"YOᑌ ᖇEᗩᒪᒪY ᗩᖇE ᔕOᗰETᕼIᑎG ᔕᑭEᑕIᗩᒪ, YOᑌ KᑎOᗯ TᕼᗩT?"

Tuesday rolled around pretty quickly, and the previous night Ochako had been coaching herself on how to ask Deku to go to the Flower Festival with her. It was nerve racking, but slowly, she had built up confidence in order to ask.

Now, though, while entering the school and almost instantly spotting the unruly green hair that was so familiar, she felt that courage break.

How am I supposed to do this? Her thoughts seemed to swirl as many outcomes played like a movie in her mind. And for some odd reason, every single possibility resulted in disaster. The student groaned inwardly, hesitantly walking up to Deku and tapping on his shoulder.

The teenager turned around, instantly jumping a little when he spotted Ochako. "Oh, Uraraka!"

"Hey there, Deku," the brunette smiled, giving a little wave. "Walk to class with me?"

Izuku nodded, falling into step with her as she started to walk forward. There was comfortable silence between them as they headed to class, with the bickering of other students surrounding them. But Ochako didn't want to be tongue tied. She wanted to ask about the festival, but her confidence had already wavered the moment she stepped into school.

When they entered the classroom, they weren't greeted by Bakugo exploding everything up, which was actually surprising. Instead the students were all in their little cliques, most likely talking about the event coming up.

Subconsciously, Ochako followed Deku to his seat. She was just surprised as he was, and as he sat down, Uraraka decided it was now or never.

Start with a casual conversation, she thought, clearing her throat a little.

"Hey... uhm, Deku?" She started. Her friend had been pulling out books from his backpack, and at her voice he looked up at her expectantly.

"Yeah?"

"Are you planning on going to the festival, by any chance?" Ochako asked timidly, twirling a strand of hair with her finger. She did that when she was nervous.

Deku sat up straight, crossing his arms in thought. "I've thought about it, and I decided that I'm only going to go if someone or a group of friends asks me to go. It's always nicer to be with somebody than by yourself."

This is my chance! Uraraka looked away, pursing her lips nervously a little as she murmured, "Well... I mean.. I..."

Deku's eyes widened, and he leaned in a little. "Yes?"

Ochako shut her eyes tight, and started to stutter even more. "I-I could... we could..." her voice was barely more than a whisper when the door opened and Aizawa walked in.

"Everyone take your seats," he said monotonously, and everyone scurried back to their places hurriedly.

"Haha! Well! Guess I'll go back to my seat then!" Ochako said awkwardly, turning around quickly.

"Uraraka-..." but she didn't stick around to hear what Deku had to say as she shuffled to her seat, flopping down and quietly, somehow, slamming her head onto the desk. She earned a few concerned glances from the classmates that were near her, but she ignored them.

Lifting her head, she allowed her gaze to travel over to Midoriya, and her heart clutched as she realized it was useless. He wouldn't want to go with her anyway.

Little did she know, Deku was trying to figure out how to ask her to the festival as well. He had practiced asking her in the bathroom that morning, though each time it ended in utter failure and stuttering... even if he was just talking to own his reflection.

Anyone who knew him would recognize he was too anxious to actually ask someone out on a date, though he wasn't planning on phrasing the question that way. He did want to grow closer to her during the festival, but he didn't know how to without making their relationship awkward. That's why he decided to ask her out as a friend, not on a date.

Although he would personally love for it to be a date, but it was obvious he was too awkward for that.

As Aizawa's class continued, the teacher gave them free time to work on their projects near the end of class, since it was to be expected that thoughts of the upcoming event would probably be swarming the students heads instead of work.

As the group of three worked on their school-provided chrome books, Iida announced he had to go to the bathroom. When he left, Deku turned to Ochako, who had her eyes on the screen. Might as well do it now.

"Uraraka?" Deku said, trying to make it casual. Her golden-brown eyes lifted and met with his.

"Hmm?"

"I've.. uh.." Deku tugged at his shirt, already nervous. "I've been thinking about what you were saying this morning, about the festival..."

The brunette noticeably stiffened, though she nodded for him to go on. The One for All user gulped. "And well.. uhm... would you like to-.."

"Ochako!" Mina's voice sounded from beside them, and both students jumped as their pink classmate skipped over to them.

Deku grabbed his chrome book out of the way as Mina leaned down onto the desk the two students were previously sharing. Ochako did the same, looking up at her pink friend with wide eyes.

"Sooooo, are you guys going to the festival with anyone?" Mina asked excitedly, looking at them both. 

Ochako deadpanned and Deku immediately blushed, looking away.

I know what she's doing, Ochako thought irritably, and she stared up at her friend with annoyed eyes. "Don't you have a project to be working on?"

"Avoiding the question, I see," Mina said teasingly, wrapping her arm around Uraraka's shoulders. "C'mon you two! You've gotta be going with someone!"

I would be if someone hadn't interrupted! Both students thought, Deku looking at Mina and Ochako glaring at Aizawa, who had finally noticed the conversation from where he was at the front of the classroom.

"Ashido, back to your group," the teacher ordered, though in all honesty, he didn't look like he cared. Mina grumbled a small "fine" and turned away, but not without turning around and winking at Ochako.

Uraraka was about to slap her friend when Iida walked in, sitting back down at the desk. "Did you get any work done?" He asked with his robotic movements.

"Yeah, sure..." the two heroes in training mumbled in response, making Iida raise his brow.

When lunch came around, Deku and Uraraka had tried multiple times in previous classes to ask each other about the festival, and each time they were interrupted. Ochako had even legitimately considered yelling "FESTIVAL?" in Deku's face hoping he'd get the message, but she thought even that would be cut off.

As they entered the cafeteria with their friends, Izuku and Ochako sat next to each other, both of them planning to try and ask for the last time. If this didn't work, then they'd stop.

Both teenagers had a bit of trouble trying to find the right words, but when they built up enough confidence, they turned to each other at the same time.

"Deku!"

"Uraraka!"

They said each other's names in unison and stopped, staring at each other with wide, surprised eyes.

"Uh, you go first," Ochako said after a couple moments, waving her hands in front on her.

"No, you should..."

"Guys?" Tsuyu's voice cut in, and both of them groaned, not even surprised at that point. "Have you been listening?"

Ochako tilted her head. "Listening to what?"

"Our plans for the Flower Festival," Todoroki said, cocking a brow. "We're planning on going together. Are you in or out?"

The two student's expressions went blank, and Uraraka turned to Midoriya for confirmation. The green haired boy nodded, and both of them smiled at the rest of their group.

"Of course!"

—————————————

"So... have you figured out a plan, yet?" A gruff voice asked, and Inouye glanced over at her grandfather.

"It's almost done," she said hesitantly, picking at her nails.

There was silence, before the man pushed his chair away from his desk and stood. "...Almost? Almost doesn't get anywhere, Inouye. You, of all people, should know that."

Rewind Doctor winced at his scolding tone. "You have to understand, grandfather-..."

"Don't call me that," the man growled, crossing his arms. Inouye's eyes trailed to the ground.

"Iwahara, you need to recognize that we have to be careful with this. We can't underestimate the enemy." Her voice started to tremble as her grandfather slowly stepped away from the desk, walking towards her as she continued. "Heroes are unpredictable. They always have a trick up their sleeve. They always... seem to win. So we-..."

"Then make sure they don't win!" Iwahara roared, his quirk activating as strands of black thorns shot from his finger tips and latched onto his granddaughters arm.

She cried out in pain, looking up in fear as Iwahara advanced onto her. "Do you want our plan to fail!?" He screeched.

Inouye shut her eyes tight, shaking her head. "No..."

"Do you want everything we've worked so hard for to end up in shambles? All the sacrifices you've made to be for nothing!?" The thorns tightened around her arm, and Rewind Doctor gasped in pain.

"N-no!" She screeched, trying to claw the thorns off only to cut her fingers. Iwahara let them dig deeper into her flesh for a split second before he retracted the black strands, glaring down at his granddaughter, who was now bleeding profusely from her right arm.

"If you don't have the plan finished by tonight, then you're going to wish I killed you right here and now," he growled, and backhanded her. She fell to the floor, grabbing her cheek.

As Iwahara walked away, Inouye looked up, tears flowing freely from her eyes. "I hate you," she whispered as her grandfather exited the room. "I hate you..."

—————————————

Wednesday came slower than anticipated. On Tuesday night, Deku, Ochako, and Iida met up at the Midoriya household to try and get more of the presentation done. It still wasn't finished, though it was close, and they predicted it would be done by Friday.

School hours on Wednesday went by at a snails pace, and as Ochako looked at the clock, she quietly counted down the last few seconds of school before they were let out early for the Flower Festival. When the bell rang, almost the entirety of U.A. cheered, and students rushed out of their classrooms in a hurry to get home and change into more casual clothing.

Ochako headed to Momo's house with the girls to change into their outfits. At the Flower Festival, you could wear a kimono in you wanted to, but Uraraka decided against it. It was starting to get hotter outside as the school year neared its end, and she would rather be comfortable than sweating. The other girls clearly thought that as well, since they were putting on regular clothes.

Deku, on the other hand, went with Todoroki and Iida to the Tenya household to hang out before meeting time. Izuku was dressed in a plain white t-shirt with a small green and white jacket over it. The sleeves were long, so he could tie it around his waist comfortably if he got hot, even if it looked a little girly. Khaki shorts and his usual red shoes completed the look, and when it was time to go, he and the other two headed downtown.

So far, the festival was gorgeous. Tents were set up along the streets, pink petals littered the ground and fairy lights hung from buildings, since the Flower Festival usually went on until night. There was a beautiful view of the sea from one area of the festival, where they would be shooting fireworks into the sky from the beach down below.

Midoriya stared in awe at the food that was on display before Iida tapped on his shoulder, and they both turned to see the girls headed towards them. His eyes met with Ochako's and they waved at each other. Deku blushed a little at her outfit.

Uraraka was wearing a plain white tank top with a plaid jacket tied onto her waist and a purse hanging over her shoulder. She had short jean shorts on, and her hair was tied up into a high bun, with the two long strands in the front hanging down.

The brunette came up to him, a grin painted onto her features. "So? Are you going to stare at me like that the entire time, or do you want to go check out the festival?"

Izuku jumped back, startled at the fact he had been staring. "Yeah, let's go."

Ochako smiled widely, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along to catch up with their friends.

By the time night came, Deku was a little dazed. Him and the others had eaten food, played games, and just overall had a good time together. Yet, there was one moment he couldn't seem to get out of his head.

They had been separated from the group, and Ochako had whined that Tsuyu had her purse. Deku had chuckled, reassuring her that Tsu would take care of it. Then, out of nowhere, it happened. Flowers were thrown into the air in celebration, and their petals slowly floated down in an assortment of beautiful yellows, reds and blues. Uraraka had laughed in surprise, and Izuku watched as she had ran into the petals, dancing excitedly as the flowers came down.

He had been mesmerized by her movements, that had seemed to flow with the blossoms as she gracefully danced with a beaming expression. Her eyes had shimmered with joy, and Izuku's chest compressed. He liked the feeling he felt when watching her, though he had been surprised. How could she dance so beautifully?

He was snapped back to reality as his attention went back to looking out over the sea with Ochako. They were still separated from the group, and the two decided that they would rather find a place to watch the fireworks than miss the event searching for their friends.

They both leaned against the railing on the area that looked out over the ocean, and a calm atmosphere surrounded them as other people settled down to find a place to watch the fireworks. Izuku heard a little huff next to him, and he turned his head to see Ochako rubbing her arms. She had put her plaid jacket on, but that didn't seem to help.

"It's so cold..." she grumbled. That was an understatement. She was freezing, and she could feel the goosebumps on her skin through the thin fabric of her jacket. C'mon fireworks! She thought irritably. Start already-

"Hmph!" She let out a small, surprised sound as something fuzzy and warm dropped onto her head. Ochako took it off, and looked down into her hands to see a familiar green and white jacket. She glanced over at Deku, who now only had his white t-shirt.

"Deku..." she started, but he interrupted her.

"Put in on," he said, still overlooking the sea. "I'll be fine."

Heat rose in her cheeks as Uraraka obeyed, putting the cozy jacket on. It's so warm... she thought, zipping it up. The collar came up to her chin, and she buried her nose and mouth into it to keep warm. It smells like... mint? She then blushed, realizing it was most likely how Deku smelled as well, but she quickly pushed the thought away. She was just thankful to him for lending her his jacket, and she was starting to heat up already.

"Thanks..." she murmured softly, though it was barely audible, because the first firework was shot up into the sky. Red and blue sparks exploded from it as it lit up the sky, earning cheers from other bystanders.

Though, Ochako barely payed attention to it, because she was staring up at her friend. Have his eyes always been that bright? She thought as she observed his features. His jade green optics, his ruffled up hair. His skin looked soft, and she noticed smaller, barely visible freckles around the bigger ones as another firework lit up the sky.

She continued to stare, gripping the the jacket as she smiled warmly. "Thank you..." she said again, yet it was barely more than a whisper. And, somehow, she knew she was thanking him for more than just lending her a jacket.