Jonathan stared at the old man and the old man stared back at him. He was smiling, a gentle smile that made him look harmless despite his stocky build. Once again, he grabbed Jonathan by the shoulder before heaving a sigh. As he stared far off into the distance, a memory occurred in his mind and he couldn't help but reminisce about it.
"You don't have to say anything, kid. I'm sure it's hard for you." Ivan mumbled as if he was talking to himself when in fact he was addressing Jonathan in a pitiable manner. It was unavoidable for him to take pity on Jonathan since he somehow saw a reflection of himself from him. "When I was young, my parents moved from Russia to here, and I found it really hard to adjust. I don't know where you're from and I'm probably only projecting my past onto you but I could tell... you've traveled far to get here... and you wanted to make ends meet."
It was fairly obvious that Ivan's emotions were easily swayed. Just seeing a young man wandering on the street was enough to make him feel compassion toward him, and it was probably for the better.
Unbeknownst to Ivan, Jonathan could totally relate to what he spoke about. There was a bit of truth in his speech and Jonathan felt a certain connection to his words. Before he knew it, he was walking beside Ivan while nodding his head.
He didn't just come from another country, but from another world in another dimension. And while it would be easy for him to use his teleportation skills and steal, he didn't want to do it. 'I've done enough wrong by murdering that person, I don't want to add to my crimes.' Jonathan thought to himself.
Groowl!
Jonathan felt embarrassed as his complaining stomach made another cry of its hunger. Chuckling, Ivan patted Jonathan on the shoulder before he spoke. "Sounds like you've been starving. Tell you what, I'm about to have some lunch myself, you can come with me if you want."
While Jonathan hated to steal (which was ironic considering that he was merciless enough to murder someone in cold blood, guilty or not) he wouldn't decline a generous offer. With a nod, he followed Ivan. The two of them walked together to his shop.
From afar, Jonathan saw a large structure that had the symbol of the USA on it. It was like the Parthenon in Greece, or what's left of it, except that it didn't have any pillars but it appeared just as historic. Jonathan gazed in awe as his mouth hung open.
"That's the United Superheroes Academy. Pretty neat, right? On that note, do you go to school? If you're planning to, then that's your aim right there. Only the best of the best superheroes can enter that school." Ivan explained.
"Yeah, I'm actually transferring here... it's just that it hasn't been official yet." Jonathan smiled. He couldn't help but think of everyone's reaction when they unexpectedly see him in the flesh.
...
The school grounds were filled with noise ever since the first light. Guardians, students, and instructors alike littered the place, conversing with each other. A light atmosphere hung in the air while all of that was going on.
Even Satoshi, who hadn't seen his classmates in a long time, was catching up to them, talking about their past endeavors during the past few weeks. There were a lot of things to catch up on and the new semester is enough time for them.
Once the announcement was issued, however, the light atmosphere suddenly became heavy. The guardians, who were talking to the instructors as if they were catching up with their friends, suddenly turned quiet as they led their children to the waiting rooms. As for the transferees, they couldn't help but bite their lips in nervousness as they walked with their parents. There were only a couple of notable transferees who felt confident about the pseudo-entrance test of fighting other candidates, and one of them was Lydia Schwarz.
"Do your best out there." Satoshi patted Emma on the shoulder. Shiroi also did the same before Emma walked with the others toward her respective waiting room. Heaving a huge exhale out of her mouth, she steeled her resolve. This was her moment, and she had prepared more than enough for this.
As for Satohi and Shiroi, they joined their classmates in the audience's seats which were located on the upper floors of the coliseum overlooking the arena. It was finally happening.
"Ladies and Gents, it's your friendly neighborhood Knighthawk here! I haven't been getting that much screen time lately but here we are!" A voice boomed all throughout the coliseum. Satoshi looked up to see a box protruding out of the audience seats. Knighthawk was seated there with Sai Tama, the head director/principal of the United Superheroes Academy. It was hard to miss him since his bald head reflected the sun.
"Today, we're going to witness your superpowers in these exhibition matches. We have superheroes on standby if anything goes wrong, and we have the Nurse, waiting by her office if someone's gravely injured. Do your best future students of the USA, and may the odds be ever in your favor." Sai Tama said, saluting with his three fingers in the air as if to reference a famous novel series in the past.
"And may the odds be ever in your favor!" Knighthawk had no idea what that meant but he jumped on the bandwagon, doing the salute as well before announcing the first matchup. "And now, for our first match... we have someone who's pretty well-known to us by now. She was one of the handful of superheroes who defended the dimensional portal located by the sea of Japan. With a round of applause, let us welcome, Emma Leisenberg!"
Satoshi's eyes widened as he leaned onto his seat. "Emma! He's on the first match!" He repeated, turning towards Shiroi and Kuroe who were sitting beside him.
"And as for her opponent... we don't know anything about him but here he is! Let us welcome, Jonathan Ainsworth!"
"Jonathan?! No... it couldn't be... it's just a coincidence, right?" Satoshi muttered to himself, peering into the entrance to the arena to see if the Jonathan mentioned was the Jonathan he encountered.
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