Chapter 80

Twilight streaked the sky with pink and purple reflections.

The sea below was dark blue, the sun reflecting off it in oblique rays. I didn't need to be there to know that the water was cold and, more importantly, that no one would be coming to visit me for at least the next two hours.

- Now that's the kind of early riser you don't often see in kids your age!

The man smiled at me as I entered the dining hall.

Clearly, they were in charge of breakfast: the wife was finishing setting the plates on the table, while her husband - standing behind the counter overlooking the kitchen - was slicing fresh bread.

Behind him, in the background, an oven hummed, and I could see pain au chocolat and croissants.

- Breakfast won't be ready for another hour, the woman said as she approached me, dusting her hands on her apron.

She glanced worriedly at the clock.

- The time agreed upon with the management was 8:30 a.m.

The clock read 5:32.

- I'll make do with what you've got.

It was early, so early that even our good old insomniac teacher wasn't up yet.

That was one of the reasons I had gotten up so early: since he wasn't awake, he couldn't force me to do his damn chores.

If he really thought I'd grovel to clean the toilets because he asked me to, he was crazier than I thought.

The only thing left for me to do was to avoid him for the rest of my stay.

No problem at all.

- Well, we've got bread, the man stammered, turning to his wife. Jam as well.

- Keichiro could cut some fruit for you. Would you like some melon?

I nodded: she disappeared behind the service door and returned with grapes, strawberries, pears, bananas and melon. There was also cheese, thinly sliced.

Keichiro took out a frying pan, put some olive oil in it and toasted the slices of bread.

- What about eggs ? Do you like eggs?

- I don't dislike them

He cracked three eggs in the pan, added spices and then arranged the omelets on the toast.

- We have orange juice or tea if you prefer.

- Orange juice

The woman smiled at me and served me a generous glass in a mug.

I raised the cup to my lips but didn't take a sip, never taking my eyes off her.

The woman washed the fruit and her husband skillfully peeled and sliced it and arranged it on my plate.

- Where's Kenta?

The couple exchanged amused looks.

- He is sleeping, of course, like any sensible person at five in the morning.

I nodded, my eyes gliding over them as I moved from one door to the next, closed or open.

- Good, very good.

My cup slammed loudly against the counter, startling her.

The juice surged like a wave and narrowly missed splashing all over the counter.

- Why is he named after me?

They exchanged glances.

The woman had turned pale, and her husband looked at her with pursed lips before turning to me.

- We don't see what-

- Don't lie to me

I clutched the knife hidden under the edge of the counter and watched them suspiciously one after the other.

For a split second, my eyes fell on the frying pan the man was holding in his left hand. There was a knife, not far from the woman, but since she made no move to grab it, I remained motionless, my muscles tensed.

There had been Touya, there had been the group, there had been Kenzei - I'll never let anything like that happen again.

- I told you we should have talked to him about it," the man wheezed. The woman's mouth tightened.

She looked down at her nervous fingers.

- I know, I know, but I didn't want to make him uncomfortable…

My attention turned to her, but I kept her husband in my peripheral vision.

My chakra buzzed under my skin, the hairs on my forearms standing up under the influx of electricity.

The woman took a deep breath and looked up at me.

The man let go of the frying pan and took his wife's clenched hands in his own, smiling encouragingly.

- You probably don't remember us, Shoto, but we've met before.

I remained silent.

- It was a little over five years ago, by the sea, in Italy. We were young heroes out to prove ourselves.

A vague memory came to mind.

- That day, a villain had robbed a bank. It wasn't a heavily patrolled area, and we were the only two-man watch for the season. We were called to the scene, and when we arrived, there were all these people on the ground…

She licked her dry lips and gripped her husband's hand tighter.

- He gave us the money as soon as he saw us. He told us that the bank was just an excuse and that those he was after were heroes. We were young, do you understand? (Her lips curled into a disillusioned smile, her eyebrows raised) We thought... we thought…

She stammered for a few seconds, then fell silent, not knowing how to continue.

Her husband took over, jaw clenched.

- We were in a bad position: things looked very bad for us. He had destroyed our means of communication, and after a while we realized that he was much stronger than we were, and that he was just having fun. It was just a matter of time…

The woman suddenly raised her head.

- You have to understand, we had no choice, Shoto.

She grabbed her shirt and tried to pull it up, but her husband stopped her.

- Please Kana, calm down -

- No, he has to see !

She loosened her grip and pulled at her shirt so hard that I could hear the seams creaking. My eyes were glued to her torso.

Her abdomen was perforated.

There was a gaping hole on her right flank, exactly where her ribs should have been. It looked as if a shark had devoured half her stomach and found it too tiring to finish the job. She looked like one of those puzzle pieces that didn't fit anywhere and only served to hold the others together. I had no idea how she had managed to survive such an injury - in fact, I had a hard time understanding how she was still able to live without being in a hospital bed.

- Keichiro, show him

Her husband watched her for a few seconds before he sighed. He rested his leg on the worktop and then pulled up his jeans. In place of his leg was a metal prosthesis of an entirely new kind: gray cords intertwined with the remaining piece of thigh, giving the strange impression that he was half man, half android.

- When you arrived that day, we didn't think twice and ran away. We were so afraid that we left a child alone to face that monster. If you knew how ashamed we were…

Neither of them dared look me in the eye again. I remained silent, but my thoughts were wandering.

If I'd abandoned him to die alone, would Kenzei's grandson have understood what I wanted to tell him at the funeral ?

- We didn't get very far. Luckily, help arrived soon after and we were taken to the hospital. When we woke up, we immediately asked for you, but it was impossible to find you. In fact, when we started to say that a child had interfered, the investigators told us that we were delirious.

Keichiro held his wife close to him. 

- We even thought you were dead and that they were trying to hide the story from the public... but we made some contacts and finally learned your first name and that you were alive and well. It was such a relief…

I shifted slightly in my chair, uncomfortable. Her husband took over:

- We tried to contact you, but it was impossible. For years, you were just a mirage, a person we thought we'd made up out of thin air. If it weren't for your first name, we would have thought we were delirious. And then we saw you at the Yuei sport's festival : Kenta really wanted to go, and even though we hadn't been heroes for a long time, we managed to get tickets.

- You can't imagine what a shock it was to see you enter the arena and preside over the opening ceremony, the woman added with a smile. When we learned your full name, we finally understood why we'd never been able to contact you. And one thing led to another…

She pointed to the dining hall with one hand, but I understood that she was talking about the training camp in general.

- So, to answer your question, we gave Kenta your name because you're a good person, Shoto.

Kana gave me a smile, the same warm, loving smile I saw her reserve for her son.

I looked away, unable to say anything.

- We wanted to remember you, Keichiro continued in a low voice, And we wanted our son to have you as an example forever. This was our way of thanking you and never forgetting you.

The way they looked at me, eyes wide open and shining with raw, pure, unadulterated trust, it was - it was - I couldn't...

'You're someone good, Shoto'

- I...

I closed my mouth, unable to answer.

An uneasy feeling came over me, preventing me from looking them straight in the eye.

My attention was locked on the steaming plate they'd prepared for me, lying on the counter.

- May I ?

Without waiting for their permission, I grabbed two more slices of bread.

I left them there after their grandiloquent revelation and left the refectory to eat outside. They said nothing, but I felt their eyes on my back until I closed the door behind me.

It wasn't until I was sitting alone, facing the sea and away from all this... chaos, that

I remembered the most important thing: I had forgotten my cutlery.

Well, I'll eat with my fingers.

*

Author's note :

Last comment I will make for a while : believe me everyone, you definitely want to get the needed amount of power stones for the bonus chapter next week.

Power stones goal of this week : 250

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See you in the next update !