Chapter #8; The Trial
1668 Words
“Good work Leila, that was amazing. Especially that churning mawashi near the end, which was absolutely stunning. Spar results will be announced at the end. Rest up for the duel, I hear their representative is a merciless fighter.”
“You really know how to ruin the mood, don’t you?”
She sat there at the little bench for Comradery High, not that many will be joining her anytime soon.
There wasn’t much to do, so she just gazed hazily at the participants of the general blades quiz, surveying them shoot accurately detailed answers. They all seemed to be around the age where one would find themselves in middle school under usual circumstances. Understandable, since one mostly ends up here when, for whatever reason, they could not partake in any of the other category’s brawls. They could be underage, not trained enough or adequately or they could be pure dorks. At least, according to Leila. She never understood how Adawna willingly engaged in this sort of stuff.
As she examined all the pubescent peeps finishing up their so-called ‘crusade’, she noticed a familiar face amongst them. No, it wasn’t Melanie’s, although she was there.
Hmm...
It’s that synthetic squirt.
What was his name? Ryeon, was it? Yeah, Ryeon.
The boredom on Leila’s face transformed into pure curiosity.
What’s he doing here?
Probably here from The Frantic School System, she hadn’t ever seen him on campus. Then again, what was he doing here? TFSS was a regular opponent and he was never at any of these events before today.
“Dolores, hey! Dolores!”
She struggled to grab her attention; She seemed to have dedicated it all to the event.
“Dolores!”
“Oh... the quiz is about to end in a bit, get ready for the duel.”
Leila gave her a glare conveying that she was disappointed and even slightly irritated.
“No...it’s not about that.”
“Then?”
She gently nudged her shoulder in the direction of the participants. Her preying eyes fell onto the victim.
“YOU…”
Her face conveyed both shock and anguish all within a glare.
“Dolores, hey. tally up the marks.”
It was the event coordinator from the other school. Their comment snapped Dolores back to the big picture. It put things in a tizzy for her. She started gaping with participant lists and performances in her hands.
“Dolores?...”
She looked at Leila, her eyes conveying a desperation for details.
Then it just came to her.
She took a glance at the scurrying participants before looking back at Leila. She raised her voice, half-running to fulfill her delayed duty.
“Odin will be here by the time you’re done with the duel. We can better apprehend the situation then.”
...
Leila stood patiently, waiting for Odin. She was like a little puppy waiting for her friend to come home.
Dolores saw her from afar and wondered why he was taking so long to get her. He had promised both his sisters that he’d be there, even if just to be an auditor for the final announcements. She attempted to establish contact with him via text.
.
.
.
Odin’s phone buzzed as he got back from Kaputt. There weren’t as many people there around this time as compared to last year. Understandable though, since that was the start of a global pandemic a sane individual usually wouldn’t anticipate.
The Recontre! It had completely slipped from his mind.
He started rushing towards the direction of the event, with his pitch-black houppelande flowing behind him.
However, it hadn’t occurred to Odin that his attendance might blaze a trail for chaos, both literally and figuratively. Because one figure in the shadow used half the brain cell he had (don’t ask where the other half is) and concluded that he was rushing to a recontre, one where any and every natheren and associate would most likely be gathered. He didn’t have anything planned, but he figured it must be better than mooching around in dark alleys.
Quiet as a mouse, Aibek stealthily followed him, hiding in the shadows where no sunlight would be seen for a while.
He arrived at the school he loathed from the depths of his foolhardiness. Comradery High.
He snuck his way inside through one of the field doors. Aibek had never snuck in before, only out when he ‘needed’ to skip a particular class, sometimes even with Leila accompanying him. Or even the entire day, but that was rare since there was no parental figure pressuring him to stay in school. Dolores said that he might end up as a drop-out if he kept this up. Guess she was right.
He stationed himself behind a beach, coincidentally where Odin was, and had left his houppelande beside him. He saw him but him didn’t see he. Odin was eagerly watching the duel, maybe it had something to do with the fact that Leila was part of it.
He got up and left to see what Dolores was gesturing.
Aibek sat there, contemplating the scenario. It used to be him fighting in the name of school pride. Eh... can’t cry over spilled milk.
He lit a match and started playing around with the blaze. Although most people don’t take matches with them wherever they go, I guess it’s excusable since he’s pyrokinetic.
Not even a minute after he starts he sends the blaze flying into a stack of cardboard boxes labelled ‘equipment’. Where did that pop up from?
He sat there watching as the fire grew, giving off a bright orange hue similar to his shirt.
As mentioned before, can’t cry over spilled milk.
He grabbed Odin’s robe and tried to sneak out the way he came in.
“Minne Odin on menossa?”
“I’m right here.”
“Oh. Then who’s that?”
It didn’t work.
He saw his auburn hair peeping from under his houppelande.
“AIBEK?”
His soul went to Kaputt for a moment. It came back once it realised that it was just a metaphorical death. For now...
“What have I done?”
One could hear him muttering under his breath as Odin’s footsteps neared him. Confused and worried, he stood there sweating profusely until...
“THIS IS AN ACT OF TREASON!”, he yelled as loud as he could while, strangely, deepening his voice.
A collective gasp was heard and every single coward on campus flooded out the doors. Melanie was the only one who had been forced out, that too by a concerned, overprotective, older sibling.
That left five people still there, Leila, Odin, Dolores, Aibek and Ryeon, although he started having second thoughts about staying behind.
Aibek masked himself with the joviality and confidence of a ring master, as if he wasn’t the lion to be tamed here.
“I do so dearly miss dueling at this beautiful school I once attended—”
He started, maintaining the unnatural voice.
“Say... why don’t I fight—”
Aibek paused for a moment, as to add a maniacal suspense,
“One of you?”
He finished with a smirk as wide as can be. With the same smirk, he glanced at each of them, one by one, choosing which to crusade. Leila? No... he’d be giving her a chance for revenge on a silver platter. Odin? He’d already broken his arm a little while ago. Dolores? She’s the trainer to all. Fighting her is accepting to lose.
Ryeon.
Yes, he was perfect. He was the synthetic squirt, the one with the answers to how the flames can go bye-bye. At least, that what Aibek thinks.
“You! Freckles! How would you like the honor to fight against the greatest fighter to come out of Comradery High?”
“All you are is the biggest failure…”
He glared at Dolores for a moment before going back to Ryeon.
“So, what do you say?”
His hands trembling, Ryeon reached into his pocket to grab the dagger. Ammara said that he might need it, thought she was just being paranoid.
However, as he began to pull out the dagger, someone pushed it back into his pocket.
“Please, keep it safe.”
Leila whispered to him with a desperate plea and a sparkle in her eyes as she stepped forward.
“What are you, a psycopath? Fighting an untrained child?”
“I’ll do whatever I damn well please, Raat.”
All three stood their ground, wielding a blade of some sort.
They all stood their, staring daggers at Aibek, who was switching stares between Leila and Ryeon as the other two didn’t matter to him for now.
They stood there, staring into his soul for what little humanity they could find, until...
“Is that smoke?”
Everyone looked over head at the billowing clouds of grey smoke, growing.
“THE EQUIPMENT!”
Her face white as an exam paper, Dolores rushed to retrieve the supplies, with Leila close behind, only to find them ablaze. She frantically looked around for anything that might put the fire out.
The water bottles...
Using her sword, Leila sliced through a few and manoeuvred the liquid over the flames to put them out. The smoke stopped growing and that crisis averted.
She turned to deal with the Aibek problem only to find him gone.
“Coward…”
A voice at the back of Ryeon’s head asked if she was talking about him.
Little did the crew know that Aibek had managed to set fire on Odin’s houppelande, which was still cloaking him throughout the drama. Kaputt was a cold place, and some souls required a warm embrace to accept their fate, which is why Dolores put it together with a soft yet highly flammable material.
Fires aren’t really a problem in Kaputt.
- Writer
