Five months had passed since his rebirth. His body's growth shows it too. Now able to walk on two legs, much to the astonishment of his parents. His legs were still weak but it was not about the strength he discovered, but rather balance, and having already known how to walk allowed him to do so at so early an age.
Saki and he were home alone again, all members of the family had gone out.
"Now if you need anything, just let me know." Saki said as she washed the dishes.
"I will, I will..." He said clearly, all the muscles that allowed him to speak were even more developed now, enabling him to form sentences and complex words with minimal difficulty. Moreover, the relationship between him and the housemaid turned into something special as she was the only one he had for conversation.
Over the weeks, they spoke more and more and got to know each other very well. For all the little things there was to know about him, she had very interesting stories to tell, becoming a sort of unofficial big sister to him.
A person he could share his thoughts with.
Today was a warm day, the sun shined brightly basking the seaside in a light that was almost too bright. There was barely any clouds, so the clear blue sky was a most abundant sight, that and the blue sea that stretched far away.
Sat on the family room couch on the east side of the house. Omura surfed through the channels, looking for something interesting to watch for entertainment when the news channel caught his attention.
"Were here now at the scene of a battle between a group of villains calling themselves 'The Salvation Army' and a handful of heroes. These villains appear to be demanding that the government should provide food and shelter free of charge to individuals that don't want to work." A female reporter was seen on a helicopter, surveying the area around the battle from the air.
"Oh?" Rei placed the remote to his side and tilted his head in bewilderment.
That sounded crazy, if you don't want to work, why should the government provide you with their services for no reason at all? Not only was it a waste of resources, but these groups also appeared to be tearing the city apart just because they didn't receive such treatment.
"As you can see, the damages the battle has caused is immense. Were not sure if the heroes can- What's that, really!? This just in; We have just received word that the new number one hero, All Might is on his way!" The reporter said as she adorned a look of happiness.
"The-... who...?" Rei suddenly turned up from his seat with an even deeper look of convusion.
"Wait, I thought this was the news... channel...?" It wasn't too far off the assumption that there would be a Live action My Hero adaptation eventually, it was just the matter that he was so far-flung into the future that making a movie now would likely be pointless.
Even if there was such a thing as a 'My Hero Academia' here in the first place.
But behold to his surprise, the camera zoomed in on a giant of a man. Muscular beyond reasonable constraints, the man had a vibrantly coloured golden hair, of which protruded two horn-like shapes from the very front.
Shadows somehow formed on the shark engravings of his chiselled face as they hid his eyes, even though the sun was at its highest height for the day.
He stood on one of the building's top, standing dangerously close at the very edge of the concrete, one foot dangling over while the other stood firm.
"Fear not citizens! These nice young men won't find it necessary to bother anymore of your time..." He announced charismatically, holding his grin. He stood tall and proud, Young, some may call it; but even then, most of the population of Japan had known his name.
"The reason being," His one leg behind coiled, and a surge of power dominated the air; "That I Am Here!" Declaring this loudly, he leapt off the building into the group of terrorists below.
"Huzzah!" He cried once more as he landed with a wham, the impact of his body hitting the pavement managing to launch even some of the more bulky bunch of the Salvation Army into the air.
Rei then went to the channel list only to confirm that he was indeed watching the news channel. "Uhhh... Saki...? Saki!?" He called out in a panicked voice.
"Why, what's wrong?!" She entered the room, all gasping and alarmed not five seconds later.
Rei pointed to the screen with a trembling finger, and turned to the housemaid with an expression marred with concern, "What's- what's going on...?" He asked her uncertainly, voice as shaky as his hand held out.
"Oh? Oh, that's All Might," She said in a calm voice after taking a moment to inspect the T.V. She may have assumed he was a made afraid by his appearance.
"All... Might?" Rei was confused as to how familiar she seemed to be of him.
"Yeah, I know he may look scary, but he's the number one Hero. So there really is no one safer to be around." She laughed as she said that.
'No..' Rei thought. "No way..." He was now thinking out loud.
"Hmm?" Saki was confused, did Rei find him so scary that he deemed him unworthy of being a person of such high regard. "Now, don't you have that kind of mindset young man, I'll have you know that he has done a lot of good ever since his debut." She huffed as she marched over to him.
"No- it's not that." He shook his head then looked out the living room window towards the ocean and the bright blue sky. "It's just-... wow..." He said with a wide smile.
Saki was even more confused now. Did he not find him scary but admirable instead. If so what caused him to say what he did just a moment ago. Deciding to just now think about it, she shrugged and turned to leave.
"Oh god..." She heard him say as she left. She wondered what could be on his mind this time.
When that God had asked him to make a wish, the least he could have done was tell him exactly where he was going. If he had done that, he would have wished for something a lot more powerful than the ability to simply control technology.
For instance, telekinesis, super healing, super strength, or even just the ability to move really fast. He had watched the series and had witnessed just how broken and overpowered some of the abilities could be.
He still had no idea how powerful his own power was, but even if it was of the same power level he was imagining when he made that wish, some of these people could still wipe the floor with him.
That is... if he didn't start preparing for them now...
With enough information and experience, there was still a chance he could outperform them in the future. Perhaps acquire knowledge of the sciences and technology this early on in life. There was still the option of not facing them at all, but who in their right mind would choose a normal life in the world of My Hero.
With that in mind, he set his sights on acquiring as much knowledge as possible before he eventually gets exposed to such beings in the future.
"Saki!" He called out again, hoping she would not get annoyed with his constant requests of her aid.
After a while, Saki entered the living room.
"Yes?" Thankfully, she didn't sound the least bit irritated.
"Dad has a library in his office right?" He asked.
"Yes. Though I wouldn't exactly call a couple of bookshelves a library." She said as she shrugged.
"Can you take me there?" He asked, only to receive a flat stare, followed by a ridiculing laugh.
"What are you going to do there, read? There's only science books and other stuff." She said through her laughter.
"Uh, yeah. Is it that funny for me to want to do that?" He asked in irritation with a defensive huff.
"Okay, okay. What's two plus two?" She asked him instead with a mocking and condescending smile.
"Four," Rei answered with a bit of irritation as he turned to the side.
"Easy right? Now, what's seven times seven."
"Forty-Nine," Rei answered immediately again.
Saki's smile faded a bit. "Okay... A hundred and three, plus two hundred and four... multiplied by eight, divided by four." She asked slowly as she did the calculation in her head.
"Six hundred and fourteen." He answered immediately again.
Saki's smile disappeared. "Okay, that's just scary..." She said, sounding genuinely impressed with traces of fear. "Fine, come along..." She sighed as she picked him up, carrying him off to his father's office on the first floor.
There was a desk in the centre of the room. Several degrees and certificates were hanged on the walls of the room as decoration, also serving as a declaration of his father's achievements. Hiroshi was a man of rightful pride, it seemed.
On one corner of the room, there were three bookshelves stocked to the brim with works on science, mathematics, and engineering, barely having little slips of space between them.
Saki walked up to the books, carrying Rei in her arms "Now, choose which one you would like," She told him pleasantly, cracking up internally from the sheer absurdity of a baby wanting to read up on such things.
Rei then looked around before taking to a book with a dark, looming shade of turquoise for the cover, "That one," He declared as he pointed towards it on the shelf second most to the top on the farthest bookshelf to the right.
Saki walked up to it and tilted her head to the side as she grabbed the unusually heavy book, "Prin- Principia... Mathematica...?" She read the book's name printed on the sides as she swivelled around towards Hitoshi's workspace,
Carrying both the book and Rei in her hands to the office desk, she placed the book down on the table and Rei to the comfortable chair behind the desk. After a few adjustments so that it was high enough for him to reach for the book's pages to turn it, she got up from her knees and looked to the boy on top,
"Comfy?" She asked to which she received a wordless nod, the boy too engrossed in his analyzations of the book's contents,
"Okay then, I'll leave you to it..." She said with amusement. The small blond boy, intensely engrossed in a book that was about as tall as he was, made for a surprisingly adorable scene to the housemaid as she turned to leave. She barely subdued the urge to pinch his very pinch-able cheeks.
As Rei sat there on the padded chair, learning his heart away from the vast book filled with complicated mathematical equations, and dense numerical notations.
At first, he hadn't imagined he would be able to understand even the first few pages. But pushing on and bracing for the worse, he found that strangely, he could grasp the faintest understandings from the book that could be at least two thousand pages in volume.
With Rei inside the residential office, Hitoshi's workspace. Saki was busy with a slightly clogged toilet on the second floor.
As the house fell silent with both of them doing their debatably menial activities, three knocks echoed through the empty halls. Rei failed to hear it due to a commendable amount of focus, while Saki from the second floor did.
She stood silent for a moment, back straightened on her spot in front of the toilet. Currently unsure of the sound she heard, she waited for another to come.
Three knocks came again, and she got up immediately from her seat, almost tripping on a water bucket beside her station.
She came out from the door and went right down the stairs just beside the bathroom door. Her hurried steps down may have been reassuring to whoever was on the other side, them maybe having waited for a while.
"Who is it?" Saki called out as she arrived at the front door,
"It's just me," Came the voice of Lukas, Rei's Uncle.
Saki's blood threatened to rush to her face as she realized who she was speaking to. The person who had teased her non-stop just a few months ago.
Saki never had a thing for what people would call the 'Bad Boys', but she had to admit; he was quite charming with his looks and his persistently smug tone towards her.
"Mister Lukas, what are you doing here?" She asked with a slightly shaky voice, avoiding his eye as he entered through the doorway,
"Just thought I'd take Takashi for an evening ride... Where is he?" He asked as he began to look around the house, pacing about with an almost bounciness to his steps,
"He's not home from school yet, you're welcome to stay if you'd like." She offered while she followed his movements with her eyes,
"Oh? How nice of you to offer," He took off his leather jacket and hung it by the door. "Are the parents home?"
"No,"
"So, no interruptions... Just the two of us?" His voice was low, snarky, and slightly predatory, but playfully so.
"Mister Lukas, I would ask that you now think of any indecent thoughts about me." She tried to act professional and confront his brazen personality directly, "You're family of my employers, it would be unprofessional."
"Aw, you're no fun..." He persistently teased with a mocking whine, followed with a laugh.
Deciding to pace around for a while before relaxing on the couch in the living room, he made his way to his brother's office. When he entered, he was greeted with a sight he did not expect.
"R-Rei?" He asked in complete befuddlement, turning his head to look to at the bookshelves along the walls of the room where a giant spot was missing on the farthest one to the right.
The little boy he was talking to just looked up from his ridiculously large book and stared at him, unable to think of anything to do to cover up. "What are you doing?" He asked as he marched over to his baby nephew.
When he arrived by his side, he took a look at the book he was reading and saw that it was just a bunch of numbers and mathematical glyphs being arranged into equations.
"Can you even understand that?" He asked him in an amused voice, turning to his nephew with an almost condescending yet fearful glint in his eyes.
Rei's face, empty of emotion reflected off of Lukas's deep blue eyes.
"I thought not... Come along," he sighed and briefly rubbed his face and reached around the boy's torso, picking him up into his arms. Rei took to waving his hands about to try and get out of his uncle's grip, but his efforts were at best, a slight inconvenience to the grown man,
"Hey- hey, you're not even going to school yet, and you're already studying. You do that, you're gonna waste a whole lot of your youth, you know?" He stated as Rei still attempted to shake himself out.
"Please don't turn out a nerd like Hitoshi..." He grumbled under his breath. Then suddenly, an idea popped into his head. "Tell you what, why don't you come with Takashi and me. We'll ride around town and I show you how to properly enjoy life. For kids your age, trust me, you're never going to be this free ever in your life..."
He had always been a firm believer in living life to the fullest, no person that shared his blood is going to waste away their lives like this.
Fortunately, the mention of his older brother seemed to calm him down well enough. "There, much better for the both of us if you just behave isn't it." He stated.
"Oh?" He heard the voice of Saki coming from behind him. He turned to face her.
"Saki, did you know he was reading some book in Hitoshi's office." He asked as he gestured to the baby in his hand.
"...No."
"Well he was, don't even know how he got there, or why." He mumbled with a shrug, inspecting the boy in his arms up and down with a strange look in his eyes.
"He did? But, but didn't he want to read it?"
"Come on, it was maths. As if he could even understand two plus two right now..." He waved off with a snarky laugh.
Saki took to argue but decided it would be fruitless to do so. In the end, she just decided to go back to her house duties.
As Lukas did his best to entertain the docile baby in his arms, someone had suddenly tried to open the front door with a tackle, only to be stopped by a chain that was attached to the frame. Lukas and Rei turned up towards the noise as the person that made it grunted as they fell to the ground.
"Oh, that boy..." Lukas said with amusement to his older nephew's antics. The boy had a knack of always rushing into locked doors. He got up from the couch and walked up to where his nephew was currently laying down
"Now, get up. I'll open the door."
"Uncle Lukas?" Takashi's groaning stopped as he suddenly looked up with surprise.
"The one and only..." His uncle replied as he opened the door. When he did, Takashi had already gotten up and began circling him with joy.
"What are you doing here?! Came to see us? Are we going to the city? If we are, can we go to the arcade? Oh, and can Rei come with?" He asked with barely enough time to take a breath.
"Now, now settle down," Lukas said. "We will go to the city. But first, take a shower, change into the jacket I gave you, then meet me outside, okay?"
"Is Rei coming with?" He asked with a bit of hesitance.
"No," He jokingly said. Takashi however, believed he truly meant it.
"Then I'm not going." He huffed as he crossed his arms.
"I'm just messin' with ya, of course, he's coming." He said cheerfully.
"Really! I'll get ready right away!" He announced joyfully before running past them heading for his room.
Lukas chuckled. "Nice spirit that kid's got." He said to himself before making his way to his bike.
Lukas was now waiting for Takashi while leaning on his bike, Little Rei in his hands. "I hope you're not afraid of high speeds." He said to his nephew. He knew he tended to drive at speeds... slightly above the legal ranges.
"Ready!" Came the voice of Takashi, now wearing a black leather jacket over his shirt. He was still wearing his shorts with it which resulted in a fairly funny sight for his uncle who began to hold in a laugh. "What, do I have something in my hair?" He asked concerned as he began running his hand through his hair.
"No, you look perfect."
"Really!?" He asked a bit too enthusiastically.
"Yup, now, get on behind and buckle up." He stated as he mounted his bike and started the engine. The bike then began to shake, power evident behind the hum of the engine. Rei never liked riding on bikes, and he was in fact, terrified of speed. Takashi however was not scared, rather he was ecstatic.
"Let's go!" Takashi shouted as his uncle accelerated. Travelling at unreasonable speeds down the road to their house. Rei doing everything he can to calm himself down and not scream.
When they arrived in town, things calmed down. They were travelling down the road at a steady pace. Rei's heart still beating heavily from the ride here.
He had come to the conclusion that his uncle was crazy. Not only did he endanger the lives of him and his brother with such speeds. He theorized it also spurred general civil unrest.
He had no idea how his brother could even yell out 'Woohoos' in excitement.
Their uncle then rode the bike into a parking lot. When he found a suitable place to park, they got off and went on their way, Takashi running on ahead and Rei being carried by his uncle.
"Oh! Oh! How about there?" Takashi said as he pointed at a candy shop, bouncing in place.
"Ya' sure? I was planning on taking you to Baskin Robbin's today, but if you insist-"
"Baskin Robbin's?!" Takashi asked enthusiastically, turning to his uncle with a bright, inquisitive look.
"Not now though..." Lukas did his best to calm the boy, holding his hands to Takashi's shoulders to keep him from bouncing.
"Aw, okay... Oh! How about the Arcade?" He began to bounce again in Lukas' arms.
"That's perfect, lead on little man!" He said as Takashi immediately began running towards where ever this arcade was.
Rei meanwhile, was busy taking in the sights of the city and the people.
The thing on the top of his head was why were they so backwards in technology. Coming here, he had confirmed that it was not just his house but society as a whole that seemed to be less advanced than they were supposed to be.
Three hundred years in a long time, and yet people still appeared to be using regular smartphones. Or even worse, flip phones.
He had no idea why people would be using flip phones at an age like this. The only possible reason for him was that they somehow made a comeback and became popular as a new fashion trend.
The lack of advancements technologically could now be explained with his new nugget of information; that he was in the world of My Hero Academia.
He remembered hearing from one of the characters that when quirks first appeared, the world fell into chaos. Wars broke out, identity crisis spread, and the governments of the world were sent scrambling.
As a result, the economy suffered, and thus, less advanced 24th Century Humanity.
It really was a shame,
Still, the people themselves were a sight to behold. Seeing it from the screen as a stylized anime was normal. Actually seeing mutants and odd quirk users in the flesh was surreal, to say the least. There was even a guy who had the head of an ant in place of a human one.
The billboards displayed multiple commercials for various products. Some of them even interesting. Like a drink that supposedly enhanced the potency of your quirk. He had no idea how authentic it really would be though.
After a while of walking, they finally arrived at the arcade. Their uncle walked up to the person sitting at the desk.
"Tickets of three please," He ordered for all three of them. After their tickets were dispensed through a machine, Lukas grabbed them and proceeded to walk inside with his two compatriots.
As the three of them made their way inside, Takashi took the lead, looking around with excitement. "Oh my God, they have Infiniminer here!" He yelled as he ran towards the machine to play the game.
Rei was also looking around, the machines and computers in the building, the processors that ran them, the displays, something about being surrounded with such things brought a feeling he was not too familiar with. Belonging.
In his previous life and especially in this new one, he never really got any sense of belonging anywhere in the world, his family included. But now, being in a place just ripe with machines and technology, he felt oddly at place with them.
A place somehow felt like home,
He mused that it was his affinity for technologies and such to the sciences. When he wished he would get it, he had never assumed it would work its way into his subconscious as it did.
He was jolted out of his thoughts by a triumphant yell coming from his uncle.
"Yeah hehe! Strike!" He celebrated as he gazed towards the screen that displayed the words he just shouted. He was playing a virtual bowling game and he seemed like he was having fun. Rei turned to his uncle from his seat in his arms with an almost astonished look.
Though opposed to the idea at first. Rei supposed winding down now was the best thing to do when under such stress as finding out one would face opponents of unimaginable might in the future.
Preparing for calamity could wait until later, he reasoned,
One particular machine caught Rei's attention. It had a controller in the style of a gun. One could play the game by picking the gun up and shooting the enemies on the screen.
His uncle noticed him looking towards it and began to make his way to it. "You wanna play that?" He asked as they approached.
One of the boy's controllers suddenly turned red, indicating that his character in the game had died. The boy then huffed before trying to smash the controller to the ground in a fit of rage. Only for it to be caught by Lukas. "Better luck next time kid." He said as he took the controller from him.
"Whatever..." He snarled before walking away with a stomp in his steps.
Rei just glared at him from his seat on a railing around the machine's area. "Don't mind him," His uncle told him, and Rei looked back forward. "He probably just had a bad day. Now, let me show you how a real gamer plays." He stated before activating his controller and blasting away.
Rei watched on with fascination as his uncle began decimating everything in sight. One could almost think that he was not actually playing but was instead showing a recording of a perfect run of the game.
"Pretty cool isn't it?" Suddenly came the remark on his older brother who had appeared on his right without his notice, this caused Rei to jump a little. "He's always been really good at these sorts of things." He continued as he watched on with the same fascinated look as Rei from before.
"Hahaha! Come and get some!" He yelled, lost in the moment. It was ammusing to see a man such as his uncle that looked like a street thug, taking enjoyment out of a video game to Rei. A tall blond man in a black biker's lether jacket blasting and jeering to his heart's content produced a mildly jarring scene.
"Yeah! Come and get some!" Takashi yelled copying his uncle, encouraging him from the sidelines.
"Game! A new Record!" A voice announced from the machine, displaying their uncle's score at the top.
"Whew!" He said as he placed the controller back in its holster. "Worked up quite a sweat!" He announced as he wiped away a trail on his forehead. "Takashi? what're you doing here?" He asked in confusion. He could have sworn he gave him enough money to last the hour.
"Well, some kids came along. Asked me for their turn to play, so I moved aside." He explained.
"Asked, or demanded?" He inquired with his deep voice.
"Asked..." He said nervously.
"Alright then." He said as he shrugged with all traces of seriousness gone. "If I may as well ask, where would these kids be?"
"Oh, they're right there," Takashi said as he pointed towards their general direction.
As Lukas followed his finger, he could see that the boys that shooed Takashi away from his game were all fairly older than him. They also dressed sloppy and practically oozed rebellion.
"Hmm, Okay, you two stay here, while I go ask them a few questions." He said as he marched towards them.
"I wonder what he needs to ask them about?" Takashi said in a concerned voice, no clue as to what his uncle was planning while Rei watched on with a grimace.
"Heya' boys. Just wanted to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind?" He said as he arrived to where they stood playing their game.
"Huh, what do you want?" One of the taller ones asked with a snark.
"Just wonderin' if you, by chance, happened to threaten a kid about yay' high." He said as he made a gesture with his hand. "Well?"
"Walk away old man." One boy threatened as they all collectively realized that he was probably a member of the kid's family who had come to confront them for him.
"Well, that answers my question." He said with a laugh. Before bringing his fist down, bonking each and everyone of them on the head.
"Gah!" Ow!" Hey!" Were some of their collective yelps of pain coming from the boys.
"What was that for!?" The boy who threatened him whined as a few droplets of tears threatened to spill. Then he had his ears pulled up.
"Now get outta here. And if I see you picking on some little guy again, I'm kicking you in the ass so hard, my feet would be broken and stuck. And if you didn't know, those kinds don't go out easy. They're gonna have to push me through your entire body to get me out, like an arrow." He said with a balled up fist.
"Neither of us want to go through that, believe me."
"You bastard, just you wait, I'll tell my parents!" He threatened him again.
"Well you best tell'em then. Tell'em that Musashi... Goran gave you a nice spanking. I'll be waiting on Room 117 in John's Breakfast and Bed in the Industrial District!" He announced as he released him. His friends picking him up and carrying him outside.
"This is assault! Harassment! I'll send the Cops, you hear!?" The boy yelled back at him as his friends carried him out of the building.
Lukas breathed out a sigh. "Whoever you are, if he decides to tell his parents and report it to the police, you have my condolences person living on Room 117 at John's Breakfast and Bed." He said solemnly with a hand over his chest. With that he walked back to his nephews.
As he arrived, he could see that the two brothers were indulging in a one sided conversation, that is, Takashi was doing all the talking.
"So then I said; 'That's not a pencil, This is a pencil!' While I pulled out an unreasonably large pencil, the looks on their faces were priceless!" He said with enthusiasm. "I always told mom that pencil was gonna come in handy someday..." He added as he looked on.
Rei was currently contemplating the reason for his brother's desire to surprise his friends with his large pencil when his uncle came back.
"Alright, you done with your little chat?" He said in his signature amused voice.
"Oh, you're back. I was just telling Rei about that time I-"
"Brought a giant pencil to show off to your friends. Yeah, quite an interesting story that one..." He recalled with a look of deep contemplation as he looked to the ceiling.
"Anyway, it's that time... Wanna go to Baskin Robbins?" He asked with a knowing grin.
"Now!?" Takashi said with a bit too much enthusiasm. He received a nod. "Woopie! Rei have you ever had ice cream? No? Well, prepare yourself." He said as he picked him up in his arms. "Baskin Robin's the best!"
"Woah woah woah!" Lukas sounded alarmed, believing Takashi to just drop Rei whenever. But after a bit of adjusting, he seemed to be able to carry him just fine.
"Wow, okay. You got this?" He asked as a determined expression made its way onto Takashi's face as he nodded.
"I'm a big brother, of course, I can carry him!" He announced as he began taking clumsy steps towards the Arcade's entrance.
"Okay, lead the way." He said as he politely got out of his way and ushered him onward. Takashi slowly made his way to the entrance, Rei in his arms as their uncle followed closely behind.
Takashi was still carrying Rei as his face began to turn red from the effort when they got out. Which their Uncle noticed.
"Alright little man, I'll take it from here." He said as he took Rei from his arms and into his own, leaving no room for argument.
"No!" Takashi whined. "I could have done that!"
"You did well enough. I'm just-"
"Lukas?" Came the rough voice of an adult man. As Lukas looked up, he could see that it was his biker friend: Serinawa Serizawa. He was dressed in your typical biker outfit, black jacket, and ripped jeans. Tattoos were present all over his face as a smoking cigarette hanged loosely from his mouth. "Didn't know ya had kids..."
Lukas however, was starting to sweat, a lot.
"Took them to... an Arcade?" He asked in confusion as he looked behind them.
"Yeah, thought It'd be fun for them ya know?" He said nervously.
"Uncle Lukas, You had fun too remember? You played that game for like half an hour." Takashi stated as he shook his uncle's jacket, oblivious to his uncle's dilemma.
"Really now? What game was it?" The man asked with amusement as he looked towards Lukas.
"Nothing! I- I... didn't play any- a game in there... I- I..." He said, attempting to save his situation.
"Ha! So it's true what they say, you are a loser. Don't worry, we all are in our own little way." He said as he walked past him while patting him on the shoulder.
When the man walked away. Lukas' head hung low as his eyes emptily stared at the ground. "Well that's... my reputation... gone." He muttered in a deflated and pitiful voice.
"Uncle Lukas, did I do something wrong?" Takashi asked.
"Let's just- Let's just go..." He said emptily as he made his way forward.
"Mmmm!" Takashi squeaked out as he ate a spoonful of his frozen delight.
Rei ate his own, much smaller serving with a tiny spoon.
Their uncle just sat there with a glass of water as he looked on outside. He seemed to have shadows under his brows which hid his eyes, somehow.
"Uncle Lukas, want some?" Takashi offered a spoonful, he had noticed his uncle's less than stellar mood.
"Nmmh..." He grunted as he lazily took a swig from his glass of water.
Takashi just lowered the spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.
"Say, do you have any friends at school?" Lukas suddenly asked.
"Oh yes, plenty. There's Lisa, Hatake, Shimura, Bochou, Hanate, Bob, Asagi-"
"Good friends?" His uncle interrupted.
"Yup, they're the best!" He announced as he lifted his spoon with a pumped-up fist.
"Good, that's good." Then suddenly, a question surfaced. "Any girls."
"Huh? Oh yes, Lista, Shimura, Bochou and... Asagi-Chan." He finished with a slight blush.
"Oh ho ho, Someone's got a crush?" He asked mockingly, his previous empty mood seeming to have vanished.
"I do not!" He defended himself with a pout.
"Ya sure? You seemed very defensive just now." He pushed on with a smirk.
"And what if I do. I'm sure you have one too." He said as he proceeded to aggressively stuff ice cream into his mouth.
"Oh I do, but unlike you, I've already told them about it." He said with a smirk as he took his glass of water up to his mouth.
"Hmph." Takashi huffed as he continued his meal.
After the brothers finished eating their orders. They got up and walked up to the shop's counter.
"That'll be 725 yen please." The girl at the counter read from the small display.
"Phhh, that much?" He said as he took out his credit card with a slight grumble, "You're gonna break my heart, come on? Any chance a cute girl like you would give a discount?" He persisted to negotiate, handing her his card while he flased her a pleading look.
"Ehem... Sorry, sir, I've already entered the amount." The young girl behind the couter said as she averted her gaze, swiping the card in the machine.
"Shame," He muttered, defeated sounding as he took back his card and placed it back into his wallet.
"Well, are we ready to go?" He asked his two nephews.
"Hmmm!" Takashi nodded and began marching towards the exit, Rei in his arms again.
As they made their way across the streets. Rei caught sight of a hero walking across the walkway parrell to their's.
His costume was mainly yellow, with brown filling on the edges. A fluffy material of what Rei assumed to be fur was garbed around his neck. His entire look could tell you that this man's abilities were animal-based.
"Hmm? Oh, that's the hero, Saber, he's pretty new..." Takashi said as he noticed his brother's staring.
'Huh, a real hero...' Rei just thought idly as he wondered what was the deal with the costumes.
When they arrived at the parking lot, their uncle got on the bike first.
"Did you have fun?" He asked Takashi as the boy got on the back seat.
"With you? Always..." He responded with a toothy smile.
"How bout' you?" Lukas asked the baby on the front and just received a panicked expression looking back, "Oh, you're Afraid? Don't worry, I won't speed up too much." He said as he equipped his helmet. "So chin up!" He announced, darting his head up.
"Let's go!" Takashi said as his uncle twisted the accelerator and spun the bike around and headed for the exit.
"Mmmmggghhh..." Rei grunted through gritted teeth as he tried to endure it. He figured that being able to handle moving at high speeds was good training for the future. With any luck, he might be able to get over it.
The ride home was tame, a lot tamer than the ride to the city that morning, perhaps his uncle really did dial down his speed because he had been afraid.
The sun was just above the horizon now, its edge making to the waters in the distance. Tangerine-yellow lights reflected off the calm ocean water, as a salty air dominated the smell of the wind.
This arrangement made made Rei reminiscent on the day his parents brought him home, unable to take his sights away from the setting sun.
"Daw man, that's a nice view..." His uncle commented while his hand loosened a bit on the acceleration, the Harley Iron slowing down slightly, "You boys sure are lucky..."
"Hmmm..." Takashi moaned, the massive amounts of frozen sustenance he had consumed were starting to make their way back up to his mouth.
"Now hold on just a bit longer, we're almost there!" Lukas reassured his nephew as he picked back speed.
Rei for his part, was starting to get used to the velocity increasing again and was not quite bothered, much to his relief.
After about a minute and a half of riding back home, the trio finally arrived on the driveway to the Omura house.
"Go go go!" Their Uncle commanded urgently as they got off the hastily parked Harley. Takashi ran straight to, and into the house. Lukas carryied Rei inside, following closely behind his older nephew.
When they entered, Takashi whirled around, and entered into the family room's toilet on the first floor, located straight ahead from the main doorway.
Lukas entered as well, closing the door behind him as he entered with Rei in his arms.
A series of slow claps came from the corner of the house to his right, from Hitoshi's office, which garnered his attention as he saw him walk out with a look that almost held pride.
"Congratulations, you've arrived before Angel got home!" He said as he slowly walked towards him, sounding like he was genuinely happy for him.
"Wha- Really? Oh, thank god! I was psyching myself up for a chewing out of a lifetime..." He said as he wiped some actual sweat from his brows.
"Takashi's never gonna shut up about today for a while." Hitoshi laughed as he approached Lukas.
"Well, can't stop him from havin' fun now, am I right?"
"That you are, I think." He said with a chuckle as he took Rei from his uncle's arms, "Oh, and I think you owe me something for this." Hitoshi said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out an album sized paper fold from his white coat.
"What's- Wait, is that...?" He asked as he reached forward to grab it with shaky hands brimming with anticipation.
The album itself had a bit of an odd image on the front.
The terrified face of a man looking downward to the left, whose flesh from his frown and wide-open mouth almost drooped and folded atop one another of his red skin.
The creator of the artwork... his style was maybe bold, unique, maybe uncanny. Only a tiny bit embellished on the linework but it was not any less the eye-catcher.
"I Had to get my hands really dirty... so you better pay up this time." he lightly chided.
"Oh my god, you're right, I do owe you, big time..." He exclaimed while taking it and pocketing it securely inside his fanny pack, "I'll pay up next time we meet, okay?" He said as he made his way out of the house but was stopped by his sister entering.
"Lukas, you didn't take Takashi out for a ride did you?" She asked with a serious tone.
'Well, he's in trouble.' Rei said in thought with a wince.
"That... I did not," He answered nervously. "Now if you don't mind. I have to go."
"Ughh..." Came Takashi's groan, lumbering out from the bathroom door. "Ice cream's tasty but bad for the tummy." He chanted over and over again as he slowly made his way towards the couch in the Family room to lie down.
"Ice cream?" Angel asked quizzically.
"Well, I... Brought a bucket of it. Yeah, that's what it was."... He reassured himself as he turned to leave, but his sister would have none of it.
"Didn't I tell you to not take Takashi out for a ride again? Let me guess, you sped your way to town on that death trap of yours. Completely irresponsible." She huffed as she grabbed his shoulders.
"I have to worry about work enough already, day and night. And if you're taking the kids out, you know I can't stop thinking about them! Do you know how taxing it is for me!" She said with a bit of anger.
"So if I hear you taking Takashi or Rei out again, so God help me I-"
"Mama!" Came the voice of a baby. All adults in the room turned to the boy in Hitoshi's arms.
"Huh?" Hitoshi sounded confused.
Lukas looked towards Rei with a confused look. "Did he just...?"
"Rei?" Angel asked with surprise and concern.
Watching the scene unfold, Rei concluded that the best course of action to calm down his mom was a diversion. Deciding that a good shock was best suited for the task as well as being tired of staying silent whenever anyone except Saki was around.
He uttered what was, for them, his first words. And what better way to calm down an angry mother than saying:
"Mama!" He repeated while reaching towards Angel, his palms opening and closing in rapid succession.
"See Angel, Little Rei here doesn't like it when you're upset like that," Hitoshi stated, first to get over the shock.
"Rei?" Angel uttered before reaching towards her baby. "He said his first words!" She celebrated as she took him in her arms and started spinning. "Say it again!"
"Mama!"
"Yes, that's right! I'm mama, your mama!." She said as she nuzzled his nose with her own.
Rei meanwhile, was just content that he was able to calm her down.
A new chapter is Up