The two classmates, Kageyama and Tokoyami, were sitting together on the train, less than ten minutes away from their destination: Fukuoka, a city in Kyushu, Japan.
The train ride had been extremely long, with more than five hours of waiting. At first, Shigeo continued reading about the anatomy of the lungs, but eventually, his brain was fried, so he decided to nap. Once he'd awakened from his nap, he found Tokoyami staring out the window, listening to his music. Shigeo decided to do the same and watch a movie online through a streaming service. Thanks to this, the time flew by rather quickly, and before they knew it, the city was in their sights. When Tokoyami saw the city in his sight, he put his headphones away and engaged in dialogue.
"It seems we're very close to our destination. Perhaps only ten more minutes until we arrive," said Tokoyami.
"Mm-hmm." The esper had been surprised when he found out he'd be interning with the same pro as Tokoyami. He wondered how things would go with the two of them working under Hawks, whether or not they'd have to work together during the internships, and how things would go with this pro. "I wonder what Hawks is like. I heard that he's extremely fast."
"Indeed. His remarkable rise to the top 10 was something else that interested me, though I chose him primarily because of the fantastic skills and speed that got him to that position. After all, 'tis skill, not strength, that governs a ship.
"However..." The avian student tilted his head down, and his face began to pout slightly, confusing the esper. "I find it very likely that he'll pay much more attention to you. You possess similarly remarkable speed, and he was obviously impressed as the six thousand other hero agencies who sent you offers. After all, you are far stronger than me in almost every way."
The bowl-haired student did not like the way his friend was talking, the way he was putting himself down like this. "Come on, Tokoyami. Don't put yourself down like that. We're interning together, and we're both friends. There's no way I'm going to let a friend not get the most he can out of this experience. You deserve this opportunity just as much as I do."
Fumikage gave a rare smile to the esper, happy to hear Shigeo trying to lift his spirits. "Thank you, Kageyama."
The two teenagers finally made it to the end of the track, where they got off. Tokoyami decided to look up the directions to Hawks' agency on his phone, and fortunately for them, it was only a ten-minute walk. However, even as they were taking a leisurely stroll, there were still several people who recognized them from the Sports Festival and complimented their performances. They smiled and waved at these citizens in gratitude, mildly surprised that their performances in the Sports Festival had managed to attract such attention.
"Here we are." The number three hero's agency was very tall, possessing a sleek, black design that was quite distinguishable in the crowd of other buildings. When the two students entered the building, they found the interior to bear reminiscence of a regular office building. They saw several different people wearing costumes and could immediately figure out they were sidekicks. There was a reception desk several meters away, and when the receptionist noticed them, she instantly recognized him and called Hawks upstairs. Similarly, a few interns saw the two powerful students arrive and quickly approached them.
"Kageyama and Tokoyami! Both of you are interning here? What a surprise!"
"You guys showed some great stuff in the tournament!"
"Hawks'll be down pretty shortly. He'll be pretty excited to meet both of you."
"Hey, you two!" The number three hero, Hawks, his real name being Keigo Takami, was able to deftly fly down the many stairs of his building, arriving even more shortly than expected. The two student interns got a good look at the hero they'd signed up with: he wore a black shirt with a wavy golden pattern like a ripple in a pond, worn over by a tan jacket with a high collar. He wore a pair of yellow headphones over them, and a shaped, yellow-tinted visor protected his eyes. He had ash-blonde hair that was messily swept, which matched well with his golden-brown, triangular-shaped eyes. His most notable feature was his set of enormous bright red wings which extended down to his boots. "Welcome to my hero agency. You like the digs?"
"Yes, it is a very nice agency you have," replied Tokoyami, attempting to be courteous.
"When I saw that the two of you had accepted my offers, I thought it was pretty sweet that I'd taken in two of the winners of the Sports Festival. I also sent Shoto an offer, so if he'd accepted it, I would've had all the champions of this year's Sports Festival interning at my agency, which would've been a pretty nifty fun fact to carry with me. It's a bit of a bummer, but I still have some great talent interning at my agency." The winged hero pointed his fingers out at the two teenagers.
"Since we're getting to know each other, what're your hero names?"
"I'm the Jet Black Hero, Tsukuyomi."
"I'm the 100 Percent Hero, Mob Psychic, or just Mob for short."
Hawks nodded in approval at the names he heard. "I like what I'm hearing. I think I like Mob better than Kageyama, so that's what I'll call you from now on. That work with you?"
"I'm fine with it."
"Cool. Anyway, get your hero costumes on." The two students furrowed their eyebrows up, surprised that Hawks was transitioning so quickly after they had just arrived. "Since it's still light out, let's go on some patrol, though we likely won't be out for long. There're some changing rooms to the right where you can get yourselves ready. Your luggage and school uniform'll be taken to your rooms once you finish changing, so you don't have to worry about leaving them there. Now hurry up! Daylight's wasting!"
The two students did as the hero asked and walked toward the changing room at a brisk pace. Per his request, Shigeo and Fumikage attempted to change as quickly as possible, not wanting to leave Hawks waiting for very long. Once they finished changing, they stuffed all their clothes into their bags and left the room. The golden-haired hero motioned for his two sidekicks and began to walk out of the building. Shigeo and Fumikage decided to follow their leads, and the interns all walked in a large group behind him. "Mob and Tsukuyomi, come up front."
The two students did as the hero asked and walked alongside him. As the trio began to walk through the empty street, the number three hero started a conversation about something that he'd wanted to discuss with students from Class 1-A since their fight with villains. "So you guys, I was wondering if you could tell me about the attack on the U.S.J."
"The U.S.J.?" the avian student said.
"Yea, give me some juicy details if you could."
"Oh, well..." Tokoyami decided to start, recalling the attack very clearly in his mind. "That day, our class was going to partake in rescue training, but that training was interrupted by multiple villains entering through a black portal. Our homeroom teacher, Mr. Aizawa, attempted to fend off the villains while we fled the building. But the warp villain intercepted us, and his mist body made it so that no attacks could harm or even touch him. The warp villain then warped all of us to different areas of the U.S.J., with the two of us being warped over to an urban area with heavy rainfall."
"So the two of you also fought together during that incident? That's pretty ironic, now that you're interning together here." As the three of them were having this regular conversation, a woman screamed for her dog was about to be hit by a truck. The two students heard this scream, but before they could even move, Hawks sent out a feather, which carried the dog safely back into the woman's arms. What's more, not a single feature on the hero's face changed: as far as he was concerned, he was still taking a stroll.
"So then, what happened?" Before the avian student could resume speaking, from an apartment building several floors up, a girl who was standing on the balcony while on her phone dropped her device and shouted in fear, but yet again, Hawks was able to swiftly react, using another one of his feathers to grab the phone and put it back into the teenager's hands. The girl instantly recognized the red feather and saw the number three hero patrolling the streets.
"Thanks a ton!" she said.
Hawks gave the teenager a wave before looking back to his two interns, visibly startled by his great reaction time. The hero grinned and decided to provide them with a small pearl of wisdom. "You gotta always keep your eyes peeled and your ears tuned in. Trouble isn't usually going to be big and flashy and pop right up in front of you. Anyway, you were saying, Tsukuyomi?"
"Yes," Fumikage said, struggling momentarily to regain his voice, "Even though multiple villains surrounded us, their large numbers attempted to compensate for their weak quirks, allowing the two of us to take care of them easily. Once those villains were taken care of, Kageyama decided to help Mr. Aizawa while I stayed behind to keep the villains detained."
"Oh, what'd you do, Mob?" he said, eagerly clapping his hands, "Tell me everything!"
Shigeo was about to give Hawks an explanation of what had happened, but suddenly, a large influx of people began to crowd around the number three hero and the two student interns. These people fawned over the hero of their city and were equally pleased to see two powerful students from U.A. High walking alongside him.
"It's Hawks walking with Kageyama and Tokoyami, two of the winners of the sports festival! So cool!"
"Yo, you two rocked in the sports festival!"
"Can I take a selfie with all three of you?" An eager bystander took out his phone and held it out. The number three hero gave a peace sign while the two students looked at the camera and gave small smiles. "Man, I can't wait to show my friends this!" the teenager said before eagerly running off.
"Wait, lemme get a picture with Kageyama!" another male teenager said, "My girlfriend's gonna love it!" Hawks and Fumikage moved out of the way, allowing the teenager to wrap his arm around the esper while Mob tried to hide a mild blush on his face and took a picture for this teenager.
"Yea, baby!" He whooped with exhilaration and ran off similarly ecstatically as the previous bystander. These overly excited reactions rather amused the number three hero.
"Usually, I don't walk through the streets like this," Hawks said to his two interns, "But I was curious to see how people would react to you two walking with me, and the reactions were even better than I thought."
More people began crowding around them, ready to get more pictures and autographs from the trio. Still, before they could, Hawks felt his phone buzzing and saw a call from his agency, immediately recognizing that a villain had been reported. "Hawks here. What's the situation?" The crowd quickly went silent, not wanting to distract the hero from this presumably important phone call.
"Got it. Be there soon." Hawks put his phone away and extended his wings, causing the bystanders to take a step back. "A villain's been spotted in the southwest part of the city. Sorry people, gotta head out." The number three hero flapped his red wings, creating a large gust of wind and a sonic boom that blew all the spectators back.
"Go ahead," said Tokoyami to his friend, knowing he could easily catch up to Hawks with his speed, "I'll be with you shortly."
"No." The avian student's head flinched back in confusion when he saw the esper get behind him and wrap his arms around his chest. "Hold on tight."
Tokoyami gave a small shout of surprise when he felt the two of them speed off into the sky. "Like I said, we're both interning together," said Shigeo, trying to speak through the high noise and wind rushing past them, "And I'm not gonna leave you behind like that. I'll make sure you get the most out of your time here."
Tokoyami's breath caught in his throat: like others, the avian teenager was not expecting this level of kindness and understanding, though, like the others who'd experienced it, he was highly appreciative of his words and desire to help him and gave the esper a genuine smile. "I truly appreciate your sentiment, Kageyama! You have my sincere gratitude!"
Fumikage's smile quickly faded, for this was the first time he'd ever flown, and at such high speeds. He could feel the tremendous pressure in his ears, forcing him to cover them with his hands while he had difficulty keeping his eyes open. He never knew that Shigeo could fly so fast!
After a few seconds, the two interns got on the tail of the number three hero, who grinned at Shigeo and Fumikage. "There it is! That incredible speed I saw during the obstacle course!" the hero said, "It's nice to have an intern who can keep up with me! Means I can teach you a few things!"
"Alright, lemme give you a rundown of what we're gonna be dealing with! There's a villain who just robbed a bank in the southwest part of the city! He has a basic but effective size-enhancing quirk that's caused quite a bit of damage, and the police aren't able to harm him with bullets! I'll handle this big guy myself! You two should stay back and observe!" With both Hawks and Mob flying at speeds faster than sound, the three managed to get to their destination rather quickly and found the culprit, along with a scene of destruction, with multiple cop cars flipped over and the robbed bank in ruins. Standing several meters tall, adorned with mighty muscles and a cocky grin, the villain efficiently eliminated the feeble police resistance.
"Looks like my training's paid off! I'm bigger and stronger than ever!" the villain said, "Your bullets barely even sting!" Then, the villain approached another squad of police and swatted one of the officers aside. The policeman was nearly sent crashing into a building, but Hawks sent one of his feathers to save him in the nick of time.
"So the number three hero's come to stop me?" the arrogant man said, "Well, come at me! If bullets can't hurt me, then what the hell makes you think that you can? You gonna attack me with your puny feathers?"
"Better watch what you wish for!"
The number three hero engaged with the villain while Shigeo and Fumikage did as they were told, floating back down to the ground as they watched Hawks fight. The giant villain attempted to punch the hero, but Hawks easily dodged the attack and threw a few feathers at the villain. He was shocked that the feathers could pierce his skin, and he growled in anger. He attempted to retaliate with another punch, but Hawks was too quick, too nimble for the giant to counter.
A series of high-speed blows from Hawks followed while the villain flailed wildly to try and hit the hero. Watching this fight unfold, the police and the two interns were baffled by how Hawks was outmaneuvering the villain. However, most of them couldn't properly see the hero's movements, with Shigeo being the only one who could follow Hawks.
"Such incredible speed," Tokoyami said.
Shigeo took note of the way Hawks was using his speed to keep the villain on edge: it was difficult for him to land a proper blow due to his high-speed movement that put him in multiple different places, all-the-while landing more and more attacks with his feathers on the villain's limbs and slowing his attacks. How he was zipping around and keeping out of his opponent's field of vision reminded him of how Hanazawa had moved during their fight. Even now, he couldn't move around like that in his usual state for long without feeling nauseous, though this wasn't an issue in his serious state.
The villain quickly grew frustrated with the repeated feathers being lodged into his skin, and yelled out as he balled his hands into fists. Tokoyami took note of this and realized he was going to slam the ground to blow Hawks away, though Kageyama was a bit slower on the uptake.
"Kageyama, use your telekinesis to stop him!" he said.
The esper did as his friend said and extended his hand while his blue aura surrounded him. That blue aura now enveloped all over the villain, who was struggling to figure out what was happening.
"Great!" Hawks said, "Keep him like that for a little longer!" While the giant foe was frozen, Hawks took the time to unleash several more feathers, making sure they targeted the limbs. For his final touch, the number three hero spun himself in the air and performed a spin kick that clocked the enemy in the cheek, sending him crashing into the ground and knocking him down for the count.
Upon seeing his defeat, the police officers gathered and surrounded the villain. While they were doing this, Hawks approached his two interns with a pleasant smile.
"Great work, Mob!" the hero said, "You stopped him just before he was gonna unleash a powerful move that could've destroyed most of this block."
"Actually, Tokoyami's the one who told me to do it," the esper replied, wanting to make sure his friend got credit where it was due.
"Is that so?" Hawks looked at his other intern and gave him a thumbs-up. "Then good job too, Tsukuyomi! Shows you've got quick thinking!"
The two sidekicks who accompanied Hawks were coming to the crime scene with sweat running down their faces, though this was something they were used to by now. What they weren't used to was having an intern who could keep up with the number three hero's speed.
"Hey, you two can clean up the mess here and get details from the police," Hawks said to his sidekicks, "Me, Mob, and Tsukuyomi're gonna go to higher ground to get a better view of the city!"
"Ok!"
The number three hero extended his wings and soared into the air, though he did so at a casual speed. Shigeo followed him, using his telekinesis to lift Tokoyami to follow Hawks into the sky. They eventually rested on the top of a building more than twenty stories high, while his sidekicks went over the details with the police and essentially acted as clean-up service.
"Anyway, let's get back to the U.S.J. attack," Hawks said, "Right now, we've got time."
While the esper and his friend were getting acquainted at their internships, other students of Class 1-A were not having as good of a time. One of those students was Bakugo, who had selected Best Jeanist, the number four hero, for his internship. He was standing in front of Beat Jeanist, who was combing his hair, but his tone was not amicable or understanding when the hero addressed him.
"To be perfectly frank, I don't like you very much?"
"Eh?"
"I know full well why you chose my agency: because I'm one of the top five heroes."
Bakugo's frustration began to proliferate. "Hey, you're the one who sent me an offer!"
"Yes. Lately, all my recruits have been perfect little angels, so you certainly stood out. I watched your performance at the sports festival: you have a good handle on your quirk and a decent grasp of its applications. You're an outstanding talent, which allowed you to fare well against such an unbelievably strong opponent as Shigeo. You're already good enough to take on as a sidekick. However, you possess a fatal flaw: you believe yourself to be the best and display that belief without regard for how it reflects on you or your image. You have a brutal nature."
The hot-headed teenager's blood began to boil. It was bad enough when Kageyama lectured him: now Best Jeanist was doing it? "Don't tell me you brought me here just to give me a lecture!"
Katsuki approached the hero angrily, but he was frozen in place by multiple strings of fabric woven from Best Jeanist's clothing. "One of my missions to society is to find people like you and change their behavior," the hero said.
The explosive student rolled his eyes. "God, you and the bowl-cut..." Bakugo muttered.
This muttered statement caught the hero's attention. "The bowl-cut? Are you talking about Shigeo Kageyama? So you mean he's tried to change your behavior as well?"
Bakugo gave the hero an incredulous stare of shock before looking away, not wanting to answer the question. "I'll take your silence as a yes. How very interesting," Best Jeanist said, putting his hand underneath his chin, "So he too did not take fondly of your aggressive behavior and attempted to correct it. However, it seems as though he didn't have too much success. Hopefully, I will have more luck."
"I sent Kageyama an offer," the number four hero said, now beginning to speak more to himself than to Bakugo, "Though his power was phenomenal, my main objective was to change his behavior as well. Even though he possesses incredible power, he does not present himself with confidence, and he fumbled when he gave a speech that otherwise had a very good and heartfelt message. And also..."
Best Jeanist put his hand over his hair and sighed softly, "Part of me wanted to do something about that unfashionable hairstyle of his."
Katsuki's jaw clenched, his hands clenched into fists, his fingernails biting into the palms. "Are you serious? Can you please not talk about the bowl cut right now?"
The number three hero's attention was brought back to Katsuki. "Anyway, you must also understand that heroes and villains are cut from the same cloth. That means your job here is to watch me: I'll show you what makes someone a hero. I will educate you on becoming an exemplary pro, which includes being aware of how you speak, your appearance, controlling your emotions, and your morals. You need to learn countless things, but during the one week you're here, I'll stitch these lessons into your very being."
At another one of the top five hero's agencies, the fire and ice-wielding teenager stood at his father's desk on the top floor of the Endeavor Agency. The words from Midoriya, Kageyama, and his mother had all made their mark on him, and it was only because of those words that he was standing here now: to get a first-hand look at what it took to be the number two hero.
"I've been waiting for you, Shoto. I'm pleased to see you accepted my offer."
"I have no intention of following any path you've laid out for me. Only I can decide my future."
"I see..."
Shoto's eyes narrowed in confusion. Right now, his father's expression was mostly blank, the fiery hostility in his eyes having simmered down quite considerably. Not only that, but his tone of voice was also calm and quiet. Usually, his father would have a much more cocky, boastful attitude in this situation, viewing his declaration of following his path as merely another childish outburst. But right now, it seemed as though his father was in some deep thought or inner conflict of some kind. Now that he thought about it, he'd been acting slightly differently since the sports festival. And after he won his fight with Kageyama, he didn't make another bold statement like he'd done after the battle with Midoriya, especially considering how powerful Kageyama was and how he possessed similar strength to All Might. Why was that?
Shoto had no knowledge of Shigeo's conversation with Endeavor before their match. He had no way of knowing that the esper's words had managed to strike a rather deep nerve in the number two hero he hadn't been able to shake. To be so bluntly told all of the ways he hadn't been a good father and reprimanded in such an open way was both surprising and hard-hitting for Endeavor. The number two hero had tried to ignore the esper's words, view them as inane dribble, and remember the ultimate goal of taking the number one spot. He'd tried to justify the arduous training he made Shoto undergo as not only for Endeavor's benefit but for Shoto's as well, for it would be him taking the pride and glory of being the number one hero. But even this argument hadn't completely dispel the uncertainty and other emotions that had slowly begun to creep up on him. Still, his son had come to his agency, and the number two hero was determined to teach Shoto everything he could to give him the knowledge and experience needed to become the number one hero.
"You should go get ready. We're going out."
"Where to?"
The number two hero forced the emotions of uncertainty down and gave his son one of the cocky smiles Shoto was familiar with. "It's time I show you what it means to be a hero."
Just as Katsuki had his own annoyances and setbacks with the hero they'd interned with, Izuku wasn't excelling at his internship. The young teenager had been excited and slightly terrified of what might lie in store for him when All Might told him about his mentor, Gran Torino, someone who'd been his homeroom teacher at U.A. High and who knew the secret of One For All as well. He'd been expecting a rather severe and dramatic introduction from the man, but upon arriving, he only saw a short older man who acted like he didn't even know where he was. Izuku assumed that he was senile and had no time to waste. He had almost left the building, but not before the elderly man threw away his facade and blitzed the student with an overwhelming speed that Izuku couldn't read. After a very short brawl, Gran Torino easily bested the student, lecturing Izuku about his faults, the admiration of All Might that served as shackles that prevented him from advancing with One For All's power.
Izuku had taken his mentor's words to heart and begun to understand what Gran Torino had been talking about: all this time, he'd been using One For All like All Might in the form of giant smash attacks and special moves. Unfortunately, he'd failed to see that those were just special moves; Quirks were just extensions of a person's body, so he needed to start treating One For All as an extension of himself. That meant he had to think of a way to use One For All differently.
Unfortunately for him, Gran Torino wasn't keen on helping him this way since he'd quickly gone to bed after only a single sparring match. That meant that Izuku had to do some training by himself! The green-haired teenager went into the back alley outside of Gran Torino's apartment, continuing to mull over what he'd learned today. Izuku's next big step was finding a way to use his quirk as if it was natural, the same way his classmates efficiently used their Quirks. If he could use even a fraction of One For All, he could mimic the same movements that Kacchan used and potentially even fly around the way that Kageyama did.
Izuku's body tensed up at the thought of his friend as he stared at his empty hands. Though he was a very dear friend, Izuku knew that Kageyama was above him in every aspect. Unlike Izuku, the esper could wield the full strength of his psychic powers without any drawbacks or damage to his body. Furthermore, the multi-faceted nature of his psychic abilities gave him many other options besides close combat. As if that wasn't enough, they were being mentored under the number one hero as two trusted confidants who knew All Might's true form and the true nature of his quirk, so it was hard for Izuku not to compare himself to Kageyama.
The friend clenched his fists: he didn't have a moment to spare! He had to learn how to use One For All's power in proportion to do easy tasks. Izuku looked up at the nearby walls for a trial run of his quirk.
"Ok, I'll scale the walls with 5%. That should be enough, right? One, two, three, the roof. Yea, that'll work!" Izuku bent his knees, channeling One For All into his legs while imagining the egg in the microwave not exploding, and jumped up to the wall. Sadly, he was met with a sharp pain as his body slammed into the wall and fell into a garbage pile. Sitting in the pile of garbage, Izuku mulled over what went wrong. He needed to cushion the impact by switching One For All from his legs to his arms at the moment of impact, but that would also mean he'd lose his grip and fall. So he had to find a way to instantly alternate the power of One For All from his legs to his arms. The teenager internally sighed: this was going to be a long night.
The day passed rather quickly for Shigeo and Fumikage. Shigeo gave the details of his fight with the Nomu, the extent of the artificial creation's capabilities, and how he could hold his own against the monster until All Might arrived. He skipped over the part about giving all of his energy to All Might and went to All Might's crushing victory against the Nomu with only five hits. Fumikage also chimed in to provide details about Shigeo's fight with the Nomu, such as the tremors their collisions created and the earthquakes All Might created with his punches. Then, they finished the story with the arrival of the other pro heroes to save the rest of the students.
During the story, Hawks would occasionally interject to ask for more details, such as the power of the other leaders, such as Tomura and Kurogiri, whether or not Shigeo had been injured during his fight with the Nomu, as well as what happened to the other villains who participated in this attack.
There were only a few isolated cases that the number three hero and his two interns had to take care of, consisting of a basic convenience store theft, a person almost falling off a high building ledge, and a small house fire, all of which required minimal effort and which Hawks took care of with ease. Once the sun had almost set, they'd decided to return to his agency, where his sidekicks began to compile all the data of the incidents that had occurred during the day so they could fill out the proper paperwork for the police. Once this was done, Hawks decided to take the two to a nearby restaurant as a treat. But it was obvious to anyone with them that most of his attention and admiration was focused on the esper.
The three of them were in a private room thanks to Hawks' prestige as the number three hero, not only giving the three of them a chance to talk in private and enjoy quality food but to get a magnificent view of the city from a high point.
"You enjoyin' the food?" Hawks said to the two interns.
"Yes, very appetizing," replied Tokoyami, while Mob only nodded in agreement.
"Good." The hero took some kababs from the table and began to gobble them up. "You alright if I take these? Sorry, but I've got no self-control.
"Mob, you did an awesome job today," Hawks said while still chewing his food, "Your speed was just as incredible as it was in the sports festival. But I noticed that in the one-on-one battles, you never used your speed that much. You kinda stood-in-place for most of your fights. If you'd zipped around the ring, continually moved around the way I did against that giant villain, there's no way any of them would've been able to keep up or properly react, and you would've ended some of your fights even quicker."
"The thing is, I'm still not that used to moving around like that in my normal state for very long without getting nauseous."
Hawks was curious about Kageyama's wording, and he leaned his body slightly forward. "What d'ya mean by "normal state"? What's a not normal state?"
"Usually, I'm in a normal state like I am now, but whenever I feel a strong emotion, I experience a dramatic boost in strength, an explosion of power. What emotion I feel can change the level of power I get, but when I'm in a serious state, I'm much more powerful and focused, and I can move at high speeds without trouble."
"So your quirk is based on your emotions," the hero said while stroking an imaginary beard, very intrigued by how the young teenager's powers worked, "Did you experience one of these "explosions" during the sports festival?"
"Near the end of my fight with Bakugo, right about when he unleashed his Howitzer Impact."
"And what was the emotion that set you off?"
Shigeo paused for a moment before giving the two his answer. "...Disappointment." Hawks and Tokoyami cocked their eyebrows up and looked at each other in confusion.
"I was disappointed in how Bakugo had tried to belittle Midoriya and our classmates. I expressed that disappointment to him after he used his finishing move on me, how little I thought he'd changed."
Hawks could see that his question had brought up some tension, noting the esper's changing facial features, and quickly decided to rein the conversation in a different direction. "Well, you feel nauseous after moving at such high speeds in your regular state because your body feels out of balance. Your inner ears contain receptors that measure your balance, so moving at high speeds in such erratic motions can affect those receptors, which is what causes you to feel that sense of nausea. I had to learn this stuff to adjust my body to those high speeds too. All you need to do is train your body to move at those high speeds in your normal state, and once you do that, you'll be able to expand your range of motion and be able to give your enemies an even tougher time. If you can move at high speeds at full power, I'm sure that it's not going to be that big of trouble to adjust to such speeds in your normal state. You'll probably need just a bit of training and be good to go."
The number three hero smiled and pinched his index finger and thumb together. "You've got limitless potential as a hero, Mob. "
Watching Hawks express his utmost respect and belief in Shigeo's abilities, Tokoyami sat in silence, finding it difficult to mask his inferiority and frustration. As he'd anticipated, Hawks was devoting all his praise and focus to Shigeo, giving him essential advice and notes on improving his power. Meanwhile, Hawks had only given Fumikage limited attention, almost to the point that he barely acknowledged his existence. Some of him knew that this was understandable, that Kageyama was indeed an unbelievably powerful student who deserved all the praise and recognition he received, but that still couldn't take away his frustration and insecurity.
"I need to use the restroom," said Tokoyami, getting up and quickly going to the lavatory. The esper observed his friend's quick exit and tone of voice and began to piece Fumikage's emotional state based on what he'd said to him earlier. Once the avian student exited the room, Shigeo brought this issue up with the hero.
"Hawks, can I ask you something?" Shigeo said.
"Shoot," the hero replied, creating a finger gun.
"Could you please try to give some more advice and guidance to Tokoyami?" The hero's jovial expression died down, and his lips were pursed straight. "I appreciate the advice you're giving me, and I really am enjoying the time I've spent here so far, but it doesn't feel right that Tokoyami's just pushed aside. He wants to be a hero too, but more than that, he wants to improve himself and become stronger. I'm sure that's the reason he joined the new club I formed, the Body Improvement Club, to hone his body. So..."
The esper moved his body slightly forward, his expression more focused, "Try and give Tokoyami a chance to prove what he can do."
Keigo was stiff as a board, not expecting the esper to bring this up in such a bold manner. Neither of them knew that Fumikage had been eavesdropping on this entire conversation, and his friend's kindness again touched the student's heart.
"Man." The number three hero sighed, his body slouched in slight shame as he ran his hand through his hair. He hadn't thought too much about what he'd be teaching either interns, nor did he consider it too big a deal, but with the passion, Shigeo was speaking of his friend, the way he was trying to lend Tokoyami his aid, it couldn't help but leave a slightly sour taste in his mouth. "Wait to make me feel like a total chump."
Seeing this reaction from Hawks, the esper's lips drooped down, and he began to feel a cold sweat on his face. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you in any way," Mob said.
The hero let out a short and hearty laugh, amused by the esper's reaction. "Chill, Mob! No need to get worked up about it. You've got a valid point: Tokoyami's definitely got some good stuff going for him, and I didn't choose him for nothing. Alright: I'll try to give him some pointers."
The esper's face broke out with a smile, while Tokoyami's smile grew wider. He really did have a fantastic friend. After hearing this, the avian student decided that he'd intruded enough on their conversation and headed to the bathroom just as he said he would.
"I've gotta say, Mob; you're a pretty great guy and an even greater friend." Keigo leaned forward again, resting his elbow on the floor while cupping his chin into his hand. "You know why I sent you an offer?"
Shigeo didn't have to think too long to answer this question. "Because of my performance at the sports festival?"
Hawks let out another short chuckle. "Yep, a pretty straightforward answer. Like probably every other hero agency in Japan, I liked the stuff you showed. I thought it was sweet how we were both fliers with incredible speed, and your speed would let you keep up with me. But that's only forty percent of the reason I picked you."
This drew the esper's attention. So Hawks had wanted him to work at his agency for a reason other than his powerful psychic abilities? What could that reason be?
"About forty-five percent was just so I could chat with a student from Class 1-A about the U.S.J. incident," Hawks continued. This left Shigeo nominally bummed out, for he'd hoped that something more meaningful could have drawn the number three hero's attention about him. Hawks noted this and pointed his other hand at the esper.
"The final fifteen percent was cuz I wanted to get a good read on your personality." This statement brought some burgeoning curiosity into the esper's eyes.
"You're a pretty unexpected guy, in my opinion. Even though you've got the crazy strong quirk that already puts you close to All Might's level, you don't seem to strut around like you're full of hot shit. When you went up to give your speech, you froze up like a block of ice." Shigeo's cheeks began to flush lightly with embarrassment. "Still, you managed to unfreeze yourself and gave a cool and honest speech.
"I could tell you wanted to win, but you didn't want to crush the other students. If that was your intention, you could've used your telekinesis to grab the headbands of every other opponent in the cavalry battle to prove how they couldn't measure up to your power, to hog all the points for yourself. Of course, anyone could tell that you're a nice guy, the way you showed it during your other fights in the third event, but still, you did some unexpected things. The battle with that Bakugo kid, for example. Even though you won, it was pretty obvious that you weren't happy with the win, and I couldn't quite figure out why until you told me earlier. And then, if that wasn't enough, during the final round, you let yourself be thrown out of the ring and gave the win to Todoroki. I was definitely not expecting that.
"But the thing that's got me the most curious, the thing I can't wrap my head around, is how you express yourself. During most of the sports festival, I saw you with the same face, like you were just... bored."
"No, I wasn't bored with any of it," the esper said.
"Yea, I didn't think that either," replied Hawks, "You don't seem to be the kind of guy who would take something like the sports festival so lightly, even with your crazy strong Quirk. So I just wanted to figure out what your deal was, and what kinda person you are. Call it a personal interest of mine."
The esper was not expecting Hawks to take an interest in what kind of person he was, to view him as more than just someone with a strong quirk like most people in this world had. That was one of the things Shigeo liked the most: to be valued for something other than his psychic powers.
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Before they could continue this conversation further, Tokoyami re-entered the room and sat back down. Once his other intern had arrived, the number three hero tried to wrap things up at the restaurant. "Tokoyami, Mob, if you're all done here, I'll pay the bill, and we can get outta here. There's somethin' I wanna show you."
The hero did as he said and paid the bill before exiting the restaurant. Once the three of them were on the street, Keigo flew up into the sky, prompting Shigeo to fly along with him while lifting Fumikage with his telekinesis. They only flew for a few seconds before they stopped and stood at the top of another building several stories high. The two interns waited patiently for Hawks to speak.
"Tokoyami, why do you think I asked you to come to my agency?" said Hawks.
"I had begun to ask myself that question," replied Tokoyami.
"Well, about twenty percent," the hero continued, plucking a small feather from his wings, "Was because we're both birds of a feather." The avian student was displeased with this answer, his face tightening with irritation.
"Half of me just wanted to chat with the students from Class 1-A about the punks who attacked U.A." This only irritated Tokoyami even more, and he bit the inside of his cheek while his face tightened up. So Tokoyami was only a source of information for Hawks, a way to pick up details and stay informed?
"But the final thirty percent," In an unexpected move, the golden-haired hero wrapped his arms around the student's chest and proceeded to fly off high into the sky while the esper flew right beside them.
"I saw you in action, and I thought, "What a waste!" Hawks said, "Being up in the sky is a great thing! You get a birds-eye view of the world! From one bird bud to another, those who can fly should! So why keep yourself grounded?" The number three hero looked over at the esper and noticed that his dull facial features had begun to loosen up.
"Mob knows what I'm talking about," the hero said. The esper was silent: he'd never taken the time to observe everything from above while flying. He'd usually been too focused on the battle to take note of it, but flying so high felt pretty... exciting and seeing so many things from such a high view, soaring unobstructed through the sky. As he gently flew through the sky alongside Hawks, without realizing it, he broke out into a smile, and his dull eyes began brightening up again.
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Hawks noticed this smile, the excitement beginning to bubble up inside the esper. "It's a great feeling, isn't it, Mob? We're the only ones in the world who can feel this freedom."
The esper's smile instantly disappeared, and he momentarily felt his entire body freeze. That phrase... sounded so familiar. He remembered exactly what Suzuki had told him during their fight when he became lost in the pleasure of battle.
"How does it feel to be released from your shackles? We are freer than anyone else in the world!"
The memory of that moment rushed back to him as it had during the sports festival. That fear and insecurity were still very fresh for the esper. So new that he instantly began to feel frightened by the pleasure he was feeling during this flight, seeing it as possibly another chance for him to lose himself. Because of this, the esper instantly gasped out in fear and rushed to the top of the nearest building he could find.
"Whoa!" The number three hero instantly sped over to the young esper, who was gasping heavily and experiencing a panic attack. What could have caused such a dramatic reaction from Shigeo? Tokoyami was equally shocked by the esper's sudden panic attack and crouched beside Shigeo.
"Are you ok, Mob?" Hawks said, "What's wrong?"
"Sorry." The bowl-haired teenager tried to calm himself down, take deep breaths, and slow down his racing heart. "It's just what you said."
Keigo cocked his eyebrow up in confusion. "You mean about being free?"
Shigeo nodded his head and closed his eyes. "It's just that... whenever I'm free, I lose myself, and I..." Mob momentarily trembled before finishing his sentence. "I hurt people."
The avian student was having trouble figuring out what the esper was talking about and merely stood in silence and confusion. Hawks, on the other hand, was able to decipher and understand what Mob meant based on everything he'd pieced from him and everything he'd learned from Mob earlier that night, and also in part due to his perceptive nature.
"I'm getting it now," the winged hero said while nodding his head up and down, "The pieces are starting to come together now. You're afraid of your power and how dangerous it can be to others."
Hawks positioned himself, so he sat at the edge of the building with his legs dangling off the side, his hands resting on his lap. "And the freedom you're talking about is the freedom not to hold back, to unleash your Wuirk to the fullest extent. That's why you surrendered during the final round. You were starting to enjoy yourself out there. You were feeling the thrill of battle and about to fully enter that thrill and unleash your true power. But you snapped out of it, afraid of hurting Todoroki with your quirk and any other spectators."
The esper somberly nodded while looking down at his lap in shame. "Your powers are also based on your emotions, so to try and spare everyone else around you, you've forced your emotions down. The reason you have that neutral look on your face isn't that you're bored; it's because... you can't feel like others. You've forced yourself not to feel like others."
The avian student was rather shocked by this revelation: to imagine that Shigeo was forcing himself to push his emotions down to restrain his power was rather tragic. Hawks appeared to have the same thoughts as Tokoyami, for he lowered his head slightly sadly. "Man, what a..."
Suddenly, the winged hero lifted his head back up, brimming with a sudden burst of energy. "What a crappy way to live!"
Both Shigeo and Fumikage gasped in surprise at the sudden change of tone and expression from Hawks. "To not be able to experience emotions, to desensitize yourself like that completely, means you can't enjoy the important moments in life. It means you can't share the same laughs and memories that your friends can whenever you have positive moments with each other. You shouldn't be so afraid to feel happy or feel excitement. That just sucks! You've gotta shake yourself out of your funk!"
The number three hero rapidly shook the esper to try and invigorate him and snap him out of fear and self-doubt. There was no way he would let Mob keep going like this, to leave him in such a state of self-doubt, fear, and emotional stagnation. He was going to do something about this right now!
"Now, come on." The hero got back onto his feet and flapped his wings, his relaxed and laid-back face now dead serious. "We're gonna be doing some hardcore flying!"
Mob was momentarily startled by the sudden change of expression, the seriousness in his voice, understanding that the hero would not take "no" for an answer, and got himself on his feet. "Tokoyami, I suggest you stay here. Your body won't be able to handle the speeds we'll be flying at."
"Understood," replied Tokoyami, having already experienced such high speeds when Mob carried him earlier that day. Besides, he knew that whatever Hawks would do, it would benefit Kageyama.
"Don't worry; we won't be that long." The winged hero soared off into the sky while the esper trailed behind him. Shigeo noted how faster Hawks was going than before: there was no kidding around now.
"Time to get some intense flight time in, so get ready!" Hawks shouted with fervor laced in his voice. He was determined to get Mob to enjoy himself tonight, to have fun while soaring in the air and see just how great it was to be able to fly. So Keigo flew very high, high enough that no one on the ground could see him. The hero then glided across the city while the esper kept in tow.
"Can you feel it?" the hero said, "The wind on your face, the adrenaline pumping through your body. It's an exhilarating sensation!" Finally, Shigeo understood what the hero meant: he could feel his heart thumping wildly in his chest, the exhilaration setting in. Going through the sky at such speeds was a feeling, unlike anything he'd felt before.
"Let's go higher!" Hawks shot up into the sky, far up where a thick cloud line covered the moon and darkened the city. Once they made it through the misty haze, they reached the other side of the cloud line, which was... breathtaking. That was the only word that Shigeo could think to describe it. There were rolling clouds around him as though they were standing atop some moving snowfield. And if that wasn't enough, the moon's bright light shimmered on these clouds, giving a lustrous and distinct glow.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" said Hawks, "Now, let's have some more fun!" The hero shot himself through the air, and the esper followed. Hawks glided through the thick line of clouds while Mob did the same. The mist felt ticklish on the psychic's skin.
"Get creative!" Hawks wanted to make this night more unexpected and unpredictable, which meant making up some nifty moves in the sky. So the hero held his arms out and began to rotate his body at high speeds, moving at such velocity that it appeared like he had become a vortex. "Now you try it!"
The esper grinned and ignited his rainbow aura, replicating the same spinning as the hero. Hawks beamed with pride and surprise when he looked back and saw Mob swirling around. "That's it! You look like a rainbow vortex!"
Shigeo quickly stopped the vortex, but when he did, the hero noticed that the smile had returned to the intern's face, which widened his smile. The uncertainty had disappeared, replaced by the rush of flight. "There's that smile! Don't try to fight that feeling! Just go with it!"
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The two continued their high-speed flight, performing multiple midair maneuvers and moving around with random yet refined movements. It was as if they were dancing, flying through the night sky like majestic, brilliant phoenixes. And Mob loved it: he'd never known how great it felt to be able to move like this, to fly around with such speed and freedom. At that moment, there was nothing else on his mind. He had no fear of losing control of himself, no thoughts on Tokoyami, All Might, or anyone else: all that mattered was this feeling of flight.
Keigo and Shigeo continued these rapid flight patterns, spinning through the clouds and zigzagging through the sky like free birds, before they'd decided they'd had enough and stopped midair. When they did, both of their faces were livened with energy.
"So, how was it?" Hawks was expecting an enthusiastic response, though he quickly realized that the esper might have bitten off more than he could chew. His face looked flushed, and he was clutching onto his stomach. Then, the esper put his hand over his mouth, nearly vomiting his dinner.
"Whoa there! Just take deep breaths!" The hero patted the esper on the back while he did his best not to regurgitate. Finally, the esper's senses stabilized after about twenty or thirty seconds.
"You see? Nothing happened. You didn't lose control; you didn't hurt anyone. All we did was some high-speed flight. Did you have a good time?"
The esper's smile returned to him, not feeling the need to hide the excitement and rush he'd felt during their intense soaring. "I did. I never realized flying could be so exciting."
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Hawks nodded in agreement before looking out into the valley of rolling clouds, then looking back at his intern. "Never forget moments like this. I get why you're afraid of your powers and losing control, but I still don't think you should be scared of feeling thrilled to focus on the here and now. I think it's times like this, those small but impactful moments, that give us the most joy and our lives the most meaning. I'd love to live in a society where heroes had more free time than they knew what to do with, to live life to its fullest and experience more joyful moments like this. You catch my drift, Mob?"
The student's eyes began to glow with fascination, his mouth opening in surprise. Hawks was giving the esper a message that spoke rather deeply to Mob: to have fun. Hawks was making him see that there were times to kick back and enjoy yourself, and it was precisely what Shigeo needed to hear after what had happened at the sports festival.
"Hey, while we're here, let's have a little more fun." The hero unzipped his pants pocket and took out his phone. "I've got a few ideas for some wacky pictures. Here, take my phone."
Shigeo did as the hero said and took the phone while Hawks got into position, lying face-back on the clouds and putting his hands behind his back in a relaxed position. Mob began taking the pictures, but as Hawks was posing for his photographs, his mind thought of something that would make for a cool photo.
"Hey, Mob! I got an idea! Use your quirk to form a couch; then I'll relax on it! Can you do that?"
"Mm-hmm," Mob replied. The psychic's rainbow aura formed around him, and he took a small portion of the clouds to make a couch. The winged hero clapped his hands and positioned himself on the cloud couch. "Actually, come sit on the couch with me, and use the timer. Take the same position as me too. That'll make it even cooler."
Mob smiled and put the timer on while keeping the phone in the air using telekinesis. As the timer counted down, he got into position, slouching his body and placing his arms behind the back of his head, identical to Keigo. Once they saw the flash go off, Hawks took the phone and looked over the pictures.
"These're awesome!" Hawks said, "A final selfie, and we're good to go!" Keigo got next to Mob and held out the phone, with the shining move and the rolling clouds in the background. The two smiled for the camera while Hawks made another peace sign. "Great! Now let's get back! We've been keeping Tokoyami waiting too long."
"Right." The two fliers descended from the sky, and Hawks quickly found Tokoyami, thanks to his keen eyes.
For the avian student, when he noticed the two of them returning, the first thing he observed was that the anxiety and fear etched on Shigeo's face had disappeared.
"Kageyama, you're looking much more relaxed," said Tokoyami with a smile, "Whatever Hawks did with you up there, it seems to have worked."
"Yep."
"We've gotta capture the moment, a memento for the first day of our internship with all three of us in the photo!" Hawks said, taking out his phone. "Mob, use your telekinesis again, and I'll set the timer."
Mob did as he did before and lifted the phone in the air while they readied themselves, with Hawks placing both his arms around the shoulders of the two. Then, with a bright flash, the camera snapped the picture, and Hawks eagerly took the phone.
"Awesome!" the hero said, "A great way to end this day!"
Mob couldn't agree more: this internship was a much more enlightening, stimulating experience than he'd expected. Hawks had been a much more interesting hero than he'd thought, with a character unlike anyone he'd encountered thus far, and this was something that the esper found appealing. Mob was sure that whatever more Hawks and this internship would offer would be very important, and he would take whatever advice the hero had with an open mind.
The first day of internships ends with a good heart-to-heart between Hawks and Mob! The reason why I had Mob's nausea for going at high speeds was because of what Mob said during his fight with Hanazawa, that moving at such rapid speeds made him nauseous. We also never really saw him moving like that in his regular state, showing he still didn't adjust to move like Hanazawa, but we did see him move that fast for his 100% states. Regardless, this weakness isn't going to be a big deal, and it'll be resolved rather quickly. Until Chapter 24, where we'll see how things unfold with Stain!