A Fall From Grace

Trust in Me

Ichika awoke in an older fancy wooden chair sitting within the massive structure. The walls which were made out of wood and stone had massive banners with the same eye symbol on the flash drive he got from the doctor decorating each of the banners. Before Ichika could even finish processing where he was and his surroundings he was interrupted by a similar voice of an elderly man.

The Old Man:(In a friendly tone) Welcome back my dear boy.

As Ichika looked in front of him to face the old man, two major things stuck out to him. The first was the presence of the massive table in front of him with eight chairs surrounding him four on each side of him with the old man he met before sat on a chair opposite of him. It almost looked like a the table had been set for more people but he was the only one who had shown up. The second thing he noticed was the man's expression and tone towards him. He remembered how when he first met him the old man treated him like a complete stranger but now here he is welcoming him back with a warm friendly smile like a grandparent seeing their grandkids. For some reason this made him feel warm and a bit cozy inside as the man looked at him with such a kind smile. He remembered how he always wished deep down that he and Chifuyu had grandparents or at least a relative of some kind whom they had a good relationship with.

Ichika:(in an awkward tone) Ya it's good to see you again sir.

Old man(in an amused tone) Oh dear boy why so nervous?

Ichika: It's just I didn't really expect to see you so soon.

Old man: Oh I do apologize for the sudden appearance it just I feel that I may have made a bad first impression. I just wish to rectify that before it makes a longer lasting impression.

The man let out a faint sigh as started to raise his head fully upwards to look at Ichika giving him a full view of his eyes which were a glowing shade of violet.

Old man: You see my dear boy I'm not used to having guess in my abode as you can tell it isn't as easy to get here as you have seen yourself.

The old man reached his hand down and picked up a tea cup of sorts that seemed to manifest out of thin air. It was mostly white with golden markings all around the rim and bottom and seemed to be fine with an unknown substance.

The Old man: So tell young man have you thought about why you want to be stronger.

Ichika tensed up a bit when the old man asked him the question and like before he answered the same way.

Ichika: As I said before I want to be able to protect my friends and family. I want to be able to help them and keep them safe.

The old man looked at him with a disappointed expression then took a sip from his cup. After his sip he looked downwards into the cup as it seemed to refill itself with the strange liquid.

Old Man: I see you are still telling yourself that.

Ichika: But it's true all I want is to be able to keep them safe. I don't understand why you keep saying that's not what I want.

Old man: If that is what you truly wanted then you wouldn't be here to begin with. If you wanted to protect your family and friends and nothing else you would have just left the I.S.

Ichika: What!?

Old man: you yourself said that you barely have improved in your piloting skills. On multiple occasions your lack of piloting skills have put you or your friends into danger. If you truly want to protect them and nothing else you would have just left there are many other methods you could use to protect them. You could be a mission consultant to help them on missions, you could be an engineer to build them new Stuff like armor or weapons, or you could have even been a medic to save their life's if needed. However you still want to be a pilot rushing into dangerous situations which puts strain upon you and your family and your friends.