CHAPTER 18

Wonderful Stories

UA High School,
Musutafu, Tokyo Prefecture,
March 13

"Why are we here?" Yosetsu opened the presentation. "Why do we want to be Pro Heroes? What is so appealing in the becoming of Pro Heroes that we all dedicated a lot of time, effort, and money to become one? Is it respect? Money? Fame? Honor? Family or peer pressure? Better use of quirks? Or is there something else that drives us to go this path?"

All eyes of Class 1-B were on Yosetsu, Hiryu, Kosei, and Sen. It was the last hour of the day, and Sekijiro Kan decided to have the 4 students present their work. He observed the 4 best friends from his desk, fidgeting in front of the class from sheer nervousness, and took delight of it. He knew he was harsh on his students, but that was only because he wanted to push them as far as they could go.

"Before we can answer that question, we need to understand the measure of a Hero," Kosei picked up where Yosetsu left off. "A Hero is someone that selflessly put other's safety and well being ahead of his own. Someone that is full of courage, loyalty, and honesty. Someone that gives up his time, family, happiness, even life, so others may live and be happy. A Professional Hero, or Pro Hero as we all know it, is someone that does this selfless deed for a living. He or she gets paid for the government to keep the society clean and peaceful. Kinda like a policeman.

"Some heroes have superhuman powers, or quirks. All Might, Endeavour, Hawk, Mountain Lady, and all Pro Heroes that have graced the land of Japan, all have quirks, and they have used their quirks for the sake of others. To protect citizens of Japan from forces of evil. But Heroes do not always have quirks. The Red Cross, the HALO Trust, the Missionary of Charity, those are quirkless people who dedicated their lives for other people, and deserve to be called Heroes. Even the traffic policemen who stand in the heat and cold and rain to diret traffic are Heroes in their own term."

"So what motivates us to be Pro Heroes?" Hiryu stepped forward. "Some of us are following the path of our idols. All Might, as one of the greatest Pro Hero in our land, instilled a great infatuation in the heart of so many young adults throughout the country. We all to be like All Might. Idolatry is a good way to start something good. But we are adults, and idolatry will not take us far in the Pro Hero business. We have to come up with our own motivation, our own gist and niche on why we want to be Pro Heroes.

"Most of us are driven by responsibility. Duty. Passion. Self esteem, that we have power beyond normal human traits, and we want to use it to help other people. We want to be good, law-abiding citizens who lend a hand to one another. This may sound cliché because it had been rehearsed countless times, in manga, anime, TV shows, and movies, but it is true. It is the strongest motivation to become Pro Heros, because we believe in duty, responsibility, and honor. It is what makes us proud citizen of Japan."

"But sometimes we have to be realistic and fulfill our needs before we can do good things for others," Sen continued. "The majority of UA students are not born out of rich family, who do not have to think about what to eat tomorrow. Some of us even had to work to support our enrollment at UA. For us, money is priority, and the higher the Pro Hero rank, the more money we get. This sounds belittling to the original meaning of Hero, but sometimes we have obligations to our families. Being a Hero is only one part of Pro Hero. The other part is Professional, meaning we do it for money.

"Another strong motivation is bullying. Some of us went through a tough time because of our quirks. Some people do not understand that having quirks is a curse as much as a blessing, so they are envious, and in turn, bullying us for having quirks. Becoming a Pro Hero is a retribution of traumatic childhood. Oftentimes the individuals went as far as stating that becoming a Pro Hero is to defend people from being bullies, although not all bullies have quirk, and need quirk to stop the bullying."

The rest of the class 1-B followed the presentation with great interest. At first they thought Yosetsu and friends were just going to present their interview results, with graphs and tables to visualize the demographics of their findings. They didn't expect to see in-depth analysis about the motivation to become Pro Heroes.

"But there is as much vain intention to become a Pro Hero as noble ones," Yosetsu said. "Trying to outdo your peers, or even certain Pro Heroes, is far removed from the sense of duty and responsibility. The person doing this only thinks about himself, that becoming a Pro Hero is his personal ambition. He does not care about society or the people needing help. This type of Pro Hero is one that potentially create damages and casualties as much as the villains he is trying to subdue."

"But the question is: does it matter?" Hiryu tuned in. "Does it matter whether we become Pro Heroes out of duty, responsibility, money, or vanity? Perhaps not, if we do our job as best as possible. The society will benefit from our dedication and our work, regardless of our motivation. Catastrophe is avoided. Lives are saved. Justice is served. Harmony is achieved."

"Yet the question remains," Sen followed up. "We are going on the same path regardless our initial motivation. Why are we doing this? Why do we want to be Pro Heroes? The training is not particularly easy, and the gratification is not like what we learn from comic books or morning cartoon shows. Why do we stay on our course? The answer is, maybe, because we are all humans. It is human nature to help each other, to care for the week and the wounded, to defend the weak. Moreover, we are people of honor. We still live by the old chivalry. Bushido, if you will. And that's a good thing, because for every student that dedicate his or her life to become a Pro Hero, there is one out there that already dishonor humanity. And we need every good student with a good heart to deal with it."

"So in retrospect, we believe that the end justifies the means," Kosei delivered the closing argument. "None of us is Superman. Our motivation might not be perfect. But once we do it, we do it wholeheartedly, with good intention in mind. What makes us want to be Pro Heroes, it's what we have to deal with ourselves. In the end the society will enjoy a good life with Pro Heroes around. It's what counts."

The class was silent for a moment, waiting for the reaction of Sekijiro Kan. Then they broke into sporadic applause, as if wondering if this presentation worth cheering, or just another failed project like so many others before it. But the look in Sekijiro Kan's eyes indicated that he had something in mind.

"Interesting work," Sekijiro Kan finally made his assessment. "Not exactly what I expected from you. But this is a well written essay. You worked hard on obtaining facts, consulting literatures, and creating your own conclusion, and it shows on your work. There are holes in your narrative, but nothing major. Overall I am very satisfied with your effort. I will give you A-. I just hope you understand what you write, and not only do this for grade, but also apply it in your lives. Good work, children."

"Thank you, Sensei," Yosetsu, Hiryu, Kosei, and Sen bowed in uniform.

Just then, the end-of-day bell rang.

"That's it for today!" Sekijiro Kan announced. "Don't forget about reading assignment, due tomorrow!"

As the other students scrambled their books and pens, Yosetsu came to Sekijiro Kan. "Sensei, we have demonstrated that we understand what it is to be a Pro Hero. You are happy with our work. Would it be OK if you lift our detention? It would mean a lot to me… us…"

Sekijiro Kan looked at Yosetsu for a long time, and in the end he just nodded. "Fine. Detention is over. You can leave UA premise on weekend. But behave yourself, Awase. If you get into trouble again, Principal Nezu with deal with you, and I promise you, the punishment will be severe this time."

Yosetsu bowed as low as his spine allowed him. "Thank you very much, Sensei. I will not disappoint you." He rushed to his desk to get his phone, and he was not even out of the class yet when he spoke rather loudly, "Babe! I'm going to Akiba Dome!"

Kosei, who overheard the conversation between Yosetsu and Sekijiro Kan, casually pulled his own phone and called his sweetheart. "Tsuyu-chan, do you have any plan for the weekend? How does going to Tokyo to watch Love Live Finals sound to you?"

Hiryu and Sen, on the other hand, came up to Sekijiro Kan. "Sensei, we have reports that the weather disaster during Yon*Machi concerts were not natural phenomena. Someone was trying to sabotage Yon*Machi. We have witnesses that would testify. We are thinking to report this to the police, but we thought we would run this by you first."

"I'll talk to Principal Nezu, and I will call you if we need your input," Sekijiro Kan replied. "Good job. You have learned your lesson well."

"Thank you Sensei," Hiryu and Sen bowed respectfully. They look at each other. "So… Akiba Dome?"

"Akiba Dome!"