1.51 – Changes

“Well, young man, I hope you call me more often. It’s been nice talking to you.”

“You didn’t want to annoy me? Seriously, Mom, you have to stop worrying about stuff like that. I would always like to hear from you.”

“Okay, okay, leave this old lady alone.” His mom laughed. She sounded exactly the same as she used to, and if Nathan of this universe used to be different, she has so far not caught on to that fact. “You should call your sister too. She pretends not to care, but you know how she is.”

“She actually called me a few days ago. I didn’t tell you yet, but yeah, I’ve talked to her two more times since that.”

The door opened, Alicia seemed to be searching for Nathan who sat on the now replaced couch. Well, actually, it was exactly the same model as the last one, so who knows whether one could even call it a ‘new’ couch.

“Anyway, Mom, I gotta go.”

“Hey, Nathan, are you there?” Alicia shouted from the entry hall.

“Oh, you got some girl company. Well, I’m sorry to take you away then.”

“Oh, shut up, Mom.”

“Hey, language!”

“Sorry, Mom. But yeah, I’ll call you more often soon enough. My tournament will start, and I will hopefully be progressing to a better class.”

“Oh, interesting! What do you have to do in that tournament? I hope it’s nothing dangerous.”

Not as dangerous as anything I’ve been through lately, Nathan thought, but he better not say that out loud. No need to make his mom sick with worry. “There are several parts. First off, we have to do the written test, although it’s going to be easier this semester than usual. There have been some attacks across Japan.”

“Oh, yes, I’ve heard. Horrible. So many students… I even thought about calling you to try to make you come back to the USA, but well, I always knew Japan was that big dream of yours. I just had an intuition that you wouldn’t listen.”

Japan had been a dream of his, but only before Emma had died. He didn’t say that out loud either.

“So? Written first, what’s next? You can’t only be writing things when you’re a superhero Academy, right?”

“Right, right.” Nathan answered, his mind split between the phone call and Alicia, who walked into the room. She had a different haircut. Her straight hair was replaced by a wolf cut, and only the hair on the back of her skull reached to her shoulders. It fit her more than he would’ve thought. She also had several new earrings. Before, she only had one in each ear, but now her left ear was adorned with several, which gave her more of a punk look, although her clothes remained the same.

She was stunning. Alicia must have seen right through Nathan’s mouth agape expression, because she smiled triumphantly.

“I look good, right?”

He nodded.

“Well, finish your phone call, babes. I’ll go make some dinner.”

“Oh, she sounds like a nice lady!” The phone blasted right in his ear once again. ” You’ll have to introduce me! Is she one of your classmates? Where is she from? What is her-”

“Mooomm.”

“What? You can’t expect me to be uninterested! You never brought anyone home! But okay. I’ll let you be quiet now, I’m still waiting to ask you all about this new girlfriend of yours.”

“I’ll probably have to leave that up for next time, yeah. Have to go help prepare dinner and all that.” Nathan smiled. “But as for the tournament, it’s not just written exams. Yeah, we are also going to be doing physical tests, showing off our strength and how much we managed to make our bodies stronger. At the start of the year, they took some measurements of our powers and we will be showing off how much we improved. Lastly, there will be duels, one-on-one, in a tournament bracket. Apparently, a lot of the students like to watch that. It’s like a twice per year cinema for them.”

“Oh no! Are you going to be fighting anyone very strong? You’re not going to get hurt, right?”

“No, mom, I’m not going to get hurt.” Alicia raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. “I promise I’m not going to get hurt. Apparently, my class, the E class, and the D class will all be getting mixed into one tournament bracket, then there’s going to be another for the C, B, and A classes, and S class students are going to just have a small tournament of their own.”

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“I have no idea what that means, sweetie, but I’m sure it means you’re going to be okay.”

“Yeah, I’m going to be fine, mom. Seriously, don’t worry.”

“Well, okay, I’m not going to hold you any longer now. Go say hi to your girlfriend and stay safe, alright? And call me more often. I worry sick. And eat well. And don’t underestimate lack of sleep. I know this has been a dream of—”

“Yes, I will do all of that, don’t worry.”

“Oh, last thing, Emma’s application went through, and she’ll be arriving next year. She told you that, right?”

She hasn’t told him that exact part, but she has told him something. “Yes, she told me. I know, no worry, mom.”

“Well, please, since you’re there, try to find her some kind of flat she can rent when she comes. I know I gave you enough money to even rent hotels if you want it, But I don’t want her to go through the same thing. Do that for me, please.”

“Of course, mom.”

“Okay, sweety, bye bye. I love you.”

“Bye, mom. Love you too.”

The phone clicked.

Sure, he could find Emma something to rent, but where the fuck was the money coming from? This was the strangest part of this all. Nathan never had enough money, and his mom wasn’t much different. She sent him as much financial support as she could, yes, but she didn’t have a few thousand to spare.