{Index IV: The Training Grounds Of Father And Brother}

"Look at me, Mash. Look at me when I am speaking to you!" demanded Tom.

Mash, like a robot, slowly turned until he was face to face with his brother.

Tom took a deep breath as he stared at his brother's blank face. Is this what others feel like when they see Saitama? When seeing such a face, one would have the temptation to smack it!

This is what Tom is feeling right now, or has been feeling for so many years upon living with such a blank slate of wood.

But this was his brother in this world, and he grew up with him on that, so what other choice does he have?

"Do you remember what dad said…"

"Huh." Mash tilted his head and blinked. "When Brother Tom gets dramatic and moody, do not pay any attention to him and let him calm down?" question marks floated over his head. That was what pops mentioned before.

"Sage Art: Shadow Style!-erk! I mean," Tom began while sliding his already glowing wand back into his pocket. "About never wandering into the city without either him or me by your side? Well, do you remember?"

Mash nodded, "Yeah, I know."

Tom narrowed his eyes before humming in thought. He slowly walked towards the door, his gaze never leaving his muscle freak of a brother. "Dad is out doing whatever he's doing, and I am going to the city to get some fruits for the house. Can I trust you to stay home while I leave?"

Mash looked at his brother silently, "You are not taking me?"

"No." Tom swung his sleeves to the side, looking down at Mash. "Because you didn't ask!"

"Oh. Was that it? Can I come with you?"

"Hm." Tom's warm filled eyes looked up in thought, "Hm, uh, hmm. No!"

Mash could only watch as his brother made an 'I am watching you!' gesture with his hands before exiting the door.

Looking at the closed door, Mash thought for a second, then he started to walk towards it. Right when he reached his hand out to the handle, he heard his brother's chant.

The ground shook for a moment before slowly coming to a stop.

Looking out the window, Mash saw walls made up of rocks blocking the path of the house.

Mash got up to walk to the other window, only to see the same wall.

He stood there, assessing what had just happened.

Brother Tom locked him in again.

"..." suddenly a rumble came from Mash's stomach.

"Ah," Mash announced, "Still hungry?"

He paused before exiting the house, and came to face with the large earth wall which was dozens of meters high.

"..."

Some time later in the city, Tom walked away from a street stall with fresh fruit, as well as some vegetables and meat that were picked up on the way. Holding the paper bags up, Tom whistled as he walked down the street.

"Gonna cook some food~ For my family~ Gonna make sure~ Mash doesn't touch it~ Or he will turn them into cream puffs~" as he sang a catchy tune he just thought on the spot, he couldn't help but get annoyed when feeling several stares on his body.

Stares that were coming from the girls or women on the street.

Most guys would probably get a joy or kick from getting looked at, but for Tom who reincarnated in this world, it feels very off to him up to this point. Back in his previous life, he wasn't that into engaging with girls.

He had female friends, yes. But for girls to suddenly start looking at him as if in a romantic gesture made things more awkward. Tom couldn't help but curse sometimes. Curse his devilish charming face, I would rather be unnoticed than to be the target of attention.

But what can you do, sigh.

Lost in his thoughts, Tom continued to walk forward when suddenly he bumped into someone.

"Oh." Tom lowered the bags in his arms down to get a good look at the person he hit. His face sank low upon noticing the traditional uniform on the other person. "Uh." a silent groan escaped before an apologetic smile came.

"I'm so sorry, sir. I didn't see you-" "Huh! Hey,hey,hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

Before Tom could even complete his apology, his face got struck with spit as a viscous mouth screamed at him.

His smile trembled before solidifying. He slowly wiped away the spit before groaning more when he realized the cop in front of him was drunk. How does he know? Because the officer had a flushed face, his body was swaying and most importantly.

There was a bottle full of wine in his hand.

"I'm a, you listen here, punk." The Magic Policeman swayed before pointing a finger in Tom's face. "I am a proud member of the Magic Police. Do you know what I do?" he paused to take a sip from the glass before continuing. "I protect ordinary folks like you, and do I get any thanks! No!"

"The only thing I get is bottom-barrel pay!"

Seeing gazes facing their direction, Tom sighed internally again. He raised his hand up. "I understand, sir. I really do. It must be hard doing your job and nobody understands or respects that, but I-"

The officer wasn't interested in hearing what some nobody had to say, with a swing of his arm, he knocked over all the groceries the young man before him was holding, which ended up spreading on the ground.

Opening and squeezing his now empty hands, Tom's smile froze.

His eyes looked down at the groceries, the clean fruit, vegetables, and meat touched the dirty ground.

His eyelids slowly lowered.

"And furthermore!" The Magic Police screamed out before blinking.

He looked around, only to see that he was surrounded by tall trees. A few critters that were on the ground, scattered away in fright. The policeman could only look at their backs in a stupid manner, before withdrawing his aggressive pointer finger.

In a drunk manner, he looked around in confusion. "T-The forest. How did I?" shaking his head, he took another swing before staring at the bottle in his hand. "This drink is really strong. I should… I shouldn't have drank a lot."

Not even thinking of taking his wand, or finding his situation to be suspicious, the Magic Policeman walked forward through the forest. "I'm sure I did, didn't, walk… that far." he murmured to himself.

But unknowingly, he was walking in the opposite direction of the city, taking a turn to walk deeper into the forest.

"St-stupid job. Lousy citizens, terrible coworkers." The Magic Policeman drank again and before he knew it, he came to an open patch of the forest.

"Huh." All round the areas were broken pieces of rocks, cracked tree trunks, and abandoned equipment.

The officer was oddly staring at a gym set consisting of weights and bars, he couldn't help but become astounded.

"What the. What's a gym set doing in the middle o-" He stopped when he saw something in the corner of his eye. Something was jutting out in a bush.

Curiously, he went over and reached the end before pulling.

His eyes looked down to a… bone?

The officer's flushed face trembled, "Bone? No, it's an animal." pushing the bush aside, his eyes came face to face with a skull of an animal, whose jaw was cracked open.

"... AAAAAH!" Spooked, he stepped aside before his eyes widened largely. Behind the bush was a bunch of bones. Piles and piles of bones were stuck in groups with a variety of skulls staring in his direction.

A chill came up his spine as the policeman stepped back, dropping his bottle on the ground, he whispered to himself. "What is this place?"

Out of nowhere, a light layer of mist stretched across the ground.

Maybe it was from his rough training as part of the Magic Police, but as the officer became more aware, his drunken state slowly pulled away.

"Nice place this is, right?" a voice came.

Swiftly turning, the officer saw a curly brown haired youth leaning against the bark of a tree. His dull gray robe was slightly floating from a nonexistent breeze.

"Wait, you are. T-That ignorant boy from the streets."

Seeing the flush face of the man who drank during his duty, Tom's face became frighteningly calm.

"You know, sir." Tom drawled out, unfolding his arms as he stood up. "I am a calm and reasonable guy. I am… polite too. But there are some things that I can't tolerate. Especially if you were someone of my… 'circumstances' you would understand how one would suddenly react if a, hm, how do I say, a low level piece of waste were to badmouth you in front of your face."

Processing these words, the Magic Policeman became angry and was about to shout back when Tom suddenly held a hand up.

For some odd reason, the officer's voice died down. He blinked as he looked at the sharp face and eyes that reminded him of newly grown chestnuts. Although what that punk said made him mad, there was some kind of charm to him that he couldn't put his fingers on.

"Your name, please?" Tom began.

Looking at the half-lidded eyes, the policeman spoke his name, "Terry… Terry-"

"Nuh uh, uh, uh. First name is usually okay as a first name basis. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Tom Burnedead." Tom paused before looking around. He spread his arms wide in introduction. "Here you are now standing in the training grounds of both my brother and father. Oh, and those bones are my friends of course. We built such great relationships during our time together. I mean, look how many target practic- I mean. How many friends I have?"

"Friends?!" Terry spoke up with a bit of fear.

Not minding his expression, Tom placed his arms behind his back. "Now, Mr. Terry. I understand why you acted so rudely against me. You were acting on influence after all, but I know another reason why you acted towards me… I know that I am not as wise as my father or as talented as my brother, oh my dear brother, who is 'The Boy Who Lifted'."

Terry forced his shaking body to stand still, his ears opened up. "The Boy Who Lifted? What title…" such a title sounded weird, but at the same time, there was a certain kind of dominance to it.

The Boy Who Lifted? Terry rolled the name on his tongue.

"Now I know that what you did was a mistake." Tom turned to Mr. Terry. "So I am waiting now."

"W-Waiting for w-what?"

"An apology of course. Just say that you are sorry, and I'll forget this transaction even happened."

Terry was stunned before laughing drunkenly, "Me? Apologize to you, a punk who couldn't see in front of him on the road! Hahaha!"

Laughter echoed through the forest, the mist slowly began to pick up, becoming denser in the process.

Tom's face twitched as Mr. Terry took out a wand before pointing it at him.

"Why d-don't you apologize to me! For allowing me to look at such a lousy excuse of a-" "Chidori Stream!"

The sound of birds chirping followed by flowing electricity came.

"Raaaargh!" Terry's tall body fell on the ground, first his body was still before twitching, his mouth suddenly fell open to release a cry in pain.

"Hehehe." Tom snarled, "Lets up the voltage, Chidori Stream!" his wand flew forward with a blue hue glowing from its tip.

Terry's body trembled as he cried out in even more pain. The mind forcefully cleared of any drunken antics, fear overflowed in his heart as the pain became more severe.

Right when he was about to black out, out of nowhere a large green skinned creature standing at twelve feet entered in sight, wearing ragged bottoms made of animal skins, holding a wooden club over it's shoulder.

"Oh, a visitor? Oh, my." Tom rolled his eyes before pointing his wand in the direction of the troll.

Perhaps the wandering Forest Troll felt danger, and it rushed towards the pair of humans with anger in it's eyes, club pulled back in a prepared swing.

Terry's body trembled in fear.

Yes, at the Forest Troll that appeared from god knows where, but at Tom.

At an angle on the ground, Terry saw the boy's face turn cold as a fierce tone wept into an incantation.

"Sage Art: Shadow Style: Thunder Blast!" purple lightning was conjured into a single bolt that flew from Tom's wand.

The bolt struck the Forest Troll.

Then in the next second, the large bellied creature, that was capable of destroying even packed dense cities in groups, fell forward onto the ground with purple arcs of lighting pulsing around the body.

No movement at all, the rageful eyes became dulled out of life, the purple lightning around its body slowly died down.

It was suddenly quiet.

"K-Killed!" Terry spoke in shock.

Just like that!

What was that spell!

"And now!" Tom swung his wand in Mr. Terry's direction.

Suddenly a burst of energy ran amok in Terry's body, the will to live was too strong. And he swiftly got off the ground and started sprinting away.

The purple lightning spell flew past his body and struck a tree which immediately turned into ash upon impact. The ash stood for a second before fluttering away into the wind, leaving nothing behind to remind anyone of its existence.

"Don't you turn your back away from me, Mr. Terry! For insulting me is the gravest of sins in this world! And for that, I want you to look at me as I kill you!" Tom's enraged voice floated.

Tom's face was darkened, memories of being tortured and mocked by the simulated opponents from the system, emerged.

Like a true madman, Tom chased after Mr. Terry through the forest in a firing posture that would have made even Lord Voldemort impressed.

"I want to see the light flicker away from your eyes! To let that useless soul of yours disappear into the void itself!"

Fear was all that clouded in the Magic Policeman's eyes as he ran. His wand was by his side, but he had no intention to fight.

Just who the hell did he just offend?!