Adopted Soldier

Kei was down in the dumps as he had failed on proposing several times now. He was always a meticulous person, that was the only thing he was proud of being amongst the superhumans in the Mercenary Club. Yet now he was failing so horribly over and over again. 

'If I'm having trouble now in just giving the ring, how am I going to deal with married life, and with Emi no less?... I already tried my best but I guess I was never fit for her nor was I fit to be part of the Mercenary Club.'

...

Kei was feeling a bit depressed since after failing to propose and losing the ring again, he had read an article about the Mercenary Club. The article focused on each of the members of the Mercenary Club.

When Kei read the article he was once again reminded of how absurd his friends were. On the other hand, when they got to the part about him it was lackluster compared to the others. Kei looked at the article again and sighed. 

'I've changed so much and I tried so hard but all of that was for naught, I still couldn't keep up with them. Am I really right for Emily?... She's bright, she's beautiful, she's fun to be with, she could've gotten anyone she wanted, but she still chose me... If I break up with her she would kill me... Maybe it's okay to die if it was by her hands.' 

While Kei was walking deep in thought he suddenly remembered that he had a date with Emily later. He was going to propose to her then, but now that he had lost the ring, he didn't feel like meeting with Emily today. He would feel too ashamed to face her. Kei then took out his phone and called Emily, after a few rings she picked up. 

"Hey Emi, I'm sorry but I have something important that I need to do so that date of ours I won't be able to come." Kei was ready for Emily to scream in anger and teleport beside him, but to his surprise, she didn't do that. 

"Oh it's alright, I'm actually with onii-chan right now, and we were planning to go out and do something." When Kei heard that Emily was with Kyle, he was once again surprised. Didn't he just call Kyle a while ago, does Emily know about the proposal? As Kei was about to ask Emily she spoke first interrupting him. 

"Alrighty Kei, see you, bye-bye, love you." Emily ended the call there and then. Kei's mind was in a mess as he looked at the ended call. 

'What are they doing? Did Kyle tell Emi about the failed proposals?... Damn, of course, he did after that many repeated failures even someone as cool as Kyle would've found it frustrating. Will he advise Emi to break up with me? Well even if he does Emi won't do it, would she?... Now that I think about it, she might actually do it Emi loves Kyle way too much... Am I screwed? Wait this might be a good thing, I love Emi too much to force her to marry a screw-up like me. Still, can I give her up to another man?'

Kei closed his eyes and imagined Emily with another man. The moment he saw Emily happily holding another man and was about to kiss him Kei reacted by raising his hand and was about ready to attack. The people who were walking beside him suddenly stopped and looked at Kei as if he was crazy. Some took out their phones and were recording Kei, while the others looked like they were about ready to call the police. 

Kei felt truly embarrassed as he bowed his head and said sorry to everyone present. He then showed his badge to the gathered people and told them that he was part of the police force and reassured them that no one needs to worry. Once he was done apologizing and explaining the situation Kei quickly left the scene. 

...

Kei continued to be depressed as he wandered around the streets. While he was walking he had bumped into some criminals and was able to swiftly apprehend them. He then went to the nearest station to drop them off.

Unlike in the past when he was still that freshman who was cowering inside his room, he was much better now. Kei's current abilities with the usage of his newfound power were among the top of humanity, not to mention his physical ability had grown from all the training he did in these past two years. His physical abilities and skills could have placed him as a B rank merc back in the old days. 

Still even after everything he did, even though he was the one who had worked the hardest among those in the Mercenary Club he was still nowhere close to the others. The weakest next to him would be Evangeline but even her skills were beyond his. Not only was her overall skills better than his, but even her control over her ability was exemplary. 

...

As Kei continued to feel down he noticed that he was already in another place. The scenery was a familiar one. He looked around and was sure that this was the park where Sir Lyner's statue was placed. Kei's feet had unconsciously led him to this place. 

Kei turned around and as he expected there stood the statue of the man who stood proud and tall even as he faced his death. The statue was a very accurate depiction of Lyner's final moments. 

"I guess even now I can always rely on you Sir Lyner." Kei sat on the bench in front of the statue. 

"Sorry I didn't bring anything to offer you today. I wasn't expecting to come here... Hey Sir Lyner, I already tried my best, but it doesn't seem like it's enough. What do you think I should do? I feel so inferior to everyone else, and I don't think I can keep up with her if this keeps up."

Kei smiled wryly as he looked at the statue of his teacher. 

"Oh sorry about that, I forgot to tell you I was planning to propose to Emily, but I failed multiple times already. I can't even do something so simple, I feel so ashamed." At that moment Kei felt like he could hear Sir Lyner's voice talking to him. 

"Are you an idiot? If your best isn't good enough then you must go beyond that. If you really are a student of mine you wouldn't give up even if you keep on falling down, you will push yourself to stand. Stop disturbing my sleep and go out there and meet with Emily, don't you dare come back until you propose." 

Kei knew that the voice he was hearing was just his thoughts of SIr Lyner taking form, but even so, just hearing his voice scolding him made Kei feel better. 

'Yeah, he would say something like that, I'm sure of it.' As Kei was getting motivated, his face was suddenly covered by a bag, and he was handcuffed with power suppression cuffs. These cuffs were made by Anita and various researchers to stop the super-powered villains from wreaking havoc. This was supposedly only available to the police, but it seems like someone was able to get one under the radar.