21 Reunion After So Long! (Part 1)

The drive to the airport after the last bit of information Karasuma gave me, was quiet. Not awkward silence, but rather none of us talking because of the information we were digesting.

Chikage and I were digesting information that Karasuma had just told us; Korosensei, or the man who destroyed part of the moon when Chikage thought about him, and the man who would next be training me when I thought about him.

Karasuma, however, was digesting the information that a 16-year-old could stop a car from moving with a single foot stomp.

But hey, different priorities, I guess?

The plane ride was just like the car ride; quiet. Yet this was because I was quiet and I gave Chikage enough money to buy whatever chocolate she wanted so she didn't bug me to get her any.

Though, even as I was 'sleeping' I was thinking. It was a technique I'd thought up for myself over the years. I could keep part of my brain awake, and still consciously think - hell, I could even train some moves in my mind if I wanted to! This sort of technique would be impossible for a normal person, yet could I ever be called normal? Most likely not.

Anyway, it took time and practice, yet cycling through my brain, letting parts of it sleep while others stayed awake, I could think about things while still technically getting rest. I only did this now, because I wanted to figure out how to counter someone like Korosensei.

Such speed was frightening, even to someone like me who could also travel at mach speed. The only difference being, that I could only travel at mach speed for extremely short distances. I could do it in a fight, but I wouldn't be able to run to the other side of the world in a few seconds. So, if matching him in pure speed is out the window - and it is, as I'll never be able to get to mach 20 with my human body - I have to start thinking about how to increase my reaction speed and my instincts.

The former so I can see his movements and react to them, and the latter so I can dodge even the moves I can't see yet.

You may be wondering 'How can you react to moves if you can't move at the same speed?' - Well, disembodied voice, I, in fact, said that I wouldn't be able to match him in pure speed. Not that I couldn't match him in terms of evasion, or how fast I can move my body for short, short distances. While Korosensei can speed around the world at mach 20, I could probably only speed around a 10m squared area at around mach 2 or 3 if I was in my strongest form. The smaller the area, and the shorter the time, the more I can kick up that speed to match Korosensei even if it's just for a second:

Because even if you only have a second, traveling at mach speeds makes a second feel significantly longer.

The only problem is when I reach such a level of speed, even my unnatural reflexes start to struggle. Everything becomes a blur and nothing makes sense due to my brain not being able to process the information fast enough. But now that I have a month before school...well, I can really train my reflexes, can't I? If I put my brain under enough stress, I wonder if I can up it's processing speed?

Oh oh oh...training can be really fun sometimes~!

. . .

Knocking on the door, with an emotionless Chikage next to me, I waited for an answer. I heard a muffled, "Hang on a second!" before the rapid approach of footsteps. I could tell this was my mom, and I kept silent, knowing this would be a nice surprise for her.

The door opened and revealed my mom. She looked older but she still looked stunning and beautiful.

Her grey eyes locked onto me before they widened and her mouth dropped open in the shape of an 'O'.

"Surprise--!" I said before I was tackled by my mom, her arms wrapped around me, hugging me so tightly that if I weren't the way I was, I'd have been squeezed to death. Her head was buried into my chest and I felt my chest getting wetter.

I hope these are happy tears.

I returned the hug, damn near suffocating her with a love-filled embrace. Her pinkish brown hair was all I could see of her face, but I had the feeling that she was smiling.

I was now taller and wider than her, so a lot had changed since she last saw me but I guess a mother will never not recognize her son, huh?

Slowly, after a while, she pulled away and looked up at me, "Yu-kun...how you've grown!" she laughed, her eyes teary. Seeing her teary eyes and hearing what she said, I felt a bit guilty for depriving her of seeing me grow up the past few years...but remembering why I left and what it was trying to avoid, I appeased myself, knowing it was a necessary thing.

"Mhm..I guess I have, huh, mom?" I smiled, feeling happy to finally be back home and see my mother.

Mom's smile instantly got wider, as if she thought about something, before she pulled on my arm, "Quick, come inside and tell me about your journey!" she said rapidly, obviously excited, before continuing, "Oh! And your sister will be back from school soon - I bet she'll be incredibly happy to see you after so long!" she said and when I was about to agree, she went frozen like a statue, looking behind me.

Looking behind me, I realized she was looking at Chikage, and Chikage was looking back at her, a perfect poker face as her expression.

"...Yu-kun?" mom asked with a smile, yet her voice...it sounded slightly hollow? Had she misunderstood something? Oblivious to my thoughts, mom carried on, "Who's child did you kidnap?" she asked 'gently'.

"Eh?" I was stumped, hearing what she said, and in this stunned state, it allowed Chikage to come forward and introduce herself.

"Hello Miss Nishimiya, my name is Chikage Kushinada. I'm Yu-niisama's apprentice sister. We train under the same master," she bowed respectfully, yet her dull tone didn't sound as respectful as her words. Mom's expression underwent a complete 180 and she was all genuine smiles and whatnot, looking at Chikage like she was looking at another daughter or something.

"Oh? So you also train under Orochi-sensei?" she asked curiously, and knowing complications would come up if I allowed Chikage to answer, I quickly stepped into the conversation.

"No, she trains under a different master. When I was traveling, I took it upon myself to learn under different people. Chikage's sensei was one of them," I explained, knowing that if Chikage explained it, this kuudere would give up the fact that I wasn't traveling with Doppo-sensei in the first place, and then mom would really kick my ass.

...Or she'd try to, at least.

"Ah, okay..." mom said, seemingly a bit suspicious of me, but she shrugged it off and backed into the door, "Come on in then, I'll make some snacks. You must be hungry after traveling from wherever you were!" she became happy and excited once again and walked into the house after motioning for us to come in.

As we did, with Chikage entering first and me after her.

I led her to the living room and noticed that not much had changed with the house I'd grown up in. The paint on the wall seemed to have been re-done, and the tatami mats replaced with newer ones...but everything else was the same. It was lovely to just stand here and bask in the nostalgia.

Fighting was fun - exhilarating, even - yet relaxing was also fun. Especially when I knew the amount of training I'd have to put myself through in the next month.

Soon after the two of us sat down, mom came in with a plate of sandwiches and some juice or the both of us. Chikage picked up a sandwich and began nibbling on it, while I just devoured the sandwiches and sucked down the juice like some kind of insatiable monster. Which, with my body, I could definitely class as. My caloric intake was quite a lot, let's just say that.

After eating a 'bit', I explained my trip around the world to my mom, excluding some of the more bloodier details, while putting some of my fights into a made-up tournament setting.

I especially made the underground fights in China sound like a tournament.

Luckily, my mom believed it, and Chikage caught on and understood that I was lying and why I was lying. She figured that if my mom was a relatively normal person when compared to us, she wouldn't want to hear about her son beating people to near death in an illegal underground arena.

But other than that, I told her all about Europe, promising that I'd take her there one of the days, about America and all the western food over there. Especially the ice cream. That had her attention, and I had to talk her out of buying tickets to America on her phone. After that, the conversation switched more toward how she'd been.

Of course I'd been up to date with things happening in her life, like her promotion in her job - she was a normal office worker before, and know she's more like the manager for a department - and things like that. But it was still polite and nice to show her that I cared about her life. It was my duty as a son to withstand the gossip from the office she was constantly going on about. It was pretty interesting as well.

After a while of chatting, I heard two sets of footsteps approaching the front door, and I quickly told mom that Shouko-neesan was back before I hid behind the door to the living room.

Mom just smilingly watched my mischief, trying her best not to giggle.

The front door opened, and I heard two girls talking. My enhanced hearing could also hear them moving their hands at the same time, showing me that they were using both vocal words and sign language to communicate. But hearing the slightly slurred voice, I had to say...Shouko-neesan has really improved on her ability to talk.

...I'm a proud little brother~

I smirked, lowering my presence as much as possible. My heart rate slowed down and along with it, my breathing which was already silent, slowed down to a snail's pace.

This was something I learned from Alexander-sensei. Apparently he used it when he was behind enemy lines and didn't want to be caught.

"How do you think we'll do in the fashion show, Sho-chan?" I heard Miyoko-neesan speak, her voice filled with nervousness as their footsteps got closer and closer. Shouko-neesan must have not replied vocally because Miyoko gave off a nervous chuckle as she replied(?), "You're always so optimistic, Sho-chan...I wish I could be like you sometimes, you know?" she laughed light-heartedly before changing the conversation, "Anyway, let's go and say hello to Auntie before we head out!" she said joyfully before rushing into the front room.

She went to greet mom, but the appearance of Chikage, just sitting on the sofa, nibbling on sandwiches, caused her to stop and just look at the kuudere.

Shouko-neesan soon came in and also began looking at Chikage, a confused expression on her face.

Both girls had grown into women from the last time I'd saw them, with both of them being 18 now.

Shouko-neesan was petite and shorter than Miyoko but much more curvy, with more well-developed assets. Miyoko-neesan on the other hand was a tall, lithe, and slender beauty - like a model, if I had to compare it to anything.

But I didn't pay attention to that anymore than I needed to and snuck up behind them before draping my arms around them and putting my head between their heads.

"Shouko-neesan, Miyoko-neesan~" I said in a playfully teasing way before continuing with the same tone, "It's not nice to ignore people. Especially after not seeing them for so long~" I laughed, and so did mother as she saw the two girls' faces morph into shock, then confusion, and then finally into understanding.

As I expected, Shouko-neesan spun around and latched onto me, like an octopus. Her grip was tight, and if I didn't want to hurt her, I'd have to put up with it for now.

Smiling, I looked to Miyoko, "How you doing, Miyoko-neesan? You've surely gotten pretty tall, huh?" I asked with a happy tone to my voice and Miyoko, still partially shocked, just nodded. Miyoko was quite tall for a Japanese girl at around 5'11", though I was a few inches taller than her as I was around 6'1".

"You too, Yu-kun..." she muttered, her cheeks going a bit red under the embarrassment from realizing how shocked she must look.

Shouko finally lifted her head from my chest - like mother like daughter, huh? - and looked over to Chikage, and then back at me before she got down and looked at me worriedly.

[Why have you kidnapped a child, Yu-kun?] she signed, her eyes, like I said before, looking very worried.

"...I haven't kidnapped anyone, neesan," I pinched my nose, "She's a student under the same master as me," I explained, yet Shouko still looked slightly suspicious.

...Why do my family think I'd kidnap a child? The emotional betrayal hurts more than any kind of training I've been through...goddammit.