---A Hero's Ordinary Life---
"That was... more candid than I expected," she said, her voice softer than it had been during the interview. She leaned back against the couch, the notepad and recorder now resting idly beside her. "You revealed a lot, Ken. More than just about Superman."
I felt a flush creep up my neck. I'd dropped my guard, letting my true feelings bleed into Superman's answers. "I trust you, Ren."
A small, genuine smile touched her lips. "You shouldn't, not entirely. Not when I'm holding a recording of a vigilante admitting to breaking the law." She paused, then added, "But thank you for saying that."
The silence that followed wasn't awkward; it was charged with unspoken understanding. I reached for her hand, intertwining our fingers.
"Does it... bother you?" I asked. "Everything I said? About operating outside the law, about the sacrifices?"
She considered this, her eyes thoughtful. "As a journalist, it's problematic, yes. It challenges the very foundation of what I report on. But as... as me," she squeezed his hand, "it makes you seem incredibly brave. And a little bit terrifying."
"Terrifying?" I asked.
"A bit; you look like you're carrying a burden too heavy. The world's weight, it sounds like. And you do it alone. It feels like you're hiding something." She told me.
I looked at her with surprise because it was true. I was hiding something. I was an alien. I didn't tell anyone that. Because I don't know how they'd react. An alien would be groundbreaking news for the people of this world. I don't know the effects it may cause, so I don't plan on telling it.
"I'm not hiding anything, Ren. I'm through with you." I held her hand tighter.
"Well," she said, a new resolve in her voice, "as a journalist, I still have a job to do. That interview... it's powerful. It could change how people view not just Superman, but the entire hero system."
"I'll write the story," she said, her grip on my hand tightening. "But I'll write it carefully, Ken. With nuance. I won't just paint you as a lawbreaker; I'll show the questions you raise and the moral dilemmas you embody. Because those are the questions society needs to be asking." She looked at me directly. "And maybe, just maybe, it'll make them appreciate the true cost of peace a little more."
I showed a slight smile. "God, I hate how much of a better journalist you are than me." I told her.
"Of course I'm a better journalist." She bragged as she kissed my cheek.
--------------------
On the way back home, I didn't go there directly; I had to check on something.
BOOM
I shot into the sky, breaking the sound barrier. The wind blew against my hair as I flew to the Arctic region, near to the North Pole. I landed in front of an empty space, the weather a snowstorm.
I watched as the ground before me rumbled. Cracks, thin at first, spiderwebbed across the surface, growing wider. Jagged, crystalline structures, impossibly smooth and glowing with a blue light, began to push upwards from beneath the ice. The Fortress of Solitude.
The door, a colossal door with the logo of the Kryptonian symbol in the center. It slowly opened, revealing the Kryptonian robots, whom I call "Superman Robots."
"Superman! What's the reason for your visit?" Gary, one of the robots, asked me.
I walked inside, dusting off the ice.
"I wanted to check on the—"
"Canine?" he asked before I finished my sentence.
I nodded before I whistled.
WHOOSH
I looked behind me. "Krypto, how've you been, buddy?" I lifted him up as he wagged his tail like an excited puppy... which he is.
I held Krypto close, his familiar warmth a comfort against the sterile chill of the Fortress. Even after all this time, seeing him still filled me with a mixture of joy and guilt. He was the last piece of Krypton I had left, besides myself.
"He's been restless," Gary reported, his mechanical voice echoing through the crystalline halls. "Flying circuits around the Fortress, occasionally testing his heat vision on the ice formations. I believe he misses regular interaction."
I scratched behind Krypto's ears, feeling the slight vibration of his super-powered purring. "I know, boy. I know." The weight of Ren's words came back to me—you do it alone. But that wasn't entirely true, was it? I had Krypto, and yet I kept him hidden away up here, another secret I couldn't share with the world.
"Any issues while I was gone?" I asked Gary as we walked deeper into the Fortress.
"Minimal. Your father's AI construct has been... quiet."
I nodded, though the mention of Jor-El's hologram always sent a pang through me. Another conversation I wasn't ready for.
Krypto nuzzled against my neck, and I could feel his super-hearing picking up my elevated heartbeat. Animals always knew when something was troubling you.
"What do you think, Krypto?" I murmured. "Am I hiding too much? Ren thinks I'm carrying the world's weight alone, but how do I explain that I'm not even from this world?"
He tilted his head, those impossibly intelligent brown eyes studying my face. For a moment, I almost expected him to answer—but of course, he couldn't speak. That was another burden of secrecy we shared.
The irony wasn't lost on me. Here I was, in my Fortress of Solitude, feeling more isolated than ever.
"God, the food I brought in three days ago is over already?" I looked at the food bowl. "What the hey, man? Those were for this entire month; I'm not like that super-rich, you know that, right?"
He looked at me, his tongue out, panting, looking confused.
"Let's go on a trip to the moon, what say, Krypto?" I asked him.
Krypto's ears perked up at the mention of the moon, his tail wagging with such enthusiasm that I had to readjust my grip on him. His super-strength meant even his excitement could knock me off balance if I wasn't careful.
"I'll take that as a yes," I chuckled, setting him down. He immediately began doing excited circles around me, occasionally lifting off the ground a few inches in his enthusiasm.
"Gary, we'll be back later," I called to the robot as we headed toward the exit.
"Shall I prepare the usual post-lunar excursion cleanup protocols, Superman?" Gary asked with what I could swear was mechanical amusement.
"Yeah, probably a good idea."
The massive crystalline doors parted, and we stepped back into the Arctic wind. Krypto bounded ahead, already lifting off before we'd even cleared the Fortress perimeter. I shot upward after him, breaking through the atmosphere in seconds.
The familiar sight of Earth shrinking below us never got old, but today it carried a different weight. Ren's words echoed in the vacuum around us—you do it alone. As I watched Krypto joyfully barrel-rolling through the void beside me, I realized how wrong she was, yet also how right.
I wasn't alone. I had Krypto, the Superman robots, even Jor-El's AI when I could bring myself to face those conversations. But they were all remnants of a dead world or artificial constructs.
We touched down on the lunar surface in the Sea of Tranquility, and Krypto immediately began his usual routine of super-speed exploration, kicking up clouds of moon dust as he raced across the crater-marked landscape.
"You know what the funny thing is, boy?" I said, though my voice can't be heard by him. "I told her I wasn't hiding anything. But here we are on the moon, and she doesn't even know you exist."
I shook my head in regret. "I feel terrible because I'm lying to her about this..." I pet him. "But you're here for me, aren't you, boy?" I took him in my arms, hugging him tightly.
He couldn't hear my words out here, but he didn't need to. The bond we shared went deeper than language—two survivors of a dead world, finding comfort in each other's presence.
I held him tighter, watching Earth turn slowly in the distance. That beautiful blue marble held everyone I cared about, everyone I'd sworn to protect. And yet, I couldn't bring myself to share the most fundamental truth about who I was with any of them.
Krypto squirmed in my arms, not to get away, but to look at me with those impossibly expressive eyes. His head tilted, and I could practically hear the question he was asking: Why are you sad?
"Because I'm a coward," I said, even though the words were lost in the silence of space. "Ren thinks I'm brave for taking on the world's problems, but I can't even tell her the truth about myself."
He wiggled free and began floating in front of me, doing slow loops around my position. It was his way of trying to cheer me up—our own little lunar dance that we'd developed over the years.
Despite everything, I smiled. "You're right, boy. Maybe it's not about the secrets I'm keeping. Maybe it's about the moments like this that make it all worth it."
Krypto barked silently, his tail wagging as he executed a perfect barrel roll. For a moment, I let myself forget about the weight of the world, about Ren's article, about all the lies I told to maintain my double life.
Up here, it was just us—the last sons of Krypton, finding joy in the simple act of being together under the vast canopy of stars.
But eventually, reality called. Earth wasn't going to protect itself, and Kentaro Suzuki had a job to get to in the morning. I whistled—a sound Krypto could feel through the vibrations in my chest—and he immediately flew to my side.
"Come on, buddy. Time to head home."
--------------------
The next morning, I woke up tired and unwilling to go to work, but I did it anyway. I got freshened up and got ready for the day, hopefully a peaceful one.
I got my glasses and wore a nice suit for the day. I looked at the clock. What?! It's late already. Kenji isn't going to be nice since literally yesterday I told him that I wasn't going to be late anymore. I booked a cab to Daily Planet.
I checked my watch again—fifteen minutes late and counting. Every instinct screamed at me to just get out and fly there, but Kentaro Suzuki couldn't fly. Kentaro Suzuki was just another ordinary journalist who sometimes overslept and got stuck in traffic.
"Can't you go any faster?" I asked the driver, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice.
"Hey, buddy, I'm doing my best here. You want speed, call Superman," he chuckled at his own joke.
If only he knew.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we pulled up to the Daily Planet building. I threw some bills at the driver and practically sprinted through the lobby, my mild-mannered persona momentarily forgotten in my panic.
The elevator seemed to take forever. When the doors finally opened on the newsroom floor, I was greeted by the sight of Kenji standing near my desk, arms crossed, tapping his foot. His expression could have frozen the Fortress of Solitude.
"Suzuki," he called out as I approached, his voice cutting through the newsroom chatter. "My office. Now."
The walk to his office felt like a death march. Several of my colleagues looked up from their desks, some with sympathy, others with barely concealed amusement. I caught sight of Ren at her desk across the room—she gave me a small, encouraging smile, but I could see the concern in her eyes.
Kenji's office door closed behind us with a decisive click.
"Sit down, Ken." His tone was dangerously calm.
I sat, adjusting my glasses nervously—a habit I'd cultivated as part of my persona. "Kenji, I can explain—"
"Can you?" He leaned back in his chair, studying me. "Because yesterday you made a promise. You looked me in the eye and told me you wouldn't be late anymore. And here you are, twenty minutes late, looking like you haven't slept."
He wasn't wrong. The lunar trip with Krypto had taken longer than expected, and I'd spent most of the night thinking about Ren's words, about the weight of my secrets.
"It won't happen again," I said, hating how weak the words sounded even to my own ears.
"You're right. It won't." Kenji leaned forward, his expression serious. "Ken, I've known you for a year, more or less. You're a decent reporter when you apply yourself, but lately..." He gestured vaguely. "Lately, it's like your head is in the clouds. Or maybe in space."
My heart skipped a beat at those words. Did he suspect something?
"You disappear for hours at a time, you're constantly distracted, and now you can't even keep basic professional commitments." He sighed. "I'm putting you on notice, Ken. One more incident like this, and we'll have to discuss your future here at the Planet."
"I understand," I managed.
"Do you? Because I don't think you do." Kenji stood up, moving to look out his window at the Metropolis skyline. "This isn't just about punctuality. It's about reliability. About being someone your colleagues—and our readers—can count on."
The irony was almost too much to bear. If only he knew that those disappearances were me saving lives, stopping disasters, protecting the very city we could see through his window. But I couldn't say that. Kentaro Suzuki couldn't say that.
"I'll do better," I said instead.
"You'd better. Because right now, the only reason you still have this job is that you somehow managed to secure exclusive interviews with Superman." He turned back to me, and I saw something unexpected in his expression—curiosity. "Speaking of which, how exactly did you pull that off?"
My mouth went dry. "I... got lucky, I guess."
"Lucky." Kenji's eyes narrowed slightly. "Right place, right time?"
"Something like that."
He studied me for a long moment, and I had to fight the urge to fidget under his scrutiny. Finally, he shook his head.
"Get back to work, Ken. And remember—you're on thin ice."
I nodded and practically fled his office, my heart pounding. As I made my way back to my desk, I caught Ren's eye again. She raised an eyebrow in question, and I gave her a subtle shake of the head. Not now.
I slowly walked to her, "You told him about the interview yet?" I asked.
Haruki looked at us, "Interview? Whose interview?" He asked.
I signaled him to come closer. "Well, she beat me to it this time. She got an exclusive with Superman."
I had to put a hand over Haruki's mouth to not attract attention. "Yes, it's a bit hard to believe," Ren looked at me, "But it's the truth."
"Anyway, wish me luck, I'm going to him right now." she grabbed her draft and stood up.
"Good luck, Ren. You better get that cover-page with All Might and Superman." I told her as she walked to Kenji's office.
I heard her whisper, "Thanks, babe," in a super-quiet tone so that only I could hear her with some super-hearing.
I smiled unknowingly.
"Why're you laughing like an idiot, Kentaro?" Haruki asked me.
"Nothing of interest, Haruki." I told him.
"And I got you some material to write on. The Batman." I heard.
I looked at him, "The Batman?"