By the time Raito woke up, it was already 1:00 pm. Reo was out of the house, Keito was over helping to make lunch, and Yukio was cleaning up the house. Raito just sat up from the floor as he waited for his vision to clear up. He also couldn’t understand what his family was saying except for the few Japanese words he knew. Once he felt like he was ready, got up from the floor, and picked up the area. Once he was fully up, his Gift started to work again and was able to understand his family as normal. His aunt and cousin were talking about plans for today and hadn’t quite notice Raito yet.

“Sorry I slept for such a long time,” Raito yawned.

His family turned around with smiles on their faces. “That’s jet lag for you,” Keito said.

Wanting to feel useful, Raito walked over to the kitchen to help with lunch. “So where is Reo? In his room still?”

“He said he had plans for today and had left around twelve. You just missed him,” answered Yukio.

Raito made a small smirk before whipping it away from his face. He wanted to get to know Reo more but at the same time, he was glad that he didn’t have to feel unwelcomed again.

Keito placed several pieces of sliced pork belly on a pan that he was using. “I thought it be cool for us to go to Tokyo today. I figured you like the more touristy areas.”

Raito shrugged his shoulders and avoided eye contact, “we don’t have too. I don’t mind visiting the more local areas and really get to know Japan.”

“Don’t let what Reo said to get to you. It’s true, we don’t exactly like how most tourists view Japan. But! That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun still. Tell me you’re not itching to go and let your otaku heart explode in excitement!”

Raito couldn’t help but do a small grin at the thought. “Okay. As long as you can PLEASE STOP CALLING ME AN OTAKU! That’s going to be embarrassing once we’re in public.”

“That’s a tall order cousin.”

After lunch, they made their way to Tokyo. There were people everywhere. Flashing lights covered every area, the clothes people wore varied greatly, and all the things Raito had hoped to see in Japan was here. Keito just smiled as he looked over to see Raito overjoyed with where to even start.

“Let’s start things over with my favorite. The arcades!” Keito suggested.

The arcade Keito brought Raito too was a two-story arcade with games Raito had never heard of before. He wanted to play every single game and tried to just do that. There were dancing games, card games, fighting games, shooters, and games he didn’t know how to describe. Keito had to practically drag Raito out of the store before he had spent all his money.

The next few stops were various merchandise stores. Without hesitation, Raito looked very closely for any merch that was I Am Hero or any other series that he was passionate about. He bought a few things before going to the next area, a bookstore.

“I don’t know. I’m still not very good at reading hiragana or katakana.” Raito grumbled as they made their way inside.

“Then this will give you the motivation to get better at it.”

Raito had never seen such a large bookstore that had rows and rows of mangas. He was used to bookstores only having one row dedicated to them. He scanned what felt like every aisle and just got more and more excited. Tons of them had no English version and the ones that did were several volumes ahead from the English version. Raito picked a few that piqued his interest and decided to look around at the more traditional fiction books. Without warning, Raito felt like someone was watching him. He felt waves of hot and cold air blowing around him and his head had a tingling feeling. But then everything went back to normal. Just when he felt at ease. He started to hear a beating sound. It sounded identical to the one he heard when fighting Blight before he had passed out. A heartbeat that is beating irregular to what it should sound like. He tried to locate whose heartbeat he was hearing but just like that strange body experience. The sound was gone in a matter of seconds.

“Hey!”

“AAH!” Yelped Raito.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. You got what you need so we can head out?” Keito asked.

Raito took in a few deep breaths to calm himself down, “Yah. Let’s go.”

By the time Raito and Keito finished everything that Keito had planned. It was nearly 8:00 pm so they decided to find a place to eat.

Keito led the way and started to get farther and farther away from the center of the city. “Saturdays are the worst; all the good spots tend to be filled with tourists. But they know nothing about the small joints that are around.”

They walked around what felt like an hour before being face to face with a small cart and a man. Only one thing was on the menu.

“Ik..aya…ki?”

“It’s grilled squid! Served with white rice to help you get full. You’ve eaten squid before, right?”

“Not really, mom tends to only make fried Japanese style food. I think it’s because she doesn’t really know how to cook.”

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

On the train ride back to Reo’s home, Raito starred at his reflection on the glass door. His hands were full of bags from all the things he bought. His stomach was full from the delicious dinner he had. And there was a smile on his face when he thought about the arcade.He just had the best day of his life but yet…he didn’t feel happy. His smile slowly faded away and his shoulders began to slouch. His mind went blank. He’s right back to feeling like an empty shell. Or maybe the emptiness never left. Instead, it was just temporarily forgotten.

As the train stopped, they both proceeded to get off and walk the rest of the way.

Keito looked over at Raito. Keito couldn’t help but mimic Raito’s body expression. “You’re still sad aren’t you?”

Raito wasn’t sure how to respond. “I-I did have fun. I-“

“It’s not my first time being with someone with depression. Reo acted the same way as you. It didn’t matter how much effort I put into making him smile or the amount of fun we had. He always had that same look you do the minute we stopped having fun. Then again, we weren’t really having fun. It was more like I was having fun and he just forgot he was sad for a moment. But the sadness never really went away. He took it the hardest when dad died and I’m pretty sure he’s still suffering from depression because of it. It happened ten years ago but to him, it’s like it happened just yesterday.”

“How did you get over?”

“Time. It was tough but me and my mom were able to move on. I know he’s hard on me because he wants me to be stable and successful. But I’m happy where I am. It’s like he wants to be dad, which is why he took a high paying job. But forgot that he’s Reo. He used to be a huge otaku like you. Now, it’s like he hates everything that once made him happy.”

Raito thought about all the similarities between him and Reo. It’s as if the universe was showing him who he would become if he couldn’t move on. He had to move on.

“But I know Reo is still there somewhere. It’s why I don’t push him to be his old self because it’s okay to not be okay. I just have to remind him when he’s being an asshole. Reo is the one that actually came up with taking you to Tokyo. He left before you woke up because he felt bad about yesterday and wanted to make it up.”

“Why didn’t he just come with us then?”

“He was still embarrassed about yesterday and how he acted.”

Once they made it home it was very late and Keito decided to head on home after walking Raito to the house. His aunt was already asleep and Reo’s door was closed. Raito opened his suitcase and put on his new superhero outfit.

It was a blue t-shirt with a white soundwave graphic on the front, a blue hooded jacket, a grey face mask that covered his mouth and nose, and lastly a big pair of white headphones.

He wasn’t sure what he was doing or what to even do. But he needed to see for himself if he could still be a hero. He made sure he made no noise as he went outside and started to patrol the area.

“AAAAAAH. HELP!” Screamed a voice.

Wave immediately ran to where he believed the screamed for help were coming from. He could hear the sounds getting closer and closer after every step he took. He wasn’t thinking about the threat, running into a Gift, or anything. He just knew he had to help someone in need. As he turned a corner that led him to an alleyway, he sees the last person he ever wanted to meet again. He still wore the same clothes from before. Images of blood and Flight flashed before Wave’s eyes. Wave became paralyzed as long as he stared into the eyes of the mask belonging to Leech. Wave then heard a cough that snapped Wave back into reality. That’s when he spots Reo on the floor, bleeding from his arm and head.

“What did you do to him!” Shouted Wave.

Leech just stood there silently. Waiting for his turn to speak. “I wondered how long it would take for you to show up. We have some unfinished business.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leech was sitting upside down on Timekeeper’s couch. He rocked his head from side to side while making a clicking sound with his tongue, “tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.”

“Is that noise really necessary?” Asked Timekeeper. Timekeeper was, as usual, working on something on his computer. People rarely ever saw Timekeeper be away from his computer.

“I’m bored! You usually have some stupid thing for me to do. How is it that you got nothing for me!?”

“It’s a slow day…”

“You once had me kill a guy for sneezing on you.”

“He didn’t say sorry.”

Just then, Timekeeper gets a call on his desk phone. He decided to answer the phone with the speaker on. “What is it Foresight?”

“I found a Gift in Japan.”

This got Leech’s attention as he got off the couch and headed towards Timekeeper’s desk.

“I was in a bookstore when I sensed him. I must have been right next to him but there were too many people. I used my Gift once I was far enough away from the store and notice one person searching the area. I’m positive that must have been the Gift ” Explained Foresight.

Leech looked over to Timekeeper to gauge his reaction. For once Timekeeper’s eyes were no longer on a computer screen but instead on the phone call. He put his hands in front of his mouth as he calculated his plan of action.

“Why did you not engage with the Gift,” Leech asked.

“Is…is that Leech?” Foresight asked.

“Answer the question,” Timekeeper growled.

“I didn’t know what their Gift was. It was best not to cause a scene in a crowded area don’t you think?”

“Do you know what this person looked like?” Timekeeper asked.

“Yah, like I said I used my Gift when it was safe. It was some young kid. Probably no older than twenty. Medium black hair looked Asian and brown eyes.”

Timekeeper started to tap his fingers on his desk. “Find him again and find out for sure. You know what to do from there.”

“Wait!” Interrupted Leech. “Let me do the introduction.”

“And why pray tell would you want to do that?” Timekeeper questioned.

“Did you not just hear me? I’m sick of being bored. And if he is a Gift. You really want Foresight to make the introduction. What if he goes hostile? I’m the perfect Gift to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Leech explained.

“There aren’t many Gifts left to be discovered. This person most likely doesn’t have one that is worth being scared of. But if it means you’ll leave me alone. Foresight, find him again and give Leech the information.”

Leech made a black hole and went through it, appearing in Foresights home. Foresight was an older Japanese man. He wore a white suit with a blue dress shirt and matching tie. He also wore a motorcycle helmet that was painted to look like an eyeball.

“Chop chop!” Leech demanded, “find me this Gift you think you found.”

“Very well.” Foresight took off his helmet and snapped his fingers. His eyes went pure white as if he had just gone blind. His sight could now be compared to that of a space satellite. He could see all of Japan, but his sight wasn’t limited to only that. He could focus on specific objects or people in a way that not even a satellite could mimic. He used this sight to find the person he believed to be a Gift. It only took a few minutes before he had found him. He then snapped his fingers again and sent what he had seen into Leech’s mind. Much like sending someone a picture through text.

Leech created a black hole to act as a mirror. Through it, they could see two people eating by a food cart.

“That’s him,” Foresight pointed at the person on the left that looked like he was struggling to eat his food.

“My intuition was right. It was you Wave,” Leech whispered to himself.

“So what’s the plan? Kill the other guy and take the Gift?”

“I have something else in mind.”