" Hey," Kirishima called weakly as they stepped into the warmth of their dorm where they found everyone congregated in the lounge.
The rest of the class explained about the concert they would be holding. It was to be a new rave-type club rock. The members of the band were so far Jiro, who would play the bass, Yaoyorozu on the keyboards, and to their astonishment, Bakugo would play the drums.
Regardless, they were still missing a singer. Kirishima, Mineta, and Aoyama volunteered, but all were far from what they needed.
"Kyoka-chan, why hesitate, you should be the one singing," said Sora. And Hagakure went to back her up.
" When you were teaching us in your room, your singing was super cool, too!" Ignoring Jiro's complaints, Hagakure pressed a mic on her. " It's fine, it's fine."
Confronted by the pressing expectations of her class, Jiro couldn't back off and gave up. She held onto the mic and inhaled deeply before singing in a harmonious voice it seemed as though it was woven from glimmering gold. Everyone froze in place, overflown by her euphonic song. Sora found herself swaying with the tune, her body belonged to her no more, it was captured by Jiro's melodious words.
"She is on a whole other level, this girl," Whisper murmured as he took his accustomed place around Yuu's shoulders, his body wobbling around along with Jiro's voice.
When she finished singing, there was no doubt about it. The decision was unanimous. Jiro hastily waved the matter away and sought to find two people who could play the guitar. Kaminari and Mineta excitedly stepped forward and picked her guitars. But while Kaminari played an acceptable melody, Mineta's hand couldn't reach the chords and he threw the instrument, crying about his character design.
It was Tokoyami who retrieved the deserted guitar and played on it, taking them by surprise.
"What a heartrending sound!" Kirishima was almost in tears.
" This is no amateur play..." Sora stated. And it was true, for when Shoji asked him the boy affirmed he had played once but quit when he reached the F chord.
" This makes the band complete." Yuu smiled.
" Not quite, Seijin, I need you too." Jiro flung her earphone jack at him.
Yuu was taken aback when he pointed at himself doubtfully. " You need me?"
" Yes. We will be playing instruments but we still need a backing track. You'll be the band's DJ."
" Why me?"
" Because you already have knowledge of composing tracks." She exchanged looks with the white head by his side. " I've heard them from Sora."
" Sora..." Yuu looked down at her as though she had divulged a secret of his.
" Sorry, shouldn't I let her listen to them?"
Yuu rubbed the scruff of his neck uneasily. " It's not like that but..." He glanced up at Jiro. " It's just, I don't compose tracks so often... It's not even a hobby or anything. Just learned the basics..."
" That's enough, we can work on the track together." She assured him.
Sora gave him an encouraging pat on his back and the boy finally nodded his head in agreement.
Meanwhile, Ashido was persuading Mineta to join the dancing team and he only agreed because she promised to create a harem part for him. " Wait!" Sora whirled the girl around and stared into her eyes. " Are you serious, Mina-chan!"
" Don't worry," Mina whispered while holding a finger to her lips. " It wouldn't be anything serious and will be short." Sora didn't know if she should be trusting her on that.
By 1 am, they had allotted everyone their role. The band team consisted of Jiro, Tokoyami, Kaminari, Yaoyorozu, Bakugo, and Yuu.
The effects team was made up of Koda, Kirishima, Sero, Aoyama and Todoroki.
While the rest of them formed the dance team.
" Everyone, we'll be busy starting tomorrow!" Cried Iida.
"Yeah!" The whole class chorused...
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The practice began from next Saturday. Jiro had spent the week thinking up a song and composing the music with Sora's help since she decided it would be English. Sora was so thrilled she spared no effort at all.
Together with Yuu, Jiro also began working on the background track.
She pinned the sheet on the wall so they could all see it and they began their practice. " Remember! We're killing them all with our music! Baggy eyes!" Yuu flinched as the blond cried out. " Your background music better be good or I'll blow you!"
The effect team was looking through the net and brainstorming ideas for interesting stage effects.
The dance team was marched outside into the yard by Ashido where she began teaching them the steps of the dance she thought of. Once or twice yelling out at Midoriya and Iida for being stiff or getting off sync.
" Mina-chan is so strict when it comes to dancing..." Sora sweated as she spun around and stopped with a snap as the girl taught them.
It took several tries to get the first steps done and they were already sweating profusely when Midoriya spotted Togata behind a shrub. For some reason he seemed vexed he went back inside and only his bum protruded.
Everyone ignored him and his peach joke and focused on the girl who was with him. " Eri-chan!" For a moment, they didn't realize Aizawa was there.
" What? Who's this? Your daughter, senpai?" Ojiro asked.
"Of course she isn't. How old do you think he is?" Sora pointed.
They all rushed over to her and she seemed like a lost child. She wasn't used to being surrounded by many people after all and the place was new for her. Despite that, the girls couldn't help but comment on how cute she was.
Aizawa then addressed Midoriya. " The principal has given permission. In order to keep her from being surprised and panicking, we wanted to let her visit once to get used to it."
I see. She had lived in an underground all her life. Sora thought as she saw the girl back and hide behind Togata when both Iida and Mineta came to talk to her.
Togata asked Midoriya to accompany them for a walk around UA and thanks to him they all got to have a break. As they went inside, they found the band team on a break too and Yaoyorozu had already brewed tea for all of them. " Thanks, Yao-momo," Sora said taking the seat beside her friend who seemed like all life was drained from him. " What the matter."
" Practicing with Bakugo-san...is hell itself," he mumbled.
" Oi! If you don't like it then drop out of the band! We can do it without you!"
" No, we can't!" Jiro flung her earphone jack warningly at him. " Seijin is as important as everyone else!"
"For someone important, the music he played was too weak!" Bakugo glared back at Yuu he shrank even further from him. " Listen baggy eyes! When you get on that stage you can't just shrink and squirm! If you can't put some power in those beats you play then they won't reach anyone! They will be drowned among the other instruments and the shouts of the crowd and then you standing there won't have any meaning! You won't kill anyone!"
Yuu blinked at him, actually daring to lean forward. " If you're going to get on that stage make sure you're heard! Otherwise, why are you putting that much effort in the first place?! Don't be scared to make it loud and noisy!"
" What are you even talking about?! If anything you need to slow your rhythm out of all people!" Whispered shouted in retort. " Everyone is having a very hard time keeping up with you!"
" Shut up egg head! I don't even know why you're there in the first place! You're not playing anything!" Whisper gritted his teeth furiously but Bakugo ignored his glares.
When Sora looked back at Yuu then, he was deep in thought, his hand on his chin and his eyes narrowed. " Sorry, Jiro-san..." He put down his cup of tea and stood up. " You'll have to continue rehearsing without me this afternoon." He walked past them and to the stand on which his laptop was perched.
" Wait, Seijin! You don't have to take this idiot's words seriously!"
" Who are you calling idiot, ears!"
" No..." Yuu murmured as he took his laptop. " I have to take his words seriously after all." And he ran over to the elevator.
Bakugo threw him a glare. " Are you cowering away already?"
For the first time since they knew each other, Yuu's gaze leveled Bakugo's. " You know perfectly that I won't. Jiro-san..." He looked back at the blunette. " ... I will come see you by tonight." Then he climbed into the elevator without another word.
" Can't you be a little considerate of others, Bakugo-kun!" Iida berated but Bakugo didn't spare him even the slightest glance.
" No wonder so many people dislike you." Kaminari teased. " Like that Shishikura from Shiketsu."
" Shut up you dunce before I wring your neck!"
Sora blinked at the elevator where Yuu had gone. This is the first time I see him like that...
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" Seijin, I'm coming in." Jiro opened the door and stepped into the purple head's room. It still felt eerie and creepy, but they grew accustomed to it.
The boy didn't seem to notice she had entered, sitting at his own desk, headphones on, his hand fiddling with the mechanical pencil on an open notebook on his side, and his eyes focused on the screen of his laptop.
Jiro gently tapped his shoulder and he jolted around, realizing for the first time she was there. " Sorry, I didn't hear you coming in," he said putting away his headphones.
" Listen, Seijin, about Bakugo," she began." You don't have to listen to what he says. We need you on the band."
" No, he was right." His eyes flicked from her to the screen of his laptop. " The track I made was rather low-pitched and slow. I should have taken the fact that it was going to be played on a stage into account, and because it's slightly on the calm side, it is off with your timing."
" Don't tell me... You're remaking it from scratch?"
" I have to, else it would be nothing but a dull sound behind all of your instruments," he said leaning on his laptop again. " We can test it tomorrow morning."
" You're serious about it now." Jiro smiled seeing his focused look.
" I don't want to be the one wasting all of our hard work. Everyone is giving it their best, I should do the same."
Jiro nodded in understanding and then scanned the room again. The more you're there the easier it gets to ignore the talismans covering the walls. " By the way Seijin... how came you got into making music?" There was nothing that suggested the boy was interested in music at all it was hard to believe it when Sora told her Yuu was the one who composed the soundtracks she heard on her phone.
The boy didn't answer for a while Jiro thought she had pried too much. " If you don't want to-"
" It made sleeping easier," Yuu stated and Jiro blinked twice at him. " When I first developed my Quirks, I had a hard time going to sleep, even crying my eyes out in the middle of the night. My parents di-... Couldn't do anything about it. It was my uncle who suggested this method."
" Your uncle?"
Yuu looked back towards a picture frame on his nightstand. The picture was taken from above, and judging by the position of the older man's arm, it was he who took it. It was of a little Yuu being hauled in the older man's arm while the man beside him was beaming with a broad smile his face could have split. He wore shabby darned clothes, his mop of brown hair seemed as if it never knew a comb and he had a few bristles forming a stubble.
But what caught Jiro's interest the most was his purple eyes. They were half-closed with extremely dark bags underneath them, but still, they seemed to glow with life and faith.
" My uncle's Quirk was almost the same as mine, so he knew all about it." Yuu had a soft smile as he spoke as though he was talking to the man in the photo. " He couldn't stay in one job, people either feared him and his Quirk so much or just couldn't stand it. He had done a lot of things in his life, more than he cared to tell me, he even composed music at one time. The soundtracks he made were so peaceful it felt like a remedy to my problem back then. I've watched him countless times work on them. And when he gifted me his laptop, I tried doing the same too. I wanted to gift him a soundtrack I made myself. Unfortunately, he passed away before I could do so."
Jiro shifted uncomfortable at that. " I'm sorry."
Yuu shook his head with a smile and turned back to his laptop. " That's why, I still make music from time to time. Even though I'm used to sleeping without it already, I feel like it's something that links me to uncle."
" I see..." She murmured as she watched him work. " ... Let's give it our best, Seijin."
" Ah."...
________________
" Do you ever sleep at night anymore, Yuu?" The boy tried to stifle a yawn as he sat in his seat.
" Hardly."
" He has been working hard on the soundtrack for the whole week, never thought he could be so serious over it." Whisper shrugged.
" You don't have to tire yourself, Seijin-san." Yaoyorozu turned back to him. " We still need you in good form for the performance." Yuu nodded his head at her. Either way, the track was almost finished.
" Midoriya, you're... fired from the dance team!" Sora looked back when she heard a terrified gasp to see a blanching Midoriya staring at Ashido." I said fired, but strictly speaking, the effect team scouted you! They said they need more people!"
Sora approached them as they carried on their discussion. " Why me... I already told Eri-chan that I'd be dancing..."
Apparently, the effect team wanted to make it so Aoyama could reach all across the room as he turned into a disco ball. Since they didn't have a mechanism that could do that, they asked him for help to manually move him. Sora then decided to interject at that point. " Excuse me, but wouldn't it be more interesting if I did it? I can move him freely across the room."
" But Sora-chan, you would be dancing in midair during the second half, right?" Uraraka asked her.
" True, but, we can make adjustments, right." She said looking back at Midoriya. " Eri-chan will be waiting to see Midoriya dancing. We can't ruin that. You don't have any problem with that, right, Aoyama-kun." Aoyama shook his head.
" If you're sure of it then it's alright." Ashido agreed.
" Thank you, Shirogane!" Kirishima cried happily.
" Merci!"
" Alright everyone, let's give it our best shot!" Ashido called...
________________
And so days elapsed between school and rehearsing. There were many meetings and adjustments done. For example, when Yuu mentioned some crystal spirits he knew, the effect team didn't hesitate to abduct him as well for another idea.
Their last rehearsal was to take place in the gym where the concert would be held, with Aizawa's help, they managed to get permission to stay up late for practicing purposes.
" I'm getting nervous," Yaoyorozu stated playing an imaginary keyboard, Jiro and Kaminari by her side were playing invisible guitars.
" Don't improvise weird stuff during the actual performance." Bakugo groaned as Jiro gave him the warning. "It confuses some people." She elucidated.
" Those words hurt!"
"Kaminari, it's not just you," Tokoyami added in.
Yuu leaned against the wall, playing the track for the last time on his phone. " Oi baggy eyes!" He flinched at the call and Bakugo marched on to him, peering down at him. " Don't you get stage fright on us tomorrow, alright!"
Yuu gulped but his eyes didn't swerve away from the boy. " I won't... I hope..."
Whisper sighed and shook his head. " Some things never change."
Bakugo then turned around and was about to leave when this time Yuu called for him. " Bakugo-san..." the blond whirled his head, annoyed to be dithered. For a moment, it seemed like Yuu was trying to get the courage to speak. " Thanks, for your words back then."
" I don't know what you're talking about! I'm going back!" And he left the gym.
" Man, are you really sure he was trying to help you back then? It didn't seem so to me." Whisper grunted.
" He did."
"That's it, that looks good!" Ashido cried out when Sora grabbed Aoyama midair and flew him around. But then they were interrupted by Hound Dog who growled at them to go back to their dorm.
Most of them were too excited to even blink their eyes. Yuu however slumped down on his bed as soon as he reached there.
Kaminari and Mineta were the most energetic, they were running around as though they hadn't been to the practice.
" I wonder if Eri-chan would like our performance too." Sora yawned before turning to Midoriya.
" I'm doing my best so she could enjoy it!" Midoriya was very determined. "Plus, everyone else is giving it their all. I'm sure it'll be alright."
Sora nodded her head at him. " You know, it really feels nice to have something to look forward to. A lot happened in the span of a few months. But now, it's all quiet and peaceful." She leaned her head on the table. " I really wish the days could continue."
" True." He said bringing out a piece of paper and checking it. Sora blinked at him curiously.
" What's that?"
" Oh, it's the recipe for candy apple," he told her. " I want to make one for Eri-chan."
Sora peeked at the ingredients. " Hm, I don't think we have most of that in the fridge."
" Yeah, I will have to go shopping for them first thing in the morning."
" In the morning? But our concert starts around ten! You won't find a grocery open before nine!"
" There is a hardware store about 15 minutes from UA. That place opens at eight." He could tell she wasn't sure about the idea. " It's alright, it's not far and I'm not slow either."
At that moment, everyone stood up and was ready to get to bed. Sora gave the green head one glance. " Well, if you say so..."...