Pushing the door wider, Tenji came into view behind his mother.
His hand on the door jamb, he glared at Rumi, silent but his eyes speaking at length.
Looking behind her, Izumi narrowed her eyes at her son. With a smack to his head, she pulled on his ear.
"How many times have I told you not to give me shocking revelations at our doorstep?!" She chastised Tenji, clicking her tongue.
Enduring the brief humiliation, Tenji made a pouty face and glared once more at Rumi before she could even think of laughing at his situation.
"I am as surprised as you, mother," Tenji replied, rubbing his ear.
Izumi scoffed and immediately switched her tone as she faced Rumi. "Poor child, did Tenji do something wrong?"
"Mother is that how you think of m–"
"Shut up, Tenji." She dismissed him with a wave of her hand, holding onto Rumi's hands, and shone a bright smile.
For a moment, Rumi felt a warmth elevated in her guts, her cheeks flushed red and she gave a warm smile, not bothering to refute her claims.
"What is your name?" Izumi asked with glittering eyes of curiosity.
At first, Rumi was reluctant in responding, not while Tenji had his eyes latched heavily on her like a hungry lion.
"Rumi, my name is Rumi." She repeated for better emphasis.
"You could call me Mrs. Hisato. It's a pleasure seeing yet another beautiful lady come to this lonely home."
'Another beautiful lady?' Rumi thought it through, nearly coming to the right conclusion that it could be none other than her headmistress.
Hiding her displeasure on the discovery, she forced a smile and readily tried to establish some sort of familiarity.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am!"
Tenji's mood darkened at the growing bond before his very eyes.
"Tell me, you came to see my useless so–"
Izumi let out a gasp at the swift breakage of their discussion with Tenji pulling Rumi by the wrist to his side.
Trying his best to hide his disdain for his mother's method of referring to him, had been the last straw. "If you think of me that way, it's about time I leave and I can forget my goddamn promise to this family!"
Izumi's eyes doubled at the threat and immediately turned docile in her attitude. Caught in a dilemma to settle the dispute or risk allowing a near stranger to catch wind of their discussion made her abort her plans on apologizing.
Instead, she went with a different approach, "my services are needed, we would discuss this over dinner when I'm back."
With that she walked towards the road and with a snap of her fingers, a Portuid warped into view.
The backdoor flung open, placing her red open-toe pumps inside before she sat in.
"Stay positive." She called out cheerfully, waving at them before the door automatically closed.
'I can only safely do that when you're off on one of your numerous trips.' Tenji sneered and watched the vehicle teleport out of sight.
Rumi stood, watching in awe at the lives of the rich and influential. "That mimics my ability."
Tenji pulled her by the arm and slammed the door in their faces.
Relishing the moment, Rumi still had a smile on her face, proud of her natural means.
"Rumi, look at me," Tenji whispered, careful not to draw attention to Aki.
Doing as told, she raised her head and forced a smile, "you called on my attention, I'm happy."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tenji forced a smile and gestured to the sofas.
A faint blue outlined the anthuriom, getting his attention immediately.
"Look away from that plant." Tenji chastised, unsure of what went through her mind while staring at it.
Tearing her gaze away from it, she forced a grin, speaking before he could ask any question.
"When were you going to tell me the truth?" Rumi queried, folding her arms and for the first time casting a death glare on him.
Tenji let out a disappointed sigh, he had dreaded the moment, but also knew it would be at some point before she came to that conclusion.
"When you were ready to face your inner demons." Tenji shrugged and threw his legs onto a stool.
Rumi's fists were clenched beside her and her head hung low. Although not visibly shaking, she could feel herself quake with anger from within.
"Are you telling me I killed a majority of my tribe?!" Rumi choked on her words, stifling a cry that she had wanted to let out.
A trail of tears trickled down her cheeks whilst biting down on her quivering bottom lip. "Am I a monster?"
"Not as much as I was," Tenji muttered to himself and looked downcast at her words.
If she could think she was a monster just because she had killed some, he couldn't bear to think of what he could reference himself as after what he had done in his past and what is still threatening to break loose.
Ding dong!
Aki popped up almost instantly at the sound, peeking from the corridor.
"Why am I not surprised?" Tenji deadpanned, shaking his head in disappointment.
Aki waved at the two and rushed towards the door.
With the little distraction he had gotten for Aki, he turned his attention back on Rumi, now guilt-ridden, his attitude towards his student softened.
"All you have to do is accept who you truly are, only then can you overcome what hinders improvement and get stronger. That, I had gotten a clearer picture when you touched the Artiquem." Tenji patted her head with a bright smile.
"Did I interrupt something?" A voice called ahead.
Rumi froze as she instantly recognized the voice that had called on Tenji.
"Someone got busted," Aki said in a singsong voice, closing the door behind her.
Switching glances between the three, Aki had her back against the wall and swiftly made use of the corners of the wall as a means of escape and back to the corridor from which she came.
'I'd like to see how well you escape this one.' She snickered in mischief before scurrying off.
Dropping his hand to his side, Tenji cursed at his sheer misfortune and the occasional misunderstandings that surrounded him.
*****
A/N
Thank you [Donutsaurio] & [ZeroLucifer3248] for your constant votes, I take note of your presence.
[ZeroLucifer3248], thank you once again for the GT spent on my book.
¶ Who do you think came crashing in on their 'moment'?
∆ New goal
100 Powerstones or 500 summoning pens or 5 gifts= 1 bonus chapter.
I would really appreciate your comments and support of this novel with your power stones on Webnovel. Your active comments would motivate me to write more chapters.
Discord server link which has the character reference of all main descriptions of my characters ┐
https://discord.gg/NhMzNqgzwn