1.50 – Ask her out goddamnit

Nathan dodged as Aiko’s giant rebar came swinging at his head. He dodged it at the last moment, the distance between them still far longer than he would have expected.

Her power has gotten stronger since the last time he had seen her spar. It has been only a few days, but she must have unlocked some kind of hidden potential within her. It wasn’t simply a bar anymore; it shifted, changed the shape in her hands, listening to her command to extend and retract at will. It made her far more powerful an opponent, but it was obvious at a glance that she wasn’t used to fighting with it.

He stepped closer, the distance between them closing, but suddenly, from his side, Minato came swinging. The man hasn’t had such an epiphany as Ako, but he did appear to be far faster than Nathan remembered. His jaws unlocked as he prepared to bite down on his arm. Nathan quickly countered.

His rock skin enveloped him just as the boy’s teeth came clamping down, and they bit into the rock, but it didn’t hurt. Nathan crouched and then swung his arm, sending Minato flying, though he left a souvenir in the form of teeth that remained in Nathan’s rocky layer. A whip from behind came, exploding right in Minato’s face before sending him flying from the air towards the walls.

The rebar came swinging again, and this time Nathan wasn’t in a position to dodge. He moved his arms up and caught it, preparing to drain the momentum, but he wasn’t quick enough. Some of it transferred to his body, the shock of the attack reverberating in his core. It felt as if his bones cracked, but still he stood, pushing against the force of Aiko.

She was strong, though, far stronger than she should be. Maybe the Z-cells were enhancing her more than some of the others.

“Okay, stop! Alicia, don’t hit her! Aiko, you would have gotten blasted into your face with an explosion that I’m not sure you can take. Minato can regenerate, judging from his teeth, but that’s enough.” Vermillion Strike stopped the action, and the force on Nathan’s arms lessened as her rebar shifted to be shorter once again.

“Oh man, will we ever beat these two?” Aiko laughed as her rebar disappeared out of existence.

“I almost got him. Next time, he won’t be so lucky!” Minato smiled as his teeth regenerated right in front of Nathan.

“All four of you did really well. You might not feel strong, but trust me, your abilities are progressing far quicker than most students. Even now, I think all of you are at least D-class. It will be fun to see the tournament progress.”

“How will the tournament be structured, if I might ask?” Nathan stepped forward.

“I’m sure you’ll find it in an email soon.” Yukiko replied bluntly.

He still felt light on his feet. Today’s… action in the morning, and then the news that came after, made anything seem like good news. He was looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses, and he reckoned it wouldn’t stop for days yet.

It felt good to be back here in school, to be able to live a normal life. Despite the terrible experiences he’d been through, even a day such as this one, fooling around with his friends, trying out new stuff, was more than he ever had in his former life.

“Okay then! I’ll have to go do some administrative work, but I will send you some pointers. How does that sound?” Vermillion Strike smiled, looking between the four students gathered before her. All four of them nodded.

“Sounds good, Yukiko.”

“Yukiko??” Aiko looked at him, eyebrows raised.

“You two can call me that too, but not in school, please. Just not when there are more students around,” Yukiko smiled, abashed. “Me, Nathan, and Alicia went through a lot together, so I’m just letting them call me that.”

“I’ll probably keep calling you Vermillion Strike if you don’t mind. Not really ready for calling a hero like you by her name.”

“Whatever suits you. Now, quickly change into your clothes, and I’ll go towards the gate with you.”

Nathan headed towards the locker room, Minato following a few steps behind as they split with the girls, and he went to change his clothes. If Yukiko didn’t seem to have any plans, he probably would have preferred to take a shower as well, but it was probably out of the question. Whatever material his superhero suit was made of, it seemed to absorb sweat pretty well, at least.

I wonder why I even have this suit. Out of all my fights, I’ve only used it in training.

“Don’t sweat it, dude. I think you’ll have plenty of chances to try it out in a real scenario.” Minato smiled.

“Oh, I said that out loud?”

“Yup.”

Nathan missed that strange, creepy grin on his face.

He arrived at his locker and quickly began changing, feeling the slight soreness in his arms.

“So… you and Alicia seem a bit closer.”

Nathan stopped. That didn’t sound like a question. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I just look at you two, and you just seem different, like some wall that was in between you two was broken.” He said offhandedly, as he looked at his tracksuit that he must have come in wearing, “You two….?”

“Yes, we are dating now.” Nathan grinned. There was probably little reason to hide it from Minato of all people.

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“I was gonna ask if you two fucked already, but I think that’s enough of an answer as well.” He barked with laughed, and went closer, abandoning his tracksuit on the bench near his locker. “Way to go, man! I’m happy for you! Honestly, I was thinking about when this might happen, not if.”

Nathan smiled, feeling stupid all over for no reason. He decided not to comment on Minato’s other remark. He dabbed him up, and Minato pulled him into a hug, a quick one, and then he tapped him on his back three times and pulled away. “You two are still living together?”

“Yep. Probably not gonna change for a bit, although I discovered I could have lived like a normal person since the start. My sister called me today.”

“You have a sister? You never told me!”

“I do. She’s a year younger than I. Although I’m adopted, so you know, not really related. Never a difference in between how mom raised the two of us or how we see each other. I remember her almost since she was drinking from a bottle, although that was probably because she drank from a bottle until she was five.”

“Hell yeah, man, if she’s as powerful as you, then you should consider calling her here. Nothing bad in having your family around, you know? I would be kind of lonely if my siblings weren’t just a few dozen minute ride away.”

“She did mention she was coming next year, actually. She should probably be here before spring time.” Nathan said, thinking of what Emma told him just an hour ago. She would be coming here, but she didn’t say why. Nathan, being himself, would rather discover that later than admit he forgot.

Honestly, if she was anything like the Emma that Nathan knew, he did the right thing. Only the suit would remain of him if he told her that he didn’t know of her arrival.

It raised another question, though. Was she coming here to visit, or coming here to study?

If she came to study, that meant that she was a superhero too, didn’t it? What was even her power? She has never lived to be a late teen back in New York. How would she look? What would her life experiences be, and how would they differ from the ones he knew his Emma went through? Did they still go through that street in New York? They couldn’t have, if she was alive. All of it raised more questions, but honestly, as long as the answer that Emma remained alive was still the same, it mattered little to Nathan.