Heroes

Chapter III

"Thank you so much, Saitama!"

Sakura grinned at herself in the mirror before turning to leave the cramped bedroom which had played as a dressing room for her. Saitama had been kind enough to lend him one of her smaller t-shirts to wear to the hero association try-outs that day. 

Despite it being one she'd personally not choose -it was plain white with yellow 'Oppai' written on it, much to her annoyance- it was the best there was and so who was she to complain? It's not like he had to lend her one anyway.

Either way, the group arrived at the building about 20 minutes before the event started which gave them plenty of time to sign in before the events began.

Scribbling Saitama's address down as her place of residence, she passed the document over to the kind-looking blonde woman behind the front desk before looking nervously around. The last activity she did like this, she almost died, so the nerves were really getting to her.

A hand tapped her shoulder causing the pinkette to nearly jump out her skin. Green eyes wide as she glanced nervously over her shoulder. She must have been so deep in thought she didn't hear Genos coming up behind her.

"Don't worry so much." the cyborg said, causing her to smile, his next comment making it disappear in an instant, replaced by a frown, "You don't need this promotion as much, its Master that we're here for, you're just coming along for the ride."

Sakura couldn't help the scowl, much like her old classmates, it was obvious that Genos assumed she was not that strong. She couldn't blame him exactly, she hadn't done anything to prove her strength. But his harmless comment had stung a bit.

Turning to look at the now approaching Saitama, she offered him a hesitant smile before speaking up, "Are we ready to go in then?" the pair simply looked at each other before turning back to the woman and nodding.

"Let's go!"

-

In the end, Genos was split off from the pair at some point, leaving Saitama and Sakura to manage the try-outs alone.

Sakura watched Saitama nervously as he got ready for the first activity. The large men around her laughing to themselves as they pointed at him. The fact he was the cause of their amusement annoyed her somewhat, but she brushed it off, turning her attention instead to what was going on in front of her.

"Side to side jumps for thirty seconds. Ready? Go." the speed at which Saitama performed the jumps was quick to shut up the haters. But to be fair, he didn't look like much, but he sure was fast!

"Next, Sakura Haruno, please step up for testing."

Shifting to the now dented ground, she lowered her body slightly to get ready for the activity. The sound of people commenting on her hair was slightly distracting, the fact they assumed it was dyed annoying. She wouldn't choose such a bright colour, not in her line of-- old line of work.

"Ready? Go" much to her annoyance, the best she could do was apply a little chakra to help her muscles contract and release faster, it wasn't impressive, but it was above average at least.

"Next, 1500m run. Go" It was no surprise to anyone that Saitama was the winner of his heat. Every time he lapped people, their faces became more and more horrified.

Much to the surprise of her opponents' surprise, Sakura won her race too. Her time, about 1 minute or 2 longer than Saitama's but still a ways ahead of the rest of the competitors.

"Next, weight-lifting," Sakura smirked, now they were going somewhere, upper body strength was her thing! Turning to see Saitama lifting an incredible amount, Sakura felt her competitiveness getting the better of her.

Determined to one-up the bald man, she used the same weights, but with an additional two on each side. In total, the bar she lifted easily a car on each side. 

Wrapping her right hand on it, she took a deep breath before hauling the bar clear of her head. Chakra racing through her arm, enhancing her muscles slightly.

"Next, shot-put,"  Sakura watched in amusement as Saitama sent his shot-put through the ceiling. Moving into position, she brought her own ball up by her throat. Pushing her hand forwards, she flung hers just above his own hole. A cloud of debris falling from the metal structure once more.

"Vertical Jumping!"

"Whack-a-mole"

"Punching machine"

One after another, Saitama completely destroyed all previous records. Sakura attempting to do better shortly after him. Whilst she was by no means close at the vertical jumping, her reflexes were good and she had a deadly punch. There was no way she'd lose in a punching match, that would bring shame to Tsunade!

By the end of the session, she was proud to be able to say Saitama had congratulated her. The bald man's rare compliment meaning a lot to her. 'Congratulations' was something she didn't hear often, but to hear it from somebody like Saitama meant a lot to her.

-

Sakura and Saitama were split of when the written exam was taken. Despite them being set up in alphabetical order by first names, 'S' was clearly a popular letter. The exam itself was not too challenging.

Of course, there were some questions that she didn't know, mostly just history ones, but for those, she 'accidentally borrowed' the answers of her 'very willing' neighbours. They were practically asking for it!

They didn't meet up after that either. Being female, Sakura was sent to a different locker room to change out of her sweaty clothing. 

The changing rooms had been so eerily empty that she feared she'd gone to the wrong place, and no one else came to correct her. Clearly, it was not something women normally did. 

One hour later, she received the results of her test. The large envelope in front of her pristine white and unopened.

Swallowing nervously, she worked the edge of the envelope. The thinnish paper tearing under the gentle force applied to it as she pried its lips apart. The gooey substance tacking it closed stretching as it attempted in vain to stop her from getting inside.

Fingers wrapped around the certificate inside, tugging on the corner, she was surprised with how easy it was for the paper to slip out. A smile playing at the corners of her lips as her green eyes scanned the document.