Lauran came into the kitchen, where the warm scent of French toast hung in the air.
"Good morning, Lean. Here—your blueberry French toast," Kaya said, placing a plate with three golden slices in front of her, dotted with blueberries.
"Arigato, Nii-san," Lauran replied instinctively as she sat down.
Everyone froze.
"…What?" Lauran asked, noticing their wide eyes.
"You can speak Japanese?" Luke exclaimed. "And yet you still watch anime in English? Why? And why didn't you ever translate that one phrase last time? The one that sounded cool?"
Lauran rolled her eyes. "Because you really don't want to know. Those words were actually curse words. In real life, you'd get a beating if you said them in front of an actual Japanese person. In anime they just toss them in for fun, but in reality—not okay."
Kaya chuckled faintly, but inside, something about her words stirred an ache he couldn't explain.
After breakfast, he quietly retreated to his room, sitting in the corner, knees drawn up.
*"I remember… Dad, Mom, Kautaro, Toru. I miss you all. Even if I was adopted, you were my real family. I'm sorry for being weak—too weak to fight the cancer. I should've held on a little longer… waited for Sunghoon to come back, found Toru. Only the two of us survived the crash, and I got taken in by some selfish rich family.
I was Korean. You were Japanese. But you… you were still home.
Now I understand why I got so attached to Lauran. She's just like Toru—immature, loud, annoying, caring, and more understanding than she lets on.
Toru… I couldn't be there for you, but I'll make sure Lauran doesn't go through what you did."*
With a sigh, he stood and walked to the main hall.
"Oi! Lean!" he called up the stairs. "Let's go, or I'll take Luke ice skating instead!"
Lauran stomped down in her coat, glaring at him, but followed anyway.
The city was blanketed in soft fog as they walked. Lauran blew into the air, laughing at the way her breath clouded.
"Stop acting like a child. You're sixteen, not five," Kaya teased.
Lauran huffed and darted ahead, starting to cross the street. Out of the corner of his eye, Kaya spotted a truck barreling toward her.
"Lauran!" he shouted, lunging for her—
—but someone else got there first.
A black-hooded figure yanked her back by the arm just in time.
"Be careful, kid," the stranger said lightly. "Who knows when Truck-kun will send you to another world."
The hood slipped back, revealing a young man in his twenties with striking black hair and piercing red eyes.
"Thank you, mister," Kaya said breathlessly. "For saving my sister."
The man promptly smacked him upside the head.
"What kind of brother lets his younger sister wander into traffic? Watch her better!"
"Y-yes, sir," Kaya muttered, rubbing his head.
"You should be! Stay safe, kids," the man said, walking away with a faint grin.
Lauran stared after him. "He looked… familiar somehow."
"Yeah," Kaya murmured. "Kinda like Lucas from WMMP…"
"No way. More like Renji from Soul Knights," Lauran shot back.
"Oh, please. If anything he's more like Kuro from Black Wing."
They argued all the way to the shop, debating which red-eyed, black-haired male lead he resembled the most.
On their way back, the man lingered in the shadows, watching them go. Then he stepped into a quiet alleyway where another hooded figure waited.
"Sire," the second man said, bowing. "We couldn't find any book or records about dimensional travel—or any gates."
"That's fine," the man said, his voice calm. "I met my sister today. So I'm in a good mood. Keep searching. I want everything on the subject. No one crosses dimensions but me."
"As you command, sire." The subordinate vanished.
The man leaned against the wall, staring up at the cloudy sky.
*"Man… now I want to see Mom and Dad too. They'll probably kill me when they find out, and honestly… I deserve it.
But if I'd told them what I was planning back then… I wouldn't even be here now.
I love my family. I can't lose them. Not again. Not a fourth time.
Guess Dad felt like this too, huh? …Welp. Time to get back to work."*
With a snap of his fingers, the disguise fell away. His black hair faded into sun-kissed blond streaked with light brown, and his eyes glittered bright blue.
He teleported to the magic tower and entered the library. All the mages nearby stiffened and scattered—no one dared cross him, the tower's new master. Only Ryan, his trusted aide, dared approach him anymore.
Hours later, he teleported home and stepped through the door.
Home.
Memories flashed through his mind as he wandered into the garden, frowning at the withered flowers. With a sweep of his hand, their colors returned, blooms unfurling in the moonlight.
*"Sigh… Sis is at the academy. Mom and Dad are away on some mission. And here I am again… the only one who takes care of this place.
Better check my room too."*
And with that, Elijah—no longer hiding behind a false name—made his way upstairs.