As the day went on, Mykhail anxiously waited for his costume to arrive. He watched movies, played video games, and also examined the mysterious sword in his room.
After a few hours, he walked up to his broken window, sighing.
"Great, now I've got to use the rest of my money to fix this."
As he stepped away, he heard a noise coming from outside. "Mykhail! Hi, Mykhail!"
"Kumiko?"
She was standing outside of his window, waving at him. "Hi! Glad to see you made it home!"
He nervously rubbed his head. "Yeah, I don't even know how I got here, but no one got hurt, right?"
Kumiko nodded. "Wanna come and help us help more people?"
He snuck a glance at the comic book before turning his attention to her. "Yeah…sure…why not."
To his surprise, she didn't even question the broken window.
"Don't worry, Kumiko," he thought. "Once I become a hero, you'll recognize every little detail."
Not long after, he was dressed and walking the streets with Kumiko. The same people from yesterday were outside, doing their usual tasks.
And just as Mykhail thought, Takehiro and Kurumi were waiting for them on the same street as before.
"Hello, guys!" Takehiro greeted. "Ready to help some more neighbors?"
"Yeah!" Kumiko replied.
As they set off, Mykhail's head began to feel a bit odd, but he shook it off and tried to keep pace with the group.
As they walked, Takehiro pulled out the task list again. "Ms. Miyazaki is next! She needs the neighborhood pool cleaned, so let's help her out with that!"
"Yeah!" Kumiko and Kurumi said.
They headed down a couple more streets, greeting neighbors as they walked past. Soon, a public pool came into view, with tons of kids standing by it. As the group got closer, they saw a middle-aged woman in the middle, and when she saw them, she waved.
"Hello, hello!" she greeted. "Nice to see you all!"
"Hi, Ms. Miyazaki!" Takehiro responded. "We're here to help clean the pool!"
"Great! I'll get you guys some equipment! Take your time!" Ms. Miyazaki stated.
She left and entered a nearby office, and when she came out, she had cleaning equipment in her hands. "Here you guys go! Kids, let's step back and let these nice neighbors work!"
All the kids immediately backed away, smiling as they watched Takehiro examine the equipment.
"Okay! Let's give each other equal duties!" Takehiro suggested. "I'll clean the bottom, Kurumi, you can clean the left, Kumiko, you can do the right, and Mykhail, you can retrieve all the trash—-!"
WHOOSH.
When the group turned around, they saw the entire pool was spotless, and Mykhail was standing next to it, his shirt off and his entire body wet. There was a giant bag filled with trash next to him.
"Oh…did you say something, Takehiro?"
Everyone around looked from the pool to Mykhail, confused.
"Mykhail?" Kumiko called out. "Did you clean that giant pool all by yourself?"
Mykhail awkwardly looked away. "Well, it's not THAT big. And it wasn't that dirty, so, I just did a little clean-up while everyone was talking."
Everyone continued to stare at him, but he simply grabbed the bag and set it next to Ms. Miyazaki. "Here you go."
She stared at it for a moment, then she grabbed it and smiled at him. "Thanks, Mykhail! Seems you work quickly! Very quickly!"
He stood as still as a doormat. "Yeah! The faster the better, right?"
All the kids cheered and jumped into the pool, swimming and playing. "Thanks, Mykhail!"
Kurumi, Kumiko, and Takehiro watched the kids swim for a bit, and then Takehiro pulled his task list back out. "Since the pool is now clean, let's move on to our next stop!"
Mykhail let out a sigh of relief. "Sometimes, it's good they're all so oblivious."
While the group discussed their next plans, Mykhail looked at his hand.
"These abilities definitely aren't normal," Mykhail thought. "All I did was touch that sword, but it did SOMETHING to me."
"Mykhail!" Takehiro called out. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah…uh, let me put on my shirt!"
A few minutes later, they were back on the streets, and Takehiro was reading his list. "Okay, next up, we've got Mr. Okamoto. He wants some help with his burger shop, and in return, we get free burgers!"
"Sounds great!" Kurumi said. "This will be fun!"
They began walking, and Mykhail followed. They headed past a park and a sports stadium, and they finally reached their destination: a small shop in the corner of a plaza, filled with a line of customers.
"There it is!" Takehiro pointed. "Time to head inside!"
They walked inside, and each person in line waved.
"Have any of you seen Mr. Okamoto?" Kurumi asked.
A group of them pointed behind the counter, towards a back room. "Thanks!"
While the others walked behind the counter, Mykhail stopped to sit at a booth. "You know what? I am kinda hungry, now that I think about it."
He waited in the lobby for a while, and eventually, Kumiko and the others came back out, Mr. Okamoto behind them.
"Mykhail, welcome!" Mr. Okamoto greeted. "Are you also here to help cook?"
"COOK?" Mykhail blurted out. "I don't know how to cook!"
"That's okay!" Mr. Okamoto replied. "You'll be a great cook!"
Mykhail rubbed his hand over his face. "Aww, damn it."
Soon, he was being led to the back, where a bunch of ovens and ingredients were. Mr. Okamoto clapped his hands together. "Alright! Everyone pick a station! We need a person to prepare, one to cook, one to assemble, and one to serve the food!"
Before Mykhail even had a chance to open his mouth, everyone had already picked a station. Kumiko went to prepare the ingredients, Kurumi went to the assembly table, and Takehiro went close to the counter, ready to serve the food.
"No…" Mykhail realized. "These backstabbers!"
"Mykhail, it looks like you get to be the cook!" Kumiko remarked. "Are you excited?"
He groaned and approached the grill. "This shouldn't be too hard, right? If I can't handle a simple grill, how am I gonna save people?"
Once everyone was in position, Mr. Okamoto gave a thumbs-up. "You guys can start making those burgers! Customers are excited!"
Immediately, Kumiko began preparing the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and fries. Mykhail watched her, nervous.
"Okay, she's about to pass them, all I do is fry the fries and grill the burgers, right?"
Kumiko passed him a couple of burger patties and a portion of fries, which he stared at.
"Right, fries in the fryer, patties on the grill," he noted.
He loaded up the fry basket and dipped it into the fryer oil. Once he did, he saw a few buttons on the fryer.
"Uh…Kumiko, how do I work this?"
She walked up and took a look. "Easy! You just press this button right here!"
She pressed a red button, which began to cook the fries. Mykhail rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, thanks."
He went back to the grill, setting the patties down. They immediately began to cook, and he called out to Mr. Okamoto.
"Mr. Okamoto, how long do I keep these on the grill?" he asked.
Mr. Okamoto came out of his office. "About 2 minutes per side should be good!"
Mykhail watched the patties cook for a few minutes before flipping them over. As he waited for the burgers to cool, he checked on the fries.
"Looks like they're just about done, let me take them out."
As he tried to grab the fry basket, his phone accidentally fell out of his pocket and into the fryer. "Crap! Damn these pockets!"
He reached right into the fryer to try and grab them, but as he did, he accidentally bumped into one of its buttons, setting the temperature to 750 degrees.
"C'mon, c'mon," he muttered. "I've got important stuff on that phone!"
Kumiko caught the smell of burning, and she immediately turned her attention to Mykhail.
"Mykhail, is everything fine—-?"
She noticed he had his hand in the fryer. "Mykhail!"
After fiddling around the fryer a bit more, he took his phone out, which was a complete mess. "Aww, it's all ruined!"
He tossed it in the trash and pulled out another phone from his pocket. "Good thing I always keep two."
He turned the fryer off, but he noticed Kumiko staring at him, worried. "Oh! Need anything, Kumiko?"
She looked between him to the fryer. "That must have been really hot! Are you okay?"
He looked at his hand, which was perfectly fine. "Yeah, I'm okay."
He lifted the fry basket, which had loads of burnt fries in it. "But…the fries are ruined."
Takehiro and Kurumi walked over. "We heard a commotion over here! Are you guys fine?"
Mykhail set the basket down. "Takehiro, switch with me, please."
"Okay!"
As Mykhail walked over to the counter, Kumiko looked at him for a moment, concern on her face, but she turned back around to prepare more ingredients.
Mykhail began passing customers their orders, deep in his thoughts.
"Man, I got tough skin too? Yeah, something is definitely up. Gotta find out what that sword is."
"Excuse me, Mykhail?"
He jolted back to reality, noticing he was handing the wrong customer a meal. "Sorry! Uh, lack of sleep's got me a little crazy!"
The entire line began to laugh. "You're so funny, Mykhail!"
Later on, Mr. Okamoto said goodbye to them as they walked out of the shop. They regrouped outside, looking at Takehiro's task list.
"What's next?" Kumiko asked, curious.
"Let's see, we've got the Takamatsu twins—-"
Mykhail got a notification on his phone, which read:
"Your superhero costume is on the way!"
He nearly dropped his phone, causing the others to look at him. "Sorry guys, but I've got to go! Important business!"
"Oh, take care!" Kumiko said.
"Yeah, see you later!" Kurumi added.
"Wanna join us tomorrow?" Takehiro asked.
"Yeah…sure," Mykhail answered. "See you guys."
He walked in the direction of his house, checking the delivery time on his phone. "Twenty minutes? If this is true, you guys won't be going around doing any more tasks, Takehiro!"
Once he got home, he checked the time again. "2 minutes? They're right around the corner!"
He stood by the front door, and his mom, who was washing dishes, looked over at him.
"Mykhail, dear, are you waiting for something?"
He nodded. "An important package, mom. It's supposed to be coming…"
He checked his phone again. "…right now."
A door opened, and footsteps could be heard walking up to his door. And in the next moment, they disappeared, and a car drove off.
He threw open the door to find a massive package waiting. "Yes! Finally! It's time to begin my journey!"
Maria stared at him with a confused smile. "Journey? That sounds interesting, dear!"
He picked up the box and rushed to his room. Maria turned back to her dishes. "Glad to see him so lively, such a treat!"
Mykhail closed his room door and immediately ripped open the package. He pulled out a black bag, and once he opened it, he found his costume inside, exactly as he designed it.
"YES!"
He turned it over in his hands, admiring the emblem on the chest. "Now I can finally be a hero, FINALLY!"
Rocky sniffed his feet, wagging his tail.
"Oh, don't worry, Rocky. You're about to see the dawn of a new era."
Rocky watched as he put the costume on, which fit snuggly around his body. He pulled the cowl and hood over his head.
"What do you think, Rocky?"
"WOOF! WOOF! WOOF, WOOF, WOOF!"
"No, Rocky! I'm still the same person!"
He gave the dog a pat on the head. "But good to know you can't recognize me. Now I can go around the city, helping people out and fighting villains as the hero known as JUSTICE!"
"Mykhail?" Maria said. "Are you ready for lunch?"
"Crap," he thought. "Can't let her see me like this."
He grabbed the sword from out of his closet and lifted his broken window. Rocky watched as he jumped out of it.
"See you later, Rocky!"
As he left, Maria opened his door, looking around for him. All she found was Rocky and an open window.
"Seems he's gone with his friends, that's great."
Outside of the house, Mykhail walked into the middle of the street. He held his sword up high, his cape swinging in the wind.
"Come out, villains! By the name of Justice, you'll all be stopped!"
But all that greeted him was a crowd of confused people, who were on a school trip.
"Oh, right," Mykhail realized. "There's no one to fight."
One of the boys in the crowd pointed at Mykhail.
"Mom, who's that?"
——