"Matt, can you stop chewing so loudly!?"
"Heh, bite me!"
Krk!
"Ouch! She really bit me!"
"You brat! Stop biting our friend!"
"Who are you calling a brat!? Our Denise is so cute and adorable, are you blind!?"
"Stop joking Lisa, what's so cute and adorable about a dog who likes to bite!?"
"Hey Leinard, did you just call me a dog!?"
"So what!? What are you going to do? Are you gonna bite me to—"
Krk!
"Argh! She bit me! She bit me! Help!"
…
The whole table was in chaos, catching the attention of the other trainees nearby.
"I'm sorry about them, they're always like this whenever they are together…" Jin said to Anton beside him as they watched Tanya and Marco's friends quarreling with each other.
Anton glanced at him for a moment and replied without a change in expression, "I don't mind."
'Are you kidding!? This is awesome!' Is what he thought in his heart, however.
The chaos ensuing around him made Anton feel like he was a part of something; that he had friends.
It turned out that Tanya and Marco went to get their friends and transferred to Jin and Anton's table earlier.
Marco smirked, "Tanya, are you friends all crazy? Oops, I forgot that you're the craziest of them all."
"Crazy? Did you call me crazy?"
Tanya said with a calm voice, but everyone could see that the spoon and fork in her hands already had cracks on it.
Marco faltered but still stood his ground.
"I-I'm not scared of you!" He spoke as he slowly stood behind Jin.
Everyone knew that although Tanya was scary, there's someone whom she always obeyed: her brother.
Seeing Marco hiding behind Jin, Tanya gritted her teeth, "Argh, you're so annoying!"
"Brother Jin, just let me hide behind you until that mons– I mean your sister cools off. Otherwise I might really die…" Marco whispered to Jin.
Anton perked up his ears as he ate while Jin had a fed up expression on his face.
Their lunch break went on just like that…
* * *
A few hours later…
Their Aura Circulation Classes had just ended.
"Hey, what do you want to do!?"
"Let's play Tag!"
"Ugh, Tag again!? Don't you get tired of it?"
"Heh, you just don't like it because I'm faster than you!"
…
Streams of children were now departing from the Training Center, each planning on what to do after their class.
"Argh! Denise, can you stop biting me!?"
"No, you called me a dog earlier!"
"Heh, that's what you get for being mean!"
"Oh you want to fight, huh? Then let's fight!"
Pow! Pow!
Pop!
Boom!!
…
"Hey, why do you think your brother wants to befriend the castellan's son?" Marco asked Tanya in a whisper.
The latter shook her head, seemingly confused as well, "I don't know, but I believe that brother has a reason!"
The two of them watched silently as Jin and Anton walked ahead, not caring about the chaos ensuing between their friends.
"What do you do after class?" Jin asked Anton, also not caring about the chaos ensuing behind them.
Anton kept a calm facade as he replied, "Train."
Hearing his answer, Jin only had one thought in mind, 'He's really just like me, huh…'
However, he didn't notice Anton secretly glancing back, 'Is that how friends bonded? I'm so excited! I also wanna have fun like them!'
Little did Jin know that while they had some similarities, they also had their differences.
Anton decided in his mind, 'Ugh, I had enough of this. I think I also need to make my move.'
And so, he breathed deeply before speaking, "How about you?"
Jin raised his brows, surprised.
He had always been the one to initiate a conversation with Anton throughout the day.
Now that he heard him actually speaking for the first time, Jin smiled, "Not much really, although I often play with my friends whenever we aren't tired."
As they were in the same batch of trainees, Anton knew what Jin meant.
Their Physical Training Class and Weapon Proficiency Class both seemed like Torture Class to them.
Therefore, it was normal for the children to go straight home after the classes for the said subjects.
Anton only stared at Jin as the latter spoke, he could still remember that moment from a month ago.
The sheer will that made him feel fear was still vivid in his mind. 'I wonder what that was…'
"Hey, do you want to play with us?"
Jin's question awoke Anton from his thoughts.
He turned his head with a surprised expression, "Huh?"
"Yeah, let's play!" At this moment, Marco appeared beside them.
Anton's mind froze as he heard their words, 'Play? Is this it…'
"Sure, but what are we going to play?" He answered, still maintaining his calm facade.
Marco rubbed his nose, "Heh, of course the one that should be played by us boys!"
Anton tilted his head in curiosity while Jin smiled at the familiar scene.
Marco raised the wooden ball he got from nowhere and said, "Dodgeball!"
"Hey, not fair! What about us girls!" Tanya also appeared with her hands on her hips.
"Well, I don't know. Just go play with rocks or something~" Marco replied as he picked his nose.
"You're really pissing me off…"
"Arghhh! Brother Jin, save me!"
"Come here, stop hiding behind my brother!"
"Only an idiot will do as you said!"
…
Tanya began chasing Marco around.
Her steps sounded heavy, an indication that she was using her strength for real.
Jin and Anton just watched the two of them fool around.
"Hey, listen! Listen to me first!" Marco yelled while evading Tanya's clutches.
"Shut up!"
"How about girls vs boys! We'll do it like that, what do you think?"
Hearing his words, Tanya stopped chasing him around as she pondered.
"Hmmm, that's a great idea! I didn't know that your brain worked!" Tanya said as she smiled.
Marco didn't rebut and only heaved a sigh of relief.
The group also stopped fooling around and gathered around the four of them.
"Brother Jin will be with us, okay?" Marco said with a smirk.
Tanya was about to flare out again, "Not fair!"
However, Rowena tapped her shoulder and said, "There's 13 of us here, so what if Brother Jin sits this one out first. After all, the team he would be on will surely win."
"Are you okay with that, brother?" Tanya asked with a soft tone.
Jin chuckled and agreed, "Sure, I'll just watch you guys. Just enjoy."