I do need to go see Okari. That's something I've been thinking about for a while already, Okari this, Okari that.
Nebe you're training well. You can slide on the ground, you can walk on walls and become spider-man, and you have weapons, and now you gained some time for your mother. But you need to go see Okari.
Why?
You still can't read bro.
Well, I can semi-read.
That's why, right now, I'm in front of NOT the library!
Hah. Got baited.
Thought I was gonna see Okari, BUT I'M NOT! Well, I'm going to, but not now.
Need to do some things first.
One of those things is walking in youta's office. It's way easier to sneak into the brothel like that, I can avoid the guards and all, Just need to slide around the brothel, find the back, and then crawl on the wall like spiderman -kinda tiring- but it does work, and I can reach the window that's in Youta's office and just...get into the brothel like that.
The reason I did that was to make sure my money helped.
I gave my mother money.
Does it mean she's STILL gonna go sell herself, while she has enough money? To gain even more money in the future and all? Or will she take a break?
That's a great question. One I needed to confirm, because I've been thinking with my modern sensibility, thought people had vacations and all here, a prostitute with vacations, funny!
But.
That's kinda true to be honest.
Prostitutes here have vacations. What am I talking about!? It's not even payed, that's not vacations, no.
Prostitutes here don't seem to have contracts or stuff like that from what I spied on those last few days, in youta's file, and from his interactions with other prostitutes.
They made verbal deals, and it works, or it doesn't. It's not like they're technically locked in there forever and ever and they can't escape when they have enough money or want to stop.
No, it's more subtle than that.
They're mercenaries.
...sort of?
What are my comparaisons today?
Whatever, they're mercenaries in the sense that they're payed by work done and when they come. That's something I figured out not by spying on the brothel, but at youta's house, where the prostitutes come first before being excorted in the poor district.
At least for the prostitutes that lives in the rich district.
Dunno about the ones in the poor district but I don't want to think about it considering the crime rate around there.
In any case!
They work when they work. And they don't work when they can't.
From what I've seen, my mother is a bit of a special case compared to the other prostitutes in the rich district.
I spied on three prostitutes.
And the three?
All of them had NORMAL jobs.
AND worked as prostitutes.
It's like...a second job to round up the end of the months I guess?
In any case, it means, that I won't need to kill the bear since he won't come knocking on my door if my mother stops working for a while.
Because it's not like they're expected to work.
You come and work. Or you don't and you risk losing money or reputation with the usual clients, but really, that's the only problem.
And considering the amount of bruises my mother comes back with, maybe it's better if she finds other clients overall, better ones.
Or even better?
If she just stops.
Something she did.
For now...
Which is odd.
She's been pretty cheerful those last two days, maybe it's because of money, or maybe it's because of something else. But she hasn't gone to work. Which was my goal. But that's also worrying because my mother might just be really bad at dealing with money.
Usually, when I had money, I kept working to get even more money...
But maybe that's because I've been raised in a capitalist society?
...
Maybe I should have kept most of the money and feed her to it slowly.
....
Eh.
Whatever.
Don't really know what she's planning to do, or if she's gonna go back in the end of the week or when the money dries up like those guys that win the lottery and spend everything super fast.
She's not buying luxury items so...looks fine. For now.
Still.
I'm a bit worried, but I can't see much, just like how I'm worried about Okari.
She's staring at the street.
My frown gets bigger as I turn around her, completly invisible, my feet sliding on the ground.
Huh.
What she's staring at?
Following her gaze, I see nothing but the old abandoned playground, and the big street that's now completly desolate too.
She has one thumb in her mouth, biting on her nail, again, and again, and again, and again, and again and...damn.
Turning around I throw myself in the huge street, leaning forward and building up an obscene amount of speed to look around, searching for anything she's looking at, but I see nothing. I do a biiiig turn around the playground too, drifting all around it, I even step inside the poor district behind it for a second before coming back to okari.
Stopping my momentum with one foot dragging against the ground I stop in front of her. Then get to her side, and try to grab her attention while breaking my passive illusion.
"Miss Okari!"
"TAKEMYMO-!" Her umbrella, that was in her other hand and covering her from the rain almost goes flying as she jerks back and pulls her hands up in front of her in a surrendering gesture. She stops when she sees me.
We stare at each other. Water falls on her shoulder. She doesn't react.
"Miss Okari, are you fine?"
She coughs into her hand before making sure the umbrella cover her well. "Obviously kid, I'm the finest there's ever been, it's not my fault you spooked me out of this world, how are you so sneaky, that's not normal at all-!"
She keeps talking and talking and talking and talking. And I keep staring, and blinking, and looking at her. Nodding sometimes. Before I point at the street she was looking at.
"You were focusing on the street."
She takes another big breath, looking back, then looking at me "Yeah. Hah, yeah, that I was. Okay, uh"
She takes a big breath, and finally recollect herself.
"Did you finish the book?"
Are we brushing that under the rug?
"YES!" I clap my hands together like an excited kid.
Yes we are.
"Good, good" she pats my shoulder and lead me in the library "That's good, just..."
She looks back over her shoulder one more time and I do it too.
What the fuck is happening seriously?
Is she in danger? Someone's targeting her?
"Look, there's...something for you..." She pushes the door open and get in, before I can even fully enter, she picks up a pile of books from her desk and shove everything in my hands.
I manage to pick up everything but the pile is big enough that the last book passes over my head, balancing precariously.
"So, that's fine, but, that's. Okay. Calm down" I'm calm tho? "This book, from down to up, the top one is for when you're bigger. It's a bit harder to harder, it's, uh, difficulty level and, do you understand?"
...what?
Not seeing her. My vision covered by books, I answer nonetheless, I got it cause I'm an adult but a two years old child? Dunno if he would. "I got it! It's in an order of difficulty! I need to start reading from the bottom, and then read the one above it, then the next one above it, until I reach the top of the pile, my reading skills will improve at each book and give me the necessary skills I need to read the next one!"
"That's-!" I can't see her face but I can imagine it's something good to see "Exactly that. Perfect. You have....lots!" I can feel her hands grabbing my shoulders, she shakes me a bit but my soles stick against the ground and my palm sticks against the books pile to keep everything steady. "Lots to read, so, you'll be busy, for a good while and and, that's all!"
"Oh wait, can you carry all of that? And the rain? Do you need my umbrella?"
"I have pockets."
Slowly, and without help, I open my cloak. Carrying the book pile with one hand, bracing it between my head and my chest and my sticky hand. it's heavy. So I try to reduce the size by putting books in my big inner pockets, as I do, I try to ask a normal question to calm her down
"Don't you need to check if I understood the previous book? What about taking it back?"
"I believe you" Okay? The second I'm done she puts her hand on my shoulder, make sure my hood is tight around my head and that my cloak is closed before leading me out "You can keep the book, read well, be careful, don't go past the playground!"
She closes the door.
And I'm there.
In the middle of the street. A year of books in my cloak. And weightier than before.
...what the fuck just happened?
For a while. I just stay there. In front of the library, trying to figure out the problem, without having any lead now though, I decide to leave. Sliding away.
Maybe I'll investigate when I'm done helping my mother.
Sliding is a bit harder with the weight dragging me down, but I manage because of my practice.
Getting back home, I can't help but think about my plan.
I've been working on it.
And it's working? Somewhat. It's semi working for now, need to train harder to see if I can make it WORK WORK WORK!
I also need to work harder on my sliding and my sticking. And my pain is rising up again too, so I'll need to puke again soon. Need to train with my weapons, and need to figure out better illusions that could help me in close combat.
Gained some time for my mother. If she goes back to work soon that'll be a shame, but as long as she doesn't and the money is running, I won't involve myself with the brothel again, or with my grandfather and my father.
So I'd be doing nothing but training until the situation pushes me to move.
Could investigate what's wrong with Okari but my mother comes at a priority, and there's a reason I'm training. I'm not skilled enough to allow myself to remove problems fully yet.
I'm a medication. Not a root cause fix.
And I'm training to fix the root causes.
Looking up at the sky, the sun shows itself, even amidst the rain, and the constant grey clouds. It shows itself, a hint of warmth comes down to touch the side of my face.
I slow down to enjoy it. Letting myself be carried by the momentum, by my slick feet.
Grandfather. Father. Mother. A war. And now Okari.
Well.
To deal with all that I need to be stronger.
Gained myself how much time? A month? Some months?
How many training hours is that? 450, to 2250 hours hopelfully.
Maybe more if I figure out a way to challenge my passive flow training, got an idea for that actually, and maybe even more if I manage to train during my sleep too.
So 720 to 3600 hours of training?
Should be enough to get me some skills.
Feeling the warmth on my skin, I sincerely hope for some months.
Because I have a lot of skills to train, and a lot to figure out.
The sun hitting the side of my face reminds me of the fireball, it's big warm, and really. What the fuck happened? I still have no idea, and apart from small changes in my village, we haven't been invaded, or anything like that, my grandfather didn't do any public speech I'm aware of, or anything really.
What the fuck was that fireball?
Pushing against the ground, I build up more speed to go home.
That's a shame. But I'll probably never know what that fireball was.