The next morning, Aleen was finishing his daily meditation when he heard a scream coming from the courtyard.

“Kyaaa!!!”

“Claire!?” 

Quickly, he stopped meditating and went running to the courtyard.

When Aleen reached there, half of it was on fire.

Claire was standing before the fire in a daze. Aleen pulled her away from the fire and asked in an angry tone.

“What happened!?”

Claire only looked at her hands without answering. Aleen tsked when he saw it and opened a water tap hurriedly to extinguish the fire.

Quickly, the fire was extinguished thanks to the water. Aleen sighed in relief and wiped a drop sweat from his forehead. He then turned towards Claire.

“Will you explain me now what happened?”

With an expression of doubt, Claire continued looking to her hands dazed. Aleen sighed when he saw it, but before he could ask again, the doorbell ringed.

Aleen frowned and went to the door only to find his neighbors there asking about what happened. Aleen quickly apologized and explained that nothing had happened; seeing that everything seemed alright, the neighbors suppressed their curiosity and returned while reminding to Aleen to be careful.

Aleen closed the door with a tired expression. He then returned to the courtyard and found that Claire finally exited her dazed state.

Walking towards her, Aleen put a serious expression. “Can you tell me what happened just now?”

Claire put an expression of doubt and looked to her hands again; then, she shook her head slightly. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t… I was training my mana normally on the courtyard when something touched me; then, my mana suddenly went out of control and the birds exploded creating the fire you saw just now.”

Aleen frowned when he heard it. “Your mana went out of control? Are you injured?”

“I’m fine, just a bit surprised.”

Aleen frown deepened when he heard it. No matter how you see it; it wasn’t normal to lose control of your mana without any reason.

Moreover, it was obvious that the power of the explosions was greater than what Claire showed yesterday.

“Do you feel something different? Maybe you awakened a skill?”

Claire thought for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t think so. I feel the same like before.”

Aleen sighed relieved when he heard it. Despite it, however, he could not shake the feeling that something could be wrong; so, after hesitating for a moment, he suggested something.

“Claire, what do you think about going to the mall another day? I think it’s better if we make sure that nothing is wrong.”

“Uh? No no, I’m alright, brother… That probably was just an accident. Don’t worry about it.” Shaking her head, she smiled thinly indicating that she was fine. “Besides, I want to go out with you today and buy something I saw on internet.”

Seeing his sister pleading expression, Aleen suppressed his worry and nodded after hesitating for a moment. “Very well, go and get dressed. I will take a bath quickly and then we leave.”

Claire nodded happily and ran up to her room to get dressed. Aleen smiled when he saw it and went to take a bath.

A few minutes later, the pair of siblings departed to visit the mall.

The mall that the siblings were going was called Westfield, a relatively popular one. Aleen thought about going to one closer to their home, but Claire refused; apparently, she learned that a store was selling a limited-edition royal teddy bear and wanted to buy it.

Aleen relented after Claire insisted for a while, so, without wasting more time, they took a cab to the mall.

It took the cab around fifteen minutes to reach the mall, and it was already nine in the morning when they finally arrived. Claire excitedly grabbed Aleen's arm and pulled him towards the store where the teddy bear was being sold.

Aleen could only shake his head helplessly with a smile when he saw his sister’s excitement. 

Unfortunately, his smile only lasted until they reached the store.

Because once there, they saw a waiting line at least fifty meters long. 

Aleen expression turned bitter when he thought about waiting all that time only to buy a teddy bear.

‘Are teddy bears so popular?’ Aleen said to himself seeing the long line of girls waiting to buy the limited-edition toy.

In the end, he could only look while his sister dragged him towards the line.

 

 

At the same time, some streets away from the mall, two men were in a car observing a jewelry store across the street.

“Are you sure about this?” One of them asked with a nervous expression.

“Don’t worry, I confirmed that they are doing maintenance to the security system today, so they are unable to activate the alarm. We only need to enter, grab the jewels, and escape before the police come. Easy peasy.”

“I don’t know, I have a bad feeling about it…”

“What are you scared for? Are you not my brother? It’s not the first time we do something like this anyway.”

“... I guess so.”

“Very well, get ready then.”

“Mm.”

 

 

On another street near the shopping mall, a silver-haired girl was walking through the streets with a silver cat in her arms.

The girl’s clothes were a bit tattered, but they seemed pretty clean. She was going around the stores asking if there was something that she could do to work.

Unfortunately, nobody paid attention to her; and the few who did, only furrowed their brows and gestured her to leave.

“What are we going to do, Lily?” The girl said to the silver cat on her arms depressed. “I don’t want to steal again…”

“Meow? Meow!” The silver cat meowed while it licked its paw.

“It’s all your fault! I told you yesterday to eat less, but you ignored me and finished all the food when I was sleeping!”

“Meow?”

“Haa… It doesn’t matter.” With a tired sigh, the silver-haired girl continued walking and arrived near the mall. Once there, she looked towards a store selling crepes and gulped slightly before putting a resolute expression. 

“One day, I will buy every kind of crepe and eat them all!”

“Meow? Meow!”

“Yes yes, you too…”

With a small smile, the girl continued observing.