The morning sun was rising over the village and it was time for class in the academy. In the classroom, as usual, there was one missing seat in the classroom as usual. Of course, this was because Hajima was skipping school once again. It had been maybe a fortnight since he'd last turned up, and the teacher was getting impatient, and more importantly, so was the rest of the class. The teacher had finally decided to get someone in to deal with this little problem, and hence that was why Anshin was stood outside of the kid's house just before school started. He knocked on the door , his knuckles rapping on the wood as he waited patiently for the mother of the house to open the door. She didn't know about her kid's absence from school, so it would be best not to alert her to the son's behaviour. At least, that was what Anshin thought, knowing just how upsetting an angry parent can be. If he could solve this without having to get the poor kid's family involved in this, he would.

As the door opened, the boy's mother stood there in a dressing gown and was clearly just out of bed. Unfortunately, it appeared that was the only thing he was wearing and Anshin, as any self-respecting straight man would, went bright red. You could put him next to a tomato and you wouldn't see any difference in the hues. Bowing slightly, he started to talk, his tone much more respectful than normal
"Excuse me... Miss Itami? I need to talk to your son Hajima about his school work." She nodded and let him in, which he was grateful for. He began to walk up the stairs, noticing Hajima's little brother who had clearly seen him and rapped four times on the door. Some kind of alarm he figured. Anshin ignored this and continued to walk until he got to the door, where he was about to open it but the little brother interfered.
"No, you can't open it!" Anshin raised a curious eyebrow
"Why not?" The boy stopped to think for a minute.
"He's... getting dressed!" There was a sound of a sliding window and Anshin sighed
"He's climbing out the window isn't he?" The little brother nodded and Anshin kicked the door open, just as the boy had managed to get out. God damn it, this was going to be awkward.

405/600

Moving into the room, he climbed out of the window and grabbed the bottom of the roof, pulling himself up. It was easy, and he could see how the kid could have done it. Still, all this effort over not going to school? Turning around as he got onto the rooftop, he saw the little boy's silhouette moving over a distant rooftop and, sighing to himself, he started to give chase. Unfortunately it seemed as if the kid had more knowledge of the area than he did, as he'd lived here 11 years to Anshin's seven. Thankfully, the one thing that he did have in his favour was speed, allowing him to always keep in sight of the kid, even if it was only slightly. Over alleys and streets, over houses and buildings, he continued chasing his target, wishing now that he had some kind of long range attack that didn't hurt people. His only one that would work in this situation was Crackling Blast, and he had been warned not to hurt the kid. However, as they got to the second lap of town, Anshin was closing in on the boy before.... the kid tripped and fell, falling into the abyss. Sighing to himself for a moment, Anshin dove forwards, his hands wrapping around the kid in a position that allowed him to hold him safely, before falling to the ground. He rolled as he hit, managing to cushion the blow from the kid and finally they lay sprawled out on the floor, panting wildly. It was clear that if Anshin hadn't been there, Hajima would have fallen to his death
"Why..?" A small smile was his only answer, to a question that would haunt the poor lad for the rest of his life. He sighed, knowing what this meant... he was going to be going to class.

714/600