As soon as we reached home, we ran off into our room to discuss what we had witnessed at the Yaoyorozu estate.
"Okay, what was that?" Nozomi exclaimed as soon as she shut the door behind her.
"I don't know, I only saw as much as you," I replied, taking a seat on my bed. "Was it a quirk?"
"Don't look at me, I only know as much as you," Nozomi shrugged.
"Do you think it was a fluke or maybe it was after something...or someone." My tone carried a hint of concern. "Maybe it was after the Yaoyorozu."
"It could as well have been after us," Nozomi suggested.
I felt an uneasy feeling as my chest tightened a bit. "Eve," I called out as I took out my phone from my pocket.
"At your service," Her robotic voice came through the speaker.
"Send a supervision drone to the Yoayorozu estate and have it in inconito 24/7," I ordered.
"On it," The ever calm voice responded.
I turned to Nozomi. "Am I the only one who felt threatened?"
"No, I also felt my new animal instincts screaming at me to run," Her tone was serious. Ever since arriving in this new world, it was the first time she showed such emotion. "You know what this means, right?"
I nodded. "This is no game, it's real life. One wrong move and it could be the end of the story."
"It also means we have to get stronger. This is a world of chaos, we need to be strong enough to protect ourselves...and our loved ones." Simultaneously, our gazes landed on the door with soft eyes as one thought echoed through our minds. 'And protect mom.'
A quiet tension settled over the room after that shared thought. Neither of us said it out loud, but the weight of it pressed on both our chests. Nozomi sat down beside me, her tail flicking anxiously behind her — a habit she picked up ever since her transformation. Funny how something so small could tell you exactly what she was feeling.
"So… training?" she finally asked, raising a brow.
"Training," I confirmed, though my stomach twisted at the idea. Not because I didn't want to get stronger — I absolutely did — but because I knew it wouldn't be the kind of fun, anime-montage training. This was real-world pain, real-world danger, and real-world consequences.
Nozomi stretched her legs out, leaned back on her hands, and looked at the ceiling. "You think we're strong enough to start… pushing our limits? Like actually testing stuff?"
"Honestly?" I sighed. "We're not even close. That thing we saw at the Yaoyorozu estate… it moved like it didn't care who was watching. That screams confidence."
"Or arrogance," she muttered.
"Or both."
She clicked her tongue, annoyed. "Man, I hate that we're kids right now. If we had our full-grown bodies from the start? Easy. We'd be clapping villains left and right."
I snorted. "Speak for yourself. I'd probably still be struggling to do ten push-ups."
She elbowed me lightly, finally cracking a smile. "Yeah, but you're smart. You think ahead."
I glanced at my phone, where Eve's interface still glowed faintly. "Thinking ahead only works if I have the power to back it up. Otherwise… we're just spectators watching a disaster."
The room went quiet again. Not tense — just thoughtful.
Nozomi hugged her knees, resting her chin on them. "Do you think UA is still our best shot? Even with… whatever that was lurking around?"
"Especially because of that," I said. "UA attracts danger, yeah… but it also attracts strength. Heroes. Teachers. Training grounds that make the military jealous."
"And if we get in," she murmured, "we have a shot at not dying."
"Exact—"
A soft vibration buzzed through my phone. Eve's voice chimed in calmly.
"Update: Surveillance drone deployed. Cloaking mode active. Commencing perimeter monitoring."
Nozomi straightened. "Already? That was fast."
"Eve doesn't play around," I said, though the knot in my stomach tightened. If we needed constant surveillance on a hero family's estate, that said something ugly about the situation.
Nozomi glanced at me, and her eyes softened. "Hey. We'll figure this out."
"You sound confident."
"I'm kind of terrified," she admitted bluntly. "But I'd rather be terrified with you than alone. I mean, I left the heavenly realm to accompany you. If I died before fully exploring this world, I would regret it in the afterlife."
I chuckled, shaking my head. "Thanks, I think?"
She flicked her tail against my arm, teasing. "You know what I mean."
Before I could answer, a quiet knock echoed from the hallway. Both of us froze.
Nozomi's ears twitched. Mine… unfortunately did not.
"Yoing masters?" Saito's composed voice filtered through the door. "It's dinner time."
We both looked at each other — the tension fading just a little.
Nozomi got up first. "Let's go before mom starts asking questions."
I followed her, but before opening the door, I whispered through our link, 'No matter what happens, we keep this to ourselves for now. Agreed?'
She nodded once. 'Agreed.'
But as we stepped out into the hallway, some thoughts refused to leave my mind:
Whatever that thing was…It had noticed something at the Yaoyorozu estate.
And I had a bad feeling it wasn't done.
Dinner that night felt normal in the way only dangerous moments can make "normal" feel surreal. Mom was sharing some old tale as she ate, and Nozomi pretended to listen while subtly flicking her tail in patterns that spelled nervous.
Me? I kept glancing at my phone under the table, waiting for Eve to ping me with something — anything.
But the screen stayed quiet.Too quiet.
Nozomi bumped my knee. A silent stop overthinking. I gave her a tiny shrug. Hard not to when the universe apparently decided to put a horror-movie boss in our backyard.
After dinner, Mom insisted on her usual routine — hugs, goodnight, "don't stay up too late, you two." And for the first time in a while, that little ritual felt like armor. Like a reminder that we had something worth protecting.
Once she left, Nozomi whispered, "Training after lights out?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Just basics tonight. No exploding the house."
"Damn," she sighed dramatically. "And here I was planning to unleash my nine-tailed ultimate form."
"You don't have nine tails."
"Yet."
We slipped back into the room and closed the door quietly. The second the latch clicked, Eve's soft tone chimed again.
"Alert: The drone has detected unusual thermal activity near the outer boundary."
My heart sank. "Define unusual."
"Temperature fluctuations inconsistent with fauna or machinery. Pattern resembles… cloaked movement."
Nozomi's ears flattened instantly. "It's back?"
Eve paused a moment — enough to make my skin crawl.
"Unknown. But the signature is similar."
A pulse of cold washed through me. Not fear — instinct. Something in me didn't like the idea of being watched. Something old, unfamiliar, and way too calm about danger. The abilities I'd collected, the powers I was still figuring out — they made my perception sharper, my instincts louder.
And right now? Those instincts were screaming:Something is getting closer.
I asked Nozomi, who stood beside me. "Should we go out there?"
A year ago, I would've said hell no.Two years from now, maybe I'd say absolutely.
Right now? We were stuck in that cursed middle ground — too strong to ignore danger, too weak to challenge it head–on.
"No," She finally said. "We watch first. If it's testing us… We test it back."
Eve chimed in again. "Additional data: Thermal signature is moving… slowly. As if scanning."
"Scanning for what?" Nozomi whispered.
"For who?" I muttered.
Then Eve hit us with one more message:
"Correction: The entity is not scanning the estate.It is scanning for... you."
Nozomi grabbed my wrist with some fear. "Why us? Why specifically us?"
I had no answer. But the chill crawling up my spine felt like a hand gripping it.
Before either of us could react, Eve added one last detail — the kind that flips your stomach and dries your mouth instantly:
"Thermal signature has paused.
It is standing still.
Directly outside the estate's northeastern wall.
Approximate position corresponds to a human facing the house."
Nozomi's voice cracked. "Why isn't it moving?"
I swallowed hard. "Because it already found what it wanted."
A moment of dead silence.
Then —
Eve's tone sharpened.
"Update:
The entity just raised a part of its body.
Energy concentration forming.
Recommend immediate evasive action."
Nozomi's tail fluffed like she'd been electrocuted. "Dan—"
The window shook — just slightly.A vibration deeper than sound.
And I realized something sickening:
It wasn't attacking.It wasn't running.It wasn't stalking us randomly.
It was sending a warning.
Or a message.
Then, I heard it. An eerie voice in the back of my mind—
I see you.
I'm watching.
And when the time comes…
You two won't be ready.
I am pretty sure Nozomi heard it as she stepped closer, her voice barely a whisper.
"What do we do now?"
I looked at her — at the girl who'd become my partner in everything — and made the one decision I hadn't wanted to make tonight.
"We get stronger," I said softly. "But tonight? We move."
Her eyes widened. "Move? As in—"
"Pack what you need. We're leaving the estate."
Because whatever that thing was…It had just declared the start of something neither of us was prepared for.
And if we stayed, someone we loved would pay for it. Dearly.
We moved in silence. Not the kind of silence where you just don't talk — the kind that wraps around your chest and makes every sound outside feel like a hammer striking your skull. Nozomi packed what she could carry: a few clothes, some gadgets she'd been tinkering with, and her "emergency tailsuit" — something she'd been obsessing over since her first transformation.
I grabbed my essentials too. Phones, chargers, Eve's main core unit, and a small set of weapons I wasn't proud of owning yet. But tonight, pride didn't matter. Survival did.
Once the bags were ready, we peeked out the window. The northeastern wall of the estate was… empty. But my instincts screamed otherwise.
"Eve, is it still there?" I asked, already knowing the answer myself.
Eve's voice cut through the tension, calm as ever:
"Entity still present. No signs of retreat. Motionless. Awaiting further activity."
I clenched my fists. "It's baiting us."
Nozomi's ears twitched. "Then we don't bite. We move."
Exactly. Move before it escalates.
We jumped from the window opposite the northeastern wall and landed in a tree as gracefully as cats. The night was unusually still, the kind of quiet that makes every footstep sound like a drumbeat in a warzone.
Halfway to the cover of the forest behind the estate, I felt it — a prickling at the back of my neck. My powers weren't fully developed yet, but the sensation was unmistakable. Someone was there, watching. Waiting. Not human.
"Nozomi…" My voice was barely audible.
She glanced at me, eyes sharp. "I feel it too. Don't freak out. Not yet."
Eve interrupted with a soft beep.
"Warning: Energy reading indicates active quirk manifestation. Entity preparing a potential engagement."
"Potential?!" Nozomi hissed. Her brows were furrowed so much that it looked like she might age a few years.
I bit my lip. "We can't fight it. Not like this. We need to get somewhere safe. Somewhere it doesn't expect."
A shadow moved along the estate wall — fast. Too fast. But unlike before, it didn't come toward us. It… circled, almost like it was marking its territory.
I whispered, "It's sizing us up. But… why?"
She didn't answer. Didn't need to. The answer was obvious. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't here to scare us for fun. It wanted to test us, measure us, and remember us.
And I had the sinking feeling… the next test wouldn't be optional.
"Eve," I muttered. "Plot a safe route. Away from the estate, away from… everything. Maximum concealment. I don't care how long it takes."
"Route calculated. Estimated travel time: two hours on foot. Terrain risk: minimal. Detection risk: low."
Two hours felt like an eternity. But right now, it was our only chance.
Nozomi adjusted her bag on her back. "Then let's not waste any more time. Let's move fast."
As we disappeared into the forest shadows, one thought echoed relentlessly in my mind:
Whatever that entity is… it knows we exist.And soon… it will come for us.
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Plot twist! Hiro and Nozomi's lives take a wild turn as they are forced to escape the estate to keep their mom safe. But what will happen now? What about their dreams of entering UA? What about their new friend Momo? Stay tuned. More updates during this week.
And if you are wondering about my update schedule, just know that it won't be fixed as I am in school. But, I will release three chapters every week if nothing goes wrong.