"We're finally here !" shouted my mother from the top of her lungs, for the ,who knows, maybe 5th time already.

"Dear, we're gathering looks." my father warned.

"Mom, this is awkward" I concurred.

"Oh, sorry, sorry." she apologized with a beaming smile.

All three of us were in the process of moving into our new house in Nagazora, specifically putting our stuff in it. Activity that didn't seem to deplete my mother's energy, something that didn't surprise me and my father. Throwing wry smiles at each other, we continued our task.

My name is Ki Tengo. My father is Tatsumi Tengo, and my mother is Yukina Tengo. Until a week ago, we lived peacefully in the countryside, and were a run-of-the-mill three-person family. Yet, the principal of my school suddenly told me that I had received a scolarship from Raiden Ryoma.

*Flashback*

"...What ? But... why ?"

"Chiba Academy, in a partnership with ME Corp, chooses ,each 3 years, some students with sufficient qualities for enrollment in its surroundings. And you've been chosen as one of them." explained the principal, a woman in her forties, in classic office working clothes, with a tone as if it was simple.

I began to think. Indeed, while not being a prodigy, I always had an easy time with school. Even with not a lot of work, I always had good grades and didn't get critics due to my careful behavior. However, that surely wasn't enough to get me a scolarship for the prestigious Chiba Academy, right ?

But the principal handed me the official papers and gave me a timing at which Raiden Ryoma himself would meet me. I felt that something was going on here.

*Flashback end*

I looked at the time on my phone. "It's time ,I have to go if I want to make it on time for the rendez-vous."

You don't miss an invitation by the boss of ME Corp.

"OK, be careful"

"Don't forget to thank him."

Us three had discussed about this meeting. Beyond the surprise and joy, the question of why a scolarship in Chiba Academy and even a new house were given began to worry us. Too much of good news would get scary, after all. In the end, we decided that I would carefully ask him why while thanking him for this generous chance.

I began to walk towards the ME Corp building. It wasn't that far, and I needed time to organize my thoughts, so I didn't call a taxi.

Once I got close to the building, it felt really tall and intimidating. I followed the instructions I was given by the secretary in the lobby and took the elevator to Raiden Ryoma's office. "Welcome, Tengo-kun. You're just on time." The head of ME Corp was watching me with a smile.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet me." I bowed my head once I took my seat in front of him.

"No need to feel like that, I wanted to see you too, as I am sure you've got questions for me." He assured me, cutting straight to the chase. I braced myself and then asked,

"I am not doubting your sense of judgement, and I am immensely grateful for this generosity that you've offered us, but I would like to ask you : There is probably other people qualified as much as me or more for this opportunity. So why me ?"

His nod indicated that he knew that I was going to ask him that.

"It makes sense that you would be so concerned. However, I can guarantee you that nothing went wrong in providing you with the generosity you mention. I just think that you'll be able to give me a surprise."

"Surprise you, in what way?"

"That's not something that you need to worry about at this time. Actually, it's okay if you don't accomplish it. This does not imply that I will take back what I've given you. "

Surprise him, eh? Though I'm not sure I could pull that off..."Then, Raiden-san, I hope I can live up to your expectations."

"Yes, I agree as well, Tengo-kun"

I cast a sharp glance at him out of the blue. "Were you aware of the event that occurred eight years ago?"

I was involved in an incident eight years ago. A ship transporting dangerous substances caught fire close to the port. Explosions resulted from that, deadly gases, and wild animals losing their minds. Over ten thousand people died in the disaster.
After I inhaled those toxic gases, I was brought to the hospital. But after treatment, I was all right ,with no permanent wounds. During the treatment ,for a brief moment I saw him, conversing with a medical professional. I hardly remembered the incident at all. Merely a peculiar bad dream remained.

"There were some of my people involved there. Therefore, I paid them a visit."He answered without batting an eye.

"That is very kind of you."

"Thank you for those words." I brought up the incident, and his expression trembled just a little bit, but other than that, nothing. Was it all in my head?

"I think I'm going to leave now. After this, you're probably preoccupied with work."

I arose from my chair, for there was nothing left to say. As I got closer to the door:

"Huh, I almost forgot. Welcome at Nagazora, ." He said while smiling warmly.

"Oh, yes." I replied, slightly surprised, before leaving his office.

When I got back to my new home. I talked with my mother and my father about this discussion. We were of the same mind : I should not mind much what he said about surprising him. Since he in fact didn't ask for anything precisely and we had already thanked him, that mysterious surprise would just happen if it was meant to. Instead of pointlessly stressing about it, we should enjoy our new life.

*Raiden Ryoma POV*

The conversation went about as much as I expected it to be. Though I'm surprised that he managed to voice his doubts so carefully.

"However, as for surprising me... Well, you already did it."

I switched the screen on my computer to a secret file. I had in front of my eyes the results of the tests we performed on him under the guise of the medical visit necessary before the enrollment to Chiba Academy. The resulting data showed something unique.

A natural stigmata. And one that hasn't been discovered before, in the form of a small tree. In truth, the incident he was involved in years ago was a Honkai disaster. And unfortunately, he was very close to the epicenter of the disaster and received a massive exposition of Honkai Energy. The only reason he managed to survive such a massive exposition of Honkai Energy was because he awakened his stigmata back then. That is something that we noticed by chance. As such, we decided to keep an eye on him. The stigmata itself only showed up this one time. After its brief apparition In the disaster, it disappeared. Since then, we've been keeping tabs on him and his stigmata. Thanks to that ,we noticed that, over the course of recent months, It has left its state of inactivity and became gradually more active, as if preparing for something. That is when we decided to have him closer to Anti-Entropy and offered him this generosity of ours.

"Welcome to Nagazora, Ki Tengo-kun. You'll have an interesting time here, i'm sure." I declared while looking at the town below through the window of my office.

*Raiden Ryoma POV End*

After the dinner, I laid down on my bed almost immediately. Setting up all the stuff in our new house took quite a bit of energy. There was also the travel to get here and the meeting. Needless to say, I was drained. I looked at the moonlight through my window.

'The first semester of classes would only officially begin in one week, so I still have time. Tomorrow I'll go explore the town a little bit. I need to know my new home well after all.'

When all was said and done, even though there were a few uncertainties, I felt hopeful and happy about this new perspective in life. I'm sure it's the same from my father and my mother too. We probably Imagined long years of happy life inside of this modern and peaceful city. Maybe there would be a few difficulties. But the place we were before was placed far removed from here : while we certainly were decently living, our futures didn't have so much possibilities compared to now. We've had our fair share of hardships and grew from it, so I was sure we would be able to take on whatever is thrown at us.

.

..

...

How painfully naive I was. I would soon learn that the world that you envision and the world you are given by fate are far, far more different than I thought.

Author's Note:

This is my first fanfic so pls tell me if anything bothers you. For now, I think I'm gonna go for some world-building chapters before the real start of the story. Until next time ;)