A few months after the incident at the river, our little boy gained friends with his classmates. He was also happy that he was able to brag about his 'adventure' to his sisters.
One can see that he was a happy kid, however, deep inside this little boy, a dreaded feeling was building as the days passed by. How can he play like these past few days again if he has to train with the old man after school?
Right now, the school grounds was noisy with the children playing after their classes. A few of the three-year-olds were playing football, joining the other older kids. There was also a teacher present, watching in case of injuries which was unavoidable with children allowed to play after a few hours of sitting down.
Football was one of the trainings the school thought of to exercise the children's control of the 'mist'. They get to have fun and practice while playing.
In the field, a young boy was running fast, using an enhancement in his speed from the 'mist'. He was kicking the ball towards their goal with a few others trying to catch up to him.
With him swerving left and right, he was able to avoid a few of the defenders. Those were just some younger kids, not yet able to properly control their mist to defend. He was more concerned of the other 'mist' users as well as the goal keeper so he turned his attention to the ball to keep it from being stolen.
Currently, he was not looking at what was in front of him, therefore, he was not able to see another figure running really fast from the side. That was when the little boy from the defending team managed to intercept him. With the bigger body colliding with the smaller one, the smaller one naturally fell first which tripped the other one and they tumbled down together on the ground.
Noticing this, the teacher stopped the game and went to where the two were trying sitting up now. "Ling, why did you intercept him? Do you think you can do that with your small body? Where are you injured? Let me see."
Yes, that dumb, er, small boy was Ling. He wasn't worried about himself though. 'I can heal fast,' he thought.
When the teacher saw that no serious injuries were incurred, he let the others continue playing but stopped and scolded Ling.
"I want to play. I can still play." A pouting face was pleading to the teacher.
"There's another ball at the benches. Go play with that." Unperturbed, the teacher was used to this child's tricks so he just stared at the boy opposite him.
Realizing that the teacher would not budge on his decision, Ling went to the benches to play alone. Maybe he can ask Rin to play now since it was just the two of them.
With this thought, a smile was back on the little boy's face and he skipped ahead of the teacher to get to the benches. The teacher just shook his head, sighing and decided to watch the game on a closer area so he can notice earlier if other children will follow what that child did.
Meanwhile, when Ling got nearer and saw Rin, he noticed that the other kid was surrounded by some older boys.
"Hey, are you afraid to damaged your beautiful face so you don't want to play with us? Are you a girl? Then just play dolls with them." One boy who looked like their leader was speaking loud enough for Ling to hear.
The beautiful kid they were talking to was Rin, Ling's seatmate who was actually still ignoring him despite the other boy's insistent actions. Rin was a relative of the village midwife, Old Lady Burha, and was brought to the village when the child was already three. A smart and quiet kid, different from his seatmate, which the teachers approve but he doesn't join the other children to play and meditates alone in the school grounds after class.
Seeing that his seatmate was also ignoring the other kids, Ling felt good. At least Rin talked to him once. He then thought of 'saving' the beautiful person like the heroes from the books his sisters read and went to get the ball.
"Rin!" A shout was heard and Rin as well as the kids surrounding him turned to that direction. That was when a ball striked one of the boys' face which rebounded and hit another boy.
Feeling good about himself, Ling strutted to the group, "Let's play somewhere else!"
"Y-you!"
Before the other kids could recover, Ling held Rin's hand and pulled him as he ran fast, away from the school.
Not thinking of where he was going, Ling ran to his house still pulling the other kid. When the boys chasing almost caught up to them, the door to the chief's house opened and Bobo came out. He looked at his son and the one panting beside him, confused, then at the other boys, who immediately ran away after seeing him.
"Son, who are those boys? And this one?"
Ling was smiling widely when he saw those chasing them running away. He turned to his father to boast about his heroism but his father spoke first.
"Oh, since your class was already done, let's go to Shaman Matnaad's place for your training."
Hearing this, the boy felt like his happy days were done and he squeezed the hand he was still holding tightly.