How Much Do You Learn, Int. DC: 2, 7, 12, 17 –
NAT 20
What basic premise is modern society built upon?
Why was there strife and discontent after the first Pro Heroes were officially recognized by the US government?
How does the Japanese government monitor and police Pro Heroes?
These were the three questions you'd been given to answer.
Mr. Miyamoto raises his eyebrows as he looks over your essay. "Huh."
"Any problems?"
"Didn't expect you to use outside sources," he shakes his head, "but that's not a bad thing. And I expected a paragraph per question, not a fully fleshed-out essay with a rudimentary thesis statement."
After a few minutes, he gives you the verdict, "I think you understand the material, though we definitely need to work on your grammar and penmanship. I have to ask, how long did it take you to find the names of the first Pro Heroes?"
You shuffle your feet, "Six hours. Google failed me, none of the wikis had anything more than a general summary of the 'dawn of the age of Heroes', and a lot of webpages and forum posts seem to have been censored. I had to manually search through a forum from before the 'Age of Quirks' that's still consistently active."
Snipe nods, "Details about the 'dawn of the age of Heroes' are heavily censored. Do you know why?"
"Three of the seven 'original' Pro Heroes were revealed to have mafia ties, and one of the 'clean' ones ended up massacring a protest."
"Exactly; they only recognized a small fraction of the vigilante population as being 'worthy', and they chose poorly." He flicks through your essay again, "Your points about the Hero Public Safety commission are well-made, but next time don't use expletives. Also, you missed something in your research, but it's not your fault."
"Oh?" You lean forward.
"The Hero Public Safety Commission didn't always use Pro Heroes to police and inform on other Heroes, they used to deputize vigilantes and use them to tie up 'loose ends' and 'bad apples'." Snipe shakes his head, "You're absolutely right that they focus more on the perception of wrongdoing than actual wrongdoing, but you don't give any examples. I didn't expect any in this, given that it wasn't supposed to be a proper essay, but keep that in mind."
You nod, "Right."
He puts your essay down, "Honestly, I'm blown away. You've really thrown yourself into this, huh?" Mr. Miyamoto smiles wide, pulling on his scar. "Great. Keep it up and you'll be ahead of your peers, not behind."
CRIT REWARD – Internet Diver, +1 on all web-related research & investigations.
You curl your hand into a fist and throw a punch.
Snipe catches it and nods, "Yeah, that's an alright punch. Thumb's in the right position, nothing really wrong with your stance."
You narrow in on a spot just below his left shoulder and punch with your free hand, though you don't put much force into it; he sidesteps, twisting your arm and shakes his head, "I'm instructing you, not sparring with you." He pauses, "Though when you punch, don't just aim to
hit. Imagine yourself punching
through your target." He releases your arm.
"Right." You shake your hand, "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it. If you're not sure about something, ask." He leans back against the wall, thinking. "You're kind of scrawny; we'll fix that, but I think for now we'll focus on being evasive. Footwork and agility, getting out of holds, staying out of grappling range."
He suddenly pushes himself up and grins, "We'll start each morning with a jog, then when we get to UA we'll alternate between endurance running and endurance swimming. Do you know how to swim?"
You shake your head.
He shrugs, "You'll learn. We'll have to consult a doctor of course, but I think in a few months we can start you on weight training."
"What's the physical portion of the entrance exam like?"
Snipe shakes his head, "Can't tell you. Students aren't allowed to fight each-other, that's common knowledge, but nothing else." He pauses, "Well, actually – the details of the general-entry exam are kept from the students, but the recommendation exam is more-or-less common knowledge."
You tilt your head, "So can you tell me what the recommendation exam's like?"
"It's not really an exam, honestly. There are a few activities where kids who've been recommended can show off their Quirks and skills, then we review those and the letters of recommendation, and pick up to 6 students." Snipe shrugs, "Usually it's less than 6. We try to focus on kids with Quirks that are useful for Heroics but wouldn't get through the normal entrance exam." He smirks, "But if someone's got potential then they've got potential, no matter who their daddy is, so sometimes kids of powerful heroes will end up being accepted through recommendation anyway."
"Oh." You feel faintly shocked, "You'd prefer it if the children of powerful Pro Heroes went through the normal entrance exam?"
"Generally, yeah. Nepotism sucks." Snipe shakes his head, "Recommendations can come from parents and uncles that are 'in the business', but also from neighborhood Pro Heroes and their sidekicks, from teachers and the local school board, and there's even a few contests that Yuuei endorses."
You nod, "And which exam will I be taking?"
"We'll see for sure when it comes time to sign up, but I'll only recommend you if Nedzu thinks I should." He laughs, "And don't take this as an insult. The faculty is almost entirely responsible for judging the recommendation exam, and by the time exam season comes they'll all know you. Wouldn't be fair to the competition."
Yuuei highschool isn't exactly what you expected – there's a high wall and what you assume is a state-of-the-art security system, but the actual buildings are unremarkable. Well-built, well-maintained, and apparently designed to withstand both earthquakes and hurricanes, but other than that, an average-looking highschool. Well, an average looking highschool surrounded by empty 'cities' that are apparently training areas. You stop at the administration building briefly, just long enough for Snipe to get you an I.D. card.
Snipe's apartment is a few blocks from the school, and the primary difference from his other apartment is the presence of a spare room that's now yours and the 'Hero agency' below.
Unlike the apartment and the school, your new neighbors aren't average. There's an elderly lady with one eye in the center of her forehead who runs a flower shop, there's a convenience store whose clerk never sleeps and never seems to have an off-shift, and then across the street there's another Hero agency.
[] Loud Mouth Hero Agency (Present Mic)
[] Solid Foundations (Cementoss)
[] Ruff Crowd (Hound Dog)
[] Ectoplasm Hero Agency (Ectoplasm)
Oh, and there's the hobo who you find sleeping in Snipe's office.
"Snipe." The hobo flops, and you can't tell if they're in a sleeping bag or have the body of a caterpillar.
Snipe snorts, "Eraserhead. Couldn't find your way home?"
The caterpillar shakes, "Inefficient."
"Right." Snipe shakes his head, and surprisingly takes off his mask in front of the hobo. "Oroku, this is one of my colleagues. Aizawa, this is my charge, Oroku Saki."
The caterpillar, or perhaps gigantic yellow eraser, hums. "Heard about you."
You blink, "Alright. I haven't heard about you."
"You wouldn't have," the caterpillar sounds satisfied. "I tend to stay underground."
You nod slowly, "Better for your skin?"
A head emerges from the caterpillar and stares at you. "Yeah," he says eventually, "Absolutely." Then you hear a slurp, realize he's actually in a sleeping bag, and that he stores juiceboxes in it.
You look between him and Snipe, "He's a Pro Hero?"
Snipe snorts, "Technically. The way he acts, he's more like a vigilante that happens to have a license."
The hobo, who's apparently a Pro Hero, shakes his head. "Vigilantes are untrained, reckless, and legally criminals." His smile is mildly creepy, and you notice that his eyes are bloodshot. "I just like my privacy."
"You like your privacy, which is why you regularly sleep in other peoples' agencies. I bet you're just here to steal my pens," Snipe shakes his head, and you think he's joking around, "you're absolutely feral."
Aizawa laughs, "Why would I buy my own when this method is much more efficient?" And apparently he was actually here to steal pens, as his sleeping bag is so full that they're spilling out.
Ah, of course, how could you forget. The Pen-Stealing Hero: Caterpillar Juicebox, second only to All Might on the charts. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Aizawa nods lazily, "You might change your mind about that later." And with that, he shuffles off.
Snipe snorts, "Yeah, that's Aizawa. His way of saying 'hi'. School starts again tomorrow, I've got a few third years who could tutor you, and there's a second-year who won this year's Sports Festival and is moving to the Hero track that could help, too. They're all good kids, though," he pauses, "well, they've got character, that's for sure."
[] Takeyama Yu, a third year with a gigantic amount of potential
[] Kamiji Moe, a third year whose burning passion has led to her being scouted by a high-ranking Pro
[] Toogata Mirio, a second year who popped up out of nowhere and took the Second Year Sports Festival by storm
AN: Dat nat 20 -- didn't even need to add the int bonus, insane. I wasn't planning on giving a trait, honestly, but. Yeah. And yes, Saki sifted through almost
200 years worth of forum chatter to find what he was looking for.
The potential student tutors are all generally good people with great potential, and if you make a good impression? That's networking, baby. Just, uh, don't think of Mirio as an extension of Nighteye -- maybe he'll introduce you later, maybe he won't. I might have low-balled Yu and Moe's ages a bit, but their personalities would be fun to write. No matter what's chosen, Snipe will make sure Saki gets a decent education. The tutors are mainly so that Saki gets some much-needed socialization time with his peers.
The Pro-Hero system got its start in Rhode Island; out of around 180 vigilantes, just 7 were chosen to be Pro Heroes. That's from Vigilante, the mafia and massacring stuff I came up with on my own