Koto's POV

The sun streams in through my window. I rub at my eyes as my mind sifts through everything that's happened in the past week.

As my discussion with Bakugo comes to the forefront of my thoughts, I heave a great sigh.

I shouldn't have anything to worry about; he's playing in the festival, after all. We can all finally play in sync. The dancers are ready. The stage looks awesome. But we haven't talked much since the talk on Halloween night.

"Will you still play?"

"Do you want me to?"

"...yes."

"Fine."

Not many conversations ending with that would be considered good. But he's been coming to rehearsals, he's been relatively docile. I shouldn't be as anxious as I am.

Though I suppose my anxiety is also stemming from the performance as a whole. This has the potential to either go really well or really poorly. We have no way of knowing how receptive the other students will be.

All we can do is go out there and have fun, I tell myself. Over and over again. Momo has been drilling it into us that we can't predict the outcome, just do our best.

I push myself out of bed and run my hand through my hair, fully red once again. It seems right, to go out there and perform as I really am, nothing remaining from my trip to America. The one Monoma and Class 1-B still give me grief over.

Sing your heart out, I tell myself as I get ready for the day. I do vocal warm-ups in the shower and spend plenty of time in front of the mirror, making sure I look presentable.

Next, I don the outfit for the festival. Back in the planning stages, Kaminari had suggested orange t-shirts for the band. To my complete shock, nobody was about to contradict him. But having the lead singer wearing a shirt that clashed with her hair just seemed like a bad idea. So we finally agreed to navy blue instead.

I'm incredibly thankful for this choice as I pull it over my head. A large "A" insignia for our class stands out on the front.

I pace in my room, working through each of my consonants. Is it crazy to have me sing? Given the fact I've only been speaking for a couple months, maybe. I don't want to have to fall back on my quirk. I shouldn't have to.

I wipe my hands on my jeans. Nothing can be done now.

Lacing up my converse, I take three brave steps to the door. Nobody will hold me down, I tell myself, opening the door with my head held high.

•°•°•°•

"Where's Bakugo‽" Kaminari wails, holding the boy's shirt out in front of him. Our entire class sits waiting in the backstage area.

Momo reties her ponytail for the fourth time. "He'll be here," she assures. The girl turns to me. "Are you sure about the black and silver?"

"Of course!" Looking over the assembled students, we're much more coordinated than we would have been had we stuck with Kaminari's idea. The dance crew dons silver jackets with navy pants and skirts. The band was instructed to wear black with our blue shirts. I opted for skinny jeans, while Momo chose a skirt.

She smooths the pleats in the mirror, and Mina twirls over to her side, watching her skirt flare out.

"Ooh, I'm so excited!" Mina exclaims. "This'll be the best performance the cultural festival has ever seen!"

I catch Momo smiling in the mirror. It must be a weight off her shoulders to not be our only cheerleader.

"You guys will do great," Koda chimes in, wringing his hands. "We've practiced this so many times. The birds are ready, by the way."

"Just one loose end..." Ochaco mumbles.

I walk over and grab her hand. "He'll be here. Just needs his beauty sleep."

This elicits many snickers around the room. Only one student seems to still be having a crisis.

"Mon Dieu! Can't you sit still‽" Aoyama cries, tugging Ojiro's chin to keep him in place. The French boy somehow got everybody to agree to silver eyeliner. I did mine myself, but he's been tediously working on all the guys. He simply insisted that he would do the best, so us girls let him at it.

"I can't help it," the boy with the tail gripes, squinting despite Aoyama's glare. "People can't really do this every day. It feels weird."

Aoyama puts a finger to his eye with an incredulous look. "Mon oeil," he mumbles to himself, shaking his head as he once again tilts Ojiro's head towards him.

"What are you losers waiting on?" The harsh voice of our missing member calls out. We all whip our heads around to see him walking in. "You ready or what?"

"Heck yeah, man!" Eijiro cheers, running over to loop his arm over his friend's shoulders.

"Get the shirt on!" Kaminari instructs, but Bakugo leans far away.

"Hell no," he growls. But he underestimates Kaminari's determination. In an instant, the shirt is over his head, squashing down his hair.

"We should head up to the rafters," Todoroki suggests, checking the clock on the wall. He sends a small smile my way. "Break a leg."

I return his smile as he files out with the rest of the stage crew. Even though you should never say that to a ballerina, I know his heart is in the right place. And it's not like I'll be dancing up there anyways.

"C'mon Ducky, you gotta match," Kaminari chides, struggling with our drummer, now wearing the blue t-shirt over his black button down.

"Call me that one more time!" Bakugo barks, baring his teeth.

"Chill, dude. Just deal with it for the next ten minutes, then you can stomp off and do whatever you want."

Bakugo grumbles to himself and stomps out to the hallway. I follow close behind.

"Hey, wait!"

He doesn't slow down. "Whaddya want, Curly?"

"We didn't get a chance to really talk..." I trail off, hoping he'll take it as an invitation to say what's on his mind.

He pauses and glares over his shoulder. "And you think now is the right time?" His voice drips with condescension.

"I just don't want us to go out there without clearing the air."

"Air is clear from where I'm standing." He crosses his arms and turns to leave.

"Well, fine. But you can at least hear me out." My tone is stronger than I feel. My pre-performance jitters are wreaking havoc in my stomach, and I have to clench my fists to keep them from shaking.

"I don't owe you anything," I state, calm and firm. "And I know I shouldn't have lost my cool. I shouldn't have laughed. I shouldn't have yelled. But you were making things difficult. Even if I return your feelings, that gives you no right to speak to me the way you did. No right to demand I go out with you. It's my life and I don't trust either one of us in a relationship. I'm doing this because it's best for both of us."

His jaw remains tightly closed, so I take a deep breath and keep going. "So stop sulking, thinking it will change anything. Your mindset sucks and it would be bad for both of us in a relationship. Fix yourself first."

I purse my lips and cross my arms. Your move.

He works a muscle in his jaw. "...sorry."

The word is merely a mumble, but I hear it.

"I shouldn't have said a lot of the things that I did."

I nod, not accepting his apology, nor telling him it's alright. Because it certainly isn't. But I can at least acknowledge that he said it. I take a step towards the stage, but his words stop me.

"I don't like failing. I didn't want to be in uncharted waters when I didn't know what I was doing. I just wanted a new name for what we were."

He said he wasn't going to do any "couply shit." What an idiot.

"That's a matter of trust," I state plainly. "If you can't trust me with your failures, then you're not ready for a relationship."

He swallows, gritting his teeth. Good, I can't help but think. All of me wants him to hear me. Only part of me is willing to admit that I still want him. Take my words and carve them into your soul. Make yourself better. I can't do it for you.

"C'mon, you guys!" Mina cheers, practically bouncing off the walls as the rest of our class comes thundering down the hallway.

I send Bakugo one last meaningful look and let the tide of my classmates lead me to the stage.

•°•°•°•

The lights go out, and the curtain rises. The chatter from the crowd does down. I breathe deeply, rooting my feet against the floor. I feel the familiar press of the floorboards. My legs find their perfect balance, even though I'm not in any ballet position like I'm used to. I know this feeling. I thrive off this feeling.

This is where I belong, I tell myself boldly. They can't take the stage from me.

The pounding kick of the drums counts me in. I raise the microphone to my mouth, filling my lungs and letting myself sing like there's no one else in the room.

"I've followed my heart into the fire
Got burned, got broken down by desire
I've tried, I've tried but the smoke in my eyes
Left me blurry, blurry and blind"

The rest of the band picks up, and Bakugo lets out a huge explosion. The stage crew takes their cue and lights up the whole stage.

"I've picked all the pieces up off the ground
I've burned all my fingers, but that's gone now
Got the glue in my hands and stickin' to the plan
Stickin' to the plan that says

I can do anything at all
I can do anything at all"

I take the microphone from the stand and kick off the stage hard, flying through the air to land on the downbeat.

"This is my kiss goodbye
You can stand alone and watch me fly
'Cause nothing's keeping me down
Gonna let it all up
Come on and say right now, right now, right now

This is my big hello
'Cause I'm here and never letting go
I can finally see, it's not just a dream
When you set it all free, all free, all free
You set it all free"

Momo and Ochaco come in with backing vocals, the dance team contributing where they can. I remember the discussion on it, them outright refusing to sing. But I told them I wouldn't be the only one. Not if Class B was going to respect us. That got them on board pretty fast.

I spin around and stop on a dime, looking out over the crowd. My hair whips my face, but not as badly as it did back in the initial rehearsals. I've learned to work around the mane of curls.

"I was a girl caught under your thumb
But my star's gonna shine brighter than your sun
And I will reach so high, shoot so far
Gonna hit, gonna hit, hit every target

Make it count this time
I will make it count this time

This is my kiss goodbye
You can stand alone and watch me fly
'Cause nothing's keepin' me down
I'm gonna let it all up
Come on and say right now, right now, right now

This is my big hello
'Cause I'm here and never letting go
I can finally see, it's not just a dream
When you set it all free, all free, all free
You set it all free"

The energy in the gym is electric. The students bounce along with the music and cheer as loud as they can when the stage crew starts setting off all their special effects.

Streamers rocket out from behind me, ice arcs over our heads, Aoyama lifts from the stage, spattering light over the crowd.

The music fuels me. It inches into every empty space in my heart. Tokoyami wails on the guitar as I dance around him.

As he finishes his solo, the band fades and I step forward, belting out into the open air

"This is my kiss goodbye
You can stand alone and watch me fly
'Cause nothing's keeping me down
I'm gonna let it all out
Come on and say right now, right now, right now"

Bakugo picks up the beat, improvising a solo as the rest of the band comes in. My smile stretches even wider as I hear Kaminari come in on time.

"This is my big hello
'Cause I'm here and never letting go
I can finally see, it's not just a dream
When you set it all free, all free, all free
You set it all free"

I repeat the last line as the dancers make their final moves. I rock out to the closing chords with the whole band, unable to keep the smile from my face.

•°•°•°•

Ochaco and I walk arm-in-arm between attractions, steps light. Our performance garnered quite the response. It was all worth it, seeing Monoma's affronted face in the crowd as his classmates danced along.

Since all the performances concluded, the other attractions get to be the stars of the show.

As my friend and I near an obstacle course set up by Class 1-H, we hear Bakugo's competitive snarling above the chatter of students. He seems to be arguing with the pink-haired girl standing by the end buzzer, Eijiro standing just behind and trying to keep the peace. The tall girl just rolls her eyes and records his time, holding up a metal arm to imply she's done talking to him.

Mina, Sero, and Kaminari heckle from the sidelines, trying to stoke his anger further. I'd join in if I wasn't scared of invoking the ire of the support girl.

"Wanna play?" Ochaco asks, eyes alight.

"You're so on!"

We race each other to the course, startling the boy at the start line. His gold eyes look us over, and he glances at his classmate, trying to get her attention.

I don't see what happens next because I'm yanked up into the air.

The ground falls out from beneath me as someone holds me around my middle. The thundering sound of wings flapping fills my ears.

"Miss me?" The smug voice rumbles at my back.

I gasp, turning in his hold. "Jupiter!"

"How's it hanging?" He asks, throwing me into the air to catch me in a bridal hold.

I giggle as he holds me close, diving towards the ground. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and hold tight, the wind whipping at my hair.

He sets me gently on the pavement and gives me a proper hug.

"You didn't tell me you'd be here," I chide, slapping his arm as we pull away.

"Well, I said I was going on a trip with the other Nationals," he explains.

"The Nationally Recognized High School Heroes?" I clarify, to which he nods. "Does that mean Annie is-"

"Don't sound so disappointed," her voice calls out. She leans against a nearby food stand, arms crossed. Her curls are pulled up into a loose ponytail.

"I-I wasn't, I swear," I stammer, but she rolls her eyes. I get the impression she and the support girl would get along great.

She pushes off the side of the booth and struts over to where Jupiter, Ochaco and I stand. My other friends make their way over. Bakugo eyes Jupiter critically with a sneer. I notice Mina taking a protective step forward as well.

"Well, isn't this a fine reunion?" Annie inquires with as much sarcasm as is humanly possible. At the sight of my friends' warning looks, she just sighs and twirls a curl in her fingers. "Look, I'm hungry, and I don't know what any of these things are. Can you help us, or what?"

I detect the sincerity in her dark blue eyes. Turning to look at Jupiter, he's already making a comically pronounced pout, hands clasped before him.

His theatrics make me smile. "Yeah, sure. I saw some cool stuff back this way."

Shockingly, the tension eases throughout the day. We eat in our large group, meeting a few of the other American students and introducing them to our own. Apparently the "Nationals," as they call themselves, got special permission to be here, since they've cleared so many checks in their own country. They look at everything UA has to offer with wide eyes. Plenty of them attend large, fancy schools in America, but quite a few are like Jupiter and Annie, attending an average high school and rising above the rest.

We all grab food, then watch the beauty pageant where Nejire of the Big 3 wins the crown. The Nationals begin to meld with our own class, challenging each other to games and sparring in the ring some second years have set up.

I nudge Jupiter with a happy grin as we watch Annie take on Kaminari, the two exchanging taunts as they compete in a giant game of air hockey.

This isn't too bad, I think, throwing one arm around Ochaco and the other around Jupiter. Not too bad at all.

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

I can't thank you guys enough for being patient with me as I work on these chapters! I know it takes a while, but the extra time really helps.

If you hadn't noticed, this chapter features two students from Class 1-H. These two are aBitGrim's OCs, Rose and Rocket from their Blooming Roses series. If you haven't read Guns & Roses, you absolutely have to!! It's an amazing and unique story!! Go show them some love!!

In the meantime, between chapters, feel free to go check out my crossover with aBitGrim on their page, The Fault In Our Sound, featuring many characters from the U.A. Storytellers! The story goes back and forth between my Koto's and their Rocket's perspectives. I definitely recommend checking it out!

Additionally, we have a bit of art for this chapter!!

As always, Juni_Penguin_ outdoes herself with her amazing graphics! The gif looks absolutely awesome, Jun! Thank you so much!!

Until next time, lovelies!! ❤