Actually, Ken doesn't really like eating sweets. He looked at Morita Abe, who wanted to be called Mori-san, with a cup of his hot tea and dango cakes, which made his wrinkled face seem very happy. The man ate voraciously without paying attention to Ken's glued gaze while sipped his green tea.
"Ah ... it's been a long time since my tongue tasted sweets," Morita Abe muttered as he stared at his food with an adoring gaze. "You know, Ken-kun, in Jikai, I was always treated to coffee. Coffee again tomorrow. The next day it was too. Until I got tired of coffee and finally chose only drank plain hot water, just like a real old man. Only this time I can eat sweets again. It felt like I was being reborn."
Ken could only smile politely. "Mori-san's taste seems to be inversely related to mine."
Morita Abe turned his gaze on Ken, looking at the boy in his red jacket with obvious disappointment. "What a pity. Even your mother loves to eat sweets. That's why when I was in high school, your mother was the number one person I could take on a sweet hunt. You know, it's rare for a man like to eat sweets."
"Ah ... um."
Ken felt like he was being played with. He looked at the man in front of him appraisingly, but he couldn't find any keywords about that person. Meanwhile, the man seemed to have memorized inside and out all about Ken. Inevitably, Ken increased his vigilance. He would never know the movements of a person like Morita Abe who looked outwardly friendly, humble, etc, but inside it may be full of cunning.
"I actually do not want to say this in a hurry, but it seems that Ken-kun does not want to linger with me," Morita Abe finally voiced after enjoying his earthly paradise sweets for quite a while. Ken said nothing, waiting for the man in front of him to continue his words. Morita Abe smiled slightly, his eyes narrowed. "Ken-kun, have you ever heard of the term 'The Chosen Elementor'?"
Ken's eyebrows were raised high. "Huh?"
Morita Abe's narrow eyes scanned the confusion carved on Ken's face. "Hm ... then what about a short lecture on the history of Elemental Mastery? That lesson has been taught since the first grade, right?"
"Thank you, but I—"
Unfortunately, Ken's refusal was not heard.
"You already know, right, there used to be only four well-known elements: fire, air, earth, and water. Therefore, until now only The Great Four groups had great power because at that time the groups lived in one separate place. There may be no marriages other than between fellow users of an element in a residency."
Ken already knew that. Ken even thought he was very lucky not to have been born in that traditional age because if that happened he felt his one freedom had been forcibly taken away even since he was born.
"So now, we jumped right into the incident of the split of The Great Four major groups. I forget what year, which ended up making a lot of changes to this point. It does seem like it's been peaceful, it's done, but in fact there is still a cold war between several groups. I do not need to explain because it feels like a teenager like you can already guess."
Ken didn't know that there was still a cold war between The Great Four. Ken felt that he had heard of a state secret that he shouldn't have heard. However, Morita Abe seemed so smooth to expose it without feeling guilty and just kept going.
"If Ken-kun still remembers about the background of the split between The Great Four groups, surely you agree that Higami is behind it all."
"Not really," cut Ken.
Morita Abe was a little surprised because he didn't expect Ken to actually listen to his impromptu lecture, even to the point of debunking his response. Morita Abe cleared his throat, continued, "Well ... actually because of the rumors, a few years later there was a small war, but I just realized that the fact was not recorded in the history books, at any level of education."
This time, Ken was really surprised until his eyes widened.
Suddenly Ken gasped, then looked around with a panicked look on his face. Morita Abe who noticed the change in attitude chuckled, then patted Ken on his shoulder while shaking his hand as if he was driving away the flies that surrounded his head.
"Take it easy. This shop belongs to my best friend. All secrets, whatever they are, will never leak anywhere," he said as he winked at a pot-bellied man in a white apron. The man who was leaning on the counter grinned amused when he noticed Morita Abe's gaze, then waved one hand. "See, right? After all, this shop is secluded and has never been reached by any bigwig."
"Oi, I heard that!"
Ken observes Morita Abe's natural reaction with the shop owner. Apparently, this man sitting in front of Ken had a lot of connections. First, his mother. Second, 'the great' people in the Jikai organization, or maybe all four organization. Third, the owner of the sweet shop—concurently serving as the secret headquarters—with the safest place to reveal some restricted information.
For now, it seems that Ken has no other choice but to listen to Morita Abe's further ramblings in order to resolve his curiosity.
"Uh ... where it was," Morita Abe muttered after talking to the owner. Ken reminded. "Oh, yes. So, I started to find out the cause of why the incident was not recorded in the students' history books. Then the information I got from a friend in Futen, so that the civilians would not exaggerate it and so end up making up a far-fetched myths."
Morita Abe took a sip of his tea, fingering the edges with the tip of his thumb. "Come to think of it, it is not strange. I mean, who would not have thought it might be possible ... it had something to do with the predecessors who died slandered when they were not guilty at all. Look, Ken-kun, after the split, I said that there was a small war, right? It was not once or twice, but in the following years as well. However, since entering 2000, there have been no more conflicts involving The Great Four major groups."
"But, Mori-san, if it suddenly stops just like that ... wouldn't it be more weird?"
"Right!" Morita Abe snapped his fingers. "The same conflict happened again many years after the split incident, but why did it suddenly stopped halfway. It is not that I am not happy that the conflict is over, it is just that the tail of the matter is not obvious. Even if it has been resolved, then how and when? The last record I observed was in about the 1950s or 1960s. The conflict between The Great Four was suddenly over. The intergroup residency gates were destroyed as a sign and beginning that the users of the elements may socialize with members of any elements."
The two men stared at each other. All the information in their heads seemed to be channeled only from their gazes.
"It's not the time yet, is it?" Ken concluded dubiously. Even Morita Abe couldn't give a definite answer other than a shrug of his shoulder. "Since this year there is also nothing shocking and has also entered the end of the year, possibly next year or ...."
"Well ... it is likely that the ratio is 50:50, not 1: 99," Morita Abe joked as he put back the remaining sweets on his plate. Ken nodded slowly. "So, has Ken-kun been able to conclude why the conflict was repeated again in a smaller version years after, but until now there has been no sign of it anymore?"
Ken seemed hesitant to answer. Ken himself even found it strange because he knew that this question did not determine the grade of his report card or even the criteria for supporting his graduation. "... 'Cause one of The Great Four groups doesn't accept them being blackened, that's why they take revenge. Then the government arrested them so that until this year there was no conflict involving the users of the elements."
"You think too straight, Ken-kun."
For some reason, Ken felt annoyed even though he could guess if his answer was wrong.
"If it is just for revenge, or at least for self defense, why does it only happen once a year? Why only the end of each year? And even if it is torn by the government, there must still be a small form of conflict, which cannot be reached by the government."
"... Then?"
Morita Abe looked at Ken seriously. His stern face looked quite intimidating. "It has something to do with the predecessors who have great power and responsibility in The Great Four. Some people believe that the four leaders of The Great Four transmitted their energy powers and memory to their successors, which made the conflict happen again in the following years. So, this is not the reincarnation or possessed by a predecessor spirit."
Ken was silent, then sighed. "Mori-san, the way you think is too traditional. Myth, spirit, etch? Seriously?"
"If only I who had this such a mystical mindset, there would never be the term 'The Chosen Elementor', Ken-kun. The adults, who are mostly in a neutral position, also think as I think. Each year, there will be a user of the elements who is elected to be energized by The Great Four leaders. It is the four users of the selected element who have a responsibility to deal with the fate of their group."
"Heh ...." Ken showed an unpleasant look on his face. "That's too much. Perhaps they who even get the title of The Great Four leaders actually just bestow their mistakes and annoyance to their called-successors."
"Imai Ken," Morita Abe scolds Ken but that boy just glanced at him with an unchanged expression.
"Sorry, but I didn't intend to retract my previous words." Ken took a sip of tea in his glass. "So, does Mori-san currently think that I am one of those Chosen Elementors?"
Morita Abe nodded. "Correct. Probably."
Ken grinned. "Oh, I see. So, you think that I am one of the four Chosen Elementors. Is it possible that the other three are my classmates? It just so happened that the four of us have been friends for a long time since childhood."
"No," Morita Abe replied without any hesitation at all. "If it is one or two, it is possible. Because one other person is my son."