Jamira and the boy were eating at a coffee shop. Jamira was enjoying his coffee with milk and chunks of brown sugar. The kid was eating all the different kinds of cakes and cheese made of goat milk. The boy had multiple sharp teeth when he ate. His sharklike teeth ripped through food like a shark eating its pray or plankton who attack everything.
" The food here tastes like crud," the boy said spitting out what he just ate. Jamira was sure someone would walk up to the table and talk about the boy's rude actions. But everyone stared in fear, the boy jumped on the table with a ping of anger in his head. " What are you looking at pathetic humans! You should kiss the ground!"
Jamira knew the only reason this boy was staying with him was because he lied to him. The boy wanted to fight and Jamira wanted a friend. Jamira thought since he was quiet and big and the boy was loud and small they would make great friends. He didn't expect how much this boy could eat or how mean he was. Jamira still wanted to be his friend because no one else wanted to be his friend.
" Eshere? You told me your name is Eshere?" Jamira said trying to start a conversation with the boy. The boy didn't look at Jamira biding his time.
" Do you know what the molecular structure of a human being is?" The boy asked.
" No," Jamira answered truthfully.
" Good. Neither do I. What I do know is there will be Mamodo showing up any moment now."
" How can you tell?"
" Some Mamodo's are alerted to the presence of other Mamodo's. I'm one of those Mamodo's."
Eshere jumped off his chair and ran towards the windows. The other customers barricaded the windows with two tables flipped down. Eshere leaped over their tables with ease. His hands touched the glass as a girl no older then him walked past the coffee shop. She didn't have the ability to sense other Mamodo otherwise she would know not to walk so close. Her face was depressed. Small tears were dripping from her face. She was nothing like Eshere who was tough and never sad about anything.
" A Mamodo walking all alone. Green hair and not carrying a book. If she's not carrying a book that means she's found a place to put it. The only place she could possibly put her book is a home; the place her book owner lives. "
" You want to fight her now?" Jamira said at the counter.
" No. Fighting a Mamodo without a book is pointless. If you don't burn their books they won't return home. That is why we must follow this Mamodo home."
" Are you going to burn his book there?" Jamira Paragraph
" No. If I burn their book without a fight what would that accomplish? I'll still be weak, puny, and deceitful .I wants to be more than that. I will become the ultimate Mamodo, and I will win all my battles by being fair. And I will give my opponents the chance to learn new spells...give them a shinning piece of hope...just to see it all go away."
" Sir, this credit card is cancelled," the lady at the cashier said. Jamira flinched. He stole that credit card from a kid in school. " What's your name?"
Jamira was nervous and gulped down his sweat trying to think of the perfect lie to tell this waitress. Suddenly, Eshere dashed towards the register and flip front towards her. Eshere kicked the waitress in her neck pushing her into the wall. Jamira panicked. She was unconscious and he cut see a gash in her hair.
" What did you do that for?!" Jamira shouted.
" She was going to call the police on my partner and put you in juvenile hall," Eshere smirked. " I can't waste time following my one and only book owner around in some crummy building with the rest of the dumb delinquents like you. That will be you trapped in juvenile hall unless you can give me all my powers."
Jamira had nothing to say. He and Eshere fled the coffee shop. He would take Eshere back to his secret hiding place or the park. Both places gave him plenty of space to run away from the police. Eshere however was the one leading Jamira. Eshere wanted to continue with the plan and follow the green haired Mamodo back to her home. Like a thunder rumbling inside his brain Eshere hatched a big plan.
XXX
Kousuke still didn't care about Hikari's feelings or how she came to his school. He was so angry all the time he didn't notice things like social interactions or friends. Kousuke went through History unturned by this. A lot of the classmates whispered mean things to Kousuke like calling his heart black, how his grotesque appearance matched his feelings, and who wants to be friends with a monster who looks like a little boy? This happened all the time at school.
After Biology the bell rang and Kousuke was allowed to go home. Being along was the only solitude he found in his life and reading was just like having a vivid dream to him.
Ninety-five percent of people are used to seeing someone who stands out. They are used to people with autism, down syndrome, old ladies with the bodies of children, and people making strange sounds. What people weren't used to was Kousuke and his hunchback. Little kids who watch a lot of Halloween movies mistake him as a monster going around killing people. Who wanted to be friends with a monster?
People want to see Kousuke in handcuffs and in prison so he can't hurt anyone. They can't put him there because he's done nothing wrong to the families of the kids he goes to school with or his neighbors. He already lived a life of distantlation and rejection, they flat out avoid him. If he had a seizure and it looked like he needed help people would just walk away from him even his teachers.
Kousuke was back in the same part of the road where he met Hikari as a boy and the real headless horsemen. It didn't seem like he was going to be greeted by them together which was a relief. Kousuke would usually use this time to re-read parts of his textbook, but today he was thinking about what to cook for Hikari when he returned.
" Something spicy would make her run around the house instead of her asking too many questions. Made something easy like salad could keep her busy. Or I can just make her scrambled eggs. They have lots of protein."
" Kousuke!"
Kousuke froze. He saw Hikari running towards him carrying her book. Kousuke couldn't remember if he carried the book or left it at home. Was she here to rub more things in his face? Kousuke was too angry to even care why she was here and just wanted to yell at her.
" What are you doing here?! Go home!"
" There's strange people in the house," Hikari cried. " Their scary."
" It's probably just more police officers there to ask me more questions. Go back and tell them I am on my way home."
" No. There was this big scary guy and this small scary guy. They were after this." Hikari raised her book up to show Kousuke. Kousuke realized how they were.
" It's another one of those guys with their Mamodo's for that stupid tournament! Go to the playground. I am going home."
" Alone? Why?"
" Because I've had enough of this whole King of the Mamodo's. They can be the King or Queen for all I care. This whole tournament is interfering with my perfect studies and its time to make it stop."
" You can't quit. We've only begun to fight."
" I am not a fighter. I am a scholar. Find someone else to read from the book or I will burn it."
" Now this is new," a voice cracked through Kousuke's hears making him drop in pain. " A Mamodo who wants to fight and a human who doesn't want to fight. If only I had a video camera."
Kousuke growled. This voice sounded like that last Mamodo who destroyed his home. Kousuke looked up and stared in the eyes of a new Mamodo. His hair was spiky blond instead of pink. He dressed the same way as Zatchbell (Hikari's depiction) but with a brown cloak and white ribbon. He was small, but, his eye were green like large emeralds. His human partner looked like he was in a biker gang of some kind and was big for his age.
" Eshere!" Hikari said in disgust. Hikari glared in Eshere's eyes and Eshere glared at Kousuke.
" You know this guy?" Kousuke asked.
" I know some of the names of the kids I grew up with in the Mamodo World. Eshere was a big meanie who always wanted to fight. He fought animals, Mamodo's the same age as me, and even adult Mamodo's. The teacher's were suppose to punish him so he couldn't join the Mamodo battle."
" Yes I remember the teacher's," Eshere smirked. " For ten minutes the gym teacher yelled at me about my behavior and attitude towards life. He shouted discipline and smacked me three times on the cheek. With the old rules I might've never had the chance to come to Earth, but this is what happens when you play with 300 Mamodo's...no, two hundred and ninety nine pawns and one king."
" I take it you want to burn my book," Kousuke said. " Here. Take it and burn it anywhere you want."
" Kousuke!" Hikari jumped up and down trying to grab the book. Kousuke treated this as child's play moving his book away from her hands.
" Yes I heard you don't want to fight in this tournament. The problem is I really want to fight you. And Jamira here will fight you."
" Huh? But your human partner needs to read from his book to use spells," Hikari said.
" Correct, you green thumb Mamodo. That's right I know you are the Mamodo who can grow plants and flowers. I don't find those spells to put me in any danger. That's why I want to fight you with just my hands and my feet."