The Earth After Rebirth

The second Kiro's head hit the pillow, he immediately fell asleep. Being home, under the same roof as everyone of his family, with the company's launch successful, he felt a little — only a little lighter.

Today, the end of the world didn't exist. He caught a glimpse of a new beginning of their world instead and it was beautiful and it brought him so much hope.

"Your father did great, the updated gear will be a great advantage for you all."

That's what he heard a voice say when the sun rested on his eyes, waking him up. It was blindingly bright, like there hadn't been a heavy storm the whole week.

"That voice was definitely different, that wasn't Chronos..." He grumbled as he got out of bed. "I have no idea why I even still go to school, what a waste of time."

He yawned.

"There are more important things at hand, I'll try convincing my parents." He took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hiro, let's drop out." He said yawning again.

"You woke me up for that madness?" He answered annoyed.

"Think about it, there's nothing that academy can teach you about creating things you don't already know."

"It's not worth it, my mother would never allow it."

"Let's call a meeting and convince them?" He could tell that Hiro wasn't convinced. "Look, we don't need school. Especially with what we have to do. Imagine not being able to logout and you miss a class or a meal or something. Or worst case scenario, a harbingers wrecks havoc while we are in the middle of a test?"

He didn't have the guts to quit alone, so he at least needed his best friend to be on his side so he could go through with it.

Kiro didn't plan to convince the other guardians to follow suit. He figured if he had Hiro by his side, they could hold off harbingers until the others arrive or they could even defeat one.

"What are we gonna tell them?" Hiro finally understood his concerns and he agreed.

A lot could happen while they were stuck in class. Another thing that was bothering him was how they would tell the whole world about this, or it was safer to keep it to themselves.

"Mm, I don't know..."

He really had no idea how he would spin it. He didn't want to rehearse it either, incase that made him more nervous and he ended up saying gibberish.

Walking into his bathroom, he started his shower. It was cold water with good enough pressure. He needed this to wake him fully up.

While in there, Kiro heard his room door open. He quickly turned the faucet off. He put a towel around his waist, while he had another in hand to dry his hair.

As he walked out, he was greeted by a silhouette that stood at 104 centimetres. He smiled gracefully, her face was however disappointed.

She came in early because she wanted to wake him up.

"You can wake me up tomorrow!" He exclaimed.

"You have school." She pouted, turning on her heels to leave.

"Not for long." Kiro said to himself.

He quickly put on casual clothes and went down for breakfast. It wasn't surprising that everyone, but Loki and Philip were already awake. The were four little demanding kids in the house, sleeping until the sun was out wasn't a luxury they could afford.

"Congratulations dad." Kiro said shaking his hand, which Sekani turned into a hug by yanking him closer.

The launch was more than just a success, their sales went through the roof and more were still being sold, it was quite something to witness.

"Thanks to you." He smiled ruffling his hair.

Kiro grabbed some freshly baked bread, there was one every morning. Angelina was a really mean cook, people were usually Jack's of all trades but she was a master of all.

He nodded outside for his dad to follow him.

"I want to quit school." He finally said when they walked far enough from the house.

Sekani waited for the punchline but it never came.

"You have to be joking?"

Kiro shook his head, "I don't learn anything there. Why do I even go? There's nothing they can teach me."

Sekani sighed. He couldn't refute what his son was saying. But he didn't see a future where Freya ever agreed to this.

"You're not telling me so that I could tell your mother are you?"

"Well, a man could only hope?" He chuckled nervously.

Sekani didn't promise anything. He knew it would take a lot, more than just words to convince his wife. She was a lot stubborn, something Kiro took from her.

'Since they're both so hard-headed maybe having a mediator won't be such a bad idea?'

Later that day, Freya and Kiyoko were both seated in the living area sofa. Both their sons stood in front of them, far enough to not be implicated by their anger.

Sekani was sitting to his wife's left, in way, in the middle of them.

The two women looked utterly confused as to why their sons wanted them both in the same room. Both their imaginations ran wild with all sorts of scenarios.

"Who did you get pregnant?" Freya started, scared out of her mind.

"I want to, we want to quit school." He blurted out.

'Way to rip the bandaid off champ.' He berated himself.

Even Hiro gave him looks of judgement. He couldn't believe how bad he was at letting bad news down easily.

"What? No."

"Wait, let me explain..."

"There's nothing —"

"Honey, please." Sekani pleaded. "Hear him out." Enjoy new stories from empire

Kiro took a deep breathe.

"I feel that school is a waste of my potential, there's nothing they can teach me I don't already know."

"Kiro, it's the principal..."

"Why did you send us to school?" He quickly asked, and answered "yes, to make you guys money but we've already done that. What use is school?"

Kiyoko was awfully quiet, so was her son. Hiro didn't know which buttons to press to convince her.

"You may be smart, but I know my Hiro isn't. His last results weren't good." She finally said.

"That's who Hiro is. I'm good at theory, he's good at practical. There's nothing I can think of he couldn't build. Traditional school isn't for him." Kiro defended his friend.

"Is this about the game, Asgard, being real?"

"Ye—wait, what?" He turned his head to the enquiring voice.