The Hero Test: Part 1

"Anyways, everyone. I humbly ask you to wait in this hall until the test conductor and the examiners arrive. Good luck to all of you, and remember, if all else fails?" A young woman wearing a formal suit spoke.

"A hero always prevails!" An enthusiastic reply came from all the hero applicants.

"That's the spirit! Good luck, everyone!" The young woman replied as she walked out of the hall before she closed the large double doors behind her.

Inside the large and empty hall, all the hero applicants were waiting there for the test to start. The enthusiastic applicants were all ‘evolved humans’ that were confident enough to take the test. Some were wearing sports clothes, uniforms, or heroic outfits that they made for themselves.

The expressions on all of their faces were leaking of determination, passion, energy, and most of all...confidence. They were all more than 100% sure that they already passed the test.

"I graduated from 'Rigeki's Hero Academy' too!"

"I was the best evolver in my school! Nobody was ever able to beat me in a fight!"

"I made this outfit on my own. I'm a master tailor as well as an amazing evolver."

"My father and his father were both great heroes, and I'm here to be one too!"

"My family is known to be both rich and remarkable. It is of no surprise that I came to take the hero test too. I wouldn't be surprised if they gave me A-Tier right off that bat, haha!"

"What you're all missing is the hero spirit! It isn't about money, it is about being a true hero!"

The applicants boasted about themselves, motivated each other, exchanged names, and got to know each other better. It was an air of excitement and determination that filled the hall as the applicants approached each other with smiles, starting conversations, and even igniting sparks of friendly rivalries between each other.

"Oh my God, it's Yazaki!" One of the female applicants screamed out at the sight of a young man standing in the middle of the crowd.

All of the applicants turned in wonder towards the source of the sound. Much to everyone's surprise, they saw a young man with short black hair wearing a yellow archery chest guard and blue arm-guards. He was carrying a traditional bow on his back that looked like it was made out of steel.

"I thought that him taking the hero test was just a rumor?"

"So did I! This is definitely my lucky day!"

The applicants were all amazed by the young archer. He became the center of attention in just a few seconds as everyone approached him to try and talk to their idol. However, the cheery mode of the applicants turned into one of worry as they saw the young man glaring with narrow eyes at the person right in front of him.

The person standing right in front of the archer was a black-haired young man with blue eyes. And right next to him was standing another young man with yellow-orange hair, who had a pair of golden eyes. It was Kurayama and Hinotori.

"...I feel like I saw you somewhere...a long time ago...Have we ever met before?" The young archer asked.

"I don't remember seeing you ever...nor do I know you from anywhere. So, please stop invading my private space." Kurayama replied.

The archer was feeling irritated from Kurayama's reply. However, he simply shrugged it off and spoke to the man again

"My name is Hideo Yazaki. What about you?"

Kurayama was silent as he turned his back to Yazaki, which only made the archer angrier.

"Are you ignoring me?" He asked, trying his best to fake a smile.

"It's the opposite actually. I'm not the one ignoring you, you're the one annoying me. So, I'll calmly ask you to stop that. I'm in a really bad mood today."

"Is that a threat?"

"Do you take it as one?"

The two young men stared at each other with a narrow-eyed glare. Kurayama was irritated and frustrated, and truly in a bad mood. While Yazaki saw a chance to try and provoke Kurayama to fight him.

"Gentlemen! One more word and I will disqualify both of you right now. Hostility is not welcomed in the hero test, especially the one I'm conducting." A voice said from the back of the hall.

Turning around in surprise, the applicants were startled by a middle-aged man with a side mustache wearing a formal suit suddenly appearing out of nowhere. He was standing right in front of large wooden double doors.

"Well then, if you two don't mind, let us start the test!" The man spoke in a friendly and professional voice.

All the applicants shifted their focus towards the man and completely disregarded the fight that was about to start between Yazaki and Kurayama. The two men turned towards the man in the formal suit and postponed their feud for later.

"So, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the hero test! I am the test conductor responsible for this month's hero test, nice to meet you all. So, first of all, I would like to congratulate the fifty applicants here for passing the secret test!" The man stated.

The applicants were confused and turned towards each other with perplexed expressions on their faces, wondering what this secret test was. The conductor simply chuckled before he cleared his throat to start speaking.

"You have passed the background check. From the moment you filled and submitted the application form, an inspection of your background immediately started. Those who have the tiniest criminal records or missing one of the requirements were disqualified before they even reached the hall. So, congratulations to everyone here!

Now, to those who are unfamiliar with the hero test, it contains three components, all are necessary. There is the written test, physical test, and passing test.

So, we shall start with the written test."

The conductor turned around towards the double doors and opened them, revealing a long hallway with five doors on each side.

"In each one of these doors is a classroom with an examiner in it to prevent any attempts of cheating. Anyone who is caught cheating will be disqualified from the test. Once you finish, I will meet you in the next examination room.

Please do your best, and try to achieve the best score possible. Remember, a hero will always prevail! Good luck!"

Suddenly, the applicants swarmed the double doors and made their way towards the hallway. The confidence in their faces was unparalleled as they entered the classrooms and took their seats, except for Kurayama, who was beyond irritated by Yazaki, who followed him into the classroom and sat right behind him.

"Welcome to the written test. This test will be somewhat easy with only simple equations, and logical questions. You have one hour to finish the test. Any attempts at cheating will result in immediate disqualification. Good luck." the examiner said in a tired voice before as he passed a pen and paper to all the applicants in the room.

------

"An hour has passed. Ladies and gentlemen, pens down!" The examiner declared as he started collecting the pens and papers back from the applicants, "You are allowed to leave now. Good luck on your next test."

As Kurayama made his way out of the classroom, he was infuriated to see Yazaki still following him, right behind his back. The archer came closer towards Kurayama and walked with him towards the next examination room.

"So...that was a little bit of a tough test, wasn't it?" Yazaki asked in a calm voice with a friendly smile plastered on his face.

"..." Kurayama didn't reply and simply ignored the archer.

"What do you think of the last question? The one about the murder mystery thing?" Yazaki asked once again.

"..."

"Hmm, well, I thought it was a bit confusing. A man murdering all of his family in the middle of the night is truly a strange thing, especially when you consider the fact that he had no motive to do such a hideous thing.

But, if he really had some sort of mental disability or schizophrenia, would he really be that careful to not expose his fingerprints? And, why would he want to frame a dead member of his family for it and make it look like a suicide?

Hmm, the human mind is truly strange. This murder mystery reminds me of something that happened ten years ago—" Yazaki stated before he got inturupted by Kurayama.

"Why do you care so much? You're talking to me so casually about this and you don't even know me. I don't want to talk with you, or anyone else in this damn test. So, stop being so persistent." Kurayama lashed out at Yazaki as calmly as possible.

Unfortunately, Kurayama was irritated and infuriated to the point where he lost his calmness and composure. He said too much, way more than how he would normally reply.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought that discussing somewhat heavy topics like these can encourage people to talk. I'm sorry, I won't do that again." Yazaki apologized with a friendly smile and slowed down his walking speed.

Suddenly, Kurayama felt a light touch on his shoulder accompanied by a gentle and familiar voice.

"Kurayama...Are you okay?" Hinotori asked in a concerned voice.

"Oh, Hinotori. I'm fine, what's the problem?" Kurayama calmly replied.

"Well, everyone was startled by you suddenly lashing out on Yazaki...I was wondering if he said anything sensitive to you, or if you need any sort of help?"

"Really? Fuck. That damned guy is making me lose my mind. I'm sorry for making you concerned, Hinotori. I just haven't been in a good mood since yesterday." Kurayama sighed out as he smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"I understand. Well, I'm here for you. If you need any sort of help, I'm always here."

"Thanks, Bud. I appreciate it." Kurayama replied, which Hinotori responded to with a simple nod and a thumbs up.

After a bit of a long walk, the applicants finally reached the next test room. One by one, everyone entered the vast gymnasium where a multitude of fitness equipment was scattered around, multiple racing tracks drawn on the ground, ropes, boxing bags, and more equipment for the physical test.

The ones welcoming the applicants were a bunch of HGA staff and examiners wearing formal suits. The one familiar face in there was the test conductor from before.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted that none of you has been disqualified yet. Now that everyone is here, we can start the physical test. But beware, using your evolvement without my, or any of the examiners' permission, will result in an instant disqualification. So, without further ado, let us start!" The test conductor declared.

------

The physical test was like any other physical exam. It started with traditional exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, high jumps, and running. However, the applicants had to repeat these exercises many times with the number of push-ups and sit-ups rising exponentially, and the difficulty of the running and high jumps gradually increasing. The physical exam of the HGA wasn't an easy or normal one after all.

After the traditional exercises were done. The applicants then started the second set of physical exams, containing ball throw, rope skipping, rope climbing, and weight lifting. However, each of these exercises was also repeated many times and gradually got harder after each time.

The ball handed to the applicants became heavier after each time it was thrown, the rope climbing became harder after the examiners forced the applicants to climb with weights on their wrists, the rope skipping got faster in velocity after each minute, and weights became heavier after each repeated time.

Finally, the physical test seemed to have finished, giving the applicants a minute to breathe after a long two hours of hard work...until.

"What a great performance, all of you! This month's applicants are all truly a bunch of magnificent people. Anyways, let us move on to the final physical exam!" The test conductor declared.

The applicants were surprised by the conductor, but they didn't mind the idea of doing one final physical exercise, considering the fact that everyone loved it.

"The final test has a score of 50/100 on the physical exam. Everything you did in the last two hours was worth a score of only 50/100. So, I hope you're ready for the final exercise. Anyway, I would like all of you to separate yourselves into two groups. One with evolved humans, and the other with normal people." The test conductor ordered.

Much to the conductor, and the examiners' surprise, the applicants stayed in one group.

"Oh...So, everyone is an evolver? This will be very interesting." One of the examiners said as he removed his blazer, followed up by his necktie and shirt.

All of the applicants had perplexed expressions on their faces as they saw the examiner approaching them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let us start the final test. It's something that we like to call, the 'Beat-up'."