Tale Of The Half-Blood Wizard

"I know this is inappropriate because I said I would give the lily without expecting anything from you. But today, I will be like other humans who use that flower to request a spirit exchange," after I said that their expression changed. 

"Do you want to make an exchange?" One of them asked

I nodded. "For the first lily I gave to you, please take care of him. Whatever it takes, please take care of him." The Manjis nodded to understand. "While for the second lily, if anything bad happened to him, I ask for an exchange of my spirit with him," my voice turned hoarse. 

"What do you mean?" Manji's eyes were both oozing clear tears. 

"Why is it like that?" Asked one of them. 

I smiled sadly, my eyes felt hot. "If anything happens to him, exchange my spirit with him. don't let the wound take him away from here. Take care of him like you do to me." I pleaded, "I don't think this is a goodbye, but shouldn't we be prepared for something bad, right?" I tried to make them understand. 

"Turn him on. Take care of him like you take care of me. Don't let anything hurt him." I took a deep breath before continuing my words, "And lastly, please tell him I really admire him and thank him for being the first man who has made me a very happy person and can be grateful for everything I have." 

I just smiled when both of them looked at me in confusion, then I gestured to them to follow me. When I went into the treatment room with the Manjis, not neither the guards nor the maids missed seeing me. All their eyes were fixed on us. Even some people who came across us in the hallways pulled aside and gave us access to walk freely. 

"I want you guys to bring him back, whatever it takes. I will give my spirit to you as the warranty," I was very determined with every word I said. 

We were in front of Naar's treatment room. I saw Azalea just walk out of that room. She looked very tired. 

"We will wait this night-" She did not continue her words when she looked at us. "What?" She looked confused. "Why is this?" her voice was clearly in panic. 

"I have made a pact with the Manjis. I have asked them to bring Naar back," I told Azalea and smiled. 

"Tha, you?!" She looked frustrated. "Why didn't you ask me first? How could you make such a pact without considering what comes later?" She was outrageous. 

"Tha, you are the successor of Youenha. You were able to kill Antonie and the Elder, even you saved the other wizards. If all the people you have saved know you have made this agreement, how can I tell them about this?" she added. I never saw Azalea in this state but I had to tell her my purpose for doing it. 

"I don't have any other purpose in life. When Zie was gone, I did not know where I should go and for me, it was all done. Whatever people think about me, when I have no more reasons to be here, I will choose to leave. Naar deserves much more to live than me. I am considered worth it just because I have my grandmother's name attached." I explained it to Azalea. 

When Azalea was about to talk further, I chose to ignore her. I went into the room. But she did not give up. She tried to catch up with me—perhaps she wanted to stop me-but the  Manji closed the door before her. 

I saw a man with a very pale face lying on the bed sleeping. But why didn't he wake up?  I also saw the last fireball was getting dim. "Why are you sleeping for so long? Don't you want to take me to the square again?" I kept saying and hoping, hoping that he finally came on. 

The Manjis asked me to lie on the floor right next to Naar's bed. When I did what they asked me to do, slowly their bodies disappeared and then flew and circled around me. Suddenly I felt so sleepy that I closed my eyes. The sound of the sand whirling around slowly got faded and all of a sudden things got dark and very quiet. 

"Tha, can I borrow your mathematics book?" I stammered, like someone who had just woken up from her deep sleep. "Crap! So you were asleep without listening to the teacher's explanation? so awful!" Erick knocked my head with a plastic ruler. 

I was stunned in confusion, ignoring Erick's grunts and the stupid things he did to me. 'Why am I at school?' I wondered. 

I looked around to make sure where I was, until a voice said, "Mam, Tha is sleeping!" the hot-mouthed snitched, distracting me. 

"Ouch," I screamed, something flew and hit my forehead. It was a piece of chalk. That devil son was smiling innocently. 

"Tha, come forward and explain to me the process of meiosis!" 

'Shit!' I muttered under my breath. I was still confused about what had happened, explaining with a little stutter the cell-division process. 

After explaining, that biology teacher—whom I remembered named Ms. Lucky—asked me to go back to my seat. However, I just kept quiet and looked at my friends one by one, and noticed the uniform we were wearing. I was pretty sure that this was my classroom when I was at the academy and everything here was exactly the same as it was thirteen years ago. 

"Tha" Erick's voice distracted me, "Pssst" He motioned me to sit down. 

I just realized I was still standing in front of the whiteboard. Hurriedly I went back to my seat.

"What are you thinking about daydreaming like that?" He asked curiously. 

"No, nothing," I lied.

I was still struggling with my thoughts that my current situation was my last year with Erick, then, the next year we would be indifferent classes. I was fourteen years old, the first-year student in that academy. I also remembered very well what would happen in the near future, and that felt really strange for me. 'Is this the effect of eating cake from Mr. Oka? or is it because of the end of Antonie's illusion?' and there were so many questions disturbing me. 

In the class, I tried to behave naturally. I did not talk much because unexpected things could happen without warnings. I communicated stiffly or sometimes I talked too much about things I had been through so far. 

"Why on earth are you quiet?" Asked Mocha, my seatmate. Thirteen years from now, she will be married with a child. But today I saw her again in her tiny body. 

"I haven't had my breakfast, I have no energy to make noise," I lied to her. 

"Hmm...not yet? Why on earth?" cut Erick, "Usually you eat the most food before leaving." He added, with a grimace, mocking me. 

That young man never changed a bit. Back then, he was always hot-mouthed. That was why I always wanted to punch him. 

Honestly, I missed this moment so much, when we did not have many burdens and could joke together. School is a really cool place. There are always things I really missed

This was really strange, nothing I forgot so far, not only my school time but also all my adventures with Mickey and Kerberos. Was I supposed to forget them all, especially after I ate all the cake from Mr. Oka? That cake was the cake that would be given to all the spirits before they crossed the realm of spirit so that they would remember nothing that happened during their life. 

"Daydreaming again!" I was shocked when Erick threw a bun right on my head. "Eat it! You haven't eaten anything, haven't you?" He said to relax, then he took a seat on my side. 

I really wanted to hit him back and yelled right in his ear. If I had been the old me, I would not have hesitated to batter my super astral friend to the maximum. 

"Ery, have you ever imagined what we would be like thirteen years from now, what will we be like?" I asked him while eating the bread he gave me. 

"I will be thirteen time more handsome than I am now, that's for sure." He cracked a joke. But it made me even more annoyed and made me sick listening to his silly joke. He was a really annoying person to his bones, but he was sometimes good. 

Ignoring his joke, I repeated my question, "Have you ever thought about how one of us is going to be thirteen years from now?" my eyes wandered far away wondering if I would be able to visit Azalea's place again, or would I see Naar again? 

"If unable to see it means you need a flashlight or spectacles. That is simple!" so annoying. Again he replied to my question with a joke.. If he was asked to draw a picture of an animal in art class, he would only draw dots then that they were fleas.