"Big brother Kyoji!" A little girl's voice rang out.
Kyoji turned to see a cute, chubby six-year-old girl running towards him. She had turquoise hair that fell to her shoulders and big blue eyes that made her look even cuter.
The girl, with her arms wide open, ran as fast as her little legs could carry her.
Kyoji sighed and bent down, ready to catch her. As she reached him, he scooped her up and playfully tossed her into the air.
He tried to be gentle, but he was stronger than he realized. The little girl flew about fifteen feet high!
Luckily, Kyoji caught her as she came back down. She looked a little shaken, though. For a second, it seemed like she might cry, but Kyoji quickly pulled out one of the boxes of chocolates that Butler James had given him earlier.
The girl's eyes lit up as soon as she saw the chocolates.
"See, Jasper? I told you big brother Kyoji would bring us something!" she said, wrapping her arms around Kyoji's neck and turning to a boy who had just appeared. He looked just like her, only with shorter hair.
It was easy to tell they were twins.
"Courtney, get down from there. Can't you see big brother Kyoji just got back from a long trip and needs to rest?" said Jasper. He sounded much older than six.
Butler James' influence, Kyoji thought.
Jasper spent a lot of time with him. Kyoji wasn't sure what Butler James was telling him, but Jasper had this idea that he needed to be a "real" or "mature" man.
Courtney pouted at her brother's words, stuck out her tongue, and clung tighter to Kyoji.
Kyoji didn't mind. He was strong and barely felt her weight.
"Here," he said, offering the second box of chocolates to Jasper.
The boy frowned and shook his head.
"Grown men don't eat chocolate. That's for kids," he said, looking at the box with disdain.
"Jasper, you're six. You're a boy, not a man," Kyoji said, trying to stay calm.
"Don't call me a boy! I'm a man!" Jasper yelled, storming back inside.
Kyoji sighed. This wasn't the first time they'd had this argument. He looked at Butler James, who grinned mischievously before following the boy.
Kyoji sighed again and followed them inside, still carrying Courtney.
Both Courtney and Jasper were orphans. Kyoji had found them abandoned in the Third District when they were only a year old and had taken them in. They had been living with him for five years now and saw him as their older brother, while Butler James was like a father to them.
They weren't the only orphans Kyoji had helped. There was Ethan, his little brother, and their grandfather. And there were many more.
With dangerous beasts and accidents happening in the mines, the Third District always had a lot of orphans. Sometimes, the orphanage was so full that there was no room, leaving children on the streets to starve or worse. That's how Kyoji had found Courtney and Jasper.
Kyoji spent millions of his money on the orphanage and helping the poor every year. He couldn't even keep track of how many people he had helped.
Kyoji couldn't explain why he felt the need to spend so much on strangers. It wasn't because he was particularly kind-hearted. He suspected it had something to do with his difficult childhood, with having been in similar situations himself. Whatever the reason, he had no plans to stop helping those in need.
He hadn't planned on Courtney and Jasper staying with him this long either. He had found them, malnourished and abandoned, on one of his trips to the Third District. The orphanage was full at the time, so Kyoji took them home, intending to bring them back once renovations were complete.
But one delay after another kept pushing back their return. As time passed, Kyoji found himself growing comfortable with the twins around. The mansion was big enough that they all had their own space. So, that's how Courtney and Jasper ended up living with him.
Back inside the mansion, Kyoji spent a few minutes with an energetic Courtney, who peppered him with questions about where he had been for the past seven days. He told her it was just a trip. He wasn't about to tell her about fighting a terrifying monster, getting injured, and losing all his limbs. That was too much for a six-year-old to process.
After that, Kyoji went to his room.
His room was spacious and luxurious, with a king-sized bed in the centre. He changed out of his suit and into comfortable clothes, then lay down on the bed. He switched off the light and drew the curtains, immersing the room in darkness – just the way he liked it.
Finally, alone, Kyoji could organize his thoughts and make plans for the coming days.
His priority was getting new equipment and skills now that he was a chosen. He'd have to find gear suitable for combat and skills that suited his fighting style.
Second, he had to decide what to do with the body of the frog-like mutant he now possessed. He planned to use its hide to craft armour and weapons.
Third, he needed to study his talent more. He had to figure out what [Time] could actually do. He already had a list of experiments to test its limits.
Kyoji sighed. He had a lot on his plate. He decided to postpone the experiments with mutant blood for now. It was too risky. He had no safe way to obtain mutant blood without drawing unwanted attention. In fact, the only way to get it was to hunt mutants himself.
He would have to put that research on hold for three months, until he could get his hunter's license and venture outside the shelter to hunt on his own.
With his three main tasks in mind, Kyoji started prioritizing. He could entrust Butler James with finding new equipment and skills. The old man was quite resourceful.
As for crafting armour from the mutant's hide, Kyoji knew exactly where to take it for the highest quality work. That wouldn't be a problem.
Which left figuring out his talent. This, he suspected, would be the most difficult task.
He had a plan, but he wasn't confident it would work. [Time] was such a vague power. It could mean anything.
But he had to try. He had to see what his new reality held.