A Few Days Later

U.A. High School

“Good Morning, Principal. How was your trip?” John said to Nezu as the ratman walked into his office again. He had just finished with another student from the business course of all things and had a few minutes before his next appointment.

“Good Morning to you as well, Mr. Wayne. It was adequate, though I believe the event could have been held via video call, and we would have been just as successful. So, I’m told you had a little excitement over the weekend.” Nezu said, jumping up on the chair beside John’s.

“Well, that is one way to put it. I just did what needed to be done. Nothing more, nothing less.” He replied, standing up and moving to make them both something to drink. John had brought the kettle in last week, but only had instant coffee packs and a few different types of bagged tea he had seen in the principal’s office.

“I would expect nothing less from someone such as yourself. Tell me, did you not think to let me know that you were part of the attack? Or that you are now a registered hero?”

“You were out of the country, so I just told your secretary. I didn’t consider it that big of a deal. Not to mention, I am just a sidekick with an underpowered Quirk.” John replied, pouring the water that had nearly instantly boiled into the cups.

“You know I’m a pro hero as well, and my Quirk only increases my intelligence. Don’t sell yourself short by just calling yourself a sidekick.”

“Fine. So, I’m a hero now. Does that change anything?”

“As long as you maintain your duties here, I see no issues with it. I would have appreciated the heads up from you directly, is all.”

John handed the ratman the cup, with a spoon still in it. “Sorry, I don’t have a proper pot yet to let it steep. As for not letting you know, I didn’t want to bother you with something as minor as this.”

“Minor? Mr. Wayne, do you know whose life you saved?”

“Mei’s?”

“Mei Hatsume, formerly Mei Takeyama, daughter of Mt Lady, though I am sure you know that. No, it’s the family that is important. Imagine my surprise when I am approached by none other than Hinata Takeyama, Mei’s grandmother, gushing about how my new hire just saved her granddaughter’s life, and I had no clue about it.”

“I’m afraid I’m not following,” John said, now slightly concerned. Yu said she wanted to meet with him today after school for something involving her mother, but he wasn’t sure what. 

Nezu sighed, stirring his tea. “Right, you’re an American. Why would you know them… the Takeyamas would be similar to your Kennedys, except instead of elected statesmen with oratory Quirks, they are a family of powerful Quirk users who pretty much own the Hokkaido region of Japan, along with many businesses throughout the rest of Japan. Hinata is a wonderful woman, a philanthropist with her public face, but she is also a former hero from before we even called them heroes. Others within the family are not necessarily as altruistic as she is. Some are even straight-up villains. Just be careful when you’re dealing with them, as their family will always come first. Always.”

“Even if they are criminals?”

“Especially if they are. They tend to handle things… internally. If it goes against the family enough, they will handle it. Permanently.” Nezu replied, then started to gulp down his tea. “Ahh! Refreshing mint. Great to cleanse the palate. Now, how are the interviews going?”

“Well, All Might and Thirteen haven’t been by yet, but otherwise most of the first years have been interviewed. There are a couple I have pencilled in for a follow-up. Also, Momo has come up with some amendments to the hero course lesson plans she wants to go over with you at your earliest convenience. I helped her on Monday flesh them out a bit, and make them something that shouldn’t require too much of the school’s funds to implement if you agree with them.”

“Oh, I will eagerly await that. She has a brilliant young mind. I have no doubt the experience will be enlightening, even if I don’t accept her suggestions without some further amendments.”

“Well, I did talk her down from assembling dozens of robots for the students to battle on a weekly basis, but I will defer the final decisions to you on how useful they will be.” John laughed a little, shaking his head at how serious she was about doing that, going so far as to say she would pay for them herself if need be.

“She is from another family with a lot of money and power; she would probably get her father to donate all the robots to the school if I agreed to it. Ahh, let’s save that for tomorrow. I believe I am free during the final period. Bring her up to the office then. Maybe we can do something from her plans on Friday afternoon. If nothing else, I’m sure it will placate her a bit and help everyone prepare for the festival.” 

“Sure.”

They chatted for a few more minutes before Nezu took his leave, John’s next student already waiting by the door. He ushered him in and sat down, opening yet another file. The Principal gave John a fair amount to chew on, but he didn’t have time to think about it right then, as he needed to focus on the next student.

Great, I’m about to be mired in politics. No good deed goes unpunished, it seems. 

The rest of the morning blew by for John, with both All Might and Thirteen calling him to be scheduled for Friday morning. He just quietly laughed, assuming Nezu had called them about it, and pencilled them in. He would be finished with the first-year students early Thursday Afternoon, thus his Friday would be clear of anything else.

Damn Saturday work schedule!

He found Momo at lunch, the girl hanging around some of her friends, and let her know about their meeting tomorrow afternoon, then went outside to train. He had his jacket off, as it seemed even some of the other staff would do the same, and the school didn’t consider it a breach of etiquette to be shirtless while doing physical training. He was actually getting some well-defined abs, and circulating his healing magic internally was letting him repair his muscles as he exercised, allowing him to grow stronger in real time.

It barely used up any mana either; his natural regeneration almost let him do it continuously for hours. It didn’t work so well when Rumi and Yu would kick his ass in sparing, the damage they could cause eating mana up like he cast the spell, but for everything else, it seemed to work great.

That was another interesting event. Yu had come by the dojo on Monday evening, dressed in a gi like his, except she wore a black belt. John watched the pair of them spar and couldn’t help but whistle in astonishment. Yu was like a brick wall, accepting everything Rumi tossed at her but was unable to go on the offensive, the rabbit woman literally doing circles around her. It took nearly ten minutes, but Rumi finally put her into submission, locking her leg around Yu’s neck and choking her until she turned as purple as her hero costume.

John had to carry her outside afterwards to get some air, and cast a healing spell on her when Rumi was busy with his bow again. She had asked if she could borrow it, wanting to have an option against certain villains from range, which he allowed. He wasn’t exactly using it anyway, and if she came across that Stain villain again, new suit or not, it would be better if she didn’t get in close if she could help it. 

From there, their days progressed that way. John and Rumi would train in the mornings, then Yu would meet Rumi at the train station, and they would go on patrol while John was at work. In the evening, Yu would train with them for a couple of hours, then go home so she could be with Mei, and Rumi and John would either train more or do yoga by the Koi pond. 

Speaking of Mei, I wonder-

“Mr. Wayne! I did it!” 

-right on cue!

John stood up and turned toward the rocketeering teenager, ready to catch her again. Every day at lunch, she charged towards him, a new invention for him to try on to replace his eye. The first was a full helmet, with nearly a dozen screens in front of his eye that let him literally see in all directions at once. It was so disorienting that just moving made him want to barf.

The second thing was a three-quarter face mask that made him look like Robocop. That one was a little better, with only a single 270-degree display in front of his left eye, letting him see even further to the sides than he could before. The problem was that it was heavy and kept shifting around despite the straps, throwing off his actual orientation.

He was kind of scared to see what she came up with today. 

“Good Afternoon, Ms. Hatsume. What is it today?” He said, catching the rocket-booted girl in mid-flight and sitting her down.

“This!” She said, like she expected him to just catch her like that, handing him an eyepatch and a black leather case with a shoulder holster attached.  

“Okay. What is this?”

“Please, put them on, then allow me to explain how the TK Mark III Scanner works!” She said, making a dramatic pose.

“You know, that is probably not the best naming convention to have for anything I use.” He said quietly, donning the new eye patch and bag.

“Whatever do you mean? It just stands for Tool Kit Mark III Scanner.” She said, batting her eyes innocently.

“Right. So how do I- Whoa.” He exclaimed. Somehow, where his blind spot had been, was now a live feed from the camera on the side of the school building.

“Damn right whoa! Now, blink again with your right eye.” 

He did, and it switched to another camera on the nearby gym. “What is this?”

“With the TK Mark III Scanner, you can access almost any camera within fifty metres! As long as they are not on a heavily encrypted network anyway. It can’t hack a smartphone, but I’m working on it!”

“This is crazy. Can I shut it off?”

“Blink quickly five times to turn it on and off, but don’t do that yet. It has one more function! Open up the TK Mark III XPAC!”

John blinked. The camera changed again. This time to the back of the main U.A. building.

“The bag?”

“Yes! The eXtra Peripheral Aerial Carrier! Open it up and reveal the TK Mark III XPAD!”

“You mean this… little drone?” He said, pulling out a small, black drone. It had four props, a carbon-fibre body, and a lens about four inches long on the bottom.

“Of course! The eXtra Peripheral Aerial Drone! It has a one-hour flight time, a three-kilometre range, and a 4 K camera with a 10x zoom function! Able to record whatever it sees, all controlled from your new ocular patch. Just press the button on the back and blink quickly four times to sync it up.”

“Okay, and how do I use it?”

“Just look where you want it to go, and focus on the up and down arrows to move up and down. The plus and minus are your zoom in and out, and-“

“I think I got it,” John said, already releasing it and flying the drone around. Oddly enough, his piloting skill figured out everything nearly instantly; apparently, this was considered piloting a drone. He zoomed it around for a few minutes, then brought it back to them, landing it neatly in the bag… err XPAC.

“You know, Mei, you’re a bit extra, but it’s cute. Thank you so much for this!”

“Just working on my sales pitches! Need to land myself a job at a major corporation after school. I’m hoping once they see my hero gear in action during the sports festival, that I will get plenty of offers!”

“Just out of curiosity, why wouldn’t you work for your family?” He asked, not sure whether he was treading in dangerous waters by asking.

“Oh, I will. But not until I prove myself worthy of the position! No nepotism for me! I refuse to let my grandmother or my mother’s name be what spurs me to greatness. That is why I changed my last name to my father’s, so I’m not favoured because of my family name!”

“You think that is going to work?” He asked her seriously. He didn’t know her until he got here, but her family was well-known.

“No idea, but I’m willing to try. I’m sure they will figure it out eventually, but at least I can say I got in the door without my family’s influence!” She replied, hands on her hips, smiling happily.

“You are one hell of an optimist.”  

“You bet I am! I’m going to be the best inventor on the planet!” She said, then snuck in close again. “Can I please get a look at your bike soon? I want to see if I can figure out how it expands and contracts.”

“Sure. I’m not sure when, though, unless I pencil you in for a session.”

“That will work. I’m at the top of my class, so anytime is fine. I can miss a few, and it won’t hurt me. Thank you again for saving me.”

“You’re welcome, Mei, and thank you for the gift. Now run along, classes are beginning soon.” 

She took off, and John put on his jacket. There was a slight bulge underneath it, as if he were armed, but otherwise it was barely noticeable to the casual eye. He stuffed his old eyepatch into his pocket in case DEN didn’t let him keep this new eye patch when he left. It was a little bigger and bulkier than the small strip of leather, but it was barely noticeable compared to the helmet and mask she had initially designed. 

He made his way to the locker rooms to get cleaned up before he started another set of counselling sessions. He wasn’t exactly sure what Yu wanted to do after work today, but it didn’t involve hero work or training, so he figured he’d better not be smelly. 

Damn it. Am I going to have to meet her mother this afternoon? Whatever, I’ll deal with it when the time comes.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep