Idol Hero | BNHA

Chapter 37

After Noriko got off the phone with Ryu, she called Shiro and explained to him what happened. That conversation was much longer than her one with Ryu and involved a lot more detail on her fight with Stain. She still glossed over her fight with the Nomu, but it went unnoticed by both Ryu and Shiro.

Not long after Noriko got off the phone with Shiro, there was a knock at her door before it slid open and Noriko sat up to see Aries at the door.

"Hey," Aries greeted with a small smile. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing ok. I mean, as good as I can after last night." Noriko replied.

"Yeah. I heard what happened." Aries said with a frown, her gaze dropping to the floor. "I shouldn't have let you go off on your own. Or I should've gone with you. Then this whole thing could've been avoided."

Noriko lightly shook her head, "No, it's ok. There was no way you could've known what would happen. Not even I knew what I was running into."

"Right..." Aries muttered. Then she shook her head and stepped further into the room. "Well, you have another visitor."

"Hello, I'm Hosu's chief of police, Kenji Tsuragamae, woof," A tall man who had the face of a god, Tsuragamae, said as he took a step into the hospital room.

Noriko's eyes widened slightly. She didn't expect the chief of police to personally see her, even after everything that happened. "Uh, hi."

"You're one of the UA students that defeated the Hero Killer, corrected?" Tsuragamae asked, earning a nod from Noriko. "When we arrested the Hero Killer, he had fairly serious injuries. Severe burn and several broken bones. He's currently receiving treatment under strict guard, woof." Tsuragamae explained. "Since you're a UA student, I'm sure you know that, when quirks were still becoming the norm, the police had to make sure that quirks were not used as weapons. Then the profession of hero emerged to help the police fill in the gaps, woof. It's thanks to early heroes who followed the ethics and rules of the profession that we are able to live how we do today, woof." Noriko nodded, narrowing her eyes at Tsuragamae as he continued, "It is the official opinion of the police that you, Aries, and the other UA students you were with, as well as their supervisors, be punished for your uncertified used of your quirks to harm another person, even if that person was the Hero Killer."

Noriko blinked, staring at Tsuragamae with confusion, "I'm... sorry?"

"Even against the Hero Killer, it is in violation of the law for uncertified individuals to use their quirks to cause injury," Tsuragamae explained. Then his serious face softened and the tense air in the room lifted. "But the punishments that come with this violation of the law would only happen if this incident was made public. If it became known that you and the other UA students defeated the Hero Killer, you would most likely be heroes in the eyes of the public, but you would have to suffer the consequences that came with that. But if this is not made public, the burns would support Endeavor being the hero who took down the Hero Killer and it would end there, woof. Thankfully, there were little to no witnesses. So this violation can be crushed here."

"So basically, if I took credit, I'd be in a ton of trouble, but if I don't nothing happens and I just continue with my life?" Noriko questioned.

"Correct," Tsuragamae confirmed. 

"Well then, I'm more than fine with everyone thinking Endeavor took down the Hero Killer," Noriko said. I don't need any more publicity anyways.

"That's good to hear. I didn't want to be the one to ruin the future career of a promising young hero." Tsuragamae replied with a small smile. "I have to do talk with your classmates about this, but I don't doubt they will share your sentiment about this matter. I will make sure everything is resolved."

Noriko slightly lowered her head as a sort of bow, although she was sitting down, so she wasn't sure if it just looked like she was lowering her head to look down, "Thank you."

"Your welcome, woof," Tsuragamae said as Noriko lifted her head. Then she watched in surprise as he then bowed himself, "And as someone who also protects peace, thank you."

Tsuragamae then stood upright before saying goodbye and walking out of the room to go talk to Iida, Midoriya, and Todoroki. Aries walked over to Noriko's bed once he was gone and sat down in a chair next to the bed. "How did you hold up last night, during your fight with the Hero Killer?"

Noriko shrugged, "It was rough, but I survived. I was pretty worn out before getting there though and getting stabbed in the arm certainly didn't help. And then I got paralyzed from Stain's quirk right after being stabbed in the side, which only made things worse. And after it was over, when that Nomu started to fly away with Midoriya... I couldn't do anything. Just thinking about my quirk made me hurt."

"You need more training," Aries stated, making Noriko suppress an annoyed look. "You probably won't get out of here for another day or two, and when you do get back, you probably will still need rest. So I'm going to give you some homework."

That caused Noriko to quit suppressing the annoyed face and she gave Aries an irritated look that made her laugh, "It's nothing hard, I promise. I just think it'd be good for you to work on your quirk for at least 30 minutes to an hour every day. Do training like we did every day and, over time, it should really help you improve."

Noriko let out a sigh and nodded, "Yeah. I'll try to work on it."

"That's all you need to do," Aries said with a smile before she stood up. "Now, I'll see you if you're able to return to the agency. If not, I'm very pleased that I got the chance to work with you, even if we were only with each other for a short amount of time. You're a promising hero."

"Thank you," Noriko replied before Aries nodded and walked out of the room with a wave. The door slid shut behind her and Noriko let out a sigh. She stared up at the ceiling for a minute before picking up her phone and texting Shiro and Ryu what the chief of police had said. Then she started going through social media and spent an hour on her phone before exhaustion set in again and she found herself drifting back to sleep.