Chapter 14. Running a town, heavy training and difficult relationships.
Now that Sin’Jun was driven away from the town, everything became allot better. With the help of Joey, the town now had a successful economy. By selling weapons and armour they crafted themselves they had enough money to import stone, and craftsman to make the houses better. Also, they got the money to buy more shovels, and on top of that the town found water, and made wells all over town. The town flourished as Joey wanted. We continue our story two weeks after Sin’Jun was driven away
“Everything seems to be going well here... they think it is because of me, but in the end. Everyone used their own skills to accomplish this... they just needed someone to bring out their potential.” Joey said to himself. Joey had his own home in the small desert now, he walked towards the window and looked outside. As usual for the past two weeks, everyone was working hard. He could see the children running across the street, craftsmen building houses, and even farmers were able to grow crop in the desert now.
“Actually... all there people aren’t so different from me I guess. After all everyone back in Heaven helped me unlock MY own potential after all.” Joey said to himself. He saw Nico walk to the biggest well, he looked pretty happy about something. Joey walked out and towards Nico.
“Hey Nico! Everything is going pretty well right?” Joey asked him
“Hm? Oh, yes everything is going exceptionally well. But that’s not the reason why I look so happy if you were wondering.” Nico replied.
“Then what is?”
“Well, you see. My little sister is visiting. For a long time she hasn’t been able to visit me since the guards of the Wind Lord wouldn’t let her in. But now they’re all gone and the town is flourishing, she sent word she would be visiting soon”. Nico said. Joey smiled at him as he spoke.
“that’s great news! I’m happy for you... it seems everything is going fine here, but you know... I think I have to leave soon since... I don’t think I can stay forever” Joey said while looking saddened.
“What? Why? I mean, you’ve just been her for about two weeks or something! You can’t just leave us, I mean, who will run the town?” Nico said in a bit of frustration.
“Run the town? What do you mean? Look at everyone! The town is practically running itself now everyone is working together” Joey said while kicking some sand away.
“But if you go now, the Wind Lord will come back! I just know he will! Your the only one stopping him from invading the town!” Nico said.
“Don’t be ridiculous, that guy could kill me with one hand if he wanted to!” Joey said surprised by what Nico said.
“You need to kill the guy! Only then can we live freely!” Nico said.
“Kill him? Outrageous! How could I possible do that! I mean, not only is it bad to kill, also I can’t possibly do it alone, I need someone to help me... I’m sorry... I can’t”. Joey said. He walked back to the house, where he went straight to the bedroom. He sat down on the bed and laid down, looking at the ceiling.
“Krad... is this why you sent me here? Do I have to kill the Wind Lord?” He asked the ceiling. “Or did you just want me away...ugh.. its no use at all... I know no one can hear me now.”. Joey turned around and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep.
At that same time, Tomoko was looking in the mirror to see how Joey was doing.
“Joey doesn’t know what to do... I don’t blame him, it seems like a really hard problem” She said to herself. Tomoko stood up and looked outside, where Nagisa was busy hitting a metal dummy just like Joey had to do. Although it didn’t went too good with her.
“Punch!” Nagisa yelled while striking the dummy with her bare hands. “Ouch!” She yelled after she hit it. “Why do I have to do this again?” Nagisa said in a whiney way.
“Since your performance has been pathetic for the past few months!” Marcus yelled. “You should be ashamed of yourself, you’ve been doing nothing but slacking, while Joey has been busting his ass of to save your ass in the end of al this!”. Nagisa whimpered but did not reply, she kept on hitting the steel dummy, trying to break it.
“Well.. its her own fault for slacking so long”. Tomoko said to herself. “Joey deserved some time off instead of being thrown into that rat hole”. Tomoko walked to the girls’ room and sat down on her bed.
“There must be a way that I can help him out...” Tomoko said to herself as she lied down on the bed. Suddenly she sat straight on the bed smiling. “I got it! I’ll just go to him! He’d be so happy!” She said to herself. She jumped up and squealed. “This is going to be so awesome! Maybe it will be romantic too” She said to herself blushing red. She took a bow she hid in the closet and attached it to her back.
“Hmm.. I don’t think I can just walk to the portal and step through... I need to find a way to get past Marcus and Nagisa.” She mumbled to herself. She looked outside the window where the two of them were.
“This is impossible... I should just sneak out the back... although I need to leave Krad a little note... and I need to put it somewhere only he would look for it.” Tomoko mumbled to herself. Her face lit up and she began writing the little note, she hummed as she walked towards her underwear drawer and put the note in an envelope and put it in. She closed the drawer and smiled. “He’ll definitely find it there!”.
Tomoko walked outside the back door and sneaked towards the Great Portal. Okay..here we go!” Tomoko said to herself as she walked through. Having done this before, she didn’t get dizzy or nauseous. She landed on her feet and she looked around. “This is where Joey got send? This looks.. like a dump”. She said to herself. She started walking towards the town. She looked around at the people who lived there, everyone seemed to be looking at her.
“Why.. are they all looking at me?” She mumbled to herself. She looked around for someone reliable to ask directions to Joey. Tomoko saw Nico, she slowly walked towards him.
“E-excuse me, could you tell me if someone named Joey lives here?” Tomoko asked Nico with a sweet voice.
“Joey? Sure, he’s in the big house right over there” Nico said while pointing at the house. “Why do you want to see him anyway?”. He asked afterwards.
“Well... how should I say this... I’m a good friend of his” Tomoko replied, and she went straight to Joey’s house. She noticed the door was open and she quietly snuck into the house. She looked around, the place was pretty empty, it had a big metal bucket, with a fire under it. Used as a hot bath. Also the furniture was made completely of stone. She looked around the room in confusion.
“How is he able to live in this.. this.. dump?” Tomoko asked herself as she walked up the stairs. As she reached the master bedroom she stood still for a moment. She saw Joey laying on the bed, being fast asleep. She blushed for a brief moment as she slowly walked towards him, reaching her hands out to wake him up. But then her hands stopped, she could make use of this perfect moment, Joey was fast asleep and she could kiss him.
“This.. c-could be my only chance in a very long time.. I should.. do it.” Tomoko said to herself while slowly bringing her hand to her chest, holding it with her other. She slowly brought herself to her knees. She looked upon Joey’s face which was peacefully looking up to the ceiling. He wouldn’t notice one little kiss.. would he? Tomoko slowly moved her body over his, now being face to face with Joey. Tomoko blushes a deep dark red, as she closed her eyes halfway. She brought her lips to his, slowly kissing him. She held her lips against his for several seconds before pulling back. She kept blushing as she opened her eyes again. She couldn’t believe it, she just kissed Joey!
“His lips.. were so soft.. and they felt so gentle..” Tomoko said to herself, without keeping the noise in mind. Joey slowly opened his eyes and stretched, not having seen Tomoko yet. Tomoko was still on the ground as she looked at Joey who was stretching. Joey slowly turned his body with his eyes open towards Tomoko. At first he rubbed his eyes and took a closer look. Then he sat up straight looking amazed.
“T-Tomoko?! Is that really you?!” Joey asked her, not being able to believe it.
“Y-yeah it’s me!” Tomoko said while standing up, not knowing her face was still showing a deep red colour.
“I missed you so much! I missed everyone! How come your here?” Joey asked while roughly embracing Tomoko.
“I-I well.. I thought you could use some help out here.. after we found out you were gone everyone was really worried about you.” Tomoko said while enjoying Joey’s embrace.
“W-wait.. how long did it take you to find out I wasn’t there?” Joey asked amazed by Tomoko’s explanation.
“W-well.. it took us over a day to actually find out you were gone..” Tomoko said while pulling back from his embrace.
“A whole day? Wow.. I mean.. I thought some people would go crazy if they wouldn’t see me.. I mean.. Marcus and Jin are pretty strict with training and.. wait.. are you blushing?” Joey asked while moving his face closer to Tomoko’s.
“W-wait? What? N-No way! Why should I?!” Tomoko said while taking a step back. “You must be imagining things”.
“I guess your right.. anyway that’s besides the point, you don’t know half how happy I am to see you here!” Joey said while smiling with his gentle smile.
“R-really? W-well.. I was worried about you, you know?” Tomoko said while obviously being touched by his words.
“That’s nice of you.. and you actually came at the right time.. I met the Wind Lord Sin’Jun.. and Nico thinks I should kill him” Joey said while putting on a serious face.
“T-The Wind Lord? And whose Nico?” Tomoko asked Joey while her blush slowly faded away.
“Yes.. he’s ugly.. as for Nico, he’s the guy with the Arabian turban.” Joey explained Tomoko while slowly walking to the stairway.
“Oh yeah, I believe I met him.. at any rate, I think you really should defeat him at the very least.” Tomoko said while following Joey off the stairs.
“I was thinking the same.. but I don’t know if I can kill him.. let alone defeat him. I mean.. he looks so incredibly strong compared to me.” Joey said while looking down. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”
“Don’t you worry about that, I’m here to continue your training too!” Tomoko said, while knowing that wasn’t the real reason she was here. “You can beat Sin’Jun with Light Magic! One of your most powerful magic’s.”
“Really? Can you teach me?! I’d do anything!” Joey said overjoyed.
“Hmm.. Anything?” Tomoko said teasingly, but then she knew she could take advantage of this situation. After all, she was all alone with Joey in the middle of the dessert.
“Y-Yeah! Anything! Just teach me how to use Light Magic!” Joey said while pressing his hands together, making a small bow.
“Okay, Okay.. but you have to do everything I say.. ok?” Tomoko asked while blushing slightly.
“Of course! Whatever you say!” Joey said enthusiastic with a smile on his face. “When can we start?”.
“You can’t just start.. you need some preparation. To learn how to use Light Magic, your mind and soul needs to be filled with a very powerful emotion” Tomoko explained, while slightly exaggerating it.
“A powerful emotion? What do you mean?” Joey asked, while slowly walking into the living room. Tomoko started blushing lightly as she quickly scooted over to in front of him.
“Well.. in order to cast Light Magic, you need to be able to feel a very powerful emotion. The emotion of .. well.. the emotion of caring.” Tomoko said while playing with her fingers, doubting if he would believe it.
“Wow, that sounds very deep.. so deep it must be true! Please teach me how to feel the emotion of caring Tomoko!” Joey said. “I mean.. it can’t be that hard right? Especially with you as a teacher”. Tomoko blushed a little and thought of a way to talk herself through this one. She knew lying was a bad thing to do, but if it made her have a chance with Joey.. all is fair in Love and War.. right?
“Okay.. well basically, the emotion of caring is a lot like loving someone, it’s caring so much for someone you would do anything for this person.” Tomoko said while making things up as she was talking.
“Ah, like me and you right? I mean, I would do anything for you and the rest.” Joey said without hesitating. Tomoko made herself a smaller and blushed a bright red color.
“Y-You would do anything f-for me? I feel.. honoured” Tomoko said while not looking at him. “B-but I think it goes a little further then that, you should have.. strong feelings for someone, and really mean it.”
“But how am I going to feel something like that for someone in such a short time? I mean.. The Wind Lord won’t wait for me getting feelings like that.” Joey said while crossing his arms, thinking deeply.
“W-well.. the both of us could try to make that feelings.. I mean, no one else of the group is here” Tomoko said while stuttering in embarrassment sometimes.
“R-really?! Would you do that for me? Thank you so much Tomoko!” Joey said while roughly embracing Tomoko, She blushed a bright red and slowly broke the embracement. “But what do we have to do to get that feelings?” Joey asked.
“Well.. maybe.. a date..” Tomoko said, she was blushing a darker red now, she couldn’t believe she actually said something like that!
“A-a date? Well.. your the teacher, you should know what’s best. Lets do it"