"Woah, wait a sec...what are you doing here, Ella? I thought you were supposed to stay away from-," I began, after breaking free from her embrace.

"Yeah, but it's not like father has any way of finding out! I've been staying at the student dorms in the X-Warrior Zone, so he doesn't even know that I'm in the Residential District right now!"

​​

"Oh, I guess that means you're enrolled in the X-Warrior Academy now, huh. Congrats, though it's hardly unexpected."

"Your lack of enthusiasm is as, uh...lacking as ever. Hey, wait a sec...," She replied, looking at my face closely.

"Wh-what?"

"You...you've been eating something sweet, haven't you?" She remarked, picking out a small bit of chocolate cream from the side of my mouth using a finger.

Huh? Crap, I had some cream on my face. Well, considering the way I was stuffing them into my mouth, that isn't exactly surprising, I guess. Even so, it was pretty embarrassing.

"So what if I did?" I muttered, eyeing her finger.

The cream from the eclair, that stuff was seriously heavenly, and I thought I'd eaten it all, but...there was still a bit left, damn it. How do I get it from her finger though?

"Mm, this tastes like...you went to Delectables, didn't y-?"

"No, wait-...!" I blurted out, trailing off as she licked off the cream on her finger.

She looked at me with surprise as I realized what I'd just done and averted my gaze in embarrassment, before she let out a stifled laugh, trying to pass it off as a cough but not very convincingly.

"A-anyway, you might as well come in, I guess. No sense talking in the doorway."

"Sure, pardon the intrusion, little bro!" She grinned, skipping in and looking around, "Hey, you keep this place pretty tidy, I'm impressed."

"It's a small room, so cleaning is easy," I replied with a shrug, before my eyes lit up as I saw that she was carrying a bag.

That bag...it was from Delectables! Okay, I should just play it cool and ignore the intense salivating in my mouth...I was definitely full in terms of hunger, but this wasn't about that...after all, food goes to your stomach, but dessert isn't just any mere food...dessert goes to the heart, which has no capacity limit!

...hm, I might be a little too enthusiastic about desserts. I should try to reign in it, just a little.

"Hehe, I can see you staring at this," She grinned, holding the bag in front of me tantalizingly.

I gulped and licked my lips before I could stop myself, earning a smirk from her.

"Yeah, yeah...you caught me," I sighed, raising my hands in surrender.

"You know, you're probably gonna get diabetes by the age of thirty if you keep gorging yourself on sweets like this," She laughed, before handing the bag to me, "Well, happy birthday, little brother."

"Thanks, sis...and FYI, it's not like I eat sweets everyday or anything, just once every two weeks," I replied, taking the sweets from her casually.

"Hehe, look at you trying to act chill about this, but you can't fool me...I can see it in your eyes, you're really excited aren't you?"

"...quit it," I muttered with a sigh, taking out the box in the bag and opening it.

A chocolate cake, eclairs and brownies...don't mind if I do.

"I told you I'd get you a bigger cake this year, remember? So, um, speaking of which...how have you been doing for the past year?" She asked awkwardly, as I bit into a slice of cake with a contented sigh.

"Hm? Oh, I'm fine-..."

"Hey, don't talk with your mouth full, little bro. Eat or talk, not both," She giggled, slapping me on the back.

"In that case...eat it is."

In between each bite of dessert, she asked me about how my life was now and stuff like that, I assured her that I was doing fine. Her excessive concern then started to get annoying, so I changed the subject by asking her how things were going with her.

She had been attending the X-Warrior Academy for nine months now. Unlike schools and universities where you move on to a higher grade after a year, the X-Warrior Academy did so after every half-year. In other words, you move on to the next level of the course after six months, if you pass the exams of course.

Graduating the X-Warrior Academy required passing a two-year course, which consisted of four levels, each six months long. Upon passing the entrance exam, you would start with Level J, then six months later if you managed to pass J, you would move up to Level Q. Passing the six months of Q would move you up to Level K, and finally, Level A. Of course, that also means that the new intake of students occurs every six months instead of every year, one in January and one in July.

My sister was currently halfway through Level Q, at the top of her class, which wasn't surprising at all.

"You really are an overpowered powerhouse, aren't you, sis? So, what's the entrance exam like?" I inquired curiously.

"Well, it's different every time. For mine, there were about fifty applicants and we were all made to fight in a battle royale till there were only sixteen of us left. Oh, that's right, they only take in sixteen students at each entrance exam, so it'll probably be in an elimination format of some kind."

Interesting, that was useful to know. I'll certainly have to keep all that in mind. Anyway, she left not long after that, the student dorms in the X-Warrior Zone had a 12 PM curfew, and she didn't want to risk getting late. I was admittedly a bit sad to see her go, but I wasn't going to let her know that. And...seeing her again at all was good enough for now.

"Aw, no need to look so sad, little bro...I'll be visiting you more often from here on out," She grinned, ruffling my hair as I saw her out the door.

"What are you talking about, I'm not sad or anything. And quit joking around, you probably shouldn't risk it-."

"Not joking! And you can't change my mind, so don't try! I'll let you know when the next time I'm coming over will be, 'kay?"

Arguing was just going to waste valuable energy...

"...do what you want," I relented with a sigh, picking up another slice of cake.

A few hours later, I fell fast asleep having absolutely stuffed myself with an ungodly amount of sugar...

...

...

Following my sixteenth birthday, I got visited by my older sister at least a couple of times every month. While I was a bit uneasy about the risk of my father finding out and doing...something or other, I had to admit, it was nice to get to talk to someone every so often. I didn't have anyone else in my life with whom I could have meaningful conversations with, so yeah.

Additionally, I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted...of course, afterwards, I'd use my ability to restart the day and eat more conservatively. So technically, at least as far as anyone else is concerned, I haven't eaten any sweets since my birthday. But in reality, I've been eating them pretty much every single day.

After a few months of doing this, I realized that I should cut back on it...repeating almost every single day twice meant that it felt like time was going doubly slow for me.

And so, I had to re-discipline myself. It wasn't easy at all, but I didn't have a choice but to do so, I was in danger of getting addicted. I went back to treating myself once every two weeks and shelved using my power to let myself go all out with food. And so, I got over that roadblock...a roadblock of my own creation.

Despite that setback where food was concerned, the other aspects of my life were going relatively smoothly. I was quite pleased by my progress with training, both martial arts and X-Weapon training were going well, and I was satisfied with the rate that my body was developing at as well.

My high school education was progressing well too, I had about a year and a half left, and I shouldn't have any problems graduating. My financial state was fine too, I had kept my CredPoint balance above a certain amount using my slot machine winnings, while remaining cautious and avoiding getting too carried away with it, it didn't seem like anyone had taken notice of me at the casinos yet.

In all aspects of my life right now, I was tackling them with a methodical and careful approach, though in different ways depending on the aspect. For school and gambling, my efforts were more minimalistic, doing what I determined to be the bare minimum, with a safe enough margin, of course. As for training, my efforts had to push my limits without exceeding them, and that was quite a fine line to walk. On the one hand, I had to work hard or I'll never be able to keep up with Prodigies, but on the other hand, I'll burn myself out if I overdo it.

Every step I take, every move I make...I can't afford to have much of any wasted effort in them. My goal was to become a high-ranking X-Warrior, something that wasn't going to be easy and certainly couldn't be taken lightly. The path to my goal...I need to walk through it as efficiently as possible...

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