THE NEXT GENERATION OF HEROES
As many of our readers are surely aware, the world-famous entrance exams of UA High School's Heroics Department finished just last week, and the results have now become public. These aspiring young heroes have taken their first steps on a long and arduous road, but we here at Heroes Daily are confident that one day we will be seeing many of them in the pages of this very publication.
Juzo Honenuki 51/29
Katsuki Bakugo 77/0
Eijiro Kirishima 39/35
Ochaco Uraraka 28/45
Ibara Shiozaki 36/32
Itsuka Kendo 25/40
Tenya Iida 52/9
Izuku Midoriya 0/60
Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu 49/10
Fumikage Tokoyami 47/10
Yosetsu Awase 50/6
Jurota Shishida 47/5
Manga Fukudashi 37/16
Neito Monoma 52/1
Denki Kaminari 42/9
Rikido Sato 46/5
Yuga Aoyama 40/10
Hanta Sero 44/6
Mina Ashido 36/13
Yui Kodai 41/8
Sen Kaibara 20/28
Kyoka Jiro 41/7
Setsuna Tokage 19/28
Shihai Kuroiro 30/17
Mezo Shouji 25/21
Hiryu Rin 30/16
Mashirao Ojiro 30/15
Tsuyu Asui 10/34
Pony Tsunotori 15/29
Kosei Tsubaraba 15/29
Kojiro Bondo 39/4
Reiko Yanagi 21/20
Toru Hagakure 21/19
Kinoko Komori 28/12
Minoru Mineta 32/8
Koji Koda 17/22
Furthermore the results of the notoriously elusive recommended student exam have also arrived, showing a selection from the most famous Pro-Hero families across Japan.
Inasa Yoarashi
Ryuuzaki Tatsuma
Shouto Todoroki
Momo Yaoyorozu
Sekijiro Kan lowered the newspaper to take a sip of his coffee. The teachers' office was quiet, with only Aizawa's snoring in the background. The two of them had gotten here early, since they were about to buried under the paperwork of preparing for the arrival of forty new students in only a little over a month.
After decades of acting as the second-in-command of the Endeavour Hero Agency, yesterday the Pro-Hero Ryuhachi announced that he would departing before the end of the month to form his own agency. Though the two Heroes acted cordial in a joint press conference, our inside sources speak of a growing interpersonal rift years in the making and irreconcilable differences of opinion at the background of this event. For more on this….
Ah, with real news done it was back to gossip. Shaking his head, Kan set the paper aside and returned to the computer in front of him, the screen showing twenty files set in numerical order.
Before he could start work, however, his phone began vibrating in his pocket. Flipping it open, he glanced at Aizawa, sound asleep on the opposite desk, before thumbing the green icon.
"Vlad King here. What do you need, Nedzu?"
"Good morning!" The principal replied in a cheerful tone. "Have you read the files I sent you yet?"
"I was just about to start."
"Be sure to read up on number nineteen."
Kan glanced at the screen, finding the name of the file in question. "Ryuuzaki Tatsuma? Why, has something come up?"
"In a sense. She and her father are coming over in, oh, three hours, to discuss special accommodations. I promised her future homeroom teacher would be there, so don't be late!"
"Hm. A bit of a short notice, but manageable. I'll be there."
"That's all!"
As the call disconnected Kan returned his attention to the computer screen, bringing up file #19.
Name: Ryuuzaki Tatsuma
Date of Birth: 29.9.2157
Quirk: Horned Dragon (Quirk Registry: 567129075496)
Quirk Type: Transformation
Quirk Classification: Inherited Merger
His eyes skimmed over the text, summarizing it in his head.
Younger sister of Ryukyu, niece of Ryuhachi. Recommendation from the former, passed the test with full marks from Nedzu. Grades were excellent, showing near-perfect performance in most academic subjects up to two years ago, experiencing a notable slump before beginning a slow climb back upwards. Only deficiencies were in japanese, and physical education scores which were unlisted for the last two years as well.
Hm. Odd.
Psychiatric history and personality analysis indicated she was a hard worker and intelligent, suspecting that she'd been reading ahead in material in private, but also antisocial and withdrawn. Her teachers had expressed concern over her quiet nature and lack of social contact with her peers. She was attending therapy but the cause wasn't listed, while developmental disorder and high-functioning autism had been suggested but not formally diagnosed in her youth.
An attachment signed by Nedzu also suggested anxiety and imposter syndrome, issues with self-worth and internalizing accomplishments.
A cause for concern, but nothing he hadn't dealt with before. Teenagers had a tendency to be piles of self-esteem issues held together by dreams and duct tape. So why the fuss?
Scrolling down, Kan reached the personal history section, and suddenly he understood.
-----
Three hours later Kan was sitting in Nedzu's meeting room, wearing a suit and tie hastily liberated from his personal closet in the staff room. Just as soon as he managed to get the tie straight the door opened, admitting Nedzu and two visitors.
The first was a very large man- Kan was by no means small himself, but the newcomer made him look like a first grader. From the shoulders up his head was replaced with that of a rhinoceros, a pair of long and sharp horns nearly scraping the top of the doorframe, while his skin was grey and leather-like.
The other arrival, however, dwarfed everyone else in the room combined, having to duck her head to fit throgh even on all fours.
Kan had never known Ryuko Tatsuma particularly well, having graduated just before she was enrolled at UA, but he'd seen her in action more than once across the years of his Pro-Hero career. He'd expected her sister to look much the same, dignified and graceful in her bearing, but he was forced to reevaluate his estimations.
Ryuuzaki Tatsuma's dragon form was broadly the same size as her sister's and possessed the same western dragon anatomy, but that was where the similarities ended.
The most immediately striking part was the bright white colouration, but the second thing Kan noticed was her sheer bulk. Where Ryukyu was sleek and elegant Ryuuzaki was built more akin to a living battering ram, muscles brimming with power underneath the heavy, armor-like scales. He could definitely see where she was taking after her father.
"Please, come in, come in." Nedzu lead the two in, leaping onto his own seat. "I want you to meet Sekijiro Kan, one of our finest teachers."
"Kenshin Tatsuma." The older of their two guests took his hand in a firm grip and shook it. The name tickled something in Kan's memory, but he wasn't quite sure what. "This is my daughter Ryuuzaki."
"A pleasure. I will be her homeroom teacher starting this spring."
The dragon in question seemed a little lost, as if wondering if she was also supposed to shake his hand. Her eyes flicked between her father and Kan several times, but he had plenty of experience dealing with socially awkward teenagers. Just take the lead and let them find their own role in the conversation.
"Please, sit down. We have much to discuss."
As the Tatsumas seated themselves, Kan observed his new student. He could already tell that she'd rather be anywhere but here, but aside from that the lack of facial expressions made her quite hard to read. She did look like she needed more sleep, however, if the droop of her eyelids was anything to go by.
"I believe you had some concerns you wished to share with us?" Nedzu opened, his tone pleasant. "Please, we would be happy to discuss them and resolve them as we can."
"Indeed." Mr. Tatsuma rumbled, seeming to take the charge of the situation as his daughter hung back. "We were going through UA's school handbook, and came across the section regarding the dress code. As you might imagine, the standard uniform is simply unfeasible for Ryuuzaki to use."
"That is indeed so." Nedzu agreed immediately. "UA offers several alternatives, up to and including an exemption in the most extreme cases. Wherever possible we would like all of our students to wear something that allows them to be identified as such, but we hope to find a compromise suitable to all parties."
"That's exactly what we wanted to hear. But what are these alternatives?"
"Well, first of all, the simplest and usually preferred solution is simply upsizing and refitting the regular uniform to suit the needs of the student in question."
"...I don't think that would work... Even if it has holes in the back it would be impossible to get my wings through them." Ryuuzaki spoke up for the first time, the sound an odd mixture of a hiss and a rasp, surprisingly deep. Without lips it seemed like her voice was somehow generated entirely in her throat, which made for an uncanny effect as the words simply emerged from her mouth.
"And my scales would just rip up the fabric." She paused for a moment, running a claw over the sharp edges of the scales on her shoulder. Kan could see the issue: combined with the series of sharp spines running across her back the uniform would be in pieces in no time at all.
"...Also I think wearing a skirt with my anatomy would be pretty silly…"
Kan was suddenly glad for his excellent poker face.
"Quite so." Nedzu agreed again. "That's why it's only the first possibility. The second standard option is wearing a collar with the UA logo on it."
"Tha-"
"Absolutely not!" Mr. Tatsuma thundered, before seemingly realizing he'd just spoken over his daughter. "Go ahead, Ryuuzaki."
"...Wouldn't a collar be a little… demeaning? ...I mean, like an animal?" She spoke nervously, before her ears flicked in realization. "I mean, um, no offence sir, I-"
"It's perfectly fine." Nedzu waved her off. "You're not the first to express such a sentiment. Some people feel uncomfortable with the implication of control and power over them, and we leave such matters to their personal judgement."
"It also implies danger." Mr Tatsuma added. "That the bearer is in need of collaring."
Kenshin Matsuoka. It had been bothering him for a while now, but the name came back to Kan like a thunderstrike.
Two decades ago, a debate had raged across the nation, regarding the treatment of certain types of Quirks. Not a matter of discrimination- that had been settled long ago- but rather one of support. Certain kinds of Quirk imposed financial strain upon their users: they might require alternative housing, specialized clothing, healthcare, or other basic necessities of modern life. Though examples could be found amongst all types, Mutant-Type Quirks were the most common of these.
The question that was asked then, was "Should the government only prevent discrimination, or actively support those whose Quirks put them at a disadvantage?". Sides were picked: some felt that of course those who might suffer because of a chance of genetics should be assisted, after all, so were regular disabilities. But others dismissed it as handouts, while some were even offended at the comparison of Quirks to disabilities.
In the end neither side got what they wanted, a halfway compromise struck by politicians to create a system riddled with deficiencies and inflexibilities. Small patches had been done here and there whenever a particular issue garnered sufficient popular attention, but at the end of the day the system was only half-built and underfunded.
Kan had followed the debate when he was young, and looking back on it he remembered a man by the name of Kenshin Matsuoka featuring prominently. He'd served as a spokesperson for a prominent advocate group for increased support to those whose Quirks negatively impacted their daily lives. The reason he hadn't recalled it until now was because of the surname. Though attitudes towards such things were more loose these days, the husband taking the name of the bride was still extraordinarily rare.
"Quite. The last option we had considered was having our Support Department make something that would suit our purposes." Nedzu continued without missing a beat, taking out a holographic projector from his pocket and sliding it across the table. "I sent them the request this morning, and this is the concept they came up with."
The projector whirred to life, showing a roughly anatomically accurate sketch of Ryuuzaki. In the image she was wearing what looked like a stylized version of a police dog vest in the grey and green colours of the UA uniform, with vertical slots in the back for the spines and her wings. The vest could be opened and then closed around the base of the wings before being clipped in place, without having to try to fit the whole wing through the hole.
"As you can see it's made out of tear- and cut-resistant materials, hopefully avoiding that issue." Nedzu explained. "It's designed to allow for full range of motion, so we could produce a gym uniform version as well."
Mr. Tatsuma seemed to defer to his daughter's opinion on the matter, who appraised the image for a long moment before responding.
"...That actually looks like it could work..." She hissed out.
"I hear a 'but'?" Kan asked.
"...How am I going to pull that thing on, every morning? I can't exactly reach back there very well..." She pointed out, rotating her left forelimb back to demonstrate her limited range of motion. "...And I can't really expect Mom, Dad or Ryuko to be available to help me every day…"
"Ah, but I had considered such an issue already." Nedzu replied immediately, smiling broadly. "As I'm sure you are aware, one of the greatest assets of UA High is our robotic workforce. They function as assistants, labourers, simulated opponents and more."
Kan could see the exact moment Ryuuzaki realized what Nedzu was going for, the triple eyelids blinking slowly.
"We are, therefore, prepared to offer you one of our robotic workers as an assistant."
"You can't be serious." Was the immediate reply.
"I do not say things I do not mean, my dear."
"Those things cost over a million yen!"
"It's actually a lot less, we build them ourselves and in bulk." Nedzu replied, looking her in the eye. "The motto of our school is, for a reason, Plus Ultra. The reason our entrance tests have a 300-1 admittance rate and the reason we are known as the greatest Hero School in Japan, is that we will go beyond for those students whom we do admit. We expect the best, and we must offer the best."
Kan observed her reaction: it was easier if you knew what to look for. Not expressions, but body language: minute twitch of her tail, sudden shift of her ears- he was fairly confident in his assessment that she was awed by Nedzu's offer.
For his part, Kenshin Tatsuma seemed just a touch impressed as well. That had been Nedzu's plan of course, or at least if Kan knew anything about the principal. Give them several options he knew they wouldn't like, and then overawe them with the third one to make sure they agreed with it.
"That would be, um, more than alright." Ryuuzaki stumbled, and her father nodded as well.
"Well, that's that settled." Nedzu stated, smiling magnanimously. "Are there any other questions or concerns you would like to ask about?"
Mr. Tatsuna glanced at his daughter.
"...There's one." She said, swallowing. "Well, two. But the first one was, I wanted to ask about, um, eating?"
"We've gone over the dietary requirements provided in your application, and Lunch Rush has assured me we'll be able to provide them with ease. Is there something more specific concerning you?"
"Well… I mean, I was wondering where I would eat?"
"In the cafeteria, of course?" Nedzu didn't look like he understood the question, a rare sight indeed.
"...Are you sure that that's a good idea? When I eat it's kind of... gross, and loud."
"Ah. You think that it would be a problem for your fellow students?" At her wordless nod, Nedzu continued, his voice soft yet firm. "You are entitled to use the same cafeteria as everyone else and socialize with your peers. Understand this, that if any of the other students find their meals unbearably disrupted by your presence perhaps it is they who need to find an alternative location."
"If you truly feel like you cannot eat in the cafeteria, you can come to me and we will arrange something." Kan added. "But like Nedzu said you have every right to be there, and I think it would be best for you to at least try it out. Getting to know your classmates will be especially important, as you will be spending the next three years with them."
She drew a long breath, before nodding. "I guess that would be alright."
"Now, you mentioned a third concern?"
This time it was Mr. Tatsuma who spoke up, Ryuuzaki seeming a little exhausted.
"The last question we had was regarding school trips. The school handbook mentioned the possibility of summer camps and other trips, and we were wondering about the logistics of that."
Nedzu glanced at Kan, and he cleared his throat.
"There is no question that Ryuuzaki will be allowed to participate. We typically use school buses but if necessary we can acquire other methods of transportation. Potentially, we can also acquire permission for her to fly to the destination."
Ryuuzaki's ears perked up at that, but she said nothing.
"I see. That is definitely reassuring for us to hear." He glanced at his daughter again, who shook her head. "I do believe that is everything we had."
"...Thank you for seeing us." She added.
"Excellent! We look forward to having you in the future!"