<Bright>

 

 

 

“—And to think she was just wandering around!”

“I know! It’s quite unbelievable, Merry. It’s not every day you get to see your favourite hero in the wild!”

Merry let out a soft laugh as the TV behind her started playing the video once more.

“Indeed, Jeff.”

In the video, a massive crowd chased after a blonde blur.

“It makes you wonder what she was up to.”

The two reporters went on a back-and-forth theorising ideas before finally running out of time.

…They were having a bit too much fun with it.

“So, as we close out, I want to urge any super fans to be on the lookout.”

A photo of Bright in disguise was plastered on screen.

“Yes, you never know who might be close by.”

The broadcast ended.

It was so over.

“…Can you please turn that off?” (B)

Slumping in the backseat, Bright held his head in his hands. It was no longer a question of if they would find out but when. That stupid dog had got him caught. And, to make matters worse, he hadn’t even gotten the very thing that brought him there.

All that trouble for nothing.

“Young Miss, please understand the type of presence you command.”

The lethargic soldier, who let the car’s TV play, chimed in unnecessarily.

There was no reason to rub that much salt in the wound.

“Yeah, yeah.” (B)

Bright honestly hadn’t expected things to get that bad. Getting caught out in public wasn’t new, but the reaction Bright received today was. Never has he ever been chased like that, even when caught in big public spaces before. In the past, people would give a mostly casual and polite greeting before leaving him be. He didn’t become breaking news.

‘…Don’t those people have anything better to do?’

From the looks of it, apparently not.

“People could’ve gotten hurt. It was a very dangerous situation.”

Bright sank a little deeper into his seat as the weight on his head stirred. He wasn’t in the mood for a lecture—Hero Yuki will no doubt take care of that, but it was hard to ignore what the soldier was saying. This little incident could’ve gotten out of hand real bad. If Bright hadn’t disappeared as fast as he did and people continued to crowd around, there was no telling how many would’ve gotten hurt. His carefully crafted reputation would’ve been destroyed.

…And people could’ve gotten hurt.

‘Still…!’

There was something inherently unfair about this.

The only reason Bright came out today was because his sole entertainments were stolen from him!

“I just wanted a dumb phone.” (B)

The words of protest came out mumbled.

The soldier lethargic sighed.

“If it’s a phone you wanted, that’s fine, but you could’ve sent us. Please, let us assist you.”

Bright couldn’t/didn’t want to explain why he couldn’t send them.

That would be plain embarrassing.

Instead, he stared out the window.

Letting his mind wander.

…Maybe doing those chores could lighten the scolding?

 

 

“Why do I have to do this?” (B)

Dragging out the cleaning supplies from the closet, Bright couldn’t help but complain out loud.

“You’re telling me the two richest people in the world couldn’t afford to hire a cleaning company?” (B)

Slamming the door shut with a kick, he began walking over to the dining table. A cleaning company wouldn’t even be necessary with all the money they have. They could definitely afford to purchase those high-end bots to do all menial work. Scrubbing toilets, cleaning dishes and mopping floors would be a cakewalk for those bots.

Setting down the supplies, Bright decided to read the entire chore list, having only vaguely skimmed it before.

It was very typical.

“Ugh….” (B)

At the end of the list, an arrow pointed to the side.

Instructions were laid next to them.

Flip me around :)

Bright did as told.

Go to the third floor when complete

“Third floor?” (B)

Since when?

Sighing as he pocketed the list, Bright decided to ignore it for now.

There were no instructions specifically telling him how to get to the supposed floor anyway.

He took a deep breath.

Energy started flowing through his entire body.

30 minutes was all he needed to spruce up this place.

It would be done in no time.

 

 

It was late evening when the boredom really started to set in.

After cleaning the house, preparing lunch for him and the dog, and putting all supplies away, Bright was left with nothing to do. All his chores were done, but he still had plenty of time to spare. Time he spent just lazily lounging on the couch with the pup on his stomach.

Throwing the pillow in hand repeatedly up and down, Bright blankly gazed at the high ceiling.

‘Perhaps I should’ve taken my time cleaning….’

At least then he would have something to do.

The situation was increasingly becoming dire.

He was seriously starting to consider reading those books to pass time.

Sitting up, Bright decided to look for a way to the third floor once more. His previous searches proved futile, but if he was considering reading those books, he had nothing to lose by checking once more. Slowly walking around the house, Bright searched for a set of stairs that could take him up further.

The tour of the penthouse, despite Bright deliberately walking slowly, didn’t last long. The main reason being, while big and spacious, the house had few rooms. Minus the bathroom upstairs, there existed only two rooms on the second floor. Bright’s own and what he assumed to be Sun’s. Downstairs wasn’t any better, with it being completely open concept. It was just one big room with a random piano sitting in the corner.

Finding nothing again, Bright stopped in front of Sun’s room.

He had checked everywhere but here.

‘It’s not like he didn’t say I couldn’t enter it’

The decision not to try entering, though, had been primarily influenced by the realities of today.

Getting in double trouble didn’t sound the least bit fun.

‘This is different; he can’t put in trouble. He told me to go to the third floor without proper instruction… If anything, it’s entirely his fault’

Grabbing the door handle, Bright prepared to open it.

‘Why am I even worried? It’s probably locked—’

The door handle turned.

Okay.

Okaaay.

Leaving the door open was practically an invitation to enter, no?

Bright ripped the door open.

Instantly, he was blinded.

 

 

Bright’s body was on fire.

Slamming the door shut, he instantly collapsed on the ground.

His body twitching and quivering like mad.

‘W-Why so much light!?’

Expelling all the excess energy, Bright’s body began to glow incessantly. A couple of seconds passed like this with Bright lying on the ground glowing until he no longer felt the need to expel his insides. Mustering up the will to stand, he glared at the closed door.

Was that supposed to be a defence measure put in place to stop Bright?

Licking his lips, Bright turned around.

It won’t stop him.

 

 

Switching off the lights, Bright threw off the extra layer of clothes he wore.

That was truly a first for him. Never ever had he absorbed so much energy in one go as to completely cripple him. The passive mechanism of his power had bitten him in quite the unique way. Even now, after expelling so much light, he still felt his body quiver as he walked.

‘To use such knowledge for evil’

The only people who knew exactly how Bright’s ability worked were those two.

They were the only ones who could set such a devious trap.

Bright smiled.

If they were to go through all that trouble, that means something interesting must be here. Something that could potentially pass chunks of time.

Bright surveyed the pure white room.

It was massive. At least three times bigger than Bright’s own, which was not small by any measure. It was a big, beautiful room, yet it was clearly missing a key factor to tie it all together. One glance was enough to spot what was wrong. Empty. The room was empty. Besides the bed and nightstand, the only other furniture of note, if one were to call them that, were massive bookshelves built into the walls. All filled with countless books.

The room was oddly sterile for someone with the disposition of Hero Sun.

Walking over to the nightstand, Bright inspected the one picture frame situated on it.

He recognised it almost immediately.

In it, a young girl was sat on a merry-go-round, wearing a massive frown while crossing her hands.

The young girl was Bright, of course.

Lifting the picture, Bright mirrored the frown worn. He still remembered that terrible day. After being excluded… After choosing not to hang out with the other kids, he had aimlessly wandered around during the entire event without ever hopping on a ride. It felt weird to go on a ride alone, so he didn’t. The free event was a rare treat for the orphans to make friends outside their narrow bubble. A task Bright didn’t care about being a mature adult and all.

So… he sat alone near the entrance and waited to head back. It was then the Chairman, a.k.a. Hero Sun, spotted him, spoke with him, and then promised Bright to play with him any game of his choosing. Bright asked for a game of slots, was ignored, then forced to climb on the dumb horse in the name of having fun.

Placing the picture down, Bright went around inspecting the room for anything interesting.

The past should remain in the past.

After some time of snooping around the admittedly bare room, Bright’s desire to leave started to grow.

There just wasn’t anything in here that was interesting.

Walking up to the bookshelves one last time, he started to pull on books.

Maybe there was some kind of secret passage around?

A few books later, Bright got bored.

‘Crap’

In his carelessness, he dropped one book.

The book hit the ground and then burst open, spilling a bunch of photos.

‘…An album?’

A bit retro considering the times, but really, who cares?

Collecting up the photos, Bright was quick to realise a lot of them featured him. A good sum of them were taken when he was back at the orphanage. Picking up one in particular, he stared at it. It featured him at the government-provided ability users' accommodations rooftop, staring out at nothing. Given how Bright looked in it, it couldn’t have been taken more than a couple of months ago.

‘This is creepy on another level….’

 A common trait all of them shared was weird angles.

It was as though someone was hiding while taking them.

A suspicion that wouldn’t surprise Bright considering he doesn’t remember ever posing for these photos.

Skimming through the album back to front, he came to realise there were tonnes of photos of him. All through the ages. Reaching halfway through the album, all the photos suddenly stopped. Blank pages greeted Bright.

‘Is that all of them?’

It was quite obvious why they stopped.

‘It’s a hard knock life, huh?’

With a sigh, Bright decided to finish skimming the book.

He flipped over to the last page.

‘Ah?’

A damaged photo was prominently displayed.

Though burnt and cut, Bright recognised the two familiar smiling faces.

Faces he had only but a vague memory of.

Bright ran his fingers under the text written below the photo.

Congratulations!!