Chapter 25

~ Seeking Strength ~

SW/SW/SW

What was ‘strong’?

What was ‘power’?

Kail was desperately in need of enlightenment. Was the adjective ‘strong’ meant someone with overly bulky body?

The day was Sunday, yet there was no one in the streets. It was quite understandable since it was cold.

Kail looked at his watch, which was blown repeatedly by his breath as he ran. The clock pointed to four forty seven. It had been ten minutes of jogging, but he had already lost his breath. This was not good.

After taking a break, Kail resumed his jogging. This time he measured his pace carefully, breathing through his mouth instead of his nose, and regulated his supply of oxygen wisely. He wouldn’t want to waste time resting.

Staring at the wide paved road ahead, Kail’s mind darted back to the meaning of ‘strong’ and ‘power’. He contemplated about it since yesterday and still he couldn’t figure it out. When people heard of the words ‘strong’, they often thought of a big, muscular man. But Kail doubted it. To some, ‘power’ meant money. To some, however, it could mean social standing or even jobs.

What was ‘strong’?

What was ‘power’?

What did he need to be stronger?

He gritted his teeth at his weak lung capacity and stopped to rest again. Although he had run longer than the previous session, Kail wasn’t satisfied. He must push his body to the limit. Physical strength was definitely the key to be stronger! He’d definitely teach that bastard Wawan a thing or two should they met. This time, it wasn’t just a thought.

He’d definitely do it.

No more whimpering. No more shaking. No more regrets. And more importantly, no more wishing to be saved.

He’d get strong so that he could protect the ones he loved, both in GeaOnline and in the real world.

0000

The sound of an alarm woke Nia up. With a groan, she groped around and smacked her alarm clock. The room regained its quietness once again. Rubbing her eye, Nia yawned and looked at the clock.

It was 6 thirteen.

After a quick stretch, she made her bed and lazily came downstairs, still in her pajama.

“Ah…” the kitchen was unusually empty. Kail would always been in charge of the kitchen on Sunday. Nia blinked repeatedly at the vegetables lined up near the washbasin. Beads of water trickled their shiny surfaces. In a plastic bowl, the ground beef was left untouched. Looking on their left, a knife was laid on a cutting board but there was no vegetable yet to be diced or chopped.

Where is he…? She wondered. Come to think of it, her brother had been acting kind of weird yesterday. He kept staring into space, but his expression was grave as if he was pondering about a matter between life and death. To be honest, it was her first time seeing Kail act like that.

She was worried sick about him, but he’d always dismiss her question saying that everything was okay. Several days ago he came home with bruises and a blackened eye, but he said nothing about it. Her mother complained about boys in his age getting into fights, but Nia had a feeling that his brother was bullied.

Thinking about getting bullied, her brother didn’t look the type to be bullied. He was good with everyone and helpful to anyone in need. It was silly picturing Kail getting beaten up.

“I’m home,” Nia turned to the dining room entrance to find Kail drenched in sweat.

Looking at his clothes, she assumed that he was out jogging, but she asked about it nevertheless, “Where have you been?”

“Jogging,” Kail slopped down on the chair and gulped down a bottle of milk. “Ah, that hits the spot!” he put the nearly empty bottle on the table and leaned against the comfy chair.

There, that serious, distant look again. Nia wondered what he was thinking about. That expression made her feel like Kail wasn’t Kail anymore.

“I’ll cook,” Nia informed, donning the pink apron.

“Hey, what are you doing? You cook on Friday, right? Sit down and leave this to me,” Kail stopped her tomato cutting and took away the knife from her hand.

“But you’re tired…”

“No buts. Mom will scold me if she sees me lazing around on Sunday,” he also stole her apron and wore it despite the feminine color. “Get out of the kitchen, will you?”

Nia couldn’t help but giggle as he made a gesture to shoo her. She didn’t leave him alone, instead watching TV as she waited. Their dining and living room were merged into one. Actually, it included the kitchen as well.

A half wall divided the kitchen and the dining room. While there was no partition to divide the space between dining and living room, the sofas placement was enough to tell which room was which. It may sound cramped, but the place was big for four people.

Nia repeatedly pressed a button on the remote to find morning cartoons. Her eyes lit up once she found what she was looking for.

“Oh, it’s Pucchamon! Great! It’s still in the intro song! Oh, no… the recorder is off!”

Kail stopped shaping the thumb-shaped hamburger and spoke, “Pucchamon?”

“Brother, you’re so clueless! It’s the famous cartoon where the main character goes on a journey to catch monsters!”

Kail fried the already-sliced sausages and continued shaping the hamburger, “Eeeh, sounds tiring and boring.”

“Of course not! Coal Ketchup and his friends always get into an exciting journey! Also, they have to fight the big, bad Team Missile from enslaving all monsters in Tojoh! It’s awesome! You’d be surprised how high this cartoon’s rating is!”

“C-Coal…?”

“The hero, Brother. The hero. Geez, watch cartoons sometimes,” Nia spoke in a chastising tone of voice.

0000

Coal Ketchup… What a lame name for a popular hero… the writer must’ve been drunk. Kail shook his head and focused on cooking.

Kail rolled the mini hamburgers atop a bowl full of bread crumbs and then fried them. He sniffed and let out a satisfied sigh. The smell was delicious. While waiting for the hamburger to golden brown, he prepared vegetable salad. Hmm, his mother loved dipping anything in chili sauce so he prepared some on a different, but small bowl. Nia liked the salad half-cooked without any weird sauce, so it meant no mayonnaise.

He took out several plates and placed his cooking on them. On each plate he put the omelet he first cooked, sausages, and the last was the mini-hamburgers. He added more portions to his plate since he was quite famished from jogging.

As he prepared the food, the question came to haunt him again.

Power.

Strong.

Kail stared at his palm and was lost in thought. Even after spending quite a time jogging around the neighborhood, he still couldn’t come up with a good answer. What was the strength DPS talking about? Was that Kail’s strength, not AceKivras? No. He said about struggling both in real and game world.

Struggling, huh? If he won against Wawan and his rotten friends, could he be ‘stronger’?

Grooooowl….

Ah, right. They said you could never win fight with an empty stomach, let alone think…

0000

Kail took a stroll in the mall, as well as window-shopping. The place was full of couples and families, making him jealous. For once Kail wished to spend holiday together with his family, but well… it was just a stupid wish. Bored and desperately in need of change of scenery, Kail entered a shop. It was full of weird, backpack-wearing teens and figurines.

Ah, crap. It was a figurine shop, a place where otakus gathered. Well, there was no use chickening out. Besides, he was already inside so might as well explore the place. The figurines mostly were females from famous Japanese animes. In the corner of the room, where the label read ‘western’, he saw complete figurines of DB heroes and characters from Harry Potta.

In the southern part of the shop, there was a label read ‘online games’. As the name said, the shelves were full of characters from famous online games. Kail had no clue who they were since he didn’t play any except GeaOnline, but he took one that looked epic.

Wait, was that…?

Kail hurriedly snatched Azariel’s last figurine on the shelf before anyone else could. Amazing! They even had this one stocked up! He entered this shop out of boredom, but found a gem instead! Talk about lucky!

He paid for the stuff he bought and then looked around for a vending machine. Putting in several coins, he gulped his chocolate drink down in one go and let out a satisfied exhale. What an exhilarating flavor!

Kail left the mall and sat on a bench in a park nearby. Relaxing, he leaned against the bench and drew a long breath. The air was crisp.

“Well, well… look at this,” a familiar voice came from Kail’s right. “If it isn’t Kail.”

The said teenager sat straight, face turned to the source of the voice. In an instant he saw the newcomer, his face hardened.

Wawan!