Next morning, Tàiyáng rode to school as usual. As she pedaled along, she noticed lots of posters of a lost little 4-year old boy with short brown hair and blue eyes hung in buildings, posts, etc. The young teenaged girl sighed at this. Sometimes, those lost aren't always found. It was how life works in her perspective.
"This city needs a hero," she would sometimes think.
That of course is something she never describes her as, despite her power. But that's because Tàiyáng hasn't fully figured this out just yet.
She was just passing a side street when suddenly, a car shot out of nowhere and skidded to a halt just a few inches before hitting her! Tàiyáng was startled! And she was even more startled when the driver stepped out of the car.
The figure was a man in his early 30's with black hair, brown eyes, and wearing a black business suit and sunglasses.
"A lot of people can get killed on the roads, young lady" he said with a casual grin. "That's why there are stop signs for a reason."
"Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to be careless back there."
"As long as you learn how to be careful, Tàiyáng," the man shrugged as Tàiyáng was about to continue on riding until a sudden realization entered her head.
"Wait, how do you know my name?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "I don't even know you."
"You may not, my dear," he said, approaching her while pulling something out from his pocket. "But I believe your father does," he added, showing her a business card.
On the card read the logo, "TECH inc.," followed by the name under it Pawāteikā Shigaraki. Tàiyáng gasped in surprise once she finished.
"You're Pawāteikā Shigaraki?" she asked, bewildered. "From Japan?"
"Just moved here last night," he said warmly. "The expansion of Tech inc. is doing excellent, all thanks to my work, designs and research. It's tough that your father might not get that high in life with his business crashing down."
Tàiyáng felt a little uneasy on how this man in front of her could say all that and still smile about it. Then again, she knew that Tech was the rival company of her fathers, so it shouldn't surprise her that he would gloat about it. She probably might've expected this. But still, it was a little unsettling.
"But never mind," Pawāteikā added. "I'm sure he'll survive. After all, there are better things in life he could do rather than trying outshine my company, now that it's moved its headquarters to here. It's only a matter of time."
Suddenly Tàiyáng heard the familiar sound of a school bell and gasped in alert.
"Oh no! I'm late!" she cried as she got back on her bike.
"Wouldn't you like me to give you a ride there?" asked Pawāteikā. "It'll be much faster."
"Sorry, sir, but I'm more comfortable on my bike," she said as she pedaled quickly away as fast as her feet would let her.
Pawāteikā watched as Tàiyáng disappeared from sight with such interest.
"Hmm, you have quite an interesting daughter, Jiēshòu," he muttered as he got into his car. "It's like she's brighter than the sun itself." he added before driving off.
The school gates were already starting to close as Tàiyáng quickly pedaled through and skidded, stopping safely right on the rack, where she had just enough time to quickly lock it before hurrying to the doors. As she turned to the steps, she found Hēiàn slowly climbing up the stairs looking exhausted. Tàiyáng was concerned and rushed up to him.
"Hēiàn, are you alright?" she exclaimed, holding him up and steady.
"Oh! Morning, Tàiyáng." said Hēiàn weary. "Just had a rough night."
"I can tell," she said. "What happened?"
"Oh, my mom," yawned Hēiàn. "She... had a fit about me not having a job and told me to go get one. I had to search half the night to see which one looked right."
"Did you have any luck?" Tàiyáng asked worryingly.
"No, not yet," said Hēiàn. "But I'll get there. Mark my words."
"Well, don't strain yourself," said Tàiyáng. "Even you would need some sleep. Just try to hold out until school's over, okay?"
"I'll manage," said Hēiàn as she helped him the rest of the way in.
During class, everyone in class was doing well trying to listen to the teacher's lesson. Tàiyáng listened as well as she could, even though she always found it very boring. But despite it all, she was more concerned about Hēiàn, who seemed to be very drowsy. He looked so close to falling asleep. His boredom of the lecture wasn't helping it either.
Tàiyáng was just turned her head back to the lesson for one second when suddenly, she heard a loud BUMP coming from beside her! Startled, she turned to the source, along with all the other students, even the teacher, all finding Hēiàn sitting up fully alert with wide eyes, looking at everyone around him before chuckling nervously, tapping his hand on the desk to hide what it really was.
"Thanks for the entertainment, Mr. Pángguānzhě," said the teacher in a stern tone. "But I would request that you stay awake for this lesson if you're going to earn any points."
All the other students began to laugh at Hēiàn, all except Tàiyáng, who just watched in sympathy as her friend sulked in his desk, listening to everyone else's laughter.
Eventually came lunch hour and everyone was free to hang out outside the school yard whether it was to talk or to eat their lunch. Tàiyáng was just finishing her meal of a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich with rice when she was called by Coach Yǒngqì.
"Excuse me, Tàiyáng?" she said. "Forgive me for interrupting your lunch, but could you please fetch the hurtles from the shack while I set up the track for the next class?"
Tàiyáng thought for a moment, knowing that only she would go into a dark room such as the shack while everyone else was about. So, she agreed and headed towards the shack to fetch them. Upon approaching it, Tàiyáng opened the door and stopped, looking around and making sure nobody was there or at least not so close and went inside, closing the door.
Meanwhile, Hēiàn was nearing the courtyard, ready to eat his own lunch when the school jocks ran up and snatched it in surprise. Their leader opened the box and saw what was inside.
"Aw, look! Some rice curry and a salad. You're too kind," he teased.
"Come on, guys! That's my lunch!" argued Hēiàn.
"Not anymore. I gotta have my protein," said the leader, already eating the food. "But don't worry short-stuff, we've got food for you. And that's the dirt! Show'im boys!" he added, snapping his fingers.
The other jocks lifted him up and threw him away as he flew through the air and tumbled on the dirt, suffering only dirt stains and non-bleeding scrapes before stopping at the shack's wall. He could only watch as the jocks walked away with his meal and sighed in defeat.
Then, suddenly, he saw a strange light coming from the shack's small window above him.
"Huh? That's weird," he thought. "There are no lightbulbs in that shack, let alone a switch."
He looked around, seeing nobody near the shack and too far away to notice a thing. It was just him. He knew he had to see what it was. So, he peeked inside, but it was too bright for him to see what it was. His best chance was the door. When he reached the door, he quietly opened it just a crack. And that's when he saw it.
There was Tàiyáng with a bright light glowing around her body as she searched for the hurtles. It didn't look like she had a flashlight with her. It was she was a light bulb herself. She soon found the hurtles and began to lift them and was about to carry them back when...
"Tàiyáng?"
Startled, Tàiyáng gasped, dropping the hurtles and turned to find Hēiàn, peeking through the cracked open door to see her shining in all her glowing glory. And she quickly dashed into a dark corner in a fright, ducking from other equipment.
"Wait! Wait!" called Hēiàn.
But as she tried to hide, it unfortunately didn't stop her glow, which was able to pinpoint where she was. And he struggled himself over the messy equipment and managed to find her huddled in a corner, covering her face with her hands. She was like a frightened little kitten after seeing a stranger.
"Tàiyáng?" he whispered, astonished. "Is that really you?"
"Don't look at me!" cried Tàiyáng. "You shouldn't see me like this!"
"Please, Tàiyáng. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise," he said as he held out his hand to her.
Tàiyáng removed her hands from her eyes and looked at the hand in surprise before looking up to see Hēiàn's smiling face. Here she was, glowing in the dark for him to see. But it didn't look like he was scared. He didn't even try to run away from her at all. But instead, it looked like he was rather helping her. She was speechless. And, despite being speechless, she slowly, yet hesitantly, reached out her hand until it was touching his and he carefully helped her up to her feet. Then the two began to look at each other's eyes, Tàiyáng looking at Hēiàn's kind face while Hēiàn looking at Tàiyáng's tearful yet surprised face.
"You're not hurt, are you?" asked Hēiàn.
Still dazed and surprised, Tàiyáng slowly shook her head.
"So, you're okay then?" Hēiàn asked again.
Slowly, Tàiyáng nodded.
"Okay. We'll talk about this later," he said. "First, were you trying to get something in this room?"
"Y-Yes, the... the hurtles," Tàiyáng breathed slowly.
Hēiàn nodded and together, both he and Tàiyáng proceeded with bringing the hurtles out.
Later, that afternoon, the two friends had left school and were now at Qing Qing city park, located on the outskirts of the city. It was a such a beautiful place with lots of green grass, lots of colorful flowers, lots of joy, lots of laughter. There was a children's play area, a lush green field, a large and shimmering lake, an amphitheater, and most of all, there was the popular attraction, the park's observation tower, standing 200 feet tall on top of a 25-foot hill, which gives the loveliest view of the overall park and the city in the distance from the very top of the tower.
Tàiyáng and Hēiàn were standing at the top of the tower. The park was their favorite place to hang out, on top of the tower, overlooking the whole park. It was where they go to escape from all their problems and stress in the world. For several minutes, there was silence.
"So, now you know," sighed Tàiyáng, breaking the silence.
"About your... glowing thing?" asked Hēiàn, which Tàiyáng nodded in reply. "Right. So, why do you do that?"
"I can't help it! It happens every time I'm in the dark," said Tàiyáng. "Dark rooms, at night, etc. I don't know why this keeps happening. It's always been that way ever since I was born."
"For that long?" gasped Hēiàn in shock. "Wow."
"I don't think 'wow' is something I'd use," said Tàiyáng sadly. "Just think! Because of my glow, I could never go to the movies. I just could never control it! I can't just simply make it go away whenever I want to. It doesn't work that way. It's always there no matter what I do and I can never change that... ever!"
Hēiàn was starting to understand what his friend was going through.
"Not only that," she continued. "No one else can do that. So, why can I? Why can't I just be normal like everyone else?! See, Hēiàn? That's why I can never show it to anyone. Just imagine what they'll think of me. Just think of what they'll say. I'm a freak! I'll always be a freak no matter how hard I try! Always. I've never told anyone about this bad habit of mine until today."
"So, who else knows about this?" asked Hēiàn.
"Just my parents," she answered. "So, listen Hēiàn, I want you to promise that you won't tell anyone about it. Not to anyone, it's just between you and me. Got it?"
"Well, I'll try. But you must understand that this..."
"Swear it!" Tàiyáng glared.
"Okay, okay! I promise. Jesus," said Hēiàn, raising his hands in defense. "I swear on my life that I won't tell a soul."
With that said, the pair started looking over the railing, watching the landscape again in silence. But after a short while, Hēiàn spoke up.
"You know, Tàiyáng?" he whispered. "Despite your reason, I honestly don't think you're a freak. I'd say your glowing is rather cool."
Tàiyáng's widened when she heard this, but then resumed her sulky expression.
"You're just trying to make me feel better," she said.
"No, I really mean it," said Hēiàn. "I'd say you'd light everyone's day with that... like an angel I'd say."
Hearing those kind words, Tàiyáng couldn't help but look at her best friend.
"Really?" she asked as Hēiàn nodded in reply.
"As a matter of fact," Hēiàn said. "You may not know it, but I'd say having that power might one day make you special. I wish I could be more like you."
Hearing that compliment was enough to make her crack a small smile before hugging him, glad to see that finally someone cared about her case. No one had ever said anything so positive about her power before. It made her feel much less ashamed of her glowing... only when she's around him of course.
"Thank you," she whispered.
After hugging, they made their way back down the tower and decided to have a walk down the park. They had just reached the bottom and started crossing a bridge when they heard a familiar voice.
"Hello, Yang!"
The pair sighed in frustration, knowing who that voice belonged to and they turned back to find Bāngzhù walking towards them with her group of other popular girls.
"Oh no!" groaned Tàiyáng.
"My God aren't you two a fine pair," Bāngzhù teased, referring to Tàiyáng and Hēiàn, who quickly backed a few feet away from each other after noticing how close they were. "Yang and the school punching bag, how sweet!"
"Hey, Hēiàn is not a punching bag," retorted Tàiyáng.
"Really?" asked Bāngzhù. "Then why hasn't he still been picked for each team he tried out for? All they ever do is push him away and trample him like the doormat he really is. However, if he can make the school baseball team, maybe he might have a shot."
"Just why are you here anyway, Bāngzhù?" scowled Tàiyáng. "Was it only to make fun of us?"
"Actually, the real question is, why are you here?" Bāngzhù scowled back. "You two are standing on the property for my 17th birthday party in two months."
"You rented this park out?!" exclaimed Tàiyáng. "But it's our private sanctuary!"
"Not anymore, at least just for one night anyway," Bāngzhù smirked. "But don't worry, Yang, you can have it back once the party's over."
Then Hēiàn spoke up.
"Honestly, Bāngzhù, why must you always prefer Tàiyáng by her last syllable?" he asked.
"Because her last syllable is Yang. And everybody knows that Yang means bad," she answered before leaving. "Sorry you two won't be invited to my party. I'll be sure to tell you how it went though."
Hearing this made Tàiyáng offended.
"Well, it's not like we asked to be invited to your party anyway!" Tàiyáng called out. "And by the way, Yang actually means good, I just... haven't figured out what makes me that," she finished, muttering after her little pause, looking at her palm while thinking about her power.
"Pay no attention to her," soothed Hēiàn. "She's just an old, spoiled stick-in-the-mud."
Deep down, Tàiyáng felt sure that Hēiàn was right. Then, she looked at the time.
"I gotta go," she said, walking away.
At first, Hēiàn thought that maybe Tàiyáng still feeling a little down from what Bāngzhù had just said until he saw how low the sun is, knowing how much she couldn't stay late in the dark, also know that she shouldn't expose her power to anyone else, he completely understood. But deep down, he still somehow wished he was more like his sad friend.