A wide arm wrapped around Jin's neck as a boy who stood a whole head taller than him gleefully joined the conversation.
"Yo, how is it going you two?"
Taro Namil. A grungy friend who works himself around scraps and gadgets.
"Heard from Isis that you went on a little date last night without me!"
Taro and Isis both live to together in the district right next to Jin. Both of their parents remarried, thus explaining the situation between a boy and a girl living together.
"Brother Taro?" Isis let out.
"It wasn't a date, Taro. And if you heard from Isis then I'm sure you know what happeend."
"Oh, you've got that right. You stole some nice goods!"
"Speaking of that." Jin turned to Isis. "Where did you hide it all? The stuff, I mean."
"Oh, the closet! Brother Taro's closet specifically! You wouldn't believe how big it is in the first place, it's practically its own room."
When she said that, Taro let out a heavy huff through his nose. "And you wouldn't believe how surprised I was when I found her sneaking into my room so late."
"Ah, so that explains how he found out," Jin realised.
"Yeah it was a hectic night. But what I want to ask is..." Taro pulled himself even closer as he whispered, "How did you guys managed to steal from a Vassari?"
"That's what you want to know?" Jin asked.
"Oh come on! It's common knowledge that us Ordinary's aren't able to just do that. So spill the beans, won't ya?!"
"I'll explain later. After school, maybe?"
"Jin's right, brother Taro. Though... it's pretty cool how we managed to do it!" Isis's eyes had stars in them while she proclaimed to her step-brother.
"Does it have to do with the fact that you vomitted like hell right after dropping the things off?"
"Wha—?! Hey! Traitor! You promised you wouldn't say anything! And.... yeah, it is."
Jin shot a questioning look. "I thought you mentioned that you almost vomitted. Not that you did."
Isis's cheeks flushed red as she tried to explain herself.
"Oh come on, think of it from a girls point of view, won't ya?! That's embarassing to just announce!" Isis grumbled, glaring at Taro. "A-Anyways, shifting onto a different subject, I heard that the teacher posted up our scores for the recent finals! Lets go!"
Isis pulled both Jin and Taro along by the collar as she dragged them right out of the classroom and through the corridors. Their fellow classmates looked at the three with strange thoughts.
At the board, the three looked for their names, checking for the results that they had obtained. There was just over 500 students who attended this school, so it was a tough search.
Taro scored a solid 57% and Isis had 81%.
"Bahahahaha, how'd you score so little?!" Isis teased, laughing at Taro. "That's basically a fail, ain't it?!"
"Shut up! The passing mark is 50%. I passed!"
Jin silently stared at the top of the board. 1st place out of 500 students.
100%.
"Looks like Jin snagged the top spot again. Typical."
"He's always sleeping in class. How does he managed that?"
Murmurs surrounded him as he let out a sigh. He already expected that result.
"Alright, that's over and done with. Can we go now?"
"Woah, mister genius. Why do you look so disappointed?" Taro asked.
"I'm sure an idiot who barely passes wouldn't understand the mind of Jin," Isis giggled.
"Oi!"
***
In a dark control room, a monitor cast a pale light across the place. Two individuals, shrouded by shadows, spied on a certain charcoal haired boy move across the screen.
"That's him?" asked one of them. "And I trust this information is accurate? He just seems like a normal kid to me."
He gave a second glance at the screen, squinting.
"A fragile one at that."
The boy was meek in his frame, had ghostly pale skin, and dulled out emerald eyes. The only partial thign that stood out about him was his looks.
They were better than the average Ordinary.
"It's him," the other nodded. "I can gurantee you, Lord Arael. That's the boy from last night."
"You seriously expect me to believe that this young boy stole from me? Do you take my system as this pathetic, Officer Kyle."
Arael was exasperated. His tone, which was usually composed, was deterred.
"I could never mean such a thing, Lord Arael. However..."
Officer Kyle handed to Arael a report. Skimming through it, Arael understood how that impossible scenario may have been possible.
"I see..." he judged, adjusting his glasses. "Though, do explain, how were you able to locate him this fast?"
"We pinpointed his location via the devices which he and another individual stole. While, the girl had the vast majority, it seems that the boy pocketed one for himself."
"Clever,"Arael murmured. "Then, do what you must and bring him to my office, Officer Kyle. But do so quietly. No unnecessary attention. They're just children, after all."
"Understood."
As Officer Kyle donned his helmet, Arael's gaze lingered at the visage of the boy.
An Ordinary in possession of a Nexus. How curious. How interesting.
***
The day passed by eerily smoothly as Jin walked home alone. A flock of crows flew high up in the clouds.
It was then, Jin would spot the sight of a pillar that pierced right through the heavens. It emanated a certain pressure that reminded him of a certain day 10 years ago.
It led right up to the higher strata. Right to Halcendre—the capital of this nation. The land of the Vassari's. It was a place that Ordinary's like Jin had no right being in.
Osvain happened to be the city directly below the capital. Thus, the reason for the higher numbers of enforcers and technological advancements here.
Had this not been the case, Osvain would've practically been a ghost town with the most unruly of citizens. Not that it didn't have their fair share of them.
The sun had already began setting when Jin arrived back home. The place he lived in lied at the very edge of the district.
He thought back to right after school while he hung out with Isis and Tora behind the gymnassium. Explaining his method of how he managed to steal from a Vassari led to a funny reaction from Tora.
"Huh?! You could do that? How?!" Tora gaped.
Jin covered his ears as he said, "It's easier if I just show you."
Snapping his fingers, Jin disappeared from Tora's sight.
"Woah, where did he—"
"Look behind you, Brother Tora," Isis said.
Tora yelped when he saw that Jin had now reappeared like a ghost, standing behind him like nothing had happened.
It was like he teleported!
"That's sick!" he praised. "So you can just teleport anywhere, huh?"
"Well.... not exactly," Jin valicidated. "I'm just able to move to a past location I've been at."
"Ah, so is there any way for me to do it too then?"
Naturally, Tora wanted to learn if he could. The possibilities are endless when it comes to doing that.
"Don't get your hopes up, Brother Tora. I already asked that first. Turns out, Jin here is the only one that could do it," Isis sighed, still agitated about the memory where she tried copying Jin. "And I speak this from experience."
Tora found the image of Isis snapping her fingers, expecting something big to happen, ammusing.
"How long have you known you could do this?"
"I don't know. I just... there's these moments where it feels like I was living in the past. Like really living in the past. Then suddenly, poof. I'm now in my room."
"That's a bit vague, don't you think? Ain't that just called remembering something?"
"It's hard to explain but it just feels like I'm there, reliving that moment. I could smell, feel, and all that other stuff. And what makes it really hard is that I have to consider the distance of where I'm doing it."
"Consider the distance?" Tora repeated, his brows knitting to a frown. "What do you mean?"
"If I don't have a clear enough guage of how far away the distance between where I'm warping and where I'm at, it won't work. I'm talking down to the metric units of metres."
"Woah, what? How do you even keep track of that?"
"Jin just knows," Isis chimed in. "Apparently, he can just see it. Or is 'feel' right word?"
"Uhm, what? That makes no sense."
His confusion was warranted. Feeling his surroundings? That just sounded ridiculous to Tora. But Isis didn't look to be lying.
He turned his gaze back to Jin.
"Oh, that. Well, I could show that, actually."
The moment Jin said that, he closed his eyes for a couple seconds. When he opened them again, his eyes now gently lit up with a faint violet glow.
Tora thought, Violet eyes?
He flicked to Isis who appeared undettered by the sudden change in his eye colour.
For Jin, he felt like he was underwater again. An almost surreal sensation—as if he was lucid dreaming. He could see the world by its outline. The way it gets constructed. Feel the molecules rubbing against his skin.
The world itself looked translucent. Every object shimmering with violet trails.
"Right now you're even hiding some of the gadgets in your bag," Jin pointed out.
"Oh, woah. You can see that?"
"Nah, forget that, you brought the gadgets to school Brother Tora?! Me and Jin were going to sell those later on!"
"Ah, well leaving them in my closet isn't the best idea then, huh?!"
Jin blinked, his eyes shifting back to normal, dazed. "Ugh..."
He raked a hand through his hair, holding up his forehead.
"Woah, you good?" Taro asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a little hard to stay in that state for long."