Chapter 39: Back Home II

He met his sisters also, while they made their way to his room. Save to say, he got the golden retriever treatment from Alice, and the cat treatment from Alyssa before they reached his room.

Inside his room, his stepmother opened the wardrobe, letting Leon stare at it.

There were indeed clothes inside, a lot of them. He did plan to carry a few to school, but only a few fit his style to wear in the end. He had barely touched most of them since arriving.

His stepmother looked through the wardrobe for a moment before turning back toward him.

"Why are half of these still here?"

"I don’t wear most of them."

"Why?"

Leon shrugged.

"They aren’t really my style."

She stared at him at that answer. "You’ve been wearing the same few outfits for weeks."

Leon glanced down at himself.

He was wearing one of the few clothes he took to the academy.

"Well, it’s not like I don’t have clothes..."

"You have clothes you don’t wear."

"Well, that’s technically true, but..."

"You need new ones."

"I-I’m fine."

"No."

"I really am."

"You’re going shopping."

Leon opened his mouth to protest, but she raised a hand. "Don’t argue." Leon closed his mouth.

’Right.’

There was apparently no point. He had fallen prey to a trap set long before time.

...

An hour later, the entire family was heading into the city.

Leon sat in the back of the car beside Alice while Alyssa drove, with their mother sitting on the passenger seat.

"So what kind of clothes do you want?" Alice asked. It looked like he would be verbally engaged until they got there, and maybe back also.

"Normal ones." He answered, trying to keep his words brief as not to fuel her with ammunition.

"That doesn’t help~"

"Something comfortable."

"That’s even worse."

Leon looked at her. "Then pick whatever you think looks good."

"Okay." Alice said happily, and it was at that moment, he knew, he fucked up.

He immediately regretted giving her that authority, and though he took it back, he couldn’t say the extent of the trap he had walked into.

On arrival, Leon wondered why they didn’t go with guards, after all their family was like a celebrity family within Sun City, especially.

Leon expected someone to approach them, but to his surprise, nobody did.

There were no cameras shoved into their faces.

No one asked for pictures.

No crowd formed around them.

People simply watched from a distance or as they passed by, and that was it.

Leon found the behavior strange.

He leaned slightly toward Alice to get some answers. "Are we famous?"

Alice looked at him confused. "You’re asking that now?"

"I’ve been busy."

She laughed, "very famous!" She said audibly that anyone close by would hear. Embarrassment almost overwhelmed Leon.

"Hey keep your voive down!" he shouted in a whisper. The other two could only watch the drama behind them.

"How famous?"

"Pretty famous."

"That doesn’t answer anything."

Alyssa glanced over from the the front.

"Our family is one of the most influential Summoner families in the country."

Leon looked around.

"That much?"

"Yes." She answered plainly.

Just then, he watched another group of people quietly move out of their way.

"Then why doesn’t anyone bother us?"

Alice shrugged. "They know better I guess."

Leon looked at her as she spoke casually... That made it stranger.

His stepmother glanced back at them and decided to take the burden of explaining upon herself.

"People know our family." She said. "They also know we value privacy." She concluded.

Leon nodded slowly. That explained everything perfectly, didn’t it?

-[][]-

Random stranger on the street - "Oh Look! It’s The Carters! Someone, Take a Picture!"

Carter - "I value privacy"

Random strangers that had started to gather turning and walking away - "Very understandable. We Shall Now Leave You Alone."

-[][]-

’Yeah, none of that makes any sense at all...’ Even in his imagination, it didn’t make sense.

He’d grown up on Earth surrounded by celebrities and had seen what happened when famous people went outside. Even wealthy families couldn’t completely avoid attention. Yet here, people seemed almost cautious about approaching them.

It made Leon wonder exactly how much authority the Carter family possessed.

He had known they were powerful, but never really understood what that actually meant.

...

The shopping itself took longer than Leon expected.

His stepmother insisted on buying several outfits, Alice had opinions about nearly everything, while thankfully, Alyssa mostly stayed quiet, occasionally offering a short comment when asked.

Leon tried to keep the number of clothes reasonable.

Needless to say... He failed.

By the time they finished, he had several bags in his hands.

"This is too much," he said.

His stepmother looked at him.

"You needed clothes."

"I needed maybe three outfits."

"You got more than that."

"Yes."

"So what’s the problem?"

Leon looked at the bags.

"Nothing."

"Good."

Alice smiled beside him. "You’re getting used to having a family again."

Leon looked at her.

The words caught him slightly off guard, though Alice didn’t seem to notice and just simply continued walking.

Following behind with Alyssa by his side, he wasn’t sure whether she meant anything by it, and one would be pushed to think she didn’t because of her usual carefree attitude. Still, the thought stayed with him.

A family.

Indeed, it was a strange word.

He had arrived in this world without one.

Now he had people who worried when he disappeared for too long, a mother who insisted on his needs even he doesn’t know of, and sisters who cared.

He still didn’t know what to call the feeling, so he didn’t try, because for the time being, he could only describe it as "weird".

For now, being here was enough.

.

.

.

"How about you help me with some bags?" Leon asked Alyssaa who had been walking beside him while they headed to the car.

To his surprise, she actually agreed and relieved him of some load...

’Such a strange family they are.’ He thought to himself.