Alex took a cab and quickly arrived at the middle school he once attended. Luckily for him, he made it in time to hear the school bell go off for closing. He stood by the entrance he and his little brother used when they went to school together.
Sometime later, he noticed Aaron make his way outside. He quickly approached him to surprise him. Appearing behind him, he placed both hands over his brother's eyes, but to his astonishment, Aaron quickly guessed who it was.
"Big brother, I know it's you." He said, not bothering to take Alex's hands off. With no other choice, he removed his hands.
Aaron turned around with a victorious grin on his face. "How did you know?"
"Mom and Dad mentioned you'd be returning today. So, I was kind of expecting you here." He finished.
"I'm that predictable?" He wondered, staring at his brother. He was now taller than he remembered, almost as tall as he was when he was a year ago.
'They grow up so fast.' His thought with a bit of pride.
"When it comes to family, pretty much." He took a bit of damage when Aaron mentioned that.
"Fine, let's get out of here." He suggested, guiding him away from the entrance. There was a crowd forming around the entrance. And it looked like he was the reason.
It had only been a year since he left, and it was kind of hard to forget the local school celebrity. And the fact that his stature made him stand out didn't help either.
Alex and Aaron walked a bit into town instead of getting a cab to return home. He decided to spend a bit of time hanging out with his little brother. But more than that, he wanted to find out something…
If Aaron was also being followed around like Olivia was. They made their way through the busy streets and ended at a familiar place, the arcade.
He and his brother had spent quite some time here when they attended school together. Sometimes, over the weekends, Ross would join them, and they would enjoy all sorts of games. It had various games and modes of paying.
The most expensive set was using the VR headsets, they cost quite a bit due to their popularity and immersive nature, mimicking almost all of their senses. It also came with the added benefit of a secure room for protection and privacy during immersion.
Alex secured one room with two VR headsets and guided Aaron along. Once inside, he proposed, "Go ahead and start without me. I need to talk with the manager for a bit. And once I'm back, I'll show you some cool moves." He said with a smug smile.
Of course, Aaron was no longer as young as he used to be. But he trusted his brother completely and had no doubt about his suggestion.
"Alright! I bet your fighting style has changed too." He exclaimed. Alex helped him put the headset on and watched as Aaron immersed himself.
His demeanour quickly took a serious turn as he made his way out of the room. He took the keycard and locked the room before descending.
Maybe it was because his sister mentioned being stalked, but since he stepped out of the house, he made sure to pay attention to his surroundings. And to no one's surprise, he noticed odd movements he wouldn't have noticed before.
He reached the ground floor, ensuring to stay out of sight and made his way to the back entrance. He had already spotted his target and only needed to confront him. Of course, he wouldn't underestimate the person.
...…
"Another day of nothing to report. But it's nice to see the boy back from school." A normal human who appeared to be in his late twenties sat on the bench right opposite the arcade. His mission was simple; keep an eye on the boy, Aaron Gray.
More than half a year ago, someone approached their boss for a simple job. As failures of hunters, they only did small jobs for people who needed their service.
However, this person gave them a simple job of just keeping watch of the Gray family and protecting them from the media and others who wanted to get close to them after their son, Alexander became famous for surviving a cosmic mana wave.
Initially, their boss put a lot of them on the task as people wanted to get close to the family for whatever reason, especially the media. They had done a good job since. But as the boy himself kept a low profile and the noise died down, no one really bothered the family again.
Due to that, their boss had called most of them back leaving just a few to shadow the youngest child and their parents.
The man sat there staring at the wonder that was their city and keeping an eye on the arcade building.
Suddenly, he noticed someone take a seat on the bench he was sitting on. He didn't really pay attention to the person, but then the said person's hand reached his side, and he felt a sharp object piercing his side.
"Don't move," came the voice of the person. He instantly froze, quickly side-eyeing the person.
'Alexander!'
"You already know why I'm here, so let's cut to the chase." He said, pretending to enjoy the view of the city and the people who went about their day. However, the pen-sized needle he covertly conjured with his light ability pressed firmly to the side of the man said otherwise.
"Who are you and what do you want with my brother?" He muttered with an underlying deadly tone. His voice sent shivers down the man's spine, making him swallow nervously. He also tried his best not to show his rising fear.
'Fuck, what do Isay?! Just telling him I was assigned to protect his brother won't be enough to convince him.' His thoughts raced quickly to come up with a good response. He was only a Class E hunter and at the lower strata in his organization.
After not coming up with anything concrete, he decidedly to tell the truth.
"We were hired to protect your family?"
"We?" Alex echoed and the man nodded.