Chapter 14 Why am I on Fire? by Yojimbra

Are you sure you can handle it on your own?" I asked, my voice light. I had managed to find a dark backstage room away from everyone else, and I had elected to spend the few peaceful moments that I had talking to Rei over the phone.

And she was being mean to me.

"Oh please, quit being such a baby." Rei's voice was full of life and joy. "I can handle some furniture without you, but don't worry, I'll make sure we all watch you come in second place."

"Are you sure I'm the one with the fire quirk cause you're really good at burning me."

"Someone has to keep you on your toes."

I smiled and let out a long breath. I wished that Rei could have been here for this, even if I didn't feel like I earned my ranking, in part because I had just picked up where Endeavour left off. The statistics didn't lie; despite the fact that I had been here for most of the year, the few months that Endeavour had before my arrival made up half of the total cases resolved. On the plus side, my public relations had grown. Which was surprising because I'm fairly certain I'm an asshole. "I really wish I was home right now."

"Home," I could hear Rei's smile, "or with me?"

"Both." Chances are I had the biggest, goofiest grin on my face. Already, I could feel my nervousness fading as I heard the stage crew buzz around, getting everything set up for the top ten hero billboard thingy. "Being home with you would probably be the best, but having you here would probably help me a whole lot."

"I know, I know, and in the future I will be, but we needed someone here for the movers. Look at it this way, when you get back I get to surprise you with our new room! I almost have everything ready!"

"I am so excited for this."

"Oooh my," if my phone could blush it would, "I had no idea you were so excited to sleep with me Enji, if that's the case I might need to mentally prepare myself."

I put the fire out that I had caused before the alarms could even be set off and stared at the vague direction of home, desperately trying to see if I could somehow see Rei from all the way over there. "I, umm, well, I'm. I'm always excited to see you, so, I really want to know what it's like to see you first thing in the morning. When we're not on the couch."

"Seriously!" Rei snorted, I heard her dropped her phone and then scramble to pick it up again. There was a pause and the sound of tapping and my phone buzzed again. It was a request for a video call. Right! Smart phones could do that now! I accepted in a heartbeat and spun my phone to face me. I saw Rei, her long white hair spread about her as she laid on what I could only guess was our new bed. The black ribbed sweater she had on highlighted all her features, from her fair skin to her silver eyes, and especially the blush on her face. "Alright, I dare you to say that to my face."

"Say what?" I asked, the conversation between us had all but yeeted itself out of my mind.

"What you just said!" Rei bit her lip. "About, wanting to wake up with me."

"Oh." I felt my cheeks burn. "Well, I just really like the idea of being able to wake up with you, and watching you sleep for a few moments in the morning if I wake up first."

"Stalker," Rei hummed wiggling on our bed. "Alright, then how would you wake me up?"

"On accident." Like with a fart or something. "But, if I did it on purpose, I'd probably end up waking you up when I push your hair out of your face, and if that didn't work, I'd try for a kiss."

Rei hummed closing her eyes and smiling. "If that's the case I might just pretend to be asleep."

"Doesn't that ruin some of the magic?"

She only shrugged. "Just because I'm awake doesn't mean I don't want a good morning kiss, and I think the magic part is knowing that's how you'll wake me up in the morning. Besides," she placed her fingers in her lips and gave a small kiss before tapping the camera of her phone, "I'll do the same if I wake up first, mostly so I know you're dreaming about me."

"Why would I dream about you?" My mouth said before my mind could process what it was actually saying. "Nothing could beat the real deal."

"God you're cheesy." Rei laughed, smiling, blushing and giggling as she brought the phone closer to her face. "You better be prepared for tonight."

"I am," I said with a smile. I saw a stage hand waving over to me. "Ahh, looks like I need to go. Thanks for the pep talk Rei." I paused for a second. Sighed. Then smiled. "I love you."

I saw her wide eyes and wider smile before I hung up.

"What is it?" I asked walking up to the stage hand, I had long since stopped trying to put the right amount of asshole in the way I spoke to people, now I just talk how I normally did. Short, blunt, and with zero ability to carry a conversation with anyone that wasn't Rei, Nezu, or All Might.

"We're just waiting on you sir!" The stage hand gave an awkward salute and stood even straighter. "We're going live in about five minutes sir!"

"You say sir too much."

"Sorry Sir."

I rolled my eyes and gestured for him to lead the way.

There were a lot of people here. A whole lot of people.

Enough people for me to get a mild dosage of stage fright the moment we stepped out to greet them.

"You got this." All Might slapped my back and gave me a sly wink. "Remember that I'm here to support you."

I nodded, though the butterflies in my stomach didn't diminish in the slightest. I glanced down the row of the other top ten heroes, some of them I had met personally since I had taken over as Endeavour, with only one that I'd recognized from the manga; The Equipped Hero: Yoroi Musha. He looked nearly exactly how he did when he made his debut in the show, however his beard was salt and peppered rather than pure white.

But it wasn't the heroes I was afraid of. The crowd stretched out before me, a dozen cameras all pointed towards us, flashing lights, helicopters buzzing about, and just in general a lot of visual and audio noise. I bit my lip and took a deep breath.

Rei was watching. Touya was watching. Fuyumi was watching.

Even though Nezu wanted me to give some kind of a message to the people, to make a statement in front of millions of people, I chose to talk to Fuyumi, Touya, and Rei directly. Largely because the idea of over a million people watching me was actually a bit terrifying. Then again, the auto-tune meme song that someone had made out of my voice clips somehow had a hundred million views on youtube.

The internet is a strange and confusing place.

Wait.

When did I become a Boomer?

The rankings didn't come as a surprise to me, not really at any rate, but what bothered me was how isolated I felt with All Might. No one else was close to us. The distance between myself and All Might was less than the distance between myself and the number three pro hero. And in twenty years, only three of us would still be standing on this stage.

Maybe. Hopefully?

I'm not sure I even wanted this spot if I was honest. And I wasn't even the one shouldering the whole of society. That was on All Might. When he showed up, a disaster turned into a spectacle. It wasn't his fault though, he was actually trying to bring peace. It was like no one was asking what would happen if All Might wasn't here.

Or, maybe, they were just afraid to even think about that.

Being afraid of a thought.

Now that was a mood.

"Alright! Thank you Sakumoto~! Our number three hero! Truly someone that's far too cool for their own good!" The hostess walked in front of me. "Now, before we get onto the number one pro for the tenth year in a row, it's time we talk to the man that has been hot on his heels for four years straight! The number two hero, and the talk of the town, the flame hero Endeavour!"

Deer in headlights.

My body froze and my mind went blank.

"So Endeavour, people have noticed the drastic change in the way you've been handling cases, where before you had some of the most violent cases, now you have more non-violent cases than even All Might does! When you couple that with your recent statements, people have been wanting to know what brought about this change? Is this a new tactic to over take All Might?"

There was a snickering in the crowd, the heroes, the city, the world.

Becoming number one felt like such a far away goal that I almost understood how it could blind Endeavour.

I stared at the microphone that had been shoved into my face.

"I…" The carefully laid speech that I had spent hours working on, that I had poured my heart and soul into making certain that every single word meant something came crumbling down. The speech I had built now meant nothing, but the words and ideas behind it, those were still there.

I grabbed the mic.

Fuck the script.

"I'm not All Might."

The snickering stopped. All eyes were on me.

I looked at the camera, it felt like I was looking right at Rei, right at Touya and Fuyumi.

"I will never be All Might. I don't want to be All Might. Nobody can replace him." I pointed towards the seven foot tall man and then gestured towards the crowd. "Right now, this man is holding this society up all on his own, when people say that he is a pillar of peace and justice, that is beyond true. And he is our sole pillar. So. What happens when he's gone? He might be All Might but he's still just human."

"Enji," I heard All Might give a harsh whisper to me. Naturally I did the thing where I kept talking even when I should have just shut the fuck up.

"That's what I realized. I realized that I couldn't take All Might's place, that I couldn't become the next pillar of peace and justice. So I thought." I slammed my fist down against the air, over and over again like I was slamming down on some kind of an anvil. "No, I realized that in order to make the most out of All Might, to truly thank him for giving all of us this brief glimmer of peace, we need to work towards making a society where he can retire in peace. So that's what I'm doing. I'm not just trying to stop the villains as they come, I'm trying to stop new villains from ever becoming villains."

I felt All Might's hand on my shoulder and looked back to see him smiling at me.

Right.

Keep going.

Follow the momentum.

Deliver the call to action.

"The status quo only works because of All Might. We need to look at what causes civillains to become villains." I paused, taking a deep breath. "So that's what I'm trying to do. I'm no leader, no politician, I can only do what I think is best and hope that's enough."

I handed the microphone back and walked off the stage.

I needed a hug.

A hug from Rei specifically.

And one from Fuyumi and Touya. Actually, just let me hug my whole damn family.

On my way out I got a few texts.

Nezu: I'm not sure if you're an idiot or a genius.

Same.

Rikiya: That was an amazing speech! I've been developing my campaign strategy for a while! Tomorrow I will announce my intent to run for office! Because of you I feel like… 1/26

That was a lot of texts I wasn't going to read. Though I probably should.

Rei: That was kind of hot.

And that made everything worth it.