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Decision

At the site where the new city hall is being built, Pedro is sitting on a piece of lumber while eating rice and nilagang baka from his lunchbox.

"Here, a fresh sandwich made by my wife." a bald man lent him a ham sandwich wrapped in a piece of tissue paper.

"Oh, wow," Pedro chuckles while taking hold of the ham sandwich from his grasp, "this seems delicious!"

The bald man sits next to Pedro. He looks around him while raising his eyebrow.

"Any plans to spend your salary on?"

Pedro brushes the bread crumbs from his lip with the tissue, then, he looks at the bald man.

"On my family's expenses," Pedro replied.

The bald man raises his hand to his lip while releasing waves of deep strong breaths.

He looks at Pedro's head down to his toes. "Hey, time moves fast! Why don't you treat yourself to a restaurant or buy something that you want?"

Pedro moves his eyes to the ground and moves his hands to each other, intertwining his fingers while gently stomping his toes on the ground.

"What I want is something that I can not acquire from a store," Pedro chuckles, "seeing him be successful in life in any way would be the greatest gift that I will have for the rest of my life."

The bald man looks down and smiles widely. A man wearing a suit and tie stops walking near them, he slides his hand into his coat and brings out an envelope.

"I know that you would come." Pedro looked down and chuckled.

He moves his eyes to the man in suit and tie, hence, narrowing his eyes to the youngster.

Pedro tells him. "Look, it doesn't matter if my bones break working for him. I can guarantee you that I wouldn't be a hindrance to his success."

The man in the suit lends the envelope to Pedro. He looks at the brown envelope and shakes his head while pushing it away from him.

Pedro sighs. "I'm growing old, can you at least grant my wish and walk away?"

The bald man stands up and walks toward the man in a suit and tie. Pedro watches them as he observes the bald man speaking while the youngster is nodding.

Afterward, the man in a suit and tie ambles from the bald man.

The bald man walks toward Pedro, and once again, sits beside him.

"Thanks, Carlos." Pedro chuckled.

"Well, they say that every good deed you do will serve as a treasure in the afterlife," Carlos told Pedro with a light smile on his lip.

Pedro tells him. "If that is true then you must have millions of treasure when you die."

Carlos looks up. "I don't want to die yet because I still want to watch my son and daughter grow up."

Another man in a suit and tie walks toward them and coughs catching their attention.

"Another one?" Pedro looked at him from head to toe.

Afterward, Pedro and Carlos are inside a wide room with a man sitting on a chair.

"Pedro, you worked for the company for your whole life," he told Pedro.

He tells him. "Like what I said to your man: I won't accept your idea of my retirement.

"If you want me to give up then I must wear a suit and tie while resting in a coffin."

Carlos yawns. "Mayor Christopher, can you let him do what he wants?"

Christopher settles his index finger on a piece of paper, therefore, the tip of his finger releases a bit of ink. "Your wish, I believe, is a critical one."

Using his index finger; he rubs it on the paper and forms sentences on it while speaking, "If a natural disaster will occur, for example: a fire on this building, the others will run away.

"How can you assure me that you'll run faster than them?"

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Carlos narrows his eyes and thrusts his lip, and he makes a step toward the mayor but his attention is stolen by the words of Pedro, explaining, "If a fire will occur in this building even if it happens at this exact minute, the outcome of me surviving or dying doesn't matter to you."

Christopher hums while nodding and writing on a piece of paper. He looks up and sees the eyes of Pedro staring straight into his eyes.

"Tell me, Pedro, how will I stay calm if one of my men dies?"

His words cause Pedro to smile and release chuckles. He points at himself and remains smiling.

"When did I become a part of your men?" Pedro raises his eyebrow at him while smiling, "I am not a part of your men even if you were the one that accepted me in this job.

"Your money came from the money that you're gaining from your successful projects. Without us building the structures you want to establish in this city then you wouldn't have as much money as you have today."

Christopher closes his eyes and giggles while gazing at Pedro.

"Here," he lends a brown envelope to Pedro, "you should have accepted that earlier when one of my men was talking to you."

Pedro blinks multiple times while staring at the brown envelope, and then, his eyes widen, and points his index finger at the envelope.

"Youngsters these days don't know how to talk personally." Pedro raised his arms to his chest and put them on top of each other.

Christopher tells him. "That's a paper of my approval, you can work here as long as you want to."

He stands up whilst Carlos and Pedro are watching him. Their eyes widen upon Christopher bowing in front of them.

Christopher remains bowing. "Thank you for all the sweat you've poured into the projects that I ordered all of you to do. Thank you for the loyalty that you give to my company. Lastly, thank you for existing, Sir Pedro."

Carlos' eyes widen and fluid fills his eyes, he brushes them from his eyes while shaking.

Pedro chuckles. "Well, I have no choice because the other companies didn't accept me, so I have no choice but to work for this company."

"Eh?!" Carlos looks at Pedro with wide eyes.

Meanwhile, in Manila, Tinta is inside a library. He's sitting on the same chair; away from numerous people who are reading books.

"I never knew that I'll see you once again."

A pair of footsteps halted beside him, Tinta didn't move his eyes to the young man beside him.

"I never knew how you knew my name." Tinta flipped on another page of the book he was reading.

Jeremiah blinks and moves his eyes to the book that Tinta is reading.

"That book," Jeremiah points his index finger at the thick book, "contains questions for the entrance exam to the Central Elemental Academy."

Jeremiah's calm lip begins to curve upward, his eyes widen copying a smile, and his eyebrows arise.

"Yo! What's your elemental ability? Do you have any skills?!" Jeremiah jumps repeatedly, "I can not believe that I'll have the chance to have a rival!"

Tinta gently pushes the chair backward and he stands up, his eyes never leave Jeremiah who remains bouncing.

Tinta looks down and shakes his head while holding the temple of his nose. "I am not your rival. Second, I don't have any ability regarding using any elements because I don't have any elemental skills."

He walks across Jeremiah while calmly saying, "Even if I don't have any elemental abilities to overcome your ability, I won't allow myself to lose against you in any style without pouring all the strength that I wield."

Jeremiah remains looking at him as Tinta is walking away from him still holding the book.

Jeremiah starts to walk towards the calm young man, therefore, Jeremiah speaks, "But how can you be a guardian if you don't have any abilities? You're just going to pursue being a policeman?"

Tinta was put to a halt by Jeremiah's words, and then he looked at him. "Who said that being a guardian truly revolves around people having elemental abilities?"

Jeremiah raises his hands while shaking his head. "I don't know… maybe the one who created our educational system?"

Tinta's eyes narrow and he sighs. "I don't need someone to be my tail."

Jeremiah stops walking with wide eyes, he rubs his yellow hair. "Geez! Stop being rude to your one and only friend."

Tinta's eyes narrow, he rolls his eyes and continues ambling while Jeremiah is walking beside him.

"Can you not follow me!"

"You'll only push me away if you demonstrate your skills, best friend!"

"Shut up!"

Thereafter, in a massive part of that city, ground made of soil covered by grass, benches around to be seen, and numerous people walking in different directions; some are sitting, and some are playing badminton.

Tinta is standing two steps from Jeremiah while he's sitting on the soil and staring at the sky.

"I give up," Tinta said.

Jeremiah smirks and looks at him only to witness his glaring eyes fixated on him.

Jeremiah giggles. "What a stare. If you were a user of darkness, and you can use its aura then I would have lost consciousness by now."

Tinta rolls his eyes. "Is that supposed to make me feel flattered? All I feel is annoyance."

Jeremiah lays his back on the soil, and yawns. "Don't be shy, best friend! You just wanted to bring me to a nice place!"

He looks at Tinta. "Well, this is nice!"

Tinta clenches his hands and yells at Jeremiah. "You kept on following me! There's no way to stop your ignorance!"

"Sure, I don't want to leave my best friend alone! No worries!" Jeremiah smiles widely at him.

Tinta puts his arms on his chest with his right arm on his left arm, and his eyes gaze at the pleasing sight of the green field with people running on it.

He begins to look around him as a feeling of warm air touches his skin.

"Can you feel that?" Tinta's eyes begin to widen.

A ring of flames manifests on the field and Tinta is standing far from it.

Jeremiah pushes himself until he's standing on his feet, his eyes staring at the ring of fire twirling.

A ball made of fire goes toward Tinta so fast. He slides his hand inside the gap in his coat, bringing out a sword.

The words of his grandfather echo in his mind, saying, "Show them how strong you are."

"I'll show them." Tinta ran toward the fireball.

With all his might, he swings his sword and cuts the fireball in half, therefore, it hits the soil far from him.

"Woah!" Jeremiah's eyes widened as they sparkled.

A human being walks out of the ring of fire.

Thick silver armor is covering his entire body, and he wears a mask resembling the face of an eagle with his white long hair reaching his back.

He didn't speak but he raised his gauntlet and pointed it at Tinta.

Tinta swirls his sword fast like the wind and points it at the mysterious attacker.

"Draw all your flames at me," Tinta tells him with a serious stare, "but I won't back down."