"I'm sorry kid, it's just not possible" Those words weigh more than stones.
Sentinel, a hero he looked up to had crushed his dreams. "I know you want to help people, but not having a skill makes it impossible, there are dangerous villains out there and look at you, a powerless boy can't be a hero" Sentinel added, he knew he shouldn't have, but he was trying to look after the boy, he had seen many young rising heroes die in battle.
"I understand" Shiro croaked as he held his fist tight "I should have known" he fought to keep the tears from rolling, Sentinel felt like he had to say something.
"Look kid, there are other ways of helping people, become a doctor or therapist, heck, even my best friend is a doctor but a hero, I'm sorry kid".
Sentinel begins to walk off, and Shiro starts to cry, he then tells himself that he should have expected this but it still hurts. Then an explosion rang, he looked in shock and wondered what was going on, but he stopped himself from thinking 'Why should I even bother, it's not like I can do anything' he thought, but for some reason, he felt compelled to check it out.
/-/
Shiro ran towards the blast eventually finding himself at the location 'What's going on? a villain can't attack in the middle of the city' he thought "I wonder what going on" he said as he peeked over the crowd and saw the madness.
It was a phantom, a lower tier phantom was loose in the city, "what is that thing?" someone said,
"Hey, isn't that a phantom?!" someone asks "A phantom, no way, what's it doing here in the city," another asks.
Shiro notices there are heroes at the scene and even a few hunters, but none approaches it, "why don't the heroes or the hunters do anything, shouldn't they try to stop it?" he asks, "didn't you hear, that's a phantom and it has a hostage" someone replies him,
"a phantom smart enough to take a hostage, is it a mid-tier?" he asked the stranger but someone else replied "According to the hunters it's a low tier in the process of evolving"
"But how did it get in the city?" another person asked
"It's these stupid hunters, who can't even do their jobs right"
"Why do we have hunter if the heroes are still the ones that have to fight phantoms" another person added
That was just the reality of things, since the rise of heroes, hunters had slowly begun to fall out of public favors, the heroes handled everything from natural disasters and accidents to domestic disputes and crime fighting.
Meanwhile, the hunters did one thing and one thing only, HUNTING PHANTOMS, this led to the public favoring the heroes over the hunters as they were seen as more useful. Hunters could rarely be found in the city as they were mostly in the ruins of the old world clearing out the phantoms and helping their respective countries take back lost territory.
Back to the crisis at hand, Shiro looks to try and identify the hostage and he feels his blood run cold, in the monster's grasp through the slime and flames, he sees Daichi. Before anyone could stop him, he blitzes pass the barricade and runs towards his troubled classmate, he runs past the heroes. "hey kid stop, are you trying to get yourself killed" a hero calls out to make him stop, but he didn't listen, Sentinel watches the whole scene unfold in raw shock as Shiro tosses his textbook at the phantom, hitting one of its eyes, that small moment gave Daichi the long needed fresh air he breathes in and shouts "what are you doing here, you useless fuck, get the hell outta here", "shut up and let me save you" said Shiro with a worried expression on his face as he still struggles, trying to save his classmate, that helps Daichi gain motivation to lunch a lightning attack into the phantom, blasting the both of them out.
"RRAAAAGGHHH!!" the monster cries out in pain as it is ready to launch an attack at them, just then a magic barrier forms at the last second blocking the attack at the last second.
"Well, isn't this interesting" Sentinel said as he approached the boys, his hands giving off a faint glow indicating the barrier was his doing.
He glanced at Shiro for a brief second before focusing on the monster in front of him, it pounded on the barrier trying its hardest to reach its prey "Your reign of terror ends here!!" he exclaimed before chanting:
"LIGHTNING MAGIC 5TH TIER [ROAR OF RAIJIN]"
Just then a massive bolt of lightning shot from the sky, vaporizing the phantom until there was nothing left.
There was a moment of silence before the crowd burst into cheers.
"Wow, he defeated it in one attack"
"that's the number 3 for you"
"Who needs hunters when we have heroes" the people cheered
That last comment seemed to gain a glare and scowl from the 2 hunters present.
Sentinel walked past the boys as he departed "Good job" he said once more glancing at Shiro "Both of you" he added as he left.
He walked past the hunters present, "You lot as well, good job controlling the situation before I got here, well done", even if it was a genuine compliment, the situation made it sound like a snide remark.
Soon they were attended to by support class heroes present, Shiro was scolded for being a reckless idiot for endangering his life while Daichi on the other hand received praise for his amazing skill and resilience, with many heroes saying he has a promising future.
Once Shiro was checked over by the paramedics at the scene, he ran to the train station to get home, ignoring the calls of a certain individual as he ran.