Chapter 1405 1323 Brainstorm Session — “Supernatural Power”

Zaboru smiled as he typed a few rough ideas for ZAGE's eventual next handheld. Nothing serious yet, just fragments and questions that had been sitting in the back of his mind for a while. Better wireless communication. More storage. Stronger hardware. Better battery efficiency. Perhaps some completely different method of interacting with games rather than simply creating a more powerful ZGBA.

For now, however, none of those ideas were developed enough to become an actual project.

After several minutes, Zaboru stopped typing and glanced toward the ZGBA resting near the edge of his desk. He picked it up, turned the handheld slowly between his hands, and smiled.

"This thing really is a work of wonder… hehehe."

The funny part was that the ZGBA had started from an idea so simple that Zaboru almost felt embarrassed remembering it now. Years ago, he had basically thought it would be amazing to create a handheld shaped somewhat like the Game Boy Advance from his previous life, except powerful enough to handle games approaching the quality of the original PlayStation.

That was essentially the beginning.

There had been no perfect engineering document waiting inside his head. No complete architecture. No finished manufacturing plan. Zaboru understood plenty about software, game design, graphics pipelines, hardware concepts, and the technological direction he wanted thanks to Deep Memory Dive and Emulator Mind, but knowing what a machine should eventually accomplish was very different from personally engineering every component required to make it affordable and practical.

So naturally, he had taken the idea to Zanichi.

Then his father somehow made it real.

There had been countless prototypes, redesigns, battery problems, heat problems, manufacturing compromises, component shortages, performance discussions, and arguments over how much power could realistically be placed inside a handheld without creating something too expensive or uncomfortable to use.

Yet somehow, Zanichi continued solving one problem after another.

Zaboru stared at the ZGBA again and smiled faintly.

Dad really is ridiculous.

He leaned back in his chair. Seriously, how the hell does Father understand machines that deeply?

That question had bothered Zaboru occasionally for years.

He had always known Zanichi was extraordinary. His father was the kind of engineer who could stare at a machine, disassemble part of it, listen to somebody explain the problem once, and somehow begin understanding weaknesses other engineers had spent weeks trying to diagnose.

And the strangest part was that his knowledge never seemed limited to one field.

Most geniuses specialised.

Someone might understand processors extraordinarily well but struggle with manufacturing. Another engineer might be brilliant with circuitry but relatively ordinary when dealing with cooling systems. Someone else might specialise in batteries, displays, mechanical engineering, controllers, storage systems, or graphics architecture.

Zanichi seemed capable of moving between all of them.

Processors. Batteries. Circuit boards. Cooling. Graphics hardware. Manufacturing. Mechanical design. Displays. Storage. Controllers. Power management.

If it involved a machine, Zanichi eventually became terrifyingly good at it.

Sometimes frighteningly quickly.

Zaboru chuckled to himself. Honestly, the only thing stopping Father from creating completely insane hardware is probably cost. If I walked into his laboratory and told him, "Forget manufacturing price, just build the strongest machine you possibly can," he'd probably create something that belongs ten years in the future.

The thought amused him for several seconds.

Then his expression gradually became more thoughtful.

His father's abnormal talent reminded him of something else.

His family.

Zaboru lowered the ZGBA onto the desk.

Zenshin was only four years old, yet his intelligence had already crossed the point where Zaboru considered anything about him remotely normal. The boy learned absurdly quickly. Sometimes Zenshin could listen to adults discussing something complicated for several minutes, remain completely silent, then suddenly ask a question showing he understood far more than anyone expected.

Zaboru had mostly accepted that his son was simply an extraordinary genius.

Genius existed.

There was nothing supernatural about someone being exceptionally intelligent.

At least, that was what Zaboru usually told himself.

Arumi, however, was considerably more difficult to explain.

His little daughter could see Zaborn.

Clearly.

Consistently.

Not occasionally glimpsing something or describing an imaginary friend.

She genuinely saw him.

That alone was already strange, but Arumi also possessed another ability Zaboru had increasingly stopped pretending was normal.

Animals listened to her.

Not in the adorable way parents claimed their children had a special bond with animals.

They actually obeyed.

The rabbit, squirrel, cat, toad, gecko, and Golden Retriever Arumi had gradually gathered around herself all reacted to her instructions with a consistency that should not have existed.

Sometimes she would point toward a location and tell one of them to stay.

The animal stayed.

She could tell another to follow.

It followed.

She could call them toward her, tell them to wait, direct them toward somebody else, or occasionally assign them ridiculous jobs such as "guarding" a room.

And somehow, they often listened.

Zaboru had originally laughed about his daughter building an animal army.

He was beginning to wonder whether that joke was considerably more literal than he realised.

He rested one hand against his chin.

Okay… when I actually put all of this together, this family is suspicious as hell.

Long ago, Zaborn had described himself as something resembling a fragment left behind from the original Zaboru—the soul that had belonged to this body before the memories and identity of the reincarnated Zaboru merged with it.

A Split Soul.

That was Zaborn's explanation.

Zaboru slowly rubbed his chin.

Then his thoughts moved toward his mother.

Keiko could also see Zaborn.

That was another thing he had long since accepted without fully understanding.

Perhaps she possessed some kind of spiritual sensitivity. Perhaps being Zaboru's mother mattered somehow. Perhaps there was an entirely different explanation he had not discovered yet.

Then there was Sanika.

Zaboru immediately remembered how strangely good his younger sister had always been at recognising when he intended to do something bad.

Especially when they were children.

Zaboru had been a menace.

He could admit that.

He would prepare some stupid prank, construct what he believed was an excellent lie, approach Sanika casually, and before he even reached the important part she would sometimes already narrow her eyes suspiciously.

Other times she caught him before he had even properly started.

It happened often enough that Zaboru had eventually accepted that his sister possessed some terrifying younger-sibling instinct.

But now?

He was no longer completely certain.

Sani-chan always knew when I was about to do something stupid.

He frowned slightly.

Maybe she was just good at reading me…

Pause.

Or maybe not.

That thought sounded ridiculous.

Unfortunately, ridiculous possibilities were becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss.

Zaboru leaned back and sighed. "Well, whatever. Even if my family really does have some supernatural bloodline, I don't particularly care."

And he genuinely meant it.

By now, Zaboru had already accepted something much larger.

This world was simply not normal.

There were people scattered around the world possessing abilities conventional science could not explain. Some abilities were subtle enough that their owners might never even realise they possessed anything unusual. Others were considerably more obvious and far more dangerous.

Arachne existed.

The Illuminati existed.

Two enormous secret organisations were operating beneath ordinary society, manipulating information, governments, corporations, and international events while somehow resembling a disturbing modern version of the Assassin and Templar conflict from games Zaboru remembered.

Then there was Leonard Epstein.

Zaboru's expression darkened slightly.

"Damn Leonard…"

Something about that man made Zaboru uncomfortable in a way very few people managed. Leonard was calm, intelligent, connected to the Illuminati, and constantly behaved like someone who knew more than he was willing to reveal.

Then there was Hiroki Araki.

Hiroki had somehow detected Zaboru using Living Scan against him.

That alone had destroyed several assumptions Zaboru previously held about his ability. Living Scan was not something ordinary people should even recognise was affecting them.

Hiroki had noticed.

Worse, there were indications the man had already lived considerably longer than any normal human should.

Zaboru rubbed his forehead and laughed quietly. "Sigh… somehow all those stupid conspiracy theories from my previous life keep becoming real here."

His imagination immediately betrayed him.

What next? Keanu Reeves is actually a vampire?

He stared toward the ceiling.

Queen Elizabeth is secretly immortal?

His lips twitched.

Nikola Tesla never died and uploaded his brain into some robot?

Zaboru paused.

Then slowly frowned.

"What the hell is this, Fallout: New Vegas?"

He burst out laughing at his own thought.

"Okay. Enough."

After calming himself, Zaboru closed his eyes briefly and mentally reached toward Emulator Mind.

"Yo, bro."

Zaborn responded almost immediately. "What is it, Zabo? I'm busy."

Zaboru raised an eyebrow. "Busy?"

"Yes."

"You're probably playing GTA: San Andreas again while pretending you're learning how to code."

There was a brief silence.

Then Zaborn laughed. "Hehehe… shut up. I'm learning! I told you already, I'm definitely making my own game someday."

Zaboru chuckled.

Zaborn's growing interest in game development had become surprisingly genuine. He still spent suspicious amounts of his supposed study time actually playing games, but lately he had begun experimenting with basic programming, simple mechanics, and small prototypes inside Emulator Mind.

The situation itself remained absurd.

A fragment of the original Zaboru's soul was learning game development inside the supernatural mental world belonging to the reincarnated version of himself.

If Zaboru had heard that sentence ten years ago, he would have assumed somebody needed medical attention.

"Fine, fine. Keep studying," Zaboru replied. "But I wanted to ask you something."

Zaborn became slightly more attentive. "Hm?"

"Do you actually know anything about people with weird abilities in this world? Actual supernatural abilities."

Zaborn answered far too casually.

"Of course."

Zaboru immediately narrowed his eyes. "Of course?"

"Yeah."

"That sounded way too easy."

Zaborn chuckled. "Certain abilities appear within specific bloodlines. Some are stronger than others. Some disappear for generations before suddenly appearing again. Some families probably don't even understand what they have anymore."

Zaboru became completely silent for several seconds.

That was considerably more information than he expected.

"You know all that?"

"Hehehe."

Zaboru's eyes narrowed further. "That laugh is suspicious."

"I'm keeping some secrets."

"You asshole."

Zaborn laughed again.

Zaboru sighed. "So you know something about my family?"

"Maybe."

"Zaborn."

"Maybe."

"Bro."

"Hehehe."

Zaboru covered his face.

Zaborn finally continued, "Why don't you just ask your father? You've never really asked him about his side of the family, right?"

That immediately changed Zaboru's expression.

He slowly lowered his hand.

"No."

And that was the problem.

Zaboru knew Zanichi had been disowned by his family long ago. He knew enough to understand that it was not exactly a pleasant subject, but Zanichi rarely talked about the details and Zaboru had deliberately avoided digging into it.

Not because he did not care.

Exactly the opposite.

He cared enough not to drag his father back into something painful simply because his own curiosity had suddenly increased.

Zaboru sighed. "What I know is that Father was disowned by his family. That's basically it. He told me what happened, and honestly… I'm afraid suddenly asking about it would just reopen old wounds."

For once, Zaborn did not immediately joke.

There was a short silence before he replied, "Then don't interrogate him. Just ask him as his son."

Zaboru frowned slightly.

Zaborn continued, "If he doesn't want to talk about it, he won't. You know your father. But if you never ask because you're afraid of making him uncomfortable, you might spend another ten years knowing nothing."

Zaboru smiled faintly.

"That's annoyingly reasonable."

"I'm always reasonable."

"That is objectively false."

"Hehehe. Anyway, think about it."

Zaboru nodded slowly. "Yeah. I probably will."

"Good. Now I'm going back. I'm very busy."

"With GTA?"

"With coding!"

"Sure, bro."

Zaborn disappeared deeper into Emulator Mind.

Zaboru remained sitting quietly for several moments afterward.

Maybe Zaborn was right.

He did not need to walk into Zanichi's laboratory tomorrow and demand the complete history of the family. He could simply ask one day. Calmly. Naturally. As his son.

If Zanichi wanted to explain, he would.

And if he did not?

That was fine too.

Zaboru smiled faintly.

Yeah… someday.

For now, however, something else occupied his attention.

His gaze returned toward the ZGBA.

"Handheld, huh…" Zaboru chuckles and starts reminiscing from his previous life.

To be continued.

AN : You guys might be think that it's weird Zaboru never questions 'Weird' thing his family have?, but well actually he does but he doesn't really care too much about them lol.

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