Chapter 3 - New Face
Author's Note: For this part of the story, I'm going towards a not-lore friendly (I think) information for Destiny just to have some plot convenience so if you follow the Destiny Lore, I apologize in advance.
A few months had passed since the Guardian's first arrival to the new world, believing that there is no possible way for them to return to their world, the Guardian and his Ghost decided to remain and attempt to integrate themselves into this quirky world's society and norms until an option that can allow them return to their own world would be possible.
During their time staying in the dark, the Ghost has managed to create an Identity for his Guardian giving him a name to go by in order to blend in and the Guardian himself thought that he should attend a specific school which is responsible for creating these so called Heroes just so he can make his status as a Guardian from his own world to also serve its purpose in this world, in order to protect the world's- or much rather the country it's society from the threat of the villains that lurks in the dark as if it were "fighting the darkness" instead of becoming a vigilante that would possibly cause more trouble than good. So as the Ghost makes his Guardian's second identity valid enough to avoid any suspicion, they made sure to find some new attire to wear for the Guardian during night hours, while avoiding the daily night patrols that some heroes seem to do. He did this so that it wouldn't arouse suspicion to himself in broad daylight, as walking into the city in full guardian armor with a bright white cloak would only prove to be more troublesome again.
From there, It's all up to the Guardian to decide what he should do from now on as he now walks the path of a normal citizen that is going to be some form of hero in this world and not as a Guardian…
…
"Ghost… What day is it?" The Hunter asked his ghost through his thoughts.
The Ghost was quick to respond, "It's the… Um, the 25th of February."
"It has been that long already? Time goes by fast... " The Hunter thought.
"It's just a matter of perspective, Guardian… -Er, Gary." The Ghost replied and that's right.
The Hunter of the Vanguard, The New Light, The Guardian; Is now named "Gary" and his full name in this new world is now "Gary Fillion"
"Of all the names you could've thought of, Why is it Gary?" The Hunter asked his Ghost.
"At least YOU have a name… You keep calling me 'Ghost' all the time." The Ghost replied and the Hunter- Gary, thought about it for a moment.
"Then let's give you a name then. From now on, Your name is Oracle." The Hunter has given his own ghost his new name.
"... Oracle, huh… Wait, why are you deciding about this now?" The Ghost asked
"Well, calling you Ghost does kind of sound like it'll get repetitive over time." Gary replied.
"Besides, You gathered a vast amount of information in the span of a few months, you must have an abundance of knowledge collected in that shell of yours. So i thought that maybe a name like Oracle would fit you well… Because it sounds smart." Gary says and it gave his ghost Oracle a sense of pride.
"Well… I am pretty smart. Guess I'll stick with that name, Gary. -Also, don't walk during a green light!" Oracle quickly warned Gary before he could cross the road as cars passed. He stopped before he could take another step forward.
Gary is on his way to meet with the host family that he'll have a homestay in. Not only that, Gary wears the clothes worn by the people here in order to not look too suspicious; sporting a black and yellow jacket (which he "borrowed" from a store at night) and wearing a gray turtleneck sweater underneath (that he also "borrowed" from the same store) and wearing some plain jeans (also "borrowed"). Oracle had pulled a few strings for Gary during their time at the forest gathering info when Gary asked Oracle to help him get registered to a certain school which was called "U.A." and it was a very prestigious institution too according to some gossip and reviews about it, and it seemed like a good place to start his journey as a "Hero" despite sounding really naive and cheesy in a way.
"Remember, Gary. We need to keep a low profile. Act normally like the people around you and don't do anything that can arouse suspicion." Oracle had to remind Gary about his Guardian abilities to stay incognito.
While Gary is already well aware, he's not very used to this sort of lifestyle at all. Even though he's only been a Guardian for 4 months after his resurrection in his world, He's so accustomed to getting into his sparrow and ride it all the way to his destination or just simply trans-mat there, but all those forms of transportation are impossible as both his sparrow and ship are not available- or most likely, left behind on his own world along with his loot. So he had to take the more conventional form of transportation like commuting by train and walking.
Then when the red light showed and the sign that they're allowed to cross the street was lit up, Gary resumed his journey to his destination while having an occasional small talk with his Ghost deepening his bond with his floating friend.
….
30 Minutes later
Gary reached a suburban neighborhood and found the address of the house that he'll be staying in for the duration of his long-term plan. The house in front of him looks like a normal 2 storey house, but seems big enough to fit enough people of 10, if buildings like these were still in good condition in his world. Looking past the gate, Gary see's some light through a curtained window… The light kept illuminating and fading even flashing, He wondered what was going on behind the window, but his Ghost took him aside as he was distracted.
"This is the place. Let's go introduce ourselves- Actually, hold on a moment." Oracle says and Gary waits while standing in front of the gate until the Ghost responds again.
"Right, Look for a button near this gate and that should inform the people inside the house of our arrival." Oracle says and Gary did just that and pressed the doorbell and held it for a second before letting go.
"I'm pretty nervous… Do I look fine?" Gary asked Oracle and he replied after.
"You look fine. You look perfectly ordinary. Honestly, I am quite surprised that you have a baby face though… Normally those kinds of pretty faces are usually seen from the Awoken and about your body..."
As Oracle stated, Gary now has a younger looking face which is bordering femininity at one point, and his body too was changed making his figure less masculine as it used to be and turns to being androgynous and smaller which can affect the Hunter's motor functions greatly, as making actions that require a more taller and a fit body would greatly restrict his abilities in his current one. This feat, however, was possible thanks to Oracle's ability to reconfigure the Hunter's body, but the Ghost got too carried away with the modifications which leaves Gary as he is now.
"I'm sorry for… Cutting down your physique too much." Oracle apologies.
Gary sighed at the mention of his new body. "It can't be helped. After all, we need to blend in and not stand out too much."
"Guess so... Just try to get the hang of getting used to the body you have." Oracle says before there was another second of silence as Gary waited for someone to finally come to greet him…
….
After his short thought-conversation with his Ghost, someone finally showed up from the front door and that someone happened to be a young girl and what looks like her Father, coming out of the house. Then the girl walked up and opened the front gate for the Guardian as she greeted him.
"Hello, You must be Fillion right?" The girl asked and Gary nodded at the girl's question
"In that case, Welcome to our home Fillion!~" The Girl says very cheerfully
"T-Thank you… Um…" Gary responded rather timidly because he was taken by surprise by the girl's unexpected bubbly nature.
"Oh, Sorry, my name is Ryojima Nanako. It's nice to meet you!" The bubbly girl named replied.
"Her name is Ryojima? -" Gary thought
"Uh... You forgot already? The people of this nation often start with their last name when introducing themselves as calling someone by using their first name is only used to people that are friends or couples." Oracle replied to him through his thoughts and was reminded of the social norms the people have in this particular nation.
"Anyway, let's get your stuff inside and- wait, where's your luggage?" Nanako asked, and the Hunter was quick to reply.
"-I didn't carry all that much. All the essentials I need are in my backpack." he says, But the backpack that he has been also "borrowed" from another store one night… and the contents of that pack are his Hunter armor and a bodysuit for the armor neatly packed and well concealed with the help of his floating friend, Oracle's advice.
Nanako was visibly surprised. "Oh wow, So this is what a minimalist is. You must be pretty efficient and resourceful!" She complimented the young Hunter as he could only laugh it off as he remembered that can greatly contradict her words, as his time being at a certain crucible match; he was killed by his own grenade and got an earful from Lord Shaxx afterwards for his ineptitude.
"We should get inside now, But my Dad wants to talk to you first. He's the hard-boiled looking guy at the door." Nanako says and walks inside the house after smiling back at her Dad.
Gary approaches the dad and performs one of the norms that the country has, which was to bow at a certain degree just a show of formality in front of a person.
"Ha-ha! I see you studied our norms. Guess I shouldn't have to be worried about you after all." The Father laughed wholeheartedly which was out of character for someone who looks so hard-boiled having some stumble on his face and his hair being half-gray kind of similar to that one sniper with the funny accent in some old church tower.
"My name is Ryojima Taro, It's nice to meet you." The kind man says, But now Gary is wondering why these people knew of his supposed name already despite never ever meeting them before.
He asked Oracle about it and he happily gave the information to him... Again.
Turns out, the Ghost sent the information that he well thought out and fabricated to an agency that promotes homestay programs which was then sent to the Host Family that's going to take him in. It includes his name and what he looked like along with some other information. Apparently in this world, the Hunter -or more specifically his persona "Gary Fillion" is an Orphan whose family was involved in an accident and went missing then presumed dead as their bodies were never recovered. Having no relatives that are willing to take him in, he was sent to an orphanage until he decided to leave a few months later in order to pursue his own path. Which leaves him today.
After receiving that information and spacing out while listening to his ghost and missing what most of the father Taro Ryojima had said to him before he puts his right hand on the young hunter's shoulder.
"-Remember, If you need anything. We're here for you." He says with a genuine expression of confidence and earnest written on his face… Whatever the man had told him, it looked serious and had likely said something motivational for him… It was unfortunate that Gary wasn't able to catch all of it.
"... Y-Yeah. Thank you… I'll be sure to remember that." Gary says and agrees with what Taro says despite not knowing what he was saying earlier.
After that, the Father nodded and led him inside the house and it was there where he met the mother once he was done taking his shoes off before actually coming inside. From there, Gary meets the Mother who was in the middle of doing something in the Kitchen.
"Chisato, look who came." The father calls on the lady and Gary bows to her as he meets her.
"It's nice to meet you, Ma'am." He says and the lady was happy at the gesture.
"Oh my, You seem to already know about the normal norms that we do… Though I don't dislike it, You can act casually around us." The mother says and she sounded like a gentle mother.
"You don't need to be too formal, Make yourself feel at home. -Oh dear and where are my manners? I'm Ryojima Chisato, It's nice to finally meet you, Gary." The woman then introduced herself, which then completes the attendance of all the people he's supposed to meet.
"Likewise, Ma'am." Gary replied, still persisting in his formal tone.
Soon after, Nanako arrived to get Gary.
"Ah, Gary. I see that you've already met my parents. Come on, I'll show your room." She says and then he follows the bubbly girl.
On their way, Nanako decides to engage in some small talk with Gary as she was curious about him.
"So, Gary what's it like in Canada?" She asked which the young hunter was confused on what she meant. At first he thought that "Canada" was a region in the country, but it was actually a separate country many miles away from where he is currently, as he was corrected by his Ghost quickly.
"... It's pretty snowy most of the time in my old hometown and… The people often apologize so much that you'd get stuck in a loop with them." Gary says and Nanako was quite surprised at that description and a bit disappointed.
"Really? I guess the stereotypes turn out to be actually true, hehe~ But I guess the place does seem nice based on what i've seen in some advertising posters about your country." Nanako says and she seems to have bought what Gary says.
"Anyway, you're here to study right? What school are you enrolling in?" Nanako asked Gary another question.
"I'm registering to the UA a-"
"Eeeeh?! No way!" Nanako cut the hunter off as he mentioned the school.
"Woah… Guess the school was more popular than what I expected." Oracle added as the bubbly girl was surprised to hear that.
"S-Sorry… That's just pretty amazing. Oh, right, I have 2 of my classmates also enrolling in UA too." Nanako mentioned.
"... Your classmates? They're a friend of yours?" Gary asked and she shakes her head.
"Nope. But if you meet with Bakugou though, I'd recommend that you stay away from him. He's… kind of a delinquent and kept bullying Midoriya." Nanako informed Gary and she sounded a bit guilty judging from the sound of her voice until she hides it with her smile.
"But as long as you two aren't classmates you'll be alright… OH that's right the entrance exams for that school are tomorrow! Good luck by the way, UA has a very low acceptance rate so just on the entrance exams, you might get rejected based." She says and seemed to have unintentionally brought the atmosphere to be tense and she realizes this.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound all gloomy! If you're confident in yourself, I'm sure you can get into UA." Nanako attempted to turn the atmosphere around, but Gary appreciated that she went out of her way to share this information with him and he thanked her.
By the time the two finished talking, Nanako and Gary arrived at the room.
"Well, this is your room. The bathroom is just down the hall and you can't miss it, but if you need anything else just let us know." Nanako says and leaves.
Once the Hunter was now alone, he came in the guest room and the place doesn't seem to be too bad. It had a single person bed, a shelf, a couch and a coffee table in front of it, and a cabinet all set up. Gary thinks that the room was well-prepared and the host family seemed to have thought this through- or likely had experience with homestaying guests. Without wasting anymore time, the Guardian dropped his bag to his bed and settled in for the day and got prepared for the upcoming entrance exam for UA tomorrow.