Under the pressure he was feeling and his tensed up muscle, he felt like he had to use physical force to open his mouth but somehow he started talking anyways, "It is mandatory sadly, unless you have a debilitating condition. Everyone who qualifies has to attend."
Unlike how the pressure let up quickly previously, this time he was completely being suffocated, Gohan didn't understand why he was feeling like this even though there was no physical force and no real threat from his mother. Even if she got angry all she'd do would be lecturing him a bit.
But what he felt was danger exactly like how he felt it when he first saw Cell's picture. He was physically threatened and he had to run away to protect his well being. He didn't understand how and why his mother was making him feel this way.
She started talking, "Have you seen any noteworthy people yet? After all you are living in a good place and going to a good school."
Gohan knew he had to talk immediately, "I am in the same class as Videl Satan."
His mother thought for a second and said, "I don't think she would be enough yet." barely louder than a whisper and continued in a normal volume, "Anyone else, it can't be just one person right?"
At this point the pressure felt nearly as strong as the impact in Videl's gym, so quickly answered his mother and said, "By chance I got to meet Trunks Brief." as soon as he said this, he knew it was the right answer to whatever question his mother was asking as the pressure let up and he could breath easily again.
The emptiness in her mother's eyes was taken over by pure hatred the likes of which Gohan had never seen before but her mother was smiling regardless, Gohan could swore he heard something to the tune of "I will murder that wench" however this time it was too quiet to be sure.
A moment later however his mother's face returned its usual, happy and caring look, she said, "It is already very late, why not sleep now so you can wake up refreshed tomorrow, you said you were tired right?"
He knew that this was an order rather than a suggestion, so he said, "Alright then, good night mom." and shouted, "Good night, Goten" and went to get ready to sleep.
Sleep however, wouldn't come all that easily. Roughly 4 or 5 minutes after he went to bed, he heard his mother shout. She was saying, "I have this number, that obviously means I know who she is and she knows who I am."
Gohan didn't know that her mom knew Bulma Brief however from their talk just know he knew it had to be her.
Shouting got stronger as she said, "What do you mean I could have gotten it from someone else? Are you crazy, do you think the richest person in the world would give her personal number to everyone like candy?"
Just his mother passively questioning him made him feel like he would die, Gohan couldn't guess how being at the end of her wrath would feel. Even though it felt disrespectful, Gohan thought that she genuinely had it in her to kill someone.
"Just say that she is out then, why are you keeping me on the line? When she comes back she better call. Make sure to note this down." she concluded. Gohan knew that if his mother found him awake now, he'd be the next target so he immediately slept as if he clicked a button.
Next morning when he woke up Gohan already knew that this was going to be a hard day again because he was feeling really well. Now this wasn't a sentence he would have even understood a week ago let alone any time in the past but now he had to hide the fact that he was bursting with energy from his mother for an entire day.
He had to carefully plan his entire day so that he would have the least chance of showing it in front of his mother. Twitching his muscles, tapping his finger or foot, looking impatient, all of these were involuntary actions, he had to consciously control.
Ideally he would spend as much of the early part of the day with his mother and spend the later half away from her when the symptoms got worse. What he couldn't do however under any circumstances was spend that energy.
Gohan washed his face after getting up and after saying, "Good morning!" to both his mother and brother who woke at about the same time as him. He started to help his mother prepare breakfast while his brother was studying for who knows what.
This time in this table, his mother didn't talk at all about his city life or his physical activities, it was a completely normal family breakfast.
After finishing his breakfast and watching his brother bolt off to who knows where, he asked, "Mother, would you like me to help you clean?" he had to somehow move, it was too agonizing otherwise.
She smiled at him and said, "You weren't eager at all about doing to dishes when you were young." while she wass clearing the table. Though this could be suspicious, he had to try anything.
"Living on my own made me realize how hard the work you did actually was, I have to help you however I can." he said while immediately moving towards the dishes. His hands became used to doing chores over the last two weeks. It was harder than he thought but easier than he heard from others.
Chichi smiled in a way that made him feel safe, reminding him that this woman he was cautious against was his mother, she said, "Gohan, you can help me much more by becoming a scholar, becoming rich and spoiling your mother." while caressing his cheeks.
Gohan held himself back from saying, 'Your husband is already richer than I can ever be.' with all of his willpower combined. He didn't know why his mother wouldn't use that money when she was clearly materialistic.
However he had to maintain normality, he couldn't talk about how his father was a fighter, his wealth or about how he trained, drank alcohol and looked forward more towards hanging out with his friends than studying.
So he said with confidence, "Of course mother, I'll definitely become the best academic in the world, don't you worry about that. There is no one I know who even comes close to me in studies." and he was telling the truth, from what Erasa told him, he was one of the five people in the school with full scholarship, however he got that scholarship by scoring 100, where 50 was enough.
Her smile beamed at his confidence, this was a genuine smile he didn't see in years let alone in his current visit, she talked, "Of course you are the best. You were born to be. Now 'the best', get away from the dishes, I'll do them and don't you worry, they are easy to do."
With no other options, he let his mother continue working. He still had to find something to do forever, so he asked, "Where did Goten go to anyways?" when he was that young, he would never be allowed to roam free like that. It had been only two weeks, did his mother relax as soon as he left?
This time it was his mother who was caught off her element, he saw her skip a beat for the first time maybe in his life, she still answered however, "He isn't as gifted as you in terms of studying but you'll look after him when you become rich, won't you?"
For some reason, hearing how his brother didn't have to go through what he did left a bitter taste in his mouth, still he didn't show it and just said, "Let me find him, studying with his brother will be more interesting for him, I am sure of it."
Chichi didn't look up from the dishes but she said, "He is probably having a walk around in the forests in the back, but don't worry if you can't find him."
Gohan got out of the house and took a deep breath of the clean air around his house, the difference in air quality between these mountains and the city was clear as night and day, he didn't notice anything when he went down to the Satan City but he did now.
As searching for Goten was just an excuse, he slowly moved through the path cleared by his father a long time ago. He wondered again why his father lived in a small capsule house, making paths for his wife and son to walk in, when he could ask Bulma Brief for half of what she makes in a day and live happily ever after in a city with his family.
The path he made was even and smooth, walking through it brought back memories to Gohan he didn't know he had. His father once brought him here, without asking his mother while she thought he studied. They walked for hours talking about this and that. When they returned his mother hadn't even checked his room once, trusting the work ethic of her 7 years old son.
This memory made Gohan think of what other moments he shared with his dad, most of what he saw of him were in dinner and baths, they didn't really spend a lot of time together, but once in a while, once a month or every other month, his mother would let them go fishing together, that was where he learned to swim. One time his father threw him to the middle of the stream, looking back it must have been because his father knew he would be fine.
After a few minutes however, he ran out of things to remember. The extent of his relation with his father was this shallow, they lived in the same house for 10 or so years but he had more fun times and made more memories with friends he knew for just two weeks.
While thinking about how his life has been so far, he found Goten sitting in the middle of the path with a smile on his face. His first thought was thinking about how much he looked like his father from that old photo with Bulma Brief.
Compared to him who looked nothing like him, maybe this similarity was the reason why his mother let Goten be more free in his actions. He was a true blue son of a fighter, from his looks to his thoughts to his personality.
Goten said with a smile on his face, "Brother, what are you doing?", he looked like he didn't have a care in the world, Gohan wondered how he was when that young, what did his father see when he looked at him.
"I wanted to help you study, Come to home if you are done playing." he said. The smile on Goten's face turned into a frown like a switch was flipped,
With a pout he moaned, "But even mom doesn't ask me to do it." this was the problem with letting kids go even for a moment, they wouldn't come back. He had to course correct now, Goten could still be saved, it had only been two weeks since he left.
Gohan held out his hand and said, "This isn't about what mother wants, I just want to spend quality time with my brother while doing something." after he said this, Goten looked like he wanted to say something but he held Gohan's hand.
While lifting up his brother, Gohan noticed just how heavy he was, he had to put his back into it. Thinking this skinny 7 years old kid was heavy made him remember despite running and swimming a bit in the last two weeks, he was still someone who never trained.
After making it back to their home, the brothers went to Goten's room to study a bit. To Gohan's surprise, even when he tried to make Goten struggle, he understood what was being thought just fine. His mother probably just didn't teach him right. For Gohan, the right way to learn was reading books 12 hours a day, for Goten it seemed like that right way was getting a bit of help, he wouldn't be any slower.
But there was a huge problem, he got too distracted too easily, if Gohan didn't egg him on, he would have went off to play a few hours ago. However this made him think, he was feeling the same, if it wasn't for Goten the energy that was building up inside him that he didn't use all day would have burst out in the form of him running like a mad man. Maybe his brother was feeling like this all the time from his birth.
When he tried to think back to whether his brother was always like this, he drew in a blank. He looked back to his memories from a month ago and he was studying while his brother asked to play with him. A year and it was the same, two, three, five years. In all of his memories, he was studying while his brother grew little by little.
He couldn't change the past but the future didn't need to continue this way, whenever he came home he would spend time with his brother. A bond he lacked until now would be forged from now on, maybe it was impossible with his sister due to her being with his enigmatic father but this one wasn't and that should be enough.
At the dinner, when he wanted to talk to his mother about how Goten wasn't bad at studying but just needed some guidance, she surprisingly dismissed all of his concerns and just said he didn't need to study and was free to do anything he wanted. Goten seemed happy at this but Gohan didn't understand. What was different between him and his brother?
With an excuse of how walking all that way today tired him, Gohan went to sleep much earlier than he was used to. Sun had barely set but the energy inside him was getting unbearable he had to sleep now before starting to run towards who knows where as fast as he could.
Though this was an excuse, he knew deep inside that he wanted to spend some time away from his mother who became lax the moment he went away and his brother who was going to lag behind in his studies. He didn't know what changed.
After the same song and dance next day in breakfast, he went to get Goten to study again, he found him a bit deeper in the forest this time and when he wanted bring him back, the young kid reacted a bit differently.
"I don't want to study!" Goten pleaded. Gohan's resolve weakened for a moment but he knew good pupils came from harsh teachers, that was what he saw growing up. As his mother was proud of him, she should be proud of Goten too.
Thus he replied, "I am going back to Satan City in a few hours anyways, it won't be long. Come on." and held his hand out again. This time right as Goten held his arm, he felt the fight or flight instinct he did when 'training' or doing sports at school. His heightened reflexes, enhanced senses and confidence came right at him.
He didn't know what invoked this feeling but his instincts were telling him the source of the 'threat' was Goten. The small of the 7 years old grabbed his hand and the grip strength felt like it wanted to crush his hands and the pulling strength felt like it wanted to rip his arm off.
But thinking quickly he matched grip with a grip and pull with a pull. He squeezed his brother's hand like he learned in baseball and used his waist to pull Goten like he learned in tennis. Unexpectedly Goten didn't come flying but his surprised face showed he was caught unprepared.
After a second or two, Goten couldn't maintain this strength while sitting down and got up to pull even harder however as soon as he did Gohan immediately let go and said, "Now that you are up, let's go."
Goten who could only show emotion more clearly if he wrote the word 'Confused' on his forehead started follow him sheepishly.
As someone who prided himself in his intelligence, Gohan knew why he was confused and this understanding confused him as well, Goten broke the human limits, at that young of an age. He wasn't as strong as Videl or even Erasa and Sharpner but he could do what normal people couldn't.
He thought he was a prodigy but Goten was even stronger. And he seemed to understand he was strong, he intentionally went above what a human could do, only once he understood Gohan was a bit stronger that he stopped.
Once they started studying Gohan probed him about why he was so strong. Goten had surprisingly tight lips but he still mentioned how he spent a lot of time with their mother other than that apparently he spent most of his time with toys their father made whenever he came around.
So it must have been his mother, Chichi, who trained him. Gohan could only laugh in his mind. This woman who forbade him from walking too much in fear he would fall behind in his studies was physically training his brother.
The moment he understood this, a sour taste in his mouth made him want to puke, he still had so much he wanted to do and ask in this visit but he decided go back to the Satan City, he said, "Goten, that's enough for today. We'll study lots more when I come back next time alright?" and pat his head.
Gohan went down to their living room to say goodbye, he didn't want to spend too much time with his mother, with this energy building up inside of him, he couldn't guess if he could stay as calm as he is now.
He said, "I wanted say, I should leave before it gets too late mother, it is slowly becoming night." to his mother who was in the kitchen. She immediately stopped cooking as soon as she heard him.
She said, "Okay Gohan, let me call a Capsule Copter. Be careful to not be late to school alright?" and went to their living room after hugging him.
Within less than half an hour, his mother packed him some food to take with him to his house back in the city. she lectured him on and on about how he should take studying seriously but it came in from one ear and came out the other. He couldn't take anything she said seriously when she was so two faced.
Before he got on the Capsule Copter, he said, "Mother I think I should come only once a month, there might be some problems with my studies if I come too often, the trips eat up my entire weekends when I could study instead."
After a few seconds Chichi's eyes lit up and she looked like she was on the brink of crying, "My son is willing to stay away from me and my food and his brother to study. Thank you, please continue to make me proud."
While he was looking at his home getting slowly smaller on the horizon, he thought about all the things he didn't talk with his mother about, he wanted to ask about his father, his past and he even wanted to show his mother the cellphone gifted by his friend. Being able to call his mother whenever he wanted was someone he was dreaming of when he first got it but now he didn't want to go through with the idea.
He still had the energy that made him want to run and jump and be physically active. But his mind was more tired and strained than he ever remembered. He just wanted to sleep.
SoS ae