Day off 2

Having finished their breakfast, Hans decided to accompany Aiden to the arcade after being bombarded by countless requests from his eager friend.

Upon arrival, Aiden explained how the arcade worked, confessing that he had never been there due to lack of money, but was dying to try it out after hearing his classmates rave about it.

"See there? You buy coins and then use them to play the games you want," Aiden elucidated.

"How much does a game last?" Hans inquired.

Aiden tapped his temple thoughtfully, "Mhhh, I don't know for sure, but I think about three minutes."

"Do you want to stay here until lunch?" Hans suggested looking at Aiden, who quickly nodded in agreement.

"Ok, I'll go buy some, you can watch around and decide which ones you'd want to play," Hans offered.

"Ok."

…..

After a few minutes, Hans returned with a leather bag in his hand.

"Brother Hans, did they run out of coins?" Aiden asked forcing a smile.

"No, they're in here," Hans replied, raising the bag to show it to Aiden.

"B-brother how many did you buy?" Aiden stammered.

"Well, I made some calculations and came to the result that we'll need about a hundred and twenty coins, so just to be sure I bought a hundred and fifty."

"Ha-ha, I-I don't think we'll be able to finish them today," Aiden chuckled nervously.

"It's fine, just in case you come here with your friends, you can save them for the next time," Hans reassured.

"…thank you."

"Shall we start now?" Hans prompted, eager to try a few games himself now.

One after the other, all the arcades fell at the feet of the mighty duo, with Hans occasionally letting Aiden win in one-on-one games to boost the boy's morale.

By the time they walked out of that place, only fifty-four coins remained in the bag.

"Where would you like to eat, Aiden?" Hans asked.

"Can I choose anything?" Aiden asked, his eyes shining like stars.

"Mh Mh," Hans affirmed with a smile.

"Then can we get pizza?" Aiden requested.

As if his student had answered a question perfectly, Hans was proud of the response Aiden had come up with and immediately brought him to a nearby pizza restaurant.

With Aiden not having any particular preferences, Hans decided to order two margarita pizzas and two cokes.

The melted cheese and the hot tomato sauce were heavenly which was accompanied by the perfectly crunchy crust.

"So good."

 Savoring the food, they both enjoyed the moment.

"Hans… could you take me to an amusement park?" Aiden asked.

"Sure, I've always wanted to go to one myself," Hans replied.

"Really?!" Aiden couldn't help but exclaim.

"Hahaha, yes."

That day, Hans felt like a good person, bringing joy instead of tears of sorrow, almost forgetting about his nightmares.

Aiden was a weak spot for him, reminding him of his young self and his sister, two reasons to protect him.

Also, now that he had lived in it a bit, he didn't want Aiden to enter the world of the awakened, afraid of losing him.

He truly was a kind-hearted boy.

They enjoyed all the rides and then watched the sunset from the Ferris wheel.

When covered by the setting sunlight, the city of Chicago became majestic.

At 5 pm, when the sun was already down, they bid farewell to each other and went their separate ways.

Aiden happily played with the bag of coins Hans had handed him as he entered his home.

No one seemed to be home since the lights were off, but the moment he stepped in, a deep voice came from the direction of the sofa. His father asked in an intimidating tone, "Where have you been up until now?.. Aiden."

_____

The next morning.

Hans sat alone in his apartment while having his breakfast, making plans about the house he would buy.

He wanted an apartment in the middle of the city, one which had a big dining room and three bedrooms; one for him, one for his parents, and one for his little sister.

He wanted it to be at least on the sixth floor, allowing him to gaze over the city akin to the view Emily had from her office.

His reverie was interrupted by a message from Emily.

"Hans, come here quickly!! The ex-association branch leader wants to talk to you."

'Pffffff!' Hans spit out his coffee and almost choked on it.

"Cough..cough.." 

'Sh*t! The association branch leader, Brick Garrison. Is he mad at me because of what I said to him last time???"

'Should I apologize? well, it's not like I said something wrong.'

While he was subconsciously thinking of all of that, Hans had already changed and walked out before leaving for the association in a hurry.

After he entered the association's first floor, he saw a familiar back.

And even if he was in a hurry, he stopped to say bye at least.

"Hey there, Aiden, how's it going," Hans greeted, causing the familiar figure to freeze in place.

"Hey, what's wron-" Hans asked as he posed his hand on Aiden's shoulder and managed to catch a glimpse of his face only to be slightly taken aback.

Aiden's once beautiful facial features were marred by bruises and scratches.

"Who did this?!" Hans demanded angrily.

"It's-it's nothing to be concerned about," Aiden mumbled.

"I asked who did this!!" Hans persisted but was only met with silence.

"Was it your father?!!" Hans' voice rose with concern.

'I'll fucking kill him,' Hans thought, seeing Aiden lower his gaze.

However, before he could do anything else, Emily interrupted, grabbed Hans's hand, and dragged him away.

"What are you doing?! Come fast," Emily urged.

While he was being dragged away, Hans stared at Aiden, who did not dare look him in the eye.

As they rode the elevator, Hans' mind raced with thoughts regarding how to kill Aiden's fake father.

Maybe burning him to death or maybe a guillotine. Hans was so immersed in thinking about it that he didn't even notice that Emily had apologized for her abrupt actions.

When the elevator doors opened, he quietly followed her only to find himself in the grandest office he had ever seen.

It was all adorned with antique furniture. And sitting on the leather chair in the center was the A-Rank awakened, Brick Garrison.

"Come, have a seat," Garrison invited and Hans complied without hesitation.

"I have summoned you here today for something that is of extreme importance…" the bearded man began.

"You see, after experiencing for myself that my power still isn't sufficient to protect the people of this city, I've decided to resign from my current position as branch leader. However, unfortunately, I won't be able to retire until I find a suitable successor."

"Hans, I have personally witnessed the display of your strength during the C-Rank gate raid we did together and rumors of your achievement of slaying a C-Rank gate boss have also reached my ears." Garrison praised.

"Other than that, I have also witnessed your desire to save people even when they doubted you, making you an upright person. And also, we are in need of fresh minds, it's time for our generation to pave the way for yours."

"I still have memories and lingering feelings from before the catastrophe and haven't forgotten how life worked before the tragedy." Garrison let out a sigh and continued.

"Someone who always dreams of recreating the past must not be allowed to participate in the making of the future.

How about it? Would you like to take up this role?" he finally asked.

"I think you are misunderstanding something," Hans interjected. "I too constantly dwell thinking about the past."

That was the truth, he also remembered the world before and dreamt of it, however, more than anything else, he dreamt about having his family back.

Garrison's eyes relaxed and he let out another sigh before thinking, 'So he won't accept it, huh? I guess I'll need to find someone el..'

"But," Hans's words made him abruptly stop what he was thinking as he continued.

"I could still take up that role depending on something."

"What is it? I'll do my best to give you a satisfactory answer," Garrison immediately interrupted.

"If I were in the position you are sitting in right now…"

"Yes.." the bearded man's eyes narrowed, wondering what the young man was planning to offer.

"Would I be able to kill the security team leader?"

Hans' tone lowered and his face became serious.

Were they talking about a normal person, Garrison would've kicked Hans out of his room and changed the candidate for selection.

However, they were talking about the security team leader of the Chicago association, the man who was infamous for being a wicked and corrupt person: Logan Harris.

"Huuuuu… if you're thinking about killing him, it'll be difficult," Garrison admitted.

"You said difficult, not impossible," Hans replied determinedly.

After thinking for a moment, Garrison asked for Emily to stand outside before covering the entire place with a soundproof mana artifact and began his explanation.

Once he was finished, the barrier was taken down and they concluded the discussion.

"Is that all I need?" Hans couldn't help but ask after listening to Garrison's plan.

"Yes," replied Garrison.

Then, Hans extended his hand and shook it with the association leader.

"It'll be a pleasure and my honor to defend the city in your absence," Hans declared.

"Thank you for taking this heavy responsibility on your shoulders," Garrison acknowledged gratefully.