Morita. During these 17 years, Ken feels that he has never had any relationship with someone who has the surname Morita. All that is remembered is Mori, his friend during junior high school; Morii, his classmate during the first grade of high school and has now moved to another city; or Morisuke-kun, his friend in elementary school.
It was only recently that he knew someone by the name of Morita. First, an eccentric strange man who turned out to be an old friend of his mother. Second, a stranger who suddenly sent him a message from an online game under the account name Junmo.
The first Morita he knew had the impression of a mysterious adult man, but on the other hand Ken could not ignore the bunch of informations he had.
This second Morita ... how should Ken call it? Ken has never had such a quick coincidence. That is to say, just a few hours ago Morita Abe mentioned his son, then someone claiming to be Morita Jun approached Ken. This coincidence is too strange according to Ken. He even doubted that this Morita Jun was the son of Morita Abe, or simply had a family relationship with that man.
Curious, Ken tried to dig up a little information about this second Morita.
[Someone like Morita Abe?]
That person replied [You know my old man?]
The frown on Ken's forehead deepened. He was no longer interested in continuing his game. What Ken needs right now is to ask Morita Jun's figure further.
[I'm not stalking you! I've only ever heard your name and happened to see yours in the game I was playing right now]
[I didn't even expect that my guess was correct and that you knew my old man]
Ken moved all his fingers away from the keyboard. He leaned his back on the backrest of his chair. Ken tried to think of the possibility that this person was actually Morita Abe's son. Even if that's the case, it means that person heard Ken's name from his father and that sounds pretty reasonable.
Ken tried to confirm his presumptions by asking one more question.
[I'm only 17, this year]
[Maybe what my old man meant was my big bro]
That's it!
Ken forgot that Morita Abes previously mentioned that his son who is said to be part of one of the Chosen Elementors is his second child, not the youngest. That means, Morita Jun is the third child while this Chosen Elementor is his older brother, the second child, whose name is still unknown.
After being able to conclude a little, Ken only realized that his age with Morita Jun is both 17 years old, which means that tomorrow, he has a chance to be in the same place as him even though the possibility of meeting him is very small. Ken himself didn't even know about Morita Jun other than his name.
[Dunno, my big bro doesn't like to deal with people other than his family or his close friends lately]
[Just hope you can see him tomorrow]
Actually, Ken still wanted to ask some minor questions that could lead him to something. Unfortunately, after sending the two messages, the green circle next to Morita Jun's account name turned into a red circle. He's offline. Ken sighed deeply as he backed up his chair until it almost hit the side of his bed.
"Tomorrow, huh?" Ken muttered as he stared at the ceiling of his room. "It feels fast."
Ken stood up from his chair and slowly opened the curtains covering his bedroom window. The sky was still not completly bright, but the rays of the morning sun was already visible from a distance and shone its shine. Snow fell more than yesterday. A cold gust of wind instantly enveloped every inch of Ken's skin as he opened the window. Ken sighed, making the warm steam come out of his mouth.
"It's cool."
***
That day, Ken managed to realize his vacation plans. Instead of being lazy to go out, Ken just doesn't know where to spend his vacation if he leaves his house. He wasn't even sure that his three best friends didn't have any plans today so they could be invited outside. Fortunately, the rest of Imai's family members that day were also like-minded with him. In fact, his parents didn't really mind Suzume who just came out of her room when it was already nine o'clock in the morning. Ken also didn't hear a single tirade from his mother that day when she caught her son constantly in his room and focused on the computer.
"Ken."
The owner of the name just glanced, then refocused his gaze towards the computer screen while his fingers continued to move wildly on keyboard. Suzume who had previously only inserted her head from the small gap of the open door, opened the door wider and took a step inside. She looked around Ken's room which was fairly neat enough for the size of the male's room.
Suzume stepped closer to Ken's desk. Her eyes were not fixed on the computer screen, which was showing a battle scene with a group of zombies. She was more interested in a small piece of paper that was next to a pile of Ken comics. Suzume took the paper, then observed it.
"Where did you get this, Ken?"
"Hm?" Ken glanced at the small paper that was in his sister's hand. "That's Mom's old friend whom I told you the other day. I met him again yesterday, then he gave me his card."
Ken continues his game. Meanwhile, Suzume observes the name engraved on the business card with narrowed eyes. Suddenly, she glared and put the card back somewhat rudely where she had taken it. Ken who is still focused on his game suddenly surprised when Suzume hits his desk. He paused his game for a moment to see the annoyed expression that was clearly displayed on his older sister's face.
"Suzume?" Ken called her but Suzume didn't hear him, let alone respond to him. "Sis?!"
She finally came to her senses from the turmoil of anger that suddenly rose. She took a deep breath, exhaled it slowly, then shook her head slowly. On her face still implied by anger. She said, "Don't let yourself meet his son! Just don't!"
After saying that, Suzume walked out of Ken's room and walked into her room which was right beside Ken's room while slamming the door. Ken was shocked for the second time by his sister's rough hands. Ken thought for a while, trying to process the reason why Suzume seemed to hate Morita Abe's son so much.
Ken glanced at the business card lying on the table, then picked it up. Under the name of the card owner, there is an address that Ken guessed was his office. Below it there are two phone numbers. The first number looks shorter than the second. Ken grabbed his smartphone, typed the second number on his phone, and made a call.
The call was not answered immediately. Ken tried to make a second call, and fortunately this time was picked up. The voice of the man on the other line seemed to chuckle in amusement while Ken held back his annoyance. Without making a small talk, Ken voiced his intentions and asked his interlocutor for approval. The man still sounded laughing, then he agreed to it and proposed the same place they had stopped by yesterday. Ken nodded, looked at the wall clock, then proposed a meeting time. After many times determining the right time, Ken immediately disconnected the call.
Ken saves his game data, then turns off his computer. He grabbed and put on the jacket lying on the bed, then put his smartphone in his pocket. His parents were no longer visible in the living room. Maybe they went out, Ken thought because the television was off and there was no sign of life in the kitchen. Before actually going outside, Ken yelled at Suzume who immediately replied from the end of the second floor stairs with a scream as well.
It was already noon, but thanks to winter, the sunshine did not feel as stinging as it was in summer. Ken covered his head with his jacket hood so that the snow stuck to the tall trees would not drip to his hair.
The people who passing by seemed to be stepping cautiously because of snow on the street. Children look excited to play snowball with their thick jackets that made them look as round as the snow piles they made. At that moment, Ken just realized that he was only wearing a jacket with knee-length shorts. Several people glanced at him as they sank themselves into each other's warm clothes. But what Ken felt, he didn't really feel too cold, so he ignored their glance.
Luckily, Ken is the kind of person who is adept at remembering location and direction so he can still remember the location of the sweet food stall where he talked to Morita Abe yesterday. The shop is still the same as yesterday, except that it looks more dazzling due to the large white promotional banners posted in every corner of the shop. Ken walks into the shop that was immediately greeted by a tall, potbellied man. The owner drove Ken to one of the tables in the corner of the room and said that his friend, Morita Abe, would be a little late.
A cup of warm tea was served on Ken's table. He stared at the thin puffs of steam that airs around his drink, then a pair of eyes caught the figure of a tall man entering the shop and approaching his table. The man immediately mentions his order to the owner and apologizes to Ken for the delay which is Ken doesn't actually mind much.
"Sorry, Mori-san, for calling you on such a busy day," Ken said as he noticed the man's appearance seemed more formal than in previous days. In fact, the nametag that dangled all the way to his chest was still wrapped around his neck.
Morita Abe laughed. "It's a bit strange to see you feel guilty like this after yesterday you kept suspecting me. But that's okay. Take it easy, Boy! Otherwise, I can not just sneak out to simply rest my body."
Ken instantly regretted and wanted to withdraw his concern thoughtful words.
"And then? What do you want to ask? Is it about my son I told you yesterday? Oh, or lest you have already met him?"
"That's not it. I haven't met him either," Ken replied. "I just want to know what the mood will be like when Ketteibi tomorrow."
Morita Abe was silent, seemingly not expecting Ken to ask that.
"It is the same as in previous years. You came at your sister's inauguration, right?"
Ken shook his head. "I mean, the atmosphere of Ketteibi is in the perspective of the participants, not the audience."
Morita Abe muttered. "Are you nervous? Or are you feeling scared because of the topic we talked about yesterday? That Chosen Elementor issue?"
Ken shook his head again, but didn't voice the reason because he didn't find it. The man was just silent while staring in any direction. All of a sudden, the confusion was swarming and piling up in Ken's mind. His mind was getting more and more raged.
"During dealing with many faces of the new members of the Ketteibi procession, I found three faces. First, the excited one. Second, ordinary one. And lastly, the nervous one. So, if you're feeling nervous, it is not something unusual, Ken-kun. No need to pretend to be excited if you actually feel nervous, or vice versa. Just be yourself. That is the key during the Ketteibi process so that your energy output can be appears optimal."
"So why if the energy output isn't optimal?"
Morita Abe smile faintly, then took a sip of his tea. "You will have a hard time controlling your elements power when you want to use or do not want to use it."
"What does it have to do with having to be yourself?"
In Morita Abe's point of view, Imai Ken is nothing more than a teenager who doesn't know much and wants to dig deeper into things he doesn't know. Therefore, he did not bothered by the barrage questions that Ken kept pointing at him. It's just that he didn't expect that Ken had a high enough level of stubbornness even though it could only be seen from the expression on his face. With all his might, Morita Abe refrained from laughing.
"The flow of energy that exists in a person is formed from their personalities," Morita Abe replied, paying close attention to the change in expression on Ken's face. He immediately turned his gaze in the other way when Ken's curious face nearly shattered his defenses. "Think of it this way. Ken-kun does not like sweets. If Ken-kun lies and pretends to enjoy what you do not like, your body still can not lie and as a result you will immediately vomit."
Although the assumption that he raised seemed not quite right, but more or less Ken could understand it. Ken's eyes looked dim. He turned his gaze out the window, staring at the pure white snow scattered around on the street corners. At once, Ken wanted to go outside and drown himself in that snowdrift instead of hearing the explanation of the man in front of him.
"It is the same with elemental energies." The man in front of Ken opened the window, letting the cold wind hit both of them in the face. He pointed his forefinger towards the snowy tree branch five meters away from the window. The tree branch stretched closer, then circled around Morita Abe's five fingers which were still in an extended position out of the window. Ken stared at him timidly as the branches moved like scaly snakes with tiny leaves and clumps of snow. "If Ken-kun lies to yourself, your body will rebel. The flow of energy you want to expend will not respond well. As a result, there are only two possibilities."
"What's it?"
Morita Abe held up one finger. "Exploded. You can not hold it back so that the energy will always come out even if you do not want to take it out, or even use it."
Ken swallowed his saliva, waiting for Morita Abe to continue his sentence along with the second wave of his finger.
"This second one is a very rare case, but I'm not saying this is impossible to happen," he said, making Ken even more curious, and a bit nervous. "Disappeared. That energy flow will be cut off. You can not expend any energy anymore as if they just disappeared or never ever exist."