Well Earned Reputation

Shiketsu Academy, Principal's Office

As much as she was trying not to, Anzu Nishima sat in her office with a not insignificant amount of fear and intimidation.

While she was certainly welcoming of any and all additions to staff roster at Shiketsu, she wasn't a big fan of the Hero Association strong-arming unknown people into the academy because they were the current, past, and potential future employer of everyone within the school. The only information that the Hero Association deemed worthwhile to give was his name and nationality: Michelson Tyler, and American.
She could guess that he was maybe a man but anything else and even that was pure assumption. And so, as any rational employer would (especially after recent events) she sent Conman and Ito along with using whatever other resources she had to sniff out information about their new associate.

It wasn't what they found that had her in her current state, but what they didn't. Everything about the man was redacted to hell and back, and if it wasn't for dealing with the utter bureaucratic horseshit around Sandatsu she wouldn't've believed a document could have so many things blacked out. The fact that the amount of censorship was even close to comparable was more than enough to set her on edge.

The only thing that they could reliably find were extremely vague mentions of names of military operations, of which none could be reliably deciphered into any sort of meaning save for knowing that he was vaguely involved in a violent conflict in Eastern Africa. That was one out of the dozens of operations they could find, let alone ones they couldn't.

And so Anzu waited, occasionally looking out the window to see if there were any vehicles that she couldn't recognize. Lo and behold when she looked again there was a new blue car in the "Staff Only" parking lot. Although it could just be a trick of the light or her nerves or both, the vehicle seemed significantly smaller and more compact than the other cars and seemed reminiscent of what she could see Nezu driving.

Though there were some differences.

For one the windows were tinted almost pitch black, to the point where she couldn't even tell if the driver was there let alone whatever else could be in the car. The compaction of the car seemed even more intense than in Nezu's vehicle, as if it was the miniature equivalent to an armored vehicle even though it more than passed for a civilian car. Instead of inflated tires it was a thick-treaded rubber coating around a honeycomb of steel, something Anzu knew to be a model commonly referred to as "bulletproof tires".

knock knock

Although she usually didn't pay attention to such things, Anzu recognized that the knocking was distinctly different than any other person she had under her employ. Speaking of under, the sound emanated from towards the bottom of door, as if someone of very short stature was the one knocking. Or it could've been an arrogant American deciding to kick the door out of disrespect, either way she had to start up the meeting.

"Are you Mr. Michelson Tyler"

She spoke in Japanese, as a little test to see if the Hero Association had even sent someone that could speak the native language. She didn't put it beyond them to send someone who couldn't.

"That'd be me Ma'am."

He passed the test. Though he spoke in probably the most heavily American accented Japanese that she'd ever heard, not even Bobby or Christopher could compare. It was almost like there was a stereotypical cowboy character behind the door. Though it was able to be understood clearly.

With way too many butterflies in her stomach than she should, Anzu gave the go-ahead for the meeting

While Anzu knew not to have undue expectations in this day and age, she was indeed surprised when a mustachioed naked mole rat walked through the door. He was wearing a white button-up, a belt, blue jeans, and black boots. It was a clear facsimile of a version of the Shiketsu Uniform, an effort that Anzu held a small appreciation for.

Anzu would've almost assumed that the man in front of her was a civilian if she didn't look at his eyes. Within the black sclera the white orb within darted about the room, to the windows, the air vent, the pencils, pens, markers, trophies, posters, certificates, and more. He was identifying and confirming the location of any and all escape routes and potential weapons.

On the topic of breaking expectations, Anzu had a myriad of ideas of what the now identified shadowy agent would say first. Trains of thought that consisted of The American or Japanese government or the Hero Association declaring that "they were running the show now" and that Shiketsu would become a federal puppet or any other dystopian ideal she could think of.

What she didn't expect was an apology.

"I must apologize as I couldn't find the time to get myself a proper Shiketsu Teaching Uniform, and I hope that my current outfit formed from what I do have is enough."

Out of all the scenarios she ran through her head, saying sorry for bringing his own clothing to their first meeting was not one of them. In a very uncharacteristic moment, The Principal of Shiketsu was a bit stunned. Michelson could more than tell, and so started to speak.

"I'm also sorry that you couldn't get next to anything for a background check on me due to my...previous affiliations...and their tendency to make their personnel into [REDACTED] line spaghetti when ya' try to look em' up. I'm gonna tell ya' right now that I'm here first and foremost to be a teacher, not some glow-in-the-dark government spook."

It took a bit more time for the words to be processed. Anzu couldn't be entirely sure it wasn't fake, but she could feel the sincerity in the man's voice in front of her and decided to take what must be the ten thousandth metaphorical leap of faith within her life and trust the diminutive rodent-man in front of her. She had a slight chuckle to herself,

"It seems that being paranoid about humanoid rodents is a habit that won't stop anytime soon"

It took a bit to realize what she was talking about, but then Michelson remembered the peculiar principal of U.A. in a Japanese news article he read and started chittering along.

"Well, when you can fit in the vents, its a matter of time until you can crawl into high places where people don't want ya' to go."

After they shared a little bit of a giggling fit, they decided to resume a more serious professional conversation, though without nearly as much tension as before. Not to say it didn't exist, but that it felt like it could be resolved with further dialogue rather than being constantly at a knife's edge.

"What do you intend to teach Mr.Tyler?"

"Economics. Prospective Heroes need to learn how to help the community without hurting in other ways. They need to truly understand the cost and weight of their actions not only to themselves, but others. Plus they need to know how to manage their money in other ways so they don't end up like that Popsy character I heard about on the way here."

Anzu winced and shivered a bit on that last sentence. If how they treated their lives was any indicator, she could practically see a sizable portion of her current student base living in a shitty apartment due to impulsive financial decisions.

"That bad huh?"

"You don't know the half of it."

"Well, that's why I'm here ma'am."

"I guess so. To continue, are you now or have been a Professional Hero? Due to your unique circumstances it doesn't really matter, but students are more familiar with the concept of being taught by a Pro."

Michelson pulled out his new Hero License out of his pocket, and put it on the desk

"Yup. Got this fancy lil' doodad along the way here! Still feels surreal if I'm being honest, still can't grasp the feeling that I'm now the guy my parents used to put on the T.V. so they could take a nap."

"From what I can tell you're heart is in the right place, so you should be more than fine. Speaking of, since you are now technically a Professional Hero, do you intend to participate in heroics? And If so how? This is a Hero School and all faculty that are Pros are typically expected to embody all aspects of a hero, including being actively able to be a Hero at any given time"

"As I said, I came here to be teacher fist and foremost. Though if my other skillset is of use in Heroics and is needed to protect the safety of the people within this school, Japan, or even the world I will not hesitate to use it."

Anzu stopped her speech, writing some things down on a clipboard. Michelson waited with baited breath. He really hoped that he could be given the chance to prove himself, as he quite frankly was not the best within serious 1-on-1 professional discussion save for listening to orders. He already had a rudimentary lesson plan in mind, and really just wanted to get into gear.

"Alright then. We have about a week worth of time until the school year starts due to the unique circumstances of your arrival, so I hope you can be ready. Other than that, Welcome to Shiketsu Academy, we're glad to have you on board Mr.Tyler. Here's the directions to your office."

"Thank you very much ma'am"

Today he had a much easier time containing his emotions, but in his head it was a celebration like no other. It was like a dream come true, all that studying and all that prep was worth it! He could prove himself not to be some government goon but an inspiration of the next generation! Hell, he could even become an actual bonafide Hero! He wouldn't be a fugly rat he would be THE FUGLY RAT.

Anzu could see him bounding about more like a rabbit than a rodent, and smiled as she felt like she made the right decision. She couldn't wait to see what their new teacher would add to Shiketsu, and hoped that it would be enough to weather the coming storm.

Edit Report
Pub: 02 Jan 2025 04:29 UTC
Edit: 02 Jan 2025 21:51 UTC
Views: 140