Chapter Text
A small dagger flew towards Kyoka’s face at a nearly impossible speed. She ducked just in time, though it still sliced off a few strands of her hair before it stuck into the wall behind her. As she ducked, she felt her legs get swept out from under her, dropping her to the ground before she was tackled. She tried to wriggle herself free, but she was caught.
“Okay! I yield.” She felt the grip on her relax, and she sat up. “Jeez, Momo, have you been training without me? That knife throw was crazy fast.”
“Oh, I’ve been doing a little bit of training on the side with Uraraka. She’s very skilled in hand-to-hand combat.”
“Girls! The gym is closing in 15 minutes. Make sure you’re out by then or it’s cleaning duty in the dorms.” Shouta shouted from the entrance to Gym Gamma. They were still under a bit of surveillance after the break in.
“We’d better get going then.”
Since sorting things out with Denki and the news about their relationship getting out, Kyoka and Momo had been keeping things steady. They had begun doing private training sessions outside of class as a way to bond and improve specific combat skills they didn’t go over much in classes. The lack of a strict schedule for these sessions meant that they were rare, but they were always incredibly productive.
After they changed out of their sparring equipment, Kyoka and Momo headed out of the gym and got a couple of cold drinks from a vending machine outside. They sat along the wall, close-by to the machine and cracked open their drinks.
Kyoka took a long swig of her canned coffee and sighed loudly. Momo seemed to take a breath, looking like she was spacing out. She held her drink in front of her lips for a beat before snapping out of it and taking a sip.
“Something wrong?” Kyoka asked, taking note of Momo’s movements.
“I was just thinking about something we discussed in student council earlier today.”
“Oh yeah? What’s up?”
“The school festival. It’s coming up soon,” Momo sighed after taking another sip of her yogurt drink.
“Really?”
“There has been a bit of debate, though.” She looked over at Kyoka and hesitated again. Kyoka turned to face her completely, sure to make it obvious that she was listening intently and ready with any advice she needed.
After a moment, she continued, “All the villain activity has some people quite nervous about hosting such a large event on campus.”
“Hmm, yeah. I mean, the festival must be huge here at UA. This place is nuts.”
“Yeah, exactly. Admin has been saying that such a big event could attract more attention to the school that we really don’t need right now.”
“Right. Our class keeps getting involved in such insane shit. First All for One, then Overhaul. I’m surprised no one in our class has gotten seriously hurt. Or, I guess that upperclassman, Mirio, got pretty roughed up.”
“Mhm. It’s things like that that have the student council worried. We’ve taken a bit of a hit and they think that the villains will take advantage of the festival, seeing it as an opportunity to make us hurt more.”
“Makes sense,” Kyoka sighed, returning to her position leaning against the wall. “But it would be damn cool to see what this place cooks up for the festival.”
“What do you think our class would end up doing?” Momo asked, staring off at the group of dormitories in the distance.
“Maybe I would convince them to do something music-related.”
“You’d finally let me hear you play?”
“You’ve heard me play.”
“I haven’t heard much . I want to hear you at the height of your passion, not just a quick chord or two in your dorm room.” Momo whined. Kyoka rolled her eyes and leaned close to Momo, placing a soft kiss on her cheek.
“You’re stupid sometimes, you know that?”
-----
“Good morning, class. Today we have a special announcement that I’m sure you’ve all been anticipating.”
Kyoka already knew what it was, so did Momo, of course. Kyoka looked back at her as soon as their teacher started the announcement. There was fire in Kyoka’s eyes, and she could see the sparkle in Momo’s.
“The UA School Festival is coming up.”
There were a few scattered cheers from across the room. Mina was pumped, Hanta cheered as well, and Eijiro seemed curious. He raised his hand and Shouta reluctantly called on him.
“A school festival? With all that’s been going on lately?”
He had the same qualm that the student council had; the villain activity was definitely something to be concerned about, but:
“Administration has ensured that there will be a sufficient amount of security to squash any possible villain intervention. We want to continue our school’s tradition and not give in to villain threats. You guys all know the deal around here.”
The class fell silent and Shouta groaned.
“The point is, you’ll all be safe no matter what. Alright?” Shouta grumbled. “Moving on, you’ll all have to decide collectively what you all want to do for the festival. Our class has to put on their own exhibit or whatever you want to call it.” He gestured to both Momo and Tenya before slumping down in the corner of the room. “Your class reps will help you all come to a consensus. You all just have to tell me by today…”
Silence fell over the room. Kyoka sat up straight and strained her eyes to confirm her suspicions. Shouta was fast asleep, just like that. She looked over at Denki and they both burst out laughing.
“Okay everyone, Yaoyorozu and I will get us started with ideas for the festival,” Tenya announced as he strode to the front of the classroom.
Momo brushed Kyoka’s arm as she passed her desk. Denki stuck out his tongue in response and whispered something to her about PDA in the classroom. She ignored him, as usual. He made comments about them quite often, though he loved them together.
Once Momo got to the front of the room Tenya got started on his own speech he prepared for the festival, briefing the class on what exactly was expected of them. Momo started outlining a list on the whiteboard. Once Tenya was done with his spiel, the class immediately burst out with ideas.
“What about a maid caf―?” Kaminari exclaimed, swiftly silenced by Kyoka hitting him over the head.
“ Watch it nimrod, ” she muttered under her breath.
The rest of her classmates began chiming in with their ideas, most revolving around different food stalls, competition based activities, and even the cliché haunted house idea– which was quickly shot down; there were at least some clichés they wanted to avoid. Once all the ideas were on the board, the class leaders proposed that a decision be made.
“If everyone could raise their hands for the festival idea they like most, we can record which idea is most popular and move forward,” Tenya proposed.
Kyoka wasn’t feeling particularly inspired by any of the ideas on the board, her own still lingering in her mind. It was purely hypothetical, as cute as it would be to get the class together on a collaboration like that.
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted, her girlfriend suddenly stopping Tenya’s voting idea.
“Kyoka, you had a great idea the other day. I’m sure the class would love to hear it before we start deciding.”
It was as if she read her mind, she was just thinking of that idea, more specifically how she did not want to announce that idea to the class. It was just something fun she thought of, not something she thought she could actually pull off.
“No, no, that was just something silly I mentioned to you in confidence , I’m sure that our class would much rather do that crepe house that Satou mentioned. That sounded good.”
“ Kyoka , your idea was really promising. I think we need another good idea apart from the ones we have so far,” Momo urged.
Kyoka looked over the several options again, the ones that were so uninspiring, but didn’t want to budge.
“It must be something good if your girlfriend brought it up so suddenly,” Mina said suggestively.
At this point, the whole class was staring at Kyoka. Even her own girlfriends eyes were shooting daggers at her trying to get her to spit her idea out. And even though what Momo said was true―she was really excited about this supposed ‘concert’ idea―she was too embarrassed to bring that up as a real suggestion for the class. It was really just something silly she came up with. She didn’t do performances very often despite her deep passion for music. It was something personal and intimate she only engaged in from the safety of her dorm or her dad’s studio back home.
“We could table this for now and tell Mr. Aizawa what our idea is later on after today's classes,” Tenya suggested.
The tension in the room suddenly dissipated. Kyoka could feel herself breathe again, she didn’t even realize how intensely she was thinking about this idea. She looked up at Tenya, then back at Momo, who was still trying to plead with her to reveal her idea. For a second, she wanted to take the easy way out. But, something in her mind clicked and she was convinced.
“No,” Kyoka stated. “Let’s do it. Let’s do my idea.”
“You have to tell us what your idea is, dipshit,” Katsuki griped behind her from Eijiro’s seat. How he got there, Kyoka was not sure.
“Right, sorry. My idea is… a concert.”
“A CONCERT?!” The entire class screamed. Kyoka had to quickly cover her sensitive ears. They were clearly over the moon about her choice of exhibition. She didn’t have to be so shy about her idea.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Denki start to wind up and get excited.
“Do you guys know what this means?!” Denki exclaimed. He stood up abruptly in his chair and started making grand gestures around the room. “Rocking out and showing off our moves at the festival, sounds like a hell of a lot more fun than my idea for a maid café.”
“Settle down Kaminari, I have a few questions about this idea,” Tenya said. “How would we procure the instruments necessary, or the music itself? Surely that would mean a lot of practicing and a lot of collaboration on our part, Jirou.”
Tenya brought up some valid points. There would be a lot to be done if they went through with her idea. But while that amount of work seemed daunting, she could also see the excitement in Momo’s eyes. Momo had a look of wonder that surpassed anything Kyoka had seen before. Clearly, before this moment she had no idea the true passion Momo felt for her own passion. Sure, Momo did mention in passing that musicians enamored her, but Kyoka thought she was exaggerating for the sake of flirting with her. But now, she could see that her girlfriend really wanted to see what she could put together.
“I’m up for the task, and I’m sure a lot of us here would easily fit right into the plan I have in mind,” Kyoka started. “I can play just about anything—and I have just about any instrument back in my dorm—and a few of our other classmates happen to play instruments already. I’ve been teaching Denki electric guitar, Shinsou plays bass along with Tokoyami, and our lovely class vice president plays the piano.”
Kyoka smirked at Momo, whose eyes had shifted from pure wonder to create a spiteful glare. But there was no way that Kyoka was going to let her girlfriend get away with putting her in this position, even if she technically was really excited to be pulling this off.
“With that, we pretty much have a full band. All that’s left is if we want to include dancers and if people want to do light effects. It’s all a matter of who’s left and how everyone wants to contribute.”
“Why that sounds, very sound actually,” Tenya chuckled. “What a marvelous plan. If all are in agreement, I believe that this would be the most effective and rewarding for us to do for our exhibition.”
The class voted and unanimously agreed to do Kyoka’s concert. People broke off into groups and began brainstorming what they could do to assist the band and make the performance a cohesive and attractive contribution to UA’s school festival. A few even offered up their skills to Kyoka.
“Earphones, your dumbass band is missing the most important thing: percussion. If you want a stable band you’re gonna want to have someone on that,” Katsuki muttered as he approached her desk.
“I know… Bakugo. What are you trying to say, can you play the drums?” Kyoka was curious and Katsuki all of a sudden seemed a bit wary talking to her.
“Yeah, whatever. I wouldn’t trust any of these idiots to do it,” he scoffed.
“Okay, cool. Thanks, bro.”
Katsuki nodded in acknowledgement and made his way back over to Eijiro’s seat. Kyoka felt an elbow nudge her and she turned to see Denki holding in a laugh. This was one of the first times either of them had ever seen Katsuki so mellow and actually offering to help someone. It didn’t help that he and Eijiro were being a lot less secretive about their relationship. They were a surprisingly affectionate couple, even if Katsuki looked like a strangled cat half the time.
Things were starting to fall into place which hyped up Kyoka. She already had 6 musicians for the band, if she included Momo. She may have shot her a dirty look when she mentioned it, but the idea of getting her girlfriend to play along with her in a proper performance made her a bit weak in the knees. Maybe Kyoka did get Momo’s desire to see her passionate and doing something she loved, although Momo probably didn’t love music as much as she did. She still thought of how pretty she would look.
She was suddenly snapped out of her daydreaming by the sound of her teacher protesting against Tenya trying to politely wake him up. Homeroom was almost over, and they had to tell him their idea. It was usually a battle trying to wake him up whenever he let the class do an independent activity during that period.
“A concert led by Jirou? That actually doesn’t sound half-bad,” Shouta grunted as he stood up from his napping corner. He rubbed his eyes, stretched up fully, and muttered to himself, “Back in the day I was actually in a band with Mic.”
Kyoka’s jaw fell open and practically smacked against her desk. Her teacher used to be in a band?! It wasn’t obvious if that was actually meant to be heard by the class, but judging by everyone’s reactions it definitely was.
“Dude did you hear that?!?” Denki squealed, practically pulling Kyoka’s arm off.
“YES. Now let go of my arm, you’re hurting me, Sparky.”
-----
The class bell rang out through the halls and like clockwork, Momo was at Kyoka’s desk, extending out her hand to escort her back to the dorm hall. Denki scoffed and made his usual comment about them two, but Kyoka always paid him no mind. She was happy, and nothing could spoil that for her.
“No council meeting today?” Kyoka asked, taking Momo’s hand and leading them out of the classroom.
“Nope,” Momo said, shaking her head. “I’m all yours for today.”
Kyoka giggled and, after a short moment of silent walking through the halls, recalled her girlfriend’s behavior from that morning, her attitude greatly contrasting the cute and flirty one she was putting forward at the moment.
“You know, you were being so mean in homeroom. You did not have to go and bring up my stupid little concert idea.”
“Well, I don’t think that was mean at all. You had a good idea, something you’re quite passionate about, and the class needed to come to a consensus. Especially since all the ideas we had before I brought yours up were a bit, um, wishy-washy.”
“ Wishy-washy ?! And you just claimed to not be mean. I wonder how the class would feel if they heard how you mocked their ideas.”
“I’m not mocking them, they’re just a lot less coherent than a concert.”
“Really?”
“Would you not agree that it would be hard for 20 teenagers to put together a food stall? Or an obstacle course like Kirishima proposed?”
“Hmm.” Kyoka considered Momo’s words closely. She was right. Seeing as Kyoka already had so much music training and a lot of the necessary resources for them to be able to put a concert on, it was the most logical choice.
Kyoka pulled Momo a bit closer, and linked their arms together.
“It would be, especially considering our class is particularly clumsy.”
“I knew you’d understand,” Momo whispered, stroking Kyoka’s hand.
They continued their walk, semi-quietly, until they got back to Kyoka’s room. They usually hung out in one anothers rooms after classes ended, when and if Momo did not have a student council meeting. Today, they decided it would be appropriate to go to Kyoka’s so she could begin organizing and planning things for the festival.
Kyoka immediately started getting to work on organizing her instruments and testing each of them to see if they were in good enough condition to hand off to her classmates. Her girlfriend, noticing her work so hard, decided to interject, throwing Kyoka off-base.
“Seeing as you’re going to have your hands full for the next few weeks, I’m guessing we’ll have to put our sparring sessions on hold,” Momo said.
Kyoka stopped adjusting her snare drum and looked over her shoulder to see Momo laying on her bed and twirling her hair. She shook her head slightly and looked back down, taking note of Momo’s flirtatious tone. Considering how put together and proper she seemed, Kyoka hadn’t pegged Momo as being super flirtatious before they got together. It was a pleasant surprise for her.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“It’s such a shame though,” Momo sighed, her tone persisting. Kyoka instinctively rolled her eyes and turned to face her.
“Momo, I cannot handle your blatant flirting when all of this just got put on my plate,” Kyoka whined. She stood up and crossed the room to sit on the bed with her. “But… you’re right. It’ll be a while until I’m free again, there’s so much to do” She leaned close and kissed Momo on the cheek.
“I suppose it’s alright, I did inadvertently ask you to do all this.”
“You did.”
“Do you have everything you need to do in order yet?”
“Well, I have to set up practice times with everyone, make sure everyone has an instrument and they all work, and help everyone learn the song,” Kyoka sighed, shortly before realizing something she should've thought of before. “SHIT! I have to write the song.”
Kyoka slumped over Momo’s lap and groaned loudly. So many things had to happen and consequently go right for this concert to work. Plus, she was the one in class who had the most experience with everything, unless someone was leading a musician/hero double-life that she somehow didn’t know about.
Momo started rubbing Kyoka’s arm, trying to comfort her while her mind was running wild with all this work. Thankfully, she started to calm down.
“You know, I can help you with some of that. It doesn’t all have to be up to you.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, of course! Whatever you need, Kyoka.”
It seemed so simple, and convenient as to how such a perfect solution fell right into her lap. The two of them working together on such a crazy and convoluted yet fun plan?
“Momo…” Kyoka said, feelings of warmth stirring up in her chest. “What would I do without you?”