The school day sagged toward its end, the clock waning like a pale moon.

Yalei propped his chin, gaze drifting out the window like a leaf on a slow stream.

"Hey, Yalei. You heard about tomorrow’s parent meeting, right?" The homeroom teacher stood before him, face tight like a drawn bowstring.

He rolled his eyes, words sighing like steam from a kettle. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll tell my parents."

"That’s for the best. Your grades have dipped hard lately, and I’m really worried." She exhaled like a tired bellows, tone steady.

"Got it, Ms. Claire. Sorry, I’ve been off my game." Yalei gave a quick bow like a swaying reed, then left the classroom.

Claire shook her head, thoughts moving like slow clouds; even after the bell she had tasks to finish, and she couldn’t keep students late, so she let it go.

Tomorrow’s Saturday meeting would be the proper time to speak with Yalei’s parents; the plan settled like a stone in a pond.

"Yalei! Walk home with me?" Near the gate, a girl who’d been waiting long lifted her bag, bent forward with a sun-bright smile.

"Mm. Let’s go." He smiled, packed up, and fell into step beside her like two birds heading for the same nest.

They walked home in a loose line, one after the other, like shadows stretching toward dusk.

Her name was Winnie; she lived next door to the Aestor family, their households friendly like lanterns in the same corridor.

Since Eli Aestor’s family moved to this city, Winnie’s parents had looked after them like warm hands shielding a candle in wind.

"Ah, wonder what Uncle and Aunt will cook today. Can I sneak a taste?" Winnie tilted her head, grin light as a spring breeze.

Yalei shrugged. "No problem. My folks won’t mind. But you might need to forgive their ‘rudeness’—they might keep flaunting their sweetness at dinner, sugar like confetti that aches the stomach."

"Eh, I think it’s nice. I’m kind of jealous of that bond." Winnie laughed and skipped ahead, footsteps like pebbles tapping a stream.

"My dad works crazy hours, out at dawn and back at night. It’s rare to see them together." Her voice carried the thin chill of evening.

"Don’t worry, Winnie. Once Uncle can breathe easier, it’ll happen." Yalei smiled, ruffling her hair like smoothing a little bird’s crest, fondness warm as tea.

"Ha, thanks." She smiled, mood righted like a boat after a ripple, and they kept strolling, chatter like windbells.

"Speaking of which, it feels like we haven’t seen Mrs. Bonnie from our complex in ages," Winnie said, words dropping like stones in clear water.

"Eh? Why bring that up?" Yalei cradled his head, turning with puzzled eyes like clouded glass.

"Her family had that mean dog, right? It stuck in my head. But lately I haven’t even heard barking. It’s a bit weird." Winnie frowned, thoughts circling like moths around a lamp.

"Some people even say their family was killed. People love rumors. Maybe they just went traveling." She sighed, breath thin as fog. "They weren’t friendly, sure, but you don’t curse folks like that."

"Yeah?" Yalei narrowed his eyes, a faint smile like frost on glass. "Don’t overthink it. Probably just a trip."

"Right!" Winnie laughed, easy as sunlight through leaves.

"Mm." He nodded, then snapped his fingers. A wild gust rushed by, and Winnie clamped her skirt down like catching a kite before it soared.

Yalei turned, staring at the empty space behind them, brow tightening like a knot in rope.

Sure enough, some things were thorns under silk, not as simple as they looked.

A thin, cold smile eased onto his lips, like ice tracing a window.

Seeing him drift, Winnie waved a hand before his face. "Hey? Yalei? You okay?" Her hand fluttered like a sparrow.

He blinked back to himself, smile easy as rain after dust. "It’s nothing. That gust tossed grit into my eyes. A little uncomfortable."

"Eh? Want me to blow it out for you?" Winnie blinked, smile bright as a firefly.

"Ah, no need! Silly girl!" His teasing rang like beads clicking.

"Hahaha! Hey, classmate Yalei, don’t make that face. Your cool-handsome aura’s falling apart. Hahaha." Her laughter skittered like marbles.

"Ahem. You little rascal." His grumble puffed like a small thundercloud.

"Eh? That’s how it is?" Eli sat on the sofa with a newspaper, voice slow as a dusk breeze.

"Mm. So I’m thinking of going to check it out," Yalei said, settling beside him, sipping Edlyn’s coffee like warmth seeping into bone.

"Alright. Go ahead. But one thing—you’re eighteen. You know what you should do. I won’t nag." Eli smiled, words calm as a leveled blade.

"I know." Yalei slouched back and stretched, limbs like a cat in a sun patch.

"By the way, Aestor junior—how’d you do on this month’s exam?" Eli asked, tone light as drifting smoke.

"Uh… so-so." A shiver ran through him; his words stumbled like loose stones.

"Oh? So-so, huh. Which ‘so’? Up or down?" Eli sipped his tea, smile smooth as a river bend.

"Maybe… dropped a bit…" Yalei turned away, avoiding Eli’s face like glare off ice.

"Oh-ho. How much is ‘a bit’? How many places down?" Eli watched his son’s awkward look, grin nimble as a fox.

Yalei kept a cool face and raised one finger, slow as a lifting branch.

"Oh. Just one?"

"Te—ten places." He coughed and dropped his head, shame pooling like ink.

Eli smiled at him. "I won’t say much. But if your mom hears, she’ll greet you quite enthusiastically." His humor flicked like a whip crack.

"Uh… yeah. Sorry." Embarrassment hung like a damp cloak.

"And there’s a parent meeting tomorrow, right?" Eli smiled, words light as tapping rain.

"Ah? You—" His surprise jumped like a startled fish.

"Wonder how I know? Tsk, brat, did you forget your sister’s in your grade? She goes, you don’t?" Eli chuckled, voice playful as wind chimes.

"Anna’s fine; your mom can handle that. As for you—how do you want me to keep your secret?" Eli crossed an ankle and stroked his chin, smile sly as moonlight.

"…Tch… one month." Yalei held up a finger, decision dropping like a pebble.

"Hmm?"

"One month without phone or console. I’ll hand them over. Deal?" He bit his words like biting down on a bitter herb.

"Oh-ho, sounds tempting." Eli laughed, amusement curling like smoke.

Hand them over?

Kidding—nice phrasing only.

In truth, he’d be ‘lending’ his toys for Dad’s joy for a month, like offering a plum to a fox.

"Ahem, back to the point, Dad. Look at what I can do. It doesn’t feel like the magic or Battle Aura you told me about, yet it’s definitely more-than-human power." He coughed twice and snapped again, words braced like a bow.

A sudden tempest bloomed in the room, surging at Eli like a river loosed from a dam.

Eli lifted a brow and narrowed his eyes; the gale shattered and vanished, like a drum struck into silence.

Yalei’s heart tightened, chill running like frost over stone.

He’d grown enough to guess what his father was, but feeling it this sharply was a first—clarity like lightning across night.

Eli smiled. "As I thought—a new kind of force. Not magic or Battle Aura. You can stir the elements directly without elemental spirits?"

"Yes, Dad. What is this, really?" Unaware, Yalei sat straighter, focus sharp as a drawn blade.

"Mm… this—you can call it an Anomalous Ability."

"Anomalous Ability?"

"Mm. A power native to this world." Eli lifted his tea and spoke mild as mist. "What surprises me is how fast you grasped it. Should I say, as expected of my son?"

At that, Yalei’s lips twitched up, a small smile like sunlight slanting. "Then do you know about Mrs. Bonnie’s family going missing?"

"Ah, I know. She didn’t vanish—she’s still in that house. But only she is." Eli’s words fell cool as snow.

"Mm?" Yalei watched him, confused, patience settling like dusk.

"Her family did go on a trip. But Mrs. Bonnie seems to have been touched by an anomalous creature of this world. The night they returned, she killed her entire family, and she hasn’t shown herself since," Eli said, voice steady as a slow bell.

"Then why didn’t you save them?" Yalei asked, brow furrowing like storm lines.

"…I can’t meddle too much in this world," Eli said after a pause, words heavy as iron. "I’m tied to too many threads now. Even staying in one place too long keeps purifying the surroundings. It proves I’m always affecting this cosmos—one not ours."

"That…" The single sound hung like a stalled bird.

"Besides, when I found out, she had already killed them. What could I do? As long as she doesn’t attack others, my interference would disrupt this world’s laws. Do you know the scale of that? Disasters and calamities might jump by several percent." His gaze narrowed, calm like a lake under thunder.

"If I can save, I don’t ignore it. It was simply too late," Eli said, eyes slitted like a blade’s edge.

"…I get it." Yalei frowned and exhaled, breath sinking like a stone.

"But you’re different. You don’t carry my rank, and your time here runs far longer than in our original world. So—" Eli stopped, silence falling like soft snow.

"…Ah. I understand, Dad." Yalei grinned, teeth bright as fresh porcelain. "I know what you mean."

Eli set down his tea with a smile and returned to his paper, pages whispering like leaves.