Chapter 193: UA Studio Promo Vid Project (4)
~Third POV~
[UA Highschool, Gym, Japan]
After Hagakure's turn, it was finally Bakugo's turn. Now it was Bakugo's turn as his partner spoke up excitedly, "Sometimes you need a hero who looks kinda villainous! I was aiming to thread that charming discrepancy between expectations and reality!"
The commercial starts with a band of villains in the process of robbing a jewelry store. It was when Bakugo's voice was heard on screen, "Looks like you fellas are about to start some kinda party… Mind if I join ya?"
He wore a rough 'n' tough costume that might suit a warrior wandering about a postapocalyptic wasteland, and his face was covered in makeup that made him look like a pro wrestling heel. One of the villains said, "What? Get the %#@$ outta here."
Bakugo sneered as he growled at the villains, who roared out, "Aww, not letting me be part of your wittle club? That really hurts my feewings!"
He lunged at the villains, but before attacking, he took a quick step back to store up energy, muttering, "Back… and… go!"
The ferocious blast made quick work of the villains. Before Bakugo could celebrate his victory, it started raining, and he heard a noise from a nearby cardboard box.
He ducked down and discovered an abandoned puppy hiding inside as he asked, "Hmm? You wanna come with me?"
The puppy barked, "Woof!"
Bakugo, cradling the tiny dog in his arms, grunted as he said, "Little bundle of warmth, aren'tcha?"
As he walked off into the rain, the screen went black. Bakugo, his eye twitching dangerously, spat, "I'm… the Villain Hero: Back… and …Go –Oh, screw this!"
Ren Yuki was the next presenter. Along with him is his partner. As he said in an excited tone, "I came up with a hero beloved by his fellow citizens!"
The video showed Ren in a rather childlike outfit, giving a neighborhood granny a shoulder massage on her front porch as she said, "You give the best massages, Li'l Yuki."
Ren replied happily with a smile on his face and said, "Haha… It's always worth it to see you smile, ma'am."
Suddenly, a shout from out in the street, where an old man had just gotten his bag stolen, yelled out, "That rotten thief made off with my bag! It's got my pension money in it! That's my only source of income these days…"
Ren quickly appeared to the old man as he said confidently, chasing the thief, "Don't you worry, old-timer! I can handle it!"
Ren eventually caught up to the thief and tried to reason with him calmly, "Give it back, mister! Gramps earned that money fair and square, and it doesn't belong to you!"
However, the thief buzzed Ren off as he said angrily, snarling at him, "Buzz off, kid! That cash is mine now!"
Ren sighed as he prepared to attack in a childish tone, "Golly gee, I'm mad now! Li'l Yuki Punch! Li'l Yuki Kick!"
Ren's surprisingly vicious attacks took down the thief, and the old man got his bag back as he said childishly, "There you go, Gramps!"
The old man thanked Ren as he handed him a tangerine in a thankful tone, "Thank you, sonny. Here—have a tangerine."
Ren, with a joyful smile, took the tangerine and said childishly, "Wow! I sure do love tangerines!"
The ad ended, and Ren posed in his little-boy outfit with a tangerine in one hand as he childishly said, "I'm Helpful Citizen Hero: Li'l Yuki! Glad to be here!"
From the crowd, a few of his friends held their laughter in watching his ad. Ren felt a piece of him die performing the ad as he thought dryly, 'The God of this world is dead… and we killed him…'
Second to last in Class A was Shinso. His partner from the Business Course said enthusiastically, "I made an ad for a hero who catches villains unawares!"
The video opens with the robbery of a convenience store. As usual, the villain said, "Gimme the cash!"
Shinso entered the store dressed as an unassuming little kid as he said innocently, "Hey, mister, why're you pointing that big knife at the nice lady? Mommy and Daddy told me knives are dangerous."
"Shut the hell up, you brat! This ain't none of your business!"
"I'm no brat! I'm Chappy!"
"Like I give a damn who you are. I said, get outta here!"
Shinso approached the robber, and his innocent face contorted into a devilish grin as he said, "Now that's no way to talk to a child!"
Shinso delivered a swift kick to the robber's crotch. When the man keeled over in pain, Shinso bit his neck, putting him out of commission as he said smugly, "Still think I'm a brat? How d'you like dem apples?"
Shinso hocked a glob of spit at the defeated villain before reverting back to his cherubic, innocent persona as he childishly said, "You're in for a world of pain if you drop your guard around Child Hero: Chappy.☆"
As the screen went dark, the Shinso on the stage revealed his costume and struck a pose expressing despair as he said, "With the appearance of a little kid and the attacks of a war criminal, I'm the Child Hero: Chappy!"
With that, Shinso returned to his seat he whispered next to Ren as he said depressingly, with his soul leaving his body, "I felt like each piece of my soul was dying performing that scene… I want to die…"
Patting his shoulder, Ren understood the comment as he muttered, "You ain't the only one, brother."
Both simply nodded, having done with this part of their life. The last member of class A to present was Yaoyorozu. As her partner said excitedly, "This idea is based on all those old yakuza movies I love! Enjoy the show!"
The clip began with a pair of villains glaring at each other, ready to throw down, until Yaoyorozu appeared in a kimono and stepped between them as she said, "You know it's tough times in this dog-eat-dog world when even villains are picking fights with each other."
One of the villains says to Yaoyorozu, annoyed by her interference, "You looking for trouble, lady? Who are you, anyway?"
Yaoyorozu slipped her kimono off one shoulder to retrieve dice and a cup inside her robe as she calmly said, "Yayorozu. Momo Yaoyorozu. But some folks call me Spider Lily Momo. Now here's a taste of honor and humanity, hero-style!"
With that, she flung the dice from the dice cup, hitting the villains on their foreheads and knocking them out cold. As she replenished her dice by creating new ones with her Quirk, she stood over the defeated villains as she remarked, "What they never tell you is that being a hero is such melancholy work…"
With that, she walked off, accompanied by dramatic music to signal the end of the video. Back on the stage, she revealed her kimono costume and stooped down with one arm and one leg thrust forward before delivering a final line, "They know me as Gambling Hero: Spider Lily Momo! The pleasure's all yours, I'm sure!"
At last, it was class B's turn to present. All the students of Class 1-B had their moment to shine, eventually leading to the last presenter of the event, class B's Hiryu Rin, who took the stage with his Business Course partner as he said confidently, "When I was a little kid, my dream was to be a zombie. That explains my hero concept!"
The video showed a thief at a shopping center emerging from a store toting stolen goods as he said, "And now to make my getaway… Wait, what stinks so bad?"
A zombified Rin moaned, "Mrahhh … Grahh …"
Then on the screen appeared a subtitled translation accompanied the moans: 'You won't get away, villain!'
The robber was alarmed seeing a zombified Rin yelled, "Z-zombie! Crap! I'm outta here!"
But before he could get far, Rin ripped off his rotting arm and tossed it like a boomerang, knocking the villain to the ground. Zombie Rin then leaped upon the man and pinned him down as he moaned, "Grahhh… Hrahh… Mrahh…"
As he moaned, the subtitles appeared as it read for the crowd to see, 'Ultimate Moves: Arm Boomerang and Rotten Stank Assault'
The stench knocked the villain out, and Rin turned to the camera and tried to gnaw at the person filming. Then all that could be heard as the screen faded to black was, "Grahhh… Mrahh!"
The real-life Rin on the stage said in moans, "Grahhh, mrahh mrahh, hrahh."
Rin's Business Course Student partner explained on his behalf with a smile, "He said, 'Even dead and rotting, I'm still a hero! The Zombie Hero: Romero, to be exact!' And if any of you are wondering, George Romero was a great director and a pioneer of the zombie film genre!"
With that, the presentations were over, and a strange mélange of emotions pervaded the silent gymnasium. Among the Business Course students, one or two were realizing that their concepts had flopped.
Meanwhile, at least one of the General Studies kids was genuinely having a hard time deciding whether they liked the Pretty Yure parody or the idol duo more. Finally, a few members of the Hero Course were duly impressed by the Dark Shadow XIII skit.
But these were in the minority. Overwhelmingly, the Business Course students were proud of their accomplishments and excited for the voting results, the General Studies classes were largely dumbfounded by the seemingly endless horror show they'd just been forced to endure, and the embarrassed future heroes were mostly thinking, 'For the love of all that's good, please let this be over.'
Their teachers watched over them with pity in their eyes. But…
*KCHAK*
One of the massive ceiling lights hanging directly over the General Studies group suddenly fell since a stray ball had knocked a bolt loose the previous day. It all happened too fast for the students to do so much as scream, but Rin—who was descending the stage and therefore closest—launched some of his scales with his Quirk and caught the light fixture in midair.
Dropping the zombie act, Rin said calmly, "Phew. Close one,"
The General Studies students stared at him in admiration.
/////
[Later, UA High School, Gym, Japan]
After clearing up the stage, Aizawa announced the winner matter-of-factly in a blunt tone, "Ahem… The Business Course hero commercial that earned the most votes was Zombie Hero: Romero."
Rin, looking shocked, said, surprised, "Wait, what?"
The class was surprised, but Aizawa went ahead to explain to them in a blunt tone, "Most voters said their choice had nothing to do with the zombie thing. They were just grateful for that save a moment ago. The lesson is, it's not a hero's appearance and production values that define them, but their tangible actions."
Hearing this, the Business Course students each thought about their own concepts and fell into a funk. What was known as "the Lesson from Hell" to the Hero Course happened to be called "the Pride Smasher" by alumni of the Business Course.
In a typical year, the Business Course would have to eat humble pie and accept scathing criticism from the General Studies voters, so in a way, this group was lucky to get away with only Aizawa's commentary.
Meanwhile, the students of General Studies had learned that life wasn't all fun and games for their peers in the Hero Course and Business Course. The absent Support Course, on the other hand, would have to be their own support, as usual.
Just as broken bones grow back stronger and thicker than before, so too does the spirit rebound from a setback, tougher than ever. The three groups of students had shared a painful experience that day, and perhaps it had planted in them a seed of solidarity.