Koto's POV

As school commences as usual, homework begins to accumulate. Where some of my friends like Ochaco and Eijiro were offered work study opportunities and Bakugo has to attend supplementary lessons with Todoroki, I'm left with the ever-looming recital date.

The day before my performance, I collapse on the couch in the common area of the 1-A Alliance. My schedule has been relentless: attending classes, going to the studio, returning to the dorms to do my homework late into the night, and getting minimal sleep before repeating the process. As much as I love ballet, I'll be glad to have some extra breathing room when it's all over.

I close my eyes to get a quick five minute nap, but my best friend's voice calls me back to the living world.

"Koto?" Ochaco asks sheepishly.

I sit up and make a sound of recognition as I rub the fatigue from my eyes. Apprehensiveness is clear on her face and Eijiro's who stands behind her.

"We sorta can't make it tomorrow," she says, seeming to retreat into herself.

"Wh-what?"

Aizawa had allowed me to go to the recital tomorrow as long as I brought at least one other person with me since it's dangerous for us to leave campus by ourselves. I of course asked my two friends to join me, but now they can't make it?

"It's our work studies," Ei explains earnestly. "We got our schedules in and they both have us working then. We're really sorry."

I'm disappointed, but I nod anyway. "I get it," I mumble, picking up my bag so I can go take a shower and begin my homework.

•°•°•°•

"What do you mean, 'no'?!?!" I exclaim to my homeroom teacher Saturday morning.

He groans and places a hand to his forehead. "It's not safe for you to go without accompaniment."

"Th-then I'll choose someone else! Mina!" The pinkette perks up, but Aizawa waves her off.

"As far as I know, Ashido still hasn't finished her project." The girl in question sinks down in her seat at the table and goes back to dejectedly taking notes. "Many of your classmates have a tendency to procrastinate."

I'm of course aware of the project in question. A giant research paper for history we were told about at the beginning of the semester. Because I had asked Aizawa about my recital so early, I knew to pay attention to what was due around the same time and make sure it was done beforehand. I turned it in about a week ago, but my classmates don't seem to be forward thinkers.

"Then what ab-bout Iida?"

"He's away for the weekend to visit his brother," Midoriya chirps.

"Momo?"

"With family somewhere," Tsu says, shrugging.

"And you're t-telling me that none of you are done yet?"

"Wow, harsh," Toru mumbles.

"I'm sorry, but you know wh-what I meant."

"To be fair, there's been a lot of other stuff going on," Kaminari says through a mouthful of food. "It's not like we're rolling in free time."

I sigh heavily, looking at Aizawa with the biggest puppy dog eyes I can muster. "Please, is there anyone who finished their project early?"

"Bakugo did," the man responds and my face begins to break out into a grin before he shoots down my last hope. "But he's out of the question."

"Why?" I ask, not only confused, but also mad. "He doesn't have his supplemental lessons on Saturdays!"

"He's not a licensed hero yet. If something were to happen, he wouldn't be able to fight."

"I wouldn't be able to use my quirk," the boy in question snaps, sending a glare at Aizawa over his breakfast. "Like hell I'd let that stop me."

Our teacher looks like he's going through immense mental and physical strain keeping calm. "The rules are the rules."

It feels as though pure fire is running through my veins. He's let me continue with ballet for so long and now he's basically telling me to give up? Right when I'm at the finish line? It's not fair!

"You act like I'm defenseless by myself," I say in a calm tone, crossing my arms in front of me and trying to keep my temper under control. There was a time I would've been horrified to talk to him like that, but my anger overpowers my fear. "Might I remind you I can immobilize a hoard at, what was it again, 600 meters? Maybe more since we were last tested. All he needs to do is alert the heroes if something goes wrong. He won't have to fight, trust me."

The teacher has a long mental battle in the expectant silence of the whole class. "Fine," he says after a while. "But you'll send constant updates that you two are safe."

"Agreed," I illuse, already running to the elevators to double check everything I need is in my bag.

•°•°•°•

Bakugo's POV

I only agreed to go with Yamada to get out of the dorms. That and because Aizawa thought I wasn't capable. Of course I don't have anything to prove to him, but it still makes me mad.

Although, sitting alone in a dark theater isn't the way I wanted to spend my Saturday night.

I just had to sit through the horrid children's performance that I wasn't warned about. I mean honestly, who do they think they can impress? Everyone only clapped out of pity. Sure, some kids had more natural talent than others, but they better work harder next time.

As the little gremlins leave the stage and their parents rush out of the auditorium, the families of the older kids begin filing in. None of the other teenagers needed a guard to come here tonight, so their families didn't have to wait around while their children got costumes and makeup done.

I flip through my phone, keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious. A bunch of important looking people take their seats, brushing their suit jackets flat.

Probably scouts for professional troupes.

It occurs to me that my classmate is in a rather highly advanced league. If her class is worthy of being scouted, then at least some of them should have talent.

I gaze around before finding a familiar head of blue curls. My blood begins to boil as Yamada's assailant from the woods, Eito Watanabe, takes a seat up towards the front.

I'm about to approach him, but I stop. I'm not allowed to use my quirk, so if things got ugly, I would have to resort to hand-to-hand combat. But his quirk is based on touch, so fighting him up close would be as good as surrendering.

I stand from my seat and exit the theater, walking down the hallway Yamada had left down. It's not long before I hear a ruckus from one of the rooms.

All noise stops as I enter. Roughly forty sets of eyes turn to me with either shock or a scathing glare.

But my attention isn't on them as Curly rushes over to me, her blue eyes wide. Strings from her blue costume trail behind her.

"What are you d-doing here?" She exclaims, turning me around to push me out of the room.

"That fucker is here."

The girl pauses for a long moment, as if she's expecting me to say more. Black and silver makeup glimmers around her eyes as she looks me over. "You have to give me more than th-that."

My nostrils flare as I reword my statement. "That fucker from the woods who messed up your damn head is sitting out there right now!"

Yamada's eyebrows raise a bit, but she isn't nearly as shocked or scared as I would've expected. Instead, she merely shrugs, giving me a tight-lipped smile. "Yeah, I would expect as much. His little brother is in the show, after all."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" My voice echoes through the hall.

The girl averts her gaze, rubbing her arm shakily as she stares at her slippers. "I know he was working with the villains, but..." she trails off, glancing back up at me. "They threatened to t-torture his brother. As much as I hate what he d-did to me, I understand that he wanted to save his family. Both of them are t-taking huge risks even being here, but I'm sure they have guards. If we approached him, that c-could put him and his brother in danger."

Yamada reaches her hand towards me, but I step back, hitting her arm aside. "You're defending a villain."

I see tears well up in her eyes as her eyebrows pitch upwards, pleadingly. "I c-can't expect you to understand, but p-please try. I know where Eito is coming from. It's hard to use reason when love is involved. He wanted t-to protect his family, but he went about it in the wrong way because he didn't know what else t-to do. If they showed him a c-clear path to get his brother back, I can understand why he thought that was the only way."

She tries to blink her tears away as she sets her jaw. "If I'm being honest, I'm glad they're together and safe. Some of us don't have that luxury."

The girl sends me one last look that holds too much emotion to comprehend before turning and running back to the room. A heavy feeling settles in my chest as I watch her go, her blue skirt flowing gently behind her. She doesn't turn back as she closes the door, letting the sound reverberate down the empty hallway.

•°•°•°•

Koto's POV

After shutting the door, I lean my back against it and let out a heavy breath.

"C'mon, girlie!" Ronnie chirps. I rush over to the dark-skinned girl so she can continue tightening my corset. "What was all that about?"

I sigh, looking around to see a couple other people with their eyes on me. I notice Touma sitting by the back wall, glancing my way.

I can't tell him Bakugo is suspicious of his brother. That would make him feel horrible. Besides, this is supposed to be on the down-low anyway.

"He's j-just impatient," I say, wincing as Ronnie cinches the ribbed waist.

"I'll say. I mean who barges into the dressing room 'cause the show hasn't started yet?"

"That's just the way he is," I mumble, rolling my eyes even though she can't see.

I feel the girl tie off the back of my costume and I let out a deep breath, rolling my shoulders back. Standing, I go en pointe, posing dramatically. "How d-do I look?"

"Frickin' amazing, as usual," she responds with a cheeky grin. "Blue really is your color."

"Yeah, isn't that the same color as your hero costume?" Akari, our red-headed Myrta, asks. Now, when I say "red," it's not like how my hair used to be, but a deep blood red. Her burgundy locks are already pulled up into a bun with braids adorning it.

I nod, fluffing the tulle of my skirt out.
"What a fitting color for your last show then," she comments with a melancholy smile, looping her arm with mine and giving it a tight squeeze.

"I still can't believe this is it," one of the boys says.

"We're gonna miss you," Ronnie exclaims, tackling me from behind in a hug.

"I'll c-come back for every show," I insist, but my heart tells me hero work will be too time consuming. Heroes still have time to be human though, right? I'll be able to come back, won't I?

After a few more people express their sentiments, we begin our pre-recital tradition of standing in a circle and clasping each others' hands, sending a pulse around the group. I let my eyes drift shut to avoid tears falling. I may not be particularly close with any of them, but they're still my stage family. They've seen me through thick and thin; they've grown with me. It didn't register until just this moment that I won't be coming back.

I open my eyes and paint on a smile as everyone cheers, ready for a great show. In not too long, I'll be stepping out on stage for the last time.

------Author's Note------

Hey guys!!

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!! Hopefully the back and forth between perspectives wasn't too much.

I apologize for the time between chapters, but I promise the projects I'm working on in the meantime will be well worth it!!!

So, as you may know, I'm a part of the lovely UAStorytellers group where I've been working on crossovers with the members. We have come up with a wonderful ship between my Koto and aBitGrim 's character, Mordecai Rockefeller, better known as Rocket!! The two mute/deaf beans are fondly referred to as Mordekoto!!

If you haven't checked out Grim's work before, definitely go give them a follow. They're amazingly talented!!

Anyways, Mordekoto has already acquired quite a few art pieces, we love it so much!!

This adorable piece was drawn by JunieWeathers!!! Back when we first came up with Mordekoto, we all agreed that both beans just need to hug it out. She beautifully brought our vision to life.

This amazing ship board has been curated by aBitGrim themselves! It's so perfect!!

Talk about beautiful!!! My lovely friend QuaccSmaccSnacc drew this for our favorite ship!! And let me just say, FLAWLESS!!! I keep looking back to this piece, it makes me so happy.

And finally, this is one that I drew of a future Rocket and what I believe their hypothetical child would look like. Gah! I love this ship so much!!

Anyways, that's all for now! I'll see you next time!