Author’s note- Thanks to a comment I read today at around 12:00, I found motivation to continue writing instead of reading I Shall Seal the Heavens. Thanks to Zeo Lothryn and superloner for commenting! It really helps.

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A Date?

A moment passed as I recovered my bearings. I was back in the dusty old room, at the bottom of the Racetrac. Checking the time, I found it to be 10:10. I guess the teleportation wasn’t as instant as it seemed to be.

I texted Chloe that the government affair was over, and I would be at my father's dojo, The School of Martial Thought. She replied with an ok, and I started to run to the dojo.

The hot feeling could now be recalled with a thought, so I used it on my way to the dojo. And I discovered that other than the fact that everything except me seemed to slow down, I also had an unlimited stamina. I attributed this to the fact that it was constantly replenishing my muscles, and thus I could heal faster than my muscles wore out.

Because of this, I decided to sprint along the way. Why not?

Think of it like a video game. There is a high speed movement option and a low speed movement option. Both are just as effortless to perform, so there is no reason not to go slower.

I made it to the dojo in about 10 minutes, and I took a moment to observe my surroundings. The sky was covered by grey clouds, signaling that it would rain. And if I looked through the window, I could see tens of students doing roundhouse kicks.

Taking a small breath, I opened the door. And it was larger than I expected; the dojo looked as if it could fit nearly 100 people. Situated at the other end with the other two instructors, my dad was looking at everyone practicing below with a stern frown. But when he looked at me, that frown turned upside down.

He pointed me out to the other instructors and said something about me. However, I couldn’t make it out clearly as they were too far way. The other two instructors started laughing a bit, and then dad came to the front.

Dad- “Practice is over. Get into your sparring groups!”

The students all moved quickly, while dad and the other instructors walked towards me at a leisurely pace. One of the instructors, a short, black haired man spoke first.

???- “I heard about you from your father. But to be honest, I expected you to be less, fat, to say the least. You look like you haven’t exercised in years!”

Well he had no filter. And what does he mean, fat!? I’m just a bit overweight, not skinny and short like you are!

The other instructor, a bald, muscular man spoke afterwards, looking dissatisfied with his colleague's conduct.

???- “Jason, give him some respect. He’s looks a lot stronger than you were at his age.”

They both turned to each other and started squabbling,

Jason- “I don’t believe it! He must of been holding back because Nathaniel is his son or something like that. You of all people should know how much of a monster he is, Bryan!”

Dad intervened,

Dad- “Do I ever hold back? No, he beat me fair and square. Why don’t you fight both fight him at once? I can assure you; you won’t win.”

Both of them looked appalled at this statement.

Jason- “Yeah, of course you can handle us both at a time, but him!? I could take him one on one!!!”

Bryan- “Are you sure? He may get hurt if he’s not strong enough.”

I felt the need to step in at this point; they were starting to piss me off with their antics.

Me- “If he said I could win; I will win! Let’s settle this!”

Jason- “F*ck! How arrogant! Where’s the gear; I need to teach this kid a lesson!”

Dad came back with the gear in a moment, and we all put it on swiftly. Taking the mat on the center stage, we took our fighting postures. The students had stopped their matches to watch.

Dad- “Fight!”

I started to circle around them, trying to find an area where one could be blocked by the other’s body, so I could face them one at a time. However, their circling speed was in sync; I couldn’t find an opening. And while I was pondering my best approach, Jason couldn’t wait any longer.

With a low shout, he rushed forward and threw a jab at my head. Unfortunately for him, I had kept the hot feeling in effect. And although it was fast, it wasn’t on the same level as my dad’s.

Tilting my head, I strode forward and bashed his stomach. It didn’t matter that his muscles were tensed up, they did little to stop my blow.

He doubled over, but before I could make a move to finish him, Bryan was already swinging towards me. I guess this was the supposed difficulty of fighting 2 on one; I didn’t have time to dodge.

Bracing for impact, I absorbed the blow, and held on to his fist. Then I returned it with the other arm, straight to his chest!

“Bam!”

Bryan flew back and landed on the floor. And as I whipped back to face Jason, he held up his hand in surrender.

Jason- “I knew the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but who knew gravity would make the apple fall upwards!? What do you feed him to make him so strong? Is he on steroids!?”

Bryan groaned from the floor,

Bryan- “Man. Had I not had on padding, I think you would of broken some bones!”

They both glanced at one another, and the same fanatical look in my dad’s eyes when I beat him appeared in theirs as well.

Jason- “What if he was in shape? How strong would he be then?”

Bryan- “He’d be an absolute f*cking monster!”

Simultaneously turning me with a burning fire in their eyes, they said,

Bryan and Jason- “We’ll have to train him!”

Dad- “No, I’m training him. He’s my son and my disciple. Nathaniel, come here. I’ll get you in shape.”

They all closed in on me with creepy smiles on their faces, and I could only smile weakly.

Me- “This… Can you guys just train me like the rest of the students?”

All of them- “NO!!!”

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The hot feeling was my savior while I was undergoing the training. And thanks to it, I was able to do whatever they asked non-stop. They finally let me go when they themselves were exhausted from barking out orders to me and the rest of the students. Interestingly enough, a lot of them tried to copy what I was doing while I was training. They fainted soon afterwards.

So as I went to leave the dojo, I thought I saw a familiar face looking through the window. Chloe?

Opening the door, I saw a black haired girl with cute, purple glasses and a bright red blush on her face. She was acting like she was just passing by, but she walked with a limp. Nobody with a limp would just be strolling casually through the streets. She was looking for me.

Chloe- “Oh, hey Nathaniel! What a coincidence it is to see you here today! The weather was nice, so I decided to take a stroll.”

Just then, the darkened clouds started pouring down rain. Trying (but not succeeding) to hold in my laughter, I remarked,

Me- “The world is shedding tears at such a bad excuse…”

Chloe hit my shoulder jokingly,

Chloe- “Idiot.”

She huddled close to me under the extended roof, and we watched the individual droplets patter on the sidewalk.

Me- “Hey Chloe, do you want to go shopping at the mall?”

I honestly hated shopping, but I heard most girls liked it… And with the amount of money I had in the ATM, I could probably buy whatever she wanted.

Chloe- “Oh really? I don’t have any money because I don’t have a job…”

Me- “That’s ok. I have plenty of birthday money saved up. I’ll get you something.”

Chloe- “I hope you don’t regret it…”

Me- “Meh, I haven’t used it in so long. All it’s doing is sitting in the bank, so I just need to take some out from the ATM. We might as well use it.”

We walked in areas covered from the rain, and when we had to cross the street, we did so quickly. I lead Chloe inside the first general store I saw.

Me- “I’m gonna go to the ATM now so we can buy some umbrellas. Wait for me here, ok?”

Chloe nodded.

Chloe- “Ok, but don’t keep me waiting too long.”

Me- “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

Walking out of the store, I saw a bank around 3 blocks away. They would probably have an ATM.

Jogging over, I noticed the blonde from the class. What was her name? Natalie, right?

I had an impulse to talk to her, but I decided against it. What starts with the organization, stays with the organization. I didn’t want to ruin my normal life by combining the two together.

Jogging past her, I went to the ATM and placed my phone on it. I loaded up the app, and suddenly an authentication appeared on both my phone and the ATM. Then a screen showing my balance, $12,000, appeared. At least this blood money would be going towards a good purpose.

I took out 10 $20’s, 8 $5’s, and 10 $1’s. That was a total of $250 leaving my account, making my new balance $11,750.

I put all of the bills in my wallet, and turned around to jog back to Chloe. I ignored Natalie, who was still standing in the rain, staring at me and ran out. As far as I was concerned right now, she was a stranger to me.

When I got back to Chloe, we bought two umbrellas. And then we started the walk to the mall.

The mall was pretty close to the shopping complex we were at, as it was placed there because of the amount of people that lived there. We got there quickly.

Closing my umbrella, I said to Chloe,

Me- “You lead the way.”

I followed behind her, fully expecting her to lead me to a Macy's or Sears. But instead, she led me to the, bookstore? Walking to the manga section, she took out a couple of books.

Me- “That’s all? You’re not going to the clothing section?”

Chloe- “You shouldn’t speak too soon…”

I gave a half smile and payed for the books. Of course, I was carrying them. And as we walked I saw our destination, the sears. Ha! I knew it!

Unconcerned about my nonsensical gloating, Chloe started to pick out clothing, look at it closely, and put it back disappointedly. And after doing this for a while, she stopped and seemed to make a decision.

Chloe- “Nathaniel, I’ll let you decide. Which outfit will look better on me?”

She pulled out a black and blue shirt and a pair of pants that had an etching of a beautiful flower.

Chloe- “This one? Or…”

She pulled out yet another outfit; it consisted of a black and yellow shirt with a pair of pants that had lines of flowing wind etched on it.

Chloe- “This one.”

Looking at them closely, I decided on the first one.

Me- “You would look much better in the first one.”

Chloe- “How much better?”

She seemed like she was on the verge of putting the outfit back. But honestly, the outfit looked good! Maybe if she wore it, I could convince her.

Me- “Chloe, if you tried it out, I’m sure I could give you a more accurate description.”

Chloe- “Ok!”

Taking a minute to change, Chloe came out with the yellow and black shirt and the flowing wind pants.

Chloe- “So, what do you think?”

Me- “I mean, you’d look good with anything. But why don’t you change into the other outfit?”

Chloe- “I was just making sure.”

After that, she went back into the changing room. And a minute passed before she came out again.

She looked, stunning! I almost couldn’t believe it was Chloe who came out! The shirt perfectly complemented her hair, and the pants fit her well. And I was sure she could see my reaction from her face, as she let off a bright smile. Before I could say anything about it, she nodded and exclaimed,

Chloe- “Ok, it’s settled! I’m choosing this one!”

Handing off the shirt to me, she limped as quickly as she could to the cash register. Leaving me to glance at the price tag.

The shirt was $65! And the pants were $75! Why and how were they so expensive? At walmart, I could get a shirt for $15 or less! That’s more than a 400% increase in price! If this happened everyday, I was going to go broke...

Chloe- “Nathaniel, why are you just standing there in shock? Come on, it’s time to get going!”

Following after her, I paid for the outfit. My only consolation was that she truly looked nice in those clothes, and that she looked positively thrilled. That made me feel a bit better.

We shopped for a little while more, but on account of my dwindling funds and increasingly full hands, she stopped. And we would of been done there, had it not been for the fact that both Chloe and I were very hungry.

So, to finish things off, we settled for dinner at a steak and shake across from The School of Martial Thought. I know, not a super fancy restaurant. But hey, it was lunch! Can’t get too fancy.

Me- “So, what are you going to order?”

Chloe- “The triple mini burger and a strawberry shake. You?”

Me- “I’m getting the double cheese burger, with an addition of a strawberry shake as well.”

The waiter came shortly after, and I relayed the order to him. Nodding, he went back to give our order to the chefs. And so we had time to talk.

Chloe- “Are you still wearing the pendant?”

I smiled warmly, thinking back to our moment together in the room.

Me- “Always. Everytime I feel like my courage is lacking, I touch the pendant. It reminds me that you’re still there, and that has allowed me to overcome anything that comes my way.”

Chloe- “I don’t know what it is… I’ve been getting this feeling sometimes, like you’re in danger. Are people still hunting you?”

I grimaced,

Me- “Well, they haven’t come since yesterday at the theater. But today, I was in a class about my, you know. Anyways, there was a misunderstanding with one of the people there; she was led to believe I had done some horrible things to her. Thankfully it was resolved, so it’s alright now. Anyways, I don’t want to talk about this here…”

Chloe- “It’s not just that, but-”

The waiter came back, this time with our milkshakes and food.

Waiter- “Enjoy!”

Chloe looked like she gave up on saying what she was going to say, and honestly, I didn’t want to continue talking about the matters of the organization. So we dropped the subject, and ate our food.

Chloe- “So, you like strawberries too?”

I smiled.

Me- “Yeah, my grandma used to get me buckets of these delicious strawberries when I was young. I loved them, and the taste pretty much stuck with me as I got older.”

Chloe- “That’s cool. For me, I guess I just like the taste; I don’t have any history with strawberries.”

???- “Well, I’m glad you guys are enjoying the food. Fancy meeting you here, Nathaniel.”

Looking over, I saw Natalie standing there in uniform. She worked here?

Chloe glanced over at me questioningly, and asked,

Chloe- “Nathaniel, who is this?”

Me- “Remember how I told you about the person who… I had a misunderstanding with? This is Natalie.”

Natalie grimaced.

Natalie- “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Her… tricks were so convincing.”

I remarked casually, a bit of the habitual coldness leaking into my tone,

Me- “You don’t need to speak in code. She already knows.”

Chloe- “So you know him from, that organization?”

Natalie- “Yes.”

Chloe let out a sigh of relief. She exclaimed,

Chloe- “It seems I’ve watched too much romance! I thought for a second that you were his, other girlfriend.”

Natalie’s face turned red, but I was a bit upset.

Me- “Chloe, you know I wouldn’t cheat on you! Why were you so quick to think that I was?”

Chloe looked remorseful.

Chloe- “I’m sorry Nathaniel. Look, you can have the rest of my milkshake!”

I looked at her cup, and saw that there was a little less than a quarter left. I jokingly remarked, my anger mostly diffused by her apology,

Me- “There’s only a quarter left! And I’m paying for it anyway.”

Chloe giggled pleasantly, and said coyly,

Chloe- “Well if you combine the two in my cup, the technically the rest of my milkshake would be a lot larger.”

Before I could utter a word in protest, she poured the rest of my milkshake into her’s.

Chloe- “Drink it! Or, I will drink it for you!”

She put her straw in the drink, and started to suck up the milkshake furiously. Not willing to be outdone, I put my straw in as well and started drinking as fast as I could.

Natalie- “Well, I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone. See ya!”

Not paying mind to her absence, we continued to contest the contents of the cup. But suddenly, Chloe pulled away exclaiming,

Chloe- “Ah! Brainfreeze!”

I started laughing, not able to finish the rest of the drink. And Chloe started to laugh as well.

After the meal, I went and paid at the register. Chloe looked exhausted.

Chloe- “Well, that was fun! We should do something like this again someday!”

I smiled sheepishly,

Me- “My wallet can’t take any further onslaughts. Out of the $250 I brought, only $90 survived!”

Chloe- “Tch. I didn’t clean him out.”

Me- “What was that? I didn’t clean him out? Next time, you’re paying!”

Chloe- “Don’t be like that! I was just joking; I can’t pay for any of it!”

We walked out the door, and suddenly, I crouched down, the hands holding the groceries at my sides.

Chloe- “What are you doing?”

Me- “Hop on. I’ll give you a ride.”

Chloe- “Are you serious?”

Me- “Yeah. My dad used to do this all the time for me when I was tired. And you’re not only tired, but your ankle is also hurt! How could I let you walk all the way home!?”

She climbed onto my back, and I could feel the warm smile radiating off of her.

Chloe- “Thanks.”

Me- “You’d do the same for me.”

Getting up, I started to walk to Chloe’s house. And we started to talk once again.

Chloe- “I know this may sound weird, but I guess it’s no weirder than what you can do with those flames… You know when we were talking in the steak and shake? And I was talking about you in danger? Well, when you were at the organization at ten, a golden shield appeared on the bottom of my wrist. Right around here.”

She showed me her wrist and pointed at a shield, etched into her arm. It was glowing with a golden aura.

Chloe- “Do you believe me?”

Was Chloe unable to see it currently?

Me- “I don’t know about you, but I can see it. As clear as day.”

Chloe- “Do you think it has anything to do with your ability? Everytime you go to the organization, it feels like it’s tugging me in a certain direction, warning me of imminent danger.”

Me- “Chloe.”

Chloe- “Yes?”

Me- “Don’t follow it. If I’m in danger, it will be something that you can’t handle. I don’t want you in danger as well.”

Chloe- “But… I just feel there may be more to this shield than meets the eye. What if it gives me the power to help you?”

Me- “But if it gives you the power to help me, then they would start to target you as well. And that cannot happen, I won’t let it happen! Chloe, please. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

She was silent for a while. And we continued to walk in silence until Chloe said something again.

Chloe- “But you forget I don’t want to see you get hurt as well…”

Those words provoked an intense tug on my heartstrings, and I couldn’t speak, choked with emotion. She just silently hugged my back, as I continued to carry her home.

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Author’s note 2- I felt like I couldn’t end this at any other place than this. And this chapter was quite the monster; it had 3483 words! I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop myself!