Chapter 39: Demonstration

Shry reached into his pocket and pulled out a penny-sized disk with physical engravings strewn across its whole body. 
This disk was the roughest-looking out of the 3 types of disk he had shown off today.
Unlike the polish the previous two had, this disk had its engravings exposed, and if the previous disks were taken apart, revealing their engravings sealed within their metal cases, when compared, all 3 types of engravings, although similar, each have a different style, carefully crafted by different individuals, with the one that Shry is holding being the least polished.
"Wait, isn't that-" Ren said in concern but was cut off.
"Yup! But I can just shoot it into the sky!" Shry said in the midst of a maniacal smile, as he pointed the disk upwards with his right hand.
Without giving any time for the three to react, Shry's left hand formed into a puffy fist like he was holding something in it, and in the next moment, his right hand swung up in one smooth motion.
Finally catching on to Shry's antics, Ren stood and tried to stop Shry, but he was too late, as Shry's right hand made contact with his left, releasing the natural Node trapped in his hand as he did so.
As soon as Shry released his fist, the clump of Natural Node within it quickly funneled into the disk, and in the next moment, the disk began to ring unlike any sequence anyone had ever heard before.
*Fuuu uuuu uuung*
The sound the disk produced didn't sound like a melody, almost like it was going against the artificial essence of a sequence, oddly sounding like natural crackles of flame.
"Shry, stop!" Ren yelled in vain.
Although, unfortunately, Ren's yell caught the attention of everyone in the restaurant, but seconds later, their attention quickly diverted to someone else within their group, the blue-haired kid that is holding up an orange glowing object and pointing it into the sky.
*Fuuuu ewwee*
With everyone watching, a small concentrated lump of flames began to form above the disk; it fluctuated, growing big and small constantly like a pulsing heart... Like it had a life of its own.
Although there were many fires around from the grills lighting up the area, the environment was still somewhat dark, but the new addition created by Shry, the flame, glowed like an average flashlight, not too powerful but still enough to catch the attention of the remaining patrons.
(Nice! It's actually working!) Shry thought, feeling proud of his creation.
Finally, after prolonging the shot for half a minute, Shry presses a button to the side of the disk, immediately changing parts of the engravings and incidentally changing its command to launch.
*Faaaa Dannggg*
The blob of flame wobbled for a moment as the sound rang, and as soon as it ended, the flame shot up into the air as fast as a bullet.
It flew high, almost reaching the clouds, but right as it was about to reach its apex, the fire died out, leaving only a wisp of gas.
"That was interesting," Haze said, folding his hands as he looked at Shry, sighing at Shry's behavior.
Haze had things under control the entire time, so he didn't try to stop Shry, knowing that he could stop a weak attack like that without even looking at it; however, that didn't stop him from being displeased that Shry had done something so reckless in a populated area.
Though he was surprised by what Shry did, especially after all that he learned about this mysterious cousin of his subordinate, Haze didn't show any of that, refusing to show Shry a satisfactory reaction.
"Right! I made it myself!" Shry expressed his excitement without looking down from the sky, completely missing Haze's face of contempt. 
"Let's not say anything..." Rekka whispered to Ren, slightly nervous. 
Sensing trouble, Rekka quickly dragged her brother away from there and grabbed a couple pieces of honey-glazed pork from the active grill before sitting further away and quietly watching as the scenario played out.
...
Haze pulled Shry over to him and lectured him about the dangers of stray attacks and their consequences, like a responsible adult would, while Ren and Rekka were having a surprisingly nice time barbecuing in a comfortable silence. 
(I wonder if I can potentially use that as a backup...) Ren's thoughts wandered, humoring the idea that he may be able to use Natural Node as a last resort in the future.
"What's on your mind?" Rekka casually asked as she happily glazed the next batch of pork in honey.
"I was thinking about Natural Node... More specifically, the sequence that Shry used?" Ren admitted, confused about what Shry's projectile should be called, as it goes against the convention of a sequence.
"It's surprising, isn't it! I guess we don't need to worry about Shry too much anymore," Rekka said with joy, relief dripping off her voice. 
"Yeah, but let's not let our guards down; he'll still run out of those disks eventually," Ren said, logically thinking about the topic.
(But he still won't be able to fit into society; everything in our world requires an activated Node, but Shry...) Ren thought in a sad tone as he secretly kept this thought from going out so he wouldn't ruin the mood.
As Ren and Rekka continued their peaceful barbeque session with occasional sounds of scolding, it seemed like Haze's lecture had begun to simmer down.
"Remember, just because you're not aiming the attack at someone, that attack can still scatter and hit someone innocent" Haze lectured, teaching Shry rather than scolding him.
"Make sure your attacks are always accurate; if you can do that, then you can beat anything" Haze added more weight into his voice as he said this, making sure that Shry would take it to heart.
"So aim at their weak points" Shry said, smiling as he shook his head up and down.
Looking at Shry, a smile crept up on Haze's face as well, as they both began to understand each other.
"Good, that's all I really have for you; forget the rest of the lecture beside my last two statements." Haze rubbed his hands and then clapped, ending his lecture anticlimactically.
"Alright, I kind of space out during the parts before anyway" Shry said jovially without thinking about the consequences of his confession.
"Speaking of spacing out... Are you feeling any better, Ren?" Haze asked, facing Ren as he did so.
Surprised that he is suddenly being called out, Ren, flustered, couldn't immediately think of an answer despite how easy it was. As he thought about Haze's question, Ren finally realized. Not only was the constant clash in his mind gone, but he also felt better somehow... Almost like a phantom weight had been cut off.
(Woah, I feel much more refreshed now; I can't believe it) Ren thought to himself before finally affirming Haze's question. 
"Yup, I feel better than before, actually," Ren answered uncharacteristically with exaggerated joy, surprising even his sister.
"Alright, good for you..." Haze smiled and nodded at Ren before turning back to Shry to ask a few questions. 
"Anyways, Shry, what is with this natural Node power you have? And even more importantly, where did you get those disks?" Haze finally asked after all of that.
After saying that, Haze's question caught the attention of the two siblings as well, which flared up his curiosity.
"Yeah, we want to know too." Rekka jumped in and asked for the same thing.
Following along, Ren also nodded, but he didn't say a word, as all that needed to be said had already been done in his stead.
"Wow, you guys are really that interested in my ability?" Shry felt flattered, his body beginning to bounce as excitement seeped into his bones.
"First of all, this disk is made by ME! There are two other types. One is made by my mentor, Mr. Luftra, while the other type is made by Mom and Dad," Shry explained, taking out the two other types from his pocket.
At this point, as Shry kept on pulling things out of his pockets, the three people listening to him started to get more curious about his pockets.
Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Rekka couldn't help herself. She went up to Shry in the middle of his explanation and suddenly began patting his pockets, leading her to find what Shry was doing to be even more mysterious.
At first Shry just continued his explanation without worrying about Rekka, but now that he found out the reason as to why she's here, Shry smirked and decided to extend his explanation to the variations of the disks.
Mockingly, Shry reached into the pocket while Rekka was just inspecting, and with Rekka's piercing eyes watching, Shry pulled out 2 other disks from his pocket.
"Moving on, the question about my ability... To be honest, there's really not much to it; all I do is trap Natural Node into my hand LIKE THIS." Shry cupped his hand as a demonstration.
"Speaking of... Can you guys try what I just did and listen to what's trapped inside it? I'm curious about something." Shry requested, tapping his upper lip with his index finger.
Without saying anything, Haze was the first one to do it; he cupped his hands and lifted them to his ear, trying to listen to check if there was anything.
As Shry got closer, though, Haze gradually lowered his hands while still cupped and allowed Shry to check it, but just like before with his mentor and parents, there wasn't the signature hum he heard when he checked.
Finished with trying to identify if there is Natural Node trapped in between Haze's hand, Shry repeated the motion himself, trapping a clump of Natural Node in between his hands.
(I should check it first) Shry thought to himself. 
Before presenting it to Haze, Shry put his cupped hand against his own ears to confirm the sound and compare them, trying to find nuances in their differences. 
*Uuuuvvv*
"Listen to this! You can hear something trapped in between my hands," Shry said, exhilarated to show off.
Immediately after saying that, Shry held his arms up as high as he could, trying to accommodate for their differences in height.
Seeing Shry put the effort into being polite, Haze felt a warmth in his heart, reminiscing about the past and, in association, accidentally making Shry wait in a very uncomfortable pose.
"Oh shoot!" Shry panicked as he began stumbling forward and, for some reason, maintained his cupped hands like he was trying to keep a glass cup from falling.
Without even thinking or looking, Haze's right hand automatically went to catch Shry and place Shry upright while lowering Shry's hands that were still up. 
Uuuuuuhhh
During that process, despite all the noise made by the people around them, Haze's ears were able to pick up on the foreign noise between Shry's hands as soon as he touched them.
"What the... Is that actually Natural Node!" Hearing the unknown but yet familiar-feeling sound, Haze couldn't contain his exclamation. 
"Huh?" Shry looked at Haze, confused by his reaction. 
Ignoring Shry's confusion, Haze didn't elaborate; he just peeled Shry's hands apart, desperate to satiate his curiosity. 
*Fuum* an almost inaudible noise sounded as Shry released the Natural Node in between his hands.
"Huh... Alright, now it's your guys's turn; it's my turn to enjoy the barbeque with you guys as my entertainment" Haze didn't explain anything before calling out the two siblings that were enjoying their time while watching.
Even Ren and Rekka were surprised. To them, this felt just as abrupt as how Shry felt; however, they didn't complain, since they weren't really able to satiate their own curiosity from watching Haze.
"Rekka, did you save any of the barbeque for Shry?" Ren asked out of courtesy, already knowing the answer. 
"Yeah! I saved him some really good ones too." Rekka said as she picked up a plate with a 1/3 ratio of vegetables and meats. 
After that, Shry repeated what he did for Haze to his cousins, demoing his ability with much more finesse this time, showing off like a magician on stage.