My Hero Academia: Thunder God

During breakfast, not only was Kaminari in high spirits, but his parents were equally excited.

For Kaminari's mother, it was pride in her son's talent, but for his father, as an entrepreneur, it was more than that. He felt like he was witnessing another money-making tree beginning to sprout.

This excitement didn't fade even as he and Kaminari got into the car. Instead, he silently made up his mind: the company needed to expand.

Worst case scenario, he could take out a bank loan. With the current success of "Pokémon," he believed the bank wouldn't refuse. Once the funds were secured, they could expand their workforce and even purchase an office building.

The only reason they hadn't done so yet was because he didn't want the company to go public. Truthfully, though, the company behind the "Pokémon" IP had been strapped for cash from the start.

Soon, under Snatch's smooth driving, the black Toyota which Kaminari found plain but knew was expensive enough to qualify as a luxury car headed toward the company.

For the record, this was his father's second car. While more valuable than the previous one, it hadn't cost much because Toyota was part of the Mitsui Consortium.

"Dad, we probably won't be able to handle producing the dueling equipment for 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' ourselves, right?" Kaminari asked, holding Pikachu in his lap.

His father nodded with a resigned sigh. "Right, we can't handle that."

Battle disks and large-scale duel field equipment required advanced technology and resources far beyond their current capabilities.

"Then why not partner with Mitsui and let them handle it? We can focus on the animation, game design, card production, and organizing tournaments," Kaminari suggested, voicing a plan he had been thinking about for a while.

"Games, cards, tournaments…"

His father mulled over these words, which were unfamiliar concepts to him. He had no issue with developing a game after all, a franchise like "Yu-Gi-Oh!" would be incomplete without one.

However, their company wasn't a game development studio. Venturing into that field would require a significant financial investment.

"Son, can we really make money off the cards? I mean… how much money? And what's the purpose of these tournaments?"

Apparently, the concept of e-sports wasn't well-known in this world—or at least, not widely recognized.

"As long as we take measures to prevent counterfeiting, selling cards can absolutely make a lot of money. Some rare cards can even become collectibles or luxury items. Of course, we'd have to handle this part ourselves."

Kaminari recalled a news story from his previous life about a card collector auctioning off one of their rarest cards. It had sold for 45 million yen.

There would always be people with more money than they knew what to do with, and there weren't just one or two of them in the world.

"By the way, the cards could also include anti-counterfeiting technology. Since they'll eventually be used with duel disks and other equipment, we can ensure only authentic cards work with the devices!"

This idea spilled out of Kaminari's mouth as his eyes gleamed with excitement.

He couldn't help but marvel at how the technology of this world could bring so many of his ideas to life. For a time traveler with a love for fantasy and innovation, it was an incredibly satisfying realization.

"Maybe, one day, I'll be able to summon Rayquaza myself and have it face off against a Blue-Eyes White Dragon…"

Of course, the Pokémon-themed deck he'd mentioned earlier was mostly for his own amusement.

Wouldn't it be perfect for Kaminari, the main character behind Pokémon, to use a Pokémon-themed deck? It felt like destiny!

"Hmm… following that logic, we could even create Marvel- or DC-themed decks. The balancing and chain effects for the decks can be handled by professional game designers. Otherwise, what's the point of hiring them?"

Kaminari was caught up in his thoughts when he realized the scenery outside the window had stopped moving.

"We've arrived," Snatch said, looking into the rearview mirror as he parked the car.

"Thanks for the ride. Let's go check out the new song," Kaminari's father said as he stepped out of the car, smiling as he walked toward the office building with his son. Snatch, his personal bodyguard, followed closely behind.

"Well, I'm looking forward to it too. This will be my first official performance," Kaminari replied, the excitement evident in his tone.

Though the audience this time would mostly consist of kids and teachers, he still couldn't wait.

Father and son soon took the elevator to the company's floor.

"Good morning, President!"

The male secretary, who had once sent Kaminari home, was already waiting for them by the elevator.

"Good morning," Kaminari's father replied warmly before turning to his son. "You head to the recording studio and get ready. I'll stop by the office first."

"Got it."

Kaminari stepped back into the elevator and went up to the recording studio. The moment he walked in, Dawu, the studio technician, jumped up excitedly.

"Good morning, young master!"

Finally, the owner of this recording studio had arrived!

While getting paid for doing almost nothing sounded like a dream at first—and Dawu had thought so, too—it had quickly lost its appeal.

Every morning, Dawu clocked in at nine, spent the day playing on his phone, and clocked out around six in the evening. His only real work involved cleaning and checking equipment, and he was only allowed an hour-long break for lunch.

Most of his time was spent confined to this small recording studio. At some point, he started to feel like he was under house arrest. The boredom was unbearable.

So today, seeing Kaminari finally show up made him practically delirious with joy. In his excitement, Dawu didn't even notice the Pikachu trailing behind Kaminari. If he had, his reaction as a fellow anime fan might have been even more dramatic.

"Uh, morning…" Kaminari was taken aback by Dawu's enthusiasm, but since he didn't know him well, he didn't comment. Instead, he pulled a USB drive out of his pocket and handed it over.

"The new songs are on here. Get them ready, I want to practice a bit before the others arrive."

"Got it! I'll start right away!"

Dawu's face lit up like a firework as he took the USB drive. Internally, he was shouting, Finally, work! Oh, I love work!

Kaminari watched him speechlessly for a moment before shaking his head. "Alright, I'll just get started myself."

He headed to the instrument storage area, picked up his guitar, and immediately felt something was off. It didn't take long to figure out what it was.

"Wow… it's been a while since I last played. My fingers feel stiff. Looks like I really need more practice…"

Sighing, Kaminari quickly refocused. He smiled at the Pikachu at his feet and said, "Did you know? It's called Pikachu too!"

"Pika? Pikachu!" Pikachu tilted its head before squeaking happily, as if it understood.

"Hmm?"

Dawu, sitting at the mixing console, heard Pikachu's voice and looked over curiously.

The moment his eyes landed on the Pokémon, he froze.

"Th-th-that…"

Dawu's entire body began trembling. His teeth chattered, the corners of his mouth twitched, and his breathing became heavy.

"Pika?"

Noticing Dawu's reaction, Pikachu waved a tiny paw at him in greeting.

SLAP!

Dawu suddenly slapped himself across the face so hard that it startled Kaminari, who was testing his guitar strings.

"What are you doing?" Kaminari asked, baffled.

"Pika?" Pikachu echoed, equally puzzled.

"I… I'm not dreaming, right?"

SLAP!

"Okay… not a dream…"

***

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