To be completely honest, when you accidentally cross paths with the family of a member of the opposite sex with whom you share a unique closeness, there is a massive probability that an unexpected moment will spark between the two of you.
That precise situation was currently unfolding for Kitahara Akira. The moment he reflexively called out the word "Kato," the four members of the Kato family standing on the bus stop sidewalk swiveled their bodies simultaneously to lock their gazes onto him.
Akira forced his legs forward, attempting to lock a warm, polite smile onto his face to mask the sudden surge of awkwardness striking his inner mind. "Um... good afternoon, Uncle, Auntie. My name is Kitahara Akira, I am Megumi's classmate."
The middle-aged man, who was Megumi's father, scrutinized Akira from head to toe before his face finally relaxed into a warm smile. "Ah, so you are Kitahara-kun. Megumi has occasionally mentioned your name to us at home."
Megumi’s mother joined in with a warm smile, covering her mouth with one hand. "Indeed. Thank you so much, Kitahara-kun. Our rather passive daughter has received quite a lot of care and assistance from you at school."
Akira scratched the back of his neck, letting out an awkward chuckle. "Ha... haha, not at all, Auntie. We're just regular friends. Megumi herself has frequently helped me out a lot in class as well."
"Hey, hey! Kitahara-kun, hello! I'm Megumi's older sister, just call me Hiromi-nee~" Hiromi suddenly interrupted from the side with an incredibly cheerful tone.
"Ah, sure, Hiromi-nee," Akira replied, directly accepting the casual title.
Hiromi narrowed her eyes playfully, pointing toward the fresh bouquet of carnations nestled securely in Akira's arms. "By the way, I've been highly curious since earlier. Who exactly are you bringing that beautiful bouquet of flowers for?"
Hiromi’s sudden question instantly caused the surrounding atmosphere at the bus stop to become considerably more suffocating for Akira.
"Ah... this... a friend of mine suddenly met with an accident and had to be admitted to the hospital. So, right now I'm on my way to drop by and visit them," Akira answered like lightning, scrambling for the most logical excuse.
Hiromi let out a defeated sigh, shaking her head in disappointment. "Hah?! So it’s just visiting a patient? And here I thought you were deliberately waiting for this bus to confess your love to my sister. If this pattern keeps up, Megumi might be in danger of staying single for the rest of her life."
"Sister Hiromi! Please stop spouting such ridiculous nonsense!"
Megumi, who had been quietly standing next to her mother this whole time, finally spoke up. Her voice, which usually always sounded completely flat, was now laced with a clear trace of annoyance that she very rarely displayed.
"Ha... ha... ha..." Akira could only offer a hollow chuckle. In a tight pinch like this, delivering any sort of response was guaranteed to trigger an even more fatal misunderstanding. The wisest choice for him right now was to play dumb.
Akira cleared his throat lightly, trying to steer the topic away from danger. "So... Uncle, Auntie, and Hiromi-nee, what brings you all out here this evening?"
"Today is Hiromi's birthday. We intentionally traveled to this district because we reserved a table at a restaurant to celebrate the day of her birth," the mother explained warmly.
Akira flinched slightly, feeling a bit apologetic. "Eh? So today is Hiromi-nee's birthday? My apologies, since I rushed out in a hurry, I didn't prepare a single gift for you."
Hiromi countered with a mischievous, knowing smirk directed straight at Akira. "Oh, little Kitahara, you don't need to be that formal. As for the birthday gift, you can just accumulate them and give them to me in bulk later once you and Megumi officially start dating."
Dark lines practically painted Akira's forehead. This adult woman next to him was truly the type who thoroughly enjoyed playing with a teenager's emotions.
As for Megumi herself... The bob-haired girl had seemingly already proactively activated her passive capability to thin her presence, blending seamlessly into the background sidewalk to conceal her sheer embarrassment.
Megumi's father checked the watch on his wrist, then tapped Akira's shoulder gently. "The timing is getting close, we must hurry over to the restaurant. Kitahara-kun, let’s talk much more if we catch an opportunity in the future."
"Of course, Uncle. Enjoy your dinner, Uncle, Auntie, and a very happy birthday to Hiromi-nee." Akira bowed his upper body politely in a parting gesture. "See you tomorrow at school, Kato."
"Yes, see you tomorrow, Kitahara-kun," Megumi replied, a thin smile playing on her lips as she waved her left hand gracefully toward Akira.
***
The members of the Kato family continued their stride along the sidewalk heading toward the elite restaurant hub.
Hiromi walked sideways, nudging her sister's shoulder playfully. "Megumi... are you still constantly thinking about that boy right now?"
"I’ve told you multiple times, Kitahara-kun and I are not in that sort of special relationship you’re imagining." Megumi looked away.
"I’ve been your biological older sister since childhood, Megumi. And I have to say, your body language around him earlier looked incredibly unusual," Hiromi whispered, observing her sister who had suddenly fallen into a daze while walking. "Just be honest with me, do you actually like that guy?"
Megumi stayed completely silent for several paces. Her eyes stared blankly down at the sidewalk beneath her feet. "...I don't know."
Did she truly harbor romantic feelings for Kitahara Akira? It was highly possible, yet could the emotion currently stirring inside her chest be classified as a pure, genuine love? Megumi knew all too well that she possessed an excessively flat and detached personality, making her perspective regarding romantic affairs starkly different compared to ordinary teenage girls.
Megumi's memories suddenly drifted back, reminiscing about the very first day they entered the new semester at Sobu High School. Back then, she could only sit completely alone at her desk, observing the loud interactions of the new students who were busy forming small groups across the classroom. At that time, her heart felt perfectly serene. She was completely used to that quiet state. Used to being overlooked and forgotten by her surroundings for nearly ten years of her life.
Until finally, a youth with messy black hair suddenly stood before her desk with a thin, genuine smile. "Hello, my name is Kitahara Akira. Starting today, we'll be desk mates. Please take care of me."
At that moment, because it had been far too long since a stranger had taken the initiative to speak to her first, Megumi had frozen stiff. Her tongue momentarily failed her, causing her to reflexively blurt out a rhetorical sentence from her lips. "Eh... can you actually see my presence?"
Recalling how Akira’s facial expression had instantly panicked, looking slightly ridiculous after hearing her inquiry that day, a soft laugh suddenly escaped Megumi's lips.
"Pfft..."
But once her amusement faded, Megumi returned to her silent contemplation. 'But... can this sort of attachment truly be called the meaning of liking someone?'
Megumi’s mind suddenly recalled a classic drama anime title she had watched in the past, *After the Rain*. The story revolved around a high school girl falling in love with a divorced, middle-aged man. Initially, Megumi couldn't comprehend or sympathize with that sort of bizarre romance at all. But as time went on, she gradually began to process the essence of the story.
The female protagonist in that anime was a girl who had lacked the warmth of paternal affection since childhood. In the midst of various misfortunes striking her life, she suddenly received a cup of warm coffee packed with pure kindness from the middle-aged man while taking shelter from a heavy downpour. From that exact second, the seeds of romance began to sprout in her chest.
But was that emotion truly a pure love? Megumi believed that the female lead's feelings were genuine, yet the core foundation was actually an immense sense of psychological dependency. The female character, starved of a protective figure, had unconsciously misunderstood a small act of kindness from the middle-aged man, mistaking that dependency for romantic love.
Megumi halted her steps briefly, staring at her reflection in a shop window display. 'Am I... also experiencing the exact same thing? Am I simply misunderstanding Kitahara-kun's kindness because he was the very first person to acknowledge my presence?'
Hiromi, walking right beside her, could only look at her sister with an incredibly complex expression. She observed how Megumi went from being completely quiet to suddenly laughing to herself, then a split second later shifting right back to a dreary, frozen silence. 'Good grief... did my sister's brain just freeze up from thinking too hard?' Hiromi thought out of pure concern.
Hiromi tapped her sister's shoulder gently, delivering advice with a serious countenance she rarely displayed. "Megumi, I have to say that my junior underclassman Kitahara looks like the type of guy who will be incredibly popular at school. As an older sister who has already weathered the storms of life, I have to warn you to move quickly and take the initiative. If you keep staying passive like this, you're definitely going to weep with regret if he gets snatched away by some other girl later."
Was Akira popular? Megumi couldn't deny that reality. Her thoughts instantly flashed toward the figures of Yuigahama Yui and Kasumigaoka Utaha.
Yuigahama possessed an incredibly bright, energetic personality, was immensely popular at school, and held a visual appearance and physical proportions praised as the most beautiful among the students of their academic year. That girl was clearly a primary idol among the boys. On the other hand, Kasumigaoka Utaha was a beautiful upperclassman with a razor-sharp tongue who always acted cold toward the opposite sex, yet acted remarkably close and warm only toward Akira. Furthermore, Utaha’s status as a novelist gave the two of them millions of aligned conversation topics when exchanging messages on LINE.
Whereas when compared to her own self... Megumi felt that she completely lacked a single prominent characteristic to boast about. A faint shroud of gloom slowly began to drape over the bob-haired girl's sweet face.
***
*CLICK!*
The sliding wooden door of the private hospital room moved open with a smooth slide.
Natsume Fumiaki, who had been lounging lazily while operating his phone on the hospital bed, reflexively swiveled his face toward the source of the sound.
Akira stepped into the room with a fresh bouquet of carnations nestled securely in his arms. "Yo~ Turns out you're still alive."
Fumiaki instantly adjusted his posture to sit upright, flashing a broad grin. "Oh! You finally showed up!"
Akira placed the bouquet down onto the nightstand next to the bed, then pulled a chair over to sit down. "Haaah, I didn't actually intend to drop by and visit you this evening. But I was worried that if no one kept an eye on you, your injuries might trigger suspicion from the hospital staff, and you'd end up dissected on a laboratory table."
Fumiaki laughed heartily, leaning against his pillow. "Heh, if I ever end up on a dissection table, I'll make sure your name is dragged down as my accomplice."
"Feel free to try if you can. My capability to escape and hide within the shadows is the absolute best in the world," Akira shot back with confidence.
The bonds of friendship among guys frequently formed in highly unique and mysterious ways. Two teenagers who had known each other for less than a twenty-four-hour cycle—and had even engaged in a life-or-death duel amidst a blazing forest last night—were already able to throw casual banter back and forth as if they were old buddies who had been friends for years.
Akira leaned forward, staring at the white gauze wrapped around his friend's midsection. "Alright, enough joking around. How is the state of the laceration on your abdomen?"
"It's already way better. Even though the wound looked pretty horrifying last night, my physical regeneration speed seems to have skyrocketed ever since I obtained this fire power. The doctor mentioned the stitches will dry up perfectly within another week," Fumiaki stated, tapping his midsection lightly without a shred of pain.
Akira crossed his legs, throwing out a crucial, essential inquiry. "Fumiaki, now that the monster that slaughtered your parents has been officially executed... what are your life plans for the future?"
"The future...?"
The broad grin on Fumiaki's face instantly receded. His body gradually reclined back onto the mattress, burying half of his face beneath both palms as he stared blankly up at the plain white ceiling of the hospital room. The gaze in his eyes suddenly turned incredibly vacant and bewildered. Ever since that night's tragedy, the entirety of his remaining life had been spent solely on tracking down the killer. Now that the chain of vengeance was officially severed, he was entirely lost regarding his life's direction moving forward.
Staring at Fumiaki’s emotionally bewildered expression, Akira leaned back against his chair and began to voice his thoughts. "If you genuinely don't have a new direction in life yet, I happen to have a solid suggestion for you."
Fumiaki pivoted his head, staring at Akira with pure curiosity. "What kind of suggestion?"
"How about you... become a hero?" Akira finally revealed his true, hidden objective—to recruit a reliable ally ~~who could serve as a convenient meat shield down the line~~.
Fumiaki blinked, utterly stunned. "A hero...?"
"Exactly. You didn't honestly think that the only anomaly in this world was that fake cop monster from last night, right?" Akira leaned forward, dropping his voice to a confidential whisper. "To be completely frank, I’ve only awakened my capabilities for a few months now. But in that brief window of time, I’ve already crossed paths with several supernatural incidents just like yours."
Akira paused for a moment, letting his friend process the weight of his words. "Out there, there are countless dangerous entities that actively threaten the safety of ordinary humans. My thought is, since we've already been blessed with these extraordinary capabilities, we might as well try to look out for others. What was that old saying again...?"
Akira tapped his chin, pretending to recall a famous quote. "With great power comes great responsibility."
Fumiaki fell into a pensive silence, repeating the words quietly under his breath. "With great power comes great responsibility..."
On the other side of the bed, Akira subtly let out a massive sigh of relief internally. It was a massive stroke of luck that the Marvel franchise didn't exist in this combined universe. 'I just hope Uncle Ben up in heaven doesn't mind me borrowing his trademark quote to motivate a teenager,' Akira thought amusedly.
Fumiaki finally snapped out of his brief daze, letting out a cheerful chuckle. "Even though that quote sounds incredibly cheesy and cliché, it actually feels pretty amazing when you say it out loud."
"So, what’s your answer?" Even though victory was already a guaranteed certainty, Akira still wanted to hear the confirmation straight from his friend's own mouth.
Fumiaki locked a broad, confident grin onto his face, staring back at Akira. "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do with my life right now anyway. So, please take good care of me from now on, Captain!"
"You got it, Natsume." Akira chuckled with deep satisfaction, patting Fumiaki’s shoulder in a friendly gesture.
"Oh, right!" Fumiaki suddenly recalled a crucial detail. "Shouldn't we give ourselves some cool codenames like comic book characters? I mean, we can't exactly go around calling each other by our real first names out in public while on duty, right?"
"Codenames? That actually makes a lot of sense. To be honest, I haven't even considered that aspect until now. Alright, let's craft one for ourselves right here," Akira agreed enthusiastically.
Fumiaki tapped his fingers against his chin, thinking for a moment. “For my codename… how about Enyō? A pure flame that burns as brightly as the sun.”
Akira crossed his arms with a satisfied smile. “A very philosophical meaning. In that case, I’ll use the codename Ryūei—a flowing shadow that moves endlessly through the darkness.”
On this very day, inside a modest private hospital room, two future "heroes" were officially born into the world...
Author’s Note:
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— Author