In my little town of Minam-something. Still didn't ask Okari. Nor my mother. Okari cause the mood after I talked about magic was weird, and my mother cause I was busy trying to sleep for days.
And I didn't manage it.
So I'll call my town minaminaminamin for now.
Actually it's a mouthful.
I'll just call it my town.
It's better for now.
In my little town, city, village that transitioned into a city, there's not much drama around. I think it's because there's a war going on, even if I don't see kills, or anyone of my village fighting it, I'm pretty sure the reason there's no visible drama around is because everyone is busy simmering in terror at the thought that at any day, an enemy will find us and take care of us.
I think that's why.
Or maybe that's because of something else?
Because really, when you think about it, using childrens as soldiers is kind of dramatic isn't it? And beating homeless people as a way to train them is drama too right? And kidnapping childrens is drama too right?
Huh.
Maybe there's drama in my city alright.
But to be honest, when talking about city drama, I was busy thinking about obvious drama.
People screaming at each other. Rumors going around, and even if there's some rumors around, I never really heard them.
But maybe it's because nobody wants to get close with the only child in the rich district?
Damn. Can I stop questioning my own way of thinking for a second?
With a long sigh, my hands, around waist high, counts the ryos in the pouch, looking and categorizing my new riches while my eyes are stuck to the scenery behind my window.
Right there.
Drama happens.
And it's bigger than usual.
In my little town. Even if there may be rumors, even if there may be child soldiers, even if there's this slow dawning sense of dread everyone is hiding at the news of the war. At least, it's silent.
It's a silent kind of drama.
The kind of drama that breaks family, lose childrens, lose jobs and more. It's this kind of drama.
I never saw a mob before.
I never saw people screaming at each other and about to kill themselves (at least in the rich district)
All of the drama around was ALWAYS and I say to you ALWAYS silent.
Only exception is when my father tried shit with me in the weapon street, that was the most drama loud explosion I've seen in that life, everything else is quite fucking silent.
That's how it works in my little town.
That's how it worked in my little town.
Because right now, in the street behind my house, the shop owner I stole from. The dwarf. Looks kinda pissed.
He has a big grimace, big frowned eyebrows, tight veiny fists as if he was about to swing on someone, there's people in the street around. People looking from their windows, from their doors. I can see a old woman sitting behind her own window. Like me, just this time it's open, to hear all the drama. I can see an old man under his inclined roof looking at the scene, he's behind them, not close enough to be involved. There's more people around too. The people that were walking around and stopped to look at the scene. There's even some people from the weapon street and the other streets the angry shop owner definetly passed from, probably followed him in his path of vengeance for entertainment or something.
There's a lot of people around.
A quick look shows... Thirty people. In the same street.
It's really rare to see that. Especially on a street without ANY shop.
In the kind of street that's just houses and stuff? Usually it's deserted, sometimes there's one or two people walking around, but FOUR starts to raise your eyebrow in "wow, damn, lots of people today"
But thirty?
Now that's crazy.
Can't hear them though. Well, I can hear some muffled shit through the window and wall, but I'm not opening the window. And no, it's not because of the angry shop owner.
No, even if I stole everything from him. It's not like he'll guess, or find me, I made sure of that.
There was no trace in his shop apart from what I took from him.
I removed all my baby footprints by wiping them with water and transforming them into big sludges that makes no sense. Did the same with all of my handprints, and for the boxes, I couldn't lift them up, which was sad and kind of worried me at first as I let traces in the street while dragging them on the ground.
Thankfully. After observing everything for a while, my worry was reassured when seeing the rain taking care of all the traces I left behind.
He also never saw me in his shop before, and there's way more obvious suspects than me, a two years old that can't even lift a katana without shaking isn't usually the first pick.
So no. I'm not worried. That's not why I'm not opening the window and listening to the drama around.
No, that's not the reason.
The reason why I'm not opening the window is because of someone else. Of the single reason the angry shop owner stopped his rage path. The single reason he stopped screaming at everyone around him, the only reason he stopped still and started talking and calming down instead of continuing.
The person in front of him. Still. Calm. And completly ignoring the rain falling on his dark blue kimono, baggy but now tightening around him and sticking to muscles an old person has no business having because of the rain, dark hair with streaks of white cut close to his scalp, a strong jaw with a scar cutting through it, pretty gnarly, like the other scars I know he hides under his clothes.
He's slightly taller than the dwarf. Than the shop owner.
Way wider though.
A single blue scabbard, a katana resting in it, on the left side of his hips.
He's not moving.
He stays there, under the rain, staring at the shop owner with a constant severe and stern expression, big eyebrows dropping down to leave sharp blue eyes that are busy piercing into the soul of the now fumbling shop owner.
If I ever started to think that my grandfather wasn't a person of authority in this village. If I ever started to think that, even with the whole child army he has, even with the fact that nobody is doing anything about it, well, this scene may just be enough to make me remember this.
That's the reason why I'm not opening the window and just decide to spy, only the top part of my head and my eyes seeable.
And even then, without any hesitation. I start the flow. My invisibility kicking in.
They talk. The shop owner, and my grandfather.
They talk.
The shop owner starts moving fast. Waving around, angry at something. My grandfather doesn't move or answer, he keeps staring at him with his blue eyes. And with a single word, a single move of his lips, the dwarf freezes.
His hand drops down.
My grandfather hand is up. Don't know when he raised it, but it's in an annoying gesture, a 'calm down' gesture, a gesture that just tell you 'shut up and be still'
And my grandfather keeps talking for a bit before turning around and leaving.
The shop owner, who has nothing to his name anymore stays there, in the street, under the rain before turning around and leaving.
The show is finished.
People leave back home. Some stay to stare at my grandfather.
Grandfather who isn't looking back. Instead, he turns his head, and his blue eyes meet mine.
For a second. He stops.
Just like I stop breathing.
He narrows his eyes and look at something on my face, I duck inside my room, rush under the blanket and go grab a kunai, my feet drag on the room as I search for anything to hide myself with.
I don't find anything.
Still, I stay close to my door and sincerely hope he'll fall in my wire trap.
For twenty good minutes. I stay there. Kunai in my tight little hand, silent, swallowing every half second, ready to fight for...something, I don't know what but for something.
Only after those twenty minutes do I remember that he STILLS know where I live, and he could have come grab me for his army at any moment, why would he cares now that he saw me for half a second? Then I remember the flow, and go with the most obvious explanation, I was invisible, he didn't saw me, he saw something else.
Only after this do I relax and drop down on the ground.
My weapons doesn't look good enough anymore.
I need to train with them.
Now.