CHAPTER 2

We Don't Need Another Hero

UA High School,
Musutafu, Tokyo Prefecture,
February 3

The face of Sekijiro Kan was red, which was ironic, since his hero name was the Blood Hero. His labored breaths synched with the gnashing of his teeth, and his fangs seemed to grow longer as his fury reached feverish pitch. His body trembled to restrain himself from initiating violence against the 4 young students under his care, although his fit of rage had taken over his body. His grips inadvertently crumpled the report from police department, and although he had not finished reading it, he knew how it ended.

"You brought shame to this school!" he loomed over the 4 teenage boys. "What were you thinking?! You stole information from a police office, used it to infiltrate a jail, lied to the warden, knocked out the guards, tortured the prisoner, endangered the lives of civilians, not to mention the members of Japan's Diet… This school can be shut down because of your action!"

"Forgive us, Kan-sensei, but the situation was critical," Hiryu Rin braved himself against the teacher's wrath. "We had a runaway convict trying to sink a ship with Japanese dignitaries on board."

"Vigilantes are outlawed! The police and Pro Heroes can handle situation like that! If you don't like to play by the rule, you can leave UA and find another school that allows such reckless stunt!"

"Kan-sensei, we didn't have time to notify the police and the Pro Heroes," Kosei Tsuburaba added. "We know that the police and Pro Heroes are tied with Meta Liberation Army, and are short-handed to handle an additional task. We were capable of handling the situation, and we already had our licenses…"

"That does not mean you can abuse your rights!" Sekijiro Kan roared. "The Hero Public Safety Commission will revoke your licenses… and for good reason!"

"Sensei, if we didn't do what we did, the villain would have sunk the ship, and hundreds of civilians would have been lost, including some Japanese officials," Sen Kaibara backed up Kosei's argument.

"You did save some civilians but the police is not happy with your method! You cannot just disregard protocols for the sake of catching the bad guy! You HAVE TO follow procedures! It is there to protect all that are involved in the process! If you had told me or Aizawa-san or Hakamada-san or Takeyama-san or any other Pro Hero teacher in this school, the result would've been more subtle! We are trained to handle this kind of situation, and we have handled this kind of situation in the past!" He lifted up the crumpled report from Tsukauchi. "Pro Heroes are already under fire for the damages they caused in the name of justice! And now you're making everything worse!"

"Kan-sensei, I was the one that caused all the trouble," Yosetsu Awase tried to take the blame and get his friends off the hook. "I was the one in that ship, and I was the one that asked Rin, Tsuburaba, and Kaibara to get the information. Their involvement in this mess is because of me. I take all responsibility. Please let them go."

"This is the second time you get yourself into trouble, Awase!" Sekijiro Kan's fury now poured down on the young man with a cross-hatched bandana. "I let you slip the first time, but you don't learn your lesson! You think this is a joke?! You think you can play around with the law just because you are a Pro Hero with a license?! You're supposed to know better! You're one the of the smart ones in my class, Awase! Yet here you are acting like Bakugo!"

"I'm sorry, Sensei," Yosetsu lowered his head. "This is all my fault. Let Rin, Kaibara, and Tsuburaba go…"

"No, Sir, we are in this together," Rin quickly interjected. "I'm as guilty as Awase."

"Yes, Sensei, I am just as responsible as Awase," Kosei followed suit.

"Me, too, Sensei," Sen tuned in. "We are all responsible. We will take any punishment together."

"It is clear to me that you boys have lost your way," Sekijiro Kan growled like a wounded animal. "I am your homeroom teacher, so I am responsible to bring you back to the right way. I have been too soft for you, so now I will treat you with iron fist." He took a few deep breaths, then boomed, "Your weekend passes are revoked! You are not to leave UA premises until the end of the semester. On top of that, you have to make an essay about what it means to be a Pro Hero. Being a Pro Hero is far from just catching bad guys. It's about hard work, respect, and responsibility, to protect citizens and uphold the law! And surely you have forgotten any of these, so perhaps writing a full essay will jog your memory!"

A look of horror flashed on Yosetsu's eyes.

"Due date is the last day of school! Failing to complete this task will result in failing 1st Grade! You are all bright students, but don't think I won't fail you if you do not show serious intentions to be good Pro Heroes! Now dismiss, and start thinking about your penance!"

The four Class 1-B students bowed then scampered out of the teacher's lounge.

"Golly, that was harsh," Kosei blurted. "All those things we did, we did it because we cared and respected civilians. Yes, we bypassed many rules and regulations, but we prevented catastrophe and saved lives. We should've gotten medals, not punishment!"

"Harsh?!" Yosetsu snarled. "Love Live Finals is in a month, but we can't get out until the end of semester! Holy shit, this is a mess! How am I gonna tell Chika that I can't be with her in the biggest event of her life?!"

"I know it is important to her, but you did everything to save her life. You pay for her life by missing one of her performances. Surely she would understand that," Hiryu tried to make the situation less stressful, although it was obvious he didn't do a good job.

"I know, but I'm gonna break her heart," Yosetsu buried his face in his palms. "I don't want to break her heart. You know what? I'm going back! I'm going to appeal to Kan-sensei that what we did was just, and we saved lives! His punishment is unfair! I can't miss Love Live Finals because I did what I was trained to do as a Pro Hero!"

"Awase, this is your second offense," Sen held Yosetsu. "You're strike two. Strike three, and you're out of UA. Is that what you want?"

"We did nothing wrong, Kaibara!" Yosetsu sneered. "We did service to society!"

"Apparently Kan-sensei doesn't see it that way," Hiryu said. "A lot of people think what Pro Heroes do is actually disservice rather than service. UA has been under a lot of pressure because of the damages the Pro Heroes inflict to public facilities. We were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm your friend, Awase, so I'll say as your friend, what you do is not going to help our cause. So let's calm down and think of ways to get around this situation."

As the heated conversation between friends dragged on, the girls of Class 1-B passed by.

"So what are you Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse getting yourself into this time?" Itsuka Kendo quipped.

"We saved some Japanese government members from a terrorist attack, but we get punished instead," Kosei grumbled. "Our weekend pass is revoked, and we have to write an essay about the meaning of being a Pro Hero. To me, not a big deal, but Mr. Loverboy here," he shoved Yosetsu's shoulder, "is throwing tantrum about how he would miss Love Live Finals."

"Shut up!" Yosetsu slapped Kosei's arm. "We did what we were trained to do: to save lives, protect law-abiding citizens, and uphold society. And this is what we get! Detention!"

"Love Live Finals is coming up soon, isn't it?" Pony Tsunotori blurted. "Damn, you're screwed, Awase!"

"OK, let's not make things harder than it already is," Sen quickly cut off Yosetsu's tirade. "We could use suggestions, so if you have any, let's hear it now."

"Well, to me, the only thing to do is do what Kan-sensei asked you to do," Setsuna Tokage put forward her thought. "Write a good essay. In fact, write an glaringly good essay that Kan-sensei has no choice but to release you."

"If the essay is about your understanding of becoming a Pro Hero, make sure you demonstrate that you fully understand the concept in question," Yui Kodai added.

"Sometimes it helps to get opinions from other Pro Heroes," Reiko Yanagi followed suit. "You can ask real Pro Heroes like Endeavor. My boyfriend is good friend with Todoroki. I can set you up with Endeavor."

"Or friends, students that are closer to you than real Pro Heroes," Kinoko Komori surmised. "The real Pro Heroes may have different perspective than students, so referencing real Pro Heroes may not reflect what your understanding of the matter should be."

"Damn, these are all good ideas," Hiryu scratched his head. "Why didn't we think about this?"

"Well, then, you'd better start working," Itsuka Kendo said. "And next time, think before your do something. You can have the best intention in the world, but if it does you no good, there's no point doing it. That's why all Pro Heroes should be girls, because girls are less reckless than boys."

"Yeah, yeah, thank you very much," Kosei bowed in mockery. "Now please excuse us, we have work to do."

"So… interview," Sen mused as the 4 boys walked toward the cafeteria. "That's what we need to do. We need to base our essay on interviews. We'll interview as many students and friends to get an authentic feel, and write our essay based on their opinions."

"Of course, we'll add our own opinion to it," Hiryu added.

"Are we going to include the Pro Heroes too?" Yosetsu asked.

"That's an interesting idea but I don't think Pro Heroes are relevant in our work," Sen said cautiously. "Like Kan-sensei said, real Pro Heroes already walk in this path for a long time. We? We just learn how to do this. Our essay should be what we understand, not what the real pro understands."

"Good point," Kosei clicked his tongue. "I'll start by interviewing Asui over dinner…"

"Can you think of anything besides Asui?!" Yosetsu groused.

"Hey, you're not the only one who wants to go to Love Live Finals!" Kosei fired back. "Asui is interested in going, so I'm doing this thing!"

"Don't get upset about little things, we'll get you covered," Hiryu tapped Yosetsu's shoulder. "We'll get you your Love Live Finals back."

"I'll draft names of potential interviewees," Sen stated. "That way we don't detour too far from our course. I think we should focus on students from Class 1-A and 1-B since they are in Pro Hero course. We'd like to interview the rest of the 1st year students, but they're not trained to be a Pro Hero, so we can overlook them for now."

"Except may be Shinsho," Hiryu said after a short pause.

"Yes, Shinso should be in Pro Hero course," Kosei replied. "So is Mei Hatsume."

"We'll add Hatsume too," Sen nodded. "Now let's go! We have lots to do!"

"Alright, if it has to be this way, then so be it!" Yosetsu bared his teeth. "So let's burn the night's oil and get this thing over with!" He started to walk toward the cafeteria, then turned around to face his friends. "Thank you, for doing this with me."

"Hey, you'd do the same for us," Hiryu tapped Yosetsu's shoulder. "That's what friends do. We back each other up. Besides, I too want to go to Love Live Finals. Not as desperate as you, but Akiho is a big fan of Aqours. To see Aqous in action, that would make her really happy."

"I don't know what the deal with Love Live is, but if you're all going, I'm going," Sen added. "I'll bring the cute guy from photography club."

"Alright then! Let's go to work!" Yosetsu pumped his fists. "We'll give Kan-sensei a top-quality work, so good he'll restore our weekend pass with flying colors!"

Hiryu, Kosei, and Sen nodded in approval, then followed Yosetsu to the library.