"So, uh… my old man said you were once in the NSA. How'd you manage that?"
Talia gave a dismissive sound at the back of her throat, and for a few seconds, it almost seed like she was not going to respond to Jas at all. But after a while, she spoke up.
"My grandad used to be the chairman of the NSA."
Jas' eyes lit up!
"Oh, that's cool! Why aren't you still over there? It's gotta be more fun than being in this stupid school!"
Talia felt a jolt of sadness pass through her heart once Jas asked her that question. She gritted her teeth tightly while squeezing her school uniform to prevent the tears that she knew wanted to co out. Once she was sure that she wasn't going to cry, she answered in a hard voice that took all the wind out of Jas's sails.
"My grandfather died. An anima killed him."
"O-Oh… sorry about that."
Jas could feel the uncomfortable tension in the air rising again as both of them went silent once more. Jas scratched the back of his head in irritation and sighed internally as he tried to think of sothing to say to fill the silence. Why the hell did his dad tell him to do this?
He didn't even want to get close to Talia in the first place and he was only doing it because his father told him to, and now things were becoming uncomfortable because he said sothing unnecessary.
Jas was about to leave the class and join the other students at recess, but Talia spoke up before he could go far.
"Thank you for before, when you helped stop that girl. I shouldn't have treated you like that. I was just angry because of how she treated Teddy. It was a gift from my grandfather, so it's important to . Thank you for trying to help , and sorry."
Jas stopped in his tracks and turned around with a look of shock on his face as he saw Talia looking at him with a small pout on her face. She looked like she wasn't completely happy about what she was saying, but Jas could still feel the sincerity in her words. He felt a small blush rising on his cheek and used a finger to scratch the side of his nose while averting his eyes.
Jas chuckled.
"Well, it was nothing. It's what the greatest hero does, y'know. I've gotta look out for those in trouble."
Talia deadpanned at Jas. Was he so sort of delusional hero?
"You're nowhere close to the greatest hero! The greatest hero is my big brother!"
"Eh!? No way! I'm gonna be the greatest hero in the world, you just watch! I'm gonna be just like KING!"
Talia folded her hands with a proud smirk on her face as she looked down at Jas.
"Heh, a little kid like you could never be the greatest hero! My big brother is GHOST! He just killed an Eldritch class monster the other day!"
Jas's eyes widened in shock!
"Really! GHOST is your big brother! Aw, man, that's aweso! He's soone I'm planning to surpass too! Just you watch! I'll be the greatest hero in the world and everyone will acknowledge !"
Jas raised his hand into the air and struck a heroic pose while pointing at Talia. Talia could see the way Jas' eyes hardened with resolve when he spoke. She could see it in there. Jas was dead serious about wanting to beco a hero.
A mont passed in silence before Talia suddenly doubled over and started to laugh! She held her stomach in exertion and put a hand to her mouth while chuckling loudly!
Jas imdiately blushed in embarrassnt as he saw her laughing at him and he glared in anger!
"Don't laugh at , you jerk! I'm serious!"
"Hahahahahahaha! You want to be the greatest hero!? You're such a kid!"
"What!? You can't say that! You're a kid too!"
Talia would not stop laughing even after Jas glared at her for a long ti, and after a while, even Jas couldn't stop himself from chuckling along with her. By the ti Talia ca down from her laughing fit, she was breathless and her face was flushed. She looked at Jas softly and smiled.
"If you want to be the greatest hero, then try your best to surpass my big brother. I'll be watching you."
Ba-Dump!
Jas swallowed hard as he felt a tremor in his chest. Jas put a hand to his face while looking away from Talia's smile.
'Oh god, what was that? Am I having a fever? My face feels hot.'
Jas didn't understand what that feeling in his chest was, so he shook his head to clear it and tried his best to push it to the back of his mind before smiling back at Talia.
"You better keep watching because I'm gonna be the greatest soday! It's a promise!"
Talia chuckled again and Jas frowned before he smiled. Jas reached into his pocket and brought out so cards that he had been saving to show his friends. He looked from Talia to the cards and then back again before he shrugged.
"Hey, do you watch Pokémon? I've got so super rare cards. Look, it's Charizard!"
Talia's eyes lit up.
"Really!? You have a Charizard card!? That's aweso!"
…
[Two Days Later.]
Ring~! Ring~! Ring~!
Mark blinked and opened his eyes as he heard the sound of his phone going off. He quickly turned around in bed and reached out to grab his phone from the tabletop beside him. Arit was no longer in bed and Mark just guessed that she had already woken up to make breakfast. Mark sat up once he saw that the caller ID was a familiar one.
"Hector. What is it? Did sothing happen?"
On the other end of the call, Hector frowned.
"Godfather. I told you to call godfather."
Mark nodded sleepily while cleaning his eyes with the back of his hand. If Hector had enough energy to joke around like that, then it was definitely nothing serious.
"What is it, godfather?"
On the other end of the call, Hector went silent as he heard the nonchalant tone that Mark was using. Hector couldn't believe it.
"You actually forgot, didn't you? I thought you would forget, but it's a little surprising that you did."
Mark frowned in irritation as he stood up and yawned. He didn't have ti for Hector's riddles. Mark walked over to the room window and looked out at the dark clouds flying overhead. It would rain soon.
Mark told Hector to get to the point already. He had to go to school soon. Hector sighed over the phone, but Mark could hear the smile in Hector's voice when he next spoke.
"Happy birthday, son."
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