Knighthawk walked inside Class 3-1 with a purposeful stride, implying that he was about to say something important. It was only the first week of school and everyone was already exhausted. Well, a big part of it was when they were suddenly attacked by a Slime Alien which breached the line of defense made by superheroes by the edge of the Earth's atmosphere.

It was evident that Knighthawk was actually worried about his class because he wore a concerned expression on his face before exhaling and grabbing the paper on his desk. The bell has just rung, beginning the subject of homeroom and Knighthawk told himself that he would enjoy every moment of it. After all, he's also assigned with the subject hero training which is scheduled to be today.

"Okay, I'm glad that you're all doing all right. It almost gave me a heart attack when I heard about the news. Fortunately, we got quite a few capable first years this year. Had it not been for them, all of you would've died." Knighthawk began. He didn't mince his words and decided to give it to everyone as some sort of warning and encouragement that everyone should improve their initial fighting capability. "That's why, from this point on, every school bus of the United Superheroes Academy would have a licensed superhero as an additional passenger, just in case the impossible happens again. You don't know how I had to move mountains just to urge the principal to pass such a thing and I don't intend for you to know in the first place."

"So, as you may as well know, the inter-high tournament is happening in a month's time, and guess what, the principal chose the first-years to be the representatives for this year. You might be monitoring this popular tournament and you know just how we've been winning this tournament for at least ten consecutive years now. And so this is our handicap this year. That's right, all of the first-years would undergo a series of tests and a few of you will represent our school."

Midori raised his hands, much to everyone's expectations since all of them wanted to raise their hands as well. "Sir, does that mean all of our representatives this year are first-years? How does the principal expect us to go against third and fourth years?"

"That's where I'm getting at." Knighthawk cleared his throat. For the first time, he didn't lash out at someone's question and that's because he was already expecting someone to ask it. "When we had our meeting, we were told to train all of you specifically in order to catch up to them. We've been given a pretty disadvantageous handicap. Even if we have no chance of winning, we want to at least choose representatives that would be able to put up a fight and put on a good show for the sake of a publicity stunt. Imagine just how more popular the USA would be once this happens?"

"Of course, that's not the only thing. We'll train you so your chances of winning would shoot up. As your homeroom teacher and the subject teacher of hero training. I'd be training you how I see fit, and that it physically, emotionally, mentally, and superpower-wise. With this, you'd be able to go head to head with the third and fourth years. Trust me, I may not have a certain superpower but I can take any of you on in a fight. That's why I value experience more than power."

"And now that we've discussed those things. You'll have a slight change in your schedules... " A wide grin plastered on Knighthawk's face as if he was about to say something monumental at that moment. He stayed silent for a few seconds to build up anticipation. And then, he handed Satoshi a stack of papers.

"That would be your schedule for this year's curriculum. I hope you find it useful. You can get one and pass to your seatmate."

Satoshi nodded and as soon as he gave the rest of the pile to Shiroi, he began reading through the schedule, trying to spot the difference between this and their previous curriculum.

And that's when he noticed it— their schedule bore great resemblance to the third-years. If he were any regular students, he wouldn't be able to notice it but he had been a die-hard fan of superheroes ever since he was a kid and so he knew a lot of useless things about them. For example, he has completely memorized the entire curriculum of all the grade levels in the USA since he badly wanted to get admitted there. That's why he was able to notice it easily.

He then raise his hands before everyone else got the paper. "Isn't this... this looks like the schedule of third-years. Are we really going to have this in our curriculum?"

With jaws almost dropping to the floor, Knighthawk was genuinely shocked that Satoshi managed to notice such a thing easily. "Yes, you bet it is. That's why I wanted all of you to prepare yourselves. These may look easy but it's not easy as you think. You'd have to adjust to the schedule and at the same time learn as much as you can from it. It may not be the exact replica of the third year's curriculum when it comes to superhero stuff but it is dialed up a notch to make it harder for first years."

"And so, later, our hero training will be quite different. I hope you prepare for it. Class dismi— wait, hold on. I think I'm missing something here." Knighthawk stopped in the middle of his sentence, trying to recall something.

Then he remembered it. "Oh yeah, we haven't had the time to choose who our class representative would be. Let's tally the votes and get this over with. Anyone who wants to put himself or herself up, raise your hands."

"In that case— " Hiroshi chuckled before standing up.

"I vote for Satoshi! Who else votes for Satoshi?" Midori screamed before Hiroshi volunteered. And in a split second, everybody in class raised their hands except him and Satoshi.

"Eh?!" Satoshi let out a confused exclamation before Knighthawk nodded and accepted the tally.

"It's decided then, homeroom's over." He continued, heading out of the class without another word.

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