Liberation within Reach

"I got this!" Mr. Felix whispered to Mr. Nico with a wink and glanced at my mother. He must have overcame his fear of her... For my sake?

Yay! Go get her, Mr. Felix!

"Uhm, Hayase, we wanted to… intercede… for..." Mr. Felix's voice then trailed off, as he sank back into his chair obediently.

I didn't judge him, infact, I wanted him to stop too.

My mother had opened her eyes, slowly, ominously, and glared at him creepily with her usual smile.

Both I and Mr. Nico felt the chills.

Yabai! What a dangerous woman I call Mother!

"W-We wanted to ask if Lukas could be allowed to go to school like normal kids." Mr. Nico soldiered on, "But he'll be at the supernatural Monitors school, in the other dimension; it's safe, and he could come back home through spatial means." As Mr. Nico explained, my mother's smile never left her face, as she gazed at him intensely for about a minute - you could literally hear an ominous Cello playing - before breaking the silence.

"Sure! If Nico-san is going to be on the lookout, I'll trust him!"

Oh, thank God for the trust my parents have for Mr. Nico. Sorry, Mr. Felix.

So, now, does this mean I'll be leaving this house?! Oh no, it's such an emotional thing; I'm crying involuntarily.

My mother misinterpreted my tears, though, "Eh? Lukas! Why are you crying? Oh! You actually want to stay with Mommy, right? You don't want to go with those bad, mysterious men, right? Alright, I'll cut them down for you, okay?"

Between the bad, mysterious men part, and the cut down part, Mr. Nico and Mr. Felix paled with shock.

Bad, mysterious men?! I've known them my entire life! And keep that Katana in it's sheath!

"No-no, not that," i hurriedly spoke to save two lives, "I'm happy to meet kids my own age and... Have fun and interact with them... And experience the outside world." I spoke between sobs, and my mother hugged me.

"Goodness, Lukas! You would have said something!"

Huh? Actually, I did. I did but you and your husband silenced me up with a traumatic, gore play.

"Hmph! No child of mine will be seen as weak! Wipe those tears now!" My father gruffly added.

Oh! Thank god. I thought he wanted to say, "No child of mine will ever leave this mansion!"

"Well, Nico. When are you taking him?" my father inquired.

"Hmmm tomorrow."

""Tomorrow?!"" both parents howled.

Did they expect it to be when I'm old and wrinkled? Well, even I didnt think it'll be so soon. Better that way, actually.

"Thank you, Mr. Nico!" I joyfully hugged him.

"Hee-hee, I told you to call me Uncle Nico, didn't I?" Mr. Nico reprimanded me softly, and patted my head.

Ah, liberation is within reach once more.

***

Mr. Felix, Mr. Nico, and my father discussed some other issues that didn't concern me, such as Zeus' mischievousness, Lunaria's roughness, and Aquarius' impending reincarnation.

"Zeus went and destroyed a certain mafian warehouse, he said he thought they were Moonyrs - it turned out they were not. It has left me with a lot of needles cleaning up, and a headache," Mr. Nico said, as if lamenting.

"Well, you refused to give him necessary discipline, respecting his status as 'god.' he's basically a kid right now, he should be treated as one," my father interjected.

"If you ask me, I'll say it's Lunaria's influence. Her aggressive character intrigues him. And she doesn't stop him when he goes overboard, too." Felix added.

"I'll make sure Lunaria doesn't hear what you said, if you help me out with an extermination, today," Nico snickered and said to Felix, as if trapping him.

"You snitch! Don't you dare tell her!" Felix retorted, "She's been looking for ways to plummet me for calling her a Granny, lately. 'Do you mean to say I'm old?' she asked me with a straight face, but I could tell she was angry. She ignored my it's-just-a-joke pleas, and turned her back, walking away. She then stopped suddenly and looked at me over her shoulders, 'Felix... From today henceforth, Live in fear of me,' she said. As it stands, I'm never visiting you again - my life is in danger," Felix said, trembling as if remembering a horror movie.

"Well, do as I say, and we'll have no bloodshed in the agency." Nico satisfyingly smiled and sank back into his couch.

"What about Aquarius of the Guardians? He hasn't reincarnated for 5 decades now; are you doing something about it?" My Father inquired.

"Oh, sorry, sorry! I didn't tell you. Aquarius has successfully reincarnated, he's just in time, actually." Nico answered, "But he is still a baby - he was born 2 years ago. Luckily for him, he retained some of his memories from 50 years ago. He wrote, 'I refuse to suck breast milk directly from the source, and stop trying to force me, Virgo!' to us when we visited for the first time - Felix was insisting he sucked his mother's breast instead of using a feeding bottle." As Nico said that, he and my Father gave Felix a repulsive look.

"W-What! I wanted to get some dirt on him," Felix defended himself, "Or just something so I can tell him the future, 'I watched you suck breast milk from your mother, dont disrespect me!' I didn't think he had his memories, though."

"With him, the 12 Original Guardians are complete now." Nico confirmed.

"No. Aries is still left," my father corrected.

"Well, you're right. Even if we don't know when he's going to be back, we shouldn't lose hope in his revival." Nico said, with a smile.

Felix observed the two closely and voiced, "Oh! You know, I truly thought Flynn was definitely going to be Aries." My Father glared at him, and Nico gasped.

"Are you trying to insinuate something?! Let's talk with our fists then," my Father nagged as he was held back by Nico.

At the mention of Zeus, it was literally starting to become Greek, so I left them to enjoy myself, daydreaming about the new faces I would see and new places I would go.

Would I board a plane? go by ship? Maybe the bus, who knows. I've never had a pet, so I guess I'll look for some cat or dog by the street? I won't get bitten or clawed, right?

***

The next day, I was al ready with my school bag and writing materials inside. My mother had also made lunch.

Ah! The famous Obento... I only saw it in animes, but today, I eat lunch with my peers!

I was waiting outside my mansion's gate for Mr. Nico to take me to the Spiritual or paranormal school - whatever the name was! I was happy and eager to relish every moment of this new experience, from the transport route to the school itself.

My mother was still waving at me from the door, with literal tears in her eyes.

What a cry baby.

......

However, things didn't go as expected.

When we left the mansion's gate, Mr. Nico threw a crystal rock on the ground, it warped and manifested a "door" in thin air - a rectangular-shaped cut in space, I'll call it.

It glowed with blue light.

I thought it was strange, but wondered if this was the way to the airport, railway station, or bus-stop. It doesn't feel like it.

"Are you ready for your first day at school?" Mr. Nico asked me.

"Well, I dont know? It is starting off at a suspiciously wrong foot... but I dont know." My response was less enthusiastic than he thought, I bet.

"Well, that was less enthusiastic than I thought."

Yeah, I figured.

Mr. Nico then said, "You know, I sense great things from you, Lukas."

I responded, "I hope this isn't that 'with great power, comes great responsibility' pep talk."

Mr. Nico clarified, "Uhm it's not, maybe. What I mean is that you are worth more than you realize."

I asked, "Eh? In what way?"

Mr. Nico hesitated, "I can't really say, but I get the gut feeling."

I pressed for more information, "So you're predicting my life through a gut feeling, Mr- I mean, Uncle Nico?"

Mr. Nico said, "No! That's not what I meant!"

I asked again, "What did you mean, Mr- I mean, Uncle Nico?"

Mr. Nico seemed exasperated, "You know you talk too much for a 6-yr-old. Let's go meet up with my grandchildren, Theresa and Theophilus." He said and led me through the spatial door.

As we went through the portal, I was highly disappointed.

On the other side, I found myself in another mansion, twice as big as mine. I thought I would see the sea from a ship, or gaze at folks from a bus, but instead, I got bad vibes, and abuse;

Before me were two blonde kids, my age, I think.

"Twig."

"Shrimp."

These were the words that greeted me when I arrived at the other side of the portal(?)

Oh joy, we were off to a fantastic start!

As earlier mentioned, they had blonde hair, one with piercing blue eyes, and the other, striking red eyes. One was a girl, Theresa, and the other a boy, Theophilus, but I couldn't tell who was which.

Their faces looked feminine, and they both wore boys' uniforms - no skirt.

Will the school allow this?

As I looked at their chest region, I Sighed.

I guess we'll have to wait until they're grown to know the difference, if you get what I mean.

I believe it's safe to say I know too much for a 6-yr-old; my parents let me have anything I want... Including those things that would normally get censored, and books that hold the wisdom of the world sought by perverted young men all over the globe.

"Behave yourselves!" Mr. Nico reprimanded them for calling me names and faced me, "Please forgive them. These are my grandchildren, Theresa and Theophilus."

"Yeah, you said that before, but Grandchildren! Not children? Your son really didn't waste his time, huh?"

"You, you were not this talkative at your house, yesterday."

"Well, yeah. Did you see my mother's katana?"

"Ha-ha-ha. I understand what you mean. Her gaze is particularly fearsome. But do try to talk with them sometimes, okay? They are not monsters."

"...They aren't?"

"How exactly do you see your own parents?!" Mr. Nico asked in surprise.

I glanced at the grandchildren, but was met with disdain. One of them even showed me a gesture, meaning they'll cut my throat(?)

Yeah! We're going to get along very well.