"3:06 pm?! !" He exclaimed.
Luca knew that any time he did the superhuman ability like running fast or hearing something from a mile, he knew it didn't always end well, Luca had a feeling that something would soon happen, that he would see someone who was on the verge of dying, like when he ran to save that girl the other day then his legs gave way, or when he had climbed up a five-story building like an agama lizard and almost fell when he tried to climb down back, thanks to the suicider for saving him, what an irony.
The school's final bell had barely ceased its echo when Luca burst from the confines of his classroom, his feet barely grazing the linoleum as he bolted. Five minutes—a blur of hallways and startled faces—and he was a streak of determination, the need to get his sideburns shaved, pushing through the school gates, in short, he used five minutes to walk to the school gate.
Luca could only hope he reached home in peace, but the strangest thing was that this was different, when he jogged, the scene felt almost normal, people weren't slowing down like snails, and the scene wasn't blurred like he was in a fast-moving car either.
Nine hundred meters, the junction of Silver Claw Boulevard and Crescent Moon Lane, a stretch that would have bound him in twelve minutes of walking, nine minutes if he jogged, seven minutes in a full-throttle run. Yet here he was, breathless, his pulse a wild rhythm, having shattered the constraints of the ordinary. He used a minute, nine times faster? It defied reason, it defied reality.
A slap to his cheek, a sharp sting.
"This isn't a dream, right?"
He was half expecting to wake up, to find himself in the familiar tangle of bed sheets. But no, the solid feel of his skin, the realness of the bustling junction at the end of Silverclaw's lane—it was all irrefutably there, how can this be, it's a nightmare for an ordinary highschooler like Luca, except was it?—
"I'm not dreaming, I just ran faster than a champion athlete, it's weird, right? Maybe I should start thinking of it as a normal thing, after all this isn't the first time"
Yeah, normal thing for me, right?" He smiled meekly.
Luca, the boy who had never shown a flicker of interest in the sprinter's track, who had always sidestepped the lure of sports clubs, now stood at the epicenter of an impossible phenomenon.
Luca looked around.
Yes! There isn't anybody dying or any dangerous stuff happening,
he heaved a sigh of relief.
The most thing Luca didn't understand about his body was the fact that he always felt the urge to save someone on the verge of dying, that was when his superhuman power would kick in.
Now that everyone seemed to face their business, everywhere was peaceful, his mind was at rest.
Let's test the speed again,
Luca activated the timer on his smartwatch and faced the direction of Silver Claw Boulevard, he looked around making sure no one paid heed to him, and then in one swift motion, he ran back to the school gate and back to the junction.
He checked his smartwatch, the smartwatch used an atomic clock as a phone with full signal, it appeared Luca had just run 1.8 km in six seconds.
Luca did the maths.
"300 meters/seconds? Wow!!, Almost the speed of sound, not bad"
He muttered, grinning like a mischievous brat.
But that system stuff, it didn't peer out since that day.
He placed his hand on his chin.
"I think it said it was initia....ting or integra...ting right? Luca moved his head left and right as if he couldn't remember clearly.
"Anyway let's get to business" he concluded, his feet carrying him towards the ATM with a sense of purpose.
As he wanted to climb the raised platform of the canopy area where that ATM was, Luca flinched immediately, and he glanced back for a while.
"What is this unease, I felt an eye looking at me from the shadow somewhere...
Luca's mind raced for a moment but no one was watching him, he looked around the ATM platform, at the back of the canopy area, but no one was there.
He brushed off the thought, bringing out his bank card from his pocket, and inserting it into the ATM card slot. The screen came alive under his touch, glowing options beckoning as he navigated the digital maze with practiced ease.
The ATM hummed and whirred, a mechanical symphony heralding the arrival of currency. It was a sound that spoke of transactions and secrets, of the invisible threads that tie the world of finance together.
The crisp notes emerged, a green tide flowing from the mechanical vault. Luca's fingers danced over them, counting each bill with a flick of his wrist, while the lowest unit of currency in The Epic States of Pelagris was 1 EP bucks, the lowest unit the ATM could dispense was 50 EP bucks, Luca still counted the four notes of 200EP bucks.
"200 EP bucks huh? It should be enough for the time being" he checked his smartwatch, the time was 3:10 pm, and the weather started to change as the sky frowned with clouds.
"Gotta go"
"I will walk normally, don't wanna attract people's attention, that car driver would be probably suspicious"
Luca had passed by a car, he had the feeling that the driver saw him, he couldn't catch a glimpse of the driver's face but he knew the driver was looking out of the window the time he ran passed the car.
"I guess I'm too fast" The thought of a person driving and seeing him run past their moving car made his mind unsettling.
Perhaps I was too fast that they only saw a blur.
Brushing off the thought, he made his way to a nearby store on the opposite side of the lane.
Reaching the storefront, above the door, the sign proclaimed 'Welcome to Harry's Convenience Store' in cheerful letters, a stark contrast to the gathering storm clouds above.