Chapter 129: The Status of Animals
"Yaoyorozu, it's only been a few days... and you've already broken into the fashion world?"
Seeing the somewhat strange look in Kira's eyes, Momo quickly dropped the hand she had placed on her hip. She had been photographed so much these past few days that the pose had become second nature.
Not to be outdone by Kira's teasing, she retorted, "And you, Kira-kun. It's only been a few days, and you've become a beast tamer?"
"I'm not the beast tamer. That's someone else. I'm just the zookeeper and the event planner," Kira replied. "But... we're supposed to be doing our hero internships, yet we're both doing things that have nothing to do with it. In that, we're quite similar."
"Well, that's true..." Momo said with a wry smile. "I've found that I'm always running into you in the most unexpected places. It was like that at the concert, and now we're meeting again at this circus performance..."
"Are you all just going to leave your things outside? I may be strong, but you can't bully me like this," a girl's voice complained as she walked in. It was Uwabami's other nominated intern, Itsuka Kendo.
She paused when she saw Kira, then smiled and greeted him. "Yo! If it isn't the Class 1-A president! I didn't expect to see you here!"
"Likewise."
Kira watched as Kendo pushed a huge pile of luggage inside with a single, giant hand. "I have a question," he asked curiously. "How did your two groups end up coming here together? Do you know each other?"
Kansou Eruto turned and gestured toward Momo with his chin. "You'll have to ask this lovely young lady about that," he said with a smile.
In truth, Momo hadn't known where they were going at first. Uwabami had been very mysterious about it. But on the train, she had seen the members of the 'soul' band. She had been to the concert, so she knew that Kira knew them.
While Momo was hesitating about whether to say hello, Uwabami had spotted Makoto Hibikiya and had gone over to greet him. Makoto, having been a Pro Hero, was an old acquaintance of hers. After they had chatted for a few minutes, Momo had summoned the courage to ask them about Kira. Jodo Chenjie had then revealed that they had been invited to Oma City by Kira himself. Uwabami, surprised, had then revealed that Oma City was also their destination. And so, naturally, they had decided to travel together.
It was from them that Momo had learned about Kira and the circus.
After briefly explaining how they had met, Momo looked curiously at the notebook in Kira's hand. "Kira-kun, is that the plan for tonight's performance?"
"Ah, more or less. Do you want to see?" Kira handed the notebook to Momo, then turned to Makoto and the others. "We don't have much time. Let me show you the venue and we can discuss the performance flow."
As Kira led Makoto's group toward the stage, Momo sat down in the audience seats and began to flip through Kira's notebook.
It wasn't so much a notebook as it was a sketchbook. The first page she opened was a drawing, done in colored pencil. The first was a little blond-haired girl in a blue dress, playing in a garden. The second was a rabbit in a suit and a top hat. The third was a hole under a tree. The rest were illustrations of wolves, lions, and cheetahs doing various strange, nonsensical things...
Momo closed the notebook. She had a vague idea of what Kira was trying to express. She closed her eyes, imagined the scene, and let out a small laugh.
Itsuka Kendo came over. The two of them had been sharing a room for the past few days and had become quite familiar with each other. Without any hesitation, she took the notebook from Momo's hands and began to flip through it. "I didn't expect that guy to be able to draw something so cute..." she said, surprised.
Kendo's impression of Kira was still stuck on the time he had come to the Class 1-B classroom to give money to Ibara. She thought he was a weirdo. Although he had taken second place in the Sports Festival, that impression had never really faded. She quickly leafed through the notebook. It was filled with drawings that were simple in line but well-colored. It looked like he had put a lot of work into it.
"Is this a fairy tale?" Kendo asked, confused, after she had finished. She handed the notebook back to Momo. "Aren't they putting on a circus? Why are there drawings of tigers, lions, and so many other unrelated things?"
In the late 22nd century, the common perception of a "circus" had come to mean a comprehensive performance of acrobatics, song, dance, and other special talents. The most famous of these was Cirque du Soleil, which had many highly skilled performers but no animal tamers.
The reason was not complicated. On one hand, some animals had awakened Quirks, and some humans had awakened animal-related Quirks. These individuals had formed an Animal Protection Association and had gradually begun to fight for animal rights. They called for animals to be returned to nature, and for places like zoos and aquariums, which kept living creatures in cages, to be abolished.
Although Principal Nezu of U.A. High had been reluctant, he had been put forward as one of their representatives.
At first, their calls had been met with a great deal of support from animal lovers. But soon, they had reached a bottleneck.
In the popular view, cats and dogs were domesticated pets, and pigs, cows, and sheep were food. If animals were granted their own rights, what would happen to these domesticated animals? And what about humanity's need for food? If endangered species were left to their own devices in the wild, they would quickly become extinct. Should they just stand by and watch them disappear from the world?
And most importantly, the number of animals who had gained Quirks was still a tiny minority. To give up the interests of the majority for the sake of this minority... other than online keyboard warriors, not many people were willing to say such a thing.
In the end, under the mediation of Principal Nezu and other important figures from other countries who had awakened animal Quirks, the United Nations had reached an agreement.
Zoos and aquariums were a necessity. First, to allow the public to get to know the other creatures that inhabited their world, and for the popularization of related knowledge. Second, to provide a place to protect those animals that could no longer survive in the natural environment. And a third reason: researchers also needed to study the cause of Quirks in animals and explore the rules of their different species.
As for those animals who had awakened Quirks, as long as they could communicate normally with humans and did not hold a misanthropic worldview, they could obtain citizenship in their respective countries and enjoy the same rights as ordinary humans, even becoming police officers or Pro Heroes.
No, it should be said that they possessed extraordinary instincts of their own, and after gaining Quirks, they were often more suited for important positions—like Principal Nezu. Because Quirked animals frequently appeared in public, aside from a few extreme species-ists, most people had accepted the situation and acknowledged the animals who went to school and lived alongside them.
This was especially true in the otaku-culture-prevalent nation of Japan. Having grown up with beast-girl works like Nekopara and Neko-nin exHeart, they were unusually tolerant of demi-humans. In fact, some otaku were proud to marry a beast-girl... Who wouldn't like a beast-girl who was both cool and could provide a unique sensory experience?
It was for these reasons that circuses that used animal performers first had to be certified by the state. Only after it was confirmed that the animals had not been abused, had not been forced to do anything against their will, and were in good physical condition would a circus be granted a license to use animals in their performance.
After all, in this Quirk-based hero society, most people had Quirks. Instead of training animals, it was far better to train people with related Quirks and talents to perform acrobatics. It was just as entertaining, cheaper, and earned a better reputation. Why wouldn't you do something so cost-effective?
And so, the increasingly strict conditions had driven the animal circus to the brink of extinction.
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