A Name For Himself

Shin said, "Doesn't matter what my reason is. I don't have to share that. Put him in my guild."

Shin walked out of the room, shutting the door.

Yuu said to everyone, "He was like this the day after..that day."

Yamato added, "Whenever he uses a curse that is..he gets kinda iffy."

Toshin sighed, "It's a lot to take in. Especially the situation at hand. When Akira wakes up, talk to him about this. That's if you two, his parents, want him to be a hero."

Yuu and Yamato looked at each other.

Ultra popped a piece of gum in her mouth, "He should be. With the right guidance, he'll be fine. And the boy literally stabbed a piece of his face skin off just to remove a power dampener, just so he could protect Shin and everyone else."

Yamato added, "Akira has been clumsy before, and he's socially awkward sometimes. I'm not saying that to disrespect him, I'm saying he WILL fuck up at times. I don't know man.."

Yuu replied, "What hero doesn't fuck up..?"

"Yuu.."

"Let's face it, darling. We've been holding Akira back from his true potential, he's meant to be a hero. With power like his, he really could do good for this world. And even though he's trying to be popular and what not, that's good for him. That's motivation for him. We need to come to the realization that Akira is able. Shin knows that too. Yeah, we were too worried that he would do damage to the world instead of helping it, but he fought off a Yōkai that matched his strength..and KILLED IT. Entities are meant to be immortal, but Akira erased one."

It was silent in the room for a few seconds, everyone looked at each other, eyes peering everywhere.

Yamato answered, "Alright."

"Alright?" Yuu responded.

"But that third eye curse on Akira..we don't know what it really does, or what its deal is. We have to keep it in check, no matter what."

Kaede grinned, "Akira will be taken care of, don't worry. With every mission, we'll review it with you two."

Ultra raised her hand, "NUH uh. You'll review that shit with ME too. I'm basically his mother."

Yuu scoffed at Ultra, "I'M HIS MOTHER! YOU'RE JUST AN AUNT! HAHA! IMAGINE! AND YOU JUST WANNA STALK ME AND YOUR BROTHER!"

Ultra scoffed back, "HAH?! I DON'T STALK!"

"LIKE HELL YOU DON'T!"

"YOU DON'T DESERVE HIM! WENCH!"

"SKANK!"

Yuu and Ultra said at the same time while folding their arms and looking away, "Tch!"

Yamato sighed with his head down, "God save me."

Toshin continued, "Okay, okay, um..yeah. Yuu, Yamato, and Nagumo-."

Ultra dashed up to Toshin, and grabbed his collar, "Do NOT call me by my government name, nerd! My name is Ultra! I changed it! It's Ultra!"

Toshin cowered down with his hands waving, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Ultra let go, and she stepped back.

Toshin cleared his throat, and he peeped over at Kaede, and he saw her smirking behind her hand at what just happened.

Toshin exclaimed, "IT WASN'T THAT FUNNY!"

Kaede grinned, "Yeah, it kinda was. She called you a nerd."

"ENOUGH! ENOUGH! ENOUGH!"

Behind Toshin, the other leaders in suits were laughing too.

Toshin clenched his fists, and took deep breaths.

Toshin said, "AS I WAS SAYING…before I was rudely interrupted..Yuu, Yamato, and Ultra..you three will be a part of the leaders of the Hero Syndicate. I'm like..big fans of Yuu and Yamato, so I always wanted to officially work with them. You guys are so badass."

Ultra pointed at herself, "I'm badass, aren't I? AREN'T I?!"

Toshin nodded fast, "Yes! Yes you are!"

Kaede smirked, Toshin scoffed at her, "STOP LAUGHING! FOOL! FOOL OF A WOMAN!"

Back inside of Akira's medical room, he was sitting up in his bed, looking out of the window. Zenyu and Obi had left Akira a note, which read: "Oi! It's your friend Zenyu! I hope you wake up so we can fly paint planes again! Don't die, I'll be kinda sad. It's not like you'll die easily anyway since you're overpowered and stuff like that, but yeah! Me and Obi's phone numbers are right at the bottom of the page, talk to us when you wake up! Obi says he hopes you get up and feel better without any treading illness!"

Akira had the note in his hand, and he adjusted his glasses.

Akira thought, 'I uh…I've been awake for 4 hours straight. I don't know why I pretended to be asleep….I kinda do..but I heard everything that was said around me. What would I say to my family? I got my ass kicked, and I feel guilty. I do feel the pain within me…it hurtssss! But..I'm glad this is over. I learned a lot from getting my ass kicked all day. I learned that I'm still weak without using my powers. And I learned that there's a lot more to being a hero than I thought. I've seen dead bodies before..but not the way it happened at the eatery. It was so scary..scarier than when Shin killed all those men in my room when we were little..this was more..disturbing..their dead eyes looked right at me. I felt dead inside when looking at them myself. I won't be able to get those images out of my head so easily. I never felt pain like that before..honestly! That shit really hurt! I won't be able to go to school until I'm fully healed. Man, that sucks. Now I'm about to be babied around the house like a toddler again. I would use my powers to just move around, but the doctor recommended that I shouldn't do that, since using my powers while my body is already injured will stress my body out even more and be even more messed up after I use my powers. Awww man! But It was definitely an experience. I need to write all of this down.'

Akira noticed he had new glasses on, and he said to himself, "New glasses? I didn't even really notice until now. I mean obviously I have new ones! My last one got destroyed by Ukine. That bastard.."

Akira tried not to move as much, knowing that his body was still broken.

Standing in the shadows of the room was Shin.

Shin said, "You've been awake."

Akira gasped, saying, "Shin! Shit, bro! Please stop doing that, I can't get used to that all the time. I get scared easily sometimes!"

"No, I will not stop 'doing that'. It's how I travel."

"Geez..I get that you like Batman but.."

"You've been awake this entire time, and told no one."

"You…knew I was awake. The entire time. Didn't you?"

"Of course I did. Why?"

"I..wouldn't know what to say to everyone, to be honest. After getting my ass kicked..and after seeing what I saw..I feel responsible for what happened to those people at the eatery."

"You shouldn't."

"Why? If I wasn't there, they wouldn't have been killed."

"That is true."

"So-."

"But you shouldn't let that ruin who you are. Most people who go through that trauma wouldn't even dare to step foot in the land of heroes. I've seen many rise and fall due to these situations, and I've seen some even off themselves because of it."

"What are you trying to say…?

Shin sighed, "They want you to join the Hero Syndicate. That's why you shouldn't change because of this situation, at all."

Akira smiled, "Really?! For real?! For real?! They want me to be a registered hero?! For reals?! Really really?!"

"Quite the mood change."

"I don't wanna keep thinking about what happened at the eatery. You know..ever since we were kids..when I got picked on and stuff, I used to laugh it off all the time to hide the pain, to try and forget the pain at the same time."

"I know you. I know you do that. It makes me sick. Like a little baby. But it can't be helped, I guess, from a nerd like you."

"I do whatever it takes. I don't like when things ruin my mood. When I made the decision of removing Ukine's blood from my face, I saved lives. Even though some were lost, we still managed to save more than one person. I'll avenge all those people that died, by being a hero."

"Cringe. Whatever. When you are fully healed, you will be joining my guild. And you will be moving in with me and the main squad at the guild mansion. But before you do any of that, you'll be tested."

"Tested? Like exams?"

"In your case, there will be no exams. Something more difficult will take place. So be ready."

Akira grinned again, "I GET TO JOIN YOUR GUILDDDD?! AWESOMEEEEE!!"

Akira crawled out of the bed and almost fell on the floor in excitement, but Shin caught him, and placed Akira back in the bed.

Shin said, "Stop doing dumb shit, nerd. Rest now."

Shin started to leave, but Akira exclaimed, "Wait!"

Shin stopped at the door with his back turned to Akira.

Akira continued, "Don't be like, SUPER DUPER mad at me. But I have two questions."

"Spit it out. I have somewhere to be."

"Okay, okay. First question: what happened with Ukine? After the fight?"

"I gave him amnesia and paralyzed him for life with a curse. Next question."

"Um..right, right. I would've preferred he got offed. Anyway…what do you think about Zaeya? Our long long lost brother?"

"…."

Shin walked out, shutting the door behind him.

Akira thinks, 'Great answer, Shin. Great answer.'

Walking down the hallway, Shin thought, 'It's written all over his face. Akira is traumatized. Trying to hide behind it with his usual personality.'

(1 hour later)

[The Valhalla guild mansion]

Shin walked through the double doors of the living room, and his squad was standing in there waiting on him.

Remy was doing push-ups in the corner, Obi was stuffing fruit inside of his mouth, Kubo was on the floor drawing scribbles onto a piece of paper, Klem was playing video games with Tengen arguing at the same time, Red was on the phone (On a five way call with him and five of his girlfriends, and he was listening to them fight over him. Kirin was standing in the corner of the room with her arms folded, holding her pearl necklace, looking down at it.

They turned and saw Shin, and Shin cleared his throat. Games were paused, push-ups were put on hold, and drawing ceased, and Red put his girlfriends on hold.

Tengen said, "Oi. Why the hell did you call this meeting? What's the issue?"

Remy slowly went back to doing one handed push-ups, asking, "Is it a new training regimen? Oh! Can I lead?!"

Klem yawned, "It's probably a new mission. Imagine. Bottom line, I'm too lazy right now after kicking Ukine's weird ass."

Red added, "I hope it's a life and death situation, my girls need me. They need to hear my voice. Ya know what I mean?"

Obi implied, "Are we going to be taking care of the sick? Feeding the homeless again? I would love to participate. Or are we going to help take care of the wounded from the earlier battle??"

Shin answered everyone, "We will be having a new member joining our main squad."

Everyone got silent, and Remy stopped doing push-ups again.

Tengen replied, "A new member? Joining us? You usually start newcomers off in the lowest ranked squads in the entire guild."

"The one joining our squad will start at the bottom, he'll work his way up to our squad, since he is a newly registered hero. Which means naturally, he'll be in the lowest hero rank since he is new."

"Who the hell is this kid?"

Klem added, "Yeah who is the brat?"

Shin replied, "Akira. My younger brother."

They all gasped, with Kirin exclaiming, "No!"

Shin answered, "No..?"

"That boy..bears the third eye curse. That eye slaughtered my descendants hundreds of years ago."

Zenyu smiled, "Yes! Akira's joining!"

Kirin continued, "I will not fight alongside Akira. He could turn on us at any moment. He is an enemy to me."

Shin said to Kirin, "He is not the enemy. We'll be keeping a close eye on him."

Kirin walked out of the room, and went somewhere else as everyone watched her.

Klem asked, "Who's Akira?"

Red said to her, "Literally the kid that was just fighting Ukine and a Yōkai. HOW COULD YOU FORGET?!"

"Ohhh, I remember now."

"Really?"

"Nope."

"DUDE!"

"Nah, I'm joking. Of course I know who that Akira brat is. He's still alive?"

"Fool.."

Shin continued, "He will climb his way up to our squad. And we will keep an eye on him like I stated before. Does anyone object to this decision?"

Klem raised her hand, "Yeah, uh, I don't like babysitting."

Shin's eyes strained red and got dull, "Hoh?"

Klem laughed nervously, "Haha! I'm kiddinggggg..totally."

Shin smiled, "Good."

"Totally weird."

Obi stuck his fist up, "It is an honor to have Akira join our guild! He shall make a difference!"

Red said, "I meannnn, what could go wrong, right? He's pretty mysterious. It shouldn't be too bad."

Remy says, "I think it shouldn't be a problem! If he proves himself, I will torture him in training! I will get him to be stronger than ever!"

Remy kneeled down and said to Kubo, "What about you, buddy? Want a new teammate?"

Kubo looked at Remy, saying in sign language, "Akira is really strong."

Remy clapped, "This is the first time you've approved someone! This is great!"

Kubo nodded, and went back to drawing.

Tengen scoffed, "I know he's your brother Shin, but I don't like that nerd. I only saved him because of you. Hmph."

Remy said to Tengen, "Get a grip, asshole! You're scared Akira is gonna show you up! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Tengen got in Remy's face, "Hah?! I'm not scared of anything, dumbass! Fine! Bring Akira! I'll show that nerd up!"

Shin finalized, "So it's decided. Akira will be joining the guild."

Zenyu celebrated, "Yes! I can't wait to see his powers again!"

Klem remarked, "What can he do again..?"

Red scoffed at Klem, "ARE YOU KIDDING?!"

"What? I'm serious this time."

Shin grabbed the television remote, and he pointed it at the TV screen. He pressed a few buttons, and then it began to show the entire fight Akira had with Dark Akira.

Everyone started looking at the screen, and watched everything. Even Kirin was watching from a distance in the shadows, folding her arms like always.

Red asked Shin, "The Hero Syndicate managed to record all of this?! Whaaaaat?!"

Shin answered, "Yes. They have drones in space which are technically designed to see if any incoming threats are arriving on earth. They just sent me this video, because I sent them a threatening text message if they didn't send me Akira's video. Toshin and Kaede responded, 'STOP THREATENING US! AND YOU BETTER NOT BLOCK US!' I love their reactions. It's..amusing."

Everyone watched the fighting on the screen, saying, "Oh…shit."

All except Kubo, Tengen, and Kirin.

Kubo said in sign language, "Told you. No one ever believes me. Anyone wanna draw with me? Anyone? I wanna draw this fight."

Tengen smirked, "Ha! I can do all that with my eyes closed! I can do whatever Akira could do! Hmph."

Shin appeared behind Tengen with his hand on his shoulder, saying menacingly, "Wanna bet?"

Tengen's body shivered, saying, "Y-Yeah! That looks so easy!"

"Interesting."

[Hero Syndicate Headquarters]

[Medical room]

[Night time]

Akira was sitting up in bed watching TV in front of him, and he was eating a bunch of snacks, with wrappers laying around him. There was a doctor standing by the side of his bed, just standing there supervising him.

Akira demanded him, "So uh..you gonna pick up all these wrappers or what?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean, you are here to clean up after me, right?"

"That's correct…but-."

"Hm?"

"Nothing. Nevermind. Your parents strongly suggested that we keep a close eye on you. They said you're the type to do reckless things."

"Like what? Use my powers for no reason and pretend I'm in a superhero movie? Because that's EXACTLY what I wanna do! Wanna join?"

"Sorry, I don't have powers. I only have my medical skills."

"Heh? That's kinda boring. It helps, I guess. Hey! Have you heard of the third eye curse?"

"Nah, not really."

"The Yōkai I was fighting, he told me I'll eventually find out what it is. That third eye gave me INSANE POWERS! I WAS LIKE, MANIPULATING THE APPEARANCE OF THINGS, I WAS TELEPORTING, I WAS STRONGER, and RED SMOKE STUFF WAS COMING OUT OF ME! IT WAS CRAZY!"

"You seem optimistic about it. Knowing a curse means something bad."

"Ehh. I don't know how I feel about it. All I know is, that third eye made me even more overpowered! It's like I'm in a manga or something. I'm definitely the main character.."

"Everyone is the main character of their own story."

"Mhmm Mhm, yeah okay. Back to the third eye thing, I wanna find out more about it! And I wanna get rid of the headaches that come with it after using it!"

"You seem to have a niche for planning ahead. That's good. You should do that."

"You think so?! Awesome! I can't wait to get home too, I got a lot of plant experiments I'm working on."

"Plants?"

"Yeah! I like to study everything! Especially powers! Oh! I think I got my superhero name now!"

"Oh that's right. Kaede and Toshin did want your superhero name when you woke up. I'll call them tonight and let them know what it is, since they've gone home already."

"Yes! Perfect! Okay let's see..shit..it was at the top of my head..got it! Third Eye Man! Trademarked by me! Call them now and tell them! Hurry!"

"Actually, I'll just text it to them."

"HAH?!!"

"You're lively for an injured person? How big is the pain right now?"

"Oh, it's pretty bad. I wanna scream. But I think I can handle it."

"Really? That's good then. When do you plan on resting?"

"Never. I'm gonna spam the third eye and use it to take over the world."

"What?!"

"HAHAHA! I'm kidding. Really. Lighten up, old man."

"I'm not old! I'm..34."

"Mmm. Alright. So you're just gonna stand there all night and watch me sleep?"

"I'm supposed to leave when you're asleep. I have to do rounds on the other heroes in the different medical rooms."

"There's..others here?"

"Yeah. Hospitals weren't safe during the battle, so we hurried heroes and some civilians into all of the rooms."

"How many..in total..?"

"A few hundred. Give or take 400 plus."

"That's a lot…"

"One is considered a lot in our books."

"Will they be okay?"

"Some didn't make it, some did. But they'll be remembered. Ukine really put a dent in us with his power. All we can do is remember those who were killed, and be happy that Ukine was beaten."

"Yeah…That's good."

Akira turned the television off, and he laid down with the blankets over his head, "Goodnight, doctor man."

The doctor chuckled softly, "Goodnight, Mr.Akira."

He began to walk out the room, saying, "And Akira. Be a good hero. Okay, Third Eye Man?"

Akira lifted up a thumbs up, saying, "Yes!"

"Good."

Akira thought, 'Be a good hero, huh? I'll try to be. And..and..HE CALLED ME BY MY SUPERHERO NAME! AWESOME! I definitely won't let him down!'

(Morning time)

Akira was in a wheelchair, on the bottom floor of the Hero Syndicate headquarters. The lobby was filled with heroes, and some looked and said to each other:

"That's Akira..he got pretty banged up by Ukine yesterday.."

"I heard he destroyed a planet while fighting that Yōkai."

"Did you hear? He's a registered hero now. But he's like, wayyyy at the bottom of the rankings."

"He's gonna have to do a lot to climb that."

"Think he'll be top 1,000?"

"Being in the top 1,000 in the rankings is for those who are insanely crazy, heroes who take this seriously. Some just want to be popular, win money, create guilds, or some just want to defeat evil and get stronger."

"True. It's a long road ahead of him. Congrats to him I guess for becoming a part of the Syndicate."

Akira rolled forward, thinking again, 'I can hear their conversations. People are actually..TALKING ABOUT ME! My road to popularity is taking off quite well. I definitely gotta write everything down!'

Akira rolled out of the hospital, and he saw Yuu and Yamato standing near their black car, waiting for them.

This moment reminded Akira of yesterday when they waited for him during lunch, which made Akira think about the horrific events.

Akira shivered, breathing fast then breathing slow, then he clenched his fists.

Yuu and Yamato rushed to him, "Akira? What's the matter?"

Akira smiled, "Nothing, haha. Just nervous, that's all."

Yamato replied, "Good. You look better. That's what I like to see, you're becoming a MAN!"

Yuu pinched Akira's cheeks, "We're gonna spoil you rotten!"

Akira moved his face away while embarrassed, "Mom! Dad! You're like, embarrassing me. They're lookingggg."

Yuu and Yamato answered at the same time, "SO WHAT?! LET EM LOOK! THEY DOM'T SCARE US!"

"Alright, yeah, time to go. Time to goooooo."

Yuu sighed, "You're right, you're right. We got carried away. It's a habit."

Yamato adds, "Forgive your mother, son. She's a looney."

Yuu shoved Yamato, "WHO THE HELL ARE YA CALLIN LOONEY?! I'LL KILL YA LIKE I DID YER OLD MOB BOSS!"

"DON'T MAKE ME CALL ULTRA! YEAAA, DON'T LIKE THAT DO YA?"

"DON'T CALL THAT STALKING SKANK ON ME! THAT'S GOING TOO FAR! LIKE YOUR BRAIN! DUMBASSSSS!"

"BASTARD!"

Akira put his hand on his face, putting his head down as everyone watched.

[A few miles away]

[Diner]

Shin was sitting with a man at a two person seat in a diner, with the man sitting right in front of him.

The man in front of him, his name was Licht. He had light brown hair with a few white hairs in it and a part in the middle, dark purple eyes, and wore a tuxedo at all times. He was a registered hero, always acting as a spy hero. Worked with hundreds of federal law enforcement agencies to crack cases and stop crime. He is ranked #11 on the hero rankings. And he can transform into a black cat. He loved being in that cat form, but in this situation, he had to be human.

Licht took a sip of his coffee, then he spit it out to the right, "Ugh! Bleh! This is so good!"

Shin replied, "Uncle. You're making a mess. I don't like mess."

"You're emo as fuck, Shin. You need some light in your life. Have you found a girlfriend yet?"

"Women are a distraction."

"Edgy. Edgy as a white haired ghoul with an eyepatch. So let's get down to the blues of the business, eh? You want me to test my nephew Akira when he is fully healed?"

"Yes. Like you did me."

"Mmm. It's gonna cost ya."

"Name a price. I'll pay anything."

"Whoaaa. Slow down there. I'm kidding about that. I'll do it for free since you're my sister's kids. But the tests I'm gonna put Akira through, he might not be able to survive."

"Don't care. Make them worse than what you gave me."

"Why? You gotta grudge against your brother?"

"No."

"…Okay. Seems you're serious here. Okie dokie then. I'll go all out."

"Don't let me down."

"Calm down, brat. It's not that serious."

"It is that serious. I just want him to be ready. If he is ready, we won't have to worry about him being beaten by Zaeya. That's if Zaeya returns."

"STOP BEING SO EDGY! Shit! Listen, I'll do my best. Quite frankly, I've always wanted to test him anyway. This'll be fun. And about Zaeya..it's possible he won't come back. But who knows?"

"Goodness.."

"I almost forgot.."

"Hmm?"

Licht started to reach into his pocket, and he pulled out a phone, and scrolled through it, getting on the hero website.

Licht showed Shin his phone, saying, "It's all over the hero homepage, Akira's hero name is Third Eye Man."

Shin grabbed the phone, looking straight into it, "What the hell kinda name is that?!"