New beginnings

My name is Kenji. I'm just an average Japanese highschooler student from Tokyo. I enjoy playing games and reading web comics from the internet. I'm a pretty shy person, so I don't really have a lot of friends. Because of this I get bullied a lot at school.

'God today was a long day' I say to myself as I'm walking home from school.

While walking home in my usual route I see a strange person in front of me. It was a female. She looked to be in her 20s and was quite pretty, but she was wearing very weird clothing that made her look somewhat angelic, almost like a goddess.

'Hello there young man, does your name happen to be Kenji perchance?' she said to me while I was standing in front of her. I was completely confused. I have never met this woman in my life, how could she know my name.

'Um...yes. How did you know?' I said with a very confused ancautious facece.

'Please don't feel suspicious of me, my name is Gina, and I'm the protector of inner realm' she said. At this point I've just been completely baffled by her words. Protector of the inner realm? What the hell is she even talking about.

As I try to process the situation I finally regained focus and could speak again. 'Um, what do you mean by protector of the inner realm?'

She smiled at me after my question and said 'All will be explained if you just follow me Mr. Kenji' .

'Follow you where?'

She smiled at me again and said 'allow me to show you'

And suddenly she created a huge purple portal. Out of shock, I fell to the ground and crawled away from fear. The sight of the portal was mezmarising, it almost didn't look real. It was something not from this world yet this person in front of me was able to create such a thing.

'now follow me Mr. Kenji'

'Why should I? I don't even know you and now your suddenly trying to get me to go into that weird ass portal? What the hell do you expect me to do?!'

'Calm down Mr. Kenji. If you enter this portal with me, it will change the arc of your life and turn you into one of the most powerful and greatest people on the planet! I believe in you Mr. Kenji, I believe you can become the greatest hero of all time!'

Her words were filled with so much conviction. I felt like I could become better, like I could somehow change myself from being a weak shy high-school student to a great hero with amazing strength. And with a move that rejected all logic, I listened to her request and entered the portal.

After entering the portal, Gina and I were in a strange looking room. Gina continued to walk and I followed. After exiting the room I looked outside to what looked like a monk temple with many monks there training and very traditional looking houses and places.

'Where are we Gina?'

'We are in the place where you'll be living and training for the next 3 years'

I was confused by what she said and was a little discouraged but still continued walking.

We eventually got to a shrine. And in front of me were 4 people, 3 of them were guys and 1 was a girl. Once all of them noticed me, one of them gave me a very unimpressed look.

'Huh? Is this kid really the 5th hero?'

'Yes Mr. gonzo.'

Once Gina confirmed that I was the 5th hero the 4 people in front of me all looked at me with doubt and 1 of them even looked at me with anger.

'What?! How the hell is this small kid one of us heroes!?'

I was still confused on what was happening and looked to Gina for answers.

'Gina can you please explain what's going on right now'

'Yes Mr. Kenji, allow me to explain'

She then took me away from the 4 other men and started to explain to me the reason for being here.

'There are 2 realms. The inner realm and the outer realm. The inner realm is where we reside in now. And I am the protector of the inner realm. The outer realm consists of a world called "Voltican". This world has magic, monsters, elves, and other species. For centuries both realms have had many conflicts with each other. But peace has been found by the creation of the tournament of Versailles. It is where 5 heroes from both realms are chosen to fight in a tournament to see which is the stronger realm. This event happens every century. And you Mr. Kenji, has been chosen as one of the 5 tos to to fight for the inner realm.'

I was confused. All these concepts felt like a fantasy story. But the one thing that confused me the most was the fact that I was chosen to be 1 of the 5 heroes.

'Gina, why would I be chosen for something like this? I mean I'm just a small average kid with no ability to fight. Also, you said before that I would be living and training here for 3 years. There's no way I could do that when I have parents at home waiting for me.'

'Even if you are weak now, your potential exceeds all expectations. You have the opportunity to become the inner realm's greatest hero. And worry not about your parents. This temple transcends time and reality. Every 6 months here a day passes everywhere else in the world. So if you were to be training here for 3 years, it would only be 6 days for your parents.'

I was conflicted. My whole life was the same everyday. Even if it was a little boring, it was comfortable and relaxing and I never felt like I needed to do more than necessary. So why would I say yes to something so dangerous that I didn't even understand? But something inside me was telling me to say yes. Deep inside I want to be better, stronger even. It was a dangerous path to go but...

'So what do you say Mr. Kenji?'

'Gina.'

'yes?'

'I want to be a Hero.'

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