Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Izumi POV.
"Hey! Are you done yet?! " Mirko shouted from the top of a building. I sighed and looked at the police officer in front of me with a tired expression. The policewoman just nodded as she finished jotting down a few things on a small notepad. I finally breathed a sigh of relief, turned to face the assembled crowd, including several journalists, and smiled slightly as I waved to them before jumping and landing softly next to Mirko.
"When I said I'd do your paperwork, I didn't think it would also involve talking to the police and explaining the villains' arrest," I said dryly. Mirko snorted.
"Why limit yourself to just paperwork when you can get the full work experience?" Mirko mocked, and I rolled my eyes.
This was the seventh villain we had stopped, mainly Mirko. Most of the villains were rarely criminal masterminds or powerful villains. No, most of them were simple criminals who committed a small crime, but who, at the moment they used their quirks, were categorized as 'villains'.
And that included chasing a guy who had just stolen a motorcycle, simply because in a panic she tried to use her quirk while driving the stolen vehicle.
A quirk that simply made her hair grow like Play-Doh.
Her hair literally looked like Play-Doh, and apparently the stress of the police chase caused her hair to grow uncontrollably, and that was it.
And that was all it took for her to be labeled a villain. The law was that simple and restrictive; it's possible that with All Might present, she might have had some kind of pass or leeway, but due to the current situation in Japan, the laws were even more restrictive than before.
So yes, we had to respond to that chase, which ended in less than 20 seconds when we arrived. Mirko was faster than a motorcycle; she simply kicked the villain in the chest, sending her flying across the road while the motorcycle continued on its way, but now without a driver.
I moved forward enough to be on top of the motorcycle; my kimono wasn't really made for driving a two-wheeled vehicle, but I was able to stop the motorcycle before it crashed or went off the road into another vehicle.
And after that, even after a measly 20 seconds of total screen time, someone had to give the police a full summary, a job I'd been tasked with doing.
It was boring, but it was very educational. Or well, it wasn't totally boring. Yes, Mirko was just as I expected; she didn't have a fixed patrol, she just bounced around and ran randomly while keeping a radio on.
There was so much to say about Mirko's instincts; she alone had found four of the seven villains before the police. She moved as if she knew the entire city, venturing into alleys and any other suspicious streets. And it wasn't even as if she were hearing something I wasn't; I trusted my senses, they were much stronger than those of a normal person, so I should have been on the same level as Mirko's, but she moved solely on instinct. The experience was truly incredible.
And what's more, two of them were particularly strong. They weren't anything impressive, not trained villains or anything, but their quirks alone were ridiculously powerful. There was a fire man who grew stronger by using water as fuel.
How does that work when it violates so many laws of physics? I have no idea, but it did, and it was dangerous. The heroine with a water manipulation quirk who had arrived to 'supposedly' counteract the villain's quirk only made her stronger, and the villain began to grow until she reached three meters.
Physical blows barely affected the fire, at least not when it was so large; it simply regenerated, so Mirko's kicks had little effect. Luckily, my Foxfire Style could cut through the fire with ease. I could locate his main body using my Observation Haki, so I simply sliced it back to its normal size, and Mirko finished it off with a powerful kick that extinguished all its remaining flames.
The next thing I learned was that Mirko was good at teaching, or rather, complaining about a lot of things and talking about the hero scene while we ran around. I learned that the whole hero scene was a 'first come, first served' situation, as simple as that.
The police used an open channel to communicate with all nearby heroes, and whoever arrived first and dealt with the villain would get the glory. Mirko was by far the fastest, and obviously she wasn't going to wait for me, so I had to move at her speed to keep up with her, which I had no problem doing.
Normally, cities were large enough for each hero agency to have its own designated territory, and the heroes themselves tried not to step on each other's toes. But sometimes, independent heroes like Mirko would enter the scene, or several groups from different agencies would clash on some of the established territorial boundaries.
It really made sense now that UA only accepts a limited number of heroes per year. I imagined that if around 200 heroes graduated from UA every year, then the cities would be oversaturated with heroes, and the heroes themselves would start fighting each other.
After all, even though being a hero should be an altruistic endeavor and all that, the pay the HPSC gave monthly was based on the number of crimes and cases solved, or popularity and contribution to society. So yes, more cases solved, more money. No matter how altruistic a person is, they still have to survive somehow.
Unless there's someone like the dragon warrior from Kung Fu Panda who can feed on nothing but universe juice, they needed the money to survive and make ends meet, just like any normal person.
Especially for lower-ranking heroes, merchandising could generate extra income, but I doubted that the smallest heroes could even get a contract to have merchandise created of them.
So yes, the whole pro hero scene was a huge competition and race, combined with a popularity contest.
It was interesting to know that.
And last but not least, the heroes had enough authority to direct the police under the right circumstances. When an ordinary criminal became a villain by using their Quirk, primary authority passed to the nearest heroes, and police officers couldn't get directly involved without permission from their superiors or orders from the hero.
Or they could also be ordered to retreat, or to evacuate the people, or simply to stay put; the police would follow the hero's orders, at least the lower-ranking officers. I believe our authority only extended slightly above the lowest-ranking police officers, who would be the agents and senior agents, or even some sergeants.
I believe our rank of authority was at the same level as an assistant inspector or lieutenant; we definitely couldn't overrule the orders of an inspector or captain, and certainly not those of higher rank.
I think even the superintendents could give us orders in the right situations; it was all kind of confusing, and Mirko just complained about it a lot, and I won't go into detail. I'd really have to ask one of our teachers; we definitely hadn't covered that part of the Heroic Laws yet.
There was a whole complicated network, especially because, even if we, the heroes, were the ones who stopped the villains, it was the police who arrested them, they were the ones who restrained them, put them in patrol cars or vans in chains, and took them to the police station and processed them.
So yes, there was an important part of the job which was interacting with the police, which was important enough that even Mirko had to fulfill it, but since I was now her intern, her partner in heroism, she had now left all the work to me.
But it didn't really bother me; it was better to learn these things now, it was good practice indeed.
"So? Where do we go now? " I asked Mirko.
"Shall we go? I'll continue my patrol alone, I'll head towards Minato Ward, you go back to UA, come back on Monday, I'll send you a message with the address where I'll be." Mirko said without even looking at me.
"Are we done?" I asked, confused. Mirko just snorted before taking off running and leaping from building to building. I blinked a few times before sighing wearily. Mai, who until now had been comfortably silent inside a pod, reverted to human form behind me and began to stretch lazily.
"That was the longest I've ever spent in my sword form." Mai groaned as she shifted her body. "Mirko is really intense." She finally grunted.
"She is." I agreed with a sigh as I pulled out my phone, raising an eyebrow. "It's almost 9 PM," I said, surprised.
"That late?" Mai asked, also surprised. I massaged my temple. I had gone out with Mai after the last class, which ended at 3:10 in the afternoon; the trip from Musutafu to Nagoya was almost 40 minutes, and then the meeting with Mirko must have taken another 20 minutes.
So we started patrolling a little after 4 PM, that was more than 4 hours of patrolling, almost. I grimaced.
"We'll get to UA sometime after 10." I said with a grimace. Mai groaned wearily.
"I guess this will be our schedule for the rest of the month, right? " Mai complained. I sighed and couldn't help but nod.
"Yes, but it was worth it." I said honestly, Mai hummed as she nodded.
"Honestly... yes. I learned more from her than from most of my other internships." Mai said with a sneer. I shrugged.
"We'd better start heading back, I have no idea what the Tokaido Shinkansen schedule is. I'll have to start checking it so I can catch the train on time." I said with a grimace.
"Are we really taking the Shinkansen ? I know we took it to get here, but I thought it was just to get to today's interview. That line is expensive," Mai said with a grimace.
"Don't worry, UA will pay for our trips. I think HPSC subsidizes it once we hand in the internship contract. It would be impossible otherwise. The trip outside the Shinkansen is more than two hours; it's a ridiculous amount of travel."
"And there are people who travel farther, you heard Darkness, she goes to Fat Gum's agency, it's farther than us, even with the Shinkansen, the trip is more than an hour." I said with a grimace, I heard Mai whistle.
"Damn UA perks." Mai snorted, and I shrugged. Even so, I still had serious doubts about some canon stuff I'd just remembered. I mean, going all the way to Tokyo, Nagoya, or Kyoto seemed reasonable just to participate in the Hero Work Studies.
But I remembered that damned Fumikage Tokoyami had an internship with that damn Hawks. There wouldn't be a problem, if it weren't for the fact that Hawk's agency was in Kyushu, damn Kyushu. It was in the completely opposite direction, so far away that even a bullet train like the Shinkansen would take more than 5 hours to get there.
I was an office for the first internships since we had accommodation on site for the entire week that the internship lasted, but what about the Work Studies? Something that was extracurricular after classes? I saw it as truly impossible.
I'd need to take a domestic flight to get there on time. I think a flight from Shizuoka to Kyushu takes about an hour, and with procedures and everything else at the airport, the average travel time would be around two to two and a half hours each way. Now that would be acceptable, but there was this ridiculous idea that Tsukuyomi traveled by plane every day to attend his Hero Work Studio. I just couldn't see it.
Did Hawks stay close to Musutafu during his internships to be near Tokoyami? I had no idea, and since Tokoyami didn't exist here, I might never get the answer.
"Yes, you know UA is really prestigious and has so many benefits, but you don't know them all until you attend," I said, equally amazed. UA really was special. "Come on, we'll get to the station faster if I give you a ride," I said to Mai and walked over to her. She just huffed, but grabbed my neck and let me lift her up like a princess, even though she grimaced.
"The other way." Mai corrected me immediately, even before I started to move. I clicked my tongue and adjusted my position. Since Mai didn't say anything, I started running and jumping across rooftops. "You're really terrible at directions, aren't you? " Mai said dryly, grabbing my chin and turning it to a specific spot. "That way." She grunted.
"It's not my fault." I said with a pout, Mai just snorted dryly.
"And your... fiancées? Where will they go? I think Endeavor was in Tokyo? But I don't remember where Team Idatem works." Mai said, changing the subject, though she continued to correct me as we moved.
"Darkness will go to Kansai, specifically to Esuha, in Osaka, near Dotonbori. Jinx, Tanya, and Visha are interning with Lady Nagant. I don't remember if she's affiliated with her own agency or anything, but I think they'll go to Shinjuku, Tokyo? I don't really remember, I'll have to ask them later. Ruby and Penny will also go to Tokyo. Team Idatem is in Naruhata, while Endeavor's agency, where Azula will be, is more in the center of Tokyo." I said with a hum, and Mai snorted.
"I see, I guess that makes sense, Tokyo really does have all those high-profile heroes," Mai said with a grimace. I shrugged.
"Of course we are, we're lucky to be in Nagoya," I said curtly. Mai snorted, but nodded. Finally, with Mai's help, we arrived at the train station.
The journey was quite peaceful; luckily, our train arrived a few minutes after we did. Fortunately, rush hour had already passed, so even the non-reserved section wasn't completely overcrowded and cramped; not everyone takes a long-distance bullet train.
But even so, I was already making a mental note to order a monthly pass and reserve seats for the rest of the month; that would save a lot of trouble. I'd just have to coordinate the schedule with Mirko.
The internships didn't have a fixed schedule; yes, they were usually part-time, around four hours, but the hours could be longer or shorter depending on the hero in charge. She almost wanted to sigh; she'd better ask for an unreserved slot after all.
Putting aside my train issues, Taylor was supposed to be back at UA by now. Her schedule was stricter, specifically because Strider had been hired. She left at the same time we did.
Her trip with Strider was at 3:30 pm, and she should be back around 8 pm. She was really curious to know how she'd done in Brockton Bay.
I was also curious about the general situation in the city. Had the canonical events already happened? Would they ever happen? I had no idea, but maybe I should find a way to warn Taylor if they hadn't.
I pulled out my scroll and started sending messages, or rather, replying to them; apparently, I already had some messages. I'd figure out what to do with the information later. For now, I answered the messages, and while I was talking to Mai, who pressed her shoulder against mine as we spoke, she looked curiously over my shoulder.
Author's Notes : Okay, I uploaded this to Patreon last week. It was something I made during my short vacation; I had some free time and didn't know what to do, and my best idea was to play around with AI image generation, and you might ask, of what? So I ended up creating images of the characters in their UA uniforms, because I could!
Now, I won't say they turned out perfectly; some were harder than others, several characters were more difficult than I expected, and I'm still having a lot of trouble with the hands—it's always the hands! But I do have some images (read: more than 100 acceptable images out of the more than 1200 I generated) about this.
First, a quick recap: UA has two uniforms, Winter and Summer. Obviously, I wanted to make both, and I did for most of them. Some didn't turn out well enough or I didn't like them enough to upload. But besides that, UA has a vest available that I find really attractive, and it's a real shame we haven't seen it more often in the canon.
The UA vest doesn't belong to any specific uniform, as far as I can tell. Only two people wear it: Nejire with her summer uniform and Jirou with her winter uniform shirt. So, the vest is either just decoration or they only wear it when the weather changes slightly depending on the season, so they don't have to change their entire uniform.
So I'll leave them here. First, in a Drive folder with all of them, and then Imgur links for each character.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Kei8KNeFv1Ccj7zJV2Sm7X8dWLG_xHEG?usp=sharing
Izumi: ( Zoro's earrings got way too complicated, the AI for some reason can't count! And it can't generate katanas properly either, what a shame.)
https://imgur.com/a/qdrVhoi
Taylor: ( In case you forgot, Taylor's image was an expy of Yu Mei-Ren, that is, Consort Yu from Fate!) And I'll still be using that image !
https://imgur.com/a/10zqGcV
Azula: (I must say, this was one of the hardest to generate, especially because the AI always generated her with her crown, something I was trying to prevent.)
https://imgur.com/a/f3yNG9T
Darkness:
https://imgur.com/a/CG6Y7pv
Ruby: ( Both Ruby and Darkness were really easy!) The AI collaborated really quickly with them !
https://imgur.com/a/YSL0l4m
Jinx: (I struggled with this one, I only got 2 images. For some reason, the AI doesn't like Jinx, or it just generated her with the wrong clothes, what a shame.)
https://imgur.com/a/3pCdFqb
Louise: ( I liked the results of this one! )
https://imgur.com/a/ykFccUx
Mai: ( There are very few pictures of Mai! I'm glad it worked out well!)
https://imgur.com/a/OOOiLjU
Maki: (Try making both versions, with and without glasses. Maki doesn't need them at all; in canon, she uses them to see curses. Here, they're not necessary, but still, generate both versions.)
https://imgur.com/a/ooOvpz8
Miorine:
https://imgur.com/a/T8gaBzz
Penny: ( I suffered with this one too!) There weren't enough Penny ones left for me to like !
https://imgur.com/a/4NUUBWm
Tanya: (Interestingly, she was also one of the easiest to generate; I almost expected it to be the other way around. PS: The last one is an image of how she dreams she would look.)
https://imgur.com/a/RKvnzzX
Visha: (This is one I really struggled with. Visha is pretty average in terms of her features, so the AI started generating all sorts of things!)
https://imgur.com/a/RWG2cxl
Yunyun: ( and last but not least, Yunyun!)
https://imgur.com/a/wbYNrJt
I had a lot of fun creating them, I hope you liked them! And I'll just say, creating these images takes me longer than I'm willing to admit, so don't expect anything like this anytime soon!
A/N: If you liked the story, join my patreon, patreon.com/Camellya_Addams, there are up to 10 chapters in advance, thank you. Or you can also visit my Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/camellya_addams.