Chapter 41.4

"He probably had a good reason," Alina agreed. She thought that perhaps he had work to do as a Phantom and she felt a pang of regret: she was beginning to think that perhaps she was too harsh with him earlier. "Though that doesn't explain why he was gone for nearly twelve hours. I'm guessing he missed breakfast because he was with a girl."

Michelle's face changed and she became more gloomy while Asami shrugged.

"Maybe. Or maybe he was resting after his job? He did look haggard," Asami said. She then noticed that Michelle was gloomily staring at Markus's back and nudged at Alina with gossiping eyes.

"Hey, is it just me or is she …?" Asami whispered to Alina who was confused.

"Huh?" Alina scrunched her eyebrows but didn't understand. "She what?"

"She's been staring at Markus! Think she's got the hots for him?" Asami asked gossipily.

"She, can hear vous," Michelle said while turning to glare at Asami who was now busy with her phone. ". . . Que faites-vous?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm doing nothing," Asami said with a grin.

Looking over Asami's shoulder, Alina saw how she was posting a pic of Michelle and Markus along with a corny tabloid headline: 'Breaking news! A Goody Two Shoes Unrequited Love for Resident Bad Boy?!'

"Uh, I don't think Michelle has a crush on Markus," Alina pointed out and Michelle turned to look sharply at them.

"Qu'est-ce que vous avez dit?!" Michelle glared at Asami and before the latter could respond, she was shot multiple times with rubber bullets.

"Alright children, pull out your English textbooks at page …?" Silvia entered and only noticed a collapsed Asami halfway through her instructions. With a sigh, she swung her hand and a rejuvenating spell was cast at Asami.

"I'm alive! It's a miracle!" Asami exclaimed while jumping up and the class laughed.

"If that's the case, then please begin class by reading from paragraph four on page one twenty-five," Silvia said while fixing her glasses and Asami deflated like a balloon.

Alina shook her head and smiled wryly when her thoughts went back to what Asami mentioned. She looked back at Michelle and noticed her staring at Markus again.

No way … she couldn't be right, right? Alina thought with a hint of doubt.

***

Jason absentmindedly taught his class. He set the class in two groups and had them play a conquest game where each team would try to beat the other team in a classic round of Capture the Flag. During the mock battle, he was stunned to discover Emily had levelled up again. Right now, she was a level 2 Esper that was on the verge of reaching level 3, and he outwardly praised her for levelling up to the students, but inwardly was surprised and suspicious. Even Alina, who was a level sixer, wasn't able to level up so quickly without his help and his instincts were telling him something was up. Regardless, he respected and trusted Emily and decided to let her be. If there were any problems, he believed she would come to him for help, failing to realize that Emily was doing this for him and thus wouldn't turn to him for reliance.

After his class was done, Jason rushed outside and began buying all sorts of food. He realized Alice was a foodie from how she reacted when he wanted a share of her snacks and decided that bribing her with food would be the best course. With full hands, he walked to the grade two class during their lunchtime but was stopped by the teacher.

"Can I help you?" The teacher asked while staring at Jason. She recognized Jason from the teachers' conference that was held a while back but wasn't sure why he was here.

"Here to see my daughter, Alice," Jason answered from behind the pile of food.

"Alice? She's your daughter?" The teacher was very surprised and looked back at Alice. She couldn't see the resemblance between the two.

"She's inherited her mother's look," Jason said, rather sadly. "She's only got my nose."

Indeed, after staring for a while, the teacher saw that Alice had the same straight nose that was what all models desired.

"Ah, a designer baby?" the teacher nodded and asked and Jason nodded sheepishly.

"Alice, hun, your father is here to see you," the teacher called out to Alice who turned to them with glee but then remembered that she was angry with Jason. She quickly turned away from Jason and crossed her arms with a pout while Jason shrugged at the teacher before walking to Alice.

"Hey kid," Jason slowly laid his tributes down on her table. "I - uh - I thought I could get you lunch but I wasn't sure what you like so I got 'em all."

Jason pointed at the food.

"There's a few cheeseburgers, hotdogs - New York style, mmm onions. And then pizza, cheese and meat-lovers, KFC chicken, chicken wings - buffalo I think," Jason pulled out the drinks from his storage dimension. "And then there's coke, root beer, umm … I don't - I don't know what that green one is. Oh, and slushies, juice, and I think that's iced tea? I don't know."

Alice perked up and she was looking at the desk which was full of food from the corner of her eyes, her mouth twitching as she swallowed some saliva.

"And that's not all," Jason said dramatically. "I've also got … dessert! There's cheesecake, chocolate cake, pie, cinnamon buns, chocolate bars, ice cream, cookies, oh cotton candy, and a whole bunch of other stuff."

Alice was drooling, but she still faced the other way ignoring Jason, who was stumped. The teacher was surprised and amused at Jason's coaxing but said nothing while the other students, Maple included, stared at her desk and drooled.

Jason realized that it wasn't working and sighed.

"I'm sorry," Jason murmured while brushing Alice's hair. He made a comb with his Esper powers and began combing through her silky, soft hair. "I know I should've been there. It's just . . . I met your mother last night."

Alice flinched when she heard Jason.

"She told me . . . about you," Jason continued quietly while splitting Alice's hair and braiding a part of it and securing it with an elastic band. "I didn't know how - how to face you after that . . . knowing that I didn't - don't deserve an angel like you."

Jason then rolled the braid into a spiral form until it reached the back of Alice's head. He then placed a few bobby pins to secure it, and the rolled braid looked like a flower. [2]

"I didn't mean to push you away, Alice," Jason said while doing the same braid on the other side of her head. "I love you."

Alice with tears in her eyes spun around and hugged him tightly when he was finished. Jason returned the hug while kissing her head.

"So I guess that means you'll forgive me?" Jason said and Alice laughed.

"Of course. I love you, daddy," Alice said and Jason felt like a bullet hit his heart.

Before, Alice would call him dad and only daddy when there was a woman nearby. But right now, at this moment, she finally accepted Jason as her father, and the latter was bursting with happiness and pride at being accepted by his daughter.

"Wow, oh, wow, Alice! Your dad is so cool! You have flowers on your head!" Maple and a few other girls noticed that everything was fine with Jason and Alice and began approaching her with joy and envy.

Hmm? Jason noticed Maple and appeared taken aback. Isn't she . . .

Jason could clearly remember this child, who stood in front of him with her arms held out to protect the children behind her; he realized that she was the same brave child that was kidnapped by the traffickers a while back, the one Melanie and him rescued.

"Really?" Alice patted her hair but couldn't see how it looked until Jason showed a holographic figure of her. She walked around her holographic figure and saw the two flower braids on the back of her hair. Her eyes widened and she slowly touched the back again before breaking into the cutest smile Jason had ever seen.

"You look like a princess!" Maple said. She couldn't help but feel envious. She couldn't remember what her parents were like as she was abandoned when she was very young. And even though she had a guardian now, she wasn't a father figure.

"That's cause is she's a princess," Jason said while laying his hand on her hand. "My little princess, Alice."

"Thanks, daddy," Alice said. She then looked at all the food at her table and frowned gently. "What do I do now? I can't eat all of this."

Alice then noticed Maple's eager face and then looked at the entire class. She hesitated when she saw their faces and looked back at Jason.

"Up to you kid," Jason said softly with a small smile.

"Umm . . . does everybody want some?" Alice asked timidly to the forming crowd of kids.

"Yah!" Several kids cheered and Alice began splitting the food.

"Umm . . . Mr. . . ." Maple didn't move and instead looked at Jason with hesitation. "Uh … Alice's dad? Can . . . can you do my hair too?"

At her request, several girls turned to look at Jason with upturned eyes. Jason looked at the teacher for approval and she shrugged, implying that it couldn't be helped, and he smiled.

"Sure, why not?" Jason said before he began braiding every girl's hair. Since it wasn't his daughter and there were nearly a dozen girls lining up, Jason braided their hair in different styles that weren't as sophisticated as Alice's. Regardless, all the girls were filled with joy and they showed off their hairstyles to the teacher.

"Hi, may I come in?" A melodious voice asked while knocking.

Jason, who was tying Maple's hair paused and looked up. He saw Melanie standing at the class's entrance with a smile on her face. Walking up to him, she nodded and smiled gently at Maple who was watching her quietly.

"Melanie," Jason said in greeting and Melanie smiled.

"Jason," Melanie replied softly, her eyes looking at him flirtatiously.

Unbeknownst to anyone else, Jason and Melanie had an ambiguous atmosphere around them. At the sight of Melanie, Jason was reminded of her masturbating and he unintentionally stared at her with eyes that were burning with lust. Melanie, on the other hand, was joyous at the gaze Jason was sending her; she knew immediately that he saw her at her most intimate moment and it aroused her perversely that he enjoyed it.

'Mmm, what a delectable specimen,' the frivolous voice said. It was clear that he approved of Melanie. 'You must take her for yourself. Lock her up and keep her as your slave, I'm sure she'll enjoy that as well.'

'Odd,' the wise voice spoke up at this moment. 'She is very familiar . . . perhaps a descendant of one we knew?'

'Now that you mentioned it . . .'

'It . . . can't be . . .' the war-like voice murmured in a low voice that was only heard by the other incarnations.

The voices continued whispering amongst each other in a low voice so Jason would not hear them while Maple looked up at Melanie and noticed something. Her body flinched and she felt cold sweat pass down her neck. She never forgot the blue-eyed beast with large teeth that glinted in the dark. She knew who Melanie was and, in an instant, realized who Jason was when she saw the gaze Melanie sent him.

Alice's father . . . the nice man, Jason, is that . . . monster? Maple thought in disbelief. She was wiser and smarter than her age so she realized that, despite appearing frightening, Fenrir was not bad. At least, not to her.

"Dearie, you forgot your lunch," Melanie said to Maple and handed her a small lunch box.

"Thanks . . . Bell," Maple muttered and Jason looked at her, then at Melanie with a curious gaze.

After finishing Maple's hair, Jason turned to Alice and smiled softly while rubbing her head.

"We have to go back, kid," he said with regret. "I'll come back to pick you up when your class is finished."

Alice pouted, unhappy that Jason was leaving with Melanie. She didn't want her father to be with anyone other than her mother, so she automatically despised Melanie. Nonetheless, she could do nothing but nod as Jason left with Melanie.

Outside Jason walked slowly with Melanie.

"You adopted her?" Jason asked.

"No," Melanie shook her head. "I - I'm not ready for that. I only registered as her as a ward so she can study here."

"You like her?" Jason asked.

"Yes. She reminds me of . . ." Melanie didn't finish but Jason understood.

"She's a good kid," Jason muttered and Melanie nodded.

"Yes, she really is," Melanie replied softly. She gently grabbed Jason's hand and entwined her fingers with his. The two walked back to the high school section in amorous silence before parting ways amicably though, once more, Jason was left wondering why he felt such an attraction for Melanie.

***

Emily sat in a lab, looking down at the frozen frog in front of her. Since she was a support-type healer Esper, biology was a mandatory course for her. Right now, her class was dissecting frogs that were frozen but still alive and patching them up without taking their lives. Emily was bored, having completed this class last year with great grades.

Her mind was focused on what Jason had previously taught her. She eyed the frog while thinking on how to comprehend where her Esper powers would take her. From her experiments, she found that she was able to heal and even regenerate limbs, but only for small animals, not on large beings. She also found that there was a time limit, if she didn't attach the limbs in time then the regeneration would fail.

Where do I go from here? Emily thought. She was constantly using her healing ability in the frog in her hand despite it not having any injuries.

"Ok, time's up," the teacher in front of the classroom said. "Clean up and place the frogs back in the tank before leaving."

Students began moving but Emily continued sitting and healing her frog. Only after everyone was gone did she sigh and place the frog down.

Hmm? What's this? Emily noticed the frog was twitching in pain and checked it carefully. There was nothing wrong, it should be healthy.

As her fingers gently rubbed through the frog's stomach, she felt a bump. With furrowed eyebrows, she gently froze the frog and cut it open, checking the area where the bump was. A lump of dead cells came out and Emily frowned.

Cancer? No, a tumor. But how?

Emily healed the frog and gently placed it back in the refrigerator when a thought struck her.

Constant healing … cellular degradation … was this from my ability? Does that mean the core ability of my Esper power is … cellular manipulation? [3]

[2] Flower braid hairstyle: https://i0.wp.com/therighthairstyles.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/flower-braid-step-10.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1.

Also, step by step tutorial for people with kids: https://therighthairstyles.com/flower-braid-tutorial/

[3] Core ability here means the origin or goal of what the final evolution of her Esper power would be.