Eighteen years later.
"Realm Between~ Realm Between~ Home Sweet Home~"
A black-haired young man walked square—bowed in the four corners of the room—and then clapped his hands four times.
Eyes closed, and a second later, he opened them, but he was still inside his bedroom and just wryly smiled.
"Failed, yet again."
Kael scratched the back of his head, and at that moment, the door to his bedroom opened, and a brown-haired girl, tidying her school uniform, walked in.
She then noticed that Kael was standing in the middle of the room, hands clapped together, and looked to the corners of the room—there was a strange coin, a hair strand, a chair turned upside down, and half-eaten bread.
"Brother… You're wasting the bread if you keep doing this silly ritual!"
Alice said with a pout, took the half-eaten bread off the ground, and patted the dust off.
"It's not silly. I will succeed in it one day."
Kael said and scratched the side of his nose with a slightly embarrassed expression.
"You witnessed that ritual in your dream. In your dream. It's not a real thing, and you're just wasting bread doing it!"
Alice flicked Kael's forehead, left the room with a bread, and took it to the kitchen, where she tossed it in the trash.
It had gone way beyond the three-second rule, so it was tossed in the bin without a second thought.
"Sigh…"
Kael picked up the chair, slid it under his desk, and took his small hair strand from the ground before putting it inside the drawer.
He then took out the small Iris coin from the floor, dusted it off, and looked at it for a moment—it was a silvery coin with a sideways face of Whitesky Emperor engraved on it.
"Mm…"
He pocketed it and moved to the bathroom, where he checked himself in the mirror—he was tidying his light blue school uniform with a white blazer and made sure that his dark hair was neatly combed.
While he was at it, he noticed a smudge on his cheek and quickly wiped it away—he had the classic pale skin of the Mizuchi family and black eyes.
He looked decently handsome, but in the school of hundreds, he never really stood out as anything special. He was just another face in the crowd.
"Kael, breakfast is ready. Hurry up, or you won't have enough time to eat before school!"
The voice of his mother sounded from downstairs.
"Right away, mom!"
Kael picked up his backpack and rushed down the stairs—his mother and father were in the living room watching the news, and his little sister was eating at the table.
The table had pancakes piled up, some fruits in a bowl, a cereal box, and a glass of orange juice—but Kael just put a toast in the toaster, waited for it to pop up, and then spread some strawberry jam on it.
He placed the toast inside his mouth and took bites—crunch, crunch, crunch.
"What's happening in the news? I rarely see them so invested in the ongoings of the news that they're ignoring the breakfast."
He asked.
"Whitesky News. It looks like it's another day with bad news. They're just worried about our brother."
Alice said, poured cereal into a bowl, poured some milk, and took a spoonful of cereal to her mouth.
"Hmm…"
Kael walked over to the living room, took crunchy bites of the toast, and listened to the sound of the Whitesky News anchor.
"Yesterday morning, a raid party of seasoned veterans headed out to slay the feared World Boss, Elegant Destruction.
"It was the fifth raid party that was sent to end her life, but just like previous raid parties, it has ended in failure.
"A question that remains on everyone's mind is whether anyone will ever be able to defeat her. She is only one of the ten World Bosses, and so far, none of them have been defeated.
"Rav'akari has increased their efforts in trying to take control of the rest of humanity's territory, and the number of casualties just keeps increasing.
"The Recruiters of Whitesky have also increased their efforts into recruiting new blood to join the war efforts in Whitesky.
"However, with so little success over there, the recruiting hasn't been very successful."
The news ended.
"It's not looking good over there. Maybe we should send a letter over to Soul and tell him to come back?"
Alissa said with a worried look on her beautiful, middle-aged face that didn't seem to show any signs of aging.
"Haha, good luck with that. Soul is never backing down from a fight."
Kael said with a chuckle, remembering the foolhardy personality of his twin brother.
"He should be in school, not acting as a hero in Whitesky. It must've been her girlfriend that convinced him to go there."
Zach said with a scoff.
"Don't like that, Zach. Arina is a good girl, and our son loves her dearly."
Alissa said with a smile and then turned to Kael—she saw that his tie was slightly crooked, so she reached out to fix it for him.
"Kael, promise us that you'll never go to Whitesky. Finish school, get a well-paying job, and marry a nice girl to have children with.
"You don't need Whitesky to achieve those things."
She said.
"Of course. Only fools go to Whitesky, and my brother fits the profile, haha. And I'll know that if I also leave, my dear little sister will be missing me so much."
Kael said with a playful smile.
"In your dreams, brother!"
Alice's voice came from the kitchen.
"Good, good…"
Alissa said with a smile, patted him in the chest, and then went to the kitchen to also take some food from the breakfast table.
With a backpack in hand, Kael slipped his feet inside his shoes and left the house—the warmth of the sun kissed him in the face.
"Weather as great as this must mean that it will be a great day~"
He hopped on the saddle of his bike and pedaled out of the yard—onto the open road ahead—and headed straight to the school.