Chapter 1: Introduction
I could feel the sweat drifting down the side of my face, running past my temple as I held an envelope that could change my fate, my life. I pinched it in between my fingers, as if it was the most sacred envelope in the world, as if the bacteria from my fingers could totally contaminate the envelope and turn it into dust.
"It's time to see my fate!" I declared to anyone who stood in the empty locker room as I carefully pushed my thumb under the lip of the envelope and slowly but steadily, ripped. It. Open.
In my eyes, a bright shining light erupted from the tear, shining brightly as I squinted from the sudden gush of glory. My heart thumped loud enough I bet it echoed throughout the room. My thumb and index finger reached in and took out the single letter, the one that would tell me my destiny, my fate.
'You're being so dramatic just open the damn thing,' an inside voice said in annoyance, 'You're only acing this way because nobody is in the room!'
"NO!" I shouted aloud, answering my own thoughts…..yes you read that right, "This must be done with precise precision or it could change the results!" I resumed my task, taking the letter out of its casing and tossing the envelope away. My heart beat continued to increase as I unfolded the most sacred, the most holy, the most intricate of results that would deter-
"56 POINTS?!" I exclaimed, "Sorry Miss Midori Hashimoto but you have not made the 70 points required to become a professional hero?!"
A thousand times I had read those words yet a thousand times I read them as if it were the first time.
"WHY? DAMMIT!" I yelled in anger as I threw the 'not so sacred sheet' onto the floor and stomped on it with all my might, "IS IT BECAUSE IM A WOMAN?! IS THAT IT?"
"The Hero Certification Exam is now over, please exit the venue," An automated voice echoed throughout the locker room and probably throughout the whole entire venue, as usual.
Defeated, I sighed as I picked my rejection letter back up and folded it neatly into my back pocket. One day these rejection letters were going to remind me of how far I've gotten, how everyone told me I was weak and I would never be a professional hero. I will look at these and let my ego soared through the roof with pride as I become well known throughout the land as a successful hero. Just, this wasn't the future and my destiny wasn't in action … yet.
"Maybe next month Midori!" One of the staff called out to me as I exited the venue, I had tried many times in the same venue so much that I had actually become acquainted with people who worked here.
"Definitely next time Kenji! You bet your ass I'll be a profession hero soon!" I exclaimed as I continued to walk away, Kenji waved goodbye back.
"I'll bet on it!" He called after me as I turned the corner and disappeared out of his sight.
As soon as I was out of sight I let my shoulders sag and put less effort into walking, resulting in my trainers slightly scraping the pavement with every step. I lost count of how many times I applied, no matter how hard I trained I only managed to up my score by 2 points since last time. Don't get me wrong, progress is progress and I should be glad that I'm showing some progress but… WHY CAN'T I PASS ALREADY?
I know the physical exam is my weakness and I'm trying to work on that but even on the written exam, I should be passing that with flying colours. Yet I'm still stuck here, forced to wait for my dream to become a reality.
As I climbed the stairs to my apartment and took out my key, I also took out the exam results paper from my back pocket. I walked in and shut the door behind me whilst I took my shoes off and slipped on my slippers, looking over the results.
"I scored 45 on the written exam but on the physical I only scored 11 points….11?!" I exclaimed as I looked over to the cork board that hung on the wall opposite the TV and above my desk with my laptop, I called it, the 'Get Better Motivation Board'… I also couldn't think of a better name than that. The cork board held all my exam result papers from the Hero Certification event, each one saying I didn't make the 70 points required.
Rustling through the papers I let out an exasperated shout or some kind of noise that I can't explain, "I don't understand! Two exams ago I got 14 points on the physical part, what did I do wrong?" I asked myself and held my chin in thought, "Am I stupid?"
I sighed and pinned my latest result onto my motivation board before going to my calendar and marking the next date I was going to sign up for the exam, or should I? Altogether I was giving myself a month to train and get better but have I not been training enough?
Suddenly my phone rang startling me a little, I huffed and walked over to my jacket which I threw onto the floor when I came in, and dug into the pocket.
"Hmm?" I answered, not finding the effort to look at who was calling or give a proper greeting.
"GREET YOUR MOTHER PROPERLY!" The angry voice of my mum shouted down the line so loud I swear I could feel the force of the wind blowing my hair back.
"H-hello!" I perked up.
"Hey honey its mum! I can't stay on the line long because I'm pretending to go for a bathroom break at work but I wanted to call like I always do after your exam…soooo how did it go?"
I sighed and glanced over to the rejection/motivation board again, "I… didn't get through," once again I thought about how many times I had to tell my mother that. Every time I took the exam my mother would call an hour after I finished, she was so supportive of me even though I had failed many many times, always confident like I was about my destiny to be a hero. She's one of the reasons I try and try again, I didn't want her confidence and support for me to go to waste.
"Oh, honey I'm so sorry. But look on the bright side you have more time to improve and an in-"
"Infinite amount of times to enter, I know mum," I chuckled, "Thanks for calling anyway."
"It's no problem for my little girl, besides I still await the day I jump for joy when you've told me you've passed. I know you'll pass one day honey, I believe in you," I could almost hear her smiling on the other end.
"Thanks mum, just you wait I'll call you as soon as I've passed," I said with determination written all over my face, I got so pumped up with motivation to improve that I was fist pumping the air.
"Well I got to go, my boss might get suspicious of me. Love you loads! Bye bye," My mum said, I said my goodbyes before hanging up and staring at the motivation board with my fist still in the air.
I didn't have special abilities, no powers that I obtained from birth or super strength. I couldn't even sign up for Master Bang's dojo because apparently, there wasn't any room for more newbies. I emailed all the superheroes from class S to B to take me on as a pupil yet they either rejected me or never replied. I also felt that sometimes I wasn't taken seriously as a hero because most heroes are men, and in biological terms women weren't strong enough to be a decent hero unless they had some sort of psychic powers or elemental stuff.
All I had was my motivation and hard training to get me through, but I was determined to do so. Though I think I could become an ugly hero, if I trained hard enough to get muscles they sometimes don't even look nice on guy heroes, on a woman they might look monstrous… oh well, I want to become a hero!
~The Next Day~
"Morning Miss Hashimoto, how did the exam go?" My boss greeted me as I walked into my office, he was hovering over my desk and as usual he proceeded to refill my input file section.
You see, I worked at a publishing company and at times I felt like it was the best job I could ask for. My boss and co-workers were great company; everyone was friendly to each other and the only reason someone would freak out was because their turkey sandwich went missing from the company kitchen we all shared. My job was to read stories sent in by amateur authors and see if they were any good enough to be mass produced into the world. We mainly focus on fiction novels and although our offices were small there were many across the country.
If a story was worth publishing I would simply leave it in the accepted output file case and someone would collect it at the end of the day. I had my own office and everything, the others had jobs to do with editing manuscripts, adjusting slight grammar and punctuation mistakes whilst working with the author to produce a professional copy of their pride and joy. It's a great job, but as everyone knew, I wanted to become a hero.
"I didn't get through, but there's always next time!" I exclaimed as my boss smiled at me. He always said he liked my enthusiasm and determination, some of the reasons he hired me in the first place.
"Well can I just say that I'm happy you're not leaving us just yet," He replied and I gave him a lopsided grin, "Well it's a new day and a new week full of stories so get crack-in," He winked before leaving me in my office.
I grabbed a coffee and settled down before reaching for the first book, which at this point was just pages held together by a bulldog clip, sometimes they just put different chapters into polly-pockets and they slide all over the place, sometimes they buy huge binders and sometimes they make it into a homemade book binding product themselves. Those are the cutest.
But honestly you could present it however fancy and decorated you wanted it to be, it's a bit of a waste cause the only thing that will matter is the story.
I guess you could say the same about a hero.
It doesn't matter what costume you put yourself in, if you can't save people then what good are you as a hero?
Maybe that was me altogether.
I don't have the physical ability of a hero, therefore I wouldn't be a very good hero because I wouldn't be able to save anybody. Should I just, give up?
Despite my confidence, the thought has come across my mind every now and again, maybe, just maybe, this wasn't my destiny at all and I should just stay with a job judging how creative people wrote.
Nah I've put way too much effort into becoming a hero besides, my mother would kill me.
Thank you for reading the introduction/chapter 1 to my first One Punch Man fanfiction. I was so pumped to write this I couldn't hold back so here you go!
Just to clarify this was just sort of an introduction to the character, their personality what their job is and what their ambitions are and such. I'm trying to keep the humorous side of one punch man that I love so much.
Would you like to see a pairing? i love all the characters so I don't mind letting you decide!
Please feel free to review if you liked the intro, future chapters will be longer than this but I had to write this to satisfy my urge.
Also if you review can you answer this question, what powers would you like Midori to have?
Strength from training - Psychic powers - Elemental Powers - Unique Fighting Techniques
Thank you once again for reading! Don't forget to review! it encourages me to continue the story and avoid writer block.