Riley Ross

"I don't want to see any of you falling asleep, because I know this is going to be a bit of an info dump."

"Ooh, he's breaking the fourth wall."

"Bitch, what you even talkin' about with that plump lips of yours?"

"Why… are you looking at my lips?"

"Everyone, I said I didn't want any of you to fall asleep. But please don't make much noise."

Spectacular Mustache Man's tone seemed more serious than usual. And his mustache perfectly reflected that due to its currently straight, and somewhat stern-looking state.

It was weird. A mustache shouldn't have emotion, and yet even Riley could tell that he was about to say something incredibly important.

"Okay," Spectacular Mustache Man narrowed his eyes at all the students. And when he was sure that everyone was looking at him, he started strolling across that platform. And then, he cleared his throat—sneakily turning on the projector at the same time to make it seem like it switched on by itself.

Different faces were projected on the wall, and Spectacular Mustache Man's mustache started to extend toward one of the faces and started tapping on it.

"Do you recognize any of these people?" He said, "What about the person I am pointing to now?"

He waited for any of the students to answer, but aside from them looking at each other and shrugging, none of them even attempted to answer or take a guess at all.

And of course, Spectacular Mustache Man already expected this to happen.

"Of course," he smirked and chuckled, "You won't know any of these people because you've probably never met them. They're all random people from different countries. But just by looking at this, who do you think are supers?"

Once again, no one answered him at all.

"The answer is all of them are," Spectacular Mustache Man's mustache gently lifted him up in the air, "And from this random collection of at least thirty supers, who do you think are S-tier supers? I expect someone to answer now. Come on, don't be shy."

"It's that one!" The insanely obese student, Katrina, raised her hand and pointed at one of the faces on the projection.

"Okay, why do you think so?"

"...Because you pointed at him earlier?" Katrine awkwardly chuckled, her buccal fat jiggling even with the slightest gesture, "And he looks dangerous!"

"Sit down," Spectacular Mustache Man sighed and shook his head, "Who else has a more instinctual guess? Yes, you. Uh. What's… your superhero name again?"

"Spectacular Fatulence, sir!"

"You think this is a joke?! I told you to rename that already!"

The student was lucky that Spectacular Mustache Man was not holding anything, or he would have surely thrown it at Mach speed.

"You do not have the right to participate in the class until you fix that! It sucks!"

"But… I was trying to imitate your name, sir."

"Is… is that so?" Spectacular Mustache Man cleared his throat. He glared at the student for a few seconds before nodding and then shaking his head, "Then you are out of luck, I have already trademarked the name 'Spectacular' in terms of superhero names. But since you seem to be a good student, I'll let you participate. For now, what's your name?"

"My… name's Daniel Espinoza, sir."

"Aah. I see. You're the one with the power to stretch your body, right? I see now why you want to copy my name. Wow, there seems to be a lot of you body morphers this year. A-anyway," Spectacular Mustache Man once again cleared his throat, "Okay, Mr. Espinoza—who is your guess?"

"That little girl, Sir!" Daniel pointed at the smallest face on the wall.

"...And why did you pick that?"

"I've learned not to judge a book by its cover, Sir!" Daniel nodded to himself, "And two of the strongest in this class are also the youngest."

Everyone knew who he was talking about—Riley and Victoria.

Spectacular Mustache Man also agreed with him, but then once again shook his head.

"Wrong," he said. "I put that because I know that some of you will pick her. But it's not her—none of these are actually S-tier supers. Because if they were, it is impossible that none of you would recognize them… that is one of the important aspects of having a Tier system. Some supers, however, and surprisingly a good number of normal people are against the Tier system, as they think it's discriminatory. But trust me, it's not. As we have always been trying to ingrain in your mind ever since day one… There are levels to this."

Spectacular Mustache Man tapped the wall, and the image once again changed—and as soon as it did, everyone's eyes slowly widened.

"Now, I am sure most of you recognize, at the very least, one person in this wall…" He turned to look at the image, "Because these are all S-tier supers and above."

Bulwark was at the very center of the image—of course, that was because he was the current headmaster of the USA Mega Academy. But what Spectacular Mustache Man said was right, everyone recognized almost everyone in the image on the wall.

"Tiers are important for people to know who is currently in front of them. Most of us are good and kind people, but there are those who aren't as… patient," Spectacular Mustache Man took in a deep breath while shaking his head, "Everyone should know who they are dealing with, because not knowing sometimes leads to death. That is where tiers become important. The higher your tier is, the more people will know who you are."

Most of the students nodded several times upon hearing their instructor's words. Some of them, however, began narrowing their eyes as they seemed to be trying to find someone on the wall.

"Sir, where's Megawoman?!"

"Where do you think?" Spectacular Mustache Man burst out into a fit of laughter as soon as he heard that question, "Megawoman is not in this list—I believe I have already told you this before, but she belongs on a different rank."

"SSS?!"

"No," Spectacular Mustache Man sighed. He then slowly lowered himself, already pacing forward even though his feet hadn't fully planted on the ground just yet, "She belongs on the X-tier, or more officially known, because of her, as the Mega-tier… and Ms. Phoenix, the one whose history we just visited, also belongs in that tier. There are only three of them, and now, only two are alive—one is in the most secure prison in the entire planet… because it's not on the planet at all."

"Is it… The Terraformer?"

"Correct," Spectacular Mustache Man closed his eyes. His breaths almost even stuttered upon hearing the name, "But let's move on—who else don't you see on this list? There should be a lot, but there should be one extremely noticeable because he's within Academy grounds."

"Whiteking!" One of the male students, who had unusually long black hair, stood up and pointed at the wall, "Why isn't he there? Is it because you hate him?!"

"I don't hate Whiteking—I don't trust him. There is a difference," Spectacular Mustache Man shook his head, "But no. Even if I do speak badly of him, the man belongs in his rank, and the reason he is not here is our second topic—superhero and supervillain tiers. Because they are not the same as Tiers for super. Why do you think that is, anyone?"

Spectacular Mustache Man raised his hand, but when no one answered, he just looked at Hannah and then pointed at her with his mustache.

"Baby Nuclear."

"It's Nuclear Baby."

"Really? Doesn't have quite the ring to it. Baby Nuclear rolls better in the tongue."

"Nuclear Baby's literally better."

"Debatable," Spectacular Mustache Man scoffed, "Why do you think superhero tiers are not the same as Super tiers?"

Hannah narrowed her eyes as Spectacular Mustache Man at first, as she knew that he chose her deliberately since Whiteking was her father. But of course, he was still her instructor—and respect was needed.

"That is because Whiteking is believed not to be a super at all, Sir." She answered.

"That's true. But it's not only Whiteking—even supers have different superhero tiers."

"Obviously, some of them are not even superheroes. But most importantly, while strength is a good indication of whether one or not would make a great hero, it is merely half of it. One example of this was the superhero known as the NY Rollerblader—his only power was to glide through his rollerblades without needing to exert any physical force. By all means, anyone here could probably defeat him in a fight… but in terms of heroism and will, I believe even if we combine half of our willpower, it won't equal his."

"Good. Very good…" Spectacular Mustache Man nodded several times, "You seem to be a fan of the New York Rollerblader?"

"I am, Sir."

"I am too," Spectacular Mustache Man closed his eyes, "May his soul rest in peace where he is now. The bravery he showed during the attack of the Skyking is a tale that I would forever tell my children."

"Hmm," Hannah also nodded, but flinched as Spectacular Mustache Man suddenly clapped his hands.

"Yes, children. You heard that right!" Spectacular Mustache Man raised his voice, "A hero is not measured only by his strength, but by his bravery. And in that note…

…I would like to commend Riley Ross."