The aim of the 'game' was to stop or distract the tagger. A player couldn't be completely silent and had to perform some action in some way no matter how significant the action and when using quirks, they had to be used in a manner that wouldn't reveal their location fully. The specifics were simple as there was no need to make it complicated as this was supposed to inspire teamwork and allow for small experience in utilizing individual quirks no matter how weak or useless they may seem.

Feeling a soft wind on his palm, Tale guessed that the rock he caught was handled by two different groups to create more confusion and conceal their locations. The reason for such a guess was that the rock contained impacts and still held effects of quirks lingering in various places opposite.

"Azul go to the safe spot."

Though this individual rock may seem useless, it was a mere distraction as Tale understood.

Moving forward, creating a good distance from Azul, at a immediate moment, as if the earth had a sudden vengeance against him, losing his footing, the earth opened its mouth to swallow Tale whole. Under his feet, collapsing and expanding, a hole several meters on each side welcomed.

The vibrations of the movement of the earth had only occurred after he had his feet loosely off the ground. He could react, but the speed of the expanding hole and obstacles changed his course.

Jumping on a small rock for a momentary foothold, Tale had attempted to reach stable land but fell back as various cyclones of rock, dust, and wind formed around, blocking and attempting to blind his sight. Using his powers, Tale could simply go through, but that would break the limit he placed, so he alternated to a altered thinking.

Foot dug into the side of the hole, Tale stopped moving as he focused his senses instead of having it spread all around him completely.

Through the chaotic vibrations around him, slowly filtering them out, the small movements of the outside gradually came to him as things got louder making it even easier.

Some children seemed to have decided to head to slightly more open areas than their original spots as they met with others and teamed, starting to talk lowly amongst themselves on how they could use their quirks together efficiently. Tale picked up on the vibrations and shift in the air's movement and change caused by the small experimenting of this group, allowing him to get their locations, though not fully precise. The group probably assumed they had a bit of time to test until Tale got out.

Refocusing his senses to a more passive and multi focused state, jumping off the foothold his feet had carved into the hole, Tale kicked off various pieces of rock from the side in rapid succession at different levels into the air supported by at least another below after which he quickly jumped from one to the other as the rocks fell behind him. Reaching the highest peak that the combined attacks of the distraction current had reached (approximately 9-10 feet), Tale jumped forward completely unaffected by the weak suction below him as he landed safely on stable ground outside the cyclones range.

"..."

Wasting no time, as his current profile was, adjusting the path of his senses, Tale quickly sped towards the locations of the players who revealed their locations a bit too much. The cyclones were still active as he wasn't noticed yet due to avoiding the sight of most though he could already feel them weakening and collapsing, some seemed to have realized or saw.

"Amil, Gem, Yel, Jack. Good job, but you exposed yourselves this time. It seems you've forgotten the current profile of mine... Get to the safe spot. I'll give advice after."

"..."

"Ahh... darn..."

As sighs sounded behind him, moving away after tagging four which from the order called had the quirks [Sharp Eye], [Verticle Move], [Focused Parry], and [Direction], the game continued for an hour or so more.

Wendy, Terry and Verlon had prepared a lot of small annoyances within this short hour as they directed quite a few of the remaining children.

...

"Well... the greatest thing that some of you need to work on is working in a group. Being by yourself is risky so try to at least partner with one other person."

"One more important overall subject... don't be too close to each other and don't be too far. It's hard to do quickly but try to stay in a location that seems like it would fit that... of course, your own judgments work as well, just be careful. You could even discuss prior as you know the area, use that."

Giving small bits of advice as an overall group and on individual level, Tale talked as he slowly prepared a small meal. His eyes seemed a bit distant, though.

On a medium-sized table, after a short while, grilled chicken with roasted vegetables and rice accompanied by a fruit basket at the middle of the table filled with everyone's favorites, lined with glasses of water on the sides were placed orderly. There were also a few special dishes served specifically to a few due to their quirks.

As everyone was about to start eating, a sudden noise interrupted them as they looked towards the origin of the noise they heard.

Woooo!

Curiously blinking their eyes, the children watched as a child who they hadn't seen was running excitedly towards them or rather their brother Tale. The child seemed to have many similarities to their brother Tale, which piqued their curiosity.

Jumping lightly as he rocketed into Tale, the child quickly cleared the distance between the group and came into a hug.

'...' The children looked in puzzlement at the new face.

Sighing, Tale pulled out an extra chair from somewhere and sat the new arrival down after a few minutes of struggling to get him off as small laughter replaced the puzzlement and confusion of the children as they just watched the spectacle.

After a moment, "Brother Tale who is?" Wendy asked with a curious tone, asking in place of everyone.

With a short pause, Tale turned his head and spoke. "This is Talem Soulace, my little brother. It seems my father decided to come over to visit shortly..."

"OHHH!" The children smiled as they greeted themselves to their new playmate without questioning much. Tale just lightly smiled at that as he internally sighed once again.

"My little brother can't speak due to his quirk so just ask yes or no questions and don't plaster him with too many questions." Tale quickly commented as the children had too many questions. Talem nodded his head.

"Ah..."

Surprised at Tale's comment for a moment, almost everyone blinked, but they quickly lightened up as they began changing their questions to yes or no. They were asking a lot about him and a lot about anything Tale before jumping from one topic to another.

Watching the happenings for a moment, Tale interrupted the chatting as he spoke suddenly with a stern tone, spooking them as they almost jumped off their seats. "Finish your meals, they're going to get cold."

"Ah! Right! The Foood!"

Growl! Waiting no more as their stomachs told them to not, everyone began eating, resuming their chatting and bickering a few moments later.

...

While that was happening, In Soulace Way, Tale's Father cooked as he chatted with the customers who were surprised it was open. There was confusion at first, but after showing, it cleared mostly.

"It seems your good, almost as good as Tale, Mr. Glor! Good genes!" A burly man said as he devoured his food savoringly.

"Haha, thank you. I learned from the best, after all."

"Oh? Tale taught you?"

"Mmmh. Yep. You couldn't imagine the taste of what I originally cooked. I mean I would say my previous cooking tasted ABSOLUTELY brilliant, but he said they were worse than trash in my face... sigh, then I had classes from morning to night for a whole week as he brought someone else to finish my work... It was a terrible time... it still brings me nightmares..."

"Well, that sounds like a lovely time. " An aged elder said as she ate slowly and peacefully, her name was Lemi Veron.

"Haa... that picture is really funny in my head..." Someone else chimed in as they looked up, chuckling as they imagined something. A big man sitting in a small chair with tears slowly rolling down their eyes as a small young man yelled at him for hours on how to cook... it flipped the role of parent and child.

"Ha! Don't laugh at my misery! You lot wouldn't understand the pain!"

"Haha. I shall laugh happily! Can you stop me? AH-" Gemmy Gold laughed loudly before being interrupted by something...

"Goodness Gemmy, quiet! You're too loud!" The old Lemi's shout sounded strong as she had thrown a fork from her table, which was standing behind Gemmy's head at present. Going deathly pale as instinctively his hands covered his mouth, Gemmy sat frozen as sweat lined his brows.

In a moment, with a muffled and quiet voice, Gemmy spoke with a gulp. "Ahh... sorry..." Unfortunate for him, the old Lemi wasn't going to leave it at that as Gemmy had done this multiple times in the past, she felt sorry for her old ears.

Silent and deadly, rising up as the others in Soulace way looked, the fork gathering small strength, harshly slapped Gemmy in the back.

"Argh..."

"..." Everyone went silent for a moment and focused on their meals as they quietened their voices as they conversed.

"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Glor, it seems my fork fell and requires washing, would you be a dear and bring me another?"

"Of course!" Glor responded as others looked away from Gemmy in fear the old Lemi would 'drop' another fork or maybe even a spoon...

...

Moving at a speed that seemed slow and fast, time progressed unsteadily as the day finally fell to night. The last customers for today who stuck around to chat left Soulace Way as Tale, who had brought back home the children a while earlier, walked in with Talem in hand after greeting those leaving.

Closing shut the door behind him, Tale walked and sat down at a table. The one at the direct center.

His 'Father,' a large man at 10'5 with a built body, looked towards him and walked over before sitting down opposite.

"Once I leave tomorrow, be the eyes and ears you were created to be." Tale lightly said as his expression turned dark without tone.

This brother and father were obviously fake... Tale had no biological family in this world. Using an ability of his quirk he really hated... [Zone Shadow], one 20% corporeal and 80% illusionary and another 40% corporeal and 60% illusionary 'puppet' were brought to existence.

The 'Father' was the 40% corporeal puppet. It held a good portion of power and had several 'sacrifices' of both humans and animals to give a greater boost to the 40% that was material.

Due to the encroaching threat that was Virus, a villain with a presence worldwide, someone who wants Tale dead and seems to be able to locate him no matter where he was, Tale had to move once more... more of Virus's pawns had entered his domain... after thinking over, Tale had come to one conclusion... Virus was the root problem keeping away his peace... that root needed to be burnt away and trampled...

Almer Town was the only thing in this world that held any value to Tale, so until his return... these two puppets were to safeguard it. Glor Soulace would be the guard of Almer town and Talem Soulace the guard of the children specifically.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Thinking with closed eyes, Tale tapped at the table repeatedly. Stopping for a moment, he spoke a whisper. "Go rest..." Under his command, Glor and Talem stood from their places and disappeared. They were still here, but adopted their illusionary selves and merged to the surroundings by hiding their tangible parts in the vacuum of his domain.

Laying his head down, Tale attempted once to fall asleep. In a moment, surrounded by an abyss, hundreds of thousands of eyes big and small opened and looked at him as screeches of nightmares filled his mind. Forcefully pulled out by some force, Tale opened his eyes instantly.

"They grew again... there are even more now..." Tale muttered as all facade around his face fell, revealing thousands of eyes on his forehead for a moment which closed in a note showing his haggard eyes.

"Tale... you can't try such a thing yet... our soul almost fell again..." Moving on its own, speaking words as if another was talking in his place, Tale's mouth moved slowly.

"Haa... yes, I know... but just a second..." Breaking off, Tale spoke lightly as he sighed with a tired tone. In times like this where his madness slowly crept up, and he lost to his true state, his other self who held a independence as he did in their single connected mind would try to calm and contain the darkness lurking and waiting to release. This independence of mind was like a multi-personality, Fatir and Tale had their own sides of the mind with their egos slightly different from each other but overall the same.

"Haa... sigh... there must be a way... we should recheck mother's library and every other divine storage more clearly... perhaps we missed something... let's do that... I'll send a divine order-"

"..."

______________

To be continued...