Educating Todd

"What are you two talking about!?"

Deborah came upstairs carrying two plates of dumplings and asked the father and son, who were whispering to each other.

"We were talking about..."

"Man-to-man secrets."

Nolan winked at Jupiter, then turned his head and spoke softly to Deborah.

"Just eat your food!"

Deborah put her hands on her hips, urging the two of them to hurry up and eat.

"Okay, okay!"

Nolan and Jupiter both nodded lightly, then dug in.

The next day...

Hearing the alarm, Jupiter slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he opened the window, he saw Nolan in the yard, sitting on top of his idiot little brother Mark.

"What's going on!?"

Jupiter raised an eyebrow. Did the day really have to start with something this intense!?

"Mom!? What's going on?"

Jupiter went downstairs and asked Deborah, who was making breakfast.

"Your father's teaching your little brother the proper way to fly..."

Deborah answered Jupiter when she heard his question.

"Okay!"

Jupiter said nothing more. He had a pretty good idea what was going on.

"I really am not as good as Jupiter..."

Before Jupiter could go find Mark and Nolan, Mark angrily pushed open the door and walked into the house. He lowered his head and silently went upstairs.

"Dad, what happened to Mark?"

Jupiter looked at the dejected Mark and asked Nolan, who had just come in behind him.

"I..."

"I did push him a little too hard, and said some things that hurt him."

"But Jupiter, you know that if Mark wants to become one of us, he has to go through this..."

Nolan sounded a little down. He was troubled by his underachieving son. It seemed not everyone could be a genius like Jupiter.

"Dad, about my idiot..."

"I mean, my best little brother—you might want to try a gentler approach!"

After hearing Nolan out, Jupiter offered his advice about Mark.

"A gentler approach!?"

Nolan's eyes widened.

"Right! We have plenty of time. There's no need to rush..."

"You can take it slow with him. As for anything else that needs doing, leave it to me."

Jupiter smiled slightly, saying he would take care of the Viltrumites' mission.

"Jupiter, thank goodness I have you. When you get home from school today, I'll take you somewhere nice..."

Nolan patted Jupiter on the shoulder. Having such a dependable son was wonderful.

"All right! Time to eat!"

"Jupiter, you still have to go to school later!"

Deborah came over with the food. As for Nolan and Mark's relationship, she trusted Nolan to handle it himself.

"Okay~"

Jupiter quickly finished his bread, went upstairs, and knocked on Mark's door.

"Come on, it's time for class!"

Jupiter spoke softly to Mark.

"You go ahead! I'll be right there!"

Mark still respected Jupiter, the older brother who had beaten him up ever since they were little. When he heard his brother Jupiter knock, he wasn't thrilled, but he still answered softly.

"Okay! I'll go on ahead..."

Jupiter shook his head helplessly. Well, Mark was his little brother, and their mom had his back. If anyone else around here started acting like a moody teenager, Jupiter would've slapped them already. Ancestor Person never indulged people's bad habits.

At school...

Mark walked along with his head hanging, accompanied by a blond boy who followed him around.

"Hey! Mark Grayson!"

"Amber's not here today. What are you going to do?"

Just as Mark was trudging along, a tall man with slicked-back hair and a baseball jacket—your standard school bully—came over to him.

"Todd!"

Mark looked at him listlessly.

"I don't want any trouble with you!"

Mark shook his head. If he'd just gotten his powers, he would've been eager to teach the muscular guy a lesson. But after Jupiter and Nolan had put him through the wringer and shown him there was always someone stronger, he genuinely couldn't be bothered to fight an ordinary guy like Todd.

"Hahaha!"

"Don't want to!? You mean you want me to stop beating you up?"

Todd shoved Mark against the metal lockers students used to change and store their things.

"Listen, Todd! You'd better stop it!"

Mark really didn't want to waste time arguing with Todd. He looked at him helplessly.

"Stop it!?"

"Hahaha..."

Todd seemed to have heard something hilarious.

"I'm going to beat you up right here today! Let's see who can stop me!"

As he spoke, Todd swung a fist at Mark's face.

"Thump!"

With a soft sound, someone easily caught Todd's wrist.

"Todd, I guess you didn't take what I told you seriously!"

Jupiter stared at Todd sternly, his eyes cold.

"Jupiter..."

Todd's heart skipped a beat when he saw Jupiter. Jupiter was a star player on the school football team, and it wasn't just that he was treated like a celebrity at school. He was also built like a tank. And in fact, at six-foot-three with the perfect physique of a boxer, Jupiter was unbeatable at the school!

"I told you, and you didn't listen. That means you don't respect me."

Jupiter tightened his grip slightly.

"Ah!"

Todd's face turned ashen. Sweat trickled down his forehead and cheeks as his body trembled. He could already hear his wrist creaking—that was the sound of his bones breaking.

"Jupiter, please, stop!"

Seeing that Jupiter was about to crush Todd's entire hand, Mark hurried over to intervene.

"You should call me big brother!"

Jupiter turned to Mark and spoke sternly.

"Uh..."

Mark had never seen Jupiter this cold before, and he panicked.

"Ah!!"

But Todd's scream brought Mark back to reality.

"Big brother, stop! His wrist is going to break."

Mark swallowed his embarrassment and forced himself to call Jupiter big brother.

"Fine~"

"I'll let you off this time, for Mark's sake. If there's a next time, you know what'll happen."

"Now get lost!"

Jupiter released Todd's wrist and spoke coldly.

"..."

Clutching his wrist, Todd didn't dare make a sound. He ran off without looking back.

"Mark, you need to learn to stand up for yourself!"

"When you run into trash like that, just hit them."

Jupiter watched Todd flee, his eyes full of contempt. What a disgrace for a Viltrumite with superpowers to let an ordinary guy bully him! He was too embarrassed to admit Mark was his brother. If Jupiter was headed in the direction of becoming Ancestor Person, then Mark was more like Grandson Person—anyone could push him around. It just wasn't good enough.

"I need to..."

"Calm down!"

Mark shook his head. He needed to calm down. He lowered his head and walked away alone.

"..."

Jupiter watched Mark walk off and furrowed his brow. They'd lived together as brothers for seventeen years, and in all that time, they'd grown close. If he could, Jupiter still wanted Mark to do well.

He didn't expect Mark to understand his grand ambitions, but at the very least, he didn't want him acting like some pushover anyone could bully. It was a little embarrassing for his big brother, Ancestor Person.

"Phew..."

After leaving Jupiter, Mark went to the bathroom and repeatedly splashed his face with cold water. Then he covered his face with a cloth and flew out through the school bathroom window. Flying through the air, Mark wanted to smash something and vent the anger he felt.

He was about to lose control of the urge to destroy things!

"Stupid little brother..."

What Mark didn't notice was that someone was silently watching his every move from the sky.

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