Chapter 36: the best hero in the world

Six years have passed since that memorable birthday party, and things have changed significantly. Firstly, Nemuri, thanks to her talent and partly to Kai's ideas, achieved great success as a writer. Her book series sold worldwide, was translated into over 20 languages, and even led to a highly successful big-screen adaptation.

Meanwhile, Kai has grown at an impressive rate during this time, reaching nearly the same height as Nemuri at 1.75 meters. But he doesn't look like a 12-year-old; instead, he appears to be around 15 or 16, something that also applies to Momo, who, although not as extreme, still has a body far too developed for her age.

Kai's rapid growth has actually caused some problems for Nemuri. After all, the blue-eyed boy is incredibly handsome, to the point that if it weren't for his hair, eyes, and obviously, his quirk. Nemuri herself would have trouble believing he was the son of Jiro-san, known for his plain appearance.

Kai possesses a face that seems to have been sculpted by angels, with perfect angles, powerful and sharp eyebrows, and hypnotizing blue eyes. The eyes seem capable of stealing the soul of anyone who looks into them, giving the young man an enchanting allure.

But that perfect face was nothing compared to the flawless body he had sculpted through years of near-fanatical training. Despite being agile and well-proportioned, his physique is incredibly defined, with visible abs, strong and toned arms, and a powerful chest, turning the blue-eyed young man into a modern-day Adonis.

The problem Nemuri is currently facing is that, for some time now, she has noticed having thoughts beyond what a sister should have for her younger brother. A deep desire had begun to awaken in her, to the point where she had to stop bathing with Kai and even gave him his own room, as the 'tingling' was becoming almost uncontrollable.

But that, instead of reducing her impulses, greatly increased them, to the point where her'relief' sessions went from being a couple of times a month, to a couple of times a day. Which inevitably led to Nemuri now looking at the body of her, no longer so small, Kai, full of desire. This filled her with deep terror, of losing her mind and doing something crazy that she might regret.

“Well, with this, I’ve more or less finished the draft of the fifth book, and I can hand it over to my editor, so I think it’s best for me to return to being a hero. It’s not a good idea to spend so much time at home right now, and that will help me deal with stress and keep my mind occupied. Besides, Kai has been doing very well these past years and hasn’t had any relapses…”

As she reviewed the text document on her laptop, Nemuri whispered softly to herself, quickly arriving at a decision. She then decided to talk to Kai, who was in the garden sitting in a lotus position with his eyes closed, something he had been doing a lot lately.

“Kai, Onee-chan wants to talk to you about something. Come inside for a moment so we can talk.”

“Of course, Onee-chan.”

Kai opened his eyes as he responded, then quickly got up from the ground and followed Nemuri into the house. The beautiful blue-eyed woman made him sit on a sofa while she sat in front of him with a serious expression.

“Kai, I’ve been thinking about returning to being a hero, but I want to hear your opinion first.”

“I think that’s a great idea, Onee-chan. Although you’ve done very well with your writing, I know your true passion is being a hero, and now that I can take care of myself, I think it’s a perfect time for you to try again.” Kai responded with an encouraging smile as he looked at Nemuri, who couldn’t help but smile beautifully back at him, commenting in a voice full of sweetness.

“Thank you so much for your words, Kai. You have no idea how much they mean to me. I’ll call my old agency and see if they’re willing to take me back.”

“Haha, don’t worry, Onee-chan. Go for it! I’ll become your biggest fan when you return,” Kai replied, amused by Nemuri’s excitement.

After giving Kai a big hug, Nemuri went off to make her calls. So Kai returned to the garden with a smile, once again taking his lotus position and resuming his meditation while strengthening his lungs and breathing at a steady, though somewhat strange, rhythm.

The last six years had been very fruitful for Kai. After Nemuri told him about the ‘mental shock’ he triggered during his conversation with the police chief—something he hadn’t even realized at the time—he began trying to control it somehow.

Although at first, he had no idea what to do, since it was related to Haki. He spent months studying the mini-self within his voice until he eventually, by chance, discovered that this ‘mental shock’ effect occurred when the mini-self opened its eyes, which was quite curious, really.

With a clear idea of what to do, Kai spent a lot of time studying that mini-self. This not only allowed him to make it open its eyes at will, but he could now even control almost all the aura around it. As a result, his ‘Haki’ became stronger and sharper than ever, and over time, that aura grew even more.

However, while his power and control over his ‘Haki’ had improved dramatically, the same could not be said for its advanced states, which he could not replicate, no matter how hard he tried. This led him to doubt whether they truly existed, or if he needed a life-or-death event to awaken them.

Although his Haki had somewhat stagnated, his aura advanced without problems, to the point where he considered himself an expert in using it. He not only had an incredible amount of it but could now create an [En] field of 300 meters in diameter for several hours with relative ease, which was undoubtedly a feat worthy of a master.

As for the Nen categories, he had also mastered them to great levels. For example, with materialization, he could now create swords that were not only indistinguishable from the real object but also much stronger, sharper, and more durable than before—not to mention that he could create swords with special abilities.

The same was true for the other categories, with which he had created some quite interesting and powerful things, and he had even succeeded with several of his ‘experiments.’ But if he had to mention the strangest thing that had happened with his aura over these years, there was only one thing to say.

“Sage”

Kai announced aloud after meditating for a while, causing a sphere of light with four wings to appear out of nowhere in the air and respond with an evidently feminine tone.

“Yes, sir?”

“What changes did my body undergo during meditation?”

Kai asked while stretching, which caused the sphere of light to flicker as it responded, and at the same time, a kind of hologram with all kinds of data and graphs appeared in front of the blue-eyed young man.

"Here are the specific data, but I must say that no significant change of any kind was observed, apart from the usual increase in aura, which remained constant with variations of less than 1%."

As Kai casually reviewed the data, his mind began to wander about the reason for the existence of that small sphere of light, which he didn’t quite understand himself. After all, it had simply appeared one day while he was calling his virtual assistant, and it could be said that it was an aura-made carbon copy of it.

Curious about the appearance of the strange entity, Kai began studying it, quickly concluding that, although it had no combat capabilities, it was incredibly useful. Through his aura, it could replicate all the functions of the virtual assistant that he had been improving for years.

But that wasn’t all. Since the sphere of light could somehow control his aura independently, it could do things like it did just now—displaying holograms of what he sensed with [En], studying his body, and even remotely controlling his aura constructs and other similar things. Moreover, over time, he discovered that it had its own 'Hatsu,' one with abilities that he really needed.

Because of this, Kai now wondered if that sphere of light was actually his Hatsu, and all those other abilities he had created were simply curious applications of Nen rather than a true individual expression of his aura. After All, He could certainly recall Ging Freecss making a distinction of this kind.

“Hmm, it’s really not that simple. I might be wasting my time, and maybe there’s no such thing…”

While Kai was somewhat disappointed by the failure of the small investigation he had been conducting for a couple of months, an agile dark figure leaped down from the second floor. Landing on all fours beside him and beginning to rub its head against him.

“So, you finally woke up? You lazy thing, you’ll be running an extra kilometer tonight”.

Kai commented playfully as he stroked the head of the large feline, which was about the same size as an adult Doberman. This caused the "cat" to flop down on him in protest, meowing loudly as if it had truly understood what its owner had said.

“But the intensification of aura really has some interesting effects. It didn’t just make Salem grow much larger than a normal cat, but even Onee-chan and all the others now seem frozen in time—they’ve practically stopped aging, and even Chatora seems stronger…”

As he petted Salem’s belly, Kai couldn’t help but comment to himself, marveling at the unexpected results his aura massages had on the girls and the intensive training he had given the cat, healing it when it was tired—something that Chatora had also tried, although the effects weren’t as exaggerated as with Salem.

Suddenly, Nemuri came out to the garden holding her phone in her hand, clearly excited and with a huge smile on her face. She quickly said.

“Kai, I’ve spoken with the agency, and they’re very happy about my return. I’m going to meet with them in person and also place the order for my new hero costume. Do you want to come with me, or would you rather wait at home?”

“I’ll stay home, Onee-chan. I have something to do, and besides, it’ll be quicker for you if you go alone.”

Kai responded casually, thinking that now that Nemuri was going to start as a hero again, it would be a good time to bring a certain ability he had been working on for some time into reality.

“You’re right, but you know, I’m a little excited and nervous. It’s been so long since I was a hero that it feels like an eternity,” Nemuri said with a mix of excitement and nerves, causing Kai to push Salem aside and get up from the ground. This made the large cat meow in annoyance.

“I don’t see it that way, Onee-chan. To me, you never stopped being a hero. To me, you are and always will be the best hero in the world. After all, you gave everything to save me,” Kai said warmly as he hugged the beautiful blue-eyed woman, who was now a few centimeters shorter than him.

“Kai…”

Deeply moved, Nemuri hugged Kai with tears in her eyes, her heart filling with deep joy and a sense of accomplishment, feeling that all her efforts were worth it. She had managed to raise the best man in the world—her little Kai.

“Well, Onee-chan, you don’t want to be late. Your time to patrol the streets is waiting for you, hehe.”

With a smile on his face, Kai patted Nemuri’s beautiful dark blue hair while speaking to her in a warm tone. This caused the divinely beautiful woman to look at him with joy, smiling like a little girl about to receive her favorite toy.

“Hehe, you’re right. I’ll be back for dinner.”

“Of course, I’ll be waiting for you.”