Chapter 125: I'm different!

"So, this is where you take the exam?"

"Yeah, pretty much..."

"Hmm..."

Tsuna and Saitama stood before a towering, dark building that loomed over the city center. Tsuna craned his neck to take it all in, genuinely impressed. There were no structures this massive in his world. The sheer size and modernity of the Hero Association Headquarters were overwhelming.

Saitama, on the other hand, gazed up at the building with his usual bored expression, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Let's get you registered. Don't worry, I'll guide you properly this time..."

He had recently earned a promotion to B-Class after helping to wipe out the remaining seafolk that had invaded the city. It was a small victory, but it meant he no longer had to handle the menial tasks that plagued C-Class heroes, which was a relief.

"Sure, but what are the tests?" Tsuna asked, frowning slightly as they walked into the building together.

Surprisingly—or perhaps not—the registration hall was nearly empty.

Saitama had mentioned that it was usually more crowded, and such emptiness was quite uncommon. 

The recent seafolk invasion had likely scared off many aspiring heroes. The fear of facing such deadly threats had probably deterred them.

On the other hand, if something extraordinary were to happen and a hero's name soared in popularity, the opposite effect might occur, drawing in a flood of new hopefuls.

"There's a physical test and a written test..." Saitama mused, scratching his head as he added, "Physical test is easy, and the written one's also easy. Though, I still don't get why I scored so low on the written ones..."

"..."

Tsuna shot Saitama a skeptical look before stepping up to the front desk. The lady behind it greeted him with a warm smile. "Hello there, how can I assist you?"

"I'd like to join the hero exam, please."

The front desk lady nodded and began asking for identification.

Tsuna calmly mentioned that it would be impossible since his city had been destroyed. He had done his research on the surrounding areas and knew exactly which cities had been wiped off the map.

When she asked for his parents' data, Tsuna didn't miss a beat. With a perfectly straight face, he lied, "I'm an orphan..."

His tone was so convincingly casual that it seemed to catch the lady off guard, "Well, my mom died but my dad has never been in any part of my life..."

That guy probably went out to buy milk and never came back.

The lady's professional demeanor softened, and there was now a gentle, almost pitying light in her eyes.

This sudden shift in her expression sent a slight chill down Tsuna's spine.

And with that...

Tsuna proceeded to the examination.

The first test was the physical evaluation. It started with basic measurements of his body weight and height before moving on to a series of exercises designed to assess his strength. For this occasion, Tsuna decided not to wear his weighted buckles, wanting to gauge his raw power in comparison to the heroes of this world.

As the results came in, he noticed a significant disparity between the top scores—unsurprisingly, all held by Saitama—and the rest of the participants.

"Of course..."

Tsuna couldn't help but shake his head at the enormous gap.

Even so, his own results exceeded his expectations, placing him on the lower end of the A-rank. It was better than he anticipated, but still far from the level Saitama had set.

Next came the written test...

Tsuna quickly understood why Saitama's score had been so low. The questions were straightforward, but they required more than just brute strength—they demanded logical reasoning and situational awareness.

One question in particular caught his eye:

"What would you do as a hero when faced with a monster so strong you can't defeat it, especially when there is a civilian nearby?"

He could easily imagine Saitama's response being something along the lines of, "Just do one serious punch..."

Tsuna stifled a laugh as he shook his head, then focused on answering the questions. They were all common-sense scenarios, and he found the test to be a breeze.

And then came the final stage...

"Examiner number 17732, please head into the interview room..."

Tsuna walked down a long corridor, its dark metallic walls giving off a vibe straight out of a sci-fi movie he had seen once.

It was so quiet he could hear his footsteps as he approached the massive room at the end. The room was spacious, with large windows letting in the afternoon light, and four seemingly important individuals sat side by side, their gazes fixed on him as he entered.

One of them, a middle-aged man with gray hair neatly parted to the side, scanned through Tsuna's file. His brows furrowed as he mumbled to himself in disbelief, "Tsunayoshi Ito... There aren't many with the Ito surname..."

It was a name that carried weight, especially since one of the members of the Hero Association's Board of Directors shared it.

"You mentioned that your mother passed away and your father is... absent?"

"Yup, that's what I said," Tsuna replied casually.

"...I see..."

The gray-haired man let out a heavy sigh, his expression softening. There was a hint of hesitation before he finally asked, "Your mother... was her name Keiko Ito?"

"Huh?"

For the first time, Tsuna's composure cracked. His eyes widened as he stared at the man, who now looked at him with a mixture of complex emotions—relief, sorrow, and a deep, unspoken affection.

"D-Dad?"

The word slipped from his lips before he could stop it, his voice shaky and uncertain.

"...."

A heavy silence settled over the massive room as the other three interviewers turned their heads toward the gray-haired man.

The man coughed awkwardly, trying to regain his composure, "Ahem... No, I think you misunderstand..."

"...Ah? I see, that's unfortunate. I was hoping to see my dad at least once..."

Tsuna's face fell.

The sorrow in his eyes was so convincing that the gray-haired man almost choked on his guilt, while the other three interviewers shot him accusatory glances.

However...

"Thank god..."

Tsuna thought to himself, silently relieved.

The last thing he needed was to deal with a surprise family reunion in a different world. His emotions had been nothing more than a well-executed act, a performance he had to put on after they misunderstood his background.

He had to be convincing, so he went all in.

However, the gray-haired interviewer mentioned that Tsuna might have an uncle in the Hero Association, causing Tsuna's lips to twitch involuntarily. He kept his cool as the rest of the interview proceeded smoothly, mostly focusing on questions about his superpower, which he demonstrated during his fight with the Deep Sea King.

As he exited the building, he found Saitama asleep in the lobby, seemingly waiting for him. Tsuna nudged him awake, "Saitama, I'm done. Let's head back..."

"Uh...right," Saitama mumbled, massaging his eyes as he yawned. He then noticed Tsuna's darkened expression and, assuming the worst, patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about the result, young man!"

"Huh?"

Tsuna blinked in confusion, momentarily thrown off by the misunderstanding.

"You should understand that..." Saitama continued, "Everyone starts at the bottom..."

"You're right about that, everyone do starts at the bottom but..."

Tsuna pulled out the results of the Hero Examination. He handed them over to Saitama, whose eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he read them.

"Not me..."

Tsuna added with a small smirk, "I'm built differently."

"N-NANI!!!"

Saitama's voice echoed through the entire lobby as he stared at Tsuna's result in disbelief, "S-S class hero???"

That's right—Tsuna had officially passed as an S-class hero.

The association had deemed his earth-bending abilities to be in a special category with a destruction level worthy of S-class status.