Ch.8: The Hunter

 

Outside of her house Nari stands leaning on a crutch as Rolin and her mother look at her cautiously. Janghwa stands behind the group staring at the path ahead and lowering her head unable to look towards Nari’s direction.

            “Are you sure you’re able to go to school?” Rolin asks cautiously as Nari wobbles on her crutches.

            “I’ve been cooped up in my room for almost two weeks; getting homework sent to me is just a pain in the butt so I’d rather just deal with all of crap in person.”

            “Nari, just make sure you don’t overwork yourself.” She turns towards Janghwa with a gentle grin. “And Janghwa make sure you look out for your Noona, she’s a bit fragile today.”

Janghwa nods nervously rushing ahead of the group up the path headed towards the school.

            “She’s been acting odd recently.” Nari’s mother says somewhat concerned.

            “Maybe she’s just going through a phase; she is getting close to that age. Or is she? I don’t really know much about how Fairies age.”

            “Fairies age similar to human children they just skip or go through a faster toddler phase.” Rolin says seriously.

            “Okay Mr. Know It All, then what’s up with her?”

            “I don’t know.” Rolin says seriously. “Either way we can discuss this later for now let’s get to school before we’re late.”

            “Fine.” Nari says relenting.

The pair walks off following after Janghwa leaving Nari’s mother behind as they slowly make their way. She watches on nervously as Nari stumbles around with her crutch and Janghwa rushes ahead taking glances back to look at Nari.

            “Those two, if only they were more honest with each other.” She says sighing. “There’s only so much I can do.”

 

Outside of the school on a large tree branch the man looks on through a pair of binoculars at the walking crowd of children eating a sandwich careful to keep himself hidden. Down below Thora and Taima walk up curiously before they turn into their Fairy forms and fly up into the tree flying in front of the man.

            “Any luck there Harper?” Taima asks curiously sitting on his head.

            “Nope, but at least we’re getting a general location.” He says taking another bite.

            “What general location, they’re junior ranked and there’s only one school in this station, it was obvious that they would be here.” Thora says annoyed by the goings on. “We just need some way to draw them out then we can beat them all.”

            “That won’t be necessary; our target here is Nizana, even if we have to rough up the other two we don’t have to take them on in a fight.” Harper says seriously taking another bite and chewing. “But man I did not expect to see this many kids in this small of a station.”

            “All I know is this better not give you any dumb ideas.” Thora says annoyed.

            “Don’t even, I’m staying super professional about this, but if you wanted to dress up in a school girl outfit for me.”

Suddenly both of them zap him with a jolt of electricity nearly knocking him from the tree branch. He manages to hold the side of the tree clutching it nervously as he tries catching his breath from the sudden shock.

            “Don’t make perverted jokes or else we’ll zap you until your brain dead.” Thora says blushing brightly.

            “It’s embarrassing.” Taima says shyly.

            “Alright please I won’t do it, but please don’t do that again.” He says nervously.

 

Inside of the nurse’s office Nari sits around at a makeshift desk as Aidan sits around shuffling through a series of papers. She stares at Aidan closely with an unflinching gaze as Aidan tries to ignore her looks.

            “Alright if there’s anything you have to ask me go ahead and do it.” Aidan says seriously. “It’s getting really annoying to have you stare at me for so long.”

            “I’ve been wondering, how are Fairies different from humans?” Nari asks curiously.

            “Do you want the obvious answer or do you want me to give you a biology lecture, because we could be here all day if you wanted.” Aidan says jokingly.

            “No I was thinking about Janghwa, after the last fight she’s been kind of moody. I mean is she going through a phase or is it something that all Fairies go through?”

            “Listen, you should stop thinking about the differences between Humans and Fairies and look at the similarities.” Aidan says seriously. “And about Janghwa, she’s a kid, but there’s a reason that young Fairies such as herself are uncommon to see in these fights.”

            “Why?”

            “Because they’re just kids, it’s not very reasonable to force a child onto the battlefield, and she must be dealing with a lot of stress because of it.” Aidan looks on seriously staring at Nari. “She’s been stuck in an unreasonable situation and now the two of you have no choice but to fight.”

Nari looks down unwilling to lift her head as she thinks of Janghwa. “Is there any way to make her feel better?”

            “That’s all up to you; you’re here deal Noona aren’t you?” Aidan says seriously with a grin on her face. “You’re going to need to heal up to; your body still isn’t back together yet so fighting is out of the question to.”

            “Speaking of that, what happened to me?” Nari asks confused. “All I remember was a fight and then I ended up walking up in a hospital with no one explaining how I ended up there.”

            “Your body was pretty much drained of all of your energy, all of it suddenly and you were in a state of shock similar to the effects of a stroke or a heart attack, but not as serious.” Aidan looks down on Nari seriously. “Well it’s still serious, but you’re not likely to die from it at least at this level.”

            “How?”

            “Element Union, it’s a power up that in video game terms increases all of your stats and uses your hit points as fuel.”

            “Alright, so Janghwa did it? Is that why she’s acting like this?”

            “Most likely, how would you feel if you hurt someone you cared about accidently?” Aidan walks off with a grin on her face. “I’m off for lunch, sit around and wait out your school day your still injured you know.”

            “And I left home just to get stuck in another room for hours on end.”

            “Don’t worry about it; I’ll bring you some food back when I’m done. Maybe something that could give you a bit more energy.”

            “As long as it doesn’t taste awful I’ll eat it.” Nari says somewhat disinterested.

 

Outside of the school Harper sits around of the school with Taima and Thora sitting on his shoulders. He looks through the binoculars as he notices a figure walking out of the building followed by another.

            “Good, we’ve found someone.” Taima says seriously. “One of those two is a Fairy, with the one I sensed earlier that makes two.”

            “Well if we’re lucky one of them is Nizana, let’s head out to kick their ass after schools over the kiddies need their education.” Harper says jokingly with a grin on his face.