“To be patient is not solely to endure, A.” Tatsumi, with one hand holding the sword, twisted the other sword before flinging it away. A was losing the sword she had held and it beca her loss.
“I still don’t understand that.” A stared at Tatsumi as if he were giving her a cryptic ssage.
“That understanding is too shallow. I cannot possibly acknowledge such understanding to be the whole thing.” Tatsumi glanced at the sword that was still on the arena.
The exchange he had with A was aningful. It made him know the purpose of each of his swings, his stances as well as each movent of his body. But he still noticed that A was impatient so he still voiced his advice.
“And you are too temperantal. Disarming the instant you find an opportunity is not giving a face.” A protested.
“Well, the fact that I am still teaching you things ans that I can regulate my temper well, don’t you think?” Tatsumi said with a smirk on his face.
“Fine. You win.” A then walked to grab the dropped sword while Tatsumi looked at his wooden sword and contemplated his recent action.
‘I think I have grasped enough to be called a swordmaster. But the pinnacle of this is actually still far away. Lacking strength is only the main issue but I think what I lack is a proper technique to channel this understanding.’ Tatsumi thought as his black eyes shone with a certain understanding imprinted into his mind.
‘Sword style…’
“You are great. I know that, but why do you often contemplate things?” A asked him after she brought the wooden sword and stood in front of him.
“Oh, it is because you can gain so much insight doing that. Who knows, maybe you should try it too, rather than brute forcing things with a practical lesson?” Tatsumi was pulled back from his trance and replied.
He also looked around and saw that his bag had been dropped near the wooden sword shelf while the rest of the club mbers looked at him like he was so sort of master.
He also did not forget to see that Sora was also among them, looking at him, almost worshipping him.
Tatsumi and A went to Sora’s side and were finally able to continue their previous discussion.
“Well, should we continue our discussion?” Tatsumi asked and Sora nodded. They then talked about the details of the manga and that caused the others to feel a bit left out.
It was as if there were only the two of them while the rest of the world could just move on their own, separate from the two.
Edward then went in their direction, clearly wanting to know sothing important.
“Why did you try to help ?” Edward asked. Tatsumi turned his head to look at him and a knowing look appeared on his face. Sora was a bit timid and could only let the event roll despite not wanting to.
“Because you need help and you are within my range.” Tatsumi replied almost nonchalantly. His expression was one of sincerity, though, so Edward frowned.
“I don’t know what you an exactly by that.” Edward said in exasperation. He did not understand why the junior had gone so far as to slightly give him a place and occasion to vent.
“You needed help and I helped you. That’s all there is to it.” Tatsumi answered.
A who was on the side could not help but roll her eyes to the side. She would not believe that kind of reasoning since she knew Tatsumi.
‘You definitely have a good reason for doing what you did.’ A thought to herself while watching the two interact.
“Whatever the case, you have helped . Can I still receive your help?” Edward asked.
“As long as you need it, though.” Tatsumi replied softly. He did not want to keep helping soone. He hoped that Edward could weave through his problem. That was why this was a help from him. He did not want to solve the problem completely; it was beyond what he wanted.
“Thank you, for that.” Edward closed his eyes and then looked at Tatsumi and let out a small smile.
Tatsumi nodded, having seen the usual expression on Senior Edward and was satisfied.
After a bit of a sparring session, Tatsumi was done for the day at the school. He still had work to do so he said that to Edward and Sora since he knew that they wanted to keep him. But still, he still had work to do.
Tatsumi then went to the school gate and A followed.
“Why are you following ?” Tatsumi asked in confusion. There should be nothing more to discuss and he was pressed for ti.
“Nothing. I just feel like it.” A replied.
Tatsumi went silent. He did not know how to get away from her if she truly followed him.
‘Well, I just need to ignore her. My job needs and not even she will be able to stop !’ Tatsumi thought and then decided to ignore A completely.
He assud that she wanted to do so observation of him but he could not prevent it at all. So he went from the school to his workplace.
After arriving, he could see that A still followed him. Worse, he realized with clarity that even the boss was permitting her to be there.
‘Oh, crap! I forgot that she has like a fiddle!’ Tatsumi wanted to get rid of her but realized that A had basically influenced even the local business. He knew that to be the case since every custor service representative greeted her warmly.
Furthermore, she should also know about his entire routine. Tatsumi had almost forgotten about that fact but seeing things firsthand proved that to be the case.
Tatsumi first helped the others with their related task. He knew how hard it had been for them to do that, especially since most of them had entered middle age. It reminded Tatsumi about Feng Mo and he did not like leaving them be.
As much as his existing bad temper, he could still relate to people and knew that he needed to help them. That was why he could hold himself back from letting it out. In fact, he respected them as they sotis gave him life advice.
Then he needed to sell the newspaper to the population.
Tatsumi glanced at his boss and knew that he had the sa smile as when he treated a valuable guest, when Tatsumi asked about soone who followed him.
He fully gave up on getting rid of his tail. Instead, it would be more productive to do things in his way. Enhanced by the Ether flowing inside his body, Tatsumi was sure that he could do so heavy labor for a few days.
That was why he tried to sell the newspapers to the loyal custors before he went to the crowd to sell them. He was used to the process that ti passed by quietly. When he noticed, the violet sun was already setting and he needed to return.
“Fortunately, I managed to sell them all. It looks like the news is interesting to people. But I am afraid that soti in the future, this business would not be able to rise ever again.” Tatsumi thought about the recent inventions and realized that ti would wash away the past and bring with it newer, better things.
“I suppose that’s the way of developnt. Even I cannot resist it.” Tatsumi said to himself as he returned to the building where the boss was usually located.
“You’re done with your job?” the boss asked for confirmation even though he saw Tatsumi coming back without any newspaper on him.
“Of course. I am used to the weight of nurous papers.” Tatsumi stated.
“Then this will be your salary.” The boss just placed the paper money on the table and Tatsumi grabbed it as usual.
He knew that the amount was exactly the sa when he had been successful in selling the newspaper.
“I don’t think I can do this job long term, boss.” Tatsumi said honestly what was on his mind.
“What do you an by that?” The boss beca curious and asked.
“Well, nurous discoveries will change the way we live. I am concerned that the current popular newspaper may beco outdated and eventually beco obsolete. You know, like carving sothing into the flat surface of a stone or marking the days passed by carving a line to signify that a day has passed.
“That is why I will probably not be working here one day.” Tatsumi said in one big breath.
The boss understood that Tatsumi was young and probably could see more things than he did, so he nodded in understanding.
“Then work here until that day cos. Don’t worry about us. You can still visit us when the ti cos, right?”
“Yes. Thank you so much for your consideration.” Tatsumi said this while feeling that the corner of his eyes beca a bit wet.
-
After leaving the building, Tatsumi felt that he would soon get into sothing more aningful. Perhaps he would find a more suitable job or invest in the new energy that could change civilization.
‘That is still far away. But it is not wrong to plan ahead.’ Tatsumi thought as he finally could return ho along with his hard-earned money.
He was still thinking about planning his future when he found that there was no one following him.
‘So she finally left. Good, now I just need to relax and review the lesson I got at school.’ Tatsumi happily whistled away with his body relaxed.
Then he arrived at his ho safely and went directly to his room to place his bag and prepare himself for a bath. After bathing, he returned to his room and looked at the scribblings in his notebook, realizing that his learning was actually being repeated.
“It’s true then. I should not concern myself with it for a while. Let’s do so energy circulation, then!”
Tatsumi placed the pot containing the plant that produced Ether on his lap while he sat cross-legged on the bed.
He then tried to feel the Ether before proceeding to feel the refinent effect on his body. Circulating the energy from his heart to the rest of his body took quite a while since he also needed to take into account the smallest pathway in his body before then reversing the flow in the second half to return every energy flowing in the body to the heart.
He just did it like how blood flowed so it was easy to emulate. But perceiving the Ether in his body was still not easy as he still had monts where he lost grasp of the sensation, although it was reduced to just ten percent every ti.
‘One cycle is done.’ Tatsumi noted that and even had placed the sign that said not to disturb him on the door outside.
He noted that the Ether beca slightly pure during the cycle and his body was refined at the sa ti. The loss of Ether then could be alleviated by absorbing the Ether in the plant slightly.
But before he went further, a knock on the door interrupted his thought.
Then a voice ca from outside.
“Brother, let’s eat together!”
“Nene, wait a mont!” Tatsumi had to change his ntal state before coming out of his room.
Only after adjusting was he ready to co out. He opened the door and saw the girl who had grown alongside him in the ten years he and the orphanage were in the Hinon Federation.
She tied her long black hair into a ponytail as her face was actually quite pretty up close. But Tatsumi only looked at her as a sibling and nodded in agreent.
“Yay, brother ca out!” Nene then grabbed his hand as he was carried to the dining room.
There was one large table and dozens of chairs where people already sat on it. Tatsumi could see familiar faces there, growing up with him.
“You are here!”
“Co eat with us!”
“Actually, the dish is sothing that cos to our address.” Hua Fei moved through the dining room, preparing dinner while adjusting for everyone and also helping Feng Mo.
Tatsumi, who heard that, beca alert. Curious, he decided to ask.
“Who is it that sends us this luxurious dinner?”
Nene, who was already releasing his hand, then turned to look at him and said, “Isn’t it one of your classmates?”
“Who exactly? I have several, you know.” Tatsumi asked for clarity.
“You know…a girl beautiful enough to beco a celebrity visited us along with these dishes. She said her na is Mikazuki A. Isn’t she the heiress from the Mikazuki family? How did you know her?”
“What!?” Tatsumi was shocked to find out that A did all of this. He understood that she went to his ho to help herself familiarize with his family.
“Did she co in late afternoon?” Tatsumi asked but he could hear the answer in his mind.
“Yes. She also said that she is giving us these dishes for helping her with her studies. Is sothing wrong?” Nene beca alert, seeing the change in expression on Tatsumi’s face.
“No, just eat then, since she was giving the dishes to you all. No need to worry about it. It is just her way of saying thanks.” Tatsumi had to calm down and make the situation as stable as possible.
“But she knows you, brother.” Nene narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Tatsumi for the relationship he had with A.
“Of course, we are classmates. At least we know each other. Okay, now is the ti to enjoy the dishes.” Tatsumi then sat down on one of the available chairs and faced the dishes.
It was actually the lobster and crab seafood combo. Seeing that caused the saliva in his mouth to overflow and threaten to flow out of his mouth.
“Alright. Now that everyone is here, let’s enjoy the food that was given.” Feng Mo said with a smile as she and the others were preparing to eat.
And then there was no then, they just grabbed the nearest dishes that they could grab. The situation was actually quite harmonious as they managed not to ss things around, due to their consideration for each other.
Everyone was satisfied with the dishes and felt full. After dinner, they could do their own thing before sleeping.
Tatsumi went to the rooftop where he could see the stars in the sky, along with the red moon. The wind blew softly through the rooftop and caused his skin to feel the sensation of coolness. There, he could calm his mind and find himself as the silence could cause his mind to delve into himself.
That was the mont when he could contemplate about himself, his life, his drive, as well as his purpose for existing.
‘Alright. This is a discussion. I want to know about myself. Perhaps this is a lot since I often do this but I want to do this as much as possible.’ Tatsumi said to himself but he knew that it was for the others who were connected to him.
‘You burdened yourself for thinking about that matter. Please decide for yourself the best way out of it!’ Kudungga comnted a reminder.
Tatsumi knew he had to face it. He was interested in soone but soone else was interested in him.
‘The best way out of it is if I can discuss it with all of them.’ Tatsumi calmly answered. He knew that only through communication that this issue be solved. Concealing it only made things worse for himself and the people involved.
‘Then what are you hesitating for? Just do it confidently.’ Goto ca and added.
‘I am scared. Just thinking about the possibilities makes afraid to make the move. The difference between them and is significant. My status doesn’t compare to theirs at all. I feel like I’m unworthy of them.’ Tatsumi confessed to what was holding him back.
‘Typical problem for a couple. But do you think they would care for such things?’ Kudungga advised.
‘They will not care but what about their family? I don’t care about others but if their families are not willing to let , then all of this will beco more difficult.’ Tatsumi added.
‘Communication is key.’ Goto added.
‘Should I go for it? Planning to also discuss this with their families?’
Tatsumi was in thought as he closed his eyes and let his feelings flow through his body.
‘I should do it. Whether I like it or not, I have to face this head-on.’ Tatsumi finally settled his feelings and mind with this.
Then he pondered the reality he was in. He did not expect that reality was like that and he even thought about manipulating reality, just using the knowledge that he currently had.
Then he rembered the article he had read. That was actually what Charlene had shared with him and it changed his view of the reality he was in.
‘Well, the first ti I laid my eyes on that article I couldn't believe it.’ Kudungga honestly confessed.
‘But then I decide to consider the possibility that it is a better view of the current reality we are in. Please do this more often. The others and I also have things to be corrected and increase our knowledge.’ Kudungga asked of him.
Tatsumi knew that those in the Afterlife wanted sustenance and it was actually the new and fresh knowledge that every sentient living being had. That was why he kept trying to discover things on his own as much as possible for this.
The knowledge that he had received from them was paid for by this action. It was a mutual benefit granted by the grace of Father God. Tatsumi just had only one question.
‘For what purpose did he create the Afterlife?’
Even as he asked that question, no one answered him. Not even Charlene knew this for sure and the Father God remained silent.
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