Rhythmic pounding was heard echoing in a dull monochromatic room. The view from the a large window wall gave way to the sights of a city skyline of a dark night and twinkling lights, a contrast to the constant plain tiles of the floor and the gray walls.
"*As last year came to a close, everyone was talking about the 'Explosive midair rescue' video. The man in question, The American Hero, Captain Celebrity-*"
In it, there are very little items in place: A single black couch that is also used as a bed, A large flat screen TV situated on the ground playing the news, And finally a heavily worn-out punching bag.
"*-Has announced that he will soon be hanging up his cape in Japan and is returning to his home country.*"
A young man can be seen hitting the bag with determined eyes. His fairly athletic physique form fitted in some sort of tight-fitting bodysuit with long black hair gathered in a single high ponytail.
"I apologize for the suddenness of all this, but it's always been the plan."
His perpetual smirk etched on plain-looking face, save for his most distinctive and only other feature to be expressive was a long diagonal scar that jutted across his face and over his nose.
"It'll be hard to leave this country behind, But I have family waiting for me back home in the states."
The continuous sounding thuds of his attacks paused for a quarter of a second, before eight simultaneous strikes have hounded the punching bag, breaking the chains that hold it in place and sent it flying to the other end of the spacious and empty room.
"*With his latest victory under his belt, we expect that Captain Celebrity will soar to new heights after all he's experienced here in Japan.*"
The young man's smirk widened a bit further as he sets his eyes on the TV screen. The news anchor seemingly to talking about and gesturing to images of a handsome hero flying in the air.
"The more, the merrier as they say."
~~~~~~~~~~~
As the were exams over and done with, the only thing left was the closing ceremony before the vacation starts again.
A full month and a half before the next school year began in spring. But the Tokiwadai students having an extra week of time was a bit of a suprise, because not only were Kuroko at the school gates waiting for everyone but she also invited over the not-so-famous but still-well-known electrokinetic princess, The Railgun.
Apparently, with Tokiwadai being a more upper-class private institution, they have forgone closing ceremonies as a whole considering that one: they also cater to international students so there was a culture gap and two: there was little need to enroll for each individual year as they were bundled together.
That isn't to say that they do not celebrate as a whole, but rather, the students themselves are the ones to organise parties or ceremonies that they wish to do. Some handful of students actually do this as extra hands-on training for throwing similar parties in high-class society.
Kuroko and Mikasa were part of the group that preferred smaller celebrations. And since it couldn't really be called a party with two people, they invited their own friends.
Kuroko's side is featuring Me, Uiharu, Saten and Haru as a given. Konori-senpai was also invited but declined due to having prior arrangements.
Misaka's side was bare, as her other friends were busy and this couldn't make it. Luckily, she was already friendly with Uiharu and Saten along with being my acquaintance to mix in well, with Haru the only one that needed introduction.
Seeing this arrangement made me wonder if perhaps I have stolen her group of friends from her but quickly shook out that thought as an irrational assumption.
Though, now that I thought about it, I figured that she would have bought Touma along today considering they should be friends by now. Or maybe they're still acquaintances because certain events have yet to happen or haven't happened at all. Honestly, it could go either way since I don't really have a hands-on approach with their plot, not to mention I don't have a clue as to how their plot would interact with the others of this world.
That aside, the celebration was a standard one of simply getting together at a single location --In our case, the usual family restaurant.-- and talking and discussing about certain topics. One of said topics involved what they planned to do during the vacation.
"I like to have options so I usually leave my schedule open for changes." I shrugged while stirring the straw of my drink. "And granny is gonna be pretty busy according to her so I don't think that she'll drag me around different prefectures this time."
"And as for me, my folks back home have been getting skitterish lately due to not seeing me for so long." Said Haru as he tries and fails to catch a chocolate ball with his mouth. "Well, that and I admit that I kinda been missing the mountains for a while now."
"What a coincidence!" Said Saten. "I'm from the countryside too! Although the green scenery is nice, I miss my family more." He smiled turned into a grin. "And I can't wait to mess with my little brother again."
Uiharu just sighed as she prodded the cake Infront her with a fork. "Must be nice being able to go out as much as you like. There's a good chance that I'll catch the flu again if I go because the air filters aren't as good outside of the city."
"I mean, it can be stifling at times but I don't think it's all the bad." Placated Misaka. "Say, how about we go shopping, take you mind off if things for a while?"
"And maybe some tea afterwards?" Added Kuroko. "We don't have a shift for Judgment today so we can take all the time we need."
Interestingly enough, Tokiwadai students have stricter requirements when leaving the city so both Kuroko and Misaka are stuck here unless something happened that would need their assistance outside.
Their school's protocol was originally created for otherwise emergencies --Though, it has been mainly used to subvert political or economical crisis that may prop up.-- for their more established students but have been laxed somewhat for 'regular' ones.
In Misaka's case, she's mainly staying for personal reasons --She didn't clarify so I assume plotwise.--
And for Kuroko, she's staying because she doesn't have much incentive to leave and is more than content to stay and study the materials available to her.
Personally, I am still waiting for my approval to visit La Luna Nova Academy in Europe. It has almost been a year since I have sent both a formal and informal permission request. Part of me feels like it's taking longer due to being a non-human but I also feel like it might take even longer with the whole debacle of the current political landscape of the Fae.
In all fairness, I couldn't really blame them. In fact, wouldn't it be considered lucky that they deal with local Fae rather than ones from outside our own realm?
And although I did say that I kept my schedule free, it actually has something planned out in the end of march due to a few advertisements I have seen flying around lately.
They depict the farewell celebration for Captain Celebrity being thrown together. It would include a lot of pro heroes and pro hero teams as guest stars and is located at the Tokyo Sky Egg.
How they made something in that shape without having it crumble on itself or the help of magic is baffling, but I decided to save some sanity and time spent thinking by just blaming their apparent disregard of physics to be due from illogical quirks at play.
Regardless of that fact, The Sky Egg is bombed and similarly flipped over it's own support by the near tailend of the event and I suppose that it's only fair if I were to take part as medical staff volunteer.
Even if I didn't end up lending a hand to save the day as plenty of heroes would be in attendance, it would still be prudent of me to be there in times of eventual crisis as a healer.
And if, big if, that fate or destiny or whatever decides to spice things then it wouldn't be bad for anyone to have an extra hand --Or in this case, an extra Head-- to help.
With a small self-affirming nod at having thought it that much, I now threw those plans at the back of my mind as I focused on the present. Everyone is now done with their food and decided to go shopping together before returning to the dorms, with Hair and Saten preparing their stuff for their eventual return to their home for the vacation.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Time flew by fast.
With Saten and Haru gone, everything seemed at lot more quiet. The two were the ones that initiated conversation and the ones that start most of the fun. Saten calls back every now and then to say Hi, but Haru hasn't called even once. With his comment about the mountains, I assume that he doesn't have much of a signal to work with, Saten's calls were also muddled with static half of the time so it should be fine.
But it isn't just our friend group that has gotten a state of peace and quiet.
The growing trend of instant villains and bio-engineered villains has already passed its peak and now entered a decline. Particularly the former, as the latter didn't have much of a frequency to begin with. Not just in Academy City but the whole Tokyo Metropolitan area as a whole.
The Remodelled Villains has practically stopped appearing with less than a handful of days left to Captain Celebrity's farewell party.
The calm before the storm, as I predict that it would be a chaotic undertaking that would most likely exceed what was depicted in the canon storyline.
I have spoken to Nezu about those concerns and has assured me that he took, has felt that the criminal undercurrent has started to churn. By process of elimination, he has guessed that they would most likely target the Sky Egg and has prompted higher security.
Not to say that I remained idle. The most basic skill for any resident of Gensokyo, the bread and butter for any Danmaku, I am ashamed to say that unassisted flight still Eludes me.
Hovering and levitation a few inches of the floor was the best I could do for now, and the time is running short. I don't believe that I'll be able to fly by myself when the event has begun. So instead, I polished my skills that I already had, Shaving away as much rust that was accumulated during the exams period.
Even with all the muscle that would appear as guest stars at the Sky Egg, none of them would beat me in terms of Crowd Control, even if you factored in my lack of experience with fighting multiple enemies, I believe that me and my army of heads would be an invaluable asset to the conflict that will come.
I just hope that I wouldn't have to deal with much of the paperwork for getting involved. Contributing during times of crisis is appreciated, but regardless, I am not a Vigilante so I am still subjected to file in the relevant reports afterwards.