Side Story 4, Chapter 1: Start Over
[Side Story 4, Chapter 1: Start Over]
A not-so-peaceful day in Utoko.
An orange-haired girl with gold eyes walks into a training center. It’s full of people training different things. Swordsmanship, archery, martial arts, magic, and sports.
Due to magic and technology, many things can become as powerful as magic itself.
She’s starting over her life until she gets to her original progress again. Her name is Risokyo.
Of course, that name was made up. She has an identity to hide, but I sure wonder who it is. I totally don’t know who it is, at all…
“Wow, you’re a natural! I can’t believe you managed to hit the target so precisely. Just so you know, the mole on the dummy’s face has a lot of points.” The trainer was flabbergasted. None of his students started off this well.
“...Thank you. I’ve had prior experience.”
“When did you practice your magic last time?”
“...It’s best to not talk about it, teach.”
“Sorry. Let’s get back to training, should we? Or do you need a little break? Come on, let’s get you some Rokutori Green Tea.”
“Rokutori Green Tea… I’ve never tried it, but the spirit of nature can make tea that’s natural and delicious.”
“Nice. I brought you one cup of iced Rokutori Green Tea. Enjoy!”
Risokyo stays silent, her mind filled with anxiety.
The trainer chuckled. “It isn’t poisoned! It’s not spiked! Come on, I’ll drink a bit in that cup for you.” The trainer drank a bit, and a few minutes later, nothing happened, assuring that there was in fact, no poison.
“Take your time, the cooling bottle is straight from Kori-umi. Take a sip when you know it’s safe.” He waited for Risokyo to stop having anxiety, and then, the student proceeded to drink the tea.
“Oh, this tastes so good, and there’s enough energy for me to keep going! Thanks, teach.”
“Haha, no problem. Tea got caffeine in it. Helps you wake up. I think that’s how it works…” Some trainers sure have muscles (or in this case, magic power) for brains, but at least they have some intuition. Well, it’s not like you can focus all your powers into intelligence or just muscles. Going all in on any of them won’t make you survive anything at all.
This isn’t the case, of course, because some people just aren’t an expert in topics they don’t need. An athlete barely needs to learn chemistry. A trainer does not need to know chemistry, either. Unless their magic is chemistry-based.
As Risokyo gets up for her next part in training, she continues to perform surprisingly well, making a few inaccurate shots to not make anyone suspicious.
Of course, she isn’t the strongest witch in town. She’s not perfect, but she has a lot of “prior experience.”
They had a nice training session, until hours later, Risokyo had to go back to her apartment.
“Bye, Riso. See you tomorrow!” The trainer said with good intent. Considering what’s going on in Mokkato, he hopes he sees his student tomorrow.
When the sun is setting, Risokyo rides a taxi home. To an apartment, of course. Through Street N10, for a split second, while the traffic was still quite congested, she noticed 2 girls that dress up out of fashion, like they were in the Victorian Era.
The witch in training touches the windows in interest, but as the green light comes, it drifts away before Risokyo could take a picture.
This was one of the biggest tragedies in this story, so far. Knowing that Utoko isn’t at his strongest, the Reqranians could attack the place at any moment. But knowing that Naiko, Ritsurin and Natoruyo are all safe and sound, she could only hope that the other spirit guardians are looking onto the city of water.
If the spirit guardians did their job, the war would be over. Why aren’t they helping already? Are they betraying their people? Do they not want to take care of their place anymore?
But honestly, why are the Reqranians attacking in the first place? What beef do Mokkatoians and Reqranians have? Doesn’t Mokkato promote peace or something?
It’s so much to think about, but I must try to find an answer… It’s just… Too complex for me. What are they hiding from me? What the hell are they hiding from me?
She feels someone touching her, patting her shoulder. Like it was the Mokkatoian Government trying to make her feel comfortable. Or is it a Reqranian soldier trying to convert her? Who is it?
“Ma’am, it’s alright!” Then someone patted her shoulder again. “Ma’am! There’s nothing to worry about!”
It’s just people trying to comfort her. Why should she believe them? She doesn’t know anything. Maybe she shouldn’t return to her job.
“You alright, ma’am? It’s okay!” Tap tap… Tap tap… Rapid taps at the shoulders. It was unsettling. Like a heartbeat. “Don’t just sit here, everything will be fine, just get up!”
What does she need to get up for? Someone’s gonna kidnap her or something? No way. No way that’s gonna work on a genius like her.
The person started shaking her body. “Are you okay? Respond, please!” With hands shaking her body, she felt stressed. She had no idea how to act. What does she respond with? Do they need information? “What are you staying still for?” Is there a death trap?
The person’s had enough. “YOU’RE AT THE DESTINATION! GET OFF THE TAXI!” The female taxi driver shouted loudly.
“Ah!” Risokyo came back to her senses. “I’m sorry, I must’ve daydreamed for a bit too long…”
“It’s alright. Give me a 1-star review if you want.” The taxi driver felt regret for raising her voice at an innocent, and accepted her mistakes.
“No, thank you for waking me up… I’ll be leaving now.” Risokyo gets up and walks out of the car.
“Wait!” The taxi driver said. Risokyo panicked. “Your bag.” The driver handed the passenger’s bag to the forgetful witch. She had put it in the front seat at the start.
Risokyo gratefully received her bag and ran straight to her apartment. Now it’s her thinking space now, but no matter what she could think of, there’s nothing to figure out.
It’s a new room that the CSFU got for her. You know exactly why the CSFU was involved, don’t you?
The first thing she did to relax herself was play some games. The first one she picked was a rhythm game. It was vividly like a stasis.
Although she’s just a damn beginner at these kinds of stuff. Frustrated by the hard levels, instead of playing the easy ones, she stopped playing it and switched to another game. In this game, it was quite the company, although it may be lethal to her heart… A horror game, that is.
But she ended up not knowing how to play it, so she just tried to play the rhythm game at an easier difficulty, and unsurprisingly, she improved. It had a little story too, there was a girl who was named after a day in a week. No, we cannot afford the copyright, if they have one anyway, but maybe search up a “game that’s vividly like a stasis”. Maybe that will help you find whatever Risokyo is enjoying.
Eventually, she got bored, tired of doing rhythm games. She wants something casual. But she ended up scrolling up and down on her games library, looking for a game she could play. But to no avail, all those games didn’t catch any of her interest. She’s bored. She can’t find anything to do.
Sometimes, in your life, it’s just like this, isn’t it?