She lifted her head up and shielded her eyes from the sun with her small pale hand. The sun was shining. The sky was clear. The weather wasn't too hot, it was just right for Tiana to go on one of her little excursions. Tiana had been busy, you see. She was going to execute the next phase of her plan for her future endeavours, and it might in return give her parent the best retirement life she could ever wish. Yet, that very person had forced Tiana to follow her out here and waste her time running around like every normal kid.

  She lowered her head and sighed. In front of her, children from the ages of 5 to 10 were merrily playing, laughing, screaming in excitement on the playground. All those high energy in the air were already making her dizzy.

  'This is torture. I'm sure of it.'

  Tiana felt a pair of eyes on her. She turned her head to see her mother sitting on the edge of a bench, beside her was an older lady that was fussing over a young child who spilled ice cream on his shirt. Tiana could tell that her mother was worryingly watching after her from afar. She knew why her mother had forced her to be there and spend time with other kids, but Tiana had very little to no reason to comply.

  "Nana!"

  Tiana turned her head towards the voice. She recognized the girl who was running in her direction, though she didn't remember her name exactly. The girl happily grabbed Tiana's hand and gave her a big teethy smile. Meanwhile, Tiana, who still couldn't recall her name, simply replied with a polite smile.

  "Nana, I'm so happy you're here! I've been wanting to ask you to play with us but you are never home and nobody knows where you go."

  Tiana's eye twitched as she held herself back from making an awful face, and maintained her customer service smile which she practised a lot during her rookie esper days whenever she had to deal with civillians.

  'Who or what the hell is nana? Is that supposed to be my pet name? Because I did not consent to this! She got worse naming sense than my mother.'

  Tiana looked back at her mother. She was still wearing her business smile while she begrudgingly waved at her mother, who then brightened up and gave her two thumbs up, as if encouraging her that she's doing great and she should definitely join those kids.

  "Let's go and play!"

  The girl pointed to a group of girls. One of them were sitting on the swings, while the others were standing around nearby. The girl tugged at her hand and Tiana let herself be dragged along to the playground.

  'Ugghh.. I forgot how quick little kids make friends. This is such a paaaaaiiiinnn...'

  Suddenly, a boy's loud voice can be heard from another direction, calling after her.

  "Wait! Tiana!"

  The boy, who was about seven, took Tiana's other hand and pulled it his way.

  "Tiana, come with me! Let's play together!"

  She blinked a few times, confused by this absurd clinginess which came out of nowhere.

  'Now, who the heck is this kid? I don't think I've even seen him before-'

  "NO!"

  Tiana flinched. Her thoughts were immediately wiped out and her ears almost deafened when the girl on her right yelled in protest at the boy.

  "Nana's a girl, so she should play with other girls!"

  The boy frowned at the girl's words.

  "Shut up! Hey, Tiana's playing with us right?"

  The boy turned to look at the group of boys who were standing near them. They looked at each other, probably as confused as Tiana was, to what they were witnessing. A few of them shrugged, while some of them awkwardly nodded in agreement.

  'What the hell is this kiddo. Is he their ring leader? Some kinda boss of the village neighbourhood kiddie gang?'

  The boy grinned triumphantly at the girl, who now had a scowl on her face.

  "See? Now, back off!"

  The boy pulled Tiana towards him, and she staggered slightly, completely dumbfounded by this soap opera drama she unwillingly had to participate in. The girl stood her ground and held Tiana's hand firmly, as if she'd rather die than letting go of it. Then, she spoke in loud and clear voice, the most bewildering revelation Tiana have had to deal with in all of her lifetime.

  "You only wanna play with Nana cause you LIKE her!"

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  The surrounding turned quiet. It felt like everyone's attention was on them. Tiana watched as the boy's cheeks turned cherry red.

  'Excuse me?! I'm four years old! Sure, I'm a bit taller and way too mature than kids my age, but that's because I'm actually an adult inside! Whether I'm four, or two decades older than the kid, none of this should be happening!'

  The boy glanced nervously at Tiana, who was staring up at him with a disconcerted expression, she was severely uncomfortable and her mind was starting to zone out. The boy quickly removed his gaze from Tiana, he was flustered and embarrassed after having had his secret exposed so easily to everyone there, especially Tiana. He felt upset that he was put on the spot like a joke. And it was all. Her. Fault.

  He glared at the girl, took one step towards her and shoved her shoulder hard. The girl who was smaller than the boy, stumbled and fell to the dirt ground on her butt. Tiana absentmindedly looked down at her, she could hear some of the kids gasped and whispered among each other, but none of it registered with her. Tiana's mind had decided to thoroughly disassociate with whatever that was going on. Meanwhile, anyone who saw that would've expected the girl to cry but instead, she stood up like it was business as usual and curled her arms around Tiana's tightly. She glared twice as menacingly at the boy in defiance.

  "You bully! I'm telling daddy you pushed me!"

  Tiana snapped back into focus. She stared at the girl's face, then turned to look at the boy. Her eyes went back and forth between them a couple of times, baffled by what she just heard.

  'Wait.. they're siblings?! Or did I misunderstand? They look so different, I never would've guessed. Is this the so called sibling rivalry? Am I just an excuse for them to fight because truth is, they just don't getting along anyway?'

  Before she could continue to discern their similarities, the boy squeezed Tiana's hand that he was holding the whole time, then grabbed the same arm with his other hand and pulled Tiana again in his direction. This time, Tiana didn't stagger. After all, though she was shorter than the boy, she was still stronger or sturdier. This was also the only reason why the kids' reckless actions weren't hurting her. If she was a normal four year old girl, the boy's initial manhandling alone would've made her cry in pain.

  "Let go of her!"

  The girl, refusing to relent, pulled back in her direction.

  "No! You let go!"

  Tiana's legs stayed rooted on the ground while her upper body swayed from one side to another as the two kids played tug-of-war with her in the middle and screaming bloody murder at each other. Tiana rolled her eyes, exhausted by this morning drama theatrics she was forced to deal with.

  'Oh ma gooosh.. why can't all of you just play together and leave me alooone...?'

  In that moment, a mischievous idea came to her. Tiana snatched her arms out of the kids' tight hold, and clapped her hands, silencing both of them. She put on a friendly smile and made a suggestion, the best solution to their current problem.

  "Let's play hide and seek. All of us. Together."

  At first, the kids were looking at Tiana as if she'd just said the most moronic nonsense. The boy crossed his arms, clearly not budging, even if the suggestion was by the girl he liked. The girl was also shaking her head, stubborn and unimpressed. But before neither of the two who was fighting over her could turn her down, she continued with a playful grin.

  "With a catch. Let's make a bet."

  She raised a hand and pointed a finger at the boy.

  "Boys vs.."

  Then, her finger moved to a stop on the girl.

  "Girls."

  The other kids started murmuring, some were excited while few seemed undecided. The two of them turned to look at each other almost at the same time. Tiana saw a challenging spark in their eyes, as if they were daring and goading the other to bow out, ready to brand one of them a coward if either of them did. The boy huffed and turned away first to look at Tiana.

  "What's the bet?"

  Tiana's playful grin deepened.

  "You guys decide that."

  It didn't take them long to think about it. A few seconds later, the boy opened his mouth to speak, but the girl beat him to it.

  "If the girls win then the boys can't play at the playground for a week."

  The boy scoffed at her words.

  "I was gonna say that."

  The girl stuck her tongue out at him. The boy frowned in disgust. Tiana chuckled inwardly at the siblings' antics.

  "Great. Okay, then.."

  The boy cut Tiana off to speak.

  "Wait. I want to add one more thing."

  He gestured to both him and the girl.

  "If one of us wins, the person who lost will swear never to talk to Tiana again. Ever."

  The boy smiled, satisfied by his supposedly ingenious idea, which Tiana found incredibly pointless and childish. Then again, he was technically a child. The girl stared at him wide eyed.

  "You think you're gonna win? As if!"

  The boy spoke without looking her way. His arms crossed with a smug expression on his face.

  "I will. Like I always do."

  The girl pursed her lips into a thin line, it seemed as if she was about to cry.

  "Why? Because you're older than me? You think you can get everything you want just because you're older. Well, you won't! Also, I'm only one year younger than you!"

  He shrugged, dismissing her outburst entirely.

  "Whatever."

  The girl clenched her fists and turned away from him in a huff, stomping her feets as she seethed in anger.

  'Hm.. something's obviously going on at home. Do their parents even know their kids aren't getting along this badly? Or maybe their parents are the main problem. Because it sounds like they're playing favourites.'

  Tiana shook her head, she believed it wasn't her place to meddle.

  "So.. both of you will do the bet or...?"

  The kids nodded in unison, though both had their backs towards each other. Tiana shook her head again as she watched the siblings, partly amused but mostly exasperated.

  "Okay. Since we need someone to be it, I'll do it."

  The boy had a puzzling expression.

  "Huh?"

  While the girl looked at Tiana, just as confused and seemingly unconvinced.

  "Just you?"

  Tiana tilted her head and gave them a sweet smile.

  "Oh, I'm very good at hiding. Remember how nobody knows where I always go? Just remember. If none of you finds me by evening, then you guys should just go back for dinner because I'm probably already home. Which means, it's everyone's lost."

  All the kids there began talking to each other, mostly wondering if it was really that difficult to find one person when there were so many of them.

  "There's no way.."

  The boy was about to say something, but Tiana, impatient and have had enough of their sibling spat, immediately clapped her hands and had everything quickly moving along.

  "Everyone close your eyes and count to a hundred! No peeking! Cheaters are losers!"

  Thus, Tiana's wicked hide-and-seek game was set in motion.