A/N: With this we're back to the canon events! We're in the last stretch of this fic, y'all. It feels a bit unreal omg 😭
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"It's school festival time," Aizawa deadpanned, pulling on his sleeping bag.
Hitomi was the first one to jump out of her seat, cheering loudly.
"SUPER NORMAL SCHOOL EVENT!!!" she exclaimed, a bright grin on her face as classmates cheered with her.
Yaoyorozu turned in her seat, looking at the bluenette. "You're surprisingly energetic today, Hitomi."
Hitomi clenched her fists, her smile widening. "Of course! This is a new experience for me!"
"Oh, I sometimes forget you spent your junior high years in America..." Yaoyorozu said as Hitomi sat back down.
They turned their attention back to Aizawa as the class calmed down, Kirishima jumping out of his seat to protest.
"Aizawa-sensei, is this really okay? To be so carefree in these times?"
"Kirishima—" Hitomi heard Kaminari choke out. "You've changed..."
The redhead dropped his hands onto his desk, a look of concern in his face. "But it's true— villains are flourishing right now!"
At that Hitomi could understand where her friend was coming from. After the whole Shie Hassaikai incident he'd dealt with at his work study and the involvement of the League of Villains, it was natural he'd be thinking like that.
Up front she saw Aizawa adjust his sleeping bag. "You're right. That's a very reasonable opinion," the homeroom teacher said, pulling up the zipper. "However, UA isn't just about the hero course. If the sports festival is the big moment for the hero course, then the school festival is for the others— the support course, general studies, and business course students— to shine. It doesn't get as much attention as the sports festival, but for them, it's an event they look forward to. And there are those who are feeling stressed out by the current conditions, which, starting with the dorm system, came about because of the hero course."
Kirishima seemed to falter. "Oh... Thinking about it that way, there's no excuse for not holding it..." he mumbled, sinking back into his seat.
"Yeah. That's why we can't just say we won't have it. Unlike past years, this year, other than some of the people involved, the festival will be just for the school. If your families want to come, they'll have to go through some strict security procedures first, and will only be allowed at the festival for a short window of time. Though it'll be a big hassle just to get inside, so I imagine not all of them will be able to make it." Aizawa sunk down against the wall, making himself comfortable.
"However, even if the hero course isn't the focus, each class still needs to participate with something. You need to decide that today..." He trailed off, falling silent. After only a few seconds, soft snores could be heard, the entire class realizing the same thing.
He's asleep!
...
Iida and Yaoyorozu stood at the front of the class, ready to lead the discussion for what the class would be doing for the festival.
"First, suggestions!" Iida directed, waving his arm. "Those with ideas, please raise your hands!"
The class practically exploded with chatter, yelling out their thoughts or ideas.
"Okay, Kaminari-kun!"
"Let's do a maid cafe!" Kaminari cheered, jumping up from his seat with his hand high in the air. He started going off about what he imagined, Hitomi unable to see it in her head because he wasn't being very specific.
"Maids..." Iida considered, contemplating it over. "So we'd be serving others! That's not bad!"
"That's too tame, Kaminari!" Mineta yelled, jumping out of his seat.
"Mineta-kun!"
"A boo—"
He was quickly cut off and within a flash, Tsuyu had him tied up in a sack, somehow suspended from the ceiling.
"Do you have a weight?" she deadpanned.
The class moved on without him, continuing to call out their ideas.
"A mochi shop!!"
"Arm wrestling competition!"
"Haunted house!"
"A crepe stall!"
"A dance!
"Hero quiz!"
"A frog choir!"
"A... a petting zoo."
"Hand-made soba."
"A death match."
"A banquet of darkness."
"My twinkling show!"
"A comedy skit or something?"
Hitomi sat back in her seat, overwhelmed with all the suggestions everyone was giving. They all had their own ideas for the festival, things that sounded fun, in their own ways.
Hitomi wanted to join in on that, too.
She raised her hand, calling out her idea when Iida pointed his hand at her. "Chemistry demonstration!"
"Ooo, nice idea, Hitomi!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed, adding it to the board.
Hitomi sat back in her seat, seeing Midoriya turn around as the class continued calling out ideas.
"Kanetsukabe-san, I've never seen you this enthusiastic before."
Hitomi blushed slightly, scratching her cheek. "Oh, really? It's my first school festival, so I really wanna make sure it'll turn out fun."
"What's so fun about a chemistry demonstration anyway?" Mineta asked with a raised brow, having been let out of his sack prison.
Hitomi nearly slammed her hands down on the desk. "Are you serious?! There's so many different things you could do it would take me forever to list them all off!" She held her hands up, naming the various experiments she'd seen or tried out before. "Colored fire, the barking dog reaction, smoke bombs. I mean, you could even make an explosion with just cesium and water!!"
Midoriya smiled, laughing a little. "That sounds really cool, Kanetsukabe-san. If you hadn't wanted to be a hero, I bet you would've made an amazing mad scientist instead."
Hitomi smiled back, leaning forward. "That would've been cool, wouldn't it?" she laughed.
...
"I believe everyone's given a suggestion?" Iida announced, the entire class staring at the blackboard.
"Let's eliminate the inappropriate, impossible, and confusing ones," Yaoyorozu said, making a few taps on her tablet. Several of the options gained large red X's over them, the classmates whose options had been eliminated protesting her decision.
She lingered over the board for another second, before eliminating Hitomi's suggestion. "I'm so sorry, Hitomi. A chemistry demonstration sounds wonderful, but after deliberating it over it wouldn't be a good idea with high schoolers around."
Hitomi slumped over in her seat, a noncommittal pout on her face. "Aww..."
"What?!" Bakugou growled, leaning forward on his desk. "If my death match can't stay, at least keep the cool ones where you can blow stuff up!!"
Hitomi blanched at Bakugou's outburst, feeling herself blush.
Bakugou... thinks my idea was cool...?
Yaoyorozu's eyebrows furrowed in exasperation. "Bakugou, a chemistry demonstration could pose a potential safety hazard. Would you really want to risk that when this festival is for the other departments?"
"Why does Kaminari's stupid maid cafe get to stay but Kanetsukabe's experiments don't??"
"Hey, it's not stupid!!" Kaminari yelled from across the room.
Iida gestured his hands towards Bakugou. "It would be best not to leave such a thing in the hands of inexperienced high schoolers with no adult supervision. So it needs to go."
"Well, then get rid of the hometown history presentation!!" Bakugou scowled, the others agreeing with him.
"Yeah, it's boring!!" the class chorused.
Iida clenched his fists, looking away in shame. "Majority rules...!"
"And we're always having study parties!!" the class pushed, causing Yaoyorozu to wring her hands in embarrassment.
"I was only trying to be helpful..."
"Couldn't we combine all the food options into one?" Hitomi heard Kirishima suggest.
"Soba and crepes don't exactly go together."
...
Before long, the class had started arguing with each other over what to do.
"Like I'm saying, crepes just don't mix with Asian food!!"
"Well, it's better to just do the haunted house, then!!"
Hitomi saw Iida erratically waving his arm at the class, trying desperately to maintain order. She rested her chin on her hand, finding her eyes drifting to Bakugou at the front of their row.
He was yelling across the room, trying to get it through Kaminari's thick skull that his maid cafe idea was stupid.
Hitomi felt her lips unwillingly turn up in a small smile, her eyes softening.
...He thought a chemistry demonstration would be cool.
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A/N: tbh this arc in the series was always a favorite of mine :3 the kids go through so much trauma (and then there's STILL more to come for them 😭) so it was nice to see them have a simple slice-of-life storyline where they got to act like normal high schoolers for a bit.