Rockets and chocolate Part 2.

K.O. and Conrad arrived home earlier, than the girls. They were waiting for them for a while, but Conrad soon became bored.

"I'm going to play with the boys!" Conrad said, and stood up.

"You better stay." The old man advised. "You haven't seen your sister in three days, I think you both have stories to tell for the other."

"I don't really have anything to tell Valerie." Conrad shook his head. "The last three days were very very good. I enjoyed phishing, and the luminescence, the Sulfur was smelly, and it was interesting to see the blue volcano at night. I also liked to fill the rockets. But that's all."

"You see? That's exactly what you should tell her."

"Do you think she would be interested?"

"She will be sure interested in our adventures!" K.O. smiled at him. "I guess you are also wondering what happened when the girls bought the salt mixtures!"

"No. Not really." He said sincerely. "I prefer meeting with the Howard twins, and playing football with the others."

"However, do you care what's in this?" K.O. showed him a box.

Conrad hesitated. He was wondering about the content of the box, but he was also eager to meet the other boys on the playground. He could meet his sister in the evening.

"What's in it?" He asked finally.

"Chocolate. Real chocolate."

"Chocolate? How did this box get here?" He asked curiously, because when he heard it was real chocolate, he would have wanted to eat it right away.

"I found it in the bag, what the girls get in the Matsuda Company."

"They shopped in a really good place if they even got chocolate!" Conrad nodded. "Can I eat it?"

K.O. shook his head.

"It seems, the chocolate was a gift for the girls."

"But they left it in the bag, so it was definitely meant for us!"

"I am not sure." K.O. refused to open the box. "So we should wait for the girls and ask them about this box."

"Oohh!" Conrad sighed in frustration. But he thought the chocolate was worth the wait for the girls, so he stayed in the caravan.

The girls arrived late in the evening. They were happily chatting, but both were tired, because of the work. They were glad to see Conrad and K.O., and asked questions about their adventures. K.O. was right, both of them were interested in the boy's travel and work. This came as a pleasant surprise to Conrad and he was happy to tell them about the adventures, they had experienced. He could finally be the center of attention.

"In the Kingdom of Sulfur, there was a terrible smell, so we were working in safety clothes."

"We also had to put on safety clothes!" Valerie told him. "Did your little ones bite too?"

"No, they were very placid." Conrad shook his head. " Did your little ones really bite?" He was amazed.

Cut to each other's words, overbidding each other, they told their previous three days in complete confusion. Fortunately, K.O. and Elie sometimes could ask a question, so they could built a stable timeline about the kid's experiences.

"Can we eat the chocolate?" Conrad finally asked when they were both run out of the stories.

"Chocolate? What kind of chocolate?" Valerie asked, confused.

"There were a box of chocolate in the bag, next to the rockets' raw material." K.O. said.

The girls looked at each other.

"We didn't want to eat it until we asked you." Conrad told them, although it was not really true, but he wanted to eat real chocolate, so he did not shy away from a little manipulation.

"You can eat that, feel free." Valerie told them, but with such a disgusting intonation, which scared the boys off the chocolate. She was also pushing away the box from herself.

"What happened?" K.O. asked in low voice.

Valerie shook her head, and didn't say a word. She didn't even looked at the boys, so Elie had to tell them the whole story of getting the chocolate.

"We didn't know that we got that box either. Valerie wasn't willing to check the content of the bag, I just put it away. I also didn't check it in the morning, just put that onto the table." Elie told them, while she picked up the box, and examined the chocolate. "It is a very expensive chocolate, so it would taste good, for sure."

"Anyone could eat them." Valerie said, and walked out of the caravan.

Elie stepped anxiously to the window to keep an eye on the little girl, but Valerie didn't run away, just sat down on the stairs.

"Is she crying?" Conrad asked, confused. He didn't understand why his sister didn't want to eat chocolate, nor did he understand why she had to cry over a box of chocolate.

"No, she didn't even cry at that time, when we got the chocolate." Elie shook her head, and told them the whole story.

After the boys listened to what happened, they also looked at the box with different eyes. Chocolate hasn't received so much dislike in the world yet, for sure.

"So they just wanted to bribe the child with this gift to keep her mouth about what happened at the Matsuda Company." K.O. nodded. He stood up, and went out to talk to Valerie.

Conrad wanted to join them, but Elie didn't allowed him to do.

"Let them talk alone!" She asked the boy, and he unwillingly sat back to the chair. "Have you collected luminescence molecules?" She asked instead of staying at the chocolate topic. Conrad pulled out his hand device and showed her the hunted molecules with brightened face.

"How are you?" K.O. sat down to the step of the car, next to Valerie.

The girl shrugged, but didn't say a word. Her old friend was waiting her to speak.

"You know, everyone always gives her the truth." She started speaking.

"And is she really always right?"

Valerie shook her head.

"She is always acting innocent and always every adult will believe her."

"There are no good tools for dealing with mean people." K.O. nodded.

"Elie didn't let me tear her remaining hair out." Valerie's pain were heard from her voice.

"She was right." K.O. told to the girl. "It is painful, but she was right. We cannot tear the hair of every vile child. It is best not to be aware of them. As if they weren't even there. Or they would be made of glass."

"Does not work." Valerie shook her head. "They come to you and yell in your face, and when you attack them, only you get in trouble. And then they laugh at them, behind the backs of the adults."

K.O. run out of ideas, so he simply hugged the girl. Valerie finally started to cry, and told him the whole story at the Matsuda Company.

"Well, that was pretty humiliating." He stated. "I wish I could have been there! I'm sorry you had to go through so much for the firework rockets."

"I don't mind the whole story!" Valerie said generously. "What I regret is that I couldn't tear the Class rep's hair out. She deserved that."

K.O. tried not to laugh. The little girl felt nothing of the contempt, injustice that had happened to them in the skyscraper. It was only the words and deeds of the other, mean child that hurt her, and that the adults seemed to give the other girl the truth again.

"Do you know what I mean? That's exactly why that old uncle gave you the chocolate."

"Uncle Mitsuhiro?" Valerie asked, surprised. K.O. nodded.

"We met him yesterday." He said, and remembered the other old man's worried face.

"Really?"

"I think, he was the same uncle Mitsuhiro. Not a common name, so I think he was your uncle Mitsuhiro. He was the leader of the rocket-making workshop, and he asked about you, directly."

"Why?" Valerie was surprised.

"He wanted to know, whether you were able to smile again." K.O. said, and looking at Valerie's puzzled look, he explained. "I think he really liked your smile. Of course, now I also understand why you couldn't smile when you left the Matsuda Company's skyscraper. I think uncle Mitsuhiro wanted to comfort you by giving you the chocolate. He wanted to see your smile again."

"Why? Are there any specials in my smile?"

"Oh, yes." The old man stated simply, because he didn't want to explain that a smile shows happiness, which is more important to older people than money. " You are very-very beautiful, when you are smiling."

"Really?" K.O. made Valerie very happy with the compliment, and the mentioned smile was magically appeared on her face.

"Really. We should send him a letter thanking him for the chocolate and a picture of you, smiling."

"Okay, let's take one!" Valerie pulled out her hand device.

"Not now!" He warned the girl. "Your eyes are red from crying."

"The picture really isn't beautiful." Valerie agreed when she looked at the selfie on the screen. "My eyes are swollen a bit."

"Let's eat the chocolate, and go to the playground. We can write that letter in the evening too! This is our last night here anyway, you should say farewell to your friends."

"Is it really our last night?" Valerie asked. She was upset.

"Tomorrow we will leave for the town, and I suppose the others won't return here either after the Firework Festival. So don't forget to change address!"

"Let's hurry! Let's eat that chocolate first!" Valerie jumped up, and opened the door in haste.