Chapter 11.

PART 1.

Yesterday, when Hatori was done with his training, Raven and Josh promised him that they would take him outside of the castle.

“You need some other things aside from exercise.” They both said to him.

Since Hatori himself was getting tired of the routine, he, of course, grabbed the chance with both hands.

‘Or should I say, with talons?’ He snickered at his private joke, before getting done with his breakfast and leaving with his friends.

Today is the Day of the Sun. Zeko hates doing anything strenuous on the Day of the Sun, which is an odd thing to observe since he usually is so active. After all, he just doesn’t order Hatori around; he often is doing some of his training along with him.

But today is an off day, so Hatori, along with Raven and Josh, makes his way to the park near the castle, feeling the morning sun on his face.

After running around in the park, (Where Josh and Raven observed Hatori’s hesitation in an unfamiliar place,) they came back to the castle for lunch and left immediately for the park once more.

But this time, being full of their midday meal, they didn’t want to run around anymore, so all three boys rested in the shadows of a large tree.

“I can get used to this,” Josh said happily, stretching his body in laziness. “No expectations, no orders, no one to berate you, what do you two think?”

“Well, it is relaxing.” Agreed Raven.

But Hatori’s mind is somewhere else. “Bf4.”

“What do you say, Hatori? You don’t have to worry about the training of Zeko. Eh?” said Josh, ‘And drag us into it.’ He thought privately.

“Nc6.”

“Qa4…”

Hatori has been trying to put where exactly these strings of familiar phrases fit, and he suddenly realized. “Got it!” he suddenly said loudly, making Josh and Raven jump in fright.

They get even more frightened when Hatori suddenly gets up and starts to walk somewhere. This is something that he never does. They immediately went after him.

“Hay, slow down, aren’t you worried about running into things?” Josh asked.

“At least tell us where you’re going?” pleaded Raven.

Hatori stopped suddenly, deeming his current distance to be enough for him to hear the strings of phrases, which brought him here. They sounded gibberish to the ears of his two friends, but Hatori perfectly knows what they are about.

Josh finally looks at what has grabbed the attention of his friend so quickly, and after looking at the game of chess going on in front of them, he puts his head in his hands. “Figures.”

“You used to play it back home?” Raven asked instead, ignoring the muttered comment from Josh.

“Yeah.”

The game was over. The three teens finally looked at these kids watching them. “So, what’re you guys doing here?” said one of the players.

“Indeed. Don’t you know what happens to the kids at this time in this place?” said player number two.

They both walked up to the young boys, towering over them threateningly.

“Enough you too; that is no way to behave with our younger peers.” Said the final teen, who was noting the moves of the game.

Both of their threatening auras deflated. “Aww. Why must you go and do that?” said the player one.

“Yeah, they were just about to whimper in fear.” Said player number two.

“Never!” declared Hatori.

“What’d you say, pipsqueak?” they both said, threatening aura back in full force.

“Master Zeko will never forgive me if I cower in fear.” Declared Hatori.

The note-taking teen started to laugh, as both players went white from fear; for a few moments, there was silence. Which was broken by the player one asking, “Hey kid, you know, we were just playing, write?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Yeah, just having some fun, ” laughed the second teen in nervousness.

“Please don’t tell him about us?” they both said pitifully.

“I won’t,” said Hatori.

“Anyway, my name is Suresh.” Said the note-taker. “And these two are my friends, Ramesh,” he pointed to the player one. “And Nilesh.” He pointed to player two.

Seeing Hatori’s empty eye sockets, Suresh was shocked for a moment. But he quickly rallied himself. “Introduce yourself!” he commanded.

“Hello, I’m Ramesh.” One of the teens called, having caught up to the problem by this point.

“And I’m Nilesh.” They finally concluded their introduction.

Meanwhile, Raven and Josh, who were just readying themselves to grab their rather foolish friend, and run, relaxed finally and gave their introductions as well.

“So, you play chess as well, Hatori?” asked Suresh.

“I used to…” he trailed off for a moment. “Although, I don’t have a board with which I could play.”

“Of course, the computer was also a big help. Although I won’t lie, most of the good features, like analysis of the game and such were inaccessible to me.” This went entirely over their heads. His friends have gotten used to Hatori mentioning the strange device called a computer, but this is the first time he has mentioned it with people outside of his friend circle who are present.

“Oh, can you describe the board?” asked Ramesh after getting over the mention of this strange device called a computer, while Nilesh grabbed a large fallen leaf.

“Well, it was made of wood,”

“We figured that much.” Said Suresh drily.

“And the squares had holes in them on which the pieces were stuck through the peck present at the bottom of every piece.” Hatori went on, undeterred by Suresh’s comment. “Also, the black squares are a little bit above the white squares. That’s about it.”

“Like this?” Nilesh handed the formerly fallen leaf to Hatori, which is now shape-shifted to the chessboard of his description.

He took it in his hands and immediately noticed something. “It won’t be the complete copy, but it is the closest we can get to your description. Of course, we can improve it in the future.” Said Ramesh.

The board resembled an eight-by-eight frame, with black and white squares, as well as small holes. The board has no compartment for storing the pieces, but Hatori smiled at their effort all the same. “Yep, you’ve got the basics right.”

“Good. Look, we’ll play a game with you, but not today. It is currently our vacation time. We have a planned trip of sorts.”

“No problem,” Raven spoke then, he was too busy to gawk, along with Josh, as Ramesh and Nilesh seamlessly shaped the simple leaf to the chess board of Hatori’s description. “We’ll bring him here every Day of the Sun.”

“That’s a plan then. See you later kids, and sorry about the earlier.” Said Nilesh, and both groups walked away.

PART 2.

Sudha Joshi, the daughter of Yograj Joshi, waited for the arrival of the mercenary she hired.

The mercenary appeared silently, startling her. Although she quickly composed herself.

“I examined the security. I’m very confident that I can take the boy.”

“See that you’re not caught. My family members will be waiting for you outside of the city.” She spoke.

“Don’t worry, consider the work to be done.” With those words of assurance, he disappeared once more.

When, according to her father’s instructions, she failed to get access to the boy, Sudha hatched this plan of hiring a mercenary and kidnapping him. If he gets caught, and even ends up spilling her name, she would just claim slander, and try some new tactic.

‘If it weren’t for that low life constantly keeping a watch over him, I would have had him by now. Instead, I’m forced to wait here, like a common criminal sulking in the night.’ She thought resentfully.

(End.)