The Rejected Wannabe Hero

“This is really bad!” Kaden thought to himself.

He looked down at the desk in front of him in a panic.

“If they find out, I'm done for.” He moaned while rustling through the papers that were spread out on the desk.

These papers were acceptance letters for various schools that Kaden had applied to. Or they would be if he got accepted to even a single one of them. Yet, at the bottom of all of them, in big bold letters, the word “REJECTED” was written.

Kaden was no ordinary kid, he was the only son of Rowena and Axel Ryoman. To the world, however, they were better known as the best superhero duo in recent history, Bliss and Inversion. They stem from a long line of some of the best superheroes to ever live, that have defended the earth for centuries. In fact, if heroes were to have a ranking system, Kaden was sure that his father would be in the top three at least.

And then there was Kaden himself, who did try hard to be a hero. He went to a special middle school that trained kids to be future heroes, but he had always been bottom of his class. Now, he had signed up for every hero high school in the country. He had signed up and was rejected by every single one of them. Not to much of his surprise, though it was still quite disappointing.

In his panic, Kaden almost didn’t hear the soft footsteps, coming from the hallway outside his room. Hurriedly, he scrambled to get all the rejection letters back together, almost missing a few that flew off the desk in his haste. He bunched them together and held them behind his back. Just in time too, as his mother, a tall, freckled, black-haired woman with kind crystal blue eyes, stood at his door opening now. In the blue jacket she was wearing, she looked very slender, but Kaden knew she was much stronger than him and her muscles underneath reflected that.

Her mere presence made Kaden feel a bit better, not just because she was his mom, that was simply part of her power. She emits a fragrance that invokes positive feelings in whoever smells it. Not only that, she can form small cloud bubbles of happiness and direct them at people, putting them in a dream-like state of joy. She had never used that power on Kaden, however. She would always say “I’m your mother, I can make you smile without any superpowers,” which she never failed to do after saying so.

“Is everything alright, dear?” Rowena asked kindly, seeing Kaden in the nervous state that he was.

Kaden nodded nervously and clamped the letters more tightly. Rowena’s friendly gaze narrowed. She was very good at reading people, having successfully interrogated a good amount of villains in the past.

“You're not lying to me, are you?” She asked Kaden sternly, but with clear jest in her voice.

“Well-” Kaden started, but was immediately cut off by his mother, who was slowly inching closer to him.

“Did you pick out a school yet? They’ll start soon, won't they?” She leaned forward and locked eyes with Kaden.

His mother had a pleading look on her face, that he found hard to say no to.

“There's no need to pick,” a deep proud voice said from the door, “he’ll be going to the finest hero school there is, just like his family before him!”

Kaden and his mother both looked to the door to see Axel, a big, burly man with shining white hair and fierce dark grey eyes. To Kaden, he looked like he could easily topple a mountain. Kaden’s appearance, much like his power, was a nice mix of both. While his hair was mostly the same shiny white as his father’s, there were a few black streaks in there too, similar to his mother’s hair. His left eye was an even darker grey than his father's and his right an even brighter blue than his mother’s. Though he didn’t quite have the same muscle mass as either of them.

Kaden kept staring at his father, not really knowing what to say. Both his parents now expectantly looked in his direction. There was no way he could let them down.

“I-It's a surprise!” He told them quickly, not wanting to disappoint them with the news that he was, in fact, not going to any hero school.
That none of the schools even wanted him as a hero.

“I’ll tell them at a better time.” He thought to himself.

Though he shamefully realised that there likely would never be a good time to do it. Rowena put her hand to her chin and curiously looked down at Kaden.

“Alright then…” She mumbled, but gave a comforting smile when she saw the look on his face.

She started walking out of the room and urged a complaining Axel to do the same. Kaden let out a deep sigh, once they were out of hearing range. He looked at the rejection letters once more, and they started to tremble in his hands.

“I need to calm down first…” He thought.

He decided he’d visit his favourite spot on the pier, where everything was calmer, and he could collect his thoughts. Not wanting to confront his parents again, especially not his dad, he stuffed all the letters in his backpack and sneaked out the window of his room. He then gracefully climbed down to the ground. Though he apparently wasn’t much for hero material, he did learn some things from his parents. Mostly how to avoid danger, but to him, that was at least something.

It was already late, and Kaden knew the sun would set soon, but right now he didn’t care about that. He just wanted to get away from the stress for a moment. The pier was the go-to place for him to calm down. He used to go there with his parents when he was younger. There, looking over the fast horizon with his parents by his side, the world seemed like his for the taking. When they told stories about how they became heroes, it made him feel like he could do anything. Though now that he was older, he realised that this sadly was never the case.

“What do we have here!” An all too familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind Kaden. “Our resident wannabe hero!”

Kaden turned around and stood face to face with Ari Hakusei, a boy he knew from middle school, though he dearly wished he didn’t.

Kaden had always made it very clear that he wanted to be a great hero. After all, that’s all he knew from his parents. That’s all they ever wanted him to be. This, however, due to his obvious lack of skill, made him a great target for bullying, especially to Ari Hakusei, who aspired to be the best hero. He had even picked out his hero name already. “Stellar”, which was a play on his outstanding academic skills, even for a middle schooler, and his power to shoot out rays of light.

Ari pulled out a piece of paper, stating that he was accepted for Postella Academy, the top hero school. Kaden had always thought that someone like Ari, who looked down on those lesser than him, could never be a hero. Yet here he was, accepted for the top of hero schools.

“Where’s your acceptance letter, huh?” He called out to Kaden. Some of Ari’s friends grabbed Kaden and took his backpack.

“Give it back!” Kaden yelled, trying to reach upward to grab it back from the kid with stretching arms.

Fed up, Kaden used his power too. He threw out what he called a “Negative Bubble”, which very slowly travelled toward Ari. Everyone looked at the bubble, tardily floating forward, and the bullies began laughing hysterically.

“Is that what you call an attack?!” Ari cackled while effortlessly stepping out of the way of Kaden’s Negative Bubble.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared next to Kaden, singeing his cheek a little. Ari smiled smugly as Kaden grabbed his burnt cheek. A small kid made of rock held Kaden’s backpack upside down, making all the rejection letters spill out.

They all started laughing even harder. Defeated, Kaden kneeled down and quickly started gathering them back up. Ari slowly walked up to Kaden and stepped on a few papers he was about to pick up. He crouched down, while Kaden silently pulled on it.

“I guess you won’t be a hero after all.” He said, condescendingly patting Kaden’s head.

Kaden felt a fury boiling in his stomach. Without thinking, he whacked Ari’s hand away.

“At least I won’t have to look at your face anymore.” He mumbled. “Then again, someone like you wouldn’t even make it past the bottom ten ranking heroes.”

He looked up, and both proudly and defiantly stared into Ari’s eyes. The other kids started chuckling, until they meet Ari’s gaze. He scoffed and without hesitation, kicked Kaden across the face. Then, he signalled the others to follow him before they all left Kaden behind.

Kaden clenched his fists. He thought about fighting back, but knew it was no use anyway. It would just end up the same way as always. With him beaten and on the ground. Now both hurt and defeated, he picked up the remaining letters and headed towards the pier.

As he sat down on the edge of the dock, with the wind blowing through his hair and his feet barely touching the water, Kaden thought about what he could possibly do next. He pulled out the letters and thought about how disappointed his mother would be, or what his father would say if they found out that he would never be a hero. Kaden clenched the papers tightly as small teardrops rolled down his face onto them, ashamed to even call himself the son of a hero.

“I know I should tell them, but…” He mumbled to himself.

Kaden hesitated, imagining the disappointed faces of his parents, staring back at him after showing them the letter. He shook his head and exhaled deeply.

After convincing himself, he looked around and grabbed a rock that was laying on the ground. Then he bound it to the bunched up papers, with some string he found in his backpack, before dropping them all into the water.

“I can’t let them find out…” He softly whispered, watching the letters sink as the orange glow, reflecting on the water, faded when the sun set.

All that remained was his sad expression, looking back at himself through the reflection of the water.

“Why can’t I just be good enough?” He mumbled to himself.

Kaden sat there for a while, looking over the water, and contemplating the decision he just made. As he was about ready to head back home, he noticed something odd. One of the papers had floated back up. This one, to his surprise, did not say “REJECTED”.

He fished it out of the water, quickly. Surprisingly, the paper was not as wet as he’d expected it to be. In fact, it was only wet on the parts he touched with his now water-covered hand. Upon closer inspection, the paper seemed to be some sort of survey. It asked for basic information regarding Kaden. His age, address, superpower, etc. but also his reason for wanting to join the school. Kaden thought he must’ve missed this letter when applying for schools, and his heart skipped a beat when reading through the contents.

“Maybe I still have a chance. Maybe I’m not hopeless. Maybe I don’t have to be a disappointment.” Were thoughts that went through his head as he scoured his backpack for a pen.

“Got it.”

He rapidly filled out the survey, and a hopeful wave of relief rushed through him. He stood up and held it out in front of him.

“My reason for joining?” He read out. “I want to prove myself. Show the world I can be good enough.”

He nodded, but right as he wanted to put the paper away, as if someone pulled it out of his hands, the wind blew the paper over his head and straight back into the water.

“No! This was my last chance!” Kaden yelled out while trying to catch it.

“Please…” He said softly, watching the paper sink back into the murky water.

He violently slammed the water surface, which consequently splashed in his face. Now staring at his reflection, angry, sad, anxious and wet, it took a moment for Kaden to process what had just happened.

“Wait. Paper doesn’t sink.” He muttered confusedly.

Right at that moment, a letter floated back to the surface. As fast as he could, Kaden snatched it from the water and started reading out loud.

“Thank you for filling out our survey. Our school is in the top class in what it does. We provide a place for not only A-grade students, but also a place fit for rejects and outcasts alike. Furthermore, we strive to only put out the best students into the world, and will make sure that you too, become the best at what you do, by the time you graduate. We are delighted to inform you that you have been chosen-”

Kaden paused for a moment and read over everything again.

“We are delighted to inform you that you have been chosen to attend…”

He gulped.

“Kagekoka High, The Portable School of Villainy.”