Luke noticed something was wrong as soon as he turned his home's street corner. A big moving truck was parked in front of his house, and two guys were putting his granddad's armchair into the truck.

If the necklace was the old man's most prized possession, the armchair would be a close second. Though old and all patched up, it had been expensive, a legacy of better times, and was incredibly comfy. Luke wasn't even sure his grandpa could live without the relief brought by the ergonomic piece of furniture, as he suffered from severe back pain.

"Hey," Luke yelled when he was still on the other side of the street. He usually avoided conflict, but as proven earlier this very day, his last living family was his weak spot. "Hey!" He repeated, anger obvious in his voice.

His best guess on what was going on was that Jackson had found a way to have the Goldsmiths expel Luke and his granddad from the garage.

It was against the neighborhood rules to lease only part of a house or to sublease houses, but Luke's granddad had a very, very distant blood relationship with the Goldsmiths. So they claimed to be family, and it was normal for family living together to share the costs, which explained the Kells paying the Goldsmiths. Until today, that had been enough for the neighborhood's association.

However, even if they were getting expelled, he wanted to make sure at least the armchair found its way to the right place instead of "getting lost" on the way at Jackson's behest.

The workers kept carrying the armchair despite Luke's yelling, but a third one came from the door of the adapted garage. The man appeared to be in his early thirties, with a beer belly but enough muscles to show he helped move furniture too. He had dark skin, a perfectly trimmed low beard, an almost completely shaved hair, and black eyes. He wore jeans, brown T-shirt, boots, and a tool-bag was hanging from his waist.

"You must be Luke," he said with a warm smile. Luke had to admit the guy was good. His smile almost made even him disarmed.

"Yeah," Luke said, controlling his breathe from all the running. "Who are you?" He asked with obvious hostility.

"I'm Tom, I work for the Akira family. Mr. Akira has been a long friend of Mr. Mitchel." His grandpa was from Luke's mother's family, hence the different last name. Luke had known the old Japanese neighbor was a friend of his granddad, but what did it have to do with this? "Mr. Mitchel finally accepted Mr. Akira's offer to move in with him. I understand it has something to do with the Goldsmith family asking Mr. Mitchel's monthly contributions to increase substantially."

So the Goldsmiths had increased the rent. Luke was immediately sure of Jackson's interference, and he wouldn't care much about moving together with Mr. Akira if it had been yesterday.

But today...

He gulped. "Is... Is Akira Sakura... Related to Mr. Akira?" They had the same family name. Luke's anger was quickly turning to shivers as he imagined living with the new school bully.

Tom's nod confirmed Luke's fears. "Ms. Akira is a distant niece. She has come to live with Mr. Akira due to special circumstances."

Luke bit his lower lip. He couldn't let that happen. It was one thing for Jackson to know where Luke's granddad lived, but for Akira Sakura to have direct access to his granddad at any time of the day?

That was the stuff of nightmares.

"Where's my grandfather?"

"Mr. Mitchel is already at the Akira local house discussing details. We can bring you with us when we're done here."

Luke didn't even bother replying to an employee of the devil. He just turned and started running again, this time toward Mr. Akira's house. As for his few possessions, he couldn't care less about them when his granddad might be in danger.

The only good news was that apparently, Jackson had done nothing to the old man.

He tried to think about what he would say to prevent his granddad from moving there, but nothing came to mind. He was out of white lies and excuses. He would have to come clean about his life in the school and the dangers of living in the same house as Akira Sakura.

His heart trembled as he imagined his granddad's look of disappointment. Not at Luke, but at having to move. They had sacrificed so much to keep him at the best high school, and it would be for naught in the end. They insisted he could only keep his scholarship if he lived in that school district, and they couldn't afford living there anymore.

He quickly cleared some tears, his heart in pain.

The pain was followed by a wave of heat. His phoenix heart was telling him it could burn away all sensations if he wanted it to. He knew it to be an imprecise promise at best. The Eternal Phoenix had no such control over its feelings, all it could do was let him lose himself in warmth.

When Luke arrived at the Akira house, he found his granddad and Mr. Akira sitting by the door. Two rocking chairs and a wooden stool had been placed outside the front door, below a large sunshade. A teapot was resting on the stool, and the old men held a cup each. They were talking and laughing about something.

They couldn't be more different, and their friendship had come as a surprise to the entire neighborhood. Luke's granddad was a frail old man, while Mr. Akira looked like a retired athlete that still played every other day. The short Japanese man had muscles that hinted at a lifetime of exercises, long black hair in a ponytail, and a short beard that, albeit still longer than Tom's, was also perfectly trimmed and cared for. His black eyes were always cold, except when looking at Luke's granddad, when they filled with warmth.

Their finances were also worlds apart. If their houses weren't evidence enough, their clothes would do it. Luke's granddad always wore comfortable cheap clothes, while Mr. Akira's clothes were like something between a suit and casual clothes, except for his feet, which were always wearing socks and wooden flip-flops—Japanese traditional footwear called geta.

Luke had once asked how they had became friends, but his granddad had only answered with "a bond between warriors," whatever that meant.

"Grandpa," Luke said as he approached.

The old man smiled happily. "Ah, son. Come. Do you remember... my good friend... Mr. Akira?"

Luke nodded to the Japanese man. "Hello, Mr. Akira. Could I speak to my grandfather for a moment?"

As anxious as Luke was, he knew better than to antagonize the old man. He had developed a genuine friendship with Luke's granddad much before the Akira girl arrived. It was just a coincidence Jackson had had them kicked out of the house now and Luke's granddad accepted an old, still standing invitation.

It was a coincidence, right?

"Of course," Mr. Akira said. "But I'm afraid I left my cane inside, and these old bones of mine can't stand up without it. Could you fetch it for me?"

Luke didn't believe it for a second. Mr. Akira was probably as fit as Jackson and his jocks. Yet, if all he had to do was get the man's his cane, he would do it in exchange for a moment alone with his granddad.

The front door of the big white American house was already open, and when Luke entered, it felt like he had teleported to Japan.

The inside had tatami mat flooring, sliding doors, and paper walls. The architecture was spacious, and the entry hall was a tiny corridor with a place to take off their shoes and hang coats.

There was an umbrella stand there too, and beside it, with her back on the wall and holding a wooden cane that was also resting on her shoulder, there stood Akira Sakura.

The cane was a work of art. Luke had never seen it up close, but now he could notice the Japanese dragon beautifully crafted in the wood. The serpent-like divine being seemed to surround the cane, its mouth open at the top. Its entire head was made of a golden metal that resembled gold a lot, and the eyes were small red gemstones, maybe even ruby.

"We need to talk," she said firmly. He opened his mouth to reply, but it took only a glance of hers to silence him. "Pathetic," she said when he closed his mouth, then turned to walk deeper into the house. "Take off your shoes." She was also wearing socks and geta.

Luke obeyed and followed with bare feet and a lowered head.

A small part of him screamed for him to rebel, that he could take her on. He analyzed her with his new Awareness and was surprised to see a steady footing and a posture with few openings as she walked. Even the seemingly absentminded manner she held the cane actually gave her a firm grasp of it and made her ready to swing it in a fight.

Unfortunately, he couldn't analyze her muscles for strength, agility, or endurance because her body was hidden by the school uniform. Females could opt to use dark blue skirts that ended below the knee instead of pants, which she had done. However, as long as she wasn't too much stronger than him, he felt confident in winning against her. She obviously had had some training, which made him sure she was a bully, but it couldn't compare with the battle experience he had.

But he wouldn't fight.

A much larger part of him told him fighting it would be a mistake. Once he told his granddad the truth, they were as good as gone from the school, but he didn't want another bully to resent him. It would be bad enough to fear Jackson for the months to come regardless of where Luke went.

Akira led him to a center table in a large living room. She took off her geta, sat on her knees on the floor by the table and nodded for him to sit on the opposite side. She placed the cane beside her. He obeyed and sat with his legs crossed.

An awkward silence followed.

Luke wanted to talk. The longer he stayed here, the longer Jackson would have to find out his granddad was still in the neighborhood and do something about it. However, almost two years of getting beaten for speaking out of place taught him to keep quiet.

The emotions warred inside him, and ultimately, his care for his granddad won. "Please, not him." She kept quiet, looking emotionlessly at him. "Please. I'll do anything, just don't touch my granddad."

Akira snickered in disgust. "There are so many things wrong with your words that I don't even..." She shook her head. "To begin with, I would never, ever, touch an innocent. To even suggest such a thing is a great offense to me and the Akira household. Never repeat it where other clan members might hear it, or they won't let you go with a simple explanation. Second, your grandfather is a good friend of a family elder. Even if I wanted to do something to him, touching him would be the end of me, no matter my status."

Luke had to suppress a snicker of his own. As if he would believe a bully like her wouldn't touch an innocent. As for Mr. Akira... the man was solid, but he had plotted with his niece to get Luke to talk to her, hadn't he? Then again, it was possible she kept a facade for her family.

"Sorry," he said instead of voicing his thoughts.

She shook her head. "I see you're still cattle. That's the reason your grandfather is here. He'll be safe, and you'll be able to fight for your freedom without fear of retribution from that pathetic boy." She pointedly looked at his bandages. "I suggest you do it sooner rather than later. When things get to this point, they never end well."

Luke just clenched his fists and looked down. From what she was saying, she didn't know he had beaten Jackson. He wanted to tell her, but he knew better than to play games with bullies.

Jackson had at a time given Luke challenges with the promise of leaving him alone. They started with simple things, like jumping five or more steps of the stairs everyday, until he had to jump more than he could and fell on his face. Then the challenges had changed to stealing small things from his colleagues, a rubber here, a pencil there, until he was told to steal an apple from a store.

That day, he had been brought to the police, heard a well-deserved earful from his granddad, and learned that no matter a bullies' words about wanting to help you grow more confident, they were all sadistic monsters.

She was putting a front, saying she wanted him to fight back, but the truth was that she just wanted him to get beaten harder by Jackson for her own satisfaction.

"Well? Anything you want to say?" she asked after another long awkward silence.

"Please, let my grandfather go," he repeated. "Please."

She sighed. "You said you would do anything to have him released. Were you being serious?"

"Yes," he said at once, then completed, because he knew better. "But only if you let go of him first."

"That is quite difficult because I have a counter-offer for you," she said, and he shivered. He knew where this was going: she wanted to play a game. As expected, Akira put the cane on the table and said, "Defeat me in a fight, and I'll give you anything you want."