Limit

chapter 4: The real lesson begins.

Whoa, what just happened? I'm watching through the monitor, but it feels as though I'm in the crowd. Everything is dead silent; you could hear a pin land on a cushion. The shock must have frozen everyone. It felt like an eternity, but in no less than a minute, the crowd became as loud as when they cheered for me... but this time it wasn't praise; they were laughing and hurling insults at him as if he meant nothing. Even a few of the judges laughed. Dom and I just stood there in silence. I think, because of our past experiences, we know full well the bad side of limits and didn't see them as something to worship. I felt nothing but guilt; this man was so similar to me, but we have different starting points.

Dom then broke the silence. "Ah, his name was Cole." Then Cole proceeded to leave the stage while clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. Almost in sync, Dom proceeded to leave in silence too. I'm no psychologist, but I've always been good at reading people. I could tell that Dom felt immense guilt, as he knew deep down he was envious of not having power, but he also understood the pain that Cole was going through. I'm sure Dom kept thinking about how he could have avoided the trauma he went through if he didn't have his limit, but at the same time, he knew that having no limit but such big goals could be a huge burden. I felt bad that I couldn't think of anything to say to Dom, and I wish I could have helped Cole out, but I felt helpless. Maybe I'm just tired; it was only the second day, but it sure was long. I headed home and fell asleep on the couch in the living room.

The next few days, I just stayed in, relaxing and playing games, as the limit test was continuing and those who were done didn't have to attend. Before I knew it, the short break was over, straight back to class. Ahh, shit, I woke up late again. I grabbed my bag and ran as fast as I could, slamming the door on my way out. I made it to the school gate when suddenly, I'm hit by a bulldozer? Oh no, it's Ab. He was one of the first people I met in my class.

Kai - "Ouch, that hurt."

Ab - "My bad, sorry about that." He patted the dust off his knees and then extended a hand to help me up.

Kai - "Nah, no problem. You might not believe me, but this has happened to me before..."

Suddenly, as I'm picking myself up, Ab is launched into the air, and what seems like a blur hits me and knocks me to the ground again. Sigh.

Dom - "Ahh haa, I knew it was you, Kai. What's up?"

Kai - "Oh, Dom, what happened to A..."

I hear a faint scream as I look up to what looks like a bird? Maybe a plane? No, it's Ab.

He lands directly on my back, knocking me down to the ground for the third time. What has my life become? I'm not even in school yet, and I just wanna go home. Dom helps pick up Ab, then they both pick me up.

Ab - "Well, it's always better to be late together, hehe."

Dom nods in agreement.

Kai - "What? I'M ONLY LATE BECAUSE OF YOU GUYS."

Anyway, we make it to the classroom and rightfully apologize to the teacher for our lateness. I still end with a detention, even though it was their fault, but whatever. The first lesson comes to an end, and I begin packing away my books to get ready for break when I realize that the front desk was empty. Dom approaches me and sits on the desk in front of me.

Dom - "Hey, wanna go get a snack?"

Kai - "Yeah, sure, I'm down. Just give me a sec." He definitely used his limit to pack away that quickly. Sigh.

Kai - "Wow, someone really missed the second day of school, huh?"

Dom - "Yeah, well, that's umm, Cole's desk, so..."