Chapter 2: Rocking Out

Jiro approached Koda as he sat drinking tea in the kitchen of their common room. He was wearing black jeans and a bright teal shirt with a large A in yellow text on the front. The girl wondered if it meant the boy's hero name or their class. Either way, it was the first time she had seen him since their weekly Sunday morning study session with Yaoyorozu. She considered going to his room but felt that would be a bit much for him. The other plan was just to wait until Monday, as asking for her proposal would be easier after school. Kyoka, however, was finally able to get the tickets she had wanted a few days before. After a few days of planning, she couldn't hold off on her excitement any longer. Luckily, here Koji was, so it was time to enact the plan.

Koda didn't see her at first, but he nearly dropped his cup once he noticed.

Jiro stated, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Koji took a deep breath to calm down. "It's okay. Did you need something?"

The girl kept her hands behind her as she walked over and still was currently. "I have a question to ask."

"W-What is it?" Koda's demeanor returned to slightly panicked.

"Remember I wanted to show you and Kaminari-kun some music from Deep Dope?"

The large teen looked to calm down and think deeply. After some time, he stated, "Oh, that was some time ago, wasn't it?"

"Yup! Now that the cultural festival is over, I can finally deliver." Jiro revealed her hands, showing three tickets. "Deep Dope is having a small outdoor venue in Shibuya this Sunday, and I want you to tag along."

Koda sighed in relief, surprising Jiro. "Sure thing. I'm guessing the third ticket is for Kaminari-kun?"

Kyoka nodded. "I already got the okay from him a few days ago."

"I see." Koji took a moment to process this. He sipped before asking, "If I r-refused, would you have invited anyone else?"

Jiro hadn't thought that far. She expected to do a little convincing to get the boy to come, maybe even need Kaminari's assistance. But there wasn't a backup plan in place as she didn't want to take no as an answer without a fight. Kyoka then scanned the room. It was empty; only Ochako and Momo were around. The former was resting on a couch, and the latter was reading a book on her own. "Yaoyorozu-chan, I guess." Jiro just spitballed the answer. After thinking about it momentarily, she pondered if the class vice president would even say yes. She needed to figure out her friend's musical tastes, but perhaps Momo might go from curiosity alone.

"Well, thanks for choosing me. Uh, do I need to wear anything special?"

"Nope. Just something warm. It is November now."

"No Deep Dope shirts or anything? I might stick out."

Kyoka waved with the back of her hand as she answered, "No need. You are not a fan yet. No need to force you to wear something you might not like." She started smirking just before saying 'yet.' "Besides, even if I wanted you to wear some, it's not like I have anything that fits you. We could squeak by with Kaminari-kun wearing my larger clothes, but you like a head taller than mine." Jiro then looked over her friend for a moment. "How tall are you exactly?"

"186 cm."

"With or without your horn?"

"With. I guess without it, I would be more Ida-kun's height."

Jeez, and here I am, only 152 cm, the girl mused. Only Tooru and Tsuyu dwarfed her, well, Minoru, too, but he's Minoru. She pondered what it must be like to tower over most people their age. It must help somewhat with his anxiety, right? Being short, sure, doesn't help. She shook away such thoughts. "Well, anyway, I'll keep you to your drink. See ya in class tomorrow."

"L-Later."

The two exchanged a wave before Jiro turned around. She noticed Kaminari walking down the boy's stairway. He noticed the scene before him and gave a questionable face with a quick shift between thumbs up and down with one hand. She gave a confident thumbs up. Denki beamed as he raced over to Koji to talk about the trip. Kyoka sighed in relief. Now we wait for Sunday.

Kaminari looked at the packed crowd. "I thought you said this was going to a small venue!?"

Jiro sighed. "It's probably just over a hundred people. Their big gigs can almost reach a thousand."

"I'll take this over that," Koda stated with unease.

They were in the parking lot outside a hotel. The stage was set just in front of the building's entrance. It was late afternoon, but the city's buzz was still thriving.

Kyoka looked at all the Deep Dope fan outfits as they waited in line. Ultimately, she was happy she stayed moderate compared to what she had seen. Jiro wore an unzipped black leather jacket with the band's logo on the back. Underneath was her yellow Deep Dope shirt, and she had blue jeans with black cargo boots. The girl also noticed almost no fans were like her friends, lacking band merchandise. In the end, they would stand out. Oh well. Koda wore a white t-shirt, yellow overshirt, black backpack, and brown pants. Kaminari wore a grey t-shirt, a black and yellow sweater wrapped around his waist, and some wore black jeans.

The line finally ended, and Kyoka flashed her tickets at the booth of staff, who then okay'd the three to pass. She grabbed both the boy's hands and said, "Follow me, and try not to let go." She leads the pair to the far right side. All the attendees were standing and socializing while waiting for the band to appear, so there was still wiggle room. Once they arrived at the barrier, Jiro moved towards the stage but kept along it. However, Deep Dope took to the stage before she reached her destination. The sudden appearance made the crowd move forward, creating a wall they couldn't penetrate without forcing their way through. That wall also came from behind, pinning them down at their current position. The crowd was roaring with excitement. Kyoka yelled, "Damnit, so close."

Denki's voice shouted from behind. "What!?"

Jiro turned to see a confused Kaminari and a flustered Koda behind her. She looked forward to seeing just a sea of back fans. This was going all wrong. The plan was to get to the front before things started. Delays, though, made them almost late, and now here they were.

Kyoka groaned. In the end, just hearing the music would be enough, but she wanted them to see it all happen. She looked back to her friends and saw them talking to one another but couldn't make out the words as the band started their first song, oh, of course, their biggest hit. Koji looked at her and then back to Denki, who gave a double thumbs-up. The large teen took a deep breath, grabbed the boy by the waist, and hoisted him to his right shoulder. He then offered a hand to Jiro with an odd mix of unsure confidence written on his face. She hesitated but nodded before approaching and being lifted by the waist with just one arm by Koda to sit on his left shoulder. Because they were against the barrier, they weren't blocking anyone's view as he turned left to face the band.

What followed was a string of seven songs, most between three and five minutes long. The first, however, was quite long, almost eight minutes.

As much fun as Kyoka was having, she was still concerned about Koji. At times, he seemed attentive to what was happening and had his full attention to the band. At other moments, she noticed he was keeping his eyes closed and looked stressed out, however brief it was. However, it wasn't like she could pull him aside to talk. There was nowhere to go and no way to hear one another without screaming, which wouldn't help. What also didn't help was that even as each song finished, the crowd's applause overtook whatever precious time they could have to talk anyhow.

Finally, a break came. As the band exited, the crowd, while unmoving, quieted down a bit.

Kaminari asked in a raised voice, "Is it over?"

Jiro hopped down, which startled Koda. "Nope, just the intermission. Just a ten to fifteen-minute break before the second half." She then looked at the two and asked, "Kaminari-Kun, you don't need to yell; it's not that loud anymore. Also, get down and give Koda-kun a rest."

Denki shrugged. "You doubt Koda's strength? I bet he could do this all night!"

"M-My arm is getting a little stiff," Koji stated, rotating his free arm.

"Ah, my bad Koda-kun. That's fair." He proceeded to slide off, which again spooked Koda. "Even with how strong you are, it is probably difficult to hold the same position for too long. That felt like almost an hour."

Kyoka checked her phone. "Not even. But anyways, Koda-kun isn't your pack mule."

With raised arms, Kaminari argued, "You seemed to be okay with it!"

"Only because he offered!"

Koda piped in. "It's o-okay Jiro-chan. I can take it. I think Kaminari-kun's idea was the only answer to us all getting to see the performance."

Jiro's face read that she didn't like the idea. It looked uncomfortable at times for the large teen. Though she couldn't argue, there really wasn't an alternative to her and Kaminari getting to see the action.

Denki walked over and whispered into Kyoka's ear. "Again, trust me on this. I've seen Koda-kun in the bath. The dude is jacked, so you shouldn't worry that he can't carry us the rest of the show. The boy was immediately met with a hand on his face as the girl pushed him away.

"I didn't need to know that." Jiro let go once he backed off. She turned around to hide her flustered face. The girl tried not to imagine the mental image of her friend in the buff, but it did make her ponder why he was so built. It's not like Koda was well-known for hand-to-hand combat. Trying to get back on topic, though, she asked, "You both like what you hear so far?"

Both boys thought about the question for a moment, but eventually, Koji answered, "It's weird. Not in a bad way, just as odd as you explained back in September."

Denki tried to explain by saying, "Yeah, like, a metal band with a saxophone player and sometimes a trumpet? Weird."

Kyoka stated, "Their third song even used a harmonica."

"Huh? I must have missed that." Kaminari then shrugged, "Either way, it's interesting, to say the least."

Koda shook his head. "I mean, there's that, but it's something else. It just feels highly experimental; everything feels very different from the last. I figured there would be something linking it all together, but I can't say with certainty cause I am not really knowledgeable about music in general."

"Hmm, is that why you were in deep thought sometimes earlier?" Jiro hoped it was over just stressing due to the crowd and noise.

"Sorta, that helped me focus on the sounds. Though again, I can't describe it properly.

"Don't feel bad. It's not as straightforward as most genres."

Denki leaned against Koji as he said, "I just expected a different version of punk rock or something or other."

Kyoka was going to let that slide. She had been angry enough tonight.

Koda instead took off his backpack and offered everyone bottled water, which they all happily drank until the concert started again. By then, the others were back on Koji's shoulders and arms.

Five songs followed, this time all long, between five and seven minutes. Once the last one finished, the crowd went into a frenzy not seen since the start. Deep Dope then played the first song again; however, it was even longer and had vocals this time. Koda and Kaminari looked at Jiro once they recognized the repeated music, but she just shrugged and motioned for them to continue listening. Another short song followed before the band thanked the crowd and left.

As they slowly started to fill out the barrier, Koji asked, "What exactly happened at the end there?"

Jiro walked in front of her friend, and she answered, "I'll explain later; let's get out of here first. Then we can grab something to eat."

Kaminari led the group as he yelled, "MOS BURGER TIME!"

Koda stood in silence in front of the cash register. The female cashier looked concerned and asked, "Is everything okay, sir?"

Jiro stepped to his side and whispered, "Would you like me to order for you?" This had been going on for long enough, as a line was starting to form behind them.

Koji nodded, handed his friend the appropriate yen, and left to sit with Denki quickly.

Kyoka gave a slight bow, "Sorry about that." She brought herself up and stated, "He'll take a seafood tempura rice burger with karaage (fried chicken bites) and mixed fruit tea leaf. I'll take a teriyaki chicken burger with sweet potato fries and mango lemonade."

After the woman input everything, she stated, "That will be 1,007 yen, ma'am." After being paid, she asked, "Is everything alright with him?"

"He's over-simulated. We just came from a rock concert. It's his first time."

The cashier handed over two bottled drinks before bowing and saying, "I see, I hope he feels better soon. We'll bring out your meal once it's ready."

Jiro walked over to the others, who were seated on the same side of the booth. She decided to sit on the opposite side, and as she did, she noticed Kaminari had already downed half his Coca‑Cola. He was also wearing his sweater correctly now.

"It's a Good thing we already discussed what we wanted while in line before ordering." Denki then looked to Koji and stated, "It's alright that you froze up to that lady. She's quite the looker. I bet she's a high school senior. Quite a catch."

Koda just leaned forward and groaned.

With a long sigh, Jiro glared at her "helping friend," prompting him to back off. "So anyways, how was that second part of the concert?" She had planned to discuss this on the walk here, but it had started to rain, and they opted to pick up the pace rather than talk. Luckily, this restaurant was pretty close to the performance.

Kaminari played with his straw as he asked and replied, "Well, unlike the first part, like Koda-kun mentioned during the intermission, these songs seemed more similar in style. Until those last two songs. What was that about?"

"That was an encore. They usually happen at the end of the concert. The audience asks for one more song before it ends. Sometimes it's just one song, many." Jiro took a sip of her lemonade before continuing, "It started with Italian operas in the late 18th century but fell out of style until the 1960s when rock and roll brought it back, and now it's a staple of the genre. It's just a planned part of the setlist usually."

Koda leaned back into his booth seat before asking, "That first song of the encore, was that a remix of the very first song of the concert?"

"Sorta. Deep Dope's most popular song was the opener, which put them on the map. That remix is an updated version that reflects how their style has changed over the years, such as with the added vocals. Their older stuff was mostly just instrumental."

"That remix was sooo long. I thought it would never end," Denki stated before drinking more of his Coke.

"Eleven minutes, so pretty long. But as I said before, progressive rock bands used to produce songs as long as twenty minutes."

"Insane." Kaminari's eyes then perked up once he saw the food was on its way.

This time, it was a teenage male employee. He quickly dropped over the food and left without a word.

"Jeez, talk about not wanting to be here." Denki was first to get his meal, a Hawaiian teriyaki burger with shrimp pops.

Kyoka took her share before saying, "It's fast food, what do you expect? It's probably his first job, too."

Koji took his meal in silence and started with his karaage.

"I'm glad we've got the hero's life ahead of us." Kaminari then took a big bite of his burger.

"If you pass the written exams," Jiro smirked as she sipped some more lemonade. The boy gave her a tired stare at her but said nothing as he continued to devour his burger. She had won this round for sure.

After some silence after the group ate, Koda eventually asked, "So what's a setlist?"

Jiro took a moment to swallow her burger before answering. "It's the list of songs any artist will play at a concert. Sometimes, it's known in advance online; other times, you don't know until you get a pamphlet when walking in. In this case, Deep Dope posted it on their website."

Kaminari nodded. "That's nice, I guess if you want to avoid certain songs or albums."

"Not if you like all their content," Kyoka stated while crossing her arms.

"Any band is bound to have stinkers."

"Depends on the person. Anyway, I will tell you that I like some of their albums more than others, but none are terrible. It's all about experimentation, anyhow. It all leads to trying new things and sticking with what works. Even if a song or album doesn't lead to anything to build upon, it lets them focus on other things."

"Which explains that first half of the concert?" Koda had spoken up again.

"Kind of. That's more the nature of the setlist. You usually want to start with your most popular song or something from your just-released album. Deep Dope tends to start with their most recent stuff and then descends to older albums." Jiro then returned to her food.

Koji put a hand to his chin as he explained, "So that's why, minus the opener, the first half had vocal elements, and the second half was purely instrumental, except for the encore."

Kyoka nodded but continued to focus on her burger and fries.

Kaminari finished the last of his food before saying, "Speaking of the encore, what was with that second song? They brought out a tube and that double bass. Things I never knew you could have with a rock band."

Jiro's face lit up as she answered, "That one was a preview of their new album. Deep Dope already plays a lot with jazz elements, but they are really leaning into them in this next album. I'm looking forward to its release this Christmas."

Koda then smiled. "I'm glad you kept with this passion of yours, Jiro-chan. It would have been a waste to leave all this love for music behind for hero work."

The statement took aback the girl. The boy was starting to surprise her a lot lately. Anyway, Kyoka could see where Koji was coming from. "Well, you two did help with that. Convincing me to lead our part in the cultural festival." She was at first reluctant to do it, but the combined efforts of the two boys' words of encouragement pushed her over the edge.

"There was nothing to be embarrassed about in the end. We stole the show last week! And it's all thanks to you."

Jiro turned away to hide her blush. "Yeah, yeah, you are right. Just don't rub it in, okay?"

After a chuckle, Kaminari stated, "Alright, alright, I'll stop." He then patted Koda's back before saying, "Enough about her anyway. What about that girl that caught a gander at?"

Koda shook his head. "Uh, e-excuse me?"

"She's really tall. Got an hourglass figure and is just a bit older than us, probably. Like I said earlier, it's quite a catch. I could understand falling for her." Denki then leaned forward. "If you want, I can help you ask her out. Couldn't hurt to try."

Kyoka placed a hand on her face and sighed. And with everything nice he says comes a caveat, the girl mused. She looked at Koji, expecting him to be a shaking mess. However, she was once again surprised tonight.

"She's not really my type Kaminari-kun. If anything, girls like her intimidate me. It's why I froze up." Koda stated this with a straight face.

Both Jiro and Kaminari looked at each other with confused looks.

It took a moment, but eventually, Koji realized what he had just said and proceeded to take his overshirt off and cover his face.

Denki quickly said, "Hey man, it's okay to admit you have a preference." The boy then had a thought come to him: "Though that does raise the question of what exactly is your type? Short and plain shy girls?" That last question ended with earphone jacks impacting the boy's side of his head, causing him to immediately collapse into his seat.

Jiro grunted, "Too far, dumbass."

Kaminari coughed before saying, "S-Sorry."

Kyoka just exhaled loudly. Tonight was definitely a rollercoaster for Koji, she felt, but in the end, it had turned out mostly for the better. Right? Either way, the current concern was to get him to calm down enough so they could make their train ride back to school, which might take some time. Jiro hadn't seen Koda become so red in the face before until just now. He was definitely one of the most quirky guys she had ever met—the good kind, though.

Hmm, like MashMomo, this couple is thankfully easy to write. Woot!

I have an idea for a commission and an artist in mind to do it for my second KodaJiro piece (my first, of course, being the cover art for this fic made quite some time ago). I want my MashMomo piece to finish before committing to it, so it may take some time. Just know it's in the works!

This chapter is another first for me in a short story: multiple scenes! The fourth MashMomo chapter had two scenes, but here we have three! Based on my outlines for the next three chapters, this might actually become the norm for this side story.

Anyhow, this is set between chapters 30 and 31 of Cubicity. There was a big gap between Jiro's idea and this happening, but all things considered, the cultural festival got in the way, and I couldn't see her trying to do this during all that training they did.

The next chapter will have more of just the duo as Koda misinterprets how this outing went, and Jiro tries to fix that. Chapter four will then fast forward to the third term as our Koji struggles to hold on to his feelings. :3

Until then, work turns to Cubicity 51!