Today's chapter.....
I thought we will fall of the top ten after last week, but NOPE. We still hanging in the top 10🔥🔥 Let's keep it going!!
And I see we getting closer to 600 PS!Â
Next stop 800 PS🔥🔥
PS: I know the milestone will hit soon, but wait for few hours as I go to sleep after this chapter.
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Mei Lin stepped out of the elevator, her heels clicking on the floors, as she led them. She gestured grandly to the space behind her.
"Welcome," she said, "to the Imperial Penthouse. It is reserved exclusively for heads of state, top ranked heroes, visiting royalty, and apparently, the Shuzenji family."
Akira stepped out, holding Nia securely in his arms. He looked around and thought, Why can't we do something like this?
"Dayam," he whispered for the second time that day, the word slipping out involuntarily.
The penthouse was less of a hotel room and more of a sky-palace floating above the clouds. The walls were floor-to-ceiling glass, offering a breathtaking, 360-degree view of Shanghai. The Huangpu River flowed through the city, reflecting the neon lights of the skyline below.
To the left, a grand piano made entirely of reinforced glass sat on a platform. To the right, a waterfall feature cascaded down a rough-hewn stone wall, feeding into a koi pond. Above, a chandelier that looked like a frozen explosion of diamonds suspended in mid-air.
Honoka walked in, her heels sinking into the plush, white carpet.
"It's... adequate,"Â trying to maintain her rival's composure, though her fingers brushed the silk drapes appreciatively. "A bit ostentatious, but I suppose Jian has never heard of 'subtlety'. It screams 'new money'."
Mei Lin smirked, catching the gesture. She walked over to a massive table in the center of the room. It was piled high with glossy pamphlets, brochures, maps, and tablets.
"Please make yourself comfortable," Mei Lin said. "Jian wanted to ensure you had everything you needed. The kitchen is fully stocked with international delicacies — wagyu beef, truffles, and saffron(That's all the expensive food I know). The bathroom has a jacuzzi, including a sonic-massage function."
She picked up a sleek, matte-black credit card from the table. It had no numbers on it, just the Celestial Axis logo embossed in gold.
She handed it to Honoka.
"This is a little gift from Jian," Mei Lin explained, pressing the card into Honoka's hand. "An unlimited expense account for your stay. Please use it to enjoy your time here. He insists."
Honoka looked at the card as if it were a live grenade. "He wants me to spend his money? Is this a trap? Is he tracking my purchases to build a psychological profile on my spending habits?"
"He considers it an investment in your good mood," Mei Lin winked. "A happy rival is a distracted rival. Plus, he wants to show off. Let him have his fun. If you don't spend at least a million yen, he might get offended. He can sometimes be a child."
She bowed slightly.
"I will leave you to settle in. If you need anything — security, a chef, a sparring partner — there is a direct line on the tablet. See you guys later."
She turned and walked back to the elevator.
The room was silent for a moment, save for the gentle burble of the indoor waterfall and the hum of the air conditioning.
Akira walked over to the window, looking down at the city. He took a puff from his pipe, the blue smoke swirling against the glass.
"She is one of the most mature women I have ever seen," Akira stated, his voice full of genuine admiration. "Cool, collected, dangerous. She didn't even blink at Nia. Jian Li is a lucky man. Or a terrified one. Probably both."
Honoka nodded, placing the black card on the table next to a bowl of exotic fruits that looked too perfect to eat. "True. I never thought that idiot Jian would have a partner like that. She balances him out perfectly. He's the chaos; she's the control. It's... annoying how well it works."
She stood there for a moment, looking at her reflection in the dark glass of the window. She smoothed her white dress. She touched her hair, checking for flyaways.
Then, a thought occurred to her. She turned slowly to face Akira. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"When you said she was one of the most mature women you have seen..." Honoka started, her voice dangerously sweet, like honey laced with poison. "Does that list include me, too? Am I mature, Akira?"
Akira froze. The pipe paused halfway to his mouth.
He slowly turned his head to look at his mother.
"Are you a female?" Akira asked calmly, stalling for time.
Honoka blinked. "Yeah."
"Are you old enough to be considered a woman?"
Honoka's eye twitched. "Yeah..."
"Then you have the answer," Akira stated flatly, turning back to the window as if the conversation was over. "By definition, you are on the list of women I have seen. It is a factual statement based on biological observation. Facts does not lie."
He didn't wait for a response. He knew his mother.
He turned and ran.
Phoenix Drive: 5%.
Blue sparks flew from his heels as he bolted for the spiral staircase leading to the second floor of the penthouse.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU BRAT!" Honoka yelled, rushing to catch him.
She kicked off her heels, sending them flying across the room, and sprinted after him.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'OLD ENOUGH'?! I AM IN MY PRIME! I HAVE THE SKIN OF A TWENTY-YEAR-OLD! COME HERE SO I CAN BREAK YOUR LEGS AND HEAL THEM WRONG!"
"I stated a biological fact!" Akira shouted from the top of the stairs, vaulting over the railing onto the second-floor landing like a cat. "Facts don't care about your feelings, woman! You can't fight science!"
"I WILL SHOW YOU FEELINGS! I WILL SHOW YOU PAIN!"
For the next thirty minutes, the luxurious Imperial Penthouse turned into a war zone of tag.
It wasn't a normal game of tag. It was a high-speed pursuit between two quirk-enhanced superhumans in a space filled with breakable objects.
Akira parkoured off the grand piano, using the lid as a springboard to launch himself onto the chandelier (which swung alarmingly but held, thank god for reinforced fixtures). He swung from the crystals like a trapeze artist, landing on the second-floor balcony.
Honoka didn't have a movement quirk, but she had "Mom Speed," which defied physics. She slid across the marble dining table like an action hero, vaulting the sofa in a single bound. She anticipated his movements, cutting off his escape routes with frightening precision.
"You can't catch me!" Akira taunted, hanging upside down from the second-floor railing like a bat, his yukata sleeves fluttering. "I am the wind! I am the night! I am Batman!"
"First, who is that. And second, I changed your diapers!" Honoka roared, grabbing a throw blanket and trying to net him like a fish. "I know your weak points! You got a tickle spot behind the knees!"
"THAT'S CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!"
Pillows were thrown with lethal accuracy. Vases were caught milliseconds before shattering. The air was filled with laughter and threats.
Nia sat on the kitchen island, watching the chaos with wide, judging eyes. She licked a paw, smoothing down her ear fur.
"You're just proving Daddy's point, right?" she asked the empty room, watching Honoka try to tackle Akira mid-air. "This is not very mature behavior. This is kitten behavior. Even I don't zoomies this hard."
She was ignored. Nobody listened to the cat.
***
Thirty minutes later.
Akira and Honoka collapsed onto the sofa in the living room. They were both out of breath, hair messy, clothes disheveled. Akira's yukata was askew, exposing his collarbone. Honoka's dress was rumpled, and her hat was missing entirely (it was currently floating in the koi pond).
Akira was laughing. It was a breathless, wheezing sound that hurt his ribs. Honoka was giggling, clutching a velvet throw pillow to her chest.
"Okay," Honoka gasped, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Okay. Truce. You win. I'm old."
"I never said old," Akira wheezed, wiping a tear from his eye. "I said 'mature.' You added the 'old' part. That's your own insecurity projecting, Mother."
Honoka smacked him with the pillow. "Shut up. I hate you."
"Love you too, Mom."
They lay there for a while, staring up at the crystal chandelier that was slowly stopping its swing. The silence was comfortable.
"I missed this," Akira said softly, the laughter fading into a warm smile.
Honoka turned her head to look at him.
"Me too, honey," she whispered. "Me too."
They had spent two years walking on eggshells around each other. Two years of training, working, and avoiding the elephant in the room. Two years of being soldiers in a war that hadn't started yet. It felt good to just be stupid again. To be a family that threw pillows instead of punches.
But unfortunately, peace was not an option when you traveled with a feline who had a short attention span and a high metabolism.
THUMP.
Nia landed on Akira's stomach, dropping from the ceiling fan she had been investigating.
"Oof!" Akira groaned, the air leaving his lungs.
"BORED!" Nia yelled right in his face, her whiskers tickling his nose. "THE CHASE SCENE IS OVER! THE EMOTIONAL BONDING IS DONE! LET'S DECIDE WHERE WE WILL GO TOMORROW! FAST FAST FAST!"
She marched on his stomach, kneading his abs with her claws.
"I want fish! I want birds! I want to see the tall things! I want to knock things off the tall things!"(She means the buildings)
Akira grabbed the hyperactive cat, holding her like a loaf of bread to stop the assault.
"Got it, got it, Nia. Relax. You're vibrating. Did you eat sugar?"
Honoka sighed, sitting up and fixing her hair. She reached for a glass of water. "She's right. We have to plan it later anyway."
She reached over to the table and grabbed the stack of pamphlets Mei Lin had left. She spread them out on the coffee table like a general laying out a battle map.
"Alright," Honoka said, putting on her reading glasses (which Akira wisely decided not to comment on, valuing his life). "Let's see what Shanghai has to offer."
And so the battle began.
1. The Shanghai Maglev Museum of Flight:
Description: Experience the history of flight quirks! Featuring the original support gear of the 'Jet Hero: Turbo' and a simulation of aerial combat over the Bund.
Akira says no: "Pass. I fly for free. Why would I pay to watch a simulation of something I can do better? That's like a bird paying to watch a documentary on flapping."
Nia's rebuttal: "Can we eat the birds in the simulation?"
Akira's stand: "No, they are holograms. They taste like light."
Nia gives up: "Boring."
2. The Yu Garden of Flora:
Description: A botanical garden maintained by heroes with plant-based quirks. See the Singing Orchids and the Carnivorous Venus Flytraps, the size of cars!
Honoka is affected by 'interest': "That sounds nice. Relaxing. Good for photos. I could use a new profile picture."
Akira used 'counter': "Mom, it says 'Carnivorous.' That sounds like a boss fight, not a picnic. I don't want to have to burn a salad because it tried to eat the cat."
Nia has taken damage(emotional): "I can fight a plant! I have claws! I will shred the salad! I am the apex predator! Fear me!!!"
3. The Oriental Pearl Hero Tower:
Description: The highest observation deck in Asia. Features a glass floor and a 'Leap of Faith' bungee jump experience monitored by the gravity hero 'Orbit'.
Akira has been debuffed by 'Paranoid': "Glass floor? With my luck, it breaks. I am a protagonist; structural failure follows me like a curse."
Honoka uses common sense:"It's reinforced, paranoid child. And the view will be spectacular. Nezu said the architecture is fascinating."
4. Nanjing Road - The Support Gear District:
Description: The fashion capital of the East. Custom hero costumes, unauthorized quirk tech, and legendary street food.
Honoka is buffed by the word 'Fashion Capital': "Shopping? We do need to see the local fashion trends."
Akira is buffed by the word 'Tech': "Tech browsing? Street food? Unauthorized tech? Now we're talking."
Nia is buffed by the word 'Food': "FOOD? DID SOMEONE SAY FOOD?"
They debated for twenty minutes. Arguments were made. Coins were flipped. Nia threatened to bite toes if fish wasn't involved in at least two meals.
Finally, they finalized the plan.
"Okay," Honoka said, tapping the list on her phone. "Here is the battle plan."
09:00 AM: Breakfast at Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. "Dumplings. Lots of them. We are eating until we explode. Nia gets a plain fish ball."
11:00 AM: The Bund Waterfront. "Sightseeing and taking photos to annoy Akira."
"Hey!!!"
01:00 PM: Nanjing Road. "Shopping for Honoka, Aka: me, Tech browsing for Akira, eating everything in sight for Nia."
04:00 PM: Yu Garden. "To let Nia chase butterflies and potentially fight a plant will be supervised."
"And who decided that!" She protested
"Me," Honoka said, giving Nia THE EYE.
Nia huffed and went back to her daddy.
07:00 PM: Dinner at a revolving restaurant on top of the Pearl Tower.
Seeing the schedule, Nia started to jump with excitement, vibrating so hard she looked like a blur of black fur.
"YES!" she yelled. "WE ARE GOING TO EVERYTHING! FISH! SWEETS! SNACKS! EVERYTHING! I WILL EAT THE CITY! I WILL CONQUER SHANGHAI! I WILL BE THE NEXT EMPRESS OF CHINA!"
Akira laughed, leaning back into the sofa cushions.
He felt light. The Red Flame was quiet, slumbering deep in his core, under control. The Blue Flame was warm, circulating through his veins.
Maybe, Akira thought, closing his eyes and listening to the laughter, maybe I should have done the emotional dumping a bit earlier.
He laughed at himself. It was a rookie mistake. He had tried to speed-run his trauma like a game level, skipping the cutscenes because they were painful. But the cutscenes were the best part. They were the parts where you realized why you were fighting.
"Alright," Akira said, standing up and picking up Nia, who was currently trying to eat the brochure for the botanical garden. "To bed. We have a city to eat tomorrow, and I need beauty sleep if I'm going to outshine Jian Li."
"Aye aye, Daddy!" Nia saluted with a paw.
Honoka smiled, watching them go. "Goodnight, honey."
"Night, Mom. Don't stay up worrying about the alloy. Or the glitter bombs."
"I won't," she lied.
Akira walked up the stairs, the ghosts of the past finally silent, drowned out by the promise of dumplings.
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A slice life chapter. Was it good?
Did you like the pokemon fight like conversations?
Let me know.
Plus if you want, you can read up to +10 (would be +9 for a bit, the latest chapter will be up soon)chapters and support me you can alway join my P@treaon. (Just search up Joe_Mama p@treon on google.)