My name is Hayato Katakura, I am turning seventeen this year and will be graduating from high school. I'm advanced in years when it comes to education, my parents enrolled me at the age of five to grade one. They believe that I'm special, well actually, the whole Chiba prefecture sees me as the golden boy that carries their pride.
You may I ask, what's so special about me as a sixteen year old kid?
See, I'm one of the 0.0001 of the population that has this so called ability or power that made us stronger and smarter, I also have a rare ability that no other pro hero has; a gift that our prefecture never had for more than twenty years.
My parents told me that after the doctors declared that I have the gift, the whole town went crazy, it was the first time in almost thirty years since the last special baby was born in Chiba. The last person who had a hero potential was Prawn Guru, he only had a short two years career as a hero, he then retired and became a captain of a ship that catches prawn.
I mean, no disrespect to the guy but what can a man that calls prawns to help him in fights really do against any villain, feed them unlimited prawn to death?
Unlike Prawn Guru, I have this ability to hide in the shadow which is rare even to the 0.0001 of the special population. A few years ago there had been a debate on what should my hero name be once I start working as a pro hero, I was so nervous that they'd call me Shadow Man or Shadow Guru; they named the other guy Prawn Guru so just imagine the chances of them calling me Shadow Man; that nickname is too generic that it makes me cringe.
Thank God that they decided to call me Shadow Ninja instead. They said that it is because of my ability to vanish anytime and emerge whenever I want, at least that's what they know. In reality, I can only hide in the shadows for as long as I can hold my breath. There are things that you have to hide to the people, it says from the book that I read that in order to become a successful hero, you should never reveal your cards to your enemies because it will be used against you.
Through the years I had multiple interviews, meet and greet, and scholarship interviews, so when it comes to social events; I'm pretty much used to it. But today is different though, I'm graduating from high school and I will have a live interview with the local television network to declare which university will I attend to. I have multiple offers from big universities that provides crime fighting courses, University of Tokyo is the best choice; they have an average of four drafted heroes a year compared to other universities that only produce around a single drafted hero a year, some universities doesn't produce even a single hero, so choosing where to go after high school is the very important if you want to have a successful career.
To explain further, once you entered college; you can immediately declare for the heroes draft just after finishing a single year. There are only twenty big shot companies that draft heroes and then they sign their drafted hero to a yearly contract; they will do a lottery system to know who will draft first. If an aspiring hero doesn't get drafted, they have an option to pursue other work or sign with smaller companies that pays small amount of money for their service.
On average, only forty heroes are being drafted each year and there are about a hundred or so who are available to be drafted. Sadly, only a few of the forty who got drafted will remain in the heroes roster, anyone can be removed for even a small issue, like what happened to a young hero last year; a hero named Sylum got drafted. Him and his friends celebrated an occasion and he got so drunk that he accidentally bumped an old man, the man fractured his left hand and because of that incident, Sylum was removed from the company that drafted him. He only lasted two months as a hero and we never heard anything about him again.
The people who did not get drafted as a professional hero usually signs up for military service, joins the police academy or they continue their studies and just forget being a hero. There's a lot of factors why they may not get drafted, there's a scoring system that provide insights on what can a hero do. The highest score is ten while the score of one or two is considered as ordinary human level, the scouts then scores the strength, ability, charisma, speed, intelligence and growth capability of an aspiring hero.
There is only a single hero who hold the score of ten for strength, it was Panzer who's so strong that scouts says he could stop a tank from moving with his bare hands. There's no way I'm reaching ten when it comes to strength but my ability is good enough to make me a top ten prospect that can be drafted, at least that's what the local analysts says.
There's really no competition for me here in Chiba, I'm a member of the heroes varsity and from grade six to twelve we dominated all the competition. I also won the Chiba athlete of the year and took home the MVP award for six straight years, so when it comes to resume, I think I have the greatest accomplishments for a sixteen year old kid. But just to be clear, I'm the only one who's special among all that were competing here in Chiba district. The Hero varsity is open for anyone who's aspiring to become a hero (from professional heroes, police officers, army men and even aspiring lawyers).
After thirty minutes of traveling from home, we finally arrived at Chiba stadium where the interview will take place. There's a lot of people lining up and it feels great to see them wearing shirts that says "Hero Hayato" and "Chiba's Pride", these people has been rooting for me for years. Today, they are lining up just to know where I'm signing up for college.
My hands are sweating and I couldn't think properly, I think I'm getting nervous and my mom noticed it, she grabbed a warm tea then asked me to take a few sip.
"Are you okay, are you ready for this?" asked mom while handing a warm cup of tea.
"I was born for this, you don't have to worry" I answered with a forced smile. I don't want them to see that their little ball of pride is getting nervous, I then took a sip of the warm aromatic tea.
Oddly, tea has been my go to remedy whenever I am feeling down, nervous or even angry. It has been my mom's specialty, she buys leaves of the Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia, and create a tea out of it.
"Hayato, the interview will start in five minutes. Please stand by" said one of the staff.
I nodded at the staff then looked at myself in the mirror, I'll do the usual thing; I'll look at the camera, smile a bit then look straight to the interviewer. The camera is usually placed right in front of the crowd and it makes me feel nauseous when ever I see the crowd that's why I try to look at the interviewer almost immediately. Like actors we have to act as if we are confident and in control of the situation.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our very own superhero; Hayato!" shouted by the host and the people erupted.
I did what I'm used to doing and started the interview with the host.
"Hayato, when was the last time that you were interviewed by me?" asked Joji, the host of the show.
"It was just last year, you interview me every year. I think you are obsessed with me" I answered jokingly.
Joji is a very nice guy, I had interviews with him since I was five years old and he never miss an important celebration. He was like an uncle to me.
"I would be if I'm a lady or maybe I am, deep inside" answered Joji while winking at the crowd, the crowd laughed.
"Okay, let's get into business. Hayato, we are all excited about your growth and you have been our hope to finally have our very own hero that is born and raised in Chiba. How do you feel about it?" asked Joji.
"I'm flattered to hear that even though you have been telling me the same thing for the past ten years or so" the crowd laughed again.
"But I know that those hope and excitement comes with a big responsibility, I have been training for years and I did my best to become the man I am today" I continued.
The crowd became silent, the situation became very serious.
"And with all things said and done, we the people are waiting for your answer. To which university will you commit with?" asked Joji.
I smiled at the interviewer and looked at the crowd, I need to build the more excitement.
"Where do you think?" I asked the crowd with a smile.
There were murmurs and people looked at each other while discussing where they think I will commit with.
"Where do you think will I commit?" I pointed at a lady who's sitting in the middle.
The lady pointed at herself then look at her right then to her left. I nodded to let her know that she was the one that I'm referring to.
The lady stood up reluctantly and one of the staff gave her a microphone.
"Ahm, I think.. You will sign with Kyoto university because they have natural resources that could help you with your training" said the young lady.
She was not wrong, Kyoto has a beautiful forest and is close to the mountains; Panzer graduated in Kyoto and from one of his interviews he mentioned that his strength was developed in mount Kurama where monks helped him become stronger.
The crowd booed her answer, Kyoto was too far from Chiba and that means that I will have little chance to visit Chiba and almost no chance to attend different events here.
"That's a good answer, anybody else. Let's get one more answer!" I then started to look for any volunteer.
A young boy was raising his hand, he was around ten to twelve years old. I immediately pointed at him, he then stood up with enthusiasm.
"I think you'll pick University of Tokyo, they produce a lot of heroes and you can go back to Chiba whenever you want" said the young kid with a smile.
The crowd applauded, it was the favored answer all year long.
"Wow, you really know your stuff kid!" I answered.
"So where will you be joining?" asked Joji who interrupted me out of excitement.
I once again smiled to the crowd then looked Joji in the eyes.
"I'm going professional. I'll enter the heroes draft this year!"
There was a long silence, people started to murmur. I looked at Joji and his mouth was wide open, he did not anticipated my answer. Never in the history was there a high school kid who declared to enter the draft, it's either you get in to college to prove you are better than the other college prospects in a year or two then get drafted or finish your course then apply for the draft.
My route is different though, In my mind, to make history; I will have to create a path that no one ever took and from there, my legacy starts.