Evaluation

It's the next day and I'm still thinking about the club's request from yesterday.
'Ask her to help them learn magic, and be heroes... I should just do it and get it over with. No way she'll say yes anyway.'

...

"Hm, yeah sure."
"Huh?"
"No wait, I should definitely check them first."
"Oh, you almost had me there, I thought you were going to blindly say yes."
"Well most likely I'll still do it, after all, magic is great! And if they want to be heroes, then even better!"
'There's no way somebody like this is a feared hero...'
"Are you sure?"
"Again, I'll need to check them first and their abilities, I'll be curious to see if they're any good, can I meet your friends?"
'You already have... But I'll let her find out on her own.'
"Yeah, sure, probably sometime after school."
"Great! I'll just meet them on the school gymnasium."
"What? I don't know if that'd be allowed."
"Well, if we were to use the HQ training grounds it might be dangerous, with everyone else also training there. I don't want to risk anything. Besides the principal will let me, I'm sure she admires me! Last time I was there, she wouldn't stop shaking with excitement! I truly am adored~"
'Something tells me it wasn't because of excitement, if what Tarou said was true.'

...

After school I told the club about what Gaia said.
"LET'S GO!"
"Nice!"
"Cool."
"Well, I still don't know if anything is gonna come of it, she's only gonna test your skills first, to see if you're any good."
"That's fine, I've been curious on if I'd be a good match anyway."
"I'm just looking for something interesting to see."
"Well, we'll see when it happens, we gotta get through club first though, isn't that right Tarou?"

'...Wait where'd he go?'

"Has anyone seen where Tarou went?"
Suddenly I start hearing hurried footsteps rush into the club room.
"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS STILL WAITING HERE FOR? I SAID LET'S GO!"

'When did he run off like that? He can be fast when he wants to huh?'

"What about club?"
"Are you having a bleeding laugh? WHO CARES, WE HAVE A REAL HERO THAT WILL TEACH US MAGIC!"
"It's not guaranteed yet, she's here to test your abilities first."
"WHATEVER, Let's go!"

...

We rushed over to the gymnasium, in part thanks to Tarou running ahead of us, and got there pretty fast.
"THERE SHE IS! Gaia!"
"Oh, hey, got here pretty fast, that's good, I love seeing people excited to learn magic for such a noble cause, imagine if I had to wait for you to finish club, that would be negative marks right there."

Tarou quickly elbows me in the gut.
'...!'
"Told you."
'That hurt...'
"Ow, did you even notice where you hit?"
'...Nothing, he's too starstruck to notice.'

"Wait a minute... You guys... I recognize two of you."
Her expression turns icy in a flash.
"I remember trying to teach you a lesson before."
Shin starts panicking.
"Uhhh, Kazu? Did you not smooth it over for us?"
"I'm glad I wasn't part of what happened back then."

'Damn it, I forgot.'

"Ah, can I talk to you for a minute?"
I walk her over to the side and have a chat with her.
"THESE guys are the friends you were talking about?!"
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you, but these guys are good, I promise!"
"More like irresponsible, they could have been in danger! Needless to say, also potentially putting others in danger too! Just them being there complicates a heroes duty!"

'This is not going well...'
I look over and accidentally lock eyes with Tarou.
'Wow, he's pleading with his eyes... and Shin is... Mouthing words?
"Smooth... it... over..."
Right... I'll try.

...I got an idea.'

"Exactly."
"Huh?"
"Because they're inexperienced and don't know anything they'll do these dumb mistakes, what better way to learn then from a real hero, and a great one at that!"
"Attempting flattery huh? Well let me warn you right now... That it absolutely works, go on."
"I'm serious, if they learn from someone as powerful as you, there's no way they'll fail! Besides, as you mentioned, it's a noble cause!"
"I see your point.
...Alright, fine, I'll see if they're any good."

We walk back over to them.
"Ok, I want all of you to show me your abilities."

They're all looking at each other.
"...You guys do know magic right? Aren't you guys part of a club? Who's the leader?"
"Uh, me! We mostly go around seeing if there's any villains to report to HQ, we absolutely do not stick around after that though!"
"And the other time?"
"Ah, that was a mistake, we just wanted to make sure that if the hero failed we could ask for reinforcements! Promise!"
"Right... Well in any case, you're telling me you want me to teach you magic... from the basics?"
She looks over at me.
"Sorry, but you gotta start somewhere am I right? You can teach them!"

She goes back to looking at them, and starts pondering, before finally speaking again.
"Ok, how about this, let's start with a basic gathering of energy, based on that, I'll see if it's worth it."
"YES MADAM!"
She shoots an icy stare at Tarou
"Uh... Uhm... I mean... Coach?"
'Woah, he caught on fast.'
"That's better.
First I want you to imagine yourself in a field of snow, that snow is the energy used for whichever magic you use, then I want you to imagine yourself gathering that snow, as if absorbing it into a ball floating in your hands. Got it?"
"I think so, what about you Shin?"
"A little yeah-"
"Enough chatting! Arms out, NOW!"

'Woah, she got serious fast.'

After a while not much seems to happen.
"...Ok, at first glance this is not showing much promise...
Everyone, progress reports."
"This is way more difficult than I thought..."
"I think I might give up."
"One quitter and one with no progress, what kind of club is this...
What about you third? Leader boy?"
Tarou remains quiet.
"Huh, he must be focusing a ton..."
"That's good, but...
He seems to be doing great, but I can't see anything... Unless?
...Hey, lead-"

She reaches her arm to touch him on the shoulder. The moment she does that, his concentration breaks, causing him to opens his eyes and a blastwave to explode from his back.
'...Please don't tell me that's what I think that was...'
"Huh what? Oh, sorry, I was focusing there, what happened?"
"Tell me exactly what you were imagining and how."
"Yeah, please tell us!"
"Well, just like you said, I was gathering snow, but I didn't want to stop, and since it was a lot of snow I started putting it in my backpack instead."
"You imagined yourself a backpack?"
"Yeah... Did I do it wrong?"
"Normally what I told you would have made a ball materialize in your hands, but instead, you put that ball on your back, you also kept going and instead of stopping at a reasonable size, you stored too much and lost control."

'Well breaking his concentration didn't help.'

"Had I not stopped you when I did, you would have blown yourself up.
You need to learn to control how much energy you gather."
"I... I see."

'No way, that wasn't an accident? She meant to stop him?'

"Well Kazu, I'll give it you, these guys are interesting...
Ok, I'll accept teaching them magic, or at least the basics, realistically I think the other two are gonna need to put in a LOT more hard work, but it's doable. Meanwhile leader boy here seems to learn fast, he has potential."
"I have... Potential?!"
"Hard work? Can I resign now?"
"Hm, I can put in more hard work, this is kind of fun, at least for now."

'Well that's unexpected, good for them.'

"Let's do our first training boot camp this Saturday! Everyone's invited."
"Huh? Wait, me too? I don't want to be part of it though..."
"Well it's the first boot camp so I'd like all four of you there, or it won't happen."

Tarou immediately shoots me a glare, meanwhile Shin looks at me with hope as Hiro stands indifferently.
"...Fine."
"YAY!"
"Great! Maybe you'll decide to join too if you start finding it fun!"

'So that's why she wanted me there.

What a hassle... Tarou becoming a hero would be cool though...
I wonder how much potential he has? Good for him.

...I also wonder how mom will react to this when we have to go to this 'boot camp'...

We'll cross that bridge when we get there.'