Lightning – My Hero Academia

Chapter 27: Why Are You Here?

Ako stood on the sidewalk, staring up at a large billboard of Ryukyu wearing a fine outfit from her clothing brand: Dragoir. It made him feel a little self-conscious of the fact that he was wearing just exercise clothes and a track jacket.

After going through all of his options, Ako decided to accept the internship offer extended to him by the Ryukyu Agency.

"Ako? What are you doing here?" Ako looked over and saw Zachary, the guy with the big angel wings, approaching him. He had on tactical pants and a muscle shirt. He also had protective goggles sitting on his head and noise-canceling headphones resting around his neck.

"I'm here for the internship. I'm surprised to see you here. I figured you'd have gone for Hawks." Ako said.

"Hawks isn't offering any internships. I looked it up," Zachary shrugged. "So I went with the next best flying hero. I figured you would have gone for something more fighting based, like Gunhead. I think that's his name, right?"

"I know who you're talking about. Chikashi picked him actually. But no, I actually got an offer for this one, and I think it would be good for me."

"Whatever you say. You're the one standing outside staring at Ryukyu's picture." Zachary teased as he walked to the front door. Ako rolled his eyes and followed him inside.

"Hey. We're here for the internship program." Zachary said to the lady at the reception desk.

"Names, please?" She requested.

"Zachary Russo."

"Ako Tanaka."

"Okay...here you both are. Head up to the second floor and enter through the double doors, they'll be right in front of you, okay? Good luck!" She waved to them.

"Thanks." Ako replied. The two of them made their way upstairs to the second level and approached the wooden double doors.

"Are you nervous at all?" Ako asked Zachary curiously.

"I guess," Zachary shrugged. "I did my research, so I know what Ryukyu specializes in. I'm really just curious to see what goes down this week. I hope it's not boring." He said.

"I guess we'll find out soon." Ako said in response before they opened the double doors and went inside.

Ako was surprised by the sudden shift in decoration from one room to the next. The inside of the main meeting room of the Ryukyu Agency was modeled to look traditionally Chinese. Everything from the open floor plan to the decorations on the columns.

"Oh, neat." Zachary acknowledged. They looked around for a few moments before one of their classmates approached them.

"Hey! Good morning, Zachary! Good morning, Ako! I didn't know you guys would be here!" Lula greeted them with a wave, laughing as she ran over to them. She had on a pink and white skintight costume with an attached belt and white helmet that looked similar to a motorcycle helmet.

"Hey, Lula. So you decided to come here after all. I thought I overheard you saying something about it." Zachary said.

"Yeah! I didn't expect to get so many offers since I couldn't win the sports festival, but it turns out a lot of agencies really liked my quirk! So I went for the highest-ranking hero on my offer list!" Lula said happily.

"Wow, is that really you, Lula? I don't even recognize you in there." Ako said with a chuckle, leaning down a little to look at her face through the visor of her helmet.

"Yep! Oh yeah, you haven't seen us in our hero costumes yet, huh? I guess you'll have to learn everyone's looks." Lula said.

"Yeah, guess so. Well, you're pink and white, I got that down now."

"Yep! Speaking of hero costumes, where's yours?" She asked Ako curiously.

"Oh, uh, it's being put together right now. Mr. Aizawa had me draw up a design during the last two days of class. I submitted it Saturday, so now I'm just waiting to hear back. They told me to just come in clothes that I could work in." Ako explained.

"That's weird. Aren't you supposed to submit your hero costume design before the first day of class?" Zachary asked.

"Yeah, when you're in the hero course." Ako answered.

Before the conversation could continue any further, the double doors into the main office opened up again. The three of them looked over, expecting to see a pro hero that would help them get started. Instead, Aya and Yui came in.

Aya's hero costume was surprisingly thematic. She had gray cargo pants with two fighting batons attached to a belt. She wore a thick gray jacket to match and a simple blue tank top underneath. Ako wondered why she'd chosen an outfit that vaguely resembled that of a police officer.

Yui's hero costume, in contrast, didn't surprise Ako at all. She had on a green sports bra and baggy white pants with only two pockets. Given the nature of her lioness quirk, it made sense for her not to be weighed down by extra clothing. But did she really need to be barefoot?

"If you're looking for the beach or the jungle, you're on the wrong floor, Yui." Zachary said with a little chuckle.

"Very funny," Yui rolled her eyes. "Lula. Tanaka. You're here too?" She noticed.

"Yep! Do you guys know if anyone else from our class is coming?" Lula asked curiously.

"I haven't heard anything. I knew about us three and Zachary, but I didn't know you were coming, Ako," Aya said to him. "So as far as I know, it's just us."

"Sounds like Ryukyu really lucked out, huh? She's got like a fourth of our class in here!" Lula pointed out with a chuckle.

"Speaking of which, where is everybody? Why are we the only ones in here?" Ako asked, looking around the empty main office again.

"Chalk it up to a busy day," Another voice answered. All 5 students turned towards the double doors once again to see Ryukyu herself entering the room. "I apologize for making you wait. I hope it wasn't too long." She said, brushing her hair back.

"Not at all! Thank you so much for having us, ma'am!" Lula said appreciatively. Ryukyu smiled and nodded.

"I appreciate all 5 of you choosing my agency for your week long internship program. It's always nice to see who UA is training to become the future of Japan's pro hero force. Before we get started, I'd like to talk about a couple things, so listen closely – listen well," She said, clasping her hands and tapping her pointer fingers together.

"You will be here with us every day for the next 6 days. Each day you will be assigned someone to shadow. I promise that each of you will get one full day with me; I've already arranged my schedule to fit you all in. On the other days, you will be with one of our other capable pro heroes.

"I'm sure in class they've already gone over the laws that pro heroes have to abide by. Please be sure to follow them. If you have any questions, whoever you'll be shadowing will be able to answer. Remember, we don't just enforce the law, we have to follow it ourselves.

"Now, I'm gonna go around to each of you. Please tell me your names, your quirks, and why you chose this agency for your internship. We'll start with you here on the end, miss." Ryukyu said, pointing to Yui.

"Me?" She pointed to herself, "I'm Yui Okamoto. My quirk's Lioness. I can turn any part of me into a lioness. It makes me stronger and faster. I chose you because you have a transformation quirk too. I know we'd work good together."

"Sounds like we might. I look forward to getting to know you better, Yui," Ryukyu said with a smile. "Okay. Now you." She pointed to Aya next.

"Oh! I'm Aya Ayala. My quirk is called Blink. You might've seen me in the sports festival. Basically, I look at where I want to go, I blink, and I'm there. It's a teleportation quirk. Right now, I can only transport myself, but if I concentrate really hard, I can teleport anything I have on me, like these batons for example." She explained.

"Interesting. I'm sure that took practice." Ryukyu presumed with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, haha, when I was younger, I would teleport right out of my clothes sometimes...that was embarrassing...anyways, I picked your agency because I really love how you run things around here. I'd love to do what you do someday, being a pro hero with my own business or something like that." Aya said.

"I respect your goals. Just take things one at a time. You can only build your image by first being the best pro hero that you can be," Ryukyu advised. "I look forward to working with you. Okay, now you, sir." She pointed to Zachary.

"Ah. I'm Zachary, Zachary Russo. Obviously my quirk is my wings, but it comes with a sound ability too. When I flap them really hard, I can shoot off sound waves at a high frequency. It doesn't push people or anything, but It can make your ears bleed if I'm close enough." He described.

"Interesting. And what made you choose this agency for your internship?" Ryukyu asked.

"Oh yeah, right. Uh...you do really good work. You fly around during some of your missions, and that's obviously what I'd be doing, so that'd be helpful for me to...see how it's done." Zachary answered slowly.

"Good. I'll be happy to show you the ropes. Next?" Ryukyu pointed to Lula.

"Hi! I'm Lula Lei! My quirk is Paralysis! I can freeze any living thing for up to 15 minutes. It kinda messes with my joints though when I do it too much, so I gotta be careful." Lula explained, rubbing her hands together and feeling her wrists.

"Right, yes. I do remember sending you an offer, Miss Lei. Your quirk would come in handy for apprehending and transporting criminals. Rest assured, we won't push you past your limits, but I would like to put that paralysis to the test." Ryukyu said.

"I'll do my best!" Lula said with a determined smile.

"Good. That just leaves you. Tanaka, right?" Ryukyu asked, pointing at Ako.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm Ako Tanaka, but everyone just calls me Ako. My quirk is super speed. It's not just running fast, which is mostly what I did during the tournament, but I can move any part of my body at lightning-fast speeds. It gives me higher reflexes too.

"The reason I picked this agency is...because...you're a really good pro hero." He answered slowly, eyeing the other students briefly. He didn't want to say any more with them around, but now he sounded kinda dumb.

"Okay...glad you could join us, Tanaka. I'm looking forward to learning more about all of you and teaching you what I can...you don't have your hero clothes yet?" Ryukyu asked Ako, seeming to just now notice that he was the only one wearing normal clothes.

"No not yet, ma'am. I was told to just come in clothes I can work in for now." Ako explained.

"Oh, I see. That'll be alright. Now let's go over protocols and what you'll be doing." Ryukyu said...