The next day came pretty quick. Kaito walked to the second floor and decided to wake her up. Yet as soon as he went in her room, he was surprised to see that Jia was already awake and she was also dressed up. She pretended like she didn’t see him. She still had that cold look in her eyes. Her face no longer looked as innocent as before; it felt terrible not to see it… He knew she didn’t want to be that way.

He decided to start a conversation by saying “good morning”, but Jia didn’t bother replying. She completely ignored him. He knew it would be hard if they started like that, but he knew there was always a way. And she was just a child, she couldn’t stay that mad for too long. He didn’t want to try to be too sweet and unrealistic with his words, but he had no idea what to even say about himself… Apologizing for his sister’s behavior might do the trick, he thought.

“Alright, I know you are mad at me for what you’ve heard yesterday and I have to admit, it was awful. I just want you to know that I am very sorry. We can work things out, okay? I will make it up to you, I promise…”

Jia gazed at him. “No. Just no! You expect me to forgive you after everything Kanae said?! After you managed to ruin my life? You heard that stupid sister of yours! I know what you guys want! You want me out of here! What is so important that you have to do that you would leave me behind for?!”

She opened the door to the balcony and sat down at the round table in the center. She looked up at the clear sky trying not to think about it. Kaito followed her and sat next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder trying to soften her, but Jia slapped him and pushed his hand away.

“Go away from me, you monster!”

He sighed. “Jia, please, don’t dramatize the situation. I understand how you feel and that is why I want to fix this. I don’t like to see you mad. I don’t want you to witness my pain, I don’t want you to feel what I feel. It is all because I care about you. I admit it, I was an insolent fool and an irresponsible idiot and I couldn’t show up to comfort you. I hoped Kanae could have done that for me, but she is more than a bad person… I hope at least you understand.”

He got up and decided to leave Jia alone. He looked quite sad and he had a flicker of disappointment in his eyes; yet he was not disappointed in Jia as much as he was in himself… For truly, he wished he was there when Jia was attacked. He wished he was able to protect her. Because he happened to figure out who she talked about. The attacker was someone he knew for sure…

He felt terrible about everything that happened and just didn’t want to make matters worse, so he chose to leave her alone just so she wouldn’t get more upset…

Jia noticed that and she began to feel sorry. He had been honest with her this time. From everything he said, she understood that he never did anything to harm her; she understood that all he wanted was to help her overcome her pain… Her feelings towards him softened. After all, she was a child. And she couldn’t stay so mad for too long. She ran after him.

She found him standing on the hall with his back leaned against the wall. She jumped on him and hugged him tight.

“I’m sorry, okay… I shouldn’t have acted so dramatically… I forgive you and I love you…!” she mumbled.

He held her tight and kissed her forehead. “I love you too and I promise you, I will never let anything bad happen to you anymore.”

That was the most heartwarming apology he had ever received. And it felt so good to hug her that he didn’t want to let go. It was somehow so comfortable and pure… Even if she had been angry at him the day before and showed it clearly, her heart was still warm and soft and she was nothing but a sweet little girl; she knew he was feeling bad as well from the moment he walked outside after her…

A few moments passed and they were still cuddling. He totally forgot about Kanae’s conversation with that man from Nexxis School… He heard her saying that Jia was supposed to be there at 9am… It was now long past 9am.

He sighed. He decided not to get her there that day since it would only make her suspect him even more. He had his intentions, but not to keep her away from his plan like he thought Kanae wanted.

He suddenly had a brilliant idea. He decided to teach Jia something. Something he thought would help her later on and maybe in Nexxis School as well.

He escorted her outside, in the front yard. He told her that he would teach her a special technique he called “the fast-travelling skill”, a special ability that would help her travel all around and reach her destination in mere seconds. It was a special manifestation of the neon energy in someone’s body and it was very hard to control. By fast travelling, he meant teleportation and that was no easy task. The neon energy in the person’s body would unify to the energy from a farther place through a mental connection the certain human would make simply by picturing the image of the destination. In order to achieve that, the certain person needed to have complete control over the neon energy in its body and stay very calm. That way, the energy would manifest into a very rare power, the teleportation. There were many risks to it. Since the process was occurring very fast, there was no way to stop it unless you had someone next to you who had manipulative powers. If the image in the person’s mind was not clear enough, they would get sent into a strange dimension which there were very few ways to escape from.

He didn’t sit to explain all of it to her; in fact, he summarized it and made it easy for her to understand his point. Jia seemed impressed. She became very curious about it. She was watching Kaito patiently.

“First, I must tell you that it needs to be executed carefully, or else you might end up in the Nightmare. It’s a strange, dark dimension and it’s very complicated.” he began.

Jia nodded to let him know that she understood. Then, he continued his explanation:

“Now, all you need is focus. You need to think of a place that you’ve been to and close your eyes. Make sure the image in your mind is very clear. Then, when you feel secure and you know where you want to go, snap your fingers fast. I’ll let you know, my first try was not a success, but we all learn with time. So, ready to try?”

Jia smiled big. She looked so confident. She walked towards him and tried to do just as he said. She closed her eyes and tried to picture her room. But instead of her chamber, the image of the destroyed city came in her mind. It was so clear. Everything around there was so dark, surrounded by huge, black flames… She accidentally snapped her fingers and a strange feeling of fear flooded her body. She felt like she was being absorbed by a powerful force… She tried to reach out to Kaito, but she felt hopeless… She screamed but it seemed inaudible. Everything around her was pitch black and a faint screech was resounding in her ears.

Kanae was watching the whole scene from a shady corner. As everything was actually happening very fast and Kaito’s attempt to save Jia was too slow, Kanae was already doing something about it. Before Jia could disappear, red strings emerged from the ground and held the strange portal opened. That gave Kaito enough time to reach out to her and pull her out. The poor girl lay in his arms breathing heavily, her whole body shaking… Her mind was spinning; she was traumatized by the memory…

It took a few minutes until Jia calmed down. He was holding her tight and petting her back. Kanae walked towards them and cleared her throat. She was ready to assault him with a lot of questions.

“I thought you had to take her to Nexxis School! That was the agreement! You guys are so damn late! Are you dumb or are you stupid? And plus, why did you decide to teach her this skill?! Weren’t you the one who said it is too hard to master?”

Kaito groaned in anger. He gave Kanae a cold look. “Shut up! I do not care, I didn’t agree with you on anything! And Jia is very mad at you.”

“Oh, wow, very sad. I do not give a single fuck, she can hate me with all her life, it will be the last thing I will ever care about!” she relied, angrily. She turned around and walked back inside. She went through many feelings in that second, but she was only able to express the desperation. There was nothing else stressing her out than the thoughts from the day before. Was it really a good choice to send Jia to the hero school? That question was still bothering her… 

As for Jia and Kaito, they remained outside. Jia was now quite confused about the thing with Nexxis School and it kind of made her get over the whole memory thing. She realized he was up to something again. She knew he was going to send her away, like she heard from them a day ago. She disliked that idea. For some reason, she just did. It wasn’t only because she thought he intended to send her away like she let him think…