The walk home was incredibly awkward. It was mainly me and Lucendi panicking until Swift, Azalea, Royal and Gemstone showed up to help.

Crepitus and Zaeim were immediately hospitalised. Zaeim healed fairly quickly, the doctors swiftly figuring out which toxin had harmed him, with Crepitus taking much longer to heal.

I still visited the No. 2 every day though, just in case, and I had taken his suggestion to become a hero to heart.

It took weeks of arguing until the best thing happened.

"I could be a great hero! Come on. I'm an adult now. I'm not a child anymore, Dad." I said quietly. "I managed to land a blow on Lightspeed, and I think I handled the situation with- with Zaeim and Crepitus very well. Crepitus probably would have been hurt a lot more if I hadn't been there." I stared at Schlatt, who let out a sigh.

"Okay. I guess you're right, and I'm sick of you complaining about it." He smiled wryly. "You can become a hero. But promise me that you'll be safe."

"I promise."

And then my training began.

My first session was with Captain Puffy, a hero I hadn't gotten to interact with yet.

She shot me a small smile as I walked in. "Y/N! Glad to see that your dad finally saw your potential. I've heard great things about you."

I nodded with a small smile. "Great to meet you too, Captain Puffy."

"Oh please, just Captain's fine. Or Puffy. No need for the full title- you'll be a fellow hero soon enough." She smiled again.

I nodded quietly, studying her outfit. She was wearing a typical pirate getup, consisting of a black canvas doublet, breeches and her tricorn hat with a golden trim. She had long, curly hair that was half white and half brown, split down the middle.

Puffy gestured to a rack on the wall with all sorts of weapons. "Choose wisely- you'll be whatever you choose for the rest of your career. Although they are all wooden so we won't hurt each other while you're learning to use it. It'd be easier for me to train you if you choose some throwing knives-" she gestured to the knives that were neatly arranged on her leather belt. "-but it's really up to you."

I nodded, carefully selecting a wooden sword. "This is fine."

"Okay, lets get started then." Puffy said brightly, picking out a similar weapon. "Fight me."

I blinked. "What?"

"Fight me. Go on." I nodded with a shrug, rushing at her with the sword. She neatly sidestepped my attack, tripping me up. She gently poked me with the sword. "In a real battle against a villain, you'd be dead right now. First rule of sword fighting." She smiled, helping me to my feet. "Always stay on your feet."

"Right. Stay on my feet. Got it." I was taken by surprise when she ran towards me. I tried to do the neat sidestep she had done before and ended up stumbling, struggling to stay stood up. Stay on your feet, stay on your feet! I spun around to see her raising the sword in the air and I lifted my own sword above my head, blocking her attack. I thought back to the fights I had watched on TV, remembering a move Gemstone had pulled off in a fight about a year ago.

I lifted my foot towards her leg, pushing my foot against her body with a fierce kick in an attempt to throw her off balance. She stumbled, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Nice! Where'd you get that?" She huffed, trying to catch her breath.

"I used to watch every fight that heroes were in on TV. Saw Gemstone using it."

The No. 7 hero nodded. "Ah, I remember that. Good fighter, Gemstone. If you get a chance to train with him, you'll learn quite a bit- especially since he's specifically trained to use your type of weapon."

"I'll keep that in mind." I muttered.

"Try again, come on."

That was probably the most exhausting three hours of my life. But it would be worth it when I became a hero.

——

The first thing I did was rush to the hospital, which was about a mile away.

I was greeted by Lucendi walking out of the room, staring at the floor. "Is he awake?"

He looked up, with a small smile. "Yeah. The doctors are checking him over and stuff first though. I got kicked out the second he woke up."

"Oh, thank god."

"How did your first training session go?" Lucendi asked with a smile.

"It went great! I mean, I'm exhausted, but it'll be worth it in the end." I said brightly.

"What weapon did you choose?" He asked curiously, sitting down on the chair outside the room.

"Sword." I said, sitting down next to him.

"Cool, cool. Looking forward to practicing with you when you're a full hero."

"That won't be for a while, unfortunately. And that's if they decide I'm good enough to be a hero." I sighed.

"I mean it could be quicker than you think." The blindfolded hero reasoned. "Zaeim finished his training in a few weeks. That's why he's the No. 1 hero."

I stared at him. "Really? I had no idea!" I had spent a lot of time talking with Zaeim lately, and he had failed to bring this up.

"Yeah, really. I'm sure you'll be able to as well." He grinned. "And I'm sure Sam will be awake by the time you-" Lucendi clapped his hand to his mouth, his eyes wide as he realised what he had said. "I mean Crepitus." He said with a nervous laugh, fidgeting with his totem necklace.

"Sam...?" I echoed, staring at the door to the hospital room.

"Crepitus- I meant- aw damn it." He muttered.

"How do you know his name? Do all the heroes know each other's names?" I asked curiously. Sam. It was a very simple name for the very complicated man I knew.

"No. We can tell other heroes if we want too, but nobody gets told. I only know Zaeim's, Crepitus' and, of course, Gemstone's."

"Can you tell me?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know... we need to go somewhere more private because some people like to EAVESDROP FOR NO REASON!" He rose his voice to a yell, and I spotted a young teen with half black, half blonde hair jump, running down the corridor. "Sorry for yelling."

"It's fine." I said with a laugh. "Don't think I've ever seen you shout before."

"Come on, lets go." He stood up without another word, walking down the corridor.

——

We ended up in a quiet park near my house, and we sat down and had a discussion about the heroes and their lives.

It was revealed to me that Crepitus' name was indeed Sam, and that Zaeim's name was Eret.

"What's..." I hesitated. "What's your name?"

He glanced around, and without hesitation, grinned and said, "Foolish."

"Oh! Cool!" I smiled. "I'm glad you're comfortable enough to share that with me."

"I mean, you're a really good friend of mine so... why not?"