Chapter Text
“A hero school,” Brass Bull asked. He had a mutation-type meta-ability that made him look like a walking, talking brass minotaur statue from Ancient Greece. At least, that’s what he based his hero costume on. He wore his Hellenistic leather armor with pride.
His friend, another “vigilante” hero, Blitzfire, wasn’t in her costume since her meta-ability didn’t affect her appearance, allowing her to keep her secret identity just that; a secret.
“Yeah, I heard it through the grapevine of heroes that were signing up to teach there. Yuuei, I think it’s going to be called. It’s being done on a trial basis only for their first year. Two classes, twenty students each,” she said, taking her now cold tea in her hand and just warming her hands enough that within a moment or two, her cup started to steam once again. If only it would be that easy to hide who he was.
He hummed in thought for a moment. “I will have to check it out,” he thought out loud.
“You should! I hear that the Prime Minister is going to be giving out a license to heroes who sign up for that teaching program! Just imagine it, a world where heroes have licenses in order to save someone’s life,” she snorted. “Well, at the very least, we wouldn’t have to hide who we are, and they would pay us to play hero.”
“Really?” Brass Bull asked. What a fascinating concept. Heroes around the world are considered vigilantes even though they save thousands, hundreds of thousands, of lives every year. But they all did it because they wanted to, not because they wanted financial compensation or fame. But to not be considered a vigilante or breaking any laws…?
“Yeah, it would be a full-time job with benefits and everything,” Blitzfire said. Now he would definitely have to look into it. While he isn’t really interested in the money or anything, it would be nice to be able to go out and not hide who he was from his friends and family all the time. Plus he could help teach the next generation of heroes.
“Where do I sign up?” He asked.
Brass Bull and Blitsfire both went to where the school is being built. It was more of a small manor than a traditional brick-and-mortar school that he had attended when he was growing up. No, it actually reminded him of a pre-meta movie where “mutants” had gone to school in order to learn how to control their abilities.
He wondered to himself if this was based loosely on that concept.
The two of them walked in together and were greeted by both the Prime Minister and what they assumed to be the would-be principal of the school.
“Welcome, Brass Bull! Blitzfire!” They were greeted by the two. “I am surprised that so many people have decided to join this program!” The Prime Minister continued. “This makes things so much easier.”
“We aren’t the only one’s?” Brass Bull asked. He didn’t think that this program would be as popular amongst the other heroes as it was.
The Prime Minister laughed. “Of course not! Come, come. The others are waiting right in here,” he said, leading the two to a large room filled with several other heroes. There was Sunspot and Starlight, the twin heroes that worked as a team. He also saw Blackwing and Alleycat talking amongst themselves. Ace, Amethyst Heart, Dazzler, Yellow Wisp, and some that he didn’t know the names to.
“Alright, everyone, let’s get started!” The second person said. “You may not know me, but I am Giichi Muramasa, also known as Makeshift,” he introduced himself. “I am not typically a public hero like many of you are, but I have been working with our Prime Minister in order to get this program off the ground.”
“Makeshift here was once a teacher prior to becoming a hero. He had watched an entire class of meta-children get killed simply because of their abilities,” the Prime Minister said. “We want to not only change that but give them a safe space where they can express and be themselves without discrimination based on something that they can’t control.”
Several heroes mumbled to themselves and to the others around them. They didn’t know what to make of this program still, even though they were here to volunteer for it. Interesting.
“Thank you, Prime Minister Ryo. As he stated, I wanted to help these children learn and grow, as well as give them a place in society. We have already chosen the 40 students that will be attending the two classes. We have broken them up to where there will be 20 to a class, as some of you have probably heard by now. The children will be living here in this home and those who are willing to teach them will hold normal, everyday classes Monday through Thursday, while Friday and Saturday are set aside for the hero courses and training. We have several gyms here where they can practice on their own after school and for class purposes as well.”
He went on to explain what a typical day would look like, what types of hero training the students would do, as well as what expectations both the school and Prime Minister were looking for when it came to the students' progress and skills as time went on.
It seemed completely reasonable to Brass Bull and he was even more willing to sign up for this program.
Once everything was said, those who were still willing to participate would then interview with Makeshift to see if they were qualified for this job. Brass bull wanted to say that his interview went well. Before he had become a hero, he had been a teacher of sorts for meta-children that were still struggling to get into a traditional school. Normally it was children who, like him, had a mutation type meta-ability. So he knew how to deal with children. But teaching teenagers… He hoped that he could do right by them.
“Alright! I think that is all. You all did really well, and I look forward to working with all of you,” Makeshift stated. All of the heroes that had initially signed up for this program, surprisingly, got the job. What made all of these very different people qualified for the job, he wondered.
It didn’t matter at the moment, however, as long as Makeshift thought so.
“You will meet the children next week since they are coming from all over Japan, thus, we gave them a week to pack, say their goodbyes, travel, and get settled. This is going to be their first time away from their parents in many cases. We don’t want to overwhelm them on their first day here. It will also give them a chance to get to know their peers,” Prime Minister Ryo said. “Thank you and I will see you again soon.” With that the Ryo left, leaving the heroes alone with Makeshift.
Makeshift said that everyone could leave for the day, and licenses will be distributed as soon as everything gets settled legally.
After that, Brass Bull and Blitzfire both left for the day. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of students he would get in the future. He knew that meta-abilities were getting stronger with each generation, so he couldn’t help but think about what these young meta-humans would be like since they were going to be stronger than perhaps even he was.
He couldn’t believe it! He was going to be trained to be a hero! Him! Tessei Iida, a hero. He just couldn’t believe it. He was the only Meta in his family. Not even his siblings had a meta-ability. His ability allowed him to turn various fruit juices into energy, allowing him to run faster than a normal person. Like gasoline in an engine.
Now, here he stood in front of a small manor that had a simple sign over the door, reading UA High School for the Gifted in bold letters. It was a little silly and a bit of a mouthful. But he wasn’t going to complain. He was going to be a freaking hero! He would be trained by heroes! He was too excited to complain about the name of his high school.
He readjusted his bags and stepped towards his future!
The front room to the manor was filled with dozens of his future classmates, all with bags like him. They were milling about, unsure what to do with themselves. He couldn’t really tell what everyone’s meta-abilities are, but he would soon figure it out.
“Good morning everyone! It looks like everyone is here!” A man said, getting everyone’s attention. “My name is Giichi Muramasa, also known as Makeshift. There are forty of you here, ready to learn and show the world that Meta’s can change the world for the better.”
Iida practically vibrated with energy as he listened to Muramasa speak.
“For now, we will show you to your living quarters so that you can get to know each other and settle in. School starts next week. You can find your schedules and class number over here. Just find your name and you will know which of the two classes you will be split into.” The others went over to the table that Muramasa had motioned to and quickly found their information packets. Iida grabbed his and followed the crowd of people to the next two floors up to find the living quarters for the students.
“The floor below us is where you will find the dining room and classrooms. Training grounds are outside and in the basement, which your teachers will show you when you meet them. For now, this is the common area. Girls will find their rooms on the left side of the manner and boys will be on the right side of the manner. Your dorms have already been picked out for you and you will find your name on your doors. But be warned since there are so many of you, you will have one roommate. One from each class. Please try to get along. Curfew is at 11 pm. Lights out is at midnight. Please be courteous towards your peers. Don’t fraternize in the opposite genders' dorms. Other than that, you should be fine.” Muramasa said before he left the group to get settled.
Iida quickly found his room on the right side of the third floor and found that he would be sharing a room with a boy named Sada Hinata. In the room, there were two western-style twin beds, two desks, a little low table with some seating pillows, two nightstands, a small rug in the middle of the two beds, and one window also between the beds. The room, other than that, was pretty bare, allowing the students to decorate however they saw fit. Thankfully, Iida had brought some stuff from home to decorate with.
There were also two dressers, but one closet was on one side of the room. But when he opened it up to check it out, it seemed to be separated into two sections by a mesh divider so that he wouldn’t get his clothes confused with another’s. That was nice. It also had little hooks inside for his backpack or jacket or something of that nature.
“Hi! You must be Iida Tessei, huh?” a pretty boyish voice asked from behind him. Iida turned to see a boy who had some features that resembled a cow. Two small horns sat on the top of his head, his face was pale. Not quite pure white, but a sort of off-white. Like a mixture of regular pigmented skin and the white fur of a cow. However, he had a big splotch of brown surrounding one eye. He didn’t look stereotypically male. It was like he didn’t quite hit puberty yet, still holding on to his baby fat in his cheeks and large brown eyes that seemed to sparkle with wonder.
“Yeah, I am,” he said, dumbly. He quickly recovered and held out his hand. “And you must be Sada Hinata. It’s a pleasure meeting you.”
“Yep! That’s me!”
Once basic greetings were out of the way, the two of them worked in relative silence as they unpacked their bags. Sada hummed to himself. They didn’t fight over who got which side of the room. They just treated it as a first-come, first-served sort of situation. Iida had picked the left side of the room, which worked just fine by him. He was used to sharing a room. He and one of his younger brothers, Tetsuya, had shared a room that had a very similar setup to this one. He had also had the left side of the room back home.
He put out his radio alarm clock on his assigned nightstand and plugged in his phone and computer chargers near his respected desk so that he could charge his devices while he continued to unpack. He put his clothes away, but he couldn’t quite hang up his shirts yet since they didn’t have hangers that he could see. He would have to ask. If not, then he or Sada could run to the store for some.
Sada didn’t even seem to notice yet since he didn’t try to put his clothes away. As soon as most of the rest of his stuff was taken care of, Sada decided to take a nap, leaving the room in near-total silence. The only sounds that could be heard were the two boys breathing.
Once Iida was done, he went to the common area in the dorms and found that he wasn’t alone. Several other teens had also finished unpacking it seemed. A few girls were chatting with one another on one of the provided couches while the television was playing the news coverage of this trial school program.
One of the boys that had finished unpacking was in the kitchen searching the cabinets, presumably looking for something to snack on. But it appeared as though they were barren for now. Just another task that needed completion.
Iida sighed to himself as he went to another one of the couches to sit and watch the news.
“Now we have a guest speaker that has worked alongside Prime Minister Ryo and Emperor Shinobu Eishi on this interesting concept of an actual hero school. Kawahara Ieyoshi, thank you for joining us today,” one of the newscasters said. The screen split into two and showed the guest speaker and the newscaster side by side.
“Thank you, Hayato-san, for having me."
“Can you tell me what you and Prime Minister Ryo were thinking when you worked together on this project?” The Newscaster, Hayato, asked.
Shinobu nodded. “Of course. I am not the only one that was working on this project. I have been working really closely with a dear friend of mine in order to get this project up and running. My colleague is actually there now, helping our students get settled in before the start of the school year. But what originally started this project was seeing how many young meta-humans joined our heroes on the street to fight crime. These young ‘side-kicks’ as they have been calling themselves range in ages of 9 years old to 20 years old. Can you imagine that? A 9-year-old boy or girl sneaking out without their parents' knowledge to fight what they see as injustices of the world?”
The Newscaster nodded in a sad understanding. “It is the sad reality that we live in,” she said. “To think that these children would be willing to risk their lives like that.”
Shinobu continued on. “Exactly, that is why, as a group, we were hoping that we could dissuade these children from running off on their own but instead give them the tools that they would need in school, just like they would get for any other future career,” he said. “We would have adults, heroes, that have knowledge of combat training as well as your traditional school subjects on staff to act as teachers for these future heroes.”
"And these heroes have been vetted? What does that look like exactly?" Hayato asked, folding their hands together.
Shinobu chuckled softly. "Of course, they have been vetted by both Prime Minister Ryo and my colleague, Giichi Muramasa," He started. "We look at their history as a hero, their relationship to the community, as well as any and all teaching experience that they may have had prior to being heroes."