5 A Normal Time

Tokyo, Japan,

Hayes Residence,

Samuel POV,

Samuel sat at the table, a bowl of rice in front of him, miso soup a bit to the side and some chicken related side dish on the other. True, their house didn't quite lack when it came to money but they had always been a modest family for the most part, most likely because of their grandfather's influence. His father, Ren sat across from him with his mother, Mei sitting to his side.

The room was silent and an awkward air hung about but nowhere near as awkward as it had initially been. Their family wasn't quite the best but all three had promised themselves in their hearts that they would do the best to amend it. "Did they do...anything to you in there?" his mother asked trying to make conversation only realising how stupid her question afterwards.

"No, thankfully." Samuel said with a small smile as he started eating, he had missed his mother's cooking, or rather any proper food to be honest. "That's good." Ren said, nodding as he too began eating, he wanted his son to feel as natural as possible. In truth, many had tried to 'teach him his place' as they put it perhaps out of jealousy or something else but in the end, all of them ended up gravely injured for their actions and due to the presence of cameras, no blame could be pinned on him as self defence was well within his rights.

A few minutes passed in silence and Samuel was already done with the food so he looked towards his mother, "Can I get some more?" he asked with a polite smile, there was no way he was finished just yet. Mei smiled excitedly at his request and hurried into the kitchen to get her son more food, returning a few moments later with a rice cooker in her hands. Clearly she had gone overboard but neither Samuel nor Ren could blame her for her actions.

Only a good while later, spent eating of course did Samuel finally feel fulfilled and bowed his head slightly, "Thank you." he said earnestly, thankful to his parents. Mei quickly shook her head, "No no, this is normal! You don't need to thank us for this..." her initially loud voice died down as she explained, just what had her son been through in there?

"Hm." Ren nodded in agreement, this much was their duty as his parents and even if he felt proud of his son for growing up like this despite the environment he was put in, it did somewhat hurt his pride as a father. Samuel scratched his cheek awkwardly, he didn't know what else to do so he stood up, wanting to finally sleep in his room after so long, on a proper comfy bed.

Just as he left the room, Mei looked at her husband contemplating something, "We forgot to tell him about that.." she said with a lost look on her face, caught up in the moment, they had forgotten about telling him something very important. "Well, he'll learn soon enough." Ren said with a small nod, yes, their son was in for quite the surprise.

Samuel, who had already left, naturally couldn't really hear what they were talking about and climbed up the stairs. Arriving on the second floor a few seconds later, he looked at what was supposed to be his old room with a small smile on his face. Just as he was about to go in though, his gaze fell on the, what should have been, empty room to the side. It had a bit of decoration on it..."Eh?" he tilted his head in confusion, but perhaps already tired of the day he yawned and entered his own room, he'd investigate this tomorrow.

"The same." Samuel remarked looking at the plain room he had used in his childhood, a single bed with a window to it's side, a study table with a lamp on it. A plain brown mattress on the ground, a shelf that had various books on it and a wardrobe, though it should be empty right now. A black laptop sat on the table, one he had used for research and studying when he wasn't in....you know, prison.

Slightly surprising or perhaps not surprising, was that the room was completely clean, no dust could be seen anywhere and everything was neat and tidy. Clearly someone had taken care of it in his absence and Samuel could guess who it had been too. The thought frankly, was enough to bring tears to the eyes of someone like him.

Wiping the few that had formed, he sat on his bed looking at the ceiling with a contemplative look on his face. He of course, had to continue his education now that he was out and seeing as he was now 17 and 8 months away from turning 18, he could only get in the last year of high school now. "I'm going....to have to ask dad for some help." he muttered somewhat helplessly, with no prior records that would be very difficult if not completely impossible.

Aside from that, the martial arts he practised were based on the use of hands and little to no use of legs.... "Unbelievable." Samuel said, shaking his head, he wanted to now learn another martial art, one that would make up for the lack of footwork and use of kicks... for that the best one was Taekwondo, a martial art known for it's emphasis on the use of kicks....

It was completely possible, he possessed accelerated learning rates and superior memory, building muscle memory at a higher rate was also among the few perks he had, he could in theory, learn a martial art if he observed someone doing them long enough. The only reason he had put up with all the harsh training was that without proper amounts of muscles and conditioning simply learning it would be completely useless.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and fell backfirst on the bed. "Let's take it in stride." a small smile formed on his face as he slowly drifted off to sleep leaving these things to the future him. He needed to do a number of things, search for a new school as well as watch a good number of MMA matches revolving around taekwondo so that he could try and replicate it by himself.

His laptop all of a sudden turned on, giving off a strange light for a few moments before turning back off. This went unnoticed by Samuel who was by now, in deep sleep and only after waking up would he learn that his days were about to get even more hectic than they had already been.