Training

I meet up with the boy after explaining everything to my group. They are all okay with it as long as I am okay since I'm the leader. They just ask whether the new people will train with them or not. Thinking about it, that was a good idea so I said yes.

The boy is with three other people, who I assume is his friends. One of them is a girl while the rest are guys. I approach them and casually hold out my hand for a handshake. The tallest guy among them take it first with a red face.

He holds my hand like he doesn't want to let it go. I almost retract my hand forcefully from his grasp. Luckily, I could think about it rationally or else he would have been flying. So, I decided to tighten my grip on his hand, making him groan in pain.

"I'm sorry. I always forgot that people are usually so fragile that I end up breaking their bones sometimes. Are you okay?" I ask with an apologetic face to show that I really feel guilty.

"Let me see your hand." I take his hands before he could say anything. "I think there's a bruise here." I press my finger at the place I mentioned and a crack sound could be heard.

"Arghhh!" His groans is three times louder this time. I think I have tease him enough so I gently touch his hands before let it go.

"Why are you screaming? I didn't press that hard, did I?" I look at him like he's the weird one. He looks at me in disbelief before holding up his perfectly fine hand to me.

"Look at what you have done to my hand! You even break m-" He pause to look at his hand again and his eyes instantly widening.

"W-what? H-how? Why-" He's at a loss for words.

"Pfft! I didn't know you could be such a drama king. To think you would scream like that just because she accidentally tighten her grip a little," his other friends laugh at him, making his face has turned completely red.

"Enough, you morons." A girl in their group shut them up. She walks up to me and hold out her hands. "My name is Clara. The weak guy over there is Gunther. The moron who keeps laughing over there is Ryan. The one you first met is Theodore."

I nod to each one of them the moment their name was mentioned. Even though I already knew their name. "Just call me Arluna."

"Just want to ask. Which of you has awaken an ability?" I look at them with simple curiosity to avoid any suspicion. All three of them raise their hand except for one person.

"How about you guys?" She asks me back.

"It's just me." I shrug my shoulder as their jaw drop. They look at me in disbelief.

"It's just you? Really?" The guy named Ryan asks me sceptically.

"It's true. She has been taking care of the monsters by herself. We can't deny that we have been a burden to her," the woman that I start to get a little bit close with, answer in my stead. Her name is Natasha.

"Don't worry. You guys can also take care of the monster on your own one day," I tell her and the rest of my group. Their physical strength has improved a little bit thanks to the training I forced them to do.

"What can the people without an ability do?" The moron named Gunther ask with disdain. The contempt in his voice couldn't be hidden. None of his group members even refute what he says, like it was an obvious fact.

"Um.. he always has a rough way of speaking so please don't take it to heart to what he says," Theodore tries to mend the situation before it turns into something serious.

"Don't worry. Whether they are useful or not, I really meant what I said earlier. Moreover, I treat the awakeners and the people without an ability equally. There's no such thing as favored one more than the other. So don't expect any special treatment, alright?" I informed them first so they don't complain later.

. . . . .

"As expected of the awakeners. Their stamina is more impressive than ordinary people," I whisper to myself as I watch three people run with a monster chasing them. The monster is Grade 4, which is something the three of them won't be able to handle alone.

"What's wrong? Aren't you guys supposed to be better than ordinary people? You guys can't even handle a single monster?" I speak loud enough so they could hear. Clara glare hatefully in my way. I reciprocate it with a smile.

"Why don't you take care of it yourself?! You speak as if you can defeat this monster with a single punch!" Gunther grit his teeth in frustration. I look at him innocently.

"But I never said that I was better than ordinary people? I never even thought that ordinary people have no way to become stronger. That's why I asked them to train.

But you guys said that no matter how much they train, they won't be able to defeat a monster. That's why I asked you to defeat a monster to prove you're right."

"Tch!" They can't even refute me since they were the one who agreed to defeat a Grade 4 monster when I suggest it to them. I don't even provoke them or force them. It's their own idiocracy that led them to the current situation.

"Sigh. They're hopeless." I don't think I could watch them any longer or they will be eaten by the monster. I wait until the monster is near the building before jumping in the monster's direction from the top of the building. I put more weight in my lower body and fastening my falling momentum.

I landed directly on the monster's head. The monster instantly died after it's head being crushed by me. Then I frown at the sight of my shoes being completely covered by blood. I take it off and throw it to the shocked trio.

"Wash it off for me. Consider it an even since I save your life." I suddenly remember something as I start to walk away. "Oh, it looks like you guys also need a training since you can't defeat a single monster. Make sure to wake up early tomorrow or else you won't get a breakfast."

I walk towards Theo who is just coming out of the building. Even he seems shocked at the sight in front of him even though he has seen my strength before hand. He looks frightened when he sees me approaching him. I try to give him a reassuring smile but he ended up being more frightened than before.

"I need to talk to you." I speak in my normal, nonchalant tone and he instantly looks like he was relieved. What's wrong with this guy?

He was frightened the one second, and instantly look okay in the next.

"What is it that you want to talk about?" He seems uncomfortable since I just stare at him for a minute without saying anything.

"You have awaken your ability, right?" I smile when his eyes widen at my question. It looks like I'm right. In the novel, he's awaken his ability around this time. However, he hid that fact from his friends so he could sneakily left them in the future.

"H-how did you know that?"

"The moment I 'accidentally' break Gunther's hand, I saw something glow on your hands. Seeing how it activated on its own, I guess you just recently awaken your ability and couldn't control it yet."

No one noticed the glow on his hands except me.

In fact, the reason I went that far was to see Theo's reaction. In the novel, he couldn't control his ability in the beginning and it would always react whenever someone was in pain.

"You're right." Theo finally open his mouth after a while. "I got a healing ability. I know it's very useful especially when people will easily gotten hurt from running away or fight the monster, but..."

"But?"

"I want to be able to fight on my own. Just like you. I want to look cool by fighting like those heros in fiction," his voice keeps getting lower as he speaks. I smile at the adorable kid in front of me. To think one could still have a dream in a ruined world like this, he's still a kid indeed.

"Who says you can't fight on your own?" He looks up to me at my words. His eyes are clearly telling me to not give him any hope.

"You can. I will make it so that you can fight the monsters. As long as you're willing with me personally training you, that is. What do you think?"

He looks at my eyes to search whether I was lying or telling the truth. Then he smiles and nod to me. "I will be in your care."