My Hero Automata

Chapter 27: Scary Extroverts!

Summary: Internships start! Izumi gets some advice that leaves her feeling a bit sheepish...

Chapter 27: Scary Extroverts!

... ...

Izumi pouted as 2B ruined her dramatic pause with a mental poke to the forehead. Okay, so Momo had insisted she take her anti-anxiety meds this morning and they were taking enough of the edge off that she was just being melodramatic. Of course, given that a part of Izumi's anxiety was actually induced by the sheer speed that even her non-hyper-cognition thoughts moved at, the meds didn't completely chill her out. But they were enough to level her off, and as she stepped through the Dragon Agency main entrance, Izumi was glad that Momo had insisted she take them today. They were, these days at least, mostly an 'as needed' sort of thing, and Izumi had a tendency to favor not using them whenever possible. At the moment, however, she was grateful that the meds were working, allowing her excitement at the prospect of meeting the Dragon Hero to win through to dominate her mood.

The agency itself was impressive, with the lobby filled by tasteful mix of memorabilia, information screens, and sculptures. The memorabilia wasn't for sale, Izumi knew from her research earlier in the week. Nor was it an attempt at self-glorification, as it might be in some agencies. Of the entire current Top 10, Tatsuma Ryuko was by far the humblest. While immensely popular in her own right, she eschewed the bombast and flare of most other top heroes, in favor of a certain elegance and down-to-earth gentleness. Instead of being the narcissistic edifice many Heroes made their agencies into, the glass-and-steel modern receiving area of the Dragon Hero's agency was a sort of history display. While it was focused on Ryukyu's public case history, a glance showed that there was equal time and space given to the other heroes she'd worked with during each operation. Better yet, as far as Izumi was concerned, was that not all the displays were focused on fights. Nearly as much space was given over to the heroine's work with various charities. Again, not focusing on her own presence so much as on highlighting what each of those charities was about.

Izumi, of course, had taken that all in at a glance. 2B, who virtually always had more practical views of reality, had focused on something else. The 'mental HUD' they'd long since designed to share relevant data with each other in an easy-to-digest format, highlighted the presence of a lot of bullet-proof glass and reinforced metal. Which was probably the secret to why the hero, whose costume and mannerisms were quite traditional seeming, had such a modern-looking front lobby. Its design hid the fact that this place was a fortress, with its first line of defenses right out in plain sight. Izumi hummed agreement with 2B's approval of that. A Top Ten Hero was a walking, talking target in a lot of ways. Someone that the ambitious would gun for just to make a name for themselves.

Still, she'd wasted enough time, all of seven and a half seconds, considering all of that. More importantly, in those seconds, she'd crossed the lobby to the front desk, where a politely smiling woman with reptilian eyes and a smattering of blue scales around her eyes and nose was waiting. Izumi opened her mouth to introduce herself, but the other woman beat her to it by speaking first.

"Hello! Welcome to the Dragon Agency! Unless I'm very much mistaken, you are Midoryia Izumi, the new intern from UA, right?"

Izumi blinked and nodded, surprised at being recognized. Her surprise must have shown, as the woman's eyes and smile turned a bit mischievous as she clarified.

"Everyone already knows what you look like, dear. We're required to watch at least day 3 of all years of the UA Heroics Tournament. Mostly to give all of us a head start on recognizing student heroes or heroes in training either here or in the field. And you, specifically, put on quite a show! I admit I probably laughed harder than I should have when you half-stripped that vine-haired girl as a way to make her drop her guard..."