When Hayato's shift ended, he left the ramen place right away. He could stay a little bit more to talk with Mr. Satoshi, but he was upset. The man just revealed to him that he would pay him five copper for the day, only. Besides the cut his salary received, he deducted one coin for the hour they spent smoking and drinking together.
According to Mr. Satoshi, Hayato had the free will to refuse to spend time with him lazying around and actually go work on something, maybe wash the bowls or count the chopsticks. Nonetheless, the boy chose to rest, which was fine, as long as he didn't expect to get paid for that.
'It would be great if he said it to me BEFORE I accepted to laze around with him. I think that would be fair, but that old man was dying to reduce more of my salary...'
Hayato could survive with five copper coins. Survive, that is. Probably, he wouldn't have enough money for food if he decided to stay at the same inn he always went to (which was the cheapest in the region, of course). If he bought food instead of going there, no room in that city would ever accept him and he couldn't exchange his staying for services. Since Mr. Satoshi took all his time, he was never available to do anything else.
'And he came with that cheap talk about being a foreigner and changing the district or something like this. Frankly... I don't know why I believed in this silly excuse of his to get a naive teenager willing to work for mere six copper coins a day. There are kids younger than me earning much more in their respective jobs.'
Although Hayato's thoughts had spite and frustration in them, extending for endless paragraphs, his mind was far from being in a good state. In truth, it wasn't functioning even at 50% of its capacity. Just to have this train of thought, he nearly needed a whole hour.
Since he smoked that thing, his head had been on the clouds the entire day. He felt like he was flying around as his body was light and he barely felt his feet touching the ground. A good sensation spread across the exposed skin of his body and face. It was only the wind blowing against him, but it looked like he was walking on a pool of feathers and foam.
That experience was like having two or three separate bodies. Hayato had the feeling that his spirit, mind, and physical body weren't a unit anymore. On the contrary, each had their own thoughts, each moved in their own way, and each felt something different.
'Man, I am overwhelmed. I don't even know what I am doing anymore. Where am I?'
For some reason, the more he walked, the worse he got. His vision was getting cloudy. However, he never stopped moving, his strides were getting wider and wider as if he was in a hurry.
'What... what is happening with me?'
****
When Hayato came to himself again, he was lying on a familiar bed at the inn he used to go to every day and rest.
'My life sure is getting more exciting these days, huh? I thought I would only experience such things in college... But it's kind of frustrating to know that I needed to go to another world to live a decent teenage life, you know?'
Hayato had settled with the idea that he was in another world since the very first day. Now that two weeks had passed, that idea was even more nailed in his head. There was no doubt that this place was not the same one he used to live in before.
Many things went through his mind, like time travel, but with how things were developing throughout the weeks, that didn't seem to be the case.
Hayato slipped to the edge of his bed, sitting. He sighed, trying to calm down his heartbeat. For some reason, now adrenaline pumped in his veins, making him get agitated. He put his hand on his chest and slowly breathed in and out, trying to calm down.
Hayato had been very careful about his heartbeat and anxiety. He didn't want to end up in the same situation he was in on his first day.
'Since then, I did not get teleported even once. That's a good thing, but I also didn't get any answers about it', he thought as he closed his eyes, focusing on his heartbeat.
'A pattern I could notice back then was that my heart throbbed in a peculiar way before I got teleported. Thinking now, it's something similar to what I felt when that sphere appeared in my house.'
Hayato was dying to know whether it was involuntary or if he could control when and where he got teleported.
'If it is the second option... then my existence here becomes something way more interesting. I will be like a superhuman... Thus, maybe my goal of getting stronger and finding Tess and Trevor won't be so complicated.'
Hayato didn't need much more but a little push to run toward his destiny. If he had the slightest advantage, the smallest prospect for the future, he would sink his teeth and claws into it and never let go.
His ordinary days at the ramen place had discouraged him. He started to get used to the routine, to the monotony. He needed something to instigate him to cross the threshold that separated him and his current mediocre life, from one of power and vengeance.
He didn't know whether it was the effect of the drugs or the alcohol, but he had woken up determined to cross this line.
'Ok... Time to find it out', he got up from his bed and walked toward the closest window, opening it. He didn't have a good sight of the city through that window as a bigger building covered everything.
He closed his eyes as he felt a light breeze reach his face. He was feeling hot and suffocated due to the alcohol and drugs he used at Mr. Satoshi's place. He wanted to relax a little and prepare.
'What I will focus is on my heartbeat. This was the game-changer piece in this calculation. If I focus on it, I think I will be able to activate this power again.'
He walked to the window beside his bed, opening it completely to let the breeze refresh his body. Then, he concentrated... He made his best not to have any unnecessary thoughts. Hayato was a very focused person, after all. When he wanted to, he left all his ramblings and worries aside and concentrated on the present moment without any struggle. That's also the reason why he was a good learner.
But nothing happened.
"Should I recite a magic spell or something like this? Maybe get angry? Anything like that?"
Hayato even tried these things, but nothing really worked. He was not expecting them to work, though, so it was not a problem.
'Well, I won't even get started with the rest of the list. It's way too geek and nerdy for this story', he sighed.
Then, his eyes moved downwards at the street. Just now he realized the height. Not only that, he remembered the second time he got teleported.
'It was when I fell... The first time was when I was about to get run over by that strange vehicle. Only in dangerous situations, huh? Or, maybe, there is something in my reactions to these strange situations that triggered this ability. I felt in danger when Mr. Satoshi fought against one of the customers. I felt like I could get hit any time, but since I am used to getting hit, I didn't overreact as much as in these two situations. After all, I could have died in any of them.
'So, it has everything to do with overreacting, with feeling truly in danger, maybe about to die...'
Hayato stepped on the window's sill, then put half of his body to the outside as he stood on top of it. He looked down once again, feeling a chill running down his spine as he did so.
'I am definitely drunk and high, to think about doing something like this... But, still, not enough to actually jump. I will need more sake and... herbs to make me do something so cra-'
A strong knock on the door of his room sounded, startling Hayato. The fright made him slip off of the sill. His reaction was not quick enough for him to grab onto the window to prevent his fall.
'I just hope my theory was right', he thought as he saw life flashing before his eyes...
Thankfully for him, the so-awaited heartthrob came, sending waves of electricity across his body. Before a smile could form on Hayato's face, he got teleported. His vision got filled with blue light for a few seconds.
When he came to himself, he was lying on the ground in the middle of the street. Some people looked at him in shock.
He opened his mouth to laugh, but what came was a mouthful of puke. He rolled to the side to throw up.
'Ok... Every time I do this, I get incredibly nauseated. But, still, the fact that it isn't a random thing is amazing!'
Hayato hurried to the sidewalk, trying to not look people directly in the eyes.
'Now, I just need to find out whether I can control the location or not, but this step seems way simpler than the first.'