It pained Mirai to do this, it truly did. But discipline must be delivered to heroes who couldn't make others smile. "End me! Hahaha! Please! Hahahaha!" Cried out his co worker, tied into the tickle torture machine.
"If you smiled more around the workplace, I wouldn't have to do this."
"Just because I didn't laugh at your jokes doesn't mean I don't smile!"
"Bullshit, that joke would make any sane person laugh." He defended against the tear driven girl.
"Airline food isn't a universal joke! Hahahaha!" Blasphemy.
"It was the first joke I ever laughed at." That obviously meant whoever didn't laugh at it held a terrible sense of humor. "Just ask Lemillion, he would laugh the entire day if I told him." Speaking of which, the building felt a lot less cheerful than it should've. "Where is he anyways?"
"He sa-HEHE-he was bri-haha-inging a new guyyyyyy!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
"I told him to wait until I made up my mind." He sighed. He had plenty of sidekicks already who did their job competently, and he only sought Mirio out for the work study due to his immense potential. If Mirio was bringing in someone, they had to either match his potential or have a good sense of humor.
"Is this what Midnight meant about a sex dungeon?" Well at least they had a sense of humor. He turned to see Mirio and … Iruma Suzuki…All Might successor.
"No, those have whips and more exposed skin." They seemed to bounce off each other well, probably why he seeked the boy in the first place.
"Heh…." Bubble girl giggled.
"The machine is turned off now, Awata."
"I know, I just found that funny." Nighteye and Mirio stared at the girl, who now had wide eyes. "..I found that funny…."
"I know Mirio probably told you about the initial test, but you seemed to have surpassed that." He spoke. "So let's move onto the practicals." He moved to his desk. "Your contract?"
"Right!" The boy reached into his bag, unfolding a piece of paper and sliding it over.
"Now, first thing first, why do you want to work here?" The obvious answer was that it was because he was All Might's most well known sidekick aside from David Shield. If that was the only reason, Suzuki was already starting off on the wrong foot.
"Mirio-senpai said you were good at dodging." Suzuki answered quickly. "I've learned how to use instinct to fight from Rabbit-sama, but even with that Mirio-senpai was able to beat up me and all of my friends."
"He is a tough man." He nodded. "Now then, if I stamp this you will be required to work here for a minimum of one month. You will go on patrol and perform other tasks. You will be paid a salary of-"
"I get paid!?" Suzuki exclaimed with shock and excitement. "I thought this was just an internship with extra steps. Why do people keep forgetting to tell me about this!? I just learned being a hero was a job." Bubble girl laughed once more, once again looking shocked at herself. Mirai sighed, raising his stamp … and hitting his desk. "... Um … you missed."
"I didn't miss, I refused to stamp your paper."
"Wait, I thought Mirio said you watched me in the Sports Festival and talked about me?"
"I did, and your comedic potential is great, you can no doubt bring smiles to everyone…which would be good if it was intentional." Mirai stared at the boy. "Unfortunately, you're an idiot who has no idea what he's doing."
"Hey, I know what I'm doing!" The boy retorted. "I'm standing here talking to you about a Work Study!" Once again the only girl there giggled.
"Sir, that's a little harsh, don't you think?" Mirio asked.
He looked down at the boy. "Tell me, what's your opinion of All Might."
Mirio looked confused at why he would ask that. "Bunny-sensei is a good teacher and a great person to talk to."
"And his status as a hero?"
"He's a retired hero. What else is there to say?" Mirio now understood with a horrified look on his face.
"Lemillion, Bubble Girl, please exit the room. I need to talk with the kid alone.
"Ah…Sir, I'm sure we can just talk about…."
"You don't want to get in the middle of this." Awata scooted his prodigy away. "Good luck, kid. I'm rooting for you."
"Thanks, Bubble-Senpai!" The moron was oblivious to the gravity of the situation. "What do you want to talk about?"
"All Might was wrong to give you his quirk." The boy blinked, wide eyes. "I was his sidekick, something you clearly didn't know about."
"But he never told David." The boy retorted, confused.
"He never told me either, I looked into his future and found it there." A bit of a shock. "I tried to offer him Mirio when his power was declining. A great potential hero. Smarts, intuition, a good quirk, strength, and most of all heart. If he had One For All he would have been the best."
"You're saying Mirio-senpai can't be unless he has One For All?" The brat started forming a scowl on his face.
"No, I'm saying he would have been the better choice instead of a doormat, moronic, quirkless, and naive child with no idea of what he holds. You treat the world's greatest quirk like five yen. It's a disgrace to the legacy." He leaned forward. "You should have never been a hero."
==
"Suneater, who are these lovely kids you brought here!" The pro asked his favorite rising star. A big three of the UA. He couldn't believe he was lucky enough to have someone so talented and kind, even if they needed to work on showing off their stuff more.
"A couple of UA students wanted to join … I'm sorry sir …" Wow, that was a surprise. Even if he was a dormat, he didn't expect him to agree to take three people to him all at once. He expected Tamaki to enter a comma before agreeing.
"Well, we can afford to stretch the numbers out a little, but I've never taken more than two work studies at a time before." Fatgum turned to the three freshmen.
"I can pay if necessary." The girl offered. Ah, richgirl, that was definitely a plus in her favor.
"That's well and good, but pay isn't the main issue." The Pro made sure to reiterate. "If I agree to take you on, I need to be absolutely sure you'll follow everything you're told, and that I can trust you to handle yourselves on the field." All three nodded. "Now, tell me your quirks and what you hope to gain from learning under me."
"Rikido Sato, I'm Sugar Man! My quirk lets me increase strength with sugar, but my cognition goes down with it. I need to be able to hit without worrying about that type of stuff." Ah, a fellow fattie!
"Momo Yaoyorozu, I'm Creati! My quirk lets me use lipids to create any object I can memorize by structure. I need to be able to safely increase my intake." Nice, now-wait a second.
"Did you two just come here because my quirk involves eating?"
"Partially, we were told Tamaki improved under your tutelage, and you're the most well known pro with this particular type of quirk, and I'd hope you'd have some insight." At least the reasoning wasn't shallow.
"And I guess you came here for the same reason, right?" He asked.
"No, I just … need to improve. I need to be as strong as everyone else and I'll do anything I can to rival them with my manly spirit!" Now he could get behind that one hundred percent! "I'm Red Riot, and I'm going to be the manliest hero out there!"
"Alright, if you can match that level of dedication and passion, I'll sign all of you on the team right now." He got to his desk and pulled out some paper. "Just be aware you'll be paying for your own food when we're out on patrol."
"Understood sir!" They all shouted out. Finally, this was a generation of energy he could get behind.
"They all have so much spirit … they're showing off so good … it's too bright. I'm gonna burn up, I'm gonna be a calamari frying out in the sun as they all devour my weakness." He turned to Tamaki huddled into a corner.
"Your name is Suneater. That literally means you're supposed to devour them if that's the case."
"I'm going to eat my kohai … they'll hate me in my stomach as they tear it from the inside out!"
"You weren't kidding." The richgirl watched the sad display. "Who knew there was a right way to be a doormat? Iruma can at least look people in the eye."
"I'm not even worthy to be a doormat!!" Great, now he had to deal with this all day.
==
Ryukyu watched as the girls walked in. "It's like a place … so much culture." The astronaut girl stared at everything with wide eyes. "And so much gold!"
"Seems a little over the top doesn't it?" The frog asked.
"Ryukyu likes to keep a theme, ya know? Super chinese dragons that go roar and like to hoard and cuddle gold stuff." She doesn't cuddle gold! She just liked it when a room had a little sparkle and shine to it! Nothing unusual. "We're going to have so much fun together! Just three sisters hanging out with our dragon mommy."
"Okay, okay, turn it down a notch. Don't give them the wrong idea here." The pro tried to shoot down the idea before it cemented. Looking after Nejire was exhausting enough without adding that level of emotional attachment to the equation.
"But don't you want to be a mommy? You're constantly talking to Miriko about it whenever she comes around, and you're always giving her baby presents."
"That's called teasing a woman with an obsession with a child and calling him a kit." She retorted, sighing. "I'm sorry about her, she can be a … handful."
"We know the feeling. That Kit you're talking about is our classmate." The frog answered sympathetically. "Watching over him, making sure he doesn't get lost in a crowd, stopping him from saying something dumb, he's basically the class little brother."
"I knew we understood each other on a spiritual level." Nejire spoke, and the girls, as well as the pro, rubbed their foreheads collectively.
"Okay, you're joining us on the principle of teaching a young girl how to deal with insanity." The frog's eyes sparkled at that. "What's your name?"
"Tsuyu Asui, my hero name is Froppy mam." Plain and cute, perfect.
"Welcome aboard, Froppy." She bowed before turning the round face once. "What about you?"
"Oh, ah, my name Ochako Uraraka, my hero name is Uravity." Fit the astronaut aesthetic of her outfit. "I guess it's sort of the same reason as Tsu. There's this one guy in class who's constantly getting stronger with everything that happens in class, both good and bad, so I can't fail him or myself by staying behind. I want to get stronger so I can both protect and support everyone that needs help!"
She nodded. "We're gonna be working hard here, a lot of villains have gotten tougher around here, so you have to be prepared for the worst of it."
"Yeah, we're going to march up to those mean baddies and pound them into the ground and tell them to stop acting so stupid!" The third year cheered. "Maybe if we talk to them long enough, they'll realize how stupid they've been and stop."
"....That sounded way too much like something Iruma would say." Froppy looked to the pro with pleading eyes. "How have you lasted this long?"
"The annoyance turns into spite that you can direct towards stopping villains." So many lawsuits, so little success.
==
"I hear you boys wish to join as work studies." The boys, one shaking in intimidation, the other in anticipation, nodded at the dinner table. "You know, they say when you eat all your cards are on the table. It's too instinctive to hide your feelings."
"Is that so?" The boy known as Vantablack spoke, trying his best to hide their nervousness. "I never knew that."
"We get to fight strong people right?" Jack Mantis asked with a vicious smile Gang Orca had seen worn on many heroes and hero prospects. How was it that the most troublesome students were the most workable in these situations?
"Plenty, but only if you can follow every rule to every letter." The pro growled. "Around here, you're nothing but small guppies, lower than plankton that'll get gobbled by bottom feeders if you make a wrong move. If you want to be here, you can't afford to even think of messing up once."
"We understand sir." Vantablack nodded. "We'll do our best to follow every rule. Isn't that right , Jack?" He glared at his partner.
"Yeah yeah, rules and stuff." The pro wondered if this was what Best Jeanist felt when he took in Bakugo for those internships. "Just tell me when we're going out, I need to sharpen my blades."
"Only after you've heard what I had to say." The pro sat with both of them. "I see you're not going for the typical approach in terms of hero styles. Tougher, darker, and more ruthless than the conventional hero. You do know the kind of image you'll leave on the people initially, correct?"
"My full name is The Scheming Hero: Vantablack." The black kid pointed out. "I was never going for a positive image to begin with."
"Just wanted to make sure. People will run away from you, people will say you're too scary,, some might say you look more like a villain."
"People should run! I'm gonna tear those villains to pieces and prove myself the best!" Jack shouted out, his partner sighing.
"And here we thought those meditation classes were finally calming you down."
"They are working! Soon I'll reach a full circle!"
"Full circle is what you're avoiding! We're supposed to get you to never feel anger to begin with!"
"... Fuck that, sounds boring." Please tell him someone was having it worse.
==
"You should have never been a hero." Iruma felt something boil inside of him. An anger deep down inside.
"Why is it that everyone that's rude to me all think that quirkless means useless? My parents, Bakugo, All Forty One, you, even Shoto before he became my friend. They all think I don't have a say in what I can do with my life just because I wasn't born like everyone else. It's frustrating."
"It's frustrating because it's life, and it's an unfair procedure." Nighteye looked down at him. "Do you know that I look into the future?"
"Yeah, you must have a lot of fun and luck with that, don't you?" Iruma growled out.
"I see the future because I can't change it. Fifteen people have died in multiple separate visions, and no matter what precautions I've taken, no matter what I've done, I've never been able to change the outcome. Not me, not other heroes … not even All Might."
Iruma just rolled his eyes. This guy just sounded like a big know-it-all. "No wonder why Bunny-sensei never talked about you." He'd want to forget about this jerk too.
"Did the man even tell you that he's going to die within the next year?" … What? "I told him to retire, as he would wear himself down until he died a gruesome death to a horrid man. Yet he kept going, now weak enough to be killed with a butter knife in his back."
"He's not dead. And he doesn't want to die." Iruma countered. "Just because you see something bad coming doesn't mean you should accept it."
"I haven't accepted it. I know I can't change what I see no matter how hard I try, so I made myself learn to work around it." Nighteye glared. "That included finding someone perfect to take on One For All, not someone who didn't even care about heroics until he learned you got paid from it."
"If it was just for the money, I would've stopped when All Forty One kidnapped me." Iruma looked at the man. "Yeah, that's why I wanted to be a good hero, but that was never why I wanted to help people. Helping people makes me happy, and I don't need to be a hero to do that."
"Is that you talking or the man forced to obey every please and help me you hear?"
"No, that's me, because you can't force people to be happy, or to be nice to someone. I'll never like my parents, I hate All Forty One, and you are the most frustrating person I've ever met."
"You're not the first person to tell me that, and you won't be the last." That tore it.
"You know what? Screw you! I'm going to work here one way or another!" He'd work for free if he had to, he was angry!
"I never said I was denying you." Iruma suddenly lost his fuel, very confused. "One For All has to be transferred willingly. I'm going to use this month to prove to you that you're a terrible candidate for it."
"One For All is my quirk. It's going to stay with me no matter what you say." Seriously, EVERY single jerk he's met in his life thought they could control him in some way. "Which is why I'm going to prove you're wrong about me. You're going to not only say sorry, you're going to say I did a great job."
"You definitely make a better clown than a hero. I almost felt myself laugh at that." The man stamped the paper. "Maybe one day you will, before you fail. Now, get back to Lemillion and get a patrol going, I'm going back to look over evidence, and I would prefer to do it in private."
Iruma had to resist the urge to slam the door shut, no matter how much he wanted to. This wasn't the utter hatred he felt towards All Forty One, or the full annoyance he felt towards Bakugo. He didn't hate Nighteye…probably, but he definitely didn't like him, and he wanted to prove him wrong partially because it would annoy him…was this spite?
"How'd it go?" Mirio asked as he and Bubble girl waited outside.
"Your boss is a jerk. He said we're going on patrol now." Bubble Girl laughed at that. He wasn't a clown, damn it! He was taking this seriously!