I wanted to draw a tractor, and then I wanted to draw Aoyama and Yaoyorozu, so there it is. Maybe they picked up an interest in farming after graduating from UA?
MY HERO ACADEMIA SCHOOL BRIEFS LIGHT NOVEL “CHERRY BLOSSOMS”
CHAPTER 1: The Red Ogre Who Doesn’t Cry?
The chapter takes place in February before the Meta Liberation War but after Aizawa and Present Mic visit Kurogiri at Tartarus.
It’s still Winter, and the sakura are not blooming yet. Class A undergo an exercise with Aizawa and Eri to teach her the Japanese holiday “Setsubun” (Coming of Spring).
During Setsubun, it is common to play traditional games with children where one person acts as the “oni” (ogre) and the children chase the “oni” around and throw beans at them, symbolizing chasing away the bad to the bring in good fortune. Class A are emulating this and are divided into two teams, the “Oni” team and the “Momotarou” team.
They get placed in the teams based on a random draw of tickets. Kaminari teases Bakugou saying that he looks like an ogre, so by appearances alone, he would belong on the Oni team without even drawing the ticket. Bakugou gets angry, but Aizawa tells them to finish drawing the tickets.
The teams are Momotarou Team: Deku, Ochako, Tsuyu, Mineta, Kaminari, Jirou, Sero, Ashido, Ojiro, Hagakure, Satou, and Koda.
The Oni Team is Bakugou, Todoroki, Tokoyami, Iida, Shoji, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, and Aoyama.
Iida asks why the teams are unbalanced as there are far more people on the Momotarou team than the Oni team. The rules are that each team has to either throw beans at each other (Momotarou team members) or get hit by an ogre club (Oni team members) to get that team member out. The Momotarou team needs to hit an ogre three times with a bean to get that person out whereas the Oni team only needs to hit the opponent with the ogre club once to get them out.
The only way for the Momotarou team to win is if they can rescue Eri, who is being held “hostage” by the Oni Team. Aizawa then stares at Bakugou, and Bakugou feels uneasy. He then explains that he has a special assignment for Bakugou, which is he will need to get along with Eri.
Bakugou doesn’t get why this is necessary. The rest of Class A are also surprised as to why Bakugou has this task. Aizawa explains that in order to save people, you can’t just grab them with no care and hope they survive. Doing so makes you seem like the villain instead. If he keeps up his scary demeanor, then in the event he’s trying to save a child, if the child starts crying, then it’ll also attract the attention of the villain. Therefore, this exercise is to help Bakugou control his emotions and attitude around children.
Bakugou is annoyed that he has to do this task but keeps quiet anyway. The Oni team proceed to scale the mountain, and Kirishima comes up to Bakugou and says “seems like you’ve got a real tough task there. I’ll work with you, and we can befriend Eri together!” and Iida says “of course, let’s all work together!” Yaoyorozu voices concern, wondering if Bakugou can actually get along with Eri. Aoyama suggests that Bakugou brings out a dashing sparkly smile, just like him and Midoriya. Todoroki also adds that since Midoriya is close to Eri, all Bakugou needs to do is imitate what Midoriya does.
Bakugou yells at Todoroki and says that even if the world gets flipped upside down, he would never copy Deku’s moves.
Meanwhile, the Momotarou team are heading to the forest but are also worried about Bakugou trying to get along with Eri. Deku wonders if Kacchan will be okay with Eri, and the rest of the team members also wonder how it will go. They decide that the best thing they can do is just try to save Eri in either case.
The Oni team on the other hand are trying to warm up to Eri. Eri looks really nervous, so they decide to introduce themselves to her. Kirishima and Yaoyorozu both greet her, and Kirishima knows her since they met during the Overhaul mission. Yaoyorozu also knows Eri since she saw her when she accompanied Ochako to the Teacher’s Dormitory several times. The others were not very familiar with her. Eri still looks nervous, especially since Bakugou is behind her staring at her as well.
He scoffs, and Iida reprimands him, saying that it’s not nice to click your tongue in front of a little girl. Bakugou tells him to shut up. However, the teachers who take care of Eri also sometimes use rough language in front her too.
They eventually get to the location where Eri is supposed to stay with Bakugou. The buzzer rings in the air, signaling that the game has started.
Kirishima looks at Bakugou a bit worriedly and says that in either case, Bakugou should look after Eri.
As he says this, both Bakugou and Eri stare at each other in surprise, and feeling awkward, both avert their gaze.
As the Momotarou team approaches to try to save Eri, Hagakure quietly comes around to sneak up on them, but as she does, she steps on a fallen branch on the floor. Shoji notices and Hagakure tries to run away, but Shoji whacks her with the ogre club. Hagakure is out.
Sero uses his tape to swing through the branches. However, he notices that Iida is on his tail. Iida is able to catch up to him and swings his club. Sero is out too.
Ojiro hears Aizawa’s voice ringing across the mountains and says, “man, already two out?” He then runs into Kirishima, who’s holding the ogre club casually on his shoulder. Kirishima says this is the end of the line for Ojiro.
Kirishima smirks and Ojiro puts on a bitter smile. The two proceed to duke it out.
Meanwhile, Tsuyu and Deku are trying to sneak up towards Eri’s location, but Todoroki stops them with a wall of ice. Tsuyu uses her tongue to wrap around Deku to save him from the ice. She tells Deku to go ahead as she tries to hold Todoroki back. He easily freezes her legs and chases after Deku.
It’s been a while since Deku sparred with Todoroki, and the two of them smile playfully at each other like children as they proceed to fight.
Jirou and Ochako are also trying to sneak up to where Eri is being held “hostage,” but they suddenly hear sounds coming from a distance, which they deem to be Todoroki and Deku. They try to proceed but are intercepted by Yaoyorozu. They try to throw beans at her, but Yaoyorozu makes a vacuum cleaner and uses it to suck up all the beans.
Tokoyami then appears up above and uses Dark Shadow to whack both Jirou and Ochako. The battle is heating up.
As the others are fighting, Bakugou is in the small hut with Eri, and silence fills the room. Bakugou is still trying to figure out why exactly he has to do this task. He wonders if Aizawa is trying to teach Eri about Stockholm Syndrome but then berates himself for even thinking that silly thought.
He thinks to himself “what the hell do you even talk about with kids!?” He then thinks about Todoroki’s words about how Deku is close with Eri, so all he needs to do is copy what Deku did. He yells “goddamnit!!” and accidentally surprises Eri.
Bakugou is adamant to not copy Deku, so he resolves to just doing what he’d think is best for this situation. He tries to think about how to get a kid to open up to him while he’s in the role of the “ogre.”
He then thinks to himself, “as if there’s something like that!” He goes through a bit of an internal struggle but then settles on asking Eri what is her favorite food.
Eri responds, “Oh…? Um….a—apples…”
Eri looks confused, and Bakugou struggles internally again and says, “what are you, some kinda damn weirdo…!?”
Outside, the battle has turned as Tokoyami managed to get Ochako, Jirou, Ashido, and Ojiro out. The only ones left on the Momotarou team are Deku, Tsuyu, Kaminari, Mineta, Satou, and Kouda. The Oni team has no outs at all.
The Momotarou team regroups and tries to figure out a good strategy on what to do. They only have five members left, and they’re also running low on beans. Mineta asks if Deku has a plan, and Deku proceeds to open his mouth to explain when…
Back at the the hut, their fears became true. Bakugou hardly made any progress befriending Eri. Iida tries to get Eri to warm up to Bakugou by saying, “Eri-chan-kun, Bakugou might look the way he is, but he actually has some good parts too! Right, everyone!?”
He hopes that if they can all talk about Bakugou’s good side, then maybe Eri would warm up to him.
Kirishima says, “Even though Bakugou looks the way he is, he’s a straightforward guy who will never tell lies!” Kirishima gives a thumbs up and smiles at Bakugou. Yaoyorozu adds, “That’s right! Bakugou might look this way, but umm…oh uh..that’s right! He has great table manners! He’s very neat!”
With Yaoyorozu’s words of encouragement, Shoji also adds “Bakugou might uh, look like…look like this but uh…he gets up early! I’ve never seen him rush in the morning!”
Shoji then looks towards Tokoyami, and Tokoyami says “what, me!?” He then says, “Bakugou might look like err, this…but…oh right. He cleans up the bathroom sink well after he uses it, wiping away all the water splatters.”
Todoroki then adds, “Bakugou might look like this uh….might look like this…?”
Todoroki ponders a bit and gets quiet. Aoyama butts in and says “I’ll go first! Bakugou might look like this but has talents! For example, he wears his pants really low, but they actually never fall down!”
Todoroki remembers what he wants to say and continues with, “Bakugou might look like this, but he takes his studies seriously. He is also Midoriya’s childhood friend.”
Bakugou gets mad and says, “What the hell! Why are you saying that my good side is being childhood friends with that damn nerd Deku!?”
Upon hearing Deku’s name, Eri asks, “Oh, Deku-san?”
Even though Eri seemed interested in the conversation, Bakugou goes on to yell at Todoroki, saying that he never wanted to be childhood friends with Deku. He also asks why the hell is everyone saying “he might look like this…” when trying to talk about him?
Everyone realizes he’s got a point, and they get quiet. Todoroki says, “my bad.”
They then go back to strategizing on how to get the other five Momotarou members out. They know that their opponents are running out of beans, so the only plan they probably have is to try to take Eri.
Suddenly, a long tongue wraps around Aoyama. He screams, and Kirishima tries to help him. Iida follows them.
Deku and the others are jumping through the trees. Mineta throws his mogi mogi sticky balls at them, and they get stuck. Koda then summons a murder of crows to distract them. Satou then makes a hole in the ground, and they all fall down.
Kaminari then zaps them, making the freeze in their tracks. The Momotarou team throws beans at the fallen victims, and Iida, Aoyama, Todoroki, Kirishima, Tokoyami, Shoji, and Yaoyorozu all get out at the same time.
Even though Kirishima is out, he pleads to Deku, saying, “I know it’s probably weird to ask of you guys since you’re on the opposite team, but please help Bakugou get along with Eri, I’m begging you!”
Kirishima puts his hands together to plead. Deku asks Kirishima, “is it really that bad?” and Kirishima nods his head. Iida also mentions that they haven’t made any progress, so please lend them a hand.
Deku and the other Momotaro team members agree to help Bakugou get along with Eri. They think of a strategy and recall a popular folktale called “The Red Oni Who Cried.” They will play a game of “ogres out, fortune in” where they will act like the ogres, and when Bakugou helps defeat them, it will make him look better in front of Eri. This might let her warm up to him.
Back at the hut, Bakugou hears that everyone on his team is out except him. He knows that if they come for him, then there’s no way the Oni team can win.
However, Tsuyu stealthily hands Bakugou a note using her tongue. He reads it and says, “so I’m the red ogre?” The Momotaro team act tough and say “ohh, I’m the villain!” and “I’m here to take the girl!” to sound more intimidating. Bakugou gets angry and takes the ogre club and says, “if you’re not coming in, then I’m coming after you!!”
Bakugou readies his explosions, and Deku realizes if he lets it out, he might actually destroy the entire hut. Deku says, “Wa—wait, Kacchan!” and Bakugou says, “Stop moving, damnit, Deku!!”
Deku tells him to remember his special assignment with Eri! Bakugou doesn’t care and is about to swing the club at Deku when he hears Eri say, “ogres out, fortune in…!”
Bakugou feels something small hit him. It turns out that Eri actually had the beans and was part of the Momotarou team too! She gets Bakugou out, and the Momotarou Team wins!
Eri says she didn’t know when she would have the chance to throw the beans at him to escape. Deku looks at Eri and thanks her for saving him. Bakugou sees Eri looks much different than earlier, and he says “You…did well…”
Eri was scared that Bakugou might be mad at her, but her eyes widen as she hears what he says to her. Bakugou says, “Hey, I’m just saying this to someone who was held captive, all right!?”
Deku’s eyes widen as he tells Eri that Bakugou actually complimented her, which means she really did a good job! He continues to praise her, and Bakugou says “I didn’t compliment her, I was just speaking my mind!”
After Thirteen comes to pick Eri up to see her safely home, Aizawa tells Class A that although the Momotarou team won, they shouldn’t have wasted time doing something aside from the assignment. The class dejectedly say “Yes, sir.” Aizawa then turns to Bakugou and says that Eri’s impression of Bakugou got better compared to before the class started.
She told Aizawa that she was happy he complimented her and that he probably worked his best to try to act like an ogre. Kaminari then lets out a laugh and says, “Pfft, you think he was trying his best to act? That’s just how he is!!” and Bakugou yells, “shut the hell up!” Aizawa tells Bakugou that he at least passed his special assignment.
Kirishima then comes up to Bakugou and throws an arm across his shoulder. He exclaims, “You did it, Bakugou! I knew you would pass!”
Iida says that seeing Bakugou pass makes him happy as Class President. Ochako and the others all offer words of praise as well. Bakugou says they’re being damn annoying. Aizawa watches his class as he says with a hint of happiness “getting along, huh.”
THE END!
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Chapter 2, 3, and 5 in text format will be posted soon. For now, please check the links to my Twitter threads!
The Boku No Hero Academia Hero Fes 2020 had a lot of different segments to it with all the voice actors and actresses in the official art!
There were live readings of Season 4 highlighted scenes, a mini game that 4 teams had to play, as well as a funny drama skit about Deku and everyone getting isekai’d into a dream world where they were part of the U.A. Troops fighting against the Big 3.
TheBNHA Season 4 BluRay/DVD Vol. 1-6 Box Set comes with a special bonus light novel called the “Cultural Festival Wrap-Up Party” about Class A’s after-party they had the day after the Cultural Festival, written by Anri-sensei. Here’s the summary! Enjoy~
Boku No Hero Academia Cultural Festival Wrap Up Party
The story starts off with All Might greeting Aizawa as he enters the faculty office, a day after the Cultural Festival. He says good work to Aizawa and asks how the clean-up went for the Cultural Festival. Aizawa says that everything has been put away properly and recalls how it was a bit of a risky Cultural Festival this year with the whole fiasco that almost caused them to stop the festival, referring to the incident with Gentle and La Brava.
Aizawa mentions that the students are now preparing for an after-party. He says, “too bad they can’t put this amount of effort that they did in the Cultural Festival towards their studies instead,” and All Might laughs and says, “Well, they’re still just kids after all.” He also tells All Might that a little while ago, Sero stopped by the office to ask him something. Aizawa says, “What?” and All Might explains, “Well…you see…”
Next scene is at a nearby discount variety store (**note: basically a Don Quihote department store in Japan that sells a variety of things including food at really cheap prices). The Class A band team, consisting of Jirou, Kaminari, Bakugou, Yaoyorozu, and Tokoyami, are buying snacks and drinks for the after-party. However, Jirou seems to be the only one who’s actually taking this seriously as she can’t find where everyone else ran off to. She bumps into Yaoyorozu, who excitedly says, “Jirou-san, look at these super cheap drinks! They’re only 10yen each! If we buy 20 of them that’s only 200yen!”
Jirou looks at the bottles and notices that they’re only on sale because the drinks had already expired. She tells Yaoyorozu to put away the items. She then continues to search for the other band members and finds Kaminari. He tells her that he wants to add these cool snacks into their pile of food, which come with bonus cards or toys. He says, “Look at these! Doesn’t it take you back? Man, when I was a kid I used to collect these all the time!”
Jirou looks at the items and says “put it back,” and Kaminari whines but does so anyway. Yaoyorozu keeps getting distracted by all the things in the store since she’s very rich, she seldom has the opportunity to visit these discount stores that people go to. Jirou finds Tokoyami, and Dark Shadow dumps a whole bunch of sweets into their shopping cart. Jirou says that they don’t need that many sweets and to put things back. Tokoyami then gives Jirou a snack with packaging that says “The Witch of Darkness’ Apple Pie.” Dark Shadow says, “Fumikage used to love these sweets when he was younger!” and Tokoyami gets flustered. Jirou then pats Dark Shadow on his head, and Bakugou comes up behind her.
He says, “What the hell are you guys even buying!?”
Kaminari cries out, “Whattya mean!?”
Bakugou says, “If we’re gonna eat this at the after-party, then we need several big bags of food! And why the hell am I even here shopping with you guys right now!? This is so annoying!”
As he says that, he fills the shopping cart with bags of potato chips, sweets, paper plates, and trash bags. Jirou sighs in relief and says, “Yeah! I was thinking of getting paper plates too so clean-up would be easier!” They then agree to buy some more bottles of juice and soda, and Bakugou says they only need a maximum 5 bottles to which Jirou agrees.
Bakugou then says, “Well then let’s just get the hell out of here!” and Kaminari regrettably puts all of the sweets that he added to the shopping cart back on the shelves. Jirou looks at Bakugou and says, “Bakugou, you’re…kinda like a very capable Mom.”
Bakugou gets mad and says, “WHAT!? Stop saying such stupid crap!”
While the Band members are buying stuff at the discount store, the Dance Team members and Stage members are back in the Class A dormitory preparing food and decorating the common room. The Dance Team is in charge of the food and the Stage team is in charge of decorations.
Satou is the one who is cooking most of the food, but the other Dance Team members are helping him with the food preparation. Iida is in charge of chopping the vegetables, and although he is known for his speed, he’s not used to handling knives, so he chops them at a slower pace. Hagakure is in charge of prepping the oil and oil absorbent sheets to fry the chicken and place it on the sheets. Ochako and Ashido are in charge of stirring the pot, which contains beschamel and bolognese sauces.
Ojiro checks up on the oven to make sure that it’s the right temperature. Satou tells Ochako and Ashido to add the sauce for the lasagna and to not forget to put olive oil on top. Shouji says that he’s done making the dressing for the salad, and Satou samples it. The kitchen is full of lively sounds, and everyone is excited for Ojiro’s delicious cooking.
Ochako, Ashido, and Hagakure then discuss how Christmas is around the corner too, so they should do this again and throw a Christmas party next time. While they think about having a potential Christmas party, Iida says, “Hey now! Christmas is a day that celebrates the Birth of Jesus Christ! You should be spending it with your families, so this Christmas we…”
Satou then says, “Iida, the knife, watch out the knife!” since Iida was talking while swinging the knife around in his hand. Iida apologizes. Ashido then says, “But wouldn’t a party be fun?” and Mineta appears in the kitchen holding some peaches while muttering, “Christmas…Christmas costumes…Santa Girl skirts…That’s awesome…”
However, they eventually convince Iida that Christmas is indeed a time to celebrate things together, and Iida gives in and says he will ask Aizawa for permission to throw a Christmas party much to everyone’s delight.
Mineta had been slacking off on his duties by looking at the peaches and stroking them gently, imagining something lewd, and Hagakure calls him out on his perverted thoughts and tells him to help out along with the others.
He is in charge of cutting the carrots, and while everyone is helping prepare the food, Ochako stares at the fried chicken that just came out of the fryer. She can’t help herself and pops one into her mouth only to find that it’s burning hot. Tsuyu says to be careful since they’re still hot, and Ochako apologizes as the fried chicken looked and smelled so delicious she moved without thinking.
Satou asks her how’s the flavor, and she says the fried chicken is really good while giving him a thumbs up.
Ojiro and Hagakure are washing the dishes, and Hagakure holds the plates, making them look like they’re floating in mid air. Ojiro then tells Hagakure that she should probably put some clothes on if she’s going to be in the kitchen where people use fire and knives, but she said she just wanted to see what people’s reactions were to her small pranks. Shouji then passes her an apron, and Mineta muses that it’s one of those tropes where girls wear aprons while naked, but Iida warns him to not go further.
Meanwhile, in the common room area, the Stage Team is preparing the decorations to be strung about the living room. Deku, Todoroki, and Koda are folding origami together to put on the walls as banners. Deku folds a cool All Might shaped origami, and Todoroki praises him, saying “Wow, All Might! That’s awesome!” Deku actually used to practice folding the All Might origami countless of times to perfect its shape, and he blushes a bit when he hears praise from someone.
He then sees that Todoroki folded a crane, and Todoroki says that his sister taught him how to fold the crane origami when he was a child.
Koda then says, “Oh um…I…made a camera origami!” and shows them a whimsical camera shaped origami that makes a shutter noise when pressed. Deku then notices that Koda actually had folded a ton of different origami flowers and animals, and Koda gets a bit embarrassed at the attention.
Koda says, “But the All Might origami is amazing…” and Todoroki agrees.
Todoroki then asks Deku to teach him how to fold the All Might origami. Deku is happy to oblige, and he says, “Okay first you fold a triangle and then…”
As he starts teaching Todoroki, Kirishima comes into the room and puts up his own dorm room’s fisherman banner on the wall of the common room. He says that this will make the place a bit flashier, and the others agree. Aoyama then comes in and also says that they need something sparkly and bright. Aoyama tells them that he’ll come back with something sparkly.
Kirishima then says, “Oh wait I’ll come help too!”
Todoroki then turns to Deku and says, “Midoriya, so how exactly do you fold the All Might origami?”
Deku realized that he was in the middle of teaching Todoroki before they got interrupted by the others, so he resumes his lesson by saying to first fold a triangle. Afterwards, he goes off on a tangent about how to perfect the folding process as well as making sure to accentuate the silhouette of All Might through the folds, and as he mumbles a bit, he accidentally folds the origami too quickly.
Todoroki is patient with him though and says again, “Um…can you please start from the beginning and teach me the steps a bit slower this time?”
Deku apologizes for folding the paper too fast and teaches Todoroki again, this time at a slower pace.
Kirishima then walks by and says, “Woah Todoroki, you also want to learn how to fold the All Might origami?” He leaves them to their folding and joins Aoyama and Koda in putting the finished origami and other decorations up on the walls.
After Todoroki successfully folds the All Might origami, Deku says, “You made your first All Might origami!” and Todoroki responds quietly, “I think this should be able to fit in the letter…”
Deku says, “Hmm?” and Todoroki says, “Ah, it’s nothing.”
Aoyama them brings a disco ball into the common room, and he, Kirishima, and Sero put up the other decorations.
Finally, the preparations are complete, and the Class A students gather in the common room surrounding a bunch of food that’s placed on the tables. Iida then makes a toast to a successful Cultural Festival, and everyone raises their glasses and says, “Cheers!”
Satou mentions that he also has prepared dessert, and they have two choices of either a chestnut and fig montblanc cake or an apple and peach jelly. Tsuyu chooses the jelly as jelly is apparently her favorite food. Tokoyami also chooses the jelly dessert while Ashido takes the montblanc.
Iida mentions that he and Mineta were in charge of chopping the cabbages and carrots for the cole slaw. Todoroki and Deku praise him and say that the coleslaw is delicious.
Bakugou watches irritably and decides to leave the party, but Kaminari says, “Hey hey hey, where do you think you’re going, Kacchan-kun!?” Bakugou says that seeing everyone making small talk is pissing him off, but Kaminari rebutts by saying, “But you looked excited when you were buying food!”
Kirishima then comes over and says, “Bakugou! I brought you some fried chicken! Let’s eat a ton!” and puts a bunch of fried chicken in front of Bakugou, to which he says he doesn’t want it. Kirishima doesn’t back down though and says, “Oh I got it! So you want lasagna instead!” and brings a slice of lasagna for him.
Satou noticed Kirishima carrying the food over and says, “Hey, you should put a bunch of tabasco on it before eating too!” and pours a bunch of tabasco onto the lasagna and force feeds Bakugou with it. Bakugou yells, “What the hell are you doing!?” but eventually pipes down after taking the lasagna from Kirishima as it seems like he does enjoy the food after all. Kirishima watches him and says, “See, I told you it’s good! I’ll bring you seconds!” and goes to bring Bakugou more food.
Sero then turns everyone’s attention towards the TV in the common room. He says, “Well then now that Bakugou’s calmed down, let’s watch the recap of our Cultural Festival performance!” He turns on the TV and everyone gathers around to watch the recorded performance.
Some of the members mention that Deku was late to the performance, and they thought that he might not even be able to perform. Deku apologizes for being late, but as the performance starts, they can hear the audience’s chatter as someone yells “YAOYOROZU!!!” Ashido and Kaminari tease her about having fans, and she gets flustered. Satou then whispers, “It’s starting…it’s starting…!” and the screen fills with the sound of Bakugou’s drums as well as a huge explosion.
The girls all fawn over how cool Jirou looks while singing, and this causes her to blush and say, “Please stop…” Koda also adds, “You were really cool, Jirou-san,” which makes her blush deepen.
Ashido exclaims, “Look look, the dance is all in line too!” and the class watches as Ojiro uses his tail to swing around. Everyone on the dance team mentions how it was thanks to Ashido being their teacher that they were able to have fun while dancing and making this possible. Next is Deku and Aoyama’s synchronized dance, and Shouji murmurs to Tsuyu, “Wow, they are so in sync!” to which she replies, “Midoriya-chan and Aoyama-chan practiced real hard, right?”
The students continue to watch as Aoyama becomes a disco ball and the stage team starts their part of the performance with Kirishima shaving the ice that Todoroki created while Sero uses his tape, and Kirishima says, “You guys’ timing was perfect, Seroroki!”
Sero mentions that they should try this move out while doing actual hero work next time, and Todoroki agrees. As Kaminari watches himself play the guitar, he says, “Woah there…I feel like I’m gonna be super popular after this with those slick guitar moves…!” and Mineta says, “But wait did you guys see my harem dance? That was the best…!”
Jirou says, “Tokoyami, you’ve gotten super good at guitar!” and Tokoyami mentions that it’s all thanks to her.
Kirishima and Bakugou are watching the performance from a spot a little away from the rest of the class, and Kirishima smiles at Bakugou, saying, “Man, you’re great at drumming after all!” and Bakugou replies casually, “it’s just average.”
Jirou overhears their conversation and says, “No way! Your drumming was phenomenal! Your rhythm is what allowed us all to stay in sync! Thank you for taking on this role!” and Bakugou scoffs and says, “Well, you’re the one who carried the whole performance though!”
Everyone is really impressed by Jirou’s bass skills as well as her singing, and they vote for her as the Class A Cultural Festival MVP. Everyone, aside from Bakugou, smiles at her, and she blushes, saying, “What…why…”
Yaoyorozu remarks, “Jirou-san, you were shining the brightest!” and Aoyama says, “Even more than me!?☆” But he agrees that Jirou indeed deserves the MVP title.
The class asks Jirou to make a small speech. She thanks everyone for making this performance a reality, and she’s really happy that they were able to perform together.
After everyone is done eating, Sero and Kaminari tells the class that they have some cool party games planned for everyone. Most of the class are excited for what they have in store, but Bakugou feels like it’s a waste of time and gets up to leave. Kirishima tries to stop him, but Sero taunts, “Oh, you’re leaving because you don’t think you can win, right? Well that’s fine, you can go back. Even though we have a quiz specifically tailored for you, but I guess you’d fail anyway.”
This gets Bakugou angry, and he agrees to participate in Sero’s dumb quiz challenge.
The games that Sero and Kaminari have planned are for one member of each Cultural Festival team to undergo a “Can you guess the __” type of challenge. Bakugou is first up, representing the Band Team. His challenge is to differentiate between three different types of pepper spice seasoning purely by taste (called 一味 ichimi).
Bakugou sits down in front of the table that has the seasonings, and Sero blindfolds him by putting on an eye mask that has a funny grinning face on it. Deku and the others snicker at how ridiculous Bakugou looks with that eye mask on, and Bakugou gets mad, yelling, “Damnit Deku, what the hell is so funny!?” Deku replies, “Well, anyone would laugh when they see…hahah!”
Bakugou roars, “You piece of shit!” but Todoroki says calmly, “Hey Bakugou, maybe you should consider wearing a hero suit that matches that mask.” Bakugou is furious and yells, “Shut the hell up, you half and half bastard!”
The challenge then begins, and Kaminari spoon feeds Bakugou the three different spices. He surprises everyone by correctly guessing each type of spice and goes even as far to explain which company manufactures them. Kaminari and Sero are speechless, but Deku says, “I thought that Kacchan would know the difference. He’s always had a very particular sense of taste. He could even tell when sweets expired and would never eat the expired food.”
Bakugou gets mad and says, “Don’t put on that stupid face as if you know it all!” and throws the eye mask at Deku.
The next challenge is Todoroki’s turn, representing the Stage Team. His task is to figure out among three cups of brown liquid which one is soba noodle soup. The cups contain either coffee, soba noodle soup, or throat medicine, and Todoroki cannot smell or taste them before picking his answer.
Iida mentions that Todoroki often eats soba during lunch, so there’s no way he would guess incorrectly for a food that he loves. Deku says, “Good luck, Todoroki!” as everyone watches him study the cups closely. The catch is that he also has to drink from whichever cup he chooses. Todoroki decides on a cup and drinks from it, only to spit it out and say, “That…wasn’t soba noodle soup…”
Kaminari chimes in by explaining that the cup he chose was actually throat medicine. Todoroki apologizes for spitting out the throat medicine, which splurted all over Iida and Deku. They tell him not to worry as more importantly, they need to get tissues to clean up the mess. Todoroki mutters, “I don’t think I want to eat soba anymore after this…”
The next challenge is for Tsuyu, where she has to differentiate from three different types of fluffy things: Koda’s bunny, Ojiro’s tail, and Deku’s hair by touch only. As she puts on the eye mask, Koda, Ojirou, and Deku stand in front of her. When Koda offers the bunny, Tsuyu says, “it’s fluffy.” When Ojiro offers his tail, she also says, “it’s fluffy.” When Deku offers his hair, Tsuyu says, “it’s…fuzzy?” She then correctly guesses which fluffiness was which.
Kaminari and Sero then round up the results of the various challenges, and the winner ends up being Bakugou!
Bakugou says, “Obviously I would win!” but the party’s not over yet! Next up is the Personality Quiz! Sero explains that since the class is with each other practically 24/7, they should all have picked up on small details of each other. This quiz will test how well they actually know each other after all.
The first question they ask is, “What did Iida answer on his Hero Test the other day to name the three most beautiful Heroes of the past?”
The class guesses incorrectly, and the answer was that he wrote on his test “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone has their own different types of beauty.”
Baffled, Iida asks Sero and Kaminari how they even knew what he wrote on a test paper, and they explained that their accomplice, Hagakure, has been doing a bit of spying on everyone in order for them to make this quiz a reality. Hagakure apologizes for doing so, but she says that she saw it as an opportunity to also test out her hero skills too.
The next question is “What has Yaoyorozu been obsessed about lately?” Jirou answers first, saying “Oh, is it furikake (rice seasoning)?” The answer turns out to be correct, and recently, Yaoyorozu has taken a strong liking to furikake to season her rice, which makes her blush a bit.
Sero then says, “All right Kaminari, what’s the next question?”
Kaminari answers, “Okay! For the next question, what made Ojirou disappointed recently!?”
Satou guesses, “Cementoss said his effort was average?”
Shouji says, “Tetsutetsu told him his strength was average?”
Aoyama ponders, “Recovery Girl said his health was average?☆”
The correct answer is actually Ojiro changed the conditioner for his tail recently, but no one noticed. However, Hagakure sidles up to him and says, “I actually saw you looking around near the bathroom area to see if anyone noticed, haha!” and Ojiro gets red, saying, “Well if you were watching me, why didn’t you say anything…!?”
The next question was, “What was hidden in Kirishima’s elementary school yearbook!?” Kirishima panics and says, “Huh!? How did you…!” but Sero grins and says, “That’s only for me to know. But I totally could not believe what was hidden there!”
Ashido guesses, “Maybe a love letter!?”
Mineta exclaims, “A porn magazine!!”
Todoroki says, “Failed test scores?”
All three of them were incorrect. The correct answer is “a photo of him dressed up as a girl!”
Bakugou says to him, “You’re actually into that kinda stuff?”
Kirishima gets flustered and says, “Wait, you’ve got it all wrong! It was during my elementary school’s festival stage play of Cinderella where I played the Stepmother! When I left the picture at home, my mommy kept showing it to other people, so I tried to hide it!!”
Kaminari then continues with the next question, saying “Okay, so next question. Before the Cultural Festival performance, what did Uraraka mess up on!?”
Deku says, “She accidentally made herself float!?”
Iida offers, “She was too nervous she threw up!?”
Tokoyami asks, “She ate too much mochi and threw up!?”
Kaminari says they all guessed wrong and the correct answer is “she was looking for Midoriya but tripped and accidentally went into a room where Class B’s Monoma was in the middle of changing clothes!”
Ochako gets red in the face and says, “I didn’t do it on purpose!!”
Mineta comments something lewd, but Tsuyu shuts him down.
The next question is “What was the reason why Jirou and Hagakure were arguing!?”
Koda says, “Because Hagakure-san was messing with Jirou-san’s earphone jack…?”
Yaoyorozu offers, “Jirou-san accidentally stepped on Hagakure-san’s naked body?”
Mineta exclaims, “Fighting over a guy!”
The correct answer is because Hagakure tried scaring Jirou after they watched a horror film together. Ashido asked whether they actually argued, and Jirou said she got mad because when she takes a shower alone, she’s usually scared of the bathroom area anyway. So when Hagakure messed with her by causing the lights to flicker on and off and the faucet to suddenly turn on by itself, she absoutely freaked out and felt like she almost had a heart attack. Naturally, she was livid, and Hagakure says, “Sorry Jirou, your reactions were just too good!”
The next question is about Deku, and Kaminari asks, “Recently, Deku has been leaving the dorm early to meet with someone. Who is that secret someone!?” (**Note: The word they use is ‘aibiki,” which means secret date/meeting).
Deku is surprised and says, “Wait, how do you know that…?”
Mineta and Satou ask if he was secretly meeting up with a girl, and Iida says, “Midoriya-kun! Are you actually in a relationship with a girl!? You should prioritize studies first!”
Ochako is confused as she says to herself, “Aibiki? Like the type of meat?” (**Note: Ochako isn’t familiar with the word, so she thinks it’s referring to ‘aibikiniku,’ which is a combination of different types of ground meat)
Deku gets nervous and says, “No, it’s not like that…” He thinks of ways to deflect the situation without making it known that he’s actually meeting up with All Might in the morning to train his quirk, but the other classmates continue to guess.
Kirishima says, “He’s meeting with someone from the General Class!?”
Ashido says, “No way…maybe he’s meeting with someone older, like Midnight…!?”
Mineta suggests, “Maybe he’s meeting with a living thing other than a girl…!!”
All three of their guesses were incorrect, and the correct answer was that he was meeting with the Support Department’s Hatsume Mei!
Deku is relieved to know that the others have not found out about his secret rendezvous with All Might early in the morning to do training.
Bakugou snorts and says, “There’s no way that dumb nerd would ever be popular!” but Sero says, “No, Midoriya is quite popular among the ladies. Like during the Provisional License Exam when that naked upper classman got all over him.”
Deku rebutts by saying, “But that was because she was attacking me!?”
Iida then recalls how Hatsume helped Deku out when they went to the department together earlier, and after an explosion, she was also all over him. Mineta then gets lewd thoughts again, but the conversation switches to Mineta using his mogimogi hair balls and puts it on Deku’s head. Iida notes that it looks like Deku’s wearing those infamous mouse ears from “Zoo Dreamland” (aka Disneyland). Ashido mentions that she used to go to Disneyla—…Zoo Dreamland all the time when she was younger. The class chatter switches to discussing their favorite rides, attractions, and food.
The class then asks Mineta to put mogimogi balls on their heads too so they can look like they’re wearing those infamous mouse ears as well. Mineta enjoys the attention and says, “All right I guess…”
Before the party wraps up, Sero mentions that there’s one more video that they want to show to everyone. As they gather around the TV to watch, they see Aizawa on screen with a cat. As the video starts, Aizawa suddenly appears in the common room and reprimands them, asking what are they doing up so late? The video pauses on the screen.
Aizawa stops the party and tells everyone to clean up and go to their rooms. Since the party’s over, he tells Sero, Kaminari, and Hagakure to stay behind. The three students prepare themselves for a scolding, but instead, Aizawa asks them where they got this footage.
It turns out that Present Mic gave it to them after he recorded it while hiding in sight. The footage was of Aizawa trying to befriend a cat, but the cat ignores him and goes to All Might instead. Sero actually came to the faculty department before the after-party to ask for permission to show the footage, and since Aizawa wasn’t there at the time, All Might said it was okay.
However, Aizawa says he will be collecting the footage and tells the three to never discuss the contents of the video to anyone. They agree, and he sends them off on their way.
It’s been a long day, and Aizawa sighs and wonders just when he got caught up in all of this student stuff. However, although adolescence is short, that never stops them from chasing their dreams forever. Happily, while young, without sadness, sweetly, harshly…youth is a precious thing.
The light novel ends with Aizawa saying, “Good luck, everyone” with the words “the festival had ended, but even so, their bright days continue onward.”
Subbed the Boku No Hero Academia HEROES RISING Happy New Year movie trailer featuring a ton of new scenes from the movie! Wishing everyone an awesome start to 2020!! PLUS ULTRA~
Translated a teaser panel from the newest Boku No Hero Academia Team Up Mission Spin-Off with Yaoyorozu and Iida interning with Tamaki and Fat Gum! This part of the story is where they help a little girl find her missing “Prince,” and they run into Monoma, Bakugou, and Kaminari!
All of the Boku No Hero Academia ULTRA ANALYSIS Character Book translations I’ve done on Twitter can be found in this page including Character Relationship Charts, Character Stats, Fun Facts, and more! I will continuously add translations as I make them, so I’ll write it in the description what has been updated! Enjoy~
