Today's chapter
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"SO! ARE YOU READY FOR THE RUNDOWN?!!!"
Present Mic's voice boomed through the orientation hall, amplified by his Voice quirk.
He struck a pose, arms wide, legs spread in a power stance, waiting for the thunderous applause that surely must follow such a charismatic, radio-ready introduction.
Silence.
The auditorium, packed with thousands of nervous middle schoolers from across the country, stared back at him blankly.
A cricket chirped somewhere in the back row. It was the loudest thing in the room.
Akira, sitting in the middle section, let out a soft, amused snort.
"He does not know how to read the room, does he?"
Toru whispered in his ear.
Akira smiled. "I can bet one million yen on that," he whispered back. "He treats every interaction like a live radio show. He forgets that the audience isn't driving a car on the highway; they're pissing themselves thinking about their futures."
Toru stifled a giggle with her invisible hand, her sleeve bunching up near where her mouth would be. "You're bad. He's a Pro Hero! You shouldn't roast him like that."
"I'm observant," Akira corrected, tapping the pipe lightly against his knee. "There's a difference. Heroes are people, Toru. And people can be cringe, even if they can scream loud enough to shatter glass."
On stage, Present Mic coughed, adjusting his yellow-tinted glasses.
"TOUGH CROWD! ALRIGHT! LET'S MOVE ON!"
He pointed at the massive screen behind him, which lit up with a colorful, pixelated graphic of a cityscape that looked like it belonged in an 8-bit arcade game.
"AS IT SAYS IN THE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS, YOU LISTENERS WILL BE CONDUCTING A TEN-MINUTE MOCK URBAN BATTLE AFTER THIS!"
The screen split into seven sections, labeled A through G, displaying complex maps of urban environments.
"YOU CAN BRING WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH YOU! GEAR! GADGETS! LUCKY CHARMS! AFTER THIS PRESENTATION, YOU'LL HEAD TO YOUR SPECIFIED BATTLE CENTER, OKAY?!"
"Okay?!" he shouted again, cupping his ear to the crowd.
Silence. Again.
"Jeez," Nia muttered from the top of Akira's head. "He's trying so hard. It's kind of sad. It smells like desperation up there. Can I hiss at him? Just a little bit? To let him know he's being loud?"
"No," Akira whispered, reaching up to scratch her chin. "Let's not be mean."
Nia huffed, her tail flicking against Akira's ear in annoyance. "Fine."
She shifted her weight, digging her small paws into Akira's hair to get comfortable. "Daddy, which ground did you get? Is it a good one? Does it have birds? Or mice? I want to hunt something real, not just robots."
Akira pulled the exam card from the sleeve of his kimono.
"That would be Battle Center G," he said.
"WOW!" Nia exclaimed, her voice just loud enough to make the kid in front of them flinch and look around wildly for the source of the childish voice. She turned her head toward the floating uniform beside them. "What about you, Toru? Are we fighting together? Can we form a party? I can be the rogue, and Daddy can be the tank!"
Toru fumbled with her own card, nearly dropping it. "Umm... let me see. Oh! I got Battle Center A."
Akira nodded, a relaxed, almost lazy smile spreading across his face. He took another long drag from the pipe.
"That's good," he said.
"Good?" Toru asked, tilting her invisible head. "Why? Wouldn't it be better to be together? I'm kind of nervous about going alone..."
"Because otherwise," Akira said, looking at the ceiling tiles as if counting them, "I would feel bad for cleaning up the field before you got a chance to score."
Toru turned toward him, confused. "What do you mean? Are you that strong?"
"You will understand when you get the ranking," he said simply.
Nia nodded, her small paws kneading Akira's hair like she was making biscuits. "Yeah, yeah. Daddy is super strong. He's the Boss. He once beat ten villains, all at once!"
"Ten villains?" Toru whispered, leaning closer. "What is she talking about?"
"Long story," Akira waved it off with a flick of his hand. "Family drama."
Toru giggled again, the sound light and bubbly. "You're weird, Akira. But a good weird. Like a mystery novel character. I will look forward to seeing the rankings then! Don't cry if I beat you! Invisibility is underrated, you know!"
"Challenge accepted," Akira smirked.
On stage, Present Mic continued his explanation, oblivious to the side conversations. The screen shifted to show silhouettes of three different robots.
"THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF FAUX VILLAINS IN EVERY BATTLE CENTER!"
He pointed to the smallest one, a wheeled drone with a single red eye.
"YOU'LL EARN POINTS BASED ON THEIR DIFFICULTY LEVEL!"
"1 POINTER - EASY!"
"2 POINTER - MEDIUM!"
"3 POINTER - HARD!"
The graphics showed the robots being destroyed in various cartoony ways — explosions, lasers, and punches labeled 'POW!' and 'WHAM!'.
"YOUR GOAL, LISTENERS, IS TO USE YOUR QUIRKS TO ELIMINATE AS MANY ROBOTS AS YOU CAN! RACK UP THOSE VILLAIN POINTS! THE HIGHER YOUR SCORE, THE HIGHER YOUR CHANCE OF GETTING INTO THE HERO COURSE!"
Mic paused, his expression turning serious behind his yellow shades. He leaned into the microphone.
"AND I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SAY THIS, BUT I WILL SAY THIS ANYWAY! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ATTACK YOUR FELLOW EXAMINEES! THAT IS UNHEROIC! ANTI-HERO BEHAVIOR WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE DISQUALIFICATION! WE ARE LOOKING FOR HEROES, NOT BULLIES! SAVE YOUR AGGRESSION FOR THE METAL GUYS!"
The crowd nodded.
"ANY QUESTIONS?!" Mic yelled, throwing his hands up.
Just then, a hand shot up from the crowd like a rocket.
"MAY I ASK A QUESTION?!" the boy shouted.
"HIT ME!" Present Mic pointed a finger at him.
The boy stood up. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and wearing glasses. He had blue hair cut in a style that screamed, 'I follow every rule in the handbook and have memorized the appendix.' He held a pamphlet in his hand.
"On the printout, there are four types of villains clearly indicated!" he announced, his voice echoing through the silent hall. "If this is a printing error, then U.A., the most prestigious school in Japan, should be ashamed of such a careless mistake!"
He adjusted his glasses, pushing them up the bridge of his nose.
"We are here to become exemplary heroes! Errors of this magnitude are unacceptable! How can we trust an institution that cannot even proofread its own exam materials?!"
Present Mic laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "OKAY, OKAY! THANKS FOR POINTING THAT OUT, EXAMINEE 7111! SHARP EYES!"
"That is the Zero Pointer!" Mic explained, pointing to a massive, shadowed silhouette on the screen. "It's an obstacle! Think of it like a gimmick in a video game! It's huge, it's scary, and it's worth... ZERO POINTS!"
Mic made a zero sign with his hand.
"There is no benefit to defeating it! It's indestructible for most of you! If you see it, my advice is to RUN! It's there to cause chaos! Avoiding it is part of the test! It measures your situational awareness and survival instincts!"
"I see!" the glasses boy shouted, bowing deeply at a perfect ninety-degree angle. "Thank you for the clarification! Please excuse my interruption!"
He straightened up.
But he didn't sit down.
Instead, he turned around. His body swiveled like a tank turret. His eyes scanned the crowd, bypassing the nervous students, the muttering green-haired boy, and the angry blonde.
His gaze locked onto the middle row.
It locked onto the boy in the charcoal kimono.
He raised a stiff arm, pointing a finger directly at Akira. The accusation was palpable.
"AND YOU!" he barked.
Akira blinked, the pipe freezing halfway to his mouth. He looked left, then right. "Me?"
"Yes, you!" the boy — Tenya Iida— declared, his voice booming. "You with the... unconventional attire! And the invisible student next to you!"
The entire hall turned to look. Thousands of eyes focused on Akira, Toru, and Nia.
"Can you stop talking?" Iida demanded. "You have been whispering and giggling throughout the entire presentation! It is distracting! Are you deliberately trying to sabotage your fellow examinees by preventing them from hearing the instructions?"
Toru panicked. Her uniform shook violently. "Ah! I — I'm sorry! We didn't mean to — I was just — "
"I don't like him," Nia hissed from atop Akira's head.
She looked down, her yellow eyes narrowing into slits.
"Daddy," she asked, her voice echoing slightly in the silent hall, amplified by the strange acoustics. "Can I hit him? Just one scratch? On the nose?"
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
The cat talked.
Did that cat just ask to assault a student?
Is that his quirk?
"No," Akira said calmly, casually tapping the ash from his pipe into a small portable ashtray he produced from his sleeve.
"We don't want to deal with a dead body right now, do we? Paperwork is a nightmare. Nezu would have to shred so many documents."
Toru froze. Why are they talking about murder so casually?! Dead body?!
Akira stood up. His kimono rustled softly, the heavy silk catching the dim light. He looked at Iida with half-lidded, bored eyes.
"Sorry for the disturbance," Akira said. "We didn't mean to distract anyone. Please, continue with your question session. You seem to be enjoying the spotlight."
He moved to sit back down, dismissing the confrontation with a wave of his pipe.
But Iida wasn't done. He was a stickler for rules, order, and decorum. And Akira — with his casual dress, his smoking paraphernalia, and his talking animal — was a walking violation of everything Iida believed U.A. stood for.
"Wait!" Iida shouted, stepping into the aisle. "I am not finished!"
He gestured aggressively at Akira's outfit.
"Furthermore! What are you wearing? This is a hero exam, not a costume party! A yukata is completely inappropriate for combat! It restricts movement! It presents a safety hazard! Are you taking this seriously? Or are you here to mock the institution?"
Iida's gaze moved to the red kiseru in Akira's hand.
"And are you smoking in a school auditorium?! That is a health violation! It is illegal for minors! It shows a complete lack of discipline and respect for the law! How can you hope to enforce the law if you cannot follow it?"
Akira sighed. He looked at the pipe. "It's medicinal. Prescription. Keeps me from burning the building down. But sure, go off. Let it all out."
Iida ignored the explanation. His eyes finally landed on the black cat perched on Akira's head.
"And how did you even get that... that creature in here?" Iida demanded, gesturing at Nia. "Animals are not allowed on campus! It could be dangerous! It could carry diseases! Or fleas! It is a distraction to serious students!"
Nia's ears twitched. A low growl started in her throat.
"If you must bring a pet, it should be in a carrier! Or at the very least..."
Iida took a breath, preparing to deliver the final verdict of his lecture. He made a fatal mistake.
"It should be on a leash, for safety's sake!"
The word hung in the air.
Leash.
On top of Akira's head, Nia went rigid. Her pupils dilated.
Unpleasant memories came back into her mind.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
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What happened to Nia, what's her past? Find out next time on Dragon Ba... Ahem, I mean, find out in the next chapter.
Plus if you want, you can read up to +10 chapters (It's 9 right now, the final advanced chapter will be up soon) and support me you can alway join my P@treaon. (Just search up Joe_Mama p@treon on google.)