Endeavor Agency

I let out a low whistle, "Not bad."

The two sidekicks and son of Endeavour don't look as impressed as me and instead head straight inside.

Burnin looks back at me and grins, "C'mon Hirota! You're getting left behind."

I chuckle and call back, "Roger that."

When we enter the building, we are greeted by a huge lobby with many seating areas and a receptionist at the front desk.

Once again I am mildly impressed, "Is this practical? Having this much space?"

Ignis shrugs, "It may not seem like it now since it's later in the day, but sometimes, this whole lobby will be full, people either wanting formal jobs done, or sponsorships, so naturally we would need a large area."

I nod, not surprised by their popularity, "As expected of the number two hero agency."

Burnin and Ignis both clench their fists, and Burnin says through gritted teeth, "Number one, now that All Might is teaching at your school."

I give a slight smirk, "My bad."

Todoroki just stares at me as we walk towards the receptionist who waves at us, "Yahoo! Hello Burnin, Ignis! Are these two the new interns?"

I give her a small smile, "Hello, I'm Shiro Hirota."

Todoroki bows but says nothing.

Burnin grins at the receptionist, "You heard them, we'll have fresh blood for the next week, Sachi."

Sachi, frowns at Burnin, "You shouldn't say that. Anyways, Endeavor wants to see them in his office. It sounds like he's going to take care of them."

Iginis has a mildly surprised expression, "He's going to handle them personally?"

Sachi shrugs, "What do you expect? One's won the tournament, and the other is his son."

Burnin looks back at us then shrugs, "Alright then, let's go up. I'll show you guys where we work, then into the big boss's office."

We walk into an elevator and Ignis pushes the button for the tenth floor and the elevator starts to go up.

Burnin gestures to each floor, "We have a total of thirty-eight different floors, two basement levels, and thirty-six above-ground floors. We have restaurants, several gyms, housing, a library, an indoor pool, and a bunch of other things. Personally, my favorite place is the teppanyaki place, but-"

Before she finishes, I cut her off, "What kind of things do you have in your library?"

She looks at me weirdly, "Library? Why are you interested in that? We have much cooler things, you know.

I shrug my shoulders, "I am curious to what the pros at the number one hero agency have access to."

She shrugs her shoulders and looks over to Ignis, who sighs, "I haven't seen that fluorescent idiot pick up a book ever since she finished high school. Anyways, to answer your question, our library has the normal stuff, history, fiction, manga, guidebooks, stuff like that. But we also have police records, hero files, villain records," my body twitches slightly at the mention, ''and a whole section about fire-related topics."

Todoroki shows interest for the first time, "Fire? What do you mean?"

Ignis shrugs, "The physics of fire, how it works, what you can do with it, different ways to manifest it. A lot of us have fire-based quirks, so eventually, we just started compiling a list of our techniques and threw them in there, in case there were newbies who had similar quirks and needed some new skills."

Todoroki rubs his chin and appears to be thinking to himself.

We exit the elevator and I look around, and this time, even Todoroki can't hide his surprise, "Welcome, to the heart and soul of Endeavor Agency, the main floor!"

A large room, about the same size as the lobby, with over thirty desks and a window, lit view of the city. Over fifty people are in the room, around half are standing and rushing around in hero costumes, while the other half appears to be working on computers. On our side of the room, there are three elevators, and directly across us is a large set of dark oak doors.

Ignis gestures to the room, "We have over thirty sidekicks and nearly double the number of office workers. The sidekicks deal with the infield stuff, while the office workers have a larger range of tasks. Filing hero reports, responding to dispatchers, negotiations, and some, like me, run both, depending on the situation."

A few meters away from us, a woman picks up a ringing phone and listens to it for a bit before replying, "Alright, understood. We'll send some people your way."

She hangs up and yells out, "Armed robbery at a jewelry store in Area 21. Multiple suspects, with what is most likely the getaway vehicle parked nearby."

A man yells back, "Status on the patrol team?"

The woman replies, "Positive. The closest one is two minutes away."

Ignis walks up behind her and takes lead of the situation, "Tell them to get their asses over and send reinforcements. Get someone with a flight quirk to track their movements and get people over there to set up a barricade."

The woman nods her head and begins making a call, while the man does the same, 'Nice response. He handled that in the best possible way, I think.'

Burnin grins, "On average, we get over one hundred requests a day. It gets pretty busy, and sometimes we have everyone out on the field, handling many cases at once. C'mon, let's take you to his office."

We stride across the room and stand in front of the large doors, and Burnin clears her throat, knocks on the door three times, and speaks in a surprisingly professional manner, "The two interns have arrived, Endeavor."

There is no response and Burnin is about to knock again, when a gruff voice could be heard from behind the door, "Send them in. Thank you for your assistance, Burnin. Give my thanks to Ignis too."

Burnin salutes, "Yes, Sir!"

She opens the door and gestures for us to enter, returning to her normal rowdy demeanor, grinning at us wildly, "Good luck."

We both walk in, and once again, we enter a large room. This one had a large glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling, two sofas facing each other on a rug, a table underneath, and a wooden desk with a lamp on it. The windows were on the west side, allowing for the setting sun to shine through. Sitting at the desk, writing on some paper, was the man himself, The Flame Hero Endeavor, No. 2 ranked pro hero and head of Endeavor Agency

Todoroki and I both walked towards him, my eyes scanning the room, slightly intrigued, that despite the room being so large, only the middle of it was furnished.

I stop a couple of meters away from his desk and Todoroki does the same, and I run some thoughts through my brain, 'How should I approach this… Act professionally? Or casual? Or just wait for him to speak first…'

My brain decides to act professionally, "Card Hero: Ace, reporting for duty!"

Shoto gives me a side glance but says nothing and Endeavor looks up at me and seemingly glares at me with his ironically cold demeanor, "So, you've both arrived, good, good. First order of business, Hirota, congratulations on your win during the festival, I was impressed by your mental and physical capabilities."

Shoto winces slightly as Endeavor mentions this, and for a second, his eyes flicker to his son before reverting to me, "But, most of all, I was impressed by your desire to win. It wasn't simply just that you wanted to win the festival, you have a deeper motivation, one that doesn't allow you to lose until you complete it, am I right?"

I let out a small smile, "You read right through me, sir."

He nods his head and turns to his son, "Shoto, we both understand the purpose of you standing here in front of me today. It seems you are finally ready to take the path of the mighty."

Shoto glares at him, "I have no intention of going down a path you made. I will take my own path."

Endeavor narrows his eyes, "And that got you pretty far, didn't it…"

'Family problems? Come to think of it, he looked pissed when Burning mentioned, "Little Endeavor," and "Endeavor Jr." It's certainly not new for celebrities to neglect their families, but this looks like it's more than surface-level.'

Todoroki clenches his fist and Endeavor scoffs, "Since you're here, you'll do things the way I tell you to. Only using your ice restricts more than half of your power. You overuse your ice, you can balance that with fire. But since you aren't, you're limiting yourself. Because of your grudge against me, you weaken yourself, preventing you from using 100% of your power."

Todoroki releases his grip as he processes his father's words, and I watch on the sidelines, 'A bit harsh, but what he's saying is true. Overuse of an emitter-type quirk can lead to varying physical consequences. Aizawa sensei only gets dry eyes, but Kaminari gets his brain fried, and Bakugo's quirk is extremely straining on his forearms, due to the shockwaves. Todoroki's quirk gives him some resistance to his respective elements, but he must've suffered from varying degrees of frostbite at one point. If he could negate that with his fire… I honestly can't think of a way to beat him right now… Endeavor probably knows this due to his own experience and research.'

Endeavor stands up and cracks his neck, "Oh well, you two should get ready. We're going out."

I tilt my head in curiosity, as Endeavor walks towards the exit, "Where?"

Endeavor smirks, "If this incident follows the precedent, then the hero killer will appear in Hosu City again. The three of us will go to Hosu for a time on a business trip and work there."

Kuro, who had been quietly listening the whole time, lets out a whoop of excitement, 'LETS FUCKING GOOOO!!!! We get to legally hunt down a murderer! This is gonna be great!'

Despite me reprimanding him and my classmates earlier, I couldn't help but be excited, 'Looks like the gods are smiling upon me. This will be a great opportunity for both experience and reputation. His fighting style must be unique, and his quirk has to complement it. He is undoubtedly a pro at what he does...'

My brain trembles slightly and the sides of my lip curl slightly, 'Man… this is gonna be a thrill.'

Endeavor opens the door and yells out, "Contact Hosu City immediately. Inform them that we will be patrolling the area for the next week or so. Onima, come with me. Burnin, Ignis, you two are in charge for now."

"Yes, sir!"

Endeavor looks back at us, "Let's go then."

Todoroki and I followed him, a calm expression on both of our faces. Onima was a dark purple-haired man in a black suit with a large white "X" over his chest. He also wore a horned Happuri on his head.

He ran up to Endeavor, saluted, then grinned, "So, what have you got this time boss?"

"I predict that the Hero Killer will appear in Hosu for his next attack. The two interns will be coming with me and you'll assist."

"Roger!"

Onima looks at us and waves his hand, "Nice to meet you two!"

I nod, "Same to you."

Todoroki just nods and follows his father, who is walking away.

I walk after them, and Onima follows as well, "So? How are we getting there?"

Endeavor replies without looking back, "We'll take a car. It's about an hour to Hosu. Traffic shouldn't be too bad at this time."

Ten minutes later, we are in a black SUV, all of our stuff, put in the back of the car, and Onima drives, while Endeavor sits shotgun, "You guys can relax for now," he says, "When we get to Hosu, we'll get hotel rooms and then tomorrow morning we'll start the search. We'll split up into groups. Shoto, you're with me for the morning shift, Onima, you will take Shiro. Once it hits twelve we will switch partners."

I nod my head in understanding, 'He must be confident in his guess. After all, it's almost been two weeks since the last attack. He must expect it to happen soon. So he wants to maximize our time together while keeping it equal.'

Everyone says, "Understood," and the car falls back in silence.

Then I ask a question that had been lingering in the back of my mind ever since I met him, "How do I become a top-ranked hero as quickly as possible?"

Todoroki stares at me, surprised by my question, and Endeavor shows a change in emotion as well, an amused smirk visible from the rearview mirror, "Ho? What an interesting question… You've come here with the intention of learning everything possible haven't you, in order to achieve that "goal" of yours."

I shrug, "You know what they say, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Endeavor nods his head, "Very well. But first, Shoto, what do you think of this question? What does someone need to become a top hero quickly?"

Shoto pauses, and very carefully states, "Power… and trust of the people."

Endeavor nods, "You aren't wrong, but there is an answer that encapsulates the idea even better. It's merit."

Todoroki looks confused, and I am intrigued. Even Onima looked over, interested in his boss's speech.

Endeavor continues, "Trust can't protect anyone, and power must be proved. There is only one thing that people want from the top heroes… Merit that proves that they are the best. Merit tells the people that you are capable, that you are strong, and that you are smart enough to know what you are doing. Gain merit. With merit, comes trust, and from that trust, you rise higher. Continuously gaining merit is everything. Anyone who can't do that can never stand at the top."

I narrow my eyes, 'Merit, huh. An unexpectedly philosophical answer from him. But his words just confirm my plan. If I want to hunt him down as quickly as possible, I need the resources to do so. That means I need a legal way to hunt down the Hero Killer. As long as I am with Endeavor or Onima, I should be ok, but I'll get less credit, but going off on my own is illegal.'

Kuro sighs, 'Ahhahhh~ Stupid rules!'

My eyes watch the setting sun as I contemplate my options, 'He will attack soon... the only questions are when, and what will I do about it...?

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