Part 5 - Friends and Remedy 1

I soon arrived and went to the person supposed to show me the room. A Skylar Kira Gray, a female that was employed there and did gave lectures herself sometimes. I knocked on her office and stretched. A person with short black hair opened the door. She had blue eyes and a welcoming smile. "Skylar Kira Gray." She introduced herself nicely and reached her hand out for a handshake. I accepted and smiled. "Christopher Hikari." I said with a smile as well and a nice tone in my voice. "I am supposed to give a lecture soon." I added and Sky nodded. "Yes. But that just got delayed by an hour. Shall we talk for a bit?" She offered and invited me to a coffee which I nicely accepted. We chatted for a while and soon exchanged numbers before she showed me the room and I set myself up like I did so many times before, plugging my laptop in and connecting it to the projector.

I stretched and looked at the students after they had arrived. "Hello. My name is Christopher Hikari. I am also the hero Ratel, which is obvious. I was asked by your professor that I should tell you more about how superpowers manifest." I started. "I would say that they happen through what I call trigger-events. Although we all know that isn't the term used, yet the normal term is not a nice one and we all basically say 'trigger-events'. These trigger-events are almost always something utterly negative. Like for example: bullying, followed by attempted suicide, bad family environments, etc. Although there are cases were accidents cause powers. Like chemical accidents for example." I was talking freely and going through slides. I had included some studies that showed it and even said that basically all Top Heroes had these things happen to them.

I finished my presentation and the students didn't ask questions and thus I dismissed them quickly. I packed up after they were gone, only for Sky to thank me for doing the lecture, which thanks quickly turned into another nice chat.

But I couldn't have had nice things nor could I ever. One of the glass windows was broken. Then a shard of ice hit my face. I activated my powers and just as another shard flung at me, I dodged it, jumped at the attacker and she fell in a singular hit, I had cut deeper than usual. A fatal injury. Luckily the ambulance was soon here. I had been in my prime. My powers were at their strongest and in close combat no one could win and I could deal with long range fighters rather well. Artificers I always had issues with. Burning blades and what not weren't something fur could protect you against. But sky was impressed anyways. She dragged me away from the scene after I got my stuff, so I wouldn't be bothered by journalists. They were all just liars. The press wasn't something trustworthy, which was why I barely read it. Sky was a good friend and at one point even became my sworn older sister.

I sighed and smiled. "Those were good times. But I can't really get back into that mental state now... I wish I could." I said to myself and got out of the tub. I stretched and dried off. I threw a towel around my chest, long enough to cover my private parts as well. I blew my hair dry using the hairdryer and went to my room to get some clean clothes. I put them on and sighed. I wore my typical clothes. A red shirt under a black jacket meant for ladies, skinny jeans and black socks. I didn't walk around with shoes in my flat. Whoever did that was probably crazy, like how often would you have to clean the floors! Jeez.

I sighed, remembering the deal I made with Save.

That I work on my music and get paid with my usual salary without doing hero work.

I already hated that arrangement. I opened my laptop and just quickly exported two songs I was working on years ago and uploaded them. I never cared about views or likes like anyone else. I just saw them as numbers. Numbers without a meaning, which was often why I declined interviews with bloggers or vloggers. They only wanted controversies. I wanted to clear them up and it never worked out and I had always ended up being cut out of context and my own words were used against me, not like the Television or newspaper didn't do that but less often. To the point where even the ACS questioned me about it, with Savethal starting to distrust me a bit too.

I hated, no rather disliked, these people. Too focused on these fake numbers where if they went down by a measly 10, they started to panic and cry and forced the next controversy.

Luckily, I had always convinced the ACS that I was cut out of context. I even showed them where cuts had been made to the point where there was almost no full sentence that wasn't edited. These videos were quickly deleted and the creators arrested or punished with huge fines.

I distracted myself from thinking about them and just went to make another one lazily. I got up from the bench soon and stretched. "I'll go to a cafe. Might be fun." I said to myself as I grabbed my purse and stuffed it into my pocket. I took my phone and keys with me, even it was more a single key with a whole lot of keychains attached. I stretched and checked if my ticket was still valid. It wasn't. I threw it away and left the house. I went to the tram station across the street and got myself a ticked into town. I pocketed it and waited for the tram to arrive. I checked the time. It was 9:10 am and the next one came at 9:25 am. I had time to kill. I sighed and groaned. I had forgotten my headphones to make the journey more bearable but I didn't want to miss the tram. I quickly texted Sky that I would be in the main parts of town soon and that I would visit her at work soon. I checked the time. 9:19 am. I cursed under my breath. I suddenly saw a group of kids leave the school next to my house. They all seemed excited to go out and be somewhere. They were heading my direction. 'Fuck!' I thought as they started to go onto the station. The tram arrived and I got on and sat in an empty seat near the door.