The Earth After Rebirth

"What\'s wrong?" Kiro quickly asked.

His mum was silent. She didn\'t know whether to burden her son with adult things. She thought she could hide her misery, but Kiro saw right through it.

"Mum, talk to me." Kiro said, pleadingly.

She broke down. Crying and saying incoherent things. So Kiro just watched in silence, realising that asking questions now won\'t bare him any fruit. His heart ached at having to see his mother like this, his mother was a strong woman, not a lot could actually break her to this point.

His mother finally calmed down after 10 minutes on the phone with her oldest.

"Both your father and I lost our jobs."

Silence.

Kiro didn\'t know what to say. How could that be possible? Both of them at the same time?

"How? You both are really great engineers."

"We were fired," she said through her almost blocked nose, a deep sadness in her voice.

"On what grounds?" Kiro was fuming at this point, he tried hiding it but his shaky voice gave way.

"Oh my innocent baby, high society doesn\'t need a reason to toss people like us like nothing. I\'m just sad we won\'t be able to pay for you, for another year. I\'m so sorry Ki. We\'ve failed you." She started sobbing again.

"Which company was it?"

"Why does it matter?" His mother then looked up to see her son\'s eyes, that were determined to know the answer. "Blakeson Tech."

There were still 2 days before the game\'s money can be changed to real currency. Kiro wasn\'t angry that they got fired, he was angry that the rich did as they pleased. His family wasn\'t in a unique position, he was sure many families go through this everyday.

"Where\'s dad?"

"Out. This stresses him out more than I."

"Don\'t worry Ma. I have a part time job here at school. I\'ll send you 500 creds every week. I don\'t need food or shelter, the tuition covers everything."

His mother was hesitant at first, but with a bit of persuasion, she ended up agreeing. Of course Kiro didn\'t have a job, so he\'d just take from the tuition money and send it home.

After 2 days, he\'d be well off anyway. But he didn\'t like that they made his mother cry. So he went down to the library, sat in front of a computer and started researching this Blakeson Tech company.

It didn\'t take long before everything fell into place. Isaac Blakeson. Kiro\'s disdain for the rich increased by a margin, if they can just turn your life upside down over simple matters that are games and standing up for yourself with just the snap of a finger, what else could they do?

He found himself doubting Isla too, maybe she wasn\'t like this, but her family was, probably. They\'d surely never approve of a slum rat like himself, to make the problem disappear they could make his entire family disappear.

He was rethinking everything. A girl was certainly not worth losing his whole family over. His whole second chance was to give his family the best life imaginable after all.

Blakeson Tech was the company that will make gaming pods in a few months, they\'ll later invest and have a majority of shares in the AI tech company. Of course Kiro knew this because that\'s the same company that made his academy education null and void.

His lips curled into an evil grin.

"I may not touch their current wealth, but I\'ll buy that company before they do." He mumbled to himself.

\'You dare make my mother cry? Nobody messes with my family.\' A storm was raging within him.

As he left the library, he wired his family 500 creds with the text "Feast to your hearts content and take it easy, I\'ll take care of everything." attached to it.

His heart was still a raging storm. He walked around aimlessly. His brain must\'ve known that if he would see Isaac, he\'d do a lot of things he\'d regret.

So it just made him walk as far away from their dorms. He wasn\'t thinking anything, he was just angry. He tried stilling his heart time and time again.

"Ki?"

A voice jerked him out of the whirlwind of emotions raging inside of him. His eyes rested on Isla.

"Great." He mumbled. "Hey," he said coldly.

He knew it wasn\'t fair to take out his frustrations on her. He knew that it wasn\'t her fault, but emotions are a funny thing, they can be irrational.

Feeling the coldness Isla asked, "What\'s wrong? Are you okay?"

"What\'s wrong?" Kiro sneered, "This world is what\'s wrong. Leave me the f*ck alone."

Like that he walked away. Isla was left not knowing what to feel exactly but she knew there was nothing she could do about it, so she walked the other way.

He stayed out late and missed dinner, he went straight to his room to sleep. His anger had subsided greatly. Just as he was about to turn in, there was a knock on the door. He walked toward it hesitantly.

Hiro stood on the other side when he opened it.

"I\'ve been looking for you all day, where were you?"

"Mm."

Hiro noticed his friends sour face. This wasn\'t like him at all.

"What\'s wrong?"

He came in and sat down on the sofa. Kiro sighed, because he did not invite him in. He just decided all on his own.

"Well?"

"Both my parents got fired from Blakeson Tech. Isaac\'s family\'s company."

Hiro was lost for words. He had no idea what else to say, but he just knew this was not good. He knew that this was not fair.

Kiro did nothing but stand up for himself, and in turn he gets told to stay down like a loyal dog because the rich can do whatever they want.

"I\'m sorry man." Hiro said, it was all he could muster.

"I\'m going to destroy them Hiro."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing."

Hiro kept his friend company until midnight, it was only then that he left for his room. His friend\'s mood had shifted, so that was something.

They both walked to breakfast the next morning. Kiro saw Isaac, at least now he didn\'t feel like punching his face until it was unrecognisable. But he still bumped into him pretty hard, on purpose.

"Watch where you\'re going slum rat," Isaac said loudly as if to quieten the morning chatter around the cafeteria.

"At least I don\'t get beaten in-game and run to daddy to make other people\'s lives hell." Kiro shot back.

"Oh you admit your life is hell." Isaac laughed.

"You\'ll know hell, soon enough. Now run to daddy and tell him to be ready, because I\'m about to topple high society." Like that he walked away.

Isaac couldn\'t retorted so he snorted. There was something chilling about the words Kiro had said, they were heavier than Isaac thought. But he didn\'t want to admit it. He thought his confidence comes from the Silva family. Maybe they were his backers.

Everybody in the cafeteria heard the conversation, those smart enough could deduce what had happened.

Kiro noticed Isla sitting at their usual table. So he bought a drinking yoghurt to take on the go. Hiro didn\'t ask and did the same. They walked out of the cafeteria to prepare for class.