hummed. Fa Jin's built up by motion, right? "I wonder if I could do that."
"Why not have her teach you?" Kaminari suggested.
"Yeah boyeeee! Let's dance!" Mina said with the widest smile she'd ever made.
"O-oh uh, y-yes! Please, show me!" Izuku stammered before Mina grabbed him, Yuga, and then Ochako into the lesson.
"W-wait are you sure about thi-!" Ochako started.
"I have no doubt it will improve coordination and reflexes!" Iida approved.
And just like that, the entire class was in on the impromptu breakdancing lesson. They spent the entire pre-class period trying out different moves and practicing their coordination. Even Shinsou got in on it.
Man, he's more...cooperative recently. Alan thought, as Mina guided him through some footwork. Wonder what happened there.
"So one foot here..." Mina instructed as Shinsou watched her movements. "And then the other foot here. And then you shift your weight onto one foot and hop, like this."
Shinsou tried to follow along as best he could, mimicking Mina's movements.
"Nice, Shinsou! You're a quick learner!" Mina encouraged.
"I kinda have to be." Shinsou said.
Momo, Jirou, and Kaminari were off to the side for the moment, the three of them fine with just watching the others learn for now.
"Isn't it great?" Momo said, "To have a hobby that can apply to hero-work as well?"
"Yeaaaah. Super," Jirou said with a huff.
"Speaking of...what about yours, Jirou?" Kaminari asked.
"H-huh?"
"Your room! It was like a music store when we saw it!"
"F-forget that stupid 'King of the Rooms' thing we did," the sound hero said, turning away from her shocking classmate.
"No way! It was like a mini music store in there!" Kaminari said. "I mean, serio-"
Jirou's jack shot out at Kaminari, and stopped inches from his face.
"Drop it." She frowned, looking flustered. She then took her seat, as Kaminari shuddered. Momo looked worried for a brief moment.
So, save for that brief spot of negativity, Aizawa had some good news to keep the good vibes rolling.
"It's school festival time."
"Another S.L.E (School Like Event)!" the class cheered in unison.
"What about your visit with Eri, sir?" Kirishima asked.
"That's...something for later," Eraserhead answered.
"School festival! The best S.L.E ever!" Sero said. "We gotta pick something, though..."
"We're seriously doing this? Despite what's going on?" Kirishima asked.
"Huh!? Dude, don't kill the vibez!" Mina frowned.
"He does have a point. It feels strange to have a festival with villains out there rampaging." Iida added.
"A prudent viewpoint." Shinsou said. "But don't forget- there's people BEYOND us here."
"Shinsou is correct." Aizawa said. "This festival is for everyone."
"For everyone, huh?" Bakugou scoffed.
"The Sports Fest is where the Hero Course gets to be center stage, now its time for the others: Business, Support, and General Studies. Not as much attention, but that's the point. Not to mention there's an added stress for a lot of the other students, thanks to the dorm system."
"Well, when you put it like that...it won't be fair to them." Kirishima sighed.
"Correct. There's no cancelling this event. Howevr, it won't be like in the past." Aizawa explained. "This is a closed campus festival. Only for us, the teachers, and anyone with a license. We aren't doing any 'spotlighting' this time around, but each class will exhibit...something. You guys figure that out."
Aizawa retreated to a corner.
"I'm exhausted."
"Sir?" Iida asked.
"Today's class time's sort of a freebie. You get to decide what you'll be doing for the exhibition. 1-B's doing the same."
"...Well. Alrighty then." Iida stood up, as did Momo. They took to the front of the class.
"Let's get to brainstorming, people!" Iida clapped.
"Anyone with a suggestion, raise your hand. We'll want this to go as smoothly as possible," Momo beamed...only to be met with a chorus of "Me! Me! Me!"
"Such...such enthusiasm!" Iida commented in awe, his hands in front of his face as if he was shielding himself from the light of an explosion.
"E-everyone please! We need to do this in a calm and orderly fashion!" Momo pleaded to deaf ears.
"Maid Cafe!" Kaminari yelled out, "It provides a service, helps people relax!"
"Hmm, Mr. Aizawa did say the dorm system was a new stress...possible!" Iida said.
"A Mochi stad!" Ochako said.
"A classic dessert! Perfect after a long day!" Momo added.
"Arm-wrestling contest!" Kirishima suggested.
"Intense! Just like you!" Iida nodded.
"Haunted house!" Toohru chimed in.
"A bit early but everyone loves a good scare," Momo approved.
"Barbeque!" Alan yelled.
"Interesting! A good way to say goodbye to the summer." Iida said.
"...cat cafe." Shinsou said.
"Adorable!" Iida nodded.
"Hero quiz show!" Izuku added.
"In line and on brand with you!" Iida approved.
"DEATH MATCH!" Bakugou roared.
"No!" Iida said.
"A dance!" Mina said.
"Flashy!" Momo applauded.
"A petting zoo?" Koda asked.
"That is adorable!" Momo beamed.
"A banquet for the disciples of darkness," Tokoyami chimed in.
"I...don't know what you mean by that," Momo tilted her head.
"My very own sparkling show!~ " Yuga suggested.
"I don't know what you mean by that either," Momo tilted her head the other way.
"Open mic comedy?" Jirou suggested, much to Kaminari's confusion.
"Could work!" Momo nodded.
"SHIP!" Ship chirped.
"How'd you get in here?" Iida asked, as Ochako scooped him up. She changed into XLR8, and rushed him back to her dorm.
A few suggestions later, and the board was all filled up. Iida hummed. "Now! We want this to be all inclusive!" Iida declared. "So we'll have to remove some."
"Maid cafe is...gonna have to go." Momo said. "Sorry, Kaminari."
"It's...fine..." Kaminari muttered, clenching his fist and closing his eyes.
"And we'll also need to cut the non-specific and unreasonable ones," Iida added, "So the Sparkling Show, the Banquet, and the Death Match are out."
"Merciless..." Tokoyami muttered.
"Ah, so tragic!" Yuga said.
Izuku was crossing his fingers. Don't knock hero quiz off the board. Don't knock hero quiz off the board-
"Everything else seems fine, though." Momo said. "So, we have a lot to discuss."
"Let's maybe start with...haunted house. Toohru, give us your pitch for it!" Iida said.
"Scene! Spooky house. Creepy moans! We jump out at people and scare the heck out of them!" Tooru grinned.
"...interesting pitch."
"Sorry, you put me on the spot!" Tooru said, rubbing her head.
"Plus, uh...remember the LAST time we tried scaring each other?" Sero asked.
"That was beyond our control," Tooru pouted.
Iida's attention went to Izuku. "Midoriya! Pitch us your hero quiz!"
"Uhh...well, it'd kinda be like Jeopardy or something, with teams?" Izuku said. "I have an example question."
"Let's hear it." Momo said, pressing her hands together.
"Okay, this one should be easy-" Izuku said, pulling out one of his Hero Analysis notebooks. He flipped open to a random page. "Uhh...'This hero gained popularity for a collection of videos online called 'My Boot Camp', that detailed both his workout process and gender transition.'"
The class was stumped.
"Man, that is a STUMPER." Kaminari said, brain wattage exceeded.
"Why do you always have the most obscure knowledge?" Bakugou scoffed.
"For stuff like this," Izuku said.
"I dunno who it is, honestly." Momo said. "What's the answer?"
"Are you serious? We worked with him!" Izuku said. "It's Tiger, from the Pussycats!"
Everyone felt bad that they didn't know that now.
"Well, Midoriya...as fun as it WOULD be to do this idea, I think some of the questions may stump the casual hero fan." Iida said. "Remember! Open arms!"
Izuku deflated a bit. "Ah, well..." He sighed, as he sat back down in his seat.
"Jirou! Your open mic idea is a good way to promote comfort and confidence in public speaking for all of us." Iida said. "Can you elaborate on your idea?"
"U-uh, we just like...go up and talk about our passions or whatever-" Jirou sighed. "Look, it's a dumb idea. Skip me."
Aizawa huffed. "Okay, I'm shutting this meeting down." Aizawa said. "Clearly you kids just threw out ideas with either too much thought or no thought."
The teacher stood back up. "Decide by tomorrow morning. Discuss it amongst yourselves in some...public forum. Otherwise, we'll just be having a regular class and making it open house."
Harsh, Class 1-A thought, but Aizawa was right. The festival was a big deal, and they needed to come up with something that would engage both the students and the visitors...
But what?
The Class 1-A meeting that evening had some people missing- Izuku, Ochako, Alan, Kirishima, Tokoyami, Momo and Tsu were doing extra lessons. They did give the class a go ahead on whatever- they were flexible for whatever.
Iida had arranged a spreadsheet of the ideas, and was mulling it over. The rest of the class feasted upon the charcuterie board that Yuga had happily arranged.
"I'm shocked you're here, Bakugou. You're usually not one to get involved in our antics." Mina said, picking up a cracker.
"Yeah, well, shut up." Bakugou huffed. "I just wanted to see what you idiots came up with. Don't expect me to participate or anything."
"We didn't expect you to anyways." Kaminari snickered. "You tsunde-"
Kaminari shut his yap as Bakugou shot him a death glare. "Don't FUCKING call me that ever again."
"Y-yes, sir."
Iida cleared his throat, bringing the attention back to the spreadsheet. "So, I've been looking at the options," Iida declared. "One thing's been on my mind as of late- the other classes are stressed out. Whatever we plan ought to diffuse the stress in one way or another."
"Agreed," Sero nodded. "Class 1-A is kind of...I dunno how to say this, a mischief magnet? We can't really ignore the problems we've sort of caused."
"On that note- we're gonna have to cut Alan's BBQ and Ochako's mochi stand." Iida said. "Lunch Rush is too good a cook to top."
(Elsewhere, Alan and Ochako felt a wave of 'rejection' while in their extra classes.)
"I'm open to the idea of providing a service to others." Shoji said. "We can't be the only ones having fun."
"So, it needs to be interactive." Ojiro hummed. "That leaves the petting zoo, haunted house...and not much else."
"For a petting zoo, we'd need to follow the strict hygiene standards." Todoroki added. "That might be too complicated."
"And the haunted house is off the table already..." Tooru frowned.
"Damn, this is hard." Kaminari said. "The hell do we do?"
"We could all dance...that could be fun." Mina muttered.
"Why not?"
All eyes turned to Todoroki. Even Mina was shocked. Todoroki walked over to the computer, and began looking up something on Youtube. "There was something Bakugou and I did at our Hero License Course assignment last week...it brought the kids we were watching a lot of joy."
"Kids?" Kaminari repeated. He now had an image of Todoroki, Shinsou and Bakugou, holding a bunch of rowdy and rambunctious children on leashes.
Todoroki pulled up a bootlegged video of some sort of band performance. "See? That's what we should aim for." The video showed four girls, dressed in red, green, blue and red outfits, holding croquet mallets. They were singing about a candy store or something.
"...Todoroki, that's broadway." Iida said, adjusting his glasses. "Do you want to put on a play?"
Todoroki shrugged. "I guess."
"HE HAS GOOD TASTE!" A voice proclaimed, forcing itself through the doorway. The class looked over to see Monoma, with the rest of Class 1-B following behind him.
"Class 1-B? How unexpected. What brings you here?" Iida asked.
Monoma strutted into the room, a smug grin on his face. "I couldn't help but overhear your discussion. As the class with superior intelligence and creativity, we thought we could lend a helping hand."
The Class 1-A students exchanged looks, already feeling a sense of competition settling in. Kendo smacked him upside the head.
"I thought you said you were gonna be nice to them from now on." Kendo frowned.
"I am! That was a compliment." Monoma insisted.
"A backhanded one, more like it..." Awase muttered.
"Ignore Monoma, he's just being his usual self." Kendo said. "We actually came here to ask if you guys would like to collaborate with us for the festival?"
"Collaborate?" Jiro repeated. "What do you have in mind?"
Kendo clasped her hands together, her eyes shining. "Well, we were thinking of putting on a play. Looks like you guys had the right idea, too."
Iida hummed. "Well, I suppose we should collaborate- there's no rules saying no two classes couldn't work together."
"If we do a play, I wanna be in charge of choreography!" Mina insisted, pulling out her phone to play something by BLACKPINK. "I can teach ANYONE to dance! Yuga! Show them your moves!"
Yuga grinned and stood up, striking a pose. "Behold~!" He started to move to the beat of the music playing through the speakers, his arms and legs fluid as he spun and twirled around the room.
The rest of Class 1-A watched in awe, impressed by Yuga's skills. Even Bakugou had to admit that it was pretty...something.
Monoma smirked. "I'll be damned. Even the..." He was gonna say something insulting but his head hurt from Kendo's chop. "How fast did he learn that?"
"I LEARNED IT TODAY~!" Yuga declared, spinning on his head.
Now Monoma was genuinely impressed.
"Well, if we're gonna work together on a play...what were you guys thinking?" Ojiro asked.
"Simple," Shishida, Class 1-B's 'classiest' student, said as he stepped forward. "We want to do...a simple story. We want to do Beauty and the Beast. It's a classic tale that everyone knows.
"The tale of a cursed prince who is transformed into a monstrous beast until he learns to love and be loved in return," Kendo added. "It's timeless."
Are you sure Shishida just wants that story because he's pretty much the perfect person to play Beast? Shoji thought.
The Class 1-A students exchanged glances, considering the proposal. After a moment of quiet contemplation, they nodded in agreement.
"I think that's a great idea," Kaminari said, smiling. "I kinda wanna rewatch the Disney movie right now to get some ideas..."
"Agreed," Iida said, adjusting his glasses. "It's a story that has stood the test of time, and with our combined efforts, I'm confident that we can put on an amazing performance! Maybe even outpreform Disney's!"
Iida got some eyebrows.
"...Disney's live action remake?"
"That's more like it," Monoma nodded. "We've already got some loose castings in the works. I'll be Gaston, Shishida's the beast, Nirengeki is LeFou...the only person we haven't decided on is Belle."
"I feel like she'd be the easiest." Shinsou said.
"Really?" Kendo raised an eyebrow. "Who do you have in mind for the role?"
Shinsou paused for a moment, considering his words carefully. "Well, I mean...Momo would be perfect for the part, right?"
"That's the thing! You look at Momo and think 'princess'! A true princess should come out of nowhere, to reinforce that any girl should be one!" Tetsutetsu declared.
Wow, he advocates for Princess representation hard. Tooru thought.
"Belle's a woman who went through a horrible situation, and yet still smiled throughout it! She made a risky choice! We need someone who can smile like that-" Tetsutetsu said, as the door opened again.
Ochako entered the room, slurping a smoothie. The others were behind her.
"Oh, hey guys!" Ochako said, flashing a nice smile. "You guys come to brag about your festival thing or something? Ahahah..."
Ochako noticed all eyes were on her.
"...why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Unanimous then?" Iida asked.
"I think so," Kendo agreed.
"Hey Ochako? Ever wanted to be an actor?" Mina grinned.
"Huh? What-?" Ochako blinked, as the others came in behind her.
"What's going on?" Momo asked.
"Well, guys! I think we just found our Princess Belle!" Tetsutetsu declared.
Ochako blinked.
"HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH?"
"Someone wanna fill us in?" Alan piped up.
"We're doing a play for the school festival with Class 1-B!" Tooru announced, "Beauty and the Beast! And Ochako's gonna be the Beauty!"
"HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!?" Ochako yelled again.
"I mean...I can see it work." Tsu said.
"Who would be working as the stage crew?" Todoroki asked, "Or do we all have an on-stage role?"
"Well we still have plenty of characters that don't have..." Kendo trailed before she fixed her eyes on Allan and an idea struck her, "...how good are you at a French accent?"
"Okay, part of me doesn't want to be type casted...but, if I have to be Lumiere..." Alan's eyes darted over to Iida. "He has to be Cogsworth!"
"...I can see it, oh my god..." Tetsutetsu muttered.
"Honestly that was one of the roles I was considering anyway. The other was Maurice," Iida admitted.
"Oh. My. God. Ochako," Mina realized something and she could hardly contain her excitement, "Sultan."
"Wait...you're not..." Ochako said.
"I 100% AM! SHIP!"
Ship came bounding down the stairs, with Yoshi following. "SHIP!"
"Ship! Old boy! Old pal!" Mina said, with Ship slithering over to her. "How would YOU like to be in a play?"
Ship blinked.
"...I don't think he knows what a play is." Kendo said.
"Ok, wellll, how would youuuu like to wear a costume for some treats?" Mina offered instead.
"SHIP!"
"Okay, he understood that." Kendo said.
Ochako dropped to the ground. This was a bit too much for her. I mean, she wasn't a princess! She was just a normal school girl. With normal knees. And an alien watch on her wrist. And an alien dog-
"Hey, are...you okay?" Izuku asked.
"Iiiiii'm processing everything, hahaha!" Ochako said.
"...oh we sprung that on her too soon, huh?" Tooru rubbed the back of her invisible head sheepishly.
"Maybe, yeah," Kaminari said.
"Hmmm...what to do fooooor Tsu..." Mina hummed, laser focused on the casting process.
"...she could be a 'Bimbette' with me," Komori suggested.
"Shooting that down," Tsu chimed in.
"Well we need three," the mushroom girl held up three fingers just to emphasize her point.
"I'm fine with being Mrs. Potts." Tsu said. "I'm kinda perfect for that role..."
"Yeah, you do give off a good 'mom friend' vibe." Alan nodded.
"Oh! Oh! I could be Chip! Perfect use of practical effects," Tooru said.
"C-can I pass my role onto someone else..." Ochako groaned, kinda wishing to curl up into a ball and die.
Izuku took a deep breath. "I mean...it'd be kinda neat to see you as Belle..."
"May I make a suggestion?" Yuga chimed in.
"Go for it," Kendo nodded.
"Merci. Now...technically speaking, do we not need two actors for the role of the Beast?"
"The Beast...and the Prin-" Mina started, before she realized.
"Shishida, would you mind if Izuku was your 'other half' so to speak?"
"H-HUH!?" Izuku said, blushing red.
YUGA! STOP WINGMANNING! Ochako thought, ready to turn into Gravattack and suck herself into a black hole.
"Well, Midoriya does look small and unassuming...but is he really a jerk?" Shishida hummed. "I'd think Bakugou was my other half-"
"Nope. Nope nope nope. Keep me out of this acting bullshit." Bakugou said, walking away to bed.
"Ah but you see that's the brilliance of the suggestion! We don't need Izuku to say anything mean during the backstory. Just some vague gestures as the story is read," Yuga said, "Then at the end, during the confession, he appears, reformed! And he's able to simply be the Izuku we all know and love!"
"Or...we could do something with props. Have it be an actual 'storybook' opening. Maybe use shadow puppetry," Shihai suggested.
"Dark Shadow," Tokoyami said, summoning up his Stand-like power.
"Oh I've been waiting for this!" Dark Shadow smirked, "I can morph my body to make the perfect shadow puppets. Even go 'full beast' to give that shock value for the curse!"
"Dark Shadow's got a dramatic side to him?" Setsuna asked, "Wait, why is that surprising?"
"I'm fine with handling props." Todoroki said. "I'm not much of an actor."
"But you have the face of a leading actor-" Setsuna pouted.
"What about music?" Iida said. "We need some musicicans..."
"Does anyone know how to play...anything?" Momo asked.
Jirou looked away when the music got brought up.
"...Jirou?" Momo tilted her head.
"I-it's...it's nothing," Jirou lied.
"Come on, Jirou!" Tooru said. "You'd be great! You could do these cool rock remixes of the soundtrack! Plus, you're totes amazing at teaching people how to play!"
"Y-yeah, but..." Jirou frowned.
"And you've always got a smile on your face when it comes to making music!" Mina said. "Come ooooon!"
"But...Mina...all of your hobbies are rooted in your Quirks," Jirou said, "Mine's just a hobby. Not...really something I can be proud of."
"Are you kidding?" Monoma scoffed. "This isn't about hero work...it's just about having fun! Good old fashioned FUN!"
Izuku paused when he heard that.
"Wait...is that what the whole 'drop it' thing was about earlier? Before class?" Kaminari asked. Jirou absent-mindedly grabbed her earphone-jacks and began tapping them together in embarrassment.
"But it's so cool how musical you are!" the shocking student added.
"Y-yeah!" Kouda said. "Your talent makes people smile!" Kouda said, as he began scratching Yoshi's head. "That's tied to being a hero in my book."
Jirou hesitated.
"I understand what the both of you are saying, but..." Momo said, getting in front of Jirou. "We have to let Kyoka decide for herself."
"Momo...what's your angle on this?" Jirou asked.
"Huh?" Momo looked surprised by the question.
"Well, I mean...you're always so level-headed and rational. I want to know what you really think," Jirou explained.
Momo smiled softly. "Being true to ourselves and using our talents to make a positive impact on the world around us. If playing music brings you joy and helps others, then that's something to be proud of. It's just as heroic as anything else."
"Well..." Jirou said with a sigh, before she smiled, "Wouldn't be much of a rock star if I turned this down."
The class cheered. "YEAHHH! So, it looks like we're gonna need to do some prep work ASAP." Kaminari said.
"Agreed." Iida said. "...let's start by rewatching the movie and taking notes!"
"I'll go get my copy!" Tooru said.
Though, with everyone so wrapped up in the casting process, that idol video Todoroki had brought up earlier had finished and he had forgot to turn off the auto-play. The next video was about to start in 3...2...1-
"Hello, everyone, my name is Gentle Criminal, and welcome back to my reaction series. Today's video is..." The man adjusted his screen. "... 'Introducing: Smurf Nut.'"
He paused.
"La Brava! Where do you find these videos?!"
"It's a joke, Gentle! All the Ten Minute Power Hours have names like that!" his assistant called from off-screen.
"IT'S STILL VERY QUAINT!"