Chapter 81: CHAPTER 077(Rebranding)
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CHAPTER START---
Walking through the halls of the support department engineering building Momo and Jiro were in full Hero Costume, with the former carrying a metal case at her side.
"I can't believe you got me into this," Jiro mutters, nervously twirling her Earphone Jack.
"Surprisingly he didn't even complain about it," Momo says. "I expected him to be strictly against teaching anyone, but he seems to be honorable about this agreement."
"Well he's full of himself," Jiro rolls her eyes. "If there is one thing we can count on, it's that Horizon always wants to look and be better than everyone around him."
"True, but he's also capable. Learning from him can do wonders for us."
"Yeah, but why'd you bother pulling me into it?"
Momo looks over at Jiro, genuinely confused as to why the answer wasn't obvious. "Because you're my friend, and improving is always better when it helps your friends as well, right?"
"You're too nice for this world Momo," Jiro mutters. "Let's just hope he isn't a jerk to you again, you didn't let me yell at him last time but I don't know if I can do that again."
"Kyoka, he wasn't trying to harm me with those words, I think they were his way of inspiring me."
"Well a Hero isn't supposed to talk to a crying girl like that, they're supposed to say nice things."
"Well that's why he's at UA, to learn things like that," Momo says as they arrive at the door to Mei's lab.
Momo politely knocks before sliding the door open, then she freezes.
Staring forward with wide eyes as her face goes beet red.
Jiro raises a hand to cover her eyes, but still peeks through her fingers like the closet pervert she is. Constantly looking away but unable to resist stealing glances at the scene.
Standing in the middle of the room was Horizon, only wearing his body glove and visor, all his clothes neatly folded off to the side. All his muscles were and the clear separation of them was visible for the first time since they'd known him. Still somewhat hidden by the layer of white fabric, but enough to leave a very clear image of what was hidden below.
This alone would have been enough to make both girls into a sputtering mess, but he was facing to the side, giving them a full view of what was going on.
In his hands, supported by the one hand so clearly cupping her ass was Mei Hatsume, still fully dressed and currently having her legs wrapped around his waist as best they could. Both her hands carefully feeling the muscles on his chest and his abs, trying to memorize every surface of his body. All with an excited smile on her face.
Horizon's free hand is what fried Momo and Jiro's brains, as it was currently freely cupping Mei's breast over her tank top, clearly enjoying itself, gently kneading her, not even stopping as he looks over at his classmates.
"Um, SORRY TO INTERRUPT!" Momo yells and pulls the door shut, heart pounding in her chest.
Beside her Jiro wasn't faring much better, but Momo knew she had to take the lead.
'I can't just be a coward about this,' she thinks. 'I have to act as if nothing happened, as if...as if the boy I like wasn't just...just, why was he even holding her chest?!' her face shifts from surprise and embarrassment to frustrations and a bit of jealousy.
Jiro just raised a hand to her mostly flat chest, now feeling much worse about her tiny proportions. She glances over to Momo to see the girl take a deep breath and puff up her chest, clearly subconsciously trying to make a show of her assets as she opens the door.
Opening the door they see him gently set Mei down on her feet, and they both just look over at Momo and Jiro.
"Did you bring it?" Horizon asks, and Momo just wordlessly lifts the case, never taking her eyes off Mei while Jiro continues to stare at the floor.
"YES!" Mei rushes off and snatches the case out of Momo's hand, then charges away to complete the hoverboard.
Watching her rush off Horizon turns to both girls, seeing their reactions to what they walked in on, but just ignores it. "So, guess I've got to give you a rundown of this Hero stuff so w---"
"Are you friends with that girl?" Momo interrupts him, eyes glued to the back of Mei's head.
"Not really."
"Oh, but you were just...you had your hand on her... it's just that---"
"It's really none of your business," Horizon says. "But if you must know, she gets a bit invasive when taking measurements, I thought it was only fair I return the favor," he shrugs.
"You expect us to believe that?" Jiro asks.
"Believe what you want, I really don't care either way. So, who's first?"
Neither girl answers, so Horizon just sighs. "Fine, I'll start with the easy one, Jiro."
"Excuse me?!"
"Not like that, pervert. I'm talking about the Pro Hero crap."
"Uh, sorry, yeah I'm listening," Jiro says.
"Ok so half of being a Pro Hero is the public image, the other half is being useful. All you need to do is use your Quirk more and train it harder, you can figure that out yourself.
The problem is your Hero Costume just screams 'I went dumpster diving at a rock concert and found this trash,' it's ugly."
"HEY! My style is punk rock!"
"Yeah, and it's great for the 1% of people who like that style. But for everyone else you're just a tiny girl in some ugly clunky boots, a top that does fit and has rips in it, and a jacket that isn't sure what it's supposed to be. The average person probably thinks you look like you bought it in a thrift shop."
Jiro bites back all the angry things she wanted to yell at him and just grits her teeth, taking a deep breath and hearing him out. "Ok, so what do you suggest?"
"Get something more functional and sleek, you don't need to go with a skin-tight suit but just something that isn't as baggy for villains to grab onto, not that they should ever be that close to you.
You also want to change your equipment, amps in your boots are ok but you need to extend your Earphone Jacks all the way down to your feet, that takes time and increases the surface area of a target for the enemy.
Get a pair of headphones or something that you can just plug into and send sound to the other speakers on your body."
"Yeah that makes sense," Jiro says. "At the USJ I couldn't use my Quirk when Kaminari got held hostage because the guy could see it moving to my boots. If I had it plugged in closer to my ears it'd be easier."
"Exactly. You also need a mask. I know you people are complete fucking idiots who want to be celebrity heroes, but the mask isn't just for you. It's so people don't see your face and track you down to kill the people you care about. Don't be a selfish moron, wear a mask."
"That's why you wear a mask?"Jiro.
"I too must admit I've been curious," Momo says. "But I assumed it was simply either part of your face or to help with daily life, that would make it very rude of us to ask, so please don't answer if you don't want to..."
Since in this world the 'human' form is so vast and varied, having someone with his visor as their genuine face isn't such a stretch so nobody genuinely thought about it, already used to growing up around Mutation and Transformation Quirk users of all sorts.
"I get that you could have assumed that, but I figured when you heard my name it would have been obvious that the visor is mostly just that," he says. "Did you think my parents wrote 'Horizon' on my birth certificate? I'm obviously hiding my identity. The better question is why aren't any of you?"
"Huh, but why would you do that?" Jiro genuinely asks, and Horizon feels a small spike of anger at how sincere it was. "Don't you want the world to see how cool you are? Isn't that what you're all about?"
"Do you have a family?" Horizon asks Jiro.
"Uh, yeah, it's just me and my parents..."
"Good, and how would you feel if... let's say you spent all day saving people you don't know, then went home to find your family dead because some villain you once fought saw your face, got your name, then got your address?"
They both wince at that.
"Some people like Shoji and Mina can't really hide their identities...which is why I honestly wouldn't be here if I was that recognizable, but for those who can, you should, you always should," his voice takes a serious and almost warning tone.
"To me, no faceless nameless mob of useless civilians will ever be worth risking my family, so I wear this somewhat inconvenient body glove and visor whenever Horizon goes out. Because I'm sure the one in a hundred, or maybe a thousand heroes that loses their family because they stupidly decided not to wear a mask wishes they were as...admittedly paranoid, as I am."
"I see," Momo mutters quietly. "So it's a sacrifice for the people you love, like you said at the sports festival. Everything is for your future family..."
"I'm not losing my kids or having them get hounded because I selfishly wanted to be a celebrity," Horizon says.
Both girls feel their hearts melt at those words.
"The final thing is your god awful Hero Name, seriously, Earphone Jack. Any monkey can think of that, and it wouldn't even be the most creative one it thought of."
"But it's simple and effective," Jiro says.
"I like her Hero Name," Momo adds, causing Horizon to look at her.
"Really, the girl who named herself 'Creati,' which sounds like a name you pulled out of a picture book for retarded children, the same book with great names like Pinky, Froppy, Uravity, Anima...you like Earphone Jack...what a surprise."
Momo looks down at the floor, having the name she's been excited to make her own for the past 8 years completely bashed by Horizon of all people.
"But what's wrong with that?" Jiro asks. "Hero Names are supposed to be fun and make people smile right?"
"No, what kind of moron thinks like that. Your entire image is supposed to be built so people know you've got things under control when you arrive. You have to properly cultivate your image, without a good one you'll never get into the top rankings."
"Unless we do excellent work," Momo adds.
"No, that's not enough. People like cool shit, 'Earphone Jack' is lame. You have to think about your image more. You know why I chose my name, but my costume is also part of it. My colors are white and blue, the same colors as surgeons and nurses.
Widely recognized as positive and lawful colors. It calms people down when they see a guy in a white suit.
My sword is a Katana. I personally prefer a broadsword but I'm using this because all around the world people fetishize Katanas as this honorable thing. I use a Katana, suddenly I look more heroic. Especially since the blade is white with a blue edge."
"Wow, you put a lot of thought into this stuff," Jiro says. "And here I thought you didn't care about this..."
"I have more reason to care than any of you, Aux."
"Aux?"
"My suggestion for a new Hero Name, short and cute like you, and people can actually chant it. Also, it's not that far from Earphone Jack, all without sounding lame."
"Huh, I like it," Jiro says, giving him a beaming smile.
"IT'S DONE!" Mei loudly interrupts them, holding the hoverboard in her hands. "Check it out."
The first thing Horizon notices is that all the bits of blue are glowing slightly, and that she's casually moving around what was 50lbs as if it were nothing.
And as she hands it over, he realizes it's weightless.
"Wow, nice."
"Yup, my babies are the best! I'm sure we'll make some great babies together!" Mei cheers.
Momo and Jiro gape in shock, and Horizon doesn't bother explaining. "Great, you and Jiro can talk about her upgrades while I take this for a spin...and give Momo some training."
"Shouldn't I be there for training too?" Jiro asks.
"Nope, it's just the basics of how she should use her Quirk, I can't give her any real training."
"Why not?" Momo asks.
"I'm not training either of you because it's a waste of time for me to train beautiful women, they just won't try hard enough," Horizon shrugs.
Momo blushes while Jiro gets pissed at those words, "what the hell kind of sexist thing is that?! Where did you even learn something so stupid?!"
"My mom," Jiro immediately freezes, taking one scared step back as all the color drains from her face.
"Uh, I mean...I'm sorry, it's just that...why did she say that?"
Horizon just shakes his head and sighs, "because, beautiful women can always quit and find someone to take care of them or some other shit like that. You always have an easy way out. The way I train will make you want to take that easy way out...so I rather train someone who I know won't quit and waste my time."
"So you won't train us because you think we're beautiful?" Jiro asks, completely confused.
"Exactly. Now, let me get dressed and we'll get out of here Momo."
"Right!"
ROOM
SHAMBLES
Horizon's clothes suddenly appear on his body, all but his boots. Walking over to Mei's workstation he takes the new boots and begins putting them on manually.
After putting them on he looks up to see Momo and Jiro staring at him while Mei was already tinkering with something else.
"What?" he asks.
"You were doing it like a normal person," Jiro says. "Why didn't you warp them on like usual?"
Because they're new.
Because he hasn't been attuned to them.
Because he can't.
"Because I felt like it," he says, picking up his sword and hoverboard and walking toward the door. "Hey Mei, Jiro needs a full design overhaul, you should take her measurements!"
"Ahh!" Jiro shrieks as she feels a pair of hands roaming her legs and chest.
Momo looks over at her, not sure what to do, both her and Jiro already blushing and Mei ignores all social norms to get her precise measurements, tackling the tiny girl to the floor, exactly like Horizon said.
"Hey, what are you doing? Don't touch that!" Jiro yells out, looking to Momo for help.
"We're gonna make some great babies!" Mei says with a manic look in her eyes.
"Momo! C'mon!" she hears Horizon call out from the door.
Momo gives an apologetic look and wishes her luck before rushing out of the room.
Abandoning her best friend to be molested by UA's resident mad scientist...
END CHAPTER---
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