Paradox Saga: Rising Sun

Landing Spiderman-Style Really Hurts So Much

If you ever wanted to fly with superhumans, remember to:

a) Have a look on the Internet on how your house looks like on an aerial view

b) Maintain a close distance from your companions

c) Prepare a parachute in case your former sister forgets you have to be near her in order to fly

To put it simply, do not try to fly with Figures. As the girls were getting farther, I accepted the fact that I'm going to be on kitchen duty after dinner this evening. Looking at the clouds as I sped by made me sleepy - almost like the clouds were giant fluffy pillows floating in the air. The skyscrapers below looked like top blocks from up here. Flying really made me feel good, I don't know, maybe because I had a dream like this once or perhaps, flying is a good way to get alone - which I do a lot. 

I would've had a good time admiring the view when I suddenly started to lower down - like I was an airplane almost empty of gas. I remembered what Nami said earlier: You won't fall down as long as you're near me. Obviously, she's too far away from me.

I sped along the way and tried not to fall down - without success. I remembered the stuff that skydivers on TV do. I put my hands on my sides and straightened my body. It was a success. My speed was increasing but also along with the decreasing of my distance to the ground. The hard thing was I didn't know what my house looks like from above here or even how the road looks like when you're flying. And again, it was my first time flying. I just followed the familiar buildings and stores on the way home. Nami was probably not that far as I seemed to glide slower now but still, the probability of me dropping myself to death didn't go down. 

The problem with flying as a newbie was you'll have a hard time stopping. Unlike airplanes, I had no breaks. As I neared to our street, I tried to think of a way to save myself from falling to pieces. I remembered a sakura tree a few steps from my house. I did my best to minimize my speed. I reached the next street before swerving to my left. I flew back to the our street and luckily, I was going down slower. I summoned my staff in panic; and I didn't know how I did it, and got a ball of silk-like stuff from nowhere. My speed was decreasing as i tied the string of silk to my staff and tied the other end to my wrist. I counted 20 seconds before impact to the ground, which wasn't really helping, and gripped the staff firmly. I threw the staff on the tree as I held on the fiber-like string. The staff circled around a big branch and gripped on it. I stopped on advancing to the other direction, stopping me from plummeting to my death. My hand hurt so much, though. 

I held on the string and pulled myself to the tree. I was now able to control my flight powers. I stopped the mana in my body from flowing, a bad idea as I untangled the string and fell to the ground on my butt with a thud.

I looked around. Luckily, no one was around so I didn't worry seeing about someone seeing a real Superman-turned-Spiderman on Japan. I held my staff and walked to the house. A few people passed around me and probably taught I was a cosplayer with my staff and mask. I got the mask from my face and continued walking to my house. I brushed the few pink blossoms stuck to my shirt. 

When I arrived at the gate of our house, all of the girls were looking at the sky with a worried face. They reminded me of little kids looking at their flying kites. Nami kept walking back and forth and took glances on the sky once in a while. 

Midorima spotted me first. "Shiro!"

All of them looked at me and ran to my direction. They flocked on me like I was a handsome superstar. 

Nami checked through my body. "Oh gosh, were you hurt? Did you fall? Why is your hair filled with cherry blossoms?" she rapidly asked in panic. 

"I'm okay. I just slowly went down on the ground, spun a ball of something that I don’t know where I got from to my staff, threw it like a grappling hook to a tree, and fell to the ground butt-first,” I summarized. “Yes, I’m fine!”

“Do you want me to check your butt?” Thyme asked.

“What?! Of course not! Why…” I resisted the urge to slap someone. I let out a deep breath just to relax myself. “Okay. All I wanna say is that you five acted like stupid kids and almost got me killed if I didn’t do something first.”

Saiko held my hands. “Do you hate us now?”

“I’m sorry, Shiro-kun. Please tell me what to do,” Fritz pleaded.

Midorima kneeled and hugged my knees. “I’ll do anything. Please don’t be mad!”

Nami held my face. “What do you want? I’ll give it to you! Just forgive me.”

“Yamerooo! (Stoppp!)” I shouted. “Why are you all acting like cutie patooties now?” I could feel my face blushing red. “I’m fine, okay!”

They seemed to come back from their senses. All of them back away from me. They were looking down with their hands on their backs. Their faces were so sad that my conscience slowly melted. Of course, I couldn’t be angry with someone for so long, especially to these people.

“Okay, okay! You’re forgiven. Just…Just don’t do that again, okay?”

They all ran into me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Stop it!” I said, wiping my blushing cheeks. “Let’s just go inside the house and prepare for dinner.”

“Hai!” they shouted in chorus.

Having a visitor in the house is a new thing for me. It’s not that there was never someone who visited the house, it’s just I rarely have visitors who actually visited me. The girls suddenly went full-force on the kitchen as I sat on the table. Thyme and Fritz was slicing some carrots and onions so fast that I could see some pieces flying behind them. Midorima and Saiko were getting some stuff from the fridge. Only Nami stayed with me on the table, her gaze still stuck on me.

“What? Some cherry blossoms still stuck on my hair?” I asked and brushed my hair.

She smiled. “No…it’s just that I still can’t shake the fact that I almost hurt you because of me. If something happens to you…” she looked down and some tremendous aura seemed to flare from her. I suddenly felt fear and anxious.

“C-Calm down, okay? I’m already here,” I said.

She looked at me and seemed to wake up from a sleep. “Y-Yes…but you can always tell me if you’re mad at me, okay?”

“Yes,” I answered. Anything as long as you don’t flare up again, I wanted to say.

“So, you wanted to ask me about my Metaphor,” she said as she got a mug and poured some coffee powder on it.

“Oh, that… it’s okay if you don’t, though. I was just curious,” I said.

She put some fresh milk on the mug along with a spoon of sugar in the mug. “No, it’s actually a good thing to tell you what Metaphors are. You see, Shiro…” she put some cold water and ice in the mug, “As what Sadao-san said a while ago, we Figures have unique Metaphors, right?”

I nodded. “Yes… so?”

She went back to her seat and gave me the mug of iced coffee. “Metaphors normally show up when you’re 18, though a few notable Figures had their Metaphors in their younger ages. Your Metaphor may not show up early but you’ll surely get it. My Metaphor, Bugso, lets me have control of the winds and air.”

“Bugso…” I uttered. It had some familiar ring into it like I’ve already heard it. “I don’t know what that means but it’s a Filipino word, right?”

She nodded. “Yes, it means surge or blast in English.”

I took a sip from my iced coffee. “I’m confused. So, why exactly is your Metaphor in Filipino?” I asked.

She looked at me. “Because I’m a Filipino, Shiro…”

I coughed. “What?”

“The thing is, Shiro, with you being a mix of purebloods, only you and Saiko are the only ones here who are pure Japanese,” she said. “Midorima and I are Filipinos while Thyme and Fritz are Greek in origin,” Nami explained.

The four girls seemed to sneeze at the same time as they worked on the kitchen.

“Nami is also not my real name. I am – ”

“Dinner is served!” Saiko shouted as they brought the dinner on the table.

“But – ”

“Shiro-kun, nothing gets more important than eating your dinner!” Saiko said and smiled, a sadistic aura coming from her.

I gulped hard. “O-of course. W-Why not?” I said as more food came on the table.

Nami put a bowl of hot rice in front of me. “Don’t worry, we can talk later, don’t we girls?”

They yelled “Yes!” in approval. I got my chopsticks and together, we clapped our hands.

“Itadakimasu! (Let’s dig in!)” we shouted as we prepared to eat our meal.