Chapter 03

It has been six years since young Zirken arrived at the Ackerman family home. During that time, there have been no remarkable events or anything in the least bit extravagant. The only notable things were the boy's incessant efforts to try to awaken his grace from the sun.

He tried various methods, from staying under the sun all day to check if anything would change or even praying for almost 10 hours in an attempt to miraculously feel something. However, nothing changed and the young man still has no idea how to awaken his dormant power or system.

"After all this time trying, I don't think I'll awaken until I reach the same age as the scanor when he awakened the taiyou grace, but I have no idea about that information because they didn't care to reveal it..." - Zirken.  

Currently, the white haired boy is leaning against a tree while taking a short afternoon nap. Being practically surrounded by nature, the air is quite pure and the light breeze hitting his skin made the environment quite pleasant.

Because of this, his routine basically consisted of helping his father with the manual labor in the morning, trying to awaken his powers and taking a nap in the afternoon, and at night he sometimes went to bed early because he had nothing to do.

Suddenly, a small black-haired girl appeared from behind the tree and sat down next to the young man. In the next instant, she closed her eyes and leaned her head on Zirken's shoulder.

"Shouldn't you be helping mother, Mikasa?" - Zirken 

"Mommy is knitting right now, so she sent you here to play with you." - Mikasa.

"Okay, okay. What do you want to do?" - Zirken.

"The usual." - Mikasa.

"Then come on, you start." - Zirken

"Why me?" - Mikasa.

"Because I don't want to start today..." - Zirken.

"Right...asshole " - Mikasa while pouting.

"What did you say?" - Zirken.

"Nothing!!!" - Mikasa.

And so they started with their usual banter. On some afternoons they were both free, and it was at these times that they had fun playing a game called Hornim. The object of this game is only one: to incapacitate your opponent from running.

Two or more people split into two teams: hunter and prey. The hunters' job is to make sure that the prey cannot escape, using any means from hand-to-hand combat to traps. The prey could only win if they went about 10 minutes without being touched by the enemy.

"Don't forget that the score is 50x48 for me!" - Mikasa.

"You won't be ahead for long!" - Zirken now cheered.

Because Mikasa is a legitimate Ackerman, her physique is second to that of her brother. So a small rivalry was created between the two as a form of encouragement. 

On the surface it was just a simple joke, but Zirken used this to train him and Mikasa from an early age. The memories about possible future events still remain vivid in his mind, and so he knew that he would have to be prepared for the dangers to come.

At first it may not seem like a very effective training, but it is one of the only methods accessible to both of them at this time as the only one visiting the city and places other than the outskirts of the house was only his father. So the boy was forced to improvise in this way.

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After about two hours of impromptu training, the sun was setting and the two children returned to their house. As they entered, they came across his hand cooking and setting the table for dinner.

"Go take your bath, we'll have dinner when your father arrives." - Mom.

They were both too tired to answer and just kept walking to another room near the bedrooms. As they entered, they were faced with two wooden buckets filled with water and small bars of soap beside them. 

The pair began to undress and were soon bathing themselves using small mugs to pour water on their heads. After a few minutes the two finished their bath, got dressed again and returned to the living room, where they ran into their father who had just arrived.

"Welcome back" - Mikasa and Zirken as they sat down in the chairs by the dining table.

"Welcome back, dear."  - Mom as she put the food on the table.

"I'm home." - He replied as he removed his pair of boots and headed for the table.

In the next instant, everyone started eating and an eerie silence settled over the place. The two children were too tired because they had worked harder than usual today, and the father was also exhausted from working hard all day in the nearest town. However, this silence was soon broken by the beautiful Asian woman.

"How did it go today, dear?" - Mom.

"There was nothing out of the ordinary, but I did find Dr. Yeager and his son walking around town." - Dad.

"That overly energetic boy?" - Zirken.

"Wouldn't you be the energetic child who stayed playing all afternoon?" - Mikasa.

"You also accompanied me..." - Zirken.

"It was you who made me!" - Mikasa.

"NANI?!" - Zirken.

"haha, did you tell him about your arm pain?" - Mom.

"Yes, but he said he would come another day with some medicine for me" - Father.

"I see. And you..." 

After that, the family continued to talk about other matters of their daily lives. When they finished dinner, Mikasa and Zirken went to their room where the two slept together as there were only two rooms in the house. Their parents went to take a shower together and soon after that they went to the second bedroom of their home where they fell asleep and finished their day.

Or that's what the white-haired young man imagined...

*anh** *anh* 

Several groans began to be heard from the next room and clearly could be heard by the two children who were trying to sleep.

'Those two... If it were up to them, I think we'd have another 10 brothers by now.'  - Zirken's face flushed.