Normal Girl

What's Your Favorite Dinner Food?

"I think fireworks would be perfect. I'll go ask the administrators if we could do a show or something. Makoto, why don't you come with?" Hina suggested, standing up and holding out her hand to Makoto which he used to stabilize himself as he also stood. They walked off and were only gone a few minutes before returning with triumphant grins on their faces.

"They loved the idea! Apparently, they have some spare fireworks in the warehouse, so it'll only be about an hour until the show," Makoto said, taking his seat once again and beginning a second plate of food.

"Yeah! We also went to get more food and talked to Teruteru. We told him to tell everyone who came through the line to stick around for another hour or so for a 'surprise!'" Hina added, also sitting back down with her extra plate.

"Wow, you guys, that's really cool, thank you so much!" I replied blushing lightly at the kindness of all of my new friends.

"Hey, we couldn't'a done it without you, (Y/N)!" Mondo said, patting my head and ruffling my hair encouragingly.

All the girls suddenly pulled me into the center of the blanket and enveloped me in a group hug. Then, even the boys joined until we were all group hugging on our picnic blanket.

"I... I don't know how to thank you guys enough. I haven't been this happy since my dad built me my treehouse," I said, wiping away my tears of joy.

"Well, maybe we can make these feelings last for more than just today," Nagito said, rubbing my back comfortingly and smiling down at me. Everyone nodded in agreement. I looked away bashfully and stuffed my face with food.

"That's the Ultimate Hope for ya!" Kazuichi said, giving me an enthusiastic thumbs up and shark-toothy grin.

We all continued talking happily through the sunset while we waited for the fireworks to start. The time seemed to fly by until Headmaster Kirigiri suddenly appeared at the front of the courtyard for an announcement.

"Thank you all so much for creating such an enjoyable first night here at Hope's Peak! Seeing everyone pitch in and working together to set up and have such an awesome evening reminded me what this school is all about: hope. Now, before we get to the surprise, which I'm sure most of you already know about and have been patiently waiting for, I'd like to acknowledge the person who came up with the idea for this whole change of plans to have this student body picnic. This student stepped up tonight and, whether she meant to or not, really showed us what it means to be a student at Hope's Peak Academy. The other administrators and teachers here tonight would like to give a sincere thank you to the Ultimate Hope, (Y/N) (L/N)! Please stand up if you would and allow us to give you a big round of applause!"

My eyes widened as I was singled out. I was frozen in fear until Nagito squeezed my waist and Hina and Ibuki bounced over to me, grabbed my hands, and pulled me to my feet, hugging me and waving at the other students while everyone clapped and cheered or simply smiled and nodded in approval. The rest of my friends on our picnic blanket stood up with me and joined in the hug as the fireworks started. I couldn't help but start crying again at how much pride and love my friends seemed to feel for me.

The fireworks display was probably one of the most extravagant and beautiful I've ever seen. Given the short amount of time and planning the teachers had to put it together, they really went all out. The display lasted about half an hour, and they offered to let me light the first firework of the show. The crowd cheered and clapped and whooped at the awesome finale of the display until it came to its explosive end.

When it was over, I looked over at Nagito to see him looking not at the display but the happy students around him. He turned his head to meet my eyes, smiling brightly at me as his own eyes continued to twinkle in excitement despite the darkness. I guess everyone appreciates life in their own way.