Loki couldn't believe his ears and so, his mouth hung a little loose from the sudden revelation.
"Am I in trouble?" Loki asked calmly.
"No young man you are not in trouble. In fact, I wanted to ask you who taught you to solve these problems?"
"I learnt them myself.", Loki responded almost instantly.
"I see. Could you take me to your parents?"
"...they are dead.", Loki said with a little apprehension as the man's eyes widened with worry.
'Is this a coincidence arranged by fate?' The man thought with some excitement.
While Loki's thoughts were something else entirely, 'Perhaps this man is a beyonder and is here to induce me into the path of Beyonders? Like Dunn Smith did to Klein?'
'Let's see where this goes.' Both concluded simultaneously.
"Why do you want to know about my parents anyway?" Loki asked to keep the conversation going and to move away from the depressing shift that had occurred.
"Ah. Never mind. Do you have any brothers and sisters?"
"Why do you want to know?" Loki asked again trying to glean more about what the man was trying to do here by disrupting his business.
"I want to adopt you." the man stated with an excited glint in his eyes.
"Huh?" Loki felt a little shocked and his mind slipped into a flurry of thoughts.
'Is this the work of a Beyonder?'
'This seems very much like a suspicious scam.'
'Does he run a child trafficking ring?'
'Why would a random person want to adopt a kid they just met.'
"I don't believe you." Loki said with a straight face.
"What about it don't you believe?" The man asked with a strange expression.
'Shouldn't the little boy be overjoyed that he will be adopted?'
"Why would a man adopt a child out of nowhere unless they are thinking of doing something suspicious!?" Loki complained.
'Why would I as a respectable member of society try to do anything to him.'
"Ah! I forgot to tell you the reason."
'Is he really Dunn Smith?'
"..." Loki stayed silent indicating the man to continue explaining.
"The reason I want to adopt you is because your genius must be laid bare for the world to witness! Not many kids are as smart as you are. Perhaps you could even find your place at Oxford."
"Err…" Loki felt a little shocked that something like this had happened and his mind raced a hundred horses trying to figure out a way out of all this.
'I am a normal kid transmigrated into the body of someone a little younger! I'm not a genius!'
'What the hell!?'
'How did it lead to such an outcome?'
But then a thought arose in Loki's mind and caused him to seriously ponder about what was happening.
'Elane won't have to worry about anything if she gets adopted by someone.'
'If I am truly destined to become a force in the Beyonder world, Elane would have to suffer just because of me. She would either need to always remain hidden or become a Beyonder herself so that she can stay safe as my closest and dearest.'
'And if she ever got to know that it was because of her that I lost my life, I don't think she could forgive herself.'
'Isn't this the better solution?'
Loki looked at Elton and his eyes took on a contemplative glimmer.
"What do you think?" Elton asked Loki once again with a soft worried smile on his face.
"Give me some time to think." Loki nodded and caused Elton to widen his eyes and look at him, but then he held himself back and nodded in response.
"Good. Such things must not be decided on hastily. You are truly a genius." Elton commented.
But Loki only extended his hand and opened his palm in response.
"Huh? What happened?"
"You drove away my customers. Compensate me." Loki said with a smooth smile on his face.
The man felt shocked for a second but with a silly laugh, reluctantly pulled out a five-pound note causing Loki's eyes to widen.
'Holy cow! That's Five pounds! Ten meals!'
'I already feel like I should join him.'
Loki took the money that was handed to him and became ecstatic as he left towards the nearest WcDonalds so that he could get some food for Elane and himself.
Loki skipped to the WcDonalds and bought Two meal sets for both of them and reached back home with a smile on his face.
'I guess, I can splurge a little. Hehe~ I'm sure Elane will love that we both have our own meals now!'
"Big Bwother!!!!" Elane shouted from the top floor as soon as she saw Loki from the broken window.
"Haha! Come down Elane! Look at what I've gotten for you!!!"
Elane carefully stepped down the stairs and walked over to Loki with a beautiful smile.
"What did you bring Big Bwother!?"
"Look!" Loki revealed the two meal packages that he was holding behind his back and showed them to Elane.
"Today you get one entire Burger for yourself and big brother also gets one for himself!"
But unexpectedly Elane instantly became teary-eyed.
"What happened little Sis!?" Loki asked rushing to hold his sister closer to himself and comfort her.
"Big Bwother does not want to eat with me anymore!?"
"Haha~ Why are you worried about such a simple thing!? Let's eat together and share one burger again. Alright!?"
"Un."
Sharing food with Elane the two of them filled their stomach by eating the french fries and the burger and spent the rest of the evening gazing at the stars and planets in the sky.
As the two of them fell asleep Loki mentally decided what his response to Elton would be tomorrow.
'I can't compromise the life of my little sister just because I want to become a Beyonder. Didn't Klein also find a way for his brother and sister to gain financial compensation after his death? I should also make plans for little sis to live safely in case I die.'
*Yawn*
"Goodnight Little Sis."
"Goodnight Big Bwother."
Waking up the next morning, Loki left for school in the same way as before, except when he arrived there he was confused.
'Why are there so many coppers here?'
'Did something happen?'
'I'll come back tomorrow since I don't know what the cops might do if they find out about my services.'
But as soon as Loki turned to go back since he had enough money for food today, he was met with a cop who was standing right behind him.
"Got you." The cop said placing a hand on Loki's shoulder and grabbing him so that he couldn't escape.
"What are you doing!!! Leave me alone!!! Let goo!!!"
"You might want to hear this." the cop calmly explained.
"Oh?" Loki asked with weariness as he calmed himself down a little.
'Is it something related to my business?'
'Are they going to arrest me because I don't have a permit or something?'
"John Elton died yesterday." The cop calmly said.
"What does tha- WHAT!?" Loki shouted attracting the attention of the other coppers in the area.
"Yes. He seemed excited about adopting you, at least the staff said he was really excited. We got your description from the students."
"But what happened to him!? To Mr. Elton?"
"This is an assumption still, but we assume in his excitement he had a little heart attack which caused him to pass away at the school after it was closed yesterday."
"....what the heck."
Loki's head started spinning and thoughts began to sprout in his mind as he thought about the various things that could've caused this issue.
'Coincidence? I think not!!!'
'Was it the work of a Beyonder?'
'Perhaps a spectator is looking at me and making fun of my life by controlling it somehow?'
"Can you let me go? I'm not in a good mood." Loki said with a soft frown on his face.
Although he wasn't deeply connected to Elton, the man's act of kindness had made him a little sorry for him.
"Unfortunately or fortunately for you, we can't leave you yet." The cop said causing Loki to shift his full focus onto him.
"What? Why?"
"We need to put you into an orphanage, or a new home. We can't just let you wander around. You've got quite a good head on your shoulders if I have heard anything, so you shouldn't be worried about not being chosen by a family looking to adopt."
Loki's eyes widened as soon as the words left the copper's mouth causing him shock and some relief.
'Thank god I didn't tell him about Elane yesterday.'