Festival and Feelings

__________ POV Beru__________

The festival started today, and oh buy, where the fuck were they keeping all of this budget?

UA was always really huge, but a school festival of all things is being held in a stadium this large?

Now, I've heard that it was going to be a stadium, but this thing is bigger than any I've ever seen. It makes one wonder how quirks have affected the cost of labour and materials.

Because a school would never have enough cash for something like this... Then again, this one is supported by the state, and the state takes heroes very seriously, so it might've been possible.

"Beru! Do I really need to participate?" Asked Toga, she was dragging herself along with me, we are currently just outside the stadium, the competition starts in an hour or something.

"Yea~ You're a student now~ You do student things~" My resolute tone just made her roll her eyes.

She's currently wearing a regular tracksuit. Underneath that tracksuit, she has a skintight costume, made specifically for her quirk.

It was made by the support department so that she doesn't go nude in front of everybody. Usually, they don't take requests from the General Course, but Nezu was happy to help (like always, that guy's a G)

"But it sounds so boring..." She sighed and whined like a little kid.

"Don't be so lame~ It's gonna be fun~ You can even draw blood~ Minimally~" My words did seem to cheer her up, quite a lot actually.

I took her out killing yesterday, I let her clean up another group of villains so that she won't be as bloodthirsty today.

I wouldn't want her to accidentally kill any kids after all.

"I guess it does sound fun..." She still doesn't sound all that convinced.

"All right...~ If you get good enough results I'll take you out for ice cream sometime this week~" She immediately lit up when I said that.

"Ok then!" She then skipped forward and went towards the student waiting zone.

It seems I'm being taken advantage of. She was clearly looking for this type of proposal all along. Oh well, I don't specifically mind that.

At least she's having fun. I can also use an outing, spending all of my time either here or on missions is boring.

Speaking of missions. Tomorrow is going to be the first hostage situation.

I think it's somewhere near Tokyo. I'll have to go and look at them while they kidnap civilians and keep them for ransom.

I think the file said that they are going to do that while on a streak of robbing several banks. Those robberies are technically also part of their payment too.

Oh well, I'll think more about that tomorrow.

For now, I walked around a bit, my appearance obviously garnered some attention.

Some people even asked me for autographs, which was quite flattering at first, but it became annoying after 10 or more people asked at the same time.

Eventually, I sat down in the place where the rest of the teachers were also seated. Well, at least those that weren't working currently.

Mic and Aizawa are the presentations, Midnight is the referee and Cementoss has to do his thing and clean up.

He is also tasked with taking care that no fatalities happen when the students fight in the last round.

This is basically an underground fighting ring, but legal and for high school kids. Which is quite nice honestly.

I think Toga has fair chances to win, she's a lot more skilled than the majority of other students. I can't really speak for all of them though, some might have some formal training or something.

I mean, it's improbable that out of every kid here, only Toga is somewhat talented in fighting.

"What's wrong Beru?" Asked a somewhat familiar womanly voice. It was Thirteen, I haven't spoken to her in quite a bit.

"It's nothing serious~ How've you been?~ Your voice is as soothing as ever~" At least I have someone to talk to(and tease) while the festival is starting.

"U-umm... Thanks, Beru! I've been fine, I just thought you looked a bit bothered by something..." Damn, she's perceptive.

I tried to avoid thinking about this all day. But I really don't trust that group of thieves one bit. I highly doubt anything will go well. Why? I have enough experience dealing with people like them.

Opportunistic, greedy. They are criminals, not the type you should be looking to become allies with.

But I can't really tell Thirteen about all of this. It's pretty classified information... Nah, I don't care about it being classified. But I don't like involving people in my issues.

"I'm pretty fine~ Even better now that you're here~ Say, how's about we get some dinner after all this is over?~"

I continued like that for a while, sending various compliments and invitations to the somewhat shy hero. She didn't really know how to respond, but she did her best to ignore me.

I didn't make it easy for her though, I sat right beside her and even put my hand around her. I made sure to back off when if I annoyed her though.

"Say... Why are you always like this?" She finally decided to stop ignoring me after a while. Her tone is a lot more serious than I expected.

That's a bit of a broad question. I can stay here all day and explain how I am flirty by nature and that I really, really feel bad for unappreciated people.

That would make me sound like a self-righteous asshat that takes pity on others and tries to help them looking for validation and to stroke his own ego.

But, really, it's a lot more simple than that.

"It's not all that complicated~ I guess I like to see people smile?~" I've been like this all of my life really. Even back at the orphanage, I always did whatever just to get a smile out of Souma.

It's just who I am I guess. I wasn't always like this though. I used to be quite the hateful bastard at some point.

Thirteen just looked at me for a bit, I guess she wasn't expecting that type of answer.

"I see... Say... Do you truly like me? Or do you just want me to smile more?" That's a bit hard to answer. I wasn't expecting her to get so serious all of a sudden.

"I do like you a bit~ Not in the way you'd think though,~ I find you to be a good person, a friend even~ Someone that I don't want to see skulking about~" That's about all I can say really.

Thirteen just looked up at me for a second. I can't really see her face, but, somehow, I think I can tell that she's smiling.

"Thank you... Really." She finally settled in her seat. As the festival also started.

I could hear Nemuri giving the intro and even inviting the student that got the highest score in the entrance exam on stage.

I kinda dozed off at that point though, I could see Toga looking just as bored as me though. So that made me feel better (at least I'm not suffering alone).

"No need to look like that... The festival gets better after the events start..." Thirteen said while poking fun at my bored appearance(slumped antennas and unfocused gaze).

"I'll take your word for it~," I said while staring at the other teachers. Most of them were also just patiently staring at their own classes(I think so anyway).

The first event was a race with some obstacles. At first, I thought it was just your regular, jump some fences crawl under some shit race.

But then the fucking giant mechs came in. And I actually started paying attention.

They also had to pass a giant canyon, I didn't expect a school of all things to make events so interesting.

I mean, this is the first time I've actually been interested in a high school event(but I'm a dropout so that might not say much)

The last obstacle even turned out to be a minefield. That raised some questions in my mind. Like, what the fuck are these people eating?

I mean, I doubt those are actual mines. But still, the explosions seem to carry some force. I mean, I can see Izuku got launched by one quite far away.

He even took first place because of it (Well, I guess it was more than one mine, but still). But, I guess they aren't in any danger.

No way Nezu would approve of it if they were in any danger.

Toga also managed to get into the next round, it's a good thing she's got a good physique.

She can't really rely on her quirk much, to be honest. I doubt she's going to make much use of it throughout this competition.

The next event was a cavalry battle, pretty standard stuff in japan from what I've understood(at least I think so, never was interested to look it up).

But this also happens to be a fight between kids with superpowers, so it was a bit more interesting to watch.

They all have bandanas worth a certain amount of points. They're supposed to fight over them or something(didn't listen entirely).

Toga teamed up with some kids I don't really recognize. I think they're also from the hero course though.

She managed to qualify for the tournament too, which is nice. I guess? She almost didn't get in though, just that two people gave up for some reason.

So, I guess Toga got far enough for me to take her out for ice cream...

Well, this turned out to be a bit more entertaining than I thought.

I can almost smell Thirteen's smugness. The only thing that's missing is an 'I told you so' or something like that.

I just got up though, ignoring her gaze and just preparing to leave.

"Where are you going?" She finally decided to ask.

"Bathroom~ Wanna come?~" She just stared at me for a bit. I think my invitation failed to fluster her this time.

"Nah, I'm good..." Then she diverted her attention elsewhere.

I walked away after that, I think I'll look for Toga or something.

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