David

"Where did it go?" Alex was distressed as the transmitters were nowhere to be seen. Shocked at the sudden disappearance of the gadgets his first thought was that Yuna had taken them but that was not possible as although he was concentrating on the breathing technique he would have felt it if Yuna had taken them off his head.

"Weird," Alex said walking around the couch he was seated on searching in case it had dropped and didn't notice

"Nothing"

Standing he looked across the room around the seating area but still, nothing was found. Walking out of the lounge he called

"Hey Yuna..."

"Wow, you are finally out huh?" Yuna said snidely interrupting him.

"What I was..."

"You ignored me when I called. Even when I touched you I was still ignored. You act as though you've slept off. I nearly thought something had gone wrong and would have called the emergency services if you hadn't walked out just now.

Stunned by her words, Alex checked the clock only to notice a full 30 minutes had gone. The linking ought not to take more than 15 minutes in the guide however he took double that and then the matter of the missing transmitters still bugged him. Gathering his wits he asked

"Where is Boss Smith?"

"He left for some stuff like that some minutes ago," Yuna said huffily

"I'll be back," Alex said walking back into the lounge and towards the manager's office

Sliding smoothly in he entered Boss Smith's office leaving the door slightly ajar. Alex checked the security monitors hanging on the wall and rewound the one placed in the staff lounge back 30 minutes prior.

What he saw left him in shock. Alex takes a seat at the table and stares at the screen trying to process what he had just seen. It seemed unlike regular transmitters his was only a one-time use type, as from the camera feed all he noticed was the coins attached to his temples and beginning the linking process gradually the coins began to vaporise and in less than 15 minutes they were gone.

Walking back into the staff lounge Alex opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water that he hoped would calm him down. On second thought he decided to pull up the forums. Maybe there were other people like him there. Logging in he was dismayed to discover not only that there were no similar cases to his but some content creators had posted their entire linking process and some of them only needed 3 minutes meaning he had used a total of 10 times that of others.

On other threads he searched, there was only overflowing praise for how durable and efficient the transmitters were. There was no mention of the linking process needing to update the CGM or of the transmitters vanishing

After closing the forums he decided to pull up his system homepage

"Home," he commanded mentally.

[Homepage]

[Status Page]

[Quest Page]

[Connected Servers: 3]

[Yggdrasil 1: Augmented reality; online.]

[Yggdrasil 2: Virtual reality; online.]

[Realms Online: Alternate reality; Offline: Server launch: 16:30:27]

On seeing the new column Alex decided to wait until the countdown ended. Putting the matter aside Alex continued his day as normal and didn't draw attention to the peculiarity.

*******************************************************************************

"Good job today guys," Boss Smith said as Yuna and Alex clocked out.

Walking out of the store their view opened up into the outdoors a lively district with all manner of shops lining both sides. Souvenir shops, restaurants and even street stalls selling all manner of trinkets. The popular Freddy Lane was one of the most visited locations for the middle-high class in Teardrop City. Among the beautiful billboards are some physical and some augmented reality. However, one billboard featured a face Alex wanted to forget about.

'Squee!'

Suddenly thrust out of his thought train by the sudden scream Alex turned and looked across from him where a light-skinned, thin-nosed pretty boy in immaculate designer clothing was walking out of the alleyway and to his dismay he recognised the character who incidentally locked eyes with him.

"Ugh," Alex said groaning and picked up his pace with Yuna following right behind him quickly trying to get away as fast as they could without seeming as though they were fleeing from the gorgeous boy David

Hey Alex how are you doing bro? David said crossing the lane and catching up with them in a heartbeat

Hello Yuna he said placing his arm on both their shoulders as though it was the most natural thing in the world

'Mmn,' Yuna groaned and ducked the incoming arm trying her hardest to maintain her distance, especially with all the attention they were getting from all the girls across from them, their glares particularly piercing for Yuna.

David always seemed to draw uncontrolled attention from the ladies however though he flirted with them he had not once taken them into a serious relationship unintentionally keeping them interested. Yuna seemed to believe it was because David didn't peak in high school and was an orphan so he went the extra mile for attention. Despite him being Alex's best friend since childhood, this did not help as several incidents with David's prospective girlfriends had occurred with both Alex and Yuna receiving damage due to the fallout of his bad rep, so they were reluctant to be seen with him in public for their safety, especially as they hadn't awakened their abilities and David was already a Tier2 Mortal Master, making his opponents a major threat to ordinary people.

Once a girl who aimed to be his girlfriend pressured them with gifts to get closer to David, leading to David ruthlessly cutting her off for being too possessive. While in her grief she caught sight of Yuna and in a fit of rage poured a hot cup of coffee into the unsuspecting girl's face. Yuna never forgave David for that though she ended up unharmed.

"Let me go," Alex said in a flat tone.

David let him go before grinning and waving goodbye to the staring ladies from across the street and following his friends to the station as his shift at the restaurant was over too.

Finally, on getting on board Alex asked

"How are Mrs Johnson and the others?"

"Ahh, he talks." David teased getting a plain look from Alex

"Hahaha, well they get by pretty well for themselves. I stop by every day to check in on those twerps, after all, they are just across from my street" his mood seemed to sour as he continued.

"Though, there are rumours that they had lost possession of the property and would be relocating soon."

"What?" Alex said shocked and saddened as the orphanage is one of the only remaining places he still feels affection for after his mother's death.

"Let's stop by today," Alex said to which Yuna nodded.

**********************************************************************************

The Everair Orphanage was the only running home in the 3rd-grade district of Teardrop City. It had been functioning for over 60 years, and the building it was sited on was an ancient-style massive 1-acre large edifice with surprising attention to detail. It was the pride of the neighborhood as the neighborhood residents all helped in the maintenance of the building making the orphanage seem more homely and much less brutalist in its atmosphere.

Walking into the large foyer framed pictures lined the walls from the doorway up the stairs, pictures of over 10 generations of inhabitants of all ages pictures of the neighborhood members in a way the orphanage was like a memorial hall for the families in the neighborhood the place was a treasure chest of memories for the village. The current Propritess Mrs Johnson was a Tier7 Mortal Master and had cared for the children for several years with her husband before his tragic passing as he tried to break through the Mortal Master Grade. One strange trend in the orphanage was that over 95% of the children who grew up in it had successfully awakened their abilities. Many thought that it must have been a result of the building but no one seemed to know who built the structure with its unique structure and aura.

"Ah, if it isn't young Alex," Mrs. Johnson said from her seat in the adjacent parlor some 12 feet away. For an old lady above the age of 210, she had sharp eyesight.

"Mrs Johnson it's nice to see you again in good health," Alex said sheepishly.

Mrs Johnson was a heavy-set dark-skinned woman with a motherly figure. She had born 4 sons in that body.

"Don't worry about me. It seems you all must have heard the rumours of our move seeing your concerned faces," she said smiling in joy and you would know immediately that she must have been a stunning beauty even with her silver hair streaming down her head.

"Yes, we are really concerned," Yuna said as the trio walked into the parlor and found a pair of double armchairs and a single-seater chair waiting in the warmly lit room. Alex sat on the only single-seater with David and Yuna making the nearest double-seater.

"Well, we just had a very generous and persuasive benefactor willing to relocate us and still allow us to decide what we do with the building after providing us with prime district accommodation so we will be fine."

"Wow Mam that's great," David said excitedly. "Who might that benefactor be?"

"You know not all of these guys are genuine?" Alex asked sceptically.

"Don't worry I'm sure even you guys will approve of her, after all, it's Sara Daniel."

At the mention of that name the air seemed to freeze up as David turned to look at Alex who he saw seemed to have turned pale.

"Ahh, big sister Yuna." A young girl's scream tore through the stillness as a pig-tailed cute young girl ran into the parlour and into Yuna's arms.

"Ara, Ara if it isn't Little Carrie," Yuna said. Her personality instantly turned mature.

"I'm not little again," Carrie said pouting and trying but failing to dodge David's arm as he reached out to pat her head out of force of habit.

"Yes, yes I know," Yuna said and pinched her cheeks

She blushed in embarrassment as David could not resist her cuteness and picked her up and swept her out of the room to meet up with the other kids.

"Help me! Sister Yuna." Carrie called out dramatically and Yuna followed the pair out as well

Alex got up to follow them out but was stopped in his tracks as Mrs Johnson said

"Your ability still hasn't awakened yet. Right?"

Alex turned to her and nodded looking into her seemingly all-seeing eyes. A black cat coyly walked into the room unnoticed.

"You just need to keep using your breathing technique and let it become second nature for you. You have great potential Alex and a terrifying potential indeed."

The cat in the corner yawns and closes its eyes with a smiling expression.