"So you are a bully!" Phill said with added confidence now that the boss was with them.
"I knew you were right Phill! Get him boss!" Bill said, his face turning solemn.
"Pfft—" Jamie burst out laughing. "I'm just kidding guys he's just my new friend."
Phill and Bill both relaxed, their tense shoulders dropping.
"I told you no one could bully the boss Phill, I knew you were wrong." Bill said, completely in opposition to what he had literally just said ten seconds earlier.
"Oh, sorry Bill, sorry boss. And sorry—" he looked me in the eye. "Uh what's your name?" Phill asked innocently.
"It's Reno." I said.
"Sorry Reno. You should say it too Bill."
"Wha—" Bill flinched instinctively as if he really didn't want to. Jamie gave him a look. "R-right. Sorry Reno."
"It's fine it's fine, don't worry about it." I brushed it off. It wasn't anything serious.
"Listen up you two," Jamie said to the interesting duo, "This is Reno, my newest friend and our new member."
"New member? Member of what?" I couldn't help but ask.
"I'm glad you asked Reno," Jamie paused for dramatic effect. "We are the—"
""Stop!"" Phill and Bill turned red, both of them raising their voices at the same time.
"What?" Jamie said.
Bill panicked and began looking around aimlessly. "W-we can't add a member before we have everyone here can we?"
"Y-yeah that's right!" Phill added. "We gotta wait for Finn."
Jamie's expression turned from excitement to neutral. "I guess that makes sense."
"Who's Finn?" I said.
"He was our newest member before you, Reno." Bill said. "He's sort of like… a cool guy."
"A cool guy? What?" That's the first thing that comes to his mind?
"You know," Jamie said, "The type of person who is super calm and stylish."
"Yeah he wears a scarf even when it's really hot. He always wears it." Phill said in admiration. "He shows up like a ninja and sometimes he says cool things like 'As distance tests a horse's strength, time reveals a person's character.'"
He shows up like a ninja? And what kinda kid says that?
"Huh?" Jamie blurted out. "What does that even mean?"
"Pfft, as if I know." Bill shrugged.
"Actually Reno when I said that nonsense about the sky earlier—it was because I heard Finn say something like that before." Jamie admitted.
What? Is this Finn really seven or so years old? Does he memorise quotes in his free-time or something?
"He once told me 'the magic you're looking for is in the work you're avoiding' but how did he know my homework was about magic?" Bill asked, perplexed.
Uh Bill, I don't think that's what that quote means. From what I could tell this Finn person was what kids nowadays would call an 'aura farmer'.
"I didn't." A childish but unique voice echoed out from next to me.
"Ahhh." Bill stumbled backwards in surprise. "Can you stop showing up out of nowhere Finn!?"
He was dressed in all black, with black hair and brown eyes. His stance was closed off, his arms folding over each other on his chest.
He had on a red scarf which elegantly swayed in the wind. His gaze stayed on Bill for a moment before it returned to the distance, where he clearly preferred to look.
A scarf and all black in this blistering weather? Still, it seemed more like he was opting to not make eye contact because it made him uncomfortable rather than to look cool.
"Hmph." He shrugged.
"Now that we're all here I'll start the introductions. First let's start with our newest friend, Reno!" Jamie raised both his arms in a grand gesture.
""Oh."" "Hm" They all clapped.
"Nice to meet you all." I added.
"Reno has beat me in a race before."
Their eyes collectively widened in shock.
"Not bad." Finn said.
"He managed to beat you even though you always start early boss?" Bill said with surprise.
Jamie choked. "M-moving on, these two are the farming twins, Phill and Bill."
We all clapped.
"This is Finn, the aspiring ninja."
We clapped. What an interesting aspiration. I guess kids dream of becoming all sorts of things.
"And finally I'm Jamie, the leader of our elite group called the—"
"Wait wait—" Phill and Bill cried in unison.
Finn looked towards Jamie briefly before returning to look into the distance. "Don't do it." He murmured, slightly furrowing his brows.
"We're the Epic Gang!" Jamie cried out with a smile.
Cringe.
Bill facepalmed, "Did he just say it Phill?"
"Yeah I think he did Bill…" Phill said dejectedly.
"Tch, I knew that name wasn't cool enough." Finn said, grimacing.
"What do you think about the name Reno?" Jamie asked, his eyes full of stars.
Everyone else paused and turned to look at me.
Ah, peer pressure. I didn't miss this feeling.
"I think it's… a pretty lame name." I said my honest opinion.
"Aww shucks." Jamie said scratching his head.
"Told you boss." Bill said shaking his head, as if this moment was inevitable.
"Have you got any ideas for a better name for us, Reno?" Jamie said, looking towards me as if I was his last hope.
A better name? Anything would be better than that.
"Well…" I thought for a moment. "Is there anything you all have in common?"
"I like toast." Bill said. No surprises there.
"We're all quite fast and good at hide and seek?" Jamie said.
"I like toast too." Phill said, copying his twin brother.
"I'm like the wind." Finn said softly, his scarf swaying dramatically as he turned away from us.
That was not helpful at all Finn. In fact, none of these facts were very useful. Maybe I had to reframe the question somehow.
"How about a shared goal? Like a dream you all have for your futures?" I said as I realised it'd be best to name the group after some shared motivation.
"A goal?" Bill rubbed his cheek.
"Hm." Finn adjusted his scarf.
"Dreams…" Phill murmured.
"That's it!" Jamie's eyes lit up. "From now on we'll be The Little Dreamers!"
The Little Dreamers. It was a silly name. But also, maybe the best kind of name.
"Hm, better." Finn said nonchalantly.
"It's better right, Bill?" Phill said unsure.
"Of course Phill!" Bill said puffing his chest out. Apart from Jamie, he seemed the happiest about the new name.
"Perfect! Then from today onwards we're the Little Dreamers and Reno is our newest member!" Jamie said excitedly.
I still don't recall saying I wanted to join—but whatever.
"But why are we dreamers?" Bill asked.
"That's simple." Jamie said. "You and Phill both want to be famous farmers like your dad, right?"
"That's true." They both answered in unison.
"We know that Finn wants to be a ninja."
"Hm." He nodded as he flicked his scarf.
"And I want to be the best merchant ever!"
"Boss," Phill said. "Didn't you miss someone out?"
"Ah, Reno." His expression turned complicated. "We can't name ourselves the Little Dreamers if even one of us doesn't have a dream…"
That was an interesting way of thinking—I understood why Jamie was the leader. He was always considerate of everyone in the group.
"Don't worry there's something I want to do in the future, too." I said.
"What is it?" Bill asked. They all collectively turned their heads - even Finn, briefly.
"Become the best magician ever!" I said grandly with a grin.
The Little Dreamers huh? A warm feeling settled in my chest. But at the same time, a part of me wondered: how many of us would stick to our dreams when the pressures of adult life mounted? When we weren't kids anymore?
"Woah!" Jamie smiled, "That's so cool!"
"You can do it Reno—we saw you use magic already!" Phill said in encouragement. Finn's eyes lit up.
"You can use magic already Reno?" Finn asked clearly surprised.
"Yeah—a little." I rubbed my nose. The gazes of admiration from my peers did feel pretty nice.
"So Reno and Jamie want to be the best ever, your dreams are really similar." Phill noted.
"Then…" Finn's scarf shifted, revealing his mouth. "Then I'll keep up with you too and be the greatest ninja that ever lived." He moved his scarf back over his mouth. His words made me think he was going to say 'believe it!' next.
Everyone's expression - other than mine - turned to shock. "You're really talkative today Finn. Usually you just say 'hm' and 'ah'." Bill said. Finn turned away, ignoring him.
"Fine since everyone wants to be the best, I'll be the greatest farmer too!" Bill paused. "You'll be right there with me too, right, Phill?"
"Uh I'm not sure but," Phill said, taking a moment to think about his next words carefully. "If I can make dad happy and if I can farm together with you Bill, I don't need the greatest farm." Phill smiled. "Wouldn't you be happy as long as we had our own farm?"
"O-of course. Y-yeah." Bill said nervously.
Well it was normal to want to have as much as possible when you were young. Perhaps when they were older Phill and Bill's perspectives would swap. Maybe Phill would realise the power of money and change his mind, or Bill would experience the ruinous consequences of greed and settle for what he has.
"Now that we all know our dreams, we have a new member to welcome in!" Jamie said, changing the subject.
"Didn't you just do that with the introduction?" I said, confused that he wanted to welcome me again.
"Nope. That was uhm," he itched his nose. "Part one of the welcome. Now it's time for the real thing."
"Hm, finally." Finn said.
"Boss is it the usual?" Bill said as he yawned.
"Of course." Jamie said. "Reno, let's play a game."
"What game?" A welcome game, that sounded nice.
"Chaos tag."
Isn't that what Silvia mentioned I didn't want to know about earlier? I was getting a bad feeling about this.
"Don't worry it'll be fun, I'll tell you all the rules but for now—" they all took off, sprinting towards the central plaza's exit. "Just run!"
"Wa-wait!"
"Don't worry about it Reno and just run like last time—last one to the inner district is a rotten Mereon fruit!"
"Ahh whatever!" I chased after them hoping to make up the distance they'd covered as I did.
The first person in front of me was Bill, the first farming twin. Considering his size he was pretty speedy, but I managed to close the gap after a couple strides.
"What? No way—already?" Bill said as I passed him.
Next was Phill, the second farming twin. He was considerably behind Finn and not too far in front of Bill. It seemed like he could've went quite a bit faster but he preferred to be next to his twin.
"You really are fast Reno." Phill smiled as I sprinted past.
Next was Finn, the aspiring ninja. He was only slightly behind Jamie. If Jamie didn't have a head start they would definitely be neck and neck.
"N-not bad, newbie." Finn said through baited breaths, his scarf muffling his voice slightly.
If he had chosen to wear shorts and dropped the scarf he'd probably be the fastest. Except for me, of course.
"Coming through." I blitzed past him, my final target in sight.
"Remember this Reno, the best pace is one that challenges you but allows you to enjoy the journey." Finn said from behind me, his voice trailing off as I put more distance between us.
Ah—it's another one of Finn's signature quotes. It sounded like one of those things adults preached but never really lived by.
But… maybe there was some truth to it. Maybe that's what this second life was about: finding my own pace. Not too fast. Not too slow. Just fast enough to enjoy the run without burning out halfway.
I tried not to dwell on it too much. I still had a race to finish, after all. Seriously though, where does Finn get these quotes from? Honestly, he should start a podcast.
"Catch me if you can!" Jamie said as he tried speeding up after seeing my approach.
Just a little further—
Zoom!
"Ah?"
I zoomed past him, no one else's figure in front of me to chase after anymore.
Ahh, that was fun.
I kept running, forgetting about everyone and everything else. Step after step, I watched as the scenery around me blurred, changing from clean prestigious shops to impromptu stalls and various plants sprawled around.
Before I noticed, I was back in the inner district. This time, I hoped to avoid being abducted by a witch.