Enjoy reading, rejoice and...
See you all on next time
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(...Continuing)
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Inside his academy, Micael, wearing his training shorts and covered in sweat and bruises, was fighting against the illusory Baki.
But unlike other times when he focused on gaining experience and refining his techniques, he was fighting with a different purpose. His breathing was deep, he was inhaling large amounts of air while his heart was beating rapidly, pounding inside his chest.
Exchanging quick blows, it was possible to see the veins bulging in some parts of his body while his skin turned slightly red.
Micael was trying to learn the Advancement.
Although, even with Seimei Kikan, learning the technique was proving harder than expected since it was something he had been trying to master for a week.
But progress was coming; soon he would master the technique and thus reduce the recoil in his eyes. And that wasn't the only technique he was trying to learn.
In his estimation, he would reach a usable fighting level in one or two more days — literally by Saturday, he would be able to use those techniques on his own.
After a few more hours, he ended his training completely exhausted and drenched in sweat, deactivating his power, and the illusory Baki disappeared from his front as the recoil in his eyes diminished, the only persistent pain being from the weakened Shadow Clone.
The weakness of the weakened version was a clone even weaker than normal — in the original, the clone took part of the user's strength but could be dispersed with enough force.
In Micael's case, his clone was as weak as a child, and if it literally bumped into something, it would dissipate. It was extremely weak but the clone's only use was to plant a Hiraishin so Micael could appear or use another power to teleport his family.
Besides, this was the only way Micael could keep training using Seimei Kikan and the Imagination Technique, and even then, the recoil was still immense.
It wasn't the best protective measure, but it was something.
Coming out of his reflection, Micael looked out the window and saw the dark sky outside. Since it was already time to go home, he started packing his things before leaving.
…
[House Alvez de Aoyama, 8pm]
With all five occupants of the house sitting at the table, they dined in a calm atmosphere.
"You should've seen it, she got all tangled up with the clothes not knowing what to do. It was really cute to watch, hahaha."
Eating calmly, Micael nodded hearing Miyako's words. She was talking about Asia and how she didn't know how to fold clothes and got really embarrassed about it.
"Yeah, you should've seen it, the girl turned as red as a tomato, hahaha." Francisco had a slight smile on his face while speaking, the target of his words was completely red-faced, staring fixedly at the food in front of her.
"Hm, I can see that." Humming a response, Micael looked at Miyako and Francisco, who were smiling at shy Asia, who seemed too timid to even look at them.
His gaze then went to Mari beside him, the girl eating calmly while looking at her food.
Turning his gaze back to Asia, he couldn't help but think how this girl seemed to be winning over his parents easily, but considering her innocent and pure girl charisma, it wasn't so strange.
He imagined that for his parents it was like having a more naive and innocent Mari again, their maternal and paternal instincts must be kicking in hard.
"You don't need to be so embarrassed about this, dear, it happens. Nobody is born knowing everything." Miyako said before putting food in her mouth with chopsticks.
"Yeah, it was the same with Mari when we taught her other things. There was a time she got all flustered while we taught her to cook." Francisco said, pointing with his spoon.
"Mm! Now that you mention it, I remember a time Mari got mad because she couldn't fold clothes hahaha\~." Miyako covered her mouth with her hand while laughing. "You were just like her with your whole red face." She looked at Asia playfully.
Along with all this, Micael noticed the exact moment Mari's hand froze upon hearing Miyako before she continued eating as if nothing had happened.
'Yeah, that's enough.' Already imagining where this could go and not wanting any more drama in his life, Micael didn't waste time fixing the situation.
Pointing his thumb to the side towards Mari, he said to Miyako, "Hey Miyako, Mari's jealous."
His words immediately changed the atmosphere.
Mari reacted by freezing before giving Micael a sideways death glare. She also kicked him hard under the table, but Micael didn't even blink.
"The way you two are acting is making her jealous of Asia, I think she must feel like she's being replaced or something."
Mari frowned as she kicked him even harder, but again he ignored it while still looking at Miyako.
Miyako and Francisco paused for a moment processing Micael's words until Miyako asked Mari, "Is that true?"
Throwing one last death glare at Micael, Mari turned to Miyako and smiled calmly. "No, Micael's just lying, no need to worry." Saying that, she got up while keeping the smile. "Anyway, I'm done, I'm going to my room."
However, she hadn't taken many steps before Micael abruptly grabbed her, pulling her into a hug.
Blinking confused, she looked at him without understanding. "What are you doing?"
Instead of answering her, Micael looked at Miyako and Francisco. "What are you waiting for? Come here now."
Reacting quickly, the two stood up and approached them.
Hearing Micael and looking over her shoulder, Mari widened her eyes seeing that. "What!? No! Wait!"
But her plea was ignored as Francisco and Miyako approached them and without hesitation...
Hugged her.
Miyako hugged her from the other side while Francisco hugged her from the front.
Seeing herself completely trapped in the hug, Mari started writhing, trying to get free. "Stop it, let me go!"
But the three ignored her again, Miyako smiled gently while speaking to her. "So you mean you're jealous of me and your dad?"
"I'm not! Now let me go!" Mari kept struggling, answering without looking anyone in the eyes.
Miyako's smile then softened even more. "Listen, my daughter, no matter the circumstances, never think you're being replaced. You're our irreplaceable daughter, and that will never change. We love you, don't doubt that."
Her words made Mari stop struggling as her face began to redden.
"You're right, you are irreplaceable, my daughter. And if you doubt that we love you, we can tell you that every day from now on, what do you think?" Francisco said with a slight smile.
Mari just looked down as her face turned redder and redder. "…No need." Her voice sounded almost like a whisper.
Miyako then kissed the side of her head. "Don't worry, you'll always be mommy's and daddy's little girl." Miyako said with a big smile.
"Exactly." Francisco laughed agreeing with her.
Mari's face turned even redder, enough to cover her ears as the girl curled up in embarrassment.
Micael just smiled playfully looking at her, something she noticed and threw a narrow glance that promised a lot of pain after this.
But seeing that Micael seemed to be having fun at Mari's expense, Miyako set out to embarrass him too. "Don't worry about it either, Micael, you're also mommy's and daddy's little boy."
However, Micael just smiled amused as he answered. "Yeah, I am."
Miyako shook her head while Francisco just laughed; that was a predictable answer.
"…You really have no shame." Mari said while looking at him sideways, seeing how Micael's face didn't even twitch at that.
"Nope." Micael replied without losing his smile.
While the three enjoyed the family moment, Miyako abruptly turned back toward Asia. "Hey, young lady, we haven't forgotten about you, come here."
Asia, who was watching everything with a gentle smile, froze, taking a moment to decide. Thinking it was a family moment only, she finally gave in and slowly got up and approached.
"E-excuse me." Getting close, she slowly raised her arms and gently hugged Miyako and Micael.
But Micael released one of Mari's arms and wrapped it around Asia, hugging her close, bringing her face to his shoulder.
She looked at him with a red face as he smiled. Mari looked at him sideways with narrowed eyes, and Miyako smiled gently; Francisco also smiled happily, which led him to say, "Alright, family hug!" Stretching out his arms fully as he wrapped them all tightly.
…
[Thursday, 7pm]
Sitting at the table during breakfast again, Micael, Mari, and Asia ate while chatting.
"You had to see it, his face turned completely green, no matter how much he scrubbed the paint wouldn't come off, our mom had to go to the pharmacy to buy a remover to help him."
With an amused and mischievous smile on her face, Mari spoke while looking toward Micael.
Micael chewed calmly while giving her a dry look in response, if it weren't for Asia's presence he would've flipped her off.
"Hahaha~." Asia giggled softly with her hand gently covering her mouth.
Finishing his bite, Micael pointed the spoon toward Mari. "You can't mock me for that, I remember the same thing happened to you a few months later."
Mari's smile faded as the memory of what he said came to mind. "Ugh, don't even remind me."
What the two were referring to was something that happened when they were younger, when they were both ten years old there was a school party and among the many events there was a presentation that involved face painting, the thing is, Micael was the only unlucky one to paint his face with a different kind of paint.
He remembers Miyako complaining to the school about it, his homeroom teacher apologizing and bowing several times saying it wouldn't happen again, well, a few months later the following year the same incident happened with Mari.
And just like she did to him, he made sure to mock her, he even took a picture of it too.
"That's why you shouldn't mock someone's misery, karma exists and it makes sure to remind you of it." Micael commented while smiling mockingly at her.
Mari just stuck her tongue out at him before going back to eating.
"You two are really close." Asia had her characteristic pure smile as she spoke.
Micael opened his mouth to answer, but Mari beat him to it.
"Heh~ More than you'd imagine." She had a cheeky little grin while glancing sideways at Micael.
He just looked at her silently before turning back to Asia. "Well, we grew up together so yeah, we're pretty close."
"I've always wondered what it's like to grow up with family and siblings, I think you two are a great example." Asia didn't lose her smile while adopting a reminiscent look.
Micael paused his spoon mid-air as his face turned a little weird realizing the unintentional double meaning in that sentence, he was sure she wouldn't think that if she knew the truth.
Mari on the other hand ignored the double meaning and focused more on the first part. "You grew up in a convent, right? Didn't you have any friends there?"
Asia shook her head softly. "My status as a saint pushed people away, they thought they could negatively influence me if I strayed from my duties."
Mari took a moment to process the meaning of that. "Wow that su—uh, that's really rough."
"It's okay, I've always been grateful they took me in and raised me, the least I could do was give back." Asia smiled gently.
Mari looked at her in silence watching her behavior. "You're really kind, maybe even too kind."
"Thank you very much, you're a kind person too." Asia's smile turned happy, even her green eyes seemed to shine as well.
Mari was starting to understand why her parents already seemed to have grown attached to the girl, she was just too kind for her own good, even she was starting to feel a certain protective instinct now.
Meanwhile, Micael just watched the two interacting, it didn't need to be said that the way Mari was treating her had already changed, and would change even more now that she was seeing what Asia was like.
"Alright, I've decided, we're going out after school." Mari spoke with a final tone.
"W-what?" Caught off guard, Asia could only ask in confusion.
"We're going out to have some fun since from what you said it seems like you've never done anything like that, I'm guessing you've never been to a mall, right?" Mari raised an eyebrow as she asked.
"No." Asia answered with her face turning slightly red.
"I'm guessing you've never even had pizza either, right?" Mari asked with an even more questioning look.
"...No." Still red-faced, Asia answered almost in a whisper and looking down.
Mari nodded before looking at Micael. "Then it's settled, and you're coming with us."
"Obviously." Micael replied before taking a sip of his juice.
Nodding satisfied, Mari smiled while going back to eating, Asia did the same while processing the situation and Micael finished eating calmly.
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(Continue...)