Four Years

A Side Story of Silver Apple

They worshiped me at the place I was born and raised. They said I was the reincarnation of the Buddha. I was never viewed as a kid when I was young and wasn't treated as a "normal" person after I grew up to a teenager. I knew people were afraid of me because I could do many things that others couldn't do and they didn't know there was such a thing called cosmo. When I became the Virgo saint and came to the Sanctuary, I thought I could stop being a divine creature. After all, having a cosmo is a common thing in the Sanctuary.

Two years went by in the Sanctuary and I received a new title – the man closest to the gods. Needless to say, this title kept others away from me; or it was the other way around, it kept me away from others. I had to say this was an improvement because now I was no longer the reincarnation of the god Buddha himself; I was "downgraded" to "the man closest to the gods". I was not sure if I should be happy about it. From time to time, I talked to the other gold saints but the conversations hardly touched any personal subjects. Sometimes I thought maybe it was me that had problems because most of the other gold saints did not seem to have any issue making friends. Milo and Aphrodite could get into personal conversations the second they saw each other; Aiolia talked and even trained with different ranks of saints and trainees; Kanon fought street fights with neighborhood bullies and Saga was referred to as a down-to-earth angel. I still remained as the same old me and talked to myself in my meditations.

One morning, I was reading a book in the living room when I sensed someone came into my temple. It was an unfamiliar cosmo and no one had let me know that someone would be passing my temple that day.

The "intruder" was a blond haired kid who was no older than 14 years old. He obviously was shocked when I appeared right in front of him, so he backed off several steps.

He must quickly realize that I was the owner of the Virgo Temple:"Good morning, Virgo Sama." He said, "I'm Lecerta silver saint Misty. I'm summoned to see the pope today." He referred me as Virgo Sama probably because he didn't know my name.

I saw the Lacerta cloth box he was carrying on his back and nodded to let him know he could pass now.

The moment I turned around to go back to my room, I heard him say that:

"Your eyes are so beautiful."

I abruptly turned back to face him and he almost jumped a little at that. His big blue eyes were widened like a small child who thought he did something wrong but didn't know what he did was wrong.

I stared at him. No one had ever complimented me on my looks. Actually no one had ever made any comments on my looks. That was something only mortals should be concerned about.

"I…I'm sorry." The kid said, "I need to leave to see the pope now. Goodbye, Virgo Sama." He walked fast toward the exit of my temple.

A small rock had been thrown into the lake of my heart.

When the next morning came, I found myself still thinking about the comment Misty made on my eyes. I did something I never thought I would care to do. I asked one of my students the time schedule the silver saints usually gathered in the training arena and started to visit the arena daily.

Day after day, I slowly gathered bits and pieces of information on Misty. He was only 12, but he was tall and therefore looked one or two years older than his age. He liked to stay neat and good looking all the time even during training and he cared about what his friends thought about him. In fact, many people liked to be around him and he had a lot of friends. Being at such a young age, he had already got good people skill, which was one thing I still hadn't learned to master till today.

I did well hiding myself and didn't think anyone noticed my daily routine to the arena. When I sensed someone walking close to me that day, it was already late to leave.

"You didn't notice me coming up till now?" Camus asked surprisingly and that made me shameful of how off guard I was.

"You've been here every day for a while, what are you doing Shaka?" He was talking to me but looking elsewhere.

I didn't have to look in that direction to know he was looking at Misty training with Asterian.

Since that day, my secret daily routine became a secret that both Camus and I share. He asked once if I was going to talk to Misty at least, but I was unable to give him an answer. I could not give out an answer I did not have. He had not asked me again.

Four years later.

Camus walked Misty out of the Scorpio Temple. I kept my eyes on the poker game but my mind had walked outside with them.

Camus came back inside and sat next to me. He watched Aphrodite and Milo for a moment and said:

"How long do you think he'll last with those two?"

The End