Warning: 18+! Please proceed with caution! This chapter contains child abuse and neglect! Please seek help if the following content triggers you or makes you uneasy!
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We were just a happy family. A family that didn't care about our status, living a happy life for the first four years of my life before moving out to the Philippines after my father lost his job.
My mother, a God-Tier from what I'll assume since I've already known that my father's a 'blank'. She had never cared about his status nor mine upon birth. There was never an issue except for small arguments but it led them to drive each other mad before the divorce happened.
And why was that? Let's just say that my dad had abused my mom despite her being 'awakened'. A lot could question why she didn't use her prowess to fight back but I'll always remember what she said to me when she was still around.
"It's better to fight fair rather than being a petty person."
It always rang in my head before my father got custody over me since the law had put me under the 'blank' regulations unless my mother had documents that I'll awaken a prowess on my 6th birthday.
...…
"Dad. When are we coming back?" I remember asking that to my dad when I had no clue of how things worked back then but had always loved him despite how he treated me.
"English? Nagsasalita ka niyan? Akala nasabi ko na sayo walang English dito sa bahay!!!"
A hit on my shoulder, it hurt a lot but I knew that he cared for me since he just looked after me a lot with lots of things in his mind especially with the rent and expenses that we had to deal with.
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"Bagsak ka sa araling panlipunan?! Gxgo ka ba?! Txngina yan. Ampxta! Eto?! Eto yung kayang mong gawin pagkatapos ko naghirap pag-aralin kita?!" Screaming at the top of his lungs as he hit me not just twice but over and over again until he felt satisfied after scolding me for not passing my academic studies.
I didn't care that much for what he did but all I ever wanted was to make him proud since mother had left us and couldn't deal with the life that we had. Chaotic yet lively from what he wanted, I just guess that mom had gotten tired from it.
People from my middle school never really bothered since everyone was mostly busy with boosting their own ego after awakening their prowess to get scouted or get a chance for studying overseas.
Being at the bottom of the food chain, I was always often bullied a lot which worsened my injuries that I got from my father. That is until I was in my during the last year of the first year of high school.
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"Oy! Ginagawa mo? Bobo din itong supot, patayin kaya natin siya? Wala naman may pake sa mga taong ganto eh?"
I could remember the feeling, the warmth of my prowess awakening as I mimicked their prowess without even realising it. They were surprised but weren't hurt although they got mad when I suddenly awakened before getting myself beaten up to a pulp again which would be worse since my dad took a lot of pride to maintain a good image.
What's worse was the fact that one of my teachers saw what had happened and went to tell the great news to my dad that I've awakened.
"Walang hiya kang bata! Bakit kailangan mo pa maging 'awakened'?! Wala ka bang utak na pag ganto, mas mahihirapan pa tayo sa mga kailangan mong gawin para diyan?"
His fists hitting my back although he had always used the belt on me to do discipline in which it would stay with me while growing up. I didn't understand why he did it but I guess that he loved me or so I thought.
Because of my awakening, I discovered a lot of things while training myself then secretly keeping the letters that my mom had left behind for me in our secret diary which I've always held close to me. It was the only keepsake and what made me hold onto hope for living further.
Her notes for my prowess, in case if I ever awakened one had a lot of description especially with how I could have the potential as hers although she had assumed that mine would awaken as a downgrade version of her prowess but had still put notes on how to activate it.
Mimicry was the first that I attempted to do. Silently training in class or when my bullies continued to harass me while I secretly tried to get a feel on how to shape my spiritual energy to mimic their flow.
Once I was able to get it down, I fought back but not aggressively but rather did my best to show that they can't push me around anymore. No one tried it again although those who were more powerful than me still pushed me around since I could barely copy their prowess.
That's when I started to read more of my mom's notes during night time while my dad was either dead asleep on the couch as usual or drinking in his room after knowing that I had gotten to sleep like he expected to be. Mom had advised me to focus on amplification to double the firepower or heightened the ability from the prowess itself.
It was tough but I felt like a natural at it since I was able to get it down in under a week or two due to being around people who kept their prowess active even during classes.
...…
When the day came, assessment day where our school had to get our parents to attend to check on the student's assessment. I felt scared and stupid for making progress with my prowess. My throat was dry as I went up next to have my spiritual energy gauge by their machine.
"Mr. Nishimura, congrats po. God-Tier yung anak niyo po!" I felt scared but what my father did next surprised me, he fell to the ground as he looked at me as if I was a Messiah to him. Constantly praising me to do my best in which I finally felt happy that I was able to make him proud.
During the second year of my high school, I immediately went up the ranks and dethroned the king as I took the royal spot which I was able to try and spread my influence for equality.
Trying to live up to being the role model for people to follow in order to make a peaceful environment for either tiers to be friends with each other… Although I didn't know that they were just trying to tolerate someone lower than them since they didn't wanna mess with my ruling.
Everything was fine until the near end of my third year of high school. I was called by my schoolmates to an abandoned property when they had told me that our schoolmates were in trouble but what I've heard from the other party was different.
My schoolmates had been bragging about me and had used my presence to scare others to try exploiting them for money. I tried to diffuse the situation but it got worse since they started to fight in which I had to take action by beating them although I tried my best not to hurt them which still ended up with the other party being beaten up brutally since they never gave up.
Those people… they stabbed me in the back as they reported me to the authorities for abuse of power which was held against me since I had the reputation for being a late bloomer.
When they informed my father about it, he didn't take it well the moment he picked me up from their custody…
The nightmare had begun once again, I didn't dare to fight back but tried to reason with him yet none of my words were going through him. I was afraid, the fear eating me up if I could accidentally harm him when he was the one that had looked after me despite the attention that he gave me?
How could I fight back if I was alive from his perseverance for keeping us alive by working hours of long shifts without proper rest?
I was fine with the belt until he held a knife and threatened me with it. Disciplining me to be a good kid or else I would have it against my neck.
After that, I attended the Re-Adjustment course for a month after the authorities had signed me up for late bloomers. Some officers were hostile to me, banging my head against the table whenever I answered them correctly but they were close to the people that had reported.
Corrupt as they could get, all I could do was accept their forceful lessons until the last remaining week. Keon, he was the only one who saw what I went through before the latter started to go easy with me by being gentle and letting me be comfortable.
It was weird since I was so used to being in a chaotic and brutal environment but I tried my best to be fixed since time wasn't anything important, it would hinder my progress in trying to make my father proud.
Because of my uncanny reputation, my father had to move us to Hong Kong since the news of my mother vanishing had allowed his pride to finally win the long fight of his own ego of how he saw the world.
A God-Tier will always ignore those who ranked lower than them…
...…
"So… Is that what it was?" The child version of me asked before the recent memories of attending Sir Ellis Kadoorie High flashed through my head.
I met Sylvie during my first day as a third year student along with the rest of the batch since I took a year gap to rest according to my father's insistence which I took immediately to avoid punishment, it was exhausting since the teacher didn't bother to read my files and went with pairing me up with her because of our closeness with the prowess ranking although I had requested to be treated as a 'blank'.
She was someone that kept my sanity intact since Sylvie would often open up a bit before being cold and strict to keep up her perfect facade. I could tell it was trauma since whenever she made a mistake, her eyes had said a lot that she suffered from abuse.
That's why I befriended her, breaking the chains then letting her out of her shell naturally as we became the closest of friends. Whenever I came back to school, I was excited since the feeling of home was there if she was around but once I came back home.
It would always be the same old gloomy atmosphere with my dad barely working and lazing around with the money that he managed to get a hold on from my mother's savings after inheriting it when it was sent to me.
Everything was going great until last year during my last remaining days of fourth year of High School…
My father…
Passed away…
From suicide...
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