KAITO IS NOWHERE to be found again. I doubt he spends that much time in their main mansion let alone with his son. I kinda feel sorry for Alasdair. He doesn't show it but his sad eyes tell me he wants to have a parental figure who cares about him. How do I know? He sounds excited whenever an adult speaks to him. Alasdair conceals it, but I can see through him. Well, sometimes I can, when I'm not too plagued with my own toxic thoughts.

At least I still have Ally who sends me encouraging messages—even though he is dealing with a big problem—and a mother who always apologises to me.

'I'm sorry for asking, but does your father ever sleep in here?' I cross my leg over the other one whilst I wait for the orange juice I've asked for. 'The last time I saw him was, well, when he forced me to hurt Fumihiro.'

Alasdair visibly winces at my remark. He allows us to shit on his father because Kaito is a shitty person, but say something factual about him, and Alasdair will somehow get offended. But he won't say a thing aside from showing his discomfort. 'I've already had answered that I believe. He's busy.'

'Yeah, yeah, I remember. But does he ever act like he still lives here? I mean, I get it, he's busy but...'

'A lot had happened in this house,' Alasdair says, leaning on the couch. Noritaka and Declan are busy listing down all the topics we have to focus on later. 'After my mother died, he began avoiding this place. He doesn't say it, but I know the memory of her hurts him.'

My urge to narrow my eyes is too strong that I have to turn my head and pretend to sneeze. 'Sorry,' I say.

'That's disgusting.' Declan shakes his head.

'That's how a pandemic begins,' Noritaka adds.

I roll my eyes. 'Oh, shut the hell up, guys.' At least my act is effective. Even Alasdair is chuckling. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Alasdair is a bad person. But I saw how he was lying about his parents' relationship. He wants to make himself believe that Kaito has a heart for his late wife. What a load of...

He's alone if you think about it. Yeah, he has his servants, but I don't think he's close with them. He wants to be friends with them and yet both parties know they need a barrier between them. Because a Yamato will forever be above anyone.

'The drinks are here. Now we can begin.' Alasdair claps his hands once and tells the servants to bring everything to the garden. 'The weather is perfect. It's not too hot nor too cold,' he says with a concealed enthusiasm. No wonder why he likes school too much. Because by the time he gets here, he has no one. Weird kid, but I can't help but be sorry for him.

Noritaka grabs his bag instead of letting the butler take it from him. As far as I can recall, his name is Marcus. 'I can carry my own, Marcus.' See? I'm good at remembering names. 'But you can have my chocolate though. It's delicious.' Noritaka offers which Marcus politely declines, says his gums are sensitive nowadays. But you're only in your 50s, I almost say. He gives me a slight nod which I return, noticing how smooth his face is. Damn, I wish I'd be like that once I get older.

* * * *

Alasdair is right—the weather is nice. Eien would have loved it here. I wonder what he's doing now. It seems so long since the last time I've seen him. Yeah, it's only been two days but I already miss him.

We all sit down on the royal blue picnic blanket and pull out books from our bags. 'We will begin with Biology. Who loves Biology, raise your hand.' Alasdair raises his. No one follows. 'All right, I guess I'm the only one.'

'Of course, you're the only one. I don't have any plans to be a scientist or whatever. How about you, Jax?' Declan nods in my direction.

I shake my head. 'Nah. I'd rather earn easy money than wack my brain.'

'I love pastry, so I don't think I'll fall in love with science. Ever.' Noritaka begins reading, obviously not expecting that anyone would care about his answer.

'But science is everywhere, Noritaka. Even in cakes. Here, let me show you...' Alasdair lectures us about the history of cake, how it was just made with eggs, loaves of bread, fats from animals and honey. Then everything changed in the 18th century. It's odd how he can easily weave the subject to the lessons we have to memorise. He doesn't sound like the usual teacher: boring and stupid. Instead, he lets us engage with whatever he says. Alasdair also has so much patience especially for Noritaka and me who are both too slow to understand the basic components.

Best of all, he doesn't seem to mind. He willingly points out everything. I suddenly have a surge of appreciation towards him. I've never seen him smiling this widely except when he was talking to Eien.

He should be a professor after graduating. That is if he'll have time for it. With the Yamato enterprise knocking on his door at such an early age, he'll never be free. Unless he chooses to. I try to stomp down that flicker of doubt. If Eien were here, what would he say? Would he somehow convince Alasdair to stand up against Kaito?

As I observe and listen, the Alasdair behind the mask is slowly shining through. It's not a crack, the light is simply begging to be noticed.

'You're really good at this, eh?' I say, nudging him. He returns my compliment with a smile. I know how to make people feel good about themselves, mostly to get what I want. But this time, I sense he needs genuine gratitude. 'You should be a teacher.'

Alasdair drops his gaze to the book as if drinking all the information in one go. 'That'd be nice.' He doesn't even look at me as his fingers slid over the printed words.

'So why don't you?' I push.

'You know why.' He shrugs.

I know it's not my place and I should keep this to myself but the more I see the real him, the more I want to set him free. I'm sure Eien would have wanted the same thing. 'But you want to, right?'

A fraction of a second, but I know I saw it: his fingers gripped the edge of the book as anger and confusion swam in his eyes. Then it's gone, replaced by that Alasdair I've come to know. 'No. Teaching is fun. But that's it. It's just a hobby. Nothing more.'

'A hobby can be a job.'

'I want to focus on our businesses.' There. It's final. I should be changing the topic now. 'I'm craving for biscuits.' He stands up without excusing, something he doesn't usually do.

With Alasdair gone, I sense Declan staring at me. 'What?'

'What? Really? What were you trying to do?'

'Nothing. I just noticed he's good at what he's doing.'

'Oh, sure. Let's believe that bullshit.'

Noritaka squirms. He ducks his head as he tries to absorb all the information from the book. Both Declan and I mumble our apology.

I don't want our conversation to be awkward, so I pick the phase up. 'How about you, Declan? What you wanna be?'

Declan plays along. 'Simple. I wanna be a police officer just like Pa. It'll be nice to have another officer who looks like me if ya know what I mean.'

I nod. 'Yeah, I got it. So your dad...he's like the Chief or something?'

'Yeah. He became a citizen here just like Ma. Then he became a policeman. Still don't know how he did it but he was loved. They didn't like him at first, of course, but he earned their respect.' Well, it seems it runs in the family. Declan doesn't act respectable as opposed to Alasdair but you can't help but follow his lead.

'That's bloody awesome! You must be proud of them.'

'Hell, yeah I am! The Andersons are proud. And we've got reasons to be.'

'Oh, yeah? And what is that?'

He smirks. 'Because we're fighters.'

When people say this about their families, they're lying. Now, I haven't met his family yet, but from the things Eien's had told me so far, I know the Andersons are a family no one should cross with. Especially Declan, a teenager with a deadly gift.

'Listen. When I was training with Dr Matsuda, he said something about you.'

He raises an eyebrow. 'Oh yeah?'

'He said our gifts, well, fire and water, are different...'

'That they are.'

'...but when it comes to fighting, they can be quite similar. He implied that you had slashed someone.' I was expecting him to get mad at me or Dr Matsuda. But he simply stares, waiting for me to finish what I'm about to say. So I go for it. 'So what did you do?'

Declan flips a page and bookmarks it. 'Nothin'. Just slashed the first person that attacked me. It came naturally, didn't mean to do it. Dr Matsuda saw it. Gave me reasonable reasons to stay in the white tower. That's it.'

An answer in bullet forms. Truly a Declan thing to do. 'You don't regret it?'

'Hell, no. You attack me, I'll attack you too. But I ain't for kill first. Dislocate some bones, maybe. What? You thought I killed somebody?'

I nervously laugh. 'Well, not really I—'

'Because you're right. I did kill somebody. Didn't mean to, though.' Speechless. Oxygen has left my lungs as I slowly register what he said. So does this mean I'm not the only one who had taken innocent lives? 'I had no choice,' he continues. 'I was protecting myself. They wanted to hurt me, possibly kill me just because I existed.'

Oh. Nothing like mine at all. No one had threatened my life. I am a monster.

I want to know more about him. It's the only right thing to do. After all, who knows what will unfold next until my mum tells me for real what she wants. 'How did you meet Eien? I know you met him when he was a baby but how?'

Declan cracks his fingers' joints and stretches his limbs. 'Why you wanna know?'

'Just curious.'

'OK then.' His eyes glide up to the blue sky, shielding his face with his hand. 'Eien's parents gave us space when no one was willing to. To be more precise, they'd hidden us when we were being hunted.'

'What?'

He shrugs. 'Because of the war, there were people who had travelled around the world to get rid of my people, thinking it'd end The Great Barricade. Stupid, right?'

'Yeah, stupid cows.'

'So anyway, thankfully, Zone 1 made a law—which was overdue, mind you—preventing anyone from hunting us. We're still being ignored here but at least we ain't gettin' shot and that's more important to us. Where was I? Oh yeah, the Uchiyama. They hid us when everyone in their neighbourhood was afraid to protect us. That's how I met Eien who was a newborn then.'

'You were three to four then...My God.' What an awful memory for that age.

'Yeah, well, what can you do but bear through it?'

Another question pops into my brain. I've been meaning to find out about this but I'm afraid I might screw things up. Then again, this is Declan. Surely, he knows Eien more than I do. So I turn off Cupcake, eyeing Noritaka. He's come back to burying his nose to his book.

'So you know...'

'I know what?' He raises his eyebrows.

'Eien is my personal guide. And his age is...'

Declan cracks his joints again. 'Yeah, I know.' He gives me a knowing smile.

Of course. I should've known. Now that's out of the window, I can now breathe. At least one of them is aware and is OK with it. I wish it would only be Declan and no one else. I can't imagine what would happen if Alasdair knew about Eien's infiltration.

I turn Cupcake on again, inspecting Noritaka just to make sure he doesn't suspect anything. Thankfully, he's too immersed with his book.

'You took care of Eien, then? Changed his nappies, made him sleep?'

'Kinda. But I was a little boy, so I was shitty at it. I remember him vomiting on me.'

'Ew.'

'I know! But he was a baby and babies are nasty pieces of crap.'

'But I bet you fell in love with him.'

He nods. 'Couldn't help it. You should've seen how small he was. Oh, yeah. I have some of his baby photos here on my phone. Wanna see 'em?'

Baby Eien photos? I can't help but feel protective of him. I guess it's only natural to feel that when someone looks as fragile as him, even though I know he's capable of protecting himself.

'Sure, let's see them.'

Declan giddily fishes out his phone and unlocks it. 'There,' he says, handing it to me.

I start swiping through. The first photo is of baby Eien with a pink beanie carried by Declan, wearing a blue beanie.

'The lady who gave us those beanies thought Eien was a girl. He had long, girly eyelashes back then,' Declan says. We both snicker. 'He still looks girly though. Don't tell him that. He gets upset when I tease him.'

The next photo is a one-year-old Eien petting two black cats. Behind him was Declan, fighting with another black cat. Declan tells me to ignore that. I suck my lip to stop myself from laughing. He notices it anyway and punches me lightly. 'I didn't know you had cats.'

'They were not ours. Some of the neighbours had let us play with their pets.'

'Oh.'

'Yeah. Even though they were scared, they were still nice to us. When nobody was looking, they'd give us clothes and medicine. My parents mostly gave them to Eien though because, well, he was a baby and babies need more.'

'It was a good thing you were OK with it, then.'

Declan shrugs. 'Of course. Yeah, I was a kid, but I knew how dire our situation was. You know, people show their true colours when they're afraid and cornered.'

My eyes flick back to the phone. I hide the shame that flows in my cheeks. 'Your life then was so hard. I wonder how you'd lived by.'

'Ma and Pa have always been strong. Yeah, they weren't perfect, but they did all what they could do for us. It was a shame we had to leave Eien though. We'd had no choice.'

Remembering what he'd told me before, I nod. Declan and his family had been through so much and yet here he is, still fighting.

'When did you discover that you were not...you know, normal?'

The sudden shift of the subject visibly caught him off guard. He recovers in a snap, easing his tensed shoulders. 'Ma and Pa actually discovered it first before I did. Pa said he was feeding me milk when I waved my hand and the bottle smashed into pieces. From then on, they watched me as I developed my power. No one had taught me how. I simply did it for fun. But now, I've become, let's say, stronger because I use less force and more precision. I still hate the fact that an organisation knows me, but I gotta say, they really did help me improve.'

This is new to me. Never have I ever heard a gift wielder being born with it, let alone being an expert from the get-go. Learning about this makes my stomach coil; bile threatens to rise to my throat. I may not like my gift, but knowing that somebody is so much better than me and has never used it to hurt anyone on purpose tells me I'm somewhat—no. This negative opinion against myself isn't healthy. It's not even fun anymore.

'Wow. So you've always been great. How about Eien?' His eyes darken as soon as I say that. Stuttering, I correct myself. 'I mean, if it's not—I, you know—he's...You don't have to tell me, is what I'm trying to say.' God. Damn. It. Why am I so afraid of him? He's never treated me badly. In fact, aside from Eien and Noritaka, he's the only one who's truly nice to me.

The glass of orange juice shakes. Oh no. Did I upset him that much? Is he going to smash it into pieces and wound me?

No. Instead, the juice bubbles and slowly emerges from the glass. In a second, it's in Declan's mouth. With one big gulp, it's already gone. 'Nah, it's OK. I just think it's his story to tell. But if you think I'm way too powerful, you haven't seen Eien in action yet.'

True. I haven't. But Fumihiro had told me that Eien had taken down three hundred men. 'Yeah.'

His smug smile tells me I am right. And that I shouldn't ever wish for it to happen.

'How did Alasdair convince you to be under the Yamato care?' I carefully ask, not wanting to upset him again.

'It's a long story. Basically, he threatened me. It worked. Now I don't mind it. At least not that much.'

'And you didn't do anything?'

'I did. Knocked out some of their men. That's how Dr Matsuda met me. Ha. Hilarious.' Amusement sparkles his dark eyes. He seems so proud.

I want to ask more but Alasdair is back with fruits and cakes. Thank God it's not a fruitcake. That thing isn't a fruit. It's equivalent to a dogshit and you can't convince me otherwise.

'It seems you two have been talking something that has got nothing to do with our lessons. Not to worry, I am here.' He sets down the tray and gives us a tight closed-mouth smile, obviously not pleased that we are not taking this seriously.

Declan and I share a shrug and resume reading. In my peripheral view, I see Alasdair arranging plates. Swiftly but carefully, he gives us our portions one by one. He also pours more juice for us.

I watch closely, observing every little detail, waiting for a single crack of his mask. But as I stare more, the more I see that he's not even aware of what he's doing. He's serving us because that's what he wants to do and not because he wants us to think he's humble.