Heroes: Journey

Chapter 3: Act of A Hero

"We all know that being a police officer is not that great of a deal. At least I could work with you from time to time" said Jin doing his best to give a genuine smile.

Life is unfair sometimes, Jin could probably be a very good hero if he was special like me. His toughness, his sense of justice and his courage is on a different level compared to me. I only think about my family and how I could help them, but him? He always think about the weaker people.

"Hayato, you should be going now. You'll be late for your dinner meeting" reminded Jin while pointing at his watch.

"Oh, right! I should go now!" I answered.

I turned around and started walking while looking at my watch, I need to run back home to be on time.

"Please be a great hero, live my dream for me too" said Jin.

I was surprised with what Jin said and it made me turn to face him but he was already walking as fast as he could, away from me. He never once mentioned that being a hero is his dream, or maybe he never mentioned it because I never ask.

I couldn't help but remember the day he got hospitalized, it was more than two years ago, we went to Tokyo to attend a meet and greet event with some of the top heroes in Japan. We got lost along the way and found ourselves at the red district, the place was scary and a lot of bad looking people are scattered along the street.

Some of the gang members were staring but they didn't bother us, we were just kids and I'm sure that I was emitting a scared kind of energy while keeping my head low to let them know that I mean no trouble. Jin on the other hand was smiling and he was even sharing jokes while walking. No fear as usual, typical Jin.

In my mind, we just need to get out of the place as quiet as we could and not attract any attention to avoid any trouble,.

As we turn to another street, we saw an old man being harassed by four Yakuza looking guys.

Jin stopped walking and his face changed from his friendly smiley face into a very serious look. He was trying to listen to the conversation and we overheard that the Yakuza guys were asking for money; the old man said that he has nothing on him and he will have to give them the money some other time.

It is well known that the yakuza lends money to the people who are in need and in exchange they put a hefty interest rate, what's worst though is that if you miss a payment they would sometimes double the interest which would put the borrower in heavy debt. There has been rumors that if a borrower could not pay at all, they would kidnap them and sell their organs.

The leader of the group pushed the old man to the ground shouting that if it weren't for their money the old man would have nothing and he wouldn't be able to pay for the operation of his son.

The old man bowed to apologize for the inconvenience but the leader kicked him so hard that he fell on his back, the old man once again bowed to apologize. The yakuza leader was about to kick the old man again but Jin sprinted and kick the leader at his back, the guy went rolling to the ground. Jin went on to fight against the two other, I decided to fight against the the other guy at the left side to avoid them from circling Jin; we defeated the three guys but the leader called in another group, minutes later, around twenty guys came running at us.

We both know that we can't win against twenty guys, we looked at each other and decided to ran for it. We run for a good five minutes, turned left and then turned another left. To our horror, we saw a thirty foot wall.

We took the wrong turn, we were cornered. The group that was chasing us started to laugh while pointing at us, if it's just me; I could use my shadow ability to run for it but I was with Jin. We instead fought as hard as we could but we eventually got beaten to the ground. Even though we were already beaten, they did not stop; they kept on kicking us and I thought that I was going to die.

I was shouting for help but nobody came to rescue us, all of a sudden, something fell on top of me and I felt nothing. It became cold, I felt so tired that I fell unconscious.

I regained my consciousness after almost an hour, I opened my eyes and saw that it was Jin who jumped over me. He covered me and protected me from the continuous attack, they left us at the alley bloodied. I took my phone out and called for help, Jin was in critical condition because of the head injury he received and I could not do anything but cry while the doctors tend to him.

It took more than a week before Jin got released from the hospital, he had multiple interviews on what have happened and I thought that he will be recognized for what he did but it was the opposite. Different articles mentioned that Jin was the reason why I got beaten, he was called a hot headed kid who could not control his temper.

Another article was released saying that I could have easily defeated those guys who were beating us if I used my ability but I did not use it because I am disciplined. I was so angry that I talked to Mr. Joji about how I want to tell the truth, Jin protected the old man and protected me. Mr. Joji told me that it is better that I keep the truth to myself because the Yakuza group have paid the media to downplay the incident and by talking about what have happened, I may put Jin and myself in more danger.

I never felt so weak in my life, for the first time I realized that the world is being ran by money and influence.

I thought then that Jin was angry at me, he was deemed as a bad person while I am being hailed as a hero. Jin got suspended for a week while I received a citizenship award for being a role model.

After Jin came back from his suspension, he immediately talked to me as if nothing happened and he told me that he is glad that my reputation was not ruined because of what he did.

We never talked about the incident again after that, but I promised to myself that once I become a popular hero; I will shed light to what really happened in Tokyo. I will expose the corruption and redeem his name, not just because he is my friend but because, he is a true hero that I look up to.