Chapter 37

Chapter 37

I guess it wasn't surprising that Manga avoided me for the entire study session on Tuesday. I'd scared him. I imagined he thought I was a religious nut. I decided that I'd wait for him to talk to me, if he was interested in pursuing the subject of his nature further. If he didn't want to deal with it, I wouldn't force it on him. Denial served a purpose occasionally.

That afternoon, Yuyu had invited me to meet her and her best friend Hado, one of the Big Three, for some shopping in Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. The stores there were known for specializing in items that were designed for different body types and quirks.

When I met up with the other two girls at the Kiyashi-ku train station I asked, "Why are we shopping here? None of us have mutation or transformation type quirks."

"This mall may be known for that sort of products but it also has some great music stores and the best tea shop in Tokyo." Hado twirled in a circle, standing on one toe like a ballerina. Her long blue hair streaming out behind her like a cape. She was wearing khaki walking shorts and a deep blue tank top. "Love their jasmine tea."

"Besides," Yuyu interrupted. A dark green headband held back her short red hair. Her t-shirt had a picture of the Milky Way with an arrow pointing to one of the stars saying 'You are here.' Another arrow pointed to a star on the other side of the galaxy saying 'We are here.' "I'm shopping for my cousin. It's his twentieth birthday next week and I wanted to get him something nice."

"He's got a mutation?" Hado asked interestedly.

"Yes. Though you know it's rude to ask so openly," Yuyu chided her friend. "He's got four arms. I thought a nice leather jacket would be cool."

I nodded. "Does it get cold where he lives?"

"Yeah. He's in Hokkaido, so it gets really cold."

"Then a jacket sounds great," Hado agreed, then turned to me. "I wonder if they have any cool eyepatches or special gear for people with one eye."

Yuyu screamed and slapped Hado's arm pretty hard from the sound of it. I just gave the blue-haired girl a 'you have to be kidding me' glare and said, "Pass."

We walked quietly for a few minutes. The mall was impressive – four stories in a single gallery at least three city blocks long. The thing that really made it stand out from the malls I had seen before was that the roof was split down the middle in a wavy line. It made it look like the partly cloudy afternoon sky was a river seen from the air. The building was mostly open at either end so that you felt more like you were walking in an outdoor market than a mall.

"This place is nice," I said. "I like the open, airy feeling. I bet it's less pleasant when it's cold or raining."

"Nope," Hado said in English, popping her 'P'. "They have retractable glassteel roof and walls. They use them at night too, for security."

"That makes sense." I allowed.

"How is the study session going?" Yuyu asked.

"It seems to be going okay. I guess we won't know for sure until we hit the exam," I replied.

"I wouldn't worry too much" Hado shrugged as if it was not an issue. "The tests aren't hard if you pay attention in class." She reminded me of some of the more advanced students who seemed to have the same attitude. The students who were having the most problems, like Ashido or Pony, didn't share this arrogance.

"Did you hear about Kubo Shiori?" Yuyu asked, obviously changing the subject.

Oh, I like her. Emily said. She is a singer.

"No. What happened?" Hado replied.

"You know how she went out on that date with Takai Suguru?" Yuyu began. "When that came out in the media, she was fired from Planet Pink."

"I heard she was only demoted to Dream Dolls," Hado argued.

"Whatever. She was in trouble." Yuyu pulled out her phone and opened a video site. "Watch this."

We all leaned over to see more clearly. I could have used a wisp, but it might have been visible at this close range. In the video, a pretty young woman with bright pink hair hanging past her shoulders was apologizing for her behavior. Her eyes were full of tears and her voice was breaking as she accepted the responsibility for her wrongdoing – for staying overnight at her boyfriend's place. Then she said she would atone for her mistakes and took out an electric razor. She then shaved her head, pink strands cascading down out of the camera's view. Her crying increased as more and more of her bare scalp was uncovered. Two minutes later, she was fully shorn. Several more bows and apologies followed, then the sobbing bald girl cut the feed.

"No way!" Hado screamed, her feet leaving the ground as blue spirals of energy shot from them. "That's crazy!"

"Yeah," Yuyu agreed. "I know she wanted to apologize, but shaving her head is a bit extreme, don't you think?" The last was directed at me.

"It does seem a bit much," I said. "What was she apologizing for? I didn't quite catch it."

"Idols aren't allowed to date," Yuyu replied.

"They can date," Hado disagreed. "They just can't be seen to be, you know, sexually active."

"They have to maintain an 'image of innocence and purity'," Yuyu said, deepening her voice to sound like a teacher or newsreader. "As long as they're in the group, they have to follow the rules."

They are supposed to represent an ideal to their young girl fans. Emily added.

I noticed the same person on a poster in a clothes store we were passing. She was wearing a bikini with one strap pulled almost to her elbow, the top of her breast clearly visible. I pointed to it. "Innocence and purity?"

I admit I have never understood the conflicting nature of the way idols are portrayed. Emily offered. My father did not allow us to have posters of musicians, actors, or heroes in our rooms. He said we should be concentrating on our studies.

The two third year girls turned to see what I was looking at. "Yeah," Yuyu sighed.

"It's the same double standard you see in heroing," Hado said. She pointed to another poster – this one of Uwabami flanked on either side by Momo and Kendo in costume. They seemed to be advertising perfume. I stopped and stared.

"How is this allowed?" I demanded.

"They did their internship with Uwabami," Yuyu replied, smiling. "They did the photo shoot as part of the internship. Not everyone gets to fight villains on national news in their first job. Some people have to be fashion models instead."

"I hope they got paid," I said.

"Did you?" Yuyu asked.

"No."

"There you go." My mentor replied.

"Idols or heroes, its all the same – sex sells." Hado shook her head. "Did you see the piece on the news the other night where Midnight-sensei and Mt. Lady were brought on to discuss sexuality and female heroes? At first, they were talking about costume standards."

"Then it ended up a cat fight," Yuyu grumped. "Endo-kun was drooling about it the next day in class."

"Half the boys were, from what I saw," I added. It had been disgusting. I expected that sort of behavior from Kosei, but even Shoda had trouble looking at Midnight when she taught her next class.

Perhaps you were misreading them? Emily suggested. She was too often willing to look for the best in people

"I think that show may have kickstarted puberty for a generation of boys," Hado teased. "But it makes me wonder what we can expect when we hit the pros."

"Are young female heroes supposed to hold to the same standards as idols?" I asked. I remembered the PRT decorum guidelines were always treated like a joke in the Wards – especially in Brockton Bay.

"Not really," Yuyu said.

"Some agencies seem to think of us as eye candy. I interned at the Springer Hero Office last year. They wanted all female sidekicks and interns to wear cat-girl versions of their costumes. Springer has a 'thing' for cat-girls, and he would inspect us every day. It was creepy."

"Didn't you say anything to the school?" I asked. I had gotten an invite from Springer.

"Springer claimed it as 'branding' and the school let him, as long as there was no inappropriate behavior." Hado sounded disgusted. "I got another invite from them after the Sport Festival. No way I would work there again."

"I have heard that most agencies have a morals clause in their contracts. Most use them to weed out criminal behavior. But some …" Yuyu was looking something up on her phone as she talked. She held it up for us to read. "Here you see how Woman Jenny tried to dismiss a young female sidekick who had gotten her picture on the gossip sites when she had a costume malfunction – an accident, not a deliberate one according to witnesses and the girl herself. The case is in arbitration by the HPSC Tribunal right now."

"No!" Hado said, grabbing the phone to read more.

"That sucks," I muttered. "Is there a list of the bad agencies somewhere for young women to look at? Something to let us know who to watch out for?"

"A couple of people tried starting one, but the HPSC claimed it was defamation and made them take it down." Yuyu shook her head. I decided to talk to Ando about this. Sexual harassment is a crime.

We had been walking almost aimlessly through the mall while we talked. Just then we came to a store selling chibi dolls of popular heroes.

"Oooh!" Yuyu grabbed my hand and pulled me to the store window. "Look at that Gang Orca chibi. It's soooo cute! And there's Wash! And Cementoss-sensei. I have to get one. I could give it to him as an omiyage after the holidays."

So cute! Emily echoed.

"He may already have one," Hado pointed out.

"You can never have too much cute," Yuyu said, sticking her tongue out.

We shopped for the rest of the afternoon. At Yuyu and Hado's insistence, I even picked up some barrettes to hold my hair back. I also found a traditional kanzashi hair pin that could double as a throwing spike. I love a weapon you can wear to school. Hado gifted me with a tin of jasmine tea from her favorite shop. I tried some in the store and it was good.

When I returned to my place, I found all my kitchen utensils had been moved, swapped left to right in each cabinet or drawer. I heard little feet running and a child giggling in the next room. Of course, my apartment had only one room.

I assume this wasn't you practicing? I asked Emily.

No. I still practice mostly while you are sleeping. This was not me. I believe a zashiki-warashi has adopted you or this apartment.

What is that? While I had been reading up on the subject, there were far more types of spirits than I could remember easily.

It is a spirit that brings protection and good luck to those in its household. They are the spirits of young children and are very playful and love playing pranks on their families. I believe your eyepatch is a symbol of its relationship with you.

So, a mix of good news and bad news, but mostly good? I know I have been oddly lucky several times when I have felt the patch give off energy. That is worth some harmless pranks. I'll even leave the kitchen as it is. Should I be making offerings of thanks of some sort?

It cannot hurt. I would recommend a toy or something sweet. Remember it is an eternal child.

I left the chibi All Might figure I had picked up at the mall on the kitchen counter. It was gone in the morning.

Wednesday morning it was back to Momo's for more studying. Nothing noteworthy happened, though I was able to sit down with Shoda for a moment. Nearby Kosei was flirting with Ashido, who seemed to be responding in kind. They were not being subtle, but nothing was happening between them.

"I have a silly question," I said.

"What is it?" Shoda replied. We were sitting on the terrace the French doors in the Great Hall opened on to. There were benches and a table and chairs. Flowering vines climbed the walls adding a lovely scent to the air. Half the area was shaded by a retractable awning. It was break time and most of the students were taking advantage of the beautiful weather.

I had a plan to give Shoda a hint that I was not a dating option. I pointed to Kosei chasing Ashido around a topiary cut in the shape of elephant. "When do people start dating in the city?"

"What!" His face burned red.

"I was just surprised to see someone as young as them even playing at flirting. In my valley, girls aren't expected to start having any sort of romantic interest until they're seventeen or older. A lot of marriages are still arranged by matchmakers. My parents' was. I guess that's one of the differences I see in the city."

"I don't think they are dating," he said. "We are all too young to be thinking about marriage certainly. People don't talk about it much but even in the city, among certain families with strong quirks, there has been a return to the old traditions of Omiai – arranged matches and matchmakers."

"Like your family, and Momo's?" I asked, honestly curious. I had not heard of this.

He just blushed fiercely and nodded. "Excuse me," he said and rushed back into the mansion.

"What was that about?" Kodai asked, sitting in Shoda's vacated seat.

"I guess I embarrassed him. We were talking … or rather I was asking about dating customs and arranged marriages." I wondered for a moment if the quiet girl was interested in the shy boy.

"Ah…" she nodded. "Yes, that is an embarrassing subject. Are you aware that Shoda has a crush on you?"

"I suspected, but I'm not interested in dating right now. I'm just too preoccupied with other things." I wondered if this was how I should have tried warning him off in the first place. I tell a friend of mine who tells a friend of his who tells him – high school telegraph.

It is the normal procedure, in my limited understanding, Emily concurred.

"Your life has been busy, has it not?" Kodai agreed. "He is probably not looking for any entanglements either. His family is one of the Eighty-Eight, which means he doesn't have a lot of choice in those matters."

The Eighty-Eight? I asked Emily rather than broadcasting my ignorance. Surely they couldn't mean the neo-Nazi gang from Brockton Bay.

The Eighty-Eight most powerful families in Japan. In olden times they would have been the samurai, or even the daimyo. It represents a mixture of quirks, wealth, and political connections. Needless to say, no Burakumin are represented.

The new nobility?

In essence. In your class Shoda, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu are all part of the Eighty-Eight. As is Kamihara-sensei. Cementoss-sensei is from the Ishiyama and Midnight-sensei is from the Kayama. There may be others, but I cannot call myself an expert.

Damn!

Language, please!

Kodai watched as I digested her news. "You were not aware of his connections?"

"I wasn't," I agreed.

"Do not worry yourself," she said, putting a hand on my arm. "He is not one to concern himself with the distinctions of rank."

"Yeah, I suppose not," I replied.

That afternoon Fuwa Mawata, the second-year class mentor, had invited Kendo, Tokage, and I for a lunch and a tour of her uncle Best Jeanist's offices. While this was too involved with cape life to fit Emily's challenge, she had still encouraged me to accept as it was involving myself in my classmates' activities. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to fight my way out of the number four hero's stronghold.

Kendo and I traveled together from Momo's house. The Class Rep was a slim, yet muscular girl, with long ginger hair always up in a ponytail – always friendly and chatty. She was wearing a sundress and jacket, more formal than the outfits she had been in earlier. While this wasn't a job interview, we both wanted to look professional – especially as Best Jeanist was known for his attention to fashion. I was wearing a black jacket and slacks combo with a grey blouse.

"How is the review working for you?" she asked. "Is it all making sense? Are you having troubles with any particular topics? I really appreciate that you're tutoring English for those having difficulties."

"Useful. Yes. No. Thank you." My reply was as deadpan as Kodai's normal conversation.

"What?" She looked at me confused for a moment. We were in the back seat of a taxi, taking a shortcut to a station where we could catch a train that would take us right to the Genius Office. "Oh. I guess I was going a little fast there. Sorry. How is it going?"

"Pretty well, thanks. I'm glad you and Iida arranged this. I think it will go a long way towards defusing the tension between the two classes."

"If only we can get Monoma-kun to stop picking fights and causing trouble." She sighed. "I wish he had joined us, but that was asking too much." We continued chatting the whole way. When we got off the train, the two other girls were waiting for us.

Tokage was a small girl with big green eyes and big green hair. Her tail splitter quirk always freaked me out a little bit. It reminded me of Mannequin in a weird way. She was wearing a purple knit dress with a broad black leather belt. A little showy for the situation, I thought. But she was an extrovert and liked attention. Our hostess, Fuwa, looked fairly nondescript – medium height with medium length light brown hair wearing a blue denim knee-length dress. The most striking thing about her was the look of condescension she gave to Kendo and me as she looked at our outfits.

"It is about time," she snapped. "We're almost late for lunch with Uncle Tsunagu. We're meeting him at his favorite Donburi restaurant. Let's hurry."

I looked at Kendo, who shrugged. We quickly followed Fuwa as she hurried down the crowded street, barely avoiding colliding with people returning to their office from their lunch breaks. The other girls had agreed to a later lunch time so Kendo and I could complete the study session.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were quickly shown into a small dining room behind the main area. Best Jeanist was already seated.

"Welcome," he said, standing. "I am Best Jeanist, Mawata-chan's uncle, on her mother's side. It is my pleasure to host you for the afternoon. You will, of course, understand that a crisis may arise that requires my immediate attention. I offer my apologies in advance should I be drawn away unexpectedly. The exigencies of a pro hero's life – something with which you will all become familiar, I'm sure."

We each, except his niece, introduced ourselves to him with a bow.

"Please sit," he invited, and we did. There was a menu in front of each of us and a waitress standing just outside the room. "I would recommend you order first, then we can talk more freely."

I saw something that looked good – currydon. I'd discovered that I liked Japanese curries. They were less spicy but sweeter than Indian or Thai curries. Japanese restaurants served curries in several ways. Seeing a new curry dish on the menu was a treat.

Once we had ordered Fuwa started telling her uncle about us, like we were her proteges. "Kendo-chan is the representative for her class. You may have noticed her in one or two ads with Uwabami, with whom she did her internship."

"Did you enjoy the photo shoot?" the pro hero asked. "All successful heroes must become comfortable in front of the camera, though a fashion shoot is very different from a news interview."

"It was certainly different than I expected. I must say I would rather have been patrolling or helping people directly." Kendo looked like she expected the pro to disagree.

"Very few of us became heroes for the publicity aspects," he allowed. "But don't overlook the importance of building a positive image that inspires people around you. Uwabami is particularly skilled in that area. That doesn't mean she cannot bring down a villain when she needs to."

I nodded my agreement. I had fought alongside the serpent queen briefly in the bus battle.

Fuwa continued with her presentations. "Tokage-chan was one of two recommended students in her class."

"May I inquire as to who recommended you?" Best Jeanist asked.

"N-Forcer, one of our Saitama heroes," she replied. "He was connected to the hero dojo I trained in."

"I have heard of the Forked-Lightning Hero," our host said. "Though I have never had the pleasure of working with him. You are to be commended on the recommendation. It is no small feat."

"Lastly, this is the Burakumin hero student you may have heard of in the news, Yanagi-chan." Fuwa did not seem pleased that I was there. Which made me wonder who had invited me.

"I have been looking forward to meeting you." Best Jeanist brushed his hair back from his forehead with an affected gesture, uncovering both his eyes to look at me closely. "As I said to Kendo-chan, a hero's image is one of his dearest possessions and most powerful tools. Your public image is all over the place – a fine example of chaos stemming from the lack of a coherent message."

He looked at me, waiting for me to say something. He reminded me of a denim-clad Glenn Chambers, someone I'd eventually come to appreciate, at least a little. I couldn't really argue with the hero. My image was all over the place. I had decided not to watch coverage of last week's riot and assassination attempt. At this point, I just did not want to deal with it.

"If I accepted female interns, I would suggest you work with me in your next opportunity," he said. Fuwa drew in her breath, less than a gasp but still a sign of surprise. "Instead, I would like to put you in touch with a friend of mine. Someone that can help you determine what you want to say to the public and assist you to present yourself in such a way as to convey that message effectively."

He leaned forward to peer directly into my eye. "I have seen you in action. You have tremendous skill and a very versatile power. I am proof that combination can take you to the Top Ten. I would not be surprised to see you up here someday. Which is why you need to master your image. You will have a powerful voice. Know what to say with it."

"Thank you," I said. "My father sent me to Tokyo, in large part, to raise awareness of my people's plight and to become a role model for them. I want to do that and more. I would appreciate your advice and that of your contact."

He nodded and turned to Kendo. Fuwa was glaring at me with a jealous glow in her eyes that did not dim for the rest of that afternoon.