Next day. It was Sunday, so the Hikari allowed everyone to take a free day for today. It was the first time that he ever did that.
Everyone did whatever they wanted to calm their mind. The old lady was sitting on a bench peacefully when Soru sat next to her with a cheerful smile. Sofia and Ash were also already sitting on the other side of the old lady. The old lady smiled at Soru and petted his head. Sofia was looking at them curiously, curious about their closeness that made Soru laugh a little bit. It was a quiet, peaceful silence, but then tension was in the air that Soru was trying to calm. Some forgot and decided not to stay stuck in that incident. On the other side, some were still thinking about it and felt sad. Some were angry at whoever was doing that, and some were scared about whatever was going on. In all of them—Soru—he sighed. Then his eyes fell on Akiko, who was not resting. She was still training.
He didn't know why he admired her. He remembered her anger and now her training—and the fire in her eyes. Her sharp, light brown eyes were filled with anger, fire, and determination that impressed him. No one noticed that he was admiring her except the old lady. She smiled. Soru realized that the old lady saw it. He laughed a little bit and rubbed his neck awkwardly.
The old lady said, "Akiko is a nice girl—strong and kind both... beautiful and pretty—like a complete woman."
Soru nodded and still admired her.
Then the old lady said again, "She is perfect... but... you know, sometimes, for someone perfect, we don't see the one who is best for us."
Soru looked at her with confusion, and she continued,
"I'm not saying that she is not the best—she is. Whoever will be with her, that one will be the luckiest guy. I'm just saying sometimes we feel that someone is perfect, but we miss someone who is good for us, because they were not perfect in the way we want. But then when we realize what we missed, we regret—or we never realize who that person was, and we feel something missing."
Soru was puzzled.
The old lady smiled, then looked beside her at Sofia, who was cutting the apple for Ash and laughing, not paying attention to their talk.
On the other side, Soru was confused. Then the old lady said,
"You know, mostly people who were standing close—if we talk, even if they don't want to, they listen. They pay attention, even if we don't know. Or we know, but some people—rarely—some even if they were too close to listen, they don't pay attention and don't listen even a bit. It becomes weirdly comfortable, respectful for others. And that habit of not listening to other's conversations becomes their innocence."
Soru looked confused again by her suddenly changed conversation.
Sofia, who was cutting the apple for Ash, saw Rin, who arrived in the ground. Because of the distraction, she accidentally cut her own finger a little bit. She put the knife beside her and held her finger tightly from the pain. Ash was concerned and said,
"Sister Sofia, your finger is hurt."
Soru, the old lady, and Rin heard it. Soru quickly got up and turned towards her, and the old lady moved away a little bit. Soru sat beside Sofia, and the old lady asked,
"Sofia, are you okay?"
Sofia shook her head. Soru held her finger and tried to stop the bleeding and said,
"You should have been careful."
Sofia nodded. Soru sighed.
Rin walked towards them. Akiko noticed Rin, and her eyes followed him—where he was going. Her eyes fell on Sofia and her injury, and she also rushed towards her. Ash got up and let Akiko sit on the other side of Sofia. She took her handkerchief from her uniform's pocket and started wrapping it around her finger.
Soru and Akiko asked,
"Does it hurt?"
Sofia looked surprised by seeing their care and felt a connection. Then she nodded.
Rin, who was now in front of her, had his arms crossed over his chest and said,
"You are so careless, little girl."
Sofia looked up toward him. He sighed. Then a soldier arrived with a first-aid kit—because when Akiko was wrapping her handkerchief around Sofia's finger, Rin had asked a soldier to bring a first-aid kit.
He took the first-aid kit from the soldier's hand and said,
"Good job. Okay, you can leave, Aran."
The soldier nodded and left.
Then Rin turned towards Sofia and crouched down in front of her. He put the first-aid kit beside him on the ground, opened it, then unwrapped the handkerchief from her finger, applied ointment, and put a bandage on her finger.
Everyone was watching in surprise. Then Rin said,
"This is the last time. If I see next time that you hurt yourself like this, then it will not be good. We are soldiers here. We can't be that careless. You know how strict I am. So this is a warning."
Sofia nodded hesitantly. Rin sighed again, then got up and left.
Soru looked at Sofia and said,
"Don't take that old man seriously. He is just grumpy."
Sofia listened, then said,
"Sir Rin was not wrong… and… be respectful. He is one of the trainers. He said that for our good. He is like our teacher and… we should respect our teachers."
Sofia said that hesitantly, shyly. Soru smiled kindly at her.
Akiko rolled her eyes at Soru's comment about Rin. She patted Sofia's shoulder and left.
Soru noticed her reaction and smirked. The old lady noticed everything. She sighed.
---
On the other side, our Ming—who was alone inside the building on the second-floor hall—was walking around. He walked back and forth, back and forth, and was still thinking about everything: First monsters and Kenzo, then the weird dream, then another nightmare, that soldier's death, and now that Soru. He could not trust Soru.
Wonder. Who is he?
Not only him—Luca was also wondering about these things. He was in the room, sitting on the bed.
Both from different places, both said one same thing now:
"Who is behind these things? And who is Soru?"
---
On the other side, Kenzo—who was observing Sofia's interaction with others silently from a distance—had no expression.
On the other side again, Rin—who had arrived back on the ground—stopped near a pillar and watched Soru from a distance and kept his eyes on him, as Hikari had asked.
But then his eyes fell on Kenzo. Rin noticed his emotionless facial expression. Rin felt weird about it. He felt something was wrong about Kenzo.
At that time, Rin forgot about Soru and kept looking at Kenzo suspiciously.
Kenzo noticed his gaze, and their eyes locked into each other. Both of them refused to break eye contact.
Rin felt a weird challenge from Kenzo's cold gaze—like Kenzo was challenging him silently. Rin clenched his fists. He didn't know what to feel. He kept looking at him—suspiciously and seriously.
And Hikari and Amaya noticed it from a distance and exchanged glances. Amaya was confused. Meanwhile, Hikari was in deep thought, then looked at Kenzo without any expression.
No one knew what was happening, but whatever it was… happening—and the quietness…
It was like a silence before the storm.
---
End of the chapter 16