Heaven and Earth

The loss of Hiroshi was enough to leave everyone speechless as they stared at the match came to a close. Those who were part of the audience and those who were watching the live broadcast of the fight could tell that there was no foul play in the match. Satoshi won fair and square by using a superpower that he had hidden throughout his whole childhood.

"Isn't that crazy? Why would he subject himself to such hate if he had such a powerful superpower?"

"He's writing his own novel, that's how it is. He probably did that to have an even greater impact during his high school years."

"Kudos to him, I never would've done that if it were me. He must have balls of steel to endure through all those hardships."

"Oh shoot, I use to bully that kid before! What am I thinking! No... this is not good."

"But to think that Hiroshi lost, how could that even happen?"

Murmurs erupted from the audience as they discussed what just ensued. As for Satoshi's parents, however, they sat in their seats, trying to maintain their composure as their son walked away from the stage. They badly wanted to shout and exclaim to the entire audience that Satoshi was their son... but right now, they have an image to uphold. In the end, they made up their mind to just celebrate their son's high school debut at home where they won't be interrupted by paparazzi and news anchors who were eagerly looking out for a scoop.

Back at the hardware shop, a couple of customers who weren't able to get inside the Coliseum were watching the live broadcast through the television propped on one of the walls of the store. When they saw that Hiroshi lost to the son of the Midoriyama duo, a lot of people cheered, but some were not convinced about it. Their reactions were pretty much the same as the others.

"Hey, that's the kid from before," Ivan screamed.

"You know the kid, Ivan?"

"No, but I've met him. He's a good kid." He smiled.

.....

Satoshi walked towards the waiting room to await his second match. Even though he didn't feel nervous in the slightest during the match, he didn't feel the same after it. As soon as he stepped out of the arena, his feet turned into jelly and his heart pounded like drums. With his shaky hands, he clutched his chest as he could feel himself asphyxiating. 'One wrong move and I would've melted to death. That Hiroshi might've killed me if I didn't have a superpower.'

Since there was no one watching, Satoshi leaned on the wall and decided to take a rest, finally feeling post-match exhaustion. There's still a match or two left before his next match so there was no need to rush to the waiting room. Besides, he could tell by the noise that there were a lot of reporters waiting for him near the waiting room.

"Um, excuse me, are you okay?" A girl suddenly called out, concernedly handing Satoshi a handkerchief. "You"

"Oh, Shiroi-san, how are you doing," Satoshi asked as he waved his hands. So she's fighting in the next match, huh, I guess it would be an easy win for her. Still, I didn't expect her to enter this school, I thought she would jump straight to hero work since a lot of agencies scouted her during our middle school years.

"That's what I'm supposed to ask you, what are you doing? I thought you didn't have any superpower? How come you're using one now? Did you intentionally hide your superpower during ou entire middle school years? When did you find out about your superpower? I thought we were friends, why didn't you tell me anything?" Shiroi-san hissed. She didn't want to raise her voice and attract unnecessary attention, especially when there are reporters on the other side of the hallway, awaiting Satoshi's return to his waiting room.

"Don't you have a match? You should focus on that for now. I'll tell you everything once we both get 'officially' accepted to the USA. And also— aren't you staring a little bit too much?" Satoshi tried to cover some parts of his upper body but he couldn't. Most of it was burned due to the intense heat that Hiroshi emitted with his lava superpower.

"Eek~ okay. I'll be going now." Shiroi cleared her throat. "And tell me everything once all this is over!"

"All right all right." Satoshi shrugged as he waved his hands, signaling that she should get going.

After stealing one last glance towards him and getting flustered in the process, Shiroi-san went on her way.

"That was dangerous! What was Shiroi-san doing here! Ah, did I say something wrong? Was I acting weird? Do I look all right? Aaarghhh!" Satoshi grabbed his hair in a flustered manner with all the intention to pull it out. But after taking a couple of deep breaths, he calmed down.

Dusting himself off, Satoshi got up and headed back to the waiting room. The image of Shiroi-san's beauty still lingered in his mind like smoke coming out of a burnt-out campfire. Her smooth, pristine white skin with a light pinkish tone, her slender legs, and proportionate body that seemed sculpted by another goddess, her blue clear eyes that reflect even the darkest of lights, and silky white hair that touched the back of her knees, they all swam in Satoshi's mind as he staggered to the waiting room. Ever since Shiroi-san rescued her from his bullies back in their first year of middle school, he grew utterly fond of her. But he was well aware that their distance is like heaven and earth— one has a strong superpower while the other has none. That's the only reason why Satoshi can't and won't express his feelings towards her. He was content with the way they are right now— close friends. Even though he comes off as indifferent sometimes, Shiroi didn't fail to talk to him or hit him up during the summer break.

One time, he even thought that if someone were to date Shiroi, he would be fine with it. After all, he's a nobody. He's not even on anyone's radar.

During middle school, Shiroi had countless suitors but she turned them all down. Some even believed that she was dating Hiroshi at one point. This frustrated Satoshi so much he started doubling his workout routine.

But now, things are different. Before, he only had the looks, but with the superpower to back it up, he's not afraid of anyone anymore. And now that the only barrier blocking his path to romance was finally shattered, he thought that maybe he could get a chance at confessing at Shiroi, his childhood friend, and the only girl in his mind.

"Mmm... nope, not happening." Satoshi vehemently shook his head. Even after obtaining a superpower, he knew that there's a good chance that Shiroi will reject his confession. His confidence dwindled.