CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Rio dumped his bag on his bed and flopped onto it. He couldn't be bothered to change out of his uniform right now; he was too mentally drained to muster that amount of effort, even if he could technically get it done in less than a second.
He lay down in his bed as he reviewed the events of the day. While it was pretty mundane at the beginning, towards the end it became really interesting. At the library, he even found a material with such busted qualities that he could make it a part of his super suit.
Groaning into his pillow he got up with a start. He quickly tapped into the speed force, and in a second, he was already in the shower. If not for the fact that he needed to actually wait for the water to flow down the showerhead, he would have been freshened up in 10 seconds tops. He would just have to settle for the slow life of the normies—at least until he learnt how to pull people and objects into the speed force. Now that… that would be fun.
Rio dried his hair with a towel as he looked at himself in a mirror. His hair had already grown out a lot. He made a decision at the end of last year to grow it out. He had been sporting a crew cut ever since he was little; he was curious how he would look in an afro. And also, it was an experiment to see if he could speed up the growth of a part of his body manually.
Trying to do so with any other part of his body was risky—well, except maybe his nails—but he didn't like long fingernails; it wasn't very neat to be carrying claws around. It wasn't very fashionable—no offence to all the people with claws for hands, of course.
Rio wasn't seeing any noticeable growth, though. Even knowing fully well that the speed force could mess with abstract things like space and time and even mess with the body, he still hadn't found the key breakthrough he needed. Once he did, he would be able to do the same type of stuff the hood monster did, albeit on a more limited level.
A ringing of the hall bells had him look up at his door. That was usually a signal that Rio should head for dinner. Grandma Yuki insisted that everyone should have breakfast and dinner together as much as possible. She was quite laid back, but it was one of the principles she insisted on greatly. He didn't mind, though; his family made for good company, and it was one of the ways for him to unwind and relax. Multitasking many activities in a day had him feeling like a robot—especially now that he didn't have many friends at school. The company of people he cared about—and who cared about him as well—was always welcome.
Rio got dressed and made his way to the dinner table in some light clothes. He had finally outgrown the stage of putting on All Might merchandise. He was a big boy now; he could afford figurines.
He made his way down the hallway and looked out for Sebastian. The man was always close by, yet he had a sick little habit of popping up in the most unexpected of places. Their little game on the daily was Rio trying to spot him beforehand and failing to spot the butler, while Sebastian got the jump on him.
It was a game the poor man didn't even know they were playing—just that his young master was weird.
He pulled up a chair at the dining table and greeted his mum and grandmother, who returned the greeting as well. This was one of the rare occasions when everyone was together. Mum and Grandma Yukina were usually out by this time, so Takeru and Rio usually had dinner alone together or in their rooms.
Grandma Yukina called for a prayer, after which they got down to eating. 'The chefs did good today,' Rio thought to himself as he wolfed down a whole chicken. Well, they upped the standard considerably since Grandma was at the table today. If it was only Rio and his brother, they didn't put in the same amount of effort. Still, their lack of effort was leagues better than what Izumi and Takeru could pull off.
"So how was your day, anything interesting come up?" Grandma asked curiously. That was our cue to discuss what happened in our day—another little ritual she had come up with: everyone at the dinner table shared how their day went; we ask questions, the speaker answers. Another activity to foster togetherness.
Now, after doing this for a few months, everyone had put their guard down towards Grandma. If that was the plan, it worked, as even Mum was no longer as hostile to her. Rio, though, had always been on the side of the rich lady from the start.
"Well, today at school I…" Takeru trailed off animatedly as he discussed his day. Rio just wolfed down his food while occasionally chipping in to the conversation. When Takeru was done talking, Grandma Yukina turned to Rio, who was already on his third whole chicken, and asked how his day went.
Rio then went on to recount how his day went—well, except his little altercation with the trio today. He then went on to talk about the insights he made today with his breakthrough in physics.
Rio sighed when he noticed the glazed-over looks. He'd lost the table again with his talk on general relativity and kinematics. Even his brother, for all his smarts, just muttered, "Nerd!"
In the beginning, Rio and Takeru may have had a similar knowledge base when it came to the sciences, but over time a gap had formed—and it had widened significantly.
Except maybe for computing, where his brother may have had a slight edge. In that field, his brother was an anomaly. Rio suspected he may have had a quirk related to that, but hospital reports proved otherwise. It had to be the only feasible solution for why Rio couldn't catch up to him when he had a lot more time on his hands. That—or divine intervention.
With fewer topics to talk about, they had grown more distant. Takeru was busy with school, the company, and his exam preparations, while Rio had his own stuff to deal with.
Rio sighed at the fact that he had no one to talk to about his discoveries. It was like winning the lottery and turning excitedly, only to find that no one cared.
Hana was smart, but she was average when it came to academics. Tenya Iida was also smart, but he was smart for his age—he was no genius. Takeru was a genius, but he couldn't keep up with Rio, who was also a genius but was cheating.
Well, thinking on that, Rio realized that he may have had only two friends in total. 'Am I perhaps a loner?' Rio thought to himself. While it may have seemed like he'd been thinking for a while, in truth not even a second had passed.
It was a cheat code he used daily. People thought he was well-articulated and quite decisive, when in truth he was an over-thinker with way too much time on his hands.
"Well, it was quite interesting." Rio ended the topic on that note. There was no need to force it—not if his audience couldn't even understand him.
Grandma Yuki smiled apologetically at him, seemingly picking up on his distress, and then turned to Rio's mum. "What about you, Izumi? Anything to add?"
Mum just shook her head and added, "Nothing much happened, just the usual." Even though she didn't say much, it was already an improvement from earlier—she didn't shut down Grandma immediately. There was some progress.
Well, since they were done with all that, Rio got up from his seat and made to leave. He had to remind himself not to pick up the dishes and carry them to the kitchen. They were wealthy now; there were maids who were paid to do this kind of stuff.
"Wait, Rio, don't leave yet. I have something to ask you!" Grandma Yukina called out to Rio. Rio just raised his brows and took a seat while two maids came in and picked up the plates.
Grandma Yukina turned to Rio's mum Izumi and asked, "Is it okay if I take Rio somewhere tonight? It's important."
Izumi seemed… perplexed? She was back to that thing she did—where Rio had to guess what emotion she was feeling. The only times when she openly showed emotion were during intense moments; normal conversations had her looking like she didn't care for anything.
"Well, it's quite late already. What exactly do you need him for?" It was a valid question that Rio also wanted the answers to. He wondered what exactly she needed from him.
"Well, it's his nine-year-old daughter's birthday, and it's Friday, so I thought Rio could stay up late tonight. You know—it's the weekend tomorrow."
'What kind of person throws a party for a nine-year-old at night? It just sounds like an excuse for rich people to socialize, there's no way this is just a kid's party,' Rio thought to himself. There was nothing he could do but wait on his mum's decision—he had no power to decide otherwise.
"And what time would you get back?" Mum asked as she looked at her watch. "It's already a few minutes till seven."
"We won't be there long. We'll just drop by, greet a few people, and we'll be done—two hours tops." Grandma said pleadingly as mum agonized over the decision for a while.
With a sigh, mum replied, "Just make sure you're back home before 10, mum. Rio's a growing child. He needs his sleep." Izumi decided as she got up to leave.
'Wait just a minute, did no one ask for my opinion? This so-called "growing child" does need some sleep, and the last event he went to with his Grandma was a mess! There was no way he was putting up with that again.'
Seemingly peeking at his discontent, Grandma Yukina smiled at him. "I'll buy you that piece of metal you wanted."
If she put it like that, Rio did enjoy parties. Loud music was the best, and so was the shiny piece of condenium she was going to order.
"Sebastian, get him dressed." Grandma called, and Sebastian materialized from behind Rio, startling the life out of him.
"Yes, madam. I'll see to it that he'll be the most dashing young man in the room." Sebastian bowed as he affirmed his lady's request.
"What's wrong with the clothes I'm wearing now?" Rio asked in confusion. It was a birthday party, wasn't it? He had put on a grey T-shirt and track pants. All he needed were some trainers, and he'd be good to go.
Sebastian gave him a look of pure disgust and turned on his heel toward Rio's room. 'What was that look for?' Rio thought to himself, not knowing he had now unleashed a butler hell-bent on fixing his young master's tragic fashion sense.
Moments later, Rio came out of his room, looking weary and out of place. The blue suit felt suffocating, and the sleek black shirt and trousers only reminded him of how impractical it was.
Rio tugged at the collar of his shirt, trying to loosen a few buttons, but Sebastian swiftly slapped his hand down, his eyes narrowed in disapproval.
Grandma Yukina was already standing at the door, looking effortlessly stunning in a silk nightgown. Rio couldn't help but wonder why she always went out of her way to look so elegant, especially when the rest of the family was never quite as meticulous about their appearance—just her.
Yukina turned to them, a smile gracing her face as she nodded her approval. She took Rio's hand and led him down to the driveway, where the chauffeur stood by the open door of the waiting limo.
"Where exactly are we going?" Rio asked, turning to his grandmother.
All he knew was that it was a kid's birthday party, but not just anyone could send an invitation to someone as accomplished as Yukina and expect her to honor it. The person who was celebrating had to be someone important—there was no way Yukina would just show up for anyone.
Grandma Yukina slid into the car, and Rio followed, scooting over to the opposite side.
"Well, we aren't partners per se. I'm trying to close a deal with them." Grandma said as she took a bottle from a small fridge compartment in the car and poured out a glass of wine.
"I had to honor it, of course. It's the Yaoyozuru family, after all!"