Intimacy

Not long after arriving in Gotham, Kara's other abilities began to emerge.

Super Breath, for example, and the Super Vision that had appeared just recently.

At first, she felt sick whenever she looked at anyone.

Everyone she saw was reduced to bones, muscles, veins, and arteries.

Just hearing Kara describe it made Li Ang feel awful.

The precious skin humans relied on so much was utterly useless in her eyes. Everyone was so completely "naked."

And this was happening to a thirteen-year-old girl—something that would have been enough to drive anyone else to the brink of madness.

She locked herself in her room. It did absolutely nothing, but at least it gave her some psychological comfort.

Kara had gritted her teeth and gotten through it. Now she could just barely control it.

Perhaps because she was still young, her abilities had emerged gradually instead of all at once. Otherwise, Kara would surely have gone mad by now.

"Godfather!"

Kara shook Li Ang by the arm, looking as if she were acting coy, but her words were merciless. "According to what I learned at school, you're abusing a child!"

"You can't make a kid eat noodles for all three meals every day!"

"If we were on Krypton, you'd be locked up in the Phantom Zone Prison!"

As an outsider with memories of her childhood, Kara undoubtedly missed her time on Krypton.

So she'd told Li Ang plenty of amusing stories about Krypton.

They'd given him a much better understanding of the planet.

Of course, that last remark was definitely an exaggeration.

But Li Ang still surrendered. "Fine, let's order a pizza."

"Yay!"

The blonde girl cheered and threw her arms around Li Ang in a tight hug.

"Ow!"

Li Ang groaned in pain. "Sweetheart, you're going to snap me in half."

Kara let go with an embarrassed grin and stuck out her tongue. "Godfather, I didn't mean to."

Humans were so fragile. The things they made were just as flimsy.

When she'd first gained her powers, she'd crushed just about anything she touched if she squeezed a little too hard.

"All right, go do your homework."

Li Ang patted her on the head. It felt like knocking on an iron helmet.

Gotham City High School had Gotham in its name, but it wasn't much of a school. It was nowhere near as good as an elite school like Lois Memorial School.

But the latter was an elite school, and Li Ang couldn't afford to send Kara there.

So Kara got a Happy Education. Whether she studied was entirely up to her.

But for a Kryptonian girl with a Super Brain...

Was studying really that hard?

So Li Ang called a restaurant run by an Indian family on the next street over and ordered a pizza. By the time he hung up, Kara had already lost interest in her homework.

Li Ang didn't bother to intervene. After spending this much time with her, he'd gotten the hang of looking after a kid.

The more he tried to force Kara to do something, the less she listened.

So he might as well let things take their course.

Li Ang sat on the couch, uninterested in what was on TV, and opened his System Panel.

[Name: Li Ang.]

[Goddaughter: Kara Zor-El (Intimacy 49).]

[Abilities: None (At Intimacy 50, you can draw one of your goddaughter's abilities. At 80, you can draw a second time. At 100, you can draw a third time.)]

It was very simple, but also incredibly powerful.

It was powerful because his goddaughter was Kara, Supergirl!

After nearly half a year together, Kara's Intimacy with him had risen from a starting point of distrust to almost halfway. It hadn't been easy.

Perhaps because she'd gone through the destruction of her home, Kara was more guarded, sullen, and troubled than most children.

It was very hard to get close to her.

And Li Ang wasn't raising her well just for the rewards.

He saw a responsibility in Kara.

She was Supergirl. What would happen to the world if she were adopted by bad people and taught evil, chaotic values?

So the moment he'd seen her, Li Ang had felt responsible for her. He had to give her a healthy outlook on life and help her grow up happy and healthy.

At the very least, she couldn't grow up to become a vile monster who did nothing but evil.

Li Ang knew all too well how terrifying Homelander was.

And Kara was a true Kryptonian. She could become humanity's Ancestor Man.

It took about half an hour for the pizza to arrive.

And that was only from the next street over.

If the restaurant were farther away, Li Ang doubted the delivery would make it at all.

The restaurant had sent one of its own workers, a simple, honest Indian man with dark skin. He looked like he'd crossed the border to get here.

Li Ang tipped him about fifteen percent, then picked up the pizza and called out, "Kara, dinner's ready!"

"Coming!"

Kara had been listlessly listening for the call. As soon as Li Ang shouted, she dropped her pen and finally relaxed her tightly furrowed brow.

Li Ang wasn't particularly fond of pizza, but his cooking was terrible. No, before he met Kara, he couldn't cook at all.

Back in China, where delivery was so convenient, he'd firmly believed that "a gentleman should keep his distance from the kitchen."

So the most he could manage was instant noodles. He couldn't even boil them properly!

Boiling noodles was a basic life skill he'd only learned recently, and Kara had teased him for it.

If he hadn't had a "kid," Li Ang would never have done something he'd once sworn he would never do.

To him, cooking was like throwing his life away.

"Go wash your hands."

Li Ang tapped Kara's little hand.

Kara drew her hand back. It didn't hurt, but she'd apparently made a habit of it.

She hurried off to rinse her hands with cold water, rubbed them together halfheartedly, then took a deep breath and blew on them.

"Whoosh!"

"Kara!"

Li Ang's angry shout rang out.

The windows rattled and banged as the "hurricane" sent them swinging wildly.

Kara hunched her shoulders and admitted fault. "I didn't think it would make such a strong wind. I just wanted to dry my hands, Godfather. Could you hit me a little more gently?"

Kara didn't sound the least bit sincere, but seeing her like that still cooled Li Ang's anger.

He could only patiently explain, "Don't use your powers until you can control them!"

"Besides, it's not like I can hurt you anyway."

Li Ang couldn't be bothered to smack her hand anymore. He was the one who got hurt.

The only way Li Ang could possibly make Kara feel a blow was if he were holding Kryptonite.

"Hehe."

Kara might have been mature for her age, but she was still a girl in her early teens. Her mood changed as quickly as the pages of a book.

She sat at the dining table and immediately tore off a piece of pizza with her "dried" hands.

Li Ang wasn't interested in pizza. Especially during the first few days after he'd arrived, he'd eaten "white people food" for days on end and felt like his body was about to give out.

So he'd rather learn to cook than keep eating white people's food.

He just didn't have much talent. Even now, all he could do was boil noodles!