At the end of the day, Noriko grabbed her things and went to leave. But when the door was opened, a crowd of students was blocking the classroom's exit.
"Um, why are you all here?" Uraraka questioned, standing in front of the door next to Noriko.
"Do you students have some sort of business with our class?" Iida asked.
"Why are you blocking our doorway? I won't let you take us hostage!" Mineta yelled.
"They're scouting out the competition, idiots. We're the class that survived a real villain attack." Bakugo said, walking up to the student, making some of them back up a bit. "At least now you know what a future pro looks like. Now move it, extras."
"You can't just go around calling people extras just because you don't know their names," Iida scolded.
"Yeah," Noriko agreed, crossing her arms. "It's incredibly rude."
"So this is class 1-A. I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like idiots. Is everyone in the hero course delusional or is it just you?" A boy with purple hair said, pushing his way to the front of the crowd. "How sad to come here and find a bunch of egomaniacs."
"That's just Bakugo," Noriko commented, Iida, Uraraka, and Midoriya nodding behind her. But it was ignored as the boy continued.
"I wanted to be in the hero course. But like many others, I was forced to choose a different track. Such is life. I didn't cut it the first time around, but I have another chance." the boy continued, his last sentence really gaining Noriko's attention. "If any of us do well in the sports festival, the teachers can decide to transfer us to the hero course. And they'll have to transfer people out to make room."
Noriko tensed, a sense of dread washing over her, They can really do that?
"Scouting out the competition? Maybe some of my peers are, but I'm here to tell you that, if you don't bring your best, I'll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war." The boy finished.
"Damn. That's intense." Noriko muttered. She knew the sports festival was a big deal, but she didn't think people would be declaring war over it.
"Hey you!" Another boy yelled. "I'm from class 1-B next door to you! We heard you fought some villains and I came to see if that was true. But you're just a bunch of brats who think you're better than us! Talk all you want! It'll just be more embarrassing when you're KO'd."
Bakugo started to walk through the crowd, causing the class B boy to yell, "Don't you ignore me!"
"Dude, where are you going?" Kirishima questioned, making Bakugo stop walking. "You gotta say something. It's your fault they're all hating on us, Bakugo."
Bakugo glanced back at them, "These people don't matter. The only thing that's important is that I beat them."
Noriko stared in disbelief as Bakugo disappeared past the crowd. He was just as crazy as the war declaration boy.
Noriko's phone suddenly vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out to see Ryu had texted her. That's when she remembered that she actually had something to do.
"Excuse me, but I need to get going too," Noriko announced, walking up to the crowd. They all stared at her as she navigated her way through the crowd.
"What? You think you're better than us too?" The boy yelled.
"No, I just have somewhere to be," Noriko replied, stopping to look at him. The boy didn't respond and Noriko got out of the crowd before making her way to the principal's office.
When Noriko arrived at the office she knocked on the door and heard Nezu's voice from the other side of the door, "Come in."
Noriko slid the door open and walked inside. "Hi. I have something I'd like to ask you."
"Of course. What is it?" Nezu asked as Noriko sat down on the couch in front of his desk.
"Well, I was wondering if I could perform sometime during the sports festival," Noriko said. Performing at the sports festival had been a dream of hers for a while. Ryu had told her to ask Nezu about the idea after she had texted him about it. They needed to figure out if she could perform or not as soon as possible so she knew what songs to sing.
Nezu smiled, "That would be wonderful! It would be an honor to have you perform during our sports festival."
"So I can do it?"
"Of course. I shouldn't get in the way of anything you're doing as a student, so I don't see why not." Nezu answered.
"Great!" Noriko exclaimed with a smile. "So when do you want me to do it?"
Nezu thought about the question for a minute before suggesting, "How about before the last battle in the tournament? It would help get everyone in the stand excited for the last battle."
Noriko nodded, "That works."
"Is that all?" Nezu asked.
Noriko opened her mouth to say yes, but then she remembered what the purple-haiured boy had said, "Uh, actually, I..."
There was a second of silence after Noriko trailed off before Nezu spoke, "Yes, Miss Hiromi?"
Noriko took in a breath and lightly shook her head. She didn't want to bother Nezu with her silly insecurities. And she knew that there was very little chance she would get switched out of the hero course even if she came in last, due to her special circumstances. Though, that only made her feel worse. "Nevermind, it's nothing."
"Are you sure?" Nezu questioned, earning a nod from Noriko. He stared at her for a second before saying, "Alright then, have a good day. I'm looking forward to seeing you perform."
"Yeah," Noriko said before she stood up and waved to him before leaving the room.
* * *
When Noriko got home, she immediately went to Ryu's office to talk to him about the sports festival.
"Hey, Ryu," Noriko greeted, knocking on the open office door to get his attention.
Ryu glanced at her before going back to his computer, "Hey."
"So," Noriko started, stepping inside the office and sitting in the empty chair. "Principal Nezu agreed to let me perform at the sports festival."
"Oh, that's great," Ryu said with a smile, he closed whatever he was doing on his computer and pulled out a notebook. "Do you have any ideas for it yet?"
Noriko hummed, "Not really. But if we work fast enough, I can preform at least one song from the new album we're working on."
"That sounds good," Ryu said, scribbling down something in the notebook. "And we'll have some other songs that have similar energy that will work for the event."
"Yeah."
"Well, I have a lot on my hands at the minute, so can we talk more about this later?" Ryu asked, earning a nod from Noriko. "Great. Come up with some more ideas and we'll work out the schedule for it and everything."
"Ok," Noriko said, standing up. She waved to Ryu, who had already turned back to his computer before walking down the hall to the kitchen. She grabbed a snack and watched tv for a little while until Shiro got home.
"Oh, hey Nori," Shiro said as he walked into the living room.
"Hey," Noriko greeted as he sat down. She turned off her phone and a bit of excitement rushed through her. "Guess what?"
"What?"
"You know the sports festival is coming up, right?" Noriko questioned, earning a nod from Shiro. "Are you excited?"
"Of course I am," Shiro said with a bit of attitude. Then he smiled. "This year you're gonna be in it. And Ryu already promised that he'd get us tickets to see it in person."
"Really?" Noriko questioned, earning a nod from Shiro. She felt another rush of excitement, this time paired with nervousness as she said, "That's cool."
"It's going to be amazing," Shiro said, his eyes shining with excitement, something that only happened when talking about stuff like this. Shiro was a huge nerd when it came to heroes. He wasn't nearly on the level Midoriya was on, but he still knew way more about heroes than Noriko could ever think of knowing. "It'll be really cool to see your classmates fight. And their quirks. It'll be amazing."
Noriko smiled, "Uh huh. It'll be pretty cool."
"Definitely!"