Chapter 170 The Slums

"Hey, you're the new kid, right?"

It's as if a huge burden was lifted off Satoshi's shoulders when he entered Heimdall Agency. He didn't even bother asking how the agency was rebuilt in an instant even though it went up in flames two days ago. In fact, the incident totally flew out of his mind. The only thing in his mind right now was that he got his powers back and that he should probably treat Cherry to something nice one of these days. Thanks to her, he didn't have to worry about his superpowers. After all, superheroes are nothing without their superpowers— that and their moral values, of course.

"Yes," Satoshi answered, staring at the person who was almost the same age as him, or rather, who looked like the same age as him. He knew the guy, a rockstar from America who goes by the superhero name Crispwisp. He has the generic look of a young teenage American, blond hair and blue eyes, paired with a nice denim jacket and jeans. He is a pretty famous newly licensed superhero, not because of his looks, no, but because of his superpower which is flashy enough to give his popularity all the push it needed.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ricky Tucker, people call me the Crispwisp." He said, extending his hands. "I'm the new member of the Heimdall Agency, so I guess you'll be my senpai, right? I mean, I'm not really a fan of bowing to someone younger than me but hey, I'm just glad I get to join the Eye-Goddess's Agency."

"Good for you," Satoshi responded, shaking his hands in return. "I've seen you on television, you know, back when you stopped two trains from colliding? That was, heh, that was pretty cool. There were no casualties from the impact as well, how did you catch them?"

"Really?! You've seen that footage of me? Gee, thanks! Compared to other flashy superheroes my age, I wasn't really that popular. I'm glad that I at least have one fan in this country." He rubbed his nose as he blushed, too taken aback by the compliment.

Satoshi didn't deny what he said. He really was a fan of Crispwisp, especially because he had the traits of a superhero that Satoshi aspired to be. In terms of his public appearances, Crispwisp seemed like a down-to-earth type of guy, and he wouldn't settle for flashy crimes even though he has the superpower to do so. Most of the time, he's out there, chasing thieves and pickpockets, stopping car crashes, picking up trash by the beach, or simply helping out in the community by giving out food. Whilst most superheroes wouldn't settle for a low-profile mission, he's different. He'd be the first one to volunteer himself no matter which incident is of the question. That's why Satoshi greatly admired him.

"Oh great, you two have already met. Satoshi, why don't you take a patrol by the outskirts of Tokyo. Crispwisp, you can accompany him." Eye-Goddess greeted as she passed by. "I'm sure you'll find it a memorable experience."

"Sure Eye-Goddess! We'll do our best!" Crispwisp responded. "By the way, has anyone not told you about the elephant in the room?"

"What do you mean?" Satoshi asked.

"I mean, your superhero name. You're just Satoshi? As in your name? Did you really go with that as your superhero name?" He curiously asked. "I'm sorry, I don't know if my question offended you or anything... but I was just curious."

"No, that was a completely valid question. Honestly, why haven't I thought of that?" Satoshi said.

Satoshi and Crispwisp turned around and headed out as per instructed by Eye-Goddess. Even though they just met, they suddenly had this connection that made them friends in an instant. Eye-Goddess smiled, she knew that Crispwisp wasn't as popular but he has a clean record. And by the looks of things, she was pretty sure that Crispwisp doesn't know the identity of Satoshi. "Oh, and before you head out!"

Surprised that Eye-Goddess called out to them again, the two turned around and faced her, ready to receive additional instructions.

"Just remember that even though Satoshi is your upperclassman, you're the one who has a registered license, Crispwisp. Make sure that the two of you communicate properly if ever an emergency arises. Well, the two of you already know the ins and outs of patrol, the superhero schools pretty much nailed that in your head, but I'm just putting it out there that if... by a small chance that something happens, I want the two of you to act responsibly, and as a team."

"Yes, leader," Crispwisp answered while Satoshi nodded in response. "Come on, Satoshi-senpai, we have an area to patrol."

...

Later, at the area called the slums, by the outskirts of Tokyo.

Even though this area is home to a lot of homeless people as hilarious as that sounds, the government never really admitted the area to be called slums since that would give it a bad reputation for tourists. Of course, everybody knew that these are the slums though, it's just that it was never publicized. Once called Kamagasaki, this area, a few hundred years later, lost its name and is now only called the slums.

From time to time, superheroes would patrol the area but they wouldn't find anything, just homeless people doing their thing like sipping coffee, or reading the newspaper. They never bothered anyone and the crime rate, surprisingly, is pretty low in the slums. That's why the Eye-Goddess sent Satoshi and Crispwisp here, just for experience before they started patrolling the center of Tokyo.

"So, what do we do now? Do we just walk around? I mean where do we start, this place is pretty big." Crispwisp broke the silence, causing a few people who were sitting by the sidewalk to look at them. Their stares were nothing malicious, however, so Satoshi didn't feel weirded out at all. In response, he nodded to Crispwisp.