Ability Wielders

By 6:50 AM, he was ready to go to school.

…..

It was 7:05 AM when Hayden arrived at his school. He went inside and scanned his id while reading on his phone before going up the 7th floor.

Arriving at his cla.s.sroom, he unhurriedly put down his bag as he read. Five minutes pa.s.sed with only him, reading and no one else in the room. By 7:10, his seatmate arrived.

From the introductions yesterday, his seatmate was named Faye Tigreng-Pangil (1). He knew her by face as she was often labeled as the best female dancer of their batch, gaining popularity amongst their peers.

Regardless of that, Hayden didn"t take notice of her. He even put on wireless earphones when she arrived as he didn"t like being disturbed or hearing unnecessary background noises from other people while reading. Unless it was music, Hayden wouldn"t be able to concentrate as much.

When he put on the wireless earphones and connected it to his phone, he pressed Harmony, the best music publishing app. It had a service that can be shared among three people for the premium version, with one going to his mom, and one other to his dad.

He then pressed a playlist t.i.tled "CHORUS," the nation"s girl group of Korea. The girl he had a crush on was a member of CHORUS, named Kim Eun-ha.

Of course, Hayden knew it was infatuation, however, it was precisely because of this reason that he didn"t possess unneeded affection for people. Most of the time, he focused on Kim Eun-ha, he wasn"t even fanboying, only admiring her looks and personality alone.

Needless to say, he also liked CHORUS" songs as their songs were good in general, enjoying the cutesy theme of it. As he listened to songs of CHORUS, mixed with anime opening and ending music, Hayden continued reading, ignoring Faye.

…...

Faye Tigreng-Pangil was a woman with voluptuous curves and a face that was beautiful and cute at the same time. She was 165 cm in height, pretty tall for a Filipina. She had light brown skin and a cutesy personality when not dancing, while a fierce and compet.i.tive spirit when on the dancefloor.

This gave her the moniker "Dancing Queen." Faye was well-loved and had a prestigious reputation as she was easy to get along with. Other than that, she was pretty smart, maintaining good grades while still being able to continue her dancing career, competing in writing contests, and on Filipino Pride (2).

With this, many men tried to pursue her, yet failed. No men can resist her charms, and upon seeing a silent handsome cla.s.smate of hers, she sat beside him. Contrary to her expectations, upon sitting beside him, he glanced at her a single time, and following that, well, there was no after that!

Hayden only had his attention towards the teachers, listening intently. Because of this, she was a little bit annoyed. She never felt so ignored in her entire life. Despite that, when she saw Hayden"s eyes while listening to the teacher, she was put into a trance.

"Who is this guy? When he"s concentrating on one thing, he looks so stunning! How come I"ve never heard of him in my entire three years enrolled in this academy?" She was confused. Such an attractive guy would stand out anywhere! At this note, she wanted to try to get close to him, but to no avail.

He was unpredictable, never talked to anyone, and always read his books. Hayden was literally the type of guy that didn"t talk to anyone. In the entire first day of school, she never heard his voice, not even once, except for when he introduced himself!

Due to this, she gave up for the day. She thought there were plenty of chances to get along with Hayden in the future, such as group studies, and in physical education when they dance.

She regained her confidence when the idea popped up in her mind. With this in mind, she ate her lunch with her friends.

...

Going inside her cla.s.sroom, Faye saw that there was only one student inside, it was Hayden. She "disregarded" Hayden as she put her bag on her seat.

Then, looking towards Hayden, she saw that Hayden pulled wireless earphones and put it on his ears. She was stunned upon witnessing this. He was basically blatantly snubbing her!

Her mood turned sour because of this. She dismissed this and fished her phone out of her bag.

…..

8:00 AM, Hayden kept his phone as their adviser went into the room for their 30-minute homeroom. Sir Perez held the elections of cla.s.s officers. Hayden didn"t care all that much with his mind wandering to other places, raising his vote whoever had the majority.

n.o.body elected him as he was an unknown, which Hayden didn"t mind. He also didn"t like being a person of power, in fact, he felt it was only a bother to be president as they had no other duties except for being called by teachers, arranging meetings, and all that.

People not students of Scholar Academies think highly of students of Scholar Academies as they had an image of being "disciplined, respectable, and intelligent." Despite that, Hayden knew otherwise. Inside the school, students cursed, quarreled over small matters, are loud, and not as disciplined as all people think. Teachers knew this, just that they overlook it because they were also like that when they went through high school. They admitted that they were wild back in the day.

This was the reason why Hayden thought it was a ha.s.sle to become a president or a student of power as every meeting is led by an officer, meanwhile, the entire cla.s.s goofs around and being such a handful bunch. Nevertheless, they were still disciplined compared to regular public schools, in Scholar Academies, it could be described with "chaotic," while on regular public schools, it can be described as "pure chaos." There"s a vast difference between the two.

When the election finished, Hayden yawned. When the next teacher arrived, he turned on Divine Perception and listened to them.

…..

10:30 was their Physical Education cla.s.s. They had PE during Tuesdays, as a result, they had to bring their PE uniforms. Going to the boy"s locker room in the gymnasium building, Hayden changed into his PE uniform.

Most of his male cla.s.smates were talking while changing, on the other hand, Hayden quietly removed his uniform. When he took his clothes off, he gazed at his own body and was quite shocked.

His muscles were already pretty defined! Of course, compared to actual body builders, his would be nothing, but for him, it was a miracle! With two days of workout, he was already showing signs of having six pack abs, which, prior to that, he didn"t have one?

It was simply astonishing! Although Especially because when he took a shower and looked at his own body beforehand, it wasn"t like this yet! Hayden pushed his thoughts down his heart and continued to change to his PE uniform.

The uniform still suited him well as he had a thin body build prior to gaining Abilities. He was only getting athletic at this time, so his uniforms wouldn"t be an issue.

For the first meeting of physical education, they had the rights to pick what they want to do. Lazing around was also an option. Be that as it may, their teacher was watching, so it was recommended to not laze around.

Hayden sat on one side as some of the boys played basketball, some played volleyball, and some ran around the outer peripheries of the indoor court. He first observed his cla.s.smates playing basketball, wanting to see their techniques using Divine Perception.

Every move, every motion, every technique, it was all captured by Hayden, from one person to another. 20 minutes later, he steeled himself to ask to join.

He was an introvert and didn"t like socializing, however, he didn"t want to fail! Their teacher was watching; it was forbidden to not do anything!

With this in mind, he stood up and asked if he could subst.i.tute with someone. The boys weren"t surprised and welcomed him to a team who had an exhausted player. The said player was playing for an entire 20 minutes straight already, so he took a break.

Hayden smiled amicably as they pa.s.sed him the ball. He bent his knees, dribbled, and ran towards the hoop. When he encountered someone blocking him, he didn"t pa.s.s, instead, he instinctively did a play that shocked everyone on the court, including their teacher and the girls who were watching the semi-intense game.

He did a fast crossover, wanting to trick the one confronting him. It didn"t work, so Hayden did a faint of wanting to pa.s.s the guy, jumped back, and shot the ball towards the hoop.

His shooting form and accuracy could only be called perfect. After all, this was the amalgamation of the techniques of fifteen people who played on the court, with some of them playing basketball ever since they were little, adding the basketball matches he watched when he was younger, when his dream of becoming a basketball player was still alive.

When he shot the ball, Hayden was also surprised that he just did that. It was unthinkable for him, who had next to no experience in basketball whatsoever, to do something like that!

Landing his feet, he smiled at the one who confronted him. He didn"t say anything and walked away from the man and continued playing.

Almost everyone a.s.sumed that what Hayden did was only a fluke, beginner"s luck. The next thing he did proved them wrong.

When Hayden blocked an enemy in possession of the ball, the guy felt as if he was on a cage with a tiger. Hayden"s concentration was intense, and this was without him using Divine Perception.

The guy couldn"t see anyone to pa.s.s the ball to, and he knew that Hayden wouldn"t let him pa.s.s. A few seconds of staring with each other, the man finally decided to pa.s.s Hayden with his dribbling.

The guy dribbled here and there before rotating his body away from Hayden to bypa.s.s him. The man smiled when he thought it was his victory. His body froze as he felt he was dribbling air now.

Everyone on the court was now truly astonished. Hayden"s opponent didn"t see what happened, however, everyone else did!

When the man was rotating his body, Hayden reacted to already steal the ball, taking advantage of the one hand grip of his opponent, and the fact that the opponent was fully focused on doing a single action.

Hayden took wind of this momentary gap of intense focus and saw the opportunity to steal the ball, so he did. Next, he dribbled the ball, rushing towards the other side of the court. All of the players reacted fast and ran towards Hayden.

Despite their efforts, they couldn"t reach Hayden as he was too fast! His grip on the ball was good, and his handling was even better. When Hayden reached the free throw line, he threw the ball at a perfect angle, ran even faster towards the net, caught the ball mid-air, and performed a dunk with explosive power!

Precise timing and flashy! Hayden"s performance was too amazing! At this moment, the girls who were doing nothing was amazed by what Hayden just did. Adding the fact that Hayden was pretty short and jumped that high, it was like they were watching a professional basketball player!

Among them, there was Faye. She was astounded of Hayden"s skill in playing basketball. Now, she was utterly confused. "How did this guy not stand out? Tall, handsome, with outstanding basketball skills. Where was he?"

On Hayden"s part, he was likewise impressed of what he did. Did he really do that? Was he the one who truly did that? In truth, Hayden didn"t have the intention to show off, he simply wanted to test if he can do it.

While Hayden was still a.n.a.lyzing his own actions, his teammates patted him on the back. They already changed his views towards this unknown. In their eyes, they didn"t doubt Hayden"s skills anymore.

The game continued, Hayden defeating his opponents with his outstanding dribbling skills, feints, remarkable pa.s.ses, three-point shots with pinpoint accuracy, unexpected pa.s.ses, it was as if Hayden knew the court like the back of his own hand. His agility was impeccable, pa.s.sing through a three-man guard with ease, his ball handling was uncanny, doing a crossover, changing paces, rotating his body, faking a crossover, then shooting the ball with a "formless" form, like an anime character, with perfect precision. This was done by using his Divine Perception in the latter half of the game, pushing it to the limits. After 15 minutes of pushing Divine Perception to the edge, Hayden was mentally exhausted.

Hence, Hayden subst.i.tuted out and drank water on the side. His white sweaty PE uniform stuck to his body, outlining his developing muscles. While drinking, many girls were staring at him, gulping.

A fine-looking man was only a fine-looking man. A fine-looking man with skills was the one attractive to their eyes. Unknowingly, all of them developed a minor crush on Hayden.

As Hayden was drinking his water, he had a sudden premonition that a storm is coming. "Why do I feel something will disturb my peaceful life?"

Eyeing his surroundings, he now knew what the source of this premonition was. "f.u.c.k, I showed off too much…"

He realized what his mistake was. Playing was good, exercising was good, learning skills was good. Regardless of the aforementioned things, showing off was bad! Extremely bad! Hayden secretly sighed.

…..

Their PE time was now done. After resting for five minutes when he had a water break, he played ten more minutes on the court. Subsequently, he took another break and didn"t play anymore.

He didn"t want to show off anymore. Showing off too much might backfire on him someday! Actually, it was already taking effect.

"I guess I got to be careful if I would show off my keyboard playing skills..." Hayden shivered at the idea of showing his skills in playing the keyboard.

While changing his clothes in the changing room, many guys came up to him to ask things and interact with him. Hayden entertained them, albeit, giving off short answers, cutting off potential questions after the initial one.

On the outside, Hayden was full of smiles, on the inside, he was starting to get ticked off with these interactions. He wanted his quiet life back! "Well, I guess it"s a good exchange for getting good grades… Wait, if I watched sports anime, would I be able to copy their moves?"

His thoughts wandered off, thinking of far-fetched concepts that shouldn"t be possible. "Nah, those anime shows are way over-exaggerated. At the end of the day, I am still human in terms of physical abilities unless I used Indestructible Devil…"

Talking to himself in his own brain, he exited the changing room first.

…..

The day went off smoothly, except for the fact that people tried to socialize with him. Hayden needed to make an excuse to be able to finally go home.

"Jeez…" Hayden underestimated the power of showing off too much. "I wasn"t even trying to show off! I wanted to test my skills, not gain popularity…"

Hayden hated the spotlight too much. Now that it was focused on him, he abhorred it more. Socializing was too much of a drag!

"At least I get my peace at home…" Hayden remembered that he still had his room of solitude. "I guess it"s inevitable to not stand out. I was too careless…"

...

When he arrived at his house, without delay, he went to his room and put on comfortable clothes. With the intention of resting, he slumped down his body on his bed.

"Asw.a.n.g has another victim?" Hayden was surprised. "The same manner? Wait, don"t tell me… A serial killer is on the loose?"

Hayden was terrified of murderers. Having a person wanting to take your life was scary enough, what about a person that wanted to kill for the pure enjoyment of it? Or to get revenge? That"s the worst!

"Holy s.h.i.t… If worse comes to worst, I would need to use my Ability to protect myself…" Hayden mumbled. He was not excited, nor terrified of the idea of confronting a serial killer.

On the contrary, he was calm, imagining the worst-case scenario that may occur. "Well, for now, it"s none of my business. If the appearance of a vigilante were to be heard by the Arch-a.n.a.lytics Agency, the Triple A, then it would be investigated. And if they knew of my ident.i.ty, a 15-year-old, pursuing a serial killer, they would be suspicious. It"s the police"s job, I"m sorry for the people that will be affected…"

Hayden was saddened by the fact that people are dying because of a loose cannon. His main priority for now was to survive and protect those close to him. It would be a catastrophe if he gets discovered.

"Well, no use pondering it now if I"m not going to meddle." Hayden tried to shrug off the matter. "Let"s learn Korean for now."

…..

1 Tigreng-Pangil – If directly translated to English, it would mean Tiger-Fang. Meanwhile, Emperador means Emperor.

Fun Fact: Filipinos use Spanish terms as Filipino at times, for example, green in Filipino is supposed to be "luntian," however, more Filipinos would say the Filipino translation is "berde" instead, derived from the Spanish word "verde," which, obviously, means green. Emperador is one such example, as well as tigre, which are both Spanish. Another fact is that Filipinos don"t use pure Filipino in talking, we, at least in the NCR, or more commonly called as Metro Manila, more often than not, use a slang termed as "Taglish," a portmanteau of the words English and Tagalog; Tagalog being the alternative term for Filipino, which is wrong as Tagalog is supposed to be a language, which Filipino was based on. Taglish is spoken by combining Filipino and English together in a single sentence. Example: "k.u.main ka na ba? Hay nako, eat na, please naman, wag ka magpagutom!" – "Direct" Translation: "Have you eaten? Sigh, eat now, please, don"t deprive yourself from eating!"

Note: There is quite a number of languages in the Philippines, yes, languages, not dialects. Tagalog is one of these languages, which the national language, Filipino, was derived on. There are two main differences between Tagalog and Filipino. In Filipino, the word "t.i.tser" can be considered as a correct translation of "teacher," while in Tagalog, "guro," is the correct translation. Lastly, the Filipino language uses the alphabet system of English, while Tagalog uses what is called "Abakada," and its sentence structure are much more sophisticated than Filipino. If you"re interested, these people on Quora gave a more apt explanation here: World Lore Time: Filipino Pride is a compet.i.tion in the Philippines created by Ethan Puting-Ilaw during his third term of presidency. The Filipino Pride is a compet.i.tion in the entire country between high-school and college students nationwide, with high-school being both junior high-school and senior high-school combined. Filipino Pride was part of Project Intellect as a way to increase compet.i.tiveness between the Filipinos, as well as to improve camaraderie between students. Before being able to represent their region, a school must go through city-wide preliminaries, then onto the region-wide preliminaries. Due to this compet.i.tion, Filipino students clashed, making them grow more in sports and mental abilities likewise.

The Filipino Pride is divided into two main categories, Sports and Brains. On Sports, it is where baseball, football, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and many more sports, are contested on. On Brains, it is where the smart kids shine, with talent on mathematics, research, technology, debates, essay writing, poetry, history and geography, chess, a.n.a.lytics, and many more were challenged on.

With the establishment of the World Government, a new worldwide event was born, Annual Youth Pride event, which is only inferior to the Youth Olympics. The Annual Youth Pride event is basically a yearly Youth Olympics, with fiercer compet.i.tion as it is held annually. The basic prerequisite is that one is 16 years old, if you"re older than 16 years old, you won"t be able to partic.i.p.ate, it was the same if you were younger. Each youth only has one chance in their entire life of partic.i.p.ating in the Annual Youth Pride, which was held on the World Government Island, a new island that was discovered in 2029, and is also the base of operations of the World Government. Needless to say, members of the World Government didn"t reside here, as they were still leaders of their own respective countries. World Government Island was only named as such because the World Summit was held in it every year.

The World Summit, as it suggested, was the meeting of the World Government. The day before it, the Annual Youth Pride is held.