"Wha- What did you…?" I trailed off in shock. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. He was prejudiced against us because we were Japanese.
"Don't you know what the Japanese did in China?" He scoffed, "I hate the Japanese and to have to be around and teach a bunch of them makes me uncomfortable." My heart started pounding against my ribcage and a lump formed in my throat.
"But- But before that, China was responsible for the Mongol invasion… Isn't world history filled with invaders and the invaded?" I retorted.
"Then you approve of what Japan did?" My ears grew hot and my face flushed at his accusation. I felt a hand on my back; I looked over to see Naru nod in reassurance.
"No, I don't" I declare, "That is not what I meant. Japan did do some terrible things and I think we must never forget that." I went on, "Terrible deeds are just that - terrible, but if we hold on to grudges forever, we'll never move on."
Gene pat me on the shoulder and he took over for me, "If we harbor grudges, we'll keep hating each other for eternity and that's just wrong. It's completely unacceptable!" Gene declared, "Lin-san, it's one thing if you want to hate us personally, but don't hate us because we're Japanese."
"Yes, that is stupid and it's offensive to our sensibilities." Naru brought the finishing blow. Lin paused in thought for a moment then he doubled over in laughter.
"I can't believe I am being told off by a bunch of kids." Lin laughed. He got up from his chair and walked over to us. I never really noticed how tall he was until he was looming over us now. He reached down and patted us on our heads and said, "I don't hate you guys." He reflected, "We can't erase the psychological trauma of what happened, but I agree; it is stupid to bring national problems into personal relationships." He chuckled a bit more, then he got serious. "So, what do you guys really need?" He asked in teacher mode.
"Gene and I don't remember how the 'Nine Cuts' are performed." I hung my head to try to process all of my thoughts. Lin hates us. He doesn't hate us. He's our teacher. What did I need to clarify again? My thoughts raced through my head and I felt so overwhelmed; we had an argument, but now we're all better?
I felt a big, warm hand on my head. "It's okay, Mai. I am sorry about earlier." Lin apologized. "Let's go back to the garden; I will see how you three have progressed on your own and I will correct you if you make any mistakes." He smiled reassuringly as he continued to pat my head.
I mustered up the courage to look up at him. Lin looked down at me with a gentle smile on his face and all my worries melted away. "Okay! Let's go!" I enthusiastically exclaimed, "We'll race!". I raced down the stairs towards the back door and to the garden. When I reached the opening, Naru and Lin were standing there waiting for me and Gene. How did they get here before us? Weren't they behind us?
Probably seeing the confusion on my or Gene's face, Naru flatly said, "There is a balcony in the library with stairs leading to the part of the garden by the rose maze; it is more efficient to travel through there rather than the back door." I didn't know there were stairs by the balcony.
I caught my breath and straightened up. "Why didn't you tell us Naru!?" I asked, exasperated.
"Well, you two ran off before I could say anything, so Lin and I just decided to wait for you guys to get here eventually." He shrugged nonchalantly.
I felt the rage bubbling up inside of me and when I was ready to unleash it on Naru, Lin interrupted my thoughts, calling me and Gene over to show him how much we had memorized from his brief instructions from earlier, "You two show me what you remember, Gene first." Gene stepped up and recited all the spells almost perfectly if it wasn't for a minor hiccup with the "Nine Cuts". Lin redemonstrated the spells we struggled with after I recited all the spells to the best of my memory.
After a bit more practice, we all decided to call it a day. We all ended up reading in the library until dinner time. Lin joined us and he and Uncle Martin discussed the progress in Naru, Gene, and my training. They decided that Naru had mastered suppressing his abilities, so we will move forward with learning how to use our abilities together. Uncle Martin and Lin decided it was best if we trained at the Society of Psychic Research's headquarters moving forward. Lin went home after dinner; Naru wanted to continue reading, but Gene and I felt drained so we decided to go to bed early.
My dream was the "usual" dream. I astral projected myself to the library to check on Naru. To my surprise, someone was waiting for me. "Took you long enough," Gene mused, "I thought we went to bed at the same time?" I was left speechless. I have never seen anyone else in my dreams before and I didn't know what to make of it. Gene explained, "Naru and I share clairvoyance and retrocognition, but only I can see spirits and astral project myself. As you know, he has very strong PK-ST and PK-MT abilities; I am able to absorb, amplify, and send back to him." Gene silently observed me as I absorbed all of the new information just presented to me.
"Have you and Naru always known?" My question was met with a confused look, so I clarified, "Have you and Naru always known that you both have extraordinary abilities?"
"Naru had caused poltergeists since we were children." He continued while staring off into the ceiling, "Our biological father had abandoned our biological mother before we were born because of Naru's poltergeist even in utero; eventually, our biological mother abandoned us as well. Her mental health began to deteriorate the stronger our stronger our powers grew and I guess she had enough when she dropped us off at the doorsteps of the orphanage when we were 4 or 5. She never gave us a name; she couldn't even tell us apart. She only spoke to us in Japanese, so we had to learn english when we started living at the facility." He looked back down at me, "Oh no, don't cry…" he said as he wiped away my tears. I didn't even realize I was crying, but I couldn't stop once I started. "It's okay! It's okay!" He comforted me, "It's because of that, we were able to meet you and now we have an awesome family, so don't cry for the past Mai." I couldn't comprehend how their biological parents could be so cruel. I could never understand the damage their upbringing could do to their hearts. I could only hope that I could help them heal with time. "It's okay, Mai." He cooed, "Go to sleep now…" and, with that, I fell into a deep dreamless slumber.
MissTurtleGurl: Hey, again, everyone! Sorry for the short chapter this time, but I hope you all enjoyed it. Please remember to leave your review to let me know what you think about So Stupid and be sure to follow and favorite so that you will be notified when I post my next update. Chapter 5 should be coming in about 1-2 weeks. I look forward to hearing from you all!