Shinzo and Paolo chugged water in the Tanaka family house. After their intense battle, they came to freshen up. They panted slowly, the wind cooling their sweaty skins.
"Why were you super persistent in getting me?" Shinzo asked, tilting his head to look at Paolo.
"I read your article last month, you talked about how you inherited your father's dream of becoming the greatest martial artist and how you would keep on training hard to reach that goal," Paolo said, a sluggish grin forming on his lips. "I respect people who can go the extra length to reach their goal."
Shinzo's cheek tinted pink, his head turning away abruptly to hide his embarrassment. "I'm amazing, of course you should respect me."
Paolo laughed, drinking out of his bottle. "You need to be more honest with your feelings."
"Showing any weakness is against my existence."
Paolo laughed harder this time, Shinzo punching his shoulder. Tanaka Mikan watched the boys banter, a smile gracing her lips.
"My baby is actually talking to people his age."
Shoto pulled up behind her, sighing. "It's unfortunate his new friend is another monster like him. They almost destroyed the dojo. Thank God I ended the fight before too much damage was done."
"We should be happy he at least has a friend. He is so arrogant and amazing people don't want to even be near him."
Shoto laughed. "Fair enough."
Shinzo looked back. "I hope you both know I can hear you."
"Aunty Mikan." A girl about eight ran to the porch, interrupting their conversation. Mikan and Shoto moved closer to see what she wanted. "Aizawa is back."
Shinzo frowned. "Again, what does he want now?"
"He's probably pestering for homage again," Mikan said, rolling her eyes. "I swear that man just can't live without annoying someone every day."
"I'll go check it out," Shinzo said, rising to his feet.
"I'll follow too," Paolo said.
Shinzo nodded, about to leave, but his mother grabbed his arm. "Don't do anything stupid, you know how he can be."
"I won't."
The two boys walked out of the area, the little girl leading them to where all the commotion took place. They soon got to the middle of the square, people gathered around. They forced their way through to where three men harassed a woman with the sleeves of her pink yukata pulled up, a wooden bucket held tightly to her chest.
The man in the middle wore a red and white yukata with a black head tie on his head. The two men at his side wore simple black yukata's, standing two sizes taller than him, even Shinzo who towered over most people didn't hold a candle to them.
The man in the middle had his lips pursed and arms crossed as he glared down at the poor woman. "Aoi, I thought you were told yesterday to pay your homage,"
"B-but I already paid this month," the woman stammered, lips trembling and eyes wetting at the pressure from the men towering behind him.
"That wasn't the full price and you know it."
"That's because you needlessly increased it from the usual ten percent to twenty."
The man in the middle turned to face the bold citizen who had spoken. "Tanaka, I don't remember this being your business."
"It's obviously my business because as a citizen of Lutas Island, I can't watch you abuse your power, Aizawa?"
Aizawa lifted his chin, trying to appear taller than the six foot four kid in front of him, but couldn't quite make it, so ended up looking like a beaver trying too hard to compete with giraffes. "Your opinion doesn't really matter. I'm only doing my job because the king is sick."
"Oppression is hardly what I call help."
Aizawa's eyebrows twitched, the sixteen year old obviously hurting his pride. "Kids shouldn't put their mouths when adults are talking."
"And you old people should learn when it's time to give up. You aren't helping anyone by living this long…" he smiled. "Metaphorically of course."
Aizawa grabbed his collar, glaring at him. "Well since you're so bold, you wouldn't mind me handcuffing you for ten days."
Shinzo frowned, staring back at him with no hint of reluctance. "You wouldn't?"
Aizawa dropped his collar and snapped his fingers. One of the two men beside him brought out a handcuff and he lifted up his chin once more at the annoyed Shinzo. "I'd advise you to cooperate, Tanaka."
Shinzo's eyebrows twitched, but he put his arm out to be handcuffed. The cold metal clamped on his wrists, causing a satisfied smile to spread on Aizawa's face. "I hope you learn your lesson not to talk back."
He left laughing, his men trailing behind while probably forgetting he came there to collect homage, not to fight with a sixteen year old.
Angry, Shinzo kicked the wall beside him, the wall crumbling under the pressure. "I hate him so much."
"Who is this Aizawa guy?" Paolo asked suddenly from where he had been quietly watching the scene.
"He is the royal adviser. The king is sick, so he is taking over his job for a while," Shinzo explained. "He has been going around harassing the villagers."
"Does the king know?" Paolo asked.
"That's the weird part, his illness doesn't seem to be getting better." Shinzo sighed. "And the guards aren't letting anyone into the palace even though the king is usually free with entrance."
Paolo stroked his chin, trying to piece the problem together. "Then Shinzo, let's go talk to the king and find out what's happening."
Shinzo frowned. "Didn't you hear me, we can't go in. Plus, you're not a resident, why do you care?"
"I normally wouldn't care, but I don't think you'd want to leave your island like this plus I don't want to wait ten days for you to lose the handcuffs."
Shinzo sighed. "But we can't enter though."
Paolo smirked. "Shinzo, you're about to become an adventurer. You should make causing trouble your second nature."
"You're not thinking about…"
"Sneaking in… oh we are."
Shinzo stared at him a while before exhaling. "Is this going to be a regular occurrence with you?"
"More or less."
"Can I give you my resignation letter?"
"No."
.....
Aizawa walked down the palace hallway, his men following carefully behind him. One leaned near his ear. "Almost everything has been cleared."
Aizawa got to a door by the edge of the hall, placing his hand on the knob but not turning it. "We'll deal with the last set of guards and be putting the king to rest soon."
The two bowed before walking away. He pulled open the door, a loud cough following after before the door closed shut behind him slowly and menacingly.