Chapter Text
“The first song on your new album is titled ‘I Am Here’, an obvious reference to beloved hero All Might. Has the general public been correct in assuming that the album is an homage to him.”
Pro Hero EarphoneJack is not in her full hero regalia, her civilian clothes still very on brand or her hero aesthetic with the jeans and crop top.
“Yeah, homage is the best word to describe it.” Jirou confirms with a small but confident smile. “Each song involves All Might, but in different ways for each song. Some are more about feelings, some tell how he helped me the most, and some are just about the best parts of him. Like, I Am Here is about the hero Yagi Toshinori, not the hero All Might.”
Jirou is clearly a professional at getting interviewed. Her confidence in communicating complex things makes it easier to understand then over explaining. Her confidence is only helped by Risa Hayashida, anchor and news reporter for NHK. She gives a smile and a nod, before smoothly transitioning.
“How did you go about making that difference?”
”I mean, the obvious part is from the sound in general.” Jirou looks comfortable and completely in her groove talking about music. She’s knowledgeable about how to explain and more so about what’s not needed to talk about.
”Songs about All Might all feel powerful. There's overwhelming emotions of power and positivity at the same time.”
Risa gives a tilt of her head to show her confusion at this last statement.
“Not that it's a bad thing!” Jirou hastily says, giving a little shrug. “I am very honored to have been taught by All Might. He was there when I started class at UA, and every day after him just being around chilled me out. At the same time, I feel just as good after being taught by Small Might.”
The studio audience gives an appropriate round of surprised laughter, and Jirou’s smile makes it obvious that’s what she was going for. Risa herself gives an uncharacteristic snort before turning around to collect herself in a split second.
“I know, I know,” Jirou puts her hands up in surrender. “I picked it up in high school with the rest of my class. I think it was to help him not separate his hero persona as much? Which again, is the main point of this song.”
Risa takes a breath, humming and considering something. She speaks slowly, thinking through her words as she says them.
”Now, my expertise doesn’t get me too far into the music business, but I will admit to having listened to your album multiple times since it came out. Some of those lyrics are making a bit more sense now.”
Behind the two of them, the screen introducing PRO HERO EARPHONE JACK switches into the lyrics for the first verse.
”I open up my heart, you can love me or not
There's no such thing as sin, let it all come right in
I wanna make some mistakes, I wanna sleep in the mud
I wanna swim in the flood”
Jirou gives a nostalgic smile, turning around to see the screen and read her lyrics for herself. She has one knee up on the chair, putting all her focus on her creation.
“This verse was literally the hardest thing to be happy with in the album. The mixing gave me less stress than those lyrics. I bet I was done with everything else before I decided.”
”Is it the pressure of it being the very first verse?” Risa asks, clearly curious about the process.
”That is definitely part of it.” One of Jirous earjacks mimics waving in a vaguely positive motion like her hand is doing. “I mean, with everyone chipping in for the rest of the album I knew it was make it or break it. The more that was done right, the more important it was to have a banger entry. It would really suck if the first words set the wrong vibe. ”
”So what’s the other part of it? Just… trouble deciding what it should be?”
Jirou nods in confirmation. “The first lyrics I had were more… personalized? In a sense? Really it was from my second year when I overheard something from All Might. It was definitely a private moment.”
The entire studio is silent as Jirou visibly gathers herself enough to tell this story. One deep breath later, Jirou cracks a small smile. A smile of a hero.
”I have the bad habit of listening in on conversations that I really shouldn’t. I’ve heard some wacky stuff, but this was the first that really got to me. Right after the first year, Yagi Toshinori was having lunch with the other heroes.”
”Someone asked how he was and Toshinori had a smile in his voice as he explained how he felt worthless during the entire war. I clearly remember him saying that he felt like a rot.”
Risa is speechless. How do you respond to these words? To these feelings? The idea that the symbol of Peace had his own troubling feelings. Jirou widens her smile though, not letting the negativity hang stagnant.
“That’s why we started calling him Small Might. His might isn’t small, it's just his body. His spirit was just as mighty.”
Risa is a true interviewer in the same way that Jirou is a true hero. Risa barely takes time to reconstruct herself after this bombshell and is still able to transition easily and calmly.
“So, how does this all connect to your decision to change the lyrics?”
”It was actually at the suggestion of the producer.”
Risa grabs onto the topic change very quickly.
“This song was produced by P!nk, correct?”
”You got it. I’m really pumped that she said yes to helping, because she is amazing at mixing storytelling and motions. She made me see that I went a bit too deep into the story telling.”
Jirou gave a wry smile. “She basically gave me a therapy session with homework included. I needed to think about everything in that moment overhead. The thing I really wanted to show in the album.”
Quite literally on the edge of her seat, Risa asks in a quiet voice the question on everyone’s mind.
”What did you want to get across?”
”While Yagi Toshinori felt worthless, he still gave his time, used his energy, and spent his life force with a smile on his face.“
The screen behind the two change yet again. Jirous eyes dart to it but makes no effort to dry it like she had with the first lyrics of the album. She knows these like the back of her hand.
”I wrote these lyrics in march of last year. I was in an alleyway behind Tokyo Hero Hospital. My eyes were red from crying, my throat was hoarse from screaming. These were the first things I wrote andI never changed them.”
”May the light be upon me
May I feel in my bones that I am enough
I can make anywhere home
My fingers are clenched, my stomach's in knots
My heart, it is racing, but afraid, I am not”
”Yagi Toshinori healed from the war. Not physically,but he very easily left like just being here was enough. And when he could no longer be here, he wasn’t afraid to leave it to us.”