It was the next day and Yuko was waking up Rento and Kanji-Man. She started pulling on their cheeks and said, "Come on, you two! We'll be late!"
"Ok! Ok! I get it, senpai!", Rento mumbled in a sleepy voice. Kanji-Man on the upper part of the bunkbed suddenly woke up and instantly got into a fighting stance. "WHO DARES TO WAKE THE HERO FROM HIS SLUMBER!?", He screamed.
"Your cute senpai down here!", Yuko replied in a cheeky voice. "Oh... Sorry, young lady...", Kanji-Man replied.
"Good morning to you too, Kanji-Man-kun. Also, stop calling me young lady! I'm older than you, you know?"
Rento started walking over to the bathroom and Kanji-Man said, "Wait for me, comrade! We shall wash up together!"
"Whatever...", Rento replied in a still sleepy voice.
Yuko's stomach started to gurgle. "Oh my god! I'm so hungry! You two wash up and go to Chairman-sama's office. After that, you can meet me at the 21st floor and have breakfast. Alright, bye!"
"Wait! Senpa- She left...", Rento said looking annoyed.
"What's wrong, Comrade?"
"I've always went to breakfast together with Senpai but I can't today cause I have to go with you!? That sucks!"
"Come on, Takahashi-kun. Its good that we get to bond by spending time with each other, we're new comrades."
"Whatever..."
A few minutes later, both of them changed from their pajamas into their regular outfits and went to The Chairman's office.
"..."
"Sir?", Rento asked confused by The Chairman's silence.
"Why is this man wearing a Senshi suit?"
"He's a huge Super Sentai fan or something, Sir."
The Chairman glared at Kanji-Man and asked, "So you awakened yesterday, right?"
"Actually, no. I got my superpowers 2 weeks ago, Sir!", Kanji-Man replied enthusiastically. The Chairman was shocked. "2 weeks ago? How is it the case that we have only brought you here now? Also, don't call them superpowers."
Rento spoke up and said, "Ikari-san deduced that it was because Kagura-san was replacing you for a day 2 weeks ago and he missed his awakening."
The Chairman smacked his head in disappointment. "That Hikari... I'll have a talk with him later. Anyways, what's your name?"
"Louis Bernard, Sir." The Chairman seemed amused. "A foreigner, huh? That would make you the first foreign SOMA member ever at least here in the Tokyo Team, I don't know about the SOMA facilities across the rest of Japan."
"That makes me proud, Sir. I look forward to become a part of this."
"There's nothing to look forward to, Louis. Make sure you understand that."
Kanji-Man was surprised by The Chairman's response. "Uh... Yes, Sir..."
"Good. Now, tell me everything that happened since you awakened 2 weeks ago. I'll need to see if I believe your story or not.", The Chairman replied. "Hikari missing this guy's awakening is completely plausible but an unnoticed awakening? That sounds awfully similar to the teleporting Alternate and his friends that attacked us last night. Could he be connected to them? I need to see if this guy's story checks out."
"Sure, Sir!", Kanji-Man said sounding excited. Meanwhile, Rento was getting bored and exhausted from standing there along with him.
"2 weeks ago, When I first unlocked my superpow- I mean... Uhhh... When I first awakened, my mind went blank for a few seconds. It was a feeling I had never experienced before and I can't fully describe it in words, my body was being altered in some horrific way. When It was all over, I looked at my self wondering what the hell just happened but I noticed. I thought that maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me but suddenly, I heard it. It was a voice of an entity coming from within me..."
Rento had started shake around his body in boredom.
"The voice told me that I was chosen and had gained abilities unknown to humanity, it told me that I could become a hero. At that moment, I also noticed that there was no one around, the location was completely empty somehow even though I in a popular neighborhood. All of it was too much and so I started to panic and began running around looking for other people. After getting further enough, I noticed a group of people just sort of slowly walking around, they didn't seem conscious. I saw some people that were around me before the whole thing happened among that group. I now realize that it was due to a Otori-san's ability."
The Chairman seemed completely focused on Kanji-Man's story and so he began slowly moving towards the door hoping to get out without them noticing.
"Being extremely confused and scared, I rushed to my house. I locked myself up in my room in panic and that's when the voice the spoke up once again. It told me that it could fulfill my dream of always wanting to be a hero and that I had gained supernatural abilities. I was intrigued and began listening to its instructions. My desire to be a hero was so great that I forgot all about the fear. It told me to concentrate on my hand and just hit something. When I began to concentrate, my hand started to feel weird. It started to feel as if it wasn't even my hand anymore, it was something else. I punched the wall thinking nothing would happen but surprisingly, it left a massive crack on the wall. I didn't know how or why but my dream of being a hero was being fulfilled and the excitement of that blinded me. I went to the basement and wore the Senshi Suit I had crafted long ago inspired by The Super Sentai and went on stroll in order to look for hero work."
Rento was getting closer and closer to the door but then The Chairman casually threw a pen towards Rento with his left hand which ended up hitting Rento and stopping him in his tracks. He did it while still focused on Kanji-Man's story. "I don't think I'll ever end up liking this guy... He punished my dear Senpai and now he won't let me go to her? I'll never forgive him!"
"While walking around Tokyo that day, I once again noticed a completely empty area and groups of people slowly walking and acting weird around it. I rushed towards the center of that area thinking I'd find someone like me who had also gained supernatural abilities and could be my comrade but instead, I saw a monster. A freakish creature that looked human but was deforming and stretching around its body, I was terrified when I first saw it but then I heard the voice again. It told me to fight and to kill it. I denied at first in fear but then the voice reminded me about all the those times where I had fantasized about becoming a hero and slaying monsters. I realized that that was my chance to prove myself as a hero and save humanity from that monster. Once again, I concentrated into my hand and delivered a punch that I put my all into. The monster was slayed but now that it was gone and I realized what was around me, a bunch of dead citizens with bits of their bodies eaten by that monster. I was about to puke but then the voice told something to me that took the bodies off my mind. It asked me if I wanted to gain my true power. I immediately replied with a yes and It told me to accept a deal. Without even letting it tell me what the deal was, I chanted that I accepted and suddenly I lost control of my body and then it started to eat all of those dead humans there. After it was done, I immediately began puking and started cursing at the voice."
Rento had started to scroll on his phone by this point and came across a video announcing the new season of the Pain Machine anime adaptation. "YES!", He shouted.
"..."
"..."
"Hehe... Sorry, you can resume..."
"While I was still puking and disgusted, the voice told me that it was necessary to do that and that the people were already dead anyway. I started cursing at it even more but then it told me that instead of wasting my time shouting at it and letting those sacrifices go to waste, I should use my newly gained true power to stop more of those monsters. The voice explained to me that the reason that monster looked like a human was that it was indeed using the body of a human, it was a monster that awakened within random people and that it ate humans. The voice told me that I was chosen by the heavens to gain the power to stop these monsters and become the savior of the people. Several more would appear and that I was the only one who could stop them so I needed to train and use my power to become a true hero!"
The Chairman sighed. "That voice you were hearing was the alternate that awakened within you, it was trying to get you to eventually use the 3rd form and take full control. I assume that Yuko explained everything about alternates and alternate-users to you so you now actually understand what happened to you."
"Yes, Sir."
"That deal you made is done by alternate-users with their alternates to gain their unique ability. What did you gain?"
Kanji-Man smiled confidently. "Sir... What I gained was The Power of Kanji!"