Chapter 3

Okay, let's try that again. One more time from the top.

Kyouka took a brief, deep breath before plucking at the strings of her electric guitar, letting a melody play throughout her headphone amps. Today was a silent day at home otherwise; a surprisingly common state of the Jirou household despite the shared love of music in the family. Rehearsals, composing, and scheduled meetings rarely happened within the confines of the house, making it more of a place for the parents to rest while the hero in training studied or occasionally played a tune or two from her room.

On these silent moments, if there was something Kyouka appreciated about the brief respite they were given from UA classes for the next few days, it was that it gave her a chance to relax a bit by playing only to herself while sitting on her bed. Shifting her focus from the upcoming events to strumming a few pieces on her bass or guitar often proved to be quite a calming experience for the rocker teen, which was sorely needed with the Sports Festival just a few days away. Even if the current track being played was still a work in progress, and thus it was prone to a few mistakes or odd-sounding notes. She had been working on a track for a few weeks now, but she still wasn't completely satisfied with the results of them.

After going through the composition one more time, Jirou carefully placed her guitar back into its case and checked her phone. A notification on the screen appeared, indicating that there was an unread message sent a few minutes ago from Midoriya. Without missing a beat, she tapped on it to see what it was about.

11:45, All Might: Hi Jirou. We are still meeting up today at 1 PM in front of Yuuei, right? Just thought I should ask.

If Jirou knew anything about Izuku Midoriya before they were assigned to work together, it was that the shy teen was full of surprises. Starting with the sheer power of his quirk that contrasted with the utterly plain impression the boy gave; he then managed to get the better of Bakugou during the battle trials back at the first week of class despite the ferocity and skill of the explosive quirk user, if barely.

Getting to know him just reinforced this fact on Jirou's mind: His unexpected shift in personality when the joint exercise started had caught the Earphone Jack user off-guard for a moment. And if that wasn't enough, the green haired teen that aspired to become a hero somehow found her intimidating, which was all sorts of hilarious to her when she thought about it. Midoriya had survived an attack by villains on the USJ, endured Bakugou's temper throughout middle school, and yet her expression had him tense before the exercise even began. And as she found out, he had a way to make even text messages sound more awkward than they had any right to be.

11:46, Earphones: "I don't recall saying otherwise. Do you?"

Though I wonder how long it took for him to actually send the message. After putting on her black leather jacket with blue sleeves on, she grabbed the three concert tickets from her study desk, the house keys her parents had given her today, a few earplugs in case the concert got too loud and walked out of her room. Her steps were the only sound in the house filled with instruments, speakers, amps, albums and all sorts of music industry memorabilia decorating the walls and floors of the place, which Jirou found funny since this was probably the house's most common state.

Well, the old man has a recording session to attend, mom has rehearsals and some meetings to take care of, Jirou thought looking at the Deep Dope concert invited guest tickets on her hand.

I guess it's a good thing they can't come along. Wouldn't want to attract unwanted attention as always but it sucks that they do though. They're pretty cool after all.

She put them back on her right pocket, after which she pulled out her cellphone and headphones before shifting through her music playlists. For the day ahead of her, a Deep Dope album seemed appropriate. She put on her earbuds then placed the cellphone back into her left pocket, and headed out of the house. She had just started to walk out of the house before a vibration and a brief jingle interrupted Into the Sound Waves. With a bit of a scowl, she grabbed the phone and saw another message notification from Midoriya.

11:50, All Might: Okay, just making sure. I'll see you there, then.

11:51, Earphones: Ok.

She placed the cellphone back into her pocket as the tune began anew and continued walking towards the station. It wasn't too far from her home, but still far enough that she had to leave relatively early. Still, she found herself giving a subtle, barely noticeable smile in anticipation of today's concert and hangout once she got to the station. The day seemed promising enough, sunny with calm winds on a temperate spring was a rare occasion for her to find some time and circumstance where she could hang out with friends, much less in a concert of one of her preferred bands. While it sucked that Momo couldn't come with, Kaminari and Midoriya promised to make the day interesting.

On the train in route proper, Jirou recalled her conversation with Midoriya last night through text. She honestly wasn't expecting him to agree to hangout with her and Kaminari, much less when she mentioned a Deep Dope concert in it. From what she learned about him in the past two days, the guy wasn't much of an outgoing person, and seemed to crumble in awkwardness whenever she approached him, something that she found slightly annoying at first. He didn't seem to recognize the name of the band, and in any case she found it more likely that he would rather study or maybe workout and train for the Sports Festival.

It was worth a shot though, as she had grown somewhat fond of the reckless boy. Jirou often had to restrain herself from laughing at Midoriya's reactions when she put him on the edge and more importantly, he seemed quite reliable back at the physical assignment and he pushed himself quite a bit at the end, carrying the dummies with mangled hands. In a way, despite how forced the reasoning seemed, Jirou found herself agreeing with Midoriya that it would be appropriate to know each other better in case they needed to work together in a given situation once they became full-fledged heroes. They could collaborate a bit already; developing that further would help them both at UA and in their future as heroes.

Still, I'm pretty sure the guy also wanted to just do something else other than just studying, lifting and stressing himself over the Sports Festival. Wouldn't blame him myself, Jirou concluded before focusing on the beats coming from her earphones and tuning out for the rest of the train ride while remembering one last thing that, if she was being honest, found genuinely flattering from the awkward UA Student, even if she had teased him a bit for that.

He found her smile to be pretty.

Jirou had to wonder just how long had Midoriya been waiting for her or Kaminari when she saw him in the distance, at the front of UA's closed gates with a frown of clear nervousness in his face. He didn't seem to notice her as he was looking to a side, and if the previous few days were any indication, he seemed to have a hard time noticing just about anyone approaching him if he was in a thought trance. He wore a black and green hoodie, dark brown jeans and ankle-high red shoes, which somehow made him appear even plainer than with his school uniform all things considered. There was not much of a reason to stay out of view, so Jirou approached the green haired teen, a part of her curious whether he would freak out at her appearance for the third time.

She was a few meters away from him when for the first time outside the exercise; Izuku saw her coming and turned to face her. He flinched in surprise for a moment, but that was about it this time before he gave a small, more natural smile than the forced mess that he tried to pass off as "normal" yesterday. There were still a few tinges of nervousness present on him, but that was to be expected from a guy who got flustered by a small smile and could barely talk to her without nearly biting his tongue at times.

"Oh! H-hi Jirou, glad to see you." Midoriya still stuttered a bit when greeting her, which after a few times could become a bit annoying, but it was an improvement over outright freaking out. Still, she would be lying if she said she wasn't glad to see her fellow student here after all; he seemed to think about her invitation for quite a while last night.

"Huh, you actually noticed me this time. That's quite surprising from you, Midoriya." Now he had a bit of a stronger reaction. His smile disappeared for a moment and his face went wide with a small tinge of a blush in there, while Jirou made sure to keep her face neutral as ever.

"W-what? It is? S-sorry about that!" Izuku said, forcing out a smile after that. He's still a wreck at this. How surprising. Jirou had to stop herself from giving a small laugh at the boy's predicament.

"Don't be. Didn't expect a nerd like you to agree to come to a concert." Even with the reasoning he had given. It still seemed quite strange to Jirou that the shy, focused Midoriya had accepted her invitation. She wasn't complaining about it, but it was still surprising for her.

"Oh, I kinda figured that it could be… rude to just decline if you invited me. Especially after what you did about Bakugou yesterday." So I have Explosion Moron to thank for having Midoriya come out of his cave. Great. "And besides, I've never been to one, so I might as well go with you two." As she expected, Midoriya wasn't one to go to concerts at all. Still, that was not all they would be doing for the day, so in the case he ended up overwhelmed or disliking it, the day hopefully wouldn't be a complete waste for him. There were still several hours until the concert started after all.

"Just don't get overwhelmed. Getting crowd anxiety before the Sports Festival doesn't seem like a good way to prepare for if you ask me." Izuku just gave a nod in response to that, his face tensing up slightly at the mention of the event, a sentiment that Jirou couldn't help but share after she had said that. They stayed in silence for a few seconds afterward, their gazes barely meeting.

Great, for once you're the one making things awkward, Kyouka. Good going. The stilted moment continued for a few more seconds, during which Jirou regretted bringing up the Sports Festival just now. In a way, the hangout today was a sort of tool to unwind and tune out from said pressure by just enjoying the day, and a reminder of the big event didn't do good for Jirou's conscience at least. It seemed to bring a tinge of guilt for not being at home or at a field working out or training before what could be a turning point for her and other heroes in training, as well as dragging a few classmates into this. Regardless, this was not the time for the Earphone Jack quirk user to worry about it. There would be an entire day and a half to push herself after this, and she intended to make the most of it. For now, she had to try to break the awkward moment.

"Hey, quit that sulking. It's not like the concert is about to start just now." It was just a bit past one last time Jirou checked, and the concert started at 4:15 according to their tickets. Izuku's face widened in surprise wile showing bit of sweat around it, which despite being a bit funny also greatly confused Jirou for a moment before he replied.

"W-wait, it isn't?!"

"Uhh, yeah, pretty sure I sent you a message about that…" Jirou remembered she had told him to meet them in front of UA's gates at 1 PM after he confirmed he could go to the concert with them. Just to make sure, she brought up her cellphone and checked the texts with Midoriya.

21:02: All Might: Okay, I can go. Where do we meet up?

21:04: Earphones: Ok, that's gotta be one of the fastest replies I've ever seen. Anyways, glad to hear that, we meet at UA's gates at 1 PM. See ya there.

21:07: All Might: Sure.

Kyouka looked back at the green haired boy, who was still quite surprised about the turn of events. A long sigh summarized her feelings about the matter perfectly: she was partly to blame for the mix-up, but it reminded her how little Izuku knew about concerts, and Deep Dope specifically, that he genuinely believed that the concert would start around 1 PM.

"Or maybe not. It starts at four fifteen, still got a while to go." Izuku's face relaxed at this, even if his wide eyes and barely opened mouth still showcased questions going through his mind.

"Thanks, don't worry about it. If you don't mind me asking, what are we going to do until then?" That was probably to be expected from Midoriya now that he knew that it was a hangout. Not missing a beat, Jirou couldn't help but throw a quip at the curious teenager.

"Oh, we'll just stand here for a few hours doing nothing until the concert is about to start." Izuku's face for an instant seemed even more confused before seeming to realize that it was just Jirou's wit again and actually cracking a small smile at that. Seeing that gave Jirou some degree of satisfaction, since it seemed to be rare for her classmate to actually relax or unwind at any point from what she saw. He never seemed particularly nervous, outside of physical exercises or talking to girls at least, but he neither ever seemed particularly comfortable or calm at any point in school.

"Anyways, there are a few places to stop by in the way to the Jiwakusu Hall, so it won't be all that bad..." Jirou then looked at her surroundings for any signs of electric yellow hair, then at her phone to make sure she hadn't missed a text from a lightning bolt just to find that Kaminari had given no signs of life in the whole day.

"…Though at this rate Kaminari will actually make us stand here the whole day." It was ten minutes past one by this point, and they couldn't go anywhere before Kaminari met up with them. Jirou gave an exasperated sigh before there was another silence between the two, lasting about a minute or two. As much of a moron he could be at times, he still was a fun person to be around outside of that as well as one of her first friends she had made at UA, and a very genuine one at that compared to what Jirou had to deal with before coming to the hero high school.

Those were days that, for the most part at least, she would rather not remember at all.

After another minute of neutral silence between Jirou and Izuku, she turned to look at him and noticed him just gazing into the streets without a real hint of impatience in his eyes. Probably lost in thought again. He didn't seem to know anything about Deep Dope now that I think about it…

"Hey, Midoriya." Izuku was brought out of his trance by the interruption and turned to face Jirou with an irregular closed smile showing his surprise at the voice.

"Oh-What is it Jirou?"

"You do know Deep Dope right?" Izuku stared blankly towards the distance for a moment, apparently trying to see if anything came to his mind about the name. Eventually, he looked back at Jirou and shook his head before replying.

"… No, not really."

"Hmmm, makes sense coming from you I guess." At that moment, Izuku flinched a bit before blurting out in response:

"Huh? W-what's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're kind of a big nerd from what I've seen so far."

"H-hey, that was a bit uncalled for." Jirou just gave him a smirk before replying:

"Maybe."

Jirou then reached her hand into her picket and pulled out her phone. Noticing the mostly empty streets around her, she opened her Deep Dope playlist again before turning the phone's speakers to a moderately high level. She did consider just using the earphones instead, but she had them on the whole trip taking them off just a few seconds before meeting up with Izuku. That would be gross.

"Well, here's your chance to give it a listen." Jirou pressed the play button on the phone, before taking a step closer to Midoriya and making sure he could listen the track being transmitted. Evidently he was at least interested on it, as for the three minutes that the rock song Under the Rubble played, his focus was frozen on the mobile device. He didn't move an inch as the song changed tempo and potency at times, the lyrics seemingly singing about a hero who is shaken by the state of people they had rescued from disasters. It was one of Deep Dope's better ones, as far as she was concerned. The minutes passed by quickly before the music faded out and Jirou put back the cellphone in her pocket.

"So, any thoughts on it?"

"I like it, mostly how it seemed to… rise and fall? Is that how you would call that?" Instrumentation shifts, tempo changes, change in the potency and loudness of both lyrics and the key change from the bridge to the encore chorus. But hey, rise and fall works too. She had thought of just saying it outright to Izuku, but as far as she was concerned there was no reason for Izuku to know how to describe music that way. Besides, as long as he liked it then at least she knew that he wouldn't have a miserable time at the concert.

Not to mention that a hastily approaching teen with electric yellow hair, closed black jacket with yellow stripes on the sleeves, and dark blue jeans became visible some distance away from them. In a few seconds, the Electrification quirk user managed to stop a meter away from his classmates before greeting them.

"Hey guys, hope I didn't make you wait too much. How is it going?" He waved his hand at the two of them as he said this while giving them a casual smile all the while. He gave off the impression that out of the unlikely trio for the day he was the one most excited to be here, amidst Jirou's perpetual frown and Izuku's bouts of nervousness.

"Hi Kaminari, nice to see you here." As Jirou expected, Midoriya didn't seem to have as much trouble talking to other guys, less so when not being singled out.

"I was starting to doubt whether you'd actually come. You didn't get lost in the way here?"

"Of course not! I just had to take care of some stuff back at home, that's all."

"And you won't mention what it was. Really assuring from you." If there was something consistent about Kaminari, is that he made for an even easier target for Jirou's comments and quips than Izuku.

"Oh come on, do I really need to tell you?" And thus the fool bit the bait.

"On a second thought, no. I probably don't need to know." Jirou said with a deeper frown that before. It took a moment of confusion for Kaminari before he seemed to realize what the rocker teen was implying, giving a long, frustrated sigh.

"Did you really have to go there?"

"What? I don't see what's wrong with those old people books you read. Well, other than being boring and full of words you just pop out for no reason."

"That was really fastidious, you know?" After covering up her laughs for a moment with her palm, Jirou turned towards Izuku who stared at them with curiosity and a tinge of worry over what had just happened.

"Hey Jirou, Kaminari. Is everything all right with you two?" It was probably the first time Izuku saw from up close how Jirou and Kaminari acted around each other some of the time, which made his concern more understandable. Still, Jirou knew or at least thought that Izuku didn't think any less of her due to her snark, and neither did she find his social awkwardness completely appalling. For a moment, Jirou wondered if she had gone a bit too far this time… before discarding that thought as Kaminari explained with a slight smile.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Don't tell me she has not thrown any shade like that at you?" Yeah, there have been some fun moments to be had with this nerd, the rocker teen thought as she saw Izuku grin uneasily for a moment. She had to wonder just what did he recall when the yellow haired teen made his question. Most likely, it was the incidents with her smile.

"Y-yeah, a few times."

"See? You just gotta get used to that part of her, it can get a bit annoying, but it also gets pretty fun at times with her around like that." A small shape of a smile was again noticeable on Izuku's face as he gave a nod. Despite how idiotic he could be at times even when his brain is functioning correctly, he seemed to know how to lighten up a tense atmosphere as long as he didn't cause it. With greetings said and done, Jirou started walking away from the gates of UA.

"I'm sure it would be fun to spend all day by the gates of our currently closed school, but we've got places to be." She then continued walking through the streets towards the Corusukanto ward, with a Kaminari and Izuku catching up after a moment. They were quite the peculiar company to have around for a modern rock concert and the hours before then, but that meant that the day was worth looking forward to.

Unlike the mostly silent walk back to the station a day back, the way towards the Corusukanto ward was almost completely filled with a fluid conversation the whole way through. Aside from a regular exchange of questions about each other and small talk, the issue of Izuku's fingers after the physical assignment two days ago was brought up, since they were still slightly bandaged last time Jirou saw him. Apparently the injury wasn't as bad as other uses of his power and only needed them on one day, with no scaring or deformation apparent on them. Jirou noticed how lightly Midoriya talked about the subject, as if he were just talking about the schoolwork or the weather. It slightly disturbed her, though a part of her did admire how willing he was to push himself despite the risks involved.

All the while, the rocker teen led the trio through the streets leading to the ward, knowing the area as well as the area around her home thanks to her family's frequent visits to the area, whether it was for a concert, recording or rehearsal. Truth be told, she wasn't taking the straight path to the venue of the upcoming concert since there were a couple of places she wanted to stop by before the concert started, and they had more than enough time to make a small detour.

Eventually, the topic of Deep Dope came up. Jirou noticed that Izuku seemed to hang on to any word they said about the band, which if she had to be honest with herself, she found it quite funny considering that the nerd didn't have any idea who they were less than an hour ago. Either he really liked the song after all, or was just trying to get an idea of how they were in order to not get caught off guard at the concert. At least he's being enthusiastic about this.

About half an hour after the three of them had started walking, they found themselves in a busy street with small crowds of people walking in and out of buildings of all kinds; stores, restaurants, small shops, and even some businesses still seemed to be active today. They stopped in front of what seemed to be a small café decorated with music iconography on the outside, such as a few notes and instruments surrounding the entrance sign. It read Tonal Cafe, one of Jirou's few spots she liked to visit whenever she came to this ward. The three entered the shop and took one of the few available tables in the place, which was now even more filled with all kinds of music based décor now that they were inside: from instruments and vinyl albums on display, to photos and memorabilia of local and famous musicians alike, the small place had a solid theme in mind which fascinated both Kaminari and Izuku, though each for different reasons.

"Hey! That's the guitar that Wavelength used to play, right?" The yellow haired teen noticed one of the instruments displayed on a wall, accompanied by a picture of an attractive redhead woman with long braids wearing a dark blue tank top, but her most notable characteristic were the fingers on her hands, in full display and bent into a variety of impossible shapes including the titular wavelength. Jirou had to stifle a laugh at seeing Kaminari almost swoon at the sight of the now-retired guitarist.

"Yeah, cause that's what you first noticed about her, right?" A faint blush could be seen going through Kaminari's face, who decided to stay silent instead of digging himself a deeper grave this time. Izuku found himself examining the apparent quirk on the woman, then giving a few looks to other portraits of people who displayed their quirks on them: a picture next to some drumsticks had a man who seemed to have a finger in the middle of tapping up and down on a desk, shown by the motion blur on it. Another portrait next to a vinyl had another man, this one with his hand producing small, colorful sparks in front of his face. One next to an album cover even had a woman whose face seemed mutated into having feline ears, whiskers, eyes and some fur. Besides them and a few others though, the rest of the portraits seemed to display people that, if they had a quirk, then they did not bother to showcase it. Either that or they were on the legs, like Iida did. Jirou was already familiar with most of these portraits, one in particular fitting the word perfectly, but she didn't expect Midoriya to be so interested in these people, barely giving a look at the instrument or object besides them, though it wasn't surprising either.

"Hey nerd, see something you like?"

"H-huh? Oh, I was just watching some of the portraits here. Though some of these people are clearly displaying their quirks, even if they seem to be activated, so I guess I was wondering whether they actually use them in music." Well, I was not expecting that today. There were a few things to be said on the use of quirks in the music industry… but she didn't want to miss a chance to mess a bit with the curious teen before that.

"I meant if there was anything you liked on the menu. Where did that come from?" Izuku seemed to barely stop himself from overreacting, settling on a sheepish frown and scratching the back of his head.

"You two make this too easy. Anyways, can't use them for live performances, but music videos and album recordings? As long as it isn't dangerous, it is fair game. And it's not like the mutation quirk users have a choice in the matter." This actually encouraged most quirked musicians to stick to a quirkless style for playing and recording music, since many early quirked bands had albums that sounded incredible, but then completely flunked at the live performances which disappointed their fans, painted a negative image on the artists, and slowly burned their careers. A disrupted life due to what seemed to be an advantage. Somehow, a part of Jirou understood that well.

"So I guess that the one that Kaminari noticed… Wavelength..."

"Mostly used her stretchy fingers to show off her guitar skills in the music videos. A bit scary, but entertaining if I do say so myself" Kaminari said at the mere mention of the name before going back to the menu. Jirou decided to ignore that and turned back towards Izuku.

"Also, focus. You still need to see if there's something you'd like to order."

"Oh, Right…" Jirou found it funny how Midoriya occasionally gave a slight blush whenever she managed to mess with the teen like that. She wasn't completely sure what caused that, whether it was just that he found it hard to talk with girls, or just how he found her intimidating outside of that even, which still seemed to surface at times. Regardless, the hearing teen had to admit that Izuku being like that around her was strangely endearing and more importantly, it was oddly flattering. She gave an amused smile at the blushing teen, which in turn made him freeze up again as the red in his skin increased in color and intensity, before hiding his face behind the menu.

"Hey Midoriya, you ok there, mate?" Kaminari noticed the green haired teen's reddened face, with a bit of a tremble barely noticeable on it, before turning towards Jirou and catching her smile for a moment before it went back to a frown. He made an amused grin and went back checking the menu.

"Y-yeah, I'm ok thanks!" Izuku blurted out with a crack in his voice at Kaminari, and probably Jirou as well, before composing himself and turning his face back to the menu. Jirou barely avoided laughing at Midoriya's awkward shift in volume and tone.

What did I say about him? Oh yeah, flustered nerd, all right.

If there was one complaint Jirou had about the Tonal Café whenever she went there, it was that the actual food, while creatively decorated according to the theme of the place, was a bit lacking on taste by comparison. This sentiment seemed to be shared by Izuku and Kaminari once they made their way out of the café to continue towards the concert venue. Aside from that, the conversation this time centered on Izuku and Jirou's joint assignment. All what Kaminari knew about it previously was that they passed and that Jirou thought highly of Izuku's performance there, missing it due to an overuse of his quirk causing his brain to be short circuited prior to their turn, a fact that Jirou did not let go of while the conversation continued much to his dismay. After a while of walking though the streets and alleys of Corusukanto, Kaminari noticed a few flashing lights at a building before recognizing what it was.

"Hey, we've still got some time till the concert, right? I think we should stop by that arcade for a while." Jirou turned to face the place that Kaminari was talking about and thought about it for a moment. There was still well over an hour till they even had to be there for the concert, and in any case there was a game that she had been thinking of trying out for a while. It had been a while since she came here, so she might as well make good use of the time they had.

"Sure, why not." Jirou said with a neutral expression before Kaminari dashed into the building, leaving her and Izuku behind.

"Hey, Midoriya. You planning on just standing there?"

"Oh! Sorry about that, I'm going in too. It's just that I haven't been to one of these in… quite a long time now, actually." These arcades had been losing popularity as consoles became more practical and powerful, thus making them sort of a rarity even in Japan as time went on. It wasn't too surprising for Jirou that maybe Izuku's nearest arcade had closed down, or maybe he just lost interest. Still, a longing look could be seen in Izuku's face when he faced back at the place to walk towards it, which inevitably made the rocker teen a bit curious. Kaminari could probably wait for a bit, or maybe he was already playing at some cabinet by himself, so Jirou decided to clear that up for herself.

"Not a fan of arcades?"

"Well, I did play quite a few games whenever I went to the one closest to home. Maybe there's still a high score of mine recorded in the machines now that I remember it." Or maybe he was a big fan of these places. I guess he really is kind of a big nerd. Izuku stopped for a moment after saying that, before looking at Jirou for a moment and then giving a small sigh."Once, I tried to get a few classmates to go, Bakugou included, and got laughed at for it. I think I stopped going there shortly after that."

Jirou was caught off guard when the fellow hero in training admitted that to her. She already wondered if his awkwardness and introverted nature were in part due to people like Bakugou just making his life every bit more difficult than it should, but maybe at least he had some people who would help him along. This just made it clear that, more likely than not, he just was unable to make friends worth a damn for a long time. She couldn't say she understood why, or that she got how that felt, but at least a feeling like that was familiar to her. Regardless, she for once left those questions for another day.

"Hey, at least you've got a couple of friends with you this time. Might as well enjoy it while you can instead of hanging on what some jerks did a few years back." She gave Izuku a small smile with that, again flustering him and turning him into a blubbering mess that didn't seem to know how to respond to that. Jirou was at least glad that she was able to prevent him from feeling a bit blue for the time being, and she had to admit that she missed seeing him like that. It was almost as funny as watching Kaminari act like a moron after overusing his quirk, and a small part of her felt complimented to see a guy act like that just because she gave him a smile. After a few seconds of this, Izuku cooled down and smiled back at her.

"Y-yeah, you're right." Still smiling, Jirou turned back towards the arcade and entered the place, Izuku following close behind.

"Thanks, by the way. For, uh… inviting me to go with you two I guess."

"Heh, took you long enough."

"You two really have never touched anything similar to a musical instrument in your life, haven't you?"

"No, not really. I've seen a few machines like that, but I was never really that interested I guess."

"You actually know how to play the real instruments, how are we supposed to keep up with that?"

"Come on, I only know the basics of most of them. Besides, Izuku did get a higher score on the last one."

"I don't know... My fingers still feel heavy after that one. Besides, it looked quite effortless to you."

The three made their way out of the arcade after several rounds of a few games in there. Going through a bit more old fashioned simple games at first, which Izuku seemed have some experience with, then into some advanced machines for fighting games old and new which Kaminari definitely enjoyed the most out of all of them even if he was only a bit better at them than Midoriya, who admitted to barely playing them back at the local arcade. Lastly, Jirou managed to find the game she was looking for: another iteration of an old game where there were several instrument options for players to chose from and they had to "play" along to the notes onscreen. Of course, Jirou ended up getting the highest scores out of the three in comparison to Kaminari who just didn't seem able to follow along with the guitar despite how much he tried, and Izuku who had pretty much focus completely on following the notes on the keyboard in order to do even follow the rhythm. He caught on eventually, but compared to Kyouka's more natural performance with the bass it was clear that he wasn't good at this. Jirou made a mental note to thank Kaminari later for noticing the place, as she did have some fun after all, and so did the other two apparently.

Once they left, Jirou checked her phone to see how long they had till the concert started. From past experience, Jirou estimated that it would take them about 20 minutes or so to get to the Jiwakusu Hall from here, and the current time on her phone read 3:25 PM. Just enough time for them to get there at the appointed time, as they had to be there by 4:00 PM or risk losing their place in the calling order.

After a while more of walking and conversing through the Corusukanto ward, they arrived at the Jiwakusu Hall. Just as Kyouka remembered it, a few stairs led below street level into a hall filled with posters, signs, bulletin boards and more adverts for upcoming gigs alongside seas of stickers for several bands, both local and popular. A small crowd had already arrived at the place, ranging from other teenagers like them to adults ranging around their thirties. A few concert goers could be seen approaching a select group of people, some of them asking for an autograph of a poster or CD. This wasn't a strange sight in these places: Live Houses were one of the preferred types of venues for musicians to attend alongside other concert goers and fellow musicians, regardless of competition or personal egos.

I guess my parents would be mingling with them as well if they were here.

They were just glad to enjoy and support other artists regardless of how big or small they could be. And the place, while not being one for complex decoration, still had an inviting atmosphere for her. A bit of urban art on some of the walls, pillars of brick, and an overall simple feeling was something Jirou could get behind. She reached into her right pocket and pulled out the three guest tickets, giving Kaminari, Midoriya and herself one each mentioning to only show them when they were asked for. During this, she noticed a bit of tension on the latter's face. It wasn't nearly as bad as the one he had prior to the assignment now that she remembered, but it was still palpable. And apparently, she wasn't the only one to notice.

"Dude, you don't look too well. You ok there, Midoriya?"

"Oh, sure. I'm fine, just… a bit nervous, I guess."

"Can't blame ya there. I mean, a walk through the city, a lunch, some games and a concert? Just walk her back to her house and it would be the perfect date, y'know?"

The one thing that Kyouka appreciated about Kaminari's comment was that it made Izuku into a panicking wreck worse than almost everything that she had managed to do herself. Not that it was particularly entertaining this time, as his skin just outright flushed a strong red, broke into a strong sweat and froze in shock with a scared expression on his face. And that was not including the arms trying and failing to cover his miserable state as well as his shaking body, along the sputtering that seemed to convey half words and drowned screams. Kaminari just looked confused at the mess he created before turning to Jirou with the same expression, to which she replied with an annoyed glare and deeper frown than usual.

"Errr… sorry about that. I guess I thought that would be funny and lift his spirits a bit, or something…" Jirou gave a frustrated sigh at this. He might have had good intentions, but Kaminari could really be a moron sometimes. She didn't mind too much that he made Izuku into a mess like that. She did that the first few times they talked, she wasn't one to judge others on that.

Rather, she was annoyed at Kaminari's comparison that he thought that would somehow help Izuku, and that he did so despite having seen how a simple smile had left the green haired teen. Regardless, it wasn't much to lose her cool over, and after a few seconds Izuku managed to calm down, so the damage wasn't anything major.

"D-don't worry about it, Kaminari. Besides, I'm sure it's not… anything like that."

"He wishes it were, and even then Kaminari would just be screwing up at every step of the way." Jirou confirmed with a smirk to the yellow haired teen's dismay. "Now then, if we could actually get in the line and wait for the doors to open—"

"Ummm, Jirou? Do you know where the restrooms are in here? I don't like to admit it, but I haven't gone since we met up in front of UA." Jirou brought her palm to her head when she heard that, before replying:

"Hall on the left side, then take a right, you dolt."

"Hey, I can't exactly control that, you know? But thanks anyways." Kaminari dashed towards the restrooms then, leaving a still nervous Izuku alone with Jirou.

"I guess you now have a reason to be tense again, huh?"

"Sorry, I've never been to a place like this, or just a concert in general."

"Never would have guessed."

"Really? I thought I already told—" Jirou gave Midoriya a smirk before he completed his question, with which he seemed to realize just what was the rocker teen doing, going back into an uneasy silence. The green haired teen then took another look at his ticket, before facing back towards Jirou.

"Hey, Jirou. Why do these tickets say 'Invited Guests: Jirou & Co.'?" Oh. He really doesn't know, huh? He really didn't know about her family name in the local music industry, and it would probably be better to just stay quiet about it. However, dismissing the question lying to him would be unfair if he was able to be honest about being intimidated by her, or if he practically admitted that he had no friends for a long time.

Still, there were quite a few people around them, so she walked away from the crowd and gestured to Izuku to follow her. Just a few buildings away from the Hall and by extension just about everyone in the area, but still in viewing distance seemed like a good place. It seemed to make Izuku a bit nervous, with a bit of sweat visible in his face and a sheepish frown, but Kyouka didn't care right now.

"I hope you know how to keep a secret, since what I'll tell you right now? Never repeat it." The wielder of One for All gave nod in response.

"Yeah, I promise." Kyouka glared at Izuku for a few more seconds before reluctantly telling him:

"Originally they were given to my parents and I as an invitation, but they had stuff to attend to today, so they gave theirs for me to share. They're kind of a big deal in the music industry. It has its perks as you can see, but it can get annoying when people start hounding you because of that." For once, Jirou was the one feeling a bit nervous just saying all this to Midoriya. If she were wrong about him, then it would cause a lot of trouble for her later on. Still, Midoriya's gaze seemed uncharacteristically serious when she told him that, which in a way comforted the purple-eyed teen. For Jirou, his promise was tangibly real.

"So… don't tell anyone, alright? Only Yaoyorozu and Kaminari know already."

"Sure, don't worry about it." As if confirming his statement, Izuku gave her a comfortable smile. Jirou kept her expression serious despite that, but a part of her wished to reply to that with a real smile. Regardless, she stayed stoic as she began to walk back to the venue, Izuku silently following close behind.

Momo, Denki and now Izuku. Glad to know for myself that UA does attract nice people.

Lights.

Crowds.

Music.

Noise.

For a moment, Jirou cursed whoever decided that these kinds of closed spaces were appropriate for bands that varied in volume, had elements of hard rock and a mix of electronic genres in their music, and really liked to test the limits of their audio equipment. For what it was worth, the music and ambience were as enjoyable as one could expect from a Deep Dope concert. The songs were as good as ever, with Jirou and Kaminari often singing along while Izuku managed to follow the odd chorus, and the band really knew how to put on a show. Being quite near the stage of the hall didn't do any favors to the volume though, and the crowd, as small as it could be, in a confined space like this it became obvious that they were enthusiastic about this.

Kaminari didn't seem to mind at all. He just at home in this kind of place and band, doing whatever the more enthusiastic crowd did without missing a beat and singing along, not too badly if Jirou had to be honest. Out of the three, he seemed to be the one enjoying the moment the most.

Izuku… was another story entirely. He seemed to enjoy the music itself well enough, clapping alongside the crowd and could be seen at times with a grin on his face. He also often tried to get into the feeling of the crowd, attempting to follow some of the lyrics and sometimes trying to imitate the crowd around him, but some occasions of wide eyes, loud breaths and bouts of just standing there blankly for half a minute indicated that the poor guy was getting overwhelmed after all.

And if Jirou had to be honest, she understood that. A few of the louder songs with more creative light patterns left her in an awkward state of not really paying attention to the song of the band or whatever she was doing with a blank stare on her face. She recovered from these eventually, but a part of her was starting to wonder whether it was a good idea to bring Izuku along to something that she herself was having a hard time following along.

About an hour into the concert after one of the group's more popular songs, the lights went dark and the band disappeared into the backstage before the lights lit up again on a closed off stage. The concert wasn't quite over yet, but it was time for a brief intermission. Some people went into one of the several surrounding sections of the building, be it to eat, drink, or just to go to the restroom. At Jirou's suggestion, the trio decided to stay where they were, lest other concertgoers take their adequate place.

"Man, they're even better in person than I thought. Quite the cool band, don't you think?" Kaminari's enthusiasm hadn't faded after the initial half of the concert, even if he tried to play it a bit cooler now that he was talking to his companions. Still, it was surprising, if also welcome, to see the yellow-eyed teenager in such an upbeat state.

"Would I have brought you three here if I didn't think they were good?" Jirou said with a relaxed frown on her face.

"I don't know, with how often you seem to like to mess with me at times…"

"Okay, let me rephrase that. Do you really think that I would waste hours of your time for something mediocre? That sounds more like your thing if I'm being honest."

"I… had that one coming, didn't I?" Kaminari said with an increasingly deflated voice and expression.

"Yes."

After bringing down Kaminari's mood for a moment, Jirou turned towards Izuku to her other side. Noticing that, he gave her an uncomfortable smile that seemed to sum up his experience so far. It didn't hurt to ask, though.

"So, do you now regret coming along with us? You don't seem all that comfortable after all."

"…It was noisier and more crowded than I thought it would be." Jirou raised an eyebrow at Midoriya as he talked, which seemed to awkwardly accelerate his speech a bit. "I- I do like the music! P-pretty cool so far but I after a while it did become a bit too much for me." She still found it strange and darkly funny that Midoriya could keep his cool better in a fight against robots, thugs and people who could create explosions at will, but Jirou had experienced a similar feeling throughout the concert.

"I guess that's to be expected." The rocker teen then reached into one of her pockets and took out a pair of earplugs, handing them over to Izuku. "These can help out a bit. Helps make sure your ears don't feel like they've been thrown into a blender when they get really loud." She then turned her head a bit to let Izuku see that she was wearing a pair as well. His mouth opened a little from the surprise at the fact, which made sense to Jirou since for all he knew, she was probably used to this kind of noise.

"What? Did you really think that I would risk an important part of my quirk like that? I thought you were smart when it came down to that subject." Apparently, being questioned and corrected on the matter of quirks in her own way was enough to make Izuku again turn into a sputtering mess, unfortunately for him.

"W-what! Sorry! I didn't mean to— I g-guess I just forgot a-about— I-I mean I sti-still got a… lot to learn— B-but I-I think it's pretty cool that you take care of your q-quirk like that!"

Huh, he actually managed to make it comprehensible for others at the end there.

"Ok, slow down a bit, will ya? Don't need you having a nervous breakdown like this in the middle of a crowd." A few gazes were locked unto them, but briefly at best as others went back to their own business. After taking a few breaths and looking around, Izuku managed to calm down before the Earphone Jack user continued.

"Still funny. Anyways, I'll be honest here; I appreciate concerts and all, but I think crowds like this kinda tune me off a bit." Izuku's eyes lit up in realization before replying.

"O-oh! Yeah, I found it strange that you didn't seem as excited for this as Kaminari. I mean, you invited us so I thought you really liked these things."

"To a degree. Live music can be entertaining, but I'd rather much enjoy a few songs in private or at least in a less chaotic place than this. Also, no stink of sweat all over." Izuku gave a small laugh at that before putting in the earplugs that Jirou had given him. "So, try to focus on the music if you want. These crowds are kinda insane at times, so no use following them if you aren't sure of what they're trying to do. Should be easier to just enjoy the music with the earplugs on." At least, that was what helped Jirou on the first few concerts she went to. As much as she liked to see performers live, it was still a bit draining for her to attend a concert like this, and tried to do so only when accompanied, be it with friends or more commonly her parents.

"Thanks, I guess that makes sense. It did surprise me when you invited me to a concert."

"I think you already told me that." Jirou said with a raised eyebrow and some confusion in her voice and mind.

"I-I mean, besides the fact that you would invite me to something like that… from what little I knew about concerts there wasn't any indication that you would be someone who would enjoy them much. Well, besides the costume I guess." Now that Jirou thought about it, she really hadn't indicated that she even liked music in particular to the green-eyed teenager before today. The only thing that hinted such a thing was her Hero Costume, which Izuku did pick up on, but still no guarantees or real proof.

"Huh, didn't know you could figure out a person like that in just a couple of days. You sure that isn't a quirk?" The aloof rocker told to Izuku with a smirk. He might have been right about that, but it was a guess at best. The green haired teen just gave an uneasy laugh in response.

"Hey, even if I didn't enjoy the concert, I think it's been quite fun all this, spending time with you and Kaminari. So I think I could go through it anyways."

"Ow, How sweet of you." Jirou said with a voice dripping in sarcasm, making Izuku's face go red while his expression became a bit confused.

"Yeah, that's the spirit Midoriya!" Kaminari said after recovering from Jirou's quip at his expense. "Besides, you might as well get used to the crowds and noise, since the Sports Festival is just around the corner." In a moment, the atmosphere between the three became that little bit more awkward and heavier, as Izuku faced to a side with a slightly tenser expression, while Jirou just glared daggers at Kaminari. Oh come on Denki, seriously? Right now?

"Hey! What did I say wrong?"

Fortunately, Izuku was able to enjoy the second half of the concert better thanks to his talk with Jirou. He seemed a bit more calmed during the concert, focusing on hearing the music and singing along just for a few choruses, and he didn't freak out as often as before. At least his ears didn't seem to show any signs of damage after the fact. Song selection was still good, Deep Dope were still good performers with an interesting style and combination of genres, and Jirou still managed to enjoy the concert amidst the crowded space and loud fans. Kaminari maybe enjoyed it a bit too much, since his voice, while still functional, was a bit lower than usual and lacking in air, as well as just being overall exhausted. While Jirou and Izuku were a bit tired as well, the electrification user seemed quite a bit close to his moron state without ever shooting a spark of electricity throughout the day, something that Kyouka made a point to bring up frequently on the way back for her amusement. Aside from that, the hour-long way back to UA's gates was considerably more silent than the walks towards the Jiwakusu Hall. Kaminari's hoarse voice didn't help matters with this, though they mostly commented on the concert and Deep Dope. All things considered, Jirou found herself enjoying this day a bit more than she expected, and not just because she got to quip at two easy targets. Eventually, they stopped where they had reunited earlier, with the night now firmly covering the sky.

"Well… this was quite the fun day. Thanks for inviting us to go with you, Jirou. That was pretty cool. Oh, and see ya Midoriya, glad you could come with us. Couldn't have been an easy choice for you." The rocker teen still had to contain herself from laughing at Kaminari's self-induced sore voice, as she still had some business pending with him.

"Wait, you're not coming with us to the station?"

"Nah, the one you use right now doesn't have any more trains scheduled where I can head back home. Thanks though, I'll be fine."

"Oh, ok. See you at the Sports Festival then, Kaminari."

"By the way, thanks for suggesting us to go to the arcade, it was as fun as machines that rot your brain can be."

"Why are you worried? As far as I'm concerned, you seem to think that I have no brains anymore." Kaminari said with a grin directed at Jirou. For once, she let him have this one.

"If you say so, then. See ya, thunderdolt." With that, Kaminari waved at Izuku and Jirou before walking off into the crowd flooded streets of Musutafu. On their side, the unlikely pair began to walk towards the same station that they headed to yesterday. A bit of small talk between the two about the day they had occupied a few minutes of the way towards the station, but just a few minutes before arriving, Izuku noticed something.

"You know, Kaminari was right after all." He said while having a pensive look

"About what? That his brain is already too rotten?" Jirou said with a slight smirk on her face. Those were his words, not hers after all.

"N-no! I mean, his shocks can't help that much, but he seems to be doing all right. Anyways, he said that we should get used to the crowds and noise at the Sports Festival. I… know it is not something that we might want to talk about today, but I think that will help a bit at least." That, she couldn't deny. As much as they had tried to avoid the subject throughout the day, it was still a major event that could lead to great things for the UA students, or create a difficult hurdle to pass. And if Jirou was being honest, she didn't think that her quirk had much potential for an event like that. She frowned a bit more before she gave off a tired sigh.

"Guess you're right about that. One or several million eyes on us, that's pretty hard to ignore. Still, just stressing over it wouldn't have helped much. That's why I decided to take this chance, you know. Even if there wasn't a concert or some other event like that, I would have still asked you guys and Yaoyorozu to come along and just have some fun for once."

"But isn't that a bit neglectful of what the event means to us as future heroes? Especially the first year, where we receive offers for internships with pros? It's pretty much our opening statement to the world after all." Good thing he's passionate about this. Would have been disappointing to discover otherwise.

"I guess so, but then again you did accept to come here after all." It still felt weird for Jirou to have both of them talking so seriously outside an assignment. The secret about the tickets was one thing; at least she was a bit nervous there while Izuku stayed serious throughout it all. It didn't surprise Jirou too much though; the two of them were quite different from each other, so it was inevitable that they would eventually discuss something this way.

"I mean, it would have been rude to say no after what you did yesterday. And I plan on making up for today the next two days." In that instant, just a few blocks before arriving at the station, realized that his plans seemed to be the same as hers. While she couldn't quite devote the whole next two days to exercising and training, at least the better part of the day and a half were going to be completely dedicated to preparing for the Sports Festival. She stopped for a moment, with Izuku realizing that just a second afterwards and turning back to face her. She gave him a glare for several seconds, hoping that her intended message would be obvious to the sometimes-clueless Midoriya. When he just shot her a confused stare in return, Jirou gave another sigh and her right palm to her forehead before stating it clearly:

"What did you think I was going to do the next two days? Sit on my butt playing the guitar all day?" This time, Izuku got the message loud and clear.

"Ah! Sorry Jirou, I didn't mean to come off like that! I was just worried that you wouldn't be prepared for the Festival." A higher than usual tone of voice accompanied Izuku's apology, as well as a bit of shaking and a distressed facial expression. While Jirou didn't appreciate her fellow hero in training seemingly thinking that she wouldn't do much to prepare for the festival without him telling her to do so, it wasn't that big of a deal for her, at least not enough for him to look genuinely disturbed by what he implied.

"I know, don't worry about it." Jirou then continued walking alongside Izuku to the station while continuing their talk along the way. "I appreciate your concern over that, but I'm pretty sure everyone has the same thing on their minds, so don't go thinking that we aren't going to do our best out there. Your quirk has a lot of potential, even if it is quite glassy, so that will be fun to watch."

"Thanks, I guess. I'm still trying to find a way to use it so that it doesn't break my body, but so far it's been dumb luck whether I manage to do so."

"Well, I hope you get it down by the time it comes around, or else you're probably gonna have a bit of trouble there."

"Yeah, I know."

Another minute of silence passed between the two before they arrived at the station, tonight absolutely packed with people coming back home from Golden Week events or even heading towards them. Jirou checked the time until the next train for her way back home arrived, which was at about twenty-one minutes. Izuku also checked the board to know when his next train arrived, which from his reaction didn't seem too close either. A few minutes passed, during which Jirou thought about the upcoming event. She didn't feel ready at all for the Sports Festival, but chances were that if they were given double the time to prepare for the competition then she still would feel woefully underprepared. She was competing against the likes of Momo, Todoroki, Bakugou, Iida, Tokoyami, and Midoriya just to name a few, and that was not including whatever was in store for them from 1-B. They went through the same trials as them to get into UA and passed, and even worse they had no idea just what they could do.

When she thought about it, the risk of failure there was incredibly high.

But that didn't mean she wasn't going her hardest to try and find a way to succeed in the end.

"H-hey, you ok there, Jirou?" Her eyes widened as Izuku's voice brought her out from her trance, before turning to face the green-eyed boy next to her. For one, he was the one bringing her down from the clouds, it seemed.

"Yeah, still a bit nervous about the Sports Festival. "

"I guessed so. I could say the same about myself." At this point, Kyouka had an idea. She and Izuku seemed able to work together, to back up each other as shown in the assignment. There was no guarantee, or even hint that there would be any kind of team competition in which they would be able to work together, and besides a part of Jirou wanted to compete against the awkward hero in training if possible.

But at the very least prior to that, they could attempt to work together to improve themselves.

"Hey, you said you still needed to get your quirk to work without tossing your arms through the blender, right?" Izuku's face displayed a smile and wide eyes when the earphone jack user hinted at her assistance to help control his quirk.

"What? Oh yeah, you have any ideas?"

"Well, not right now, but if you're gonna be training these next two days for the Sports Festival, I might be able to help you." Said features disappeared for a moment from Izuku's expression just to be replaced by a raised eyebrow and a confused frown.

"What do you mean, Jirou?"

"It's simple, really. The day before the Sports Festival, we can train and help out each other. Best to have someone to monitor how much you improve, don't you think?" For a moment, it seemed like Izuku was going to go back into a panic at the suggestion, his cheeks turning red and his arms trembling for a second. The fact that he was able to change that into a sheepish smile with only a slight tint of pink on his face made things a whole lot easier for Jirou.

"S-sure! It could be useful to improve our quirk use and get prepared for the actual event, so it seems good to me." At that moment, an alert on the board signaled that Izuku's train was to arrive shortly. It was a shame that they could not plan the joint training right now, but they were probably better off planning it through the text chat later. She gave Izuku a smile before he left for the train, which did manage to get him to stare for a moment with a blush, if nothing else.

"I'll text you the details tomorrow. Won't miss anything this time, so if you get lost or get the time wrong it's you fault this time. See ya, nerd."

"O-okay! I guess I'll see you in two days then. Oh, and thanks for… well, everything today. I had a lot of fun. See ya, Jirou."

And like that, Izuku Midoriya disappeared into a crowd of people. While the oceans of people making their way through the station didn't help, Jirou discovered just how easy it was to lose sight of such a plain looking guy in a crowd. Good thing we didn't separate at the concert, or we would have been in trouble.

On the train back home, Jirou found herself again staring at the window, with earbuds playing some of her favorite music. This time, she listened to a band from before she was born called Earphone Euphoria. Some pretty good rock beats, an amazing vocalist, and some pretty solid composition made this band one of Kyouka's favorites. And yet, she couldn't completely tune out her brain right now. Once more, her thoughts focused on a fellow hero student with green hair and eyes who was full of surprises.

There was a lot to be said about Izuku Midoriya after getting to know him better throughout the day. It didn't seem like a big deal back then to Kyouka, but he was thankful enough to her for standing up to Bakugou for him that he didn't mind going to an event unlike any he had been to before. Getting to learn that he was quite possibly friendless some time ago before coming to UA cleared that up for her, since he probably had to try to stand up all by himself to people much like Bakugou everyday. The same teen had also turned out to like hard rock combined with electronic music, and after some talking managed to enjoy a loud, cramped concert despite his withdrawn nature. There were two things that stood out to Kyouka Jirou the most though.

Midoriya seemed very much willing and capable of braving new experiences or trials if needed from him. He did well in every simulation assignment he went through so far, despite any initial reluctance he might have had, which seemed to translate well into the new experiences he went through today, even if he was nervous at first. Jirou admired that from him, if she had to be honest.

Most of all, Kyouka was surprised that, during these past three days she had grown fond of an awkward, yet ultimately funny and sweet nerd.

InazumaFrost/LynShimo here, and I hope you enjoyed this new chapter of String Instruments and Notebooks!

Whew, now that was a doozy. This is the largest singular chapter of a work, fanfiction or not, that I have ever done. Clocking at over 11k words, there are a few chapters down the line that might become even longer, but with the quality to match. This one was a tough one to write. Between adding Kaminari to the group, going through a multipart hangout, and, oh, I don't know, going through the PoV and trying to plant the seeds of expansion upon the character of Kyouka Jirou, a character that has been barely used in the manga despite her popularity, this chapter was something else to write. Watch all of this crumble around me as Horikoshi innevitably introduces her actual character and backstory in… lets give it a year or two at most, if not less.

There's also the fact that life decided to be particularly heavy between the release of chapter 2 and this one, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. One monthly chapter seems to be the pace I'll be going for the time being because of this, regardless of how long or short they manage to be. And due to a particularly important event coming on February, it is entirely likely that January might go without a new chapter. Sorry about that.

I wanted to thank you all for the massive support this fic has been receiving. I didn't expect this to blow up like it has done so far, and as always your feedback and criticisms are highly valuable to me. Was there any part you considered particularly enjoyable? Let me know! And I hope to see you for the next chapter.

PS: Shoutout to crazyman185 (author of Cubicity, one of the absolute top tier BnHA shipfics around and good listener and talker for story plans) and BlackJoker (discord pal, great ideas guy who continues writing 1/3rd of the plot of this story). This story would be much worse without you two.

EDIT: While I already mentioned it on my profile, I guess that it is more likely for my readers to know this if I announce it in the chapters proper: The fic has a cover image now! Drawn by nocunoct from Tumblr and Pixiv, an amazing artist overall. I cannot thank him enough for the ship art he made, and you can send him some love over here:

Pixiv: https /www pixiv net / member php ? id=18266374

Tumblr: http /nocunoct tumblr com/