Beast Speaker, Monster Tamer

34: One More to the Roster

The door opened and in stepped the hero responsible for her internship. Mitsurei Kogawa, more often known as Madara, a powerhouse and even more so when his quirk comes into play, and the man that chose her for her internship. By the time he was fully inside the room, Elise was already on her feet, bowing at the man formally as soon as his mask turned to her. "H-Hello Madara-sama. I thank you for giving me an opportunity to intern at your hero agency!"

He paused as if not expecting her to be so formal, before nodding. The snout of the kitsune mask stopped right under his nose and Elise saw his lips twitch in amusement. "Welcome, Wing. It's nice to finally meet you. I apologize for not being able to meet you when you got here." He turned to Astoria and said, "Thank you for taking care of things while I was out, Astoria. We'll leave you for now."

Elise took that as her cue to begin picking up her bags, slinging her duffle back over her shoulder, and picking up her costume case. Madara beckoned her to follow him and Elise turned to give Astoria a short bow. "Thank you for taking care of me, Astoria-sama! Have a good day."

The woman replied in turn and saw them out of the room, waving and shutting the door soon after. With the only adult she knew in this place gone, Elise turned to the pro hero in front of her and gave him her best 'impress adults' energy, coupled with a small smile that hid her mounting anxiety.

Madara regarded the baggage on her before asking, "Have you been to where you'll be staying yet?"

"Not yet sir."

"We'll head over there for you to drop off your items then. After that, I'd like to see a close-up of your quirk and assess your skill levels."

Elise nodded. "Yes, sir."

Following Madara, she observed the hero. From being in his general vicinity, the girl could see that he had a calm aura around him, radiating an air of steadfastness. Elise was unsure of his opinions on her yet, so she kept her guard up.

"You don't have to be so tense, Wing."

Elise flushed and scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, Madara-sama."

"Nothing to apologize about, I'm not mad." He said. "I quite understand, actually. It seems like some of our experiences are shared."

They entered an elevator and Madara pressed the button for the ground floor. The doors shut and he turned around to hand her a lanyard with an ID held by the plastic holder dangling from it. Elise put down her costume case to receive it with both hands. "Thank you, Madara-sama."

"So formal," Madara chuckled, leaning up against the wall, crossing his arms. Elise felt heat crawling up her cheeks. "I assure you, Wing, I hold no ill will. You will find no discrimination within your stay here."

"I'm sorry."

"No need to be. I understand." The hero pointed to the lanyard in her hand. "That will allow you to come and go within the agency as you please so you won't have any troubles with the receptionists. It will also grant you access to the temporary dorm set up for you, which we are heading to."

The elevator deposited them on the ground floor and Elise followed the hero into the back, where a courtyard opened up. Buildings bordered it. Madara took a left and followed along the overhang of the building and Elise allowed herself to observe. She could spot heroes and workers alike enjoying their time near and around the large planter-roundabout that doubled as a seat for some of them. Others passed in a shade of the overhang from the buildings while some sat in chairs and tables set up under umbrellas.