It was three o'clock when Kaminari and Tetsutetsu left U.A. High School, and by the time Kaminari finally arrived home, it was already 4:35pm. Since it wasn't yet dinner time, the usual aroma of home-cooked food was absent from the house.
However, both his parents were there, which surprised Kaminari.
"You're home early," he said, looking at his father. "This isn't your usual time to get off work, right?"
Kaminari's father grinned with pride, ruffling his son's hair as he replied, "Today's the day of your Hero exam. How could I focus on work when that's all I've been thinking about?"
His mother, who had been standing nearby, came over to take his backpack containing his casual clothes and gloves gently from his shoulders. With an expectant smile, she asked, "So, how did it go?"
Kaminari beamed confidently. "I'm 99% sure I passed!" he declared. In front of his parents, there was no need to be modest.
"Hahaha!" Kaminari's father burst into laughter, clearly pleased. He trusted Kaminari's words completely. If his son said he'd passed, then it was as good as done.
"By the way," his father continued, "how did those gloves work out?"
His question shifted the mood to a more relaxed, lively atmosphere. Kaminari's father had spent a lot of money on those gloves, so naturally, he wanted to know if they'd lived up to expectations.
"They were great. Really smooth when charging," Kaminari said with a nod, glancing at the gloves his mother had set on the coffee table. "But… it would be nice if they had a few more features."
"Oh?" his father asked, intrigued. "What features?"
"For starters, a built-in music player would be cool," Kaminari said with a smirk. "And maybe the ability to shoot barbed wire especially the latter. That would give me some long-range capture ability."
His father and mother exchanged amused looks. The barbed wire suggestion made sense, but they couldn't help but be puzzled by the music request.
Still, Kaminari's father nodded. "Alright, write down your ideas when you get the chance, and I'll contact the company to see if they can add those features in a second modification."
"That would be awesome!" Kaminari grinned, already imagining the upgrades to his gear. But before he could get too lost in thought, his father interrupted him.
"By the way, there's something else I need to tell you," his father said, his tone shifting. "Your song 'Hero' has climbed to number three on MTV's best-selling list. Since last night, we've been flooded with calls from media outlets and companies."
Kaminari blinked in surprise as his mother looked at him, eyes sparkling with pride. "So, my son's really becoming a big star, huh?" she teased lovingly.
Kaminari scratched the back of his head. "I wouldn't go that far. The song's popular, sure, but I'm not exactly a household name yet, right?" He looked at his father, who usually kept up with these things more closely.
"Hahaha!" His father laughed heartily again. "Wrong guess, kid."
"Wrong?"
"Yep. Remember when you announced that you were aiming to get into U.A.'s Hero Course?" His dad pulled out his phone, opened the MTV app, and showed Kaminari his artist page.
"Turns out, the massive popularity of Heroes has gotten people more interested in you, too. That announcement gave 'Hero' a huge boost. The folks at MTV say that if you actually get admitted to the Hero Course and post your acceptance letter, your fame will skyrocket even more."
Kaminari's father looked serious now. "You've got a decision to make, son. You could strike while the iron's hot, accept media interviews, sign advertising deals with companies, and officially debut as a fifteen-year-old hero student."
"Or…"
Kaminari understood the weight of the choice in front of him, but he wasn't fazed. He'd already mapped out his life plan long ago.
"Dad, I want you to decline all the interviews and ad deals," Kaminari said calmly. "For the next three years, I'm going to focus entirely on my Hero Course, train hard to master my Quirk, and work toward getting my Hero License."
His eyes were steady, showing no hesitation. "From now on, my only identity will be as a student in U.A.'s Class 1-A who also happens to like singing."
"Of course, I'll still post photos and updates on MTV when I have time, and if I can, I might release new songs every now and then. But my priority is becoming a Hero."
Hearing this, Kaminari's father felt a wave of pride wash over him. His son was different, and he knew it. Most families might see this kind of opportunity as too good to pass up, thinking that fame and money were within reach.
But to Kaminari's father, the path of a professional Hero was on an entirely different level. Becoming an entertainment star couldn't compare to the prestige and fulfillment of being a Hero who saves lives.
Besides, the family didn't need Kaminari to bring in money at such a young age. Financially, they were more than stable. In fact, his business had been doing better than ever lately, with unexpected smoothness in government dealings and commercial ventures. Everything seemed to be going their way.
With a confident smile, Kaminari's father placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Alright, I'll handle everything on my end. You focus on your studies and your training at U.A."
He patted Kaminari's shoulder lightly and added, "I'll do whatever I can to support your dreams. Now, go rest—you've earned it."
From a young age, Kaminari's father had noticed that his son was special especially in terms of intelligence. There were times when he wondered if Kaminari's real Quirk had something to do with his IQ. But in any case, Kaminari had proven time and again that he could handle himself.
Meanwhile, Kaminari's mother had gone back to her room to change into a coat. She was planning to make a quick run to the nearby Tamade Supermarket to pick up some fish and meat for dinner. Her son had been through a lot at the U.A. exam, and she wanted to make sure he was well-fed tonight.
Just as Kaminari was about to head to his room, he turned to his father and said, "Oh, by the way, Dad I sent the rough drafts for Pokémon to your office computer earlier."
His father's eyes lit up. "You finished it already? That's great news!"
His smile grew even wider. It felt like everything was falling into place lately one good thing after another.
"I've already found a cartoonist to start working on it tomorrow," his father added, clearly excited about the project.
"Already? Who's the artist?" Kaminari asked curiously, though he wasn't expecting any big names.
"Oh, his name is Junichi shan. He's a young, relatively unknown cartoonist with solid drawing skills, but he's not great at coming up with original stories," his father admitted with a bit of embarrassment.
He had tried reaching out to more well-known artists, but they either weren't interested in collaborations like this, or their asking prices were through the roof. So, he had settled on a newcomer like Junichi, figuring that fresh talent might be more energetic and easier to work with.
"As expected," Kaminari thought to himself. But he wasn't bothered by the choice. He knew how strong Pokémon as a franchise could be, and it might actually be a good thing to help a new artist rise along with the story.
---
The next morning, on February 27th, the family of three had a simple breakfast together. After seeing his father off to work, Kaminari settled into his room to tackle his own tasks for the day.
At the top of his list: designing his Hero costume.
After passing the written exam, U.A. had required all prospective students to submit their ideas for their Hero costumes, and Kaminari had handed in a basic concept at the time. But last night, something unusual had happened.
U.A. had called him to say that the original support company responsible for his costume had passed the project over to a Mitsui-owned support company, which was now asking him to resubmit his design with as many specific details as possible.
This was highly unusual. Typically, support companies only accepted a small portion of a student's design ideas when making costumes for free. And while the quality of the materials used was always top-notch, it wasn't common for them to allow this much input.
Both Kaminari and U.A. had been left speculating as to why Mitsui was taking such an interest in his costume. Some of the more gossipy staff even wondered if Kaminari might be the illegitimate son of a Mitsui executive.
But Kaminari wasn't concerned. If they were offering better equipment, why not take advantage of it? It didn't do him any harm, after all.
"Hmm... The costume's gotta be cool, and it's gotta stand out... Maybe a skateboard, but without wheels. Hmm... I bet Mitsui can handle that."
"And I definitely need to factor in some defensive features…"