Clark's Worries

The sky was as blue as velvet.

Bright sunlight poured down, while the gentle spring breeze stirred the branches of the cherry blossom trees across campus.

Cherry blossom petals drifted down in a beautiful, colorful flurry.

Students walked back and forth carrying books, gathering in twos and threes to chat.

David and the others walked through the school. Beside them, Clark's brow carried a hint of worry, and he kept glancing at David.

Just as parents always feared their children might go astray, Clark believed that, as an older brother, he had a responsibility to keep his younger brother from losing the innate kindness people were born with while encountering the world, becoming cold and even evil.

Especially after discovering that David possessed strength far beyond that of ordinary people.

Clark had spent all night thinking about it—how to pull David back from the edge of falling into darkness.

"Casually beating someone into a vegetative state without feeling any burden over it... that was more than just a tendency to turn bad."

That was what Clark thought.

He felt that his younger brother's thoughts and perceptions were already standing at the dangerous edge of a cliff.

One more step, and it would be the beginning of his fall—placing himself above everyone else at will.

David discovered that Clark was anxiously looking for an angle to step in as his life mentor, and he did not know what to say about it.

Clark's concern +6, +5, +7...

However, ever since yesterday, Clark's rate of providing him with Emotion Points had suddenly surged. It seemed Clark had been thinking about him nonstop from yesterday until now.

"At this rate, I might soon complete the full fusion and unlock the Next Template."

He had not expected an unexpected gain like this. David was in a good mood.

He wondered what the next template would be. Would it be weaker, comparable to the Thanos template, or even stronger?

They entered the building.

"Why are they all looking at us?"

Students in the hallway kept casting curious and astonished looks at the group. Pete quietly said narcissistically.

"Have they finally realized that being short doesn't get in the way of my charm?"

"Give it a rest, Pete."

Chloe, who had been bent over a newspaper, raised her head and looked around.

"They were obviously looking at Clark and David. Mostly David."

She was also somewhat puzzled as to why so many people were staring at the two of them.

David did not have Super Hearing like Clark, but his extraordinary senses made it easy for him to learn the reason from other people's whispers.

"As the residents of this town often said, in Smallville—a town not much bigger than a bottle cap—anything spread fast."

For example, several of the town high school's most prominent football players had tried to bully someone at a bar, only to get taught a lesson.

A helpless look flashed across Clark's face.

He had heard it too.

The older brother with nothing but height had been pinned down and bullied. When his younger brother came across it, he swiftly took down several school bullies.

"Lana seems to be coming straight for you, Clark."

Pete nudged his best friend Clark with his elbow. "Hurry up and wipe that pathetic Luthor look off your face."

Was I really that obvious?

Seeing the beautiful, gentle girl with black hair approaching from the far end of the hallway, Clark coughed, grumbled inwardly, and secretly straightened his back.

Having just had a huge fight with her boyfriend, Lana approached Clark in a hurry, looking heartbroken. She apologized in a soft voice, slightly hoarse from crying.

"I'm sorry, Clark.

I didn't know Whitney was so childish. Just because I said a couple of words to you, he actually went looking for trouble with you."

After learning about the rumor spreading through school, she had gone to Whitney immediately to verify it, hoping her boyfriend would tell her it was false.

But Whitney, who felt deeply humiliated, angrily admitted it. With a hint of blame, he said that Lana had subtly shown Clark a different sort of attitude, and he had gone looking for Clark in a moment of anger.

"I was actually fine, Lana."

Clark smiled. "Don't blame Whitney."

"I can't accept that he lied to me. He was clearly the one who went looking for trouble with you, and he lost the necklace I gave him."

At the mention of it, Lana became even sadder. Her eyes reddened, and she said dejectedly, "Yet he said someone at the bar got drunk and provoked him."

"I think I need to reevaluate my relationship with Whitney."

Seeing Lana so sad and resentful, Clark, who had never encountered this sort of situation before, scratched the back of his head. Flustered and unsure how to comfort her, he could only keep telling Lana not to cry.

"I ran into Whitney at the bar. Maybe he was drunk at the time, which was why he did something so irrational."

Clark, did you hear yourself? As long as the person he secretly liked felt better, he was willing to make excuses even for his romantic rival?

David secretly shook his head, feeling that Clark was beyond saving.

Even without Kryptonite, with Clark's current personality, there was no way he could win over this cheerleader captain.

"David."

Clark secretly signaled David with his eyes, urging him to take out the meteorite necklace that meant so much to Lana and return it to her, just as they had agreed yesterday.

If she got the necklace back, perhaps Lana would no longer be sad.

"David, I'm sorry."

Remembering something, Lana wiped away her tears, turned to David, and spoke seriously.

"Because of me, Whitney caused you trouble."

"It was nothing."

David did not consider it trouble. In a calm tone, he casually took the necklace from his pants pocket and handed it to her.

"This is your necklace. Clark found it that day and had me keep it."

Clark desperately wanted to personally hand the necklace over to Lana.

But he felt that if he did not want to take out the necklace and immediately perform a spectacular fall on level ground, then lie on the floor unable to get up for ages and make a fool of himself again, it would be best to let David hand it over.

"My necklace."

Taking the necklace, surprise appeared in Lana's eyes, and a smile bloomed on her tear-streaked face.

"Thank you, David... and Clark."

She seemed to have misunderstood something.

If Clark had found it, why had he not returned it to her himself?

Lana thought David was trying to bring her and his older brother Clark together.

Seeing David's indifferent attitude toward her, unlike everyone else at school, who would look elsewhere after handing over the necklace and leave space for Clark and her to talk.

For some reason, prompted by an inexplicable impulse, she secretly looked at David twice more.

Like Clark, he normally did not participate in any sports. She occasionally saw him sitting in a corner of campus with a book. He was tall, but his muscles were not exaggerated or visibly bulging. How had he beaten Whitney and several of his teammates?

Clark, who had been watching every frown and smile of his goddess without missing a thing, looked at Lana, then at his younger brother.

His heart skipped a beat. Why did he suddenly have such a bad feeling?

Thud, thud!

A burst of footsteps suddenly came from around the corner of the hallway.

"Lana!"

The furious Whitney had regretted it again. Realizing he should not have acted that way, he hurried after her with a tense expression, wanting to win his girlfriend back.

"David, Clark, I'll be going."

Lana did not want to see him right now. Her expression changed, and after greeting Chloe and Pete as well, she hurriedly turned and left.

Whitney caught up. When he passed David, an unnatural look flashed across his face, and he left with shame and anger in his eyes.

David did not care in the slightest.

At the corner of a nearby stairwell.

A figure watched everything coldly from the shadows. Its gaze was like that of some cold-blooded creature as it shifted between David and Clark.