[IC] You Can Become a Hero!

[mickilennial]

Location: Ishin Academy, Sapporo, Japan -- April 8th

---

Metal footsteps rung throughout the corridors.

If any conversations in Class 1A were active they would soon render themselves silent as the distinct sound echoed until it drew itself to right outside of the classroom.

All students were accounted for, an amount of twenty associated faces, though the source of the strange footsteps knew all of them already. After all, it was her classroom. None of them knew her. At least, not in her current form. The famous hero she was reserved to being known through the media and her actions throughout Japan. A feminine sigh exited her lips as she reached to the door and slid it open. Slung it open a little too quickly, a little too strongly. It stayed within the doorframe and Kinzokuma Midori, otherwise known as the famous armored knight hero, Knightmare, stood. Her eyes met the students who dared look her in the eyes with a look of utter contempt and annoyance.

As a hero, she was fully armored, but here at Ishin Academy she was Kinzokuma-Sensei and in her normal clothes. In her normal form.

She took a step forward, stomping over to the front of the class where her desk sat. Her thoughts invading her head like usual with echoes of her past. Aren’t you a little short to be a pro-hero? Shouldn't you be in class, little girl? The usual anxieties. The new crop of students tended to have the same reaction every year, even if they weren't dumb enough to say it out loud. She had heard it all before.

She was barely 138 centimetres tall.

Taking another breath, she kicked the step-stool from underneath her desk and jumped onto it in an aggravated huff as she grabbed a piece of chalk from the board tray as she wrote her name out in Japanese.

“My name is Kinzokuma Midori. This is Class 1A. In the pro-circuit I am known as Knightmare, the Armored Knight Hero. Don't get excited. In this class I will see if you have the guts to follow through in your aspirations to become a hero.”

She looked over the motley group of students.

“What? What’re all of you looking at? Never seen a teacher before or some crap? Did you think you were going to be instructor free? or are you that stupefied by being in the presence of a legend? Heh.” She smugly smirked before jumping back to her desk, swiping a paper of the listed students in case she had any surprises. She looked over a boy with a pineapple on his desk. That was unique. “Pineapple Boy. Stand up. Come here. Bring that fruit over.”

[DruSM157]

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Sapporo, Japan
Ishin Academy, April 8th

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“Pineapple Boy. Stand up. Come here. Bring that fruit over.”

The sudden remark from his teacher nearly froze Shun in place. Why didn't he just leave the pineapple on his desk! What the heck was wrong with him? Now he was going to get in trouble for sure!

"T-this is for you Kinzokuma-sensei,” Shun said with a quick bow. “M-my grandmother said that I sh-should give you an Okinawa Pineapple as a sign of my appreciation for teaching us this year. He handed the pineapple to her as if he was giving an offering up to the Gods.

His grandmother and her family were always proud of their pineapple fields. She'd go on and on to Shun about the different varieties of pineapple that Okinawa grew, and how their pineapples were the most fragrant and sweetest around. Shun always took that as elderly boasting, but he did admit he did enjoy pineapple in the summer. So of course it was difficult to purchase a Pineapple before they were truly in season. But his grandmother had given him a little extra allowance to make sure he could give his teacher a pineapple.

Shun braced for impact from his teacher. Would she smack him on the head for doing such a goofy thing? Would she crush the pineapple as a gesture to the class that such fools like Shun were not appreciated here? After the previous day's warnings, he wondered what kind of punishment he would receive for this.

[Savo]

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Sapporo, Japan
Ishin Academy, April 7th
Interacting With:: N/A

---

There wasn't much to extrapolate other than it seemed she was extremely early if the lack of students, let alone teacher didn't hint at that possibility already. Still, up until their teacher's appearance, she began analyzing each and every person who entered through that door, silently judging them for what they were.

Akizawa, her roommate was the next to enter which was considerably surprising since it looked like the slime girl was sleeping like a log. Still, the slime girls words did reflect how she would act - demure, nervous, and generally sticking out like a sore thumb. Still, she was situated in the back nearby, something Adrianne would be acclimated to as the next student scuttled in.

Mutsuki or something? Pah, Adrianne just rolled her eyes at the way she entered. She didn't know who was worse based on posture - Akizawa or her since they both seemed like newborn ewes stumbling about the place. At least, that's how she perceived it. Still, Adrianne kept her cold, piercing red glare on the girl, even when this girl checked the seats nearby her before situating herself up front.

Adrianne frowned and squinted, peering over at the girl as she took a seat as the cogs began to turn in her head. Despite this, the next two students were hardly impressive, with one making her scoff into her hand and the other just left her baffled, eyes wide open. Really, she was trying too hard to gussy up, which resulted in a rather audible sigh from Adrianne; she didn't even bother to hide who she was unimpressed with. "Seriously? I get that we all need to clean up, but this is a Hero Course, not a friggin' beauty salon."

The other that left her feeling bewildered was this big, lumbering oaf with a pineapple. She didn't know what that meant, but could only grasp at straws about this being some sort of cultural thing. Much to the chagrin of Adrianne, he was situated right next to her which caused her to furrow her brows. Hm. Akizawa was nearby in the back, as well as this guy who didn't even fit the bill for a student, just some sort of lazy slacker and slowly began to piece together what this meant.

While she did watch the remaining students file in, she began to evaluate them a bit more and started noticing a trend. Grinding her teeth, she rolled her head over to cover her mouth as she smirked into her hand. Of course it was gonna be like that.

It wasn't long before Adrianne stopped resting her head on her hand and sat upright, awaiting for the arrival of their teacher as she began to rap on the desk. The whole class was here, and the only person who hadn't arrived had been their teacher. Wait, was she in the class of rejects or something as well? Was that why their homeroom teacher was tardy?!

She began to dig her nails into the hem of her skirt as these thoughts began to fester in her mind, at least until those thoughts were deterred by a rather raucous slam from the door, dispersing her thoughts and catching the girls attention.

So this was their teacher, eh? She didn't know what to make of her besides that she was late or rather not as early as the rest of the students. Still, she seemed to have a serious demeanor based on the glare of contempt Adrianne received when locking eyes with her. Good to know the academy still didn't welcome foreigners, she was getting worried.

Actions did speak louder than words as more thoughts fluttered into her mind, only to come into conflict with one another as she perked up to the short woman's words. "So Knightmare, or rather Kinzokuma is our teacher," she ruminated on this, especially since she was a pro-hero, so her being late could be excused as a result of her job?

Regardless, after the little song and jig of explaining who she was, this teacher made her think of a much older version of squid girl based on her personality. Adrianne sighed and prayed she wouldn't be too much like the blue-haired pest.

Speaking of pests, she called out to the pineapple giant beside her, which garnered the attention of Adrianne once more as he delivered the fruit straight to her like some sort of delivery boy. She could only try her damndest to resist rolling her eyes as the boy stumbled over his words while offering the fruit as a sign of appreciation.

Despite how ridiculous this whole scene felt, she kept a rather bored yet pissed visage as she studied it all, pondering on if the class was supposed to do this for their teachers in Japan.

Beyond the cultural implications, she could care less if this giant made a fool of himself or not. She just wanted to get started.

[Hero]

---

Oh wow.

It wasn't so much the short stature that surprised Asuka, but wow was this hero defensive. Were all adults like that? Was this girl even an adult? Maybe teaching credentials were different for heroes. Despite the amount of questions that popped into her head, Asuka had to admit that at the end of it all, she wasn't impressed. No wonder she had never seen Knightmare outside of her armor. The smart thing to do would've been to stay armored to drum up presence and respect. Actually, this was a valuable lesson on what not to do, and she'd make sure to watch closely to see her classmates' reactions.

She did recognize the nervous boy that had gotten called up, watching him with a small frown on his face. Ah, so that was what the pineapple was for. It was gracious to bring a gift, but maybe doing it anonymously would've worked better in his favor. A minor slip up, but she had to admit there was something endearing about the genuine effort. Or at the very least, it had good intentions, regardless of how silly it looked.

Deciding that encouraging the boy might help, she shot him a small smile and a thumbs up. Friendly, encouraging, and polite. Exactly what she wanted to come off as.

---

[mickilennial]

Location: Ishin Academy, Sapporo, Japan -- April 8th

---

The brown-haired woman squinted as she swiped the pineapple out of the stammering student’s hands, her expression still as cold as it was moments before. Between the antics of the loud-mouthed seat number two, the laughter of seat number three, and everything else happening in the room, there wasn’t the silence and order she wanted in the room. She wondered if other teachers in the academy had similar issues with their first years. As the boy bowed his head in embarrassment, she placed the pineapple down on her desk with a loud thud.

“It’s fine. Return to your desk.” She managed in the nicest tone since she had entered the classroom.

As the boy reacted to her gesture, she looked back to the piece of paper in her hands that spoke of the students that she would be teaching today and for the rest of the year; the students present and accounted for, and notes about them from their evaluations. Her eyes returned to the students in front of her as she placed the papers back on the desk, the pineapple sitting next to them. She didn’t immediately need them, but it was good to look orderly and the pro-hero known as Knightmare didn’t exactly get her name from taking crap from anyone. She focused her line of sight on the “problem students”, as she was in no mood to deal with comedians or upstarts.

“With that out of the way, I’m sure some of you might have questions, but before we get to that I want to get this over with. As you heard at the opening ceremony, Ishin Academy is tough and you have to prove yourself to be tough enough. If you don’t meet the grade, don’t bother even trying. Each of you needs to have the ambition to be the number one prospect and by extension the number one hero. It's why Ishin ranks you throughout the entire year. To prepare you for the rankings you'll face as a pro-hero and the pressure that comes with that.”

She looked over to the back of the class to the front.

“In fact, we've already made a list based on the data the eggheads collected from your interviews and tests you have already taken. I guess it's interesting.”

She motioned to the board behind her as she threw out her finger, the metal ring around a piece of chalk allowing the chalk to write out only two of the students names--Amuro Namie and Kunze Adrianne. There were many students in the class, yet Midori only chose to write two.

“Right now, we're leaving the majority of names out of the pool. That'll change starting this week. But, these two names? They are the top and bottom of our mock board and you will be expected to keep these two names in your head the entire year. Show me you aren’t the most likely to be class failure. Impress me. I want you to show me that you are better than number one. If you can’t, why are you even at Ishin? Everyone here needs to remember that this is not a game and from now on, going forward, you better start running because that finish line isn’t going anywhere.”

Was it cruel to start instructing like this? Midori had wondered, though temporarily.

“I'm gonna open the floor now before I let you guys show me how good you are.”

[CaliforniaState]

_{Location:
Ishin Academy | Sapporo}

_{Interacting with:[Inkarnate]}

---

If it wasn’t the cold fervently nipping at her as she slept it was definitely the light pouring through the cheap dorm blind. She wasn’t used to either back home, 16 degrees was about the lowest it would ever get, and her black out blinds prevented any stream of light to break through. Snuggling up to her blankets she noticed in her groggy glazed over expression that there was no one in the bed adjacent to her. She tossed over to face the wall dismissing it as none other than her mind still not adjusting to the change of moving all the way up north. A few seconds passed before her brain had caught up to her vision and she jarred up from her bed to face what should have been her roommate. The monochromatic idol was nowhere to be seen, its as if there was no trace of her ever being there. No dust, no luggage, not so much as a wrinkle in the blankets that rested neatly atop her mattress.

A shallow sadness welled up inside Haruhi. There was no note to explain her departure and for some reason she had faulted herself for perhaps scaring her off so soon. Cradling her blanket in hand she realized her nails had been cleaned and painted just the night before by her deft hand. With a gentle dilapidated sigh, she hoped that her homeroom professor would hopefully have more answers for her. This prompted Haruhi to rise and prepare for her first day in school. Unfortunately for Haruhi she hadn’t set an alarm and her internal clock had not yet meshed with the time of classes. Glancing over at the clock she saw she was already incredibly late to class. This caused an explosion of energy and metal inside her small dormitory. Socks were being thrown on while a toothbrush and foam akin to that of rabies dripped all over her top.

While she was in and out of focus conducting some type of new pose, rotating between objects she carried, she had finally managed to gather herself. Racing out the door she whistled out to her sack of nuts and bolts as if they were a horse galloping in the distance. Two sets of washers slinked out of the bag and attached themselves to the soles of her shoes. Running was much slower than her makeshift rollerblades. She traversed stairs by grinding down rails and vaulting over lowly concrete until she arrived at the entrance of her class. With a more dignified approach she brushed a loose strand of her behind her ear and took a deep breath before making her way in. That was until she realized she was inside 1-B’s classroom and the silence and confused look on everyone’s face signified her mistake. Sweat started to bead on her forehead followed by nervous laughter. Without a word she bowed and fled the classroom.

Take two. She entered the classroom and saw that a majority if not all the students she saw at the opening day had been in her class and had found their seats properly. Her eyes scanned the room until she caught gazes with a rather short girl up at the front of the class. To Haruhi this was a relief, she was probably another student who was late and was looking for her seat. Making her way over she smiled and slapped the back of the short student. “You must be new here too! Maybe we’re sitting next to each other. Hopefully I don’t sit in front of you otherwise it might be hard for you to see since you’re kind of short. Like that blue haired girl with the attitude!” She shouted happily waving at Yoshiba in the audience.

[Etranger]

Osamu Kenzo

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Sapporo, Japan
Ishin Academy, 1-A Classroom, April 8th

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Interacting With: @Inkarnate

Osamu sat stoically through the events that followed. Their teacher's arrival he regarded with naught but respectful silence. Her height did not matter to him. All that did was that she was the instructor the school had saw fit to assign to them. He hoped she would prove a competent teacher, though he had his reservations about her attitude. But that was not his place to question.

She singled out Tanaka Shun, who for whatever reason presented the teacher with a pineapple fruit. Was it an earnest sign of respect, or an attempt to curry favor with his instructor? Osamu certainly hoped it was the former. Bribery by students was not a welcome sight, and he certainly hoped Kinzokuma wasn't the type to be swayed. She did not appear to be pleased with it, at any rate.

With Shun dismissed back to his desk, their sensei continued to reiterate what they had heard during the opening ceremony. There was little worth retreading on that matter, but Osamu was intrigued by the announcement they already had reviewed their provisional class rankings. Only two were made clear; Amuro Namie and Kunze Adrianne. Neither of them Osamu would have personally picked for the top of the class, but it was not his place to choose, after all.

It was clear that the foreigner was at the bottom. Of course Osamu was inclined to assume she would be the worst performer, and yet, why would the school bother letting them in if they had no faith in their ability to perform? Better to simply leave them out from the beginning if that were the case. Perhaps the foreigner was as atrocious a student as Osamu would assume her to be?

Regardless, these rankings painted both of them as targets. Adrianne as the subject of mockery, and Namie as the object of scrutiny and envy. While Osamu would take some small satisfaction in the recognition of his diligence, he had to admit neither position would be enviable to him in the end. Better to be in a position to work hard without the eyes of others upon your back.

When their teacher opened the floor to questions, Osamu took the opportunity to rise and bow respectfully. "Kinz-" was all he managed before a late student arrived and proceeded to mistake the teacher for a fellow student. It put both her and Osamu in an awkward position, as he was not sure whether to continue with his question or wait for his teacher to rebuke the student. He chose to simply get it out of the way.

"Kinzokuma-sensei, may I ask for you to clarify what criteria the ranks are based upon? Thank you." He hastily uttered before retaking his seat, hoping that he had not committed a faux pas himself. If luck was on his side, she might appreciate him pretending as though nothing were wrong. If not, he would simply have to endure.