Taming SSR And UR RANK Superwomen-Chapter 67 — A Brother’s Promise
What followed was a day neither of them would easily forget. First, the seafood restaurant, where Iris ordered with a comical seriousness that contrasted with her size, pointing at the menu with her index finger and pronouncing each dish carefully.
Then a two-scoop ice cream in a waffle cone, which she chose after deliberating for a full three minutes in front of the display case.
After that, a candy shop where Thomas told her to pick one, and she picked four because "technically they’re small and count as one." He didn’t argue.
And at some point in the afternoon, in front of a shop window, Iris stopped.
Inside, there was an action figure wearing the silver and blue suit of a heroine. Tall and stylized, with golden hair painted swept back and an expression of authority on its plastic face.
Thomas bought it without her having to ask twice.
◇◆◇
Night arrived with lights.
The Ferris wheel in Ark’s central park was one of the tallest in the city, and from the top, when the gondola stopped at its highest point, you could see everything.
Iris had her nose almost pressed against the glass.
Ark’s city at night stretched beneath them in layers of light. The sectors were distinguished by their colors: the cold white of the administrative zones, the warm yellow of the residential neighborhoods, the electric blue of the training districts. All separated by the large illuminated avenues that crossed the city like veins.
The wind stirred Iris’s white hair through the small ventilation opening.
"The city at night is beautiful," she murmured, her voice soft, lacking the overflowing energy from a few hours ago. Only genuine and quiet admiration.
Thomas watched her in silence. Then Iris turned to him with a smile that wasn’t excitement, but something deeper.
"Thank you, brother. For today. It was the best day."
Thomas smiled at her.
"The days are going to get much better from now on." His voice was firm, without embellishment. "You don’t have to hold back anymore when it comes to eating or asking for juice. You can eat until you’re full."
Iris looked at him with wide eyes.
"Really?"
"Three times a day."
She processed that for a second.
"Three?"
"Three."
Iris lunged forward, burying her face in his abdomen and wrapping her arms around him with all the strength of her nine years.
"I’m so happy things are going well for you, brother!"
Thomas slowly stroked her hair, his palm passing over her messy pigtails. He nodded silently before speaking.
"You are my greatest strength to keep pushing forward, Iris. Everything I do is to give you an incredible life." He paused briefly. "So you also have to do your part. Keep studying well so that when you grow up, you become an incredible heroine."
Iris lifted her face from his abdomen, her brow furrowed in that way of hers that mixed seriousness with tenderness.
"I’ll kick the ass of all those evil exams."
"Are they your archenemies?"
Iris nodded with absolute conviction.
"They’re the villains of my story."
He laughed. A real laugh, the kind that came out without warning.
When things settled, Iris shifted to sit beside him in the gondola seat and took out the cotton candy Thomas had bought her before getting on. Pink, enormous, almost bigger than her head.
She began pulling off pieces calmly, looking at the city with that expression of hers—the kind a child has when thinking about big things. Thomas watched her.
He didn’t say anything for a moment. He just looked at her the way one looks at something worth more than anything else one has. His greatest treasure. His gift in life.
Then he shifted his gaze toward the city.
From that height, the division of sectors was perfectly visible. The boundaries between zones, the towers of the central district, and beyond, barely perceptible in the darkness of the horizon, the silhouette of the great covered stadium where, in a week, all of Ark would gather. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞
"This year we’ll be able to go to the Tamed Beasts Tournament."
Iris froze. Then she turned her head so fast the cotton candy almost fell.
"The tournament!? The most important and famous tournament of all time!?"
"You have a very high-pitched voice."
"Brother!"
"Yes." He smiled. "It will be in a week. We’ll be able to attend."
Iris let out a sound that wasn’t exactly a word, but rather the audible expression of someone whose lifelong dream had just been fulfilled. Then, when she regained her speech, she asked with shining eyes:
"And will you be able to buy me a Saga Delavarielle figure? She’s the world champion and has a collectible figure with her suit from last year’s final and—"
"I’d have to know how much it costs before promising you anything."
Iris lowered her expectations with admirable speed.
"It doesn’t matter. If you can’t, that’s fine. Just attending is already the best gift of all."
Thomas held his chin, looking upward with a calculating expression.
"We’ll see."
Iris lit up again.
"We’ll see Saga in action! It’ll be another year where she defends her champion title!"
"For the fourth consecutive time." Thomas nodded, with a genuine hint of admiration in his voice. "No other tamer has reached that number. It’s a historic record."
"And we’ll see it from the front row!" Iris extended her hand toward him with her palm open.
Thomas slapped his palm against hers, and in a mutual, coordinated motion, they both exclaimed:
"Yay!"
Iris laughed, already imagining the future—the packed stands, the beasts in the arena, Saga’s name echoing through the speakers.
Thomas let her enjoy that moment.
Then he scratched his cheek with his index finger, looking toward the city with an expression Iris didn’t see because she was too busy being happy.
’It’ll be Saga’s fourth consecutive time. And it’s a shame someone has to break that historic streak. Though that someone will be me. Those one hundred thousand dollars belong to us.’
He took out his phone and checked the date. It was Friday.
’Tomorrow is the day. It’ll be risky, but Inori will end up being tamed.’
