A Quiet Decision

The Next Morning 

The alarm clock rings

Beep - Beep - Beep —!!

Ren woke up and looked at the alarm clock nearby him to check time.

“ No. No no no — I'm late”

Ren quickly jumps out of his bed, he goes to the bathroom, brushes his teeth and wash - up his face, and puts on his school uniform. Then he ran toward the kitchen.

Ren entered the kitchen.

Ren sees his dad is sitting there, reading the newspaper, while his mom is preparing breakfast for his dad.

Ren's breakfast is already on the table. Ren takes a piece of buttered toast, puts it into his mouth and runs out of the house, and runs toward school.

While running toward school, Ren takes out his phone and looks at the time.

“ Shit — 8:23 A.M. 

I won't make it to school on time. Hmmm… I have only one way to reach school on time — but if I lose control of my power like yesterday, then I'll end up in the hospital instead of school.” He takes a deep breath. “ … Doesn't matter. Let's do it!”

Ren Stops in the middle of the street.

Then, he starts to warm up, stretching his both arms and legs, loosening his body. Then he begins jumping in place.

A weak energy starts to release from his body, glowing energy waves covering his entire body.

“I'm ready!” He said. 

Then, Ren bends his knees, gathers more energy in his legs and launches himself forward, Ren jumps onto a house rooftop. Then another and another — moving faster and faster with each jump.

As he lands on the next building rooftop, he catches a peek of his school. 

“There it is!”

Then he pushes himself even harder, jumping across the building rooftops at full speed.

Ren jumps from the last building rooftop and enters the school ground. But his energy runs out at the worst moment. He loses control mid - air and crashes into a tree — ending up upside down .

“ Ugh… seriously!” Ren said.

After that, Ren makes it to his class in time and sits on his desk. 

Ren relaxing at his desk. 

Just then, the teacher came into the classroom. All the students immediately stop talking and students sit properly at their desks.

The teacher says, “ Everyone — open your books to page no.54”

All the students open their book to page no 54. 

Ren opens his bag to take out his textbook, but along with it, the JPW Academy entrance exam form comes out and lands on his desk.

The whole time, Ren keeps thinking only about the entrance exam form.

After some time, the lunch break starts.

Ren and his two friends walk toward the school grounds to eat lunch. But as they reached — they saw a large crowd of students gathered there.

In the middle of the crowd, two students stand facing each other and ready to fight.

Both of them have superpowers, and because of that, all the other students around them are excited and cheering for both students.

Both friends of Ren's run toward the crowd to watch the fight.

Ren doesn't look interested in the fight. His mind is still thinking about the entrance exam. But then his eyes look to the other side of the ground. An old school cleaner is quietly cleaning fallen leaves with a broom. 

“ Ren! Come here” his friends call out from the crowd.

Ren shakes his head. 

“ Nahh….”

Instead he walks toward the cleaner side. When he reaches him, Ren bows head slightly.

“ May , can I help you?” Ren asked politely.

The cleaner looked up and smiled. “ Ah, thank you. Please put these leaves into the bin.”

Then Ren carefully puts the gathered leaves into the bin. Ren and the cleaner work quickly, gathering and throwing the leaves into the bin at double speed.

The cleaner says “ you have power too, I'm right?”

Ren pauses and looks at him in surprise. “ Huh? How do you know that?”

The cleaner smiled, “ Haaha… I can feel your psyche waves. That's how I know, you didn't sense?”

“No… I can't sense it yet. Maybe it's because I still don't have full control over my power .” Ren said.

The cleaner said, “ Ohh… you don't have much experience yet, huh? Then why don't you take admission in an academy?”

Ren looks down, his voice low and hesitant. “My mom and dad want me to take the JPW Academy entrance exam test. They say it's a great opportunity for me… but I don't have the confidence, and I don't want to leave my friends… my family. Many talented people come from all over the world to give exams. But I'm not talented or special.”

The cleaner looks at Ren and places a hand on his shoulder.

“ No one is born talented or special,” he says. “ Only hard work makes people special. Fear… fear is the greatest weakness of humankind, but — if you face it, no one can defeat you.

Just give yourself a one chance. Forget your parents… forget your friends… just once, try for yourself.”

The cleaner’s words ignite something inside Ren. A faint glow of confidence looked on his face.

“ Thank you … I'll try. I'll give it my all — 100 percent.”

Then, in the background, a loud boom sound comes from both students fighting with each other.

The cleaner calmly taps the ground with his broom. Instantly, both students fall to the ground and go into sudden sleep.

“ You think I'm just a normal cleaner ?” the cleaner says with a smile.

Ren looks surprised — but then the school bell rings, and lunch break is over. 

Ren goes back to his classroom and waves his hand.

“Bye - bye”

The cleaner smiled and returned to his work, sweeping the fallen leaves.

After school ends, Ren runs out of the school gate and goes toward home. When he finally reached his house gate, he stopped, took a deep breath, then opened the house door.

Then he steps inside his home.

Ren's mom and dad are in the living room watching T.V.

Ren opens the door and says. “ Mom,Dad… I decided. I'm going to Tokyo to give the entrance exam.”

Both of them looked at him in surprise for a moment — then they smiled.

His mom says. “ Ren, I believe in you”

“ I knew that you would choose the right decision,” his dad says with a confident smile. “ So I already booked your ticket in advance. Your train to Tokyo is tomorrow — pack your backpack.”

The next day arrived.

Ren sat at the train station with his mom and dad, waiting for the train. Then the bullet train arrived at the station.

Ren stood up and walked toward the bullet train.

Ren's mom suddenly called out, “ wait!”

His mom handed him a cake box. “ I made a cake for your grandpa. He loves sweets,” his mom said with a smile. “ We already talked on the phone. He said he'll be waiting for you outside the station.”

Then his mom gave another cake box into Ren's hand. “ This one is for your childhood friend. I heard from your grandpa that she's also giving the entrance exam — I hope both of you pass the entrance exam.”

A station announcement echoed.

“ Doors closing, please enter the train.”

Ren stepped into the train. The doors slid closed behind him, the train began to move. Through the door window, he saw his mom and dad waving.

Then Ren also raised his hand and waved back.

After that, Ren goes to his train seat, sits down, and watches the scenery through the window. 

This was the first step toward the future he chose for himself. A new journey had begun.