bapa: from here to eternity

chapter 31: rehearsal

Mika POV:

Andrew arrived ten minutes late, his footsteps echoing through the Man's Nest as he walked in. "You're late," I said, not bothering to hide my disapproval.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," he responded quickly. "My mom just got back from her business trip, and I had to drop off my little sister."

I nodded, accepting the excuse but keeping my tone formal. "Alright, but don't come late again."

He still saw me as ShoutOut and not as Mika—there was a certain stiffness in the way he addressed me, as if he was still trying to figure out how to act around me. But that was fine; I needed him to focus right now.

"So, the results have shown a few unexpected things," I began, diving straight into business.

"Negative?" Andrew asked, his brow furrowing.

"Not necessarily," I replied. "Like I said before, your healing powers are not fully developed. They have to be trained so you can gain control over them now that you've realized you have them. But before I tell you about your other powers, I'm going to walk you through an exercise to help activate them."

"Oh, and you can't tell me what they are or else they might not work the first time?" Andrew guessed.

"Exactly," I confirmed, impressed by his quick thinking. "Now, put your hand a few inches from my mouth."

"What?" Andrew looked confused.

"Don't ask questions," I said firmly.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, raising his hand to hover near my mouth.

"Now focus and try reaching for something," I instructed.

"For what exactly?" he asked, still unsure.

"Anything," I said, not giving him much more to go on.

He hesitated for a moment but then closed his eyes and focused. "Yeah, I feel something, some sort of energy source," he said after a few seconds.

"Great, now can you reach for it and grab the energy?" I guided him, feeling a slight tingle as he began to connect with my powers.

"I'll try," he replied, and I felt the slow pull of energy leaving my body. It was a long process, and the further it went, the dizzier I started to feel.

"I think I've got it," Andrew said, sounding more confident.

"Hold up, are you okay?" he asked, concern creeping into his voice as he opened his eyes and saw my condition.

"Yeah, sure, now put the energy back," I tried to say, but I felt my knees buckle as everything went dark.

When I came to, Andrew was hovering over me, calling my real name. "Mika, come back, please," he shouted, panic evident in his voice.

I groaned, putting a hand to my head as I sat up. Andrew quickly sat back, giving me space but still looking worried.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"You know my identity," I said, more of a statement than a question.

"Uhm, yeah, I'm so sorry. I was just in shock and couldn't call you ShoutOut anymore. And I want to apologize, Mika, for everything I did to you, even now," he said, his words tumbling out in a rush.

"Save that for later," I said, trying to regain my composure. "I'm not Mika right now. I'm your trainer. Do you still feel the energy in your hand?"

"Uhm, yeah, I do," he replied, glancing down at his hand like he wasn't sure what to do with it.