Supernova

Chapter Sixty Five - Slow Dancing in the Dark

A/N: Man...sure would be nice if Elias would hit the brakes on the ominous foolery and just let us enjoy the slice of life arc, huh?

Although I may talk a fair amount of shit about homework and academic lectures, being a hero had gotten more exhausting than ever, and I was grateful for the teenage high school fantasy I was able to sink into with classes resuming. I enjoyed putting on my uniform and eating breakfast in the common space and walking to class with a bag full of books that I might actually open one of these days. I mean, I still couldn't read or write in Japanese, but the textbooks had pictures, and I figured I could pick everything I needed to know up from context.

On one morning when the dust had mostly settled, Aizawa announced to me that there was going to be a school festival coming up. The timing of this event was not lost on me, and to me, the announcement sounded an awful lot like: We realize that the work studies traumatized and endangered an awful lot of students. Sorry about that. In addition to cancelling them, we're going to throw you guys a party! Take a load off. Tell your parents not to complain to the school, please and thank you!

Kiri, my clever brother, voiced those thoughts exactly, but Aizawa brushed him off. It would be great fun, he told us, making considerable effort to make it sound exciting. Besides, he explained to us, the hero courses weren't the only courses the school offered, you know. Translation: it was a pleasant distraction and would make for good PR. America and Japan weren't so different after all. He could have said it threw a clenched jaw and the students still would have yelped and shrieked in glee, I assumed, because they did, before he had even really started explaining the details.

There wasn't much to it, really. Every class, including ours, had to put on some type of performance for the rest of the school. Momo and Iida took position at the front of the class and started writing down ideas. It was all gibberish to me, so I had to pay attention to what people were saying to have any stake. Hero quiz. Ugh, Midoriya, seriously? Dance performance. I love you Mina, but fuck no. Mochi shop. That I could get on board with, though I didn't see how it would be very entertaining. Maid café. Not bad, honestly. I could see that going well.

"What do you think, Stronghold?" Kaminari asked, leaning out of his desk and reaching over to swat my arm.

"You wanna fucking lose that hand?" I heard from behind me. I wished I could wear that phrase like a necklace.

"Americans are known for being super flashy," Kaminari continued, uneasily laughing off the threat. "What should we do?"

"Oh, I'm team maid café all the way," I told him honestly. Momo got a troubled look at her face and was looking at me like I'd slapped her.

"Holy shit!" Kaminari yelped, turning back in his chair towards Mineta. "Did you hear that? Strongholds on our side!"

"Cass! No!" Mina yelled at me from across the room. When I turned around towards her, she was on her feet, her hands pressed into her desk, her wide black eyes watching me. The other girls too, were looking at me uneasily. "The boys only want to do that so they can ogle us!"

"This is going to be like the cheerleader outfits from the sports festival all over again," Uraraka whined softly to Tsu, who gave her an understanding and apprehensive look.

"They do that anyways!" I yelled back, raising to my own feet now. "We'd might as well make some money from it. Boys are dogs. It would probably be a popular showcase!"

"I can't wait to see all the girls dressed up as maids," Mineta cooed from further back. "Waiting on us hand and foot."

"We're not fucking doing that!" Bakugo yelled, his chair flying back into Midoriya's desk as he got to his feet, his red eyes flaring just a foot and a half away from mine.