Good morning, my readers! How are you doing in these trying times? Before starting with this chapter i just wanted to let you know that i'm making progress with the newst chapters, both with writing and revising.
SSince there are no new comments, we can start with the chapter right away!
It was evening when Shinko returned home.
The boy smiled at the sight of some of his friends (Monoculor, Beetle-Roach and Gelgo) sleeping on the couch with the TV still on.
Shinko also noted a bunch of empty beer cans stacked on the side of the couch.
"I'm home" Shinko said in a calm tone and they woke up.
"Oh hi Shinko, how was the trip?" asked Gelgo out of curiosity
"Pretty good, me and Saitama stopped the Paradisers and got to fight a speedy ninja" Shinko happily answered.
"Seemed interesting enough" replied Monoculor as he stirred a little "and sorry for the mess, we'll clean up now" Monoculor said, after all he finally had a stable home and didn't want to litter it for his friend's sake.
"Of course it wasn't much trouble! Luckily you returned with your shirt intact for a change" Beetle-Roach said in a gruff tone, though there wasn't any ill intent.
Shinko smiled at his friends, but then his face fell.
"You okay there Shinko?"
"It's nothing, but..." Shinko started, sitting at the table.
The other monsters all sat across the table.
"There has been so much going on between evil organizations and rampaging monsters, it makes me think that the heroes aren't doing enough and makes me want to do become a hero...Besides i STILL can't find a decent job and i heard that being a hero pays well" Shinko said as his posture hunched "To put it shortly, i think that it may be the time i register myself in the national superhero registry, but i don't know if i really want to structure my life around constant fighting" he then finished, raising his head to look at his companions:Beetle-Roach looked tense, Gelgo looked understanding (despite having neither expressions nor eyes) and Monoculor spoke up "Althought it's your decision to make, i think it really has come the time for you to enter the hero world. I mean, you kind of fight almost every day and with your strength nothing would ever stand a chance aganist you! Think of all those you could save!"
Shinko pondered on it and then, with resolution in his eyes, said "You're right, i CAN really do this!" then he scratched the back of his head and said "Besides i really need a stable source of income"
The air in the room became nice and calm, but someone else decided to change that.
"So you're finally becoming a hero, huh?" a calm, yet angry voice said from behind Shinko.
The monster that spoke was 196 cm tall with a humanoid body covered in pale cyan fur with some light blue streaks, five fingers on each hand, three on each foot, a long thick tail, two long fox-like ears, two sharp eyes, a weasel-like head and two short (but sharp) blades coming from the back of his hands.
"Ariol, it's not what you think-" Shinko tried to say, but was cut off by the newcomer who turned to Monoculor and said, with an angry tone "I told you that making a human enter our group was a bad idea! All because something like this could happen!"
Ariol is a demon level monster that can masterfully control wind and is currently the strongest member of the Wastelanders, which is a group of monsters led by Monoculor with the sole objective of surviving in this world.
"I understand your concerns, but Shinko is not a bad person. Besides, if we stay in the ghost town, the heroes are not even gonna notice us aside from their monthly checkups" Monoculor explained calmly to Ariol.
"Exactly!" Shinko piped up.
Ariol sighed, then said "Fine then, do what you want, but if things go south then it's your problem"
"Don't worry, nothing bad's going to happen" said Shinko with his usual optimism, but then asked "Though, how did you enter the house?"
"I simply used the UNLOCKED front door" Ariol explained to Shinko, who gasped and went to the door to check if it was still unlocked.
It was.
"Then i bid good night to all of you" Ariol said, his glare excluding Shinko from the group.
X X X
"Big brother, i know you don't like Shinko at all, but at least give him a chance!" a small monster told Ariol once he was back at the Wastelanders' hideout, which was a large, unused complex.
She looked like her older brother, but her snout and eyes were rounder, her fur was a pale green (almost yellow) on her belly, frontal neck and under her arms, while it was bright green on the head, back, arms, legs and tail, she didn't have his arm blades (instead the palms of her hands had dark green circles) and had floppy, bunny-like ears.
She was also half his height.
"Gaia, he's already a human, but now he wants to become a hero as well! You know i cannot tolerate this!" Ariol said alarmed.
Gaia, unlike her older brother, was a weak wolf threat, but she had a kind heart and had remarkable healing abilities.
"I know, but Shinko was so nice when he met us all! I'm sure that he means no harm" Gaia said, looking at her brother in a pleading manner.
"Besides not all heroes are bad...do you remember-" She continued, but was interrupted by Ariol.
"I know, but he is...the best hero in existence...i don't know if there could be someone else like him..."and i won't compare him to Shinko given how little we've met him" he said, uncertainly.
"Still, will you give him a chance? For me?" Gaia pleaded.
Ariol flinched under her puppy dog eyes, but he wouldn't totally back away from his position.
So he found middle ground and, with a sigh, said "Fine then, but to be sure i'll keep an eye trained on him, so if he does any strange moves..."
Gaia moved to his back and placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to stop, and said "Thank you for trying, big brother, but you'll see how nice Shinko is! I bet you'll think him as a good ally by the next month!"
Ariol simply said "If you say so" and went to look at the hour, his eyes widening.
"It's 10 pm! You should be asleep by now!"
"Ok" Gaia said as she curled up with her brother.
X X X
Finding the building was way easier than Shinko thought:he just had to follow Genos and Saitama.
Shinko didn't know why, but Saitama seemed more grumpy than usual.
He tried to ask him what was up, but the bald man simply huffed and said that he wanted to concentrate on the hero exam.
Shinko thought he should probably do that too.
And that's how he ended up in a huge gym with nothing but his yellow boxers.
Shinko was kind of calm though, because eyeryone else was in their underwear as well, so nobody could ridicule him.
But as Shinko was looking around, his eyes widened when he immediately recognised a feminine figure he knew very well.
That was Mizuki, currently in a marathon outfit, giving friendly advices to the various candidates.
She was even more muscular than he last seen her (not by much, though), but she still had a really nice smile.
Shinko then got even more determined:if he showed Mizuki his newfound strength, she'd DEFINITELY ask him on a date!
Shinko was so immersed in his thoughts that he did not even notice that a strong hand was being slammed on his shoulder.
He turned around faced the owner of the hand.
"So, NOW you pay attention to me? Good, the fear must have petrified you there" the man said.
He was twice Shinko's height and by his swelling muscles he could tell that this guy lifted competitively.
"Do you really think you can be a hero with those puny muscles?" he said pointing to Shinko.
The boy sighed and looked the man in the eyes, blue fire burning in them "It's true that i'm not exactly buff, but my muscles can achieve much more than you think" Shinko said seriously to the man.
"Then let's test that out, on the training grounds that is!" bellowed the huge man.
X X X
Machore thought he was one of the strongest lifters in the world, he wanted to become a hero to train even harsher and surpass Darkshine, in order to get the pleasure in life that he desired the most:a nice boyfriend.
There was also this one newbie, whose muscles looked really toned, and he was looking at one of the most athletic girls Machore had ever seen.
So he went up to him and mocked the boy to push him to outdo himself, so he could impress that girl.
But his abilities were far beyond what he expected:side to side jumps, weight lifting, 1500m run, squat jumps and push ups were some of the exercises he excelled in, but this boy was faster and stronger than anything he had ever seen.
Maybe even more than Darkshine.
And the worst part (or rather, the best?) was that, throught all of this, his muscles looked quite relaxed.
Machore sighed, he still had a long road ahead of him if he wanted to stand a chance in the hero world.
So he voluntarily signed out of the exam, not even caring if the other lifters would shame him.
Maybe a few more years of intense training would be for the best.
X X X
Shinko was in the locker rooms, along with Saitama and Genos:they discussed about the fitness test (which had gone well for everyone) and the written test (which was quite easy anyway).
Finally the result papers had arrived:Genos got to enter into the S class, Shinko got in the B class (which didn't really sit well with him) and Saitama in C class.
'Poor guy' thought Shinko as he saw Saitama bearing an utterly awful expression, but after Genos' proposal to "speak with the manager", Saitama immediately acted as it was fine since "they all passed anyway".
Then the intercom spoke "All candidates who have passed the hero exam, please go to lecture hall six for the hero seminar"
X X X
Shinko sat now between Saitama (on the right) and Genos (on the left), while a hero apparently named Snek (Shinko thought it was a funny name) was talking about the responsibilities of being a hero.
"So congratulations for passing the exam" Snek said at the three people, then looked at Saitama, who was munching a chewing gum, completely ignoring him.
A vein appeared on Snek's forehead "Though it seems it was a lucky fluke more than anything else, so don't even think about wasting this golden opportunity!"
Saitama was starting to pump the chewing gum with air, which made Snek angrier.
"Now that you're a professional hero, you have to live your life in a way that doesn't bring shame to other heroes, in fact the hero registry has your profiles regarding your hero work AND personal life!"
Shinko's eyes widened:THAT was something unsettling, but he told himself to remain calm, it wouldn't be that bad...right?
Sadly Saitama was not paying attention to the angry hero and continued to inflate the cheewing gum even further.
Eventually it exploded on Saitama's face, eliciting a startled yelp from Shinko, who then fell from his seat and bumped into Genos, making him fall with a loud 'clang'.
The latter glared at Shinko, who in turn gave a sheepish smile, and turned to his teacher, at the moment trying to take the gum from his face.
Snek's veins were close to exploding.
X X X
"Well that was a boring seminar" Saitama said with Genos and Shinko trailing behind.
'Right, it didn't really explain anything, but one thing' Shinko thought in agreement.
"Still Sensei, now that we passed you can finally save the world from evil with pride" Genos said proudly as his head hunched "And i can be your disciple for real"
Saitama froze, he forgot about that promise he made...still, this guy couldn't be that much of a pain...right?
Snek sat at a desk, glaring at the papers showing the new heroes' results.
Mizuki sat on the other end, frowning at her papers:the people that showed up were indeed physically fit enough, but they lacked in other departments such as intelligence and technique (not to mention decency, given how others tried to woo her).
"These amateurs, their attitude towards me was intolerable! Seeing as they don't know me, A class hero Snek, they are oblivious to the harshness of the world:they'll kick the bucket before long" Snek growled from his seat while sipping sone coffee.
"If they passed, they couldn't be that bad. I think they're going to hold their assigned ranks at least" Mizuki said sheepishly, trying to mitigate the A class anger and to remember who actually passed.
Eventually she stopped because those who passed weren't among the candidates assigned to her.
"Exactly, but there's more" agreed a black-suited man, who was looking outside the window "Genos got full points in both tests and became the first S class hero in two years" he said seriously, then continued "The other two are also not to be underestimated:Saitama was lucky to pass the exam, but in the fitness test he broke all records...by a good margin. The same can also be said for Shinko, even though he did better in the written test, therefore you can expect these two to outrank you in the near future"
Mizuki was half listening to the discussion, but at the mention of his best friends' name she shot up from her seat "Did you say Shinko!?" she suddenly said, making Snek spilling his coffee. "Yes, do you know him?" Snek replied slowly, not used to see the B class hero so alarmed and pissed off at the stains on his shirt. Still, Snek gave Mizuki the papers anyways.
She looked through them thrice to make sure she read exactly what was written:not only Shinko became a hero, but he broke the HA's records without too much trouble.
'Shinko...how did you get this strong?' Mizuki asked to herself in confusion, but for the rest she felt happy to know that her best friend was alive and well.
X X X
"Ah! Congratulations for becoming a hero, even if it was obvious" Monoculor said from his seat as Shinko entered, smiling to himself.
In the kitchen there was the entire team:Monoculor, Beetle-Roach, Gelgo, Ariol, Gaia, Nark (a white snake with big, blank eyes), Gobold (a golden goblin with a long nose and brown pants) and Malware (a black hexagonal cloud with green outlines and a single red, robotic eye).
"With how crazy strong this guy is, it wasn't really a surprise..." Beetle-Roach grumbled.
"Good job Shinko!" Gaia happily smiled (and so did Shinko).
"Isn't it great, huh? I am watching you, fluffy" Ariol venomously said, making the boy recoil a bit and Gaia frown a bit.
"Thingsss will sssurely get interesssting from here, i can't wait to hear abot the crazy sssituationsss you'll put yourssself in!" Said Nark with a big smile, thinking about the mayhem of a hero's life. If the hero career was opened to monsters too, he would gladly join.
"Hey Shinko, maybe you could share a bit of the pay with me? Friend to friend?" Gobold asked with a smile, his pearly eyes gleaming with greed.
"The probability of your failure on this task was a 25% chance, which was completely unrelated to the fitness test. It's still good to see all went well" Malware said with his robotic voice.
"Thank you guys" Shinko replied smiling, but his mind was focused on something else:did he have enough food for everyone?
Monoculor (as always) seemed to read in his mind and said "Don't worry Shinko, i brought food AND chairs from the hideout" making Shinko draw a calming breath.
The dinner that followed was a bit chaotic between Monoculor's excellent cuisine, Nark's continuous black humor, Gobold's eagerness on Shinko taking on the criminals with the highest bounties, Ariol's sideways glares and Gaia's overall cuteness.
After cleaning the entire kitchen (which took a whole hour) Monoculor said to everyone "Tomorrow, in light of these very light tremors, i think we will have our first mission, so please present yourself at the hideout at 11:00 am and don't be late" while saying the last bit, his eye was trained on Nark and Gobold at the same time.
Later, as Shinko got to bed, he pondered what kind of mission they would be doing...
...Nothing too hard...right?
And that was the chapter! We finally witnessed Shinko becoming a hero and got to meet the Wastelanders, not to mention that we have our first glimpse of Mizuki (i promise you that, after the next chapter, we'll get more of that).
Anyway, see you next Wednesday!