We Agreed Not to Grow Taller Together, Didn't We?

When God closed one door for you, He was sure to open another window for you; conversely, whenever He opened a window for you, He was sure to close another door—the state of other people's lives.

God had personally built Tornado an enormous seaside villa with countless doors and windows, all of which she could open and close at will—the state of Tornado's life.

It was just that while Tornado had been playing by those doors and windows, she had accidentally broken the handle of one door or window. That particular door or window happened to be called "height."

That's right!

It wasn't that God had deprived Tornado of her height. God simply loved Tornado far too much and couldn't bear to let His illegitimate daughter suffer even the slightest grievance. Tornado had unconsciously deprived herself of her own height.

Upon learning the truth, Tornado was heartbroken.

"B-Bred~~~ Look, he... he's so tall, waaah~~~"

"Please, Tornado, he's from the Giant race!"

"I-I want to grow really tall, like an adult... so I can take care of Blizzard..."

"You will, don't worry! Your development period is just longer. It may not even be a bad thing—it means you'll stay youthful forever. When others are ten, you'll look ten too. When they're twenty, you'll still look ten. When they're thirty, even forty, you'll still look ten..."

"Waaah~~~ You said I'm short~~~"

"I didn't!"

"..."

A whimpering Tornado was truly terrifying—unreasonable, willful, endlessly noisy, especially with her abundant energy.

Bred was exhausted. He had been coaxing Tornado for nearly a day, leaving him no time to practice Nen.

"B-Bred~~~" Tornado sobbed with her mouth twisted open, her eyes brimming with pea-sized tears. Hollow and gray, she vividly embodied the phrase "nothing left to live for."

Bred nodded. "I'm here."

"Waaah~~~"

The tears burst forth.

Bred: "..."

After a while.

"Stay with me..." Hope rose again amid Tornado's despair. "Okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, okay." After a brief guess, Bred immediately understood that Tornado meant he should stay at the same height as her. He agreed readily, while inwardly complaining: How am I supposed to control growing up? Isn't that asking too much? Besides, hadn't she noticed? He was already nearly ten centimeters taller than her. Only she still thought he was shorter.

"Pinky swear. You have to swear!" Tornado tried hard to calm herself and held out her hand to Bred.

Bred held out his hand as well.

Then—

"Why is your hand bigger than mine? No! You actually learned from Esdeath and secretly grew taller behind my back, waaah~~~ Bad guy! Liar!" Tornado was devastated, feeling that the whole world was against her.

Tornado ran off. Bred didn't chase her, and he couldn't have caught her anyway—after all, Tornado could fly.

"Haaah~~~" Letting out a long breath, Bred stood atop the rear mountain of the academy and looked toward where the giant had appeared earlier. He muttered, "The Naval Academy next door?"

Casting aside his stray thoughts, Bred took advantage of the hard-won peace and focused on studying Nen.

Anderson was a qualified instructor. His explanations were thorough and methodical, supplemented by vivid demonstrations. Bred had grasped the essence of Nen; all that remained was orderly training and accumulation.

"Ten: the technique of keeping life energy entirely within the body. Through Ten, the body becomes stronger and ages far more slowly than ordinary people."

"Zetsu: as the name implies, the technique of cutting off life energy. It erases one's presence, and using it while fatigued has a remarkable recovery effect."

"Ren: the technique of drawing out more life energy than usual."

"Hatsu: the ultimate technique of Nen, the culmination of the Four Major Principles. Its effects vary from person to person."

Anderson also responsibly determined which of the Six Nen Types Bred and Esdeath each belonged to. Tornado did not participate... At the time, her pale back resembled a stone statue.

They used the most common method, Water Divination: a cup of water with a floating object such as a leaf, while the tester activated Nen around the cup.

Esdeath's water changed flavor, becoming an intensely irritating and bizarre taste that numbed the tongues of those who drank it. Thus, her Nen belonged to the Transmutation type, capable of altering Nen's nature and form. Right there on the spot, she transformed the nature and form of her Nen into ice.

Crystals formed in Bred's water, so like Anderson, his Nen belonged to the Conjuration type. It could turn Nen into desired objects carrying special abilities, though he needed to think carefully before materializing actual objects.

Additionally, If the water increased in volume, it was the Enhancement type. Nen could strengthen oneself or weapons, greatly increasing defense and attack power.

If the water changed color, it was the Emission type. Nen could be projected over long distances while retaining its power.

If the floating object on the water's surface moved, it was the Manipulation type. Nen could be infused into a specific target to control it.

Any phenomenon different from Enhancement, Transmutation, Conjuration, Emission, and Manipulation was the Specialist type—mysterious and unpredictable Nen.

It was worth mentioning that the Four Major Principles of Nen had advanced and combined techniques, such as Shu, In, Gyo, En, Ken, Ryu, Ko, and more.

Thinking it over carefully, Bred understood why the academy had arranged for the boys and girls to learn Nen before Haki or chakra. Nen's system was truly detailed and comprehensive, unlike Haki and chakra, which were so metaphysical—especially Haki.

But upon further thought, setting aside the Six Nen Types, the complex Nen and simple Haki had highly overlapping effects in most applications...

En, the combined technique of Ten and Ren, spread Nen over an area to sense the presence of living beings. Wasn't that Observation Haki?

Ken, the combined technique of Ten and Ren, explosively covered the body in Nen to strengthen both offense and defense. Wasn't that Armament Haki?

That was why Bred had previously asked Anderson, "Father, can Nen and Haki be used together? For example, Armament Haki and Ken."

"Child, you only have one original life energy," Anderson replied gently.

Bred frowned. "Enhancement, Transmutation, Emission, and Manipulation might not work, but who can say for sure about Specialization? As for Conjuration, isn't its principle to split off a portion of aura to materialize an object, then use a certain amount of aura to keep that object from disappearing? If someone had an enormous amount of aura, enough to basically ignore the aura consumed to maintain the materialized object, wouldn't they have a chance to handle both..."

He stopped abruptly.

Bred shook his head and fell silent. His thoughts were in turmoil.

"Having ideas is a good thing, Bred." Anderson ruffled Bred's hair. "May the Lord's glory be with you. Amen."