CHAPTER 136(Popularity Contest)

CHAPTER 136(Popularity Contest)

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CHAPTER START---

Within the Endeavor Hero Agency, there are nearly thirty Sidekicks.

Acting under Endeavor they operate under his name as support, either within the Agency for investigations or on the field as combat or rescue support.

Horizon is currently acting as a Sidekick in accordance with the contract he signed when receiving his Provisional Hero License. It's not illegal to sign a Provisional Hero to an official agency, its quite rare for such a case to happen.Cheêck out latest novels at novelhall.com

Before Horizon joined the Hero Agency, Burnin was the most famous Sidekick in Japan. But because of her disposition, not wanting the stress of running an entire agency, she's gotten rather comfortable being in Endeavor's shadow.

But Burnin wasn't the only person Horizon usurped in popularity. Many 'rookie' Pro Heroes were forced into his shadow.

While Mt. Lady or Kamui Woods may occupy the full stage on their own, they're quickly ignored when Horizon steps onto the same stage.

Other students also felt this effect, even if the most affected trio couldn't care any less.

The Big Three, Japan's top 3 Hero Course students that gain immense popularity during their training time.

Currently the most popular of them was Nejire-Chan. Nejire Hado, a 3rd year Hero Course student from UA's class 3B. Already signed with Ryukyu's Hero Agency.

Second would be Suneater, Tamaki Amajiki, another 3rd year Hero Course student from UA's class 3B. Signed by the Fatgum Hero Agency since his first year.

Currently, UA's 2nd most outright powerful student, if not for the limitations that come with heroics.

And finally, Lemillion, Mirio Togata, a 3rd year Hero Course student from UA's class 3A. Signed with the Nighteye Hero Agency in his first year.

The protege of Sir Nighteye, All Might's former Sidekick and the leading Hero Agency in terms of investigations.

Principal Nezu and Sir Nighteye's first and only choice to receive One For All from All Might.

Modern Pro Heroes truly have their career made or broken based on popularity. With All Might existing there wasn't enough crime for the 115k heroes to share.

And since they mostly get paid by how many incidents are resolved.

Merchandise and popularity are what made the heroes that couldn't respond fast enough or simply couldn't compete against the top Pro Heroes money so they could live.

Bonuses are handed out based on public perception as well, for example, the Pro Hero that boosts the public's confidence in Pros the most would receive a bonus.

Of course All Might has received the largest bonus for the past 35 years, but now that would likely fall to Best Jeanist until Horizon goes pro.

Simply put, being strong isn't enough. If you aren't marketable you won't get anywhere. Super Moves certainly help with this and the more flashy the better.

Being able to actually get to the villains quickly is also important. These are two things Endeavor is better at than any other acting Pro.

Charisma is another important factor, arguably the only thing that stopped Endeavor from ever taking the Rank #1 spot from All Might.

Even having the world record for incidents resolved and a superhuman work ethic wasn't enough to match All Might's inspirational charisma.

The benefits of excelling in these categories are immeasurable, and are currently what Horizon is enjoying.

After the news reported that Horizon signed a 3-year contract with the Endeavor Hero Agency, many donations and contributions poured in, more than usual.

And some of it went toward building the office he was currently sitting in. Behind his fancy desk, looking at the news on his computer.

There was one couch off to the side and two seats on the other side of his desk. As well as a door on either side of the room, not including the door leading out to the open floor where most Sidekicks have their desk setup.

The switchboard desk where all incoming requests are filtered is also on this floor, while Endeavor's office is a few floors above on the top floor.

Behind Horizon was a large glass wall with Saitama Tokyo behind him, the moon hidden away by the clouds.

"Kamui Woods," Horizon mutters as he checks the charts. Seeing this 'rookie hero' spike in popularity and working overtime to resolve incidents in these past few days.

He was also at the League Of Villains raid and captured a dozen grey Nomu.

'He can't hope to keep up with me, Endeavor, Hawks, or even best Jeanist...but at this rate, he could be in the top 10. Being a part of that raid certainly helps...'

As Horizon is checking up on what other heroes are up to he receives a call. Connecting it to his visor he hears Chitose's voice, unknowingly talking to the publicity agent for the Meta Liberation Army.

"How's my favorite young hero doing?" Chitose asks.

"Busy, waiting for a meeting. What's got you calling me?"

"Well with the entire country in chaos and no heroes having the time or willing to make statements, I was curious if you'd be willing to do a short interview. Maybe help ease public sentiment.

You're not one to be fearful of saying the wrong thing and having people rioting against you after all. So, how about it?"

"Have you seen that creepy blog that tracks how many hours a day I'm out working?"

"Hey, my blog isn't creepy!"

"Wait, that was you?"

"How are you so sure?"

"If you didn't want me here I'd be laying in a street somewhere with one Shambles."

Horizon just sighs, then gets up from his seat and walks over to her, "what the hell happened to you?" he asks while reaching down and placing a hand on her shoulder.

BOOSTER SHOT!

The cuts and bruises across her face begin healing at a visible pace.

"Penguin villain."

"Penguin villain? Really."

She opens her eyes to give him an annoyed look, "he could shoot ice from his beak ok, and he had a lot of friends..."

"Excuses excuses," Horizon mutters as he gets back to his seat.

A moment later he senses someone step into the lobby on the ground floor, takes out a card and throws if forward.

SHAMBLES!

Nejire-Chan appears in his office, in full Hero Costume. A light green body glove with a turquoise swirl across it. Her blue hair in large curls reaching past her knees with her bangs swirled into two horns.

And as Horizon warps his card back into his hand the girl finally snaps to her senses, realizing what just happened.

"That's so weird? How does that work? Can you see through walls and stuff? Does that make you tired? Is the mask your face?" And a dozen more questions are shot at him before he can raise a hand to silence her.

"Can you please just give me whatever you're here to deliver?"

"Oh, right, I'm Nejire Hado by the way, Ryukyu sent me to give you this, it's super important so I had to secure it!"

She reaches into her utility belt and takes out a small green vial.

Horizon takes the vial from her and holds it closer to his visor, noticing it just looks like green water.

"Oh, are you gonna drink it?!"

"No, where'd she find this?"

"Oh it was on a smuggler she caught, but he uh...he took some desperate measures to avoid being captured alive ya know," she says in a sad tone.

"Makes sense," Horizon says, holding it carefully in his hands. "This kind of thing is gonna be worth a lot of money, the cost of talking would have been a lot more than his life, probably his entire bloodline, assuming he even knew."

"OH, you know what it is?" Nejire asks.

"Already scanned it," Horizon tosses it over to her, and the girl nearly has a heart attack as she catches it.

"You should be more careful!"

"It doesn't work unless it's injected into your bloodstream, if you drink it then you'll just get a stomach ache and need to go to a hospital."

"What is it?"

"A new strand of Trigger, mixed with something a lot more organic, human in fact."

"A Quirk?"

"Yeah, the user is likely mid-twenties."

"You can tell?"

"Hormones and other markers make it easy to tell, but this variation is still unstable. If you took it then you'd probably be forced to use your Quirk until it killed you or drained you."

Nejire holds the vial a lot more carefully after hearing that.

"It was probably headed to a chemist or something, have Ryukyu check where she found this guy or where he was going to and find some leads."

Nejire immediately takes out her phone to update Ryukyu, what would have taken atleast a week to solve for a crime lab, and they wouldn't have been able to find as much info, took Horizon all of 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, Horizon gets an alert directly into his visor.

"Alright, thanks, I'll get out of here now, it's a long trip back to the agency," Nejire says.

"Not yet," Horizon says as he gets up, walking around to her. Standing in front of the rather short girl. "You're coming with Endeavor and me to deal with something first, just outside of Tokyo."

"Huh?"

"Normally we'd have her but," he gestures to Burnin who was asleep on the couch, without her massive fiery hair. "She's tired and her Quirk is spent, you're subbing in since most of this agency can't match your firepower."

Nejire giggles at the horrible and unintentional pun, "alright, so what's the situation?"

"We're hunting the League Of Villains..."

END CHAPTER---