"Wakey wakey"
Kamanari awoke to find Ashido standing over him, hands on hips while smiling mischievously. He tried to sit up and rub his eyes but there was something holding him down. He looked over and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Jirou was resting her head on his shoulder, snoring peacefully as she held his left arm. His right arm still held the guitar. Kamanari began blushing furiously as he realized the intimate position they were in, and how his classmates would undoubtedly react.
"Well well well what do we have here"
Ashido snickered trying to suppress her laughter. Jirou stirred and slowly opened her eyes. She immediately jumped up to her feet and yanked her guitar out of Kamanari's hands.
"I knew you guys were a thing!"
Hagakure shouted pumping an invisible fist up and down.
"No no no no no no it's not what it looks like"
Jirou stammered, her face turning as red as Kamanari's. Although a small part of her secretly wished that it was.
"Awwwww you guys look so cute together!"
Uraraka said as she quickly glanced over at Deku, imagining herself in the exact same position with him.
"Please stop. We are NOT together"
He said defiantly. Jirou nodded in agreement, but her heart sank just a little at how adamant he was about them not being a couple.
"Yeah we were just writing the song for the school festival late last night and ended up falling asleep on the couch"
Jirou added, trying to save face.
"I'm not buying it. You two are definitely hiding something. Look at your faces"
Ashido said crossing her arms while tapping her foot.
"Oi earphones. You said the song is ready?"
Bakugo grunted as he came marching down the stairs.
"Yes! Yes it is"
Jirou exclaimed, relived that the conversation had switched topics from her apparent "crush" on Kamanari.
"Then where the hell is everybody! We need to rehearse"
Bakugo said is normal angry voice.
"Wait, like right now?"
Jirou asked confused.
"Yeah man it's 8:00 on a Saturday let's relax for a bi-"
Kamanari gulped as Bakugo spun around and yanked him up by the collar.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO PLAY AS A COORDINATED GROUP? EVEN IF JUST ONE OF YOU EXTRAS PLAYS ONE GODDAMN NOTE OUT OF TEMPO THEN THE WHOLE THING WILL SOUND LIKE SHIT AND IM NOT ABOUT TO PLAY SHITTY ASS MUSIC IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE GODDAMN SCHOOL"
Bakugo screamed into Kamanari's face before dragging him and Jirou up the stairs.
"Wait we still have to find out if they're secretly dating or not!"
Ashido protested.
"They aren't dating but they are in love with each other. Now leave us alone raccoon eyes we have work to do"
Bakugo snapped without even looking back. A few minutes later, everyone was back in the common room with all the instruments assembled. Jirou brought down her drum set for Bakugo and her keyboard for Yaoyorozu while Tokoyami brought down his Ibanez EX-140 all black 7 string super strat.
(I know in the show he plays a purple les Paul but cmon this is the perfect guitar for our edgy bird lord)
Jirou finished setting up all her equipment and turned back to the mic to find the entire class had gathered around them. She immediately felt her hands go clammy and beads of sweat started to drip down her forehead.
"Hey um could we maybe get some privacy please"
She stuttered into the mic.
"Cmon were all friends here! Plus I have to know what the song sounds like if I'm going to write a dance routine to it"
Ashido replied.
"Also we have to know where our cues should be"
Kirishima added, not wanting to miss this kick ass song. Everyone else nodded in agreement not going anywhere.
"Ok well um I guess we'll get started then"
Jirou sighed as she passed her notebook around to Tokoyami, Yaoyorozu, and Bakugo who took a quick glance at the chord progressions and lyrics.
"Kamanari and I will play it for you guys real quick so you know how it goes. Then we'll run it a few more times as a full band"
Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu nodded in approval while Bakugo just grunted but didn't protest. Jirou was sweating and was shaking with nerves until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see Kamanari smiling at her, which made her even more nervous, but of a different nature.
"Hey don't worry you're gonna do amazing as always. Just forget about everyone here ok? It's just you and me right now. Play it like you did last night"
She gulped and nodded before taking a deep breath. She took Kamanari's advice and tuned out everyone else. She felt the same exact way she always had when she played alone with him. Soon she forgot all about her audience and just sang from the heart, getting lost in the music. As they were playing, Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu followed along unplugged, reading the tabs while watching Kamanari's hand movements for the chord changes while Bakugo tapped his fingers on his thigh, mimicking a drum beat.
Everyone cheered and clapped as the song came to a close. Jirou completely forgot they were there.
"Well, what did you guys think?"
She asked turning back to the band.
"That sounded wonderful Kyoka, but I think it was a bit slow for dance music"
Yaoyorozu said.
"Let's increase the tempo and add some distortion to our guitars Kamanari"
Tokoyami suggested.
"Hey good idea!"
Kamanari replied as he stepped on his orange Boss distortion pedal.
"You guys ready to try it together now?"
Jirou asked picking up her bass. Bakugo sat up from his stool and twirled the sticks above his head.
"I've been waiting for you to say that"
He smirked and counted off. Jirou really let loose this time and unleashed her inner punk rock as the energy of the full band fueled her performance. Playing with Kamanari was fun, but having an entire band behind you was even more exhilarating. Everyone started to trickle out after a few run throughs except Ashido and Kirishima who were working on their perspective parts of the show.
"All right let's take a break. We've been at it for five hours now and I'm starving"
Yaouorozu said getting up from the keyboard to stretch.
"YOU WEAKLINGS! IF WE DON'T ACE THIS PERFORMANCE THEN-"
"Calm down Bakugo. We still have three weeks to get just one song down"
Tokoyami muttered as he set down his guitar.
"DON'T TELL ME TO CHILL OUT BIRD BRAIN!"
Bakugo yelled as he chased Tokoyami up the stairs. Jirou just sighed and facepalmed, giggling to herself.
"Well that went pretty well for a first rehearsal"
She turned around to see Kamanari smiling at her again. She remembered the first week of school and how bitter and angry he seemed to be. It was nice seeing him genuinely happy. It made her happy too.
"I think it did too"
She replied smiling back. Kamanari didn't realize it yet, but he was starting to come around to his classmates. He started to see them as friends and not enemies. In fact he had even started to communicate less with Shigaraki.
"Well Im gonna go get some lunch. I'll see you at the next rehearsal"
Jirou waved goodbye as she walked off to find Yaomomo. Kamanari watched her leave before packing up his guitar and went back to his room.
I'd never thought I'd admit it, but I'm actually looking forward to this