The Reincarnated Hitman

"Are you okay?" Liam asked as he looked at Lea sitting across from him.

They were currently back in the apartment and having Lunch together... this time without Olivia, since she said she had something to do.

The hitman, fully in big-brother mode, noticed that Lea was barely eating, which meant something was clearly on her mind.

Eli also glanced at her while continuing to eat.

Lea set down her spoon before letting out a quiet sigh.

"When I regained consciousness after that incident..." she began, "...Noa told me everything that happened."

She looked directly into his eyes as she continued, "She also told me that I was fed a pill called Primagen."

She fell silent for a moment, and Liam could tell she was hesitant to continue.

Still, Lea took in a deep breath, calmed herself before continuing, "Would big brother have hated me if I had awakened because of that?"

Liam paused, finally understanding what this was about.... It seemed she was as okay as Riley had claimed.

Also, from her question, he was almost completely certain that she had awakened a Factor...or at the very least, she had started seeing signs of awakening.

"How should I put this?" He started, thinking for a while, "as long as I’m your big brother, I would never come to hate you....even if you ended up becoming some sort of super villain."

"I’d probably help you burn the world down."

The last part caused Eli to chuckle as he said, "And me too... I’ll be your right-hand man."

Lea put her head down for a second before muttering, "Excuse me."

With that, she stood up and walked towards her room, but Liam could tell that some kind of weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

As she disappeared into her room, Eli turned towards Liam, swallowed the food in his mouth and asked, "Did big sister awaken?"

Liam looked in the direction she walked before shrugging and replying, "Maybe."

***

Lea, on the other hand, reached her room as her worries immediately melted away.

"Why was I so stupid?" She muttered with a chuckle, "Of course, big brother would never hate me."

Why had she been so scared that he’d hate her, instead of thinking of ways to use her Factor to finally help him?

"That’s right," She muttered with a smile, "I can finally be useful to big brother now."

She suddenly froze when she recalled something, "I don’t even know what my factor is yet."

After all, since the incident, it had been switching between healing herself and lifting people’s moods.

She also had no control over it, as it usually happens randomly...which meant she was far from being able to help her big brother just yet.

Despite that, she was happy; after all, the chance was still there.

Getting her emotions under control, she walked out of the room and stopped directly in front of Liam before saying, "I’d like to get my pragma measured."

She expected him to be surprised or even ask why, but he simply nodded with a smile, "We’ll go to a Pragma measuring facility tomorrow."

"H-huh?" Lea let out, "You’re not going to ask why I suddenly made such a request?"

"Do you want me to?" Liam simply asked with both hands under his chin.

"W-well....not really," she responded before sitting back down and picking her spoon up again.

Liam simply smiled in response as he also went back to eating before saying, "I figured."

"Then...will you be disappointed if I awakened a weak Factor?" Lea said, looking up at him.

In response, Liam lifted his hand before flicking her forehead, causing her to put her hand on the spot.

"Ow!"

Before she could complain, he started, "A weak Factor in the right hands can become terrifying."

"And a powerful one in the wrong hands can become useless."

He then looked into his plate before adding, "Besides, I don’t care what Factor you awaken."

Lea rubbed her forehead before smiling sheepishly, "Right."

"Let’s eat," Liam muttered with a smile.

The three quietly continued eating, the atmosphere noticeably lighter than it had been just minutes ago.

It wasn’t long before Eli broke the silence.

"So," The boy looked between the two siblings before asking, "If big sister really awakened, does that mean she’ll have to register with the HA?"

Lea looked at the kid, then at Liam, wondering the same thing.

She knew that her big brother wasn’t exactly a hero, and he might be at odds with the HA if they discovered that he wasn’t registered with them.

Liam placed a hand on his chin as he thought about the question before muttering, "Well, she could join the Hero Academy, but that’s entirely up to her."

The Hero Academy was a place that trained heroes and ensured they used their Factors responsibly.

But that only depends on whether or not one wanted to become a hero.

Some awakened humans became doctors, construction workers, athletes, engineers, or simply just lived completely ordinary lives.

As long as they were registered at the HA, then they could do whatever they wished.

Liam then looked at Lea and asked, "Would you like to become a hero?"

Lea thought about the question for a while. She was certain that he wouldn’t want her to be part of the HA given his job, but he seemed completely unbothered.

So now, she had to seriously consider it.

Lea lowered her gaze to her bowl, absentmindedly stirring the food with her spoon.

"...I don’t know."

It wasn’t exactly an unexpected answer, so Liam simply smiled as he asked, "Is it because of me?"

She didn’t respond, but the look on her face was all the answer he needed, so he flicked her forehead again, causing her to rub it.

"Ow!"

"If you’re worried that we’ll be standing on opposite sides, then don’t," he said, "because we won’t."

"Huh?" Lea asked with both hands still on her forehead.

"A hero isn’t assigned jobs like some sort of mercenary," he explained, "all you do is respond to emergencies, rescue operations, villain attacks and so on."

"And since your big brother is just one random civilian among millions, there’d be no reason for a newly licensed hero like you to suddenly be told, ’Go arrest your brother.’"

"Unless big brother becomes a villain," Eli added helpfully.

"Exactly," Liam said with a chuckle.

"But until then," He looked at Lea, "your career has nothing to do with me...or rather, it has nothing to do with my career."