4 The Crushcident (revise version)

(A/N: okay now here's the revised version for this chapter)

Helios entered the examination room and he was surprised that there was only one other examinee who was waiting there.

But what surprised him the most was who was the examinee he saw.

As the silhouette of someone dearly familiar can be seen sitting amidst the gold plaited room of the H.E.R.O. examination quarters. Helios saw a young woman, oddly similar to someone he knew in his previous life.

Someone whom he had been classmates since elementary and graduated on the same course as he did in college. It was Helios' first and only crush and he never saw her again after she graduated from college, as Helios was left having to redo his major subjects in Mechanical Engineering.

As Helios walks towards his seat, he can't help but glance by at the young woman sitting in front, as both the shape of the countenance and the way her eyes looked eerily similar to her. But Helios did not dabble any further as he knew it would be impossible to meet her at this life.

Furthermore, her hair color was that of natural crimson, which his childhood crush was not. So, Helios passed by her and the girl with crimson hair took a peek behind of the other examinee coming.

Helios sat down at the back of the room and couldn't stop glancing at her what seemed to be her doppelganger, as from time to time he would take a peek then look at the ceiling afterwards.

The girl with crimson hair suddenly looked towards Helios, and caught him glancing at her. Helios was flustered, as he was suddenly caught by the person, he was staring all this time.

The crimsoned hair girl stood up from her seat up front and gracefully walked by coming towards Helios direction, as now Helios was feeling more nervous than ever as she approaches him on site.

The crimsoned hair girl approached Helios and smiled, as she ploughs through her hair to the side and asks, "Excuse me, but are you perhaps Helios Black?"

Helios' heart was beating really fast as he was left stunned then stuttered to answer,

"Y-y-y-yes miss, I-I-I'm Helios B-B-Black,"

The crimson haired girl giggled and said to him,

"Don't be so formal!

"Don't you remember me? It's me, Aemie! We were classmates in Elementary!"

As Helios heard her name, he was now convinced that it was a different person, and not his childhood crush. But the way she acted, giggled, and smiled, as well as the coincidence of being her classmate in this life, reminded him of her very much.

After hearing Helios' confirmation she cheerfully walks back to her seat to get her bag and sits next to Helios.

"I'm so glad I found a familiar face here! I was already feeling agitated with all the waiting and suspense of this exam!" Aemie said.

"Uh-y-Yeah, haha,

"I'm so glad I'm here meeting you too, miss Aemie," Helios' blurted out as he was so nervous that she sat next to him.

'Damn! Too close, too close! I am not ready for this, even though she wasn't my childhood crush from my old life, she's really so cute, and definitely look liked her!' Helios said in his mind, as he was also agitated, but in a very different way relative to Aemie.

"So, how's your life right now?" Aemie intriguingly asks,

"Uhmm, I- right now I'm going to take the hero examination,"

"I didn't mean the right here now as in right now, I meant how's is your life after elementary?" Aemie said while pouting.

"Uhmm, --"

'wahddtya mean how's my life since elementary, I already forgot that since long ago, I'm a 27-year-old man, little lady, can't remember stuffs such as those when you're already a jaded adult!

'and plus, this is a different life, so I never went to school with ya, lol' Helios said in his mind as he was definitely in a panic since it was a very long time he socialised with someone since he became a hikkikomori shut-in, and definitely a long time since he chatted with a pretty girl.

"I don't know??" Helios continued his vague answer.

"What do you mean you don't know!!?" Aemie now annoyed of Helios vague answer.

"Yeah, uhmm, you can say that it feels like the whole world is moving forward while I stayed behind for all these years," he said.

Aemie was confused at Helios' answer and couldn't reply immediately— she paused for a moment and started to digest what he was trying to say.

"So by the world moving forward while you were left behind because does that mean that you weren't able to awaken your ability until recently?"

"I mean 'cuz, you wouldn't be allowed in the H.E.R.O. examination if you haven't awakened it yet, hehe," Aemie replied.

"Oh haha! Yeah! Uhmm, yest! Most definitely!"

'She really is a kid! Couldn't blame her though, can't force my jaded worldviews on a young girl,' Helios said in his mind, as little by little his panic was now subsiding as she gets accustomed to Aemie.

"You could have just said that instead of blabbering too much!" Aemie added with a smirk.

Then Helios laughed with an awkward giggle.

"So, are you here to take the hero examination too, or for a different programme?" Helios said trying to change the topic.

"Yes yes! I'm definitely pumped up to try this H.E.R.O. thing out!" Aemie replied as she clenches her fist with a passionate look in her eyes.

'I think she would make a better protagonist in this novel than me,' Helios said to himself.

"By the way, did you also take the test before you came into this room?"

"What test?

"Isn't this the waiting area for the examinees?" Aemie replied.

"I just came out from that door from thousands of examinees that didn't past the pre-test," Helios answered,

"Ohh, that! I was recommended by a hero currently working in the organization so I didn't have to take the test that you said,"

After a few minutes, the examiner entered the room.

Helios was surprised when he saw that the examiner was the receptionist who accommodated him in the reception area of the H.E.R.O. building.

"Hello, I see that the two of you know each other," the examiner said.

"My name is Jennifer Salazar and I will be your examiner for the Professional Hero Occupational License test.

"Now, you might be wondering, 'I thought this was just going to be a an examination to join the H.E.R.O. organisation?'

"Well, before you become a hero serving under our organisation, you need to have a legal authorization from your home country's government to be able to legally do hero work without being apprehended by the authority for suspected misuse of your abilities in public,"

"There are two parts in the hero license exam.

"The first part is an assessment exam in which you will answer test paper questions and then the second part is the practical exam wherein the organisation will assign you to apprehend an actual Villain,

"Any questions?"

Helios stood up and asked,

"Uhmm, pardon me for being off topic, but I was just wondering why were you working as a receptionist when you were actually an examiner, Ms. Jenifer?"

"Oh! That?

"It's just a hobby of mine, I love being in the front desk," Ms. Jenifer politely answered with a smile.

Then Aemie nudged Helios in the elbow saying, "Helios, stop asking stupid questions!"

"Oh, right, sorry! Hehe,

"Ms. Jenifer, I actually wanted to clarify something,"

"Yes go on, Mr. Helios Black," she replied.

"It's about the second part of the examination,

"You said that the final stage of us being accepted in the organization is to capture an actual villain?

"Wouldn't that be very dangerous to someone who's just applying first?"

"Your concern is indeed valid Mr. Helios, and we do take the safety of our applicants seriously.

"But if you remember what I said earlier, this exam is to get your Hero Occupational License.

"This license, although held at a H.E.R.O. organisation office,

"Is mandated by your country's government, and they require applicants to catch an actual villain,

"This is done so that the applicants know the weight of trying to apply in this line of work,

"This isn't any ordinary eight to five job, as Hero work by its very nature is dangerous,

"Dying or getting disabled is a very real possibility, that's why it's a high paying job.

"But rest assure Mr. Helios, that the villain we will assign to you applicants is of rank C and not higher." Ms. Jenifer explained. She walked away from her spot then approached Aemie and Helios then said,

"Also, you'll be accompanied by a class A hero during your hunt, but they won't help you. They'll only monitor you and save you from fatal consequences should the situation arise."

After hearing her explanation, Aemie and Helios felt the subtle pressure that Ms. Jenifer wanted them to realize. The weight of the job as a hero comes with its perks, but most of all, its consequences.

After confirming that there were no other questions Ms. Jennifer starts distributing the reviewers for the exam.

"Contained in that booklet is everything you need to know if you wanna start working as a professional hero for the organisation.

"If you've already tried taking the exam before, that means you've probably already studied for the pen and paper test and have read that booklet, so you may raise your hand and I'll give you the exam sheet right away,

"Otherwise, if this is your first time taking the test, you'll be given a week to study everything in that booklet, then comeback here on Friday, to take then pen and paper exam,"

Since none of them raised their hand, it was clear to Ms. Jenifer that this was their first take, so she let Helios and Aemie pack up to prepare for a week.

The two left the room and was guided to an elevator where they would be sent back to the ground floor. And on their way out of the building, Aemie waved goodbye at Helios and said,

"Well then, it was nice meeting you again after a long time. I'm gonna head this way,"

"Oh, uhmm

"Yeah, definitely,

"S-See ya'" Helios said to her with a stutter as they part ways for now, since Aemie lives in the Northern District, while Helios need to go downtown south, back to the hospital to take care of his parents.

_*_*_*_

For several days, Helios studied everything inside the manual while he was staying at the hospital together with his sister and grandparents, watching over their injured mom and dad.

Then a week had past, and on Friday, Helios once again returned to the H.E.R.O. Z city branch to take the pen and paper test.

He presented his examinee number to the receptionist on the ground floor, this time it wasn't Ms. Jenifer, as Helios already knew that she would be the proctor for the exam.

It was exactly 10:00 AM when Helios arrived at the examination room and the moment he entered, he saw that it was filled with over 50 people this time, meaning more examinees got past the stair challenge during the week.

As he was looking around for a place to sit, he saw somebody's hand waving at him amongst the crowd. He curiously went to it and saw it was Aemie, as she was signaling Helios that she prepared a seat for him. Helios then sat at the vacant chair that Aemie prepared for him, and greeted her while avoiding eye contact because he was still shy around Aemie.

After a two minutes Ms. Jennifer arrived at the room then announced the rules of the written exam.

She told everyone that if someone was caught cheating, they will be banned from taking the examination.

After her announcement five people also entered the room then Ms. Jennifer told the examinees that they were here to help her in monitoring the exam.

She starts distributing the test papers to the examinees and they immediately start to answer.

Once Helios got a hold of the test questions, he was shocked of how very difficult the items of the exam were. Helios did his best to memorise a lot of the stuff in the review materials thinking if he got the gist of the topics, he would be easily able to remember certain keywords.

But majority of the test questions were to be answered in essay form, and required thorough explanation, as well as situational assessment of sample missions.

Helios noticed that the most of the applicants were also having a hard time answering the questionnaire, but when he glanced at Aemie, he saw that she was calmly jotting away and answering the exam.

Aemie said before that she got recommended here by someone who was already working as a professional hero in the organization, that probably explains why she's familiar with some of the situations given in the questionnaire.

Looking at the questions again, Helios begins to ponder if the questions are really that hard, or the majority of the examinees here, including him, are just dumb.

But on the onset, it was way too advance for someone who's just applying for the lowest rank. The more he analyzed the questions, the more he noticed that these questions are way above the level of an ordinary villain hunter. The questions seem like items to be given to higher positions in the organization.

Helios was at his wits, and he was struggling to write a coherent essay for many of the questions, as his mind slowly wandered and remembered a particular anime back in his world.

'This exam is similar to the one in that certain ninja kid anime I watched when I was a kid.

'The questions given there was intentionally difficult in order to force the examinees to cheat.

'They did that because true ninjas must be able to cheat without being caught, part of what a ninja is all about, 'espionage,' Helios pondered in his mind.

As Helios' eyes slowly crawls to a corner in order to peek at Aemie's, he suddenly remembers what Ms. Jenifer said.

'If you're caught cheating, you will be banned from taking the exam for three years,'

Helios eyes immediately goes back to his paper, as he realizes that this exam's rules are different from that of the ninja anime he saw.

Whereas on that ninja anime, the rules were 'three strikes and you're out!', the rules in the H.E.R.O. exam was one out when caught cheating.

Helios didn't want to take the risk, so he deferred from cheating, and went on to answer the essays as best as he can.

While Helios was in deep thought writing each essay, the proctor suddenly announce the first person to be disqualified from the exam.

It was at this time that Helios realizes something.

'Wait, what was I thinking? This is a hero exam!

'What if this exam was to actually test our morals?'

'They are probably trying to see which people would succumb to the temptation of using any means necessary to complete the objective'

'Even if those means are criminal, or could potentially do more harm than benefit,' Helios said in his mind then he smirks, as he resumes answering the test questions.

_*_*_

After two more hours, the exam was now over and Ms. Jennifer started collecting the remaining examinees' answer sheets.

As soon as she collected everything, she announced 33 names and told them to leave as they failed the exam. The examinees were in a ruckus, perplexed by the proctor's judgement even without checking their paper's first. But Ms. Jennifer stood her ground and with a menacing look in her eyes said,

"I'm not going to repeat myself, please exit to the door on your left,

"Thank you."

So the lot went quiet as they felt the murderous intent coming from the Ms. Jennifer and the 33 examinees left the classroom.

As for the remaining students, she said

"All of you, pass!"

Everyone was surprised after hearing that they passed even without the proctor checking their answers, so naturally, one examinee raised their hand and asked and Ms. Jennifer answered,

"Those 33 names I dropped from the exam were cheaters who didn't caught red-handed by the five monitoring personnel in the room,

"But I caught them using my ability, 'Full Clairvoyance'"

Ms. Jennifer explained to them her ability, Full Clairvoyance, which heightens her senses and attention capabilities beyond-human. This ability allows her to perceive exactly what everyone is doing within a 6-metre radius, even behind walls. This ability makes her the ultimate Platoon leader, as she can asses everyone's situation and make fine adjustments as she sees fit. She is a Rank-S.

"As soon as you entered this examination hall, you are within the radius of my ability and I can see exactly what the lot of you were doing, every detail of it," she said, as the examinees suddenly went quiet and became frightened of her unusual ability.

Meanwhile, Helios was frightened for other reasons, mainly if Ms. Jennifer's clairvoyance can notice that he paints was having a tiny boner due to being near a very-pretty girl like Aemie, for the first time.

"Well then, now that everything's settled, all of you can continue to the last part, the practical exam,

"Three days from now, you will return to the H.E.R.O. headquarters here in Z city where we will brief you regarding the villains that you will hunt.

"Don't forget to bring your examination number, as well as your probationary license plates, which will be given to you by the monitoring personnel,"

The monitoring personnel handed out the probationary license plates to the exam passers, and then Ms. Jennifer continued,

"Great! Thank you so much for answering the pen and paper test honestly,

"Also, should you fail the practical test, you can retake it next month when you re-apply, without taking the pen and paper test again,

"Thank you, and have a nice day!"

The examinees were dismissed, and they started leaving the room as well as Ms. Jennifer.

Helios and Aemie went down together and had a little chat before leaving the building,

"So what are you going to do next?" Aemie asked Helios.

"Me? Uhmm, I'm going to prepare something for the mission in case of emergency,

"By the way, you haven't told me your ability yet,

"I was kinda wondering, so that I can take it into account when I go and prepare for the mission," Helios asked her bashfully.

"Oh righty! My ability is called, Medusa, it allows me to have two stages of transformation, one is Medusa when in her mortal form while the second is her Gorgon form where my hair will transform into venomous snakes and I can temporarily freeze my enemies if they look into my eye for 3 seconds," Aemie explained.

After hearing this, Helios was surprised of how elaborate Aemie's ability is. Most of the abilities he has seen so far from most people were either just strength enhancement, high jumps, or other minor upgrades to one's already existing capabilities.

"How about you? What's your ability?" she asked Helios back.

"I can manipulate energy?" he answered Aemie hesitantly, as he wasn't so sure of himself if what he was doing can be considered an ability in this world.

"What kind of energy?"

"Uhmm.. the cosmic kind" he answered her nonchalantly, as even the author of the cultivation book don't even quite understand what Cosmic Energy really is.

"Are you screwing with me Mr. Helios Black!" Aemie replied as she pinches Helios right cheek in frustration of Helios' stupid answer.

"I-I-I'm soooweee, eeven I dwon't ebenn knoeee w-what kind of energy dwis iss", Helios strugglingly said as his cheek was being pulled back and forth by Aemie then she let him go.

"But one thing I've noticed though is that I can coat parts of my body with it, and it kinda acts like an impact absorber of some sort.

"I've only awakened it recently, so sorry for the vague answer. Hehe" Helios explained while rubbing the cheek Aemie pinched that it turned red.

"Ohhh rigghtty, I forgot, ya did say to me last week that you've only recently awakened your ability,"

"Yeah haha",

Then the two of them continued chatting as they went down the building until they parted ways again to take their rides back home.

As Helios was looking at Aemie walk off in the distance, he ponders what Wukong said to him, that his cosmic energy was not considered an ability in this world, but the idea of supernatural powers, and the difference thereof was still foreign to him at this point.