Derick has met up with his cousin Luan again, the two of them were meant to be training together for the Awakening Test, he was reluctant to accept it, but Luan beat him in the race and ended up winning, Derick looks annoyed, he really has gone out of his way not to let Luan beat him, Luan seems happy to have beaten him, he's a little crouched with his hands resting on his knees, he looks a little tired, but his smile is more evident, as if he's won something very important, Derick frowns, thinking Luan is sneering at him and says:

"What's with that smile? Are you laughing at me?"

Luan looks at him surprised, but that's not what his smile was meant to show, he turns serious and replies:

"No, I'm not laughing at you, I'm happy to have gotten your attention, for once."

"Since I arrived you've seemed so serious, and I've noticed that you don't like my presence very much, I'm not here to replace anyone, but we need to win this Test, I just want you to help me with that."

Luan extends his hand to shake his hand and formalize their partnership, but Derick pushes Luan's hand away and says:

"I don't like being touched, just do your part and I'll do mine."

Luan gives a slightly amused smile and thinks to himself:

(Wow, this guy is tougher than I thought, it's just a length, at least in my country we have this custom, I'll have to adapt to the customs here).

Derick turns his back and walks away, Luan lets him go, he doesn't want to force a possible fight, the atmosphere is already very heavy this week, it's all new for Luan, change of country, language, home, school, and friends, his only family member who has more ties is his mother, who works in a bookstore, and that takes up a lot of time, Luan is a 14-year-old boy, but he's been used to being on his own since he was 10 years old, when his maternal grandparents died in a car accident that he was also involved in, but he doesn't accept that it was just an accident, and during this time alone at home, he's learned to cook for himself, he learned to play the piano and the violin, but he stopped practicing the violin because of his trauma, he brought his keyboard which is what he's been practicing the most, as well as his studies (he doesn't usually study much, but he manages to keep his grades average, he's intelligent but he's a bit lazy), Luan was born with powers, and has an easy time mastering the four elements, wind, earth, water and fire. He's really obsessed with the Awakening Test, with beating it, his desire to find out what really happened on the day of the accident that killed his grandparents.

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Derick, on the other hand, seems to hate him, but he really hoped it was his brother Dylan who was his teammate, even a few years after his disappearance, his room and his brother's, the bed next to his remains there and is untouched, the sheets are washed, and everything is kept just as he left it, the guitar he liked to play also remains in the same place, he just does the maintenance, the beginning of the discord happened a week ago, Luan and his mother returned to Rivercity, and were invited to lunch at his house, they live in the same condominium and are neighbors, as they live next door to each other, Luan is taken by Justin to Derick's room, and is introduced to him, Justin his father, lets them introduce themselves and talk for a few minutes, while they wait for lunch to be ready, Luan without thinking too much sits on the bed next to him, on his brother Dylan's bed, this causes him to get angry and yell at him:

"What are you doing? I didn't give you permission to sit there!"

Luan, without understanding, gets up quickly, and without much time to respond, he is pushed out of the room, closing the door in his face. Without much to do, he goes downstairs to the living room, next to his mother. Lunch goes well, but Derick avoids making contact with Luan, who remains smiling and kind to everyone, or at least gives room for some interaction with his cousin, he thinks to himself:

(Nosy boy, I didn't invite him into my room, let alone sit on Dylan's bed, I'm not going to make it easy for this slacker, they think they're going to replace him with this smiling lizard, I'll only have to see him in training...)

When his thoughts are interrupted by Grandpa Han who announces that from next week Luan will also be studying at ST High School, where he is the Principal, Derick frowns even more in displeasure, but he doesn't have much to do, after all Luan is also his grandfather's grandson, At the end of lunch they get up from the table and go into the living room, Luan is one of the last to get up, he looks uncomfortable, he doesn't have that many memories of his childhood and his family on his father's side, some of them are very painful, as soon as he gets up, Derick takes him by the arm and whispers:

"You're going to pretend you don't know me at school, and I'm going to do the same."

Luan rolls his eyes, as if bored, and replies:

"Don't worry, I'll pretend I don't know you."

And yes, that was one of the terms he negotiated with his grandfather Han, he would only attend his school, so that no one would know about his relationship with the Becker's, he would only use his maternal surname, Bianchi, and so a mutual agreement was reached, Luan tried to keep his identity and go unnoticed, but not everything went as well as expected.

What really changed Derick's mind?

...

.....