Chapter 55.

PART 1.

Zeko is leaving, and Hatori is watching him pack his bag. “You sure you don’t want to change your mind?” He asked. “I don’t need a babysitter.” He tries to convince him one last time.

“You know my answer.” smiled Zeko. His apprentice doesn’t give up easily, that’s for sure. “She is coming.”

A knock comes on the door, and Zeko opens it. “Ekta, welcome.” He greets the girl.

Hatori doesn’t get any sense of power from this woman. “No problem Mr. Zeko, I’m always ready to help,” she said in a sweet voice.

Hatori hated her on the spot. Judging from her voice she could be anywhere from 18 to 20, and yet unlike all the adult mages he has met, such as Porus and Zeko, or the professors in the Academy, they all give a dangerous feeling. And yet, Hatori feels as if this woman might have age on her side; but in actuality, she is even weaker than him.

To live under the control of someone weaker than him chafes at Hatori.

“Food and everything is already prepared. You just need to give him. He mostly trains by himself, do watch out, he might end up overdoing it.” Zeko gives the final instructions, while Ekta nods attentively. “Now, I’m off. I’ll come back soon.” He said to Hatori and left.

Ekta continues to smile. When she is sure that Zeko has left, the smile disappears from her face. “All right, you spoiled brat. Go to your room!” she orders Hatori.

“But it is time for my breakfast.” He reminded her in a calm and measured tone.

“Go to your room; you can afford to miss one meal.” She spoke. “Don’t even think of coming out of there, you hear me?”

“But my training—” protests Hatori.

“I’m sure you just lied to Master Zeko about it. You shouldn’t trick an old man like this. Imagine how furious he’ll be when I tell him you didn’t train and just lazed around in his absence.” She makes tutting noises.

Angry and now hungry, Hatori goes back to his room. She gives off the feeling of weakness, but he is unwilling to try violence on her.

During lunchtime, he sneaks into the kitchen. He senses Ekta and finds her right behind him. “You think you can trick me, can’t you?” she whispers.

Grabbing him by his collar, she drags him out of the kitchen. She initially expected a lightweight child, whom she could easily throw out of the kitchen. But Hatori proves to be heavier than she expected. “You don’t need more food. You’re already so heavy!”

“But food is important for my training!” said Hatori, easily untangling himself from her grip.

“You don’t need it. You don’t need any of it. You don’t deserve it.” She ranted. “If you were a normal boy, then you would have been thrown into a corner just like any other disabled child. But since you’re trained by Zeko, you think you’re some hotshot, don’t you? Well, forget the food. You won’t even get any water. and those potions? I don’t even know where they are.”

She sits at the table, where lunch is waiting, already prepared by the yantras. “I’m gonna eat all of this, and won’t even give you a single crumb. Now, get lost!” she snarls.

Disappointed, Hatori walks away. Looks like this is going to be a miserable time.

PART 2.

The central yantra watched everything happening in its house. Zeko may own this property, but it runs everything here, with or without him. no outsider is going to come here, and boss one of the members of its house.

As a result, with a unanimous agreement, all the yantras make their way to Ekta, ready to throw her out. from common household items possessed by spirits, to shadows of the training module, and even the medical team came to show their support.

But they all halted in their tracks when they see Hatori confronting their unwanted guest.

PART 3.

Hatori, after staying in his room without food and water for a whole day, has enough of this. There’s a time for being nice and being considerate, and there’s a time for showing who is the boss. And in this house, Hatori may not be the boss. But he also knows that Ekta isn’t one either.

Feeling at Ekta at the dinner table, Hatori marched up to her. “Enough. You won’t eat any more food for free.” He said to her.

“Oh yeah? and who will stop me?” she asked, not concerned in the slightest.

“I will.” Said Hatori.

“You? a fucking brat like you? You’re not even big enough to be a piece of shit yet.” Ekta gets up, ready to teach this brat a lesson.

She brings her dainty little broach to cast a spell on Hatori, and he can’t believe how slow it seems. ‘An adult mage like this doesn’t deserve to be in charge over me.’ he thinks.

A volley of Slicer spells comes her way, and Ekta manages to get out in time, just losing a few of her hair. She looks at Hatori in shock. She didn’t expect him to cast such a spell on her.

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“How did you graduate from the Academy?” He asked, casting Stinger spells at her. Even though she tormented him all day long, he shows her enough mercy to not hit her with the poisoned variety.

“You… fucking… bastard!” She groans from the ground. The Stinger spells hit her legs, and made her fall to the ground. “My charms were enough to convince professors to let me pass.” She said, trying to cast another spell.

But she only produces some fizzles and sparks. “That is an insult to the lightning element.” Whispered Hatori, and renews his assault.

He doesn’t understand exactly what kind of charms she used. But clearly, they are not enough to defeat him. “Let me go brat!” she demanded.

“Please let me go kid.” She begged, having enough of the Stinger spells for a life time. “I promise to leave this house immediately!”

Hatori doesn’t relent, so she tries to appeal to him again. “I won’t tell your master anything bad about you. I will return the money he paid me.”

Seeing the door, she tries to leave, having seen that the appeals of sympathy are not getting anywhere. How can a child be so merciless? But before she could go to the door and run for her freedom, the yantras blocked her way. She tries to run pass them, but the shadows ready the Slicer spells of their own. She realizes that she will die if she tries to escape.

So she just sat down, and prayed for all this to stop.

Sensing her near the floor, Hatori comes closer. It seems she has given up completely. “Do you give up?” He asked.

“Yes.” A shadow comes to Hatori, and hands him a collar.

“What am I supposed to do with it?” He asked.

“Put it on her.” Said one of the medical yantra. “This is what happens to outsiders when they lose in this house.”

“No, stay away from me. Don’t you dare!” She tries to scoot away, and resists. She tries to use her physical strength against Hatori, but again, the child proves to be stronger than her. Finally putting the collar on her neck, it automatically tied itself.

“This symbolizes your loss to this house.” Said another medical yantra. “Only master Zeko can remove this.”

“Time for punishment.” Said Hatori.

“What?” She asked. The day is just getting worse and worse for her.

Hatori asks for a towel from yantras, and after he gets it, he twists it and makes a whip out of it. “Now, you will do what I say.” He said to Ekta. “Make fish noises!” He hits her back with the whip.

She made fish noises. “Cow noises! Horse noises! Twitter like a bird!” And she did Twitter like a bird, without the use of hashtags, so her Twittering did not go viral. “And now, leave for your room. Don’t come out, you hear me?” orders Hatori, swinging the whip threateningly.

“Yes, I understand.” She spoke. ‘I got away lightly.’ She thinks. She would never dare to torment a child in her life again.

Meanwhile, Hatori leaves for his dinner, while yantras disperse, ready to do their task again.

PART 4.

Two days later, Zeko returns. He hopes that everything will be well, given how much Hatori was against having a babysitter. He opens the door, to see Hatori doing his candle exercises, which he often does after lunch. He breaks his concentration, and greets Zeko.

“Welcome master Zeko.” Said Hatori.

“Everything went well?” He asked.

“Yes.” Answers Hatori.

“Where is Ekta?” he asked, not seeing the girl anywhere.

“Oy. Come here at once!” He whips the air. Zeko didn’t see the whip made of a towel resting near Hatori.

The door of the guestroom opens, and Ekta comes running out. “Yes master.” When she sees Zeko, she starts to weep in joy.

“Greet the master of this house.” Commanded Hatori.

“Ekta greets you, master Zeko.” She said from her position on the floor, having fallen down due to sheer joy.

“Looks like you have a hard time.” said Zeko.

Seeing the innocent child with empty demonic eyeholes, Ekta hurries to assure Zeko. “No, not at all. Master Hatori is very calm and a good boy. I didn’t have any trouble handling him.”

“Very well. You can have this remaining pay of yours, as I promised.” Zeko hands her the money. “And I’ll take this thing off.”

“But master, I trained her.” Whines Hatori.

“You don’t need to come here again.” Said Zeko, ignoring Hatori entirely.

When she leaves, Hatori asks. “She was terrible. Why did you pay her?”

Sighing, Zeko asked. “Tell me. What happened in my absence first.” When he hears everything that happens, Zeko is amused. “In any other situation, I would be furious on your behalf. But I kind of feel sorry for that girl that she ended up going against you.” He spoke. “As for pay, a deal is a deal. I told her to stay with you in this house for two days, and she did that, unwillingly though it may be.”

“And you were right boy, you don’t need a babysitter. I won’t hire any of them in the future.” Said Zeko.

“Good.” Said Hatori. “Because it takes too much time and energy to train them.” Zeko roars with laughter.

(End.)