Mike found Heidi’s way of thinking difficult to understand.
If he had to describe her in three words, he would call her a career-driven woman.
Just as Mike had said earlier, Heidi hadn’t taken a single proper vacation since becoming a federal agent.
The only exception had been after their adoptive parents died the previous year.
Even then, once the funeral was over and everything had been settled, Heidi hurried straight back to Washington to continue working.
Mike was the complete opposite.
He didn’t even have a proper job.
Before the Battle of New York, Mike had genuinely planned to find steady work after graduation, earn money, get married, and have seven or eight children.
But after his adoptive parents died, only one thought remained in his mind: obtain the Reality Stone, awaken the Cosmo within him, and kill Loki to avenge them.
So after graduating from college the previous year, Mike hadn’t gone looking for a regular job.
Instead, he made money by helping people in the neighborhood file their taxes.
That might not sound like much, but it was actually quite profitable.
Once you understood that most people here preferred to handle their own taxes, it was easy to see why someone willing to help with the process could make decent money.
Lawyers, doctors, and accountants were considered highly desirable professions almost anywhere.
Mike hadn’t chosen accounting on a whim.
He had thought the decision through carefully.
First, he wasn’t especially good with words, so law was immediately out of the question.
Medicine paid well, extremely well in fact, but the training took far too long, so Mike crossed that off the list too.
That left accounting.
He chose accounting as his major and passed the New York State CPA exam before graduating the previous year, becoming a licensed professional accountant.
Because he charged slightly less than established accounting firms and lived in a middle-class neighborhood himself, the local residents were naturally happy to pay him to handle their tax filings.
The neighbors saved money, and Mike earned some income.
It worked out well for both sides.
So even though he hadn’t found a regular job after graduation, the money he earned helping neighbors with their taxes had been enough to cover his travel expenses to London and Norway.
That was why Mike couldn’t really understand Heidi’s habit of putting her career above everything else.
He looked at her seriously.
“You really should relax a little, Heidi.
I remember you used to travel with friends when you were still in school, but have you gone anywhere just for fun since you started working?” Heidi instinctively opened her mouth to answer, but Mike seemed to know exactly what she was about to say.
“Business trips don’t count.” Heidi worked for FBI headquarters, but her job wasn’t limited to Washington, D.C.
She frequently traveled elsewhere to assist local FBI offices with investigations.
After Mike added that condition, Heidi quietly closed her mouth again.
Seeing her expression, Mike laughed and shook his head.
“Seriously, Heidi, take a vacation.
I’ll go with you.
Anywhere you want.” He had already accomplished everything he had set out to do on this trip.
He had obtained the Reality Stone and awakened his Cosmo.
His next goal was to awaken the Sixth Sense.
The Sixth Sense was an ability that transcended the ordinary five senses and represented the true power of a Saint’s Cosmo.
Once a Saint awakened the Sixth Sense, they could gain extraordinary abilities such as telekinesis, elemental manipulation, and even precognition.
Only after awakening the Sixth Sense could someone truly be considered a Saint.
In the Saint Seiya universe, however, there was no single method for reaching that level.
Some Saints broke through their limits during life-and-death battles, awakening the Sixth Sense through an overwhelming will to survive when pushed into desperate situations.
Others reached it through relentless training repeated day after day.
Some even awakened it as part of reaching a still higher level, such as those who had been recognized from birth as future Gold Saints of the Zodiac.
Those individuals awakened the Sixth Sense naturally in the process of comprehending the Seventh Sense.
But none of those methods were particularly suitable for Mike.
The reason was simple.
This wasn’t the Saint Seiya universe.
This was the Marvel Universe, so the methods that worked there could not necessarily be applied directly to him here.
Still, one principle remained the same.
The Sixth Sense was an expression of a Saint’s spiritual power, a transformation of the mind that occurred after pushing the five ordinary senses to their limits.
That was also why the Sixth Sense could be described as an awakening of the mind.
And if it was a spiritual awakening, then it probably wasn’t something Mike could achieve simply by shutting himself away and training in isolation.
At the very least, that approach didn’t seem suitable for him in the Marvel Universe.
So traveling, seeing more of the world, and experiencing different things might help him develop his mind faster than simply staying in New York.
Heidi looked at Mike’s serious expression, thought for a moment, then smiled.
“All right.
I’ll think about it.
Once I finish the case I’m working on, I’ll check my schedule, and if things aren’t too busy, I’ll put in for leave.” “Then it’s settled.” “Fine.” “Want to pinky promise?” Mike smiled and hooked the little finger of his right hand.
Heidi glanced at the gesture and immediately rolled her eyes.
“You’re twenty-one now, not eight.
Can you stop acting like a kid, Mike?” Mike laughed, but instead of simply lowering his hand, he reached over and grabbed the cup of coffee sitting in front of Heidi.
He drained it in one go and stood up before she could react, already heading toward the stairs.
“All right, you keep working.
I’m going upstairs to sleep.” “You…” Heidi stared at the empty coffee cup, then looked toward Mike, who had already run upstairs.
Her expression shifted several times before finally settling into a helpless smile.
She laughed quietly to herself, then turned her attention back to the case file she had only taken over that morning.
The next day, early in the morning, Mike got dressed and left his room.
By the time he came downstairs, Heidi had already prepared breakfast and was sitting at the dining table.
But just as Mike approached, she stood up.
“You’re awake?
Go ahead and eat.
I’m heading to the office.” “Okay.” Mike watched her hurry toward the garage, then called out to her.
“Heidi.” She stopped in front of the garage door and looked back.
“What is it?” “Don’t forget about the vacation.” Heidi smiled.
“Don’t worry.
Once this case is over, I’ll take one.
Now eat your breakfast, and remember to clean up the table.” With that, she pushed open the door and walked into the garage before Mike could reply.
A short while later, her Dodge pulled out and headed toward the FBI’s New York field office.
Mike watched the car disappear down the neighborhood street, shook his head, then sat down and ate the breakfast Heidi had made.
After finishing the meal and cleaning the table, he was about to go into the backyard and meditate, hoping he might somehow stumble into an awakening of the Sixth Sense.
Then the house phone rang.
The call was from the FBI’s New York field office.
Something had happened to Heidi.