A/N- Shout out John_A_Mandrake for the powerstones!!
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Day of the festival . . .
After the fun week he'd had, Carter was ready to see what the UA students had been up to while he had been gone. He wasn't hopeful, or enthusiastic but he was here regardless to 'support' them.
Since he was now back on 'normal' school time, we had altered his appearance to be that of his 16 year old self, he threw a mask on as well while tucking in his wings and tail since that would give him away immediately.
He walked around to look at everything else before going to class 1-A's event since theirs wouldn't start for a few more hours. The first thing he looked at was the various inventions that Mei's class had created. Mei herself was enthusiastically showing off the mech suit she made while also pitching several ideas to potential sponsors in the crowd. There are several other interesting ideas that Carter takes note of, since they could be useful later on.
He spots several class 1-A students in the crowd as they go over to the haunted house that's being run by class 1-C, he follows behind them and is thoroughly unimpressed by this so-called 'haunted house'. They didn't even use real blood. He grumbled as he drifted along with the crowds, ending up in the beauty pageant.
Had it been him two decades ago he might have been impressed by the various dresses and shows, but they felt boring now. The only outliers were Itsuka Kendo, Nejire and some weird girl named Bimbimi. Itsuka mixed her beauty and martial skills destroying several boards, her dress tore slightly, but she carried on proving her worth. Bimbimi was the most bizarre as she raced around using a contraption she made as a support class student, it was modeled after her face and was quite strange to look at. Nejire's was the one that did impress him though as she leaned into what she does best, being flashy. She flew around and dazzled the crowd and judges before climbing higher and making a rose pattern in the sky, feeling she did better than the other Carter applauded with the crowd as Nejire was announced the winner.
As he leaves the pageant grounds to make his way to Class 1-A's exhibit, he sees the last group of 1-A kids racing on an obstacle course, Katsumi is charging though as she reaches the end a full ten seconds before the rest cross the finish line. "Ha! Take that you damn extras!" She yells as she looks over the people around her. Then she locks eyes with Carter, or at least someone that looks like him. Her eyes widen as she pushes through to see who it was, only for them to be gone by the time she gets there. She frowns but goes to get ready as she feels that today will be more than she bargained for in the end.
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As I file into the gym that has been turned into a music arena, I wonder if Katsumi was able to recognize me despite my 'disguise'. I don't doubt it since she's a lot smarter than she acts, but I still subtly change a few things so I can deny being who I am should she jump at me from the stage.
As the lights dim I wonder what kind of music or play Class 1-A has planned, if it's anything like that mess that 1-B had. I already had plans to leave since I didn't want to sit through something painful like that again. After reading all the lore I could for the past few days, all the inaccuracies and thrown together elements made my head hurt. Then the curtain split open as class 1-A took the stage.
They replaced me? I thought, narrowing my eyes as I spotted a new girl that wasn't in the class the last time I was here. Looking around I saw the class split in two. Some were dancers and others held instruments, Kaminari and Fumikage held guitars, as did Jiro though she also had a mic in front of her. Momo and Katsumi were behind them, Momo sat before a piano as Katsumi glared at the crowd from the drumset. "LET'S FUCKING GOOO!" She yelled as she kicked things off.
Jiro started singing after thanking everyone for being there, they started playing while the rest of the class started dancing. It was energetic, and spreading throughout the crowd. Even the student from other classes who came to mock them started dancing to the music as Katsumi kept the tempo going, beating the drums like there was no tomorrow. Momo struggled a bit to keep tempo but she soon got into the groove and kept going as the crowd went crazy.
At the signal they agreed upon, Izuku grabs Aoyama and throws him into the air as he uses his quirk to make light effects, dazzling the audience. Seems Nezu let the traitor stay. Izuku leaves the stage to get ready for what's next as Sero and Shoto combine their quirks to create garlands of ice that stretch across and over the crowd. As they do that Momo uses her quirk to shoot confetti as Ochako uses her quirk to launch several classmates and audience members into the air, as Izuku drags Aoyama through the air on a rope using him like a disco ball, as the song finally ends, the crowd cheering and screaming.
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After the show, I went around to all the different food stands to try out everything. Most of them were done by students here at UA with only a few being from the outside, and even then they are connected to the students one way or another, being family owned or something similar. As I sit at a bench eating a corndog, I spot something nice, Aizawa and Mic are walking around the festival with Eri, but what makes me smile is that Mrs. Joke is also tagging along, constantly bugging Aizawa and trying to hug him. He keeps it civil but I can tell he's only putting up with it since Eri thinks its funny.
"Hello, are you enjoying the festival?" A voice said as I looked and saw that Nezu had sat next to me with an ice cream in hand. "A little, the food is decent." I shrugged as he nodded, licking his ice cream, "Who's the new girl?" I asked as he dabbed at his mouth with a small Nezu sized handkerchief. "An exchange student from the U.S just like you, though she comes from the other side of the country. New York to be exact." He said, smiling at me, "Her quirk is quite strange, but very versatile. She has been working on control more than anything." He said as I finished my corndog.
As we talked a few students looked at us funny, though it seems that one finally recognized me. "Hey Carter, where have you been?" Nejire said as she bounced over, a bright blue 1st place ribbon pinned to her chest. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I smirked as she pouted, "Where are your wings? Did you look around the festival? DID YOU SEE ME IN THE PAGEANT?!" She fired off questions like bullets as even Nezu took a second to catch up. "I have my wings put away right now. And yes you did good during the pageant." I said as she smiled, "So you're saying I looked pretty up on stage?!" I deadpanned as she just grinned at me.
She teased for a bit longer before she went to go find her friends, as Nezu left as well, "I look forward to seeing you in class tomorrow." He said as I snorted I sure didn't. As he left I decided it was time to rip the band-aid off and headed towards the dorms.
I stopped to change out of my disguise and put on the robes the Astra and Thorn had given me, though I kept my hood up as there were still plenty of people around though many were leaving. By the time I reached the dorms I took my hood off as I took the elevator up, I could sense and hear everyone inside talking and partying after having a good time at the festival, though it got a bit quieter as they heard the elevator ding. "Is that?" Kirishima asked as Mina jumped forward "WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?! WHERE CAN I GET ONE!"
I grimaced at her loud voice as others asked me where I had been, I said hello but didn't explain about where I had been, no point. As I went to the kitchen I started making food as a few whispered behind me, though Momo did come over to me after she walked in to see me rummaging through the fridge. "It's good to see you back, Carter." She said as I grunted, then went over to the stove to start working on my steak. "It's good to be back." I said simply as Katsumi's voice rang out, "Where the fuck have you been?! And where the hell are your wings?" She demanded as she marched over.
"Good to see you too, Katsumi." I said as a few 1-B students came in surprised to see me. "Good job on third place." I said to Kendo as she nodded before going to talk with some other people, but Katsumi didn't let up. "You've been gone for almost a month, and you didn't send so much as a text, I know I told you to go but you could've at least checked in every once in a while." She growled as she took to the stove cooking her own meal as well.
"What have you been up to anyway man? The teachers just told us you'd be gone for a while and didn't say when you'd be back." Kirishima asked as I sat down and started eating, "Don't worry about it." I said as Mina grinned "I know someone who was pretty worried, two of them actually." She said as Momo and Katsumi glared at her. I shrugged, still not ready to be back in this peaceful world after the mess in the last one, I was tired.
"You gonna say something or just sulk like a little bitch?" Katsumi asked as she slammed her plate down, good to know she didn't change one bit. "I don't want to talk about it." I said finishing my steak and washing the plate before heading to my room, ready to sleep. I could feel several gazes burning into my back as I walked away, whispers echoed in my mind, both said and unsaid as I reached my door. "Carter, wait." Katsumi said catching up to me.
I turned and stared at her, "What?" She just glared at me before sighing, "I'm sorry for yelling, it's good to see you." She said as I nodded, still not ready to deal with this crap. "Likewise." I said before turning and entering my room, as Katsumi stared at my back with rage, fear and a bit of hope.
As he lay in bed Carter went over how things could have been worse, but he focused on making sure his room was in order before going to sleep. He wondered how Thorn and Rose were dealing with the kingdom and whether the Bones had made it back to Boneville as he drifted off to sleep.
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A few hours later . . .
Carter snapped awake when he heard a light tapping at his door. Checking his clock he saw it was a little past midnight as he partially transformed and slowly crept to the door. Opening the door he found Katsumi who looked like she'd been crying? "What's wrong with you?" He asked surprised to see her so fragile, and why the fuck did you come to my room? "I-i can't sleep." she said as he snorted "Yeah I can tell." She glared at him and threw a punch, he let it land as she didn't put any power behind it. "Can I come in?" She asked as I shook my head, "Hell no, go to Ochako." He said with zero hesitation since he'd rather not deal with people asking if they were dating. "I'll buy you food, anything you want." She didn't even finish her sentence before she found herself sitting in his chair as he looked at her with a gleam in his eyes, "I'll hold you to that." he said as she sighed.
"So what do you want?" He asked after forcing her to put in writing that she would buy him a meal, " A hug." She said as he blanked at her, she came down crying just to get a fucking hug?! 'Do it for the food, if nothing else.' the voice said as he could feel it salivating at the thought of wagyu beef, that she would be paying for it. "Fine, you get a damn hug." He said as he opened his arms. As she hugged him he could feel her squeezing him as if afraid he would disappear when she whispered, "I missed you . . .'
I froze not knowing what to do or say, there had only ever been one person that ever said that to me before. "I-i missed you too?" I said unsure for once as she lifted her head and looked at me, "You're shit at this." She said as I rolled my eyes "No shit captain obvious." She smirked at that as I shifted wanting to let go, "Are you done with your hug, if so let go." She shook her head, "Fuck no, you're stuck with me until you tell me what's wrong with you." She said as I let my arm drop, she just squeezed tighter as I walked over to my bed, "The hell are you doing?!" She snapped as I lay on my back, "I've got nothing wrong with me, so you might as well let go." I said but she didn't buy it, "I don't believe you, your face is wrong." "YOUR face is wrong." I shot back as she headbutted me only to hurt her head. "Dumbass." I smiled as we insulted each other back and forth before slowly falling asleep, with her still holding tight.
A/N-Ok lowkey I didn't know how to finish that out, but that's what I came up with. (I'm turbo single, don't judge too hard) I will be moving a few more pieces around in these next free chapters, in the next one we'll meet the new student who arrived after Carter left.