13 Decisions
After the awards ceremony, the students went to their classrooms where they were informed they would have two days off and that the scouting reports from the pros would be ready on the day they came back.
"So, you guys coming?" asked Yuuichi as he, Kunie, and Kentaro made their way to the front gates of the campus.
"Have to ask my parents first." said Kentaro.
"Me too." said Kunie.
"Sure, just let me know." said Yuuichi.
As to what they were talking about, Yuuichi had invited Kunio and Kentaro, as well as their parents, to join him and his family to go out to eat later that day, at the behest of his mom.
As the trio made their way out of the campus, they noticed that some of the spectators would glance at Kentaro before quickly looking away.
"What's that about?" asked Kunio.
"They're scared." said Yuuichi and Kentaro simultaneously.
"Scared? Of what?"
"Of Kentaro because he lost control during the fight and he was roaring like a monster." explained Yuuichi.
"What?! That's not fair! It's not his fault his quirk does that!" said Kunio.
"Mm." said Kentaro, unfazed by it all.
"Why aren't you angry?" asked Kunio.
"I grew up in the countryside. When I was born, people were scared of me. None of the kids would play with me because I looked like a monster. I'm used to it." he explained.
"Oh." said Kunio, saddened by the fact that Kentaro was so unfazed by the discrimination.
"It's unfortunate, but people who discriminate against those with Mutant-type quirks have been around since the advent of quirks. And before that, there was discrimination based on the color of your skin. There will always be humans who hate others just because of what they look like. They're all dumbasses." said Yuuichi.
"Mm. That's one of the reasons why I want to be a hero and be in the Top 10. To show others like me that it's okay to be different. And also so I can deal with those villains that harm and even kill Mutant-types like the Creature Rejection Clan." said Kentaro.
"Sign me up for that. I'll help you when the time comes." said Yuuichi, patting Kentaro on the back.
"Me too." said Kunio.
"Mm. Thanks." said Kentaro, a small smile gracing his face.
"By the way Yuuichi, I've been meaning to ask, why was that dragon head you used a different color?" asked Kunio.
"Mm. It was cold too." chimed in Kentaro.
"Well, it'll be known eventually especially since I used it in front of everyone, so why the hell not? I can also use Lunar Energy to create constructs."
"Wait, Lunar Energy? The moon doesn't have energy, it's just light from the sun reflected off the moon's surface. How can you use Lunar Energy?" said Kunio.
"Beats me. All I know is I can use Lunar Energy to create constructs. Don't really care to think about it much more than that." said Yuuichi.
"Quirks are weird." said Kentaro.
"I guess." said Kunio.
~
After a nice meal, wherein the trio's parents became friends, Yuuichi was now laying down on the floor of the training room with the roof open, staring at the stars.
DING
"Hm?" said Yuuichi as he created a hand to pick up his phone to bring to him before checking who messaged him.
And to his surprise, it was someone from his past.
"Rumi?" said Yuuichi as he sat up in surprise before reading her text.
[Saw your fight at the sports festival. I hope you were holding back because if you weren't, you don't stand a chance at beating me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]
"Haha!" laughed Yuuichi, glad to see that time had not changed Rumi.
[Don't worry, when we meet, I won't hold back. ;-)]
Yuuichi saw that she had read his message and waited for a reply, but one did not arrive.
'3 more years. Wonder what she looks like now.' thought Yuuichi as he lay down and closed his eyes.
~
"Welcome back-nya. I hope you had a good rest, and I know some of you wish you could rest more, but the show must go on-nya.
Now, I know you must all be eager to hear about what pros have chosen you for an internship, so we'll start with that before we move on to what's next. Usually, the numbers are more spread out but because of that last fight between two of your classmates, the numbers are more skewed." said Claw as a bar graph appeared on the board.
In first with the most amount of offers was Yuuichi followed by Kentaro who had about half the offers Yuuichi did. On the other hand, Kunio had only gotten a few dozen offers.
"Phew, that's a lot offers. I'm already sleepy just thinking about going through so many offers." said Yuuichi.
"Tch." said Kentaro, displeased that Yuuichi got more offers than he did.
"Indeed, you two have a lot of options, but that's not always a good thing-nya. More things to consider means more things to worry about-nya.
As for those who didn't get picked, do not worry-nya. Everyone will participate in the internships. Don't feel bad about not getting picked. The offers from the pros are for those students who they believe can join the workforce in a few years. All that means is you have to train harder-nya.
Now, onto what's next. One of the most important aspects of any hero, their alias. And for this, I must remind you to think carefully about what you choose-nya. Even though you can change it in the future, you may come to be known as the one you choose today. So choose wisely-nya." said Claw before passing out a small whiteboard to each student so they can write their names there.
"Do you know what alias you're putting down?" asked Kunio, who sat behind Yuuichi while Kentaro sat to the left of him.
"I have some things kicking around, but I haven't settled on one yet." said Yuuichi.
"I already have mine. Cook Hero: Lunch Rush." he said showing them the whiteboard.
"It suits you." said Yuuichi.
"Mm. Mine's Oni." said Kentaro.
"Isn't it too villainy?" asked Kunio.
"Don't care." replied Kentaro.
"Oni's aren't intrinsically evil just wrathful." explained Yuuichi.
"Interesting. So, have you decided?" said Kunio.
"Yup. It's my top pick but I felt a little weird about using it but decided to go with it. Buddha." said Yuuichi.
"Buddha?" said the two of them simultaneously.
"Yup."
"It fits with the theme of your constructs." said Kentaro.
"Correct. And I also kind of look like Buddha, don't you think?" said Yuuichi, pointing at his earlobes.
"Weird, I've never thought about it but now that you mention it, you sorta do." said Kunio.
"Never thought you were religious." said Kentaro.
"I'm not. I practice Buddhism as more of a belief about life rather than a religion. I also don't follow the predetermined path that most Buddhists follow, but rather I decided to find my own path. To truly find oneself, one must experience life and all that it offers. Only then can one attain Nirvana."
"Cool." said Kunio.
"Mm. I like that." said Kentaro.
"Buddha it is."
~
After giving the students some time to think about their aliases, Claw then had the students present them before giving his thoughts and opinions, while also vetoing some that were either too long or inappropriate.
Surprisingly, Claw didn't say anything about Yuuichi's alias but rather liked it quite a bit. He did have some thoughts about Kentaro's alias but was convinced after Kentaro told him what Yuuichi had said about oni's.
"Good, you young heroes have taken yet another step toward your future-nya. A round of applause for all of you-nya." said Claw as the class started clapping.
"Back to your internships. They start in a week and I will be handing out personalized lists to those who got offers, but for those that didn't, their list will have 40 hero agencies who you must choose from. Each hero agency specializes in something different so make sure you look through them before deciding. Make sure you submit your choices by this weekend-nya." said Claw before handing out papers first to those who weren't chosen and then to those who got chosen.
BANG
"Phew." whistled Yuuichi seeing the giant stack of papers that had been placed on his desk.
"I put them in order of specialty that I think you would be most interested in to specialties you would be least interested in-nya. Just to save you some time-nya." said Claw while winking.
"Thanks, sensei."
"No thank necessary. I'm just doing what any teacher should-nya." he said before walking out of the class.
"What specialty is the one he thinks you'd be most interested in?" asked Kunio.
"Villain apprehension." said Yuuichi after reading the first page.
"Me too." said Kentaro.
"He put Disaster Rescue for me." said Kunio.
"What a good teacher."
~
After splitting up with Kunio, Yuuichi was going over the many pro heroes that had offered an internship while making his home.
'There's way too many. I think I'll just choose Endeavor. Make things easier for myself.' thought Yuuichi as he flipped through the pages.
Feeling a sense of danger, Yuuichi looked up to see a mummy with madness in its eyes barreling toward him. But mid-way through creating a palm to stop the mummy, Yuuichi saw the mummy get hit by something, stopping it in its tracks before hearing a gunshot.
Constructing a barrier around himself to protect himself from any unexpected attacks, Yuuichi then looked at the ground next to the mummy to see a blue and pink bullet with a blunted tip.
And being someone who was a hero and paid attention to hero news, he knew what that bullet meant and who it represented.
"You okay, kid?" asked the owner of the bullet, Lady Nagant, a pro hero whose quirk was to create a sniper rifle from her arm and use her hair as bullets.
"Fine. Thanks for the save." said Yuuichi, even though he could've saved himself.
"Mm. It's my fault for letting him get away from me." she said before picking up the bullet and reattaching it to her hair.
"Don't worry about it. By the way, does your hair grow back?" asked Yuuichi.
"Everyone's does." she said.
"Good one, but I meant more like does yours grow back faster than normal since you use it for bullets?" asked Yuuichi with a grin.
"Faster than the average person but it helps to pick up the bullets." she explained.
"Interesting. Can I go or are you going to need me for a statement or something?"
"No, you're free to go. If you had completed that move of yours, it would've been a different story. You have good senses to react that quickly."
"How can you tell?"
"I've been a pro hero for a long time, I can tell." she said before turning away to call something in.
"Lady Nagant, your offer doesn't happen to be in here, does it?" asked Yuuichi, waving the stack of papers around.
"Maybe. Why?" she said, looking over her shoulder.
"No reason. See you." said Yuuichi as he walked away, waving.
'Lady Nagant, huh? Highly regarded pro, but never made it to the Top 10. Still, she's been around for a while and she's good at what she does. But for her to show up and save me on the day I get my offers for the internship is odd. Maybe I'm overthinking things but it lines up too perfectly.
And her accidentally letting the villain get away is fishy. I've read that she can snipe from up to 3 KM away. Not to mention she can curve her bullets. It's odd. And my gut is saying to stay away but I'm just too curious. What's her end goal in setting up this chance encounter?
Only one way to find out.' thought Yuuichi as he riffled through the pages before arriving at the one with her offer.
'Should be fun.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN
Let me know what you think about his alias. Was trying to decide between going simple and using Buddha or something like Deva or Asura, or straying away from the Buddhist thing and going with something that fits his quirk like Agni or something fire/sun related.
