“Does anybody have any plans for Winter Break?” asked the teacher. All of the girls in the class raised their hands, and a few boys had theirs up as well. The high school class glanced around the room at each other, eager to raise their hands. 

In the corner was a group of two boys and two girls. One boy was the most notable of the four, as he always had his back straight and his eyes directed at his teacher. She, Ms. DeBolt, looked and gestured toward him to speak first. 

“I’m going to New York on New Year’s for the Ball Drop,” the boy announced to his classroom with just a hint of excitement in his voice. 

The class looked impressed, but to them it wasn’t anything new; they knew his family was wealthy and intelligent, and naturally they were frequently going to nice places or attending popular events. 

His parents were the founders of a tech giant called Lensenfjord that led the world in new technology. Yet, despite being such a rich family, they always kept humble and polite to everyone, and their sole child, the one called Kirs, was no exception to this. 

They were generous and often financially supported the school, to the point where the principal was used to receiving bountiful checks from the Lebenslied family worth thousands whenever a fundraiser began. Because of that, the private school was allowed to give its teachers raises as well as afford other facilities, and the teachers felt a kind of fondness for the boy. 

Ms. DeBolt looked around after acknowledging his answer and pointed at the girl in the chair to the right of him to share what her activities would be. She was dressed in a similar fashion to Kirs. She was known throughout the school for her competitiveness with him, and her name, Rossweisse, was a name that was almost always associated with his.

 She led a similar life as he; in fact, her family’s business directly rivaled his. Her family had intentionally sent her to the same school as him, so that she could see him and his family as rivals in life and in business. And it worked. She saw him and his family as perfectly matched rivals. 

But her own parents hadn’t anticipated something; her own feelings about the matter. Or, more specifically, her feelings for the boy in the equation.  The girl glanced at Kirs before turning back towards the teacher and boldly proclaiming,

“I want to go with Kirs.” 

The entire class looked at them and began to make oohing sounds. Kirs shook his head at their immaturity, but looked towards Rossweisse with a questioning glance. She looked back at him and smiled as she sat down, causing the entire class to swoon. Their teacher laughed as she motioned for everyone to quiet down, and after a few more responses to her earlier question, she said,

“I want you guys to go out and do something over the break. You should enjoy your life while you’re still young, make some memories from your highschool days!”

The boy behind Kirs tapped him on the shoulder and leaned forward to whisper, 

“You free after school? Wanna go to the deli with the girls and grab a bite before we spar?” 

Lawrence Kingsley was the child of a lawyer and a police officer, but most importantly, Kirs' best friend. Always with a logic-based mindset, he always fought for justice. Whatever Lawrence defined as justice, however, was what was perplexing to Kirs. He didn’t believe justice was a very logical thing.  

Thinking about Lawrence’s question, Kirs grinned slightly then nodded his head. He was his best friend, after all, and there was no way that he’d skip out on a chance to hang out with him. 

Winter Break began in a few hours, but he would be gone like usual; his parents loved sightseeing, but they were also very diligent with their work and only took time to rest when their employees were taking breaks. Every time Kirs’ school released them for a week or so, his parents took that opportunity to go somewhere.

Kirs ripped a piece of paper from his spiral notebook, his preferred kind, and drew four boxes with the names Rossweisse and Hana above the boxes, with each name having two underneath. On the side of the paper he wrote, “McLeavan’s after school?” 

Satisfied with what he wrote, he tapped Rossweisse on the shoulder and handed her the note. She glanced at him, scribbled something on the note, then handed it to Hana behind her. Hana Sanjo, an exchange student from Japan, was a bit of a mystery to the group, as she appeared in the middle of the year and immediately associated herself with them. Despite that, she was fluent in both Japanese and English, and she made for a good Japanese tutor whenever the group would head to the library and study. 

She took the note, looked at Kirs, Rossweisse, and Lawrence, and swiftly wrote a check mark, handing it to Lawrence afterwards. He pumped his fist under the table, gave a thumbs up to Kirs, and the four of them focused their attention on the teacher once more. 

~

“What did you mean when you said earlier that you want to go with me to New York?” 

Kirs looked her straight in the eyes. Upon meeting his gaze, she blushed and looked away.

“My parents may not like yours, but they’re not above allowing their daughter to go with the boy she loves on a trip together. Supervised, of course. I wanted to tell you earlier, but I didn’t know how to,”

“Well, as much as I’d love to have you come along, my parents might not be too happy with it. It means another person to take care of and stress over, so I don’t think they’d let you. Don’t let yourself get your hopes too high,”

“That’s fair, but do please try to convince them. It took me a lot to convince my parents, and I’d rather not have spent that time in vain.” replied Rossweisse. She pouted and looked in the direction they were traveling, while both Kirs and Lawrence smirked. 

“So, what’re you gonna bring home to me for my Christmas gift?” joked Lawrence.

Kirs turned his head to look at the self-proclaimed warrior of justice while walking along the sidewalk. 

“Probably some fancy candy from New York,” 

“By fancy candy, you mean some Milky Way from a department store’s cash register, don’t you?” retorted a bothered Rossweisse. 

When Kirs missed her birthday party two weeks ago because of his parent’s business trip to Iceland, he had promised her a nice gift with the same promise of “fancy candy”, but returned with some Twix and a hoodie that read “I love Iceland!” on the front of it. 

“Ha ha, I get it, you’re still mad about me going on that trip. What about you two?” he sarcastically responded.

Kirs looked at Hana and Lawrence, both of whom had been trailing behind them.

“What are you going to do over winter break?”

Hana raised her eyes from the sidewalk.

“I’ll be going home to Kyoto to see my family again. Also, Aise, does your house have any extra room for someone else to stay?”

Rossweisse tilted her head in response to her nickname. 

“Huh? Sure, we have a few unnecessary rooms, but why?”

“Since my parents are allowing me, I’ll be applying for U.S. citizenship so I can move here fully, and-”

Rossweisse stopped and turned around to face Hana. She did it so abruptly that Hana froze and the two others also stopped to look at her, and when they did, she tackled Hana in a bear hug. The two of them collapsed as Hana shrieked in surprise, Rossweisse crying and mumbling gibberish while hugging her quiet best friend. 

The girls had been best friends for a few months; they shared the same fashion sense, both were obsessed with astronomy, and both were very intelligent. But, all this time, Hana had been a transfer student from Japan, and she was bound to return before the end of the school year. Rossweisse, nicknamed ‘Aise’ by Hana, was constantly dreading that day. 

Now, though, she could stay for as long as her parents allowed her to. Kirs and Lawrence looked at each other and laughed. Once the girls got up, they continued their walk to the deli.

“We should do something to celebrate. You guys wanna go to the movie theater tonight after my shift? It’ll be my treat, and Hana gets to choose the movie.” Lawrence said, casually strutting along the sidewalk.

“We get it, you’re getting a job, and you wanna throw around your savings,” remarked Rossweisse.

“As much as I’d love to go, I have to double-check my stuff and get it ready before our flight tomorrow morning. We leave the house for the airport at 5:00 a.m,”

“Can’t you just charter a flight to New York with a private airline or something?”

“If you can save on money, save. Never spend more than necessary,” lectured Kirs. 

Lawrence laughed at him and Rossweisse sighed, while Hana nodded in agreement. Kirs’ parents were just like this too; always saving wherever possible, despite being the fourth richest family in the world, worth hundreds of millions. Before reaching success, they were a simple family that worked a 9-5. They understood what it was like to not have money to throw around. 

When the four of them got to the deli, they bought some sandwiches and snacks then walked out to the patio and sat down to eat. As they ate, they talked about their school assignments and lives. Kirs watched as they talked, and thought to himself, I’m happy these guys are my friends. 

~

A lone, armed woman stood at attention in a cold, bleak survey room. A man who had just walked in through the door from the adjacent interrogation room was loosely gripping the neck of a beaten, bruised and bloody man in a suit. The horrific sight met no reaction from the woman inside.

“Ms. Ivaline. Officer Kingsley here has very kindly given us the name of the woman who hacked our information database. What do we do with his corpse? And what do we do with this “Anna” woman?”

She looked at the man at the entrance of the door and began to walk toward him. This guy doesn’t seem to mind that I’m young, thought the mercenary. She nursed her thoughts in her head before speaking in a quiet voice,

“We should make sure his reason for death is accredited to some kind of freak accident. As for that Anna woman… Anna Neumann? Am I correct in assuming her brother is that famous bore of a tech?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“We’ll track her down and eliminate her. We’ll have our money soon,”

“Very well, Ma’am.”

“One more thing- please stop it with the “ma’ams”. If we’re gonna be working this closely with each other, I don’t want to feel old. I’m only 17, you know. I’m probably younger than you,”

“If you want me to, sure. What would you like me to refer to you as, then?”

“Elyana will do.”

Elyana Ivaline was a fresh yet infamous mercenary. She enlisted in the Einherjar organization three months ago at 17 years old. People thought the administrators were insane, permitting a minor to work as a mercenary in a barely legal pay-per-commission job. Elyana was only 17, but she also held a mature allure. The administrators were entranced by her beauty and thought it would be nice to keep her around as eye candy. But, they would soon learn that it would be their biggest mistake.

Elyana despised people who leered at her. She didn’t care what position they held. If someone looked at her with lustful eyes, she would unholster her gun and shove it against their throat. It was because of this hate that she was plotting the downfall of the administration of Einherjar. 

But for now, all she could do was work her jobs and get paid. Her plotting would amount to nothing if she didn’t wait for the right opportunity, the right time, with the proper resources and people. And now, one of the reasons she took up this job was to try to find someone she could rely on, someone she could recruit to her cause. At least, that was what her current objective would have been, but the man in front of her was frustrating her to the point of insanity.

She stared the man in the face. His lazy eyes didn’t seem to care about where hers looked. Oh, how she desired to test him. He was looking straight at her optics. It was unnerving, but still, at least he wasn’t leering at her body. 

“Can I get a name?”

“You already have one, don’t you?”

His face didn’t change from its nonchalant expression. He continued to gaze into her eyes.

Does he think this is a joke?

“What do I call you, I mean,”

“My name is Sterling.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Good, I appreciate it when my partners have functioning eyes,”

This guy really thinks he’s funny, doesn’t he?

She didn’t let her annoyance show on her face, and decided to ignore his dumb remarks. She appreciated humor when it was appropriate, but now was not the time. 

They had a target, and if that target was given too much time to do as they pleased, Einherjar’s secret dealings would be exposed for the world to see. Not only that, but the governments of the United States, Russia, China, and Brazil, just to name a few, would be in big trouble internationally.

 Einherjar’s existence wasn’t exactly illegal but it most definitely skirted the lines of legality; the public would likely negatively react to all its information being leaked. Despite that, the governments of the world found its services extremely handy, so they never banned the organization; yet, they don’t endorse it either. 

Now that someone was threatening the balance of Einherjar’s precarious existence, some mercenaries were hired to take down the threat. Those mercenaries were Elyana and this Sterling guy. And they needed to focus.

Before she could say anything, Sterling himself took the initiative to discuss their course of action. 

“The target, Anna L Neumann, currently resides in Plainsboro, New Jersey. It’s on the other side of the country, and we can’t bring all our gear if we fly. Judging from the way the cop talked about her, she probably maintains a connection with her brother. And knowing his history of overprotectiveness, he probably has a guard assigned to her. We can’t just waltz up to her and take her out.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Damn. We’ll have to improvise, then. If we can’t bring our gear then we might as well start driving.”

“Sounds like a plan. New Jersey, here we come.”

~

After a few hours went by, Hana and Rossweisse waved goodbye and set off for their homes together. Kirs and Lawrence got up and started heading down to Monroe’s one and only Taekwondo Dojang. The two had taken Taekwondo classes for years, and both were adept at the martial art. As they arrived at the building, a group of about twenty students spilled out the door, chattering amongst themselves. When they walked into the newly empty sparring hall’s building, Head Instructor Gok approached them, book in hand, to greet them. 

“Good afternoon, Instructor Gok. Me and Kirs here are gonna spar while there’s no classes, if you don’t mind?”

The grey-haired man, seemingly in his late fifties, looked at them after glancing at the class schedule posted on the wall outside his office. 

“Sure, go ahead. You have about an hour before the next class begins. I won’t make you put on protective gear, but don’t hurt each other too much. It’s only been a week since I’ve cleaned up blood from the mat, but I have no desire to clean up any more.”

“Will do, teach,” Lawrence called out while winking at the tired man. 

Instructor Gok shook his exhausted head which wore a slight grin, set down the novel that had been so tenderly held in his hands, and grabbed a water bottle. Kirs and Lawrence headed into the locker rooms to change and prepare for their upcoming duel. 

Lawrence looked straight across the hall into Kirs’ eyes. Any sign of carelessness that may have been used in his gaze had now been banished, and Lawrence instead had a stony look plastered on his face. His opponent, Kirs, stared back- his eyes, too, looked determined and focused. 

Their years fighting together in the Taekwondo classes were fought with their full strength and ability held back, in order to keep the class in order and well maintained; despite that, however, those drawbacks didn’t apply to their weekly one on one session. They could fight no holds barred.

After a long pause-

The quiet sound of a lightweight running forward broke the silence.  Lawrence had made the first move. He sprang forward with a bound of energy, and with each step he lunged closer to Kirs. He stomped with his left foot to get a good grip on the mat. 

With a swift rustling sound, his leg came up to Kirs’ chest, and he pushed himself off the ground with his other foot and used the momentum to swiftly deliver a crushing kick to Kirs’ chest. 

But, Kirs predicted it. 

His leg missed its target and came swinging down to the mat.

 Kirs had dodged it. 

His dodge filled him with a fresh wave of adrenaline that surged through his body, and he looked Lawrence in the eyes and grinned.

Snap.

The sound of his uniform’s wrist pushing against the air echoed throughout the hall as his fist flew into Lawrence’ chest. As soon as he felt his fist come into contact, he retracted his arm just as quickly as he had thrust it out and jumped back a small distance away.

Lawrence put his arms back into a fighting position while turning to face Kirs.

That hurt.

The blow had pushed him a little bit back as well. However, he was far from tired. He had no intention of giving up now. Even still, he knew he couldn’t play offense. If his years of sparring with Kirs taught him anything, it was that Kirs was a really good defender. 

Lawrence had to bait him into some kind of offensive action and make him slip up, and that was the only way he could possibly fight with a reasonably large chance of victory. 

He backed away from Kirs.

Kirs smirked as he recognized Lawrence’s actions. The defender of justice was now resorting to sneaky tricks. But he knew better than to outright attack Lawrence while he was anticipating one. 

Kirs took a step towards Lawrence in a defensive pose. He knew Lawrence was probably going to anticipate the move, but he had a plan. Lowering his arms, he flattened his palms. Using these thin blades, he swung his hands up then swiftly brought them down, aiming for a crushing blow to the neck. 

Whoosh.

It was a great plan, and people don’t generally predict this kind of move. 

But Lawrence wasn’t just anybody.

Slap.

Lawrence anticipated it, and caught his wrist. He swiftly followed up the block by forcing Kirs’ hand to the side, blocking him from defending himself further. Before Kirs could react, Lawrence punched him in the chest then kicked him.

Foom - Snap, snap, snap.

Three times in a row without stopping. 

Kirs regathered his concentration as Lawrence jumped back.

He quickly dashed towards Kirs, and jumped to perform a flying side kick.

Kirs rolled to the side and dodged the foot that was aimed at his chest, got up, and moved to a position behind Lawrence. 

Lawrence didn’t notice. 

By the time Lawrence had landed and looked to the side that Kirs apparently rolled to-

“Ugh-”                        

  Thud.

 Kirs swept his leg and knocked out Lawrence’s knees. 

Before Lawrence could get up, Kirs lightly dug his elbow to his chest. 

Tap tap.

“Ahhh…”

Lawrence sighed in defeat as Kirs lifted his elbow from his chest. 

“Man, I knew you were playing into my bait, but a sweep? That’s low, man.”

“If it wasn’t low, how else would I make you fall down that quick?” Kirs said with a slight grin.

Lawrence looked at him with a dry look on his face. The horrible joke had not gone over his head. He extended his hand up, and Kirs grabbed it, pulling him up to his feet. They walked together to the locker room to get changed. 

“Alright man, I gotta go. My shift starts in an hour, and I don’t wanna be late during my first week of working.”

“As expected of a police officer’s son,”

Lawrence gave a disappointed look to Kirs then left the dojang.

Kirs waved goodbye to Instructor Gok and headed out too. As he stepped out into the street, he thought about the events to come and what his schedule looked like. He considered heading home early, getting home around 4:00 p.m to study, but he decided against it. 

He’d had a history of never studying; he paid enough attention in class and everything stuck in his mind; studying wasn’t very necessary. He had gone through all of his classes this way, and by the end of the year his grades typically rounded out to be all As, with some A-, give or take. 

He thought about what he wanted to do now, and Rossweisse came to mind. But when he began to think of her, he thought of their earlier discussion. And with that, came one singular phrase that repeated itself over and over again in his head-

Women are confusing.

He’d known she liked him for the better part of the last two years, and truth be told, he liked her too. His problem, the problem that kept him from confessing to her, too, was that he couldn’t always get a grasp of what she wanted. 

Especially her earlier statement.

“I want to go with Kirs,”

Oh, just thinking about it made his heart skip a beat. He had spent half of the remainder of their biology class thinking up a response, but he couldn’t think straight. He’d get distracted by something the teacher said, or he’d start fantasizing about the places in New York they could go on a date to. But when he finally figured out a response…

“Well, as much as I’d love to have you come along, my parents might not be too happy with it. It means another person to take care of and stress over, so I don’t think they’d let you. Don’t let yourself get your hopes too high,”

It was a feint. His parents most certainly cared about his love life, but they too weren’t above preventing their son from spending time with the girl he likes. Not only that, but they really didn’t have to worry about another person joining their entourage; their security team could definitely handle another person. So those weren’t the reasons why he practically rejected her request to come along.

The reason why he said what he did was because he was nervous.

A vacation to New York with the girl he likes??? 

He doubted either of their parents really cared if they went on a date, but they probably would care if they flew to a different city to spend a few days with each other. Supervised or not, teenagers are known for doing stupid things somehow, some way. And not only that, as much as he really, really wanted to bring her along, he couldn’t even say for sure how well he’d be able to control himself if something happened; he’d never been put in that kind of situation before. 

Because of this thinking, he had already decided she would not come. He wouldn’t even mention this to his parents. Maybe he would regret it, but he would rather play things safe. As he was thinking about these things, his phone played his ringtone.

He pulled out his phone and used its retinal scan security software he developed himself along with his parents’ help, and opened up his notifications bar with a button on the left side of the handheld. There, a text message read,

“When you get home, make sure to get your clothes packed and all your trip essentials ready. Our flight leaves at 2:30 a.m, so make sure you sleep early because we’ll leave for the airport around 1:00. We’re meeting up with your Auntie Anna while we’re in New York, too, so while you’re out could you buy her a present?”

Leave it to your mom to repeat the same thing she’s been saying yesterday morning, last night, and this morning. A reminder is nice, but so many words repeated every so often can’t be helpful to the human brain.

 It was efficient in getting him to remember, but horrible in keeping him from getting closer to snapping every time he heard her voice. 

He continued on from the intersection by the dojang all the way to the local department store, where he proceeded to peruse the isles for some kind of gift that could be memorable. 

This would be one of the most difficult tasks he would ever complete in his week, but he had the determination to buy a nice gift for his aunt. And thus, at 3:47 p.m, Kirs Lebenslied began his search for the ultimate gift for his relative that he had not seen since his eighth grade graduation from middle school. 

This was it. This was the ultimate gift. The offering that would earn not only his parent’s, but Rossweisse and Lawrence’s approval. The luxurious taste of milky chocolate, the creamy nougat that layered the crunchy peanuts in between. Oh, yes, the world famous candy that everyone has desired so strongly that the price of the candy jumped up because it was selling out everywhere.

The world famous chocolate bar, Snickers.

He felt so proud of himself for choosing such an amazing gift. He had been wandering the aisles of a Target searching for a suitable gift to his beloved aunt, when he stumbled upon the candy lane where the Snickers grabbed his attention from all the way on the other side of the aisle. He grinned and marched up to the segment, and cautiously chose one of each kind; brownie, peanut, white chocolate, and hazelnut. 

Grrrr.

He froze. The sound startled him. He looked around, searching for what had made that horrific sound. After seeking out the source for a few seconds the thought hit him; he was hungry. 

“... Screw it.”

He grabbed another white chocolate Snickers and booked it towards the cash register. He didn’t want to be seen engaging in such gluttonous acts.

Checking to make sure no one he knew saw him, he turned around. As he did, a familiar face rounded the aisle. Her graceful form entranced him as he stood in line at the cash register. He recognized her almost immediately, and he thought of trying to hide by turning around, but he just as quickly recognized that attempting to hide would be futile.

She had seen him and was heading in his direction. So, now he could do nothing but explain himself. She walked up to him with a cold look in her eyes. 

Don’t look at me with those eyes. It hurts.

“What’s with all the candy? Gorging yourself on cheap, everyday sweets, are we now?”

“I’m buying a gift for my aunt when we visit her in New York,”

“... You’re buying a set of Snickers as a gift.”

“Yep. They’re like, the best chocolate around.”

Rossweisse stared at him without a word. Kirs stared back, confused as to why she was visibly annoyed with him. The people around them were watching intently, but neither of them really seemed to notice the small crowd of onlookers. After a few moments of silence, the cashier spoke to the two of them who were holding up the line.

“Um, sir, ma’am, are you ready to pay?”

Rossweisse glared at her. The cashier swallowed nervously, trying not to upset her customers. After a few more moments of standing around, Rossweisse grabbed Kirs’ hand and headed back into the department store. 

“This is for your aunt, right? You’re not trying to buy yourself a bunch of chocolates?”

“Yes. I solemnly swear that I am not trying to buy a bunch of chocolates for myself.”

She led him towards an aisle that consisted of rows of glass bottles with colored liquids inside. Kirs curiously looked up and down the aisle and instantly thought, Oh. Perfume. Rossweisse looked towards the end of the aisle and said,

“Choose an oriental scent from the floral section.” 

Kirs gave her a blank look.

“Choose a what from the what section??”

“Take that pink one in the red section.” 

She sighed in disappointment as Kirs hastily rushed over to the bottle she was gesturing towards. When he returned to her, perfume glass in hand, she grabbed his hand and led him towards the center of the store, where most sections could be seen.

“Alright, now, I’m going to give you a lesson on gift-giving. Let’s try this; who is someone you would like to give a gift to, right now?”

A brilliant idea popped into his head.

“You.”

Rossweisse froze, and her face turned red. She snapped out of it quickly, and she turned away from him, looking towards the clothing section.

“Don’t distract me. I’m tutoring you in the art of gift giving right now.”

“Yes, m’lady,” replied Kirs with a grin.

~

Hana’s apartment was filled with the sound of technology whirring and her fingers tapping away at her keyboard. Occasionally, her fingers would briefly leave her keyboard, snatch a pen lying around somewhere, then jot something down on a piece of paper. 

Her desk was a mess, three advanced monitors placed next to each other, with seemingly hundreds of loose leaf papers floating around her desk. Sticky notes adorned the edges of the monitors, and each note had some kind of diagram or mathematical equation on it with bits of programming code scattered here and there. 

A dog sat next to her, wagging its tail enthusiastically while watching its owner type away at her computer. On one of her monitors, she noticed a mailman approaching her door. She got up and walked towards her door, dog in tow.

Ding dong.

Hana opened the door immediately, to the surprise of the delivery guy. Snatching the parcel from his hands and signing it, she thrust the form and pen into his hands, then shut the door. Excitedly, she tossed the parcel onto the kitchen counter and ran into her room. 

She grabbed a box from under her bed and placed the box on her unmade bed and gently removed its contents. Gingerly grasping pieces of metal and circuitry in her hands and a USB cable with her teeth,  she slowly walked over to the kitchen and set everything down on the counter. 

She grabbed a kitchen knife from its place in a drawer, and carefully cut open the box that had arrived. Inside the box, and a few layers of bubble wrap, there lay a strange piece of technology that had a sleek, smooth design; she took it and moved over to the other pieces, and she assembled them swiftly and excitedly. She took a step back to process her creation.

It looked like a loud fashion statement. The silver bands looked more like handcuffs than bracelets, or really anything fashionable. But that wasn’t the reason for their creation. The two bands had a very potent ability, hidden within their odd design; the bands had small buttons located on the insides; they were triggered if someone so much as put them on. But the cool part was this; they activated magnets which influenced the magnetic fields around the user. 

They could theoretically make a “forcefield” that could influence the movement of metal objects. These bands held power. Bullets could be redirected, objects with metal could be pushed back, and things with iron inside it on the ground could be thrown towards targets. But, that was still just a theory. And theories need to be tested. She would have to have Kirs test it before he left. 

But that would probably never happen.

All her research and calculations proved that he was the best choice for the procedure. And if everything happens like it is supposed to, then her little gadgets wouldn’t matter compared to what he would need. And she would also probably find that the bracelets would be detrimental to his physical health, too. 

Hana took the metal wrist bands and walked towards her room; once she got there, she approached a silver container and dropped them inside with the rest of the scrapped ideas and devices, no longer caring about what would happen to them.

~

Kirs tapped the passcode to open the garage door of his home. After Rossweisse had finished lecturing him on “the art of gifts'', he headed home to go to sleep early and prepare for his trip the following morning. The house’s three car garage only had his car inside; His parents weren’t home. He looked at his car that he had received from his parents as a gift for achieving all A’s in his seven AP classes in his sophomore year. 

It was an awesome gift, but useless to him because he never got his license until three months ago; and even then, it was pointless because he couldn’t drive with anyone else in the car. After he finished admiring the vehicle, he closed the garage door, took off his shoes, and walked inside the house. When he got up to his room, he set his bag down next to his desk and marched over to his closet.

The spacious room enclosed two rows of casual clothing, with the top row on the right reserved for the more elegant of his clothes. The wall opposite of the door had cubby holes for shoes on its right and a mirror on its left. He began to organize some clothes while he let his phone play music, connected to the speakers that he had hidden in his closet and room. 

When he had finished packing his clothes, he looked at himself in the mirror and thought about the long flight, then began to think of what he could do to prepare for the intense boredom that came with being stuck on a plane for five hours. He pulled out his phone to browse what games he could play, but as he did a faint rumbling sound could be heard over the music. He walked over to the window and looked outside.

A large SUV rolled into the driveway, as the garage door below Kirs’ feet loudly opened. He walked downstairs to the garage, and waved at his mother from the doorway into the house. Once she parked, she got out of the car but only waved because her other hand held a phone that was held up to her ear. 

“The idea of a costume cafe is to allow aspiring actors to hone their craft while serving food and earning money! What’s the point of making just another cafe where the waiters and waitresses only wear suits and ties?? Yeah, I know Japan has been doing it for a while, but I want to make this a thing in America too! Yes, Seattle! Seattle is the perfect location for something refreshing and new!”

She walked as she yelled, moving to Kirs’ position ever so slowly. When she got to him, they briefly hugged before Kirs took her bags and brought them inside so she could focus on her call. She continued to yell as Kirs put her stuff on the living room table, then proceeded to head upstairs once more. His mom was a fun person to be around, as she always had new ideas and was always offering to pay for things; at least, if you weren’t her immediate family. 

To Kirs, she was painfully annoying and always did things that he thought were embarrassing. For instance, she once followed him and Rossweisse as they went on a date to their high school’s musical, and she seated herself right behind the two of them. Lawrence and Hana, sitting three rows behind her, promptly warned the two of them, and their date was more or less ruined. Nothing’s more awkward than holding hands with someone in front of your mother.

Ah, holding hands. How lewd.

Despite Nadine Lebenslied’s apparent annoying presence to Kirs, most of his friends liked her. To Lawrence, Mrs. Lebenslied was a funny lady who always managed to bring up something he could use to blackmail his best friend. To Rossweisse, Mrs. Nadine was the sweet woman who always offered to handle the costs, despite Rossweisse being more than capable of paying for herself. To Hana, Madam was an interesting person with genius ideas. And those three viewpoints more or less summed up what the rest of the world thought of her, too. 

People would probably call Kirs ungrateful or disrespectful for finding her to be annoying, but mothers are mothers. They exist to annoy their children. They also exist to raise, nurture, love, and spoil their children, and Kirs knows that. He loves her, too, but thinking someone is annoying doesn’t mean you hate them. 

He went up to his room, double-checked that all his stuff was packed (he usually forgets to bring his toothbrush) and jumped on the small couch in his room. He grabbed a controller off of his controller rack, and booted up his gaming console. A device Rossweisse’s parents’ company created, she gave him one for his birthday this year. Whenever he was home alone with nothing to do, he booted up the console and played games until he fell asleep. 

After about thirty minutes of playing, his mom knocked on his door and opened it without warning. 

“Get ready for bed, then go to sleep soon. I’ll wake you up about an hour before we leave. Do you have everything packed?”

“Yep,”

“Okay. Your dad will be joining us straight from work.”

He gave a thumbs up in acknowledgement. As he did, she closed the door and left. He sighed, turned off his console and sprawled over his bed. He took out his phone and texted Rossweisse,

Goodnight. I’ll see you again in a week.

And with that, he turned on some jazz music and slowly fell asleep.