Chapter Text
Roxie’s eyes met Ansel's. She realized he was the one who had helped stop Hugo. "Oh, I didn’t even thank you for saving us from that guy! Honestly, I don’t know what his problem was."
Ansel waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, you don’t need to thank me. I just had to do what was right for the school. I mean, I actually went to high school with that guy. Seeing that he got into the same college as me was just like... ugh. You know what I mean?"
Roxie nodded her head, understanding exactly what Ansel was talking about. Before she could say anything back to him, Quinn turned his attention to Juro. "So, when am I gonna be able to ride you? You never answered my question earlier, but I think now is a good time to answer."
Everyone’s eyes shot wide open, looking from Juro to Quinn. Pomu was the first to speak up. "Dude, I didn’t think you were serious about actually letting him ride you!"
The entire table looked at Pomu, then Juro, then Quinn, and back to Juro, trying to process the bizarre statement. Juro took in everyone’s shocked expressions and abruptly stood up, slamming his hands onto the table.
"Oh, get your minds out of the gutter!" Juro snapped. "If the school lets Pomu and me have access to our powers, I promised Quinn a ride on my back in my full Giganotosaurus form! That’s the only reason he's here. Do you think I would just let anyone do that? No! You should’ve put two and two together and guessed it was my full dinosaur form. Since we're both 18, I'm at an adult size, making it perfectly safe for me to carry someone on my back."
The group nodded in unison, finally understanding Juro's explanation. Pomu looked around the room, noticing countless nearby students either staring, talking about them, or secretly snapping pictures. His leg started to bounce up and down anxiously until the sharp tapping of a microphone echoed from the stage. Everyone turned their heads as Mr. Rekka stepped up to the podium.
"Hello, everyone! First of all, I wanted to come up here and apologize for the incident we just had with one of our students. They will no longer be attending this college moving forward. I also want to extend a massive thank you to Draco, Giga, and Ansel for helping take down Hugo.
But besides that, you all are here because we wanted to give the infamous Giga and Draco a fresh start somewhere new a place to rehabilitate and become better people. Hopefully, we can see them go above and beyond to turn into true heroes. A once-fearful sight in the sky with Draco’s wings flapping, or the loud thumps of Giga’s dinosaur form, will hopefully turn into... well, a symbol of safety. We are hoping the new generation of hero students will rub off well on our villain rehab students.
Now, they won’t receive any special privileges. The only communication device they have right now is a standard flip phone, and we make sure to constantly monitor their movements. I know you just saw a student get flashed by light, but there will be a question box by the door if you want me to answer any inquiries, or if you have questions for Draco and Giga. With all that being said, you may now go and grab some food if you haven't already. But remember to be mindful of the destruction caused by your peer.
Oh, and one more thing I need to remind everyone: we will be hosting a Hero Tournament! It will be a bracket-style battle where students fight each other. The money we gain from tickets, merchandise, and concessions will go entirely toward decreasing your overall tuition payments. The more money donated to the academy, the less you have to pay for college. I’ll give out more details on how it will work as the date gets closer."
After Mr. Rekka finished speaking, groups of students either exited the building or headed straight for the buffet. As the students from Pomu and Juro’s table got up to join the line, Mazikee and Soto walked over wheeling a heavy cart. Beneath a clean white cloth sat multiple covered silver platters.
"Mr. Rekka sends his thanks for answering his questions," Soto said, handing them platter after platter. "Now, you have to restrain yourselves from eating right away because I want you to sit down and eat with your friends or, in Pomu’s case, his date."
Pomu placed his hands against his helmet, his cuffs scratching lightly against his dragon scales. "She isn't on a date with me! Besides, this is strictly a professional business agreement. I only agreed to be her personal test dummy for her future inventions."
Mazikee chuckled, nudging him. "Are you sure 'test dummy' isn’t code for 'test all of my lipstick on you'?" he joked, making air quotes. "Oh, this is too good! I love getting a good laugh out of this. But Draco, remember I’m only kidding, though you can never be too careful. Back in my day, I had women flocking toward me every chance they had."
Soto smacked the back of Mazikee's head. "Dude, don’t lie to him. We were both bums who didn’t talk to girls. All we did was go to class, hit the gym, and watch isekai slop."
"You know, stuff like, 'I Got Reincarnated into Another World and Became a Military Strategist and a King with Just My Grandmaster Chess Skills', 'Raised by the S-Ranked Heroes and Became Way Too Strong Before I Reached the Starter Town', and my personal favorite: 'I Was Reincarnated into an Anime with My Best Friend but They Never Watched the Show and I Forgot the Whole Plot.'"
Mazikee rolled his eyes. "Dude, you're forgetting about the absolute best story from that same author: 'Underground Love'! It's a beautiful story about a homeless boy who gets kidnapped and forced into knife fights. He grows up to go back underground as a boxer while being trained by some Italian dude, then becomes a detective and has a son. Then the show takes a wild turn, making a separate sequel series where his son has a wholesome slice-of-life romance as a shy nerd times some girl because I never actually finished it to see which girl he ends up with while his dad has to go undercover as a knife fighter to put a stop to the rings and confront his own past of murders."
Pomu and Juro just stared at Mazikee and Soto like they were speaking absolute nonsense.
After a while, the rest of the table returned with their food and looked in utter surprise at the silver platters Pomu and Juro had received.
"Well, what do we have here? You’re the villains, and yet you’re getting special treatment?" Ansel asked jokingly, leaning in to see what was underneath the lids.
"Well, Mazikee " Pomu started, but Juro quickly smacked the back of his helmet to correct him.
"What he meant to say," Juro interrupted, "is that he wanted to wait for all of you to come back so we could eat together. But with that being said, it's time to see what we got!"
They lifted the silver covers to reveal massive piles of different meats, centered around giant tomahawk steaks. The other students blinked, and in an instant, the plates seemed to spin. When they looked again, nothing was left but bare bones.
"Did you guys... What happened to the food on your plates?!" Mimi cried out.
Their bewildered expressions made Pomu and Juro laugh. Meanwhile, the surrounding psychology majors frantically scribbled in their notebooks, titling their pages: "Notes on Villains." They were completely fascinated by them. In fact, one particular girl had been hiding literally inside Pomu’s shadow since the start of the banquet. Growing bolder, she slipped completely underneath the table unnoticed to gather data. She opened a brand-new notebook, and the very first line she wrote was:
Make the puppeteer proud.
She burned through the pages, documenting everything she could about Pomu and Juro, including detailed sketches of their current clothing. She made sure to take notes on the other hero students as well before melting back into Pomu’s shadow. Pomu shivered slightly from the sudden chill but didn't think much of it. Within minutes, he and Juro had finished off every piece of meat Mr. Rekka had provided.
"Giga, what do you think we're gonna do now?" Pomu asked.
Mimi, eager to get away from the reformed villains, checked an imaginary watch on her wrist. "Oh, look at the time! I think it’s about time I drag Roxie to bed. If I don't, she will stay up all night doing nothing but nonsense." She stood up, pulling Roxie out of her chair. Roxie waved a cheerful goodbye to Pomu as the rest of the crowd began to slowly disperse.
Pomu and Juro stood up, scanning the room for Mazikee and Soto, but they were immediately swarmed by a mob of psychology students bombarding them with questions. Pomu looked completely dazed, stumbling over his feet until Juro grabbed his arm to guide him. They managed to slip through the crowd and gather behind Mr. Rekka.
"Now, students, like I said, if you have any questions for them, write them down and put them in the question box by the entrance," Mr. Rekka commanded. The students groaned loudly but obediently swarmed the box to submit their questions.
Taking advantage of the distraction, the spy girl slipped out of Pomu’s shadow and seamlessly blended into the crowd. Ensuring no one was watching her, she clutched the filled notebooks tightly to her chest and vanished into the darkness with a soft woosh.
She traveled through the interconnected shadows of the academy, scale-climbing her way to the rooftop of the tallest building. Waiting for her was a flock of messenger pigeons. She tore the pages out of her journals, each one carefully stamped with two separate numbers: the first for the journal number, and the second for the page sequence. After carefully securing the notes to the pigeons, she released them into the night sky.
The birds scattered into the dark, flying in different directions before slowly aligning off in the distance. The girl walked to the very edge of the roof, the light breeze whipping her hair back as she looked down at the courtyard.
Down below, Juro happened to glance up and catch her silhouette against the sky. The moment she realized she had been spotted, she melted back into the shadows and disappeared.
Juro turned to Pomu, pointing up toward the high rooftop. "Hey, Draco... did you see anyone up there?"
Pomu shook his head, turning to leave. "No, man. I think you’re just imagining things from how much meat we just ate."