A/N: Hey all, this chapter's a bit more filler than I'd like, but the next one is gonna be relatively soon. It'll also pick off right where this one left off :D


"H-Hamijmahite? Hamijomashiro… Hajimimi. Pbbt." Taylor spluttered. She sat there, looking like a fool as her "tutor" hid his raucous laughter with his hand. Hid being a very weak estimation, of course. In fact, he hadn't stopped laughing yet. Her pouting only seemed to make the laughter even louder. Humph. What a waste of an hour. Now, why exactly was Taylor Hebert, a fifteen year old East Coast American, with little experience in the food of other cultures mind you, trying to learn the awkward- to her at least -language of Japan? Two parts curiosity and one part actual interest.

As it turned out, Accelerator did have a handler sent by the Japanese government to monitor his stay in America as he, quote "worked as a menial laborer because the jokers at the American institution had no idea how to handle him!" Exclamation included. The man was quite possibly the most generic man she had ever met. He was reserved, polite, cleanly trimmed, and wore a black suit. In fact, that was all she could remember about the man, even though he stopped by twice already to check up on Accelerator. His name was Mr. Sato, which according to the Hebert's disgruntled housemate, was equivalent to calling himself Mr. Smith.

"Hajimemashite." The boy across from her drawled, interrupting her thoughts after he finally stifled his chuckles. She grumbled to herself. Making a good impression was so not worth dealing with this, she thought to herself. She took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Hajimemashite." She said slowly, enunciating like he had shown her. His now bored face, still holding that ever present smug look, nodded.

"Passable. Though, you know trying to make an impression on Sato-san is sort of worthless, right?" He asked. She frowned. It was always good to make a good impression. At least, that's what her dad taught her, and considering his position as the head of a political union, albeit one with weak bartering power, she thought his advice was reasonable. Seeing her puzzled expression, he sighed and pulled out his phone, playing with some new app before continuing.

"Well, I'm fairly sure you Americans have those generic names…" He said as he walked over from his seat at the desk chair and plopped himself next to her on the bed. Generic names? Seeing her puzzled expression again, he snorted.

"You know, like, that movie… Mr. and Mrs. Smith?" He gestured with his hand, as though the conversation wasn't something to be worried about. Mr. and Mrs. Smith?

"You mean, he's a secret agent or assassin?" She asked slowly in disbelief. He hummed.

"Yeah. I'm a pretty important guy, ya know." She stared at the boy. The boy laying on her bed playing a stupid app, chuckling about how amusing "Block-san" was, apparently warranted something like a Secret Service detail. Taylor felt like her head was going to explode from trying to reconcile these two facts.

"I. What. No. Who are you? Really?" She asked, exasperated at this charade. Earlier, she had confronted him about the same thing when they had gotten back from last week's grocery shopping. She asked him to help her with some physics homework, and next thing she knew, she was getting a lecture on some advanced theories that completely flew over her head. And when she finally got a word in, he just shrugged and hummed absentmindedly again. Later when she asked him about being a hero, he shrugged and asked her why she thought he could answer the question. When she saw him shrug, she was about to pull his hair out. It was and has been really, really frustrating, okay?!

"I don't know. I know who I want to be though. Oh, Block-san, the adventures you must have…" He sighed wistfully. She glared at his nonchalant attitude. Well, two could play this game.

"Hmph. And I thought we were friends..." She said, feigning despondence. She turned her head away from him for extra effect. It was a trick that always worked on her dad, and although she didn't know much about Accelerator, these past few weeks have certainly let her know Accelerator. And, from what she observed, there was no way he could-

"I've seen cuter." He dismissed almost immediately, pulling his white bangs away from his face. Almost immediately, her posture fell as the wind soared out of her sails, as if she was sucker punched. She turned to face him again. As always, his white hooded jacket was framing his body. She pouted at him as he fiddled with the zipper with an annoyed look of complacency. In the back of her mind, she wondered if he enjoyed kicking puppies as well. He sighed and gave up with the zipper, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"That look of devastated disappointment was hilarious though. So, I'll throw you a bone I guess." He said as he pulled himself up, and sat on the edge of the bed again.

"In Japan, all the big name 'capes' have titles that go with their powers," He explained. She nodded. The first one that came to mind was Lung.

"Like the Dragon of Kyushu, right? Lung, who fought Leviathan?" She asked. He stared at her, his face set in a bizarre mixture of stunned and surprised.

"You mean Lung, the Saint of Kyushu, right? Because, Dragon, the Dragon of Kyushu sounds pretty stupid to me…" He said while looking away. Saint? What the hell about the leader of one of the most notorious and vicious Brockton Bay gangs was Saint-like? She said as much. He nodded in response.

"Ah, right. I never did mention it, but Lung is a Magi. And Saint, is a level of Magi, similar to how your PRT uses numbers to evaluate threats." She digested this information. He did explain that Magi were those classified as impossible to explain, and given what she read about Lung on the forums, he fit that category quite nicely.

"But what makes that guy different from other Magi?" She asked, genuinely perplexed. At least the numbers were easy to understand. One through ten, like a disaster scale. He shrugged.

"Just means that his abilities can't and probably won't ever be able to be reproduced via physical means, whether science agrees with him or not. It's like those religious people, you know, miracle workers." He said. She nodded. That made sense as well.

"Anyways, that's not really his title. Titles are more like what your Hero types use as names. The Japanese government does not hide the identities of any of its Espers or Magi. That way we are always held accountable for our actions." He continued. That made Taylor's eyes go wide.

She had learned about the Unwritten Rules of heroism in her Parahuman studies class. Apparently, due to the prevalence of world ending threats, such as Endbringers, Heroes across the world subscribed to the same rules. No unmasking, assassination, or making hits against associated people, such as family. It was to protect humanity as much as the Heroes and Villains. More bodies to throw into the grinder after all. But, to hear that a whole country completely dead set against those same rules?

"Of course, we still do get masked weirdos, but anyone stupid enough to attack a JSDF sanctioned Esper or Magi gets pinned with the moniker of Japan's most wanted." That made more sense to her. Accountability goes both ways, of course.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Lung's still got a warrant to stand trial for desertion…I'll let Sato know it'll be handled." He mulled to himself, unaware that Taylor could hear him. Her eyes widened.

"You're going to fight Lung!?" She nearly shouted. To be honest, she was fairly sure it was more the fear of losing her only remaining confidant than her fear for his life. She wasn't exactly sure how despicable such thoughts were, but at least she cared, right?

"Well duh, no one among the Circle of Saints can even hope to compare to me." He said, dismissing her worries. She trembled not in worry, but in anger. Super strength or not, how conceited can one guy get!? She gripped his jacket sleeve tightly. And pulled him close. Her glaring green eyes bored into his shocked red ones. Her eyes roamed over his face, and she couldn't help but remember, that the guy was only maybe a year or two older than her. It only made Taylor furious, that someone would throw their life away like that. If she could stand to live, then what right did he have, as someone respected with a great life, to throw it all away?

"What if you lose!? What's gonna happen?! He won't just let you walk away!" Her rage burned quickly, and already faded to charcoal by the time she finished.

"What happens… if you die?" The words tasted like ashes in her mouth. Maybe, she admitted to herself, it was something more than just fear. Something very minute, but certainly not fear. She could feel a tear begin to form. He clucked his tongue, his expression fading back to his bored look. She watched as Accelerator brought his pale hand up to her cheek, and wiped something away.

"I suppose, I haven't finished giving you your hint. Titles, Epithets, what have you, while similar to your 'cape' names, have one distinct difference. They are earned, not chosen. It is our peers that define our stature, after all. And, Tay, you are looking at Accelerator. The Strongest. He Who Wields The Power Of God. There is little in Japan, or even the world that can compete with me." He comforted the girl, while at the same time inflating his own ego she noted. Absentmindedly, amidst her swirling emotions, she realized it had been the first time he had used any semblance of her name in the past few weeks. A nickname huh? And, The Strongest. Well, she supposed that was one hell of a hint.

"Even so, if you get hurt, or, god forbid, die, I won't forgive you." She glared at him, hoping to solidify the message. He chuckled.

"I wouldn't forgive myself! Losing to a weakling like that… the shame alone would kill me." Accelerator said as he pulled his hair back into place. It had shaken out of place from when she pulled him close earlier.

"And, of course, where would you be without me? The great and powerful Accelerator?" She smiled at him. Oh, she just remembered that worrying over this asshole probably wasn't worth it. She chuckled at her own asinine humor. He chuckled a bit as well, and once again, she was surprised by the warm feeling it elicited, unlike the deriding mockery of his laugh from earlier.

She twisted his arm onto the bed space next to her and he quite literally collapsed face forward onto it.

"Yeah. Great and powerful… my ass." She interjected between laughs. He simply harrumphed before pulling out his phone once again. But, Taylor supposed, falling back into this pattern so quickly settled her worries. She supposed he wasn't totally hopeless when it came to matters of the heart. Just mostly.

"I mean, your ass is great." His voice drawled out from behind her back. This little… just had to get in the last word, didn't he? Not that she could respond, considering she was flushed from head to toe, and spluttering.


Accelerator sat next to Tay, playing on his phone once more. To be fair, no one could blame him. The Adventures of Block-san was apparently the amalgamation of effort of three off duty Programming oriented Level 3's. He never knew there was such a thing until he had to look deeper into the Level 6 advancement project after his stint.

Turns out, Japan had definitely heard of the American "Tinker" and "Thinker" abilities. They were usually Level 2 or 3's that didn't exhibit any prominent Esper environment manipulation abilities. They were mostly denoted by their unusual AIM Diffusion Fields. They had notoriously weak AIM Diffusion Fields, because what energy that would normally be exerted on the physical world was absorbed internally instead. The JSDF would conscript them to work in a think tank for three to four years and then release them with fully accredited degrees in their chosen fields. A few colorful images played across his phone screen once again.

"Ufufufu. Ganbatte, Block-san." He said as he destroyed another enemy. He felt a pair of curious eyes on him, and he turned to meet them. He shrugged. Then went back to his game.

"You know, I appreciate you coming to school with me, but it'd be nice if you'd at least talk to me." She huffed. He totally did talk to her though! In fact, Accelerator was going to point that out right now.

"I did. I offered you Block-san. Which you refused. Heathen." He said, lightly glaring. He watched as she rubbed her temples. His phone then took the time as a perfect excuse to voice its own concerns.

Beep boop.

"Ah, Block-san, you truly do understand me." He sighed as he relaxed into his seat.

"A-Are you talking to it?" He heard the girl next to him hesitantly ask.

"Of course. And Block-san is a guy not an it." Boooop. Beep. "And he happens to make great conversation." This time, Taylor couldn't settle for just rubbing her temples. She took off her glasses and was pulling at her face, trying to alleviate what was likely rapid onset insanity.

"Why, oh why, did it have to be you? Why can't it ever just be someone nice? I mean, first there was Emma, who made me seriously question some personal preferences, and now there's you, who has totally shattered my belief that I have any standards whatsoever…" She said under her breath. He shrugged. Why did standards matter when one had Block-san?

Of course, left unsaid was that Block-san was in actuality a low level AI that offered combat analysis along with being a particularly cutesy and fun game character. The JSDF certainly milked those Level 3 Programmers completely dry of ideas.

The rest of their ride was enjoyed in peace. Well, relative peace, if one found the beeps and boops of an animated Japanese square peaceful. Which one of them did.


A/N: Some of these gags may or may not be recurring. This is listed as Humor, so I like to have fun with more filler stuff than comedy in throughout. The next one will probably be more serious, maybe angsty. Taylor might even get shoved in a locker. Who knows.

Read and review please [ ' u ']