It has been more than a week since I met with Mr. Oda and after that, I never heard back from him. I am slowly getting worried that he might have dumped me or worst, he does not know what to do because I am his first ever client. I am regretting the fact that I didn't try to reach out few days ago, if I did, maybe he could have told me upfront that I'm on my own and I could have handled the paper works with my mother.
Yesterday, I graduated from high school but because I was too worried about my draft process, everything went by as if my mind was on auto pilot, there's nothing much that I could recall on what happened. It's not that graduating high school is not important to me but it's just my goal ever since was to become a professional hero.
My phone started to buzz from my pocket, a lot of things came to my mind; is it a message from Mr. Oda saying that he'll be dropping me as his client, is it a message saying that I am now eligible to be drafted, or maybe it's just a message from Mr. Joji giving encouraging words; I haven't heard anything from him for the past three days.
I pulled out the phone from my pocket, my hand is shaking, I slowly unlocked the phone and clicked the message. I saw the name of the sender then my heart pounded fast, it was a message from Sakura.
"Hey! How are you?" said the text message.
I responded as quick as I could "I'm doing okay, how about you?"
A few minutes passed and a response came in "I'm happy!!! I just got accepted to Kyoto University. I received the mail today".
"CONGRATULATIONS!! I'm happy for you" I responded.
"Thank you, Mr. Hero. Are you busy with the draft process?" asked Sakura.
I sighed after reading her question, I wish I was busy with the processes but I am not. What will I tell her if I get dropped by my manager because I am not good enough?
"Yes, very busy. There's a lot of papers to fill and a lot of interviews that I need to commit to" I lied.
"Nice! Being busy and popular is good, that means they are very interested in you" Sakura answered.
What Sakura said kinda hurt, she's right that if they are interested with me, I should be busy answering different companies and even getting a lot of interviews but there's nothing and it has been a long silent week.
"I hope so. Don't worry, I'll keep you updated with what will happen" I texted back.
"Okay, you know that my mom is a big supporter of you. She'll be happy if she get the news first" answered Sakura.
"I promise to give you the news first. You can count on it!" I replied.
"Thank you :)" Sakura responded.
Just seeing the smiley face emoticon reminds me of her cute smile, every time she smiles her round cheek turns red. I saw my reflection from the screen of my phone, why am I smiling?
I decided to walk to the park and clear my head, all these thinking makes me stressed out and I keep on messing with my hair.
As I walk, I recalled the day that my father got into an accident. I was six years old back then, my father is working as a fireman and they received a call that there were burning houses downtown so him along with his crew mates responded to the scene as fast as they could. The incident was being broadcast live, all the people in Chiba was tuning in to what was going on.
A total of three houses were burning and all of a sudden, one fireman came rushing in even though the fire was strong. People were gasping and the reporter was so surprised that he became speechless, then after a few minutes someone jumped from the second floor.
The scene was so horrific that the live broadcast was cut off and later that day, we found out that the fireman who rushed in was my father. He saw a young boy waving for help at the window, he knows that taking the ladder and positioning it to where the boy is will take a lot of time because the room is positioned between the two burning houses. He grabbed the boy then told the kid to hold on to his neck, and then they jumped from the window straight to the concrete floor.
The boy did not suffer any injury but my father broke his left arm, had fractured bone ribs and had multiple burn marks. He was heralded as a hero but my mother was so angry at him, calling him stupid for pulling a stunt like that.
My father laughed and said:
"I saw the boy and remembered Hayato. I just told myself that saving that little kid is like saving our son, plus I want our little boy to be proud of his father. He will one day be a hero and I want him to know that his daddy was like him, a hero!".
He was like me? Isn't it the other way around, shouldn't it be "I was like him, a hero like him?", I kept asking myself. Why does he think that my life is bigger than his, he's a hero, a brave man who went in despite not being gifted and yet he wants to be like me who's done nothing to be worthy of the title "Hero".
I suddenly heard a sound, it was the entrance music of Darth Vader; It's funny because I added that music specifically for Mr. Oda, if he calls me, that music should play on my phone so I'd know that the call is important.
Wait, that's my phone ringing. It's Mr. Oda!!
"H-hello, Mr. Oda?" I asked nervously.
"Hayato, I apologize if I only called you today" answered Mr. Oda.
"No, it's okay sir. I'm glad that you called" I blurted.
"A-ahm, here's what happened. You are my first client so I never knew about a certain rule.." Mr. Oda was about to explain something big and his tone changed, he kinda sound like he's about to say sorry.
This is it, he will probably tell me that I will not be eligible for the draft and I'm on my own. I knew this was coming, maybe we should have handled this months ago but I was too naive to even think that there's a process before I could be declared eligible for the draft.
"See, we are not allowed to communicate with a high school student and by doing so, we have violated a tampering policy which can revoke my license as a manager and have you banned from the draft for two years" said Mr. Oda.
I suddenly felt nauseous and my stomach turned, I held on to a bar to avoid falling. My dreams has been shattered and applying to a hero course is impossible now because I rejected all their offer. What do I do now?
"Does that mean... I won't be turning pro?" I asked trembling.
I can't believe that this is happening to me and this is because of a stupid rookie mistake of this manager. I wanted to shout, I really do but I'm too shattered and weak. I fell to my knees and I felt my tears falling.
"No.. It means that I had to change the date when you signed with me, so technically I added here that you signed with me today. Twenty four hours after you graduated from high school" answered Mr. Oda.
"Eh?" that's the only sound that came from my mouth.
"Okay, now it has been approved and sealed by the Heroes Association. You are now eligible for the draft" said Mr. Oda.
"Eh?" what's going on?
"Sorry, I'm still here at Hero Association office but your marketing team is already on the move. I'll call you again tomorrow if we have any invitation from the companies. Congratulations, you are now a professional!" said Mr. Oda.
"Eh?" I answered while wondering if I am being prank-ed.
The phone call ended and I'm still confused with what's going on. Why am I on my knees, why was I crying and why are these children looking at me as if they saw someone dying.
I stood up, wiped my tears and walked as if nothing happened. I thought that my dream was over, I kinda felt emotionally cheated but then again, I'm glad that I am now eligible to be drafted by any company.
My phone kept on buzzing so I did a quick look and saw a ton of messages congratulating me. How did they know that I am officially a professional?
My phone started ringing once again, it's my mother calling so I answered it.
"Hayato, you are all over the TV!! You are being campaigned by different networks not just our local channel" shouted by mother sounding surprised.
"Really, how did that happened-- wait. That must be the marketing team that Mr. Oda said, they are now working to promote me country wide!" I answered in surprise.
"Get back here, Hayato. We need to celebrate and plan your week!" said by my mother.
"Okay, I'll get back home now. Talk to you later!" I answered.
This is really happening, I had a roller coaster emotions today, from being afraid, to being sad, to being angry, to being confused and now... I'm really happy!
My phone buzzed again so I took a peek, my heart suddenly sunk.
"You promised that I'll get the news first :( " a message from Sakura.
Oh shit.