Chapter 319 Evan Trainor (2)

The sound of chains was the first thing Evan heard when he stepped outside, slipping on some slippers that were there for anyone to use. Jiro happily urged Evan forward. Evan closed the backdoor behind him, only to see chains flying across the yard. The sounds of Ritsuka grunting as Evan stepped into the backyard. He watched as the chains chased after Ritsuka while large swords flew out of the ground.

"Come on, you can do better than that." Ryu shouted. Evan turned to the right and noticed Ryu standing there with his arms crossed. He was wearing an orange t-shirt and was in shorts. He had his running shoes on and casually watched his Soul Chains fly at Ritsuka as he attempted to dodge them and summon Obsidian Glass swords.

The chains flew straight through his defenses and latched themselves onto him. Ritsuka was pulled straight back towards his brother, the Black Void underneath him, pulling behind him. Ryu wrapped his arms around his youngest brother, smiling as the chains released him.

"If you wanna win against a Glass, you gotta have a backup strategy." Ryu told him. Ritsuka struggled to get out of his brother's grasp. Ryu squeezed him harder and then let him go.

"C'mon, stop it, Ryu! You've been trying to hug me ever since you got home!" Ritsuka moved away from his eldest brother, who just laughed at him. "I'm not a little kid anymore. I don't need you to hug me every time."

"Awww, but you liked it." Ryu doted on his youngest brother. Ritsuka turned and noticed Evan standing there with Jiro.

"Oh, you're here!" Ritsuka's face lit up and he immediately ran over. He tackled Evan, almost toppling him. "It's been so long!"

"H-hey." Evan patted Ritsuka's back.

'He's still the same.' Evan thought.

"When did you get here?"

"A couple minutes ago. Jiro came to get me." Evan pointed at Jiro. Jiro proudly smiled and nodded.

"Nice to see you again, Evan. How're you doing? How's your parents?" Ryu asked.

"Ah, hello Ryu. I'm doing okay. My parents are busy like usual." Evan answered, shaking Ryu's hand.

"Hayami's almost done with the food." Jiro informed his brothers. "Let's sit and catch up, first." They all nodded and moved back into the backyard porch area. They took a seat around the patio table.

"So, Ritsuka told me you're taking the Academy entrance test." Ryu started the conversation. He took a sip of the lemonade in front of him, setting it down afterwards.

"Oh, yeah. It's actually my third time trying to get into the Academy." Evan answered.

"Third time?" Ryu raised his eyebrows. Evan nodded and Ryu simply nodded.

"I don't have a good power like Father's, so I don't think I can do it. I don't really wanna take the test. I'm fine with studying where I'm going currently and just going to college or something." Evan told them.

"You inherited a different form of Kinetic Manipulation, right?" Ryu asked.

"Yeah. It's not as cool as my Father's though. I'm just a tank." Evan looked down at his hands. The Yamada brothers stared at Evan. He didn't even think he could even do this.

"Well, we got this weekend to train, but I'll help you train if you want to give it a go." Ryu told Evan. "You and Ritsuka have a couple of months to train. If you can promise me to give it your all this one time, I'll even tell your Father you aren't interested in the Academy if you don't pass a third time." Evan looked up at Ryu. He was the first person that he met out of Ritsuka's entire family when they were little.

Ryu was always kind to Evan. He even treated Evan like his little brother because that was how much Ritsuka and Evan hung out before Ritsuka moved across the city. Ryu was in his mid thirties. He had climbed the ranks of the Police force and even worked closely with the other divisions. Ryu was the prime example of a 'perfect son' in Evan's eyes. He wished he had what Ryu had.

"I thought about it after Jiro talked to me the day Ritsuka called." Evan told them. "I decided if I was going to come here, I would give it my all. If I can't push through this then I can give up. Honestly, I just wish I could be as cool as you, Ryu. How did you even climb the ranks of the Police force so fast?"

"Hardwork and dedication." Jiro answered before his older brother could. Evan gave him a strange look and Jiro raised his hands up into the air. "What? It's true. Ryu trained really hard and climbed his way to the top. You don't get somewhere just by staring at it and going 'Ah, I wish I was there.' If you want to get something, grab it. You wouldn't say you're hungry and then stare at the kitchen, hoping food would come to you, right? You'd have to cook it."

"Mmm, that's right." Ryu nodded. He held the lemonade in his hand as he took another sip of it. "If I wanted to be where I am today, I had to work for it. If you have a goal in mind of where you want to be in terms of power, you have to visualize it and run after that."

"What happens when you get it?"

"You start another goal!" Ritsuka elbowed his childhood friend. "Goals are made to be achieved. If you had the soccer ball and knew you could make the shot at the goalpost, you wouldn't just stay at that spot, right?"

Evan shook his head.

"You'd shoot it. Exactly." Ritsuka nodded. "The soccer player might go from getting the ball to the other side of the field to making their first goal. After they achieve that, it goes to making their first goal to doing it ten more times. You're always improving in your craft. That's why I wanted you to come here. You can improve your craft with Ryu. He's trained plenty of police officers fresh out of school." The backdoor opened and Hayami poked her head out.

"Food's ready and Rumiko's here!" Hayami announced. Ryu and the two brothers stood up.

"Come on, let's eat." Ryu motioned.

"Oh, yeah," Hayami poked her head back out. "Rumiko brought her boyfriend." She gave Ryu and Jiro a smile and the brother's immediately turned serious. She giggled as she moved back into the house. Jiro and Ryu rushed into the house, leaving Evan and Ritsuka alone.

"Hahaha, he's in for a time." Ritsuka shook his head. "Come on, let's go in. You don't wanna miss the television episode." Evan stood up and followed Ritsuka in.

The table had been set and Rumiko was formally introducing her boyfriend to Ryu and Jiro, who switched their presence in a matter of seconds. They were trying to scare the poor guy.

"You two need to stop being like dogs." Rumiko elbowed and slapped her brothers. "He just wanted to come for dinner, that's all." She turned to her boyfriend and sighed. "Sorry, you're going to have to deal with this for a while if you wanna be with me. My brothers can be too protective."

"I-it's alright." The boyfriend nodded. "I don't mind." He turned to look at Ritsuka and Evan walking in. "Oh, you got a guest over?" Rumiko looked over and smiled.

"Ah, Evan. It's been awhile!" Rumiko ran over to Evan. She gave him a squeeze. "Why didn't any of you tell me Evan was coming over?!?"

"He never said if he was coming or not." Ritsuka answered. Rumiko gave him a glare before smiling at Evan and pulling away.

"Hi Rumiko. How are you?" Evan awkwardly asked.

"I'm doing well. I hope all's well with you. It's been, what, four years? Five years?"

"Around there."

"What're you doing here? Finally caved and came to visit? How's the otherside of the City? Like it?" Rumiko barraged him with questions. Evan answered it and Rumiko eventually remembered her boyfriend and protectively shielded him from Ryu and Jiro. They all sat for dinner and ate.

"Ah, so you're here to train for the Entrance Exam." Rumiko nodded.

"Yeah, Jiro offered Ryu and himself some training." Evan nodded.

"What's your class?"

"Oh, it's nothing as cool as my Father… I'm just a Tank." Evan answered. Rumiko paused at his sentence.

'He doesn't have that much confidence in himself, huh? Maybe doesn't have great role models when it comes to Tanks.' Rumiko thought.

"Oh, I'm a tank." Rumiko's boyfriend, Cory, raised his hand. "I could give you some pointers. I do a lot of Guild work."

"Oh yeah! Cory can show you some ropes." Rumiko chimed, grabbing her boyfriend. Ryu and Jiro watched carefully at the scene. Hayami covered her chuckle as she watched the whole thing. She found it amusing when her brothers got all defensive over Rumiko being in a relationship.

"What's your power?" Cory asked Evan.

"Well, it's Kinetic Redirection, but I can summon this shield to store any kinetic energy I block." Evan told him.

"Okay. That's cool. Have you tried anything with your power?"

"Just blocking and slowing things around me down. I don't really have a good way to fight back other than defend."

"Well, we still got some sun left. Why don't you show us?" Cory asked him.

"N-now? W-well…"

"C'mon, Evan. Let's see what you're made of. You and I can spar." Ritsuka suggested.