[Miroru]

Rokuhane Miroru

Department of Heroes Freshman

Prism, the Spectrum Hero

Demura Kano | ### | notes

Of course hero school meant meeting with current, active heroes.
It didn't mean she had to look forward to it.

One of the advantages of the relatively younger generation of heroes Miroru found herself among was a reduced awareness and fascination with the older generation of heroes outside of a select few stand-outs. Her father wasn't quite on the side of that barrier which he'd prefer, in the limelight with Leonid and the others- he was fading into obscurity, if slowly, and the fewer of her classmates knew the name of Incapacitor, the better.

It never seemed to work out that way with the older heroes, though.

He'd been very active, very prominent in the media, with flashy stories and huge triumphs. His was a tale of a hero against all odds, pitting himself and his family against the worst of the worst and coming out on top regularly. It was the sort of story that the media ate up and fed to the public en masse.

It was also built on lies.

Miroru didn't have the standing or clout to expose her father yet, much less evidence outside of hearsay, and she had zero doubt that if she tried, he'd squash her budding career like a bug. She needed to be successful FIRST. She needed to be too big to squash, or even trying was gonna be doomed.

And that meant trying to swallow her tongue around whichever of her instructors happened to be a fanboy eating up his public image. So she redoubled her determination to be civil and respectful, and waited at the appointed intersection on Ground Beta for Dauntless to appear.

I can pay no price too great for justice.

Template by: Monkey

[Demura Kano]

Ever since Demura had come to U.A., he'd begun compiling a personal file on the students under his tutelage. It was mostly notes and observations, about their personalities, histories, skills, Quirks. If someone were to read it, they'd think it was some kind of case file criminals and villains, something that he also possessed. But there was a reason for the similarities. U.A.U. drew some of the best and brightest in the country, no, the world to its doors. Young people five, ten, no twenty steps ahead of their peers in development and ability. A lot of them possessed understanding of their Quirks, or just a natural aptitude for them, that'd make them pillars of society once they graduated. Or the wrecking balls that'd bring it down. What happens when someone who can cause an earthquake with a footstep, or create a giant out of energy, gets in over their head? What happens when they panic? Lose their nerve?

He'd seen it happen a couple of times, and it was never good. Property was decimated, property was destroyed, and lives were lost. Just because someone with so much power, didn't realize the responsibility they had. One of his jobs as the school's combat instructor was to make sure not only did the next generation of heroes possess the ability to protect themselves and others in a fight, but that they also understood how to use and apply their vast skills and abilities correctly.

The Quirk Demonstration put some of this year's freshman into his sights, to keep a watchful eye on, and Rokuhane Miroru was near the top. Her family was well known for its electricity-wielding heroes, the first of which was Incapacitor. When he was younger, he looked up to the man, wanting to replicate the awe he garnered from the public and the respect he had from his peers. So reading his name on the participant list, he was interested to see firsthand the skill they were so known for. But not only was he shocked; he was blown away. Her Quirk read as manipulating the electromagnetic spectrum, so he'd assumed it was some branch ability of her family's Quirk-line, but it was far more advanced in application and use.

And far, far more destructive. He'd need a close look at her abilities, her personality in under duress. Because if she snapped on someone by mistake, or let her anger get the better of her against a conventional criminal....

Already waiting in Ground Beta for the freshman to arrive, he watched her arrive at the designated meeting point from the overwatch of a nearby building. He'd then activate his rifle, and begin taking potshots at her from his position, not directly aiming to hit her, but close enough to see how she'd react.

|Miroru|

[Miroru]

Rokuhane Miroru

Department of Heroes Freshman

Prism, the Spectrum Hero

Demura Kano | ### | notes

She felt it before she heard the shot or saw the impact at her feet. A swelling charge of energy, rapidly concentrated, instantly discharged and hurtling down on her from over head. She was moving her head to look up towards his exact location before the blast even discharged.

But discharge it did, smashing the concrete at her feet, and leaving her staring up in shock and building outrage at being ambushed! The next few bolts swerved and stopped dead in midair around her head and shoulders as she glared up his way, doing nothing obvious until-

-the gun stopped firing.

It was simple, really- Miroru interposed her quirk between the power source and the firing mechanisms, effectively depowering the energy rifle without damaging it, leaning on her knowledge of electrical engineering to break the circuit and prevent its use.

Shouting up at him, she insisted, "Drop the weapon, sir! Please lay down with your hands behind your head and prepare for your arrest!" She wasn't sure if she should proceed as if it was an actual assault, but she was doing her best to distinguish herself from her father's shoot first, arrest later stylings.

Besides, she still had like a half-dozen energy bolts floating around her to put to use if she needed to fight.

I can pay no price too great for justice.

Template by: Monkey

[Demura Kano]

The unexpected. His gun jammed. Impossible, actually, or so he thought. He tried the trigger a couple more times before sucking his teeth, and looking down at Rokuhane. He was surprised to see the energy bolts suspended in the space between them, frozen. Just how far did the capabilities of her Quirk stretch? Holstering the gun onto his back, Demura would lean over the edge of the rooftop, so that the student could get a clear view of him. While he really wanted to explore that avenue, it wasn't the focus of their meeting today. Magenta energy would begin to crackled around the hero's form as he stepped off the rooftop, plummeting several dozen feet towards the ground before crashing onto it with a thunderous boom

As the slight outcrop of dust cleared, he walked towards her, his eyes glowing in a way which indicated his Quirk was active. "And what would you do if I said no, Rokuhane? How would you stop me?" He raised a fist in front of him, and clenched it tightly. "Say this is a bustling city street. Cars. Pedestrians. What would you do? Bring those energy bolts down, crashing on top of my head? Maybe it's too late now that you've let me reach ground level, and close up. Incapacitor probably would've tried to take me out up there, right?"

|Miroru|

[Miroru]

Rokuhane Miroru

Department of Heroes Freshman

Prism, the Spectrum Hero

Demura Kano | ### | notes

The redhead snapped, eyes narrowing angrily. "It's Miroru. JUST Miroru... Sir. And I'd argue it's safer to engage you on street level. Up there, there were no good angles that didn't send attacks towards civilian architecture liable to have people behind the concrete. Down here, if I attack from the right angles, missed attacks hit the road or sidewalk, which-" Her focus shifted a brief moment. "-aside from along these lines," she stated, as the light in the area shifted to display a highlight of the subway system duplicated under Ground Beta, showing exactly what areas she couldn't afford to hit by checking what areas had radiated infrared light from solid objects and which spaces had none due to BEING solid objects. "-are safe to hit without danger of striking civilians or damaging infrastructure beneath the streets. Besides- your quirk is energetic. I can't say for sure that turning your attacks against you would have much if any effect. It'd be safer to cut the light to the area, focus on preventing your quirk from damaging the surroundings, and keep you engaged until I could either wear you down or someone who could arrived."

Her father's name deepened her scowl, real anger leaking into her tone. "HE would have tried to fry you where you stood, yeah. No call for surrender, and no particular concern for collateral damage. "All part of a day in the life," though- right?" Her words were sliding chilly the more her teacher projected himself as a fan of her father's and compared the two of them.

I can pay no price too great for justice.

Template by: Monkey

[Demura Kano]

His head quirked to the side in curiosity at the sudden virility behind her words. Her analysis of the hypothetical situation was detailed, thorough, and accurate, far more so than what he would have expected from someone so fresh to the school. Though he supposed that with her family, it shouldn't have been that shocking. Still, he couldn't help but notice the venom dripping from her voice as she spoke about her father, and how he would have handled it. Demura had never worked directly with Incapacitor, but of course had seen plenty of the aftermath of his cases and fights. He was always quick, thorough, and to the point, according to reports. If a villain or criminal refused the first instance of surrender, he took them down, hard.

"Alright, Miroru," he said, withdrawing his fist as he crossed his arms, the energy fading from around his body and eyes. "Points for the quick analysis of the situation and forming a plan. Though you slipped up in some assumptions. Never let a criminal get close to civilians if possible. Up on the rooftops, I was isolated. But down here, there are plenty of things I could get into. Take a hostage, cause a general panic in the crowds. Second, my Quirk. There are as many abilities as there are grains of sand on a beach. Unless you have a detailed insight into someone's Quirk, always try to isolate them. For all you know, I could have been prepping to explode down here. And I don't think you can stop energy being generated by another person, right? Just natural sources?"

"And third, you've got too much on your plate. Cutting the lights, it's daytime by the way but we'll gloss over it, preventing my unknown Quirk from damaging the much closer surroundings, and trying to keep me engaged until someone else arrives? Too many holes to poke in that plan of action. Holes that people's lives can slip through if you're not careful." He signed as he looked up at the bolts still suspended. "Sometimes hitting first and hitting hard are the best options available to us. Average criminals might surrender if you show up and tell them to, but the ones we call villains, that have codenames and wear masks to hide their identities, they often don't listen. And take advantage of every hesitation on our side.
"
His expression hardened somewhat as he spoke the next sentence. "Collateral damage happens far more often than any of us would like, but where we can't prevent it, we minimize it. However, we can. Incapacitor might like to do with his fists and power, but that's not the only way, as you just said. The main reason I actually made this session was so that I could see how you'd react under pressure; if you were like the rest of your family and would use the more destructive aspects of your Quirk and need to be reeled in, or if you leaned into a different side."

" You surprised me, actually.", he shrugged, "But in a good way."

|Miroru|

[Miroru]

Rokuhane Miroru

Department of Heroes Freshman

Prism, the Spectrum Hero

Demura Kano | ### | notes

There was immediate relaxation at being addressed appropriately addressed, the respect inherent in his acceptance settling her nerves substantially. "Thanks. I can't always rely on my quirk for an offense- there's lots of types of quirks that don't give me anything to work with, and so I lean a lot more on the utility side of the EM fields. Broadcasting evac directions, providing visual locators for rescue teams, or checking out layouts inside structures by reading infrared presence vs absence. I can mess with visibility and technology pretty effectively, but that's not super great for taking out criminals." She chewed on her lower lip. "I'm working on it, though. I'm good with my fists and I'm designing equipment- stuff that won't be vulnerable to interference unless someone's got a beefier EM control rating than I do." Which was a small and constantly decreasing list.

She frowned, but listened, as he went on to analyze her game plan. "You're not wrong, but couldn't you have just busted into the building from up there and taken hostages that way? The insight about the Quirk is fair, I didn't really have much idea what you could do until you dropped down covered in energy. I shouldn't have leaned on that answer, I didn't have it originally." She shook her head, though, at the idea about personal versus natural energy. "It's got to do with the type of energy. If someone's messing with energy off the EM spectrum, it's off my register. But... a lot of the time, the results can be mitigated. Like, let's say you literally exploded. Sure, that sounds scary, but explosions are superheated air expanding and creating pressure waves, and combustion, both of which either rely on, or primarily create, infrared heat as a means of causing harm or propagating themselves. Stop the infrared transfer of heat into the air molecules, and the explosion stops before it starts." She held up a finger. "That won't help against someone whose quirk is actually creating pressure waves themselves, or stuff like that. But it's all about categorization. My quirk doesn't care where the EM phenomena comes from, just that it's in my domain."

When Demura tried to critique her threat to turn off the lights, she gave him a flat look and turned off the lights.

Literally.

Killed the sun.

Or, more accurately, walled it off from reaching them, leaving them in dead darkness with no light allowed to move inside a large dome. "I said what I said, sir."

The effect ended shortly thereafter all the same, so he could continue. "... you're not... wrong, though. It'd be a lot. I'm not saying I'd be a great match-up for eveybody. Like I said, I've got tricks and utility, but outside certain circumstances, my quirk's stopping power is pretty limited. So I'm working on that." She clenched her fist hard enough to pop her knuckles audibly.

Hearing he'd been testing her to see how she'd react under pressure startled her. Her eyes went wide at that, and her cheeks colored in pleased surprise to hear his reaction. "I- thank you, sir. That's what this was..? Did- I worry somebody..?"

I can pay no price too great for justice.

Template by: Monkey

[Demura Kano]

"Not worries, just measures to help prevent that from occurring." He admitted. "A lot of people don't like to admit it, but Quirks, especially ones like yours or mine, make us living weapons. Dangerous ones. When my Quirk is active, the world around me is like tissue paper. Everything is so frail and fragile, feeling like I could crush it all with just a flick." He tightened his hand into a fist once more. "You have one of the most advanced forms of control over a natural force that I've seen, and a brilliant mind to make the most out of it. You blinking out the sun just now, and the light show you put on during the demonstration were proof enough of that. As heroes we have to understand the responsibility that innately comes with these great powers."

He began to pace a circle around her, as if inspecting her. "So, let's get back to your reaction. You're right, I could have taken hostages while I was up there, but let's say, in a real situation, I did the exact same thing and ambushed you. You make a reasonable guess that my target was you, in that case, and use that to lure me away from any major population areas. A lot of confrontations with villains are sudden, unexpected impromptu encounters. Though we don't go out on patrols looking for fights, or rather we shouldn't, we still have to be prepared for anything."

"Overthinking can be just as dangerous as not-thinking at all. It leads to hesitation, a split-second opportunity missed, and lives lost. You have to be able to evaluate the situation quickly, accurately, and to then put in motion a plan of action. Let's try another scenario: Something simple, a bank robbery. You arrive late to the scene, some of the robbers are already escaping. Police are in pursuit, but you also know hostages are still inside. Do you go to pursue, or to check on the hostages within?"

|Miroru|

[Miroru]

Rokuhane Miroru

Department of Heroes Freshman

Prism, the Spectrum Hero

Demura Kano | ### | notes

Miroru couldn't help snorting a bit at being called a living weapon. "I mean, sure, as long as the villains are acting in literal broad daylight or setting a lot of fires." Not really contesting his point, but putting constraints on the compliment, as if she was on some level afraid of getting praise she didn't deserve. "Really? Your quirk makes you strong, too? I could feel the electric charge in and around you when you used it a few moments ago, but I didn't realize that the energy itself wasn't the primary factor of your quirk."

She waved off the compliment again, pointing out, "The light show, I'm proud of, but turning off the lights is literally just like draping a sheet over a bird cage. It's pretty from the outside though. I found it was easiest to just refract the incoming light and scatter it in rainbow sparkles rather than try to actually halt the light in place." She did nod along as he stated the importance of responsibility, though. That, she agreed with.

"Mm. Good plan. I also am working on some vertical mobility so I can shift the line of fire in situations like that off the ground floor and up above the skyline. But yeah... drawing you away probably would have been the play." She spoke without turning to follow him as he circled her, though her ears pivoted with his movement. "Stay to help the hostages. There's police in pursuit of the fugitives, so they'll be able to provide up to date locations to incoming heroes. The safety of the civilians comes first." As she spoke, a cartoony display appeared over her shoulders of each option. One showed a stick figure with a poofy tail run after a car and fall over exhausted, and the other showed her going into a building where puffs of dust and stars came out the windows, only for the door to open to show a few people tied up with exaggerated lumps and swirly eyes.

I can pay no price too great for justice.

Template by: Monkey

[Demura Kano]

He wondered if she understood just how incredible what she had done was. That kind of technique and finesse in one's abilities was something even a few of the seniors struggled with- no, active Pro Heroes. It took a lot to develop one's Quirk to such a versatile degree, especially if its starting point wasn't much to begin with. "Don't downplay your ability, Miroru. You at a level that even some of my peers struggle to reach." She was quick to dismiss it all, though. He had called it a lightshow earlier, but that'd been him phrasing it casually. He'd need to work on that, so as to not accidentally break the self-confidence of his students during training.

"Good ear. Strength enhancement is one factor of my Quirk. Never forget that the unknown is your greatest advantage as a hero, and your greatest enemy. Discovering the fundamentals of how someone else's Quirk operates allows you to counter, or even shut it down completely. And many, too many actually, really on their abilities as a crutch as time goes on, so once stripped of it, they're no better than the average salaryman." His Quirk was probably among the simplest out there, in terms of capability and function. The more damage he receives, the stronger and faster he can get. But most, like Miroru, were confused or offput by the energy output of his body when it was active, making them think something more was going on. "A bit of personal advice for the future, don't always go for the spotlight. Never know whose watching."

"Fair answer. No wrong choices really in that regard, except wasting too much time thinking." He stopped pacing to watch her images play out the scene in front of him. "So what kind of hero do you want to be?"

"Like Incapacitator, a villain hunter? Taking down the worst of the worst? Like Bravo, a people's champion, saving those who need it always in the nick of time? What do you want to do with your career?" He'd been asked that question a thousand times in UAU coming up, and a few more once he'd graduated. Demura was neither a villain-hunter nor a champion... he'd what people called a gang-buster. He fought and broke down the organizations in Japan's underworld, the Yakitori, the Yakuza, the Blue Oni.... the rot beneath society that'd eroded its pillars.

|Miroru|

[Miroru]

Rokuhane Miroru

Department of Heroes Freshman

Prism, the Spectrum Hero

Demura Kano | ### | notes

Miroru screwed her face up a bit as she was told not to downplay her ability. "On some level I know you're right, but at the same time, it rankles. Like, I've put in tons of practice and study and effort, and a lot of it just... isn't applicable. I'm not where I need to be. Right now, it's a utility belt, a mirror, and an orbital laser, and only the mirror is directly useful in stopping criminals in their tracks. And that's assuming the perp isn't immune to their own nonsense, which isn't uncommon."

She shrugged a little bit. "It's impressive, but it's also just... not helpful in giving me options besides knocking people's lights out up close. That's all."

The idea of thinking about the unknown being useful when it came to street-level encounters made Miroru ponder a little. "I could try using that. Depending on what's available, I can mimic a few different types of quirks and only display a portion of the spectrum. Like, if there's a fire, I could use the infrared radiated heat to pretend I've got a heat control quirk, and then there's no reason for them to suspect I can make images and stuff."

She did grin pleasantly at the bit about what some are reduced to without their quirk as a crutch. "Gotta say, that's one nice thing I have going for me. Even without my quirk, since all my subdual techniques are strictly martial arts, I'm just as equipped to knock the socks off someone with a nullifier quirk as I am anyone else."

The next point gave her some pause, and she nodded. "Too much time thinking... yeah, I see what you mean. I get caught up in reaching for the best answer sometimes. I'll have to work on that. And no worries about the spotlight. It's really not what I'm angling for."

What kind of hero. "Honestly, I'm more planning for what sort of hero society I want to see. I want to try to help everyone else make connections and build a sense of camraderie that will help eliminate the presence of toxic competition among the Heroes of the Association. I want people to see themselves as part of a protective community, not a competitive workforce, so they stop tearing each other down and sabotaging everyone else to look better by comparison."

A deep breath. "And to do that, I need to be the best hero I can be to earn the respect of other heroes and the populace. So when I call for reforms, people see someone on top aiming to make things better- not some nobody whinging about the "proven" methods of better heroes."

I can pay no price too great for justice.

Template by: Monkey