Chapter 20

Three days had passed, and it was the first day of school after the workplace experience. The students would definitely be very excited to share the interesting things they had encountered this week with each other.

"Hey …" Zoe sat on the bed and covered her head with a thick quilt. Looking at the cloudless sky outside the window, she only felt annoyed and not at all leisurely as usual.

I don't want to go to school … Let me die here peacefully, okay?

Thinking of the two people she would meet on the first day of school, she wanted to lock herself in the house forever so that she would not have to face them.

But this was not a solution. "I can't keep running away …"

She could only obediently get out of bed, freshen up and get ready for school.

"Good morning."

However, when she opened the door after breakfast, she saw Tenya standing outside her door like a pillar.

"…" Zoe was stunned and did not react at all. The butler behind her bowed slightly and closed the door, cutting off her escape route.

After 30 seconds of silence, Zoe laughed dryly and exhaled, trying to calm down. She raised her hand to greet him awkwardly. "Hey … Tenya, good morning.

Haha, are you waiting for me?

Sorry, I'm going to ride my bicycle to school as usual today. You can go first … "

Tenya interrupted her without blinking. "There's still time. We won't be late if we walk to school together like this."

His firm tone made Zoe gulp loudly. "Okay, ah … Let's go!"

The two walked on the quiet street in the morning without saying a word.

Zoe was forced to think of a way to break the silence.

Before meeting Stein, she was the one who did not want Tenya to take revenge. But after meeting Stein, she was the one who lost control.

"…"

"Zoe."

Tenya suddenly spoke, startling Zoe. She turned her head and saw Tenya bending down and tying the shoelaces of his shoes.

"What, what?"

"I don't know how to use my personality. Let's race to see who can reach school first."

"What?"

Tenya made a running posture and looked straight ahead, ignoring Zoe's surprise because he knew that she would catch up with him.

"Are you ready?

One, two … "

"Hey, wait, wait."

"Three!" Tenya's tall figure dashed out as soon as he finished speaking.

"Hey!!" Zoe exclaimed, her feet moving involuntarily.

What was this person thinking?!

Zoe did not expect that there would be a day when she could not figure out what Tenya was thinking. A race … Did he think that they were still primary school students?

The two of them ran along the deserted street, attracting the curious gazes of a few shop assistants who had just come out to open their shops.

Were all high school students so energetic these days?

Although Zoe was caught off guard, her strong competitiveness did not allow her to be defeated. She immediately sped up, showing the results of her daily physical training with the baseball players. Braving the cold morning wind, she caught up with Tenya in front of her.

Tenya did not want to be outdone. He glanced at Zoe from the corner of his eyes as he sped up. He threw away his usual calmness that he was proud of and revealed a rare childish side.

It usually took them twenty minutes to run to school, but now it only took them five minutes to complete two-thirds of the journey. The remaining distance was the slope leading to the school gate.

It was here that Zuo Ye overtook Tian Zai bit by bit, leaving him behind. In the end, she entered the school ahead of him by a single step.

Tenya stopped slowly. He was so out of breath that he could only bend down and rest with his hands on his knees.

Zoe plopped down on the ground. She did not even care that her schoolbag was thrown away. She was so tired that she gasped for breath.

"Ho, ho …"

"Ho, ho …"

Tenya said intermittently, "Zoe, stand, stand up … after exercising … you can't sit down immediately …"

A drop of sweat flowed into Zoe's eyes. She closed her eyes. She did not need to look to imagine how Tenya looked like a nanny now. She could not help laughing out loud.

She was already out of breath and could not speak, but she still laughed out loud because Tenya hit the funny spot. Zoe's laughter was much slower than usual, but it was still very infectious.

It turned out that there was no need to worry about anything at all …

His hearty laughter, as if relieved of a burden, made Amaya's mood much better. The haze that had been hovering in his heart for many days dispersed. A smile climbed from the corner of his mouth to his eyebrows, and a breath mixed with laughter escaped from his mouth.

He sat down on the ground behind Zoe, with his back to her, as if he had given up.

"Really."

After a while, the sweaty two people leaned back against each other under the clear sky, laughing as usual.

But Zoe soon stopped laughing, because she finally met the other party involved in the Stein incident, Midaya Dehisa, in the classroom.

When Midaya entered the class, she suppressed her habitual greeting and deliberately avoided eye contact with him. She just looked straight ahead because she felt guilty and scared.

After all, she had once yelled at him that she would break his legs, and he had seen how impulsive she was.

She knew that Midaya was a good person. He would most likely continue to communicate with her as usual for the sake of their previous friendship, even if it made him feel a little uncomfortable.

Zoe remembered the admiration she had for Midaya during the sports festival. She immediately felt that if her relationship with Midaya was not unreservedly sincere, it would be better to keep a distance.

She was talking to Eight Million before, but halfway through the conversation, Eight Million had something to do and left. Zoe saw that her seat was taken by Minoru, who was chatting with Kamimura. She sat in Minoru's seat facing the back door of the classroom, in a daze, waiting for Eight Million to come back.

Thinking about Midaya, she gradually became worried by her own thoughts. She frowned and unconsciously rubbed her fingers together.

Even Takeshi, who had a score of 28, did not know when he entered the class and was made fun of by the fearless Seishima and Setsuke.

As mentioned before, after the workplace experience, the students in the class actively shared their experiences with each other.

Hyōka Erlang and Frogblow Mei Yu were lucky to have the opportunity to participate in their law firm's evacuation and the arrest of illegal immigrants from neighboring countries.

After spending a week with War Hero, Misako's second personality and the word "bright and beautiful" became more and more distant. As for Minoru … Forget it, his story was not worth mentioning. However, what excited Kamimura the most was, "I still have to count the four of you!"

He was talking about Tenya, Zoe, and Kazuhiro Midtani, who had personally experienced the Stein incident.

Tenya and Midaya, who were surrounding Boom, turned around. Kamimura saw that Zoe was still in a daze and called out to her.

"Huh?" Zoe looked up in confusion. She did not know what he was talking about or why he called out to her.

Kamimura looked away. Zoe followed his gaze and happened to meet Midaya's eyes.

"Yes!" She immediately lowered her head and did not look at him.

Seeing this, Midaya opened his mouth but did not know what he wanted to say. He looked away resentfully.

Setsuke, who was in front of Takeshi and was being held by Takeshi because he made fun of Takeshi, interrupted, "Yes, yes!

He's a hero killer! "

Seishima, who was in Takeshi's other hand, also said, "We should be thankful just to be able to survive!"

Zoe glanced at Takeshi, whose back was facing the crowd, and found that he did not react at all. He just stood there motionlessly with the two people in his hand.

Eight Million came back at this time. "… I was really worried about you guys at the time."

"I heard that Andwa saved us!

No wonder he's no.

2！”

Although it was not Andwa who defeated Stein, but a group of young people who were still wet behind the ears, because they were all children who had not yet obtained a professional license, the police decided to suppress the existence of a few high school students and let Andwa take the credit for it.

Midaya looked at Boom nervously. After all, he knew that Boom and his father did not have a good relationship, but Boom said calmly, "Yes … We were saved …"

Tail White said, "I've seen a lot of related news. There's a connection between the hero killer and the enemy alliance, right?

If such a scary guy came during USJ, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. "

Zoe remembered the attack on USJ and the disgusting teenager who wore several pairs of gloves.

Kamimura said, "But, although it's scary, it's scary. Tail White, have you seen that video?"

He was referring to a short video that was circulating wildly on the Internet.

"After watching that, don't you think the seriousness or persistence he showed was really cool?"

Midaya interrupted him in a panic, "Kamimura classmate!"

Kamimura then remembered the relationship between Tenya, Zoe, and Stein. "Eh?

Ah, Rice … I'm sorry! "

Zoe lowered her head slightly and did not speak. Tenya looked at his injured hand and said lightly, "It's okay. He's really a person with strong beliefs. Even if some people think it's cool, I can understand."

Zoe continued to move her fingers, thinking the same thing in her heart.

She had seen the short video before. What happened in it was after she fainted, so she had no memory of it.

In the short video, in the alley where several professional heroes were gathered, a brainless creature flew over from elsewhere and grabbed Midaya, who was in the crowd, and flew into the air. Everyone was too shocked to react. Even if there were heroes present, they could not attack indiscriminately because of Midaya. Stein, who was supposed to be asleep, woke up.

He pulled out the last knife on his body, stepped out, and licked the blood that Brainless had dripped on a hero as it flew past. After taking away Brainless' mobility, he stepped forward and stabbed the knife straight into its head, saving Midaya and killing Brainless.

He straightened up slowly and said gloomily, "Whether it's a society full of fake heroes or criminals who abuse 'power,' they are all targets of elimination.

Everything is … for the right society. "

At this point, he stopped moving next to Brainless' corpse as if someone had pressed the pause button.

"Hey!

Did you see a brainless creature flying over? "

But Andwa's appearance made him move stiffly like a puppet.

"Fake …!!" His eyes were wild as if he wanted to pounce on Andwa and bite his face.

But he didn't do that. "It has to be corrected.

Someone has to be bathed in blood!!

Someone has to summon back the real 'hero'!!! "

The heavy shoes with spikes stepped on the ground, and the sound was as heavy as a death knell, making everyone present unable to breathe smoothly.

Stein's eyes were cloudy as if he had seen the dirtiest things, and his tone was so resolute that it made people hold their breaths.

"Come on … come on, fakers!

Those who can kill me …

Only the real heroes!!! "

The short video stopped here.

He did have his own unshakable beliefs, and his starting point was a hidden danger that few people spoke of in today's society.

The heroes Stein pursued were the old-time heroes who did everything they could to serve those in need without asking for anything in return.

But in today's society, there were too many heroes with hero licenses, and most of them were just there to make up the numbers. How many people became heroes for the sake of helping others?

No one knew.

The hero killer Stein came down from the sky with a posture that couldn't be ignored, and he personally eliminated the black sheep that he believed to be.

Extreme methods wouldn't be recognized by this lawful society, but it wasn't surprising that he could win people's admiration and even faith.

In any case, she didn't think that she could stay out of this, but this wasn't something that an ordinary high school student like her had the right to say. She just had to do her part.

Tenya on the other side had regained her spirit and slashed with her bare hands. "But that guy chose to 'purge' in order to carry out his beliefs. No matter the reason, this is absolutely wrong!

In order to prevent half-baked heroes like me from appearing in this world, I will once again embark on the journey to become a hero!!!

Okay, it's almost time for class!

Go back to your seats!! "

Zoe laughed and cheered, "Phew!

Tenya, you're awesome!

You're awesome! "

"Zoe, you should go back to your seat too!

Don't take up Eight Million -kun's seat! "

To Tread On Shade In Constant Darkness, who liked the quiet, couldn't help but complain, "So noisy …"

Today's hero foundation class was a rescue training competition in the sports field.

Ourumit explained to the students, "This time, you will be divided into four groups of five or six, and you will compete in turn!

After I send out a distress signal, you will set off from outside the factory at the same time. After that, we'll see who can save me first! "

"Of course," he slowly pointed to a student in the crowd. "Keep the damage to the building to a minimum!"

He was referring to Takeshi.

Setsuke and Kamimura covered their mouths and snickered. Takeshi stubbornly turned his head away. "Don't point at me."

Zoe couldn't hold back her laughter and coughed.

The first group to set off consisted of five people: Setsuke, Ashito, Zoe, Tail White, and Midaya. They were ready at their starting points, waiting for their teacher's distress signal.

Zoe's starting point was the top floor of the tallest building in the sports field. She looked down at the densely packed sports field set up in the factory area and took a deep breath.

I've done well.

Even if my feet are shaking, I've still made it this far.

Fear is definitely there, but don't be nervous. Believe in your own ability, face your own fear, and control yourself.

Nothing can stop me.

I'm …

Ourumit's teacher's voice came from the ubiquitous broadcasting system in the sports field. "Ready?"

Zoe took a few steps back and prepared to run.

She told herself: Saya Kazusawa is the strongest.

“GO！！”

Zoe's figure fell from the tall building. The wind whistled past, but she continued to fall vertically as if she didn't feel anything. It was as if this was a normal thing.

Her straw sandals landed on a one-meter-wide steel pipe without making a sound. She controlled everything around her and strode toward her teacher from the top of the factory area where there were fewer obstacles.

This was the first time she consciously used her personality after the Stein incident. It would be a lie to say that she wasn't nervous, but she could only resist the feeling of her heart tightening and force herself to move forward, forward, and forward.

But what she didn't realize was that there was a world of difference between her ability and that of a sports priest.

Compared to the sports festival where she needed to look left and right to estimate the distance of her foothold, she could now subconsciously control the wind and let it do everything for her. She just needed to entrust herself to the wind.

After five or six steps, Zoe began to approach her teacher's position. She could sense Ourumit's teacher on the top floor in the distance with her hands on her hips.

"Yo, Setsuke."

Zoe called Setsuke leisurely when she overtook him. Setsuke, on the other hand, reacted strangely to being overtaken. "Fengze, are you like this too?!"

Setsuke, who could shoot tape from his elbow, was one of the best in the class. He was originally full of confidence in this competition, but he never expected that he would be overtaken by Midaya and Fengze in just two seconds!

Zoe knew that Midaya was right in front of her, but she didn't intend to retreat. After leaving Setsuke behind, she soon saw Midaya's agile figure darting between the buildings as fast as lightning.

This was a new move he learned during his internship. He spread the superhuman ability that his personality gave him all over his body. Although the power was reduced, it was no longer as explosive as before.

As expected, Green Valley had been improving all this time. For the sake of his goal …

At this point, Zoe recalled the ugly side she had shown in front of him. She also remembered that she had said, "I don't want to be a hero anymore."

How could she stand side by side with Midaya like this?

Although this was what she thought, the moment she saw Midaya lose his balance and fall down the steel pipe, she still waved her hand and gently placed him on another steel pipe with the wind.

"Fengze?"

When Zoe landed on a nearby billboard, she clearly heard Midaya's slightly puzzled voice behind her.

She froze and reflexively wanted to turn her head...

"Do you want me to break your legs and let you have a taste of never being able to walk again, Midaya?!"

"Fengze!"