Ash's Training.
A few days later. It's been 3 or 4 days since they joined the soldiers. They kept doing their training. Even though they were scared and confused, they controlled their emotions on one side. Ming, Sofia, Akiko, Luca, Kenzo, and the others were training on the training ground. On the other side, in the training room that was specially made for giving kids training. It was not a small or normal-sized room—it was a really big room, and there were weapons like swords and archery. Not magical, just normal real weapons. That room was so big that around 200 kids could train there, but there was only one kid—Ash.
Daisuke took little Ash to that training room. As they arrived and entered the room, Ash looked around at the weapons. He was fascinated by them. He looked excited but also scared—excited and scared at the same time. He looked around the room with nervousness and with excitement. Daisuke noticed this mixed expression. He raised his brows, then crouched down in front of Ash and smiled kindly, then said,
"You look excited. Well, you are braver than older people."
Daisuke smiled again at him. He was really impressed by his courage. Then Daisuke got up and walked toward the weapons section. There were a few wooden swords also—for kids' training, obviously. Daisuke took one sword from them, then walked back toward Ash and handed him that wooden sword. That wooden sword was heavy—heavy enough to get Ash ready to hold a real sword soon.
As Daisuke handed him the sword, he stepped back, folded his arms, and asked Ash to attack him. Ash held his sword. He looked at the wooden sword, then he looked at Daisuke. Then he took a deep breath, held his sword with both hands tightly, and started attacking Daisuke. But Daisuke dodged it easily. Ash didn't stop—he kept attacking Daisuke, but Daisuke dodged it without any effort. Ash kept trying. For 1 hour, Ash kept trying without taking any break. Ash's breaths were getting heavy. He was sweating, but the determination in his eyes didn't die.
No—but Daisuke saw something in Ash's eyes. In that little boy's innocent eyes… The thing he saw was pain, loss, fear… and anger.
Daisuke stopped and stepped forward toward Ash, who was still holding his sword tightly. Then he crouched down in front of him and gently took the wooden sword from Ash's hand and told him to sit down.
"Sit down, little one."
As Ash sat down on the floor and Daisuke sat next to him, after a few minutes of awkward silence, Daisuke looked at Ash and said,
"You know, I never saw that much anger and pain in a kid's eyes."
Daisuke paused, then asked with a firm but gentle voice,
"What did you lose? Why are you in that much pain? Why are you in that much anger?"
As Daisuke asked, Ash stayed silent and quiet. He was looking at the floor. Then finally, he started crying silently. Daisuke was just looking at Ash. And then Ash finally began to speak.
"I-I-I lost my mother!!... When we arrived in Japan—first at the airport. The airport blasted. Then everyone's phones started heating up and blasting. At that time, my mother was trying to call my grandmother. But suddenly, the phone got heated up. And before she could understand anything, that phone… it blasted… on my mother's face. And she… she died. I saw it. I saw my mother. I heard her last scream. I saw that. When I was crying, that time we heard a laugh… a laugh. Now I want to punish that person who did that. I want to find that person… like you all."
Then Ash started crying harder. And finally, Daisuke hugged him. Now Daisuke felt bad and pity for him—and anger for the person who was doing that. And as Daisuke hugged Ash, then Daisuke said,
"I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise I will find that person. And we will punish him together."
There was a fire in Daisuke's eyes. His eyes were full of anger—anger for the person who is doing that. Ash cried hard, and Daisuke was trying to comfort him and pat his back gently.
And this scene… someone was watching. That person was Sofia, who had come to check on Ash—who came to check if Ash was comfortable here or nervous. But she stopped there at the door. And when she saw and heard their conversation—Sofia knew that Ash lost his mother. But she never knew that this little boy, who always smiled… he was hiding his pain behind his smile. He was hiding his anger behind his excited, nervous, and scared expression.
Sofia didn't move forward. She felt bad for Ash—but also relief. Because Ash is not alone anymore. Everyone cares for him, and they are with him. Sofia stepped back, turned away silently, and walked back toward the training ground and joined the others.
And on the other side… Ash finally stopped crying.
And started training with Daisuke again.
End of the chapter 10.