Haisha notices Pablo and starts waving. "Hey! Over here!" he yells, a bright smile on his face. "No, no. Over here." Pablo yells back. He does not want to approach the women around him. "It can't be helped, my buddy needs me! Sorry, kind friends!" Haisha gets up and leaves while waving back to the Magiborns around him.
He approaches Pablo with wonder on his face. "This place is awesome. How did it go with the guy that wasn't Ayato?"
Pablo sighs and scratches the back of his head. "He is Ayato. And it didn't go well. I learned a lot though."
"Huh? But he told me he wasn't Ayato. Why would someone lie?" Haisha raises an eyebrow.
Pablo facepalms. "Whatever. I'll just need to find a way to learn sorcery. Do you know where Kori is? Or my sword? We are running out of time." Pablo looks around him once more.
"Yeah, Big Sis is around here. I just don't know where exactly. I have no clue about your sword either." Haisha placed his hands behind his neck. "Hey, namesake," he nudged Pablo with his waist. "I think it's best if we use this time to train. It's better than just barging into the place."
"How can you be so calm? Tsuyoi is probably rotting in there." Pablo furrows his brows.
"Hey, he is my brother. If I'm calm, then you can trust me."
"And he is my friend." Pablo spits back. "Well then I outrank you, don't I?" He puts on a smug face and begins walking. "This little…" He scoffs and begins following him. "Fine. What are you thinking of?"
"I'll spar with some of the people here, lift some weights, eat good food, charge up my Treasure, and make friends. What about you?"
"I think I'll join you for now, figure out what to do. I need to convince that bastard to train me." The two enter through a tunnel and go down to an enclosed training area, filled with many areas to train, fight, or rest. Other than them, only two people are in. One of them is a man holding up a boxing mat. He has a buzz-cut, and his face is scarred. The two of them only wear shorts, and both have pretty impressive physiques, though that leaves Pablo confused, as he doesn't know how muscles work in Magiborn bodies.
The moment Pablo steps in, they pause. Their attention is focused towards him with a confused look on their face. "A Dawnthinker? What the hell are you doing here?" the boxer says. He is taller than the man holding the mat, and has long wavy blonde hair reaching his upper back.
"Don't mind us. We're guests. Isn't that right, Haisha…" Without him noticing, Haisha has already left his side, gone to the punching bags, taken off his shirt, and started hitting it. "Damn," Pablo mutters to himself.
"You may be a guest, but you're not welcome, keep that in mind." He goes back to punching the mat, except harder this time. "Geez, thanks for the warm welcome." Pablo rolls his eyes and sits down. "I'm Ayato's guest, and as far as I'm concerned, he is the one responsible." He adds.
"Just stay out of my sight, then!" He begins hitting the mat harder, and his sparring partner's feet slide off the ground.
A loud sound echoes around the dojo. All three of them stop and look around to see what just happened. The boxing bag Haisha was hitting is fully destroyed, with the sand inside it pouring outside. "Uh… sorry. I hit it a bit too hard." He scratches the back of his neck.
The boxer scoffs. "Impressive, try doing that without your Treasure now." His sparring mate chuckles in response.
"Uhm, my Treasure is over there." He points to his goggles laying on the bench. The boxer looks at him in disbelief and tries to hide it from his face. "Whatever." He puts down his gloves and pats his sparring partner on the shoulder. "Let's do an actual spar now," he says. "Sorry dude, I gotta go push some boulders. Maybe later." His sparring partner returns the gesture.
Pablo listens to the conversation in annoyance and frustration. "Motherfucker…" he mumbles under his breath.
"Fine." The boxer rolls his eyes. He reluctantly looks towards Haisha. "Hey, kid!" he calls out. Haisha looks up in curiosity. "Hm?"
"You want something to punch? Come here. I won't use any sorcery or mana, and you won't use any Treasury." He throws his gloves out of the ring, suspiciously aimed at Pablo's direction. Pablo ducks to avoid them and grunts in frustration.
"Hm, that sounds fun." Haisha approaches the ring. "Everything is allowed, whoever's back touches the ground wins," the boxer says, then looks at his partner, who is about to leave. "Hey, Ventifer! Call everyone here, I think they should see this. Make sure to call my girlfriend too." He grins.
"What was her name, Lepidus?" Ventifer asks. The man nods. "Yeah, yeah that's her."
Pablo gets up, catches onto Haisha, and whispers. "Haisha, this guy is obviously the protege. He'll rock your shit!"
Haisha waves his hand in dismissal. "It's fine. You can't learn without losing, right?" He enters the ring and leaves Pablo appalled. "I think you can learn plenty without losing!" he calls out behind him, but Haisha ignores it.
Haisha starts jumping and stretching his body; the boxer does neither. "What's your name, namesake?"
"You do not need to learn that." He watches him with distaste. Suddenly, many people enter the room, with the majority being the women who were surrounding Haisha just a minute ago. "No, Aurum! Don't hurt him!" one of them calls out.
"Oh, Aurum! That's a nice name. Rolls off the tongue." Haisha smiles.
Aurum looks at the woman and keeps the grin on his face. "Come on, it's just a friendly spar. It's alright honey." He raises his fists and raises his left knee up to his waist.
"Alright! I'm ready." Haisha raises his fists as well, and puts his left foot behind his right. "Should we do a countdown or…" Before Haisha can get his answer, Aurum charges forward and throws a kick. Haisha steps to the side, barely dodging it. Aurum follows it up by swinging his other leg, which Haisha blocks but breaks his guard. "You're strong!" Haisha says.
Aurum then swings his left elbow towards Haisha's face, but he ducks underneath it and sends out an uppercut to his chin. "Ugh!" Aurum steps back just in time, with Haisha's fist grazing his chin.
He notices moisture on his chin and touches it. It's his blood. He tries to ignore it and charges forward again by throwing a left jab. Haisha weaves the jab by dodging to the right, then follows it up by sending his own jab to his face. "This kid knows how to fight…" Aurum thinks to himself, and raises his right hand to block his jab. But that turns out to be a feint, and Haisha instead lands a punch to his stomach that sends Aurum backward.
Pablo watches in awe. It's his first time seeing Haisha fight like this, even if he fought him before. "He isn't just throwing random punches… This is the boxing style, straight from the slums of Thalorien!" Realization dawns upon him. "Even Tsuyoi does not fight like this… who taught him?" he ponders.
Aurum is disoriented after the strike to his stomach but manages to hold on. He looks at Haisha, who is hopping back and forth, his feet shuffling.
The women's worries are replaced by awe, and they start cheering on Haisha. "Go, go! Beat his ass!"
He enjoys the attention and smiles in response. But in exchange, Aurum's smile drops, and he charges forward again. "I can't read his footwork. I should not let him charge first," he thinks.
Aurum draws his fist backward, which causes Haisha to raise up his guard. But then Aurum lowers his weight and places his hands on the floor to sweep Haisha's feet. "Agh!"
Haisha's feet are cut off the ground, and just as he is about to fall on his back, he catches himself with his feet, an incredible feat of balance and strength, and gets up once more. "Huh?!" Aurum still hasn't gotten up properly after the sweep. Haisha uses this to raise up his feet and deliver an axe-kick that Aurum dodges by pushing himself off the ground. "What? I can kick too." Haisha says.
He then shuffles his feet again at incredible speed and charges forward. The unpredictable motion catches Aurum off guard, allowing Haisha to deliver a clean strike to his jaw with his right, and a liver punch with his left. Aurum swings his left fist in desperation. Haisha blocks it with his right and then delivers a barrage of jabs against his stomach, at least a dozen in under a few seconds. With a loud yell, Aurum pushes Haisha away and creates a distance. He is barely on his feet now. "I won't lose to you!"
Aurum cries out and charges forward in a desperate attempt to grapple Haisha and slam him to the floor. Deep inside, he knows this will not work, but his ego says otherwise.
Haisha has plenty of time to read his charge and the obvious attempt to wrestle him, but instead, he raises his fists high up to guard his face. This creates an opening for Aurum to grab him and lift him in the air, then slam him downward to the floor.
Haisha's back touches the floor, rendering him the loser.
"Haisha…?" Pablo breathes out.
The dojo is filled with silence and both fighters' heavy breathing. The women start to leave in a disappointed manner, and so do the rest of the spectators. But Aurum is left confused. Haisha raising his guard that high was a blunder, why would he do that?
"Why? Weren't you focusing on my attack?" he mutters out.
Haisha groans in pain, tries to smile, and plainly breathes out. "I… didn't want them to see you lose. You mean a lot to them…"
Aurum freezes in shock and disbelief. This hit harder than any punch Haisha threw. "Why would you do something like that? I was… treating you as a joke. Why did you let me win?" His pride and anger are replaced with utter confusion.
"You didn't win. I didn't let my personal anger cloud my judgement, but you were driven by your hatred towards my people…" Haisha closes his eyes, barely breathing. The slam really made the air leave his lungs. "…Who is the real winner here?" he adds.
Aurum is left speechless once more, and he just leaves the ring with angry steps, shoulder-checking Pablo in the process. "Fuck off, you two," he says.
Pablo enters the ring and checks on Haisha, worried. "You alright?" Haisha pants out a chuckle. "Yeah, just let me lay here a little. You should go, namesake."
He nods, then reluctantly leaves the ring. He looks back once more before actually leaving. He sees Aurum in the corner, looking solemn and conflicted. As he gets to the main area again, a woman of short height comes up to him. She has short silver hair, with a training robe covering her from neck to toe, its color matching her hair. Her eyes are blue like the ocean, but Pablo tries to look away since he does not want to stare at her. "You're that kid's friend, right?" Her voice shakes, hesitation obvious in her tone.
"You mean Haisha? …I guess so. He is the little brother of a friend of mine, actually." She walks alongside him, curious and wanting to learn more. "We never see Dawnthinkers around here. Master Ayato built a mana barrier to make sure nobody could enter unless they were too powerful. The barrier also shields us from Glacivulcan's weather, it's normally freezing out here. But inside, it's like Flores[1] is right up the door."
Pablo stops walking as he notices something about her voice. It's too familiar. "Wait, you're…"
She blushes and looks away instantly, trying to change her voice. "I'm…?"
"You're the girl from the ship! I know your voice!" he says. She starts visibly shaking and stuttering, paralyzed almost. "I-I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!"
"It is you! Ayato said you were the most awkward one." Pablo laughs, seemingly enjoying her reaction. "He did?!" She starts to shake even more, which gets him slightly worried. "I'm sorry I hit you…" She sits and buries her head in her knees, filled with shame.
"Don't beat yourself up, geez. Usually I'm the anxious one in conversations." He looks away from her, feeling too pitiful to even face her. "Come on, you looked like you were going to ask me something. I'd like to hear it, anything helps."
"You do?" She raises her head and notices that he is doing his best to look away. "You can't even look at me in the face!" She buries her face again.
"Sorry! Sorry!" He starts panicking and tries to think of a solution to save this one hell of an awkward situation. "I didn't look at you because…" He braces himself out of embarrassment. "I'm just nervous around women, please don't mind it."
She slowly gets up and wipes her tears and sweat. "Well, that makes the two of us…" She tries to joke her anxiety away.
"Wait, you're afraid of women too?" He raises an eyebrow. "No, the other way around!" She looks away again and turns her back on him. "Oh, sorry. Well… think of me as a girl then, if that helps. Well, I can't think of you as a man, but I look girlish enough. …According to others, which I disagree with."
She sighs and faces him again. "I just hoped you wouldn't figure it out."
Pablo chuckles nervously. "Yeah, that's a bit hard when it comes to me. That's my entire thing."
"I wanted to ask you some stuff about Nasaki. You say you met him and he sent you, which got me curious and all. I only heard the legends."
"He does not live up to them…" he mutters to himself under his breath. "Honestly, not to be rude, I'm sick of talking about him. Can we talk about something else?"
She nods, a bit hesitant. "Uh, sure. I was also wondering what you were doing here, like I asked before. Why would Master Ayato train a Dawnthinker?"
"That's the problem. He isn't training me, but letting me stay here. And as for that…" He puts a hand on his chin, conflicted over whether he should reveal his nature. "I'm uh…"
"We're here to learn more about Magiborns." Realizing she would never believe him, he decides to take another approach. "Maybe you can help with that? Interview style."
She sucked air through her teeth and grimaced. "I don't know about that. Interviews aren't really my thing."
Pablo let out a breathy laugh. "It's just a few questions. Not about your body, if that's what you're concerned about."
She scratched her chin and thought about it. "Okay, maybe I can do that. Shoot."
"First, I don't even know your name. What's your name?"
"Oh, right. It's Lepidus. You can call me Lepi, though." She smiles, and Pablo returns the gesture. "Alright, Lepi. Mine is Pablo, by the way. I was wondering if you had a Sorcery Technique of your own or not."
"Sure I do. Though I have not fully understood it. And it's a bit scary and personal. I don't know if I'm okay with talking about it." Her voice goes quieter with each word. "That's fine. I don't need to know the details, really. I was just wondering… how would someone with mana get their own Sorcery anyway?"
"Contrary to popular belief, it's not really about meditation. It requires lots of physical work, such as…" Impatient, Pablo cuts her off with a blank, exhausted tone. "…Pushing boulders?"
"Yes, how did you know?" She smiles and chuckles.
"Whatever." He waves the idea away. "But is that all? Just physical stuff?" he adds. "No, it's a bit more psychological as well. Sorcery is cultivated from birth, whether we know it or not. Our personality and traits shape it. And almost all of the time… it snaps into shape when we need it the most. The feeling is weird, to say the least. You're not confused, not at all. You have this almost graceful understanding about it. It doesn't mean you know everything about it when you awaken it, but… you know what it is at its core."
Pablo's brows shot up. "Really? That's weird, it's nothing like Treasures."
"How is it different from Treasures, if you don't mind me asking?" Their conversation has turned into a long, relaxing walk. "It's weird. I don't even recall my Treasure Awakening that well. I was getting robbed, I think I was 15 years old. They pushed my head into a deep puddle of mud to drown me, I guess. But at that moment something just… changed. Something deep within my soul." At this point Pablo just keeps talking, his mouth leaking words without even thinking about it. "I…"
He pauses.
"I don't remember the rest. But given how my Treasure works, I can guess it." He exhales. "That's enough about me though, back to you." He brings back his smile.
"How do you think… Nasaki did it?" he asks.
"I thought you didn't want to talk about him." She raises an eyebrow. "I'm using him as an allegory here. His body isn't made of mana. Pushing boulders probably didn't do anything for him." He shoots back.
"That's an interesting question actually. If what I've heard about him is true…" Pablo interrupts her. "It isn't, but continue regardless."
Confused by his words, she chooses to ignore it. "I think it's simply because… he was Nasaki Ryuko. We may just never know without asking him."
"Asking him doesn't work either, believe me." He waves his hands in dismissal. The two then reach another training hall, and Lepi smiles at him. "I must go now, I'm a bit busy. We can talk later if you would like to continue this."
Pablo smiles back. "Sure. I would love to."
Before leaving the room, she looks at him one last time. "In the meantime, try to control your mana, because it's leaking all over the place." She waves, then shuts the door.
Pablo waves back, frozen in shock. "T-Thanks." He goes pale.
[1] The Third Season of the Sub-Terra calendar. Where the snow stops, heat rises up and flowers bloom once more.