Chapter 21: 21: Otherside Of The Story

Stroking his chin, Hiroshi began, “I’ll start where we split off then. After you 2 left carrying Erina. Vlad and I wanted to finish some small tasks before we met up with you all. Firstly, we just cleaned up the tents and saw that we weren’t in a real rush, went to go forage for some more food.”

“At this point, we were just chilling,” Hiroshi continued, stretching out on the beanbag chair, “Until the tree next to us got shredded from a rain of knives, that is.”

Grimacing, Krystina asked, “Did any of those knives hit you or no? Also, do you know how many knives there were?”

Splaying out into a starfish shape on the beanbag chair, Vladimir answered, “A lot of knives, more than either of us could count. I took a knife to the shoulder, and Hiroshi took a knife to the leg.”

“Not pulling the knives out immediately, Hiroshi and I just booked it,” Vladimir continued, sitting upright once more. “Luckily for us, the man’s main weapons were needles, so although we got hit many times, we weren’t hit enough for the man to activate his magic.”

“We were definitely lucky it was needle-based magic, one of the weaker branches of magic,” Vladimir explained. “So, realizing we were in danger, Hiroshi and I BOOKED it towards where the adults were if we were in dire need of help.”

“Looking back, maybe the adults didn’t have the best plan either, as they were a decent distance away. A bit far while to run while having a knife in my leg,” Hiroshi joked with a morose expression. “Because of the knife in my leg, though, I couldn’t run as well, leading to Vladimir carrying me on his back and using me as a human shield best he could.”

“And so we ran,” Vladimir sighed, looking at the ceiling.

“And so we ran like the wind,” Hiroshi agreed, before continuing, “We heard the man muttering something as well.”

“What was he muttering?” Erina asked, both a little curious and apprehensive to what the answer might be, “Did it link to what the lady chasing us muttered?”

Watching Hiroshi sigh, Krystina murmured, “It seems like it…”

“The man chasing us was muttering, ‘with the kaleidoscope gifted by the master that shows the colors of mysticism, failure is not a possibility. The abnormal one must be somewhere, disable the targets and continue searching’ which honestly? Pretty disturbing…” Hiroshi complained, running his hands through his hair, “But I think they together reveal a lot about the two people’s intentions.”

“Yeah… I see a few easy connections, but there are probably a few more that we could glean,” Yuiko agreed, stroking her chin. “I think that should be left to a later date though… Perhaps after the test, we’ll take tomorrow…”

“Yeah, we’ll have plenty of time, and this isn’t too time-sensitive. Plus, we don’t need to worry about telling our parents because I’m pretty sure they already know about the mutterings. Seeing also that we have frustrations with how it played out, why don’t we share them to boost each other along?” Vladimir proposed, looking to the others to hear their thoughts. 

“Sounds good. I was going to ask the same thing.” Krystina agreed with a nod.

Looking to the others and seeing the nods of assent, Krystina continued, “I’ll go first, might as well as I have no qualms about admitting my fault either.”

Sighing, Krystina admitted, “My plan was useless, it toppled like a house of cards, and I was out of the fight just as fast. I vow to improve and fill the leader position I’ve assumed in our group.”

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Nodding, Hiroshi volunteered, “I couldn’t help after taking one hit from the opponent, leaving Vlad to carry me to safety. I promise I’ll work on my body to last longer in a fight and to be able to defend you all from danger.”

“I, on the other hand, just was too weak to do anything,” Yuiko sighed, “As hard as I tried, I was just out of the fight without even coming close to landing a hit on the attacker. I’ll work to improve my martial skill to be able to contribute more in fights.”

Scratching the side of his head, Vladimir confessed, “Although it may seem because of Hiroshi I slowed so much, I also just ran out of stamina way too quickly, slowing down our escape immensely. I promise I’ll exercise to get the most out of my body and to be able to support where it’s needed.”

“This feels like a school group reflection session…” Erina chuckled with a bashful expression, “But I have my own words to add as well. Just hearing about what transpired has made me feel… inadequate in a lot of ways as I was out of the fight before it had even begun. I swear I’ll be there in the future to help you all in a dire situation.”

Falling into silence for a few moments, Krystina broke the silence, concluding, “We’re all pretty dissatisfied from our performance during that… honestly, a situation that we couldn’t do much in. However, we’ve all found the drive and motivation to keep moving forward, and that’s what matters.”

“The paths of our fighting will be decided tomorrow, whether we like what we receive, or despise it,” Krystina continued, putting her hand out in the middle of their circle. “But we’ll stick together.”

“We’ll support each other,” Hiroshi chuckled with a smile, sticking his hand out.

“Why wouldn’t we, Hiroshi? We’ve practically grown up together after all,” Vladimir retorted with a smile of his own, reaching his hand out.

Snorting while reaching her hand out, Yuiko added with a teasing smile, “We’ll improve together too, pushing each other forward, even if by force.”

“I know you just want to make me eat less cake, Yuiko…” Erina complained, trying to hold back laughs, sticking her hand into the circle as well, “But we’ll stick together and overcome the challenges we face.”

“3, 2, 1,” Krystina counted down before shouting, “To the future~!”

“Together~!” “Full of support~!” “As a team, as one~!” “Working towards excellence~!” Four voices shouted, overlapping over one another as Krystina finished her count down.

…

…

“So that didn’t go well,” Krystina concurred, breaking the silence with an apprehensive look, holding back laughs, “we’re going to have to work on that…”