From The Ashes

Hero Hunting

"Well, I must say, you two did surprisingly well for being thrown into things at the last minute. I'd go as far to say that you have a natural talent for it."

Kendo, Yaoyorozu, and Uwabami sat in the lounge at her agency. The sun had set long ago and the two teenagers were exhausted from unexpectedly being thrown into a hair product commercial. Uwabami, on the other hand, sipped her wine as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"I'm certain the two of you could easily make a name for yourself as a model or tv personality if you put your minds to it."

Yaoyorozu gave a shaky smile as she gingerly waved her hand. "Thank you for the compliment, but I don't see myself doing anything like that in the future."

Kendo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I've never thought about doing any of this either."

A gentle laugh escaped Uwabami as she swirled her wine. "You say that now, but you learn that it's impossible to stay out of it once you go pro. Yaoyorozu, your teacher does his best to stay out of the media's sight, but they still manage to catch him from time to time."

"That may be true, but if I solely focus on my hero work I should be fine."

Uwabami shook her head before taking another sip. "Sadly, it doesn't work that way. Once you stop your first villain or save your first bystander there's no getting away. The media is relentless. If you ignore them, you have to be in the top 25 at the very least, any less than that and the public will brand you as arrogant and untrustworthy."

Kendo raised an eye as she leaned on the arm of the couch. "But that's completely unfair."

Uwabami let out a sigh. "You're right, but it's not completely unfounded. Even in your classes I'm sure you've noticed people automatically put a bad label on those that don't interact with the class."

Kendo and Yaoyorozu both sucked their teeth as they thought about their elementary and middle school classes. Almost every year one person would be the class outcast because they did nothing but keep to themselves.

"Thankfully hero courses teach students how to handle media attention, but nothing gets the point across like actually working it." Uwambi smiled sweetly before taking another sip. "I'm sure you expected this week to be full of patrols and learning how to be a hero, but that won't be the case. Instead you will mainly be learning about how to navigate while constantly having the public eye on you. Do you two think you're up for it?"

Yaoyorozu nodded firmly. "Yes ma'am! While it might not be what I expected, I believe this will still help me learn how to make quick decisions without panicking."

Uwambi gave an approving nod. "Good, I'm certain that by the end of this you'll be able to handle any situation with a cool head. What about you, Kendo?"

Kendo shrugged casually as she glanced down at her phone. "Well the commercial was unexpected, but everything I figured would happen. So yeah, I'll be able to handle it no problem."

Uwabami narrowed her eyes on Kendo. "Interesting, you said you had no interest in this side of the hero world, but you also expected this week to go like this. Why would you still accept knowing that?"

Kendo looked away as she nervously ran her fingers through the ends of her hair. "Well... my boyfriend said-"

Uwabami set her glass down, the sudden clinking sound caused Kendo to stop mid sentence. Kendo turned back to Uwabami, with a nervous expression. Uwabami had a mischievous grin as her eyes narrowed on Kendo, as the snakes in her hair softly hissed with anticipation. She leaned in with more interest with each word.

"Did you say boyfriend?"

Kendo gulped as she quickly nodded, she had never seen the rescue hero this intense before. "Yes ma'am."