Finding myself on floor twenty-five, I enter the training room. Mr. Eun-ji is already there, and he runs up to me. "Parker, Parker! This is exciting news!"
I don't think I've ever seen him show a shred of excitement over anything. Which, admittedly, worries me a little bit. "What is it?"
"I signed a contract with that mobile game company, the one that makes the gacha game about the WWSHA." He says as he paces in circles around me.
"Are you being added to the game, Mr. Eun-ji?"
"No. I'm already in the game." He looks down at me, his eyes narrowing.
"I've only opened that game once for five minutes; how was I supposed to know that?" I look up at him and mirror his look.
"You're going to be in the game." He says, turning around and walking to the opposite side of the room.
What?
He cannot be serious. I know I made a social media account, but didn't he get mad at me for giving myself more public exposure or something? Then he goes and does this.
"I got a pretty big sum of money; I transferred a percentage of it to your account."
"Money! You did this for money?!" On instinct, I activate Miss Claire's power; a shadow portal appears below me, and I step through it. I appear right in front of Mr. Eun-ji.
Mr. Eun-ji places a hand on my shoulder, crouching down a bit to be at eye level with me. "Kara and Bayani are going to be in it too. Elaine also signed the contract."
"I'm mad at both of you then. I'm telling you know who."
Mr. Eun-ji's eyes widen as he starts shaking me. "Don't tell Claire. Are you nuts?! She will be so pissed!"
"She was gonna find out anyway? Why did you do it if you knew she wouldn't like it?"
Mr. Eun-ji sighs and scratches his head. "I was hoping to excite you with the game and money, so I wouldn't have to detail too much of this… If I tell you this next part, you're not allowed to tell Claire anything, got it?"
I stomp my foot and pull out my phone as if I'm going to call Miss Claire. "Tell me."
"Promise." Mr. Eun-ji holds out his pinky finger.
"I promise." I sigh as I take his finger and do what I guess is a pinky promise.
"I'm investigating the owner of the game company. The contract and this whole in-game event deal with you apprentices… Was just an excuse to be able to interact with that guy more."
"Who is it?" I inquire, staring deep into him, as if I'm gazing into his soul. Wait, maybe looking at auras is like seeing people's souls? Not like that matters in this moment.
"Nope. Not our promise; I just said 'this next bit'. I'm not disclosing anything else."
"I'll tell her!"
"You can't break a pinky promise."
That sentence apparently stuns me, as I can't muster any words to speak in reply. He's right. I remember when I was little; the second day I ever lived with Miss Claire, she said that pinky promises couldn't be broken, and she pinky promised to always be there for me.
I guess I have to keep my word.
"So what's this training you called me here for, Mr. Eun-ji?" I ask, quickly changing the subject.
"Oh, that. Right."
"According to Elaine, you made a big deal about this training, and now you just gloss over it?"
Mr. Eun-ji doesn't reply verbally at first; he walks over to me and hands me a small notepad and a pencil. "You know how we talked about softening and focusing your vision?"
"Yes. I do."
"Well, I invited a special guest, and I will be engaging in an all-out fight with them. I want you to focus your vision entirely on me and my aura or whatever you call it. And I want you to use that pencil to just trace my aura movements on the paper. Without looking at the paper. Never take your eyes off me."
"Why? How does that help me?"
"You seem to work best when you work things out in your own head, with outside guidance just pushing you in the right direction. And writing things down helps you remember them. So, I combined the two into a great exercise! Not that we're gonna stop doing the other ones."
"Alright, Mr. Eun-ji. Who is it?"
In that moment, my attention is drawn to the entrance doors. I see Elementalist, of all people, walk in. "Sonar. Am I late?" She asks, her movements brisk as she walks toward us.
Mr. Eun-ji pats my back, silently asking me to go sit in the bleachers. "No, right on time. I just finished explaining the exercise to Parker."
"What is the point of the notepad?" She inquires, motioning over to me, who is now sitting in the bleachers.
"He has ADHD; it's for him to have something to help him focus and not fidget," Mr. Eun-ji lied out of his teeth. He just had that one locked and loaded.
I don't know if I appreciate him stacking on a lie for me to keep track of on top of the other ones I've told. But also, can I really say anything?
No, I've told a lot of lies since moving in here. But I'm not sure if I'm happy that he gave me a whole disorder to pretend to have… Or does he think I have it?
Elementalist nods and readies herself to fight. "Alright, I invited the other two kids to watch as well, if you don't mind."
"Not at all, I don't mind showing off what I can do." Mr. Eun-ji grunts as he stretches. He motions for me to go sit in the bleachers. I quickly obey, hopping backwards and sitting down.
As if right on cue, Kara and Bayani rush in. They both looked rather excited as they rushed over to the bleachers to seat themselves on either side of me.
"I've never seen Elementalist and Sonar fight before! I've never even seen either of them going all out!" Kara exclaims, practically vibrating in her seat.
"I mean, could the Rank 25 hero make the Rank 2 hero go all out?" Bayani questions.
I shush both of them. "Don't doubt my mentor, and let me focus; he gave me an assignment."
Kara sticks her tongue out at me, and Bayani nods. We all turn our attention to the fight unfolding before us, and I hone in on Mr. Eun-ji's aura. I ready my pencil against the notepad as I see a subtle shift in Mr. Eun-ji's stance.
"Hey, Parker. What's with the notepad?" Kara asks as Mr. Eun-ji pushes off his back foot and rushes toward Elementalist as I begin to trace his aura movements on the notepad. He delivers a jab with his right hand; I think they call that a "southpaw stance". However, Elementalist seems not to be too affected.
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Kara pouts as I keep tracing, completely honed in on the fight in front of me. Elementalist counters with a sweeping kick with her right leg, and Mr. Eun-ji backflips out of it, landing on one hand.
I hear a faint sound somewhere in his vicinity, and he seems to as well, as he pushes off that hand to propel himself backward and onto his feet. The moment his left foot touches the ground, lightning strikes the exact position where he was before.
"Whoa," Bayani remarks. "That reaction time… I don't know many people who would've avoided that. I can barely keep up just looking at it."
Huh? Really? Bayani is smarter than I am for sure… Is my enhanced vision due to Mr. Eun-ji's power truly helping that much? Is my vision on another plane?
"I can kinda see it! It's like fwoom and bam! Right, Parker?" Kara exclaims.
So Kara can keep up a little better. That's interesting to know. Maybe that's something to look into later.
"Mhm," I reply succinctly as my focus goes all back into the fight. Mr. Eun-ji and Elementalist trade blows, Elementalist imbuing her hands with flame. Mr. Eun-ji seems to be effectively dodging most of her hits and positioning himself so that the ones that do hit aren't that direct.
But she's faster than him. How is he doing that? There are more attacks than he can perceive in time to dodge and reposition.
Is it the flame? Are his enhanced senses allowing him to feel the heat more vividly and to predict where her punches will land?
Elementalist, seemingly drawing a similar conclusion, stops the flame coating and changes strategies. I see three dark clouds surround Mr. Eun-ji from above, as icicles appear and shoot at him. The icicles distinctly remind me of… Kara's needles? I notice out of the corner of my eye Kara's eyes widening, as Elementalist shoots her a look.
It seems that Mr. Eun-ji isn't the only one trying to make an impression with this spar.
Mr. Eun-ji, looking directly at the icicles, begins to start sidestepping them and the lightning bolts that shoot out of the clouds; my tracing is still never-ending, even though Kara is now poking my arm.
"Parker, Parker, hey! Isn't this fight amazing?! Two top tiers just going all out!" Kara exclaims, now poking a little harder.
"Knock it off; he's clearly trying to focus on something important," Bayani interjects with a sigh.
"How is doodling important?" Kara retorts.
"I don't know, but this whole thing was Sonar's way of continuing Parker's training, so it has to mean something."
Now that Kara has quit her poking, I fully focus right back on the fight. Now seeing Mr. Eun-ji struggling to dodge everything. The number of projectiles is already overwhelming him. Dodging the icicles by sight and the lightning by sound. I can get what he's trying to teach me. The utility of every sense enhanced by his power.
As if only to pile on, Elementalist re-coats her hands with flame and brings the fight back to close range, alongside the projectiles still shooting out.
That level of control and variety…
No wonder she's number two; she's terrifying —even more than I remember.
Mr. Eun-ji looks even more overwhelmed, barely able to keep up, but still clearly in the fight. Some of the icicles are hitting him now that he has to focus on three things, but still he's dodging all of the lightning bolts and delivering his own counterattacks.
So this is the true extent of what Mr. Eun-ji can do… But somehow I get the feeling that Elementalist isn't going all out.
"Man, I guess the fight is pretty much over," Kara remarks.
"I guess I shouldn't have expected a longer fight," Bayani says.
I speak up for the first time since the fight began. "Don't count Mr. Eun-ji out yet. He's not the type to give up here."
Mr. Eun-ji is panting; he looks tired, as if he wants to stop. But he glances up at me, then looks right back at Elementalist. "Is that it? I thought you could do better." He says with an exhausted smirk on his face.
"I think you've done enough." Elementalist grunts, still keeping up her assault.
Mr. Eun-ji drops his guard and allows Elementalists flame coated punches to land directly. His jacket catches fire, and he removes it and throws it right at Elementalist's face, covering her eyes.
"Covering my face? We're being cheap now?" Elementalist says, removing the jacket from her face; however, Mr. Eun-ji grabs one of her icicles and directly delivers a slash across her midsection.
"There's no such thing as being cheap in a fight." Mr. Eun-ji says, beckoning her to rush back at him. The projectiles have stopped coming at him altogether. I suppose the slash stopped her from keeping that up.
Elementalist sighs and brushes herself off. "I think we can call it here. I have other matters to tend to today, and I cannot afford to damage the GTF by exerting myself more."
"Fine by me. I think that was enough for Parker to get the picture. Right, Parker?" Mr. Eun-ji shouts at me, smiling with a thumbs-up.
I stop my tracing and give him a thumbs-up right back. "Yup!"
Mr. Eun-ji nods and starts escorting Elementalist right out of the room. And at that moment, Kara hops up and drags me down to the center of the room where Mr. Eun-ji and Elementalist were fighting.
"Alrighty, it's time for our daily spar! We'll do the same thing as yesterday!" Kara exclaims.
Bayani hops down to meet us. "Alright then, could we start with me versus you, Kara?"
"Sure, I see no problem with that—"
"Kara!" An unfamiliar voice shouts. We all turn our heads and see an assortment of kids our age, alongside quite a few teenagers…
Who the hell are they?