Endeavor stands at attention, several pro heroes and himself have been brought into an assembly hall within the Imperial Army supreme command. The immaculately crafted room has several chairs arrayed on the stage. The audience seems to mainly be bureaucrats and minor officials. The main exception among the sea of business suits and drab uniforms sits in the front row. The American Hero is dressed in a U.S. Air Force dress uniform, his shoulders bear two stars, marking him as a major general. He has one leg folded over another, his cap kept in his lap. He uses one finger to pull at his collar a bit. He prefers his hero costume, a flight jumpsuit with patches from Global Strike Command and the Hero Warfighting Division, a stetson hat, and a pair of cowboy boots. Of course, there's a lot of other equipment, such as the gauntlets which can focus his neutron blasts and the goggles that protect eyes from the blinding flashes his quirk produces, but they don't really enhance comfort that much.
He keeps his eyes on the stage, watching the commissioning ceremony with interest. An emissary of the Emperor is making a speech. Tex wishes he could understand, but his japanese is barely good enough to order a katsu sandwich, let alone understand a poetic speech being made for the benefit of the heroes. After several minutes of speaking, the emissary finishes, and hands the podium over to the minister of the Army. His speech is shorter, and seems to be about responsibility from what the hero can make out. Following the short speech He steps over to a table where several swords sit, each in a brown leather scabbard that matches the dress boots of the minister of the Army. Endeavor approaches, and following an oath, he bows before receiving the sword. He tucks it under his arm, says some sort of statement in appreciation before returning to his position in front of his chair. He places the tip on the floor, resting his hands on the Pommel.
The next hero to come up looks almost like a ninja, with oddly styled grey hair. He quietly gives his oath and takes a position next to endeavor, in the same pose. This follows for the rest of the present heroes, the last of whom is a woman in a white and purple and white bodysuit, with a pair of horns attached to her mask. The blonde seems nervous about her oaths and receiving the sword. After the group of heroes have been formally commissioned, the Minister of the Army takes the stand once more, says a few words, and then he puts up both fists. The rest of the auditorium stands, and they cry with several hundred voices.
"Tennohaika, Banzai!" In spite of the shouting, the American hero remains seated. This is obviously a practice which he's alien to, and he decides not to get involved to avoid an incident. After several repetitions of the loud salute, the crowd is dismissed. The audience begins vacating the room, a low chatter filling the auditorium as the officials make their way out. He notes a trio approaching the stage. The hero squints a little as he attempts to figure out who they are, but then it hits him. From their relative ages and appearance, they must be Endeavor's children. Tex really doesn't know much about Endeavor's personal life, just that he has several kids and one is apparently a good student at the top hero school in Japan, from the reports, the Japanese military has a distinct interest in Him as an asset.
"I'll keep in touch once I receive my orders." Enji places a reassuring hand on Mt. Lady's shoulder, keeping eye contact with her. "Who knows, you might not even need to go to the field at all." He nods along with his words, trying to believe them himself, it doesn't work. In the back of his head he knows that she'll be on Chinese or Korean soil soon, along with himself. Why else would they commission heroes into the military if not to deploy them? He feels a tap on the shoulder, and he turns around. A small, grim smile on his face at the sight of Shouto, Natsuo, and Fuyumi looking up at him. Well, Natsuo is busy talking with edgeshot, but it's the thought that counts.
"So, you're a general now…" Shouto's tone is even, almost unreadable. He's good at seeming tepid, almost like his quirk, the fire and ice neutralizing each other.
"Yes...It would appear so, No.1 hero and now officially leader of the Hero forces under Japanese command." He eases himself a little, trying his best to relax in spite of the immense pressure that's been placed onto him. He moves his eyes over the other heroes, his imagination easily conceiving the carnage they could unleash. In that moment, he's glad Shouto was the last of his children, had Natsuo or Fuyumi been born with his quirk, they would have definitely been on this stage receiving the burden of a blade at the same time. Shouto, on the other hand, he's young, he's still in high school and he has just over two years before he can be thrown into the meat grinder. Enji involuntarily furrows his brow, it'd be difficult at best to bring the conflict to an end before that time.
"Father, are you alright?" He breaks out of his reverie, looking to see his daughter, face filled with concern.
"Yes, yes, just thinking is all."
"Excuse me, Todoroki-dono." An oddly accented voice reaches Enji's ear. He cocks one eyebrow as he turns, finding himself face to face with the green eyes of a very large man in a U.S. military uniform. "My name is Tex Phillips, as a hero, the people call me 'Castle Bravo'" His Japanese is a little stilted, and it's obvious he had practiced the introduction, possibly with a translator on his phone before approaching the Flame hero. The man offers a shallow bow, presumably having seen other people doing it during his time in Japan. Enji nods, before he addresses the man in english, his own accent somewhat thick due to his disuse of the language.
"It's nice to meet you, I've heard quite a bit about you. Also, given our positions, I would think that the correct honorific would be -san, -dono is a little...formal I think would be the right term? It's not like I'm that much greater than you are." Enji looks over the American, using his little diatribe on honorifics to distract himself.
"Thank you very much, It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The Arizonan straightens back up, his cap held under one arm to keep it out of the way. He extends a hand to shake, hoping Enji will take him up on it. After a moment, Enji takes the hand, shaking firmly before disengaging.
"I didn't think you'd arrive until later tonight." Enji rests his hands on his sword, using it like a walking stick.
"Oh, I have to report to high command tonight. I arrived last night so I could sleep before getting to work." He still looks tired, slight bags under his eyes.
"Hmmm." Enji puts an arm around him, drawing him aside to speak quietly. "How are things really going? The news seems optimistic, but Now that it's my business, I want to know the truth."
"Ehhh" The american thinks for a moment. "The Korean Front is a stalemate, Chinese and Norks are trying to find weak points in the line. We're preparing Seoul to evacuate, just in case. The Taiwan front is a different story. We have Naval supremacy, but the Chinese keep throwing missiles across the strait whenever we get between Taiwan and their mainland. We're holding the North half of the Island, but it's tenuous. We're probably going to go there first before anything, but if it fails, they've already prepared for the government to flee and make a government in exile in the U.S.. We're also seeing heavy civilian casualties, the Chinese heroes seem almost homicidally insane." Enji nods along as he listens. He'd heard rumours, but to have it confirmed in this way makes his lip twitch in mild disgust.
"Is hero even the right term? From my perspective, someone who uses their quirk to harm innocents is pretty much a villian." Enji Harrumphs, he never approved of heroes as full time fighters. He understands using them in times of war, but they should owe their service to their nation rather than their military. In fact, he would have a similar attitude towards the hero in front of him if it weren't for his joining the military being fully voluntary.
"Well, with this attitude, I guess that would be an accurate way to talk about it." Tex stretches a little, before looking over at the pair who'd been talking with the Flame hero. It clicks in his mind that the pair must be his kids, especially considering the red in both their hair. He thinks for a moment before he makes a statement in Japanese. "I'm very quite sorry, I was very excited to meet your father." The one with a scar responds in english, his accent is a little less prominent than his father's
"It's fine, we were just expressing some concerns we had about the war." The scarred teen adjusts his necktie. While Tex forgets the name of your young man, he does remember seeing him in some of the videos he'd watched when researching his father, such as his performance at the Sports Festival. To be able to neutralize the negatives of your quirk with the other half of your quirk is something Tex wishes he could do. As it stands when he goes all out he ends up burning himself severely and risking radiation poisoning if he spends too long going all out.
"Ah, I see, I'm sorry, what's your name? I know I saw it at some point, but I have difficulty with names." Tex puts one hand in a pocket, deciding to just be pleasant and hope that he makes a good impression.
"I'm Shouto, it's an honor to meet you, Castle Bravo." He gives a shallow bow, Tex returns it.
"And I'm Fuyumi, it's an honor." Fuyumi bows a little lower than her brother, the hero returns it with a similar bow.
"It's good to meet the both of you, please, call me Tex." He looks over the three Todorokis in front of him and the fourth involved in what seems to be heated debate with the ninja hero. He can see the resemblance between them now that they're vaguely lined up. "I saw the footage of you at the Sports Festival, impressive stuff. You're lucky to have the quirk you have." He notices Shouto's expression darken just a tiny bit from that comment, before he recovers.
"Thank you, I saw footage of you once when you fought that crystal villain in...I want to say it was Utah?" Shouto pivots the conversation, working to avoid the topic of his own quirk and its genesis.
"Oh yeah, that one." He remembers that, due to the structure of the villain, his body had actually reflected Neutrons, meaning Tex had to be exorbitantly careful to avoid blasting himself with fatal doses of radiation. "Well, all in a day's work." He gives a cocky grin. He doesn't want to reveal the fact that was a battle where he got lucky and managed to hit the Villain at just the right angle to cause a beam of Neutrons to blast right through his heart. Otherwise he was planning on running.
"Seemed like a tough fight from where I was sitting." Endeavor pipes up, having remained quiet for the past several minutes.
"Yes, but so did that fight of yours the other week when you got that scar, we all have days where we're tested, but in the end that's the way the job is." he meets eyes with Endeavor, a cocky grin on his face. In spite of him being similar in age to his Japanese counterpart, he seems to have more energy, despite his greying temples and worn skin.
"True, I guess you are right in that regard." The top Japanese hero furrows his brow a little, both working to speak and understand English and process the nugget of wisdom. He notes the American hero fiddling with his hands a little, seeming nervous. "Do you have something else to say?"
"Actually…" He leans in close to Endeavor's ear, close enough that he's at risk of being burned by his beard. "I need to speak with you in private at some point after this, it's critical to our cooperation." Enji nods, it's common practice for heroes who are planning on teaming up to inform each other of their weaknesses and particular issues. It's actually a requirement of internship at Endeavors agency to disclose Mental Health history and quirk weaknesses so that he can best optimize working with the youths.
"Alright, we're supposed to have a meeting to coordinate hero efforts tomorrow, tell me then." Castle Bravo nods, stepping back, face returning to that cheery disposition that seems to be his default.
"It's been an honor, Endeavor, but I must introduce myself to the other heroes, it would be rude to not introduce myself and then having to do the honors in the field. He gives a nod to Endeavor, Fuyumi, and Shouto before he walks away, tapping Mt. Lady on the shoulder to alert her to his presence, as she'd been checking something on her phone. Enji watches him for a moment before turning back to his children.
"So, how did you manage to convince Natsuo to come?" He glances up at Natsuo, who's gone off to the side to take a phone call.
"He's a bit of a fan of Mount Lady and Edgeshot, so we promised him that he could meet them if he came." Enji nods along to Fuyumi's explanation.
"Alright, that makes sense." He recalls seeing Natsuo wearing an Edgeshot t-shirt on several occasions. Shouto looks at his watch, muttering something under his breath before speaking up.
"If it's alright, I have a few things to do before I head back to school, and curfew's in a couple hours, may I leave?" The way he talks, it seems he'll probably go whether or not Enji approves.
"That's fine, I wouldn't want Eraserhead complaining about your lateness to me." He nods, giving his best attempt at a fatherly smile. "Be careful, some people view wartime as a blank check to cause trouble, since the government is distracted. I know you have your provisional licence, but that doesn't mean that you're immune to getting hurt." His tone turns firm as he speaks, some genuine concern creeping into his voice.
"I won't go into a fight I can't win." enji nods at Shouto's response.
"Then go, and give All Might my regards when you get there." In spite of having held resentment for him for years, at this point, Enji feels that it's more important to learn from All Might at this point.
"I'll make sure to do so." Shouto turns and exits. Enji watches him go, sighing. He'll do his best to bring this to a swift conclusion. While he hopes Shouto will surpass him in achievements, he hopes it will happen in peacetime.