Victims of the System: part 1
*** 2 years ago for the Erghon Timezone, 5 hours ago for the Earth Timezone ***
"It is enough for today, boys. Go and rest. Only a few days left until the tournament." The trainer in the middle of the gymnasium took off his fencing mask and wiped the sweat from his face, beginning to walk away from the arena.
"Ah, no, Senior Luca. Please allow us to continue!!!" However, his students wanted the fencing lesson to continue.
"Not a chance! You need to rest. And cut this
"Ok, Vato Luca…" His disciples sadly accepted the result and began to walk away. Out of respect for their trainer, they did not want to call him by name only, so they preferred to add the prefix "Vato", which he had acquired years ago in his profession.
The nickname Vato... from the Vato fish… Stringray...
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Luca was a well-known sports figure in the community. Moreover, he worked and specialized for many years not only in fencing but also in many sports categories. Especially in Far East sports… In addition to having FIE medals in Fencing, he had an interest in far eastern sword sports such as Iaido and Tameshigiri and received training in them. He also had intermediate belts in many Far Eastern martial arts such as Aikido and Judo.
Thanks to these specializations he gained in different branches, he also developed his own arts. The style he used, especially in Fencing, was a hybrid version of the other competencies he acquired, and he had the ability to attack his opponents very quickly from all sides. Because of this style, his colleagues nicknamed him Vato, which is short for Vatos fish. Because the swift sword moves, he swung from different angles and made his opponents defenseless, just as if they were surrounded by a Vatos fish…
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"Hey, Teach!"
"Ah look here, who's best foreigner student came to visit this old man..."
Luca and his student, who had just arrived, hugged each other tightly.
"Old? Come on, you are younger than me!"
"F... off. We are at the same age, Cano. Besides, you have a great marriage, and I continue to rot in these run-down dojos."
"Dojo? Still loves Japanese stuff. We are in the middle of Spain, there is no dojo here."
"Ah, yes, what is the purpose of your visit to Barcelona, by the way? You rarely leave Ukraine. A job issue?"
"No, we just came for a short holiday, and there is no way to skip visiting my dear Sensei while I was here..."
"Sensei? Hah ha. You are always a cool guy, Cano. How is Enn, by the way?"
"She is good also... I left her in the hotel and... Ah, she is calling, wait a minute, by the way... Hi, Honey, Are you ready for breakf...." And then he continued to listen to the explanations from the other side as if he was out of breath… Even though the other party hung up the phone, he continued to listen as if the conversation was continuing… Silently, breathlessly, his pupils were shrunken as if they were going to disappear…
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*** 1 hour later, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona ***
"This is ridiculous, Doctor. Are you implying that she is not dead and not alive at the same time!?"
" Please calm down, Sir. As I said, we are facing a very unusual situation right now. Frankly, this is not a type of illness that either I nor dozens of specialists in our hospital have encountered before or are aware of. Or whatever it is. Police officers have explained this to you. Your wife passed out in a public area suddenly, bleeding from her mouth, nose, and eyes."
"Yes, Sir. Please calm down." The policeman, who was disturbed by the fact that Cano, who was in tears, continued to tense the atmosphere, intervened. "Nobody attacked your wife and she didn't have any accidents. This happened in front of everyone. If you want, we can show you the camera recordings."
"At least… just tell me this… Will she survive…?" Cano swallowed as he asked this question because he knew he couldn't handle the answer he was about to hear.
"As we told… We do not know, Sir… We continue to question all our colleagues in our community. You can be sure that we will do our best if we find someone who has the slightest knowledge about this illness."
"Ok, Cano... Of course, I can not understand your pain as a single bullet for a whole life. But trust me. We must enable doctors to do everything they can. Come with me, let's take a breath for a few minutes..."
"Let me go alone... Vato..."
"Ok, friend..."
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*** 1 hour later, the garden of the Hospital ***
Cano was silently watching the dark garden. His wife, whom he loved more than anything, fell ill with an illness he didn't know what it was. Canosfer, who made it a principle to achieve the best in his field in everything he did, felt so helpless for the first time in his life.
"Hospital gardens are strange, aren't they, Sir? People always say that hospitals are full of sadness, but I think hospital gardens are home to more painful stories..."
He was startled by the voice of the stranger he felt just sitting behind him. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Luca tried to turn to look at this person but…
"I don't think I'm asking too much if I politely ask you not to look at me, Sir… I came here to talk to you just because I saw someone who shares the same loneliness as me... Trust me, you'll understand why when you hear my story."
"Why? I'm not in a good mood right now and don't wanna talk to shady people!"
"No, Sir. Please think of me as a patient relative like you who only wants to talk to you for now…" The stranger continued to speak, ignoring Canosfer's discomfort. "I am the son of parents with many children. We are eight siblings, and frankly, our fraternal ties are not very strong compared to those of the general population. Don't be confused by the word
"WHATTT!!!"
"Yes, Sir... Contrary to what the doctors tell you, you are not alone. In fact, oppositely, you are only one of many people in the World who experience this victimization..."