It was three o'clock when Kaminari aetsu left U.A. High School, and by the time Kaminari finally arrived home, it was already 4:35pm. Si wasn't yet diime, the usual aroma of home-cooked food was absent from the house.

  However, both his parents were there, which surprised Kaminari.

  "You're home early," he said, looking at his father. "This isn't your usual time to get off work, right?"

  Kaminari's father grinned with pride, ruffling his son's hair as he replied, "Today's the day of your Hero exam. How could I focus on work when that's all I've been thinking about?"

  His mother, who had been standing nearby, came over to take his backpack taining his casual clothes and gloves gently from his shoulders. With an expet smile, she asked, "So, how did it go?"

  Kaminari beamed fidently. "I'm 99% sure I passed!" he decred. In front of his parents, there was o be modest.

  "Hahaha!" Kaminari's father burst into ughter, clearly pleased. He trusted Kaminari's words pletely. If his son said he'd passed, then it was as good as done.

  "By the way," his father tinued, "how did those gloves work out?"

  His question shifted the mood to a more rexed, lively atmosphere. Kaminari's father had spent a lot of money on those gloves, so naturally, he wao know if they'd lived up to expectations.

  "They were great. Really smooth when charging," Kaminari said with a nod, gng at the gloves his mother had set on the coffee table. "But… it would be nice if they had a few more features."

  "Oh?" his father asked, intrigued. "What features?"

  "For starters, a built-in music pyer would be cool," Kaminari said with a smirk. "And maybe the ability to shoot barbed wire especially the tter. That would give me some le capture ability."

  His father and mother exged amused looks. The barbed wire suggestion made sense, but they couldn't help but be puzzled by the music request.

  Still, Kaminari's father nodded. "Alright, write down your ideas when you get the ce, and I'll tact the pany to see if they add those features in a seodification."

  "That would be awesome!" Kaminari grinned, already imagining the upgrades to his gear. But before he could get too lost in thought, his father interrupted him.

  "By the way, there's something else I o tell you," his father said, his tone shifting. "Your song 'Hero' has climbed to hree on MTV's best-selling list. Si night, we've been flooded with calls from media outlets and panies."

  Kaminari blinked in surprise as his mother looked at him, eyes sparkling with pride. "So, my son's really being a big star, huh?" she teased lovingly.

  Kaminari scratched the back of his head. "I wouldn't go that far. The song's popur, sure, but I'm ly a household , right?" He looked at his father, who usually kept up with these things more closely.

  "Hahaha!" His father ughed heartily again. "Wrong guess, kid."

  "Wrong?"

  "Yep. Remember when you annouhat you were aiming to get into U.A.'s Hero Course?" His dad pulled out his phone, opehe MTV app, and showed Kaminari his artist page.

  "Turns out, the massive popurity of Heroes has gotten people more ied in you, too. That annou gave 'Hero' a huge boost. The folks at MTV say that if you actually get admitted to the Hero Course and post your acceptater, your fame will skyrocket even more."

  Kaminari's father looked serious now. "You've got a decision to make, son. You could strike while the iron's hot, accept media interviews, sign advertising deals with panies, and officially debut as a fifteen-year-old hero student."

  "Or…"

  Kaminari uood the weight of the choi front of him, but he wasn't fazed. He'd already mapped out his life pn long ago.

  "Dad, I want you to dee all the interviews and ad deals," Kaminari said calmly. "For the hree years, I'm going to focus entirely on my Hero Course, train hard to master my Quirk, and work tetting my Hero Lise."

  His eyes were steady, showing ation. "From now on, my only identity will be as a student in U.A.'s Css 1-A who also happens to like singing."

  "Of course, I'll still post photos and updates on MTV when I have time, and if I , I might release new songs every now and then. But my priority is being a Hero."

  Hearing this, Kaminari's father felt a wave of pride wash over him. His son was different, and he k. Most families might see this kind of opportunity as too good to pass up, thinking that fame and money were within reach.

  But to Kaminari's father, the path of a professional Hero was on airely different level. Being aertai star couldn't pare to the prestige and fulfillment of being a Hero who saves lives.

  Besides, the family didn't need Kaminari t in mo such a young age. Financially, they were more than stable. In fact, his business had been doier thaely, with ued smoothness in gover dealings and ercial ventures. Everything seemed to be going their way.

  With a fident smile, Kaminari's father pced a hand on his son's shoulder. "Alright, I'll handle everything on my end. You focus on your studies and your training at U.A."

  He patted Kaminari's shoulder lightly and added, "I'll do whatever I to support your dreams. Now, go rest—you've ear."

  From a young age, Kaminari's father had noticed that his son ecial especially in terms of intelligehere were times when he wondered if Kaminari's real Quirk had something to do with his IQ. But in any case, Kaminari had proven time and again that he could handle himself.

  Meanwhile, Kaminari's mother had gone back to her room to ge into a coat. She nning to make a quick run to the nearby Tamade Supermarket to pick up some fish a for dinner. Her son had been through a lot at the U.A. exam, and she wao make sure he was well-fed tonight.

  Just as Kaminari was about to head to his room, he turo his father and said, "Oh, by the way, Dad I sent the rough drafts for Pokémon to your offiputer earlier."

  His father's eyes lit up. "You fi already? That's great news!"

  His smile grew even wider. It felt like everything was falling into pce tely one good thing after another.

  "I've already found a cartoonist to start w on it tomorrow," his father added, clearly excited about the project.

  "Already? Who's the artist?" Kaminari asked curiously, though he wasn't expeg any big names.

  "Oh, his name is Junichi shan. He's a young, retively unknown cartoonist with solid drawing skills, but he's not great at ing up with inal stories," his father admitted with a bit of embarrassment.

  He had tried reag out to more well-known artists, but they either weren't ied in colborations like this, or their asking prices were through the roof. So, he had settled on a newer like Junichi, figuring that fresh talent might be more eid easier to work with.

  "As expected," Kaminari thought to himself. But he wasn't bothered by the choice. He knew how strong Pokémon as a franchise could be, and it might actually be a good thing to help a new artist rise along with the story.

  ---

  The m, on February 27th, the family of three had a simple breakfast together. After seeing his father off to work, Kaminari settled into his room to tackle his own tasks for the day.

  At the top of his list: designing his Hero e.

  After passing the written exam, U.A. had required all prospective students to submit their ideas for their Hero es, and Kaminari had handed in a basicept at the time. But st night, something unusual had happened.

  U.A. had called him to say that the inal support pany responsible for his e had passed the project over to a Mitsui-owned support pany, which was now asking him to resubmit his design with as many specific details as possible.

  This was highly unusual. Typically, support panies only accepted a small portion of a student's design ideas when making es for free. And while the quality of the materials used was always top-notch, it wasn't on for them to allow this muput.

  Both Kaminari and U.A. had bee speg as to why Mitsui was taking su i in his e. Some of the mossipy staff even wondered if Kaminari might be the illegitimate son of a Mitsui executive.

  But Kaminari wasn't ed. If they were better equipment, why not take advantage of it? It didn't do him any harm, after all.

  "Hmm... The e's gotta be cool, and it's gotta stand out... Maybe a skateboard, but without wheels. Hmm... I bet Mitsui hahat."

  "And I definitely o factor in some defensive features…"