Golden Touch (BnHA)

Chapter 46: Familiar Faces and Meeting Places

As Kula and Mika walked around the Expo with Bakugo and Kirishima, Kula hung back with Kirishima as Mika and Bakugo tested their quirks on some of the inventions that the scientists on the island had— then as Bakugo went wild Mika would interrogate the scientist with questions on how they made the device. And knowing Mika she wans't going to leave until all her questions were answered. They continued walking, Kirishima and Kula walking a bit behind Bakugo and Mika, who had started a conversation about explosives— Apparently Mika had taken an interest in Bakugo's quirk and had started interrogating him, which seemed to inflate his ego.

The group slightly parted ways at a stadium where those in hero courses at schools worldwide could put their speed and quirk power to the test in defeated robots. Kula and Mika went to sit in the stands while Bakugo and Kirishima went to register themselves for it.

"That Bakugo's kinda fiery. I like him." Mika said, sitting down and watching as a silver-haired girl walked up to the circle, a terrified expression on her face.

"Kinda? I'm pretty sure he yelled out 'die' approximately thirty times while testing those demos." Kula said.

"Details details." Mika said, waving her hand dismissively.

"You're hopeless."

"Ah, but you still love me."

Kula just grunted, turning her attention back to the girl as she turned into a large silvery snake and attacked each of the robots, clearing the course in just under a minute. She turned back and ran off the stage in a anxiety-filled panic towards a slightly familiar girl with vine-like hair before the two of them disappeared through the shadowy entryway.

After her Kirishima came onto the stage and worked to clear the course in 44 seconds. Just as he was walking off, Kula noticed a few familiar teens walking up to the railing.

"Hey, those kids are in the U.A. hero course." Kula said, tapping Mika's shoulder and pointing towards the group. "1-A, right?"

"Who?" Mika asked, looking from where Kirishima was to where Kula was pointing. "Oh, them, yeah! I've seen em' around. Let's go say hi!" She stood up and walked towards the group, Kula following close behind her. "Hey! You guys are from U.A, right?"

The group turned around, most of them Kula recognized, though there was one girl who looked older than all of them. "Oh, are these two girls in your class as well, Deku?" She asked.

"Oh, uh, no, actually." Midoriya said.

"You wouldn't know us, unless you memorized everyone in the Sports Festival! I'm Hawajima Mika." Mika said, a wide grin on her face.

"I'm Kula. Uh, it's nice to meet you guys officially." Kula said, bowing her head slightly. "Both of us are in the Support Course at U.A."

"Kula... I've heard that name before." The girl said, placing a hand on her chin, "Oh! You're the U.A student that interned with my dad's Costume branch in Japan! I'm Melissa Shield, it's a pleasure to finally meet you!" She outstretched her hand towards Kula.

"Oh, uh, yeah. It was good experience." Kula said, shaking Melissa's hand, not knowing what else to say.

"Oh, hey, it's Bakugo." Someone, Jiro Kula recognized, said and all of them turned to see Bakugo standing at the starting point, launching into the air the moment the timer started. He exploded his was through the course and beat it in a shocking 15 seconds, rising up to first place.

Kula watched as he walked back, and Kirishima pointed out that Midoriya was there, from then Bakugo launched himself and grabbed onto the railing and started to angrily shout at Midoriya— eventually the green haired teen went and participated in the course, clearing it it 16 seconds, a second slower than Bakugo, which still made him angry.

Though all of that was forgotten the moment another student from U.A stepped onto the course and cleared it in 14 seconds with a single ice attack. Apparently Todoroki was also at the Expo as well.

There was some commotion between Bakugo, Todoroki, Midoriya, Iida and Kirishima— Bakugo doing most of the yelling while Kirishima and Midoriya tried to calm him down and Iida talked about the pride and image of U.A being effected by the fight. After Bakugo sort of calmed down, all of them left, Bakugo and Kirishima parting ways while Kula and Mika choose to stay with the others— being honest with herself, Kula wanted to talk more with Melissa since she was a student at the I-Island Academy.

Soon, the sun was starting to set and an announcement ran through the island claiming that they would be closing at six. Kula and Mika followed the group over to a small cafe where two more familiar people sitting at the door, looking tired as hell.

"Mineta! Kaminari!" Midoriya shouted, getting the two boy's attention. "Good work today!"

"You both worked hard today, huh?" Iida asked, reaching to grab something out of his pocket and hand it to them."

"Eh? What's this?" Mineta asked.

"Invitations tot he reception party." Momo said.

"Party...?" Mineta started.

"For Us...?" Kaminari finished.

"Melissa prepared them for you." Jiro said.

"I had extra, so please use them if you'd like." Melissa said.

The two boys got tears eyes and started blabbering about how their hard work had paid off. It was kind of pathetic if Kula was being honest, but she didn't have time to ponder on what they were saying exactly since Iida stood in front of the group and started speaking.

"I heard that there will be quite a few pro heroes at the party. In order to keep from embarrassing the name of U.A., change into your formal clothes and let us attend the party as a group! We'll meet at 6:30 in Lobby 7 of the central tower! Make sure you're on time! I will contact Todoroki and Bakugo. Dismissed!" With that, Iida yeeted away at full throttle.

"Well, we'd better head to out hotel and change. It was nice meeting you all and we'll see you at the party!" Mika said, grabbing Kula's hand and walking away, the two of them waving as they walked off.

***

Back in the hotel, Kula and Mika changed into their formal clothes. Kula had changed in the bathroom, and once she was in her dress she looked at herself in the fullody mirror.

She had made her dress herself— after working on costumes at her internship, she found that she enjoyed creating patterns and clothing, and since she didn't have any formal clothes of her own she decided to sew herself a dress. It took a while and a few shifts at Ms. Ito's shop, but she had eventually managed to create the dress.

It was black, with a Victorian-like pattern along the bust of the dress and the first layer of ruffles under a black belt. A sheer black fabric had been sewn on the top, turning the dress from a strapless to a short sleeved design. She had changed her gloves as well. The ones she was wearing now were a soft gold color, and reached up just above her elbows. They still covered two of her fingers— she didn't want anything bad to happen while at the party. Finally, she had tied her hair back into a braid, letting a few shorter stands hand out at the sides and frame her face.

There was a knock on the door and Mika's voice made it's way to her ears. "Hey, you almost ready? We'll be a bit late meeting up, but I think we should be fine."

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm ready." Kula said, opening the door, her cheeks warming up and her heart beating faster once she saw Mika. She was in a simple black suit, a white button up shirt and a small bow tie with small firework patterns on it. "You look... amazing."

"Me? I should be telling you that. Never thought I'd see you in a dress. I'd better be careful before some other girl comes and tries to steal you away!" She smiled and outstretched her hand towards Kula, "Now, then, shall we head out?"

Kula smiled softly, "One moment." She walked over to her bag and pulled two things out of it. She hooked a band around her thigh, and after making sure it was secure, she placed what looked like to be the hilt of a sword safely in it, then she flipped open a small pouch and placed a small silver and copper disc inside it, making sure it was secure.

"What's that for?" Mika said.

"Just in case. You never know what might happen." Kula said, adjusting the skirt of her dress so that it covered the strap and grabbed Mika's outstretched hand, "Alright now. Let's go."