Chapter 85 Inter-High Tournament— Commencement

With his six new familiars in tow, Satoshi headed to school with somewhat renewed spirits, fully knowing that he had vastly improved compared to how he was before. When it comes to superheroes, it was easy to hit a wall after training for so long but as for Satoshi, he just had to gain new allies and incorporate them into his strategies. This will give him even more endless tactics in matches and there will come a time when he won't even feel disadvantaged against an opponent. Of course, that time will come after years of experience with his familiars.

"Right, time to debut once again." Satoshi tried to pump himself up but all he felt was nervousness on his way to school. He may be excited, but the anxiousness was still there, and he thought that it won't completely disappear, not until they were already participating in the inter-high tournament.

Holding his Orb Obors as if that was his lifeline (well, it was his one and only lifeline) Satoshi arrived at school with mixed feelings. There, he found Midori and the others, eagerly waiting by the school entrance as every student who got their early surrounded them, cheering them on for a successful inter-high tournament. There were confetti, banners, and screaming as Satoshi got there. Midori immediately rushed towards him and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

"Isn't this cool? Look, even Miya is here. She insisted to come because she wanted to get your autograph." Midori said, pointing at the familiar girl right by the posts of the entrance gate. She was sitting down, resting her legs since she had been standing for more than an hour now, awaiting Satoshi's arrival.

Satoshi was a bit surprised. For the first time in his life, someone asked for his autograph even though he hasn't done anything noteworthy— or at least, for himself, he hasn't accomplished anything worth an autograph for. He sheepishly approached Miya as Midori excitedly handed him a permanent marker.

Seeing Satoshi, Miya's face lit up, she then turned around and showed her bag to Satoshi. It was a brand-new bag, one that even had the price tag on it. "Midori, are you sure about this, that bag is new, right?"

"If my sister is okay with it then go. Don't go complaining to your big brother afterward, okay?" Midori said with a smile on his face, it wasn't even a reprimand, frankly speaking.

Miya bobbed her head up and down before handing the bag to Satoshi. It was a brown bag which is slung on the shoulders. As she let go of the bag and Satoshi grabbed it, it's as if Satoshi could hear her say 'please take good care of it' as he uncapped the permanent marker.

"To, Miya, Midoriyama Satoshi, be healthy, always." Satoshi mouthed as he wrote the same exact words on the bag. Fortunately, Satoshi had decent handwriting so the bag didn't look like a mess. Glad that he did an adequate job with his autograph, Satoshi returned the bag. Fingers crossed, Miya won't be complaining in the near future.

"Thank you, does that mean I'm your first fan?" Miya asked, hopping in place.

"Yes, now head back to school. You don't want to be late on a Monday, right?" Midori said, lightly shooing his sister away. "Thanks, Satoshi, ever since she watched the footage from the training sessions we had, she always pestered me on getting your autograph. I'm just glad you obliged."

"No worries," Satoshi's face reddened since he didn't know how to react.

As if on cue, the school bus arrived by the front gate, driven by none other than Principal Sai Tama himself. "Get in superheroes in the making, you've got history to make." He said, pointing his thumbs towards the seats at the back.

One by one, Satoshi and the others got in on the school bus before the day finally sunk in on their heads. It was D-Day, now or never. If they weren't fully prepared for the inter-high, then they should just own up to their capabilities and try not to hold the rest down. They were chosen as candidates, but that doesn't mean they've done their absolute best to be worthy of such praise.

As Kurogami sat down, he couldn't tell whether it was his breakfast or the fact that he slept late last night that caused his legs to turn into jelly. But just before he could think twice about it, he saw that the others were starting to get jittery as well. Throughout the history of inter-high tournaments, first-years were rarely ever picked to represent their school so this was an entirely uncharted place for them.

Amused, the principal watched as all of them became a bundle of nerves. 'At least, the journey wouldn't be cumbersome. All of them are pretty much reduced to their mouse-like state.' He said to himself as he started the engine.

.....

The air of Saitama Prefecture was drastically different compared to Tokyo. Even though they were right beside each other, Saitama Prefecture sort of had this historic atmosphere to it, with its castle towns, museums, and scenic spots unique only to the location, it was something that Japanese and tourists alike enjoy whenever they drop by.

The Principal has a special connection to the Sai Tama prefecture. Some could even say that this is his favorite prefecture because of his name. "We're here," He announced, breathing in the fresh air of Saitama (that sounded weird) as he opened the doors to the school bus.

Hiroshi was the first one to rush out of the school bus. "I'm going to puke." He announced, almost tumbling right by the small stairs leading outside. As soon as he got out, a steady stream of his breakfast escaped his mouth, but it was censored with a rainbow filter so no one actually noticed what he was puking.

? "This is the Inter-High Stadium, built a few years ago to house the inter-high tournament. Previously, we'd have the inter-high tournament on one prefecture after another but after a few incidents of cheating here and there, we decided to just use one stadium. Also, because there are a lot of superhero schools in all of Japan, only one prefecture could have the inter-high tournament. And then after that comes the Grand Tournament where the top eight schools will be pitted against each other. You probably haven't heard of the Grand Tournament All-Stars in the news and that's because... unfortunately, the Tokyo Prefecture had never won on that tournament. Well, more on that later." The Principal continued, making Satoshi and the others gather around him to listen.

"I've heard about that. Apparently comparing the inter-high to GTA is like comparing heaven and earth. If the inter-high allows light injuries and broken bones, the GTA allows foul plays— even being beaten to death is allowed. Currently, the all-time champion of GTA is none other than— "

"Midori, if you want to talk then freely do so in front of everyone. I'll gladly hand over the mic to you." Principal Sai Tama calmly said, but his voice was too cold that Midori froze a hundred times over.

"Sorry, sir,"

.

Pause.

"As I was saying, there are a lot of good candidates this year. Keep in mind that you'll be fighting a lot of third-years during this inter-high tournament. These third-years already experienced being under an agency, and some of them may have even experienced actual combat or villain attacks. Against those candidates, all of you might very well be chicks in the coop. But despite that, also do keep in mind that you were trained by none other than Principal Sai Tama himself. Do you want to know a secret that only inter-high candidates know about me?"

All of them gulped.

"The truth is... I never had a superpower." Sai Tama said with a slightly mischievous smile. "And that's all I'll tell you, for now."

"No, you're joking right, Mr. Principal?" Hiroshi was the first one to ask.

"Yeah, we've seen you move, no normal human could do that."

"Don't lie to us, Mr. Principal, we know you have superhuman abilities."

However, Principal Sai Tama just laughed it off. "Believe all you want, even if you try to get all of my information in the internet, you will know that I don't have an ounce of the Alpha Gene within me. I've tested a couple of times, the result was always a flat zero."

"It's true... " Fuuka said, scrolling through her phone. "B-but how?"

"With lots of training— training that you wouldn't even begin to imagine. If I were to tell you, some of you would just laugh it off, but it has proven to work throughout history. I wasn't the only one who achieved such a thing. In fact, a predecessor of mine who lived more than a millennium ago left a dent in history because of how powerful he was. I haven't approached that kind of power, but that doesn't mean it's not possible."

"What I'm saying is, I'm the best trainer there is to ever exist and I've offered you some advice back when we had our training sessions last week. Now, whether you followed that advice to the letter is entirely up to you. If you did though, then you'll be doing yourself and everyone in your team a favor."

"Now off you go, and may you bring the trophy to the USA once again. Go Beyond!"

"Plus Ultra!" Satoshi and the others simultaneously screamed, remembering the all-time favorite quote of superheroes back in the day.