The call of heroism [Arata]

"Oh?" Seemingly a bit surprised by her new homeroom teacher's statement that she would hate him upon learning about his reason for wanting to become a hero, Elise couldn't help but find herself somewhat intrigued when the man mentioned his rather interesting view on things. When he explained how the government had given him an option: to be pardoned for his actions as a vigilante, and in return become a pro-hero teaching at the newly formed school that was meant to raise the next generation of heroes, or to go to prison as a criminal it seemed that on the surface Arata had made the decision out of a selfish desire. He explained how he was a freelance artist with a dream and an ambition of his own: to create a book that was one of its kind, a genre-changer, a story that people would remember for generations to come. "You'd be surprised~" Elise hummed softly as she stepped beside him, listening how he explained his opinion that they weren't 'chosen' by a greater being, that they weren't superheroes from the comics, but simple people who obtained powers in one way or another. "To be entirely honest, what I told you earlier is just a facet of my reason for enrolling in your class."

She paused for a moment as her hands gently folded up behind her back and she looked up at the sky, musing softly. "If I was to say what my true reason for wanting to become a hero is, then I think we're very similar sensei." Indeed, in the end Elise had always been aspired to do good things not out of a selfless desire to help people, she wanted to help a particular person. "As I mentioned before, my girlfriend is in your class: Tetsuko Shindou wasn't always my girlfriend, we been childhood friends for more than ten years now, and one could say that my ambitions and desires are very closely interwoven with her existence."

She couldn't forget it, nor did she ever want to forget the first day she met Tetsuko, the first day she found sunshine in her clouded existence. Tetsuko had always been her protector, her guardian, her knight and as a result, one could say it was no exaggeration that Tetsuko was an essential part of Elise's existence, one that became so important to her being ever since they grown closer over the recent events. "Tetsuko has always been there for me, even while everyone else alienated me or ridiculed me because of my quirk, she always was there to protect me, to support me. However, because of how reckless she can get Tetsuko often gets hurt, so I decided to become a doctor, not to help others but to save Tetsuko no matter the danger she might face."

She gently turned her gaze up at Arata and smiled sheepishly at the man as she continued. "And now? Now with my father gone and my mother in a comatose, my lover is all I have. Tetsuko is my sunshine, my reason for living. As long as I have her by my side I'm able to overcome any suffering, but in order to ensure that my sunshine doesn't fade away, I desire to become stronger. I want to be able to walk at her side, ensure that she won't be hurt in a way I can't save her."

Indeed, if there was one thing she learned, then it was that... "So you see Arata-sensei, you and me are both humans, who do heroic things for a selfish reason. But isn't that fine when other people benefit from our selfishness? Your decision to teach us helps us become better heroes, and my desire to keep Tetsuko safe helps me protect and save other people in the process."

"An anime?" Elise repeated her voice and the tone she used clearly betraying her surprise at her new homeroom teacher his comment. Not once did she imagine one of the teachers to have a hobby that involved something the students could connect so easily with like anime and manga! Then again, Arata was fairly young for a teacher, perhaps only a few years older than her? Then again, a part of her felt that his youth and a hobby like this would make it easier for the students to come to trust him, and if she was entirely honest, she couldn't help but entertain the idea. "Perhaps, are you going to call your story 'Mahou Sensei Arata?" she quipped with a sheepish grin, yet as a lover of manga and anime herself Elise couldn't help but continue their conversation in a way more light-hearted manner than she had expected to be ever possible with a teacher. "Considering Tetsu belongs to an ancient bloodline of swordmasters, and my Quirk has healing properties, doesn't that remind you of a certain pairing?"

The girl hummed with a mischievous little snicker as she followed alongside their teacher, humming softly. "Tetsu might even be as dense as the girl from that show, the things it took for us to get this far." However, as Arata mentioned that she was still looking at life in shades of black and white, Elise couldn't help but tilt her head lightly to the side in confusion. The man had a point, not every action made or decision taken was as simple as it being good or evil, often there were so many factors that influenced those decisions, and often depending from the perspective one looked at some actions deemed evil in the eyes of some, might be considered the acts of a savior in the eyes of others. Of course, she refused to believe there was anything good or redeemable in the actions of a man like Thunder Shock, but she couldn't help but find herself unable to dispell the question: Why did he do that? What motive did that villain have to commit that horrible crime that led to the death of her father, and the comatose of her mother? So many questions that plagued her mind and worst of all was the fact only one person held the answers to that question: Thunder Shock himself.

"Mhmm~ I get that often things aren't as simple as they seem, the world isn't exactly that of a video game where you can label things as good and evil, that and as you say we all have our reasons for doing the stuff we do, because we are human, I guess?" She still was a bit confused about the subject, but what followed did make her smile a little. "Even better, if you were to go down to protect us, I'll make sure you'll have the means to stand up again so we can protect this class together. After all my Quirk is meant to be used for that." Elise answered him with a sheepish grin as she shook the projected hand of her teacher's quirk, feeling that with the promise made between them, a new bond of trust was being forged between the two of them.

"Heh~ I'll look forward to the day that happens Sensei~ To be honest, physically I'm far from compatible with regular combat, but I'm fairly confident that you'll have quite a challenge finding anyone among your students who are as skilled with firearms as I am. When it comes to sharpshooting I'm pretty skilled!" the girl answered with a sheepish grin before she continued, giving another remark to a certain series the man had mentioned before. "But before you worry, don't be too troubled, my sniper is in the custody of the principal and I'm only allowed to use it with his permission or when my life is endangered." Awaiting the man's reaction to her jest with a grin Elise finally caught up with Arata and looked around the area.

If she recalled right this forest was part of the environment around the camp used for the survival exercises, in fact, the Cooking Club had used a nearby area for their survival camp, the memory of spending those twenty-four hours all by herself being enough to make her pout for a moment as she mused softly. "This is near the place the cooking club did their survival camp. They stayed here for twenty-four hours! Can you believe that Arata-sensei? The cooking club kidnapped my girlfriend for an entire day and I couldn't even properly say goodnight to her! You can bet she had a lot to do to make up for that."

The girl grinned at the last bit and nodded her head a few times in affirmation. "It's a good thing that I neither gave in to despair or am a Yandere, else you can imagine the cooking club would be cooking their final meal!" a hearty chuckle escaped her lips as she mused something about a 'YandElise' and turned her gaze back toward their teacher. "Say Arata-sensei, what do you think about guns? Do you believe that in the hands of a person with the right intentions, a firearm could be a weapon a hero would be able to wield? I mean, obviously we are development ammunition that allows me to restrain and render a villain harmless without needing to kill them, but I fear a lot of your colleagues disapprove of the fact I learned to wield a firearm. However, isn't a Quirk just as lethal? I'm sick of always being at the sidelines, having to watch those I care about get themselves hurt over and over again as I tend to their injuries, instead I want to fight at their side and lessen their suffering while tending to their injuries. That is why, I don't regret for a moment that I accepted the offer to be taught how to shoot a gun, even if it's not a heroic weapon."

There was something refreshing about dealing with a teacher like Arata. Although she was quite fond of the motherly vibe that her previous homeroom teacher held, the more youthful interests and attitude of Arata made it quite easy for Elise to feel a certain connection to the man. Being a fan of manga and anime herself, especially of a particular romance genre had made her somewhat familiar with a few popular series, and hearing that Arata was quite fond of a series she had read in the past the moment he clenched his fist into the air in front of his chest, clearly pumped up and excited his exclamation and the accusation of her giving him ideas made the girl inevitably giggle in amusement at his statement. "Oho~ I'm going to be surprised if me and Tetsuko don't show up in those drawings sometime since I can promise you: there will be plenty of reference material to draw from."

A hearty chuckle followed from the girl yet as they resumed talking about a different subject: that of firearms the moment Arata crouched down and suddenly took a yoga pose she couldn't help but blink in disbelief. For all his energetic actions and reactions the man certainly had some peculiar mannerisms! "Well~ My quirk doesn't exactly allow me to protect people, so I decided to learn to use firearms in order to have the means to help those dear to me." Of course, she had expected an objection about the idea of using weaponry of this sort, in the end, firearms were often frowned upon, but then the words that followed made her confusion quickly turn back into amusement as she mused softly. "It's because the laws in Japan are so difficult when it comes to possessing firearms~" Although he did have a point: if she was in danger and didn't have Freyja with her, the time it took to let it reach her would likely be way too late even if someone else was protecting her. "I guess the government saw too much anime when that regulation was enforced upon me~"

Elise hummed playfully yet as their conversation continued onto the matter of Tetsuko, the mentioning of the cooking club made her pout briefly in annoyance. "Mhmm~ She is in the cooking club, for some reason she suddenly took an interest into cooking after we started dating..." Elise mused softly, seemingly pondering why the sudden interest in cooking had come from for Tetsuko, yet as he mentioned it sounded pretty Yandere to talk like that, Elise shook her head lightly, her pout returning as she was flicked gently across the forehead. "Uguu~ But they took her away for an entire day and night! twenty-four hours is pretty extreme, the limit of my ability to spend time without Tetsu~" Of course she was partly joking, but she really didn't like the idea of being without her beloved Tetsuko for such long periods.

Still, what Arata said made sense, firearms were a piece of their society, and it was impossible to regulate everyone to cease using them for the wrong purpose. Of course, some would still acquire them through illegal methods, and yet the act of obtaining firearms shouldn't be easy to acquire in the first place. "Aren't the regulations kind of flawed? Those who would use guns for good purposes need a license and would get in troubles if they use a firearm to save someone, yet at the other hand a villain could easily obtain a firearm through illegal methods and wouldn't hesitate at all to use it on you." And then there was the other issue that Arata mentioned: Quirks were often just as much, if not even more dangerous than firearms.

"Paralytics..." The word made Elise pause for a moment, till now she had always thought about disabling a foe, and in her mind that meant shooting them down before they could harm those dear to her. But was that the only method available? Wasn't there another way for her to keep those dear to her safe? Paralytics could certainly be useful, in fact, she could even use her medical knowledge on something like this. Knowing where to aim and when to strike would be essential assets for using it properly, and Arata did have a point, more people with a quirk wouldn't fight from incredibly long distances, and as such she would benefit more from using compressed air weaponry that could fire projectiles with varying effects rather than fight from incredibly long distances.

It certainly was a worthwhile idea to consider, weaponry which could stun an enemy rather than outright kill them would obviously be approved more easily in the eyes of society, in the end, it would certainly be a weapon people would be more willing to accept as the tool of a hero, rather than a sniper rifle. Still, she would need to consider it carefully, since sacrificing range meant she would be more likely to become exposed as a target, but then again... Perhaps there were methods to combine her skill assets? To be able to fight both in long and short range? Of course, she vastly preferred long range combat, but it was clear that not every situation or villain would enable her to fight from afar, and it was at times like those that having the means to fight close quarters would be quite useful.

Perhaps she could figure something out, maybe some sort of gadget or weapon which could allow her to fight like that, similar to a stun gun... maybe it would even be an idea to upgrade Freyja to possess a functionality like that? It certainly was an idea worth considering! Nobody would expect a sniper rifle which could turn into a close-range stun gun! Now she thought about it, if there was an engineer capable of creating something like that, then one could easily say that Elise had a very creative weapon to use! "Hmm, a stun gun certainly would help during times an enemy does get close..." Elise mused softly.

Feeling the gentle pet on her head Elise couldn't help but freeze up for a moment, her cheeks flushing up lightly as she absent-mindedly raised a hand to her head, resting it on the spot that was petted. How long had it been since someone had affectionately petted her like that? To be honest, unless it was Tetsuko nobody really broke her personal space. Of course, she certainly would have allowed someone like say Principal Kobayashi to give her a head pat or a gesture of affection due to her admiration of him, but there was a more personal and emotional reason she was so fond of gestures like this. It reminded her of her doting parents, who often loved to shower her in affection and as such their loss also brought a certain absence to those gestures, so it was a rather unusual case where thinking back about her parents actually filled her with a bittersweet warmth.

She was just on time to hear Arata suggest that they'd approach the support department for their help in inventing proper weaponry for a girl with her talents. Certainly, they might push them off considering it wasn't an official commission but the way he worded the provocation, a taunt and a rise to a challenge sounded like something typical from a shonen manga, and obviously, it made Elise giggle for a moment as she thought back on the matter. "I guess provocating them like that could have positive results~" Indeed, simply coaxing out their competitive nature and pride as craftsmen would be a good way to get them interested, and Elise did have some people in mind, in fact, she had already started approaching some people in private about the whole matter.

"Hmm, there isn't anything else in particular." Elise mused softly in response to Arata's question, yet hearing how he was planning to talk to one of the military combatant personal who clearly showed a disgust and hatred for people with Quirks about demonstration a combat session Elise couldn't help but blink briefly. "Are you sure that is a wise idea sensei? Wouldn't it make more sense to approach the Luitenant or one of his subordinates to gain their assistance? Considering a lot of the military hates us it might end up turning into them wanting to try to make a demonstration out of you." Not that she doubted he couldn't handle himself, after all, he was a teacher which meant one was expected to have a certain degree of experience, at least she imagined he knew his way around with a fight. "However, you're quite right that Quirks aren't going to destroy the world, in fact in a twist of bitter irony you could consider them personal tools which could be used as weaponry if one was to think like a soldier. Kobayashi-sensei once told me that a Gun can be quite a reliable replacement for a quirk, and sometimes I start to see what he exactly meant with that."

However, she wouldn't keep him away from such an appointment, after all, she understood he was a teacher and had his own obligations to attend to, but she still couldn't help but feel somewhat wary about the idea he had mentioned. She really disliked the thought of having her new homeroom teacher deal with a Quirk hating soldier who would surely use every card, trick and opportunity available to him to embarrass and humiliate Arata before his students. But now she thought a bit more about it: wasn't this a personal challenge for Arata also? A way for him to showcase he had the right and the qualifications to protect students like her, that he was a teacher she could rely on.

Still, the last part, even if spoken as a jest made her giggle softly in amusement. Cooking the Cooking Club for their little 'crime' certainly sounded like an entertaining and worthwhile time to pass the time. "Aww~" She started with a playful pout, but then again, as she thought a bit more about savoring Tetsuko and enjoying her as a special type of snack once their relationship advanced to that stage physically Elise couldn't help but wink at her homeroom teacher and hum softly. "I can't make any promises~ but considering I got a few friends and classmates in the club I doubt you'll have to worry. At the very least I'll leave some for dessert~ Do you want some Miku choco mousse or Akio fromage cubes for dessert? Or perhaps you're more for a Menu duh Haru type?"

A soft hearty giggle followed as she was clearly entrained by the conclusion of their conversation, but upon stretching her arms she knew the time for their conversation was over. It was time for them to go their seperate ways for now, and so she made a playful salute toward her teacher. "Thanks for listening to me Arata-sensei~ Good luck dealing with Drill Sergeant Chords of Steel!"

The lass called out to him with a grin as they reached the main encampment of the military demonstration camp. Walking in the opposite direction the lass was quick to figure out what to do next, and surely it didn't need a written explanation? It appeared she was planning to enjoy some cuisine herself, because she grasped a hold of her phone and started to tap along the screen.

Dear Tetsuko,
I want to enjoy some special type of ice-cream tonight, I'll be back at the dorm soon~

Indeed, although their relationship had not advanced yet beyond some minor physical shenanigans like kissing and groping, she did respect Tetsuko's desire to keep things flowing at their own pace, a slow and steady pace so she could properly come to terms with things. However, that didn't mean that she didn't savor chances to tease her like this! In the end seeing Tetsuko blushing was one of the most beautiful sights for her to behold, and she was quite confident that tonight would be another night like those...