“Hello, my name is Rexan,” the woman says in Japanese, introducing herself, then indicating the man, she adds, “And this is Benjamin. We work for an energy drink company and we will be planning to shoot a commercial here,” she says indicating the park’s bike tracks. Then looking at Naxy, she continues, “Can you please play that video again?”

  “Sure, miss,” says Naxy and plays the video of Lee doing the backflip in mid-air.

  Benjamin looks at the video; when it finishes, he stands open-mouthed looking at Lee. “How did you have the courage to do that?”

  “At the time, I was only thinking of the way not to hit you, sir,” says Lee with a shrug, then adds, “And as I was in the air, I realised that I wasn’t going to land properly; the bike was going to be too tilted, so I just used the momentum to rotate backwards to adjust for a better landing.”

  “How old are you?” Ben asks sceptically as he stands straight.

  “He is five and I’m his mother,” says Sue, a warning tone in her voice.

  Rexan takes a step forward and looks at Sue. “Ma’am, we don’t mean any harm; in fact, it’s Ben’s fault to have been in the middle of the track,” she says casting a side glance at Ben, then smiling she adds, “Our brand, Blue Wolf, is launching a new energy drink safe for children; it has been under development for half a decade now, and finally, the product is finished.”

  Hearing the name, the other four kids start discussing, and in Lee’s mind, he recaps memories of seeing fast adrenaline sports: from racing cars, snowboarding, and even space races that were identical to car races but with spaceships. This, among other sports, were where the brand franchises teams.

  “Alright, but why are you so interested in the jump of Lee?” Sue inquires, placing a hand on Lee’s shoulder.

  Rexan takes a deep breath, then with a charismatic smile says, “We are looking for someone young to participate in the advertising. And the way your son did that jump, he would be perfect to be the face of the product.”

  “So in other words, you want me to advertise your drink?” Lee asks, then tilting his head a bit to the back and sideways, inquires with a grin, “What’s in it for me?”

  Ben shakes his head. “I don’t think this is a good idea; the kid was lucky earlier. The fear of hitting someone was bigger than doing the jump. That is only why he managed to do the jump.”

  “I know you now!” exclaims Jack, looking up at Ben from his phone. “You are Benjamin Winged-man! Can I get a picture with you?”

  Hearing the name, Lee remembers the bike race rider on both push-bikes and motorbikes that sometimes does stunt shows and is franchised by the Blue Wolf energy drink.

  With a mischievous smile, Lee says, “I see now; you are afraid that someone younger will take your spotlight. It’s understandable; after all, people always go for the newest model.” Sue is about to reprimand Lee, but then seeing the look on his face, she freezes.

  Taking the bait, Ben says, “Don’t be full of yourself; there is no way you could do that jump again.”

  Lee tilts his head a bit down and to the side, eyebrows rising along the side of his mouth. “Is that a challenge?”

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  Noticing his expression, Naxy says in a whisper to the other kids, “That is the same face he did when he challenged the maths teacher.”

  “What if it is?” says Ben.

  Rexan shakes her head. “Are you seriously getting ticked off at a child?”

  “What do I get if I make the jump?” Lee asks, noticing that Ben is not thinking straight. “After all, if it’s a challenge, there must be a prize to gain.”

  Turning pure red, Ben says between clenched teeth, “If you do the jump again, twice, I will give you my own bike and I will even sign it,” he says indicating to a brand new, top-of-the-line push-bike. “But what if you can’t? What do you lose?”

  Lee reaches into his pocket and takes a keychain with a beast crystal he made for himself. “If I lose, you can have this.”

  “Why would I want a keychain?” Ben asks and is about to refuse when Rexan steps in front of him.

  “Can I take a look at that?” she asks, voice trembling. Lee nods and passes the keychain. She then takes her phone and does a quick web search. “What kind of stone is this one?” she asks; now even her hands are shaking along with her voice.

  “That is a beast crystal; the crystal alone is worth three hundred yen,” says Lee casually, like he is talking about the weather.

  “I accept your challenge,” says Ben and reaches for his watch, then tapping it, a call is made. “Johnson, get the drones online and send them over to me,” he says in English.

  Before the other person can say anything, Ben turns off the call; moments later, five drones appear overhead.

  Then a young woman in her twenties approaches the group. “You can be a bit rude, you know that? Would it hurt you to say please and thank you once in a while?” she says in English, then looking at Rexan, she inquires, “Why did the idiot of my half-brother ask for the drones?”

  Rexan sighs. “Because that idiot just made a bet against a kid. His new bike against this keychain.”

  “Why would he make that stupid bet?” the woman controlling the drones inquires with a shake of her head.

  “Well… I don’t blame him; this keychain is a relic worth millions, and if not for that, it has a three-hundred-yen crystal inside,” Rexan says.

  “Fine, what do I need to track and record?” Johnson asks, lifting her hands.

  “It’s this child,” Rexan says in English, then looking at Lee, she says, “Young one, this is Alice Johnson. All the fantastic recording you see in our adverts is made by her with the drones. So when you go to do this jump, she will be recording you. Is that okay?”

  Lee nods but then looks at Sue. “Lee, if you think you can do it, I don’t mind; just be safe.”

  “What is going on here?” asks Kenji, not being able to hold himself anymore, and approaches the group.

  Sue tries to think of what to say so as not to give out too much information to outsiders. “Just Lee being Lee,” she finally says with a sigh and shrug.

  Lee agrees to the challenge and as Alice Johnson syncs the drones to track Lee, Kenji sees the video of Lee’s jump, and in a quiet voice, Sue brings Kenji up to speed on what just happened.

  Lee then scans the code into his bike and sets a three-lap play. The drones hover around him, one of them records Lee’s screen, and Alice sits on the ground with a VR headset watching what the drones are recording.

  “Lee, I’m ready; you can start any time,” Alice says in broken Japanese as she moves a drone in front of Lee. “But remember, the first lap is so that I can map the track, then the second and third is for you to try and do the jumps.”

  Lee gives her a thumbs up and puts his helmet visor down; the drone flies above him and he presses start, then the bike's countdown starts, and Lee’s friends count along with it. “Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Go!”

  At go, Lee takes off down the track, the drones recording him from different directions. On the second lap, Lee starts to go faster, the drones chasing him, and record Lee’s jumps; the jumps are basic: no hands, no feet. As he starts the third lap, the jumps get more elaborate: back flips, tilting the bike sideways. At one point, he turns the bike sideways, gets one leg off the bike, his body turning back, and he gunshot-points at the drone behind him before getting back on the bike and straightening like nothing happened.

  At the starting line, Alice laughs, having seen what Lee just did. “This kid is a pure daredevil,” she says in English; everyone around her is clueless why she commented this and laughed.

  As Lee gets to the last jump, he starts to go even faster, the drones being left behind for a bit. “Let’s try this one.”

  At the starting point, Alice shoots to her feet. “No!” she screams, a trembling hand stretched in front of herself; her legs buckle and she lands on the ground, body trembling.

  Sue then looks at her phone to check on what part of the track Lee is at.