Prospective Students, Enter! - Bobby

Bobby stops at his supposed destination, uncrumpling the piece of paper in his pocket and rereading it a few more times. Is this really the place? The directions refer to it as a "physical fitness complex," but this little brick building didn't really seem capable of accommodating the top Hero Students in the world. Unfortunately, Bobby doesn't have time to question it further, as he's already running late on account of sleeping through his alarm clock this morning. Tardiness isn't something he typically sweats about, but he knows the Japanese are sticklers for manners. And he'd be pretty screwed if he failed to pass the entrance exam over something so preventable. Getting sent to juvie definitely isn't part of his plans.

"Yo yo yo, American bro!" A voice calls out to Bobby in heavily-accented English, just as he's about to pull open the front door of the building.

Bobby backs up a few steps, looking up in confusion towards the source of the noise to see a boy dramatically crouching on the roof. The stranger sports an overly-serious expression, as if there's a camera capturing his brooding action pose, and his hair is imperfectly slicked-back in a way that seems almost intentional.

"My dad told me the son of Sun Man would be taking the Shiketsu Practical Entrance Exam today." Bobby hears the voice almost whispering in his ear before his brain can even process the stranger disappearing before his eyes. Bobby quickly looks over his shoulder in confusion, only for the boy to continue speaking from his original position.

"He said only a reeeaal troublemaker could fail to get a recommendation as the son of a legend! So..." The boy jumps down from the roof, walking menacingly towards Bobby before thrusting a large metal pipe only a couple inches from his face.

"Bobbeeahh Saammmson!!! I hope you're ready to learn what we do with foreign criminals here in Japan!!!" He scowls with contempt, his intense gaze filled with murderous intent. Bobby clenches his fist, preparing for a fight he really didn't have time for.

The menacing expression doesn't last long, however. Despite his best efforts to keep up the act, the boy can't help but shift his scowl into a devilish grin.

"Whaddaya think? It'd be a cool rival introduction, huh? You know, East meets West?" the boy asks genially, this time in Japanese.

Bobby slowly unclenches his fist, still processing the stranger's sudden change in demeanor, before attempting to play off his previous tense behavior "Uh...yeah. Good job, man. Though how'd you know my name? And that I'd be trying out for Shiketsu High?"

"My dad is a Pro Hero. He's not a teacher, but news about foreign prospects doesn't stay secret for long around here. Dad told me 'like father like son,' and he said whatever trouble you got into must have been for a good reason! I wouldn't expect anything less from Sun Man's kid!" The stranger nods as a show of trust, despite Bobby not having done anything to earn it.

"Yeah, I guess that's-"

"Ya know, your old man was a real cool dude! One of my favorite old-school heroes! But there ain't no way he would have beaten Japan's Number One Hero if they'd ever fought man-to-man. That's just how it goes; Everyone knows Endeavor is the best! They say your dad was a 'Hero's hero,' though. So I can't deny ya that one!" Hifumi smiles with satisfaction at winning his one-sided argument.

"Yeah, a lot of people liked him. Hey, what was your name again?" Bobby responds, quickly moving the subject away from his late father.

The boy violently thrusts his hand out for a handshake, before squeezing Bobby's as if he's trying to crush it.

"Hifumi Takeda! Or you can call me Warp Blade Hero: Challenger, the future Number One Hero! It's an awesome name, right?"

"Definitely, man," Bobby replies with a genuine smile. He can't help but respect someone who'd shove a weapon in his face for a gag. Or whatever it was he was doing. Though, he now realizes he'd never actually come up with a hero name for himself. He supposes he'll just think of something later if he passes the-

"Hey, you seeing this, man?" Hifumi points towards the buildings in the distance. Bobby looks to see a dark-haired girl jumping between the rooftops at high speeds, her expression panicked as if she was having the worst day of her life.

"I think that's the girl they say went crazy and murdered her parents or something." Hifumi comments as if it's a piece of mundane trivia.

Bobby turns to him with a raised eyebrow. "Huh? Wouldn't she be locked up then? Japan is pretty tough on crime, right?"

"Yeah, it's probably bullshit. There are a lot of rumors around here. Usually ain't true. Except when they are."

The girl drops down in front of them, her eyes assessing the building with a puzzled look before glancing briefly at the two boys. Bobby flashes a charming smile at the girl, holding up his hand in a casual wave. She completely ignores him and rushes into the building with an unnatural swiftness.

"Not very friendly, huh? She could have at least said hello to you."

Bobby groans as he remembers exactly why she'd be in such a hurry right now. "...Ah, Shit. We're super late, man."

Hifumi looks at him with surprise "Whaa?! You made me late, bro!?"

"What? No, I was late on my own. I never asked you to wait on the rooftop, man. I didn't even know you until a few minutes ago."

"Hey, you and I both know I had to do that. It wouldn't be right if our meeting wasn't cool! And I was actually here early! Not my fault you took forever to show up!"

Bobby sighs and pushes the door open. "Let's just head in and get our chewing-out over with..."

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The two enter the building to find it virtually empty, save a large freight elevator in its center. Surprisingly, only one other floor is listed on the panel.

They take the elevator down, chatting in an odd mix of English and Japanese as they attempt to ignore their looming fate. Finally, the elevator stops. The doors open to reveal an absolutely massive fitness center, significantly larger than the building's dimensions suggested from the outside. Straight ahead are various basketball and volleyball courts, climbing walls, an archery range, etc.

Directly across from the elevator is a small podium that simply reads "Feel free to use the amenities until the proctor arrives." They look around the area for an adult, but find no one besides the other kids using the various amenities.

"Whew! It looks like the proctor is even later than us. How lucky!" Hifumi says, before walking further out to take in the facility.

"This place is freaking huge! I'm gonna go see if there's a kendo area somewhere. Wanna join me?"

"Nah, I think I'm gonna look around for a bit" Bobby says, still taking in the sheer size of the complex himself. "I'll catch up with you later, though."

"Sounds good, duuude." This time Hifuni's English has an accent that can only be described as Sylvester Stallone attempting to appeal to urban youth. He raises his hand in a backwards wave as he heads further into the fitness center.

Bobby breathes a sigh of relief at not technically being late. However, he can't help but wonder what sort of person they have overseeing the exam. He'd originally assumed it'd be one of the teachers, but surely Shiketsu's instructors would be extra professional. Right?

Bobby shrugs to himself, figuring he'd find out soon enough, and decides to scope out the other examinees. Several have taken to using the amenities nearest the entrance, including an anthropomorphic shark practicing dunks on the basketball court. Another kid requests to join him, practically screaming in enthusiasm, but the shark just continues his dunking as if the guy doesn't even exist.

Some of the other examinees appear to be analyzing the competition even more closely than Bobby. One such boy was sitting against the wall, smirking to himself while frantically entering numbers into a calculator. Bobby wonders what exactly he could be calculating.

As he steps towards the basketball court, Bobby can just barely make out a hooded figure sitting in the building's opposite corner. He walks a bit further down the court to get a better look, squinting until he sees what he believes to be little candies floating in front of the stranger's face. Upon further observation, he notices the figure had also been floating this entire time. Even more interesting, Bobby watches as another kid walks by the figure, moving in a wide arc as if he's avoiding something. A second boy in a purple gi ends up walking by shortly after, but he fails to take the same precautions as the first. This causes him to float as if he's tumbling through a giant bubble, before falling onto the floor dramatically on the other side. He brushes himself off and continues walking, seemingly unembarrassed and unfazed by this event.

Whatever their current activities, the prospective students all seem outfitted in athletic wear, or, at the very least, some sort of loose-fitting clothing. The exception to this is the nearby gaggle of girls standing near the entrance, having seemingly arrived even later than Bobby. He doesn't even want to guess how expensive their clothing must be- which are clearly ill-suited for serious physical activity. The group gives off the haughty aura of teens who'd never had to work for anything in their lives- the type of people he'd rarely had good experiences with in the past.

At the moment, two of the teens appear to be doing some sort of TikTok dance at the court's edge while another records. Bobby watches briefly until the one recording suddenly points the phone in his direction, pausing on him for a moment. He stares back, puzzled by her behavior, before one of the girls standing beside her attempts to telekinetically tug the phone out of her hands. A previously dancing girl cries out worriedly and reaches for the phone, an action which seems to finally snap the videographer out of whatever daze she'd been in. She retaliates against her initial aggressor by playfully emitting a tiny shock from her finger to the girl's upper arm. This results in an overdramatic yelp, prompting gasps from the group which quickly morph into laughter. They then walk away after one of them excitedly points towards the facility's juice stand. As they leave, a boy attempts to talk to one of the group's shorter members. Without even stopping, she simply puts a hand in his face, walking past him with an expression of disgust.

Bobby merely shrugs at this odd encounter, simply thankful that he didn't actually have to interact with any of them. He decides to continue exploring the facility, and ends up passing by a state-of-the-art weightlifting gym. There he notices a huge, muscled girl doing curls while reading an English-Japanese dictionary. Another examinee in a hoodie is doing rows, his third eye clenching with each rep. He's notably in the most isolated part of the weights section.

Across the room, an odd cherub floats above the amenities while eating vanilla wafers. He accidently drops one onto the head of a girl below, who promptly begins berating him while shaking her fist. He flutters away even faster after she fires some sort of binding in his direction.

Eventually, Bobby ends up spotting Hifumi again. He's in the Kendo section talking enthusiastically to the girl they'd seen outside. While her expression is fairly serious, it does possess the slightest hint of a smile. She does jump a bit, however, after the boy suddenly waves his kendo stick upon noticing Bobby. He returns the gesture with a wave of his own, before continuing his exploration.

After walking a bit further, Bobby finally spots something that truly captures his attention: a boxing ring flanked by a variety of heavy bags, standing bags, speed bags, etc. While Bobby typically does his training at night, he figures it wouldn't hurt to get warmed up before the practical exam. After all, who knows what the test will actually entail, or when it'd even start?

Bobby is surprised to find that one of the bags is unnaturally robust. In fact, it feels like a wall of concrete, allowing Bobby to train as usual without drawing attention to himself. He's feeling good today- his muscles are nice and loose, keeping his footwork bouncy, yet his strikes are especially sharp and precise. That extra hour of sleep ended up actually paying off in the end. Bobby fires off combos at the bag until he builds up a good sweat, and then decides to take a water break.

As he bends down at the nearby water fountain, Bobby notices a boy with a train for a head taking his place at the super heavy bag. Bobby watches as he throws his first few punches, failing to move it even slightly. Still, the guy has solid fundamentals- clearly having trained in a striking discipline. After a few more blows, Train Guy's style begins to change completely. Each strike becomes more unorthodox than the last- all of which are unlike anything Bobby has ever seen. Bobby begins to grin as he notices the bag move from the ever-increasing impact of the boy's punches. It's as if he possesses an unnatural ability to build momentum. The stranger appears to be feeding off of this momentum on an emotional level too, his enthusiasm on full display as his swings become wilder, the bag swaying more and more with each additional blow. Soon the bag is swinging to an even greater degree than when Bobby was using it, which only lights a fire in his belly. This stranger's impressive display has Bobby sure of one thing. He's gotta spar this guy.

As Bobby lets up his intense gaze to go meet this fascinating stranger, he notices a girl bent over the fountain beside him, just barely out of view of the absolute specimen he'd been so intently focused on. She'd clearly been watching Bobby through the corner of her eye, and he realizes that he'd been indirectly staring at this girl like a madman for who knows how long. Bobby adopts a friendlier smile than the crazed grin he'd been previously wearing, but he's suddenly yanked from behind before he can correct this misunderstanding.

"Bobbeh! Looks like the guy in charge of the exam finally showed up!" Hifumi says as he drags the boy away. "Time to get to the front of the building before those other slowpokes!"

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The student prospects gather on the basketball court in front of the modest podium at the facility's entrance. Despite his prior exploration of the building, there are still a lot more kids here than Bobby had expected. He recognizes a lot of them by this point, but he's seeing many for the first time. Further still, several of the examinees he'd seen earlier are missing. Perhaps they're students who'd already received recommendations? Regardless, the number of applicants really puts into perspective just how serious this is. He's unsure of the exact pass rate for this exam, but it's clear from this crowd that not everyone is going to get in. He knows he'll have to bring his A-game if he wants to make the cut.

Standing at the podium is a pleasant-looking man with a calm, relaxing demeanor. To his left is someone who could honestly be a student himself, or perhaps a recent graduate. His face is stern and serious, and he stands with the dignity of someone who takes his position very seriously. To the proctor's right is a boy whose age is a bit harder to place on account of him being a tall, humanoid monkey. He picks some banana from his teeth and flicks it away, before sighing as if this is the dullest thing he could be doing right now. The proctor takes out a cigarette, but quickly stops as his more serious associate whispers something in his ear. The man then nods as if he'd just been reminded of something, before kindly waving away his associate's formal apology for speaking out of turn. Finally, the proctor turns to the crowd of prospective students.

"Hey guys. Good to see you've gotten accustomed to our facilities. If you have any questions, I'm probably not allowed to answer any of them, but I'll do my best." He speaks with an earnest smile, yet he makes no effort to explain his lengthy absence.

There's a bit of a pause at his unceremonious statement before someone finally speaks up.

"When does the Practical Entrance Exam officially start?" Asks a darker-skinned boy in the crowd. The other prospects murmur sympathetically at the question that'd been on everyone's minds.

"When does it start?" The man's face takes on a look of confusion. "I'm not quite sure what you mean."

He pauses for a moment, before smiling at the crowd knowingly.

"The exam...has already begun."