Chapter 51

By the time me and Cattleya were done finished baking the pastries, Aizawa, Shinso, Aaron and Carter were all awake, either stretching or yawning their sleepiness away.

"Good morning."

Shinso croaked out tiredly as he wrapped his arms around me in a warm embrace for a few seconds, his face filtered with a heated blush, but he didn't seem to care. 

"Morning."

I replied as I backed up a little and leaned against the counter, putting on a pair of oven mittens to take out the pastries which were simmering in the oven.

The second the oven opened, the fresh, crisp smell of the pastries filled the air, rushing into our noses, making us collectively sigh.

"Those for us?"

Carter chimed, peeking over Aizawa to take a look at the deserts laid out on the oven tray. Cattleya nodded and chuckled.

"Unfortunately no, these are for my little get together with Madame Fitzgerald this evening, me and her tend to have a bit of a sweet tooth."

She remarked as she picked the pastries off the metal rack and laid them out on a cutting board, letting them cool in the chilly, morning air.

"Aww, you're an amazing baker, Cattleya. But I'm saddened you're wasting your talent like this."

Carter's voice was exaggeratingly snotty as he rolled his eyes to almost the back of his head.

"Heh, maybe I'll make you some pastries another time."

Cattleya noted as she grabbed the glasses of the bridge of her nose, and using the end of her small, black dress to wipe the steam from her lenses.

"Mind cleaning up?"

Cattleya said as she turned towards me, nodding.

"Sure…"

I was a little disappointed with the sudden chore, but I figured if I can help more, I will. I grabbed a rag from the cabinet and watered it down under the faucet until it was sopping wet, before wringing it out over the sink, causing a cascade of water to drip down into the bucket in the sink.

"Make sure to get all the flour, after a while it tends to stick to the counter, and bet my Lumin it's hard to get off."

I nodded silently as I washed the rag over the counter, watching the dust, egg residue, spilled milk and flour start to accumulate on the track of the rag, and I suddenly turned to Shinso to ask him a question.

"Hey, Shinso?"

He turned to me and nodded.

"Yeah?"

"We did buy an apartment, but will we ever actually use it?"

Shinso nodded as he put the bag of flour aside and cleaned up the rest of the ingredients.

"We will, I'm thinking we'll move in tonight, to be honest…"

He didn't finish his sentence as he stepped towards me, a snarky grin forming on his face.

"This place kinda stinks~"

He whispered in my ear, causing my cheeks to turn red and I let out a little laugh.

"I agree."

Aaron, who was standing in the doorway watching us all work raised an eyebrow.

"What are you laughing about, kid?"

He asked, a teasing smile rising in the corners of his lips.

"Nothing, Shinso just said something funny."

Suddenly, a new emotion surfaced in Aaron's expression as if he was listening for something, then after a quick moment he chuckled softly.

"This place does stink, the rats love to dig into everything."

"Did you use spirit calling or something?"

I asked, grabbing the rag I used to finish cleaning the counter and wringing it over the sink, Aaron simply laughed like a schoolboy.

"Yeah, I use it when I want to know the gossip, need info or straight up whenever I need or want."

My brows furrowed upon realizing that Aaron was kind of reckless with his usage of abilities, maybe he passed it down to Oboro too, for they seem to be alike in many ways.

"Was Oboro this reckless when you first took him under your wing?"

Upon me asking that question, Aaron's expression softened.

"Yeah, he damn sure was. Only the gods know how many things he's broken, damaged or straight up destroyed in his training, heh. Sometimes I regret deciding to train the boy."

"How did you guys even meet?"

I pressed further, grabbing a chair from the table and sitting down in it, Aaron watched me and smiled softly, the wrinkles in his face becoming more prominent.

"Well, it's a long story."

"It was about 2 years ago, and I was walking down the street, just getting done solving a new case with Cattleya and Aaron."

"But suddenly, when I turned to my right, I saw a massive, hurling explosion coming from the craftsmen's place. Upon checking the ruins, I spotted the kid. He was holding a man in his arms, he had long, black hair and sleepy eyes."

"I can say he was about 16 at that time, and seeing him in that matter of pain made my heart swell up, so I grabbed the boy and held him like a puppy."

"I could tell he was powerful underneath that frail and weak body, and I could feel his desperation to help others. In fact, he told me that he wanted to help others and make sure nothing like this would happen again."

"Shortly after, I gave him a Route potion I thought would've been suitable, and proceeded to train him for the next 2 years. Unfortunately the boy had no parents so I bought him an apartment with the money from the Sample Society, it was like having my own son."

After he finished speaking I saw a tear run down his right eye, only for him to quickly wipe it away and smile at me, an exaggerated smile, a ridiculous one.

"We'll find Isaiah, and bring him to justice."

Aaron called out, looking at the overhead light, idly swinging back and forth, his expression soft like a blanket.

"Are you ok?"

Something in my gut told me to ask him that, so I stood up and approached him with a warm expression, although it wasn't a happy one.

Aaron looked down at me and smiled softly, his eyes flickered with pain while his expression remained placid.

"I'm fine, kid. How about you and Shinso dip by the shooting range today?"

I could feel that Aaron was attempting to change the subject, so I only pressed him further.

"Something tells me you're not."

Aaron simply sighed and glared at the floor, his brows furrowing slightly as he looked back at me again.

"Come with me, Isaac."

He took a few steps back and walked towards the room where he first taught me about controlling my power, although I could sense he wasn't doing to train me this time.

"Ok."

My voice became more hushed as I walked towards the room and Aaron closed the door, locking us inside.

"Isaac?"

Aaron's voice was slightly shaky as he called out to me, I turned around and saw him sitting on the rug in the center of the room.

"Sit down, please."

I nodded silently as I sat in the center of the rug, crossing my legs as I peered into Aaron's almost depressed look.

Aaron then looked up at me, his expression unlike anything I've seen before, his eyes gave a glint of tears.

"I didn't want to tell you this."

I reached my palm out, attempting to halt his speech.

"Will this break that: "tiers of information" concept that Cattleya told me about? I don't want anything bad to happen to either of us."

Aaron gave a dry, sad chuckle as he shook his head.

"No, it won't."

He swallowed his spit before continuing on with the conversation.

"I-I'm…losing control."