In a world with a team as cool as Super Patroller Squad, it was hard not to idolize superheroes. Ichiro was no exception. Whenever he could be heroic, Ichiro knew it was his responsibility. The day that Megumi was crying because the boss yelled at her, he helped her finish her assignment, and when she burnt her lunch in the microwave, he gave her most of his noodles.

At the end of one week, Megumi approached the cubicle covered in posters and customized action figures of Supersonic Condor and Motorcycle Man Yellow. She presented Ichiro with an ad from a magazine:

ARE YOU DESTINED TO HAVE SUPERPOWERS?
Come to Dr. Collider’s seminar on how you, too, can become a superior being with fantastic powers you never dreamed of!
This weekend only! Totally free!

Megumi snatched Ichiro from his desk and dragged him to the train station. In a derelict portion of town, a rusty warehouse inhabited the listed address. Despite his protests, Megumi pushed Ichiro inside. There he found a man in a lab coat, with wild, white hair, making adjustments to a chair with a shocking number of wires and lights attached.

“Before you say anything, my son, I must ask: are you ready to be a true hero?”

There was no going back for Ichiro after those few words. He listened to a long presentation too technical to follow, strapped himself in the chair and let the Doctor put a rubber bite guard in his mouth. “I hope this works,” the man said, and then everything went black.

When Ichiro awakened, alone in the empty warehouse, he felt exactly the same. Same muscles, same eyes, same hands. Dejected, he found outside that it was dark and Megumi was gone. An old woman began crossing the street as a car careened around the corner. As it flew toward her, he ran forward, raising his hands.

Which then became traffic cones.

He waved them in shock, and more traffic cones flew out, surrounding the tottering woman, and forcing the car to swerve and avoid her.

Ichiro looked in shock and ecstasy as his hands transformed back to normal. This was the start of something amazing.