Nero had awakened with a fresh mind, having rested up for the remainder of the time in the World of Promise, his spirits felt a tinge of fullness. He looked around at the room and noticed that the morning sun had light up a vast majority of it.
'Fridays are always good days, let's make the best of it,' Nero said inwardly as he slapped his cheeks and looked at himself in a nearby mirror, his toned body and bright silver hair shining brightly due to the sun rays.
Having pep himself up, Nero jumped from the bed, nimbly landing on the ground after the light flip. He hurriedly cleaned up his room and went to check on his mother.
After lightly opening the door and noticing that she was sleeping soundly, Nero heaved a sigh of relief before closing it and heading to the shower at the end of the hall.
A few moments later, he had already finished dressing for school and was now fixing the kitchen plates. As always, he was about to call for her, but as if on cue, she had already arrived.
"Mother, come and sit," Nero said with a smile as he hurried over to Hersa's side and sat her around the table.
Hersa smiled as she gently pinched Nero's cheek and spoke, "Always so kind to your mother, when are you going to let me do stuff for myself?"
Nero shook his head and spoke, "Mother, as long as I'm around you don't have to, it is my duty as a son to make life easier for you."
Hersa felt touched hearing this, her eyes turned slightly red but no tears came out, she patted Nero's head and spoke, "That's my good Nero; as your mother, I will always take pride in your care, come now, let's eat, the food is getting cold, and you have to leave soon..."
Nero was a bit puzzled at this as he sat himself down and spoke, "Leave soon? Mother, it's not yet 7, I still have a few more dozens of minutes."
Hersa tilted her head and made a silly look as she spoke, "Oh, I had forgotten to mention it, but your friend said he'd be walking with you to school from now on,"
''Friend?" Nero ushered in confusion, but soon, his eyes shrunk when he recalled their discussion yesterday evening.
'You don't mean that guy? What the hell is he thinking?' Nero exclaimed inwardly, he knew he was being watched after being briefed by Adult Nero, but he didn't think his watchers would be so bold as they actively invited themselves into his life.
Not knowing what to do, Nero asked his older self in a flustered manner, 'T-this... what should I do?'
Adult Nero looked at him from within the core of his mind as he replied in an icy tone, "Don't ask me? Your choices are yours to make."
Nero made a disappointed expression at those words as he cursed in his mind, 'Your no help at all, tsk! Fine!'
Hersa smiled as she saw Nero's changing faces, she always took pleasure seeing his various expression, not only was it adorable, but he also reminded her of his father.
'The more he grows, the more they become alike...' Hersa thought while showing a warm smile.
Nero, having recovered, shook his head and spoke to his mother, "Mother, you're dazing off; let's finish eating first."
Hersa promptly stabbed a piece of fried meat with her fork and spoke with a sweet expression, "Alright, I cannot afford to waste even a single bite of my son's handiwork."
Nero felt happy hearing this; he hurried to wolf down his own food finishing up in less than a minute. After cleaning up the dishes and chatting with his mother a while longer, Nero had prepared to leave as it was now 6:30 AM.
"Mother, I'll be going now, please do your best to take care of yourself, I'll try getting some more medicine this afternoon," Nero said as he looked at his mother that sat in the sofa and watched the TV.
Hersa looked at him and replied, "Okay, have fun today Nero."
Nero smirked and waved as he walked out the door, "Yes mother!"
After closing the door, Nero took a breath of fresh air; he then looked ahead of him at the long streetway that trailed towards the remote Dividing Wall.
He took a few steps forward, leaving the compound of his house, but as he stepped out of the gate, he saw a familiar blond-haired youth leaning against the gate.
Nero was a bit stunned at first, but he soon calmed down and stared at him as he spoke, "Ryo... I don't know what you're up to, but I'll tell you now that if you are doing this to threaten me with my mother, I will destroy you..."
Ryo chuckled at those words as he spoke, "Haha... worry not Nero, I am merely an observer, if you wish, you can also treat me like air, but there will come a time when you'll have to make a choice."
Nero's eyes narrowed at those, he looked at Ryo carefully before he asked, "You mean a stalker? Tsk, you must have some profession, what is it do you even want from me?"
Ryo walked a bit closer and looked him in the eyes before he spoke, "It's not what I want, but what others will desire when they find out who you are..."
"Hmm? What's that supposed to mean?" Nero asked with a puzzled look in his eyes.
Ryo didn't say anything, he merely took a few steps backward and halted, crossing his arms in silence as if he was waiting on Nero to lead the way to school.
Nero snorted at this sight while thinking to himself, 'Hmph! Another bastard appears, does he think he's cool or something by acting silent and mysterious?'
Adult Nero didn't stay silent hearing this; he spoke coldly, "Oh, so I'm a bastard too?"
Nero hearing this didn't even say anything, he used a similar manner of staying silent as he ignored his older self's words and headed towards the Dividing Wall.
Adult Nero merely shook his head as he saw Nero's actions, while Ryo followed behind Nero at a casual pace, his attention seemed to be focused on his phone, playing some video game.
Nero and Ryo walked across the walkway calmly, moving past the various beggars and filthy surroundings, filled with scattered liquor bottles and other kinds of trash.
The rancid stench seeming not to have affected them in the least bit as they moved through it in a tranquil manner. While walking past a few more haggard individuals that had set out to do early work, Nero noticed that a few of them gave him a bad look.
Not paying them any mind, Nero shook his head and focused forward, but it was at this time, as he was about to step past an alleyway, he noticed a peculiar scene.
There, he saw a few thugs gathered around a single youth; it was a malnourished looking young man with spikey red hair who was of a similar age to Nero. He wore ragged up clothing, and his arms seemed bony and bruised. He had pale looking skin and dark red eyes as he stared at the men around him with coldness as if a vicious beast resided at the depths of his soul.
The men were about to attack him together, but as if they noticed something, they turned and saw that Nero was looking at them from a distance.
One of them felt uncomfortable; he walked forward and shouted, "Hey! What the **** are you looking at, huh brat?"
Hearing the loud shout of the man and seeing his icy glare, any normal youth would have run off already. However, Nero didn't even budge; he was used to this scenery; what made him stop was the young man; he felt odd seeing such an individual, a strange feeling.
Ryo also noticed the youth, who seemed as if he didn't fear death even facing such a crowd of men, his eyes narrowed as he looked at him in silence.
The thug grew angry that Nero ignored his words, he looked at his friends and gestured towards Nero. As if understanding his intent, two of the thugs that surrounded the red-haired kid walked with him towards Nero and Ryo.
It only took them a few seconds to reach before them, they looked at Nero as if he was a dead brat as the one who had spoken prior, spoke again, "Hey kid? Are you deaf? I said, what the **** are y..."
The man was about to say something, but suddenly, Nero, who seemed to have ignored him blurred and vanished, all the man saw was a fist growing larger in his eyes.
Soon, the thug's left eye was smashed by Nero's fist, causing him to fall backward by a few meters as he smashed into a trash bin, losing consciousness.
"This... what on earth?"
"Holy hell?"
The thug's exclaimed as a few took some steps back in shock, Nero looked at them and spoke with his fist raised before him, "I'll give you five seconds to scram! Five, Four, Three..."
The thugs hearing this scampered off like fleeing animals, not daring to face that fist which sent a man hurling.
Nero left out a breath of relief as he saw this; he looked at the young man who seemed indifferent to all things. He was about to walk over, but he noticed that the red-haired young man turned and looked at him coldly before speaking, "I didn't ask for your help, I owe you nothing..."
As he said this, the young man walked in a different direction, each of his steps having an odd rhythm as if one looked closely, the ground below his feet seemed as if it was burnt by something.
Nero looked at this youth deeply as he asked his older self, 'He's odd, very odd, do you know him?'
Adult Nero also found him to be peculiar; he spoke, "No, I don't, but I find his aura to be quite familiar..."
Nero asked inwardly, 'How so?'
Adult Nero's eyes flashed with a red-haired figure before he shook his head and spoke, "No one that you should concern yourself with at this time, now come, the bus should be arriving soon..."
Nero rolled his eyes at those words; he stared at the direction the young man left before continued on his way, moving along with Ryo through the trash-filled streets.
****
Author's Note:
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