Ian woke up to the sounds of the morning traffic and curled up into a ball while shivering like a dying shrimp. He pulled his knees to his chest and closed his hands into two tight fists, unwilling to lose any warmth. It was suffice to say that Ian deeply dreaded the long winter that was to come. 

“At least I have a roof over my head,” he sighed while remembering how hard it was to persuade the stubborn landlord to let him live in this shabby storage room. The walls were covered in holes which provided no insulation whatsoever and the roof often leaked like a river when it was raining. There was a reason why such a worn down storage room had been abandoned by the apartment complex that it once belonged to. Now, it was nothing more than the home of a 13 year old boy filled with only a mattress, desk and chair. Nevertheless, Ian was still grateful for the shelter.

However, no matter how grateful he was, gratefulness could not block out the cold.

“Urrghh,” Ian groaned as the freezing wind penetrated through his thin blanket and mercilessly stripped off any remaining heat.

After shivering for a few more minutes, Ian finally had enough. He mustered every bit of his willpower to push himself off the dirty mattress. Just like the previous year and the year before that, he decided to survive the winter no matter what! 

“Hoorah! HOORAH!” 

Ian declared his dominance to the world. The cold would not defeat him today! 

“I’ll never kneel, not in a million years!

HOOOOORAH!”

His courageous shouts were valiant, but the boy was…naive. 

Instantly, a gush of cold air assaulted him from all directions. Unfortunately, he did not possess the ability to nullify the freezing temperatures, so in the eyes of the powerful winds, he was nothing more than a naked baby without the safety of his blanket. Like a fool, Ian had stupidly underestimated the strength of his opponent. Such an idiotic mistake would surely cost him his life, but before the cold could suck away his last breath, Ian crawled back into his bed out of shear desperation. Yes, it was a cowardly retreat, but as long as he could live to fight another day, victory was assured. If he survived, he would definitely defeat the treacherous winter! The brave boy’s spirit had not yet been broken! 

All he needed to do was reach the jacket that was hooked onto his chair a few metres away. Ian calculated the distance and the final velocity that was necessary to reach the heavenly garment and in the blink of an eye, he put all his power into his legs and leapt out of his bed. With his blanket still fluttering in the air from the force of the jump, he effortlessly snatched the black jacket before even touching the ground and then put it on in one fluent motion. 

“HOORAH!” 

Just like how Goliath had been conquered by David, the villainous winter was finally vanquished by Ian. The boy celebrated and cheered for his victory while the cars in the street beeped their horns in delight. 

Once again, Ian declared his might to the world-

- gyuruyurgur…

But this time, his battle cry was cut short by a grumbling stomach.

After being snapped back to reality by the sharp hunger that he only now noticed, Ian tried to laugh off the silly little war drama that he had just acted out.

“Mmm, yeah, let’s go get some breakfast,” he remarked, attempting to suppress a giggle while pretending that his previous shouts were nothing but a lie. If anyone else had seen him perform his morning routine, Ian would surely have exploded with embarrassment like a bursting tomatoe. 

Nonchalantly, Ian strolled out of his home with a helpless smile. A fun morning always helped keep him going in these hard times. If not for the playfulness that he subconsciously displayed, Ian’s mental health would have certainly plummeted into the abyss by now. In a way, this was how he dealt with the pain of his past. And even though hiding all his suffering under a mask of immaturity was torturous, Ian didn’t mind it. Who would care anyways? To him, there were bigger problems to worry about and more important goals to achieve. Sulking would get him nowhere.

He didn’t know whether it only made the stabbing emptiness in his heart even worse than before, but after so long, he had ironically forgotten how to stop this fruitless facade in the process of trying to forget his suffering. By now, it was already ingrained into his body like scars, but Ian didn’t mind. What happened in the past was the past. Only the future mattered now…

After walking to the bustling mall, Ian bought himself a baguette, an apple, some ham and a bottle of water. Then, he sat on a bench and combined the baguette and ham to make a simple sandwich. Of course, fast food was much cheaper but it provided little sustenance for Ian’s daily life. 

“Quite tasty actually,” he remarked while taking a bite of his creation. The saltiness of the ham was just right, and its flavour seeped nicely into the bread, mingling into a delicious and harmonious base for the crunchy apple slices that were to come. 

‘Not bad indeed’

After taking a swig of his water, Ian finally had some time to think. A few days had passed since his meeting with Cherie, but after recounting the events of their dinner together, some things just weren’t adding up. First of all, he didn’t remember telling her his name, and yet at the end of their meeting, she shouted it out loud. Secondly, the way they came across each other was way too suspicious. It was almost as if she had known where he would be ahead of time. Lastly, a normal person would never adopt a child who just randomly popped up on the street. 

‘In the first place, I didn’t even mention that I had no parents. Did she try to become my mother just to get closer to me. She could’ve just had her way with me in the alleyway so why go through all that trouble?”

Did Cherie investigate him prior to their encounter? If so, then why? What could Ian possibly offer a person who belonged to the International Hero Association? Or maybe Cherie’s affiliation was just a bluff to get him to lower his guard. To Ian who couldn’t afford to trust anyone, these questions occupied his mind like a plague. 

“Sigh, I guess the only thing I can do right now is be on high alert. If I see her again then I’ll be able to identify Cherie’s true intentions, but that’s only if we cross paths once more. Still, if she really is targeting me, I’ll need to get stronger.”

After pondering for a while, Ian came to the conclusion that the best countermeasure was to prepare for the worst case scenario - that she tried to kill him. Of course this was unlikely as a real assassin would have already taken his head by now, but he just couldn’t help but think about the what if’s. 

As such, he would not only need to polish his combat skills, but also the prowess to flee in the case that he couldn’t handle the situation. However, in contrast to the terrifying thoughts swirling around his head, Ian was not too worried as he had already been training for the past four years. How else would a little boy be able to knock out five thugs without a care in the world? The answer was a deep pit of blood, sweat and tears. Only now, instead of training to reach his goal, he would use his efforts to prepare for a new threat. 

Although he didn’t know the specific details of Cherie’s ability, he had already witnessed her summon a human sized metal shield. From that, he could assume that she was a defensive fighter, but he still didn’t have enough information to make a solid inference. For now, Ian decided to work on his technique that was specialised for tight escapes. 

And so, after getting hyped for the gruelling training session that he would soon subject himself to, Ian finished the last remains of his breakfast and headed back to his storage room. In the next few hours, he would be putting himself in a lot of pain. A lot…a lot…a lot of pain…

“Maybe the neighbours will think that someone’s being tortured after hearing the screams, hehe.” Ian tried to console himself as he walked to the ‘torture chamber’ with his own two legs. 

“Urgh, I ain’t no masochist though!”