Ashes

Interlude pt. 2

It had been a couple of months since the hero exam, and things were returning to normal. Pyre was still a big mystery for the whole of Japan, while the other three passing heroes had become the center of attention.

Wow, Hawks just broke the top 20 yesterday... Mirko is right behind him...

Shoto, in particular, was keeping up with their progress because they were Dabi's new friends, even if he didn't want to admit it, and he wanted to make sure they were doing all right.

Skycrawler seems to be doing well in America, he might make the top ten by the end of the year. He'll probably stay low in Japan's ranking until he comes back though...

Shoto looked through the articles in their progress as he walked behind Dabi to their regular sparring place. Scrolling through the comments as he read up on what people thought of them.

Hawks and Mirko are becoming fan favorites, and Skycrawler is turning into America's golden child...

Shoto smiled at the fact that they were doing well, his smile falling as he tried and failed to find any news on Pyre, his brother's name getting buried in favor of the three, much more famous, and much more talked about heroes.

I know Dabi is fine with underground but I still wish someone would recognize him...

Dabi was Shoto's hero, and now that he had become an official hero he wanted others to see it too...

Unfortunately, his work as an underground hero snipped that dream in the bud.

Damn... once I become a hero I'll have to change that. I'll make sure everyone knows how great-

"Sho why do I feel like you're trying to make my life harder?"

Shoto looked over to Dabi, who was looking at him with narrowed eyes, having developed a sixth sense for when Shoto was up to something.

His sixth sense seemed to be working wonders too because Shoto flinched, turning off his phone and looking away guiltily.

"Uh... no reason."

Dabi gave Shoto an unimpressed look, knowing damn well that Shoto was lying and Shoto knew damn well that he was terrible at it.

Hm...

Now for the record, Dabi didn't care that Shoto was lying, and Shoto knew this too. Hell, if anything Dabi was annoyed that he was still so bad at it. But since Shoto has decided to try and lie right to his face...

I can have a little fun with this.

What kind of brother would Dabi be if he didn't torment his little brother every once in a while? It was his god-given right, and as such he had to make use of it whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Let's see...

Dabi smiled wickedly, "You know Shoto lying is an important skill for aspiring heroes."

This will do.

Dabi watched with growing amusement as Shoto flinched, his eyes widening before looking down in thought, "I didn't know that."

Will that be on the UA entrance exam... I hope not.

Dabi held back a laugh as he saw Shoto seriously mull over his words. Dabi pouncing on Shoto's gullible nature without hesitation, "Yeah it's super important. Lying to fans, lying to villains, it's a necessity. You wanna see an example."

Shoto narrowed his eyes, forgetting momentarily about his little fib as he nodded.

Why do I feel like...