You know, I still don't why Aloe insisted on helping my training process, but two years had gone by and despite my thoughts on her flimsy excuse to support my training and be there to greet me at the end of each day I didn't deny her. Even after graduating from Spotlight the woman was adamant about being there.
It was… nice to see someone. To have someone be there to listen to my gripes about aura. I can tell she didn't really understand but it was still appreciated.
Not every teacher in Spotlight could use aura and Aloe didn't seem like she had the will for it.
"Ezekiel, are you sure, you should be running with that log on your back? That's gotta be way nearly a third of what you do."
Well, considering how often I might be expected to travel underneath a fighting load, I might need to. It also trained my core completely if I braced correctly. But to be precise it was just about half my weight of 106 lbs.
"Mhm. " I responded with a grunt as I dropped the log onto the ground, we were behind the school and Aloe had just finished grading her class work.
Still, at my age, log runs were pushing it. I needed to do more directly weighted core training if I wanted to get used to stuff like this more thoroughly.
At the rate that I was going at I wanted to be in weighted clothing by the time that I was 13, it would only be good to wear it during training since I had no interest in being a shrimp. Not that I was too worried since I was going to breach 5' soon enough since I was already 4' 11.
Looking up at the woman in the late afternoon sun I fixed my friend with a side look, "You know, Ms. Dew, if you need me too, I can grade some of your class work. It's not like the material is new and correcting for grammar is something that you know I can do as well."
"You know I can't let you do that, Ezekiel. It's very sweet, but even with your neat handwriting parents are going to question who else is grading this. And Patch has very strict rules about teachers doing their own work and notifying who is working as a teacher's assistant."
Humming, I nod easy enough. We had had this conversation before when I had gone up a grade. I didn't like being in a position where I owed anyone anything, but I also knew that the only person that I had really connected with in this life was this woman who was once my teacher.
Objectively speaking, she had only gotten better looking with age, and I couldn't help but regret that I wasn't old enough to get in a relationship with her. Was it weird that I had seen one the only figures in my life as a pseudo romance option?
Probably, but, Aloe really was a sweet thing. She definitely deserved the best.
"Aloe" "What did you call me!?" "Why did you become a teacher?"
Looking at the green haired woman whose honey colored eyes had widened in surprise, I ignored her question. It wasn't like being called by your first name was the end of the world or anything like that.
If she had an issue with that then maybe she would realize that I wasn't exactly as good as she had been insisting for the last two years. Even if this bit of disrespect would do little to actually stack against all the examples she had built up in her head.
Still, I stared at her passively, not willing to fold. Her face began to flush in surprise.
"Isn't that a bit out of nowhere? Normally you would be talking about how aura was still a mystery to you…"
"I'm not so one dimensional as to not want to know more about my friend."
"I don't think we really qualify as friends, Ezekiel…"
I shrug and look up to the sky, I hope she bought those protein cookies today. My protein intake has become dependent on having those. "Call it what you will then, Aloe, even if I am not your friend, you are definitely mine, and I want to know more about you."
"W-what are you saying!? Uuuu, you…" The sound of her stomping dragged my gaze back to her face. She was definitely a grade A cutie, any man would be lucky to have her. I would definitely commit myself to a life of back breaking labor for a woman like my friend.
Composing herself, Aloe puffed her cheeks out before turning away, before crossing her arms beneath her bust as looked away. "Y-you can't just say stuff like that…"
If she was going to act my age about it then I might as well stare at her like I'm the adult here.
…
"Uuuuu, Stawp it! If you really want to know it's because I didn't want to go to Beacon. But I still wanted to be involved with training Huntsman and Huntresses."
Huh, talk about a complete misread. "You don't look it."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"That I didn't think you had ever hit anyone a day in your life."
"That's rude. Just because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life gallivanting across Remnant doesn't mean I'm untrained."
Humming I take it in. I guess this rose has its thorns then.
"In 20 years where do you see yourself?"
"Maybe I'll still be on Patch, but I hope I have kids by then."
Hmm.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
"You could probably have all that in six years. I don't think that there isn't a single man on this island that wouldn't like to marry you. Let alone see you as the mother of their kids. You would definitely make a good Mom."
It was the honest truth, and I again lament that I am a man in a child's body.
"You think so?"
"I'm sure."
With a giggle that sounded like light bells tinkling I was met with the amazing sight of Aloe at complete ease. And with the mid afternoon sun framing her face the way that it did I was genuinely glad to have received that detention two years ago.
"Here, I brought those Protein cookies you like so much."
Gains!
"Thank you." I say as I gently take the offered bag.
"You know I bet you only said all that because I feed you." The greenette said teasingly.
"I would be a fool to not take food offered freely. Besides, it's not like you were always great at baking." It was funny to see how much that made her floundering and even though I knew I couldn't quite have either a normal friendship or satisfy the part of me that wanted long term companionship with her, Aloe was good company.
"You didn't deny it." And that's because you are feeding me a great way to my heart.
"Just consider it practice for when you become a mother someday." I say to her casually. For some reason my words cause her to flinch minutely.
Well, even whatever it is, Aloe is old enough to bring it up if it is actually important to her. "I should probably get going."
I still had some last bits of training I needed to do before I called it a day. Chores too, I needed a Scroll so I could start checking my form since by my estimation, I should be reaching the point that I wouldn't be wasting my time by starting to use heavier weights.
I didn't want to have to deal with bad habits because I couldn't see where I was unbalanced. Stifling a yawn as I forced myself to take a few sharp breaths to raise my heart rate again I took off into a jog back to the Orphanage.
…
"I want to earn an allowance." The words were simple and there really much else to it. But, standing in the well worn but not quite dilapidated Orphanage I couldn't help but think that what I was asking for was a bit presumptuous.
I was asking for money in exchange for fulfilling tasks that assumedly would be taken care of one way or another, regardless of me asking for money. Looking at the old matron whose blue eyes were flat like unrefined lapis lazuli ore I couldn't help but feel the pressure emanating from her.
It wasn't as if I was the only orphan with Patch having a population of about 200000 there was a sizable population, there had been a fair amount of Orphans here, with their being close to about 300 Orphans here alone. It was money that could be used elsewhere.
This particular Orphanage was run by a staff of about 20 people and most of them I had never bothered to learn and after I potty trained myself I more or less didn't need anything from them. After all, what help would an adult used to taking care of himself need besides access to hygiene facilities, a place to sleep, and food, needed from a group of individuals that were always overworked with trying to raise younger children.
The head matron, an older woman by the name of Cynthia Coldstone, who had been in charge of this place for about as long as anyone could remember. With naturally white hair and blue eyes, I couldn't help but wonder if she was related to the Schnee's, but it was a pointless endeavor since I hadn't actually seen any Schnee's in this life. But given how even in her advanced age that she moved with some level of disciplined cadence I couldn't help but compare her to what I thought Winter might be like. And now with her looking at me as if to measure my worth, I couldn't help but think that she found me wanting in some way.
Cynthia wasn't particularly tall, standing close to 5'8 but from my height, she made for an intimidating figure opposed to a maternal one unlike what one might expect from the head matron of an orphanage. Dressed in a long pleated dark blue dress that glided just above the ground and a well fitted white blouse and white leather gloves, she cut for an interesting figure, in contrast to how most people dressed on the tropical island.
I had also never seen her sweat either.
"Oh, Ezekiel, I haven't seen you in sometime. I was sure that some Grimm had gotten you for all that you are around." The unamused elderly woman said, and honestly I could get where she was coming from but at the same time… I didn't really regret not being around. Only coming here with a hand held outstretched begging.
Seeing that she wasn't getting through to me the white haired woman had adopted a surly expression. "Well, if you want to get paid for a job well done, then I'll give you a list of tasks I want completed. You can start with taking the leaves out the gutter tomorrow, I'll hand you a complete list of tasks I want done before the week is up."
Hm… I wonder…
"Yes ma'am." I say simply. And watching for her reaction I see that it is only an unamused flicker of her eyes despite her face not changing either.
Her dissatisfaction with my probing probably meant as much to me as her reaction to my endemic absence.
Still, this was huge, if I did well enough then hopefully I could get a scroll soon enough. Moving with a purpose I walked through the busy common areas walking past the other Orphans on my way to the kitchen, after all, I still needed to eat.
…
With the previous day ending with failure again when it comes to attaining his Aura, I decided that instead of immediately leaving for my morning run I would deal with this chore now.
And seeing that I wanted to test the results of my training, I went through a short warm up focusing on my calves, ankles and hips. Looking at the lowest roof of the three story manor I closed my eyes.
In a way I was scared of trying to do what I was about to do next since I hadn't attempted something exactly like this before. Scaling a house was different than going through something like a school obstacle course or trying to free run through the woods.
But I did have a technical understanding of Parkour. It was enough to set a stone into the bottom of my stomach and surprisingly I could feel my legs beginning to shake.
Good.
Breathe in…
Breathe out…
I closed my eyes. "Strong focus on what I want."
I could see every way that this could go wrong, from simply slipping down to falling and breaking something. But the worst that could happen is I would die.
Death was kinda a low stakes thing here, if I died here it wouldn't affect anything long term. So in a way that was reassuring.
After taking a few shallow breaths, I bolt, throwing foot after foot and as I make my way to the wall I make sure to keep my torso upright.
2 steps, I feel steady, 3 steps, I feel my momentum still pushing me up, 4 steps, it feels a like I only drop the tips of my toes into the wall, 5 steps, I am just high enough to reach over the first gutter and roll my momentum into my hand and fulcrum myself over the gutter onto the slanted roof.
I take a sharp inhale as I take in my feat. I had scaled close to 12 feet, which I would have been hard pressed to even if I was older. But that might be because of weight.
But holy shit, was that exhilarating. Man, I hadn't had an adrenaline rush like that, I think, like at all in this life.
"Fuck yeah!" The words would have been at a conversational tone if I hadn't just gotten one this body's first highs but in the aftermath that it came out closer to being a shout. And in a long dormant instinct I drop to my stomach and listen to see if I have been heard.
After a few moments of heart pounding silence I eventually realized that no one cared enough to investigate the noise caused by my shouting. I would definitely need to start training my reactions more if a little bit of excitement got me like that.
It was fun though.
Pushing myself back to my feet I focused on the task at hand, clearing out the gutters. I definitely didn't want to spend any longer than an hour doing this today. Since I still intended to get all of my class training done today.
Despite how fast I wanted to get it done, getting all of the gutters cleared on every floor was definitely an exercise on its own. I hadn't realized how large the Orphanage manor was before I actually had to get the gutters cleaned out.
But it wasn't like I was sticking my hands in shit, even if there were more bugs and mud in the gutters than I had expected. Not to mention that wall running and climbing my way up the walls had been a valuable training experience since I could say that by the end of it I was relatively confident that I would be able to repeat the feat the next time the gutters needed cleaning.
After finishing up completely with about a half hour before the sun rose, I figured that cleaning the gutters was going to be the best I could do for a warm up today and if I wanted to make the most of my training time I would need to try and double my speed this morning.
It was time for sparring in class. They were outside in a pit of torn up tires, more than large enough to fill both classes of 12 year olds that attended Signal. Today was an important day for all the students since they were supposed to try to figure out class rankings before the second semester started.
With the curriculum being ramped up sooner it was a good time to start getting a handle on who would need extra training to keep up.
"Point Duncan. Reset."
With how everything was at the moment most students were allowed to drift from whatever weapon they felt most comfortable with but in the coming semester they would be expected to start staying more consistent with it as they were divided in classes that taught those specific skills.
It was a weird mix between every combat sport that Ezekiel could think out where all that had been expected from them was to land a solid attack on their opponents before resetting. It was… about as much as you could expect from a group of half trained 8 year olds, they were still in the phase where they thought that hitting harder and making showy moves and clashes was all the rage.
As the two kids sparred with one another Ezekiel tuned out. He wouldn't learn anything from watching two kids who didn't know the difference between parrying and disengaging.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
By now he was used to paying half attention to his surroundings while he thought about the potential ways a fighter might approach him. He preferred fighting unarmed opponents or gunfighters. Both were what he was in a past life, the types of tactics that they were used might not exactly be common in every dimension of fighting on Remnant but up to this point anyways: against little kids, it was over kill.
So to make sure he was at least thinking in the right way, Ezekiel placed himself against someone who used a spear.
They didn't need a face because that would be assign too much of a pattern to them, Ezekiel wanted to try to imagine every single move that a spear wielder might come to-
"Slater, you're up."
Snapping out of his thought, Ezekiel took two sharp breaths.
"See he's doing the thing again…"
Against most people that the reincarnate fought most wouldn't be worth using the effort against and in every case he has been in so far this wouldn't be an exception. But bad habits were the enemy so he would at least keep his warm ups consistent.
His opponent was an effeminate boy that had blond hair and lilac eyes and something about the combination struck him as familiar also to note he was slightly taller standing at about 5'1. Dismissing it, the gray haired boy grabbed his wrist and began slowly twisting them to the opposite direction, as he slowly bounced on his knees.
Settling into a ready position, the boy felt supreme confidence. Bringing his hands up into a loose guard he settled himself in. Watching as his opponent did the same.
Standing on the balls of his toes, and squatting slightly, Ezekiel brought his attention to the chest junction of his opponent.
"Begin."
Dully his sense of danger throbbed, but Ezekiel remained unworried, it wasn't like having perfect awareness of an attack but it did let know that something had hostile intent directed at him. Granted every time he was in a fight of some kind he could feel it but during actual conflicts it was just enough to know when something dangerous was coming his way.
What Ezekiel had learned was that going against kids trying to detect when something was coming his way was odd. One moment they could be dead serious, and in the next be completely dead to his rudimentary danger sense.
But thankfully that didn't seem to be the case here, if anything his opponent was unusually focused. It worked to his advantage though as a dull blip went off in his senses, and moments later Ezekiel stepped into a jab that would've been well timed if a bit too slow on the retraction and with a small pivot of his hips he deflected the jab, opening up the guard of his opponent and bringing his rear hand up with a palm strike.
As Ezekiel's palm strike connected with Yang's chin, a collective gasp rippled through the crowd of students. Eyes widened in shock and mouths hung agape as they watched his blonde opponent's limp form crash to the ground, her head bouncing off the hard-packed earth.
For a moment, a stunned silence hung over the pit, broken only by the soft groans of the fallen groans of his opponent which petered off quickly. Then, like a dam breaking, the whispers began.
He would have felt bad about it but knowing how to take a fall was a fighting essential, and clearly his opponent hadn't practiced enough. And judging by the complete limpness in his opponent's frame, he would say that was pretty much all there was to say about this one.
Unless they were going to child abuse here.
"...Shit… Er, Uh, Winner by knockout, Slater."
And just like that Ezekiel stopped paying attention walking back to the crowd where the rest of the students were watching him with apprehension, stepping out the way as he approached.
"Did you see that? He folded Yang with a single hit," one boy muttered to his neighbor, his voice equal parts awed and fearful.
"No, I blinked, what happened?" his friend replied, craning his neck to get a better view of the prone figure on the ground.
The surprise was palpable in the turf pit, and in the chill of the late autumn morning it made for an unsettling atmosphere. Forget being the strongest in their class, the distracted boy was the strongest student without aura.
Some looked at him with newfound respect, their eyes shining with admiration for the boy who had so easily defeated one of the class's top fighters. Others regarded him warily, their stances guarded as if expecting him to lash out at them next. The majority felt as if they were standing in the presence of something dangerous.
A few of the more timid students even took a step back as he approached, their hands raised slightly as if to ward him off. The air was thick with tension, the earlier excitement of the sparring matches replaced by an uneasy apprehension.
Whispers continued to fly back and forth, growing in volume and intensity with each passing second.
"I heard he trains every day before and after school. Like, for hours."
"No wonder he's so strong. I bet he could take on a Grimm bare-handed!"
"I don't want to fight him next. Did you see what he did to Yang? She still hasn't gotten up..."
The last comment seemed to remind everyone of the injured girl, and as one, the crowd turned to look at Yang's crumpled form, concerned etching itself onto their young faces.
It would probably be best to defuse this before things started to get out of hand. While it wouldn't be a big deal since Signal was settled on the outskirts of Patch away from the dense population, if the kids began to get unsettled then they could start to attract Grimm.
Blue Henderson, sensing the growing unrest, quickly stepped forward, his voice cutting through the murmurs like a knife.
"Slater, take Xiao Long to the infirmary."
His star student whose head was currently in space snapped to attention, but if he didn't understand the situation he made no mention of it. Merely bringing his gaze back down to the girl who still hadn't stirred from her crumpled position on the floor.
Something like frustration crossed the prodigies eyes before he had rolled the girl onto her back, crossing her arms across her chest before sitting her up hooking his arms beneath the blondes armpits, before dragging up to his own chest.
Henderson wasn't sure where the boy had learned a casualty carry like that, but he didn't have time to voice his complaints since the gray haired boy had taken a knee and swept the girl into an easy Fireman's carry.
The crowd of students parted before Slater and his charge as the boy walked through them to get back to the school.
"He's carrying her like she weighs nothing..."
"I heard he can bench press twice his body weight. That's insane for an 8-year-old!"
"Maybe we shouldn't mess with him. I don't want to end up like Yang."
Blue watched his star pupil disappear into the building, Yang's shortened blonde hair dangling limply over his shoulder. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern at the reactions of the other students.
Ezekiel's prodigious skill and strength set him apart, but it also isolated him. The awe and fear in his classmates' eyes spoke volumes about how they viewed him - more as a force of nature than a peer.
It definitely would become an issue once they got into Signal.
Shaking his head, Henderson turned back to the rest of the class, clapping his hands loudly to get their attention.
"Alright, next match!" he called out, injecting a note of forced cheer into his voice. Slowly, reluctantly, the students turned away from the path Ezekiel had taken, their focus shifting back to the sparring pit.
Turning his head, to his junior teacher he gave the man a solid glare. "Don't let things get this far next time, I know that this was unusual but I let you take the lead today for a reason."
Scratching his head the less experienced teacher scratched the back of his sheepishly.
"I understand that Slater ain't normal, but he's still a kid. Even without Aura it's just best to treat him as if has the strength of a Silverback faunus."
Without turning to see if the other teacher had been paying attention, Blue turned his attention back to the arena. Although the students had seemed to find a comfortable pace, to his experienced eye Blue was able to tell that what they had seen had left a not entirely positive impression on the sparring students.
In a way he was glad to be Slater's teacher, but just the same he felt that teaching the quiet training junky was too much of a pain in the ass. Hah, especially since combat teacher's had been in short supply since Xiao Long's father had gotten into a funk.