Location: Kaito's Apartment – Naruhata
Date: Sunday | 08:00 AM
BRRR-RING.
The phone vibrated on the kitchen counter. Kaito was pouring hot water into a mug. He reached over and picked it up.
"Hey, Grandma," Kaito answered.
"You awake, Kaito?" Saki Arisaka asked. Her voice was warm over the speaker. "I know you just got back from the States, but I wanted to make sure you didn't forget."
"I didn't forget," Kaito smiled slightly. "It's Dad's anniversary today."
"Yes," Saki said. "And we need to clean up the plot for your mother and grandfather too. Are you too busy to drive down? I can just take the train, it's fine."
"I cleared my whole weekend. I'm taking the day off," Kaito said. "I'll pick you up in an hour. We can drive to Shizuoka together."
"Oh, good," Saki sounded happy. "Drive safe. See you soon."
CLICK.
Kaito finished his tea and grabbed his keys.
He walked down to the garage.
His modified black car was parked in the corner.
BRMMM.
Kaito got in, started the engine, and pulled into the morning traffic.
A while later, he pulled up to the house. Grandma Saki was already waiting outside in a simple dark dress, holding a small cloth bag.
THUD.
She closed the passenger door and immediately reached over to pat Kaito's arm.
"You look tired," Saki said, looking him up and down. "Are you eating? You can't just live on coffee and takeout."
"I eat plenty, Grandma," Kaito laughed, merging back onto the highway.
"Good. Here," Saki opened her bag and pulled out a plastic bottle of green tea.
She held the bottle in her hands for a few seconds.
SSSS.
A very faint glow surrounded her palms. Her Quirk wasn't flashy or meant for combat.
She could just naturally heat up small objects she held. Once the plastic bottle was perfectly warm, she handed it to him.
"Thanks," Kaito said, taking a sip.
Saki settled into her seat. She watched the road for a minute before letting out a quiet laugh.
"Hehe... Now that I remember, I watched the morning news like a month or two ago," Saki said. "Those reporters were losing their minds over you contracting that American hero. They keep talking about you like you're some helpless civilian who needs a whole security detail just to walk outside."
"...."
Kaito kept his eyes on the road and smiled. "That's exactly what they're supposed to think."
"If they only knew," Saki shook her head. She was one of the few people who knew he was actually Hero X. "They act like a stiff breeze is going to knock you over. I almost laughed at the TV. You could level a city block just by sneezing."
Click.
Saki chuckled, taking a small rice ball out of her bag. "Speaking of the work, last week on the phone, you said you spent the week at a high school?"
"Yeah. Ketsubutsu Academy," Kaito nodded. "I was helping out Ms. Joke."
Saki thought about it for a second. "Joke... wait, the loud girl with the green hair? The one who hosted the last concert with Midnight and Present Mic?"
"That's her. Her real name is Emi," Kaito said. "I promised I'd help her out one time since she really gave it her all back then. I ran a masterclass for the teachers there to fix their lesson plans."
"Hehe." Saki covered her mouth and laughed.
"What?" Kaito asked.
"It's just ironic," Saki said, her eyes crinkling. "My grandson. You never majored in heroics, never went to a hero academy, and you don't even have a basic license. And now you're lecturing pro teachers on how to do their jobs. It's ridiculous."
Kaito let out a short laugh. "It sounds crazy when you put it like that. But honestly, they needed it. And it lines up with what I want to do."
Saki stopped laughing and looked at him. "Why start with the schools now? You usually deal with the hero agencies."
"Because I think hero schools are where the problem starts," Kaito said. "They teach these kids to hit hard and break things. They turn them into brawlers. And when these student's become pro they don't care about collateral damage."
"...."
Saki stayed quiet. She knew exactly what he meant.
When Kaito was a toddler, a pro hero got into a wild street fight with a villain.
The hero threw a massive, sloppy attack, missed the villain, and hit a building instead.
Kaito's dad was caught right in the crossfire and killed.
Saki looked at him. She reached over and gently rested her warm hand on his shoulder.
"You're doing the right thing, Kaito," Saki said softly. "With a weak Quirk like mine, I know exactly how scary it is to be a normal person when those big fights happen. Your father would be really proud of you."
HUFF.
Kaito let out a slow breath. The tension in his shoulders dropped.
"Thanks, Grandma."
They spent the rest of the drive talking about normal things. It was quiet, exactly what Kaito needed before they reached their old hometown.
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Shizuoka – Old Shopping District
Date: Sunday | 11:30 AM
SPLASH.
Kaito poured a wooden ladle of fresh water over the family gravestone. The Shizuoka cemetery was quiet.
He and Grandma Saki spent the last hour cleaning the stone, lighting incense, and setting up a new bouquet of white flowers.
They stood together in silence for a few minutes, just paying their respects.
Once they finished, they took the slow walk down the hill toward the old shopping district.
The streets here were narrow and crowded. Small, cramped shops lined the road, selling everything from fresh fish to hardware supplies.
It smelled like sea salt and fried food.
"Saki-san!"
An elderly woman with slightly blue hair waved frantically from across the street.
It was Mrs. Sato, their old neighbor. Standing right next to her was Mrs. Watanabe, the woman who ran the local florist shop.
Grandma Saki smiled and waved back. The two older women immediately hurried over.
"Oh my goodness, look at him," Mrs. Sato gasped. She reached right out and pinched Kaito's cheek hard.
Kaito didn't pull away or complain. He just let her do it. "You grew up so tall! And look at this fancy suit."
"It's really good to see you, Mrs. Sato," Kaito smiled.
"I was just telling my husband the other day," Mrs. Sato said, looking proudly at Saki. "I pointed right at the television and said, 'Look! That's Kaito! The helpful boy who used to carry my heavy cement bags when my front gate broke!' I always told you he was going to be a real hero. And now you've become The Golden Manager instead."
Mrs. Watanabe reached into her tote bag and pulled out a small, tightly wrapped plastic container.
"Here, I made some chirashi-zushi this morning," Mrs. Watanabe said, pressing the warm container into Kaito's hands. "You still look way too skinny. You work too hard managing all those famous heroes in Japan. You need to eat."
"Thank you, Mrs. Watanabe. I'm definitely eating this later," Kaito said, holding the container carefully.
They didn't treat him like some untouchable celebrity. They didn't care about his net worth or the international contracts he was signing.
To them, he was just Saki's quiet grandson who used to help fix broken things around the street.
While Saki stayed behind to catch up on neighborhood gossip with the two women, Kaito stepped away to buy a drink from the local FamilyMart.
CHIME.
He walked out of the sliding doors a minute later.
PSSSH.
He cracked open a cold plastic bottle of green tea.
"Wait... dude."
Kaito stopped and looked to his right.
A young guy was standing near the trash cans, holding a half-eaten steamed bun.
His fingers looked exactly like the metal tips of fountain pens. It was Kenji, one of his old classmates from middle school.
Kenji's eyes were wide. He almost dropped his food.
"Are you... Kaito?" Kenji asked, taking a step closer like he was looking at a ghost. "Kaito Arisaka?"
"Hey, Kenji," Kaito said casually, taking a sip of his tea. "It's been a long time."
"Holy crap, it is you!" Kenji yelled, throwing his free hand on his head. "Man, you look totally different! I mean, your face is the same, but you actually look alive now!"
"I just bought nicer clothes," Kaito joked.
"Dude, back in middle school, you were always so quiet and gloomy," Kenji said, shaking his head in total disbelief. "I seriously thought you were just depressed about having a dud Quirk. I kept telling you to get hyped about the pro heroes, and you just ignored me every single time."
Kenji started laughing loud enough that a few people on the street turned to look.
"And now you're literally the manager of the top heroes!" Kenji said. "You weren't depressed at all! You just didn't care about the stuff we were doing. Man, I feel so dumb."
"You weren't dumb, Kenji. I was just tired back then," Kaito said.
"Man, nobody from my work believes me," Kenji pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Every time your face pops up on the news, I tell them I went to school with you, and they say I'm completely full of it. Can I get a selfie? Please? I need to shut them up."
Kaito smiled. "Sure."
Kenji threw his arm around Kaito's shoulder and held up his phone.
CLICK.
"Thanks, man! Seriously, keep up the good work out there," Kenji waved as he jogged down the street, already typing furiously on his screen to send the picture.
Kaito finished his tea and walked back to his grandmother.
Later that afternoon, Kaito drove Grandma Saki back to the highly secure mansion he had bought for her in the past.
He had enhanced the building's defenses so heavily that it could survive an atomic bomb or making it completely All Might and All For One proof.
He made sure she was settled in, checked the locks, and promised to call her during the week.
After saying goodbye, Kaito drove his car to a quieter part of town.
He was starving.
He parked near a small, rundown ramen shop and walked inside.
The heavy smell of pork broth and soy sauce hit him immediately.
He sat down at the sticky wooden counter.
"I'll take a large miso ramen, please," Kaito told the chef.
"Coming right up."
Kaito looked over to his left. A young guy in dirty, grease-stained work clothes was hunched over his bowl.
Kaito recognized the messy hair and the faint, tiny static sparks coming off the guy's knuckles.
"Saito?" Kaito asked.
SLURP.
The guy stopped eating. He turned his head, noodles hanging out of his mouth. He blinked a few times, swallowed hard, and quickly wiped his face with a paper napkin.
"Standard-kun?" Saito's eyes lit up, using his old high school nickname for Kaito.
He broke into a massive grin. "No way! Kaito! What the hell are you doing eating in a dive like this?"
"I wanted actual food," Kaito said, sliding his stool closer to his old classmate.
Saito had a minor Quirk called Static Grip. They used to hang out in the back of the Maintenance and Logistics shop at Shizuoka Tech.
"Man, look at you," Saito laughed, giving Kaito a friendly, hard punch on the shoulder. "The Golden Manager. You are literally everywhere right now. The internet, the news, the magazines."
CLATTER.
The chef set a steaming hot bowl of ramen in front of Kaito. Kaito snapped his wooden chopsticks apart and started eating.
"Whatever happened to your big dream, man?" Saito joked, leaning his elbows on the counter. "You told me in shop class that you just wanted a completely average life. You wanted to work a normal nine-to-five, go home, sleep, and be left alone. Now you're running the whole damn industry."
Kaito laughed out loud. It felt really good to hear someone bring up his old slacker goals.
"Things just kind of happened," Kaito said between bites. "Turns out, the only way to actually get a quiet life is to make sure the guys making all the noise actually do their jobs right."
Saito cracked up, slapping the counter. "That is the most Kaito answer I've ever heard. Seriously though, man... I'm proud of you. When we graduated, I thought you were just going to be a normal blue-collar guy wrenching on cars with me. I didn't expect you to be the big winner out of our whole batch."
"How is the mechanic shop treating you?" Kaito asked, turning the attention back to his friend.
"It's good," Saito smiled, taking a sip of his water. "Steady work. The pay is decent. It's an honest living."
They spent the next hour just eating ramen and talking trash about their old teachers and classmates.
No hero politics. No business contracts. Just two guys from high school catching up on life.
_-_-_-_-_-_
Location: Arisaka Consulting – Naruhata
Date: Monday | 09:00 AM
BEEP.
The heavy glass doors of Arisaka Consulting slid open.
Kaito walked into his private office. His weekend was officially over.
There was no front desk receptionist. No interns running around with stacks of paperwork.
Instead, Kaito had coded a simple artificial intelligence himself to manage the company's daily traffic and sort his emails. The entire floor was quiet, clean, and completely empty.
"Welcome back, Boss," the smooth, automated voice spoke from the ceiling speakers. "You have three hundred and forty-two new messages. Mostly contract requests. Do you want the summary?"
"Just the highlights," Kaito said. He took off his suit jacket, draped it over his chair, and walked over to the coffee machine.
"Thirty requests from international agencies," the AI listed off. "Including top heroes from France, the UK, Germany, and Spain. Several of them are offering double your standard rate after the leaked footage of Star and Stripes practical wargames"
SIGH.
Kaito poured his black coffee and sighed. He couldn't just leave them hanging on voicemail. It was bad business.
"Put the foreign managers on my line, one by one," Kaito said, sitting down at his desk. "I'll clear them out."
The phone clicked.
"Oui, bonjour," Kaito answered, switching to perfect, fluent French. He listened to the manager on the other end gasp slightly.
"Oh! Your French is flawless, Mr. Arisaka," the manager laughed nervously. "We actually have a translator sitting right next to me. We were prepared to use him."
"Save your money," Kaito said smoothly in French. "Non, je suis désolé. Mon objectif principal est le Japon en ce moment. Merci pour l'offre."
[No, I'm sorry. My main focus is Japan right now. Thank you for the offer.]
He pressed the button to switch to the next line.
"Hola, buenas tardes," Kaito switched effortlessly to Spanish for the next caller from a top Madrid agency.
"Wait, you speak Spanish too?" the caller asked, clearly stunned. "They told us you only spoke Japanese and English!"
"Aprecio la gran oferta, pero mi enfoque es estrictamente local en este momento. Que tenga un buen día," Kaito replied.
[I appreciate the massive offer, but my focus is strictly local right now. Have a good day.]
CLICK.
He hung up.
He spent the next twenty minutes clearing out the rest of the persistent foreign callers, switching between German and English to politely but firmly shut down their massive offers.
They were all surprised by his fluency, but he kept the conversations short and professional.
DING.
The private elevator down the hall chimed. Kaito looked out his office door.
A massive, round man wearing a yellow hoodie squeezed his way through the hallway.
He was carrying a huge white cardboard box that smelled heavily of fried batter and rich sauce.
"Kaito!" Fat Gum cheered loudly. He waved his massive hand.
"Hey, Taishiro," Kaito smiled, standing up from his desk.
Fat Gum dropped the giant box onto the coffee table in the lounge area. "I brought takoyaki straight from Osaka! Still hot. I figured you'd be starving after dealing with all those tiny, fancy overseas dinners."
"You have no idea," Kaito sat down on the couch and opened the box.
It was packed with dozens of hot takoyaki balls covered in dark sauce and bonito flakes.
Fat Gum grabbed a handful and tossed them into his mouth, not even caring that they were burning hot.
"Man, you blew up," Fat Gum said, chewing happily.
Tap. Tap.
Fat Gum tapped a reinforced pouch on his belt with a sauce-stained finger. "I remember a few years ago when you were just an auditor helping heroes check their gear. I still use the equipments you gave me, hehe."
"I'm just doing the same thing I always did," Kaito said, eating a piece of takoyaki. "Just on a bigger scale. How are things down in Osaka?"
"Ah, the agency is doing great," Fat Gum grinned, grabbing another handful of food. "We've got street crime down to a record low in my sector. But honestly, the smuggling rings near the docks are giving me a headache. They keep slipping past my night patrols."
"Stop spreading your guys out all night," Kaito said casually. "Check the commercial shipping schedules. The smugglers only move their boats when the big cargo ships come in to hide their engine noise. Sync your patrols with the cargo arrivals."
"...."
Fat Gum stopped chewing. He stared at Kaito for a second, then slapped his forehead.
"I am an idiot," Fat Gum laughed loudly. "That makes so much sense! Man, I owe you for that one. I'm taking the rest of this takoyaki as payment."
Fat Gum practically inhaled the rest of the box, gave Kaito a massive hug that almost cracked his ribs, and happily squeezed his way back into the elevator.
For the rest of the morning, Kaito didn't check his emails. He left his door open for local walk-ins.
Kamui Woods showed up an hour later. The wooden hero was stiff, polite, and clearly a little nervous. He bowed deeply as he entered the office.
"Arisaka-san," Kamui said. "Thank you for seeing me without an appointment. I know you're busy."
"Have a seat, Kamui-san," Kaito said, pointing to the chair across from his desk.
Kamui sat down. He didn't waste time making small talk. "I want to break into the top thirty or forty this year. My arrest rates are solid, but my property damage scores are holding me back. The hero commission keeps fining my agency, and I don't know how to fix it."
"I saw your fight in Shibuya last week," Kaito said. He pulled up a file on his monitor. "You caught the purse snatcher, but you shattered three streetlights and a bus stop doing it."
SIGH.
Kamui sighed. His wooden shoulders slumped. "My Lacquered Chain Prison is a wide attack. It catches the villain, but it grabs everything around them too. I can't help it."
"Yes, you can," Kaito said. "Stop throwing your attack in open streets. It's too wide for an intersection. You need to herd the villain first. Funnel them into a narrow alleyway, then use the wood. Less space means less room for collateral damage."
"....."
Kamui blinked. He just stared at Kaito.
It was a really simple fix, but he had been so focused on just catching the bad guy as fast as possible that he completely forgot to use the environment.
"That... makes a lot of sense," Kamui muttered, rubbing the back of his wooden neck. "Can we talk about a contract?"
"Try herding your targets for a month first," Kaito said. He didn't pull out any paperwork. "Show me you can lower your damage scores on your own. I'll keep an eye on your reports. If your numbers get better, I'll reach out to you."
Kamui nodded quickly and stood up. "I will. Thank you, Manager."
The wooden hero walked out, looking completely fired up and ready to work.
Later that afternoon, Edgeshot walked in.
The ninja hero didn't make a single sound as he entered the room.
He didn't act nervous or stiff like Kamui. He was already a top-tier pro, currently sitting at Rank 7.
"Arisaka," Edgeshot greeted, his voice muffled slightly by his mask.
"Edgeshot," Kaito nodded.
Edgeshot crossed his arms.
"I'm not here to ask for advice," Edgeshot said flatly. "I want to talk about Tsunagu."
Kaito leaned back in his chair. "Best Jeanist?"
"Yeah," Edgeshot nodded. "We went to U.A. High together. We even started the Textile Arts club back in the day. We've always been close."
Edgeshot paused for a second. He looked away, clearly swallowing his pride.
"I'll be honest with you," Edgeshot continued, looking back at Kaito. "I'm little envious. I watched my old friend suddenly shoot straight up to Rank 2. He completely bypassed Endeavor, and all he did was hire you to fix his agency."
"...."
Kaito stayed quiet and just let him talk.
"I work hard on the streets," Edgeshot said. "But I realize that working hard isn't enough to catch up to him anymore. Not at this level. I need the kind of mapping you provide if I want to stay at the absolute top. The logistics and standards you can give."
Kaito respected the honesty.
"I appreciate you being straight with me," Kaito said. He tapped his pen on his desk. "But my plate is completely full right now."
Edgeshot nodded slowly. "I understand."
"But," Kaito added. "I'll personally pull your agency's metrics this week and review them. If I think we're a match and I have the time, I'll let you know."
"Fair enough," Edgeshot said. He gave a brief, respectful nod. "Have a good day."
Edgeshot turned and walked out just as quietly as he arrived.
SIP.
Kaito smiled slightly and picked up his coffee mug. The heroes in Japan were definitely getting more interesting.
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Arisaka Consulting – Naruhata
Time: 02:00 PM
By two o'clock in the afternoon, the office was quiet again.
Kaito sat alone at his desk. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the files on his monitor.
He thought about the guys he had already worked with. Endeavor, Best Jeanist, Ryukyu, Snipe and others.
The top-tier veterans were locked in. He had already fixed their foundations and set them on the right path.
They knew what they were doing now.
Kaito realized it was time to switch things up. He needed a change of pace.
If he wanted Japan to stay safe four to ten years from now, he couldn't just keep holding the hands of the older guys.
He needed to start looking at the rising pros. The guys who were hungry. The next generation.
BAM.
Kaito looked up.
Standing in the doorway was a woman with dark skin, white hair, and long rabbit ears.
She wore a white leotard with a crescent moon on the chest.
Mirko. Rumi Usagiyama.
Right now, she wasn't the number five hero in the country. This was three years early. She was currently ranked somewhere below fifty, just a solo brawler fighting her way up the ladder.
STEP. STEP.
She marched right into the office, looking annoyed.
"This is my fourth time coming here," Mirko said.
She paced back and forth in front of Kaito's desk. "And I already know exactly what your decision."
Kaito just crossed his arms. "Oh? What is it then?"
"You're going to reject me," Mirko stopped pacing and pointed a finger right at him. "Because I don't have the massive bank account that Endeavor has. I don't have a giant agency backing me up like Best Jeanist. I work alone. I hit hard, and I don't do team-ups."
She put her hands on her hips, her ears twitching in frustration.
"But I need what you gave Ryukyu and the Pussycats," Mirko demanded. "I'm wasting way too much time jumping across rooftops just looking for fights. My routes are a mess. I want you to map my patrol zones. I want Quirk development. I want to climb the ranks faster, and I know you're the guy who does it."
SIGH.
She let out a heavy sigh, crossing her arms tightly.
"Look, I know you usually only take the big veteran contracts now," Mirko said, her voice dropping a little. "I know I'm just a solo brawler in the lower fifties. So you're probably just going to reject me again. I can't provide you with millions of salary."
"...."
Kaito just sat there. He reached over and picked up his coffee mug.
SIP.
He took a slow sip, put it back down on the coaster, and looked right at her.
"Alright," Kaito said.
Mirko kept ranting. "I mean, I get it, business is business, but I just—wait."
"....."
"....."
She froze. Her eyes went wide. She stared at him.
"Wait, what did you just say?" Mirko asked, completely confused.
"I said alright," Kaito repeated calmly. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a blank contract folder.
He set it on the desk and grabbed a pen. "I'll draw up the paperwork right now."
Mirko uncrossed her arms. She actually looked shocked.
"Are you serious?" Mirko asked, stepping closer to the desk. "Just like that? You aren't going to tell me to go get sidekicks? You aren't going to tell me to join a team?"
"No," Kaito said, writing her name at the top of the folder.
"Why?" Mirko asked.
Kaito stopped writing and looked up at her.
"Because I'm changing my pace," Kaito said simply. "I already handled the veteran pros. Endeavor... their foundations are set. They're good to go."
Tap. Tap.
He tapped the pen on the desk.
"I'm not just looking at the top ten anymore, Rumi," Kaito said. "I'm looking at the next four to ten years. Look at the people walking into my office today. Kamui Woods. Fat Gum. You."
Mirko listened closely, her ears standing straight up.
"You guys are the rising pros," Kaito explained. "In a few years, your generation is going to be the absolute backbone of Japan. When All Might and the older guys eventually retire, you are the ones who are going to have to hold this country together."
Kaito slid the contract across the desk toward her.
"I don't want to just stick with the old era," Kaito said, his eyes locking onto hers. "I want to start helping the new one right now. And I want you at the front of it."
"....."
Mirko stared at the contract. Then she looked at Kaito.
A slow, massive grin spread across her face.
"Well, damn," Mirko laughed, grabbing the pen off the desk. "You should have just said that the first time. Let's get to work, Manager."
_-_-_-_-_
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