Chapter Text
“I am sorry. I didn’t want to…” Kentaro let out between his sobs, but there was no time for apologies and Nikaido grabbed his little brother by the wrist and pulled him away before the people who had seen him could actually call the guards.
Years they had lived in the eastern city, as peaceful as it was possible in this post war time, but then Kentaro suddenly became one of them. One of those people which weren’t allowed in any city, but they couldn’t easily leave either. The country was destroyed, just a few major cities still somehow capable of keeping the order. Huge fences, which had at first been a defense over years of wars with other countries, were now surrounding them to keep the so called Phenomenists away from the cities. Helping a Phenomenist was forbidden and punished with death, but how could he leave his own brother behind?
For a few weeks they had managed, but Kentaro’s abilities were becoming too obvious, his emotions too hard to control and the heavy rain had made things even worse. Water was what he could control, one of the four existing abilities a Phenomenist could have and it wasn’t even clear yet if he also possessed others as well.
A routine control had escalated when soldiers had found Kentaro suspicious without even doing anything and they had threatened to bring him to the tower, the center of the city. Kentaro wanted to stop them, but without using his abilities he would have been no match and because he couldn’t control his abilities yet and his brother wasn’t around to help him, he was easily exposed when he tried to attack one of the soldiers, but it was a wave of water coming from one of the paddles of the ground hitting the person instead of a punch.
Nikaido had luckily reached them soon enough to prevent the worst from happening and he used the chaos to flee with Kentaro, but now they were in big trouble. The whole city was equipped with cameras, the next armed guard definitely not far away and while they wouldn’t see Nikaido as their enemy just like this, it would be different the moment all the soldiers around them got to know about his little brother being a Phenomenist.
“I’m sorry…” Kentaro sobbed as he got dragged along on which Nikaido’s grip on his wrist tightened.
“Stop apologizing. It’s not like you did something bad, they are the assholes,” Nikaido hissed and tried to somehow come up with an escape plan. The sounds of trucks passing by at the main road made him stop and pull Kentaro behind him. They were on their way out of the city to get supplies.
“That’s our chance,” Nikaido whispered and turned to his brother. “Whatever happens I want you to run in case they get me.”
“What? I will never leave you behind!”
“If they get you, they will kill you!”
“They will also kill you for helping me,” Kentaro said, shaking his head nonstop. When his tears started falling again the rain that had fallen the entire day already seemed to become even heavier.
Nikaido hurried to take his brother’s face into his hands and wipe away the tears, trying to sooth him. “Calm down, okay? It’s not like I want us to get separated, you know that! I don’t care if you have become a Phenomenist or not. But now we can’t stay anymore. We knew this day could come.”
Kentaro nodded immediately, because they were the last members of their family, the only ones who had survived the war. Kentaro had still been too young to even remember their parents, so Nikaido was his only family and he knew that his brother would never turn his back on him.
The sound of the gate opening made Nikaido turn back to the corner. “We have no time, let’s go. We can’t think about failing now!”
Kentaro tried to get a grip and concentrate as well as they dashed out of their hiding place, sneaking on the back of one of the empty supply trucks under the cover of the heavy rain.
“Get down,” Nikaido whispered and they hid behind the empty boxes while the trucks were driving out of the city.
On the faint sound of the gate closing again Nikaido finally relaxed and sat against the side of the truck.
“I guess we can relax for a bit now and as soon as we’re far enough, let's get off.”
When there was no reply Nikaido looked over to his brother who was lying on his back, but when he took a closer look, he realized that Kentaro had once more fainted. Using their abilities usually made Phenomenists feel exhausted and there were even rumors about them being at risk of heavier damage when they used their abilities too much so Nikaido wanted to make sure to become strong as well even without any abilities so that Kentaro didn’t have any reason to use them to a dangerous degree.
***
A nuclear war had turned the world upside down several years ago. New weapons, new chemicals, new miscalculations. Whole countries had been destroyed, population erased and then the humans themselves had started changing. A mutation as a lot of people called it at first, but it wasn’t that easy. Men were changing, women weren’t, the reason for that was the y chromosome which was attacked by a virus which circled over the whole planet after hundreds of different chemical and nuclear weapons had infested land and water.
The war which had started through the humans' never-ending greed and search for ultimate power had now turned into a war against their own. Those who had shown the mutations were taken to research centers at first, but soon the situation escalated as a lot of them couldn’t control their abilities at first.
The plan on research had been changed to a plan of extinction and at first it seemed like the mutation carrier, called Phenomenists by the researchers, were about to get extinct, but then suddenly new people became Phenomenists after months even years after the war and they realized that the mutation could still take place years later. Mainly children or young adults would suddenly turn or more like awaken their abilities, mostly after being triggered by a dangerous situation. Major cities started to force their citizens into regular DNA tests with which they could uncover the Phenomenists.
A lot of them had gone into hiding, afraid of getting found and killed, others had enough and attacked the people trying to kill them.
In the end humanity had been forced into two groups, the humans without mutations, called Infirm, hiding in their huge cities, surrounded by high fences and armed guards and the Phenomenists, hiding outside the danger zones, trying to form a new life on their own.
While everything had calmed down at first as the cities weren’t directly attacked by any Phenomenists, there was a new uproar inside their own fences now. Even years after separation between both groups, there were still people suddenly changing into Phenomenists. The cities’ guards would immediately execute those who showed any kind of mutation. With the fear of getting killed in their own city there were also those who decided to leave and live alongside the Phenomenists, but it was only a matter of time until one of both groups would start another uproar, but with the number of Phenomenists rising, another civil war could have a destructive outcome.
***
“Don’t walk that fast, we are not getting followed,” Nikaido said as Kentaro kept moving straight ahead through the forest even though they had no clue where they had ended up. At some point Nikaido had decided that it was better to get off the truck, but as expected there was nothing around.
“I just, I don’t know, it feels like this is a good direction.”
“A good direction for what?” Nikaido asked confused, on which Kentaro stopped and shrugged his shoulders.
“No clue actually, just a gut feeling?”
A pretty strong gut feeling that was for sure, because it was rare to see Kentaro that determined, especially after what had happened just hours before.
This behavior was definitely one Nikaido preferred though, so he just followed his little brother through the woods until he could hear a sound.
“A river?”
“Take a look at this,” Kentaro shouted, already out of Nikaido’s sight and the older one hurried towards him. A waterfall and fast flowing river were what awaited him at a small cliff where Kentaro was standing.
“Wow, that’s amazing,” Nikaido let out.
“Let’s take a rest here for now?” Kentaro asked and Nikaido nodded immediately. They had had no time to bring anything with them, so a place where they had fresh water which was not in any way chemically loaded like the city water, was definitely something they needed.
“We can go down here,” Kentaro said as he found a place where they could easily get down to the riverside.
Nikaido looked after his little brother with a thoughtful expression, but Kentaro was already running towards the water. This wasn’t just a gut feeling, that was for sure. Being able to sense the water from such a distance was definitely connected to his abilities and Nikaido could just hope that everything connected to them would stay this positive.
“Let’s try and make a fire, it's getting dark,” Nikaido said as he picked a bit of wood up on the way. At least it wasn’t raining out here in the woods, but it was definitely going to be quite cold at night.
“Would be awesome if we could somehow get some fish to eat,” Kentaro said as he stared at the river, seeing some trouts swimming by.
“Don’t you dare and step in there, the current is way too strong it will drag you along,” Nikaido warned him as he sat down on a bigger stone at the riverbank and tried to start a fire with what they had gathered. They hadn’t been able to gather any of their belongings on their way out of the city, so they had no provisions or anything else that could help them out here.
Kentaro kept staring at the river for the time being as if the river itself could give him a fish or two instead of him going in and trying to get it.
“At least something that worked out,” Nikaido said relieved as a few sparks finally made the dry wood catch fire. A squeal from his little brother made him look up right away, ready to scold him in case he had actually dared to go into the river. What he saw though was making him blink in confusion.
“Don’t ask me, I have no clue! It jumped into my arms I swear!” Kentaro defended himself as he held a huge trout, still trying to get out of his grip.
“So what, the river gave you the fish?” Nikaido teased him, but then he realized that it wasn’t as weird as it sounded at first. Kentaro’s abilities were connected to water after all. The city forbad it to learn about Phenomenists and their abilities so they didn’t know much, but what they had heard was that the abilities were becoming stronger or weaker depending on the emotional condition of the person and Kentaro was desperate for food, so maybe he had subconsciously moved the water to get the fish.
“Well now that you have it already let’s eat it,” Nikaido said, shrugging his shoulders, trying to play the confusion about all the weird happenings down, because he could already see that Kentaro was also overwhelmed with his own abilites.
As expected, it turned dark pretty soon and unfortunately, they had nothing but the fire to keep themselves warm and Nikaido sat down next to Kentaro.
“You need to sleep a bit, come lie down,” Nikaido said and clapped on his own thighs on which Kentaro shook his head.
“I am not so tired. You should sleep first.”
“I am the older brother, no complaints!”
Luckily that was a tactic that always worked and a bit reluctantly Kentaro finally tried to find a somehow comfortable position and put his head on his brother’s legs.
“Where do we go from here? Do you think they will try and find us?”
Kentaro had turned on the side, but Nikaido could read the worry in his voice and he put his hand on the boy’s hair. “They won’t try to come after us, don’t worry. They left the Phenomenists outside of the cities alone for now and just attacked those who dared to come close to the city. So as long as we don’t try to go back it’s going to be fine.”
If it eventually would be fine, he couldn’t tell of course, but as the older brother he wanted to make sure that Kentaro didn’t have to worry that much. “We might find some abandoned places to get supplies.”
As there was no reply at all, Nikaido leaned a bit to the front, smiling as he realized that Kentaro had already fallen asleep. “Not tired, right…” he whispered with a chuckle.
***
When the morning arrived Nikaido realized that he had fallen asleep at some point after all and what made him wake up even faster was the fact that Kentaro was not lying next to him. When he sat up and took a look around, he found the boy next to the river.
“What are you doing this early in the morning?” Nikaido asked as he walked up to his brother.
“I tried to get us another fish, but it won’t work.”
“Don’t worry about it too much. You don’t even know how you did that or if it really was just a coincidence so let’s keep moving.”
Nikaido was totally understanding his little brother’s bad mood after not being able to control the abilities which he had been given without even wanting them, but maybe time would bring him answers or they were lucky and would meet other Phenomenists who could actually help him.
“So where shall we go?”
“Why do you ask me that?” Kentaro asked in confusion.
“Because your gut feeling brought us here, so maybe it can bring us to another good spot after this?”
It had been meant to be just a bit of teasing, but unfortunately Kentaro’s mood turned even worse. “I can’t even tell how my abilities work so it might be better to not trust me with this.”
Nikaido patted him on the shoulder before he chose a direction randomly to head off to. “Don’t worry there will be a day when you can make good use out of them.”
If Kentaro even wanted that was still unclear, but what else than trying to support him could Nikaido do? If he could he would take the powers away from him, but that was something he of course wasn’t capable of.
A second night had them left in the middle of the forest without food or water, but they kept walking through a thick forest the next day while they had to slow down as their surroundings got more and more steep, leading them into the mountains.
“If we go too high, I fear it will become even colder in the evenings,” Kentaro let out worried and Nikaido nodded.
“Let’s see if we can find somewhere alongside the mountain where it’s easy to walk.”
After a few more minutes in the thick forest, they suddenly reached an area where it got easier to walk and they scanned their surroundings.
“It almost looks like a path,” Kentaro said as two open areas were visible in front of them.
“Now the question is just which way do we go?” Nikaido asked while he had walked up to the area that lead up the mountain, but then he realized that Kentaro wasn’t even listening to him. He had already made a few steps onto the path ahead, looking concentrated into the forest.
“Kentaro?” Nikaido asked, but didn’t get a reply on which he stepped closer and waved his hand in front of the boy’s face. “Hey, everything okay?”
Kentaro flinched on the move as if he had totally forgotten that he wasn’t alone. “Sorry, I just, I don’t know, forget it…”
“You think we should go that way, right?” Nikaido analyzed his behavior and he knew he was right when Kentaro bit his lip.
“I know I said earlier we shouldn’t rely on this weird gut feeling ,but I really think we should go this way,” Kentaro explained, to which Nikaido gave him a smile.
“Then it’s decided, let’s go!”
It didn’t matter if they trusted Kentaro’s feeling or not, they just had two directions to choose from anyways.
The path got even clearer after a while, but the forest continued as before with the difference that they weren’t getting even more up into the mountains, but followed on the side of it.
“Do you hear that?” Nikaido asked and they both stopped, listening to the sound they could hear.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Kentaro said, but kept walking, because what was awaiting them wasn’t dangerous, as long as they didn’t have to pass it, but luck didn’t seem on their side as they found a huge waterfall in front of them after a bit more of walking.
The waterfall was coming from the rocks right over the path and made it impossible to keep going as the water hit the path with full force and would make them fall and looking down the waterfall continued quite a long way.
“So are we turning around?” Nikaido asked a bit disappointed about the sudden dead end.
Kentaro walked a bit closer to the waterfall though, but there was no way around it. “Don’t you think this is strange?”
“Why?” Nikaido asked and stepped next to him.
“The path continued completely clearly until here and suddenly it stops like this? I doubt a lot of people would randomly walk up here and then turn around.”
“Maybe people live nearby and get their water from here?” Nikaido said, trying to find an explanation.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to get the water down where the waterfall ends then instead of walking up here?”
“Also true,” Nikaido said defeated. “Anyways, let’s head back. It’s getting dark soon so we should find somewhere to rest close by so we have water for the night.”
Already looking around if he could spot a good place to try and make another fire, he didn’t realize that Kentaro wasn’t following him until he turned around. Looking back to the waterfall he realized that his brother had disappeared. “Kentaro?”
Not wanting to panic right away he tried to spot him in the forest, maybe he had tried to find a way around, but there was no sign of him on which Nikaido dashed back to the waterfall, panic rising fast now. Had he fallen? But he would have shouted out for him if he had lost his balance or slipped.
“Kentaro, where are you?” Nikaido shouted this time, but again no answer. When he was ready to actually turn and dash down back the path to see if Kentaro had actually really fallen, a movement on his side made him jolt and jump to the sight.
“What the actual fuck?” He said in pure disbelief about a hand being stretched out to him from inside the waterfall. The next moment Kentaro stepped half out of it, looking at his brother as confused as the other way around.
“What are you doing? What- How…?”
Kentaro was standing under the full force of the waterfall, but the water didn’t even touch him. Like an invisible wall it seemed to flow around him. “I have no clue why, but I suddenly had the feeling I could go through it and I tried. So take my hand and come with me, because I have the feeling if I think about this too much it might not work anymore.”
There was so much speaking against trying this, because trying meant they could fail. Who said that Nikaido would be even able to follow Kentaro without getting crushed? He was an Infirm after all.
“Trust me,” Kentaro said and stretched out his hand. Seeing his little brother this confident about his still unexplored abilities made Nikaido finally move and he took his hand and dared his first step under the crushing water and it worked. The shield seemed to protect them both and so Nikaido made sure to walk as close to Kentaro as possible.
It was making Nikaido feel proud of his little brother to see how he tried so hard to make the best use of this abilities, but with the water crushing down right above them he couldn’t concentrate on anything else than the question when they would be through and luckily his question got answered seconds later and they finally arrived back on the path.
“I knew it,” Kentaro said as he looked ahead at the clear path. “This waterfall is something like a barricade for protection.
“You mean whoever uses this path wants Infirms to stay outside.” It wasn’t even sounding that weird, because Infirms had hunted Phenomenists down for years so they were definitely not fond of them.
“Let’s see where it leads to,” Kentaro said and kept walking. They kept walking for quite some time, the path not continuing this clearly after a while, with the forest showing rocky surfaces on one side and thick forest to the other side, but Kentaro kept going as if he knew exactly where he aimed for. Just after quite some time of walking when Nikaido doubted that they were reaching any certain place at all after losing the direct path, Kentaro suddenly stopped.
“What is it?” Nikaido asked and followed the boy’s look through the forest. Then he saw the movement. There was someone hiding behind the trees. “Kentaro, wait!”
But Kentaro dared to make a few steps forward and when he came into a dangerous distance for both sides, they suddenly saw who had been hiding. Two kids dashed out of their hiding place, running off into the opposite direction. A girl and a boy, definitely still younger than ten.
Kentaro and Nikaido exchanged a worried look, but then decided to carefully follow them. They hadn’t intended to scare them, but they didn't know that there were people around.
“Look there is a glade!” Kentaro said as he saw the last sunlight before the dawn breaking through the trees. The place in front of them wasn’t just a small place though. They could see over a huge place without trees and in the middle was a village. All sides were thick forest, but between the village and them was a wide-open area with nothing but grass on it.
“Shall we try and talk to the people here?” Kentaro asked, a bit worried as he saw the two kids running back towards the few first huts on their way and on that way the boy suddenly stopped at a wooden pole and he rang the bell on it before he also vanished between the huts. There were just small buildings out of wood, except for one bigger building in the middle of the village which had obviously been made out of the stones they got from the steep walls in the mountains. But with the evening hours approaching no one was out in the open fields around them.
When they finally dared to move out on the grass to walk down to the village they saw more movement down between the buildings.
The first person coming into their sight walked past the last huts with big steps and Nikaido automatically walked in front of Kentaro, not liking the way they got approached.
“Be careful there is a small stream in front of you,” Kentaro warned him and pulled on his sleeve before he could actually stumble over it. It wasn’t wide nor deep, but it seemed to surround the whole village.
“Thank you,” Nikaido said before he wanted to make a small jump over it, but then shouting down in the village made them both look up.
They were too far away to hear them clearly, but there was a second person running after the man who was approaching them. Before they could decide what to do though a movement of the man made them both freeze.
Without any kind of warning fire was forming in front of him and even worse it was moving towards them. The fire blast was huge and way too fast to even think about running from it.
“Get down!” Nikaido shouted at Kentaro, but when he wanted to drag him down, Kentaro jumped in front of him. Nikaido feared for him to get burned alive, but Kentaro didn’t seem afraid at all. When the fire blast was right in front of them, he lifted his arms and with that he moved the water of the stream into a wall turning the fire into smoke.
Nikaido was out of words through that sudden move, because it seemed like Kentaro was always able to control his abilities at exactly the right moments.
“Stop it! You don’t have to attack them!”
Now the voices were clearer, but that also meant they were close by. Before Nikaido could decide what to do he saw Kentaro stumbling to the back. At the same moment he saw another blast of fire coming through the smoke, but this time the person from before had the fire still right in front of him, jumping over the stream ready to attack. Nikaido sank to his knees, catching Kentaro as the boy fell unconsciously into his arms before he turned towards the person attacking them. To his surprise the man who was around the same age as him, stopped his attack and stepped right in front of them, the fire still visible in front of his hand.
“Who are you?” The man asked in a dangerous tone. He had brown wavy hair, already a bit too long for Nikaido’s liking, but that wasn’t important at the moment. In a physical fight he was sure he could beat the slim figure in front of him, but against a Phenomenist he had no chance.
Before Nikaido could reply the person in front of him yelped as he got hit on the back of his head, losing his fire and rubbing his head with a curse. “What the heck was that for?” He asked as he turned to a boy coming out of the finally resolving smoke.
“That is my question! Taisuke, I told you not to attack them. Can’t you for once not be this suspicious about people?”
It surprised Nikaido to see how the older one pouted on the younger one’s reaction, but a groan from Kentaro made him focus back on his little brother.
“He must be exhausted after using his abilities in such a hurry. Come, I will bring you to our doctor,” the boy said, to which the older one gave him a disbelieving look.
“Taiga, are you out of your mind? We don’t even know them. I won’t let them get into the village like this.”
The younger one rolled his eyes immediately and pointed back at the village. “Didn’t you hear what Hana and Ken said? They came from the waterfall.”
“That doesn’t make them good people!”
“For god’s sake Taisuke, look at them,” Taiga yelled this time, Nikaido tightening his grip around Kentaro a bit more as both their attention was back on them. “They aren’t even wet, so they both made it through with the boy’s ability. You know how much trust is needed to make an Infirm be able to follow through that. And you just saw yourself how he deflected your attack with his abilities.”
“Just because they trust each other, doesn’t mean they are good people.”
“And you are?” Nikaido said, not being able to stay silent anymore.
“Excuse me?” Taisuke shot back annoyed.
“You attacked us out of the blue. We didn’t do anything!”
“You are here, that is already enough!” Taisuke shot back at which Taiga finally had enough and hit the other one against the shoulder.
“Could you finally cut it out!”
“Okay that’s enough both of you,” a third person was suddenly heard. Through all their fighting they hadn’t even realized that someone else had walked up to them. A look down to the village also showed that a lot of people were now curiously looking at them.
“Mitsu, would you please make him stop?” Taiga asked of the short man walking up to them with a calm expression.
“Would you stop behaving like the older brother?” Taisuke shot back, resulting in Taiga getting ready to jump at him, but while they had moved towards each other, they suddenly found themselves a few meters apart from each other. Nikaido gasped on the sudden movement he couldn’t explain. As if lifted by an invisible force they had ended up being thrown out of balance, but then placed back on their feet without harm.
“Good that I am the oldest brother and you two have to listen to me,” Hiromitsu said with a faint smile on which Taisuke rolled his eyes and Taiga pouted.
“Sorry for the rough greeting,” Hiromitsu finally addressed Nikaido this time. “I am sure you both had a tough journey up here. This place is not easy to find, but I guess the boy’s abilities have helped you to not lose your way.”
Nikaido felt a bit relieved about the normal conversation and it also didn’t seem like the other one would suddenly attack them. “If you want, we can take you in for a bit? I bet the boy needs a long rest after using his abilities for the waterfall and defending you against my stupid brother.”
A growl from Taisuke was heard on that comment, but he didn’t try to interfere this time.
“If it’s really okay then we would like to stay for a while, but just if we don’t have to fear any more sudden attacks,” Nikaido said looking at Taisuke who gave him a death glare in return.
“Don’t worry about him. He can be really suspicious about people, but he won’t do you any harm, you have my word.”
Still not completely trusting the situation, Nikaido lifted his brother up in his arms and nodded. “Then I would like to accept your offer and give my brother a good rest.”
“Oh great, more siblings in the village,” Taiga let out in excitement.
“If you want, I can make it easier for you,” Hiromitsu said as he lifted his arm and Nikaido felt how Kentaro got lighter in his arms, but he protectively kept a tight grip on him and shook his head.
“Thank you, but I will carry him myself.”
“As you wish,” Hiromitsu said before he turned and walked down to the village, followed by Taisuke who immediately started a discussion with him.
“Don’t worry, he is really not as bad as he seems at first,” Taiga said as he stepped next to Nikaido. “By the way what’s your name?”
“I am Nikaido and this is my little brother Kentaro.”
“Welcome to our village then Nikaido,” Taiga said with a smile as they started walking down towards the village. “As you already heard through all the scolding, I am Taiga, I am the youngest of us three siblings,” Taiga explained as he pointed at the two men walking in front of them. “Taisuke is the middle brother and Hiromitsu the oldest one. Hiromitsu is also the leader of this village at least at the moment. But this might be too much explanation at once, so let’s get you somewhere to rest for now.”
Nikaido nodded gratefully, because he would definitely get a headache if he explained too much right away. When they arrived between the first huts Nikaido saw people whispering, pointing at them and some even trying to hide from them. There were families, children, young and old people, like a normal village they seemed to live here in the mountains, but Nikaido was already sure that they didn’t trust outsiders. While women couldn't become Phenomenists and seemed to live peacefully with everyone in the village it was definitely a different matter for strangers who were Infirms.
“Don’t take it personally, this village has quite a rough background with outsiders,” Taiga confirmed Nikaido’s worries. “Come over here, this is our doctor's house, he will have a quick look at Kentaro.”
Hiromitsu was waiting in front of the hut, but Taisuke had kept walking, now moving away from them. He turned around to Nikaido with another annoyed look before he entered the stone building in the middle of the village, disappearing out of his view.
“This is Miyata, our doctor,” Taiga introduced the man standing in the open door.
“Oh I see, we have someone who is still quite overwhelmed by his own abilities,” Miyata greeted them with a look at Kentaro’s condition. “Come in.”
Nikaido stepped inside the wooden hut, surprised to find quite some advanced equipment inside. It looked almost the same as the hospitals in the city, just a bit more chaotic as a few things were of course missing and others were improvised.
“We built the village ourselves, but we got what we needed from bigger towns down the mountain as they were all destroyed and abandoned anyways,” Hiromitsu explained.
“Put him here,” Miyata said as he pointed to a simple mattress on a wooden frame, a bit higher than a normal bed. Nikaido carefully put him down and stepped back as Miyata stepped closer.
Steps from another room made Nikaido turn and he spotted the two kids from before peeking inside the room.
“Kids, what did I tell you?” Miyata said scolding on which they vanished with a giggle. “Sorry, they are way too hyper to stay out of my treatment room even though I always tell them they are not allowed in here.”
Nikaido didn’t mind though after all it was thanks to them that they had found the village. “Are they your children?”
“Yes my daughter Hana, she is seven and my son Ken, he is five.”
Nikaido was sure that he would do a typical routine check up on Kentaro, but all he did was put his hand on the boy’s forehead and then silence followed.
A bit confused about the situation, Nikaido looked at Hiromitsu who gave him an understanding look. “Miyata can use power transfer to see with his own abilities if something isn’t okay with your brother.”
“Confusing, right?” Taiga said with a chuckle, because Nikaido’s expression told them that he was not getting at all what was going on. “Don’t worry we can explain everything in more detail if you want?”
“To be honest I would prefer the explanations later, for now I am happy if you can make sure he is fine, however that looks like.”
“You seem to be able to judge people very well,” Hiromitsu said on which Nikaido looked up at him. “It’s not easy to leave the treatment of your brother in a stranger's hands.”
“It’s the first time someone wants to help him after finding out he is a Phenomenist. Usually everyone tries to kill him.”
“Are you from one of the cities?” Taiga said curiously, to which Nikaido nodded.
“We lived in the eastern city since the end of the war, but a while ago Kentaro’s abilities suddenly surfaced and we couldn’t stay when he failed in hiding them.”
“You made a wise decision to run and did a good job in staying alive until now,” Hiromitsu praised him.
“It’s not like I did much, Kentaro was the one who could somehow sense you and find the way,” Nikaido said on which Hiromitsu shook his head.
“He needs you more than you might think,” the man said with a smile before Miyata finally walked up to them.
“He is completely fine, just pretty exhausted. A night of sleep will help him a lot.”
“Perfect, then let’s find you an empty hut,” Hiromitsu announced and looked at Taiga who got the message which Nikaido of course had no clue about and the boy excused himself, leaving the hut.
“When he wakes up make sure that he stays calm,” Miyata added on which Nikaido raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you know if he has any other abilities?”
Nikaido shook his head on that question. “I just saw him using water until now and he said he doesn’t know if he has any other abilities.”
“Then let’s be careful for now. When a Phenomenist is stressed, they might do things they regret later if they can’t control their abilities. If he can just use water then it won’t be a problem, because as long as you don’t put a bucket of water in front of his bed there won’t be anything he can use, but if he has other abilities, it could also be dangerous for you to be around when he wakes up.”
“I am staying with him no matter what.”
Hiromitsu had obviously seen that reply coming and nodded. “Well then let’s go.”
Nikaido thanked Miyata for his quick check up and lifted Kentaro up again, walking towards the door with Hiromitsu. When they stepped outside, Taiga was waiting for them, but he wasn’t alone. A man with dark red hair stood next to him and gave them a calm smile.
“Let me introduce you,” Hiromitsu said as he walked up to them. “This is Massu, one of our Phenomenists.”
“Nice to see a new face in a while,” Massu said with a bright smile. “Especially a calm water user that is always nicer than the hot headed Phenomenists,” Massu added on which Taiga hit him with his elbow.
“You are a fire user yourself idiot.”
“But I am not blowing up half the village,” Massu said with a wink on which Taiga laughed.
“Yeah, we leave that to Taisuke,” Taiga replied teasingly.
It wasn’t clear if they were joking or not, but Nikaido just started to dislike Taisuke even more after hearing that.
“So Massu will have an eye on you for the time being,” Hiromitsu said, to which Nikaido gave him a suspicious look. “I know, I am sorry about that, but you have to understand that we just need to be sure that we can trust you. I know that applies the other way around too, so don’t worry he won’t stay too close. He will just guard around the hut we will give you, making sure you stay safe and our people stay safe.”
As much as it seemed like a way too big security matter Nikaido couldn’t deny that they had all right to be suspicious about them and this was a way nicer treatment than they would get in the city.
After agreeing to everything, they got to one of the huts the furthest away from the center, also something Nikaido could understand. The hut was as all the others a simple one out of wood and the inside was just one big room. There was a fire place which made Nikaido feel relieved right away as the sun had already set and it was pretty cold here in the mountains. There was just one bed in the hut, but it was spacious enough for both of them and a chair was standing next to the fireplace as well as a table with two chairs they could use too.
“I know it’s not much, but please try and rest as well as you can,” Hiromitsu said before he and Taiga left.
“If anything is up, please make sure to let me know, I won’t bite you know?” Massu said with a smile and Nikaido thanked him before he went inside and put Kentaro carefully on the bed.
It seemed like Taiga had prepared the hut for them earlier as the fire was already lit and there was also some food and water put on the table.
“Let’s hope that my gut feeling is as good as yours,” Nikaido whispered as he sat down next to Kentaro and caressed his hair.