The Exchange Hero

Episode 6

That night after dinner, I was checking out some robot forums online when Kyoka-chan knocked on my door. She looked more unhappy than usual.

"Excuse me, do you have a minute? I have a question."

"Sure, please sit down." She took a seat on the bed. "What's up?"

"Were you trying today?"

"What?"

"During the practice combat. Did you try to win?"

"Umm...Not really. It just didn't seem important to me."

"That's what I thought." She got up and started out the door. I watched her, confused. Just before left she turned back and asked, "Did you know that Koda-kun is the first person from his town to attend UA ever?" She walked away before I could answer.

What did that have to do with the price of coffee beans in Guatemala? I knew nothing about Koda, other than his power.

Shrugging, I turned back to my tablet. They were streaming a robotics competition and my friends' team was in the running. It was so close, but they just got beat. Fifteen minutes later I was condoling them over their loss. After I closed the window I tried to watch some anime, but Kyoka-chan's questions kept bugging me.

With a curse, I got up and went to the family room. My classmate was playing her guitar with her ear jack plugged in. I waited for a bit, but she never acknowledged me. After a while I sat at the piano and started playing. Mrs. Jiro came in from the kitchen and listened. Shortly Mr. Jiro joined us and started accompanying me on his guitar. Kyoka-chan glared at us, took her instrument, and went into her bedroom. I didn't see her for the rest of the night.

The next morning Kyoka-chan talked as much to me as she did most mornings, which is to say not a lot. She was not unfriendly, just quiet. I was getting the impression she was more than a bit emo. On the train, the kids from Class1-B was pretty talkative. They were scheduled for their practice combat that afternoon. When we got to the school, there was a crowd outside the main gate. When we got closer they turned out to be reporters looking for a scoop on All Might. That guy needed more publicity like the Sahara needed more sand. We made our way through with a simple "No Comment."

"Otis!" I turned and saw Pony calling me. I stopped to talk with her and the others went into the building.

"Hey, what's up?" it felt a little odd to be speaking English.

"My host mom wanted me to invite you and your host family to a matsuri this weekend. We live in one of the temple districts and there are a lot of festivals and such."

"That sounds pretty cool. I'll ask if they want to go. Give me your number incase Mrs. Jiro wants to ask for details. How are you liking your new place?"

"It's great. They have this old traditional house. It's just like my grandfather talks about or like you see in the old movies. Way different from living on the ranch. How about you?"

"Not bad. The family are all musicians so I get to keep up with my piano practice." Just then the first bell sounded. Even though a lot of students were delayed by the press at the gate, I didn't want to be the one late for class.

"Gotta run!" Pony said. Then, with a wave, she started trotting away. I quickly changed my shoes and followed her.

Homeroom was once again chaotic that day. But this time it was with a pretty mundane activity – class elections. While we did not have these in the US, I had seen them in anime a dozen times. In Class 1-A everyone seems to want to be the leader. Even Kyoka-chan had her hand up, which surprised me. I had no idea why these people wanted to take on extra work and responsibility. It wasn't like many, or any, of them were planning on going to university. So having a school government position on their academic resume didn't matter. Needless to say, I keep my hand down and my mouth shut during the whole election process.