Chapter 19 The Green-Haired Guy

"Yes, I was shocked about it too. To think that the one and only top superhero without a superpower would teach us homeroom. What was the USA thinking?" Hiroshi grabbed his chin with his left hand as he thought about it.

Satoshi was about to say something when the bus came. He knew about Knighthawk, the highest-ranking superhero without a superpower. And he knew just how much he hated every superhero there is, well, more like detest them for having a superpower.

The reason why he hated it that much was because he was once a policeman, and their station was unfortunately tasked to handle the new generation of criminals— that is, criminals with superpowers. Since he was already in his late thirties, he couldn't keep up with the younger criminals, let alone criminals with superpowers. And what does someone do to get an edge against someone with a superpower? Well much like how Satoshi worked out until he reached the peak of his strength, KnightHawk also worked out until he gained an advantage against criminals that couldn't very much control their superpower. With his newfound strength, he climbed through the ranks until the SAO deemed him a superhero because of his unique ability. Right now, with the help of superhero equipment, he became one of the best superheroes there is, and that's because his control over his body is superior to everyone else. He knew that one day he'd grow weak and step out of the picture, but until then, he would stay in the ranks as much as he could. He became famous for his quote 'With great power comes great responsibility'. But what people didn't know was that he was quoting a certain uncle in one of the very old movies he watched.

"Wait up!" Someone came running at both Satoshi and Hiroshi with toast in her mouth. It was Yukine Shiroi. Apparently, she woke up late due to the eventful yesterday.

"Oh, Shiroi, good morning.." Hiroshi's face quickly shifted from being guilty to being bright and cheerful. "I didn't know you live here as well."

"We just moved." Shiroi brushed it off as if moving houses was something simple. She then stole a glance at Satoshi, and then at Hiroshi. "I see, at least the two of you made up already."

"Um, yeah." Satoshi indifferently answered. Although everything that happened yesterday was water under the bridge and Hiroshi already apologized to him, he knew that Hiroshi hated him ever since they were little. That was because he's a die-hard fan of the top two superheroes in SAO, and their son happened to not have any superpower. Even during their fight yesterday, he could feel Hiroshi's intense hatred towards him. But now, Hiroshi greeted him as if nothing changed, but that's only due to the fact that he finally showed his superpower. Satoshi was perfectly aware that if he didn't discover his superpower two nights ago, Hiroshi would continue hating and harassing him.

Satoshi decided to sit at the farthest seat of the bus, trying not to get any attention He totally didn't think things through though, since going to the back meant everyone would see you before you got there.

"Oh! It's Satoshi!" One of the teenagers called out. For some odd reason, he has green hair, and his eyes matched the color of his hair. He didn't really stand out but his personality sure did. "Hey, Satoshi! I'm Midori! Sounds like your surname right? Hehe, how are you doing?"

"Fine, nice to meet you." Satoshi timidly said. He instinctively reverted to being on guard when it comes to meeting those with superpowers. He didn't really have fond memories of them in the past.

After sitting at the back, he wished under his breath that no one would sit beside him. To his surprise, however, Shiroi sat to his right and Hiroshi huddled right beside Shiroi. Satoshi clicked his tongue. He could tell that Hiroshi was still making moves at Shiroi.

"Say," The green-haired teenager sat beside Satoshi, right beside the right window seat of the bus. "I wanna ask you something!"

Satoshi looked down, trying hard not to have any eye contact. "Um, sure. Ask ahead."

"Say, is this you, by any chance?" Midori asked, showing Satoshi an old video.

In the video, a sumo wrestler stepped into a ring, stomping his feet. But as soon as he entered the ring, a figure flew right at his head, and a triple roundhouse kick landed squarely on his face. Since it was a triple roundhouse kick, the power output of it should've been weak, but to everyone's surprise, the sumo wrestler fell down on his face, unconscious.

The figure that flew right at the sumo wrestler was none other than Satoshi, back when he was fourteen years old. Apparently, he didn't know the rules of sumo wrestling back then. He was just supposed to appear on a promotional video featuring the dojo of the sumo wrestler. The cameraman clearly underestimated his skills, however. And so that accident transpired.

Satoshi's expression turned to embarrassment as he was reminded of the past. He tried to look away, but Midori grabbed him by the shoulders. "Was that you? I'm not really sure but you have quite a resemblance."

"Y-yes." Satoshi sighed. He was totally not expecting an embarrassing video of him to show up.

"Sweet! I finally found you!" Midori said. "Once again, I'm Midori! Even before you debuted as a superhero, you were awesome!"

Midori wore a bright wide smile on his face, extending his hands. Satoshi didn't want to shake his hands but he knew he wouldn't bring it down if he didn't return it. "Nice to meet you." He simply responded.

"Since you're officially my friend! I'll let you in on a little secret!" Midori didn't want to step on any brakes, he was going full throttle in befriending his newfound friend. "Did you know, our homeroom teacher would be none other than Knighthawk? I've seen it on our acceptance letter yesterday! And also, apparently, out of everyone who got accepted and who participated in the initial tests yesterday, only twelve of us passed! Right? I couldn't believe it either. I mean, I lost my first match since I was too nervous. What were the criteria for passing the initial tests? I have no idea. But I think it was because I survived for a good minute, or maybe they were looking at our skills? I don't know. If my opponent did pass the test, then that'd be sweet, maybe we can also be friends! Oh, by the way, Satoshi, how many friends do you— "

'This is going to be a long day.' Satoshi said to himself as he glanced at Midori one more time, before trying to pretend to sleep.