The father confronted Kotaro and informed him of his response and his wife: "Boy! My wife and I agree to your request. We will call Mira and explain it to her."
The parents told their daughter Kotaro's offer, and she was surprised, but she accepted it easily.
She was 14 years old and although she had never left this area before, she had a glimpse of mages and ordinary humans like her parents and the difference between them. She didn't want to miss this opportunity of a lifetime.
"Hello Mira, can we go now. We only have one day and we better not waste any more time" Kotaro quickly hosted the girl and then said.
"Yes, but what do I call you, Master?" With her childish face and innocent naivety, the little girl looked at Kotaro and asked.
"My name!!....Kotaro Shamak, you can call me Kotaro." Kotaro stammered first before replying with a smile.
The two then set off and returned to the place where Ryota and Akina had settled.
"...um"
"Kotaro! Who is this kid next to you?" Akina asked seriously first, as a female like her, she got jealous just by seeing her.
Kotaro explained the matter in detail to Akina and Ryota, and neither of them opposed it, but were influenced by this initiative by Kotaro.
"But Kotaro, isn't one day too little to teach her to absorb mana?" Ryota suggested.
"I know this, but there is no time. We have to get to Magic City as soon as possible. Don't forget that there is a good chance that the Yamikara sent some of its members to follow us."
"Mira! Come here. We will start your training now." Kotaro stood up, and said with a spontaneous expression.
"Yes, brother Kotaro." Mira seemed to quickly get into the mood, and from now on she had taken Kotaro as her brother.
"Sit with your legs crossed and put your hands on your knees, then close your eyes."
"First you have to regulate your chaotic breathing and learn to do it correctly. Take a deep inhale and then exhale and try to do it at a steady pace each time."
"Try it, and when you get it, we'll move on to the most important part."
...
One hour passed,
And Mira began to feel tired from sitting for a long time, and then she was not used to doing the same thing several times, and her physic was weak to bear it, but she was determined to continue and did not stop, especially after she was close to success.
"..." Kotaro was taking a small nap on top of the tree, but he still watched Mira from time to time.
"This girl..!" As for Akina, she started to develop feelings of admiration for Mira. She had nothing to do so she sat next to her and watched her closely.
After another hour, Kotaro jumped off the tree and stopped Mira's training: "That's enough. You didn't quite succeed, but at your level, that would be enough."
"Kotaro! I didn't ask you about this before but I don't remember that we underwent such training with Uncle Cesar." Akina's words were true, and Kotaro understood them: "Yes, but we did something similar. Do you remember those physical exercises we did for six months before we started training our mana?"
"Uncle Cesar is truly an expert teacher. Those exercises were for refining our bodies but it was also a brief process of adjusting our breathing, so we skipped breathing training and moved on to absorbing mana directly."
"I see…" Akina felt enlightened upon listening.
Mira stopped as Kotaro said. After drinking water and resting for a while, he came to tell her again: "Are you ready?"
"yes!" With bright eyes, Mira replied. She would do whatever Kotaro said without even questioning his instructions
"Okay, sit back and get back to the previous position."
"This time you will also close your eyes, breathe naturally and let your body become one with nature, while you do this try to feel the things around you, the air, the earth, the light, the leaves of the trees, the animals, the buildings and the people."
Mira did as instructed and immersed herself in deep meditation, determined not to disappoint Kotaro.
Meanwhile, Ryota has returned. He left a while ago to look for a source to collect water and fortunately had found a stream nearby after asking someone.
He sat with Akina and Kotaro and watched Mira together.
Time passed quickly, and as the sun set and evening came, Mira's mother came to check on her and brought some food with her.
"Mi…" As she saw her daughter looking pale, the mother's heart narrowed and she couldn't help but call out to her, but Kotaro prevented her: "Ma'am, blocking your daughter's mediation now will be detrimental to her."
"It may also be inappropriate to say this, but please leave us alone. It's for the sake of Mira."
"Ah...yes, take good care of Mira." Despite Kotaro's cold treatment, the mother understood and left silently.
After dinner, Kotaro ordered Mira to sleep for two hours and then continue training.
Akina and Ryota had fallen asleep after a while too, and Kotaro only stayed with Mira.
"Brother Kotaro, I see some silver lights!" Mira was continuing to meditate, when suddenly she felt something strange and told Kotaro beside her. Kotaro was dumbfounded and a flash of appreciation appeared on his face.
"It keeps moving randomly." Mira focused more and tried to describe it as best she could.
"Okay, this is a great progress and now all you have to do is direct these lights to one point and you can succeed." Kotaro encouraged intently, and seeing her situation became amazed.
Feeling the mana particles after only half a day was a progress to be proud of but the most important step was beyond that, being able to control these particles and being able to move them as you wanted.
"This kid is really talented." Kotaro smiled and couldn't help but praise Mira and continued watching her, anticipating her success.
"Brother Kotaro! It's hard, I can never control these things!" Mira tried hard, her little nose and red cheeks wet with sweat. She endured again for several hours, but since the last time she made no further progress.
"I know this is not easy, but there is no other solution. You can only persevere until you succeed."
"...No, not like that. Don't use your body but your senses."
"Don't be impatient and neglect your situation."
Mira did not give up, and Kotaro was diligent in guiding her as best he could.
An hour later, Akina and Ryota woke up. It was six in the morning. Normally the three start moving around at this time, but due to Mira's training, Kotaro decided to wait until noon.
Kotaro stopped Mira to rest for half an hour, and he took a short nap.
"I'm going for a little walk around. I'll leave you two chatting as two girls alone." Ryota got up after a small meal and walked around the ancient ruins, checking them out.
"Don't be too late."
At this time, Akina sends Mira and breaks the tension between them: "Mira, do you like sweets?"
"I love it but... I've never had a chance to eat it before" Mira smiled with a tender expression as she spoke.
This really made Akina surprised: "Are you serious? How did your childhood go without candy?!".
It wasn't as if someone would sell sweets in this place. It is enough for people to fill their stomachs first.
"Can...Can I try a little?" Mira clasped her hands and then gathered all her courage and innocently asked Akina, making everyone who saw her pity her.
"Ah..yes, take it, you can eat as much as you want" Akina sighed sympathetically and presented a plastic box filled with sweets to Mira. The dessert was from Mist Village and although it wasn't as good as the ones Akina used to eat in Pace City, it was better than nothing.
"Thank you, big sister." Mira was happy eating this wondrous thing for the first time. Her eyes filled with tears and joy, grateful to Akina.
"A naive girl, do people cry when eating candy? Wipe those tears off at once" Akina smiled sweetly as she took a handkerchief and handed it to her.