The sound of glass shattering echoed through the room as shards scattered across the floor. Adonis and Miyu looked at the scene, he was more frightened, she was more anxious.

“LOOK WHAT YOU DID!” Miyu quickly accused the young man.

“I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!” Adonis quickly defended himself. The two stared at each other, arguing without realizing that the teacher had entered the lab. With concern, she observed them and asked in a firm, serious voice:

“What happened here?”

The teenagers stopped arguing at that moment, turned to Mira, and started explaining themselves at the same time.

“Teacher, it was the…”  Miyu started.

“Ah! Sorry…” Adonis said.

“I don’t want to hear any apologies. Go straight to the principal’s office.” Mira said, cutting off both their excuses.

Adonis and Miyu left together towards the principal’s office. He was nervous about what would happen, she, with her head down, couldn’t believe that the boy had put her in that situation.

Downtown, 12:20 PM

After classes, young Adonis walked for about 40 minutes, crossing downtown toward the video rental store where his friend worked. When he arrived, he pushed the heavy glass door and entered.

At that time, there weren’t many people around. Dylan and Itzel were chatting at the counter, and they quickly noticed the young man’s arrival.

“Adonis! Welcome! Came to rent a movie?” Itzel asked, smiling.

“Um… actually no…” Adonis replied hesitantly. He clasped his hands and gave a regretful look, his voice showing his apprehension and worry as he began to speak to Itzel.

“I broke a glass in the school lab! So I need a responsible person to sign a note. And... I didn’t want to show it to Koa.”

“I see! I’ll sign it!” Itzel responded, amused by the boy's concern.

“Ah man, that's great! I knew you’d help me! But... one more thing... Can you lend me some money to buy another piece of glass like that?” Adonis said, this time with a more confident tone, relieved he hadn’t been scolded.

“Dude… what a cheeky move!” Dylan called out from the back.

The words from the redhead made Itzel widen his eyes. The surprise and nervousness were clearly visible on his face. He wasn’t very good at showing emotions like anger, so his shocked expression was enough to make it clear that he did not like the boy’s request.

“Adonis… I think it’s time for you to learn about the value of work. My money doesn’t come from nowhere.” He stared deeply into the boy’s eyes.

“B-but… Koa doesn’t work, right! I can’t ask him!” The redhead said, taken aback by Itzel’s tone, his voice trembling and his body language showing his shock.

“Maureen and I work during the day. Koa works at night.” Itzel explained in a dry tone, still staring at him.

“I thought Koa went out at night to date.” Adonis countered.

“No... that’s Maureen.” Itzel replied, crossing his arms.

“Yeah.” Dylan quickly agreed.

Upon hearing his friend agree, Itzel shot a cold glare at him, making it clear he understood what the other meant.

“Ah… I mean… I don’t know!” Dylan replied, embarrassed, not knowing where to put his face after the slip-up. To cover up his blunder, Dylan tried to compose himself and turned to Adonis with a friendly smile, proposing a change of subject.

“Anyway! I’m on my break. Adonis, right? I can take you to check out a place. The manager at the ice cream shop is my friend, maybe there’s something!”

“Oh, sure! Let’s go then!” Adonis agreed, not realizing the awkward situation that had just unfolded.

Help… Do I have to work!? The thought started running through the teenager's mind.

March 24th, Itzel’s Apartment, Noon

Itzel was calmly enjoying his lunch. His friends usually eat out, so he took this time to be alone and test recipes while chatting with the customers at the rental video store. That day, he was savoring a delicious onion steak. But his peace was short-lived. Someone began repeatedly pressing the apartment’s intercom.

Who’s so... insistent? Itzel thought. With little choice, he got up and answered.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“Itzel, it’s me, we need to talk.” Answered a firm, deep voice.

“I’ll be down in a minute.” He set his food aside, sensing urgency in the voice. He took the elevator down, walked outside the building, and saw a man with dark skin and white hair standing, looking around.

“Hey, Koa! Everything okay?” He asked, showing a hint of tension.

“Okay? Lady Ayami called me, she’s getting impatient.” Koa said, turning to face his colleague.

“But why? Everything is fine and under control. I’m taking care of everything.” Itzel replied, confused.

“You think that’s what she wants? There are no attacks, the Potentia of Utopia are out there.” Koa started to get frustrated with his colleague’s passivity. “You’re on reconnaissance. Maureen is on attack. Adonis should be locating the Potentia. I’ve been assigned to support you. But if you don’t move, what am I supposed to do!?”

“But… Maureen got hurt in the last fight…” The man with cyan hair tried to defend himself.

Koa stepped closer to Itzel, staring him down and placing his hand on the glass wall behind him, trapping him.

“You call that scratch on her face an injury? Tell Lady Ayami that and see if she cares. It’s important for someone to move, and fast!” After saying that, Koa stepped back a little and continued.

“And you know what? I’m tired too. I didn’t come here to babysit teenagers.” The tall, dark-skinned man started walking towards the school, visibly irritated.

“Koa… What are you going to do?” Itzel asked, worried.

“I’m going to make some moves.”

Itzel knew there wasn’t much he could do when Koa was upset and let him leave, concerned about what might happen next.

In about twenty minutes, Koa arrived at the school but decided to keep walking, knowing that students around Adonis’s age were likely not in class at that time. Moreover, he saw older students walking further ahead, as well as a good number of civilians.

Just walking around won’t help much. He thought.

So far, the actions in the commercial areas had been effective in drawing the attention of young Potentia, and Koa thought this might be the best way to attract them if any were nearby. The man then used his hand, which emitted a power that caused a mild tremor in the ground ahead. He focused his power on a parked car. Soon, cracks appeared in the concrete, widening and growing until the road split and sank, creating a crater big enough to swallow half of the car.

The public quickly became alarmed and started shouting about what had happened, wondering if the driver had been hurt. Not far from there, a group of three students from M School, who were collecting cardboard boxes for a school competition, were talking:

“What happened?” Asked the first one.

“Am I crazy? Didn’t you feel that? The ground shook!” said the other.

“Yeah, it trembled! Are you all okay?” asked Naoko.

In the background, another girl came running, waving and calling out to tell everyone what she had seen:

“Girls!!!!! You won’t believe this! A hole opened up in the middle of the street and swallowed a car!”

“What!? The road maintenance is worse than ever! No wonder they say it has a lunar structure here.”

While they discussed the event and the quality of the city’s asphalt, Naoko realized how absurd the story sounded and figured it couldn’t just be a road maintenance issue. She decided to take the lead and head to the accident site.

“Girls! I’m going to see what’s going on.” She informed them.

“But Naoko, it could be dangerous!” One of her classmates responded.

“Ah, I’m… curious!” She replied the first thing that came to mind given the urgency of the situation. While she left, her friends watched her confused behavior and began to judge.

“Naoko is so conventional, but…” One began.

“Sometimes she seems like she’s missing a screw, right?” Another finished.

“Oh, yeah! For sure!” Confirmed the last.

The place was very close, but it was difficult to see the situation clearly. The street was already full of curious onlookers, and more were gathering, starting to theorize about the accident. Some were already helping the driver out of the car safely. Some blamed the old coal mines in the area, while others blamed the current local government for the damages. With so many side conversations, it seemed almost impossible to find any real clues. 

However, the ground started to tremble again, this time with less intensity, but it was still clearly noticeable. The common people began to panic, shouting about the tremor, causing a ruckus as they thought they might die, but nobody really moved away from the place.

Naoko watched the area, looking for any clue she could find. That’s when her eyes locked on a tall, dark man, who, in the middle of all the chaos, stood firm and calm, as if he had control over the situation. She noticed his hand raised, and the energy causing the ground to shake was emanating from it.

Definitely, it’s this man among the civilians… I can’t do anything recklessly, or I’ll hurt a lot of people. Naoko thought, quickly formulating a strategy in her mind. She formed a water bubble and sent it toward Koa, bursting it against his cheek to grab his attention. Koa was surprised to see the young schoolgirl and quickly realized she was calling him to confront her away from the civilians. The two sprinted through the crowd, causing curiosity and more rumors.

“Guys! Was it a criminal?” One of the civilians asked.

“The guy is chasing her…” Said another.

“Is it a couple fight?” One began to invent.

“Did she cheat on him?” Another joined in, coming up with stories.

Naoko quickly distanced herself from the crowd and began running toward a vacant lot. The small lot had a few grass patches, but most of it was just packed dirt. It was a very open space, perfect for her to face her opponent without him being able to escape or hide.

Koa followed her, but she continued to gain distance. Then he stopped where he was, raised his hand, and began controlling the earth beneath Naoko's feet. The girl, who hadn’t seen his power in action before, was caught off guard when the ground beneath her opened up. She fell awkwardly into the hole, getting scratched and bruised.

Damn… A hole out of nowhere... I’m hurt, this hurts… she complained mentally.

The man approached her, walking slowly, and stopped just close enough.

“We’re far enough from the crowd now, there’s no need to run so much.” He said, looking down at her. His tone suggested he was ready to either fight or extract information from her. He was confident and firm.