Author's Note: Okay, so, I'll admit it. This is one of those really odd story ideas that sometimes gets away from you.
The Flash is the hero of Central City. This is a simple fact. Though he is known to appear all across the globe when his presence is needed, and it is generally agreed that his usual sphere of influence extends to at least the Missouri state lines before it begins to cross into Superman's territory in Kansas, Central City is where the Flash makes his home.
It is here where the original Scarlet Speedster first appeared in the 1940's. It is here where his successor made his initial debut and is most often sighted. It is here where his Rogue's Gallery will most often strike and it is here where, though very few have ever been able to confirm it, the Flash lives in his civilian life.
As such, one might expect that the Flash's protégé, the fastest teen alive, would also reside in Central City. After all, Kid Flash makes his appearances most often alongside the elder speedster. It would certainly make the most sense.
But, then again, few people can truly conceive of exactly how little distance means for a being who can circle the globe in less than an hour. A commute from even the far side of the world means almost nothing.
Despite this, many of those 'in the know' are absolutely shocked to learn that Kid Flash's origins lie in Central City's neighboring town of Keystone, just on the far side of the Missouri border. Superman in particular had been mildly miffed to learn that a junior superhero had been born in his native state of Kansas and had never once come to him for guidance (he had super speed too, after all).
And the clueless masses would be even more shocked to learn that Kid Flash's civilian identity had recently made the move to Japan.
Wally certainly had been.
Rudolph West was a tired man sitting in an office.
It was a nice office, all things considered. A little larger than most in the building, it boasted hardwood floors and a rug that held a fairly distinct oriental origin. For the most part it was plainly decorated, aside from a few generic portraits hanging from the walls, though Rudolph had already begun adding his own personal touches. A small backboard and net hung just above the small trash bin on the far side of the room and a family photo hung proudly to the left of his desk.
It had been Rudolph's office for barely two weeks now, and Rudolph was proud of it. He had earned it after receiving a recent job offer to act as the head office's official liaison with a branch located not far outside of Tokyo, Japan.
The pay wasn't much of an improvement over his old salary, but the company had helped him out a bit with the move and his wife, Mary, had always wanted to spend time living amongst another culture.
All things considered, things were pretty good. Here at the local branch of Primadon, a company dedicated to the manufacturing and distribution of various school supplies, he was so far respected by his subordinates, and he had found that he was getting along well enough with his bosses too.
His wife was ecstatic to be living in Japan. She had already enrolled herself for lessons in Japanese and had conscripted both her husband and her son to help her gain some proficiency in the language.
Really, the only fly in the ointment was Wally. Granted, for the most part, Wally was amiable enough to the move. He had both super speed and access to the Justice League's global array of Zeta-Beam technology. If he so chose, he could meet up with his friends every day and never have to worry about it.
But, that wasn't the problem. No, the problem lay in the specifics of Wally's schooling.
Japanese public schools, it seems, were a touch stricter than American ones when it came to the subject of unexplained absences. And Wally, thanks in no small part to his exploits as Kid Flash, had accrued quite a few more than what was considered to be acceptable.
Rudolph sighed. In all honesty, that was sort of his fault. But there were only so many times he and Mary could write out medical excuses or claim familial tragedies. Social services had already conducted two separate investigations into their family since Wally's abilities had manifested, after all. It may have been something of a black mark on his record, but allowing some people to believe that Wally was merely an eccentric kid who grew bored with regular school hours was just easier to explain.
And, though his previous school in Keystone City had been willing to put up with such things given the very good relationships he maintained with his teachers, as well as the fact that Wally otherwise stayed out of trouble and brought the school quite a good deal of positive attention in the form of outstanding academic scores, the local educators in Japan were not so forgiving.
That left him with the private schools, who tended to be a touch more lenient in regards to their students eccentricities so long as their grades were adequate and their tuition was paid.
Which left them with another problem. Payment. Rudolph's new job paid better than his old one, it was true, but not enough to extend to covering two or three years of private education.
Not unless he and his wife were willing to live very Spartan lifestyles at least. And even that would be stretching it.
There were times, such as these, when Rudolph almost wished that his son wasn't a superhero. After all, a supervillain, or even a simple gifted civilian (assuming there even was such a thing) would have no qualms with using his or her superhuman abilities to their own advantage, perhaps putting on an incredible display on the sporting fields in order to get schools clamoring around him, desperate to put him on a full scholarship if only he would come and play for them. Come to think of it, a supervillain would have no qualms with just dropping out of school altogether.
But, he was a superhero (which probably wasn't such a bad thing now that he thought about it). And superheroes didn't do that.
He couldn't even apply for an academic scholarship either. Even though, as a child at least, Wally's prodigal intelligence would surely qualified him as a genius in just a few short years... once he had mimicked the accident which had gifted his uncle with his speed, things had changed.
Wally's mind still possessed a fierce intellect, Rudolph was reminded of this regularly. Despite his son's eccentricities and relatively limited attention span, the boy had been correcting him for years. In fact, now it could well be said that Wally better classified as a literal super-genius, right up there in the ranks with Lex Luthor, Ray Palmer and T.O. Morrow. But this genius was not the result of natural development that Rudy was proud to claim he had donated to but rather, as was the case with Barry Allen, the speed at which his mind was able to process, catalogue and recall information.
Rudolph could never quite grasp what it was when Jay, Barry and Wally had tried to describe it to him. The best he could understand was that their speed allowed their minds to work faster, more efficiently. He remembered that Wally would sometimes get frustrated trying to relay the sensory input he received that very few could truly grasp, before sighing and reluctantly simplifying it by saying that, where others had only an hour to complete an in-class test, Wally could, if he so chose, have two, or three, or four... a full day. Maybe more if he were to speed himself up enough.
The thought of that actually made Rudolph quite uncomfortable. He'd had nightmares before where he himself had possessed Wally's abilities, slowing the passage of time around him only to find that he could not undo it, forcing him to live in a world that played out constantly in slow motion.
Other nightmares, ones he knew that his wife occasionally shared with him, involved Wally taking his place.
Rudolph shook his head clear of the dark thoughts that were threatening to plague him. If he didn't think about it, perhaps he might still manage a good night's sleep. Instead, he turned back to his musings.
The fact was that his son's academic abilities, along with his physical abilities, were not something that he could make use of in this situation. It would be unfair to anyone else, not to mention downright unethical.
'Using superhuman abilities for personal gain, at the cost of benefit or harm to others'. It was practically the definition of supervillainy.
So, scholarships were out. Which meant that private schools were out. Which meant that Wally had no school at which he could attend.
Things were officially getting bad. To the point where a few suggestions that had been previously dismissed were being revisited, only to be dismissed once more.
Wally could just stay with his aunt and uncle and still go to Keystone High? Dismissed. Rudy knew very well that his sister would be happy to take him. But it wasn't quite as simple as that. Though Iris and Barry were always willing to have their favorite nephew over for a visit, both worked full time jobs (with a second full time job on top of that for Barry). They just didn't have to time to look after a fifteen year old, no matter how much Wally insisted that he didn't need looking after.
Jay and Joan Garrick were dismissed as well for similar reasons. Though both were retired, the fact was that they were both in their nineties. Rudy wasn't about to force them to deal with a fifteen year old speedster (regardless of the fact that one of said 90 year olds was a speedster himself).
After hearing of the dilemma from the Flash, Batman had even made a surprising offer of his own. With considerable influence that the Flash had assured them Batman possessed, they could guarantee Wally a place at the esteemed Gotham Academy with a full scholarship.
Here, Rudolph would reluctantly admit, the West Family Pride may have gotten in the way. They simply could not accept the other man's generosity. No matter how he may phrase it as 'an investment', or even as repayment for his deeds as Kid Flash (not least of which included saving Robin's life on at least one occasion that Batman knew of). It just sounded too much like charity to him.
Sometimes, Rudolph thought, the West Family Pride might be a bit too troublesome to keep. If things got bad enough, he might just have to rethink it.
Though he wasn't quite ready to admit it, sometimes Rudolph wondered if he and Mary were deliberately keeping their son from pursuing an education outside of Japan. Regardless of the fact that he'd be able to visit them just about daily no matter where they were in the world, they were not gifted with their son's abilities. No matter how often Wally might visit them, they would never be able to return the favor. Though Wally might be perfectly fine with that, Rudy was certain that it would drive him mad, to say nothing of his wife.
There was a knock on the door. Rudy called out a quick phrase in Japanese to grant entry.
The man who stepped into the office was completely unassuming. Of average height, with short black hair and no distinguishing features that Rudolph had yet been able to identify, his dark blue suit, which looked neither overly expensive nor particularly cheap, was neatly pressed and fit him well. Rudolph sincerely doubted that he would ever be able to pick him out of a crowd.
"Hey, Rudy," he greeted cheerfully as he closed the door behind him, his English suffering from only a minor accent due to many years of painstaking effort to master the language.
Itou Takumi, technically speaking, had little to do with Rudolph West. He worked in sales, where they had only met briefly when Rudolph had begun compiling his first report for the home office, sharing little more than a quick exchange of pleasantries and the pleasant discovery that Itou was quite fluent in Rudolph's native language.
Since then, however, Itou had found that he and Rudolph caught the same train on their way to the office in the morning and, upon this discovery, had reintroduced himself aboard the locomotive (Rudolph was embarrassed to admit that, had Itou not begun speaking in English, he would not have recognized the other man) and, over the next few days, the pair had formed a fast friendship.
"Takumi," Rudolph returned the greeting tiredly, using the man's personal name upon his own insistence, scrunching up one of the brochures and tossing it into the trash can, where it sailed through the net unobstructed.
"Same old same old?" Itou noted, seeing that the pile of potential schools was again smaller than it had been the day before. "No luck?"
"Not a bit," Rudy replied with a heavy sigh. "I'm really starting to think we'll have to send him back to the U.S.. I don't think Wally's actually met my wife's parents, and they aren't exactly young anymore, but... I don't know."
"Hmm," Takumi offered unhelpfully, his gaze turning to the family photo that hung on the wall. Rudy had talked of little else these past few days but his increasingly desperate attempts to get his son into a school, any school, but finding only rejection or tuition that was far above his pay grade. "You know, my offer still stands..."
"Thank you," Rudolph told him honestly, "But I'm sorry, we simply can't take your charity."
"And I keep telling you," Takumi laughed. "It's not charity. I have an old friend who works on the board of Fujimori Academy. He owes me a favor and I've only daughters, so it's not like I need him to pull strings for me."
"But a private school... and a boarding one at that," Rudolph shook his head in exasperation. "I can't afford that. Not after the move and settling everything back home."
"And we can change all that," Takumi assured him. "Fujimori's not so far that he won't be able to visit on the weekends. And the school has a special program for certain students. Financial aid can be extended, so long as they take on some extracurricular duties."
"Rudy," Takumi said promisingly. "If your son meets the standards they're looking for, they can take care of more than half your son's tuition. Not to mention his boarding fees."
Rudolph grimaced uncomfortably. "I appreciate the thought, but I... I don't think Wally would be cut out for something like that."
"I promise you," Takumi swore. "The duties are simple enough, if a little time consuming. Most of the boys who do it absolutely love it. In fact, my friend did it himself. He always said that it was a great experience."
Rudolph's grimaced didn't didn't fade, but it did loosen. A few extracurricular duties? A few odd jobs? Wally would probably hate it, especially if it involved any cleaning whatsoever, but... but Wally would be able to handle it. This, Rudolph was certain.
"Are you sure that Wally would qualify?" Rudolph asked, almost pleading.
Takumi glanced again at the family photo, his gaze quickly passing over his friend and his red haired wife to settle on the teenage boy that stood between them.
Bright green eyes looked out under a fringe that was the same vibrant red as his mother's. Youthful freckles dotted prominent cheekbones. A tight shirt revealed slender shoulders for a boy his age and a trim waist, whilst cargo shorts that barely fell past his knees exposed his legs.
"Absolutely," Takumi nodded confidently. The boy might need a little more work than the usual Princesses of Fujimori Academy, but Takumi was certain that his exotic looks would let him fit right in. "He'd be a perfect addition to the school."
Rudolph sighed heavily, "Get me a brochure and call your friend."