The meeting with Soul fueled Raito’s obsession. Learning the truth about Gifts and Timekeeper both frighten and excited him. Flight seemed to have vanished the day after the meeting. No matter how hard Raito tried to call him. It kept on saying the number was out of service. He wasn’t worried though, Flight had been a Gift longer than he has after all.

Raito was prepared himself for his first night out as Wave. He did nightly practice runs in his neighborhood by changing into his costume as fast as he could. Used his hearing ability to locate nearby people. And most importantly. Using his Gift to never make a sound when walking or hiding.

He also figured out the best way to store his outfit. Originally, he tried wearing it underneath his regular clothes, but it wasn’t very comfortable and got hot really fast. The only other option was to put it in a small backpack.

All this talk about superheroes and being a Gift made him nearly forget about his future after High School. If it wasn’t for his mom, he would have forgotten that he had already signed up for classes at a nearby community college. But there was a problem. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to go to college. To him, he believed that he could accomplish more if he went straight to making comics for a website. The website he had in mind was a community website that was incredibly popular thanks to a few success stories. If you’re able to reach a certain number of followers and readers. It was possible to start making money off your own comics. That was his dream and he knew he had to talk to his parents about this.

The next morning, Raito got ready and looked at himself in the mirror. He knew that today was the day to talk to his mom about what he really wanted to do. He went downstairs and took a deep breath before talking to his mom.

In Japanese, “Mom can I talk to you?” Raito asked.

In Japanese, “Of course, what is it hunny?”

“It’s about college, I think not want to go. Instead do comic webs I think for the best.”

Giggling slightly Raito’s mother said, “Raito, your Japanese has gotten much better. But you always do this when you want something. What is it?”

Speaking in English now Raito continued on with, “I don’t want to go to college but start a career in doing webcomics instead. I feel like I can learn more doing that instead of going to college to do exactly the same thing.”

Raito’s mother proceeded to make a disappointed expression on her face. She really wanted Raito to pursue a college degree. “I really want you to go to school. I know your father will agree with me on this since we both have degrees. We want what’s best for you.” This time she said those words in English. Her English was always at its best when she was serious.

“But this is what’s best for me. I can make money doing this instead of putting myself in debt to basically do the same thing,” Raito exclaimed.

“Persuade me then, explain to me what webcomics are and how doing this instead is for the best. If you can do that. I’ll talk to your father about it.” Raito’s mom replied as she was speaking Japanese once again.

The talk went on better than he thought. He even showed his mom some of his drawings and comic book ideas. She was truly impressed and just like any other supportive parent. She decided to believe in him and agreed to talk to his dad.

For the rest of the day until it was dark enough to go out on his patrol. He started working on his comic book idea that he believed would get him followers. Creating stories about lesser-known heroes in the I Am Hero world. There was already an audience and he knew that world like the back of his hand. Expanding to it was going to be easy for him. Before he knew it, the first chapter was posted, and he waited eagerly to read his first comment.

The day turned to night and now it was time to take being a hero to the streets for the first time. He used his powers to sneak out of the house while his mom slept. If he couldn’t get away with this. No way was he ready for the streets. Once outside, he got into his car and made his way to Phoenix. The drive took about twenty minutes and once there drove deeper into the city.

He didn’t stop till he was in a neighborhood that was filled with graffiti, broken down cars, and small groups of men smoking. Not wanting to get his car potentially stolen, or worse, made a U-turn. He kept on driving until he felt he was in a safe enough area to park his car and leave it. He changed into his costume and made his way back into the rough-looking area he was in earlier.

People would glance at him but never really stared at him. They didn’t seem weirded out by his appearance either. Probably because this is the type of neighborhood where weird people hang out.

As he got closer to the sketchier area, two teens approached him. They looked to be around the age of fourteen and didn’t give off a feeling that they wanted to start trouble either. “Hey man! Why you wearing such a weird outfit? Looks like someone fucked up your sweater and clothes,” one of the teens said as he looked up and down at Raito.

“I’m a hero named Wave. And this is my outfit,” Raito said with pride.

“Hero? Boy this is no comic book. You own medication?” The same teen asked.

“No, you moron. He’s one of those real-life superheroes. I watched one of those documentaries about them. They dress up as their own superheroes and do shit to help people,” the other teen said as he playfully pushed his friend.

“Oooooh, that be gay. Why help people, what in it for you?” The teen mocking him asked.

“Well, I grew up reading comics and watching shows about heroes so I want to help people like any other hero would. I’m new to this area and maybe you can help me. You know anyone that might need help?” Raito asked.

“Nah man. This area might look rough but really it aint that bad. Mostly drug deals and the occasional chop shop happens,” said the teen that’s been nice.

“Chop shops you say?” Raito repeated while tapping his lips with his finger. Raito wasn’t sure if chop shops were a small enough crime to intervene in or not. After thinking about it for a few seconds went on to ask, “is there a place where it seems to happen a lot?”

It took them about a minute to think before one of them replied with, “they happen randomly when there is a nice car around. But we’ve noticed a lot of really nice cars tend to show up around midnight and business looking people appear. They go to this abandoned garage store that used to be a repair shop. A real big and nice one too.”

Thinking it would be the perfect first job to do asked if they could direct him to the place and then made his way there. Surprisingly, more people continued to ignore him. Everyone was more interested in being in their own little bubble to really care for a random stranger wearing a weird outfit.

As he continued his way, spotted what looked to be a black Mercedes along with a group of motorcycles near a garage. It had to of been the garage the teens were talking about. Raito looked around and noticed a few people nearby. They looked like they were purposely avoiding eye contact with the garage. Deciding to take advantage of this; Raito slowly walked over to the back of the garage. Luckily there was a back door and he proceeded to enter the garage.

Once inside the garage, Raito spotted various men in nice suits. Just like how the teens told him. Not wanting to make his presence known just yet. Had to look for a place to hide. He spotted a few metal oil drums nearby and crouch walked over to them.

“Time for super hearing,” Raito whispered to himself. Upon listening to them, none of them said anything interesting until one of the men stated that their buyers were taking a while to get there. “No wonder they’re just standing around. This might be a chop shop ring. Now the only question that stands is can I handle this,” Raito whispered as he sat down thinking about how to act.

Just then, he heard one of them address a man by sir. Raito knew that only henchmen addressed the leader as that. He slowly stood back up to see a man wearing a black jacket with a yellow dress shirt. What was even weirder was that the man was wearing a yellow motorcycle helmet with the eye shields down.

“How the hell can this guy see with that helmet on,” Raito asked himself. “He also wasn’t there earlier. Must have been waiting inside that car I guess.”

“The clients are around the corner. I had them take a different route to get here. With Kyle dead I’m starting to think that someone is on to us. I don’t know if they got information off his computer or not. Cops are starting to make arrests on top of that. This will be our last meeting,” the man with the bike helmet said.

Just then, about four other men enter the garage. It was odd because they were wearing white coats. The type of coats you would see a pharmacist or doctor wear.

“You got the pills?” One of the men that just walked in asked.

This was no longer a chop shop deal but a drug deal. This was too big and Raito needed to get out, now!

As the men were talking and getting ready for the exchange. Raito turned around and started walking back from where he came from. His eyes were too busy focusing on the back door that he didn’t notice an empty metal toolbox near his feet. As he got closer to the door, he accidentally kicked the toolbox, creating a loud sharp noise.

The noise quickly grabbed the drug dealer’s attention. It caused Raito to panic. Fear clouded his mind as he continued to whisper to himself, “I don’t want to die I don’t want to die.”

“Is someone here?”

“Damn, how were we followed?”

“Relax, if it was someone important. They would have shown themselves to us by now. Probably just a rat.”

Raito was able to collect himself since it seemed like the men quickly dismissed the noise. Not wanting to lose this opportunity, continued walking towards the door. But stopped just before opening it. He didn’t notice this before but on the back of the door was a sticker. A sticker of Hiro in his signature pose with a carving right next to it that read “It’s Hero Time for I Am Hiro!”

He couldn’t help but think to himself that he was making a huge mistake by leaving. He lets go of the door handle and walked back to his hiding spot. He then kicked down one of the metal oil drums and shouted. “When I hear evil! I will appear for I am Wave!” The men quickly looked over towards Wave and appeared to be in shock but only because of the odd situation.

“Now as I was saying. The new location will be at-” the man with the helmet went on to say.

“Ummm. Didn’t you hear me?” Wave asked.

“Just leave and I’ll pretend I didn’t see you,” The man with the helmet said as he made a shoo gesture with his hand.

Wanting to show he meant business. Wave threw a punch into the air and shouted, “Sound blast!” A sound wave had shot out from his fist. It struck one of the businessmen, knocking him down.

The other men didn’t seem fazed by the attack and pulled their guns out. The people in the white coats were however frightened by the attack and quickly ran out. Wave, realizing that he might have made a mistake made a gesture with his hands that looked like he was holding an invisible ball with both of his hands. He then whispered to himself “Sound bang” and threw his hands down.

An enormous bang sound went off. It created a powerful sound wave that knocked all the men down and their guns. All but one man was on the floor, the man with the helmet.

“The number one rule is that a Gift never reveals their powers to none Gifts unless that Gift wears a mask…or is ready to kill the witnesses.” The man said as he finally turned his head towards Wave. “Nice to meet you Wave. You can call me Blight.” With a snap of his fingers, his men knew it was time for them to leave and not come back.

“You’re a Gi-Gif-Gift too?” Raito stuttered.

“Indeed I am. By the looks of what you’re capable of doing you must be the Gift of Sound,” Blight said as he removed his gloves. “The fact that you know what a Gift is means you must have met one before. Why not take a guess on what my Gift is?” As he said those words his hands began to glow orange. Orange light also started to illuminate through the eye shield.

Fear ran throughout Raito’s body…. but there was also courage in him. He wasn’t planning on this type of fight but now is the best time to see where he stood against other Gifts.

“By the looks of that light I’m guessing fire?” Raito said as he got into a fighting position.

“Close but not exact,” Blight said as he threw his right arm out. A beam of light shot out of Blight’s hand striking Raito in the chest. The Fight between two Gifts starts now.