Chapter 106: The Zoo
The group of teenagers continued to pester Mr. Fujiwara. "If you had been there, Pops, we definitely would have won!" "You're a legendary God of Cars, after all!" "Those punks from the Shark Bites... if you had shown up, they would have bowed down in respect!"
Mr. Fujiwara placed the food in front of them, annoyed. "You kids need to solve your own problems. I'm not cleaning up your messes. Besides, I'm a car specialist. I'm not riding one of your kid's motorcycles!"
As the food was served, the teenagers finally quieted down, rubbing their hands together and drooling. "Even though Pops used to just run a tofu shop, his cooking is definitely on par with a five-star chef!"
Fujiwara crossed his arms and laughed. "When it comes to my cooking, I've always been confident!"
Kira, who had been listening quietly, asked Steel-Gate Rikishi, "What did they mean by 'Hyakki' and 'Shark Bites'?"
"Ah, that's just a little group the local kids put together. They're not bad, just restless. They spend all day riding their motorcycles and racing the kids from the next city over. But since Oma City doesn't have a big-name Pro Hero, our kids have always been looked down on. Not that it stops them from picking a fight."
Kira nodded in understanding and said no more.
After dinner, Kira returned to the Sakihara Ryokan. This time, Mrs. Sakihara didn't say anything about him being a pervert and enthusiastically guided him to the inn's open-air hot spring, allowing Kira to properly relax.
After his bath, Kira lay on his bed in a yukata and took out his phone. He saw that the class chat group had exploded. Everyone was excitedly sharing what they had seen and heard.
Tsuyu was working on the coast with a ship captain; Kirishima had run into Tetsutetsu at his work-study; Uraraka was with the battle hero, Gunhead, and felt that he had a gentle side that didn't match his appearance...
Kira sighed. Everyone else had already met their mentoring Pro Hero, but he didn't even know what his looked like...
Still, Kira didn't regret coming all this way. If he had stayed in a big city, he would have been mobbed on the street. He never would have been able to enjoy this kind of peace and quiet.
Just then, a new message popped up on his phone. It was from Camie Utsushimi.
"Money has been transferred."
Over the weekend, Kira had gone to the bar's basement one more time. The 'soul' band had called him. The reason was simple: they wanted to give him his share of the money.
Camie was the planner; she had handled the venue and the staff. The band had just sung. Logically, she should have taken seven-tenths or more of the profit, but surprisingly, she had chosen to split it 50/50 with the band. And not just the profit, but the gross ticket revenue.
The 'soul' band had then discussed it and decided to take one-fifth of their share and split it between Kira and Hitomi. The rest was divided among themselves.
Kira had been surprised. Although he had helped them a lot, he had only spent a day or two training with them and had only sung a few songs on stage before leaving abruptly. Even Makoto Hibikiya, who had prepared so much for the concert, was only taking one share, yet Kira, who had just joined, was getting a half-share.
Kira had gone into it with the mindset of a volunteer. When Makoto had told him, his first instinct was to refuse. But Makoto had been firm, insisting it was what he deserved, saying that the concert would never have had that kind of stage presence without him.
Seeing that the others were also in agreement, Kira hadn't refused again and had accepted the money.
Besides, according to Camie, there would be another round of royalties after the Blu-rays were sold.
At seven o'clock the next morning, Kira boarded a bus heading into the mountains. It was early, and he was the only passenger. After a chat with the driver, he got the specific location of the zoo.
The bus didn't go directly to the zoo, so after getting off, Kira had to walk for a while before he finally saw the zoo, hidden in the mountains.
The entrance was an archway, with the words "Twilight Zoo" written in artistic kanji. The walls were painted with chibi-style giraffes, lions, and other animals, giving it a comfortable feeling. But... the entrance was dead silent, without any of the life and vitality a zoo should have.
The gate wasn't locked. The zoo was supposedly open for business, but there was no cashier in the ticket booth.
Strange... Kira thought, gently pushing open the gate and walking inside with his luggage.
He had already checked out of the Sakihara Ryokan, so he had to carry his bags with him. If the Pro Hero "Mad Rabbit" didn't live here, he would have to drag all this stuff back to the city.
"Is anyone here?"
Kira walked past a pond. A seal poked its head out of the water and looked at him shyly. He walked past a large tree, and a giraffe, chewing on leaves, lowered its head to watch him. He passed a high perch, and an eagle looked down on him...
He didn't know why, but Kira felt that the way these animals were looking at him was... unusual. As if they had their own thoughts.
Principal Nezu was an animal with a Quirk, able to speak to humans with perfect clarity. When such animals had first appeared, it had caused a societal shock. Many people believed they deserved to be treated as equals.
Many equal-rights activists had held protests and given speeches, and with some of the animals speaking up for themselves, after several years of struggle, these Quirk-enhanced animals were recognized as sentient beings. They enjoyed the same human rights as ordinary citizens. For example, the principal of U.A. was now an animal.
But these animals were still a minority. Most were not mutated. Aside from domesticated livestock like pigs and cows, wild animals, while protected from poachers, did not enjoy human rights and were still kept in zoos to be viewed by people.
"Mr. Cheetah! It's opening time! Please, just eat the food I prepared for you!"
A woman's voice came from around a corner up ahead. Kira walked toward it and saw a woman in what looked like a zookeeper's uniform, holding several pieces of raw meat and trying to stuff them into the mouth of a spotted animal.
That's a cheetah. But the woman in front of Kira didn't seem at all worried that it would attack her. She was complaining to it as she cleaned up the debris near its enclosure.
"Mr. Cheetah, you had another race with the Director last night, didn't you? I'm happy that you're so fired up, but you always just relieve yourself wherever you want after a race! Even if you don't think about yourself, you could at least think of me, your keeper..."
Kira spoke up from behind her. "Excuse me, miss. Do you work here...?"
"EH!?" The woman, who had been focused on cleaning, was so startled by the sudden voice that her pores contracted. She spun around, but because she was wearing oversized rubber boots, she lost her balance. She accidentally knocked over the small bucket of animal feces at her feet, sending it flying straight into the face of the cheetah, who was busy chewing its meat.
The cheetah stopped eating. It slowly turned its head toward the employee.
The employee, seeing what she had done, didn't think to run. Instead, she frantically grabbed a nearby rag and, while yelling "I'm sorry!" began to wipe frantically at the cheetah's face.
The cheetah shook its head, flinging the rag away. It opened its mouth wide at her—
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