Chapter 11: The Girl In The Flower Bed.
And just like that, five weeks had passed since Haru first started school. He tried his best to stay out of trouble, but he had a few run-ins with students from the other classes.
The children his age were no match for him and the older students started to hear about him, so they stayed away from causing any trouble when he was around. Every day he would attend his classes and, in the evening, he would teach Mia how to better control her magic.
Somewhere along the line, Jake found out Haru was teaching magic in secret and decided he also wanted to learn. Mia was progressing at a very impressive rate. Jake on the other hand...
"Ouch! Why does it hurt so much!?" Jake cried out in pain. Haru had been trying to teach him, but he wouldn't listen.
So, in retaliation to Jake not listening, Haru decided it would be easier to force the information into his brain by using offensive magic on him. It was supposed to be Jake's job to cancel out the attack with the spell known as Break.
But Jake was more interested in watching birds flying overhead and ended up taking a fire spell to the face.
He rolled around on the floor for a while trying to put out the flame, but there was no luck. Haru had to cancel the spell for himself before Jake got up from the floor, rubbing his face.
The spell Haru had used wasn't any major spell, it was used mainly for crowd control. It was very similar to pepper spray, but it was usually used with a magic device so the police or military didn't have to carry much around.
Magic was used all the time, even by people who didn't have the talent to use magic on their own. Devices were made for storage instead of backpacks, and there were even devices that supplied you with water. Like a water bottle with an unlimited amount of water.
This spell was also the same. There was a device developed by a big company for crowd control so even if police couldn't use this spell with their mana they could press a button and it would shoot out a magical pepper spray.
Jake looked around with his eyes still burning and then thought it would be a good idea to wash his eyes with magic.
[Cleansing Touch]
A huge beam of water shot out of his hand and hit him in his face, forcing him into the air before landing on his back.
"What was that?" He whispered before standing up once again.
He hadn't realised before, but the magic lessons he had been taking with Haru had boosted his magic power output and also his mana pool.
This was the first time he had seen results from all the hard work Haru had put into trying to teach him, however useless it seemed. He looked back at Haru, who was smiling at the sight before him.
"Again!" Jake screamed.
Haru didn't give him even a second to react before launching the spell towards him again. The stream of green fire came storming towards Jake like a bolt of lightning.
[Break]
The spell vanished as a small puddle of water came from the fire and hit Jake in the face.
"Why does this always happen to me!?" He began to roll around on the floor once again with his eyes burning.
This type of spell had two parts to it. The first one was a fire that burned toxic fumes into the face of the victim. The second part was a security measure, just in case it had to be used on a mage.
The main spell would vanish, but it left behind the concentrated water that the fire in the spell turned into the toxic fumes. The water would be at least five times more powerful than before.
Jake cried out in pain before Mia took pity on him.
[Essence healing]
The pain suddenly vanished from Jake's face. Haru had been trying to teach Mia to have more control over her magic, so the only spell she was allowed to practice for the past five weeks was essence healing.
Unlike Jake, Mia was a quick learner and had almost completely mastered the one spell. All she was lacking was the experience.
She had only been healing minor wounds for her classmates if they were injured during a mock battle or had fallen down a staircase. It was something she would have to learn. If she wanted to truly master it, she would need to learn to keep a level head.
That would usually take hours of actual combat experience and be put in countless life and death situations. But her proficiency in using essence healing right now could already bring someone back from the verge of death.
"Thank you, Mia. At least one of you is nice." Jake said with a pout whilst staring at Haru.
Haru chuckled a little and then noticed that it was becoming dark outside.
They had gone into the forest so they could practice without anyone watching them and found a clearing in the trees next to a small lake. It was peaceful there. That was until Haru started holding magic lessons there and destroying many of the trees when Jake or Mia's magic spiraled out of control.
But Haru was always respectful to his surroundings and always fixed everything they damaged with magic. They packed up and decided to head back for the night.
As they emerged from the forest, they split up and went back to their own rooms to sleep for the night.
Haru was having a rough time falling asleep. The school's annual combat training camp would start tomorrow. Since his second chance at life started, he has always had trouble getting used to things that a normal kid his age would enjoy.
If just basic conversation with people was an issue at first. After his lifetime spent in the military, he was used to formal conversation. It was just a normal thing for him.
But apparently, parents didn't like it too much when their children are direct and speak to them in a tone that suggests they aren't really that close. After maybe four years, he got the hang of being casual about everything.
But new things still made him nervous. This was going to be the first time he experienced a school trip, so he tossed and turned the whole night. He was excited about this experience.
As daylight flooded into his room, Haru got ready and made his way outside to meet the rest of his class at the front gates.
He was early, of course. Everybody else was still sleeping. There were still two hours to go before they had to meet. As he was strolling down the main path, he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was a girl.
She looked to be around the same age as Haru, but he had never seen her before. She had long brown hair and green eyes that called out to Haru. He could see the pain in her eyes and decided to make his way towards her.
The girl was holding a watering can and was pouring it over a small patch of flowers. Haru sat down on the grass and looked at the flowers. They were all the same white colour with a yellow center. He counted them before speaking up: there were thirteen in total.
"They are beautiful. What kind are they?" Haru asked whilst gazing down upon the little flowers that were just beginning to bloom.
The girl was caught off guard by the sudden question because she thought she was all alone out there. She didn't notice Haru sitting down beside her. The girl paused for a second as she collected herself after being nearly frightened to death.
"They are called bloodroot. They were always my brother's favorite. But I only get to come and water them once a year, so this is all I can do for them." She smiled slightly before picking out some small weeds that were surrounding the flowers.
Haru sat and watched as he tried not to distract her. It was kind of relaxing for him. He had never seen someone moving so fast, but also being as delicate as this before. A few minutes went by before someone called out from behind.
"Oh? So, you have met Remi then?" Haru turned around as Miss Fujima walked over to them.
"Oh. Hi mom." The girl called out as Miss Fujima leaned over and kissed her forehead. Haru was sat confused.
"Wait, this is your daughter? I thought you were in your twenties. I didn't expect you to be old enough to have a daughter." Haru said as his mouth gaped open slightly at the revelation.
Miss Fujima started laughing.
"Thank you for the compliment. But you will probably be more shocked to know that I was your mom's commanding officer for a few years." Haru didn't know what to think. He thought she was at least fifteen years younger than she actually was.
"You know my mom?" Haru asked, still surprised.
"I sure do. Why do you think I have been taking it easy on you all this time? She asked me to look after you before you even enrolled. But since you are here, I have something important to ask of you." Miss Fujima said before looking over towards Remi.
"I want you to look after Remi while we are on this trip. Are you okay with doing that?" She asked before Remi stopped what she was doing and turned around.
"Mom! I'm old enough to look after myself. I don't need a babysitter! You're the worst!" She yelled in embarrassment.
"Oh, you think I'm the worst? Haru here wasn't allowed to go anywhere on his own until he turned fifteen. That is the reason why I asked him. You both have parents that love you to the point where they won't let anyone even think about harming you. At least you will have something to talk about." That was when Haru noticed. This girl didn't seem to be around his age at all. She was at least 4 years younger than him. But the look in her eyes made her seem older.
"Okay, sure. I don't mind." Haru said with a smile. Remi looked at him with distrust.
"Oh, come on. I'm not that scary, am I?" Remi looked back at him for a second. And then said something Haru wasn't expecting.
"Can I call you big brother?" She asked with curious eyes.