Spider-Man and The Esper

3. Practice Bout

The three successful candidates sat in lecture hall 3. An ordinary lecture hall with a raised stage and podium at the front. Genos and Saitama shared a desk while Spider-man sat to the right behind Saitama. A skinny, pale man with wild black hair stood behind the podium. He was dressed in a formal suit and tie, his suit bearing the pattern of a brown snake hide. Tatsumaki was simply waiting outside the room.

"First, congratulations on passing," the man said, looking at the three new heroes. "Especially Genos and Saitama, achieving class S immediately."

Genos nodded coolly while Saitama remained seated while chewing gum.

"Not to say that class B is not good, you'll just have to work hard. Class B is a highly contested class, you'll have to give it your all to maintain your ranks."

The man pointed at Spider-man.

"Don't get full of yourselves! From here on, keep your hero status in mind and act honestly! Unless you want humiliate yourselves" He pouted, jumping up on front desk doing a sbow of martial arts and getting into a stance at the end, "Aspired to be a distinguished hero like me."

Calming down, he continued: "After all, your faces will be placed on the Hero Association's website. Your heads will be shown to the whole world."

The trio nodded in understanding.

"If you do happen to act out of turn, I'll make you lose ranks and demote you! Be warned!"

The four heroes walked down the amber lit streets of the city. Because of the long time spent waiting for Genos to finish his interview, it was late evening and the trio were all quite hungry. Well, Genos wasn't, but he wanted food anyway.

"What shall we eat?" Genos asked. "I know a few good ramen places close by. Perhaps we could go in for dinner?"

"Sure, let's go. I don't care where, I just want some food. We can afford it now anyway as we're heroes."

The rumbling of Spider-man stomach spoke for itself.

The new heroes sat down at a small restaurant a few hundred meters away from Saitama's apartment and ordered food. They all chose the cheapest option - a medium - sized miso ramen. It was on a 20% off sale.

As they were waiting for their food, Genos remarked, while reading a Hero Association leaflet he was given, "the Hero Association's only been around for 3 years."

"3 years? Isn't that how long you've been doing hero stuff for?" Spider-man questions, nudging Saitama with his elbow.

"Yeah, I suppose so… It feels like such a short time though," Saitama said, thinking back to the past three years of his life as a hero.

"The rumba is right. Apparently the founder, Agoni, had his son saved by someone passing by from a monster. He was so awe-inspired and grateful he used his fortune to found the Hero Association." Tatsumaki aid, showing the picture of Agoni to Saitama and Spider-man on her phone.

"Hey, that butt-chin looks familiar…" Saitama mused, looking at Agoni. "Of course! He's just like a butt-chinned kid I saved from a crab monster all those years back. That monster is what actually inspired me to become a hero."

Genos looked at Spider-man surprised.

"Is it possible…?" Genos started.