Chapter XIX
Ren's Deadly Sin
The next morning at school Ren came in yawning so wide people went around him lest they would be swallowed whole.
"Couldn't sleep?" Rosa walked up behind him.
"Not after what you sent me last night." Ren answered trying to be playful even if the information shook him.
"I'm sorry. Had I known..." Rosa apologized profusely.
"No, you did right to show me. I just don't know what to do with that information yet." Ren comforted her.
"Why don't you ask your mom about it?"
"I almost did. Before I realized the consequences it would have." Ren answered thinking about the possibilities.
"You almost did?"
"After I read it, I went to confront mom."
> Ren barged into his mother's room. Maria was just sitting on the edge of her bed reading a book, but to her son's sudden entrance she slammed it shut. Ren had a split second to gather his thoughts. Right until this point his emotions moved him, but acting on those would be unwise. He almost confessed to being an overhuman.
>
> "What is it honey?" Maria looked at her son perplexed.
>
> Let's think about this before I speak... I did not find anything about mom or Lendo, so my best guess is they are not overhumans. Telling her that dad is not actually a police officer might be a bad idea. Not to mention if she starts asking questions, she might catch me on a lie. Now I should tell her something that warrants me barging into her room like this, but also shows her reaction to the new internet.
>
> "Mom! Have you seen that the article about the death of Kon's president?" Ren asked innocently.
>
> "What?" Maria took out her phone and opening it her confused expression deformed into panic. I forgot that the internet would change too! Damn this technology! How much does he know? What should I tell him? "Interesting! Didn't know you were into politics honey!"
>
> "But look at the site! I have never seen this page before!"
>
> "You're right! The site might have some sort of virus on it! We shouldn't use it! No go to sleep Ren!" Maria closed the site and ordered her son to leave the room.
>
> "But!" Ren tried to continue the conversation, but Maria closed the door to her room behind her son.
>
> "Good night!"
"Though it was kind of suspicious how she handled it, it could be just because of the weird new website. I decided not to burden her with dad." He concluded the explanation to Rosa.
"Still, it's hard to imagine her not knowing about it." Rosa remarked.
"But it'd be risky asking about it. And if I were the first one to spill the beans to a grown-up about our situation, I'd never hear the end of it from the guys."
"Ken has enough ammunition against you already." Rosa said chuckling.
"Oh, and could I ask you a favor? Please don't tell anyone about dad. The more people know the more complicated it gets." Ren asked, stepping a bit closer to Rosa.
"Your secret is safe with me!" Rosa held his hand over her heart.
"Thanks!"
"How is Niel? Is he ready for the afternoon date with Ginna?" Rosa changed the subject.
"I've never seen him this nervous. He's been avoiding Ginna since we arrived. And he cannot stop asking if he looks good."
"It'll be hard avoiding her during class." She remarked jokingly.
"I'm not worried for him, he'll get it right for sure! And Ginna?"
"She asked what she should wear but that's it. Her head is in the clouds like always."
"Must be nice." Ren chuckled as he thought about it.
"Not when there's an exam."
"Exam? Did someone say exam? I did not prepare at all!" Terry ran past them screaming.
"Let's go to class before Terry freaks everyone out with a nonexistent exam!" Rosa and Ren followed the flailing boy down the hallway.
After school Ren entered Dr. Ottoman's office. The psychiatrist was reading a thick leather-bound book with golden decorations on the sides. He put the book down as the boy entered. Ren made his way to the sofa he usually sat in, but Dr. Ottoman stopped him before he got to it. "We'll try something different today, Ren. Please sit here." The man pointed at the chair in front of him. "You'll need the desk for today's exercise." Ren took careful steps towards the desk. He sat in the swivel chair and by the time he made himself comfortable Dr. Ottoman placed a sheet of paper and a pencil in front of him.
"Write three words on the paper and leave ample space between them" As the man ordered Ren. The boy immediately grabbed the pencil. "Friend, Love, Enemy." The man dictated. At the first word Ren was quick to write, but by the second he knew what the task would be.
"I'll say names and your job is to assign them to one of these words. And just so you don't find a loophole, you have to write a name to all three."
" What happened to ‘tell me about your day’? I feel like you are trying to provoke me."
"Not in the slightest. This is actually to measure your progress. Now let's not stall the inevitable. Niel Aries."
Ren wrote his best friend's name to Friend. "Faul Pisces." He did the same to him. "Maria Sciron." Ren wrote his mother's name to Love. "Lendo Sciron" Love. This went on with all his classmates and family members, but as it was coming to an end, he did not write a name to Enemy. "Rosa Quarry." Ren stopped for a second. He moved the pencil slowly over the Love list. He connected the pencil with the paper under Friend, but before he could write anything the psychiatrist stopped him. "Really?" Ren looked at him blushing.
"What do you mean really?" Ren stuttered.
"You are in love with her. Why not write her under Love?" Dr. Ottoman asked with his arms crossed.
"How do you know?" Ren turned away and fixed his eyes on the paper.
"Come on Ren, I am not blind. Accepting the way, you feel is an important step forward. You are trying to keep yourself a way out of a possible confession in case she should ever reject you. ‘Maybe I never loved her to begin with’. You'd say to yourself. But love is not a half-assed thing. Commit or lose." Dr. Ottoman put his hand on the desk, leaning over the boy to get his attention.
Ren looked at him for a few second soaking in the weight of those words, before writing her to Love.
"Great! Two more to go! Ken Leonnas!" As he said that name Ren slammed the pen down on the desk.
"I know what you want but I'm not writing him to enemy. I don't consider anyone an enemy." Ren put his foot down metaphorically as he put the pencil down physically.
"Let's say someone in your life hates you and tries to do everything in their power to make your life miserable. Don't you think they are an enemy?"
"I'm sure there is a situation in which I lose my temper and maybe even consider someone an enemy, but all those words are conditional. I hate you for the bad you did; I love you for the good you did. It all feels, as you said half-assed. Those are not reasons but excuses. The least I can do as a human is make sure no one feels like an enemy to me, and maybe they will take that mentality from me." As Ren finished his speech, he wrote Ken's name to friend.
"Alright! But we still have one person left." As Dr. Ottoman declared it, Ren's mind began racing. He could not think of anyone else to put on the list. He did not have to wait for long though as the man opened his mouth. "Ren Sciron." Ren sat in silence for a second as he thought this was to get his attention, but the sentence did not continue. "Where would you write your own name?"
He didn't need much time to think. When he was asked to do this task, he felt attacked as he already figured out the premise of the exercise, but now he realized it was to clear the picture for him. Ren Sciron is Ren Sciron's greatest enemy. It wasn't self-hatred particularly, it wasn’t even anger he felt towards himself per se, it was an instinctual feeling to put himself down, because in his world view self-love was just as rotten as the seven deadly sins.
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"Don't take this the wrong way Ren. The fact that you knew where to put yourself is a sign that you see the right path, all you need to do is walk it."
Ren silently nodded. Thus, concluded today's session. All that was left to do was meet Hook and the others after school.
Niel and Ginna arrived at the fare in the second reality. The romantic vibe Niel was hoping for was quickly ruined by a voice from behind.
"Hey there kids!" Blitz appeared behind them, putting a hand on Niel's shoulder.
"What are you doing here Blitz?" Niel asked trying to hide his embarrassment.
"You didn't think we would let you two go out on your own! Yesterday Luna's group got into some trouble and I'm here to keep you out of it!"
"Why would we need that?! I can protect both of us!" Niel said trying to puff up his chest.
"But you won't need to protect yourself from anything with me present! But don't worry, act like I'm not even here!"
Despite Blit's best efforts the mood was dead. Niel tried to touch Ginna's hand and do it in a way that she would not notice how much he wanted to. But before their hands could connect Ginna ran off to a hot dog booth for food.
"A large hot dog with every condiment on the menu!" She declared bravely to the cook's chagrin. As Niel arrived, Ginna was looking for her wallet, but the boy stopped her. "Let me pay for it." Niel took out some crumpled up bills and handed them to the cook.
"Wow thanks Niel! Are you not hungry?" Ginna asked with a warm smile.
"No, I ate at home!" Niel put his hand in his pockets to feel for the last few coins he had.
Blitz seeing this ordered two more hotdogs and sat the kids down at a bench. "Here! Have one Niel!" He handed a hotdog to the boy.
"Thanks..."
"Let's dig in!" Ginna screamed in excitement before taking a bite of the hotdog. As she munched on the food a mixture of all the condiments squirted out of the hotdog directly landing on Blitz's pants. Silence fell on the three of them. In that silence Ginna tore off a piece of the hotdog bun. She kept eye contact with Blitz while she tried to dip the piece of bun into the sauce that fell on his pants.
"Stop it you glutton!" Blitz slapped the bread out of her head. "I have a napkin on me!" He sighed as he reached into his jacket pocket. He reached as deep as he could, but he did not find the napkin, he searched every pocket he had on his clothes but did not find it.
"We can ask for a napkin from the Hotdog-guy." Niel said.
"It's not about the stain! I always have that napkin on me! It's the most precious thing I own. My sister gave it to me before I left." Blitz explained as he went through all his pockets a second time.
"Really? Where did you go?" Ginna asked oblivious to the stupidity of her question.
"HERE!" He screamed as frustration built up in him. "I am from an island on the north coast!"
"Oh, I get it! But do you need it? If you just left it at home, you know it’s in a safe place."
"I don't go anywhere without it! It brings luck, but if I don't have it on me misfortune could be on every corner." He explained as he stood up from the bench. "Listen kids! I'll run back to Uradoori for my napkin. I'll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime. Stay. Out. Of. Trouble!" Blitz dashed away disappearing in the blink of an eye. Niel let out a relieved sigh as he was once again alone with Ginna.
"Alright!" Ginna oblivious to her classmate's struggle, grabbed his forearm and pulled him towards the main tent. "Let's go the show starts soon!" They ran to the tent which had the Mad Carnival sign at the entrance. There was a smaller sign which prohibited using a phone, eating inside, and walking out before the show ended.
"It looks like we have to wait a bit outside to finish the hotd-" Niel sighed as he read the sign.
"I ate it already!" Ginna said proudly.
"Huh?!" Niel turned to Ginna who was wiping the remains of the sauce off her face.
"You don't like it? You still haven't finished it." She looked at him puzzled.
"I don't have a problem with my appetite, but I am still no match against you." Niel slowly choked down the hotdog as Ginna waited for him to finish.
They gave the tickets to the man standing in the entrance. It was the muscly man who operated the high-striker game, but this time he was well dressed in a tight purple suit. He looked at the wrinkly tickets then looked up at the two kids suspiciously. "Go! You're holding up the line." They walked inside.
"He seemed more relaxed yesterday." Niel remarked as he turned his gaze away from the man.
Back where the kids were getting ready to train.
"Okay! Watch and I will go to the forest to investigate! Luna will also come, but we still have some free spaces in the van so who wants to come?" Hook asked the children. Obviously everyone had an interest in the outside but after some negotiation they could agree on the groups.The final split was Luna, Sun, Marco, Vhiz, and Faul in the search party team and Ken, Ren, Rosa, Iiwa, Taran, and Terry in the training group with Sledge and Medicine.
"Now! The kids who remain stand in two single file lines and be ready! We'll work on one of your key abilities!" Sledge declared to the children.
The investigation group got into the van and made their way towards the forest. Faul was gazing out the window soaking in the new view.
"Weird to see you being excited about nature. You spend all your time inside." Sun remarked to Faul.
"This is different. I expect this forest to be like in an mmo. Full of dangerous animals and loot." Fail said with a faint smile signaling his excitement.
"Will it be like that, Hook?" Sun leaned forward in his seat.
"Not exactly but you might see some interesting things." Hook said while driving.
"Like what?" The children all jumped up in excitement.
"Paperfish, bark-lizards, mist-bunnies, all harmless but cannot be found in the human reality." Hook listed animals off.
"And are there any dangerous ones?" Vhiz interviewed grinning with enthusiasm.
"Of course! Bears! Oh, wait those are in your world too. Let's see... shroud-thieves are one."
"Shroud-thieves?"
"They are bugs that hide at the top of trees and jump down on anything that walks under them. They then pull you up and devour you."
"But it's just a bug so we are safe right?" Marco asked hesitantly.
"They are the size of a retriever." Watch answered coldly.
"Oh... we will die." Marco sunk into his chair mortified.
"Stop overreacting! Everything will be fine!" Watch groaned.
"You seem stressed Watch. Is something bothering you?" Hook gave voice to his observation.
"I'm too old to deal with children on the daily." He leaned on the window, not looking at his friend.
"You act like you are decades older than us! You look like a teen!" Luna remarked.
"I'm thirty-seven." Watch murmured.
"What?" Every kid in the van was surprised by this information.
"He might not look the part, but Watch is the oldest of us!" Hook explained.
"And who's the youngest?" Sun asked.
"Blitz! He's twenty-seven."
"That makes sense! He has the most explosive personality out of all of you!"
"Hahha! I try to keep up with him!" Hook laughed.
A long while later they arrived at the end of a dirt road. "This is as far as the van can go. I researched the Turtle case and from the released picture I could approximate the coordinates. We have about nine kilometers to walk in that direction." Watch explained to the others.
"Nine?" Marco moaned tired from even the thought.
"It won't get shorter if you repeat it!" Watch said inviting him with a wave into the thick woods.
Marco let out a sigh as they made their way into the dark forest.
Back with the children who were training.
Heavy panting stirred up winds, as the children suffered from the tortuous exercise.
"How long do we have to do this?" Terry knelt on the ground, spent.
"As I said before! You have to catch six out of ten balls and throw it back to us! If you fail to do it by ten your count resets!" Medicine explained.
"Right now the records are the following: Ren: three out of ten thrown back, Ken: four out of ten, Rosa: Two out of ten, Terry: zero out of ten, Taran: two out of ten and Iiwa: one out of ten.
"Easier said than done! Medicine throws those balls too fast!" Ken complained to their tutors.
"Do you want to be with the weaker team with me? Didn't think you'd take the easy way out!" Sledge challenged the frustrated child.
"I don't want to embarrass you! You are still clearly hurt from the beating that Anvil guy gave you. I'd have no problem catching those throws!" While Ken was boasting, Medicine threw a ball at him, hitting him in the face. "Hey! That wasn't fair! I wasn’t looking!"
"Who said this is fair? Are you going to complain to your enemy in a real fight too?" Medicine provoked his student. "This is about as important as an ability can get. Reflexes! Attacking relentlessly means nothing if you cannot evade and counterattack. If you remember this and practice you will be like a spider on its web. Every small movement accounted for, every action with an immediate reaction, an attack answered by a counterattack, no scratch on you and your enemy falls. This is how you become a warrior." The kids shared a look of determination with the teacher. "Now let's continue!"
"Before we do!” Sledge asked for the attention of the teams. “Something to keep in mind... you might think we are impressed with Ken's performance the most because he threw the most balls back, or with Ren' because he reacts the most consistently, but the one to impress me the most was Terry."
"Terry?" Everyone turned to the shaking boy.
"Take a close look at him. All of you are covered in bruises by the balls that hit you, but Terry has barely any scratches on him. In fact, while someone like Ren has been hit thirty-two times while Ken has been hit thirty-four times. Guess how many times I hit Terry? Five! And it's been the first five throws I sent his way. Which means his body adapted to my throws after five attempts." Sledge explained to the kids while Terry cowered under the pressure of attention.
"Thats insane!" Ren looked at his classmate astounded.
"That is actually amazing Terry!" Rosa complimented him.
"I bet he could catch those ten balls in no time if he had the courage to do so." Sledge clenched a ball in her hand and threw it at the young boy who flinched a bit before reaching out towards the oncoming projectile. When he peaked over his shoulder, he realized that this time he had caught the ball. Frozen by the shock he stared at the ball before he realized that the next one was on its way. "Throw it back already!"
Sledge shouted at him. Terry squealed as he threw the ball back but because he took too long the next projectile hit him in the head knocking him back. "Okay I might have expected too much from you!" Everyone started laughing. Some louder than others, as Terry gathered himself on the ground. This laugh was interrupted by Ren's phone ringing. He stepped away from the others while in the background Sledge shouted at him. "Run two laps for not silencing your phone, Ren!"
Ren ignored the punishment as he picked up the phone. "Hey Niel! How is the date going? Don't tell me you chickened out!" Ren teased his friend.
"Ren..." Niel's exhausted panting and groaning sent a shiver down Ren's spine. "Come quick! They've taken Ginna-" The call was cut short as Ren heard his friend being attacked.
"Niel?" Ren’s desperate call for his friend was barely a whisper as he swallowed his saliva. No answer... Ren put his phone away and ran into the forest where the carnival was.
"Where are you going Ren?" Even if Ren had heard the question from Sledge he wouldn't have answered. His mind was clouded by the fear of losing his friends.
Hold on Niel! I’m on my way!