She glanced at him from time to time, and still, he would not even blink. He looks lost in his own world and thoughts.
The ride has been going on for quite a while now, all the youngsters were pretty worn out as they kept yawning. A couple reclined with their backs against the walls of the cage, others on each other by using their bodies as supportive pillows.
"Hey, do you think they would welcome us there?" Melos asked suddenly.
Aram scoffed.
"Wait, what are you actually looking forward to? A hero's welcome? We're the runt of society, dummy. Evil dispatched to our death!" Aram supplied harshly.
"I'm sure they wouldn't be so bad." The girl responded.
"I hope so. Well, you don't seem that bad, but you're not like us. Why are you here?" Melos asked her.
She smiled.
"I'm the girl who killed her mother during birth." She responded.
Melos' eyes widened with dawn realisation. Her index finger pointing as she tried to recall something.
"It is you. You're that girl. Um..the egg seller's daughter! You're Tomoko!" She exclaimed excitedly.
At the mention of her name, everyone suddenly paid attention.
"Tomoko?"
"Wow, that trouble maker Tomoko?"
There were whispers now, even Aram seemed invested.
"Is it true that you can create wind spirals?" Raji suddenly asked.
Tomoko was silent. She did not enjoy the attention which she was getting but the other little faces seemed to be demanding that she make a performance.
She suddenly raised her hand and started twirling her index finger. A little tornado seemed to be forming but it was really small. Not enough to make any impact.
Then she stopped.
"Wow, you're so cool!" Melos exclaimed excitedly, her hands coming together to clap.
"Yeah. I wish I could do a trick like that, I'll be rich!" Raji said.
"All you care about is money." Junta chipped in.
"Tell me, what is better than having a lot of money? Even kings would come to see me." Raji said.
"Power. If I had something like that, I would have so much power that the whole world would fear me." Junta argued.
"Money is power." Raji insisted.
"Says who?" Junta demanded.
"But if you have that power, shouldn't you have been getting training?" Melos asked Tomoko.
The little girl's eyes fell. It has been fifteen years since she was born into this cruel world. Fifteen years since her mother died right after she had been born and all she heard was how she had killed her mother from within.
"Ah! Child's play! You don't know what real power is." Aram argued.
"Maybe you should tell us." Tomoko said, her eyes squinting as she was making it clear she did not like him.
"You better not cry when you see it, princess." He teased her.
"Call me princess one more time and I'll -" Tomoko was still speaking when she suddenly kept quiet.
Aram, desperate to still install himself as the leader, suddenly started rubbing his hands against each other. As he did so, smoke seemed to be coming out of them.
He started rubbing it even faster and there was more smoke causing the children to start coughing.
"Cut it out, Aram!" The third girl, a chubby yet cute one with a dimple at the side yelled at him.
"And if I don't?" Aram demanded as he angrily placed his hands down.
He did not deal well with challenges. Not when he wanted everyone to fear him.
Suddenly, chaos started.
His hands had suddenly erupted into flames and caught the straw in the cart.
The children panicked especially as the fire was burning really fast. They started screaming and those close to the driver's side started calling to Mojito driver to stop.
Aram on the other hand actually thought that he was burning as he started panicking. Waving his hands around wildly and each time he did, the flames would fall onto the ground while he cried out.
"Tomoko, do something!" Melos yelled at her.
Wait, seriously. What did they expect her to do? Her tornado was not even big enough to ruffle one's hair.
"Do what?" She demanded.
"Something. Anything! You're the one with the wind power here!" Melos yelled.
Tomoko was certain that it would not work but it was probably worth a try as she tried to conjure it again.
"Humph." She grunted when it would not light up. Not even the small one she was used to.
She was trembling all over and shaky.
"No. Not now. Focus, Tomoko. Focus!" Melos screamed while banging against the rungs.
"I'm trying! Stop yelling!" Tomoko screamed and tried again.
Suddenly the cart was brought to an abrupt halt and Mojito came down from the driver's seat. He quickly pulled off his gloves as he came around to the side of the cagey cart. Instantly, he seemed to draw back his hands and pushed forward with his palm directly facing their way.
And then there was a quick flow of water from him which poured heavily into the cart.
And the fire was out.
Then he made his way around as he unlocked the cart. The youngsters were in there all drenched and the cart itself was wet.
"Who did this?" Mojito demanded.
They all pointed at Aram.
Seeing that he had been given up, Aram shrugged and his face spread into a nervous smile.
"Um, sorry?" He muttered. Whether as a question or a statement, no one could tell.
"Come here." Mojito said to him.
Aram hesitated, but Mojito was not one to repeat himself. Instead, he stood there, a scowl on his face.
Realising that there was no way out or around this, Aram stepped forward to the entrance of the cage.
"Hands." Mojito said to him.
Aram brought forward his hands. It was then he noticed that they were not burnt. It was all in his head. The pain was because he panicked.
Just as he had done the day that he lost everything. That was something he bore deep inside as a secret.
"I see. Fire elementalist." Mojito said as he brought the bunch of keys hung on his belt and then unlocked Aram's shackles.
"Are you going to kill me?" Aram asked.
Mojito blurted out a laugh.
"Eh! Kill you? No boy. You're riding with me. Now, off you get." Mojito said to him.
Aram jumped off the cart, beaming all over like he had just won a trophy.
"What about us? Our clothes are wet and so is the cage." Tomoko said.
"The rest of you remain here silently. One more misdemeanor and I would deal with you all myself." Mojito said as his eyes glanced at the boy close to the entrance.
He was still not moving, and did not seem to have cared one bit about what had happened. Not even the fact that his clothes were wet or that the water was dripping into his eyes slowly.
"Crazy kid." Mojito said as he locked the cart again.
He and Aram made their way to the driver's seat as they mounted. Aram was feeling a little too special at this point as the cart started moving again.
The rest of them had no other choice but to sit in the wet and scattered base of the cart. Most of the straw had been burnt up in that encounter leaving just then iron beneath that was not really fun to sit on.
Tomoko started sitting close to the boy again.
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked him. "That fire was pretty bad, wasn't it?"
He did not say a word to her and eventually, she gave up.
The noise and sounds in the cart had eventually died down and soon, all the kids were too exhausted to cause further trouble.
There were yawns of exhaustion flying around as the journey had eaten far into the night. One after the other, their eyes started closing as they fell asleep. Everyone was sleeping soon in the cart except the strange boy.
It was becoming harder to tell if he was alive or not at this point with how he kept staring in front of him like he was in a trance.
Mojito at some point stopped the cart and he could see that Aram too had fallen asleep with his mouth open. The youngster had fallen on Mojito's shoulder and he gently pushed him up so his head reclined against the cart.
Then he himself reclined too with his arms folded across his chest.
Eventually, the night gave way to the morning and by the time the kids were awake, they had already arrived at their destination.
Mojito came around and opened the cart, demanding that they all alighted. Everyone opened and surprisingly, even the unspeaking aristocrat knew to come down.
They all huddled together as they glanced around.
"Hey guys!" Aram greeted them, beaming all over.
No one was happy to see him.
"This way. The teachers are waiting." Mojito said to them as he led them forward.
As they approached, they noticed that the teachers were all waiting and there were some boxes in front of some of them.
"Greetings, new intakes. I am Sensei Akashi, the headmaster here. And you all are welcome to Camp Kataguri." A man, really tall, all his hair was white not excluding his long beard.
He wore immaculate white robes but around his waist was a black belt.
Behind him was a very large gate and boldly spelt on it were the words:
キャンプ・カタグリ
[CAMP KATAGURI]