Chapter 192: UA Studio Promo Vid Project (3)
~Third POV~
[UA Highschool, Gym, Japan]
After Yui's stunning performance, Kinoko walked onto the stage next, and his partner said confidently, "When I was little, puppet theater made a huge impression on me. With my concept, I'm hoping to popularize puppet theater and allow children everywhere to unlock their imaginations!"
The video began at a kindergarten, where the children were watching a puppet performance of "The Seven Baby Goats." The children began to speak on the screen.
"Mommy, why are your legs black?"
"Oh my, how very odd…"
"You must be the big bad wolf!"
Kinoko was busy manipulating all the puppets with her fungus and skillfully voicing each of the characters when a villain stormed into the kindergarten. As the children shrieked, Kinoko continued to perform as the puppets.
"Oh no! A mean old villain!"
"Let's get him! Before Mommy comes home!"
She used the puppets to hurl prop rocks at the villain, resulting in a knockout. One of the delighted children in the audience said, "Mr. Wolf helped beat the mean villain!"
Kinoko proceeded with an impromptu exchange between the goats and the wolf. The kids cheered for the wolf's victory.
"Mr. Wolf, thank you for helping us!"
"You're more like a big nice wolf!"
It was when the puppet wolf began to speak skillfully by Kinoko using her Quirk, "I only wanted to be friends with you all. Won't you be my friends?"
"Of course!"
The miniature curtains closed on that happy ending. As the children clapped, the curtains opened again to reveal Kinoko herself with the puppets being played by her fungus thanks to her Quirk as she says happily, "I'm the One-Woman Puppeteer Hero: Punch 'n' Kinoko. Now recruiting more members for the troupe, by the way."
The screen went dark, and Kinoko removed her cloak to reveal the puppets in her hands as she gracefully said, "Thanks for watching!"
With that, the two left the stage, and Jiro was the next to present. Her partner began to explain her presentation happily, "My concept was a cool, sultry hero! Enjoy!"
The commercial opened in a Chinese restaurant, where Jiro was waitressing in a Chinese dress. She said to some customers, before slipping down a hallway, "Welcome."
She snuck into an office, made sure she wasn't being watched and rifled through a drawer to find documented evidence of illegal activities as she muttered disdainfully, "Knew it. He's definitely part of the shady operation."
Then the door to the office burst open, and the villainous restaurant owner walked in, outraged, and yelled, "Whaddaya think you're doing?!"
Jiro merely stated the obvious in an annoyed tone, glaring at the villains, "Isn't it obvious? I'm making sure nasty men like you get what's coming to them."
With the documents in one hand, Jiro reached for a small knife concealed against her thigh and tossed it at the villain, pinning him to the wall by his jacket as the villain growled, "No waitress wields a knife like that… You must be…"
Jiro, on the screen, smugly grinned as she introduced herself and said, "That's right, big boy. I'm Kyon-Kyon, the lady spy. And your days of covering up these crimes are over."
Back on the stage, Jiro's scowling face was as red as the dress she'd been forced to wear as she gritted her teeth and shamefully said, "That's right. I'm the, uhh… lady spy, Kyon-Kyon… Thanks for watching, I guess…"
After her embarrassing video was shown, Sero was up next. His partner began to say his piece confidently, "Who makes the world turn? That's right—it's put-upon office workers! Why couldn't someone like that be a hero, huh? Hence, my concept!"
The ad began with Sero in a business suit. With a smile that was all business, he presented his card to a business partner as he said, "The pleasure is all mine! I'm Hanta Sero, from division 2."
The card read Hanta Sero, Division 2, U.A. Corporation. Sero, in the ad, began to explain the product, "This product is our pride and joy, here at the company. It comes with our highest recommendation…"
Apparently, the business deal didn't go well because the video cut to Sero plodding home gloomily that night. Along his route, he spotted a villain attacking a little old man as he yelled, "You cut that out!"
However, the villain roared out, "Butt out, cubicle jockey!"
Sero flicked one of his business cards at the villain as he said, "Never underestimate a salaryman! Workflow Synergy Kick! Perfunctory Smalltalk Attack!"
The businesslike assault brought the villain down, and as Sero helped the old man get up, the latter recognized Sero's business card as he said, surprised, "Say, ain't you the one who came to my company to make a deal once? Welp, this must be fate. Do you know that product you were hawking? We'll take a truckload after all."
Sero looked stunned as he smiled, saying, "Do you mean it, sir? That's fantastic!"
The video ended with his smile. On the stage, Sero showed off his suit and business card as he said, seriously pointing his finger at the crowd, "I'm the Salaryman Hero: Hanta Sero! I fight for justice and quarterly earnings!"
As Sero and his partner stepped down the stage, Ren pondered curiously, 'Huh… You know if he ever became a President I'll vote for him.'
The next to present were Tokoyami and his partner. She began to explain in an excited tone, "I was going for a sort of romantic, gothic, medieval hero! All those things in one!"
The screen showed Tokoyami—dressed as a European nobleman of yore—standing at the open window of his castle. A bat landed on his arm and squeaked as he said like an edge lord, "Once more, the gloom of the night calls to me…"
Down on the cobblestone-paved street, a villain was chasing a young woman as she shrieked for help, "Someone, help!"
Tokoyami swooped down between the woman and the villain, striking a gallant pose. The villain said arrogantly, "And who might you be?"
Tokoyami introduced himself to the crowd of students cringed at his words as he said confidently, "I suppose even those doomed to die deserve proper etiquette. If you must know, I am Dark Shadow XIII. Now, behold as I liberate the darkness within… Hah!"
[Dark Shadow] emerged and tore into the villain with its claws, defeating him easily. The young woman, rushing over to Tokoyami, asked, "How can I ever thank you for saving me?"
Tokoyami merely glanced at the woman before muttering as he turned his back to her in a hushed tone, holding up a hand to stop her, "I am a nobleman wreathed in dark. It is my fate to wander the night in search of the hapless… But you, my dear, must go on living under the sun, where I dare not tread…"
Tokoyami vanished into the darkness with a flourish, and the video ended as they heard his voice through the darkness. Tokoyami on the stage, really leaning into the role as he said, "It is I! The Umbral Nobleman Hero: Dark Shadow XIII!! The night is my eternal companion…"
After Tokoyami's performance, it was now Todoroki's turn. His partner began explaining her video project in an overdramatic tone, "My concept was plain and simple. A true, genuine prince!"
On the screen, Todoroki appeared. He was dressed in princely garb, wearing an iron mask, and galloping across a great grassy plain on horseback as he spoke cooly, "I have-eth no right to my royal title, cursed as I am. Alas, I shall never return-eth to the castle."
Todoroki, with all the gravitas of a man reading from cue cards off-camera. Suddenly, his horse whinnied wildly, and the horse and rider were both enveloped in light. The rider said, startled, "Huh? Where be-eth this?"
He'd been warped through space and time to the middle of a modern-day city, where a car was speeding down the road recklessly. A woman nearby screamed, "Help! My little boy's in that car!"
Todoroki pursued the car, which came to a screeching halt when his horse leaped in front of it as he said heroically, "That fair goodwife claim-eth that this contraption hold-eth her child. Hand-eth the babe over."
The driver, revealed to be the kid's father, argued back defiantly, "The kid's mine! I got the same parental rights she does!"
Todoroki, managing to imbue these lines with at least a hint of something resembling genuine emotion, said, "Then act-eth more like a proper father."
The villain yelled, tossing a hammer from the car window, "Shaddup!"
It struck Todoroki's iron mask, knocking it off. When the attacker saw Todoroki's bare face, he clutched his chest in pain and said, "M-my heart… It's beating so hard, it's gonna explode…"
In a panic, Todoroki dismounted his steed and donned his mask as he said in a medieval Shakespearean voice, "Such is my curse. Those who behold-eth my face are doomed to have-eth their hearts race-eth to the point of discomfort."
The little boy got out of the car and ran to his mother, yelling, "Mommy!"
The mother, hugging her child tightly, thanked Todoroki kindly, "Thank you, sir, for saving my boy!"
Todoroki nodded, turning to the camera and removing the mask as he said heroically, "Has my cursed visage proved helpful? Then I shall remain-eth in this strange world and become-eth a hero. I am-eth the Iron Mask Hero: Prince Shoto. My only weapon be-eth my face."
As the clip ended, Todoroki revealed his prince costume and said, "Like you just heard, I'm the Iron Mask Hero: Prince Shoto. Glad to be here."
After Shoto came the next student. Hagakure was the next to hop onto the stage. Her partner explained her video project: "I wanted a hero who shows the unlimited potential of Kigurumi animal costumes!"
The video showed a bank robbery in progress. Among the hostages was a little girl who screamed, "I'm scared, Mommy!"
To everyone's surprise, Hagakure made her grand entrance wearing a bunny costume as the robber said, equally confused, "Wh-who the hell're you?"
Introducing herself on the scene, Hagakure did a pose before going into action, "I'm Miss Bunny! Bunny Kick! Hiyahh!"
After landing the attack, Hagakure stripped off the bunny skin to reveal a cat costume underneath as she declared, "Now I'm Miss Cat! Hisssss!"
She scratched at the villain with the costume's claws before stripping down again as she roared, "And now I'm Miss Lion! Rawr!"
One big chomp from the lion was enough to finish off the villain, earning Hagakure cheers from the hostages. The little girl, confused, asked, "Thank you, um… Miss Bunny? Cat? Lion?"
Hagakure triumphantly says, performing heroic poses, and declaring proudly, "Just call me Morphing Kigurumi Hero: Living Doll!"
The ad ended, and Hagakure posed in her bunny costume on the stage in an excited tone, "I can be whatever I wanna be! Thanks for watching!"
The students of class 1-A and class 1-B looked nervous when their time to shine would appear. Or rather, they wouldn't want to appear ridiculous like the previous video projects that the Business Course Students have in their mind.
Vlad King and Eraserhead gazed at the uneasy expressions on their students' faces. But the two could only sigh at their reaction as they thought shamelessly, 'If we had to go through this in one lifetime, so do you. Welcome to hell - er the hero course.'