Nauseous

Chapter 2 - Light Headed

“The summon and Vei should be back by now.” Garpiloff says sitting in his study.

“You’d better hope that boy didn’t run off with Vei.” Says the short woman from Maito’s awakening.

“She wouldn’t allow it.” Garpilof smirks.

“Vei’s at that age.” The short lady grins.

“I’ll just ask her what’s going on.” Garpiloff searches through a bag attached to him for a rock and holds it out. Then he taps on it.

“Vei are you there?” A panting noise can be heard on the other end.

“You’re not doing what I thin-“

“He’s here!” Vei responds.

Garpiloff tosses the rock in a sudden surge of urgency.

“Naika, bring me my equipment!” Garpiloff yells.

“On it!” The short woman Naika runs off.

Garpiloff’s expression becomes very annoyed. Back at the field, Vei is running and a burst of energy lands behind her, sending mud and grass through the air. This causes Vei to stumble.

“Why now!” Vei clasps her hands together and focuses her fingers in the direction of the attacker at a distance. She then releases a beam of energy from her hands. The sound crackles and a delayed blast is heard in the distance where she was pointing.

“Ugh, Maito are you alright?!” Vei calls across the field with no response.

“Maito!” Again, nothing.

Vei starts running towards where she last saw Maito. She finds him but he’s still dazed. Maito grabs her by the leg.

“What is going… on?” Maito whimpers.

Vei shakes his hand off and reaches down to lift him up, but in the process quick footsteps in the grass are heard from the side and Vei drops what she was doing and holds up another field using her gauntlets.

“You’re really getting on my nerves!” Vei yells in its direction.

A figure is closer and leaps forward at Vei with what looks to be a dagger of some sort. He stabs the field and suddenly it collapses.

“You little-“ Vei kicks the figure who is cloaked in very dark green with black pants and shirt.

He grabs her by the ankle and groans in pain from the kick. Vei winds up a punch with one of her gauntlets and yanks her foot from the man’s grasp. She throws her fist forward sending a large burst of energy. The man had dodged with the assistance of some kind of teleportation, but he was caught off guard by another punch at a longer distance from Vei’s other hand. Miraculously the man just had enough time to put up a shield, but the strength of the blast threw him back and tore his clothes. It isn’t clear how damaged he was so Vei stayed put and readied herself for what would come next.

“Are you done yet?!” She yelled.

“I can’t believe Garpiloff would give you those!” The cloaked man yells clearly in pain grabbing his stomach.

“That’s not an answer!” Vei yells, throwing another punch of bursting energy.

The man dodged with what looks to be teleportation again, but stumbles afterward.

“Just so you know, my master made those. They belong to him!” The man holds his hand up and whips it toward Vei, sending what looks to be a fast ball of bright light that bashes on Vei’s bubble shield.

“If you’re gonna just spew out a bunch of malarkey, then I guess you’re not surrendering!” Vei sends a few punches, but somehow with each punch the man draws in closer, frightening Vei.

“You’re tough, but I didn’t come here without a few tricks.” The man is now within a range where Vei’s attacks could be dangerous for both of them.

So she throws a punch without activating her gauntlets. The man blocks them and jabs her in the stomach, making her fall to her knees.

“I’m here to see this new summon of Garpiloff’s.” The man grabs Vei by the neck and punches her in the face.

“So where is-“ The man suddenly stops and starts choking.

“Right here you piece of shit!” Maito blares in English.

He had jumped on the man from behind and started choking him he wrapped his legs around his waist and since Maito was larger than most of the people in this world, his weight brought them both down. The fall hurt Maito but he stayed latched on. The man kept reaching for something but Maito’s legs were blocking it.

“Gauch- Ah!” The man tries to breathe.

He struggles for a moment, then he bangs the back of his head into Maito’s face, knocking him off.

“You’re pretty sneaky for someone as big as yourself!” The man breathes heavily.

“You’re a bitch and a half to get to know!” Maito says in english again.

“What are you even saying, you animal!” The man gets up and throws a punch at Maito.

He blocks it with his forearms, but the man is wearing some form of metal knuckle bracing that hurts too badly for Maito to block. Maito tries to shove him away with his foot but he is exposed and is punched in the face by the man. Maito groans in pain. The man stands over him and wipes the blood off his hand.

“Cunt…” Were Maito’s last words wheezed in English pointing at the man before collapsing.

“So that’s his summon? He’s not like the others, that’s for sure.” The man chuckles.

“You’re coming with me.” The man reaches down toward the Maito, but his head suddenly bursts into a mist and splatters blood from an eruption of energy behind.

“Don’t you touch him!” Vei says behind him as the man’s body drops forward onto Maito, pooling blood all over him and the grass.

Vei falls backward out of exhaustion and is caught by Garpiloff who appeared wearing some kind of armor. He gently lets her down into the grass below.

“We were late Naika, but it seems they took care of it…” Garpiloff looks down.

“We should’ve known that he would send someone once news got out about the incident.” Naika says wheezing from the run to get there, she is also wearing armor similar to Garpiloff.

“Ugh…” Garpiloff pulls the limp body off of Maito.

“We can’t let Rech know why Maito’s really here.” Says Garpiloff lifting Maito.

“Let’s head back quickly.” Garpiloff calls to Naika who holds up Vei.

“What about the body?” Naika pants.

“Leave him to the Famhirs…” Garpiloff says as they both walk away with Maito and Vei in their arms.

Maito’s unconcious and left to his mind. He starts to speak to himself in his mind.

“Mom…” His voice in his head is very distorted, then becomes clear.

“I got into a fight today for the first time…” A pause of silence.

“Y’know, I wish you could’ve seen me. I looked really cool... I think.”

“You see, I never was able to get into fights since I was always in the hospital. You think I would’ve gotten into one if I ever went to school Mom?”

“I bet you would’ve really scolded me if I did… I don’t know what the punishment would’ve been though, I didn’t have anything to take away…”

“I said some harsh things to the guy too… I always cursed to myself out of hatred for what I couldn’t do, since I was stuck in the hospital all the time.”

“It felt really good though, it kinda helped numb the pain when he punched my face in…” Maito pauses for a short period once more.

“I miss you Mom… I know it didn’t look like it but I really wish I could’ve done more with you!” Suddenly Maito awakens with slight tears in his eyes inside the same bed as before, the room is empty this time.

“Hello?” He calls out in english.

“Ahem… Hello?” He says in the foreign language.

Maito looks around and sees a set of clothes at the end of his bed. He then checks under the covers and notices he’s completely nude.

“I’m just gonna hope whoever did it doesn’t tell me.” He says to himself in English.

Maito then stands and puts on the clothes at the end of the bed. It was very difficult to understand how it should be worn but Maito remembered how Garpiloff wore his clothes so he copied it in a way. It was a cloak of some sort and the shirt was loosely fit, probably made in its largest size since whoever got it didn’t know Maito’s size. The pants fit fairly well and there wasn’t underwear so it’s assumed that it doesn’t exist in this world Maito thought. A mirror was on the other side of the bed and so Maito walked around the bed to it and looked at himself.

“Now that I think about it… I wore that hospital gown the entire time, guess I just felt comfortable in it. But this doesn’t feel all that bad.” Maito talks to himself in the mirror.

He then looks closely at his face and arms and feels around them.

“I don’t seem to be bruised or anything…” Maito gives an internal thanks to the magic of the rocks in this world.

“I wonder how Vei is doing.” Then Maito suddenly has a delayed reaction to what happened.

“Wait, holy shit this isn’t right!” Maito has a slight crisis about the strange events that have happened.

“We almost got killed. I could’ve been killed, again!” He talks to himself feeling like he’s gone insane.

“Do I seriously not care if I die?! I should have totally pissed myself, I must have!” Maito starts quivering in fear at the realization of his near-death experience.

“What is wrong with me!” He squeezes his face between his hands. He then calms himself down.

“Man, I wonder how I got here though. Did Vei get that guy?” Maito walks over to the large doors to the room.

“How do you open these?” Maito examines the doors for a short while, they don’t have a clear way of opening.

In the middle of observing, the doors suddenly push toward Maito.

“Woah!” Maito jumps back in surprise.

“Oh, you’re awake.” Naika is revealed on the other end.

“Yes.” Maito scratches his head.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling alright, just a bit starved.”

“You haven’t eaten much besides the Ghatziel we fed you in your slumber when you were first summoned.”

“What’s Ghatziel?”

“Jugoa leg meat cooked and ground to a paste with additional flavorings, my special for nourishment of patients who are unable to swallow for themselves.”

“Doesn’t sound appetizing.”

“It’s not supposed to be, but since you’re awake you’ll be having my more tasteful meals from now on.” Naika grins.

“Your name?”

“Naika.”

“Mine’s Mai-”

“Maito, Garpiloff told me.”

“I never got the chance to ask for your name.”

“You couldn’t understand me at first anyways.”

“Yes, I was very rude at the time.”

“Every summon has their period of panic, it’s nothing new.”

“Huh…”

“I knew you were going to be hungry and so I’ve prepared food for everyone, follow me.” Naika starts walking and Maito follows.

They move across the hall into the garden area that looks to be in the center of the building. In the middle of the garden there was a square platform of what looks like black granite. There sits Garpiloff, Vei and a smaller boy who Maito had never met.

“Ah, Maito, over here!” Vei calls to him patting the ground next to her.

“She’s alright.” Maito says to himself.

“Of course she is.” Naika remarks.

Maito sits next to Vei and Naika sits with the small boy and wipes something off the boy’s face. It looks to be a picnic to Maito, but there’s no basket, just bowls filled with mysterious yet mesmerizing foods and a cloth that has a purple and yellow pattern that doesn’t look like it should have food eaten on it. Garpiloff sits alone across the cloth, but it seems he is enjoying himself the most with the food as if this kind of occasion is rare for him.

“Are you really a summon?” The boy who Maito had not met asks.

“Yes he is Dannen.” Naika answers for Maito.

“I’ve never met you before Dannen. I go by Maito.” Maito smiles toward the little boy. The boy proceeds to burst with laughter.

“You speak funny!” The boy laughs harder.

“Dannen!” Vei yells. Dannen immediately quiets.

“Do I really sound that bad?” Maito looks around at everyone.

“It doesn’t matter if you do or don’t.” Vei says.

“That doesn’t answer my question!”

“Just eat.” Vei drags a bowl towards the front of Maito.

“I’ll just take that as a yes.” Maito observes the food in front of him, everyone seems to be eating with his hands, Maito isn’t entirely against it since he’s been hungry for so long. The meat looks like steak chopped in thin slices and it's drenched in a dark red substance, some unfamiliar toppings and what looks like an egg yolk in the center. After evaluating the way to eat the food by looking at the others, he first pops the yolk-like food and mixes it with the sauce, then with the strips of meat, he dips it in the sauce and eats it. When finished he drinks the bowl. Before Maito knew it, he had finished his food and noticed everyone staring at him.

“What?” Maito realizes that he had finished his food before everyone in an instant. The portions are smaller than what he’s used to, due to the differences in body sizes.

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“You should’ve made more for him Naika.” Garpiloff giggles.

“I have more since we were expecting Kad and Peilia.”

“No, I’m fine Naika. It was delicious!” Maito says putting down the bowl.

“You can have some of mine if you’re really that hungry.” Vei holds up a strip of meat.

“No-no I shouldn’t.” Maito feels overwhelmed by Vei’s generosity.

“Just take it.” Vei brings the meat closer to Maito’s face.

Maito couldn’t resist the offer and let Vei slip the food into his mouth. Maito didn’t feel too uncomfortable about it since there were many times he had to be fed by someone in the hospital. Vei also seemed to enjoy the action as well. Garpiloff and Naika stare at the two of them while Dannen runs off in the garden.

“You forgot to drink too.” Vei points out another rock that is similar to the one he drank from when he first awoke.

“Ah.” Maito lifts the rock and sucks on it like before. Drinking the water it secretes. Maito had soon found out that there was a limit to this rock and it later evaporated into the air once it was finished.

“Vei, you don’t need to babysit my summon.” Garpiloff chuckles.

“That’s not what I’m doing!” Vei retorts.

“It’s fine if you are though.” Garpiloff drops a slice of meat down into his mouth.

“He’s like a child you know!” Vei pouts.

“What!” Maito is shocked by Vei’s comparison.

“You can’t say that about someone larger than you.” Naika giggles.

“It’s not my fault, I’m new to this world! What about the other summons?!” Maito is slightly aggravated.

“He hasn't been here for much long.” Garpiloff adds.

“Whatever…” Vei lays back and looks to the sky.

“Now she’s going to be angry for the rest of the day.” Naika says to Garpiloff and Maito.

“I’m not angry!” Vei kicks her feet. By surprise Dannen jumps onto Vei playfully.

“Vei, do the thing!” Dannen laughs squishing Vei’s face with his small hands.

“Not right now Dannen!”

“Come on!” Dannen whines.

“Dannen don’t bother Vei too much.” Naika picks up Dannen.

“What’s the thing?” Maito asks.

“Vei makes this really funny-“ Dannen is cut off by Vei pinching his cheek.

“Dannen you’re gonna make me go insane!”

“Funny what?” Maito is curious.

“Nothing, it’s idiotic!” Vei feels embarrassed to even think about it.

“You’re so boring Vei!” Dannen gives a very dissatisfied look to Vei.

“Show me this funny thing!” Maito is intrigued, but is immediately punched in the stomach by Vei.

“Okay, I get it…” Maito wheezes.

“Don’t hurt him Vei. He’s still technically recovering.” Garpiloff lies his bowl down.

“It’s just a light tap…”

“What happened to the guy from that night?” Maito suddenly had the urge to ask.

Everyone looks uncomfortable with the change of topic. Nobody wants to answer and Vei seems most bothered by it.

“He slipped away.” Naika lied.

“I feel like what happened was my fault.” Maito conjects.

“It had nothing to do with you, it’s a matter we’ll handle. You just happened to be caught up in it by accident.” Garpiloff becomes defensive.

“Now relax and make yourself comfortable around the place.” Naika wanders off with Dennen in her arms.

“Can I go outside?”

“Only to town, you cannot leave those boundaries!” Garpiloff stands.

Maito wanted to ask why but felt that it would only anger Garpiloff more, so he kept to himself. Vei walks away and waves for Maito to follow. Maito then walks by her side.

“You’ll be carrying out chores around here, Naika will inform you on what’s needed to be done. Kad will be teaching you how to read and write when he arrives.”

“I thought writing was something of the past.”

“It’s not unused, Garpiloff thinks we should all start using rocks more often.”

“What do I do for now?”

“You can either rest in your room or roam the area to get an idea of the place.”

“I think I’ll check out the place.”

“Alright, well I have to go check on Peilia. Don’t get into trouble.” Vei walks off and Maito stands watching her from behind.

“Will do.” Maito says in english, thinking about how strangely everyone has acted since the incident.

Maito wonders if everyone is suppressing information from him, and so he gets a little irritated. Maito then walks the halls of the building, he passes many doors but doesn’t bother to check inside them since he’d rather get to know the form of the place then veer off and get lost. All of the doors were on his left whilst the garden was always accessible to his right. After four consecutive turns, Maito concluded that the building was a rectangle with a courtyard-like garden in the middle. Maito wasn’t sure of the correct directions of this world so he took where this world’s star was rising as north. Using this as a basis of direction, he figured the entrance of the building was north which was at the width of the building, his room was located on the west near the center. The glass conservatory was toward the south. Vei looked to be heading toward the entrance and Naika had gone with Dennen to the south. With this knowledge, Maito had gotten an idea of how to get about the place. Maito wasn’t entirely sure where the bathrooms were so he decided to check his room. When he entered the room it felt strange coming back to.

“I really did live in a Hospital for too long.” Maito said to himself.

He then noticed two other doors in the room both next to each-other on his right when he entered, his bed was to his left.

“Please, be a bathroom.” He says opening the first room to his right.

When he opened, it looked to be a walk-in closet that was empty. Maito got very anxious that he might not have a place to relieve himself when the time comes.

“Please-please, be a bathroom.” He checks the next room and it wasn’t very bathroom like but it was made of materials similar to a bathroom.

It had what looked to be a shower head hanging from the ceiling and an oddly shaped toilet.

“I guess that means plumbing is in this world.” Maito didn’t have the urge to, but the existence relieved a heavy weight off his shoulders.

Maito also had the inflaming embarrassment of thinking about who was in charge of helping to dispose of his excretions in his sleep. Maito lazes around his room for an indeterminable amount of time when suddenly a muffled voice from behind the door is heard.

“You can enter!” Maito walks to the door.

When it opens, Naika is revealed on the other end.

“You ready?” Naika tilts her head forward.

“Yea, what you got for me?”

“I was gonna have you sort some things but you can’t read labels, so I’ll have you assist me with cookery.”

“I’ll be working with food?”

“Yes.”

“Sweet.” Maito says in english pumping his fist.

“What kind of reaction is that?” Naika looks at Maito with judgement.

“Don’t ask.”

“I already did?”

“Ok no more…”

“Let’s go.” Naika starts walking south through the hall, Maito follows.

When they get to the south wall they push through large double doors. When they enter, Maito smells a mixture of all kinds of food.

“This is where I usually work throughout the day.” Naika walks across what looks to be an island counter.

“Is this really necessary?” Maito looks around with astonishment at the hanging cutlery and cooking equipment.

There doesn’t seem to be a stove or oven at first glance but Maito can’t be sure there isn’t due to the strange arrangement of fixtures and stacking bowls.

“This place isn’t just a big house for smart people, it’s a nursery.”

“So then Dennen was-.”

“No, Dennen is my boy.”

“Then where are the kids?”

“They’re all playing in the room over.” Naika pointed in a direction but the instruction wasn’t clear to Maito.

“Huh… who’s watching them?”

“Vei.”

“I thought Vei went to check on Uh…”

“Peilia? She did, Peilia is usually in charge of watching the kids when I’m in the kitchen, but Vei came back with news that Peilia had caught an illness. This is usually when Vei trains but she wanted to rest today.”

“So, why don’t I watch the kids?”

“As if you’d do such a thing on your first day working.”

“I figured as much…”

“Do you not want to learn to cook?”

“Oh no, of course!” Maito was hoping to be positioned in a more lax job, but he was still intrigued by the idea of learning to cook.

“Have you ever cooked?”

“I never was able to in my old world.”

“Why?”

“Just couldn’t…” Maito is uneasy about his past inabilities.

“Well today will be your first!” Naika brings over a large bowl and some strange ingredients, most notably the Purple meat that was grounded down very finely.

“I had already prepped the ingredients for Skiev balls while I made our meal earlier. This will be for the children.” Naika aligns the bowls and starts sifting through some kind of cabinets.

“Skiev balls?” Maito looks down at the ingredients in front of him.

“Yes first you mix all of those ingredients together inside this large bowl.” Naika taps the large wooden bowl directly in front of Maito.

“Then, when it’s finally blended together. You cup them with your hands till they fit perfectly into a ball.” Naika looks at Maito’s hands.

“Well, maybe for you… try to make them a little smaller than that.”

“Got it!” Maito begins mixing the ingredients by hand. Then when they’re finally all together he starts making small balls.

“You’re doing good.” Naika starts mixing a pot over a flame that comes from an apparatus Maito isn’t familiar with, but he will associate its use with a similar function to a stove.

“Lay the balls on this tray.” Naika slides over a baking tray.

Maito isn’t familiar with many things from kitchens in his old world so he can’t make distinctions. He starts lining balls on the tray evenly spaced.

“These are like meatballs!” Maito exclaims.

“Yes they’re made of meat?” Naika has doubts about Maito’s mental stability.

“No, like… We had something like this in my old world!” Maito points at the ball in his hand.

“You’re amazed that your people discovered balling meat just like ours?”

“Well when you say it like that…” Maito lays the ball in the tray feeling dumb.

Naika starts laughing hysterically.

“You must have been some kind of teller of jokes in your old world!” Naika smiles and stops the flame under the pot she was mixing.

“Yea…” Maito has a pained expression. Naika doesn’t understand his sudden sorrow.

“Hey, just so you know. Everyone thinks you’re doing great Maito.” Naika had the sudden urge to give good words to Maito.

“Really?” Maito wasn’t moved by Naika’s attempt to cheer him up.

“You were really amazing from what I heard from Vei, when me and Garpiloff arrived, you must’ve been through something fierce.” Naika starts talking like she’s telling the story of some legendary event.

“You don’t seem to be voiding the event that happened.” Maito starts to slow down his process of making balls.

“Of course I won’t tell you the reason for the event that took place, It’s best for you not to know. I get that it’s frustrating to be left out, but it’s for your own good.”

“I guess I can’t argue. I owe you all for taking me in. I hope I’m not troubling everyone.”

“You have nothing to worry about.” Naika takes the tray from Maito after he finishes filling it.

She then slides it into something Maito believes to be an oven. She takes another baking tray and places it in front of Maito to begin placing more balls. After an extensive period of placing balls of meat onto trays, Maito finally leans back in completion of his work, he also lays the trays inside the oven after figuring out how it functions. Naika was off chopping vegetables of a variety of colors, the shapes however didn’t resemble any from his world. Maito became curious about their taste, but didn’t want to sneak a bite. The trays were finally pulled out of the oven with an oven mitt that has fingers. The balls came out sizzling and a layer of greasy substance formed at the bottom of each tray.

“Can you grab that bowl over there!” Naika points to a large bowl the size of Maito’s chest.

Maito grabs it and brings it down to the island counter. Naika then scoops the Skiev Balls into the bowl.

“Now take this!” Naika points toward the large pot she mixed earlier. Maito picks up the pot.

“Pour it in.” Naika rubs her hands together.

Maito begins slowly pouring what looks to be a dark, mostly black-purple sauce over the Skiev Balls in the bowl. She then hands Maito a mixing spatula.

“Now mix it around?” Maito points into the bowl with the spatula.

“Yes!” Naika begins shoveling the vegetables into the mix while Maito mixes methodically.

The concoction creates a pleasant smell that Maito wishes to try from the way he looks at it. Once it had completely coalesced, Maito felt satisfied with what he had done despite its simplicity.

“Here, try one!” Naika picked a Skiev ball from the bunch and held it to his face.

Maito opened his mouth more willingly than with Vei, and she pressed it in. The flavor was tangy and the closest he could compare it to was a grape flavor, but the meat was extremely juicy and was a little softer than the meatballs he was used to. Maito preferred the food from the picnic earlier but was delighted by the Skiev Balls regardless.

“I’ll leave some bowls for us and Vei.” Naika takes three bowls and fills them with three Skiev balls each from the large bowl with a scoop.

She then leaves them on the counter for later.

“Now, take this and we’ll go serve to the kids.” Naika plops a type of scoop she used into the large bowl of Skiev Balls, she grabs a stack of small bowls and cups for each of the kids.

“I get to see them?”

“Why not, you’re not gonna hurt them are you?” Naika elbows Maito.

“Hey, I’m carrying this, and no!” Maito reassesses his grip.

The two exit the kitchen and directly to their right they walk for a short while to arrive at another double door set. On the other side is a hubbub of high pitched laughter and chatter.

“Vei!” Naika calls to the door.

“On my way!” Vei’s voice can be heard through the noise.

She then opens the door, revealing herself and children gathered playing with toys that are as alien to him as toys were from his old world, but there wasn’t anything plastic.

“Maito?!” Vei is surprised that Maito would be there with Naika.

“Yes?” Maito walks past her and places the pot on the table near the front of the room.

Naika starts handing bowls to the children who sit with sudden silence on the floor. The children then stare at Maito with curiosity. Maito counted them all, there were six of them and they didn’t look any older than five years old.

“Alright everyone, line up!” The kids don’t stand, instead they just stare at Maito.

“Maito!” Dannen stood from the crowd and rushed over to Maito, holding out his bowl.

Maito then takes a scoop of the Skiev Balls and gently drops them into Dennen’s bowl and hands him a cup of water.

“Four?!” Dannen yells in excitement at the bowl.

Maito then realizes he had given him a portion of food he thought was good, which was one more than he should have given.

“Four?” Some of the kids whisper to each other, they then stand and walk toward Maito. Maito quickly gets surrounded by the kids.

“Can I have four!” A kid to Maito’s left shouts.

“Me too!” Yells another.

Bowls start shoving forward. Maito is quickly overwhelmed and begins filling each bowl with four skiev balls and handing out cups of water. Finally the last child walks up, holding their bowl out. Maito only had two left and placed them inside the bowl.

“Oh no…” Maito says to himself.

He looks at the kid's face, It’s a girl with long white hair. She looked very upset.

“Stay right there!” Maito pats her head, then runs out the double doors.

Everyone turns and looks at the little girl. Naika then walks up.

“What’s wrong Biz?” Naika leans over.

“Why did Maito run off?” Vei walks over.

“He-” Biz is cut off by a sudden burst through the doors.

It was Maito heavily breathing, holding a bowl.

“I’m sorry…” Maito takes a deep breath.

“For keeping you waiting…” He breathes in again.

Maito then hunches over the little girl and pours all the Skiev from it into hers.

“You get six, for my mistake…” He breathes in and puts his hand on his knee.

“Don’t let the others know.” Maito chuckles.

The girl stares at him in awe. Maito then leans against the wall of the room to catch his breath.

“What was that about?” Vei asks, concerned with Maito’s urgency.

“We ran out from the bowl, so I gave her mine.” Maito loosens the cloak around his neck.

“Oh, is that what this was about? Naika sits along the wall.

“You can have mine if you want.” Vei offers.

“No, I don-“ Maito feels a tug on his cloak.

Maito looks down and sees Biz holding up her bowl.

“We can share mister!” Biz looks determined to give Maito a Skiev Ball.

“It’s fine.” Maito smiles back at her.

“can’t eat all...” Her sentence was a little off, but Maito got the idea.

She looked more upset, so he sat down against the wall.

“Alright, only one.” Maito holds up a finger.

“Two!” Biz commands.

“You sure?”

“Three!” Biz sits next to Maito against the wall.

Maito now gets a better understanding of how small the children were.

“No not more!” Maito giggles.

“Mister… Name!” Biz looked up to Maito.

“Maito. Yours?”

“Bits!” She bursted with courage.

“It’s Biz, Biz.” Naika corrected her.

“Biz!”

“Biz? I think your name is great!” Maito chuckles, Biz happily smiles beside him.

Maito always saw other younger kids in the hospital, but this was his first time connecting with one in conversation.

“Open!” Biz commands Maito whilst holding a Skiev ball.

“I think I’ve been fed too many times today.” Maito says to himself, then opens his mouth and holds his hand under his chin in case of drippings.

He eats the Skiev ball and Biz giggles. She then eats a Skiev Ball herself. Maito notices Vei staring at them, they make eye contact.

“What?! Spouts Vei, looking away and back.

“What are you looking at, something on my face?!” Vei puts her hands on her face and looks away.

“You were looking at me.” Maito says.

“What are you talking about?” Vei retorted.

“Vei said she met…” Biz stops mid sentence to chew and swallow.

“An amazing per-“

“I said I met Peilia and she was feeling sick that’s why I’m here!” Vei cuts off Biz.

“No!” Biz says with a mouth full.

“Yes!” Vei counters childishly.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Maito tells Biz.

“Ok!” Biz says with a mouth full.

After enjoying themselves, the children became tired and were all finished with their food. The sun was starting to come down, and the children were all ready to go home, except a few whose parents were more busy than the rest. This included Biz and a boy who Maito learned to be named Eyon. Eyon was more attached to Naika and was close friends with Dannen so Maito couldn’t find the chance to get to know Eyon, but Maito hoped some day they could become friends. Biz wanted to be carried by Maito and watch as they all walked out to the front gate to send off the kids back to their parents who were waiting. Dannen and Eyon were playing about by the statue and Garpiloff had come out of his study to greet the parents for small talk. Naika and Vei chatted with a mother of one of the kids who had acted in bad behavior beforehand. The child of the mother was looking down away in guilt. Maito wasn’t there to witness what the child had done, but Maito had a slight jealousy towards the kids and their attachment to their parents.

“Bye!” Biz waved toward the other kids, and so did Garpiloff, Naika and Vei.

The parents and kids walked off waving behind them. Maito couldn’t wave since one arm was holding Biz while the other held an object Biz had gifted him. When Maito inspected this gift, it was a shiny rock that had a marking on it. At first, Maito was worried why Biz was in possession of such a thing. But after tapping it, it gave off a golden shine that Maito thought was angelic.

“It’s time to head in now.” Garpiloff told everyone.

Vei pressed Dannen and Eyon toward the front door while Maito carried Biz inside. Biz was resting her head on Maito’s shoulder, trying to stay awake as they moved through the halls of the building.

“Here, I’ll take her for now. You can go clean the bowls.” Naika opens her arms and Maito gently hands Biz over to her.

“I’ll take care of it. Kad is here.” Vei moves on ahead to where Maito was going. Maito stops and looks behind.

“Hello!” A man presumably Kad, closes the front doors behind him.

“Kad?” Maito tilts his head.

“Yes, I’ve been waiting for this moment!” Kad casts his boots to the side on a miniature table.

Kad looks to be wearing what every man Maito has seen, including himself, usually wears. But his cloak is light blue with a white undershirt and his hair is jet-black.

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what-do-I-mean? I’m about to teach Garpiloff’s first ever summon the wondrous world of Laish!” Kad is very enthusiastic and speaks too fast for Maito to register.

“Laish?”

“That’s what we call the written language of what you speak right now!”

“The written language of Laitz?” Maito was surprised he knew the name of the language he spoke, probably due to the expanded vocabulary he received from the tablet.

“Yes, since you already know how to speak Laitz, writing and reading Laish should be very simple to learn!” Kad puts his hand on Maito’s shoulder and points to the symbols over each door that Maito had memorized to recall their use.

“Sooner or later, you’ll figure out how to read those!” Kad laughs and rubs his hands together.

“You are extremely excited to teach me.”

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited for the opportunity to repay Garpiloff and Rech!”

“Rech?”

“Well, I haven’t been able to express my gratitudes to Rech these past few Oggs.”

“Oggs, Rech. Who and what?” Maito’s comprehension of what Kad is saying becomes hazy.

“I guess Garpiloff didn’t bother to explain time and his friend Rech? Well I can’t say for sure if they’re friends anymore. Rech stopped coming by for a long time, and Garpiloff said Rech would come back when he found tranquility. I’m not sure what Garpiloff meant by that.” Kad itched his chin in deep thought.

“Right…” Maito became lost in Kad’s blabbering.

“Now then!” Kad starts elegantly walking down the east hall whilst Maito follows to the last door in the corner of the hallway.

“This is my room, but we’ll be using it as a study for you!” Kad pushes through the doors and the layout of the room is familiar to Maito’s except every nook and cranny was stuffed with papers and binders that were also stuffed with paper.

“Since you already know Laitz, we’ll only have to use this!” Kad perfectly spots and slips out a pamphlet of some sort out from below his bed.

“After you can fully understand this. We’ll go over time and currency!” Kad sits on the ground near the center of the room.

“How long will this take?”

“You won’t know how long it is until you learn how long it was!” Kad’s voice gave a slight cheer to the word learn, causing Maito to be repulsed by his demeanor.

“Now sit, sit-sit!” Kad pats the floor. Maito then sits across from Kad, slouched forward.

“Now for my favorite part!” Kad squirms in excitement.

He pulls out a pair of goggles that he then strapped around his head, they weren’t transparent so Maito was confused. His curiosity was answered when Kad tapped of his lenses, suddenly glowing and becoming transparent with the magnification of both his blue eyes.

“Oh dear…” Maito said to himself in English.

“Huh?”

“Let’s get this over with.” Maito sighs, supporting his head with his palm at the chin.”

“Yes!” Kad chuckles.