Their Hero Academia – Chapter 89: Pre-Game Interview
The gym was a blur as Isamu sped through it, blasting along on all fours, repulsive force blasting out of his limbs in strong, even bursts. A speedometer, built into his new head's up display, told him he was going about 200 KPH on average, a remarkable improvement in speed over what he'd previously been hitting. Just about at the threshold of how fast his reactions could keep up with his speed..
All the more reason for the many improvements to his costume. His tunic was now blue with yellow and red striping, his leggings thicker and more reinforced in blue with a red stripe. To that, he'd added a jacket in the same pattern as his tunic, zipped up and offering protection like a motorcyclist's. He'd kept the red gloves, now with textured black palms, and red thick-soled red boots, along with red knee and elbow pads: protective equipment for anything he might run over. But most importantly, rather than his goggles and bandana, he now had a crimson helmet with a dark visor, once again modeled after motorcycle gear. It would better protect his head and the small computer system monitored his speed and identified potential obstacles. If he was going to get faster, he needed to see what was coming.
He wasn't super-sure about the helmet. He thought it made him look more intimidating, not inspiring, and he'd argued a good bit with Boost-Rush about it.
"Do you think I look intimidating?" Boost-Rush had asked, lowering his helmet's visor.
"Yes, Sir," Isamu told the muscular man with the heavy arm pipes whose face he couldn't see.
The Rookie laughed at that. "Well, you're honest, kid, I'll give you that. But I'm hardly the only helmet-wearing Hero or one who hides their whole face. Ingenium, Cellophane, Tek-Knight, the Laughing Man… are they scary?"
"No, no, sometimes, and the jury's still out," Isamu replied.
Boost-Rush's faceplate flipped up. "Okay, point made. But for right now, with the speeds you're working with, and the fact that Aizawa has you working on flying, you need head protection. You're not doing anyone any good if you crash into a wall and crack your skull open."
They'd compromised on his current design, which allowed for the faceplate and other face obscuring portions to retract. He still wasn't sure about how threatening it made him look, but he'd admit, the Rookie had had a point.
Isamu still wasn't as fast as the Iida twins, but that whole family was built for speed. If he was coming in second to that? Well, that was still pretty damn good.
His HUD alerted him to an upcoming cliff. Rather than turn, he increased his speed, still feeling the wind of the acceleration even through his protective gear. At the edge of the cliff, he added another blast of thrust, taking himself airborne.
For one brief moment, he was truly free of gravity, soaring through the air like a shot from a cannon. Then gravity reasserted her powerful grip, starting to drag him downward. There was a moment, a brief one, where he panicked, arms flailing uselessly through the empty air. But he'd prepared for this, done this many times over now, until the trick was, well, if not second nature, at least third.
Isamu called on his Quirk, steady and strong, blue-white power overflowing from his hands and feet. The repulsion force not only kept him in the air, but let him keep going towards the outcropping ahead. He grinned behind his helmet and gave it a little more power, letting out a whoop as he did a quick loop around the rocks before landing.
Dad had talked once, about how he'd been able to fly as a kid, sliding on air, but had that beaten out of him by Grandma. And how, when he'd been in his prime, he'd been able to do powerful boosts in the air, basically shooting himself along. Isamu had tried to replicate those tricks, to varying success. But now, equaling his force from all four limbs, he could just about fly.
It was still going to take a lot of work and it wasn't any good for carrying anyone or anything, or even fighting (not without trading propulsion for offense, which left him vulnerable), but it was good to have another transport option, especially if he ran out of road.
His Quirk had definitely gotten stronger. Sometimes, it seemed as if his supply of energy had gotten a major boost, beyond what he would have thought training had gotten him. He must have gotten more out of the camp than he thought.
As he looked out on the others, he saw something colorful shoot through the air, trailing powder behind it. "Nice work, Kocho!"
Koharu had to admit it, she was impressed. She didn't know how they'd done it, but U.A. had programmed the training robots to respond to her Scales as though they were real people. Sleep Powder, Paralysis Powder, Poison Powder, all of them worked just as well as they would have on living beings.
Her training at the camp had been a bit different from the others, an intensive combat course meant to bring her up to speed as much as possible. It helped that she had been training for the Hero Course originally and had kept up her exercises even after she'd failed to get enough points to pass the Entrance Exam (Thank goodness she'd thought to apply to General Studies as a backup!). She wasn't on the level of her classmates yet, not all of them anyway, but she could still be competitive. And then there had been lots and lots of training to help her come up with innovative ways to apply her Quirks, from the Scale tornado where she whipped up winds enough to spread her various powders far and wide, to simply learning how to fight in the air.
And, perhaps most importantly, she'd gotten to finalize the designs for her costume. While she'd submitted one when the offer to join the Hero Course had first been extended, a backlog of other requests had kept her from having one for the internships. And when the Rookies had done costume consultations, she'd jumped at the chance.
Koharu was leaning heavily into her moth-theme for her costume. She was proud of her Quirk, proud of her family. Some Heroes with animal Quirks leaned into that theme more than others. Kestrel, the winged daughter of Hawks and Mirko, for example, did not have anything especially bird-like about her costume. Others were like Froppy, who had a frog-like aesthetic, without being overwhelming about it. And then there were others still, like the now-retired Gang Orca or Captain Selkie, who possessed heavy mutations and made it an indelible part of their Hero identities.
It was why she had chosen to embrace those aspects of herself: the Lepidopteran Hero: Yamamai, the silk moth.
Her costume included fuzzy, striped knee-high boots, in alternating turquoise and purple, the same colors as her wings and hair, ending in small black "toes". She wore white leggings and over that a sleeveless dark purple leotard that was backless to allow her wings to spread without issue. Her gloves came up to the middle of her upper arms, in the same pattern as her boots, with black fingers. Finally, she wrapped a white utility belt around her waist, and added a small clear pair of glasses to protect her eyes while flying. Her overall speed wasn't nearly as impressive as many flying Heroes—though she could just about keep pace with a car when the situation called for it—and her flight ceiling was comparatively low, but some protection had been deemed necessary.
Flapping hard, she dove towards a cluster of robots, unleashing her Sleep Powder. The robots, appropriately, started to drop, but the one at the end was too far for it to be effective. Instead, she poured on her speed and slammed into it, grabbing its arms to drag it into the air with her as she climbed. As she rose, she spun and tossed it towards the nearest cliff. Which was when the last piece of her costume, a small piece of Support equipment, came into play. From the outside, it looked like a dark purple respirator mask and collar and, in part, it was. But it had also been designed to help focus her String Shot. As soon as she let go, she fired a blast of String Shot from her mouth, the exterior nozzle helping to shape it so that she could more easily wrap the robot in a sticky cocoon. It hit the cliff and stuck there with a sticky, wet sound.
Sandblast regarded her with, well, not quite contempt, but at least something approximating suspicion. Most of the Rookies had been good, friendly people. Lady Luminous and Petal Princess had both taken on a kind, almost big sister-ish approach to the students. But Sandblast… Sandblast was scary in a way that even Vanish Veil wasn't. Definitely one of the biggest hardasses Koharu had ever met.
"You know," Sandblast said, "I still think U.A.'s policy of promoting to the Hero Course is a load of bull. The bar's not that high, even for a school that good. I mean, they let in Grape Juice for crying out loud."
The Rookie shrugged. "The Voice ain't bad though. But he's probably the exception. And he didn't even do half as well as you did."
In spite of the implied insult, Koharu still felt a certain degree of pride at that. Hitoshi Shinso was one of her heroes. She knew, of course, she'd done way better at her first Sports Festival than he had at his, but hearing someone else say it still felt pretty good.
"You can't fight for shit, though."
"Excuse me?" Koharu gasped. "I thought I'd been doing pretty good…"
Sandblast shook her head. "With your Quirk, sure. And once you get in the air, you're pretty good with that. Some flying body slams, kick flips, that kind of thing. But I haven't seen you throw a punch once."
Was she right? Koharu had thought herself pretty good, but hand-to-hand combat definitely wasn't something she'd focused on.
"Most Heroes can't," Sandblast went on. "Sure, they can get a little scrappy, but most of them are shit when it comes to actually 'fighting' fighting, unless they've got a punchy Quirk or a strength one. Bioshock was trying to lay down that lesson before things turned to shit."
She fixed Koharu with a chilling glare. "Which is why if you're ever going to be anything other than a little flying shit, I'm going to have to teach you how to throw a punch."
Robots were one thing. She'd even gone against her fellow students at the camp. And she had, regretfully, even caused the bat-like Koumori to crash. But she had definitely resolved herself to one thing: violence was going to be her last resort. She had so many avenues available to her to stop Villains with minimal harm. She would exhaust those first. There were enough Heroes who fought with fists and feet and projectiles. Koharu thought no less of them. But she was going to do her best to be different.
And now she was going to represent the school on the national stage. Part of it terrified her. Part of it excited her. Who was she to stand up in front of the nation like that and yell that she mattered? That she deserved to be counted among the country's future Heroes? That she was good enough to stand out that far in front of the flock?
She guessed she'd find out…
Mika lowered her head, rapid-firing sticky balls from her horns. Those robots that they didn't stick in place, they just took out outright. After all, a volley-ball sized sphere coming at you at high speed was going to hurt, whether or not it was sticky. Her aim was getting better though, thanks to the Rookies' drills.
She pointed to the robots her sticky balls had immobilized. "Give 'em a shock, Chi!"
"Prepare… for a shocking experience!"
Chihiro was still wearing the Support item heavy costume Mrs. Yaoyorozu and Mrs. Hatsume had designed her: a black bodysuit was combined with white torso armor and boots, with white armor for her arms, along with additional bracers and black circuit lined-gloves, along with a small headpiece and visor. It wasn't exactly the "sexy lightning bolt" idea Mika had suggested way back when they were first designing their costumes, but she understood Chi's need for focusing her Quirk.
Chihiro's cords snaked into the bracers on her arms, and she pointed. Electricity leapt from her gloves, blasting the robots with countless volts until they fell down. She eyed the robots carefully for a moment, making not only sure that they were down, but that no more were coming, before letting out a small victory whoop.
Mika hadn't bothered to update her costume either. She still had brown chaps over purple pants, a purple vest over a low cut and sleeveless brown tunic, thick, fringed purple gloves, and a small purple domino mask. She accessorized with a thick purple belt and a lariat.
Not that the Rookies hadn't kind of suggested she should rein it in (Heh. Rein. Ah, horse puns.)…
"Am I in trouble?" Mika asked as she took a seat in the tent. Instantly, she started thinking about all the things she'd done that someone might have been "offended" by. She'd been summoned before Lady Luminous, Petal Princess, Vanish Veil, and Sandblast. Though the last of them looked relatively unhappy to be there.
"That depends on if we like your answers," Vanish Veil said.
"Ignore her," Petal Princess said. The flowers growing out of her head twitched slightly. "You're not in trouble. But we're a bit concerned."
Lady Luminous folded her hands. "We reviewed your Spots Festival footage and the progress reports from your teachers. And while we acknowledge your skills, as is expected from the second-place finisher, we're a bit concerned about your behavior."
Vanish Veil rolled her eyes. "What the 'ladies' here are trying to tiptoe around is, you're pretty overt with your sexuality. Plus your costume is pretty close to Halloween store 'sexy cowgirl.' Are you trying to be the next Midnight?"
Oh, was that all?
"Yes," Mika said simply. Lady Luminous let out a squeak. Hadn't Mika heard a rumor that she was supposed to be desperate not to turn into Christmas cake? Surely, she could understand.
Vanish Veil laughed at that. "And you two didn't think she'd admit it?"
"Don't you think you're a bit young for that?" Lady Luminous asked.
"A girl could get quite the reputation," Petal Princess added. "Especially since you're, what, fifteen?" There was almost a motherly concern to her voice. Not necessarily prudish, but definitely concerned.
Sandblast still didn't say anything. Vanish Veil looked amused.
"Hey," Mika said, leaning back in her chair, "Midnight's got to be nearing retirement. I mean, she's damn hot for someone her age. But somebody's got to be the next R-Rated Hero. I'd be proud to be somebody's first Hero crush or the reason they realize their sexuality." That had been her stated goal for years now. Though Chihiro had said she was likely to overshoot and hit X. "Plus, can you imagine getting an obscenity law named after you?"
She leaned forward. "Besides, if somebody's going to lose their concentration because of a little dirty talk, then they can't have been concentrating all that hard."
Heh. Hard. They were definitely hard if she was doing it right.
"Are we done yet?" Sandblast asked, clearly ready to be done with the conversation. Mika abruptly realized her irritation was with the other Rookies, not with her. Had the scary-hot (as in she was hot because she was scary) Rookie been on her side? "You heard it right from her. She's doing it on purpose. Weaponized provocation. You do the same thing with your illusions, Shimano. She just does it with her words, just like our fearless leader and his shitty little cousin. Like I said."
Well, that was mostly true. She did weaponize the provocation. People were so easy to get wound up like that. But at least some of her flirtation was genuine. It wasn't her fault everyone was so hot! And besides, if people thought she was a bimbo because of how she dressed or how she flirted, that was their problem not hers.
People like Shinji knew who she was.
The other Rookies reluctantly agreed to let the issue drop. Mika was going to call this a win.
"Wish I could bring you to back me up at the National Sports Festival, Chi," Mika said. "We make a good team."
Chihiro nodded. "You're right. Set 'em up, knock 'em down. Almost enough to make me wish I'd done better at our Sports Festival."
"Almost?" Mika asked. "I know you're not prone to stage fright."
Her friend shook her head. "Nah. Nothing like that. But I'd probably just overload my brain and embarrass myself out there on live TV. I'm not good enough yet for that kind of thing."
Mika frowned and gave Chi a smack upside the head. "Hey! None of that talk! You are smart, amazing, and incredibly good looking! If it wasn't for the fact that you're straight and I love you like a sister, well, like a really hot step sister after Mom remarried, so we're totally not related…"
She shook her head. "Sorry, got distracted there. But you're not gonna talk about yourself like that. It's been forever since you blew your brains out. And you're getting better every day. And definitely don't go comparing yourself to me. You can't help it if you're the leader of the "A" team…"
Chihiro's Cords shot out and jabbed her multiple times. The ends of her Cords may have been blunt rather than sharp, but it still stung like hell. "I! Told! You! To! Stop! Calling! Me! That!"
"Okay, okay," Mika held up her hands in surrender. "But seriously, believe in yourself. Or I'll tell Shiro you're having more doubts and he'll give you the mother of all pep talks, complete with charts."
Her friend buried her face in her hands. "Oh, man, he would, wouldn't he?"
"And that's without him being smitten!"
"Oh, man…!"
Mika gave her an affectionate pat on the back. "He's good at being encouraging. But now that we've covered your boyfriend, can we talk about mine? What are the odds I can sneak into Shinji's hotel room at the Nat Fest for some pre-game smooching?"
"Okay, number one, he's not my boyfriend…"
The next few days had been a blur. U.A., along with the other Hero Schools had issued press releases about the upcoming National Sports Festival and their competitors. Isamu was just glad he'd gotten the chance to tell his parents before the official word had gotten out. They were both tremendously proud, of course, though he had a vague feeling his dad was almost as excited about the possibility of meeting Deku as he was at seeing him compete. It was hard not to feel just a little insulted. But both of them had promised to arrange their schedules so they could attend.
Maybe it would give him the chance to ask about telling his friends who they really were.
After that, there had been a flurry of interviews with various reporters from all over Japan, including Taneo Tokuda, who'd been delighted to see him again. The guy was definitely a little eccentric, but well meaning.
Fortunately, those interviews had been pretty perfunctory. Puff pieces, his mom might have called them. Midoriya and Mineta had both obviously had some amount of media training; the internet abounded with interviews with Heroes and their families. Mineta had even been on what he would have thought was an impossibly high standard for good behavior for her. She'd exhibited just a little mischief to make herself memorable, but hadn't said anything that would have needed to be bleeped or edited out. And Midoriya had shown the kind of presence he would have expected from the son of Deku.
Even he understood something about how reporters worked. Thanks to his mom being a music reporter, he had a pretty good concept of how not to make a fool out of himself in interviews. Musicians tended to be either really good or really bad at interviews, with no in-between. Thankfully, he'd only put his foot in his mouth a couple times.
Kocho hadn't done too badly either, really. The questions had been softballs and the reporters had mostly focused on Midoriya anyway, even though he'd tried to deflect more to his friends. One would think a former General Studies student making it to the national stage would have made for better news…
But they found themselves once again in Vice-Principal Midnight's office, for one more interview. The office itself was surprisingly tame, with rather tasteful art on the walls. He vaguely recalled that when she'd been a classroom teacher, Midnight had actually taught art, so he supposed that made sense.
As for the reporter himself…
"Achoo!"
The noise came from just outside the room.
"Oh dear! That came out of nowhere. Heh, someone must be speaking about me. That's the belief, yes?"
The voice came from a small man dressed in a well-tailored blue suit. Though what really drew attention to him was that he looked like a humanoid barn owl. His head was entirely owl-like, with a pair of glasses that seemed to be stuck to his face, fitted around the ridge between his eyes. He wore a wool cap upon his head, and a pair of silk slacks that seem to have a zipper along the sides, the reason for which became clear when his taloned feet became visible. Sizable and clawed, they were mostly contained within a couple of custom-made sandals, with each toe comfortably slid in, but with the talons sticking out the end. His hands were also taloned, though much less so than his feet. His feathers were a mix of tan and white, like many of the barn owl species. Though arguably his most striking feature were his pure dark, seemingly pupiless eyes. They blinked a couple times, as he seemed to realize he'd been louder than he thought.
"Oh my, um, what was-" He tapped his beak and started mumbling in English. Isamu was conversant enough to pick up on most of it. Mineta and Midoriya probably got more of it. "What the bloody hell do they say when someone sneezes? It's not "bless you." Get well soon? I'm not sodding sick. Hmmm. Nothing! Yes, nothing! They don't say anything! It's not a question. Just a human symptom here. Yes, quite so."
He cleared his throat noisily. "Pardon me!" The edges of his beak twisted into something eerily similar to an encouraging smile. It looked a bit weird, Isamu thought to himself. Tokoyami definitely didn't have that level of facial flexibility.
"Kids," Vice-Principal Midnight said, "this is Gordon Bennet, of The Valiant, the United Kingdom's top Hero coverage media. It seems the National Sports Festival is making international waves."
"Oh!" Midoriya perked up. "I know that name! You wrote that piece on Caliburn the time he traveled to Japan and teamed up with Yoroi Musha's successor, Kusanagi! That was good writing!"
"Pleased to meet you, sir," Isamu said. Mineta and Kocho chipped in greetings as well.
"Oh, you read that piece? I'm chuffed to meet a fan so far from home." He seemed to realize what he said. "Pardon, I am pleased to meet a fan." He turned to Midnight briefly before looking back at the kids. "Indeed. For a long time Japan has been one of the leaders in Pro Hero innovations, and the return of the National Festival after so long has created quite the fuss among Hero enthusiasts. I'm set to travel all over the country, speaking to those who are to participate. As fortune would have it, my plane dropped me off closest to UA, so I said why not come here and interview you first."
Great. Not just national attention, but international. Isamu definitely wasn't sure how he felt about that. His involvement in the I-Island affair had been quietly swept under the rug, but there definitely wasn't any avoiding this.
Midnight nodded. "This should be the last of the interviews you four have to do, at least for now. Unless, of course, any of you manage to do well at the Festival. You've all done well, especially since you haven't had time for any media coaching yet. Though that does remind me, I should give Yu a call to schedule that, she's so busy with that TV show of hers and it's been forever since we caught up…"
She regained her focus quickly. "At any rate, feel free to begin whenever you're ready, Mister Bennet. Though, of course, I will step in if I think anything's going too far."
"Cracking. I mean-," Bennet muttered to himself again, before revealing a bag he'd be carrying. He pulled out a small stick or, at least, one that seemed small before he extended it. He moved closer to Isamu and placed the end of the stick on the ground, then released it. Somehow, it stood on its own.
Once again, he mumbled in English. "Yes, yes, that should be about right."
Bennet took the stick, folded it back up, and put it back in his bag. When he spoke next, it was in Japanese. "There we are then." He took out a small, spherical device of a light blue color. He tapped something on it with one of his talons, and following a series of clicks a light turned on. The sphere suddenly floated to a spot at about eye-level with them. "Brilliant. We should be able to get started now."
"Oh, man," Minteta said, "if I'd known we'd be on camera, I'd have polished my horns…"
"You look fine," Midoriya told her. But he'd sat up a little straighter now that they were being watched. Kocho ran a quick hand through her hair and settled her wings a little differently. Subconsciously, Isamu adjusted his own hair too.
"We're ready whenever you are, sir," Midoriya said. "Where would you like to start?"
"Well before we officially begin," he pointed to show that a light on the device wasn't on yet. "I want to assure you all this is not live, so don't worry about fumbling your words and such. I can always edit things out later. Plus not all of this is likely to be shown, bloody editors-" He coughed to stop himself. "I imagine you all have likely answered a lot of general questions, so would it be acceptable to ask you all some personal questions?"
"Sure," Midoriya said. "It wouldn't be the first time."
"Personal questions, eh?" Mineta said. She looked for a moment as though she were going to say something suggestive, but then seemed to think better of it. "Fire away."
"I'm fine with that," Kocho said. Her antennae were swaying a little. Isamu did his best to give her a reassuring look.
"Works for me," Isamu said.
"Crack-er, good! Good, good." Bennet cleared his throat and pulled something from his jacket. It was a metal pad about thirty centimeters long. He looked at it as he sat down in a nearby chair, before flicking something on the blue sphere. A light blinked on, and a soft whirring sound could be heard.
"The four of you are really quite different in background, so I'm sure our viewers would enjoy your unique perspectives." He turned to Midoriya first.. "Mister Midoriya, I'm sure you've heard a slew of questions regarding the legacy of your parents and such. Questions whose answers I'm sure are reasonably available, so I will spare you those. Granted I would be remiss if I didn't mention anything at all. So my first question is: With the return of the National Festival, something even your parents never had a chance to be in: Do you see this as a chance to create your own unique impression on the world?"
Isamua gave Midoriya credit: he only took a small moment before he answered. "It's funny," he said, "but that's something I've been thinking about a lot lately, even before the National Festival was announced. I've had a couple of close family friends point out to me that I was trying too hard to copy that legacy and that I needed to decide who I was going to be if I was ever going to step out of anyone's shadow."
He went on, "And look, my dad's the best. I'm not saying he's not. He's got all of Japan to look out for, but he made sure to carve out plenty of time for me, Mom, and my sisters. But he casts a really long shadow, without even trying. Do I worry about making him proud? Sure. Do I worry that I'll never be as good as him? Sometimes. But he always told me: I don't have to be as good as him. I just have to be the best me that I can be. So yes, I'm looking forward to being able to do something unique like this. I'm always going to be Deku and Uravity's son. That's as baked in as anything. But I'm Deku and Uravity's son at the National Festival."
Gordon nods. "Well said, Mr. Midoriya." He tapped his pad a couple times, his talon making a small clicking sound on it. "Ms. Mineta," he began, turning to Mika. "Like Mr. Midoriya you yourself are a child of heroic legacy: The Daughter of Grape Juice and Rodeo. I'd say you've already done well to distinguish yourself from both your parents, creating your own style. Your father is from Japan, your Mother from the United States, considered two of the leading nations in Pro Hero work. How would you say your dual heritage has influenced the kind of hero you'd like to be?"
"Oh, wow," Mineta said. She clearly hadn't been expecting a question like that. Isamu hadn't either. Bennet was good at this. Definitely a talented reporter.
Fortunately for her, Mineta recovered pretty quickly. "So, the big thing is, no matter what country you're from, being a Hero is about making people feel safe. And in a lot of cases, it's about making a big, public impression, so that just by showing up, you do that. At least, as far as non-Underground Heroes go. Japan doesn't really have a word for that. Sure, you get things like Rescue Hero or Combat Hero or the like, and some people call them "Spotlight Heroes" or "Limelight Heroes", but that's not really what it means, and there's not really a term in our language for it, even if we like the idea of it. All Might's biggest deal was how he made people feel after all, even more than any Villains he stopped. But America sometimes refers to them as "Super-Heroes." It's a word from old comic books and it's what the first vigilantes were trying to emulate. It's pretty good at getting a lot of fancy stuff into one word. It's why so many American Heroes seem so much larger than life, like Captain Celebrity used to be, with the whole exaggerated personality and over the top thing going on."
Mineta went on. She spent so much time flirting that it was easy to forget that she was actually one of the top students in the class. "So that's what I want to be. Both sides of my family are all about making people feel safe and being protected. Granny Tsunotori did it in the States. Mom does that so well that she's the Number Seven Hero, despite being a "foreigner". Which considering she's half-Japanese and how long she's lived here is… Ahem. Getting off topic. And Daddy might not be all that highly ranked, but kids love him. They know he's gonna do his best when he shows up. I want to make that impression too. I want to make my mark, be noticed. Because if people are noticing me, if I've got that kind of presence, then when I show up, I'm the only thing Villains are going to focus on and people are going to know I'm there for them."
She nodded. "I already stand out. For a variety of reasons. I might as well use it."
"I understand that quite well. My nation's own John Bull often strives to do very much what you have just described. It's a commendable path to walk." Bennet pressed a button on a remote he had in his lap, switching off the camera. "Frankly I believe people dismiss you far too easily, Ms. Mineta. A little cheeky banter is highly under-rated." Mineta managed a slightly smug look at that, seemingly validated by the reporter.
Bennet flipped the camera back on. "Mr. Haimawari-" He turned to Isamu. "Did I pronounce that right?"
Isamu took a breath, then nodded. "That's correct. Bit of a mouthful, I know." Especially for someone whose first language wasn't Japanese. He was impressed by the accuracy of it.
Bennet quickly turned the camera off again. "Young man, at least it is your name. Imagine the nightmare of having to remember a host of titles and miscellaneous nonsense some uppity child of so and so fifth cousin to a king or queen insists you remember." He turned the camera back on. "Now then: Many are touting your victory in the U.A. Sports Festival, belated congratulations by the way, but many feel the need to stress your anonymity before this. It's often been my own experience for future heroes to seemingly "come from nowhere" rather than the ones everyone believes will make it. Your own class is full of the children of former Pro-Heroes, so I imagine you've been asked ad nauseum how you feel about that. So perhaps a more simple question is in order: What inspired you to wish to become a hero?"
Well, time to, not exactly lie, but to shade the truth just a little bit.
"I guess that, ah, mostly goes back to my dad," Isamu began. "His Quirk is a lot like mine. And back when he was about my age, he wanted to be a Hero. He was even set to take an entrance exam for a Hero School. Not one of the big ones, but a pretty good one still. But the morning of the entrance exam, on his way there, he spotted a kid drowning in a river. Everybody else was panicking and not doing anything. He almost didn't do anything either. But his conscience wouldn't let him. So he saved the kid. But by the time he got to the entrance exam… it was too late. He'd missed his shot. Maybe he could have applied to other Hero schools, but, well, it was kind of a long shot already, so he didn't."
Of course, that kid had turned out to be his mother, though Dad didn't find that out until long after they'd re-met as Vigilantes.
"But even though he couldn't make a career of it, Dad never stopped trying to help people. Maybe he couldn't stop some Villain, but he could give directions to somebody who was lost. He could help someone carry groceries or find a lost cat. He could pick up the trash that other people were ignoring. Sometimes, just a kind word and a friendly face were all that somebody needed. He always said that if you help one person, you help the whole world. And these days, people in our neighborhood know you can count on him if you're ever in a jam."
Isamu smiled. "And that's stuck with me. I want to help people too. And I've got the chance to do so on an even bigger scale. But that's where I want to start. Help one person. Small acts of heroism that add up to big things. See Dad's philosophy taken to the next level."
Well, that wasn't so bad. No word vomit or foot in mouth this time.
"Hmm, I see. Commendable." Bennet tapped his pad again, then turned slowly to Kocho. "Ms. Kocho..my superiors wanted me to ask you about your transition from General Studies to the Hero Classes, a process made famous by the Voice before you, but honestly..I think there's a more important question here."
He put the pad to the side and leaned forward, his talons clasped together.
"The truth of the matter is, the world isn't always kind to people like you and me. You can rise to great heights, but if you don't have a "standard" human appearance, there will always be those who look at you sideways. As popular as my country's John Bull is, there's always someone who has to bring his looks into the conversation. Even your own legendary Gang Orca was saddled with the dubious title of "The Hero who looks like a Villain." Bennet's ease at calling out the Japanese authorities for its treatment of one of their own caused more than a few shocked looks between Isamu and his classmates..
Bennet sighed.. "Do you feel pressured to do more than what is expected of you?"
Those were harsh words. But Isamu knew them to be true. Mister Kamachi, from the Hotta Brothers' Cafe, was a giant mantis man, and had suffered quite a bit of discrimination over the years. And he had heard that Koda had been the victim of it back during their internships. He couldn't imagine living life under those kinds of circumstances…
Kocho straightened up in her chair. "I don't want to say I'm lucky," she said, "but I also don't want to dismiss people who experience worse than me. My grandfather grew up in the era of groups like the Creature Rejection Clan and he's got plenty of horror stories. Me? Wings, antennae, dark eyes, I'm mostly 'normal' looking. Whatever that is. At least until I start drinking. I've got a proboscis. And I've been told by more than one person over the years that it made them sick to be around me at mealtime."
Koharu spoke relatively matter-of-factly, but Isamu could still feel the intensity behind it. She ticked off points on her fingers as she talked. "Historically, and even currently, Mutant-types are underrepresented in the ranks of Heroes, especially in the Top Ten, even though Mutant-type Quirks or secondary mutations are very, very common. And even then, most of the ones who do make it big are people like Mirko and Hawks, or more recently, Ingenium, Rodeo, or Froppy. People who have mutations that people are comfortable with. Low grade stuff, or in such a way people don't even realize they're Mutant-types."
Mineta listened to the conversation intently. Isamu noticed her nodding along.
Kocho continued. "Gang Orca's a rare exception, and like you said, he got tagged as "Looking like a Villain" a lot. Same as Tentacole does now."
She nodded towards Mineta. "If you look at my new class, there's a lot of people with either Mutant-type Quirks or inherited mutations. Mineta here. Tokoyami, Koda, the Iida twins, Sero, Sato, Ojiro… Some of them are more obvious than others. Some of them are just the kind of background "different" we've come to regard as part of everyday life. I'm noticeable. And a lot of people don't like bugs to begin with. So do I feel pressured to do more than is expected of me? Absolutely. But not because I'm trying to prove some bigot wrong. You're never going to win over those people. I need to do more, 'go beyond', so that little mutant kids, the ones who aren't normal passing, the ones who don't get to live an "ordinary" life because of it, so that they can see that people like them can be Heroes too."
For a moment Bennet just sat there and listened to what Kocho said. Finally he moved, taking a moment to remove his glasses. He cleaned the lens on his jacket, and placed them back on. "Well said, Ms. Kocho."
He abruptly turned the camera off. "As I am not allowed to have a personal opinion on these articles, I will say this here. There are going to be those who put unfair expectations on you. They're going to say you represent "Mutant-types" as if you somehow gave them the right to make such a decision regarding who you are." He smiled, chuckling a bit. "I suppose what I'm saying is: Don't let them do that to you, lass. Be the best Hero you can be. Do that, and you'll more than inspire others."
Kocho nodded at that, returning the smile. "I will, sir. Thank you."
The rest of the interview proceeded normally, though Bennet was definitely shrewder than Isamu would have expected for the kind of person sent to cover this kind of thing. Maybe it was bigger news than he thought.
Either way, it was pretty clear, all eyes were going to be on the National Sports Festival.
Katsuki settled into his cubicle in the teacher's lounge. He'd already decorated it with pictures of Eijiro, Katsumi, and Tai. There was even a picture of the Hag and his father, and a picture of himself, Eijro, Pikachu, Soy Sauce Face, and Raccoon Eyes. He was burning a lot of time commuting right now, but they were close to finding a new house closer to U.A. but still allowed Eijiro a reasonable commute to his own Agency. It'd be good. Lost time was hours with Tai he could never make up. He knew that from personal experience. His parents had loved him, even if his mother had trouble expressing it properly, but he'd spent a lot of time staying with the Midoriyas or other relatives or on his own while they were at some fashion show over the years.
The stack of evaluations in front of him mocked him, as did the video files saved to his computer. There was a reason he had people to handle his paperwork at his Agency, even if he meticulously double-checked everything. More than one sidekick and admin had seen their work sent back over and over again until it was right.
The three classes were so different. 1-A relied primarily on heavy hitters; with a few exceptions, they had powerful Quirks or powerful physicalities that would see them through, supplemented by an ease with each other that was honestly more than a little unfair to the other classes. 1-B possessed less outright strong Quirks, but had plenty of utility to make up for it, not to mention Shiro Monoma's devious little mind acting as coach. And 1-C was a mix of straightforward and esoteric Quirks that required a lot of planning and thinking.
A few crash courses in teaching did not make a full skillset. But he was Katsuki Bakugko and he'd never backed down from a challenge yet.
"Okay." he said, even though there was no one else in the room, "let's get to it."
Mercifully, he was saved by the ringing of his cellphone, his personal line, not his dedicated Agency connection. It was an international number. He hit answer. "Yeah? Who is it?"
"Well, if that is being your attitude, Yapping Dog, I can call back later." The voice was deep, rumbly, and teasing in a pleasant, if sassy way.
Well, he knew that voice. It had been a long time. "Your Japanese still stinks, Maxim," he said, though the corners of his lips pulled up in a smile.
"I am speaking simply so you follow everything," came the Russian-accented rebuttal of Maxim Nikiten, known better by the people of the Russian Federation as the Pro-Hero, Iron Bear. "I call husband and he tells me you are teacher now. My mind could not comprehend this.''
Katsuki chuckled at that. "Yeah, well, not exactly where I thought I'd end up either." But it kept him active, kept him feeling like he was doing something, kept him from feeling like his injury was winning. "To what do I owe the pleasure of a call from one of Russia's top Heroes?"
When Maxim spoke again, it was in a more serious tone. "First off, before I start, should make clear this conversation never happened. Certain people would be..let's say "pissed" if they knew I was speaking to you."
That was probably true. Though Katsuki had come to have a grudging respect for the bear-themed Russian during his brief time in Russia on a cooperative mission between the two nations, he'd done a good bit to piss off various officials in the Russian government. Punching a homophobic politician tended to not get you invited back. He'd do it again in a heartbeat though.
But even with that, he and Maxim tended to share information through back channels if they learned something the other would find useful. Sometimes, red tape got in the way of kicking the shit out of bad guys and no one wanted that.
"I understand," he said, with due seriousness. "Off the record then. What's going on?"
With that out of the way, Maxim began: "We had recently cracked down on Korean arms smugglers. Nothing new in Russia since Reunification of Korea left massive surplus of sophisticated military arms. However, this was different. While we found proof they were there to sell goods, they also were apparently picking weapons up from different source. We checked their ship's itinerary." Maxim paused for a moment to take a breath. "They appeared to be transporting this other shipment to location within Japanese maritime borders."
Katsuki frowned. It was rare for Villains to be reliant upon regular weapons. Even organized Villain groups generally focused on the use of their Quirks with the occasional support item. Weapons, especially guns, usually had more to do with more "mundane" criminal organizations like the Yakuza remnants or the various gangs that had worked their way into Japan. Though the distinction between Villain and criminal was sometimes blurry. "How big of a shipment are we talking about?"
"Not the largest I've seen. I've interrogated the smugglers, they refuse to say anything and soon we will have to send them back to Korea. What scares me is I think I recognize the make of the weapons. Old, maybe century or two back. Out of date, but well-made. Stuff that lasts. I have no proof, but..Tamerlane may be involved."
Tamerlane. A Central Asian Villain believed to be based out of Kazakhstan, and one of the more powerful ones at that. Japan hadn't truly seen a Demon Lord since Izuku had defeated All For One, but that hadn't stopped other countries and regions from developing their own. There was Chernabog in Russia and much of Eastern Europe and a man known only as The Boss in America, among others. Japan having an incredibly powerful green-haired deterrent had spared them much, but it almost sounded like it had become too tempting of a target to leave alone.
"It fits his M.O.," Katsuki said finally. "What's the rumor mill say?" Not that they didn't have enough home-grown problems right now. The Quirk Virus, Plague going missing, the robotic Nomu, these things all had to be connected. And there was still the question of who'd been behind the events on I-Island.
"Supposedly Tamerlane wants to expand his power further East, but was stymied by the Twilight Zodiac Society's iron grip on China. For long time Korea's own underworld has been in chaos with no real leaders. These days it is said there are now three figures who hold great deal of power there. I don't know much of them, but rumor is Tamerlane has made an alliance with one of them. If so, it gives him road to Far East he has never had before." Maxim spoke carefully, as though he didn't want to forget any important details. "I suspect this was not first pick-up."
Katsuki set his phone down, putting it on speaker. His hands now free, he was able to navigate to the Hero Network reports via the computer. There was a lot more information sharing and collaboration than there was a generation ago; Izuku had seen to that. Having numerous friends and classmates in the upper echelons had ensured it became common behavior. There were definitely scattered reports of intercepted arm shipments. There always were. Even if Villains didn't use them, guns coming into the country wasn't really anything new, plenty of criminals without battle Quirks still existed. But nothing of the scale that Maxim was suggesting. Dammit.
"If they're doing it, we're not seeing it," he growled. "Right under our damned noses."
"Apologies, but that is all I know of these events. I do know they would need contacts in Japan. I understand there are Korean gangs in your country, perhaps one of them is key to finding where weapons are going?" Maxim suggested.
"Worth a shot," Katsuki replied. "I'll pass it on to some people who can look into it." Sleepy, maybe.
He frowned again, remembering something. Might as well take advantage of the call. "As long as I've got you on the phone, you know anything about why a couple of guys who might have been working for Chernabog ended up dead on I-Island?"
Maxim was quiet for a long time before answering. "We recently arrested member of Intelligence who had been doing work for Chernabog. Chernabog had been paying said person to find those who killed people you speak of. Well..he succeeded." Maxim said nothing, but a video appeared on the phone, showing footage of a fight between four people, two men and two women. "I believe your friend, Shoto, will know the girl."
"Fuck," he spat, the words escaping his lips easily. Rei Toga. IcyHot's niece. They'd been trying to find her for years. And the other woman looked an awful lot like that damned magician. He'd had conversations with Izuku, Tintin, IcyHot, Glasses, and Ponytail about the possibility of a new League of Villains after the Nomu mess. Now, this was further evidence in favor of that idea.
"So we might have Korean weapons and Russian Villains on our doorstep soon," Katsuki growled. "Great."
"Da," Maxim said quietly. "I am sorry my news is not better."
"Not your fault. And honestly, you might have given us a fighting chance." He chuckled ruefully. "Knew you had to be good for something, you Russian bastard."
"Pfft, at least you are up off ass and not driving lovely family insane," Maxim joked, but with a hint of relief towards a friend's plight. "Give regards to children for me."
In spite of everything, Katsuki did smile. "I will. I know Tai misses his 'Uncle Bear.'"
After he hung up, he just stared at the stack of papers in front of him. Those would have to wait. He had calls to make.
He had a feeling things were only going to get worse.