<Bright>

 

 

 

The fluorescent lights burnt particularly harshly today.

“What’s wrong with you?” (S)

“…Nothing.” (B)

Standing in the pure white room made of highly reflective material, Bright decided to hold his tongue.

A feat worthy of great acclaim.

After all, the excess energy pouring into his body wasn’t the only thing causing his body to jitter.

‘I can’t believe I didn’t notice?!’

Was there a pillow around to scream into?

From the food Hero Yuki, or should he say Chairwoman now? made, to the unfunny remarks Hero Sun gave about his friends. It was all laid bare for him to discover. They hadn’t even tried to hide it well. The identities of the mysterious funders of his orphanage were so easy to piece together, it almost looped back around to be funny, almost.

‘Goddamn it’

It was no wonder they were able to quickly clock and completely shut down his less than stellar hobbies. Bright had practically given them a guide. A perfect how-to on what to “fix” within him. All those years he spent at the orphanage venting to them were coming back to bite him.

His supposedly only two friends.

‘Ten years. A good decade…’

That’s about how long they’ve known each other. Bright arrived at the orphanage at about two to three years old. He couldn’t exactly be sure considering the whole orphan thing and how foggy his memories of that time were, but he was moderately confident. Knowing that, a new question was born.

Were they maybe, possibly, his biological parents?

The Chairman was the one that brought Bright to the orphanage.

Before they met, Bright was… well, he couldn’t really remember. Perhaps due to the youngness of his body, he hadn’t been fully conscious of what was happening around him. One of the earliest memories Bright has was standing outside the orphanage door. Holding the hand of the Chairman, Hero Sun apparent.

If that was the case, Bright really could be their child.

One of the many kids Heroes hid around the world.

The thought deeply disturbed Bright.

He shook his head immediately.

No, no, absolutely not! So what if Hero Sun took him to the orphanage? That didn’t mean anything. He had parents before meeting him. Sure, the memories were foggy, but he was certain it wasn’t them. Both of them had faces that were quite hard to forget.

“Hero Sun… What is your ability?” (B)

The hero, who was lazily stretching on the ground, peeked one eye open.

“What’s with the sudden interest?” (S)

“Just curious.” (B)

To ascertain further proof of their non-relatedness, a simple question like this would suffice. Abilities, much like hair colour and height, were strongly correlated with one’s genetics. But, unlike them, it wasn’t something common enough that confusion could arise. The best way to determine paternity or maternity was through a test. The second-best was abilities.

And no, just because Bright’s and Hero Sun’s abilities kind of, and a big kind of, looked the same, didn’t mean they were. A lot of differences could be found. For example, Bright couldn’t make constructions out of light in order to fight, nor could he move at what looked like lightspeed like Hero Sun. He had hard limits, and those were the noticeable differences.

Things like the potential source of his power haven’t been considered.

“Well, if I were to tell you, I would have to kill you.” (S)

Bright frowned at that lame response.

Getting a person to tell you details about their powers was admittedly hard. Bright himself hadn’t told a soul… except for the Chairman and Chairwoman. It was a very normal practice to keep the precise details of one’s abilities to themselves or a few trusted individuals, especially among heroes. When potential threats could exploit weaknesses of said ability, it was believed to be advantageous.

“Then could I ask you something else?” (B)

“Sure, why not?” (S)

“Are… Are you and Hero Yuki, like, a thing?” (B)

For the first time since meeting the guy, Bright watched Hero Sun’s calm smile disappear.

“I was just thinking… the workplace isn’t really for that sort of thing.” (B)

“You sure are feeling very talkative today, huh?” (S)

Hero Sun stood up.

“Let’s get to training.” (S)

“Wait, you didn’t answer my—” (B)

“For today, we’ll be focusing on your weapon technique.” (S)

 

No dice.

Sigh.

Looks like he will need to find such answers a little more discreetly.

“Okay, but… why weapon technique? I’m already pretty good.” (B)

A fact he should know well considering he had been supposedly mentoring him since his power awakened. Bright’s prowess with weapons was so good it bordered on the point of uncanny. He could master much of what he picked up in a matter of hours.

Ultimately though, it was a useless skill, at least for Bright. His core ability was powerful enough that having any form of weapons around was more of a liability than help, dead weight carried around. Even the best Hallowed armaments, soul-bound weapons commonly used for slaying, that had special abilities tied to them, failed to live up to Bright’s needs.

“Not to mention it’s not really useful to me.” (B)

Hero Sun raised an eyebrow at that statement before walking up to Bright.

“It’s quite funny you should say that.” (S)

His finger poked Bright’s forehead.

“The Caelalux family weapon technique is something only you can make useful. Currently, you are the only one fit and with the right to do so. It is quite the great honour.” (S)

Bright swatted the finger away and then scowled at Hero Sun.

He didn’t like the insinuation occurring right about now.

“Shouldn’t such an honour be reserved for family?” (B)

“Yep, precisely.” (S)

Hero Sun took a step back and raised his hands.

A small light flickered to life in them.

“In any case, the weapon technique I’m going to teach you isn’t what you think.” (S)

The light in Hero Sun's hand shimmered, fracturing into a kaleidoscope of geometric shapes that ceaselessly broke and reformed. The sudden dazzling, chaotic display was disorienting, and Bright felt his mind ache, struggling to comprehend the shifting patterns. Whether minutes or seconds passed was impossible to tell until, finally, the constructs collapsed back into the small, flickering singularity.

“You will be learning this.” (S)

Bright stared at Hero Sun.

What. A. Joke.

“I—I can’t do that! No way!” (B)

Ignoring the glaring issue of its complexity alone, how was that regarded as a weapon technique? No weapons were involved! It looked more like an application of Hero Sun’s ability alone. A thing that, while being artificially similar to Bright’s, was entirely different.

“How’s that even considered a weapon technique!? Where’s the weapon?!” (B)

Hero Sun smiled at Bright and, with an alluring laugh, stated—

“The light is the weapon.” (S)

‘Haa…’

Bright pinched the bridge of his nose.

This guy was clearly off his rockers.

“I… just can’t with you today.” (B)

Turning around, Bright started walking over to the exit.

Finding out the Hero Sun was the Chairman was already a heavy shock. A shock that killed his ever-low motivation to train. Adding to that shock by then requesting him to do the impossible was just too much. He was done for the day. Completely and entirely.

“I don’t need this.” (B)

There was also the fact that assuming Bright could do that, he didn’t have the need to.

His ability alone was already powerful enough.

He had no real desire to get much stronger.

“What a shame…. And here I was thinking we’d partake in some entertainment after all this.” (S)

Bright immediately stopped in his tracks.

Without turning around, he answered back.

“… A hero doesn’t have time for such childish entertainment.” (B)

“Childish? Did I mention that word?” (S)

The corners of Bright’s mouth started to lift.

‘No, wait. Calm down!’

A code he and the Chairman used to exchange had just been uttered. It appeared Hero Sun was giving up all pretences in favour of getting him to train seriously. In the far past, when Bright had just awakened and the Chairman was trying to convince him to become a hero, those words held a lot of weight. At the time, Bright was still more inclined to look for a family in order to live the desired life, leading to him never training seriously. So, in order to motivate, the Chairman would take him out on entertainment trips every time he put in effort.

It was a high-level secret. One that naturally arose from the fact that he was visiting casinos and the like.

Truthfully, it was hard to resist playing in person; there was just a higher adrenaline rush.

“A promise made—” (B)

“—is a promise kept.” (S)

Bright immediately turned around.

Look, mixed feelings aside, he had been starved for days now.

It was slowly becoming a matter of not “if”, but “when” he would snap.

“Wipe that dumb smile off your face.” (S)

“Yes, Sir Hero!” (B)