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Chapter 2 - The test

Mr Tachibana observes as the Roman High students and press arrive. He forgot to mention that there's a big announcement that he will be making today.

The guests are taken to the main hall that was nicely set up and looks completely different from it's usual spacious and open themed style.

Today it is decorated with ribbons on the walls with balloons and portraits of many unique styles.

The colour theme is Gold and Blue with White. The Roman high students are also dressed in gowns and suits featured around those specific colours.

Mr Tachibana observes the guests fawn over the small child babbling with Yuno about an alien invasion.

"He's quit the chatter box isn't he?" A reporter comments smiling at Tori and Yuno nods in agreement.

Mitsuko stands up on the small stage set up to cover the dance floor, after he makes his announcement the stage will disappear creating bigger room for the students to dance.

"Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the Tachibana Palace, I hope you'll enjoy your stay here tonight. May the Roman High ball go smoothly."

Yuno smiles seeing her brother arrive in his baby blue motor bike.

Kai walks into the building and looks around for his sister but cannot see her. He notices Mitsuko instead therefore deciding to walk towards him, "Hey man, what's with the press?"

"Sir will be announcing that he won't be running for the next elections. He wants to focus on the business side of things he's having a hard time maintaining business and politics at the same time.

"There's also some project he's working on with Roman High, but that is something he didn't tell me about."

~

Yuno sits in her room playing with Tori. Her job will start when the guests are gone or the event is done.

There's a knock on the door and she opens it surprised to see Mr Tachibana of all people at her door.

"Miss Lin, would you mind if I could give you a bit of extra work? See, one of my guests came with his wife and new born and I can't seem to find Sensen, so I was wondering if you wouldn't mind babysitting an extra child."

"Not at all, they can bring the child to my room I'm sure Bobo wouldn't mind a friend."

"Wonderful."

Yuno groans as the one child become 3, than 4, and 5, and she counts a total number of 6 babies in her room. She grumbles stomping towards her bed, luckily there's only 1 new born and he doesn't look like he cries much.

~

Mr Tachibana sits in his office and pours a glass of whiskey for himself and Mr Ryujin, "You are one man I did not expect to see here, how may I help you?"

Tachibana asks knowing the man before him to be his corporate rival it is awfully suspicious he looks so hopeless and needy in his office.

Ryujin sighs and sits back in his seat, "Well, I'm no longer well enough to run my own company and I need someone who can keep the Ryujin firm going.

"I don't have a successor of my own to pass it on to and I can't say I have friends I trust.

"My wife is worried she won't have the same loyalty and dedication from my clients and partners. It's starting to stress me out having all my hard work crumbling before my very eyes."

"Why not adopt a successor?" Ken casually asks trying his hardest to ignore the teens that should be at the hall but for some reason he can see them in the garden.

"It's too late for that, if I had a son maybe I would've taken him all around with me and taught him my trade secrets. I have a lot of youngsters I mentored back in the day, but they all have their own companies going I'm running out of time."

Ryujin is a man that's only 70 years old as far as Tachibana is concerned that's healthy enough.

Currently Ryujin looks like a withering old man with prominent age lines and white hair he always hides well, however today it's as if he said 'screw it' and embraced his potential funeral.

Tachibana sits in his seat pondering the old man's current predicament, he makes a call to the main reception asking about Yuno Lin's whereabouts.

"She's still in her room sir, should I call her to your office?"

"No."

He thinks about the idea he has in mind for a while longer. He's very curious about how her ability works, and how much control she has over it. There's a lot of potential for opportunity if she has the right kind of assistance.

Ryujin starts thinking he came to the wrong person when he sees Tachibana muttering to himself and shaking his head none stop.

Tachibana decides they will go to Yuno's room and he'll stop asking himself difficult questions.

~

Tori watches the other toddlers walk around. He can't seem to get how they are doing it though he seems very comfortable with simply observing.

Yuno's door opens and Mr Tachibana walks in. The room is a total mess with loud toddlers and toys everywhere.

"You know, I still don't know what you are thinking you didn't communicate a thing with me." Ryujin states with a confused expression on his face trying to piece together what is going through the red heads mind by looking around the room, but all it does is just further amplify his confusion.

Yuno hasn't noticed them yet doing her best to keep the baby calm, so much for a baby that doesn't cry much.

"Miss Lin."

She gasps getting pulled out of her head from the one sided conversation she was having with the baby begging him to calm down. She walks towards Tachibana and the pale old man beside him.

"This is an old friend of mine, I was wondering if you could do me a favour again." Tachibana leans in covering the distance between them and shamelessly whispering in front of the old man.

"I'd like you to show me exactly how your ability works by healing him, what do you need?"

"Just water. A pool or bath tub should do."

"Alright, I'll be using your bathroom." He fills the tub with water and watches the children drop floating toys in the tub, "Miss Lin, how do I handle this mess?" He gestures to the children.

Yuno's mouth drops. She's heard people say they hate kids before he's the first who's ever meant it, "Talk to them they're not stupid."

Tori crawls into the room babbling and stops at Tachibana's feet. He lies down on his stomach and babbles some more.

Tachibana grits his teeth, a low growl escaping his throat, "Alright, all of you out and that includes you too."

Tori giggles and crawls out of the room. Tachibana throws the toys out and the children run after them.

"What now?" He asks.

Yuno takes her hand dropping it into the tub checking the temperature of the water, not that it matters, but it's a thought that came to mind.

"He has to get in it'll only work when he's fully submerged in the tub. He doesn't need to get naked, in fact I don't want to see a naked old man."

"Fine, I'll blind fold you, anything else?"

"No, that's it."

Tachibana finally explains himself to Ryujin and the old man stares in disbelief, "Hurry up, she's already got her hands full."

The old man gets into the tub.

Yuno glares at Tachibana, "It's too late for a blindfold I can't unsee the horror."

Tachibana rolls his eyes standing with his hands in his pockets not uttering a word.

She controls the water to enter his body via his sweat glands to sense where exactly the problem is.

His body is too full off dangerous toxins and his cell count has dropped drastically, probably due to the excessive drinking and smoking in his prime.

She flushes out the toxins in his body.

All Tachibana sees is the water colour changing.

She repairs his body from the head down starting with the delicate spots first, she's surprised he does not have dimentia or some kind of old age brain disease.

She stops when she's done with his lungs and sighs heavily, "That's all I can do for now he'll have to keep coming back it takes time to repair that amount of damage to a body."

She's shocked as to how he's still alive his body shouldn't have made it past the age of 50 at best.

Tachibana nods and watches Ryujin get out of the tub he looks a bit younger and less like an old man at deaths door. The water is completely black and smells awful.

Yuno doesn't even bother pretending to hide her germaphobia.

"How do you feel?" Tachibana asks the old man worried about Yuno she did not have to exert herself so much it can be counter productive.

"Light headed." The old man replies feeling dehydrated.

"You'll have to spend some time here it'll take a while to get you on your feet, how about some rest?"

"A little rest sounds like a great idea."