Chapter 34: Internships Begin
Kyoka was trying very hard not to freak out, at least not yet. Today was the first day of internships after all. Freak outs were more appropriate for day three or so, she thought. If she hadn't been staying in the dorms, she might have first freaked out on the first night away from home, staying at a hero agency, but she didn't think that would be a problem tonight.
Part of her worries were around the internship itself. Gang Orca was the tenth ranked hero for a reason, and she didn't want to drag him down in any way. Kyoka was confident in her abilities, but she was all too aware of the fact that she was just a first-year hero student.
Thankfully, All Might had provided some information on what they could expect out of their internships during their last heroics lesson the week before. Most internships focused on concrete details of hero work, such as paperwork and patrols, or on even more advanced and specialized training. For anything dangerous or large scale, such as major investigations or raids, the interns were nearly always kept on the sidelines.
So while Kyoka was worried about her internship, she was managing to keep it to a dull roar. No, the main thing that worried her was Izuku. Or rather, the impending lack of Izuku. Gang Orca's agency was headquartered in Osaka, while Izuku would be interning in Tokyo at Might Tower. Gran Torino's agency wasn't technically located at Might Tower, but All Might had pulled some strings to get him space for the week.
According to Izuku, it wasn't going to be just Gran Torino, either. Sir Nighteye was apparently planning on stopping in, in spite of his relatively public split with All Might years ago. And despite having taught Izuku for nearly a year at this point, All Might himself was likely to make an appearance as well. He couldn't offer Izuku an internship directly without singling Izuku out, especially as he hadn't offered one in his entire time as number one hero, but he could still help.
Regardless of who would be training him, Izuku and Kyoka would still be two and a half hours away by bullet train. Kyoka knew that they'd both likely be so busy during the day and drained by the evening that even if they were in the same city they wouldn't get to do much together, but the physical distance just made that all the more obvious.
It seemed like Izuku was having similar thoughts himself, given that he'd been basically inseparable from Kyoka this morning. The only time they had been apart all morning today was when they were both showering after their early morning run. Breakfast, last-minute packing, and preparations to leave were all done together.
Even now, in the Musutafu train station, they had their hands clasped together, unwilling to let go even for a moment. Having only one hand available made conveying their luggage and hero costumes somewhat tricky, but Kyoka thought it was worth it.
"Listen up, you gremlins." Everyone had shown up by this point and Aizawa called the class to attention. The man knew an awfully large number of terms to describe just how he felt about the class. Kyoka assumed that they were supposed to come off as endearing nicknames, but it always fell flat for her.
"You may be going on internships with professional heroes, but you are still students of U.A. You are bringing your costumes, but wearing them in public is strictly prohibited unless you are under supervision of a professional hero. The same goes for using your quirks in public. Don't think that just because you're on an internship that the rules don't apply anymore. Understand?" Aizawa swept his eyes over the class to make sure there weren't any questions. Seeing none, he continued. "You'll be representing U.A, so make sure you are all on your best behavior. That's all."
With that, Aizawa walked away, leaving the students to find their own trains. Most of the class began to disperse towards their own trains in twos or threes. Six students, including Uraraka, Yaomomo, and Honenuki, were already on their way to the platform for the train to Tokyo.
Izuku, however, made no move to join them, despite Might Tower also being located in the capitol. Instead, he drew Kyoka into a tight hug that lasted a surprisingly long time. Kyoka certainly wasn't complaining, just enjoying the last physical contact that she'd have with her boyfriend for a week.
Eventually though, Izuku reluctantly withdrew from the hug. Kyoka gave a half-serious tug on his arm to draw him back, but he didn't allow himself to get pulled back in. "Kyoka, if I don't leave now, I'm going to miss my train."
"Good, you can come with me to Osaka. Gang Orca sent you an invite, I'm sure he wouldn't complain if you showed up unannounced. And if it turns out that he's only set up a single room for me and doesn't have anywhere extra for you to stay, well, I'm sure I could be convinced to share."
"Tempting." A smile played at Izuku's lips, "But Aizawa might have a complaint or two about me not notifying him, not to mention Toshinori." They had agreed to use All Might's civilian name when discussing secret things about him in public, but it still felt weird to Kyoka.
"I know, I know." Izuku did want to blaze his own path separate from All Might, but it was undeniable that training with the man who trained two previous holders of One For All was an opportunity that he couldn't miss. That didn't mean Kyoka had to be entirely happy about it. "I'm just preparing myself to miss you."
Of all the things Izuku could have done in the moment, Kyoka was not expecting for him to lean forward and catch her lips in a kiss. It was a brief, chaste kiss, but she still felt her cheeks burning and earjacks twitching as Izuku pulled away.
"We'll be fine." Izuku said, voice surprisingly calm despite the blush painted on his cheeks. "I'll make sure to call when I get a chance. Although Toshinori says Gran Torino is a bit of a slave driver, so maybe that's 'if' I get a chance."
"Who are you and what have you done with Green?" Kyoka demanded, as Izuku's brows knit together in confusion. "What happened to the shy boy that was afraid of asking me out, let alone PDAs like that?"
"Oh. I just figured that everyone who knows us here already knows that we're dating. And I'm not ashamed to be seen treating the most beautiful girl in the world the way she deserves." Kyoka's cheeks got even hotter as she tried to hide behind her earjacks and Izuku chuckled. "I think I see why you like teasing me so much."
"Not fair, not fair!" Kyoka stabbed out with an earjack, catching him in the forehead. "We've talked about this. Only I get to tease in this relationship, and you know it." Izuku's only response to that was a small smirk and a raised eyebrow. If someone could die from a blood rush to the face, Kyoka would probably have dropped dead on the spot. "Dammit! Stop doing that, Green!"
"I'll give you a call tonight, Kyoka. And we'll be back together soon." Kyoka sighed as she realized that she never should have taught Izuku how to be more confident.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll bring you an autograph from Gang Orca."
"Thanks! Love you!" Kyoka froze in place as Izuku walked off, apparently unaware of what he had just said.
Love.
Did Izuku really love her? He said it so easily, like it was obvious. Add in the fearless (for them) PDAs earlier, and it really painted a picture of what Izuku was feeling for her. And if Izuku did love her, did she love him back? These weren't questions that she had been planning on having when the day began.
Kyoka moved woodenly towards her own train carrying her west towards Osaka. As she boarded, she nodded distractedly towards Shiozaki, who was bound for Kyoto along the way, before finding a seat in a daze.
Part of her screamed at her that she already knew the answers to the questions from earlier. Over the course of the train ride to Osaka, however, all of her came to that conclusion as well.
She loved Izuku Midoriya.
And she wanted to tell him in person. Just as they were leaving for internships. Now she had to wait all week before she'd get a chance.
That would be fine. It was only a week, after all.
---
Izuku, meanwhile, was completely unaware of the state of tumult that he had left Kyoka in. Instead, he was focused entirely on the fact that he was approaching Might Tower. While Izuku had been able to keep his excitement to a low, background buzz while on the train towards Tokyo, every block that he walked closer to the building brought it closer to the surface.
By the time he was standing in front of the tower, staring up at the nearly eighty stories of glass windows that rose above him, Izuku was practically vibrating in place. At this angle, he couldn't see the double-ringed planet that topped the building, but he knew it was there. Everything else felt startlingly familiar, as he had seen the tower enough in press conferences, on the news, and on hero websites, that it was as if he had visited many times already.
Walking inside, however, was another experience entirely. The foyer was broad and tall, with ceilings reaching at least three stories high. Despite the several public restaurants along the exterior of the building and the decorations scattered around the entrance, including clusters of seating and plants for people to congregate around, it was still a hero agency. There were well-marked locations for anyone with an urgent issue to be seen and spoken with immediately, as well as annexes for the agency's public relations and public safety teams.
The oversized gift shop dedicated to All Might taking up nearly twenty percent of the floor space was a little bit overboard, though, Izuku thought.
Izuku's instructions directed him to a small out of the way security station to receive his credentials. All Might had told him that he would be receiving one of the highest levels of clearance so he could train in some of All Might's personal gyms and training rooms. The security employee, however, had obviously not been informed of this, first doing a double take at his computer screen, inspecting Izuku carefully (what for Izuku wasn't sure), and calling a supervisor to make sure everything was actually correct.
After five minutes of assuring the security guard that, yes, Izuku did in fact deserve those clearances, Izuku was riding a very large elevator to the seventy fifth floor. Apparently every floor above the seventieth was reserved for All Might's personal agency, and any floor above the seventy fourth was for practical hero work: gyms, training rooms, medical services and the like.
The elevator opened to a small anteroom in front of a large room designed for observed sparring. Reinforced windows ringed the central room with elevated seating all around. Inside the sparring room was a simple padded ring, although the floor was segmented in ways that implied that obstacles could be added at will.
To Izuku's surprise, Sir Nighteye was standing just in front of the door to the sparring room looking somewhat pensive. The gaunt hero looked up at the sound of the elevator opening and narrowed his eyes at Izuku, inspecting him the way a bird might inspect a particularly tasty insect. He remained silent as Izuku crossed the anteroom to greet him, only speaking as Izuku came to stand right in front of him.
"Izuku Midoriya. Bastion." His tone was flat, devoid of any indication of what the man was thinking.
"Sir Nighteye." Izuku bowed low, holding out his latest hero notebook. "Would you please sign my hero notebook?"
Silence stretched uncomfortably, and eventually Izuku looked up at the hero in front of him. Sir Nighteye was again inspecting him, face unreadable. Deciding to cut his losses, Izuku awkwardly straightened, avoiding Sir Nighteye's gaze, and went to put his notebook away.
"I'll give you an autograph." The hero suddenly proclaimed. "If you can tell a joke. Make me laugh."
Izuku froze. A joke? His eye flickered to Sir Nighteye's face, as dour and severe as ever. Did this man laugh at anything at all? Even if he did, Izuku had no idea about his background, his personality, or what he found funny. Mild panic began to build in Izuku's chest; this was a terrible first impression to make on All Might's first and only ever sidekick.
And of course, because he was panicking, Izuku couldn't think of a single joke. Casting about for absolutely anything he could use, he recalled a side comment that Present Mic had made in English class a week or so ago.
"What's the difference between a semicolon and a cat?" Sir Nighteye didn't react, waiting for Izuku to deliver the punchline. "One is a pause at the end of a clause, while the other has paws on the end of their claws!"
Silence. Glancing from the corner of his eye, Izuku saw the corners of Sir Nighteye's lips twitch slightly, forming an almost smile. Not laughter, not even a true smile, but apparently it was enough. Sir Nighteye reached out a hand to take Izuku's notebook.
As Izuku handed over the notebook, he met eyes with the hero as their hands touched. Oddly, Sir Nighteye's eyes narrowed once again as his brows furrowed, and he looked at Izuku curiously. He blinked twice rapidly, and then the expression of confusion was gone as Sir Nighteye straightened and began to leaf through the notebook. Izuku wasn't positive that he hadn't imagined it.
"This is good analysis. I see Nezu's influence on your style."
"Ah! Yes, sir. He gave me some pointers while I was still preparing for U.A. I haven't had time to take any more lessons with him since I've started, though." Izuku hung his head slightly at the admission.
"No worries. It is good to get multiple points of view. Even Nezu has his blind spots." Sir Nighteye came to his own page and quirked an eyebrow. He didn't share what he found interesting with Izuku, however, instead signing the page with Izuku's pen before taking out one of his trademark hyperdensity seals and stamping the page as well. "Perhaps I could give you some pointers during this week."
Izuku's eyes went wide at the offer, and he bowed low once again. "It would be an honor, Sir. And thank you so much for the autograph." Upon straightening, Izuku took his notebook back from Sir Nighteye who was looking at him oddly once again.
Even after Izuku had returned the notebook to his backpack, Sir Nighteye would not stop looking at him like a puzzle to be solved. "I, uh, I should probably head inside, Sir. Gran Torino was adamant that I show up on time to the sparring room."
"Of course." Sir Nighteye stepped to the side and allowed Izuku to enter the room. Just a step or two inside, however, and he spoke up again. "Bastion."
"Yes?" Izuku turned around to face Sir Nighteye. "Was there something else, Sir?"
"You should duck."
"What?" The man conspicuously looked at his watch as his lips again twitched into an almost-smile.
"Right about … now."
"What?"
Izuku never saw Gran Torino's boot coming. An instant later, he was laid out on the floor from a sharp kick to the head, the elderly hero standing over his prone form.
"C'mon you zygote! Training started five seconds ago!"
Izuku very quickly learned exactly why All Might was afraid of Gran Torino's training.
---
Despite having lived in Tokyo ever since he was ten, Yosetsu had never really acclimated to the pace of city life all that well. He had been born and raised originally on the outskirts of Niigata, in a decidedly quieter and slower-paced region of the country. Niigata itself was certainly urbanized, but nothing to the extent of Tokyo itself.
Rock Lock's hero agency was located in Yokohama, just south of Tokyo and still easily the second largest city in Japan by population. Yosetsu's thought was that if he had spent the past five years living in Tokyo, he could handle a week in Yokohama. Given the type of hero he was aiming to be, specializing in urban rescues, he figured he'd have to get used to hero work in cities sooner or later.
However, the address that he had been given did not lead him to the city center of Yokohama, where he had expected the Rock Lock's agency to be located. Instead it led him to a residential ward far on the west side of the city, to an otherwise unremarkable block of houses and apartment buildings.
A nearby high school had just finished for the day, students slowly filtering out and into the streets. Yosetsu was completely oblivious to the odd looks he was getting for his unfamiliar uniform coupled with his overnight bag and costume briefcase. Instead, he focused on making his way to the address listed in the information that had been sent to him.
Yosetsu had initially expected the hero agency to be located in a small office, perhaps a former corner market. A small base of operations to protect the entire residential ward. What he was not expecting was for the address he was given to correspond to a simple house, nearly indistinguishable from every other house on the block.
It was a small, two-story house, large enough to have a comfortable amount of space inside, but not sprawling by any metric. The very small yard in front was well trimmed and maintained, with several bicycles leaning against the house's vinyl siding. Nothing in particular picked this house out when compared to the rest of the neighborhood. Yosetsu wasn't sure how long he stood in front of the house, occasionally comparing the address printed on the door to the one he had been sent, but eventually he realized that he was getting confused looks from the passing high school students.
He'd made his way here. There was nothing to do but go ahead and see if this house was the right location. He supposed that, theoretically, it could be a deep underground hero agency, designed to blend into the environment. If, as he was nearly certain, it was the wrong location and in fact, just a house, then he would know and send an email to Rock Lock to figure out where to go.
There was no obvious doorbell, so Yosetsu moved forward and knocked firmly on the door. After twenty seconds of no response, he knocked again, with a bit more force this time. Just as he was about to declare this a lost cause and that no one was home, the door swung open.
Yosetsu froze for a moment, trying to reconcile what he was seeing with his expectations. Rock Lock stood in the doorway, cutting a heroic frame: tall and muscular, if on the thin side. His eyes were sharp and narrow, although his mouth was turned down in a small frown.
What Yosetsu wasn't expecting was for him to be wearing civilian clothes, a dark green turtleneck and tan slacks, with a pink apron over the top. In his left hand he held a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon buried in dough. "Ah, Yosetsu Awase, I assume. I wasn't expecting you to get here for another hour. Come in. I was just finishing up a few chores."
"I, uh…" Yosetsu said, intelligently. Rock Lock, however, had already disappeared into the building, leaving him nothing to do but follow. Robotically, Yosetsu removed his shoes and put on the provided house slippers, leaving his bags near the front door.
Now inside, it was obvious that this was, in fact, just another house. In particular, it appeared to be Rock Lock's house, as there were pictures of him and a woman with bleach blonde hair that Yosetsu assumed was his wife. Yosetsu followed the smells of cooking through a small living room into a strikingly modern kitchen. Rock Lock was in the process of putting a loaf pan into the oven, straightening as Yosetsu crept into the kitchen. "Ok, that'll take about forty five minutes, plenty of time."
"I, uh, don't understand, Rock Lock, sir." Yosetsu was only slightly more coherent than he was in the doorway. Thankfully, before he could go any further, Rock Lock cut him off.
"Ken Takagi, when we're off the clock, Awase." He removed the apron and hung it on the wall, exiting the kitchen opposite to where Yosetsu was standing. "Follow me."
The command hung in the air for a second before Yosetsu shook himself and followed Takagi's footsteps. Ultimately they ended in a small office space near the back of the house. A computer with several monitors took up most of one of the interior walls sitting on a large desk that extended onto a second interior wall. Scattered but obviously organized paperwork covered much of the desk that wasn't taken up by the computer.
Most of the remaining two walls were dominated by large picture windows that looked north and east over Yokohama. The house was built on a hill which afforded excellent views of the city center far to the east.
Takagi sank into the desk chair and motioned Yosetsu to take a seat in a small folding chair that had been set up in one corner. The hero spoke as soon as Yosetsu made himself comfortable. "Whenever we are in this office, you can consider us to be on the clock, Synthesis. Understand?"
"Yes, Rock Lock."
"Good. Now, I have a few points that I want to go over before anything else. First, yes, this is my house, and I live here with my wife. She'll be home from work in about two hours. I'm preparing dinner for three. I hope you will join us." Yosetsu nodded hesitantly.
"The reason I had you meet me here is because you will be staying here with us." Rock Lock must have seen the confusion written on Yosetsu's face. "I don't sleep in my agency, so neither should you. Some of the top heroes might have dormitories or apartments in their agencies, but I'm not one of them. I believe in a healthy work-life balance where I actually get to see my wife occasionally. Especially right now, as she is eight months pregnant."
"Congratulations." Yosetsu hadn't ever thought about having a family in any sense, but he knew enough to congratulate an expectant father.
"Thank you. We will, of course, go into my actual agency beginning tomorrow. All training and patrols will begin there." Yosetsu suppressed a small sigh of relief. He had been worried that Rock Lock's official agency was just this small office. It would have been a very tight week if that had been the case.
"Second, I have never taken an intern before, and only had two work study students before you. Both of them were third years. In general, I don't like the idea of exposing children as young as yourself to actual hero work. It's too much too soon."
"With all due respect, sir," Yosetsu interjected. "Why did you take me, then?"
Rock Lock smiled, a thin and humorless thing. "Because I see a lot of myself in you, kid. Our quirks are similar, but no one really ever thought I could be a hero with it. I had to blaze a lot of trails on my own and create my own space in the industry. I don't want to see another kid go through that when I could help them out."
"Thank you, sir. I'm honored."
"Of course. But! You're still just a kid. This internship is not going to be like most of your classmates'. We might go on one or two patrols, but if anything happens, you are not to interfere! Honestly, most of our time will be spent training your quirk." Yosetsu nodded. Quirk usage was the main reason he had chosen Rock Lock, after all. "I've worked with Eraserhead before, and so I got him to give me a quick overview of where you are with your quirk. I understand you can weld things to fluids, right?"
"Yes, sir. I first managed that about six months ago."
"Well then," Rock Lock smiled again, this time a predatory grin. "I'm going to teach you a nifty little fact: air is a fluid, too. This week, we're going to push your quirk to its limit to see just what you can do."
---
The Aerie was no Might Tower, but it was still one of the tallest buildings in all of Tokyo. Momo had vague memories of her parents taking part in the bidding to contribute to the security and internal electronics of the tower, ultimately winning, despite the Yaoyorozu Corporation being headquartered in Nagoya.
Part of Momo's memory must have been wrong, though, because she was almost sure that she could remember conversations about the difficulties of working on Kyushu in Fukuoka. Perhaps there had been some late decision by Hawks to move his agency to Tokyo, instead.
All three of the interns working for Hawks, herself, Tokoyami, and Yanagi, traveled together. Despite that, conversation between the three of them was sparse, with Tokoyami and Yanagi conversing about television shows and music that Momo was not familiar with before falling silent for the remainder of the trip.
Upon arriving at the Aerie, all three of them were quickly directed to the middle floors where the dormitories lay. Three rooms had been set aside for them, and it was immediately obvious that these rooms had never been used before. Momo knew that Hawks had never taken interns before, but figured that some sidekicks or visiting heroes might have used the rooms in the past, but that was apparently not the case.
The three had been told that they should focus on making themselves at home and that someone would come and get them shortly for their training. It took Momo only a few minutes to unpack; the room in the Aerie was even smaller than her room at U.A, as she had feared, so her decision to pack light was a good one.
Twenty minutes after that she still had not heard from anyone, and so decided to see how Tokoyami and Yanagi were doing. Knocking on their doors yielded no response, however. Had they already been taken off for training? If so, why had she been left behind?
Before she had too much of a chance to lose herself down a hole of self doubt, the elevator at the end of the hall chimed and opened to reveal one of Hawks' many sidekicks, a man dressed in a bird-themed costume but with no obvious sign of what his quirk was. Momo was kicking herself for not being able to remember the man's name.
"Ah, Creati, just the intern I was looking for. Boss wants to see you." The sidekick spoke in a casual tone of voice as if he hadn't just said that the number three hero wanted to see her.
"Should I bring anything? Or wear my hero costume?"
"Nah, it's just a conversation. Nothing to worry too much about." That just made Momo worry more. "Just jump in the elevator here and we'll be on our way up."
"Ok, I will be in your care, then."
The elevator ride was quick despite the twenty-odd floors in between where the dormitories lay and Hawks' office on the top floor. She asked the sidekick where her two schoolmates were, but the only answer she got was a cryptic, "Learning to fly."
The elevator doors opened directly into Hawks' office and Momo was stunned by the floor to ceiling windows beyond the only desk in the room. The view of the Tokyo skyline was inspirational. Even from the elevator where she stood, she could make out Tokyo Tower in the distance.
Momo hadn't realized that she had taken a few steps off the elevator until she heard the sidekick offer her a wish of good luck just a moment before the doors slid shut.
"Quite a view, isn't it." Momo jumped at Hawks' voice coming from behind her. She had figured that if he hadn't been at his desk when she came in, he'd be arriving via elevator soon. Instead, as she turned around, she found that there was a small reading nook immediately to the left of the elevator. Hawks, however, was not looking at the view, but rather at Momo, eyes sharp and predatory.
All of that was gone in an instant, however, and his entire demeanor changed to something jovial. "I used to have my desk facing the other way, but I would just space out all the time looking out the window. Let me tell you, the first time a villain gets off scot-free because you forget to fill out the paperwork, you make sure it never happens again." The hero chuckled as he walked past Momo towards his desk. He made no move to sit at it, though, instead leaning on the front of it facing her.
"I can only imagine, sir." Momo bent low at the waist. "Thank you for taking me on as an intern. I hope I can live up to your expectations."
"Stand up, stand up. I'm not old enough for people to be calling me sir and bowing left and right." He wore an easy smile as he spoke and waved a hand side to side. Momo straightened, feeling only mildly embarrassed.
"If you say so, uh, Hawks. I was told you wanted to see me?" The predatory look from earlier flashed across the hero's face again, for just one moment, before he smiled wide.
"I did. You were really impressive in the festival, going up against Sparky like you did, but that's not where you caught my eye first."
Momo furrowed her brows. Had she met Hawks at some earlier event with her parents? Would he even have remembered her? "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."
"You were the one who fired the flares off at the USJ, were you not? I had plenty of time to go over the police reports while I was recovering. You know, from my broken spine." Hawks' smile took on a decidedly darker cast.
"I was." Momo bowed once again, despite what he had said earlier about being causal. "Thank you for responding so quickly, and I apologize for the injuries you received in the line of duty."
"What'd I say about bowing?" Hawks stared at her until she stood up straight once again, cheeks red. "Anyway, it's all part of the job. The only one who might be upset is the HPSC. Spinal surgery ain't cheap, you know?" He winked.
Momo's head was spinning. This felt all too much like one of the conversations she occasionally found herself in at one of her parents' galas; Hawks was probing for information, and Momo had no idea what he was looking for. She fell back on a tried and true method from the past: name drop her mother.
"Well, if you would like to be reimbursed, I'm sure my mother would be more than happy to do so. I can give you her contact information if you would like." Most people shook in fear at this offer, given her mother's reputation, and it often gave her a measure of control.
Hawks was not most people. Instead of quavering, he instead burst out laughing. "Ah, yes, the Dragon of Aichi herself. You know, I met her once when we were building this tower. Do you know what she said to me?"
"No, sir, I don't." This wasn't going the way Momo had hoped.
"Don't call me sir." Hawks shot her a look before continuing with his story. "She said 'Watch your wings, baby bird. Dragons feast on those who fly too high.'" He chuckled at his own story, and Momo's growing look of horror. "Scariest damn person I've ever met. And yes, I'm counting that bird-faced villain from the USJ."
"I… may have heard that from one or two others." It was, in fact, by far the most common comment on Momo's mother.
"And yet it has nothing to do with her quirk or anything like that. It's all about her brain, her ability to improvise in a situation, and most importantly her decisiveness." Hawks still wore an easy smile, but his eyes narrowed, imparting seriousness to what he was saying. "Those are some of the most important traits for a hero as well. You have the seeds of them, waiting to sprout like your mother. You showed that at the USJ, and I saw it for myself during the festival."
"Really? I would think that heroes should be more … comforting … than my mother typically is." Severe was the most common word to describe her mother, and comforting would be near the bottom of the list, Momo would say.
"To civilians, yes. But for villains? Think of fighting them like a high stakes conversation at one of your fancy parties." Thinking of it like that, Momo was sure that her mother could handle any villain out there, even the ones that gave All Might trouble at the USJ. Hawks fell silent for a moment before he continued, low and conspiratorial. "That's actually good advice for the industry, generally. You're ahead of the curve on that. And remember, trust no one, not fully, until they've proven themselves to you."
"Trust no one? So, not even you?" The words were out of Momo's mouth before she could stop them.
Hawks, however, laughed and smiled wide, shaking his head. It was perhaps the most genuine smile that Momo had seen out of him during the entire conversation. "Especially not me!"
---
Shoto was confused. He had trained with Endeavor for years, and felt like he had a relatively good grasp on the man's training style. While Endeavor appreciated the necessity of physical fitness in the heroism industry, a single glance at him could tell anyone that, he always emphasized quirks as being the most important factor in heroism. Physical training almost always occurred well after Shoto had reached the point of quirk exhaustion. Not that this meant he was allowed to slack during the physical training either.
Today, however, Endeavor's initial evaluation of Shoto and Kaminari, his two newest interns, was almost entirely about their physical preparations. It had been test after test of strength, endurance, speed, and flexibility. Shoto had developed a grudging respect for Kaminari during the testing, though; even though he hadn't gone through the decade of torturous training that Shoto had, he still nearly matched him in every single test. There were a few, even, mostly related to flexibility and speed, that Kaminari had the upper hand in. Shoto knew that Kaminari was one of the students who had been scouted by Toshinori Yagi, and it was just another reminder as to the man's skill in preparing hero students.
There had only been a brief, almost perfunctory evaluation of their quirks at the end. Even Shoto using his fire for the first time in years didn't elicit more than a raised eyebrow out of Endeavor. Shoto would have dismissed it as Endeavor already having a good handle on the potential output of Shoto's quirk if it weren't for the fact that he was exactly as brief with his inspection of Kaminari.
Even though the quirk examination had been relatively light, however, Shoto had managed to get a better handle on his fellow intern. Kaminari's quirk was one of the more powerful electricity quirks that Shoto had ever heard of, allowing him to both absorb and emit electricity with absurdly high limits. The most impressive part may have been his ability to forcibly stimulate his own muscles for extra bursts of strength and speed. The fact that he could do that without so much as wincing spoke volumes about his pain tolerance.
It was, therefore, a bit of a surprise for Kaminari to immediately collapse to the floor of the training room as soon as Endeavor left. A moment later he whined pitifully, "Everything hurts!"
Shoto glanced at Kaminari with a raised eyebrow. "For Endeavor, this was a relatively sedate evaluation. He would put me through a far more complete regimen roughly monthly while I lived at home."
"Please tell me you're kidding." Shoto wasn't kidding, and didn't particularly know how to respond to Kaminari's begging, so he just stared at Kaminari blankly waiting for the conversation to move on. "You're not kidding. Yikes."
"Yikes? I understand that many hero family scions go through similar training and testing. To get into the shape you are in you must have gone through something similar as well."
"Kinda? I mean, Mr. Yagi plotted out a tough plan, and it definitely pushed me, but he knew exactly how hard to push me. It was hard but it never hurt toobad. He emphasized that serious pain was the body's way of telling you something was wrong."
That was a new concept to Shoto. To Endeavor, pain was just weakness leaving the body, and his masterpiece was to have no weaknesses. Shoto had heard more about heroes needing to fight through pain to complete their job than he could remember. It was part of the reason he could use his ice so well: the pain of the early stages of frostbite barely even registered to him anymore. The only thing that really stopped him from pushing his body even further was the fact that it would begin to shut down as his core temperature dropped further and further.
Endeavor had always bragged about similar feats of pain tolerance. His resistance to fire meant that he didn't really burn in the same way as others did, at least not at the temperatures he could produce. That didn't mean his flames weren't painful after a time, though. However, Endeavor emphasized that he simply ignored the pain, pushing through until his core temperature climbed too high for even his quirk-altered biology to deal with.
"Pain is part of being a hero, though." If there was one thing that Shoto knew about heroism, it was that. Endeavor had made sure to drill that into him. Repeatedly.
"I mean, I guess? But it doesn't have to be part of training." Kaminari was looking at him strangely at this point, and Shoto didn't know how to deal with it.
For the first time in a very long time, Shoto was legitimately glad for Endeavor to enter the room, if only to interrupt the awkward conversation at hand. "Chargebolt, your level of preparation is adequate. Beginning tomorrow, you may join us on patrol." That was an extraordinarily high level of praise from Endeavor. Kaminari may not have realized that, however, given the grimace on his face. "Shoto, I would speak with you in my office."
Ah, this would be when the real training would start. Seeing no other feasible option, Shoto followed Endeavor out of the training room and into the elevator to the top floor of the tower. He knew enough about his father's agency that the man's office would be at least as hardened against fire and flame as any training room, if not more so. Combine that with the privacy afforded the head of the agency and Shoto was sure that whatever training he was about to go through would be unpleasant at best.
Shoto had not been in Endeavor's personal office for several years at this point. He had expected it to shrink somewhat, as all places do when visited for the first time after childhood. Instead, he had a much greater appreciation for just how large and empty Endeavor's office truly was.
It took up nearly half of the top floor, stretching the entire length of the building. One wall was a bank of windows looking out over the sunset that drenched the room in oranges and reds. The only furniture in the room was an extravagant desk for Endeavor, and a small sitting area topped by an enormous and gaudy chandelier. The rest of the room was empty space, lacking any decoration of any sort.
Contrary to Shoto's expectations, Endeavor sat at one of the two couches in the central sitting area and motioned for Shoto to join him. The leather was stiff and not yet broken in, despite these couches being in Endeavor's office for as long as Shoto could remember. Shoto sat ram-rod straight, waiting for Endeavor to take the conversational lead. It took the man some time before he decided on exactly what he wanted to say.
"Blue fire." The words sounded as if they had been wrenched out of Endeavor against his will and hung in the air.
"Yes." There didn't seem to be much else to say.
"Like Touya." Shoto didn't remember his brother much, just bits and pieces here and there. Many of those memories were likely even confabulations based on photos or stories here and there. He did remember the night Touya died, though, and the blue flames that had raced through the house, reducing the east wing to ashes.
"Yes." Endeavor fell silent once again and Shoto tensed, waiting for the other shoe to drop. When Endeavor finally spoke once again, it was not anything he could have expected.
"It galls me to say this, but U.A has obviously already done more in the month you've been there than I have in the past several years. I will leave your quirk training to your teachers there. Assuming that you continue to make progress, that is." Shoto quickly decided to not mention that it had been more due to pressure from Midoriya that had caused him to use his fire, not the teachers. He didn't want to give Endeavor any reason to change his mind, after all. Aizawa had pushed at the beginning of the year but dropped it since. Even Honenuki had tried longer than Aizawa had.
"Instead, during your time here, I will show you how a hero ought to behave. U.A has changed since Nezu took over as principal. Recent graduates are fundamentally conceptually confused about what it means to be a hero. I will ensure that you, at least, will understand exactly how a hero should act.
"Watch how I behave on patrol beginning tomorrow, Shoto. We will be focusing on Hosu, to find the hero killer. That ward has been festering for too long regardless. Team Idaten was far too lax in their behavior. We, however, will make sure to enforce the peace there. By force, if necessary."
---
For all that Gang Orca's hero agency building doubled as a public aquarium, the overnight rooms were nicer than anywhere Kyoka had ever stayed, including her parent's house and U.A. Considering that her parents were more than well-off due to their history in the music industry and that U.A at times seemed to have more cash on hand than most small nations, the comfort of the rooms came as a pleasant surprise last night.
Kyoka had been both physically and emotionally exhausted last night, and so hadn't had a chance to inspect the dormitory rooms in any detail. While she had expected to be up for hours worrying about what Izuku had said at the train stations, she found herself drifting off almost immediately after her head hit the pillow. After all, she had made her decision while on the train. All she had to do now was wait until she saw Izuku once again.
Their conversation last night had been relatively short; both of them exhausted after their first days at their internship. Izuku sounded like he had gotten the worst of it, having dealt with hours of what he described as a maniacal elderly gremlin attacking him from every angle. Kyoka felt like she had gotten off easy, with 'merely' a one hour physical and quirk assessment, a two-hour training session to help develop sonar, and another two hours of practice paperwork.
After one of the best nights of sleep that she had ever had, however, she had a chance to view the room in the morning light. White tiled walls seemingly glowed in the orange early morning light. A wide floor to ceiling window looked out over the Osaka bay to the west, the ocean water seeming to merge seamlessly with the sumptuous carpet on the floors. All of the furniture was shaped to evoke the rolling waves, especially in the small sitting area immediately in front of the window. Despite only being a single room, with an attached bathroom, it was large enough to have separate, well-defined living, sleeping, and dining spaces.
Gang Orca had made a comment about housing more than just side-kicks and visiting heroes in an attempt to explain the quality, but hadn't bothered to explain exactly what he meant. In the lack of a more detailed explanation, Kyoka assumed that he was talking about visiting scientists to the world-renowned aquarium that sat beneath the hero agency. After all, she'd heard that there were many benefits to being a marine biologist.
Stretching and getting out of bed, Kyoka quickly went about her morning routine before getting dressed in her hero costume. Despite having become a naturally early riser, she found that the comfort of the bed had been enough to cause her to almost oversleep. Gang Orca had wanted her downstairs on the main floor of the agency in her hero costume and ready for breakfast at seven AM. Kyoka was going to make it, although it would be close.
In order to make sure that she was on time, Kyoka took the stairs down to the third floor of the building rather than the elevator. Elevators always had a habit of taking much longer than you wanted them to exactly when you needed them most.
Halfway to her destination, Kyoka realized that she could hear Gang Orca's voice. It sounded as if he were on the telephone, although she couldn't quite make out the other side of the conversation, aside from the fact that it was a woman. There must have been some peculiarity to the acoustics in the building that led to Gang Orca's office echoing to this particular stairwell. Given that it was only on the edge of even Kyoka's hearing, it was probable that no one had noticed before today.
Despite herself, Kyoka couldn't keep from listening in on her supervisor's side of the phone call. "I would not want to leave Osaka so underprepared… No, I don't consider myself indispensable, but… I have already rearranged my schedule more than once this week at your… That is not what I am saying… I'm just trying to… If you would just listen!" Gang Orca exploded momentarily, and whoever was on the other side of the call suddenly hardened their voice. In response, Gang Orca's own voice shrank somewhat. It was very odd to hear the hulking man suddenly sound so small. "No, I misspoke… I apologize ma'am… Of course… That is a reassurance, thank you… Of course… I will be there starting tomorrow… You want me to bring…? Even with the danger…? Of course, take care."
Kyoka heard the beep of Gang Orca's phone disconnecting before a deep sigh. She continued down the stairs and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a sudden crack, loud enough that anyone without a hearing quirk would have heard it too. After deciding that the agency was not under attack, Kyoka continued downwards at a faster pace to make sure she arrived on time. She didn't want to be late on top of whatever had frustrated Gang Orca in the first place.
The stairwell exited onto the third floor of the building on the edge of the main work space for the agency, and almost immediately next to Gang Orca's own office space. It was not completely walled in, in order to promote the idea that he was just as much a part of his agency as any of his sidekicks, but it was still set off and raised slightly above the rest of the floor.
Near the kitchen, a large buffet was laid out with breakfast foods of all varieties ready for the taking. Surprisingly, Kyoka was the first one here. She was certain that any sidekicks that arrived here before her would already be swarming the buffet for food. Kyoka's stomach rumbled in anticipation of breakfast, but she decided to let Gang Orca know about the acoustics issue first. It wasn't likely, but a dedicated spy could easily gather information with a well-placed listening device.
As Kyoka approached her supervisor's office space, she immediately saw what had caused the loud crack from earlier. Gang Orca stood in front of a reinforced punching bag hanging from the ceiling, or at least what was left of it. The bottom half of the punching bag lay against the far wall of his office, while the hero himself stood in front of the punching bag, eyes wide and breathing deep. Kyoka had once seen Izuku punch a nearly identical punching bag with a full ten percent of his quirk to no serious damage. Seeing that Gang Orca had demolished one simply reinforced how strong he was.
Gang Orca turned as Kyoka approached and visibly worked to calm himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in before exhaling through his blowhole. When his eyes opened again, he was the picture of a calm and controlled hero.
"Good morning, Heartsong. I apologize if you saw my outburst just now."
"I didn't see it, but I heard it. I, uh, also may have heard part of the phone call beforehand." Gang Orca's eyes narrowed, reinforcing his predatory look. Kyoka quickly continued. "There's some quirk of the acoustics in this building so I could hear it pretty easily from the stairwell. I'm sorry if I overheard anything I shouldn't have, but I thought I should tell you so you can fix it."
Once again Gang Orca closed his eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling through his blowhole. When he opened his eyes, he once again appeared calm and in control, although perhaps not so much as before.
"Thank you for letting me know, Heartsong. I'll get in touch with the architect to have that remedied as soon as possible. And you didn't hear anything you shouldn't have, I was going to tell you soon anyway." Gang Orca heaved a sigh before continuing. "Our patrol schedule has changed. Drastically."
"I thought that heroes got to choose their own patrol schedules. Especially high-ranking heroes like you." Kyoka knew almost nothing about the details of how patrol schedules and routes were decided, but knew that high-ranking heroes had a great deal of leeway in the process just through cultural osmosis. She supposed that this internship was intended to give her a first insight into the process.
"For the most part you'd be right, but the commission can request certain heroes alter their plans in extraordinary circumstances. They can make it very hard to refuse."
"What extraordinary circumstances? And how do they make it hard to say no?"
"I'm sure you know what the general public thinks of my appearance." Gang Orca gestured to the framed magazine of the wall that had awarded him third in their competition of 'Heroes Who Look Like Villains.' "In order to ensure that civilians trust me with their safety, the commission has helped emphasize my more heroic moments in their public communications and organize many of my appearances at aquariums around the nation. Normally this is fantastic, as it helps normalize more complex mutants like myself."
Gang Orca continued. "This is something that my agency could focus on, but it would be at the expense of both the number of sidekicks I could employ and my attention to heroism. It also gives them quite a bit of leverage when requesting that I change my schedule." Gang Orca paused for a moment, scrutinizing Kyoka, before continuing. "You likely won't have to worry about any of this, at least not for your mutation. Probably not, anyway."
"Sir?" Kyoka had gotten some grief about her earjacks through middle school, but never anything too bad. Since beginning at U.A she hadn't heard anything. She had figured the issues over her earjacks were due to the immaturity of her former classmates more than anything else. Now Gang Orca had her worried.
"You look close enough to a baseline human that only the most extreme anti-mutant activists should take aim at you, and no one pays them much mind. Usually. Anyway, enough of this depressing talk, let's get some breakfast." Gang Orca strode towards the buffet where several of his sidekicks had begun to stack plates high with food. "Make sure to eat light, we'll rearrange your training so we can focus on getting you the basics of sonar. And then tonight, we'll head to Tokyo. Tomorrow, we patrol in Hosu."
---
Ochako was in pain. Every inch of her body cried out in discomfort. The cool padding of the sparring room floor that she was lying on was a welcome relief on her bruised and strained arms and legs. It turned out that Yoroi Musha was beyond harsh when it came to sparring.
His quirk allowed him to summon spectral weapons, and so Ochako had assumed that he was primarily familiar with weapon based martial arts. That was emphatically not the case, as the hero had firmly explained to her at the beginning of her internship.
"To be a hero is to be a warrior against evil. And every warrior needs a weapon. There will come a time when my quirk is not useful. In that moment, my own body will be my weapon. I will forge yours into a weapon as well, Uravity."
In that moment, standing in front of Yoroi Musha with him staring down at her as if he were inspecting an ant, Ochako first began to doubt her internship decision. The man was a giant, at least two meters tall, and dressed in a traditional martial artist's hakama. While Ochako had wanted to learn something about combat from her internship, the intensity that radiated off the man was more than a little off-putting.
Eight hours of uninterrupted training and sparring later, all quirkless on his part, at least, Ochako had decided that she was not a fan of the man. He was unwilling to make any compromises in his teaching style for a student that had no background in martial arts and expected perfection immediately. The worst was when Ochako had inquired as to a possible water break; Yoroi Musha had responded that if she could defeat him in a spar, he would allow it.
She did not get her water break.
However, he did eventually relent and end the day's training. Wearily, Ochako pushed herself up off the floor and made her way to the water station in the corner of the room. She took the time to savor the feel of the cool water in her mouth. Simply standing without moving was a relief at this point.
Naturally, it was not to last.
Faster than Ochako would have thought possible, Yoroi Musha was looming over her once again, this time in full costume. Even this close up she couldn't tell if the samurai armor that he was wearing was a replica, or if it actually functioned as body armor. It certainly appeared real. "Find provisions in the kitchen and get suited up. We begin patrol in twenty minutes. If you are not outside in front of the building when I leave, you will be left behind."
Ochako ran. Thankfully her costume was designed for quick outfit swaps, so she was able to get it on and into the kitchen within five minutes. There was not much available in the agency kitchen, but a kind sidekick was able to help her quickly put together a small protein packed meal, along with a few snacks for later on the patrol.
She was still chewing the last bite of her meal as she exited the agency with two minutes to spare. Yoroi Musha was already there, stoically staring down the pedestrians walking in front of his agency. Somehow, despite not glancing towards her even once, he knew when she arrived.
"Can you tell me, Uravity, why heroes patrol? Why do we put ourselves in a vulnerable position on a daily basis?" The question caught Ochako off guard. Aizawa had asked something similar in one of their earliest hero informatics classes and had given three reasons. After a moment of thought, she gave the reason that she thought Yoroi Musha was fishing for.
"We patrol to stop crimes currently in action, sir." Her supervisor had been very clear that she only refer to him by 'sir' or his hero name for the entirety of the internship.
"Of the reasons to patrol, that is by far the least important, Uravity." The man intoned, before striding off to begin the patrol. Ochako blinked in surprise before hurrying after him.
Once she caught up, he continued speaking. "The primary reason is often touted as reminding civilians that we exist, providing a sense of safety and security to the community as a whole. Patrols are supposed to build connections between hero agencies and the cities and wards they are located in, so that when a civilian is in need, they have no fear of reaching out for support."
That was much more in line with the conclusion that Aizawa had come to in class, although he had emphasized that patrols played very different roles for different heroes. Underground heroes very much focused on stopping crimes in progress, and so focused on patrolling at night when more of these crimes were occurring. Rescue focused heroes rarely patrolled at all, rather operating on call so they could reliably be the first to a disaster site.
The reasoning that Yoroi Musha had just laid out was how most heroes justified their patrols, though. While underground and rescue focused heroes existed, the vast majority of heroes did not specialize in one or the other.
"I, however, disagree." The man's gravelly voice cut through the background noise of the city as they walked the streets. "The reason I patrol is to remind villains that I am still alive. That if and when they commit a crime, I will be there to stop them. And it will not be pleasant."
Yoroi Musha continued lecturing her as they patrolled through the city, although Ochako began tuning it out relatively quickly. The hero had a very different philosophy of heroism than Ochako herself, and she did not like much of what she had heard. He seemed to think of heroes as constantly under assault, needing to be able to unleash violence at the spur of the moment to protect themselves (and civilians, but mostly themselves) from villains.
Ochako much preferred the sort of heroism advocated by All Might during his lectures at U.A. Even Aizawa, despite his harsh world view, seemed to side more with All Might's philosophy rather than what Yoroi Musha was preaching. The more she thought about Yoroi Musha's arguments, the more she realized that they did not hold up particularly well.
As they passed a dark alleyway, the sound of trash cans being toppled to the ground interrupted Yoroi Musha's monologue and drew both of their attention.
"It's likely just a stray cat, but it could be something worse. I will investigate. You stay here, Uravity." Without waiting for a confirmation, he strode off into the alleyway. Given the amount of armor he was wearing, he did an admirable job of moving quietly, although he wasn't perfectly silent.
Ochako tamped down the excitement and anxiety that bloomed in her stomach. Her supervisor was right; it was almost certainly just a stray animal of some sort. There was nothing to worry about. Even if it was some sort of criminal or villain activity, Yoroi Musha had been a high ranking hero for decades. He had everything under control.
After what felt like hours, but was probably less than a minute, a figure exited the alleyway. With a start, Ocahko realized that it was not Yoroi Musha, but what appeared to be a school girl just younger than herself. Had Yoroi Musha sent the girl out to keep her safe? Or had he somehow missed her in his investigation of the alley.
The school girl had messy blonde hair, and wore an oversized, stained cardigan over her middle school uniform, but what stood out most to Ochako was the girl's unhealthily pale skin. Her golden eyes were wide and blinked rapidly at Ochako, as if she wasn't entirely sure what she was seeing.
"Are you ok? Did you run into Yoroi Musha?" The girl snapped to attention and she apparently reflexively bore her teeth at Ochako. Despite everything else that was happening, Ochako noted that she had fangs in her mouth, canines much larger and sharper than her own. "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you." Ochako held her hands up in a placating motion, hoping to defuse the situation. "I just want to help."
The girl closed her mouth but the tension in her body remained and she began slowly backing up. In a moment of inspiration, Ochako reached into her belt and pulled out one of the protein bars she had packed as a snack, holding it out to the girl as a peace offering.
"You look like you're starving. You should really eat something. Take this, please. It'll fill you up, at least." At the very least the girl stopped backing away, eyeing the protein bar warily. With the opportunity to study the girl more closely, Ochako suddenly realized that the girl was older than she had initially thought. Despite wearing a middle school uniform and being overall smaller and slimmer than Ochako, her face was that of an older teenager. Her petite frame was more from being underfed than anything else.
The girl took a hesitant step forward, reaching out slightly for the protein bar, and Ochako smiled encouragingly to her. Loud footsteps sounded from the alleyway heralding Yoroi Musha's return, and panic flashed across the girl's face. Ochako turned to look for her supervisor for just a moment, but when she turned back the girl was gone.
For a brief moment, Ochako wasn't sure that she hadn't imagined the girl. But the protein bar in her hand was gone. She hoped that the girl was able to find the help she needed soon.