Chapter 3

8 AM in the morning, and Nami was already at school. Thanks to her parents for keeping her up late, she kept yawning as she made her way down the almost empty corridor of the school. The fact she could walk casually without having to worry about encountering some particular students made her consider coming early as a routine.

When she arrived at her class, she found out that only Liam had arrived. He was sitting on his chair, looking at his phone with his headset plugged into both of his ears. Nami walked up to her chair.

"Morning," Nami greeted him with a warm smile and voice when she passed by Liam's chair. Liam looked up to her. He didn't reply with another morning, but rather smiled warmly and nodded at her before focusing back on his phone. She definitely didn't expect that since he usually said morning back, or just nodded.

Kiara arrived not long after, along with Lucius.

"Morning," Lucius and Kiara said in turn as the two sat down on their respective chairs.

"So, what do you think James going to show us?" Kiara asked.

"No clue," Lucius said, while Nami only shook her head.

"Well, it have to be super cool to stop me from getting free ice cream," Kiara said.

Thankfully, James appeared, but he looked completely different from the day before. It wasn't only Nami and the others staring at him, but it was also the other students. His face looked brighter than usual. And Nami thought her eyes was playing tricks on her since James looked like he got taller, but when he passed by her she realized he actually got taller.

"J-James? What happened to you?" Kiara asked in disbelief.

"I will it explain later. I promise to show you something cool, so you need to check this out," James said as he stretched his hand to them with his palm facing upward. The group waited in silent for a moment, waiting for something or even anything to happen. But James only stood there like an idiot.

"So... Uh, are you telling us to come early to show us your new looks?" Lucius asked.

"No! It worked yesterday! Why the hell doesn't it work now!" James said angrily, swinging his hand around with frustration.

"Alright, ignoring your sudden change of appearance. Whatever it is you want to show... Did you try doing it again this morning?" Liam asked, putting his phone down on his table. James' sudden change in look seemed to pique his interest.

"W-Well, I didn't try it," James answered while shrugging his shoulders.

"Then... I'm guessing we are all going out for ice cream?" Nami said teasingly.

"I mean, James looks good, I guess," Kiara commented, her face redden.

"Yea, but what I want to show you is much cooler. Work dammit!" James groaned. Just as he said that, flame burst out of his finger. James immediately closed his hand with his other hand and the flame disappeared. Everyone froze in place while the other students turned around once more to look at them.

"S-Sorry, new lighter," James nervously said toward the other students. They didn't seem to believe him, but chose to continue on with their business.

"What... was that?" Nami finally asked when she recovered from her shock.

"Its not like this yesterday! I was able to make cute tornado on my palm, not bursting out flame like a dragon!" James explained in panic, He waved his around even more, but then stopped as he didn't want to burn down the school.

"Okay... This is a lot to take in," Lucius said, still shocked.

"Dude, I'm a superhero now!" James said excitedly. He tried snapping his finger and created a tiny flame floating above his hand. James could barely contain his excitement to try and scare his bullies with it. He could already imagine the terror on Hank's face when he saw him with a fireball prepared.

"There must be an explanation to all this," Nami said while opening up her phone.

"Really? How do you explain his sudden change in look and his newfound power? The evidence is literally in front of us," Kiara asked.

"I-I don't know. I was just saying."

"Say, James, did anything happen to you yesterday? Anything that would trigger this... sudden change?" Lucius asked.

"No, I don't remember anything special happening yesterday. I took a nap and when I woke up, I already look like this. Then I accidentally closed my window using my wind power, which weirdly enough is now replaced by this flame power."

"Are you sure that's all?" Liam suddenly chimed in, "Nothing else? Nothing weird or out of the ordinary?"

James tilted his head and tried remembering everything that happened the day before. He even furrowed his eyebrows, but in the end he just said: "Nope, nothing," with a casual tone.

"Alright. Its dangerous to talk about this in school, so let's continue this later. And Nami, you will be the one treating us ice cream since James successfully show us something really cool," Liam continued.

"What?! I was just joking! Beside, its a one way deal to James!" Nami protested.

"Maybe," Liam shrugged, "So how about we vote. All who agree?"

Everyone else lifted their hands with a grin on their face.

"... I hate you guys."

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