304 A home
The news about an unknown individual easily breaking through the SMF’s defensive barriers spread like wildfire. There wasn’t a single TV channel that didn’t show a program about that incident or a person on social media who didn’t talk about that.
A huge number of people were criticizing SMF and its commander for their incompetence in keeping a single intruder out of their headquarters. A lot of documentaries about SMF’s recent mistakes and errors and about how it didn’t manage to fight against Philomns were made in just a few days and were shown on every single channel. There were even some reporters that had somehow managed to find some information about SMF’s recent secret missions and had obviously included them in their criticizing shows.
There were a lot of memes about SMF spreading on social media. SMF was made a laughing stock by everyone. A lot of people were also expressing their fear saying that if their organization couldn’t even protect its own headquarters, how was it supposed to protect the country and its people?
And it wasn’t only that. The attacks on the borders had become more intense and the battle was getting even more fierce. Their enemy county, Bordkly, has suspiciously gained a lot of power all of a sudden and was using weapons that it never possessed before. Their methods and strategies had also changed significantly, making them more complicated and more successful.
‘But Philomns is silent these days...’
Since the day that Aaron and Kairen attacked that Philomns base, the organization had made no moves, at least, not one that SMF could detect. It was for sure that they were scheming something in secret, but it was unknown what that was.
Scroll Scroll
Kairen scrolled down the pages on his phone until he stopped at a random meme.
“....”
.....
It was a meme about SMF again. It was actually funny but as a member of SMF and as a target of people’s hatred, Kairen didn’t know if it was okay to laugh or not.
‘But it’s about that bastard commander so...’
Tap
Kairen tapped the screen and liked the meme.
“Heh!”
A stupid smile formed on his face. Just the simple act of liking a meme that criticized his commander filled him with joy.
“The food is ready!”
Kairen stopped scrolling and looked away from his phone. From where he was sitting, on his bed, he could see Aaron placing a steaming put on the table in the kitchen.
“Oh!”
Kairen gasped and stood up before grabbing Ariyan, who was playing with his cars on Kairen’s bed and dragging him out of the room.
“Uhhh!”
“It’s lunchtime!”
He happily strolled towards the dining table with a kid that was struggling to run away from him.
“Wow, it seems delicious!”
Claire had arrived at the table faster than Kairen and was sitting on the chair beside Aaron while staring at the food with her mouth wide open. Once Kairen arrived, she shot him a victorious and proud glare and a silly smirk.
She was sitting at the chair that Kairen always sat, the one beside Aaron.
“....”
‘What’s wrong with this kid?’
Kairen sat on another chair with Ariyan beside him.
“Shouldn’t we keep some for your landlord?”
Aaron’s hand, slicing the food, stopped midair. He raised his head to look at Kairen, who shook his head in his response.
“She said she would be going to her daughter’s place today.”
“Oh! What about your friend?”
Kairen shook his head.
“He is at work.”
Aaron nodded his head and proceeded to cut the meat to pieces.
“Why is that blonde dude still staying here anyway? Doesn’t he have a home?”
Kairen answered Claire without even glancing at her.
“Have you forgotten, he is in charge of watching you.”
“Tsk! That doesn’t mean he can stick to me all the time!”
“....”
Kairen silently placed foon on Ariyan’s plate, not responding to Claire.
‘You are the extra here! Get out of my house!’
He screamed inwardly but didn’t say anything out loud. The past few weeks of him living in his house, resting all the time without having to go to work, and spending time with his brother and Ariyan was a good... would be a good time if this teenager and his friend weren’t in his house!
Kairen was going crazy! Every time he wanted to talk to Aaron, this little annoying girl would jump out of nowhere to interrupt them somehow. Kairen didn’t even understand why! She, for some reason, seemed to be competing with Kairen but why the hell would she do that? She totally acted like a kid that was competing for her parent’s attention. Get lost, girl! Aaron isn’t your family!
Reyan though wasn’t annoying like this girl... he was scary. Aaron was literally Kairen’s blood brother, but the boy didn’t accept that and insisted on him being dangerous. The day after the incident in SMF, the commander had ordered Reyan to watch over Claire. Even though she couldn’t use her power, the commander was still wary of her and Aaron.
That order led to Reyan also staying at Kairen’s house... It wasn’t really bad. Reyan was Kairen’s friend and his roommate for several years, but the fact that at least one fight broke out in the house a day was a little bit... troublesome.
“I don’t like this food!”
Ariyan folded his arms and turned around.
“...”
Kairen’s hand, holding the fork, stopped somewhere near the kid’s mouth.
“But you liked it when Mrs. Neal cooked it?”
“I like it, but I don’t like it now!”
He sent a glare, that was cute rather than scary, to Aaron and outed even more.
“Nope, you are eating it!”
“No!”
“Open your mouth.”
“No!”
“It delicoust~”
“No-MMPHH!!”
Kairen forced the piece of meat inside the kid’s mouth.
“MMMM!!”
Ariyan groaned, glared at him, pouted and sulked, but still chew the meat. It was clear how hard he was trying to show that he didn’t like the food, but failed miserably.
“Isn’t it delicious?”
“N-No i-it tastes awful!”
The little kid licked his lips as he said that.
“Is that so? Then I’ll eat your food if you are not going to-”
“I-it tastes bad, but since I’m h-hungry... And there is nothing else t-to eat... I have no other choice...”
With a sulky face, Ariyan picked up his spoon and stuffed his mouth with food, not glancing at Kairen or Aaron at all.
“Pfft- Ahem!”
Aaron surpassed a chuckle by putting food in his mouth. Kairen did the same. The food his brother had cooked was really delicious. Before coming here, Aaron’s cooking was awful. Even worse than Kairen to the point of being disgusting, but now he cooked so well that his foods were even tastier than Mrs. Neal’s.
It made Kairen realize it again. Realize how many years have passed on Earth, for his brother, and also for him, since the day he was transformed here.
Aaron didn’t like to talk about those years he had spent on Earth alone. He always avoided to subject somehow or made jokes to finish it fast. He explained what Kairen asked about the world and the things that happened to it to some extent, but didn’t say much about himself and his life.
Kairen wondered why. He had already explained all of the things that had happened to him in this world. He had told him everything in just a few days, expecting that his brother would do the same, but he didn’t.
To say that Kairen was not disappointed would be a lie. And also to say that he didn’t feel a little bit hurt would also be a lie. His brother used to talk to him about everything before, but now he was hiding a lot. It made him feel like they weren’t as close as they used to be. It made him feel a little bit empty. He, who had tried to go back to his own world for so many years only to meet and talk to his brother again, didn’t like how the said brother was keeping a distance from him and how he hid things.
But there was nothing he could do right now. Unlike him, Aaron didn’t go through a memory loss to forget everything. Kairen knew that it was only time that could make things better between them once again. So he waited for his brother, not pushing him to talk about what he didn’t like to talk about and not questioning him about the subjects he didn’t like to have a conversation about. He was sure that everything would go back to normal soon enough.
But it wasn’t like Aaron had said nothing to him. He answered a lot of Kairen’s questions about a lot of things. He had told him about what happened on Earth after he was transformed here and about how he got so strong. He even gave Kairen some information about the things he didn’t know and also explained about the stone.
About the white stone.
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