บท 209: Mindset, Relationships and Announcement
__________ POV Narration__________
"Hey Nemuri~ Glad to see you around~" Beru didn't waste much time, he immediately greeted his girlfriend. All things considered, it's not like he had any reason to be mad at her.
Her previous transgressions were long since forgotten to him, he wasn't really the type to hold grudges with the people he cared about.
Nemuri herself did still feel bad for her words, but they were in the past, and that wasn't really the main subject in the talk that was about to start...
"You need to stop this..." Nemuri said while clenching her fists. Beru glanced at her with a confused look in his eyes.
"I get it! I fucking get that you're a hero, hell, I am one too! But you need to stop facing everything by yourself!" Nemuri clearly had a lot of bottled up emotions, Beru just sighed a bit.
It wasn't like she was wrong or anything, Beru did try to take care of everything by himself at first, which caused his current state.
But Beru didn't care much for his injuries, with his current powers, the injuries he sustained were only temporary and not all that important...
"You said that you get it~ Then why exactly are you mad about it in the first place?~ It is my duty as the number 1 hero to face whatever threat appears~ Even if I don't care much for that title, even if I hesitate to call myself a hero, the people's trust is still placed upon me~"
Beru defended himself a bit, as one should at least try to in such situations. Although, many men would say that arguing with a woman, especially one's significant other, wasn't a good idea.
"Who cares about the people?! I know you don't! Are you doing it just to keep up appearances?!" Nemuri didn't like antagonizing Beru, the one she loved. But sometimes some things needed to be called out, and this was one of those times.
"Appearances, huh..." Beru said while looking back at the ceiling for a bit. He then glanced at one of his arms, which was currently still in a cast.
"... Do I look like the type to care about that? No, in a sense, I guess it is about perception..." Beru relented in the end.
Nemuri was a bit surprised to hear that Beru wasn't even trying to defend himself in this situation.
" At the end of the day, everyone wants to have a place where they belong. I have found mine in this world, as a teacher to my students, as a friend to my colleagues, a monster to those opposing me, a hero to the rest."
Beru's words did sound a bit strange to Nemuri.
"What? Do you think that if you quit being a hero everyone would suddenly stop caring about you?!" Nemuri was quick to understand what Beru was trying to say with his speech.
"Wel-" Beru was about to say something to defend his point of view, but he didn't even get a full word out of his mouth before Nemuri straddled him and slapped both of her hands on the sides of his face, forcing him to look at her directly.
"Don't even think about that! Do you really think your friends can't tell who you really are at this point? Even your students can tell that you don't care about being a hero, that neither the responsibility nor the fame interest you... Who are you even trying to fool here?!"
Beru looked into her eyes with a bit of surprise, he didn't expect Nemuri to be this passionate about the subject.
And her words did ring true. Not one of the people close to Beru considered him to be a faultless hero. Many of them were even shocked he was trying to be a hero in the first place.
Even the students that idolized him realised at some point that Beru lacked a really important thing that made one into a hero...
He had absolutely no drive to save others, his body didn't react on its own to save those in need. He merely did it because he could. He didn't have the mentality of a hero, it was as if he was just playing pretend with the notion.
No one ever spoke about that with him, but it was obvious. And the truth of the matter was that Beru was still an exceptional hero regardless of that, hell, he saved more people than most other heroes combined. So there was no reason to complain... Until now.
"Listen, Beru. I'm sorry if I'm being a bit aggressive here... This isn't about you not being a true hero or you not being worthy of number 1 or some shit like that... But, is it really worth it to put your body and life on the line for a cause that you don't really care about?"
Beru stared into Nemuri's eyes and eventually sighed.
"I understand what you mean... Don't worry~"
"I can't exactly not worry about you... That's the entire issue here, and it's not just about me. Everyone that cares about you is worried about this, it falls on me to have this conversation with you since... I'm still your partner..."
Nemuri seemed to deflate a bit during her speech. She looked down at Beru's chest her eyes watering a bit.
Beru put his arm around her, hugging her a bit as he sighed again.
"I guess you're right... Maybe I should dial it back a bit... It's not like I have anyone left to impress at this point~" Nemuri looked up when hearing that, her eyes shined with joy.
"Besides... I wouldn't really be a great partner if I just repeatedly ignored your worries~" Beru said as he slowly sat up, Nemuri also wrapped her arms around him, smiling a bit in his hardened chest.
"We may be a bit more dysfunctional than other couples~ Neither of us really know how to deal with commitment~ But I think there's no reason to delay things at this point~ Say, how's about we get married?~"
Nemuri instantly looked up, her eyes were almost glowing at this point, a large smile spread on her face, she looked relatively innocent in this moment, stark contrast to her hero personality.
"I-I thought you'd never ask... Of course I accept!" Her eyes were tearing up again, though for good reasons this time.
"Why wouldn't I ask?~ I just had too much bullshit to deal with~ I'm going to have a lot of free time form now on though, so there's no need to postpone this much longer~" Beru stroked her head as he slowly started getting up, Nemuri was still clinging onto him though.
"I understand... Is it really fine for you to get up though?" She asked while separating from him and looking at his casts.
"Oh~ It's fine, don't worry~" Beru just flexed a bit, and the casts instantly cracked and fell from his limbs.
"They were more cosmetic than anything, my body heals a lot faster than you'd think~" Beru scratched the back of his head with a yawn.
"Hmm... I guess that why you have so much stamina huh?" Nemuri quickly took on a playful tone as she stepped to Beru's side and wrapped her arm around his.
"Indeed~ Although I might need to test my stamina again, really soon~ I can only hope you're prepared~" Beru quickly picked her up and opened a portal, walking through it the next second.
In retrospect, Beru's proposal wasn't exactly all that romantic, and it wasn't exactly what you'd call glamorous either... But that is exactly who Beru is anyway.
He was never the type to appreciate something extravagant, high chances that he'd have his wedding party at a bar if he was allowed to choose. Thankfully, Nemuri was the one who was going to handle that part...
Regardless, as Beru woke up in his own bed, with Nemuri by his side, he realized that now had a new task, to give an important announcement to the world.
Which was why he decided to call a conference at UA. He gathered everyone, all of his friends and a lot of the people that admired him (mostly heroes), along with a lot of press, televising the conference to the entire nation.
Under normal circumstances, one would be nervous about this type of thing. But this is Beru we are referring to here, and he really didn't care.
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