Chapter 17: Internship 3

After giving her thoughts and opinions on the fight they had, Nagant let Yuuichi rest for a bit longer before deciding it was time to move on to other things.

"Enough resting." she said, standing up off of the ground where she had been silently meditating.

"Yawn, aw man, just when I thought I was going to get some sleep." said Yuuichi, doing a kip up to quickly get off the floor before unwrapping a fresh lollipop.

Seeing Nagant look at him with confusion at why he was eating a lollipop, Yuuichi felt it easier to explain.

"I need candy. Weird drawback of my quirk. At least that's what the doctors told my parents." he said before grabbing another one and offering it to her.

"Want one?"

"No, thanks. Don't like candy."

"Come on, it's umeboshi plum flavor." he said which only caused her to look at him like he was a weirdo.

"What kind of candy flavor is that?"

"The custom-made kind. It helps for a quick pick-me-up. You sure?" he asked, shaking it in front of her like you would to a little kid.

"No." she said with a tone that said he should stop asking.

"Suit yourself. More for me." he said, putting the candy away, "Now what?"

"Now I'll teach you about the boring parts of being a hero."

"No patrolling?"

"Tomorrow we'll do a full day of patrolling before ending the day with another spar. And I expect you to do much better than today."

"Alright, sounds good to me. Let's get the boring parts over with." he said before chomping down on the lollipop.

~

"No more. Please." said Yuuichi who had his head against the table and had the same expression as the man in The Scream painting while Nagant stood over him, glasses on her face like a teacher and book in hand.

"Don't tell me this is enough to bring you to utter despair?" she said, looking down at him with a slightly sadistic grin.

"I hate being forced to learn."

After leaving the warehouse, the pair made their way back to the apartment where they changed back to their casual clothes before Nagant started her lecture on the mundane aspects of being a hero. Everything from paperwork to tax filing procedures.

And every single second of it was hell to Yuuichi.

"Fine, we'll stop here. You'll be taught all this information in your second year anyway." she said, shutting her book and taking her glasses off.

"Yes!" shouted Yuuichi, jumping out of his chair, completely reinvigorated.

GROWL

Hearing Yuuichi's stomach growl, Nagant checked the time and saw that she had been teaching him about mundane hero work for a few hours now.

"Let's go eat. My treat." she said while putting her hair up in a pony tail.

"What's good around here?" asked Yuuichi.

"Don't know. We'll find out."

~

After going out to eat at a nearby ramen stand, the pair returned to the apartment where they lazed around for the rest of the day before going to sleep.

Early the next morning, Yuuichi was woken up by Nagant who was already in costume and ready to patrol.

"Five minutes. Go."

Yuuichi hearing her order, lazily made his way to the restroom where he quickly washed up before changing into his hero costume. And looking at it in the mirror, he knew he would change it soon. But that was for another time, so he exited the bathroom and joined Nagant.

"If this were your work study, you would effectively be a side-kick, but since this is just an internship, you only act when I say you can act. Try to stay back and observe. Understood?"

"Got it." he said.

"Okay, let's go."

Walking out of the apartment, Yuuichi was ready to go but was stopped by Nagant.

"What do we do first?" she asked.

"A quiz? Really?"

"This is an internship where you're supposed to learn the ins and outs of hero work."

"Sigh, fine. As a solo hero, you first let the commission know you're active. If you were part of an agency, one of your sidekicks or support staff would take care of it for you."

"Good." she said before pulling out her phone, which was decorated much more cutely than Yuuichi would have expected from her, and doing what Yuuichi said which was essentially just clocking in.

"Now we can patrol."

"Nice." said Yuuichi, with a big smile on his face as he followed Nagant.

~

"Uhhhhhh." said Yuuichi as he laid down on the edge of a building as he and Nagant took a break.

"Not what you expected?" asked Nagant with a grin seeing him so miserable.

"You're a sadist, you know that?" he said, to which she just shrugged.

"I told you hero work is a lot of waiting and walking." she said as she overlooked the city.

"I know but I expected something, anything to happen. Like a purse thief or a jaywalker. Someone that deserved justice be brought upon them by us heroes." he said, readjusting his position to be over the edge and looking at the sky.

"You think those people deserve to be brought to justice?"

"Not really. Just a joke."

"Justice is the real joke. Bunch of bullshit." she said after scoffing.

"Hm? Odd coming from a hero."

"Everyone has their own sense of justice."

"So, what's yours?"

"Who knows." she said falling silent for a while, "You? Don't tell me you think justice is blind."

"I wish. Justice should be blind but we all know it's not. Your background, your money, your job, it all makes a difference in front of justice. With my background, if I were to commit a crime like murder, I could cover it up and get away with it. But one of those people on the street, they'd get locked up and the key would be thrown away. It's just how life is."

"What about heroes? What are your thoughts on our hero society?"

"Hard to say. Heroes have become an indispensable part of our society because of quirks. But the only reason heroes can keep operating is because of the public's trust in them. If they thought heroes were just as bad as villains, they'd call for the shutdown of heroes. But that'd lead to more villains which would lead to vigilantes which would lead to heroes again. It's a tricky balance and one heroes have to help maintain."

"So you think those who are capable of shaking the bedrock of our society, those that law and order won't be able to punish, whether hero or villain, you think they should disappear?" she asked as she looked out into the distance.

Looking over at her, Yuuichi saw she was staring out into the distance, but she also seemed like she was hoping for some reassurance from him.

"We can only punish those who do wrong and hope they change, but if they do not, the cosmos will punish them in the afterlife."

"Haha, the afterlife? What about the here and now? What about those who suffer from their actions now? Are you supposed to tell them, 'Don't worry they'll get what's coming to them in the afterlife.' and it'll all be puppies and rainbows? This world is a lot darker than you realize." she said, getting worked up.

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"No. I realize that as humans the most important thing to us is short-term gratification and not long-term investments. The Buddha defined karma as intention; whether the intention manifested itself in physical, vocal, or mental form, it was the intention alone which had a moral character: good, bad, or neutral.

That's why I believe that punishing those who do wrong and bring ruin to others is part of our duty as a civilized society. As long as it is done with good intentions. Even if that means they disappear." said Yuuichi before they both fell silent.

And while speaking about the dharma, his eyes changed into the blossoming lotus, unfortunately, neither was paying attention, so it went unnoticed.

~

Leaving the rooftop, the pair began to wander around the city looking for somewhere to eat.

Thankfully they didn't have to look for long because someone recognized Nagant, which isn't hard since her hero costume is rather normal, and asked for a picture. Yuuichi then took that opportunity to ask them if they knew any good places to eat and to their luck, the person turned out to be a food critic.

They listed out their favorite restaurants and even offered to take the pair there personally. They declined but thanked the person for their recommendations before making their way to a sushi restaurant that the critic recommended.

"That was good. Should've written down the restaurants he recommended. What a shame." said Yuuichi as he patted his stomach and used a toothpick while he and Nagant made their way back to the streets to patrol.

"Mm." said Nagant who had been quiet since their conversation on the rooftop.

"Let's take the scenic route back to the apartment. I want to burn off some of this food."

The pair then made their way back to the apartment, taking the scenic route that cuts through a park.

As the two walked through the park, they saw couples out on dates, families with their children and pets, old married couples taking a stroll, and single people out and about with their friends. A view of peace and harmony only able to be brought about by heroes.

While looking around at everyone in the park, even noticing that some of them recognized Nagant but were too shy to ask for a picture, Yuuichi noticed that Nagant was tense.

Her face was impassive and she was walking normally, but Yuuichi could tell that she was tense. Her gait seemed more rigid, her slightly clenched hands, and the slight tremble of her lip gave her away.

'Why is she so tense?' thought Yuuichi, becoming more alert and aware of his surroundings just in case.

But as the pair continued to walk through the park, nothing happened and once they moved past all the people, Yuuichi noticed that Nagant wasn't tense anymore.

'Odd.' he thought and was about to ask her about it but was interrupted before he could.

"Lady! We're big fans! Can we shake your hand?!" said a group of little kids as they ran up to Nagant with expressions of amazement.

"For you guys? Sure, as a special treat..." she said with a small smile as she stuck her hand out before going silent and still.

Yuuichi seeing that she was still and leaving the kids hanging looked at her face and saw terror.

Quickly retracting her hand, she just stared at the kids.

"We're huge fans! Shake our hands!" they said as she just stared at them with that expression of terror.

"Sorry kids, Lady Nagant isn't feeling too good right now. Maybe next time." said Yuuichi, creating an excuse since she was still frozen.

"Aw, man. Okay. Hope you feel better Lady!" said the kids disappointed but wishing her a quick recovery before leaving.

Seeing the kids off, Yuuichi then turned around to see that Nagant was doubled over a trash can and throwing up.

Walking up to her, Yuuichi was about to say something.

"Stop. I don't want to talk about it." she said as she wiped the vomit off her mouth.

"Okay."

~

The rest of the day spent patrolling was spent in awkward silence with nothing of note happening before they retired to the apartment for the day.

As soon as the door of the apartment closed, Yuuichi constructed a barrier around the two of them.

"What are you doing?" asked Nagant, who had turned her arm into a sniper and had the barrel aimed right at Yuuichi's head.

"You kill people for the Hero Commission." said Yuuichi.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she said, shock appearing on her face for a split second before she got her emotions under control.

But Yuuichi had seen her facade slip.

"And this is a recruitment." he said, creating a chair for him to sit down on, noticing that she had not said anything in response.

"I was suspicious from the time I first met you. You save me from a villain that should have by no means been trouble for you just when I'm pondering on who to intern under. Quite a coincidence." he said while creating a chair for Nagant to sit, but was only met with her keeping her gun aimed at him.

"Suit yourself. Anyway, I didn't know why you wanted me to intern under you, but it got me curious. So, I accepted your offer and chose to intern under you hoping to figure out why. And yesterday, I had nothing except a guess that you might have been a vigilante. I was even coming to accept it was all just a coincidence and I was being too cautious, but today changed my mind.

You asked me about my justice and my thoughts on hero society. Not that odd considering I'm a prospective hero, but your responses are what tipped me off. And followed by your freezing when the kids asked to shake your hand, it clicked for me."

"Shut up."

"You take out the heroes and villains who are too nasty to be left alive. Those that the Commission tells you are too nasty to be left alive anyway."

"Shut up!"

"All to preserve the hope and faith that the heroes in the light have created."

BLAM

CLINK

The bullet she had fired had bounced off the shield Yuuichi created before he constructed Lunar Chains and bound her.

"So, now what? You're going to turn me in, tell the truth to the public? Or are you going to take care of me yourself?" she asked, looking at him with dead eyes and an expression that said she was tired.

"Why me?"

"What?"

"Why did you choose me?"

"It was a test to see if you could replace me if the need arose."

"So I wasn't chosen just yet?"

"No, but the higher-ups were very interested in you."

"Interesting."

'Is it my strength that intrigued them or something else?'

"So?" asked Nagant, snapping Yuuichi out of his thoughts.

"So?

"Now what?"

"Oh. Well..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gasp, what will he choose to do?

Honestly, I don't know. He could go either way. Take up the burden for Nagant, or deal with it another way. We'll see.

Also, feel free to check out another side project I've started, PJO: The Earthshaker. Should be up sometime in the next day or so, once it's approved. (*/ω＼*)

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