My Hero Academia: School Briefs IV

My Hero Academia: School Briefs IV (僕のヒーローアカデミア 雄英白書 IV) is the fourth School Briefs light novel spinoff, based in the My Hero Academia universe. It is illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi and written by Anri Yoshi. The events take place during the Shie Hassaikai Arc and U.A. School Festival Arc.

Summary
Hey, hey, hey, folks! It's finally time for U.A.'s School Festival! This is a showstopping event where our little heroes in training are pouring their hearts and souls into a live concert, a stage play, and much, much more—all for your entertainment! Are you ready?

Author Notes
"A Note from the Creator It's novel four! This time, it's all about the School Festival at U.A., with plenty of scenes that wish I'd had the chance to portray in the manga! Super fun and relaxing!"

- Kohei Horikoshi

"A Note from the Author Reading the School Festival arc in the manga felt so comforting. Izuku and his friends are always giving 110 percent with that Plus Ultra spirit, so when they finally got to have fun like normal high schoolers, I found myself thinking, "Well, good for them. Isn't that lovely," like I was a distant aunt or something. I hope you enjoy reading about what happened behind the scenes at the School Festival."

- Anri Yoshi

Part 1: Float-Filled Work Studies
Shortly after Izuku Midoriya's meeting with Sir Nighteye and his approval for the Work-Study internship, he thinks about how despite this success, he was still unable to accomplish the task of stealing the seal away from him or being able to make him laugh, as well as being deemed an unworthy successor for All Might's "One For All" Quirk. Mirio Togata tries to cheer him up, reminding that his complete All Might fanboy-ness helped win him over. Izuku starts to go off about various All Might trivia and geeking out over Nighteye's collection, leading Mirio to mention that he has a whole storage locker worth of merch, causing him to get even more excited. Mirio thought to himself how despite his natural impenetrable stern look, on his downtime Nighteye would watch old All Might clips to let himself relax, and how despite their radically different ways of showing it, the two were more alike than they knew and hoped this internship would help bring Izuku and Nighteye closer together.

Meanwhile, Fumikage Tokoyami was busy in Fukuoka at his Work-Study alongside soon to be Number Two hero, Hawks. Together with the rest of the sidekicks, they were barely able to keep up with Hawks as he so easily is able to take down every villain they come across. As they take a breather, Fumikage thinks about how Hawks' Quirk, Fierce Wings, allowed him to multitask better than anyone. He also notes that while he's been getting better at keeping up with him since their previous internship, he's still nowhere close to his speed. Hawks then asks Fumikage about "Endeavor's kid" and what he's like. Aware that he cared little for his father, he mentions how capable Shoto Todoroki is both in and out of the classroom and that, unlike his father, his personality was cool, calm, and collected. This seems to amuse Hawks as he gives a grin, and recognizing that Fumikage wonders why he's asking this, responds that he's just a fan of Endeavor, as he gave an obscured smirk to himself. Over at the agency for Ryukyu, Nejire Hado, Ochaco Uraraka, and Tsuyu Asui were wrapping up their day work and were relaxing in the office with the hero herself, talking about Lunch Rush's new meals in the U.A. cafeteria. Just then they hear a voice from the police scanner requesting backup, as the four instantly got up, ready to head out and back to work.

Eijiro Kirishima was hard at work at his internship alongside Fat Gum and Tamaki Amajiki, which had brought them over to Osaka. There was currently a famous nationwide float festival going on, with many vendors open all over the street, with the heroes there to patrol for any potential crimes that may occur. Fat Gum was being praised by the locals, being offered all their food, with the others also recognizing Eijiro and Tamaki from their recent work, though Tamaki felt overly gloomy at the crowd of people. Eijiro tries to cheer him up, reminding him that his Manifest Quirk had returned since their previous encounter with the Quirk-Destroying Bullet. He also watched as Fat Gum and Tamaki continued to chow down on all the various types of food stands, thinking about how because of their Quirks, eating was just another part of the job, while for him it was something he just casually enjoys.

He talks to Fat Gum how as part of the dorms, they get food delivered to them from Lunch Rush everyday, which they find delicious. They talk about the good relationships they have being around everyone all day, while also bringing up the fight between Izuku and Katsuki Bakugo the other day, with Eijiro noting that ever since Katsuki's been acting more housebroken. Fat Gum joked with Tamaki after he mentioned that he had never had a fight or argument with Mirio for as long as he's known him, saying how amazing he is, while Eijiro thought about how he'd never seen Izuku and Katsuki engage in a polite conversation, though also admitted that some people just weren't destined to get along, and it wasn't his place to expect identical friendships from every pair; he mentions that Katsuki is just the type of guy to tell you how he really feels and be honest with himself.

While patrolling, one particular float being worked on catches Eijrio's attention, as he noticed the young cartwright with chiselled features and equally chiselled physique eliciting cheers from his squad mates captured his attention. They call him "Little Ei", which Eijiro confuses for himself, since people used to call him that in middle school, causing the cartwright to get excited having the same name as a hero. Before the trio leave, Eijiro noticed the squad mates starting to poke fun at Ei for slipping around and seemingly getting nervous, which he denied, but Eijiro could tell something was up. A bit later, Fat Gum was summoned to the police headquarters, so Eijiro and Tamaki went to take a break. While conversing, they notice Ei apologizing to a mother and her child about an incident, as they are just about to wait for the parade to start. As he is about to leave, he slips on a banana peel, and notices the two boys watching him, feeling embarrassed. Eijiro picks him up and asks him what's wrong, which he reluctantly answers.

Ei talked about how it was his dream to be a cartwright, and that became a reality the previous year, however that year he was partially responsible for an accident that resulted in the float toppling over and hurting the little boy he was earlier apologizing to, named Ken. Even though the family accepted the apologies with no hard feelings, he still felt upset about it and couldn't help but worry about another incident happening and hurting someone again. Eijiro thought to himself how Ei was someone who looked out for others and didn't want to see them hurt, reminding of his own inspirations to become a hero to help others.

He also was reminded of the incident in middle school when a giant being had confronted some of his fellow classmates, and he was frozen in fear unable to do anything while his other classmate, Mina Ashido, was able to jump in and help, as well as also hearing on the news about an incident of another middle schooler being captured by a powerful villain, and their classmate who jumped into the fray to try and help them. Eijiro tries to cheer him up, quoting Crimson Riot that they shouldn't let something like fear get in their way, but Ei still denies this saying he's gonna quit before heading off. Eijiro, annoyed at himself, starts to head off to try and convince him, but Tamaki stops him, saying that he has to find the conviction himself, and can't just rely on one push. At this moment, Fat Gum calls them into headquarters to report something.

They learn that a villain suspected of bank robbery had come into town and the mission is to go undercover and search for the robber. While Fat Gum, due to his huge size, went patrolling elsewhere, Eijiro and Tamaki got dressed up for the occasion, wearing their happi coats to blend into the crowd. They watched as the parade started, with each of the different floats whizzing by pulled by the various men, and the performers on top, all throwing the crowd into a frenzy. He thought about how if he was born in this kind of town, he might have gone for that type of job, although it did sadly make him think of Ei. Him and Tamaki decide to split up to cover better ground, since they didn't have any distinguishing features in order to properly identity the culprit. Eijiro overhears a commotion between a man and a woman, and goes to see what's up. When the man reacts harshly, he immediately suspects him of being the wanted villain, citing the average height, weight, and no distinguishing features. He calls for him, but instead he just turns into gelatin and starts bouncing away. Eijiro tries to keep up, calling for backup, but instead the villain grabs a nearby boy, who just so unfortunately happens to be Ken, acting as his hostage pointing a knife at him.

Just then, Ei, who had switched spots and was riding on the back of the floor, noticed Ken being captured and immediately jumped to act. Eijiro tried to give chase, but the ensuing chaos and panic from the crowd made it impossible to keep up. Ei manages to climb back onto the roof, and being able to see where Ken and the villain are, yells to Eijiro, who quickly goes to see them and begs for their help to save him. Needing to clear a path, Ei took charge belting orders to the crowd, as the rest of the team started to pull the float down the road. They manage to turn down some winding streets, eventually cornering the villain, who still had the knife pointed at Ken. With no time to waste, Eijiro jumped off the moving float towards the villain, activating his Hardening, rescuing the boy as the knife hits his hardened skin instead.

The villain tried to apply more gelatin to make a break for it, but Tamaki arrived, whipping out his squid tentacle arm, completely binding him up. At this moment, despite the emergency break being pulled, the float was rocked over about to run right into Eijiro and Ken, he prepares to get hit but Fat Gum arrives in time to stop the falling float. As the saved boy is about to run off, he tells Ei how amazing he was and that he wants to be a cartwright too, bringing Ei all sorts of happiness as he bursts into tears. Eijiro also greatly compliments him, giving him a big thumbs-up. As the festival continued on, and the heroes continued their patrolling, Eijiro informs Fat Gum about his story and his past, as he tells him not to keep holding onto those regrets and to continue on moving forward. He then sees Ei's float making its way down the road, seeing the man with a huge smile on his face, with legs no longer trembling, filled him with inspiration and courage to take that next step, just like Mina, and just like the boy he saw on the news, unaware that very boy was already friends with him.

Part 2: Prep
After the events of the Shie Hassaikai Raid and the rescue of Eri, she was currently in a hospital bed being watched over and taken care of, as they start to propose where she would be staying next, with U.A. High itself being the most likely option, thanks to Shota Aizawa's Erasure Quirk and presence. Shota was doing his usual visit to Eri, when she asks him what kind of dance Deku will be doing, having just recently learned about U.A.'s upcoming Cultural Festival, and visited the school with Izuku and Mirio seeing all of the students hard at work for the event. Shota tells her she can look forward to finding out later, as Eri finds herself in excitement over the concept of having anything to look forward to at all.

Several days later, on a Sunday, thanks to how good the weather is, nearly the entire school was hard at work on each of their respective exhibits for the Cultural Festival. Class 1-C of General Studies was busy working on their haunted house, "the Labyrinth of Doom", with Hitoshi Shinso, alongside his fellow classmates, each discussing how to make it look the scariest and most decrypted. As he proceeded to throw out some trash and pick up some paint, he thought to himself about the guilt he was feeling over his transfer request into the hero course and how his classmates would feel about it.

He had initially applied for the hero course, but due to his Brainwashing Quirk being useless in the battle against the robots, he failed, but was still able to make it into the General Studies, with knowledge that he could possibly transfer into the hero course. Thanks to his performance during the Sports Festival, that request was approved, but he knew that he had to find someway in the meantime to hone his Quirk until the time came, which thankfully helped when Shota stepped in and agreed to assist. He started to feel some doubts about being able to accomplish anything, so went to distract himself by walking around campus and checking out all of the fellow students at work, not trying to think that this might be his last with his class.

Making it to the trash, he comes across a giant dragon, which he recognizes as being Class 1-B's for their play. He saw as Yosetsu Awase, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, and Setsuna Tokage were each painting parts of the set, with Neito Monoma directing everyone to make them look as perfect as possible, laughing to himself how their play will completely trounce Class 1-A's performance. Hitoshi thinks about that while he most likely would end up in Class 1-A, because of Shota, being in Class 1-B was still a possibility, which meant potentially having Neito as a classmate, which exasperated him a little.

A bit further down the path he came across 1-A's Dance Squad, consisting of Mina, Ochaco, Tsuyu, Toru Hagakure, Eijiro, Minoru Mineta, Hanta Sero, Rikido Sato, Mezo Shoji, and Koji Koda. He overheard the guys talking, as Minoru was particularly annoyed that Shota didn't inform them about the beauty pageant, with the guys poking fun at him at how big Minoru talks while he, like everyone else, is scared at how strict he can be. Hitoshi thought to himself that while Shota was strict during training, he never received full-blown scolding, and felt kind of jealous about that. He witnessed more of Minoru being creepy toward the other girls, thinking about him getting expelled for sexual harassment eventually.

Dropping off his lumber trash, he heads into the classroom to pick up some paint, as he passes by one of the rooms containing 1-A's Band Team, Katsuki, Denki Kaminari, Fumikage, Kyoka Jiro, and Momo Yaoyorozu, alongside their instruments. They were currently on break as Momo was distributing tea amongst themselves. She explains the difference between a first flush and second flush form of tea, while also giving Kyoka a separate drink of milk tea to help with her singing voice, which she appreciates. As Fumikage was inspecting some power cords, Dark Shadow emerges saying he wants to be involved too. Fumikage tries to tell him the stage will be too bright to do anything, but he insists and keeps complaining, until Katsuki pipes in telling him to stop whining and just bang something. This gives Kyoka the idea to give to give him a tambourine, that Momo then creates with her Creation Quirk, which Dark Shadow happily, and Katsuki reluctantly, accepts. Hitoshi heads off, thinking about how Katsuki seems to have gotten tamer since the Sports Festival. As he picked up the paint, he thought about how he assumed that the Hero Course would be pretty much nonstop work and studying, and while they were intense, he noticed that the school made sure to offer events like these that allowed the student's to lay back and enjoy themselves.

Making his way back out he comes across another group of voices, which particularly caught Hitoshi's attention, 1-A's Effects Group, including Yuga Aoyama, Mashirao Ojiro, Tenya Ida, Shoto Todoroki, and Izuku Midoriya, who were all playing the "newlywed game". Hitoshi wanted to keep walking, but couldn't help but stop and listen, especially given his connection to Mashirao, who he had Brainwashed during the Sports Festival, and felt slightly guilty about, and Izuku, who had somehow broken a hold of his brainwashing and beat him during the tournament, someone who he recognized as being earnest and good natured. Turns out the boys were playing the game for the best way for Izuku and Yuga to be in sync, though Shoto suggests they should just rehearse which they agree to; Tenya then starts to show off his robot moves he'll be performing.

Their conversation leads them to discussing the differences between the Sports and Cultural Festivals, leading Tenya to remark that everyone in the room had made it to the Top 16, though Mashirao points out he had dropped out because of Hitoshi, causing him to jump a bit hearing his name. Mashirao then proceeds to poke fun at Izuku for still falling for his Brainwashing even after his warning, causing Hitoshi to feel even more guilty that Mashirao didn't feel any resentment towards him. Izuku defends himself, and goes into his usual muttering analysis talking about how amazing a Brainwashing Quirk like that could be in hero situations, such as stopping a villain in their tracks, or using it to manage and control distressed crowds.

Hearing all this causes Hitoshi to clench up, finally hearing someone else see the potential in his Quirk beyond just villainous. He knew that he didn't earn the right to see them and say "Thank you" now, and that he needs to get stronger before he can face them again. The boys continued to chat about the Sports Festival, with Izuku still feeling slightly frustrated at losing to Shoto, while Shoto says that he didn't feel like he won, but that next time he's winning for sure. This confuses the others, but they still get all pumped up at the idea of future battles with each other for the next Sports Festival.

Still taking the longway back to his class, Hitoshi comes across Shota, who greets him and asks how his class and his training are doing. Just then, a group of second-years dressed up as cats show up to greet Shota before abruptly leaving; he reveals they are doing a cat café where they are the cats, which the two of them are slightly disturbed by. Shota thinks to himself if little girls would like cats too, fashion wise, leading Hitoshi to wonder if he is buying clothes for a little girl. Finally back to his classmates, and deciding to tell them about his transfer, he overhears them talking about him, realizing they already knew about the request for a while, slightly embarrassing him. He hears about them planning a big party for him for right after the Festival to light a fire under him, thinking about they don't have to worry thanks to his newfound conviction, and wanting to do it for his classmates that believe in him so much. He finally returns to them, thinking that while he may be saying goodbye soon, their warmth won't leave him behind.

Part 3: Romeo and Juliet and the Return of the Prisoner King of Azkabum
Class 1-B's epic performance starts with Neito, as "Prince Romeo", taking to the stage alongside Nirengeki Shoda and Yosetsu as his retainers, "Frodo" and "Samwise". As they continued their back-and-forth, stage director Juzo Honenuki was observing everything from behind the scenes, alongside the other cast and stage hands. The director's assistant, Sen Kaibara, mused to himself how the Prince was written to be a decent guy, and that Neito's doing a well job with it, but because they know who Neito really is, he just comes off as a dirty schemer, which Kosei Tsuburaba agreed with. Tetsutetsu was his usual excited self, eliciting cries for silence from everyone around him. Kinoko Komori joked about how Neito was born for the limelight, while prop master Shihai Kuroiro stood in the shadows saying darkness was his limelight.

Neito walked off stage, waiting alongside Juzo as Nirengeki and Yosetsu continued their scene, as their characters discussed how "Romeo" was set to become the successor to the throne of "Gondor", and that while the kingdom's civilians liked him, it might be too much to handle for a boy of his age. Neito and Juzo both agreed that their true natures of being a worrywart and perpetually flustered respectively fit their roles greatly. Neito then ran back on stage, as his character gasps hearing the news that his father has vanished, followed by sound effects provided by sound designer Manga Fukidashi, though not with his actual Comic Quirk.

A pre-recorded narration plays, as Neito's voice described how with the king gone, the people of Gondor became gripped with unease, and fearing the destruction of the kingdom, Prince Romeo would set out in search of his father. During this time, Togaru Kamakiri was busy working the lights, as Juzo directed everyone into their right positions. Kosei, with the assistance of Yui Kodai, Ibara Shiozaki, and Pony Tsunotori's Quirks, helped to provide a quick scenery switch. Now in a forest environment, Neito returned on stage, delivering a scene-chewing monologue.

The overall plot of the play involves Romeo's search for the King, the encounter with his destined love, Juliet, his growth as a person, a battle against his fated enemy, Count Paris, learning of a shocking truth, and finally becoming a great monarch (despite all the character names sounding familiar, Neito insists any resemblance coincidental). Itsuka Kendo and Reiko Yanagi, who were busy with the beauty pageant, had seen their dress rehearsal, and were moved by the stirring plot, despite being aware of Neito's off-kilter personality, allowing the rest of the class to be sure it'll captivate everyone else none the wiser.

Nirengeki and Yosetsu, as Frodo and Samwise, arrive right behind "Romeo", delivering him a message from his "Master Obi-Wan", saying to beware a "Count Paris", who "Romeo" only vaguely recalls. They also give him a legendary ring passed down through the family that protects the royal bloodline. Ibara, who plays the "Spirit of the Ring" started to psyche herself up backstage, as Sen provided her with reassurance, followed by Pony and Jurota Shishida, who play her "servant hippogriffs". They think about their early mornings going out into the woods to be one with nature preparing for the roles (unintentionally inciting some rumours around the school). The three got into position, while Setsuna, Shihai, Kosei, and Hiryu Rin prepared for their big surprise. Meanwhile, Kinoko was busy putting the finishes touches up on Yui, who was about to go on stage soon; she was chosen to be the leading lady due to already how much attention her expressionless appearance gave off.

In the play, Romeo was complaining about feeling hungry, and after Frodo pulls out some beef jerky, he viciously commands him to give it to him, so Frodo and Samwise challenge Romeo to a sword duel for the food, treating him "as equals." The two win, but share the jerky with Romeo anyway, inciting renewed comradely with the three, as Romeo swears that he will be a great King to his people, leading to an eruption of cheers from the audience. Nirengeki noticed Neito starting to grow a smug grin, so did some quick ad-libbing to move the plot along, trying to hide his slowly growing ego. Yosetsu complimented him, and Neito was about to resist some more, but stopped himself, preparing for Juliet's debut.

Yui, as Juliet, suddenly appears, accompanied by a giant dragon right behind her, eliciting screams from the audience. As the characters fled, the dragon started to fly all around the stage and right over the audience, being manipulated by Ibara and several others' Quirks, as the lights went in and out. As the dragon disappeared and the play continued on, Romeo and Juliet found themselves alone separated from Frodo and Samwise. After expressing the beauty of Juliet and learning her name, Romeo realizes that she is Princess Juliet of the Kingdom of Rohan, longtime enemy of Gondor. Neito went into another scenery-chewing monologue, cursing this love he has for Juliet, with several of his classmates quipping that he was born to play tragic, flawed characters, as he already was one. Romeo states that he will complete his quest, and once that is done will work on mending the relationship with the two kingdoms, with Juliet as his queen, which she agrees to. As they embraced, Sen commented if Yui could look a little enthusiastic, which Juzo defended saying that the expression makes her look more internally conflicted, like Neito suggested, which turned out to be correct as all the audience's attention was on her.

As the characters of Frodo and Samwise reunited with Romeo and Juliet, Tetsutetsu was ready to make his grand entrance on stage as Count Paris. He dashes out, grabs Juliet, and shouts his head off, dumbfounding both the audience and the director, as Tetsutetsu's frustration of being quiet led him to go overboard. Neito quietly tells him to dial it back, only to overcorrect with his final line, forcing Neito to cover for him. As Tetsutetsu apologizes, Romeo, Frodo, and Samwise argue about if they should go after the King or Juliet, with Romeo insisting on rescuing Juliet, before splitting off from the group.

Nirengeki and Yosetsu head off stage to find out that one of their prop swords for a future scene had been broken off stage; Kojiro Bondo tried to repair it but accidentally sneezed out too much glue, and Tetsutetsu accidentally crushed it after slipping on the glue. Now completely unusuable, Sen and Shihai went to find a substitute, unaware that there were spare swords on Nirengeki and Yosetsu's hips. Back on stage, Neito was waiting for the cue for Setsuna and Hiryu to show up on stage, but seeing Juzo gesturing to improvise to buy time, he went off on another meandering monologue, including naming off as much food as he could possibly think of. Eventually, they're finally about to show up on stage, this time in a giant space craft that descends from the top of the building. Setsuna appears from the craft as "Rey", with Hiryu as her space soldier friend, as they prepare to fight Romeo believing him to be part of the "Star Empire". Neito prepares for the next sword battle, but is caught off guard when he sees the two wielding baseball bats, which Sen and Shihai borrowed from the batting cages. Neito manages to make due, improvising to hide the confusion, to the rest of the class' relief.

Preparing for the next major scene, the group realize that one of their props, a scaled-up version of the golden ring, had gone missing (accidentally falling under the floorboards during the sword incident). Frantically looking for a replacement of something round with a hole in the middle, Tetsutetsu brings up a piece of his chikuwa fish paste he had packed in case he needed a snack, which they use and paint gold eyeshadow over to more closely resemble the ring. On stage, Romeo, Rey, and the spacetrooper conclude their battle as their misunderstanding is resolved and the two head off into space, with promise of one day meeting again. As he wrestled over reuniting with Juliet, he suddenly heard the voice of Ibara, as the Spirit of the Ring, as the chikuwa ring appeared floating above him, with Ibara riding atop Pony and Jurota as her hippogriffs, arrived on stage. Neito had to resist himself from commenting on the smell of the chikuwa, especially after Ibara ad-libs bringing attention to it, but manages to save himself as they all head off.

As the final set change starts for the climax of the play, the entire class pitched in moving everything into their right spots, as Sen attempts to explain to Neito what happened before the play starts up again. Now at an eerie stone castle, Tetsutetsu as Count Paris shows up to confront Romeo, now with a much more controlled vocal performance, as they engage in a battle. Suddenly, Master Obi-Wan, played by Kojiro, accompanied by Frodo and Samwise, appears and starts to face off against Paris himself. Obi-Wan reveals that Paris is a phantom from the infamous prison of "Askaban", as the two engaged in a mid-air force battle, thanks to Pony, Setsuna, and Hiryu's Quirks. Paris manages to hit the finishing blow, striking down Obi-Wan, shocking Romeo and his companions.

As he mourns his fallen master, Romeo gets back up to face down Paris, as he sees Juliet up on the castle's terrace, as the roaring dragon glares down behind her. Just then, Paris unveils his hood, revealing himself to be Romeo's father, eliciting cries of despair from Romeo, and confusion from the audience. Romeo denies this and starts to fight Paris, but from off stage, the crewhands notice Tetsutetsu acting odd, including clutching his stomach in pain. Juzo starts to realize that he might be sick, which the rest of the class confirm when they realize that the chikuwa he had eaten earlier was long-expired, something Neito had seemingly noticed earlier. Knowing they had to somehow get Tetsutetsu off the stage, the class debated with themselves what they should do, whether to end the show now or improvise for the remainder of the play. Juzo stood strong, saying the show must go on and their class must prove what they can do, inspiring everyone else.

A flash of lightning, followed by the dragon getting up to fly across the stage, distracted the audience long enough for the crew to get Tetsutetsu offstage, as Sen quickly showed up in the same costume to take his place. After a quick quiet conversation between him and Neito, the dragon ended its flight, as the confrontation between Romeo and Paris continued. The dragon prepared to make its next move, to attack Romeo, but instead Paris jumps in front, taking the hit to save his son. As he lay there dying, Paris explained his backstory (with Sen flubbing some lines but managing to hide it well enough), learning about the unfortunate events that plagued his life, his regrets and penitence, leading to some tears from the audience, causing Neito to once again start to smile in accomplishment, that Nirengeki and Yostesu had to hide. Back stage, a much healthier Tetsutetsu returns, ready to go back on stage, so they plan for another distraction, this time involving Ibara's return as the Spirit of the Ring, to make the switch between him and Sen. Neito figured this out and quietly informed Sen, slightly distracting him, leading him to accidentally fumble his final line, saying the one to inherit his kingdom will be Juliet, instead of Romeo, causing Neito, the crew, and the audience to be confused and exasperated by this response.

They went ahead with the swap, as everyone tried to figure out how to play up the slip up and what it would mean for the plot. At this moment, Juliet suddenly descends from the castle, taking the spare sword from Nirengeki's waist, challenging Romeo to a battle for the throne; Yui's improvising shocking everyone. Tetsutetsu ad-libs that they are both half-siblings and approves her decision for combat. Neito's slightly exasperated by the direction their story had taken, but the rest of the on stage cast make due as Romeo prepares to duel with his sister, Juliet. As their swords clashed, Neito tried to think about where the story should go next, whether he should win or lose. Yui's swordplay has him cornered, knocking into the castle, where their giant dragon puppet is sent toppling down right ontop of Yui. Neito dives in to shield her, taking a direct him that completely knocks him out like one of Itsuka's chops would.

Now taking command, with all eyes on Yui, she "slays" the dragon, avenging her brother. Her simple expression and voice elicit a fervour of responses from the audience and the crew backstage. Juliet stands centre stage, as she vows to build a new kingdom on peace and hope, with Frodo, Samwise, and Paris (who Tetsutetsu forgot is supposed to have died), showing their support, raising her sword in the air, as the audience erupts into applause, cheers, and a standing ovation at the play's conclusion. As curtains close, the class burst onto stage cheering and congratulating each other, and checking in on the now conscious Neito, who coyly accepted the outcome. As everyone gets around to thank their director, they head out one last time for the curtain call, taking a bow with huge smiles all around.

Part 4: Beauty Pageant
Itsuka and Reiko were waiting in their dressing room, thinking about their class' play, and hoping it is doing well. Itsuka was feeling slightly nervous, a bit for her class, but mostly for her upcoming beauty pageant performance. Reiko tries to reassure her and insist on helping her, but she still feels a little uncomfortable over wearing such a fancy dress she is not at all used to. Walking down the hall towards to where the pageant will be, she's met with a load of stares and unwanted attention, thinking to herself that this would all come much easier to Momo Yaoyorozu. She thought about while she respected the approach of the pageant, about young women competing to be the most beautiful, it was something she never cared for, and that what attracted her the most was cool things most people associated as being "for boys." She remembers back to when Vlad King first unveiled the beauty pageant, with Neito almost immediately volunteering Itsuka for the position, which she reluctantly accepted, for the sake of helping her class standout.

As the two made it to the greenroom, Itsuka slaps her face a bit to pump herself up, causing slight distress from Reiko. They run into Nejire, alongside her friend/attendant, Yuyu Haya, who also starts to pump herself up in response, to Yuyu's amusement. Just then they are approached by Bibimi Kenranzaki, third year in U.A.'s Support Course and two-time winner of the beauty pageant, causing the rest of the attendees, besides Nejire, to feel a bit more anxious. Bibimi and Nejire verbally sparred with each other, with Bibimi insulting Nejire's outfit. Itsuka was surprised to see this spat like something out of a manga play out in front of her, but before her big sister instincts could kick in to intervene, Yuyu stepped in telling Bibimi to back off. The two of them started to face off, but a pageant committee member arrived before things could escalate, explaining to the girls about the dress rehearsal. Itsuka took this time to think about how much of a surprise it was to see Yuyu act like that, knowing her as being very level-headed the last time they met, and wondering if this pageant atmosphere really effected girls like that.

After the conclusion of the dress rehearsal, Itsuka and Reiko returned to their dressing room, remarking how intense and tiring it was. They both talked about Itsuka's upcoming performance for the talent show portion, where she would be doing a martial arts routine. Just then, they suddenly hear an angry cry from the greenroom right next to them, and quickly went to check what's wrong. In the room they found a distressed Nejire and a furious Yuyu, with the latter holding a large nail, which she found in one of Nejire's shoes. Yuyu insists it is sabotage, most likely from Bibimi, but Nejire believes it to be some kind of mistake. Itsuka felt that it didn't feel likely that it just fell there, but also admits the nail was too big to be considered intentional sabotage.

Yuyu and Nejire continue their argument, when they hear another voice outside, which turns out to be Bibimi, looking for a necklace that has disappeared. This causes Itsuka and Reiko to start second guessing themselves, thinking towards it actually being potentially sabotage, with the latter having read about beauty pageants previously. Itsuka then started to think about how boys would say women prefer to fight their battles in underhanded ways, and how she didn't like to deal with the burden of being defined as just a "woman", but on her own terms. This obnoxious notion led her to start thinking about obnoxious men, particularly Neito, and the even minor chance he could've potentially be behind the sabotage as his way of "supporting" her, which made her feel pale.

Mei Hatsume soon burst into the room looking for her newest "baby"'s remote control, turning to Bibimi for assistance, leading Itsuka to recall they're both in the Support Course. Running on no sleep and not thinking straight, Bibimi used her eyelashes to help calm her down, saying she will help in searching for the remote for before the pageant starts. Nejire quickly jumps in to say she'll help, with Yuyu reluctantly joining in, and Itsuka and Reiko following suit. As they ran off to check the woods, the last place Mei hadn't checked, Itsuka thought about Yuyu running a fair bit behind Nejire, wondering if they're fighting. They pass by Tamaki, who after talking to Nejire, also agrees to assist, using his Quirk to sprout wings and fly above. As the group split up in the woods, Itsuka thought about Bibimi, and how even though she seemingly only cared about winning the pageant, put everything aside so easily to help her first year, which she thought was really cool. She chats with Mei, finding out that she hasn't slept or ate for two days while putting her project together for the festival, how the rest of the course can also get pretty obsessive with their work, and how much Bibimi stands out and looks after them all.

Itsuka then bumps into Yuyu, who apologizes about how she acted earlier, with Itsuka lending an ear for her problems. Yuyu starts to talk about how she initially suggested Nejire should enter the pageant because of how absolutely adorable and cute she thinks she is, still bitter that she lost the previous two years. She mentions how worried she is for Nejire, because she herself wanted to compete this time, and knows she got too overly worked up thinking about it all. Nejire then pops up from behind, revealing she heard everything, but before the two can talk it out, Tamaki interrupts them, saying he found the culprit.

It turns out the one who took both the remote, and Bibimi's necklace, was a crow, that was currently chasing Tamaki around in the sky. The crow put up a much greater fight than expected, and quickly went and snagged the necklace and remote before heading off in the opposite direction, forcing the girls to give chase. Nejire used her Wave Motion Quirk to quickly fly into the air and easily snatch the stolen objects, but not before the crow continued its assault on the girl. Itsuka utilized her Big Fist Quirk to try and fight back, but after just a couple small air blasts, suddenly a murder of several dozen crows appeared to attack everyone. Itsuka used one hand to protect the girls, while trying to shoo the birds away with the other, while Bibimi took off her glimmering hairpin to distract a couple of the birds.

Yuyu and Mei yelled at Nejire to throw the objects to them, with Itsuka adding to throw the remote first. As she throws it to Mei, Itsuka is there to stand guard using her hand to grab as many crows as possible, as Mei makes a bee-line for the school. After Mei stumbles a bit, Itsuka accidentally loses focus and the crows get loose again. Just then, a giant tank with Bibimi's face approaches sending the crows into a panic. She reveals it to be her creation for the talent portion of the pageant, and with the push of a button, unleashes a series of air currents that send the birds flying into the air like a tornado, followed by a net that envelopes and lightly drops the crows on the ground.

As everything starts to calm down, Yuyu asks about the nail she found in Nejire's shoe, which it turns out Mei had deliberately put it there as a way of letting Bibimi know she was in her dressing room, unaware she went to the wrong room. She quickly runs off back to the school, as Bibimi thanks the girls for helping them find the remote. Nejire goes off at how crazy the face tank looks, though also commenting that it's not her personal style after Bibimi suggests making a support item for her. Nejire then went up to Yuyu, saying that even when she doesn't feel herself, she's still her, and that's everything she likes about her, part of the whole package, and seeing the things you don't like about yourself in a better light.

As the two of them cheer each other up, Yuyu apologizes to Bibimi for earlier, which she says to think nothing of it, laughing it off. Hearing all of this made Itsuka think about herself in a new light, that even when she didn't feel feminine enough, it was still all her, and that's what matters. A pageant committee member runs into the girls, saying the event is about to start, as the girls quickly followed suit, saying to all do their best and put on the best show. Itsuka continues to think about how Bibimi and Nejire weren't competing on some notion of feminine beauty, but on their own notions that made them beautiful, so when Reiko worryingly points out part of Itsuka's dress got ripped, she decides it doesn't matter since she'll probably rip it off even worse during her performance. With her new plan, she smiled as she looked forward to her future.

Part 5: Festival For All
After taking down Gentle and La Brava's attempt to break into the U.A. Cultural Festival, making it just in time to take part in his class' show-stopping musical performance, and having just concluded watching the beauty pageant, Izuku and Mirio were listening to Eri as she was gushing about seeing the girls' showing off their talents. They were accompanied by Ochaco, Tsuyu, and Shota as they prepared to show Eri around the rest of the festival. The two boys each held on to Eri's hand as they walked around, with Ochaco and Tsuyu joking that they looked like a family. They visit a crepes stand, which Ochaco gushes about, leading Eri wanting to try some. She's disappointed there is no apple flavor, but chooses tangerine instead and really enjoys it, to everyone's joy.

They stumble across a hero quiz competition, which immediately grabs Izuku's attention with the prize being a board signed by all the U.A. Pro Heroes, though Shota finds it odd why he'd be so excited when he sees him and the others everyday. With some encouragement from the others, he signs up to take part, where he proceeds to dominate the quiz answering nearly every question flawlessly, to his friends and audience's slight horror. He eventually wins the whole thing, answering an All Might question without even hearing the question itself, to Ochaco and Tsuyu's mild disturbance, and Eri's sense of awe.

Kyoka and Momo were checking out the food carts and stalls waiting for their friends who were at 1-C's Haunted House. They sat down to drink, finally relaxed after all the hard work they put into their musical performance. Momo tells her she was a little disappointed that she wasn't able to see Kyoka sing from the front row, causing her to blush in embarrassment, as she continued to praise her. Over at the haunted house, Mina, Denki, Minoru, and Toru were underestimating just how spooky the labyrinth really could be, as everything from the decrypted look, the moody narration, and the jump scares caused them to tremble even more. Above the ceiling, Hitoshi was there preparing to give them their biggest scare, as he hangs down right in their path, blood dripping all over, as their extreme reaction of terror even catches him off guard. Finally making it out, Denki and Minoru nearly pass out, while Mina and Toru laughed about how awesome it was.

Close by, Mashirao was taking part in an obstacle course, with Hanta and Eijiro watching over, alongside a sour-looking Katsuki. Mashirao and Eijiro completed it in 15 seconds, and Hanta in 13 seconds, though no where close to the world record which was 5 seconds. They try to convince Katsuki to do it, but he refuses, on grounds he would win without even trying anyway, until he overhears a conversation claiming the world record came from All Might when he was a student, leading him to jump at the chance of beating it. The other boys watched as Katsuki flew through the course with ease, ending at 10 seconds, but still unable to beat the record, continued to retry again and again. They attempt to convince him to call it, but he refused, determined to beat it, with Eijiro praising how manly he is. Katsuki would eventually keep running the course until the end of the day, telling them to let him try again the following day.

Yuga was munching on a piece of cheese when he stumbles across Mezo and Rikido running a takoyaki stand, which they say is run by some Business Course students, who asked them to help out while they tried to plan how to beat another takoyaki place down the hall. Due to Mezo being a fan of takoyaki, and Rikido loving to cook, they were making the food too, including a chocolate variant too. They ask Yuga if he wants some, but he insists his cheese is all he needs, leading Rikido to come up with the idea of making a cheesy takoyaki. Yuga finds it a bit too hot for his liking, but still appreciates the taste of his cheese. Suddenly, the word and smells of the cheese and chocolate takoyakis leads to more attention from the fellow attendees, as the stall soon had a huge crowd of people wanting to try. After giving them some more cheese, Yuga attempted to leave but was stuck in the crowd, and accidentally ended up on line-management duty assisting them.

Meanwhile, Tenya, Shoto, Fumikage, and Koji were outside riding a miniature train in a little amusement park area. Tenya was his usual overly serious self, getting into the fun of the attractions, while Fumikage was baby-sitting the hyperactive Dark Shadow. As he and Koji went off to get drinks, Tenya and Shoto took a rest, thinking about how Izuku, Eri, and the others are doing, and reflecting on now realizing why Izuku was feeling so gloomy at school over the course of his work study. They then complain about how Izuku's always taking on too much leading to some trouble, like almost missing their performance, unaware of the events with Gentle. Just then, Ochaco, Tsuyu, Mirio, Eri, and Shota show up, saying that Izuku had some business to take care of and ran off, to the other's confusion. Eri was worried where he was, so Shota decided to help by recommending visiting the Cat People Café, which they head off to. Tenya and Shoto think about Izuku's doing something troublesome again, with Tenya annoyed how he refuses to inform, communicate, or explain (I-C-E), anything to them, with Shoto wondering if they should put a GPS on him. Fumikage and Koji return with their drinks, letting the two know they saw Izuku run back towards the dorms.

The four boys arrive in the dorm's kitchen to find Izuku with an apple, bag of sugar, and a small bottle of red food colouring. He explains that Eri really wanted a candy apple, but realizing that none of the stalls were selling it, he had went out of his way to make one for her instead. Realizing that their friend was once again running off for the sake of others, Shoto and Tenya turned to each other with looks of exasperation, but also pride and admiration, and Fumikage, who's also favourite food is apples, thought about how he might get along with her. Using an online video as a tutorial, he got to work on the candy apple, with the other four boys cheering him on until it's finally complete, running off to meet back up with Eri.

With the Cultural Festival at its conclusion, Izuku started to walk about to the dorms after giving the candy apple to Eri. He started to think about what happened to Gentle and La Brava and hoping they would be alright, recognizing that Gentle was someone he could've become if he had not met All Might, and it's why heroes always need the determination not to lose. Back in the dorm, he reunites with his classmates, to find Rikido, having been gifted a bunch of fruit for helping with the takoyaki stand, and inspired by Izuku's candy apple, made a platter of candied apples, strawberries, grapes, and other fruits. Minoru tries to make another innuendo towards the girls but is slapped by Tsuyu. As everyone went up to grab one, Eijiro asked Katsuki if he wanted one, with him saying sweets aren't his thing, only for Rikido to walk over and hand him a candied chili pepper he made, knowing he likes spicy food. Katsuki's annoyed he'd go out of his way to make something for him, but Hanta goes and forces it on him anyway.

Katsuki then approaches Izuku, asking him if he tried the obstacle course, which he didn't know about. They tell him about All Might's supposed record, causing Izuku to feel slightly disappointed, as Katsuki tells him to try it at next year's festival, so that he can beat All Might and his time, which Izuku happily accepts the challenge. Tenya jumps in saying the rest of the class should all try together, which everyone happily agrees and gets excited about, though Momo calms them down to try celebrating this year first before preparing for next. The entire class, even a reluctant Katsuki, gets together in a circle as they cheers to a great festival, chowing down on the sugary and sour-y fruit as it melted in their mouths.

Part 6: All Festivaled Out
The teachers of the U.A. Hero Course were relaxing in their dormitory, exhausted now that the event was finally over. Shota attempted to go to sleep, but Present Mic forced him to stay. Midnight was about to booze down her second drink, while Thirteen and All Might each sat with their non-alcoholic beer. The teachers talked about how it was good to have this one time a year where the students could go all out just to have fun, especially since it'd only be for their three years at school. Thirteen and Snipe talked to Cementoss about how the drink receptacles, made by the Business Course, designed to look like him proved really popular, to his delight. Ectoplasm talks about the General Studies' wonderful batch of yakisoba, followed by each of the other teachers talking about the food they tried (with Midnight commenting on each of them being good with beer). Vlad King asks Shota about spotting Mezo and Rikido making takoyaki, to his surprise, assuming they were just doing someone a favor. Shota thought to himself how he should've expected the get together to be "more than just a quick toast", but found himself most intrigued about All Might, who just quietly sat in the corner drinking, seemingly looking down about something.

Present Mic finally confronted All Might, asking what is wrong, with Ectoplasm jumping in saying he's dispirited over the incident with Izuku and Gentle, causing him to feel upset that he once again didn't reach out for help as he worried about him. Hound Dog piped in to loudly scold Shota and All Might, saying he was their responsibility, before Vlad King helped to quiet him down. All Might talks about how he promised Izuku's mother to watch over him, and wondering if that feeling of worry is similar to that of how a parent might feel, with Midnight chiming in that it's how a teacher should feel. This helps to pump All Might up as he turns to Shota saying that he'll try harder as a teacher.

Cementoss then asks Shota how Eri's day was, saying she had fun thanks to Izuku and Mirio. The teachers discuss where Eri will be staying after deciding that she would be soon living in their dormitories, saying that they need to be good role models for the girl (with Midnight joking about teaching her about men). The conversation eventually leads to talking about wardrobes, causing everyone to then stare at Shota who flinched in disgust, as the memory resulted in a round of laughter from everyone. Earlier that day, Shota had given Eri a completely flashy sweater filled with cartoon cats for her to wear at the Festival, only for the nurse to pick out a more appropriate outfit for the girl instead, which Shota still felt bitter about, thinking it was just as cute. Present Mic proceeded to poke fun at him, saying that the man with such a bare-boned sense of fashion and living shouldn't be taking care of a little girl.

Thirteen brings up Class 1-A's musical performance, as Shota compliments them (to the best of his ability), while Present Mic goes into full praise mode saying how great and energetic they all were, especially Kyoka's lead vocals. Ectoplasm, a big fan of karaoke, thought to himself how disappointed he was he missed the show and wishes he could have the chance to hear Kyoka sing too. Vlad King soon pipes in to say that Class 1-B put on a great play, with Snipe and Cementoss also having heard loads of praise from others, as Vlad was nearly moved to tears thinking about how much work his students put into it. They then all agreed that they had Principal Nezu to thank for everything turning out so well, as he had stood strong and insisted the festival continue on even after the police agency seriously recommended cancelling the event.

Midnight then mentions that due to the reduced scale, the teachers weren't able to plan their own event, to All Might's curiosity, as they mention doing group gymnastics, a cheer squad, and a choral performance the past couple years. They ask what All Might's class did when he went to school, which he says was a maid and butler café. Midnight says hers did a routine with dominoes where customers lined them up and she would teasingly threaten to knock them down, Cementoss did a rakugo comedy sketch, Thirteen a botanical café, which All Might says he would've loved to see. Present Mic says he and Shota's class had a haunted house, pointing out how scary Shota naturally was, though he also adds that because of Mic's "Monster Mash Rap", everyone hated it. Snipe brings up his put on a "Duel It Yourself" Western-style café, Ectoplasm a choral café, and Vlad King & Hound Dog had a drag café. Vlad mentioning how he won the bodybuilding contest led to Midnight remembering how she has won many beauty pageants back in the day, all the way since even kindergarten, causing her to get all hyped up over the potential of another school festival.

Midnight proposes, in order to scratch each of the teacher's itches, to put on a little talent show for each other right now, which they all warmed up to. Vlad King steps up first, taking off his shirt and presenting the "muscle wave", as ripples starting appearing all through his muscles, leading to comments from Mic and All Might. Shota thought to himself about trying to leave, but knew Midnight and Mic would force him back in anyway. Vlad volunteers Hound Dog next, to show off his super sniffer, as he manages to accurately describe what Snipe was doing at his class' shooting gallery just by sniffing his hat, impressing everyone. Shota decides to go next, surprising Mic, only for him to reveal to be able to fall asleep in 2 seconds, which he immediately does on the couch, despite Mic's attempts to wake him.

All Might goes up next, telling a joke about his time in the States when he was fighting a villain, but instead he had gotten arrested because he had shown up to the fight while in the bath. This was met with a lukewarm response, saying it was an amusing anecdote, but not really passing as a joke, while Midnight stating that fighting completely nude just wasn't fair; All Might thought about how his American friend, David Shield, thought it was hilarious before heading back to his drink. Cementoss proceeded to sculpt a very detailed All Might, which he appreciated. Ectoplasm's trick was "Solo Canon Singing", utilizing 30 clones of himself to sing the "Frog Song", going on a seemingly endless loop, with the singing coming off as nearly brainwashing to the sober All Might and Thirteen, and straight up knocking out Hound Dog.

Midnight finally got up for her turn, grabbing a hold of Vlad, along with her trademark whip, worrying All Might and Thirteen how far she was going to go. As she continued to strike Vlad at several spots, she reveals her trick to be "Whip Calligraphy", unveiling to have spelled out "Long Live Youth" in kanji on his back, greatly impressing All Might. Midnight continued drunkenly whipping at Vlad, while the Ectoplasms continued with their singing, until a voice suddenly appeared that quickly shut everyone up. Principal Nezu, just having finished with his report to the police, had a furious tone looking "down" on everyone, instantly sobering them up as they quake in fear, even somehow waking up Shota and Hound Dog too, telling them to end the festivities. As he spent the rest of the night giving the teachers a hard lecture, he looked at Vlad King's whipped chest and decided to cut down his lecture time by an hour, seeing written out, "U.A. Rules".

Trivia

 * The cat sweater Shota initially purchases for Eri references her character profile page, where this incident, and an image of the sweater itself, were first shown.
 * The sweater was then referenced again in the opening for Season 4's Starmarker.