Every problem has a beginning, and sometimes it starts with something as simple as jealousy.
Dante stood near the school gate with his arms crossed, watching Rafael wait for Rosalie.
It had become a familiar sight.
Every afternoon, Rafael waited for her after class, and the two of them would walk home together.
Sometimes they talked the entire way.
Sometimes Rosalie laughed at something Rafael said.
Other times, they simply walked beside each other in comfortable silence.
Dante hated it.
He had tried getting Rosalie’s attention before.
He had tried talking to her, showing off in front of her, and making himself look important.
None of it had worked.
Then Rafael had changed.
The quiet kid who had once been easy to ignore suddenly carried himself differently.
He spoke with more confidence and seemed more observant, almost as if he were constantly paying attention to everything around him.
He had better school supplies and, despite coming from a poor family, somehow seemed to have access to money.
That last part bothered Dante more than he wanted to admit.
“That’s him?” the older student beside him asked.
Dante nodded.
“Rafael Quintero.”
The older student looked toward the gate.
“He doesn’t look like much.”
“He wasn’t.”
“What changed?”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“I don’t know.”
That was exactly why he was angry.
He didn’t know.
Rafael had somehow become different, and nobody seemed to know why.
Dante had already asked around.
He knew Rafael’s family wasn’t rich.
His father worked as a janitor, and his mother did laundry for other people.
Rafael had done odd jobs before, including washing cars, but Dante didn’t think that explained the sudden changes.
Now he was buying better supplies, spending money on equipment, doing research, and sometimes going somewhere after school without telling anyone.
“You said you could find out where he goes after school,” Dante said.
The older student shrugged.
“I said I’d try.”
“And?”
“He’s difficult to follow.”
Dante frowned.
“How difficult?”
“He changes routes.
One day he takes the main road.
Another day he cuts through the side streets.
Sometimes he stops somewhere before going home.”
Dante stared at him.
“What is he doing?”
“I don’t know.” The older student paused.
“That’s the problem.”
Dante looked back toward the school gate.
Rafael had just left with Niel, and a few seconds later, Rosalie appeared.
Rafael waited for her as usual.
The irritation returned, but this time it was mixed with suspicion.
“There has to be something,” Dante muttered.
The older student glanced at him.
“Maybe he’s just smarter than you thought.”
“Don’t start.”
“I’m just saying.”
Dante ignored him and continued watching Rafael.
“I want to know where he goes.”
The older student sighed.
“I’ll have someone keep an eye on him.”
Dante nodded.
He still didn’t know what Rafael was hiding, but the more he watched him, the less Rafael seemed like the same kid he had known before.
Dante had no proof that Rafael was doing anything wrong, but jealousy had already convinced him that something was there.
He just needed to find it.
I didn’t know any of that as I walked home with Rosalie.
As far as I was concerned, Dante was still a school bully with a personal grudge.
I knew he had attacked Niel, I knew he had been asking questions about me, and I knew he had started talking to an older student.
What I didn’t know was what he intended to do with the information he was collecting.
After dropping Rosalie off, I continued along my usual route.
The evening air was warm, the streets were gradually becoming quieter, and the remaining sunlight stretched long shadows across the pavement.
For several minutes, everything seemed normal.
Then I heard the motorcycle.
Its engine grew louder behind me before passing.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw the same dark motorcycle and dark helmet I’d noticed before.
The rider had roughly the same build as the person I’d seen on previous days.
I kept walking without turning around again.
I didn’t need to.
HEMS made it possible for me to separate sounds without consciously focusing on each one.
I could recognize the rhythm of the engine, the timing of its acceleration, and even the slight change in pitch as it moved away.
The motorcycle eventually disappeared into the distance, and I continued walking.
Several minutes later, I heard it again.
This time, it came from another direction.
I slowed down and watched as the motorcycle appeared at an intersection ahead.
The rider glanced toward me before continuing past.
I stopped.
That wasn’t a coincidence anymore.
I’d spent several days observing.
I’d changed routes, slowed down, taken different streets, and deliberately varied my routine.
The motorcycle kept appearing.
At some point, observation stopped being useful.
I needed an answer.
I turned onto a narrower road and continued until I reached a relatively quiet intersection.
There were still houses nearby, but there weren’t many people around.
I stopped and waited.
The motorcycle appeared at the far end of the road.
The rider slowed when he saw me standing in the middle of the intersection.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
He eventually rolled to a stop, keeping one foot planted against the pavement while looking at me through his dark visor.
“Can I help you?”
“Yeah.” I kept my voice calm.
“You can tell me why you’ve been following me.”
The rider gave a short laugh.
“Following you?”
“I’ve seen you several times.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“You changed direction after I changed mine.”
He said nothing.
I took another step toward him.
“You’ve been watching me.”
His posture changed almost imperceptibly.
His shoulders tightened, and his right hand moved slightly away from the handlebar.
To someone else, it might have meant nothing.
To me, it was enough. Get faster updates on g.com.
HEMS sharpened everything—the position of his feet, the angle of his shoulders, the tension in his fingers, even the subtle changes in his breathing.
I felt my fingers brush against the bracelet beneath my sleeve.
Aetheris.
I’d spent weeks testing it under controlled conditions.
Strength, agility, balance, perception, reaction time.
Every experiment had been performed alone, with no danger and no unpredictable opponent.
This wasn’t a controlled experiment.
The rider suddenly kicked the motorcycle’s stand up, and the engine roared.
For an instant, I thought he was going to drive past me.
Instead, he accelerated directly toward me.
I activated Aetheris.
Mana surged through the crystal and spread through my arm and across my body.
My senses sharpened as the sounds around me separated naturally—the insects in the grass, distant traffic, wind moving through the leaves, and the subtle vibration of the motorcycle beneath the rider.
The world didn’t actually slow down.
My brain simply had more room to process what was happening within each moment.
The motorcycle’s front wheel turned slightly.
The rider shifted his weight, lowering his right shoulder as he tried to force me aside.
I moved at the last possible moment.
The motorcycle shot past me, its engine roaring as it continued down the road.
I watched the rider brake several meters away, the rear tire skidding slightly against the pavement before he turned the motorcycle around.
He was coming back.
This time, I didn’t wait for him to reach me.
I moved toward him.
The rider seemed surprised and tried to change direction, but I’d already read his movement.
I stepped to the side, grabbed the handlebar with one hand, and used his momentum against him.
The motorcycle lurched sideways.
The rider lost his balance and fell onto the pavement.
The motorcycle slid several meters before coming to a stop.
I immediately stepped back.
The rider groaned and pushed himself upright.
“You little—”
He charged at me.
His first punch came toward my face, but I saw the movement before the fist reached me.
I shifted my head aside, caught his arm, and pulled him forward.
His balance broke, and I used his momentum to send him toward the ground.
He twisted and tried to grab my shirt.
I stepped backward.
He swung again.
I blocked it.
Aetheris didn’t make me a trained fighter.
I hadn’t suddenly acquired years of martial arts experience.
What it gave me was something different: enough processing speed to recognize his movements almost as soon as they began.
I could see the shift in his weight, anticipate the direction of his attacks, and choose how to respond before his movements fully developed.
The rider threw another punch.
I caught his wrist, stepped inside his reach, and swept his leg.
He hit the pavement hard enough to knock the breath from him.
He tried to get back up, but I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him down again.
“Stay down.”
He struggled for several seconds before finally realizing that fighting me wasn’t getting him anywhere.
I released him and stepped back.
The entire confrontation had lasted less than a minute.
My heart was beating hard, not from exhaustion but from adrenaline.
Aetheris was still active, and I could feel the Mana flowing steadily through the rune circuit.
The rider slowly pushed himself upright and stared at me.
“You’re insane.”
“Maybe.” I glanced toward the motorcycle lying several meters away.
“But you’re the one who tried to run me over.”
He rubbed his shoulder and looked away.
I walked toward him.
“Now we’re going to talk.”
The rider immediately raised his hands.
“Wait.”
“Now you’re willing to talk?”
“You didn’t have to hit me.”
“You didn’t have to attack me.”
His expression hardened.
“You’re going to regret this.”
I stopped.
“Is that a threat?”
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“Then tell me.”
The rider hesitated before finally removing his helmet.
“I’m with Sigma Rho.”
The name meant nothing to me.
“What is Sigma Rho?”
The rider gave me a bitter smile.
“You really don’t know?”
“No.”
“It’s a group.
People around here.
Older guys, younger guys.
We have connections.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re following me.”
He looked toward his motorcycle before answering.
“Someone asked me to keep an eye on you.”
“Dante.”
His silence was enough.
“So Dante sent you.”
“He wanted information.”
“About what?”
“Where you go after school.
Who you meet.
What you’re doing.”
“Why?”
The rider shrugged.
“He thinks you’re hiding something.”
I crossed my arms.
“Did he tell you what?”
“No.”
“Then what exactly have you been investigating?”
“Your money.”
That caught my attention.
The rider continued.
“You suddenly started having better stuff.
Better clothes.
Better school supplies.
You’re buying equipment.
You disappear after school.
You don’t act like the same kid anymore.”
I remained silent.
“He wants to know where the money came from.”
That made sense.
Dante didn’t know about the battery deal.
He couldn’t.
Villareal and those directly involved in the transaction.
I had kept the deal private.
Dante wasn’t following me because he knew about the million pesos.
He was following me because he’d noticed the changes in my life—better supplies, better clothes, new equipment, the confidence I’d gained, and the fact that I sometimes disappeared somewhere after school.
From the outside, those things were enough to make someone curious.
The rider continued, “He said you’re probably hiding something.”
“He doesn’t know what.”
“No.”
“Then he’s guessing.”
The rider gave me an irritated look.
“He also says you’ve started acting like you’re better than everyone.”
I almost laughed.
“That sounds personal.”
“Maybe.”
I studied him carefully.
“Who else is watching me?”
He hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t a good answer.”
“It’s the truth.”
I remained silent, and after a moment he continued.
“Dante asked some other people to keep an eye on you.
I don’t know who all of them are.”
That bothered me more than his previous answers.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
I considered pressing him further, but there was little point if he genuinely didn’t know.
Instead, I asked, “Does Dante know where I go?”
“No.”
“Does he know who I meet?”
“No.”
“Does he know what I’ve been doing?”
The rider shook his head.
“No.”
I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders.
Good.
Dante was investigating the visible parts of my life.
He hadn’t reached the real secret.
Not yet.
The rider leaned against the motorcycle and looked at me.
“You think beating me means you’ve won?”
“I don’t think this is a game.”
“You should.”
He slowly stood.
“Because Sigma Rho doesn’t forget things like this.”
I watched him carefully.
“You attacked me first.”
“You embarrassed me.”
“You followed me.”
“You put your hands on me.”
“You tried to run me over.”
His jaw tightened.
“You don’t understand how things work around here.”
“Then explain.”
The rider stepped closer.
“Sigma Rho has people everywhere.
You might not see them, but they’re there.
You think this ends because you knocked one guy down?”
He pointed toward me.
“There will be consequences.”
I stared at him.
“For what?”
“For interfering.”
“I didn’t interfere with anything.”
“You will.”
His voice hardened.
“Dante wants you out of the way.
If you keep causing problems, other people are going to get involved.”
I understood what he was saying.
It wasn’t really about Rosalie anymore.
Dante’s jealousy had started this, but he’d already dragged other people into it.
Those people now had their own reasons for getting involved, and that meant the situation could grow beyond Dante’s control.
The rider picked up his helmet.
“You should leave Dante alone.”
“I don’t take orders from him.”
“You should.”
“No.”
The rider stopped and looked at me.
“If Dante has a problem with me, he can talk to me himself.”
The rider gave me a cold smile.
“You’ll get your chance.”
He put his helmet back on and started the motorcycle.
“But remember what I told you.”
The engine roared.
“There will be consequences.”
I stepped aside as he drove past me.
This time, I let him go.
I watched until the motorcycle disappeared around the corner before finally deactivating Aetheris.
The enhanced clarity receded, leaving my normal senses behind.
The insects became a single layer of sound again, the distant traffic blurred together, and my heartbeat suddenly seemed much louder.
I looked down at my bracelet.
Aetheris had worked.
Not in a room.
Not against a training exercise.
Against a real person who had actually tried to hurt me.
I flexed my fingers.
For weeks, Aetheris had been an experiment.
Tonight, it had become something else—a tool for survival.
That thought bothered me more than I expected.
Because I remembered my first life.
I remembered soldiers who solved problems with weapons.
I remembered machines built for war.
I remembered how quickly violence could become normal when survival was the only thing that mattered.
I didn’t want to become that person again.
I turned toward home, my mind returning to Dante.
He didn’t know the truth.
Neither did Sigma Rho.
They were looking at the surface of my life and trying to guess what was underneath.
For now, that was enough.
But the warning stayed in my mind.
There would be consequences.
I believed him.
I just wasn’t sure they understood what kind of consequences they might face if they pushed me too far.