Chapter 190: UA Studio Promo Vid Project (1)
~Third POV~
[Weeks Later, UA Highschool, Class 1-A, Japan]
Shota Aizawa's homeroom announcement came out of left field for the students of class 1-A as he said bluntly, "You've got a special joint exercise with the Business Course coming up."
The U.A. High student body was broken up into the Hero Course, the Support Course, General Studies, and the Business Course. Though the Hero Course occasionally teamed up with the Support Course where costumes and tools were concerned, they never had much reason to interact with the other two groups.
Tenya Ida, shooting his hand into the air, said excitedly, "Excellent! What sort of exercise will this be, Sensei?"
Aizawa looked at Class 1-A as he bluntly explained the joint exercise with the Business Course students, "You'll be pairing up or forming groups with members of the Business Course to produce hero commercials of sixty seconds or less. Then, the General Studies students will vote on the results. Class B will be participating too, of course."
A chorus of "Ooh!" and "Awesome!" arose from the class. Day after day of harsh training made them eager for a lesson like this—one that felt off the beaten path. Plus, the idea of shooting commercials got them pumped up since that was something pro heroes did all the time.
Aizawa cleared his throat to silence his rowdy class as they listened to what he had to say bluntly, "Take note—the Business Course is in charge of this operation. They'll be the ones deciding how to portray you, meaning that for the duration of these ad shoots, they're the directors, and you'll be playing the hero roles exactly as they request."
This last bit caused the mood to shift, but a glare from Aizawa preempted any griping as he continued, "The Business Course students have already decided on the groups you'll be forming, so let's get going and meet them."
With that, class A began to file out of the classroom. Mina Ashido grinned as she said excitedly, "We're really shooting commercials! I hope they capture my cute side but also make me look kinda awesome!"
Toru nodded equally excitedly as she said, "For real!"
Both girls practically skipped down the hall. A blushing Ochaco Uraraka brings her hands to her cheeks as she mumbles nervously, "I dunno… I think I'll get stage fright once I'm in front of the camera!"
With a scowl, Kyoka Jiro agreed with Ochaco as she said, "Same here… This sucks."
Tsuyu Asui, sounding anxious, shared her opinion with her friends, "We've never done anything like this before, ribbit."
Momo Yaoyorozu, with a strained smile recalling her internship, said, "I admit, I'm a bit nervous too."
Some of the boys had thoughts on the matter as well. Hitoshi Shinso, walking beside Ren Yuki and Fumikage Tokoyami, said nervously, "I'm too shy for this sort of thing."
Walking beside them, Ren commented in a nonchalant tone with a sly grin, "It's another part of our studies, though."
Tokoyami mumbles with his arms crossed, frowning while handling commercials, "Ads… Commercials… All are naught but carefully crafted illusions…"
Behind those three, Ida, Izuku Midoriya, and Shoto Todoroki were also chatting. Ida, who spoke with his friends, said, "Many agencies these days put quite a bit of effort into their advertisements, as I understand it."
Midoriya nodded his head, agreeing as he went into his mumbling mode he said in a serious tone, "It's an important tool when a newcomer emerges on the scene. Not everyone does it, but it's a great way to come out and tell everyone what kind of hero you are. Some new heroes will even come prepared with an ad or clip reel of their own when they apply to an agency!"
Todoroki simply nodded as he stoically said, "Sounds pretty useful."
Midoriya nodded as he smiled, looking forward to the joint exercise. It was when Denki Kaminari spoke clearly, looking forward to the upcoming exercise, "I hope they make me look cool as hell! Like, really suave!"
Hanta Sero, walking right next to Kaminari, crossed his arms as he said sarcastically with a snort, "So, same old routine, then?"
Katsuki Bakugo muttered with a cluck of his tongue sounding annoyed, "Pain in the ass, waste of time…"
Eijiro Kirishima, trying to cheer up his friend, said cheerfully, "Chill, Bakugo! This could be a heap of fun! Nothing wrong with a project like this every once in a while."
Bakugo roared out defiantly, "Who the hell cares!"
As the class continued their march, Aizawa listened to his students chatter away from the head of the pack. He almost felt bad for them, ignorant as they were of what truly awaited them, as he murmured, too quiet to be heard, "Good luck. You'll need it."
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[1 Week Later, UA Highschool, Gym, Japan]
One week later, the entire first-year student body—with the exception of the Support Course—found themselves in a gymnasium staring up at a giant screen on the stage, ready to watch the hero commercials directed and produced by the Business Course.
The General Studies students (who would be voting on the productions) had the best seats in the house, front and center, and of course, Ren's Clone working in General Studies was among them.
Off to the side and separated by a partition were the Business and Hero Courses, waiting for their work to appear on the big screen. The Hero Course students all wore black hoods and cloaks to conceal the costumes that the Business Course had designed for them, which were only to be revealed after each screening.
Joint exercises like this were uncommon for General Studies, so those students were visibly excited. On the other hand, every student in classes A and B of the Hero Course wore a grim expression as they murmured.
"Someone tell me this is all a bad dream…"
"Are we seriously going through with this?"
"Why my clone? Just… why…"
Disgruntled murmurs rose from the crowd of future heroes. One could find more cheer in a graveyard, and the mood was so stagnant that the students looked more like rotting zombies than hero hopefuls.
The two homeroom teachers—Vlad King and Aizawa—walked up to their classes. Vlad King was the first to speak in a proud tone, "We get how you guys must feel! But this was an important exercise, so dig deep and find the resolve to stand tall on that stage!"
Aizawa followed up, gazing at the students in a blunt tone, showing little to no sympathy for what they've gone through, "Once you go pro, you'll find yourself facing down irrational nonsense day in and day out. Think of this as a dress rehearsal for that. Some amount of pride is essential for heroes, but when you stand up in front of other people, you need to toss aside any sense of shame."
Vlad King's pep talk was full of fiery encouragement, while Aizawa's sounded more like a threat. The students trusted their teachers to look out for their best interests, so they took the words to heart as they prepared to watch the screening of the hero commercials.
Class A's ads would be shown first, starting with Midoriya, as they would be going by their seating order. Midoriya climbed onto the stage with his Business Course partner, who gave a brief self-intro and explained the idea behind the ad, "My concept was a feeble, sickly hero. It sends a powerful message to society when even someone not so strong in traditional ways can become a hero. Please enjoy!"
The lights dimmed, and the screen lit up, showing Midoriya lying in a sickbed with an IV drip attached to his arm. He was watching a mighty hero in action on television as it said, "I… I want to be a hero too!"
New scene. In a dingy back alley, a villain stopped in his tracks and gasped, stunned, "Wh-who're you s'posed to be?"
Standing to block the villain's way was Midoriya, clad in his hospital gown and clutching his IV pole. Midoriya said decisively before collapsing and coughing up bloody sputum, "What scant life remains in me, I will devote to justice!"
The villain blurted, crouching toward the sickly hero, "You okay, buddy?"
Midoriya cried, flashing a miniature searchlight at the villain, who fell to his knees, roaring in agony, "Gotcha! Blinding Beam!"
The Midoriya on the screen turned to the camera and ended the clip with a wink as he said, finishing the commercial ad, "Sickliness is my weapon… I am the Frail Hero: Oww Yama…"
Back on the stage, the real-life Midoriya removed his cloak to reveal the hospital gown underneath, turned to the General Studies students, and hacked up some fake clotted blood as he muttered, "Ack… someone kill me please…"
The audience was dumbfounded, and the rest of the Hero Course glanced uneasily at each other, trembling at the thought that this hellish viewing party had only just begun. From the moment they'd been informed what sort of heroes they'd be portraying; they'd been dreading this screening because the Business Course's ideas were zanier than anyone could have predicted.
Exemplary U.A. students or not, kids will be kids, and the ideas for heroes that these kids had come up with were the products of childhood daydreams and fantasies, allowed to percolate and congeal over the years into some truly baffling concepts. Vlad King cringed as he said silently, "Never again… Once was enough for a lifetime."
Aizawa shivered, having done this in school before muttering, "Yeah, you couldn't pay me to relive that."
Moments earlier, the two teachers had done their best to encourage their students, but now they grumbled to each other as they recalled their own high school days without much fondness. As graduates of U.A., the two men had experienced this ordeal themselves back in the day, and they knew that Hero Course alums historically called it "the Lesson from Hell."
Next up was Ashido, who took the stage with her Business Course partner. The student said, hyping up the production, "My concept was an old-school delinquent! That punk vibe is timeless, as everyone knows! Enjoy the show!"
Against the backdrop of a derelict school building was Ashido, wearing a long Japanese biker gang jacket, clutching a wooden sword, sitting in that distinctive ne'er-do-well squat, and glaring at the camera. Then, a poem pontificating on the delinquent life appeared on the screen in a dramatic font:
"ONE LIFE TO LIVE, ONE LIFE TO GIVE. WHEN THE WORLD FACES DOOM, I MAKE JUSTICE BLOOM. THE WAY OF THE LADY PUNK."
When the poem faded, Ashido stood and spun around to show the embroidered kanji characters on the back of her jacket, including the Buddha's phrase "Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one," as well as zingers like "Love, courage, carnage," "Live to fight," and "Nice to beat you," among others.
As she turned back around, a villain showed up. The villain said arrogantly, "Heh… Looks like you got guts, girl… Fine—I'll take you on."
The villain attempted to strike first but wasn't as fast as Ashido's wooden sword as she said, "Early Bird Strike!"
She tossed the sword away and delivered a powerful punch to the villain's gut as she continued, "Live to fight!"
As the villain crumpled, Ashido turned to the camera and said boldly, "If you ain't got a place to call home, come to this badass gal. I'll make something outta ya!"
The video ended, and the Ashido on the stage dropped her cloak to show off that same biker jacket before turning to the General Studies students and flipping the wooden sword over one shoulder as she snarled, "I'm the Delinquent Hero: Meana, and I'm made of some tough stuff! Nice to beat you!"
She was more into the role than anyone expected, and the audience was intimidated into giving her a meek round of applause. But the other students gulped nervously at what the other presentations would look like to the others…