The Earth After Rebirth

They came back from the mall quicker than when they went alone. The kids had bought every toy under the sun they could get their hands on.

They were from the poor district, so they only ever seen most of those toys on TV screens. Alora quickly took a liking to Isao, even though he was a year older than her.

She'd already invited him to play with her new toys, in her new room. It was absolutely strange, she'd even forgotten the sin Kiro committed a couple of weeks ago of lying.

When they got to the gate, Philip was there, sitting at the pavement. He got up when he saw them approach, Alora ran to him and hugged him.

Kiro looked at the scene before him with much jealousy. This guy didn't seem to be that much older than him.

"This must be the Ki I've heard so much of, nice to finally meet you!" He extended his hand.

"It's Kiro." He shook it.

"See you later, Ki." Hiro shouted as they walked further to their house.

"See ya!" He shouted back.

They all walked to the house with a lot of luggage. They had to make another trip to the gate, since Philip brought boxes of his own. It was just Sekani and Kiro though.

"What's in this? It's so heavy!" He was breathing a little bit heavier.

"I guess those gained muscles are just for show?" Sekani teased.

Kiro laughed. "I can carry it no problem, don't worry." They walked, slightly enjoying the winter cold. "Who is that guy dad?" He finally asked since they weren't explaining anything to him.

"Oh right you don't know him. That's Philip, he worked under me at Blakeson. He got fired though, he couldn't get his temper under control, young and hot-headed, kinda like you."

"We are nothing alike!"

"Haha, you're my son, I know you better. Anyway, he was homeless before your mother convinced me to finish a project I started when she was pregnant with you."

Sekani figured Kiro was old enough to be told this story. So he told him to put the parcel down, and they sat on the kerb. He told him everything, he didn't leave out a single detail.

To say he was angry would be an understatement, a vein popped on his temple and it was breathing. He couldn't believe how ruthless Isaac's family was.

'Do they have a thing for us or something? His father screwed over mine, now the son is attempting to do the same to his son? Hehe' He scoffed dangerously.

"I'm so sorry dad, I didn't know."

"You couldn't have known." Sekani consoled him.

He thought at how hard working his parents were. It must've hurt his father's pride every day he had to wake up and work for a man that stole from him.

"I'm happy you're deciding to finish the project, please don't call it Kiro."

Sekani simply coughed a laughter.

"Dad!"

He totally ignored him.

"I bought shares from a company too." He told him.

Sekani took a long look at his son, the eyes that were his, the face that was his. The hair. The spitting image of him. He was filled with so much pride it was threatening to leak out.

"I don't know much about businesses, I build after all, but I know you wouldn't make a decision that wasn't smart." He ruffled his hair.

"Yes!" He smiled, the anger in him disappeared at seeing how proud his father was of him.

They got up from the kerb, it was getting dark and late, "oh, by the way, your mother is pregnant with twins." He mentioned it so casually.

"Huh?" He was about to ask how, but realised how much he didn't want to know that.

His mood shifted with the cold wind. He looked like a wounded animal suddenly, he felt worse. He thought he had worked on the guilt, but this made it so much worse.

'So then, I didn't lose just them, then?'

"Ki, are you okay?" His father was concerned, he'd never seen such an expression from his son.

"Ah, yes." He wiped his wet eyes. "I'm okay, I'm happy." He looked at his father who didn't buy his answer, "just don't give us any more siblings, please." He laughed, Sekani joined him.

"That's going to be a bit difficult, your mother—"

"Dad, you are treading dangerously close to the fire here. That's my mum you're talking about!" He cut him off before he could give an explanation, he did not need to hear.

"Hahaha, I'm your father too you know."

They started walking toward the house. At a distance, Freya was standing at the door. She got a bit worried that they were taking too long to come back, but she saw that her boys were just catching up.

It was a sight she couldn't get her eyes off exactly. So she stood there until they arrived at the doorstep, she let them in.

"That took you way too long!"

"You should be sitting down, I don't want complications with my siblings." Kiro commented.

"You told him?" She was shocked, hitting her husband on the shoulder. Sekani simply smiled.

They took the parcel into the garage, and Sekani opened it up. Kiro waited with anticipation. It looked like a coffin but it wasn't. It was more, sophisticated.

Kiro slightly touched it, it felt like marble. It was a pristine white in colour. He thought it would break if he pounded hard enough. The inside felt very soft and comfortable.

"It's not going to break, its sturdier than it feels. But obviously this is just a prototype, I couldn't afford the good stuff." Sekani told him, as he saw how delicate he was being.

"Can it turn on? Can I try it?" He excitedly asked.

"Mm, okay get in."

Kiro did as he was told. Sekani closed the glassy door. Darkness quickly enveloped him, he thought for sure the glass would let him see the outside.

[Welcome, the pod has no games please install them.]

The blue screen before showed him an interface that he could control by a simple thought. He had tried touching but that didn't work. He tried using his thoughts and it worked.

Since there was nothing to play, he commanded the Pod to open and it did.

"Impressive, you figured it out. I thought for sure you would panic and hit the glass door like Loki." He laughed thinking about it.

"Nevermind that! Dad, this is amazing! It could potentially fix the second's lag the headgear has!"

"Not potentially, it will."

"And you managed to make this with scraps?" He looked at him with admiration. He now understood the obsession Hiro had of building things. He vowed to take VR sciences seriously, to help his father on his new venture.

Sekani smiled, proud that his son was proud of him.

"The company, what's it gonna be called?" Kiro asked.

"Maybe, Waynworth Enterprise?"