Chapter 85: And the Best Dorm Goes to…

In the final stretch of the best dorm contest, the students are still in for some surprises before they can make their votes.

"Hey, I say let'em. She's someone I have a feeling she'll fit right in with us." Komori chuckled, as it would be quite nice to take class A's best student and try to add her to their ranks. She wondered if Vlad would okay it. He seemed like he would consider it if only to mess with Eraser.

“Moving on!” Jiro clapped. She wouldn't give them the time to build their case; they weren't about to lose Yaomomo.

And move on they did, to the last boy on the 5th floor, which happened to be one Sero.

“Sero, man-you gotta help us out, we’re being cooked here!” Kaminari latched onto Sero as they approached Sero's room.

“Yeah, it’s not like I can run ahead and change it now, what you’ll see is what you’ll get.” Sero reminded them that not even Iida could move that fast.

"Well, at least he's honest," Kendo muttered, as that almost sounded like he wasn’t just talking about his room.

“You think it’ll be another loss for class A?” Kaibara asked, as things didn’t look good for their sister class.

His question didn’t go unnoticed, as Sero gave a knowing smirk as he reached for his door. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, gentlemen-behold!” He threw it open, presenting his space to the 2 classes, and it was a surprise.

He had covered the walls and ceiling with new wallpaper in light and warm beige colours, which matched the shades of browns, greens, and dark oranges that most of his furniture was. But it wasn't just that which stood out from the place, as the carpets, his beddings, and even his wall hangings all featured foreign patterns, which, combined with the hammock he had just set up close to the window for afternoon naps in the sun, really made a statement.

“So exotic!” Uraraka cheered.

“It’s so lovely!” Ashido was with her, as this was a great-looking room.

“Looks like the kinda place you’ll find in the south back home.” Tsunotori pointed out that, as she had mainly seen things like this on TV, it certainly fit the vibe of the southern US/American culture.

"I didn't know you'd be into this sort of stuff." Jiro complimented, to which Sero only let out a smug laugh.

“What can I say? I’m a wild card.” He declared, before his smile grew as he turned towards Monoma, who was seething at how good Sero could decorate. “It also means we have another point, Monoma. Don’t get too comfortable with your early lead there.”

Though ground teeth, and wary of how Kendo was keeping an eye on him, Monoma made his retort. “We’ll see about that. We still lead by double your score.”

“Well, it’s my room next, so let’s go!” Tsunotori called as they all moved towards the girl’s side of the 5th floor.

Line Break

“What do you all think?” Tsunotori presented her room to the group.

Her walls had been completely redone, not just to have a new colour, but now they showed off murals of iconic anime scenes from shows older than their parents. The ceiling also featured the solar system, but instead of the planets circling the sun, it depicted characters from a magical girl series, who seemed to represent the planets, each with a distinct color theme and pose.

Her curtains were wrapped out for hard blinds, which seemed hard, opened like the chest of a robot that would open up to the world. Her carpet was a light yellow, with a smiling face wearing a teacher's cape. Her beddings were much the same, though they seemed to follow an orange, blue, and yellow pattern with a plushie of a rotating golden ape left on the side of it.

Her desk was covered with stickers and schoolbooks, while the shelves held dozens of manga and figurines, with the largest being a nearly human-sized mecha suit, a pink beam saber in hand, and a blaster in the other, as she had posed it as dynamically as she could.

“It’s very…anime in here.” Jiro didn’t really know what to make of it.

"How is that a description? Come on, use your words." Tsunotori stomped her hoof as she went through a lot of trouble with this room.

“We can get a lot of your interests from the room. Wait, is that real paint?” Midoriya spoke up, as the place felt pretty upbeat and exciting, matching how he saw his friend, but his gaze shifted to the walls, as that didn’t look like wallpaper.

Tsunotori was more than willing to confirm that, opening the balcony where they made out, a few paint buckets, along with brushes. “Yup! I got loads of practice and a hair dryer, but I had to have the window open the entire time, so I didn't get high or just straight pass out.” She switched to her native English mid-way through the explanation, so most of them were left in the dark over what she said.

“Is that even allowed?” Honenuki asked, more surprised that she managed to get this all done than by the fact that she might have broken some school rules.

"I called Vlad-sensei and he said it was fine," Tsunotori confirmed, as Vlad had been more concerned that she wouldn’t leave time for the rest of her room stuff.

"I'm surprised you could even find a life-sized doll," Tsuburaba noted as he approached the Mecha, but as he lifted his hand to touch it, Pony’s hand clamped down on his wrist like a vice.

Turning to her, he saw murder in those baby blue eyes. "It's not a doll, it's a statue, and yes, it was super hard to find, but that's a birthday and Christmas present wrapped into one, so no touching."

“What if I-” Her horns, now larger and more menacing, detached from her head, and while new ones grew in their place almost immediately, the 2 detached ones floated threateningly at Tsubaraba's back and head.

“I will cut you.” That didn't need a translation; they could understand the meaning of a threat, if not the exact wording.

"Moron, you feel like buying it?" Bakugo grumbled, already turning to leave.

“No?” Tsuburaba confirmed, though it sounded more like a question as Pony let him go.

“Then don’t go touching shit you can’t afford, cheapskate.” Bakugo barked at him, which greatly offended the solid air user.

“C-cheap? What the heck you mean ‘cheap’?” He challenged as Bakugo kept on walking. The faster they got out of the weeb’s room, the faster they got to the others so he could go sleep.

Before this could flash into a fight, Shouda spoke up to cut through the growing tension. “Okay, it’s another point to class A, moving on, it’s…who again?”

"That would be me, but well, there was a bit of a misunderstanding." Yaoyorozu raised her hand, looking a little bashful now that it had finally come to this.

“Did you not get all your furniture?” Iida asked, to which she shook her head as she started to lead them towards the girl’s side.

“No…I did receive them, but…"

Line break

“I seemed to have miscalculated a few things.” Momo finished as she presented her bedroom.

“I know, it’s not as creative as the rest of yours.” She apologised in advance as they took in the sight of all.

“The fuck?” Kamakiri summed it nicely. As they tried to take it all in, but they could barely make out most of it, as aside from a bookcase and desk pushed to the side, the space was dominated by a frankly massive bed with posted curtains and a headboard so tall, they couldn't make out the window on the other side. Just the individual pieces of the bed looked like they cost an arm and a leg to source, and together, most of them wondered how many of their own beds they could buy for the cost of this lone one.

“That bed is huge! How do you even walk in here?” Kaminari asked, as he half expected the bed to reach the door.

"Did you spend the entire day assembling it? It's built for at least 5." Yanagi asked, as this…seemed like too much.

Yaomomo’s embarrassment only grew as she hadn’t planned for this. “It’s my furniture from home. I had no idea the dorms would be so small…” When she mentioned the dorms being around the same size as her closet, she had not been joking. As logic would dictate, a closet was always a fraction of the size of he main room.

Oh, how she wished she could have had a sleepover with the other girls before this. Even if they had come over, she would have heard their opinions from her room and planned accordingly by purchasing smaller furniture. She couldn't even fit most of what she brought with her in now and had to send it back home.

“Just how big is her bedroom?” Kendo whispered towards Ashido. Uraraka was closer, but she looked like she would pass out again, and Iida was sticking close to catch her should the 3rd hit of wealth do her in.

“She’s crazy rich, like you wouldn’t believe how rich.” Ashido quietly answered, recalling how Yaomomo had talked about treating them all when they planned their group study session at her place. She probably should have figured a girl with a house as big as Yaomomo would have a supersized bedroom.

"Should this even count? I mean, she wasn't able to really decorate, considering things." Honenuki asked, as he didn't feel right taking this as a win when the poor….okay, the fabulously wealthy girl had made what seemed to be an honest mistake.

“I wouldn’t be against it being like Iida’s room then.” Midoriya agreed, as did Komori and Yanagi, but Yaomomo shook her head.

“No, I should have looked into things more. I’ll take this as a failure on my part. Apologies, everyone.” She bowed to her classmates before leading them out and closing the door.

Line break

Taking a mix of the stairs and the elevator, the group of 40 made their way up to the 5th floor. “Four floors down, 3 more to do. And we’re starting with-” Ashido cheered before Sato spoke, sounding very much nervous.

“Me…” He sighed as he led them to his room, all the while not noticing how Shishida was sniffing the air.

“I know, it’s not a great looking space, I know.” Sato opened his room, and he was right; it wasn't the most fashionable or iconic room, being located above a place like Ojiro and Uraraka's. However, since those were close to the bottom, that didn't say much.

Shishida couldn’t keep it to himself much longer and spoke. "There's been a scent in the air, and it's strongest here."

Ojiro and several others took the chance to sniff, and while they lacked a scent as strong as the beast man, being in the epicentre of it made that an non-issue. “Now that you mention it, I smell it too, and it smells pretty good.”

“Oh crap, I forgot about that!” Sato panicked as he rushed towards one of the only unique things in the room, which happened to be an oven he had set up close to the window, the type that could handle both roasts and a couple of pots up top.

“About what-wait, were you cooking?” Yanagi asked as Sato put on some oven pits and reached for it.

“More baking. I finished packing early, so I decided to bake a cake. I thought we could all eat it together.” Sato explained as he opened the oven, and the place was filled with a much stronger, caramel and vanilla scent, which had some mouths watering.

"It hasn't been iced yet, but..." That only grew when Sato stood up, holding a large cake in his hands. “You want some?”

“Yeah!” And like that, the girls rushed in like savages, scaring Sato enough that he nearly dropped the cake.

“He bakes?” Kamakiri asked as one by one, they each got a slice, either on a plate, or suck onto the end of a fork.

“And God thank the fact he does; this is so good!” Tokage moaned, downright moaned as she lazily ate her piece like a shark did a chunk of flesh.

“It’s filled with flavour, and is so fluffy.” Komori giggled as she ate some. Kuroiro would have taken offense to another man making his crush act like that, but he was too busy enjoying his own slice with a stupid smile on his face.

“I know, right? You guys gotta try this.” Uraraka held up a fork with some for Iida, who slowly adjusted his glasses before accepting his piece. Taking, he had to hide the moan of approval with a cough, though if anyone noticed, they didn’t call him out for it.

Shiozaki was taking quick nibbles from hers, pausing long enough to dab her mouth with a tissue before she smiled towards Sato. “It’s not what I would have on the regular, but as a rare treat, it’s fantastic. You have a true gift, Sato. I thank you for sharing it with us.”

“Anything to say, Monoma?” Kendo smirked, enjoying her slice along with the rest.

“…Don’t make me.” Monoma chose to bury his head in his slice to avoid answering the question.

“What it means is that this is pretty good. Like, it’s what I expect from Lunch Rush, man.” Kaminari and Ashido looked close to tears as the blonde held up his half-finished slice like it was from the heavens.

"Oh man, I seriously wasn't expecting this reaction." Sato looked flabbergasted by the responses, as he had never gotten reactions like this from others.

Then again, when he thought about it, he came from a family of bakers, and he knew his parents and grandparents were true masters of their craft. So, maybe others were just too accustomed to tasting their food, and his didn't register as good. His classmates were the first ones who would have tasted his baking. Seeing their reaction left him feeling a bit arm and fuzzy on the inside, as it was clear proof that he was well on his way to reaching the level his parents had achieved decades ago.

"It's mainly for practicing for my sugar quirk; store-bought sweets can get expensive," Sato explained. Midoriya couldn't nod; it wouldn't be really visible with how his helmet was designed, but he could place a hand on Sato's shoulder and try his best to convey his approval.

“Well, that’s definitely a point for Sato!” Hagakure declared.

“But…my room isn’t all that fancy.” Sato tried to counter that.

“Don’t care, this cake is too good!” Fukidashi seconded Hagakure’s motion, and like that, class A’s score rose again to 6, and Monoma didn't say a word about it.

As they finished their cake and left Sato's room, the baker, along with a volunteer, Iida, and Midoriya, took the used dishes down to the kitchen to be cleaned. With them gone, Tokage made an observation.

“Well, that’s just another interesting hobby we’ve uncovered. There’s Kaibara’s photography, Kendo’s motorcycles, Fukidashi’s comics and art, Midoriya’s dollmaking,  Jiro’s music, Shiozaki’s green thumb.” She listed, which also seemed to alert the rest. As they were friends, at least they liked to think that, but there were still plenty of things they hadn't known about each other, and tonight, that was changing.

"That's quite a lot, but we still have plenty more rooms to check out," Shishida called out.

“And my room’s coming up next.” Bondo seemed incredibly nervous about what was to come.

Line Break

“Really, Bondo?” And now, they saw why his room was competing with Ojiro's for being so bland. The only source of life was the changed drapes and beddings, but that was it.

“It’s suitable.” Bondo, the big guy, was nervous as he replied.

"But you hardly did anything," Kodai, the silent one, commented, which only made it worse.

“I’m not good at this stuff, okay?” Bondo groaned, his head in his hands, as this was so embarrassing.

“This…is a knock against us, isn’t it?” Tokage asked why they would earn any points from this room.

“Sorry about it.” Bondo apologised, but Yanagi placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"No need to feel shame. If this makes you feel comfortable, then it does. We didn't judge Shoji and Ojiro, we're not going to judge you." She tried to encourage him as they moved onto the next room.

Line break

Shouda was never one for the limelight; in most cases, he and Hagakure could be called the invisible duo. Easily forgotten, but where the latter was because she was invisible, for the former, it was because he was something of a wallflower.

He wasn't loud, he wasn't eccentric, and he often wasn't argumentative. He was just…there, and he had no issue with that. But when it came to his room, that clearly didn't apply.

The entire place looked as if he had designed his décor around a boxing ring. His wall-to-wall carpet was a fresh blue. In the corners of his room were posts with four ropes running through them. The only exception was the door, which had a break in it. The lowest was a similar shade of blue to the mat, the middle 2 were white, and the top was bright red.

His blinders and bedding also followed a similar theme. However, his bedding featured a large boxing glove printed on top of it. Along with this, he had his shelves filled with boxing paraphernalia, posters along the walls, and several champion belts mounted throughout the place.

“Damn, you love boxing, don’t you?” Fukidashi whistled at the sight which met them.

“Are those toys or something?” Ashido asked, pointing around the space as Shouda shook his head.

"The figurines are, but the belts are faithful recreations of several from across the world. The one above the bed is based on a super famous American boxer who once won.” He explained that those hadn't been easy to get, but he had been collecting them since he was 7, so he had the time.

“Your room is seriously manly, Shouda.” Kirishima gushed about the place, his eyes going along the place and even spotting one of those speed punch dummies, through one adjusted to Shouda’s height.

"Yeah, we totally should book a few matches. I want to see what you can do." Tetsutetsu was the same mind.

Shouda gulped as he let out an awkward smile before he gave his answer. “As long as you don’t hit me with a rock or steel fist, I can show you a few forms.”

“I don’t see why this won’t count towards Class A’s dorms, do any of you?” Kendo asked, facing the rest of her class, who didn’t disagree. Once class A also agreed, at least most of them did, it was easy to see the points rise once for class A

"Then the score shall be moved up to 11 to 7, in class B's favour," Shoji called out, as Ashido leaned closer to Monoma.

“The gap’s closing, Monoma.” She teased as Monoma smirked right back.

“We still hold the lead, and our resident shadow master's up next. I saw the name tag outside the door, so he'll restore balance." He turned towards Kuroiro, someone who had never failed the assignment. If his sensibilities were anything like Tokoyami's, this was bound to be another success for class B!

“Oh…oh yes, my room is up next…my domain…” Kuroiro seemed nervous as he replied, Komori walking up to ask what was up.

“Is there something wrong, shroom?”

“Oh-no, no!” He nearly jumped at her touch before he managed to gather himself. "Nothing is amiss, it just…Well, I imagine it won't be the sort of domain you'll expect."

Line Break

“I was not expecting this…” Kendo commented.

"How do you describe it?" Tokage was much the same, leaning her head to the side as she tried to make sense of…any of it.

"It's both dark and foreboding but also… cuddly and cute? How does that work?" Ashido asked.

Their confusion was not unfounded. As with how similar Tokoyami and Kuroiro were, they assumed it would be much the same with his room. His and Yanagi's approval of Tokoyami's fashion sense seems to reinforce that.

But what they met with was a gloomy space, yes, but not just gloomy, as he had gone and styled his room like a whimsical forest at night. The lights had been off, and instead, the place was lit up by several glow-in-the-dark portions, along with tiny lights shaped like glowing mushrooms and flowers, which offered more light than his class A counterpart, but still kept things dark. Along the walls, he had set up what looked to be fake branches and vines stretching up towards a ceiling that was covered with wallpaper that resembled dense, leafy treetops. Around his light, he even had fake leaves.

With that, he had dozens of fae and other magical creature-like items around the room, most of which were dressed in darker colours. The largest of which was a fairy figurine kneeling in the corner, surrounded by glowing mushrooms and tiny, Smurf-like figures; yet, all were purple, not blue. This fairy was dressed in dark colors, with a witch's hat covering her head and eyes. On her lap, she held a book titled "Secrets of the Forest."

"It's like two very different types of fantasy are clashing in here, and it somehow works." Yaoyorozu, familiar with the sorts of works, commented while Shishida and Midoriya, both avid readers themselves, agreed.

“Kuroiro, would you like to explain?” Todoroki, genially curious about what drove this aesthetic vision, asked. Still, the owner of the room was sulking in the corner, opposite the one that housed his fairy forest guardian.

“No.”

Komori was all over the room, jumping to and from the place with the biggest smile of the night. "I like it, it's so cute and he even has a couple of mushroom people in here! Oh, he's painted them all black and purple, but they still look super adorable!" She gently picked up one of them to appraise it better, missing how Kuroiro flinched and how, out of the corner of his face, he too had a smile.

Suddenly, it made sense why he designed the place like this, though Kendo wished he had just told the girl about it. She seemed to love the space.

“You know, in a way, it’s like a pallet swap of Ashido’s room. Perhaps they purchase their wares from similar stores.” Iida mused, as some of the styles seemed to lean towards hers, which got Mina to look closer at some of them.

"Hmm, I'll need to check the next time I'm around, as I didn't know they should be in such colours." Ashido shrugged, but she could see this room getting approval.

Line Break

“Should we enter?” Kendo asked what seemed like a legitimate question. As Kurorio's room was finished, only the girls from the 6th floor remained, who were two in number. The latter was Asui, who would come later, but right now they all stood outside Tokage's room.

“I don’t know, who knows what she does in there.” Kaibara mused, which didn't please Tokage, who crossed her arms and stood outside her closed room.

"Hey! What did I ever do to deserve that?" She challenged, which got her several flat looks from her classmates.

“You want in chronological or alphabetical order?” Kaibara, the one most often calling out her nonsense, asked, getting backed up by Tetsutetsu and Tsunotori.

"Wow, I'm hurt, guys, really. I would have thought you'd have more faith in me." She pouted as they acted like she was the class B version of Mineta.

It seemed only one person from her class was willing to speak in her defence, the suited Midoriya, who tried to convince the rest. “I can’t be that bad…right?”

“Oh, Hebimi, you’re the only man I can trust!” Tokage cried crocodile tears as she rushed him, splitting into several parts before reforming around Midoriya so she could hug him like a baby koala would its mother, which naturally got the reaction she was aiming for.

“Wha-!” They couldn't see his face, but Tokage would beat her exceptional grades, as she remembered him getting at things like this.

Kendo, seeing Tokage pulling the stunts for which she was being called into question, sighed and decided to bite the bullet. “Let’s just see it.” She called, which started enough of a push for the rest to agree, and thus, still holding onto her Hebimi, she sent one of her hands to open the door and allow them in.

Her personal space was, first and foremost, not some depraved pit like her friends had so cruelly assumed it would be…. She kept that sort of stuff hidden and brought it out when she needed it. Instead, what they saw was a space dominated by dinosaurs.

She had dinosaur posters on her walls. Not the generic type, which featured cool designs and artworks, as well as movie posters for dinosaur-themed movies and series. She had the latter, but they were outnumbered by charts which showcased the suspected biology of dinosaurs, some tracking species through their family trees, as well as where fossils were found.

It didn't end there; she had several display cases, some of which were in glass boxes, showing complete scale models of the dinosaurs in question. Some are merely skeletons, others have the muscles and organs. She even had a complete replica of what must have been a frankly terrifying, large marine dinosaur hanging from the ceiling, as if it were in a museum.

Her carpet, wallpaper, and bedding were all green camo or forest themed to give the space more of an outdoor feel for the beast, which she honoured, while her desk was covered in additional stuff, which made it look like a rocky outcrop, from which they could spot several more 'fossils sticking out here and there.

“Crap, was expecting more Midnight levels stuff.” Honenuki just said the quiet part out loud.

'Oh, hardy har-har, I have you know I can separate teasing from my hobbies." Tokage smugly retorted.

“Is that a genuine fossil?” Kaminari pointed out, as framed on the shelf, was what looked to be a rock which had been cut down the middle, leaving an imprint of a small lizard which seemed to have wings.

“Yup,” Tokage popped the 'P' as she responded, walking over to it and gently picking it up and holding it like one would a reward for a picture. "Found it when I was a kid, and after they got the mould and all that jazz done, I was allowed to keep it. It's kinda why I got interested in dinosaurs to begin with."

"Forgot Fukidashi's Legos, this is intense. How long does it take to build one of these?" Rin mused, as just one, which he was pretty sure was a sauropod, and one of the bigger ones at that, had hundreds of pieces, some so small you'll need a surgeon's hand and tweezers to place them.

"Hours, but if you've got a good playlist and an afternoon, you'll get it done. I even managed half of these without instructions like you mortals would need." Tokage bragged as she blew some non-existent dust off her nails, holding onto her fossil with one hand.

"But how will you put them together?" Kaminari asked, as all of this seemed incredibly complicated. He could be given a clear set of instructions and take several days to complete just one.

"Why, I've studied dinosaurs since I was but a little girl, recalling skeletal structures as if it were but child's play." Tokage laughed, acting like an arrogant princess, but unlike so many, she had reason to be so smug.

"Now I see why she has top grades," Tsuburaba noted.

Line Break

“So cute!” Several of the girls cheered as they saw the interior of Tsu's room, which, like the girl, was unapologetic and as direct as possible. In this case, it was her love for cute things and amphibians, not just frogs.

She had plenty of green of various shades, but also numerous other colours that matched those of toads, salamanders, and caecilians. Her wallpaper featured images of each based on the many species living across the world; the same was true for the ceiling, though it was dominated by frogs, as if she had somehow convinced them to stick upside down.

Her light cover was replaced, featuring cut-outs of the creatures that lit up the space. At the same time, she had a plethora of plushies of them, along with diagrams and charts on her walls that included facts about several frog species.

“(Kero) You think?” Asui asked, as she had been told once that her room sensibilities had matured much since she was 8, but it never bothered her.

"How can she lean so hard into it and still come out looking so adorable?" Monoma cursed as Midoriya seemed wholeheartedly invested in the space, the armoured furnace looking around with the giddiness of an excited child.

"Oh, I wish I had known about this before, it’s too adorable," Hagakure complained, as Tsu even mega plushies like she did. Sure, they weren't pink, but she spotted a couple of blue ones.

"It's like she sleeps in a kindergarten, all that's missing are some little angels running around." Awase pointed.

‘They wouldn’t think that if they bothered to check what sort of books I read.’ Asui was an expert at keeping a blank face and didn't so much as blink towards her shelf, where, hidden by some schoolbooks, she had some hardcore smut novels, the likes of which Midnight would be proud of.

‘I was lucky that I was able to hide some of my other stuff, don’t need them seeing all that.’ She recalled that the room idea formed after she had finished setting things up, and she didn't have time to return in the moment. But when she was allowed the chance to grab her sweater for the freezer that was Midoriya's room, she had also put that stuff away in the back of her closet.

No one needed to see those kinds of 'toys', nor was she willing to explain that her mother was as blunt and accepting as her daughter and ensured she got the best on the market for them; her daughter got 'stressed'.

"She even has some plushies. May I borrow some to study so I can make more?" Midoriya asked, holding up a plushie of a Goliath frog.

"I don't mind if you don't have problems with making more for me. My siblings would like the presents, even if my brother likes to deny it." Asui easily replied, which was an offer Midoriya was more than happy to accept.

Line Break

It didn't take long to complete the dorm examinations, as neither Kamakiri's nor Aoyama's room earned any points. The former because it was deemed too creepy, and the latter because it was too shiny and slightly egotistical. Tetsutetsu's room was similar to Kirishima's, but not identical, which pleased both of them. As a result, it received enough votes to count as a win for Class B, much like Kirishima's.

Bakugo’s room being a shrine to All Might was a fun surprise, but to his very loud frustration, it didn't get any votes. Yanagi's room seemed to follow the design of a horror movie. While she and some were completely fine, the rest wanted out as fast as they could get, earning her the point before they left. Hagakure's incredibly girl room would also get approval. However, they had to tie up Mineta when he made passes at her drawers, where clothes would be kept.

On the final floor, Todoroki blew away the entire competition as he didn't just change the paint or add new elements—he went and seemingly changed how the room was designed to resemble a traditional Japanese bedroom, one for the upper class.

"With hard work." His response when questioned on how he managed even half of it in a single day. Safe to say, he gained the point.

Compared to that, Tsubaraba’s room looked even duller than it was, with Koda gaining a point less for his own average room décor, and more for his pet rabbit, which the group loved.

When it came to Komori's room, it seemed to be the inverse of Kuroiro's room, one that was much brighter, leaning more towards the bright fantasy than the dark. However, they were a little unnerved when they saw items that didn't fully remove the dark fantasy from the scene, such as books about poisonous mushrooms, or sealed containers housing such items, as well as life-like versions scattered around the room.

Line Break

With the dorms all showing off, the group was given the chance to vote for who had the best. This was similar to the class rep vote, where participants only had to write their names down, fold a paper, and put it into a box so that no one would know who voted for whom.

That done, it only took a few minutes to tally them up, which was announced in the common area of the dorm, with Tokage and Ashido taking centre point for it.

"All right, before we get to who had the best room, this kinda turned into a which class had the most kick-ass dorms, which we kept track of," Tokage called.

"Come on, give us a miracle." Kaminari pleaded.

“Give us the truth.” Monoma mirrored him if only to piss off Kaminari.

"And for the results of the first hero class dorm contest. Class A netted enough votes for 11 rooms to fall into the cool rooms club." Ashido announced, which was a lot better than what the earlier dorm rooms would have had, one believed.

“That’s not nothing…” Shoji called out, only for Tokage to smirk.

“Unfortunately,” The lizard tail splitter user started, getting groans from class A, who knew that they got creamed.

"There it is," Sero muttered.

"It would seem class A would need to head back to the drawing board overall; class B has the better sense of style with 16," Tokage called out, holding out one of the blackboards with the tallies on it, showing the sizeable difference between class B and A.

“Boom, suck it!” Monoma jumped for joy, and for once, Kendo didn't clamp down on him, letting him on this.

"We can still take the best dorm room." Kirishima locked in, as he had been for someone in his class.

"When we have 5 more picks than you, I'd like to see that happen." Monoma bragged, as if no one with a room got canned on this part.

“My room wasn’t in the running…” Mineta was still salty about that, but most hardly cared.

“Wouldn’t have mattered that much considering the score.”  Ojiro reminded him, as they had lost that first round pretty handily.

“And let’s be real, if Mineta managed to get the best, I would seriously question my sanity," Jiro remarked.

"That's not very nice. Tokage's room turned out to be really fun." Midoriya called out, which only got snickers from his classmates and some in class A.

Tokage looked like she had just bitten into a lemon there before she coughed into her hand to clear it, sending a narrowed gaze towards Midoriya. "Hebimi, I love you, but don't ever compare me to Mineta ever again."

"He's not far off; she can just get away with it thanks to wandering eyes," Kaibara muttered, but Tokage heard it.

“Like you think Shiozaki or Kendo wouldn’t have cracked he dome for something like that.” She retorted, which didn’t help her case all that much.

"Notice how she doesn't say she wouldn't do it, just that she couldn't without being caught," Honenuki called out, to which several of class B seemed to be on his side.

"Like you bums would believe me if I did," Tokage grumbled.

"Can we focus on the contest, please? We haven't heard who had the best room yet." Iida called out, as it was late, and he would much rather head off to bed and get the rest he needed for what lay ahead the next day.

“Right, right-moving on.” Ashido agreed, and as she held up the box that held the votes. "You couldn't vote yourselves, so this was what I'm betting was everyone's second pick, and unlike the race for class rep, it wasn't just a one with 3 or 4, but a lot, and that wasn't alone."

"Yup, so we decided to announce the 3 places. And in third place, with 5 votes it's…me!" Ashido twirled, happy that she managed that, though she had wished she had won.

"Okay, so class A's definitely up there then," Ojiro called out.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean much when it’s 3rd.” Kamakiri crossed his arms, pissed that he lost out on this, but he could take the win if it was for the class.

“Well, Kamakiri might be onto something, as runner-up with 8 votes is Kuroiro; turns out the dark fantasy was a vibe," Tokage revealed, which surprised Kuroiro, who would have never thought he would get that much. Who-?

Before he could ask such questions, the two hosts announced the final and most anticipated piece of info. "And first place, with a stupidly high vote out of 16 votes, it's…Sato!"

“Me?!” Sato pointed at himself in shock.

“Him?!” Several pointed at him in anger. His room didn't even make the cut for cool dorms. How the hell did he secure almost an entire class's worth of votes?!

"Yeah, by the way, just about all the girls are voting for you. That cake was so yummy…" Ashido shamelessly revealed, as she and most of the girls seemed to salivate at the chance to get more of it.

“That’s why?!” Monoma yelled, nearly pulling his hair out at the idea that they lost out because of food-food!

“You villain, you shouldn’t be allowed to bribe the judges!” Kaminari and Mineta showed their rage by jumping at Sato.

“(Kero) I didn’t vote for him, I was for Kuroiro's room. I liked the atmosphere. Spooky, but in a whimsical way." Asui clarified, which helped explain part of why the black-skinned teen made it all the way to runner-up.

“It’s the same for me, while I enjoyed the cake, it was a contest in rooms, not food. So I voted for Todoroki.” Shiozaki added her own reasoning and choice, which got a mild look of shock from Todoroki. Still, he was over it almost as fast, giving a quick 'thank you' to Shiozaki for her vote.

“I’m out.” Bakugo stood up, marching off without a word.

"I would also like to head off," Todoroki announced.

“Yes, but don’t forget to brush your teeth.” Iida reminded him as the students started to part ways, but one of them wished to say something while those whom they wished to were present.

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Okay, this has gone on a little longer than I thought, but that's on me, as going through 40 people's rooms takes time. But this chapter is the last one, the second last chapter of the year…damn, I would be honest, I had not really planned when I would stop, as I thought I'd get up till around the Provisional License exam, but that just gives me time to polish what it'll be.

Also, I’ve gotten into a new anime to feed my sweet tooth now that I’ve long finished the latest season of My Dress Up Darling. It’s called ‘The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity,' and if you have time, I recommend checking it out. I've binged till episode 6 and I'm eager to get back to it.

Line Break

And at last, we've completed the dorms contest, and just for the heck of it, these are those who voted for Sato. All the girls except Asui and Shiozaki. But not just that, as Midoriya, Honenuki, Fukidashi, Kirishima, and Todoroki were, like the girls, brought in by the cake, and yes, Midoriya did eat it, he's capable of eating even with the suit on, as to how that'll be explained later.