Sunday morning, Kenji was sitting at his desk, his notebook open in front of him.
Outside, the autumn light filtered gently through the curtains, casting soft shadows on the walls. It was still cool, and Kenji had put on a comfortable sweatshirt over his t-shirt. His hair was messy — he hadn't taken the time to style it.
His pen ran across the page, tracing tight, precise words, as always.
Ability Update — November
Perception: range extended to 10 meters. I sense energy flows with increasing clarity. Yuki, when she manipulates plants, emits a warm, organic energy that pulses like a heart. Toru, her force fields create sharp, almost musical vibrations — and now that she's learned to sustain them, I feel them constantly when she trains.
Ergo-Telekinesis: ability to move objects up to 25 kg within my entire perception range. I can lift, move, rotate. Precision improves every day. Yesterday, I managed to stack three books in levitation without them touching.
Absorption: the reactor can now store the equivalent of a nuclear power plant. Direct sunlight exposure: full recharge in 30 minutes (light + heat combined). Pure light remains tricky — I can absorb it, but its release is still imprecise. Bishop said it would come with time.
Conversion: I now master controlled release of all energy forms I absorb. Electricity, heat, cold, kinetic. I can modulate them, direct them, amplify them. Light is the only one still resisting me.
Week's objectives:
· Work on precision of light bursts
· Increase speed and precision of Ergo-Telekinesis
· Help Yuki and Toru with their training
He reread his notes, nodded, then added at the bottom of the page:
It's going well. I keep going.
His bedroom door flew open.
"KENJI! ARE YOU READY? WE'RE GOING TO SEE THE CENTER!"
Daichi stood on the threshold, already dressed, hair slicked back with excessive gel. He wore a Yuei sweatshirt in flashy colors and ripped jeans — his Sunday outfit, apparently.
Kenji looked up. "It's 9 a.m."
"SO WHAT? THE GIRLS ARE ARRIVING IN AN HOUR!"
"I'm ready."
Daichi entered the room and glanced at the notebook. "Still writing?"
"I'm noting things."
"You're always noting things." Daichi sat on the bed, making the springs creak. "Does it help?"
Kenji thought. "Yes. It lets me see my progress."
Daichi nodded. "At Yuei, our teacher does the same." He leaned in. "Want to show me?"
Kenji reached for a small book on his desk. He concentrated for a second — a slight vibration ran through the air, and the book gently lifted, floating about twenty centimeters above the table. He made it spin slowly, then moved it left, lowered it, raised it, across the entire room to the door.
Daichi watched, eyes wide. "How far can you send it?"
"Within my perception range. Ten meters."
"TEN METERS?" Daichi stood up. "And you can lift heavy stuff?"
"Up to twenty-five kilos." Kenji brought the book back to his hand. "I'm working on increasing it."
"TWENTY-FIVE KILOS?!" Daichi patted him on the shoulder. "You're becoming a monster, Kenji."
Kenji smiled. "That's what they tell me."
The doorbell rang at exactly 10 a.m.
Kenji opened the door, and Yuki almost pounced on him.
"KENJI! ARE YOU READY?"
She wore a light dress, despite autumn, with floral patterns. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, held by a bright red ribbon. She also had small leaf-shaped earrings.
"Yes," said Kenji, stepping back. "You're early."
"I'm never early, I'm on time." She walked past him, bag slung over her shoulder. "Toru's coming behind. She always stops to pet the neighborhood cats."
Sure enough, Toru arrived a few seconds later, a ginger cat in her arms. She gently put it down, stroked its head one last time, then turned to Kenji with a big smile.
"Hi, Kenji!"
"Hi, Toru."
She approached and jumped into his arms, as she always did — a quick but sincere hug. The small shield-shaped pendant gleamed at her neck.
"You look good," she said, releasing him.
"You too. Did you change your hairstyle?"
"Just some highlights." She ran a hand through her hair. "Yuki helped me."
"They suit you."
Toru smiled, more broadly.
Daichi appeared behind Kenji. "GIRLS! ARE WE GOING?"
Yuki took Kenji's arm. "Let's go!"
Toru slipped to the other side and took his other arm. "Let's go!"
Kenji let himself be led, a smile on his lips.
The training center was about a twenty-minute walk away — a modern building on the edge of the park where they played as children. The glass and steel facade sparkled in the autumn sun.
In front of the entrance, a man was waiting for them — Mr. Sato, the center's director.
"Kenji, Yuki, Toru," he said with a smile. "Grandfather Arashi asked me to give you a tour. Welcome."
He guided them inside. The lobby was spacious, bright, with doors leading to different rooms.
"Here, the weight room. Equipment adapted for Alter users."
Yuki's eyes widened. "It's huge!"
Toru looked everywhere, fascinated. "And there, what's that?"
"The simulation room. We can recreate different environments — urban, forest, mountain. And different scenarios."
He opened a door to a large empty room, with padded walls. "Main training room. Reinforced floor, power sensors, video recording system."
Then he led them to a special room. "This one is for you, Yuki."
Yuki entered and stood speechless. The room was filled with soil beds of different qualities, with a sophisticated lighting system on the ceiling and automatic watering. Shelves contained seeds from around the world, tools, notebooks.
"There's soil imported from different countries," Sato explained. "Volcanic, clay, sandy... You can experiment with all of them. And the lighting reproduces different conditions — direct sun, shade, filtered light."
Yuki brought her hands to her mouth. "It's... it's perfect." She turned to Kenji and Toru. "I'll be able to grow entire forests here!"
"Come," said Sato, leading them further. "This one is for you, Toru."
Toru entered and let out a cry of joy. The room was equipped with pressure sensors on the walls, projectors to visualize force fields, and a large empty space for training. But what immediately caught her eye was the far wall — an immense whiteboard, with markers of all colors.
"To draw your designs," said Sato. "And there, the creative corner."
He showed a table with quality paper, pencils, pastels, paint. "For when you want to work on paper."
Toru approached the table, caressed the wood with her fingertips. Then she turned to the wall, took a blue marker, and drew a complex shape — a star-shaped shield, with intertwined patterns.
She concentrated for a second, raised her hand, and the same shape appeared in the air, solid, luminous, perfectly identical to the drawing.
"It holds," she murmured. "It really holds."
Yuki applauded. "SO STRONG!"
Toru turned to them, eyes shining. "I can now keep my shields even after modifying them. They don't collapse anymore."
Kenji nodded, impressed. "Your perception has changed. I can feel it. Your energy is more stable, denser."
Toru smiled, proud.
"And finally, for you, Kenji."
The last room was the most impressive. Generators of varied energy — electric, thermal, light, kinetic — hummed softly. Sensors blinked everywhere. There were solar panels, heating plates, wave generators. And in a corner, objects of different masses — balls, books, dumbbells up to 30 kilos.
Kenji entered slowly, eyes wide. He touched a generator with his fingertips, felt the familiar vibrations.
"I can really use everything?" he asked.
"Everything. And the sensors will measure your absorption, conversion, amplification, ergo-telekinesis. You can track your progress precisely."
Kenji turned to Sato. Then to Yuki and Toru, who were looking at him with huge smiles.
"It's..." He searched for words. "It's perfect."
Yuki threw herself at him. "We'll be able to train and use our Alters freely here!"
Toru joined them, putting an arm around Kenji and another around Yuki. "Thank you for sharing Grandfather Arashi with us."
Kenji smiled — a real smile, wide. "He's your grandfather too, now."
Sato watched them, a discreet smile on his lips. "There's one more room. The most special."
He led them to the end of the corridor and opened a final door.
The room was immense, dark, with powerful spotlights on the ceiling. Training robots were lined up against the walls. The floor was modular — you could see hatches, slopes, obstacles.
"The danger training room," Sato explained. "We can program scenarios — villain attacks, natural disasters, rescues. The robots can attack, environments change in real time. It's to prepare you for the worst."
Silence fell.
Yuki looked at the room, eyes wide. "It's... a little scary."
Toru, meanwhile, had shining eyes. "We can really train against robots?"
"Yes. With different difficulty levels."
Kenji looked at his friends. "We're going to become strong. Very strong."
Yuki took a breath. "Together."
Toru nodded. "Together."
They spent the afternoon exploring the center, testing the equipment, dreaming of all they were going to accomplish.
Daichi joined them at the end of the day, and they did a first training session in the main room — just for fun, to see what it felt like.
Yuki grew a bamboo wall in minutes, solid, 1.7 meters high. Toru created 4 star-shaped shields that floated around her like a constellation, though she struggled to maintain them. Kenji moved 3 objects simultaneously, making them circle around him.
Daichi watched them, mouth agape. "You're so strong. REALLY so strong."
Yuki laughed. "It's thanks to you... training and studies!"
"It's thanks to you," Kenji corrected. "I was just the trigger."
Toru sat on the floor, a little out of breath but happy. "I've never managed to keep so many shields at once after shape manipulation."
"Because you have confidence and better control now," said Kenji.
Toru looked at him, surprised. "You think?"
"I'm sure. You're calmer, more controlled."
Yuki sat beside her. "He's right. You've changed."
Toru smiled, a little embarrassed. "You too."
On the way home, fatigue was setting in, but it was a good fatigue — that of rewarding efforts, of progress made.
Arriving at the house, they found their parents in the living room. Akari was sitting on the couch, Hiroshi beside her, his hand on hers.
Something in their posture made Kenji stop short. Daichi too.
"What's wrong?" asked Daichi.
Akari looked up at them. Her eyes were bright — not with sadness, no. A barely contained joy.
"Sit down," Hiroshi said softly.
Kenji and Daichi sat across from them. Kenji felt his heart beat faster, without knowing why.
Akari took a breath.
"I'm pregnant."
Silence fell.
Daichi opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. "What?"
"I'm pregnant," Akari repeated. "For two months. We didn't want to tell you right away, wanted to be sure."
Kenji looked at her. Then he looked at his father. Then he looked at his mother again.
And suddenly, the information exploded in his brain.
"WHAT?!"
He jumped up, eyes wide, an enormous smile taking over his face. "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY?!"
Akari laughed, tears in her eyes. "Yes."
Kenji threw himself at her, hugging her almost too tight. "This is so great! I'm going to be a big brother! A big brother...!"
Daichi, who had frozen for one second too long, stood up in turn. "HEY, I WANT A HUG TOO!"
He threw himself at them, and all three almost rolled off the couch.
"A little brother or little sister!" Kenji was shouting. "I want a little sister!"
"I WANT A LITTLE BROTHER!" Daichi shouted back.
"Why not both?" from Daichi.
"Maybe if it's twins," from Kenji.
"You never know, maybe!" from Daichi.
Akari was laughing through tears, her arms around her sons. Hiroshi watched them, a rare smile lighting his face.
"Boys, gently," he said. "Your mother..."
"Yes, we're being careful!" Kenji and Daichi shouted at the same time, without letting go of their mother.
Kenji looked up, eyes shining. "When will it be born?"
"In about seven months."
"7 months is too long!" Kenji counted on his fingers. "In spring!"
Daichi turned to him. "You're even more excited than me!"
"Because I'm going to be a big brother!" from Kenji.
They both burst out laughing.
Akari looked at Hiroshi, and their eyes exchanged everything that didn't need to be said.
That evening, Kenji couldn't sleep.
He lay in his bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. But he didn't see it. He saw something else.
A baby. A little brother or little sister. Someone new in the family.
He started laughing to himself in the dark.
Then he got up, turned on his bedside lamp, and opened his notebook.
He wrote:
The training center is INCREDIBLE. Yuki has her room with special soil, different types of ground. Toru has her drawing wall and she can now keep her shields longer. Me, I have generators for all kinds of energy. We're going to become so strong.
But the most important:
MOM IS PREGNANT!
I'm going to have a little brother or little sister! I'm so happy! Daichi is happy too, but I'm happier. I'm going to teach them things. I'm going to protect them. I'm going to be the best big brother in the world.
I hope it's a girl. Or a boy. Actually, I don't care. I just want them to be here.
Bishop said real strength is in the heart. Today, my heart is too small for everything I'm feeling.
He closed the notebook, turned off the light, and lay back down.
He looked out the window. The moon shone over Fukuoka.
Kenji smiled.
And he fell asleep, the smile still on his lips.