The Past

[ ARC  1 - DAWN OF LOVE ] 

Sitting on his cybernetic wheelchair controlled by his thoughts via his neurons, Otsuka had lost himself in his thoughts thinking about his deeds of the past.

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DATE: 22.06.2044

LOCATION: Project Connection Research School, PLANET EARTH

Six years before the incident.

Otsuka with a group of four boys walked out of his academy's boring theory class to the training grounds to show off his combat abilities in front of other students.

Otsuka had not yet awakened as he had yet to be evaluated, which type of 𝐁𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐀 (Superhuman Ability) resided in his body.

The 𝐁𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐀 were explained to be either the three cell types or the combination of them: Atomize, Morph, Mutate.

Atomize ability cells can let the user change or control the structure of the atoms to their awakened element at their whim. These ability cells were the strongest as the user could change his/her body or the atom structure to their awakened element.

Morph ability cells let the user change properties of their bodies or structures. If the user had awakened with the ability cells of an Atertec Armadrillo then they can solidify and harden their body to certain extremes based on their power and expertise.

Mutate ability cells could mutate the atoms letting the user transform them into the beast they acquired the cells from fully or partially. If the user had awakened from the cells from the Elven Yeti then the user could change his body structure or transform into one fully or partially.

An Atomize BC ability user could control or change atoms to his awakened element at his wish, but controlling atoms was hard, as it needed expertise, skill and hard work.

If the user had not double awakened his 𝐁𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐀, he can't be called a 𝐘𝐎𝐆𝐈𝐍 (an ability user). After you double awakened, your ability cells were later divided into power levels or ranks basing on their destructiveness and your expertise.

After reaching the training grounds with the four other boys, Otsuka had started training against the robots used for practical combat. He was thrashing the bots as they were at a low-level setting with his skills wanting to impress all the other students. His combative skills were great and he was considered good among his age group.

The four others were his childhood friends who used to be around him every time, Otsuka was the youngest of all. And Regi, a blonde was the oldest of them. He was the funniest and the class clown who loved making everyone laugh.

Owaye was the second eldest of the bunch and could be described as adventurous and free-spirited who loved making new friends.

Bynum, the rap nerd who was the kindest of the five and Hazza, the lovesick always thinking about his girl.

And lastly Otsuka, an attention-seeker and a curious fella who loved to do everything in his own unique ways.

This distinctive group were friends from kindergarten and were always together.

Regi yawned and said to Otsuka, "I am feeling hungry, Suka. Finish your show off quickly so that we can head out to eat something."

Otsuka replied, "Yeah, I am finished. Let's head out. Owaye, please buy for me today, I promise to return you the money back."

To which Owaye replied annoyingly, "You Liar! You always lie about returning the money, I am not gonna buy you anything."

Bynum intervened and voiced, "Here's a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note. Don't worry, be happy. In every life, we have some trouble. But when you worry you make it double"

Hazza pronounced to Bynum, "Can you please stop that bullsh*t, it's making me cringe."

After their little arguments, the four went to a student mart of their academy and bought something to eat. While eating, Otsuka noticed a group of three girls who looked the same age around them and said to Hazza, "Oi Haz, Isn't that your girlfriend and who's the other girl?" pointing towards a fair-skinned captivating figure with put together features which would make everyone fall for her.

Hazza replied while munching beast jerky, "That's the new transfer student, she's from Planet Ckylops. "

Regi voiced, "Most of the demi-humans reside in Ckylops. She looks to be a half-elf and half-human. "

Otsuka replied, "No wonder, she looked so beautiful. Hazza, can you ask Wera to introduce me to her? "

Hazza replied, "Sure, whatever. And I think her name was something, Lish- Lisha? Yeah, I think Lisha."

Otsuka had completely fallen head over heels for Lisha. It was love at first sight, not him 'simping' though. After confessing that he liked her, Otsuka left his friends to depart for his house.

On his way home, two boys who were rather taller than their age confronted Otsuka.

Otsuka thinking that they wanted a fight, inured himself.

A boy who understood Otsuka's intentions said, "Oh, we are not here for a fight, friend. We just wanted to talk about something."

Otsuka lowered his stance but was still unsure about the weird strangers and replied, "I don't think we have met before to be called friends. State your reason for confronting me."

Another boy who was wearing a cap replied seeing Suka's hostility, "Chill dude, we saw you training at the rounds earlier and were really astonished by your combat ability. We just wanted to know where you learned it from."

Otsuka thinking that these were his new fans replied, "Oh, so you saw me there. My combat abilities are cool, aren't they? Well, I can't say where I learned them from but I could teach you a thing or two."

Seeing Otsuka changing his tone so quickly, the two boys who looked a year older than him joyously replied, "Man, you are so cool. Thanks, can we meet at the public training grounds tomorrow?"

Otsuka replied, "Yeah sure and what should I call you both?"

The boy who wore a cap replied, "Oops, forgot to introduce myself. I am Merf and he's Fin" pointing towards the other guy who looked absolutely elegant and handsome like a prince.

Otsuka after staring at Fin with a hint of jealousy for having the elegant looks said, "Then let's meet tomorrow Merf, Fin."

The two boys then bid farewell to Otsuka.

The other day, all of his friends were waiting in front of his house to pick him up on their way to the academy.

Regi getting impatient after waiting for an hour asked, "He usually doesn't take this long. Owaye, did he inform anyone that he isn't coming today?"

Owaye replied, "I don't think he said anything about not coming."

His friends were confused and decided to knock on the door and ask about him.

After knocking on the door, a woman who looked around 30 opened the door and said, "Good morning children, were you waiting for Suka?"

The boys replied, "Good morning Miss Sophia, we were waiting for Otsuka."

The woman replied, "But he left with two of his new friends a while ago"

All of them thinking that it was strange for Otsuka to be making new friends said, "Thanks, we'll be leaving then." and went to the academy.

.....

After completing all of his theory classes, Otsuka didn't go to the training grounds and instead went to meet his new friends at their stated place.

Merf seeing Otsuka at the public grounds happily yelled, "Hey Otsuka! How are you? Let's get inside and find a place to train."

Otsuka replied, "Hey Merf, Fin! I am fine, how are you guys."

Fin voiced, "We are doing good, thanks for asking. Let's go to the grounds quick or else we have to wait longer"

Merf went on, "Yeah, let's get going"

The three of them reached the training ground, there was an unusual crowd gathered waiting for someone. There were even news reporters and men wearing black suits, foreshadowing the importance of the person arriving.

Thereupon, an aircraft that was too rare to be seen appeared. Out of it, a tall red-haired man wearing an exquisite dress came out.

Upon his arrival, the crowd started applauding. This confused Otsuka as to who the red-haired man was, making him ask Merf.

Merf whispered, "He is a 𝐘𝐎𝐆𝐈𝐍, a famous one at that. He is known as The Blazing Carnage because he burns his enemies into charcoal."

Otsuka gasped at Merf's words. To believe such a man would visit this place, he was a bit curious as to why.

Fin intervened, "I think we can't practice now."

Otsuka and Merf both sighed, "Yeah."

As the three of them were walking back, Otsuka noticed a familiar face. He stopped by making both of his new pals stop too, he noticed the familiar face and it was Lisha. Merf and Fin both noticed Otsuka's gazes towards the girl and hypothesized that he was clearly simping.

Fin seeing his friend's needful eyes teased, "Nice choice Suka, didn't know you liked these type of girls. Want her DIGID?" ---- [1]

Otsuka diverged Fin's 'compliments' by replying, "How do you have her DIGID? Do you know her?"

Fin smirked at his questions, "That doesn't matter friend, do you need it or not?"

Otsuka depicted his interest by responding, "W-Well, If you wanna share it with me then it is okay."

Both Merf and Fin laughed at their friend's embarrassing tone, making him blush.

Later that day before returning home, Fin shared Lisha's DIGID with Otsuka making their day memorable.

......

TIME: 08:35 PM

Otsuka returned home that evening, had dinner and was lying on his bed connecting to DIGID. He logged into his DIGID and searched for Lisha's and sent her a request.

[ Your request has been sent to the user, please wait for acceptance. ]

[ Your request has been accepted by the user, PrettyGirl_Lish ]

Seeing that the request was accepted made Otsuka happy, he impatiently messaged,

"Hi, Are you Lisha?"

[ Notification! Message from PrettyGirl_Lish ]

"Yes, Who are you? Have we met before?"

seeing the reply, Otsuka messaged,

"I am Wera's boyfriend's friend, I saw you yesterday at the grounds. You are pretty"

{WHAT: author screaming internally}

Lisha seeing an unexpected compliment, replied,

"Oh, Thanks! Well uhm what should I call you, I mean your name."

Otsuka embarrassed at forgetting to share his name replied,

"I am Otsuka Ilamrinen, you can call me Suka. Nice to meet you!"

Lisha wondered seeing a familiar name responded,

"Nice to meet you too!"

This puppy talk between the kids went on for an hour after both of them said their goodbyes.

Otsuka was happy as if he had obtained a five-star character in a certain RPG game.

This was the starting of young love for Otsuka, his naivety foreshadowed that he was head over heels for the girl.

.....

Let's see how it changes him for the better or the worst.

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[1] - DIGID is a platform that connects people from all over the universe. A place where people share numerous things. Just like how the previous social media used to work.