Chapter 99: Discussions
The moment Kira arrived at the classroom door, Kaminari rushed up to him. "Kira!" he asked excitedly, "Was that really you at the concert last night!?"
Kira gave a simple nod. "Mm."
"I saw the video! That song you sang... what was it called again? It was so cool!"
"'Under Pressure'," Kyoka Jiro said casually, her chin resting on her hand. Her earphone jacks were plugged into her phone, and that was the exact song she was playing right now. The song had a kind of magic to it that made you instinctively want to snap along with the beat.
Hearing Jiro speak, Kira remembered something Makoto Hibikiya had told him: many of his song sources had come from Jiro's father, Kyotoku Jiro. Kira was very interested in the man who focused on "music archaeology" and hoped to have a chance to meet him and see his collection one day—but obviously not right now.
"Jiro, I saw from Uraraka's Twitter feed that a few of you went to the concert, right?" Kaminari turned to Jiro, his voice full of displeasure. "I wanted to see Kira's concert too! Why didn't you guys say anything about it before you went!?"
"Idiot," Jiro said, turning her head away, clearly not wanting to talk to him. She hadn't even gone for Kira in the first place—though his appearance had certainly been a pleasant surprise.
"Flat-chest, what did you just call me!?" Kaminari rolled up his sleeves, ready to demand an explanation. He had just wanted to ask a question; there was no need to insult him! (Even if he was an idiot when he overused his Quirk!)
However, before he could make a move, a girls' uniform suddenly blocked his path.
"Kyoka-chan! So you guys were really at the concert last night!?" Toru Hagakure threw herself onto Jiro's desk. "You and Yaomomo both went! Why didn't you invite me!?"
Uraraka gave a wry smile. "Because you and Mina ran out of the restaurant to have a duel. We thought you weren't interested..."
"And me!" Mina Ashido chimed in, equally indignant. "Damn it! If I'd known, I never would have picked a fight with Toru that day!"
"Well, there wasn't much we could do about it. Besides, we didn't know Kira-kun would be performing either..." Momo said with a sad smile. Still, not inviting those two really had been a bit cruel...
Speaking of which, Tsuyu-chan stayed behind after the concert. What was that all about? Momo looked over at Kira, who was walking calmly to his seat as if he wasn't the center of their conversation at all. She shrugged helplessly. She couldn't possibly have stayed behind to see Kira, right? It was probably just the water, triggering her frog instincts.
...Like doing a Magikarp Splash?
Bakugo, sitting at his desk, coldly watched Kira sit down. "Hey, Kira," he said suddenly, "were you holding back during our match because you were focused on that concert?"
"Not really..." Can I even say that I was doing my best? Kira thought. Hamon doesn't have a one-hit-kill finishing move like Bakugo's. Even if I had dragged the fight out, it's not certain I would have won.
Bakugo ignored him, muttering to himself, "So... who the hell do you all think you're looking down on...? You, and that damn Deku..."
Just then, Asui walked in, greeting her classmates with her usual placid expression. "Good morning, Yaomomo-chan, Hagakure-chan, Ashido-chan... Kira-kun."
Kira smiled back. "Good morning, Tsuyu-chan."
(After confirming Satomi Ishihara was okay last night, he had sent an email to Asui, asking what she had wanted to talk about. She had replied that it wasn't anything important and not to worry about it.)
A heavy rain had fallen that morning, and the rest of the students only just managed to trickle in before the bell. Some were talking about the rain, others about the stares they were getting on the street after the Sports Festival. Most of them weren't music fans, but thanks to Hagakure and Ashido's loud laments, the entire class now knew about Kira's performance yesterday. All eyes were currently fixed on Yoshikage Kira, who was just trying to read a book.
"Whoa, are you serious? The super-serious Class Rep likes hot-blooded stuff like rock music? I never would have guessed!"
Kirishima's comment was immediately refuted by Hagakure. "He's not serious at all!"
"Hagakure-san, 'serious' is a compliment..."
"Is this the gap between us? While I was leisurely spending my two-day vacation, someone else was holding a concert..." Minoru Mineta said with a 'tragic' expression. "Still... this slacker life is the one for me..."
"Mineta, don't give up on yourself!"
"As expected of Kira-kun. It feels like he can do anything..." Midoriya said with a sigh. He then walked over to Tenya Iida. "Iida-kun, your brother..."
Because of his fight with the Hero Killer, Iida's brother had been seriously injured. There had been no official news about Ingenium on any of the websites. Midoriya, not wanting to disturb him, hadn't called him over the past two days.
"Ah, thank you, Midoriya-kun," Iida said, giving Midoriya a bright smile. "My brother is not in any mortal danger. It's just... his Quirk was badly damaged. He probably won't be able to work as a hero anymore..."
"He can't be a hero anymore!?" Midoriya almost shouted. He quickly covered his mouth and glanced around. Luckily, no one except Uraraka was paying attention.
Iida kept smiling. "It's alright. I'm just grateful that my brother is alive. I will inherit his name and become a hero worthy of it!"
"...Iida-kun, let's work hard together!" Midoriya said, giving him a firm thumbs-up.
Even though they'd had two days off, when Aizawa arrived in the classroom, he looked as if he hadn't slept at all. The bandages on his hands had been removed. Aside from the scar under his eye, he looked fully recovered.
"Mr. Aizawa! Are your injuries healed!?" Kirishima asked excitedly.
"My injuries were healed a long time ago. Recovery Girl just wouldn't let me take the bandages off..." Aizawa replied. He turned his gaze to Kira, a look of surprise in his eyes. "Kira. You really did something incredible these past two days."
"Kira-kun just participated in a concert. Is that a big deal?" Uraraka asked curiously.
"A normal concert wouldn't be a big deal. But this was a rock concert paying tribute to Queen..." Aizawa narrowed his eyes, as if lost in thought. "You can ask Present Mic for the specifics later. What I can tell you is that this was the first, near-perfect recreation of a rock concert since the 'Rock is Dead' era. Because of its unbelievable viral speed, it has already gained the attention of music fans from several different countries in a single night..."
It's that big of a deal? Even Kira was a little stunned. Are we talking about the same concert I was at?
Kira hadn't paid any attention to the matter since last night. He had fulfilled his wish, and that was that. He had assumed the hype would die down in a few days.
"Eh!? It was that amazing!?" Hagakure cried out, then buried her head in her arms. "Damn it! Why didn't I go see it!?"
"Ahem." Aizawa interrupted the class's discussion. "We'll set that aside for now. What we're doing in today's Hero Informatics class is what you might call the most important step in your hero careers. That is... choosing your hero names."
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