The New Hero Association
Sky City’s regulations were clear.
For a hero to join any particular association, they had to complete one of two mandatory procedures.
Either sit through an original orientation video produced by the association itself for the full prescribed runtime—rather than the dull, mass-copied public education reels the city handed out—or pass the perfectly sealed Sky City Common Hero Fundamentals Test currently resting in the employee’s hands.
The choice could not have been more obvious.
“So… you’re saying I have to sit in that chair over there and watch an educational video for a whole hour? Or take that test?”
Sonia asked the question as if she could not quite believe it. Her gaze flicked anxiously between the ergonomically designed reclining chair and the cold white envelope the employee held out.
“Yes, that is correct, Hero Sonia. Please choose whichever method is more convenient for you.”
The employee’s voice remained perfectly flat, devoid of any emotional ripple, yet a subtle pressure to decide hung inside it.
Sonia swallowed dryly and let her fingertips brush the stiff sealed envelope. The paper’s cool, smooth texture transferred straight to her skin. Still hoping for a loophole, she floated one last possibility.
“Is it… possible to fail the test first and then watch the video afterward?”
The employee gave the barest, almost imperceptible shake of the head.
“In principle, if you fall short of the passing score on this fundamentals test, you will not be permitted to complete the orientation procedure on the same day. You would have to return to the association tomorrow and re-sit the exam.”
That alone was already grim news. The employee’s polite explanation did not stop there; as if pursuing some quiet agenda, further facts kept being added.
“This test consists of the most elementary items of common knowledge. Therefore, a failing grade is permanently recorded in Hero Sonia’s official hero database.”
“Ugh… what kind of questions even come up?”
Sonia made a sound halfway between a groan and a whimper and pulled her hand back from the envelope. A permanent failing mark—just imagining it was horrifying. The employee glanced thoughtfully at the ceiling for a moment, then offered an example.
“Well… as I said, they are extremely simple. For instance, among the personal firearms currently standardized in Sky City—ballistic firearms, laser weapons, and plasma weapons—which one has the longest…”
Before the sentence could finish, Sonia blurted out with absolute confidence.
“Obviously the green plasma ones, right? Heh-heh! That’s just common sense!”
In her mind flashed every game and movie scene in which a roaring plasma bolt melted enemies into nothing.
Unfortunately, as with every question and every human conversation in the world, one always had to listen to the end. Without the slightest change of expression, the employee quietly completed the query.
“…range?”
“Wha… no… uh… I don’t know that at all…”
The self-assured smile vanished from Sonia’s face in an instant.
Her brain seemed to freeze. A powerful weapon and a long-range weapon were completely different concepts. This was no longer a simple world where a single bullet could kill a person.
In Sky City, where superhuman heroes and monsters walked the streets, optical weapons naturally outclassed ballistic ones in raw destructive power. Knowing the precise effective ranges of each weapon type was the domain of technicians and arms specialists—not the common knowledge of a D-class hero whose main job was facility maintenance and system checks.
The mental image of flaunting half-baked knowledge, failing the test, and wasting an entire day made her vision go dark. On top of that she would have to drag herself all the way back to this distant, unfamiliar place tomorrow. Far wiser to sit through a boring hour-long video, rest a little, put her name on the association roster, and simply go home. Sonia’s mind tipped decisively in one direction.
“I’ll take the video…”
“A wise choice, Sonia.”
As though the answer had been expected all along, the employee slipped the test envelope away without hesitation and guided Sonia to the reclining chair.
Following the employee’s lead, Sonia carefully settled her body onto the chair that looked as if it belonged in a dentist’s office. Once she was in place, the employee began operating a data pad and spoke in a mechanical tone.
“…Therefore, here at MegaCorp we employ the ‘Data Matching’ technology currently being partially implemented at certain basic training facilities. Through it, the fundamental regulations you must observe within the association will be implicitly inserted into your subconscious. Do you consent to this procedure, Sonia?”
As Sonia understood it, the process simply meant playing a video of basic manners and rules over and over until they were burned into her head. The example the employee gave—“Do not verbally abuse, insult, or commit violence against association staff”—was so obvious it barely needed stating.
“…Isn’t that just common sense?”
Sonia asked, half-incredulous. For the first time a faint shadow of emotion crossed the employee’s previously blank face—something that looked like deep fatigue and resignation.
“Yes. But there are… occasionally people who lack even that common sense. Sonia.”
“…Uh… um… eeh… Understood. I just sit here, right?”
The sticky, body-hugging latex bodysuit and the emotionless expression. Behind them Sonia sensed the profound sorrow of every service-industry worker who had ever lived, so she said nothing more and quietly leaned back against the chair.
“If you feel any discomfort or pain, please inform us immediately, Sonia. We will now begin playback of the education program.”
There was no horror-movie binding of wrists and ankles. As soon as Sonia lay down, a mechanical arm attached to the chair moved and slowly lowered a helmet fitted with an enormous visor over her head.
Countless cables were intricately connected to the descending visor. The device that would hammer the association’s basic rules into her until she was sick of them began to swallow her field of vision.
Sssss…
The mechanism descended without a single sound. Sonia’s long, brilliant golden hair—falling all the way to her waist—was pressed flat by the soft pads inside the helmet and fanned out in every direction.
The device precisely scanned the position of her pupils, then finely adjusted the angle so that a pair of displays mounted inside the helmet sat perfectly in front of her golden eyes.
Ugh… this feels weird…
The pads inside the helmet were plush and yielding, yet beyond them she felt a faint current of electricity trickling down over her scalp. Tiny, prickling sparks. It did not hurt, exactly, but it was a strange sensation, as though countless tiny needles were gently pinching and crawling across the back of her head.
“If you grow bored you may sleep, Sonia. All we require is the official record that you ‘played’ this education.”
With those words the employee quietly left the room.
Sonia decided to follow the advice faithfully. It was obviously going to be a kindergarten-level manners video—“Don’t hit your association colleagues~.” Taking a solid nap would be pure profit.
Sssss…
The displays inside the helmet lit up. The screen did not snap on all at once; instead, from perfect black, color rose very slowly so as not to dazzle the eyes.
Deep indigo, then profound blue. A calm, unstimulating shift of color, like gazing into a night sky or the ocean depths.
A soft, gender-neutral, honeyed synthetic voice resonated directly against Sonia’s ears through the helmet’s internal speakers.
The screen remained in dark tones while fine particles of light, sparkling like a galaxy, appeared and began to swirl.
A festival of light created by the gentle blending of black with indigo, black with blue. In the center of it, white text floated into view. Even to Sonia the sentence was pure common sense, pure etiquette.
That was the moment.
Crack! Crackle! The peaceful screen transformed. Intense black and clear sky-blue light began to strobe so rapidly it threatened to blind her.
Lightning-like flashes mercilessly struck Sonia’s golden irises, flickering with such violence they seemed determined to burn the shape of the sentence itself onto her retinas as an afterimage.
“V… verbal… a-abuse… and… v-violence… against… association… staff… are… prohibited…”
Without realizing it, Sonia was clumsily reading the sentence that floated on the screen.
The screen returned once more to the gentle swirl of light. Her eyes still hurt, yet strangely her heart felt at ease.
The ergonomically designed chair supported every contour of her body without a gap, and the helmet enclosing her head blocked every external sound, working hard to create a private, safe space just for her.
She had merely repeated something obvious, yet the screen rewarded her with praise and an irresistible, beautiful light pattern. A deep sense of comfort began to wash through Sonia’s mind like a rising tide.
It’s just common sense… these are obvious sentences… so of course… I’m starting to feel sleepy… of course I have to repeat them… haah… because they’re obvious…
Just as she had first expected, the content was so self-evident that Sonia gradually grew bored. Every muscle in her body loosened; she went limp and sank even deeper into the chair.
Closing her eyes and taking a nap right now would be perfectly fine. Before long she truly felt her vision go black.
Ah, I’ve finally closed my eyes. Thinking that, Sonia decided to rest thoroughly for the remaining time.
In truth Sonia had not closed her eyes at all. Her eyes were still open. The relentless barrage of intense flashes had simply temporarily paralyzed her optic nerves, leaving her as blind as if she had been hit by a flashbang.
The more firmly she believed she was peacefully asleep, the more freely and naturally the sentences the helmet projected directly into her brain seeped into her consciousness without resistance.
“I… move… at the prescribed… stride…♡”