Fishers of Men
Satoru Tani was used to arriving at school with his headphones on, deaf to the world that slighted him every day. He was lucky enough to avoid being stuck in a dorm where high-speed and unblocked internet was hard to come by, so he had expected to retain this one peaceful part of his school days.
Yet the steel-skinned girl walking beside him ruined it with her resilient and impossible-to-ignore attempts at socialization. She was Takara Tame, a girl nobody knew well besides her psychotic classmates in class 2-D. His eyes succumb to the lizard brain attraction of her swaying skirt in the morning breeze as she speaks.
"Even if they're not ranked very high, Heartbeat and Heartbreak are a very good duo! Even if Heartbeat seems to have looks that indicate a lingering unhappyness with her situation"
"The guy is terminally coping and the girl is an idol, she'll abandon him in 3 or 4 years tops for a better career in music or just start doing Gravure shit when her pedophile fanbase realizes they'll never fuck her" Satoru says scrolling through his phone.
"...Ah, so that's what Inigo was talking about to earn a kick from Hoge-san" Tame says as she mentally googles the term.
"The way you talk about this guy he needs to get a life" Satoru says with a prideful snicker
"He is much busier with his own affairs than many realize, like Cain-san"
"You mean that crazy delinquent? Heard he got hospitalized like 3 times last year, all on vigilante stunts"
"You've expressed sympathies toward similar-"
Satoru looks around for a distraction, any social vehicle to at least change topics and, at best get Tame to just leave him alone. He sees one of the aforementioned psychotic "hero" students: A girl wearing a boy’s uniform with lots of different sets of wings all the rumor mongers said was a Danish princess. She waves to him with a bright smile in a literal sense, like she is focusing sunlight around herself.
"Good morning! Would you like to take a free spin of the prize wheel?" she says, presenting him with a bingo shuffler filled with opaque gachapon balls.
"Ah-" Satoru tries to start before a taller boy walks ahead of him:
"May I try?" he says, captivated by the angel girl.
"Of course!" she says as the wheel is spun, the gachapon containing a candy bar.
"Can I try Abrams-San?"
The girl nods, Tame getting a small knitted plush on a keychain of Localoca. "Saigara-san was very happy to make some of these, there are only 3 of each teacher available"
"They're very cute! Sally-chan would like the Rosethorn one the most"
"Noah... might have tried to make one already" she says blushing smile.
"You're using sarcasm! Good Job!" Tame says
Satoru goes to take his turn, hoping for a tiny chocolate bar. It'd be a good pick-me-up to slink away from all of this since he could lose Tame to talking to Abrams. He had threads on the political boards to check anyways. He pops open his gacha capsule and finds a slip of gold paper: the words make his stomach turn.
"2 DAYS HERO COURSE GUEST PASS!" Noah says with excitement as Satoru's face bears the very opposite expression.
Satoru waits by the Hero Student dorms, waiting for Tame to show up. This was her fault, and the angel girls but mostly Tame's fault that he was stuck doing this. He wasn't walking into that classroom alone, and the only person he had any kind of social clout with was Tame. For some unholy reason, she was always nice to him, even when he called her a scrap heap on legs, a non-person, a toaster, anything to get the fake girl to stop pretending to be nice to him. He'd rather she just tell him what she really thought than try and be "nice" and lie to his face. All girls were just variations on his bitch sister after all, just with the subtlety of their emotional manipulation set to different values.
Tame emerged alongside a rough, tired-looking American girl and a red-haired girl who was taller than both. He shrinks away from it, realizing how fucking terrible of an idea this was. Of course, she had other friends and he wasn't walking alongside snake girl and the foreigner who he suspected was the crazy gun nun who could shoot bullets out of her arms and legs. Best to just retreat and find a way to fake sick, or just dodge the truency officers-
Satoru is stopped by Tame approaching his limit of personal space within some kind of perfect social calculation to give him no reason to tell her to back off but nowhere to run. The American completes the double envelopment.
"Sally-chan, Orochi-chan, this is Tani-san!" Tame says as she presents him to her friends. Orochi's eyes were more gentle than the American who he assumed was Sally's eyes of death. She was like a tiger looming over prey as she looked him over.
"General or Support course?" Orochi asks as Satoru holds his hand out for a handshake. The tall redhead puts her hands in her pocket in a gesture of total dismissal. He was seething already and the gaijin hadn't even started butchering his language.
"G-General" he said, unable to put his venom in his voice quite yet.
"Tame said she'd show you the ropes, don't abuse that privilege. You're lucky that Sugiyama-Sensei is doing agility courses instead of grappling" Sally says, her measured tone having the same threat to it a brick through a window has.
"Oh, it's Sugiyama-Sensei now? I thought you were sticking to calling him Mr. Tar Cologne" Orochi says with a wry smile toward Sally.
The gun nun gives a short growl: "Well he beat my ass when I challenged him to sword sparring and Hoge saw me make that deal with him. The bitch captured it on tape too so I have to follow through"
"Is it alright if Tani-san walks with us?" Tame says as she tries to lead the girls on to homeroom.
"More the Merrier!" Orochi says
"I've gotta wait for Noah, he's helping Inigo clean some huge mess in the boys-side bathrooms"
"...Why don't you go help, lazy moid..." Satoru mutters in a barely audible tone. He earns an impatient look from Sally, but she's all smiles the next moment as she's seeing her friends off.
"Tani-san? Bit of advice: just cause Sally shoots lots of guns doesn't mean she's that deaf" Orochi says
"Just be nice to her so you don't end up on her shitlist"
"Tame-san, she doesn't have a list of people she wants dead right?" Satoru blurts out.
The gynoid shakes her head: "No, it's just that Sally is in a very difficult spot emotionally. It's hard for her to trust strangers. Please do your best to be nice to her" Tame says
Satoru had heard Sally knew every blind spot for the school's cameras and even spent some time last year dressing like she'd gone muslim. He'd rather not be in the same room as the moody cowgirl but there was no way out of this social battle.
"So, what do you guys even do in your classes? Learn to pose for cameras and shit?"
"Theirs much more to hero work than the PR side of things, Tani-san, there are classes on combat, ethics, and PR alongside all of the normal classwork were expected to do in academic subjects. I think you'll find it very engaging!"
Satoru sits in 2-D's homeroom, with an eye toward the other men of the class. Most looked like musclebound fitbros, delinquents, or aspiring school quirkers in the case of a kid named Joon while the girls ranged from Amazonian monsters like Kaylee to a stoic, dainty-looking girl with red eyes who nailed the Yamato Nadeshiko act. Sally was almost late by a few seconds, sharing death glares with some girl who looked unremarkable till she showed off her freaky quirk that made her a bunch of misty static. He chose to stare at his desk instead of accidentally taking a body for no reason.
The teacher was a pro hero with a reputation he knew from Quirkchan, as well as all the porn that artists drew of her. Rosethorn was a redheaded, pantsuited bombshell who stuck in the top 10 for more than just her personality in his opinion. He also recalled Shiketsu having a ban on dating, yet the blonde kid with the green dragon and the static girl gave each other a look straight out of a romance anime, and that not even counting the gooks clear boyfriends.
One of the Korean Lovers happened to be class rep, at least what the way he carried himself up to the front of the room said.
"Good morning everyone! Today, we have a temporary student joining us, the winner of the 2nd year's raffle for 2 days of the hero course experience!" Rosethorn says with a degree of cheer that managed to even reach Satoru and make him work to hide a smile.
"Yes! I'm Takeda Hifumi, class representative for this year, and you are...." he says with a confident smile, awaiting an answer.
Satoru looks at the ground as he stands up: "I'm Tani Satoru, I look forward to learning from everyone" he says, trying not to sound dead inside from all of this unwanted attention. He accomplished nothing, just accidentally pulling a cursed gacha capsule.
Theirs a customary clapping session in the room and three looks catch his eyes:
one is from the blonde boy with the emerald dragon, grinning mischievously. The second is Tame, mimicing a look of geniune happiness(She's not real, she's just mimcing emotional and facial responses...), and the third is a brief questioning stare from Sally. The American doesn't directly come off as a threat but as a way of saying he's being watched closely.
Sally and Noah enjoy a quiet lunch on the roof of the school, the two sitting right next to each other while Sally's left shoulder is blanketed by one of his wings.
"Is 2-E... okay? I know you've got some weirdos in there" Sally asks.
"It's less noisy, Noah doesn't miss hearing arguments..."
"Are you and Hoge still-"
Sally nods and looks away: "I can't just forgive her, I look at her and I feel like I'm the only person who stands up to her and tells her plainly how wrong she is"
"...You will get there, Noah knows you can forgive. Even the saints didn't bear grudges against their killers"
Sally nods weakly, feeling the usual pain of letting herself be vulnerable. It didn't matter though, she promised to be honest from now on with Noah and she wanted to uphold that.
"We ended up having to take a general course student for a few days"
"Noah saw him get the ticket! Tame-san seemed very excited!"
"...She did?"
"Yes, Noah thinks he's a friend of hers but he seems to have problems expressing himself. Tame is very nice to everyone and he's more introverted"
"Oh, I figured he was... damn it..."
Noah cocks his head as Sally rests her head on his shoulder with a grumpy look.
"I know who he is I just forgot about him since it was I met him last year..."
"He's some robotics buff that called me quirkchan insults in detention too"
"Oh... you kept your temper in check, right?"
Sally nods: "Ippon walked in and I wasn't angry enough to hit him in front of him and get punished worse. It was the day I broke that mirror..."
"Noah remembers. As long as you do your best, then you'll get better. A soul should be allowed time to get better, like how someone with a broken bone or a serious medical condition always needs some bed rest"
"Have you had any more detentions?"
Sally shakes her head: "But... everyone wants me on anxiety meds. I don't want to be a zombie on happy pills"
"...Hiro asked Noah to approach you about it but... Noah understands"
"Noah took some pills for Noah's compulsion for a few months at the age of 10 and it was... draining"
Sally hugs Noah, it wasn't usually him sulking on memories: "Your compulsion is you, it’s not a flaw, its a trait. And it's something I... L-Love about you" she manages to squeak out as her Japanese gets stuttery.
The two choose to just share a silent moment, looking at the clouds: "I need to go talk to Inigo about cashing in a favor, I just... had one more question"
Noah smiles and readies himself to answer: "Go ahead!"
"Do you think that Tame has a soul? I've never asked if she's an AI because I don't know what else she would be..."
"She's a soul in a metal body. Noah doesn't see the problem with thinking machines being seen as God's children"
"Even if a machine can just turn off the part of the soul that leads to righteous behavior?"
"Humans can grow numb to their ethical side as well. We are flawed creatures with original sin, but we are also saved by the blood of Jesus Christ"
"Rightousness isn't measured in how much wealth you bring to God, it's in how one applies the lessons of Jesus Christ to overcome original sin and the part of our brains that is disposed to selfish acts"
Sally is quiet, nodding in agreement as she gets one last hug in before finishing her lunch, trotting off with a confident step and a slight smile.
Inigo raises an eyebrow as Sally carries the other trashbag for the class over her shoulder: "Who are you and what happened to Sally-chan?" he asks with a joking smile.
"I got a really good pep talk from Noah and I'm not going to let you piss me off today~" Sally says with a graceful smile.
"But yeah, I want your help getting Tame and Satoru together today or tommorow. We'll need to set something up quickly since he'll be out of reach soon"
Inigo double checks nobody is tailing them as they reach the furnace in the back of the school: "I just figured you'd be out of the mood for this after Operation Love Overdose along with the patrols were being asked to go on"
"I don't like playing the tsukomi but with things like they are with those shootings..." he says with a frown. Sally is unphased as she shoves her bag of trash into the slot with a broom.
"I got another newspaper from home: there was a rally in Nebraska supporting my charges getting dropped" Sally says as she shuts the slot with force.
"The glowies are only going to get more desperate to drag me back and... and I like it here. I never had friends my age at home"
"[I was always just a weapon, just the girl who occasionally got the school evacuated when someone called me a dumb bitch. People look up to me now and If I focus on all the problems the world has then It would be like trying to catch prairie dogs with a butterfly net. That kind of wrath isn't worth indluging]"
Inigo maintains a serious look: "...I think I got most of that. If-"
"No, I'm still okay for stuff in the club. It's easier to vent there" she says vaguely in an attempt to avoid any leaks.
"Coru-chan might be upset if we lost you, she relies on you know"
Sall rolls her eyes dramatically, crossing her arms.
"I get it, I get it, just chill" he says
"You have my help, of course. Just not sure how you want to handle doing romance for Tame, she's not like you were back then when I just had to find someone who could get past the locked gates of your heart. She's nice to everyone so she needs to understand that it's ok to have greater attachment to one person..."
"Tani-san's into robotics, plus he's been walking to school with her for a bit. He's an asshole but I think Tame deserves someone who can attend to her needs"
"Like, Mechanically"
"I see, I've got an idea but I'll need to ask Sugiyama-sensei about some changes to today's obstacle course..."
"The term for the loud guy is boke right?" Sally asks
"Yeah, in Manzai style of comedy at least" Inigo says
"And you're pronunciation is a little bit off"
"I... like you better when you're doing that kind of stuff. When you're smiling your almost tolerable”
"Almost tolerable, I like the sound of that!" Inigo says with a broad smile as the two start walking back to class.
The boy's locker room of Shiketsu smelled worse than he expected, which was saying something considering the scent the kid people only called Runt gave off as he licked some dust bunnies off of a shower wall.
He also swore he could faintly smell blood, but given the reputation 2-D had it's not a surprise they'd beat the shit out of each other in the bathrooms. At least 2-D was mostly filled with foids so there were plenty of corner lockers and spare bathroom stalls to change into his gym uniform for. His real concern wasn't dealing with a situation out of one of his sister's doujins though, more what he'd heard about the teacher who taught the combat classes.
Tame had told him they did full contact sparring, been sprayed with tear gas, and the admittedly interesting-sounding social deduction game where the class had to learn to read body language to identify an attacker before they struck. Along with sweat, strong deodorant, and a hint of cologne was the smell of cigarettes approaching him attached to grizzled-looking man who looked disheveled despite a cleanly shaven face.
"Hey, Tani-kun right?" he says, offering a handshake
"Yes, gonna guess your Sugiyama-Sensei?" Satoru says as he tries to subtely back off
"Yeah. I know your here as a guest and all so I toned down today's course to something more manageable. Just go at your own pace, takes a while to get good at anything" the man says.
Internally, Satoru is fuming: he's out of shape but if the stick-thin gook girls can pass this shit he should be able to.
Externally, he gives a placid, slightly shy nod.
Inigo approaches the two with a cocky smile, which seemed to be his default expression: "I hear today it's a partner based course! Got anyone in mind?" he asks Satoru.
The words "partner-based" hit the boy like a freight train: this was designed to torture him! He'd get paired up with a brainless gaijin like Bobby who'd humble-brag the whole time about how hard the course is while crushing it, all the while Satoru is being a made fool of for the whole class to watch! The blonde asshat was enjoying playing with him like a cat looking at a cornered mouse.
Inigo watches as Satoru gives him a look of pure, impotent rage. He starts to feel sleepy as he looks back. The world goes black a second later.
Satoru wakes up in the nurse's office with a bunch of people standing over him, most of 2-D for that matter. He looks up to see Hoge taking his temperature, Sally watching the door like an angry cat, Hiro taking notes and speaking with the nurses on what might have caused him to pass out so suddenly, and even the bitchy Koreans sitting around and talking in their clique about how even "a guy like Myoga" didn't deserve to get hit with a quirk like that.
Sucks for that guy, Satoru thinks as he strains his eyes on the fluorescent lights to fully open them. He notices he feels a bit taller, and sees some green dragon construct on his arm-
Fuck
Fuck
FUCK
Sitting up in Myoga's body he could tell this wasn't a dream or another quirk at work: it was his. Hoge is looking over him, her form fully legible for once.
"Stay down, you hit your head against a locker when that quirk went off. Cain-kun is getting the details of its effects, but Hiro and the nurses confirm you're not too hurt"
Satoru wants to just explain everything right now and get back to his own body ASAP, but in all his years he's never seen a group of people so large and seemingly genuinely concerned about him. They were probably missing something right now just hang around and make sure their friend was ok. He could feel a little in the back of his head, a familiar instinct to take on the mannerisms of the person he had accidentally hijacked.
"Thank everyone for watching out for me! Especially Coru-chan!! And make sure to compliment her face as a sight for sore eyes!"
Satoru has no idea who he's talking about, and a part of him wants to savor this feeling of social success as long as possible.
"Inigo" looks up at Hoge and speaks: "I must say, you are a sight for sore eyes uhm... Coru...chan"
It was like talking while bile burned his throat, way too fucking sappy.
"He needs more rest: McCathy, make sure Cain-kun didn't get held up somewhere" Hoge says with a begrudging smile. She was having fun with this?
Satoru made the judgment call that he needed the field experience here if he had a girlfriend. She looked like a boy but it was further than Satoru had ever gotten in his own body.
"Fine, someone else watch the door: we can't rule out something going on while we're off our guard" Sally growls as she walks off, letting her out of a ponytail and letting it drape down her back.
"A-Actually, could me and Coru-c-chan have a moment alone?" he blurts out, drawing every eye of the room onto him.
WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS GUYS CONFIDENCE TO JUST BLURT THAT KIND OF THING OUT! AND TO TECHNICALLY MAKE SATORU DO IT FELT EVEN WORSE!
"We've got cameras in here too, but we can draw the curtains closed if you want..." one of the nurses says, a woman with black hair with pink highlights.
The other woman shrugs and draws the curtains around the bed closed before going to her desk. The other students slowly saunter out of the room.
The way Hoge, Coru, whatever her name was smiled down on him felt alien to what he was used to. It's like an angel was coming down to visit him and thank him for doing some great deed.
"Is there something you need to speak privately on? Any clues on what knocked you out?"Hoge asks
"Ah, no, I just... was surprised everyone in class came to see me and wondered if you paid them off or something..." 'Inigo' says awkwardly
"Why? It was Sally's idea to have a lot of witnesses in here since she's mentally ill. Everyone was already heading over anyways since they were worried you got a concussion" Hoge answers.
"Wait, how long have I been out?!"
"1 hour, The school won't make you cover damages for the locker that you and Gigan wrecked on the way down in Yen. You may have to do some volunteer work or write an essay on proper nutrition for Rosethron-Sensai depending on what the cause of the incident proves to be"
"Go for a hug while it will be a good surprise! Don't waste the moment!"
Myoga was crazy, though not for the usual hero-course reasons of being megalomaniacal freaks. What if Hoge figures out what's happening? What if one of the nurses sees this and this gets written up as sexual assault? The blame would go to Satoru because they have a guy rummaging around for his quirk file RIGHT NOW and if he finds it he'll have to back to his own shitty life!
"JUST DO IT!" Myoga's inner voice says with enthusiasm and cheer. The body both of the minds inhabit moves on its own and reaches up for a hug. An indescribable feeling washed over Satoru as it is returned without hesitation. Myoga's arms go limp as he looks into the(ugly) girl's eyes and sees her smile.
He hears the door open and Hoge quickly opens the curtain to reveal the halfu boy, Christopher Cain looking like he is ready to tell a funny joke. It's a good enough reason for Satoru to shut his quirk down and flee. Maybe he could have a real chance at a girlfriend with how long he stayed in Myoga's body just by stealing his stupidly high levels of confidence.
Satoru rubs his head as he awakens on the other end of the nurse's office, the disorientation and differences in body weight very clear very suddenly.
Tame is sitting by him and running her own medical scans before she notices his eyes flicker open: "Thank goodness you're awake! It's been almost an hour and a half! I had no idea your quirk was that sensitive...."
Well, at least he only had one more day with this group of people. Even that much is enough to get his ass kicked for sticking around in Myoga's body for so long by the crazy freaks. He flops back onto his pillow and groans:
"Just..." he tried to insult the robot girl like he usually would, but Myoga's mannerisms fought against it.
"Thanks, did you polish your chassis this morning? New oil on the joints maybe?"
Satoru can only sit there in personal conflict with what he's saying and his true self would do. He's going to be feeling this disaster for weeks.
Tame looks thrilled: "Yes actually! I mixed some of Sally-chan's barrel-cleaning oil with my parent's custom blend that I usually use and I feel much lighter! I was excited to do the obsticle course with you since I heard from Sally-Chan that we had assigned partners for the course but I guess I can show you tomorrow"
"H-How much trouble am I in?" Satoru asks as he fights to not gush even more about the supposed beauty of the non-person in front of him.
"Not much, surprisingly: Myoga-Kun even took responsibility for the broken locker door since it was technically his body and Gigan, his dragon construct that dented it so badly. Though... Hoge-chan is deeply embarrassed even knowing the circumstances of your quirk"
A part of Satoru wants to curl up and die right here and end the coming pain of facing 2-D for another day. A louder part of him speaks before the other part can act.
"After class, you want to do something? I don't think either me or Myoga got a concussion after all"
If he could stop smiling he would. He prays Tame would put this stupid invitation in his face and call him a beta cuck loser, that her patience had finally worn down like a brake pad on a used car.
"I'd love to!" Tame says back.
"Could I choose where? There’s a nice parts shop I wanted to visit but its really out of the way"
Any excuse will work: homework, funeral, needing to bail Saori out of jail tonight. DO NOT AGREE TO THE VILE MACHINES TRAP!!!
"Sure!"
Sally McCathy frowns toward Inigo as the two get stuck with cleaning the classroom, a chore she was used to at this point. It's no less of a pain than feeding the hogs or sweeping up the chicken shit.
Inigo breaks the awkward silence.
"Alright, I know the paired obstacle course thing fell through, and that's fine!"
"Chris was talking about how vestiges of the personality he overpowered stay with him. So for at least a few days, he's gonna be as suave as yours truly" Inigo says with a flourish of the mop.
"Great, 2 of them. At least it's just for one day then he's out of our hair"
"Still, Tame said she was actually... going out with him. Parts shopping, but it's something...."
Inigo raises his hand for a high five as Sally supports her head with a hand on her cheek and sighs: "How are you not bothered by what happened today? Your mind got ripped from you by force!"
"But I was still there! Just not conscious!"
"So like a ghost?!"
"More like how an idle game works, if I understood Chris right. While Satoru had control of my body, my subconscious was still there to guide things and leave an impression on his behavior for a while"
"Like if you had one of the Rosethorn Motivational dolls but it's me reminding you to savor every day of our youth and hit those flags!"
Sally tries to hide her smile: "At least the Rosethorn ones give good advice and have a programmable alarm"
"...You think Tame and Satoru are doing okay?"
Inigo crosses his arms and nods: "Of course, he's got all the basics from me after all"
"...The steel series? Why not the silver series if you're going for a prebuilt?" Satoru says as he and Tame are looking over a display rack of robotic hands.
"Because the actual improvements to grip strength are minimal for the extra cost and the real value is the knuckle joints which are taken from them, which is available in both models" Tame says with a prideful smile.
Satoru isn't fuming with rage, he's locked in and has been dying on more hills than he usually would today in terms of arguments about robot parts. In the absence of reaction images to demean his opponents he had to use put his education to use.
"So you want a custom arm after all, which I've been saying you should do the whole time"
"They put all kinds of crap in the prebuilt parts that you need to strip out by hand or it messes with something in the bot, and then you lose or get disqualified!"
"I mean who the hell needs wifi enabled fingers!"
"I have to admit you are knowledgable, it's more of an issue of time" Tame says
"My parents have been quite busy with their work so the production of custom parts for me has slowed. I usually get an overhaul every year but I've had to hold off on it or find another mechanic who I can trust" the android says with a pout, trying to hide her annoyance.
The two stare at each other for a second, the robot seems to envision Satoru as... something. If it wasn't for the lingering Inigo-isms in him he would have already ditched this date but he simply couldn't resist at this point. He gives in and stares back, but has the presence in mind to return to his own body ASAP. He looks at the ground and sighs.
"So it's just your parents working on you?"
"Even with the battlebots we have a whole team..."
"I guess they know my systems the best but I worry about the long-term issues with my body. I can only do so much maintenance on myself and if I still have some growing to do in height. I don't want to use pre-built parts either but I feel bad relying on my parents so much after all of these years..."
"My quirk too, it needs other people or it does nothing"
"If you have documentation or something for how your systems work I guess I can take a look at it and try to help... but you’re in the hero course so I assume this consumer-grade crap is just spare parts for you" Satoru says
Tame nods, glad he understands easily.
"At least the outer plating needs to be industrial grade, after last year’s provisional license exams my parents did make a body with military grade plating and joints I can use but it still feels sluggish in cases where I need to be faster"
"...Probably some emergency power systems stuck in there that could be removed to get a better balance..." Satoru mutters.
"I'll try that! Thanks!" Tame says as the two keep browsing. Tame expected to see Sally or Inigo stalking the date to make sure it went well, but their trust was well placed since she was getting lots of advice from their classroom guest!
Satoru on the other hand had found a way to spite the shitty playboy that he brought back to crash on his mental couch. All he had to do was retreat into his technical knowledge. Surely this would get her off his back, right? A bunch of technobabble on what was meant to be a romantic date? This was clothes shopping for a robot girl and a cold and calculated attitude would make her not think about romance, giving the freeloader in his head no chance to make comments.
Satoru buries himself in the covers of his futon. All he had to do was fake sick and not show up to class, then never speak to a member of 2-D again. The incident with Myoga will be forgotten by the next semester and Satoru will never have to think about yesterday again.
It was already 11:00 in the morning and his sister Saori had decided to call in sick too, to "take care of him"(Spy on him and mess with him). He'd locked his door to keep her out as she turned on the usual normy crap on the TV. The knock at the front door was probably one of her friends coming over for her lunch hour.
The metallic footsteps past the entryway and his sister's polite tone told him it wasn't going to be that easy. As he scrambled for clothes and tried to act as sick and pained as possible. Tame had actually sent him the documentation on her systems and he knew from the overview that she had a basic medical diagnostic system. She was probably here to drag him back for afternoon classes and if they got to talking theirs nothing he could do against the combined social might of Saori and Tame.
He tries tosounds like his hacking up a lung, enough that Saori hesitates as she guides Tame to his room: "Satoru? Do you need more medicine?"
"No, I just need rest" he says as he tries to trail off with the coughing.
"I'll be protected against whatever he has, may I go in and perform a diagnostic exam? It's non-invasive"
Satoru grabs a half-filled energy drink can and starts trying to sound like he's puking. He dumps the can on the floor at the same time to sell the effect. Saori backs off with a disgusted face while Tame turns the door knob, finding a defeated boy inside with no signs of an actual illness.
The walk back to Shiketsu is nervewracking as Tame walks ahead of Satoru, his eyes on the sidewalk or his phone. His nerves weren't helped by police cars and ambulances speeding past him. It was all over Quirkchan that Kyoto was going through a bad crime wave and the comparison to North and South American cities irritated him. He tried to drag his feet and grab some lunch from a lady selling boxed ones, then used the bathroom at a storefront, and then tried to give Tame bad directions. It was all for naught as they arrived at the gates as the last minutes of lunch were passing by.
"Come on! Don't want to be late do we?" The excitable girl says
"...Yeah!" Satoru says, like the last vestige of Myoga was finally exorcised from his body, yet getting the last laugh of making him face 2-D as a body thief.
He could feel eyes on him the second he walked in and put his things down. Hoge's form blurred as she was one of the few to avert their gaze while Sally had a curious look toward him before she waved to Tame. The boys of the class had a mix of frowns and odd smiles that screamed of a prank being set up against him while the other girls seemed to briefly glance at him like you'd look at a fly at your windowsill. Inigo put a thumbs up above his head as if he was... happy to see him? Why would he of all people want anything to do with him beyond just fucking with him at this point?!
Suffice it to say he wasn't very active in class, and of course, right at the end of the day, there was another combat class. The thing he had no interest or skill in that might land him in a hospital. At least he'd have a reason to stay home from school with a busted leg from Miss Tarzan or a gnarly cut from the short purple-eyed edgelord.
Rosethorn however, seemed to try and get him to fully participate by asking him questions about heroism as if it meant anything to him what a "hero" did.
"Tani-kun, I am asking you seriously: What do you think a hero should focus on? What makes separates a thug with a license from a hero?" the woman asks as the class looks at him with expectation. If he could have shriveled up and died he would have done it a long time ago.
"...I don't know" he says, throwing his hands up in the air.
"I guess they should focus on lowering crime rates? Keeping the trash of society out of the hair of people who are successful and important?"
He looks at his desk to avoid being stuck with Rosethorn's mannerisms.
"So they should uplift people with talent and hope before all else?" Rosethorn says as she gives him a gentle smile.
"Y-Yeah! That's what I think!" Satoru says in an angry tone. He scans over the class and notices them looking at him. They disagreed of course, why would anyone agree with him when all he wanted to say was to burn the whole fucking system down? It was their future source of a license to kill and paychecks for the act! At least if the system ever worked for him he'd be able to do something!
Tame raises her hand and is quickly given permission to speak from the red-headed teacher.
"And what if everyone could be protected and uplifted to be just as talented as the people who were born with those abilities?"
Satoru looks around the room. They wanted a response, and it was the ones who gave off broken energy that glared at him. Of course, all they thought he was talking about was money, not quirks, political power, looks, or intellectual ability. The white-haired and shark-toothed girl frowns while running a taut garrote wire through her hands like a cat's cradle, Sally digs her nails into her palm to cover the holes at the base of her palm, Even the class rep, Hifumi was biting his tongue.
"Yeah, It'd be nice but that's not how the world works" He says
"Nothing ever happens: even after quirks became a thing we just went back to democracies like our ancestors didn't hate living like this too"
The purple-eyed boy stands up: "So just shoveling all the good stuff toward the rich and gifted is your solution?!"
"SCREW the poor, let'em starve! I need to write my fucking sociology paper in satin pajamas and fucking quill pen in my IVORY TOWER!" He says in a mocking impression of Satoru. Rosethorn shakes her head at him. and he takes a deep breath and sits down.
Tame looks toward Satoru: "Just because something is unlikely, even if its a 0.1% chance, does not mean it can't happen"
"We have our chance, in our future, our little bits of preparation can go toward the next generation, who can keep building on it!"
The android mimics Rosethorn's tone and motions while speaking. Satoru tries to tune out her words and focus on this as proof she can only mimic others, just a thoroughly advanced machine that can mimic her creators well.
"If we give up, then what our predecessors did rots away! If you have no hope for the future, then you're willing to accept that you don't have one, and it's a hero's job to give everyone a future!"
Satoru tried to block it out.
Trite Positivist Lefty Shit.
Gay Brainwashing Buzzwords.
Commands for human-shaped dogs to keep dreaming.
But he couldn't deny it. He wanted a future.
Satoru thought about locking eyes with someone just to get out of the obstacle course. It was at least a solo one but that just meant he'd have to own up to being last place behind a bunch of spoiled Korean Princesses. The carrot-topped cripple at least got to sit out because of his injury. Before him was a gym covered in junk to form a maze, and the guy everyone called Smokin' Sexy in the announcer's booth.
"Today's exercise will be one of joint, unspoken teamwork! In a real fight, your comms won't be clear, and fighting against a sonic quirk can mean having your sense of hearing turned against you! Pick up a pair of headphones to keep the noise out if you want, or try to listen through it: your call. The goal is to navigate the room and rescue the hostage dummies before the timer runs out, or to reach me to shut the detonator to their bomb vests off"
Satoru could feel how useless he'd be here as physically weak as he was as a piercing noise fills the room and he rushes for a pair of protective headphones. The best he could hope for is being able to solve the maze while not being able to hear anything, unlike the brainlets he was stuck with until the end of the day. As the buzzer played he took his time and navigated the right wall of junk. He didn't need a marker of where he had already gone if didn't skip any paths. If he got close enough he'd be able to crawl under something or jump over something without issue to reach the announcer's box and then...
Well, what then? He can't fight, he's not a stealth expert... and his quirk was a damaged piece of junk here. The teacher was reading a book on dog washing, even if he wanted to risk it, he needed his eyes. Kaylee is tries to navigate a separate and simpler arial maze of quickly moving sandbegas heavy enough to push her around and sounded like they were filled with rocks. Maybe he could do something here if he could just find a dummy...
He searches for minutes with a pace below accpetable, crawling through and around the chaos of the other students using their more versatile quirks: the speedster femboy tries to find a route through the maze by quickly brute forcing paths, Bobby tries to muscle through it all with Hifumi and Inigo, Sally looked for a sniper's nest with a good enough angle that her teacher wouldn't see the shot coming, and the rest of the class searches for the hostages. Satoru goes the ways they aren't. He needed one untouched since his plan would piss on their ethics, and he got his wish in the far left corner of the maze behind a grueling miniature rock wall.
Thankfully his means of giving the teacher back one of his "bombs'" was still in the air trying to push through through the course in the air after getting slapped around by bags of heavy rocks and forcing her to engage with the maze.
He summons all of his incel strength to throw the dummy he’d found at Kaylee knowing she'd catch it. It was an infant-sized one at least to it went far. The colossal girl's heroic instincts kicked in and she flew down to catch it. The act was shocking enough that the teacher's eyes left his book: Satoru was quick on the draw at angling himself to stare at him.
The next moment, he had the detonator in his hand and felt an immeasurable, creeping dread alongside a need to get a cigarette soon. He pushes it aside and switches it into a distinct off position. The timer beeps and the class looks confused as Satoru quickly returns to his body hoping he could fight the urge to steal cigarettes and watch pro wrestling after school today.
Satoru sits across from Karaburan, the two mortal enemies having different expressions.
The boy was angry that he did the right thing and was being punished for it. Probably bruised her precious hero programs egos beating their stupid exercise with wits instead of brawn.
Meanwhile, Karaburan just observed him with a neutral expression.
"Tani-Kun, I want to congratulate you"
"For what, finally pissing you off enough to expel me?"
"No, quite the opposite" she says as she slides over a piece of paperwork to him with her singular arm. Course Transfer paperwork and fountain pen.
Not this shit again.
"I think you earned yourself a spot as the last seat in the class with that stunt"
"...What?"
"While highly unethical, it showed me you have the potential to beat your weaknesses, and a lack of heroic ehtics is suprisingly easy to fix. Plus, I added an incentive"
"If you transfer into 2-D, and even if you transfer out, I will cut your tuition payments by 90%"
"... What's the catch besides being in a class that's full of crazy psychopaths?"
"I need eyes and ears that I can trust. You qualify for that as long as I motivate you properly, correct?"
"You want me to spy on them?!"
"Yes" she says blankly.
"You know how much trouble they get into. I'm not asking you to pry into everything they do, but if you hear about them planning something stupid I want a warning so I can at least try to make the mess less... visible"
"And you and your family save a huge amount of money in the process! I even added a clause to keep you out of overtly dangerous training and classes, similar to Kyoda-kun"
"Who's that?"
"The boy with the crutches and missing fingers" she says with as she hands the pen to him like Mephistophales offering him a deal.
Satoru stares at the contract.
A future, even if it's a 0.1% chance, was staring at him. He could tell without asking this was a one-time deal that was firmly under the table and taking the backdoor. A life flashes through his eyes, a life where he doesn't take this chance and goes back to the general course without a future. Back to his misery, back to relying on how hard he can be overworked till he dies of it in a hospital to feed himself, or back to relying on his family and never leaving his room. He could find everything he wanted on the internet, right?
Right? Right...?
He gulps and grips the pen, grimacing as he starts to sign his name on the dotted line.