Katsuki followed the talkative hero out of Musha's office.
"Okay then! I'll show you where you're staying for the rest of the week. As agency of the 8th ranked hero in Japan, we have many facilities that other hero agencies could only dream of having.
"No only is are our training facilities top of the line, we even have a 5-star chef for the cafeteria!"
Katsuki nodded along, following Booster 5 into the elevator.
"So, what kind of training schedule do you have planned?"
"Well, since you just finished sparring with Musha and it's nearly time for lunch, I figured that it would be best if we dropped your stuff off in your room, then headed down to the cafeteria."
Katsuki was hoping to get a bit more training in, but he was feeling a bit hungry.
"Sounds good."
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Katsuki took a seat at the table across from Booster.
"MMmm, I've always loved the lunch we get here at the office. You would need to pay a fortune to get this kind of food elsewhere."
Katsuki nodded, swallowing down another mouthful. Personally, Katsuki thought it was a bit worse then Lunch Rush, but he could see the appeal.
"After we finish up here, I can show you around the rest of the agency. You're gonna love the gym. We even have our own pool inside the building if you can imagine that."
"Sounds good. By the way, Could you tell me a bit more about yourself? I've never really heard much about you before."
Booster let out an awkward laugh.
"Well, that's because of the role I play here at the agency. I'm not really a typical 'combat hero'."
Katsuki looked over at Booster and raised an eyebrow, pausing his eating.
"Let me explain. I serve in more of a… supportive role here at the Musha agency. See, my quirk lets me release jet boosts from my back. They help me move super quickly through the cityscape.
"Normally, I patrol with a group called the 'Recon squad', which is a group of sidekicks who specialize in scouting ahead and seeking out any villainous activity. Then I contact Musha and he rushes over to defeat the bigger villains. I typically deal with the weaker villains when we encounter groups of villains, or the mooks that aren't really worth dealing with for him. That tends to mean I don't get much visibility on the hero charts."
Katsuki processed that for a bit, chewing on his food.
It was..a job he guessed. Not something he ever saw himself doing, but there was a niche for it, definitely. Finishing off his food, Katsuki brought his tray to the drop-off area, Booster going along with him.
"Alright then, time to show you around."
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The next hour or so was Booster showing him all the facilities the Musha Hero Agency had to offer.
"…And finally, this is the gym I told you about this morning. Pretty awesome right?"
Katsuki looked around the large gymnasium.
"…Pretty empty isn't it?"
Booster let out a laugh.
"I wouldn't know really. I don't use it that often. Honestly, I think the agency overspent on equipping this thing."
Booster waved to a brown haired woman with a purple streak in her hair running on a treadmill.
"Good to see you Highway!"
The woman ignored Booster's words and continued her workout.
Booster turned to Katsuki, guiding him over towards the woman.
"Highway is one of our newest sidekicks here at the agency. Her quirk accelerates her while she's traveling in a straight line. Takes her a bit to get up to speed on her disks, but with enough space she starts flying down the streets!"
Booster leaned on the treadmill next to Highway, a smile on his face.
"Hey good looking! How's it going?"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Highway just kept running, not even looking over at Booster as she answered.
"Fine."
Booster put a hand over his heart, acting shocked.
"Fine? Oh man, a new record! Anyway, I got a reservation at that new fancy restaurant across town and I was wondering-"
"Not interested."
Booster kept up his jokey tone at the rejection.
"You sure? I got a special in with the owner for the reservation. Normally you'd need to wait waaay longer."
Highway finally looked over.
"I told you before Booster. I'm not interested."
Booster leaned on Highway's treadmill.
"I mean, as the senior hero here at the agency, getting along better with fellow recon team members is important you know?"
Highway just continued her run, ignoring Booster's words. Though Katsuki noted that she had definitely frowned at the mention of the recon team.
After an awkward pause, Booster dropped the subject there, putting a hand on Katsuki's shoulder.
"Anyway, I wanted you to meet our new intern Dauntless. Musha sent him an offer for the week and here he is!"
Highway looked over briefly at Katsuki before returning to her run.
"Well, we've been introduced. Nice to meet you kid."
"Same."
Booster waited a second to see if Highway would say anything else, then led Katsuki towards the exit.
"Don't worry about it if she's a bit brisk with you. That's just how she is."
The two of them stepped into the elevator, Booster hitting the button for the one of the floors.
Once they reached the top floor, the duo stepped out of the elevator and into one of the conference rooms.
Booster took a seat in one of the chairs.
"Alright, time to get to work. Let's see what we're working with. Lay your costume out on the table and we'll go over it piece by piece."
Following Booster's suggestions, Katsuki lay his costume out.
When he finished, Booster gave it a once-over.
"Alright, you've done fairly well at keeping your aesthetic consistent. Whoever made these boots for your costume did a great job on that front. Honestly, there's one big issue I spot immediately however."
Katsuki looked the costume over, not seeing anything wrong.
"What's that?"
"No color. If you look at all the top heroes, they all have some kind of visual flair that makes their costume instantly recognizable. Yours is all blacks and whites. I'd say it looks like the costume of an underground hero, but the reflective metal on the boots and the white used across most the costume mean you would still be visible under low light conditions.
Big thing for any pro hero, is that your costume needs to represent you and your brand. Your costume is the first thing any fan is going to recognize, and anyone you save is going to remember. A big part of name and brand recognition is uniqueness. You need to stand out."
Mulling over the hero's words, Katsuki gave his costume a once-over.
"Okay then, what if we turn the accents and patterns orange, and color the gauntlets green?"
Booster mulled it over for a second.
"Pretty bold color choices. Orange is eye-catching and the green would be a contrast. But what if, and hear me out, you went with gold instead of orange?"
Katsuki gave the golden clad hero an unimpressed stare.
Booster raised his hands.
"Hey, your outfit has a very different design to mine. But black and gold is a classic for a reason. They draw the eye exactly where you want it to be, without looking too neon. The metallic texture is also a big win."
Katsuki kept up his stare, but imagined what the hero was suggesting.
…Goddammit. It actually looked good.
Katsuki remained impassive for a moment.
"I can see what you mean, but with all due respect, I don't want to be off-brand Booster 5."
Booster let out a laugh.
"Kid, I am far from the only hero to use black with gold highlights and accents. Hell, Musha does it himself. Just say you were inspired by his design."
Katsuki thought it over, but probably still wouldn't go with gold once he got back to UA.
"Yeah, probably not gonna do that. But either way, I can't send it my costume to get altered until the end of the internship. So it doesn't matter much until then."
Booster nodded, still wearing a smile.
"Fair enough."
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The rest of the meeting was basically spent going over Katsuki's costume with a fine-toothed comb for improvements with the occasional added comment about how some gold would look nice. What booster actually gave the most flak was Katsuki's gauntlets.
"I can definitely see the utility for defense, but they just seem a bit, offset from the rest of the design. Are they worth keeping?"
Katsuki gave the hero another look.
"The gauntlets stay. I need them for if I get caught in melee without my bat."
Booster hmm'd and haww'd for a moment before finally agreeing.
"Alright, gauntlets stay."
The rest of the meeting went fairly well.
Though booster had one last suggestion.
"Add a mask. it makes you look more professional. It can be basically painted on, but a mask helps disguise your age, which means during your early years citizens take you more seriously."
"…Not sure how much utility I would get out of that."
"Ah! But the mask also serves as a visual separator between 'on' and 'off' duty. It lets citizens know when you're working."
After spending a few minutes working out a mask design, the meeting was finally over and Booster led Katsuki back down to the cafeteria for dinner.
"Alright then, that just about covers day one Dauntless. Grab some dinner, and then you are free to use the building facilities for the rest of the evening. Meet me down at the training floor for sparring and agility lessons tomorrow morning at 8:00."
Katsuki nodded back, grabbing some food while Booster made a beeline for some of the other pro heroes. Looking around the cafeteria for anything familiar, Katsuki noted Highway eating by herself.
Not seeing too many other places he wanted to sit, Katsuki headed over.
The next couple minutes were spent eating in silence until Katsuki decided to try and break the ice.
"So, got any advice for my internship week?"
Highway glanced up from her food.
"Sure. If you wanted actual combat experience or training, this wasn't the internship to pick."
Katsuki leaned back on his bench.
"And why is that?"
Highway tilted her head.
"Sure you might get some okay sparring practice, but if you're good enough to go out on patrol, you're gonna get stuck on the recon squad like everyone else."
Katsuki thought back to what Booster had said.
"So, it would be my job to locate villains and crimes-in-progress, then call in for backup right?"
Highway snorted.
"Right. Backup."
Katsuki furrowed his brows.
"What's that mean?"
"It means that it is 'agency policy' for those in the recon squad to 'avoid engaging in combat where possible, so as to allow more experienced and powerful heroes to resolve engagements with less risk of collateral damage'. Now, that sounds pretty, but it boils down to patrolling the city for fights, then calling in Musha and just sitting there letting the villains do whatever they want until he shows up."
Katsuki processed that for a second.
"Wait, so you guys are actively told not to fight villains."
"Yup. Now you're getting it."
"But, they can't actually enforce that can they?"
Highway shook her head.
"Let me give you an example. About a week after I started here, I was on patrol when I ran into a couple villains fighting in the street. Since they were a serious threat to the civilians in the area, I called it in, then engaged them both. It got a bit rocky for a minute, but I managed to defeat them both without anyone getting hurt.
"Then, when I finish patrol for the day, I get called into Booster's office and told off for 'violating agency policy', and I get told my patrol schedule is being adjusted. And ever since then, I only get sent to the nicer neighborhoods or with a partner on patrol since I'm a 'loose canon'."
Katsuki thought that over for a bit.
"Can't you transfer to another agency? Or go solo?"
Highway shook her head.
"Signed a contract when I joined the agency. I'm stuck here for at least 2 more years unless I get scouted by another agency willing to pay the contract exit clause fees. And what agency is willing to poach from Musha?"
Before Katsuki could respond to that, Katsuki suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, Booster's voice audible from right behind him.
"Hey Dauntless! Highway! Good to see you two getting along."
Without asking for permission, Booster took a seat at the table.
"So, what are you guys talk-"
Completely ignoring Booster, Highway stood up, carrying her empty tray to the dropoff area.
Booster let out an awkward laugh at her sudden exit.
"Sorry about that Katsuki. Highway hasn't really gelled that well with the agency since she joined. She's pretty good on patrol, but is a bit of a loose cannon when it comes to villain fights."
Katsuki thought about what to say in response for a second.
"Okay then."
Standing up with his empty tray, Katsuki turns to booster.
"I'm probably gonna check out the training area then put some time in at the gym."
Booster flashed him that perfect smile.
"Sounds good Dauntless! Looking forward to tomorrow!"
Putting his tray in the dropoff area, Katsuki left the cafeteria.