Ken petrified. On his face, there was a combination of surprise and disbelief. He squints, leaning his face closer to his interlocutor while picking at his ear holes.
"Who?"
Although it looked faint, the smirk was present on Morita Abe's face. "My second child. He is 19 this year. But since he was born at the beginning of the year, soon he will be almost 20 years old."
Ken was even more incredulous. "Eh? Why is that?!"
Mori blinked his eyes in confusion. "What is why?"
"The Chosen Elementor! You're not kidding, are you?! After all, even if it is true that the Chosen Elementors exist, why weren't they selected from the same age?!"
Ken's head was full of questions at the time, but he could only ask a small part that was not even more than 25% of the whole. Moreover, Ken still cannot fully believe in Morita Abe's explanation, even more so in The Chosen Elementor. He almost thinks Morita Abe has gone mad because he think that Ken is part of the Chosen Elementor. But ....
"I won't joke about such a serious topic," Morita Abe said casually, completly ignoring Ken's confused face that was already at his maximum level. "Perhaps because since the 21st century, there have been no more conflicts between groups of elements, the four of Chosen Elementors are no longer chosen from the same age ... maybe. That is my opinion. Ah, by the way, this son of mine is just like his father. He is in Jikai, if you probably want to contact or see or ask him more personally."
Ken still showed a face of disbelief. "How did Mori-san knew if he was one of the four Chosen Elementors? Was it during Ketteibi's time, his energy was detected that he was the Chosen Elementor?"
Morita Abe muttered as he stroked his clean chin without a beard. "If Ken-kun says 'detected', it is a bit wrong actually. It is just that the energy he released at that time was indeed somewhat different from other children. The effect makes the two rink arenas damaged until a month afterwards."
An unpleasant feeling surrounded Ken's chest. He felt a bit guilty. He wanted to sympathize, but didn't know for what reason.
"What about him? Is he okay?"
Morita Abe chuckled lightly. The man, for some reason, could feel empathy from Ken's question. "He is fine. It is just that he has changed a little bit. That brat, who used to be wild, stubborn, and sometimes naughty, is now a bit introverted. Only to his family he can open up."
The ringing of Ken's smartphone made the silence between the two men disappear for a moment. Ken glanced at the man in front of him which he replied with a brief nod. His mother's voice then rang out a second after Ken pressed his phone to his ear. Her nagging was nothing more than to tell him to go home immediately. Ken agreed without much protest even though he didn't accept it in his heart because he wasn't a little boy anymore and didn't need to be reminded to go home before sunset.
"Your mother?"
Ken nodded, his shoulders shrugging languidly. Morita Abe laughed out loud.
"Just go home. I don't want that woman to blame me for kidnapping her son," Morita Abe said, shaking his hand, allowing him to follow his mother's orders, which Ken responded as an expulsion. "Oh right, Ken-kun, don't hesitate to contact me if you still have something to ask. Also, call me if you want to talk to my son. Ah, wait, maybe you can ask this matter to your sister for help too."
Ken passed by leaving Morita Abe with deep frown.
***
Ken rested his lightheaded head with sleep. He fell asleep immediately after dinner. One impossible thing Ken never did when he became a teenager. He even forgot about his newly bought video game, which he planned to do after he got home.
Because he fell asleep at a fairly fast time, Ken woke up at an unusual time. He raised his gaze, observing the clock on the walls of his room. The time is still four o'clock, still dawn. It was a miracle for Ken to wake up at four o'clock on a school holiday.
Ken intends to turn on the computer and play games to kill time because his eyes are already very fresh and there is no sign of wanting to close again anytime soon. However, that intention was halted when his phone vibrated. His sister's name on the screen made Ken confused to death.
"What?! Your room's just right next to me," Ken grumbled as he answered a call from his older sister. Ken got up from his lying down position, leaning his back against the headboard. Suddenly, he heard something strange from behind the call. "Suzume? Why is there a car horn? Where are you?!"
"From my friend's house. I'll be home in a minute, open the door for me, Ken."
Ken glared at his phone. A second before he uttered his scolding, Ken realized that it was the end of the year holiday. Come to think of it again, it doesn't matter that his sister goes to spend time with her friends.
The problem is, who is the friend Suzume is referring to? Male or female?!
"Suzume!" Ken growled in a restrained voice so as not to be heard all the way to his parents' room. He grabbed his jacket that was on the hook of the door, then opened the door carefully. "My beloved older sister didn't turn into a bad woman, did she?"
"Ken!!!" The owner of the name automatically moved his phone away from his ear when Suzume shouted his name in an infinitely annoyed tone. "How dare you! I went out to drink with my college friends and it was only until eleven o'clock before midnight! And if you're still not satisfied, I'm stay at my female friend's house! 'Kay?!"
Ken stroked his chest. He opened the front door slowly, stepped closer to the fence, and turned his head in all directions looking for his sister's presence among the many bends at hand. However, the person he was looking for did not come into sight.
"Where are you?! You really said that you almost reached home?"
There was no answer from Suzume. Surprisingly, Ken could still hear the noise on the other side. He waited for a while, until finally a car from the corner on the right side of the road passed by and stopped right in front of his house. The back door of the car opened and Suzume emerged from there.
The car windows in the front seat turned down slowly, revealing a short blond-haired female face who smiled amusedly at Ken. Confused, Ken blinked his eyes, glanced at the young lady and then turned to his sister.
"Hello, ototo-kun!" The lady greeted Ken. Her eyes winked coquettishly, then laughed amusedly. "I've already taken your beloved sister safely home, so don't be mad at me, okay? See you, Imai siblings!"
After the car passed and vanished into the corner at the end of the road, Ken glanced at his sister who was still standing next to him. Suzume was actually aware of Ken's gaze was in, only that she pretended not to notice it and turned inside the house. Sleepy, the mainstream reason Suzume uses. That 21 year old lady even pretended to yawn to show her brother that she wasn't lying.
"Ken, come on in! It's still dark outside. This sister of yours is already very sleepy. You can continue sleeping in peace now," Suzume said in a low voice as she sneaked in. Ken looked at her with a flat face. "I'm into my room, right! Oyasumi, My Beloved Brother!"
Ken stared at the back of his sister who was climbing the stairs with quick but silent steps. His eyes narrowed, his forehead frowning. "Beloved brother your eyes?!"
He walked into his room, took off his jacket, and sat in a chair, turning on the computer. While waiting for his computer to actually turn on, Ken idly opens his phone and checks his class group chat which he hasn't opened since he got home last night. As the number of unread chats showed close to a thousand, Ken jumped straight to the very last chat. Not very important it turns out. Only the babbling of the majority expresses joy ahead of Ketteibi and the new year.
Ken throws his phone on the bed and starts to get busy on the game display on his computer screen. No one was seen online but him there. Ken understood because it was still very early. The hardcore level players—as Ken calls it—may even unknowingly have fallen asleep and will only be online again when the sun has been at the top of its throne.
In the dark room, there was only the sound of Ken's computer keyboard being pressed quickly. His reliable fingers are so agile in pressing the keyboard without the need to glance at the item for a second to find out the location of the buttons he wants to press. Unknowingly, he had spent over two hours. His eyes were still glaring at the computer screen, completely unaware of the ray of morning sunlight that slipped in from the slit of the curtains covering his window.
[1 message from _junmo99]
In the middle of his game, the notification sound on his computer tinkled softly and displayed a pop-up of incoming messages. Ken paused his game for a moment while observing the name of the account that sent him a private message. As Ken recalls, he never agreed to accept any friendship confirmations from someone with an account named Junmo or anything like that.
Out of curiosity, Ken opened the message pop-up.
[Your name's Imai?]
"Huh?" Ken's eyebrows were raised high. "What the hell?"
Not finished his curiosity, a message from the same account appeared again. It seems that the account owner deliberately wanted to find a moment to chat with Ken.
[Sorry if it's wrong, I just feel like I've heard that name]
Impulsively, Ken moved his fingers and replied to the message with his honest answer. To be fair, he asked the identity of the account owner who named himself Junmo.
No need to wait long, a reply message was received.
[Morita]
[Morita Jun]