To say he had seen it from a hundred miles would be an understatement. He knew how bullies thought. But maybe, just maybe, he could trick this one.

Akira was being a bit too eager. Jackson always let Luke cooking before forcing him to make a stupid decision. He said sweet words and showed his promises were "legit" with small gestures. It was a psychological game.

She, however, was telling him straight what she wanted: to beat him under the pretense of a duel.

That was strange, as she had behaved very cool-headedly against Jackson in school. Then again, she had left school with bodyguards. Maybe she was all talk and no bite, just a wannabe bully who was learning the hopes by kicking the already beaten dog of the school.

Whatever the case, he had a chance here.

"Release my grandfather first," Luke insisted. "I'll do whatever you want."

She looked at him in another long silence before shaking his head yet again and standing up. She took the cane. "Come," she ordered.

He smiled sadly. He had failed. She would now take him to take a beating somewhere, and he would need to talk to his grandfather while bruised. It sucked that he still had to listen to her out of fear of she looking for him even after leaving school, but such was the life of someone like him.

To his surprise, he didn't bring her to some secluded place, but to the front door. She stayed in front of Mr. Akira and bowed slightly while extending his cane toward him with both hands. "We don't fit together, elder."

Mr. Akira nodded to his niece and took the cane, then made a show of standing up using it. "Arthur, it seems your grandson won't get along with my niece after all," he said to Luke's grandad. The words made it clear that both men had been waiting for Luke and Sakura to talk to each other. "I'll talk to the school board, you don't have to worry about it. As I told you before, I'm confident it must have been a miscommunication that made them say they would only give a charity scholarship to someone living in this neighborhood. If you had told me this before..." He shook his head sadly. "I'll tell my men to bring your things to the address you gave me."

Did Luke get that right? Was Mr. Akira letting them go live somewhere cheaper and guaranteeing Luke would keep in the charity scholarship program? Did the school lie before, or would he lobby to change its rules?

Either way, that wouldn't matter. He had to get his grandad away from Jackson's reach, which meant leaving school. Luke had fought back. If he stayed there, he would be an eyesore for Jackson and keep drawing the bully's ire.

His grandad stood up with some difficulty. "Thank you, Isao."

Akira Sakura suddenly tensed. Luke didn't know why, but she seemed ready to get into a fight. However, nothing happened, except for Mr. Akira giving Luke's grandad his hand to shake.

"There's your cab," Mr. Akira said. "Don't try to pay him, I already did."

Luke's grandad shook his head. "I told you... not to..."

Mr. Akira waved his hand. "Don't mention it. Niece, help Arthur to the cab." Sakura stepped up immediately to obey, the very image of a caring girl. "Mr. Kells, could I have a word with you?"

The boy nodded. The Japanese man waited until his grandad was halfway through to the cab before saying anything, but when he did, he dropped a bomb.

"Your grandfather has cancer," he said with a heavy tone. "He made me promise not to tell you, but his days are numbered. He has refused my offer to pay for good doctors over and over again, but he did make me promise I would care for you. That's the reason I called Akira Sakura over to being with."

Luke didn't even...

What...

How...

He couldn't even begin to imagine how to react to that.

His grandad had cancer?

His days were numbered?!

"My niece was supposed to be a face of your age in this old, empty home of mine, and she was schedule to come next year," Mr. Akira continued. "However, special circumstances anticipated her arrival. The same circumstances also made her overaggressive and, from what she told me, caused you to become suspicious of her. I understand your worries, but the reason I'm telling you all this is to say we're your friends. She might have burned this bridge for good, but if you ever need anything, know that I'll help. Not for you, but for my care for Arthur." He made a short pause. "I also hope you'll find a way to save my good friend, maybe even convince him to accept my help, even if he'll never forgive me for this betrayal. It's not fair to put a child like you in this situation, but I find myself desperate." His eyes were teary, but he just tapped his wooden cane on the ground. "Go."

And Luke just...

...went.

What could he say, really? What could he do? He just went toward the cab in absolute shock, his mind repeating the same thing over and over again.

"Your grandfather has cancer."

 

---

 

Luke had no recollection of getting into the cab or the ride to his new home. He had no idea where it was. When he came back to himself, he was sitting on his mattress in a tiny room with a brown wallpaper half peeled off.

"Luke, my boy, what's wrong?" his grandad asked, sitting in his armchair beside Luke's bed.

The boy had the feeling this wasn't the first time the old man asked that since they had arrived, but it was the first time he heard it. "You have cancer," he said, still not believing what he had heard. "You're dying."

His grandpa didn't reply.

"I'm so stupid. It's so obvious. You can barely walk, you tire after talking for a few minutes, your can't taste food, your sight sucks. My nose is bandaged, for fuck's sake, and you said nothing. I should have know." At last, tears came to his eyes. "I should have fucking known!"

"Son..." his grandad started, but Luke interrupted him.

"How long?" he demanded. "For how long have you know?"

His grandad sighed and asked instead of replying, "Did Isao tell you?"

"Damn right, he fucking told me, and too late at that!" Luke finally exploded. Everything he had been bottling up for the last two years... No, everything building inside him ever since his parents death five years ago, finally exploded. "How fucking long?!" He yelled.

"Almost four years," Arthur replied with his usual difficulty.

"Four..." Luke felt breathless in disbelief. "Four fucking years. Four fucking years and you said nothing, and I realized nothing. Fuck, I'm so stupid. So fucking stupid. And you!" He stood up. The room could hold nothing more than what it already had, the straw mattress, armchair, TV, and bag with their clothes. Still, Luke found a way to pace in front of his grandad's armchair. "You asshole! You fucking asshole! Do you have any idea what I've been going through this past two years? And do you know why? Because I wanted to make mom proud of me! Because I wanted to make you proud of me! How the fuck am I going to do that if you're fucking dead?!" He stopped and pointed at his grandad. "I was beaten every other day to make your sacrifice worth it! But if you're not there, it's not worth it, damn it!"

After a pause, his grandad asked with both a tired voice and face. "Are you... done?"

Luke immediately felt bad about his tirade. His grandad was dying and he was yelling at the man? The old man had withstood cancer in silence for four years and he was spitting on that sacrifice like that?

He lowered his head, the fury immediately replaced with shame and overwhelming sadness. Rears freely rolled from his eyes.

"I didn't know... about your suffering. Looks like... keeping secrets... runs on the family."

His words felt like a slap on Luke's face. Indeed, what right did he have to blame the man for keeping secrets when he himself had been keeping his own?

But Luke wouldn't say he was sorry. Not yet. Their secrets were of completely different dimensions.

"When I'm gone... I want you... to live with Isao."

Luke couldn't believe what he was hearing. "That's it? You keep your imminent death a secret from me and I'm supposed to just pretend nothing happened?"

"Son, I'm old... already. When I found it... the doctors said... I could live five to ten... more years if I got a treatment. That was before... Isao and I became friends... and he could offer... to pay for it. I had to decide—" He stopped talking and got into a cough fit. He always did when he talked for too long. When he was done, he took deep breathes before continuing. "I had to decide... between giving you a good education... invest on your future... for when I was gone... or destroying your future... to live just a few years more. I chose you... and I don't regret it." He made another long pause. "After I became friends... with Isao... it was already too late. I didn't want... you to feel... indebted to him... for my treatment. I'm not... sorry."

He was breathing hoarsely by then. Luke went to look for water to give the man, only to find out the apartment had no kitchen.

"Where's the water and food?" he asked.

"You'll have to buy.... a big bottle... downstairs. The cups are... in the bag."

Luke couldn't stop crying now. "Grandad, no. No. No! No, we can't do this. We can't. You're dying. How long..." He started sobbing, and took a while to calm enough to ask, "How long do you have?"

"One month... or less."

"You can't stay your last month in this shit hole. You just can't. Let's accept Mr. Akira's help, please. I beg you. I don't want to lose you in this place. Please." He fell to his knees before his grandad. "Please, grandpa. I beg you."

He couldn't care less about Akira Sakura. He would withstand her bullying for one month for his grandfather's sake.

The old man shook his head slowly and patted Luke's head. "What need... is there to beg?" He coughed for a while. "Didn't I already... want to live there? You're the one... who decided you couldn't... live with his niece. She'll be gone... in a couple months. I asked him... to send her away... for you. When I die... go live with him."

"My relationship with his niece is not important when you're dying!" Luke yelled mid-cry. "You should've told me! You had to!"

"Not this... again."

Luke hid his face in his grandpa's legs and just cried his heart out. He would lose him. He would lose the last person he had in the world, and there was nothing he could do about it. For a long time, he just cried while the old man's thin, long fingers stoke his hair.

But then, he felt something. He felt waves of heat were coming from his phoenix heart. That made him realize he had been wrong.

He could do something about it.

He wasn't as powerless as he thought.

He just had to build and develop his mana channels, and he would be able to save his grandad with healing spells. One month was too little, but if he had two or three, he could do it. If only his grandad's life expectancy could increase a little...

The obvious answer came to him at once: Mr. Akira.

Luke had to sell his soul to the old man and his niece. He had to become her plaything, get bullied by her on a daily basis until he could cure his grandad. But it would be worth it. By staying with the Akiras, his grandad would be safe from Jackson and could heal. As long as Akira Sakura didn’t outright kill Luke before he finished treating his grandpa, things would be alright.

With newfound determination, he stood up at once and dried his face. "Grandad, listen to me. I want you to do one last thing for me. Just one. Can you do it?"

"What... is it?"

"Call Mr. Akira, grandad. Tell him I changed my mind and want us to live there. Tell him to call someone to bring us there today, and to get the best doctors to prolong your life as much as possible. Do this for me, and I promise you, I will do whatever you want. Whatever you want, no matter what it is. But you must do this for me, okay? Can you do that?"

They started at each other for a while, but in the end, Arthur sighed and nodded. "Bring me... the phone. It's in the bag." They had an old smartphone for emergencies and situations just like this.

Luke smiled wide.

He would save his grandad.