"Good morning, Father. Mother."
Theo enters the dining room, clearly in a good mood. Both parents look up and smile.
"Good morning, Thea."
"Good morning, sweetheart. You're in a good mood — something happening today?"
Theo picks up his fork, scoops up some omelette, closes his eyes, and sighs contentedly. He chews, swallows, then opens his eyes again.
His parents are already used to this new expression of Theo whenever he eats.
"Yes," Theo answers. "Today is the day my training room is finished."
Maurice puts down his paper. There hasn't been any strange world phenomenon since that torrential rain and the wind-fire pillar appeared ten days ago, but he's been meticulously scanning the news every day.
"That's today?" he asks. He'd been surprised when he first heard from his sons that Thea wanted a private training room. Before Leila could say anything, Maurice had already given them his blessing. He believed it would be good for Thea.
Leila could only sigh and follow her husband's decision.
With both parents' permission, the brothers wasted no time making one. It took them about eight days to build it, plus another two days to "test its safety." Which, of course, Theo finds suspicious.
All he wants is a simple training room — what people now call a gym. Why would they need two extra days just to test its safety? But since his parents have already approved it, Theo can only wait.
Leila turns to Theo. "You need to be really careful, Thea."
Theo smiles gently at her. "You really don't need to worry, Mother. I'll be very careful. I don't want anything bad happening to me again."
Leila still looks worried — it's clear on her face. Part of her agrees that Thea needs the exercise, but another part doesn't understand why Thea would need extra time to train outside her physiotherapy sessions.
"Thea!" Julian calls.
Theo whips his head around and beams when he sees both brothers entering the dining room.
"Phew!" Julian plops into a chair and downs his water. "I'm sweating like a pig!" He grabs a cool, wet towel from the table and wipes his face.
Arthur doesn't say anything, but it's obvious he's been sweating too — his cheeks are flushed, and his breathing's a little quick. He wipes his face with another towel.
Then both brothers greet their parents.
"You've tested the gym?" Maurice asks. He's actually a little interested in what the boys have been building — he's been training himself lately, planning to tag along with the Montrose exploration team on their next mission.
"Yes, we have." Julian grins. "This sweat is proof that we tried everything to destroy the place, but the Aegis Ultra Y is intact."
"Y?" Leila's eyes widen. "You didn't tell us you had a newer version ready!"
Arthur shakes his head. "It's not, Mother. Not really. We don't plan to mass-produce it. Julian's been working on a personal shield — similar to what we sold to the police. Not the same, but close."
"Mm-hm," Julian nods. "We can't be seen carrying the same model we sold to law enforcement. It'd break our contract. But we still need a personal shield, so I tweaked it — made it stronger, last longer, and invisible."
He leans back, clearly proud. "Not only that, it can extend up to ten meters in diameter, dome-shaped. And we can adjust its density. It can completely block everything, or act like a net if needed."
He finishes with a grin, chest puffed slightly in pride.
"And Thea's training room is the perfect place to test the shield. Today, we got to test both, and the results are more than satisfying." Arthur takes out a black velvet box and hands it to Theo.
"I guess it's time to give you this. You can consider it a late welcome-home gift."
Theo accepts the box and opens it immediately. Inside, he finds a watch — very similar to Arthur's, but in different colors. Midnight blue. Not pink. Theo sighs in relief.
Julian chuckles. "I was going to make it pink, but Arthur reminded me that you don't enjoy pink anymore. He noticed that blue's been your new go-to color lately, so I made it midnight blue."
The watch has a midnight-blue leather strap. Its face bears a large gold M logo over a lighter blue background, with golden hands that gleam softly. A short gold chain hangs from the clasp, and three small heartstones are embedded — just like Arthur's. Looking around, Theo notices that every Montrose in the room is wearing a similar watch with three embedded stones.
"Yours is the newest version, Thea," Julian says proudly. "So it has everything ours have, plus a few extras — like the personal shield and a space pouch. See this short gold chain here? That's it. If you lose that chain, you lose the pouch."
Arthur adds, "Do you remember how to use the space pouch? Try pulling something out. We've put all your new gadgets in there."
I don't remember. Thea's memory of this isn't clear. It's like she's rejecting me from remembering it. But if the concept is similar to my old magic pouch, then…
Theo focuses and moves his hand — and suddenly, his tablet materializes in his palm.
"You remember!" Julian exclaims, grinning wide.
It works! The concept is similar! I really starting to believe our worlds are somehow connected. But wait… I can use it because I know how the concept of magic works, but how did the Montroses find out how it works? From old scrolls? No. Using magic pouch like this needs a little understanding of magic.
Theo is thinking inwardly, but he notices that the Montroses' attention are still on him. I need to think about it later.
"Thank you, Arthur. Thank you Julian. This is brilliant!"
"Don't mention it. It's yours anyway. When you've finished your breakfast, let's go check out your gym." Julian looks more excited than Theo.
Before Theo can answer, Leila already answers, "Nope. Can't do that. She has an appointment with her psychiatrist. Then she's going with me to meet with Delaney, the designer. For her bedroom? Remember? It's been postpone a few times and I don't want to postpone it again."
Theo deflates. "I guess the gym has to wait until tonight." He cringes at both her brothers.
"Don't worry. We'll accompany you tonight. I need to show you how things work." Julian says.
"You sure you don't want me to call a trainer for you?" Arthur asks.
Theo shakes his head. "No, I want to train by myself first." I know how to train my physical. And I'll train my combat magic and my fighting skills too. Having a trainer will only hinder me.
Theo is itching to train.