The Exchange Hero

Episode 15

"Please tell us once again what happened, Mr. Armstrong," I winced at the detective's use of my real name. I really stunk at the secret ID thing.

I had been repeating my story to one official or another ever since the National Police helicopter had landed to take the Bashers into custody. Ectoplasm had demanded that the four UA students be questioned only in the presence of their parent or, in my case, a UA official. Mrs. Hado and Mrs. Jiro were transported to the police station along with the UA teacher and students to make our official statements.

When we got to the station, I was asked for my passport. I gave it reluctantly. The desk officer who was entering the data into the system started reading the document out loud as he typed, checking with me for the accuracy of the information. When he read out "Last Name: Armstrong" I saw everyone but Pony and, surprisingly, Mrs. Jiro gape in shock.

"What?!"

"I thought your name was Hightower," Ectoplasm asked quietly.

"I am attending UA under my Grandmother's name. Kocho-sensi and the Program Office agreed to this."

"Are you related to Captain Armstrong?" Nee-chan asked, excited. I hesitated. The others in the room looked on with great interest.

"Yes. He's my father." I waited while the gasps drew most of the air out of the room. When sufficient oxygen had circulated in from the ventilation system I continued. "If possible, I would ask you to keep this confidential. I really don't want people to associate me with the Armstrong Family. I want to be treated like any other UA student."

I turned to Kyoka-chan who was beginning to stare daggers at me, her ear jacks writhing. "You've seen how the school reacts to Todoroki. They all expect him to be just like his father. He got more attention at the sports festival than any of the second years or most of the third years. He never has the chance to just be a normal kid. I know exactly what that's like. I get it all the time at home. Maybe even worse. I just wanted it to be different here. I wanted to be normal."

"No chance of that," my host-sister snarked, "You're way too weird to be normal." She smiled a bit and turned to her mother. "I can't believe you knew and didn't tell me."

"I had to know. I'm his local guardian. I've got all the paperwork in his real name."

"You knew too?" Nee-chan asked Pony.

"He's pretty well known back home. Sort of like if All Might had three kids. You'd probably know them all, even if the youngest wasn't a hero yet."

"Excuse me please," the officer interrupted. "We have to get this finished before we can get your statements."

When the officer got to the part of the report asking about my hero license status, Ectoplasm confirmed that Pony, Kyoka-chan, and I were all working under his direct supervision during a school event when we used our powers. I thought he was stretching the truth just a little bit, but it was better than going to jail for saving the train. Nee-chan already had her provisional license so was covered for her actions.

Each of us gave our statement detailing our locations, actions, intentions, and impressions. Then we had to tell it again, while they asked for clarifications and details. Then different officials came in and we had to tell it all again, followed by more questions. Somehow, I neglected to mention my flashback. I didn't think it pertinent to the investigation.

Then Kocho-sensei came and we had to tell him. Then we had to write it all down in our own handwriting. Pony and I wrote in English so there was no possibility of a linguistic mistake on our parts. Finally, a detective named Tsukauchi came to talk with the teachers. After that, we were released. It was late evening by the time we got back to the Jiros' house. I was exhausted, more emotionally than physically, and fell into bed to sleep the night.