Somewhere in Ryakudatsu, a mother and her daughter could be seen taking a stroll through the trails of the village, appearing to be wandering around the religious village aimlessly. The daughter was gripping onto her mother's hand tightly, hopping around as they walked at a steady pace. The mother only smiled at the kid's endless youth.
As they were walking, something caught the kid's eye, prompting her to point in its direction. "Mama! There's an ice cream stand! Can we go!?"
The mother glanced down at her child, her smile retained. "Sure, sweetie." With a victorious fist pump from the child, they both proceeded to head toward the ice cream stand.
Arriving at the front of the ice cream stand, the normal interaction between seller and buyer commenced. The owner of the stand rested the top half of his body on a nearby flat surface, patiently waiting for the mother's order. "Hello, sir. May we get two vanilla ice cream cones?" The mother asked gently, feeling her daughter's tugging at her left hand.
"With sprinkles! With sprinkles!" The daughter begged in a childish tone.
The mother laughed softly at her child's antics. "Yes, with sprinkles please."
The owner of the stand simply smiled and nodded. "Okay! Give me one moment, ma'am." And with that, the owner began to work at their orders, rummaging around his stand to concoct their vanilla ice cream.
As that was happening, the daughter could still be seen moving around rambunctiously for joy. Suddenly, something small garnered her attention instantly. It was a colorful leaf! With the daughter having immense curiosity, she managed to slip out of her mother's grasp, running towards the leaf. As the little girl grew near, the leaf of various colors blew away, prompting the little girl to chase after it. The leaf would constantly twirl around, blowing in the wind, preventing the girl from grabbing it as she tenaciously chased after it. After a minute of the little girl chasing the colorful leaf had passed, she finally got close enough to almost be able to grab it out of the air. Just as she jumped to grab the leaf, it was so close that she was sure to have caught it.
Someone else caught the leaf.
The little girl immediately stopped and glared at the newcomer who so rudely snatched her leaf. "Hey, mister! That was my leaf!" She even resorted to jabbing a very accusing finger in the leaf snatcher's direction.
We can currently observe a man sitting on a bench, wearing a black cloak with red lines tracing the sleeves, as the alleged leaf snatcher. The snatcher's face was also obscured by the black hood, which was draped over their head and concealed their features. This man was also holding the leaf between his index finger and his thumb.
The hooded figure cast a look of amusement at the child, glancing at both the child and the leaf suspiciously. "Oh? But it's in my hand, is it not?" The man teased, presenting the colorful leaf between his fingers.
The child began pouting, tears daring to leak out the corners of her eyes. "But I found it first!" She then stomped a foot onto the ground to signify her anger.
The hooded man remained quiet for a few moments, leaving the child confused as to what he was looking at. Just as the child was about to continue, the man beat her to it. "Do you plan to just cry? Why don't you take it from me?" The man asked, sounding as if what he said was the simplest thing in the world.
"B-but, you're a-a…" The little girl stuttered, eyeing the man dubiously with her watery eyes. "You're an adult! I-I can't!" She hollered, surprisingly not attracting any attention.
The hooded man removed the colorful leaf from between his fingers, letting it fall gently in the middle of his palm instead. The leaf was then on full display once again for the child as the man bent over and lowered his hand. "Even if it's right here?"
"My mama says it isn't good to take from others!" The little girl rebutted, waving her hands frantically.
It was the man's turn to eye the child dubiously. "But aren't you trying to take the leaf back from me?"
The girl halted momentarily, finding a hole in her logic. "Y-yes."
The cloaked man sighed, tilting his head downward, then back up to stare at the tenacious child before him. The child was on the verge of either having a tantrum or breaking down, running and crying to her mama. "This is exactly why you won't ever achieve anything in life."
The little girl was taken aback, clearly feeling her childish emotions being hurt. Before the child could mock the cloaked man, he spoke up. "Picture your minister. Do you think he got to where he is in life by just asking? Or just living off of the false idea of hope?"
The little girl couldn't even respond properly. She's only a child. She was probably a little confused. The cloaked man sighed exasperatingly, standing up from the bench he was resting on. "Nevermind. Just know that you'll only remain a nobody if you do nothing." He then clenched his hand, destroying the leaf and tearing it to pieces upon impact.
Suddenly, another cloaked figure appeared, walking out of seemingly nowhere. The new cloaked figure was facing the man. "Regashi, we better get a move on."
The man, Regashi, turned to look at the other cloaked figure. "Yes, Shiki. Let's go." As Regashi was walking away, he opened his clenched fist, giving the little girl a glimpse of the colorful leaf's remains as they gently floated to the ground to ultimately be lost forever.
Shortly after, the cloaked men were gone.
XXX
*SWOOSH*
The sound of one of Naderamu's magic-filled shuriken's hitting a wooden board within Ryakudatsu's training grounds could be heard. Naderamu was simply getting a bit of training in to make up for her lost time. 'Damn brats. How did they even find out where we are training?'
As she was lost in her thoughts, a shadow could be seen getting bigger as it got closer. Once it got close enough, she broke herself out of her thoughts and looked towards the source of the shadow. "Oh… It's you." Standing before Naderamu was a student that was a part of Class 1AR. Kuchu Kakudo: The student that Naderamu faced off against, and satisfyingly punched in the face, during the 1 AB vs. 1 AR Match.
Kakudo cleared his throat. "Yes, it is I. I am only here to practice shooting arrows at these bullseyes. I hope I don't distract you." Then, the student with black hair that slicks back, turned towards the bullseye boards kept aloft by rope. He quickly formed a familiar red crossbow out of his aura, taking aim at the boards. A swift shot of an arrow left his crossbow, immediately hitting the bullseye board, but failing to hit the center. "Damn."
Naderamu only eyed the glasses-wearing student. "So, you aren't mad?"
Kakudo glanced towards Naderamu as his aura refilled his crossbow with a new arrow. "No. No, I'm not. I will say that I was upset to have lost, but I want my name to be out there. Hindering myself in my own mistakes will get me nowhere." He answered, taking aim at the boards once more.
Naderamu scoffed. "You sound like one of my classmates. Sukudo."
Kakudo halted momentarily, looking at Naderamu curiously. "Who was that again?"
"The one with the birds," Naderamu answered, turning her head to face the bullseye boards herself. "Your names sound similar, so maybe that's why."
Kakudo shook his head as he prepared to fire off an arrow. "I don't think that's how that works."
Naderamu only shrugged, forming three magic-filled shurikens this time and throwing each of them at a single board. All three of them ended up landing on and sticking to the wooden board. The blonde female smirked. "Seems like I have better aim than you."
Kakudo cast a small glare at Naderamu. "I'm only warming up." He then took aim, shooting off another arrow and failing to hit the center of the board once more.
"Sure, sure." Naderamu teased, forming more shurikens of her own to throw.
XXX
Hola, mi amigos! I hope you enjoyed today's chapter! We also got to see a bit of Regashi! What're they gonna do? Stay tuned to find out!
Have a Good Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_