—Cole POV—
While I waited for my food to arrive, I flipped through the local news to see if there was anything interesting going on. Reviewing what was going on, I noticed that someone was approaching me that wasn't an employee.
"Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to be Kessler would you?", the woman asked.
Turning back to look them in the eyes, I saw Fuyumi standing there with a smile on her face. Nodding my head, I confirmed that I was Kessler and asked how I could help her.
"I thought it was you, I wanted to thank you for saving my brother the other day. He may not act like it, but he is grateful for your assistance during the test.", she told me, "Do you mind if I join you for lunch? Our teacher meeting just let out, and I wanted to grab a bite to eat."
Gesturing for her to take a seat, she sat next to me and placed her order without looking over the menu. I took that to mean she frequented the place, which I completely understood based on the food I was seeing coming out of the kitchen.
"So Shoto told me you are going to be the Urban Combat Instructor now, is that right?", she questioned.
"Correct, the principal seems to think I have what it takes. Not sure where he gets that idea as I have only been a Pro for less than a month now.", I chuckled, "If memory serves, you are an elementary school teacher right? I have been doing research on local Heroes and their families, and I recognized your face from my research."
"Yes I am, I took the route of education instead of Heroing like my father and brother.", she giggled, "I am not cut out for all the life-saving action Heroes do every day. My hope is to help troubled children so they don't become villains in the future though my father thinks it's a crazy idea."
"Nothing can be called crazy if it helps even a single person.", I told her, "I can understand your point of view, some of the villains out there nowadays are just misunderstood people that had no one to help them in their time of need. It's simple things like that which leave lasting impressions on children."
Looking at me in shock, she nodded her head agreeing with that sentiment.
"You are one of the only Heroes I have heard say that. Most of them say those troubled children aren't worth helping because they are already lost.", Fuyumi admitted.
"That's because they look at those children as future dollar signs and job security.", I remarked, "Don't let those naysayers try to dissuade you from your goal. It's far more heroic than most actions that a Hero can do."
"Thank you!", she said with a smile, "You wouldn't be hitting on me, would you?"
Looking at her like she was crazy, she just laughed and said she had to ask because guys hit on her all the time. Most of them were young and upcoming Heroes trying to get a job at her father's agency. It must have been refreshing for her to have someone not hitting on her just because of her family name.
Taking the opportunity to talk about our shared experiences, given that we both grew up in famous, hero households, she seemed to have similar experiences as me. Her father had tried on several occasions to marry her off to people he knew her age because she wasn't pursuing any suitors. In addition, her father initially tried pushing her to be a Hero as a child till her Quirk manifested and she could only use ice.
"After that, he kind of just gave up on me. I don't want to believe that my father is that cruel, but I sometimes think he sees Natsuo and me as failures because we can't use fire.", she told me, "It's a bit obvious that Shoto is our father's favorite, but I'd like to think he doesn't mean to act that way."
I was certain she knew better, was trying not to bad mouth her father to me. After all, both of us were colleagues…even though I didn't particularly like him.
"My dad's a bit different, he's pretty insistent that I take over the family agency even though I don't want to. I am only intending to keep this license till the agency branch here opens up.", I remarked, "I had a really high-paying job working on high voltage equipment since few people can handle the high voltage. In my dad's case, he wants me to take the agency over so he can continue benefitting from the prestige it has."
"I am sure he isn't that bad.", she replied.
"Oh no, he is absolute garbage. He tried to marry me off to some pompous daughter of his best friend just to merge the agencies. Frankly, she is one of the most annoying women I know, it's her way or the highway with no room for debate. If she doesn't get her way she makes your life a living hell. When we were kids she hit me with her Hypersonic Voice Quirk at point-blank range…since that day I have done everything I can to avoid her.", I chuckled.
"Ah, she's one of those spoiled rotten brats.", Fuyumi said, "I have a few of them in my class, it's tough trying to reign them in."
Saying amen to that, both of us started laughing. At that point, the waitress dropped off our food and told us to enjoy ourselves. Dipping my fries in the milkshake, the first bite sent me to my memories of the life I had before all this shit happened. Taking a bite of the burger next, I was very happy that the burgers didn't just smell good, they were delicious.
"Damn this is a good burger.", I chuckled.
Glancing over at her burger, she order an impossible burger which I wished had gone the way of the dodo. I had only ever had one of them, and that was enough to make me a hater for life. No amount of toppings could get the horrible taste out of my mouth. Seeing that I was staring at her food, she asked if I wanted a bite. Shaking my head violently, I said preferred my burgers to have beef in them.
"Haha, Shoto says the same thing.", she laughed.
Chatting the rest of our meal about career paths, I paid for our meals and finished my milkshake. Asking me for my number, she wanted me to come to her class sometime since the kids liked meeting Heroes in person. Seeing no harm in that, I gave her my number and headed out.
—Two Days Later—
Out doing some parkour training to keep myself in shape, I got a call from
Mandalay. Answering the phone, I asked her what was up.
"We are moving locations today, you free to help us?", she asked.
"Not a problem, I will be over.", I said sliding down a downspout.
Since I wasn't patrolling today, I was in jeans and a t-shirt with the Amp on my back. Zipping straight over to their agency, I walked in and asked how I could help. Staring at me for a moment, Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob seem shocked to see me in civilian clothing.
"Why do you wear all that clothing all the time?", Ragdoll questioned as she recovered, "You look better in this attire."
"Hehe yeah he does.", Pixie-Bob said before realizing what she had said.
Covering her mouth, she ran out of the room with a bright red face. Smiling at that reaction, I put it in the back of my mind so I could focus on the job at hand. Asking what they needed help with, Ragdoll took me to their office space. Seeing a tower of boxes, she said they needed to move all the boxes and the furniture to the new location.
"Mandalay has gone to rent a small box truck with Tiger. If you want to help start moving stuff to the front door, we should be able to get this done pretty quick.", she told me.
"I should be able to get this done in a few seconds.", I chuckled as I cracked my neck.
"Huh…what do you-", Ragdoll questioned before a brilliant light temporarily blinded her.
Making several dozen trips between their new location and the current one, I moved everything in a matter of moments. When her vision returned she gasped and nearly fainted from shock.
"You can move objects with you too!?", she gasped.
"Yes, as long as a part of my body is touching it I can move it.", I told her, "I thought you realized that when I offered to help you move."
Shaking her head, she quickly called Mandalay to tell her the truck wasn't needed. Hearing Ragdoll have to explain the situation to her, eventually, she gave up and told Mandalay to just come to see for herself. Doing just that, the two of them arrived a short time later to see for themselves.
"Holy crap!? You moved it all by yourself!?", Mandalay shrieked.
"Show off.", Tiger grumbled.
"Hey guys, where did all the cleaning supplies go?", Pixie-Bob questioned walking into the room, "Oh crap we have been robbed!!"
Letting out a sigh, Ragdoll had to re-explain things to her as well since she had been off doing her own thing. While she was getting them to understand things, I noticed Mandalay's little cousin standing in the doorway. Remembering his backstory when I saw his face, I walked over to him with a smile.
"Hey kid, what's your name?", I asked.
"Who are you?", he replied.
"Name's Cole Bolt, nice to meet you.", I chuckled with a grin.
"You are that new Hero everyone is talking about, right?", he stated looking at me full of scorn.
Knowing that at this point in his life he hated Heroes, Villains, and Quirks themselves I wasn't the least bit surprised by his reaction. Acknowledging that I was Kessler, he looked away from me almost instantly.
"I am sorry, he's been like this for a while now. He-", Mandalay started to say.
"Say kid, do you know some places to play video games around here? I heard Japan has some pretty big arcades, and I was wondering if you knew if any were nearby.", I said.
"Just use your phone.", he remarked.
"It would be quicker if I had a local show me.", I rebutted, "I can buy you some ice cream and give you some coins to play to."
Seeing his stubbornness start to crack under the offer of video games and ice cream, I also offered to get him pizza too.
"I guess I can show you this once…", he caved, "You better keep your promise though, and keep up!"
Glancing back at Mandalay for permission, she wore a look of utter disbelief on her face. Giving me her consent to take him, I told him to lead the way. Following close behind him, we ended up getting on a bus to go to the center of town. Knowing that we were going in the right direction, I let him keep leading the way since it kept him preoccupied with something.
Dealing with children like him was something I had learned to do early on in my transmigrations. Starvation, sickness, and war left many children scarred and battered. Even though I was working to better the world, they had been hurt far too many times to just blindly trust me. Over the course of time, I picked up easy ways of getting kids to open up, and bribing them with things they enjoyed doing was one of the easiest ways.
Once we got to the arcade, I got a pizza ordered and got Kota some coins so he could play some games. Since I had nothing better to do for the day, I decided to take the day off and just enjoy one of my favorite hobbies.