"Ok, so where should I start now?" Jin said, stopping the cycle.
"I think from the start. I don't really remember much from back then," Toma said.
"That's tough, so we will skip the initial parts and directly come to where your problem starts," Jin said, sitting on the footpath.
"My problem!? You must start now," Toma said, sitting beside Jin.
"Exactly 11 days from today at 2 a.m., you called me," Jin stopped.
"So what about it? Calling you shouldn't be a concerning issue," Toma asked.
"The concerning thing is that we were sitting on the same sofa," Jin said plainly.
"And just before you called me, you started blinking continuously without a stop," Jin said, standing up.
"I had to rush you to the hospital, but after that, you didn't wake up until today," Jin said, walking towards the vending machine.
"But as I reached there, I could find no trace of you, and that is why I was finding you, and I finally found you at your house," Jin said, using the vending machine.
"What!? But why? What had happened to me?" Toma asked in worry.
"It was just like what happened 4 years ago when you left the house," Jin said, his expression serious.
"So you are saying that my DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) was never treated," Toma said in worry.
"Correct! But brother, we have fought through many things in the world; this problem is just a stepping stone for us," Jin said, motivating Toma.
"I don't clearly remember anything, who or whom I became," Toma asked.
"You are asking like there is more than one," Jin giggled.
Toma became completely silent, but his expression completely changed.
"A..a.. Jin..." As Toma was about to say something.
"Why are so many people chasing those two?" Jin asked.
"I think we should protect them; one of them looks like our age." Toma's expression changed as he lunged forward towards them.
Tak! Tak! Tak!
The two persons the crowd was chasing ran as fast as they could.
"Sensei, I told you, you never listen. If you peek in girls' washrooms in public places, we will be beaten badly," the boy said, his face covered with a cap.
"I didn't really calculate this outcome; it is like one in fourteen million six hundred and five outcomes I never expected," the man running beside him said.
"You and your wrong calculations as always," the boy said, suddenly stopping.
SRK!
Toma stood in front of the old man THAT LOOKED NO LESS THAN 30 (Thirty), with a boy with red hair with his face hidden under the cap.
"I absolutely hate when an innocent gets punished," Toma said heroically.
"Boy, we literally don't care about your ideology. Leave our way; we need to run from them," the man said.
"I may look like an ordinary 12-year-old, but I am not," Toma said with surety that he was the strongest.
"Just tell me your problem; I will solve it in a matter of seconds," Toma said, preparing to use his flux pressure to pin them.
"He is not joking. I am saying by my personal experience, but I, KUROGANE JIN, if fueled by money, am stronger than him," Jin said, eating an ice cream.
"Why would I pay you? I have my own extraordinary 12-year-old, but he is a bit too humble to step forward," the man said with confidence.
"You mean he can be compared to us?" Toma laughed hysterically.
"Yeah, it is official, the best joke of the year," Jin laughed, mimicking Toma.
Pat!
The red-haired boy put his hand on the man's shoulder.
"..." His face still hidden, he didn't say a word.
"I think I didn't teach you to back off. You wanted to be like him, and the first thing to become like Arashi was to fight no matter what. Right?" The man took a pause.
SHIIING!
The blazing light of the sun came straight below the cap revealing…
…a red-head with a wolf cut accompanied by a
fringe.
"Genryū Sensei, remember this is the second thing I asked you when you told me…," the red-haired boy took a pause.
"That making my own personality will be much harder than copying that of any other person I admire," the boy said, his red hair shining bright.
"And that is why I gave you two days to think if you want to copy a legendary personality or create a legendary personality yourself," Genryū said, looking at the boy.
"I have the answer now," the boy said, removing his cap.
"I have my answer. Judge my hair, judge my soul—I am past caring. I am myself, and that self is a weapon and shield: I fight to protect, I rise to grow stronger, and I will break the pride of every bastard who thinks themselves above the rest." The boy took a pause.
"Listen, whosoever you are, by your confidence you can dream of defeating me, but..." Jin's expression changed as he was suddenly in the air, falling into the water.
The footpath they were standing at was at the shore of a sea, and Jin was falling into that sea, only with the crowd coming closer to Genryū and the boy in a rage.
"And that is my IKIGAI (A reason for being), the ikigai of - Zorian Sterling," he said, his confidence, physique, and he himself completely different.
"Woah! That is my praiseworthy, only student alive." Genryū's eyes started glowing like a star.
"By the way, you were wearing the cap because of this hairstyle," Genryū teased Zorian.
"Can say..." turning towards Toma.
"..." Toma started mumbling.
"Did you say..." Toma became quiet.
"What?" Zorian asked plainly.
KER-PLUNK!
Jin fell into the water.
"What took him so long to fall?" Genryū asked.
"Maybe he held something in between in order to not fall..." As Zorian completed his sentence,
Pat!
Jin from the front placed his arm on Zorian's right shoulder and his chin on his left shoulder.
"…" Genryū became very surprised.
Zorian didn't even change his expression, just straightened his right arm to make something fall to his palm.
"Very impressive, you took all the people by your arm and tossed them in the water, all with a... Limiter?
Exceptionally impressive," Genryū said with a smirk.
"..." Jin's expression changed.
GRAB! GRAB!
Zorian grabbed both hands of Jin's shirt from behind and flipped him, changing his original strategy.
THWACK! GRAB! SQUEEZE!
Without giving Jin a chance to move, Zorian grabbed him in a deadlock.
[Jin's thought]
I wasn't ready to meet an arcanist just now. Neither could I fight orian… Zorian, whoever he is, if only I didn't have the limiter.
Wait! Brother Toma.
"Ah! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Toma grabbed his head.
"Oh! I think I will handle this on my own," Jin said, seeing Toma's condition.
RIIING! RIIING!!
Jin's phone rang with a different ringtone, unlike the generic one.
RING! RING!
Zorian's phone didn't ring; rather, a notification came.
The notification read as:
THUD!
Jin fell on the ground as Zorian stood up.
"They have taken care of the people; we should leave now," Zorian said, wearing his cap.
"OK! But your ikigai restricts you even from laughing now?" Genryū asked, walking.
"Heh!" with a smile, Zorian replied.
"It doesn't restrict me from anything, but only in front of people I want, and also with the person who always makes me a part of his PEEKING," Zorian replied, teasing Genryū.
"Oof... sob..." Toma on the ground wept slowly.
"I have things to do. Why do you keep calling me?" Jin said, standing and removing dust off his clothes.
"Ahem!" A voice came from behind the phone.
"Sir, why did you call me?" Jin asked in a respectful tone.
"You and that foolish crybaby will participate in the apex convergence in just 4 months. Have you even started training?" the man asked.
"First, my brother is the strongest person I know. He is not a crybaby; something is just messing with his head," Jin said with confidence.
"Oh! Is it like that? What is the second one, if I may ask?" the man said with amusement.
"Second is that we are the strongest and don't need training," Jin said as his lips rose upwards.
"If you are done, you must not speak now," the man said.
"Ok, sir." Jin's expression changed.
"We don't have any data for any arcanist participating except two," the man said.
"So will you tell me?" Jin asked while gently stroking crying Toma's hair.
"First, an organization tells about the participants when they are too confident about their growth and abilities, but for those two, even I am….
…quite confident that they are the canopy of the Tenkoku freshmen," the man said plainly.
"Ok! Just tell already." Jin held Toma in a bridal hold.
"Their names are USHIMOTO ARASHI & ZORIAN STERLING, and they are currently roaming where you are," the man said with excitement.
"Huh! You are a bit late; I already met one who mentioned the second one," Jin said, wiping Toma's tears.
"I know whom you met and how he showed you your place, but let me tell the second one, Ushimoto, is a man of his own class. That is why I want you to meet him tonight," the man said.
"I fought the first one with a limiter," Jin said, justifying.
"But you are saying that I should fight the second one also with a limiter on? Then what do you even expect from me?" Jin complained.
Tzzt!
The limiter suddenly fell off Jin's neck.
"Your weapon will be there in 2 hours. I have reserved a restaurant just so you two can face off before the apex convergence," the man said.
"You will get me disqualified," Jin said, smiling.
"Don't worry about that; I will take care of it," the man said plainly.
"Spending this much money to just make him weak so he couldn't fight in the apex convergence, that's a bit cruel," Jin said in a playful tone.
"I have told you before, Jin, never keep a misunderstanding. Today I have placed a bet on him just to show you the sharpest sword becomes useless if not used for a long time," the man said in a cold tone.
"So this fight is just so I lose and start training, and Toma also watches it to start training..." Jin started laughing.
"..." The man disconnected the call.
Jin held Toma on his shoulder and made him sit on the backseat of the cycle.
"Comfortable?" Jin asked Toma, sitting behind.
"Jin…" Toma said in a very low voice.
"They mentioned a name. A name of an Ushimoto," Toma said, putting his head on Jin's back.
"Yes, it was Arashi, Ushimoto Arashi," Jin replied in a flash.
"No matter where it is, get it for me, Jin. Get me my Liǎng Yì," Toma ordered Jin.
"Aa.. Hell nah! You aren't getting the weapon of destruction at all by my hands," Jin said playfully.
"But please tell me there is no serious motive." Jin stopped the cycle.
"There is, and it is…." Toma said, his face dark.
Click!
The place went dark. Or was it the page that got covered with blood?
"To kill Ushimoto Arashi," Toma completed.