THE LAST KEEPER

Sagiri coughed a mouthful of blood and spat it on the arena. He coughed for another moment, trying to stand, but failed. Just a moment before, he had said he would not hit a boy who could hold a bow and arrow properly, only to go all out in the following moment. How very Kaka of him. Sagiri felt his cheeks tremble before a small laugh escaped his mouth.

A small foreign sound he had never heard.

It was short and abrupt, and it shocked even himself, and he stopped immediately and touched his mouth. N’varu, who had gone to help seeing that he was coughing blood, stopped in his tracks. It seemed none of the other boys had ever laughed, either, and they did not know if he had gone mad or whether Kaka had knocked the normal out of him.

So this was humor. Even Salka had mentioned something about not knowing humor. So something that made someone had to contradict itself, like Kaka. He had heard his parents laugh and jest, but he just felt their happiness and joy, and never experienced it himself. He always experienced emotions through others. What they felt most, but he had never experienced any too deeply. He tried to repeat the same sound, but he just coughed blood, and that made a small laugh escape his throat.

”Has he gone mad?” kiuga asked, his eyes narrowed at Kaka. ”I told you to initiate him not to madness but to being officially a recruit.”

”He is just laughing his pain away, I think,” Ulekai said.

”Have never heard him laugh, bukata chimed in.” Bukata said.

”he had never laughed,” N’varu said, his eyes wide as if he was witnessing a bizarre happening.

I never laughed.

Now thinking about it, he had never cried. He, however, associated crying with a lot of pain, so he did not want to do that anyway.

”Does it mean we can still initiate him?” Zolinka asked. And there was silence.

”I don’t think we should,” N’varu said, going to help sagiri up, but sagiri was tired of being the one to always be excluded. He was strong now.

”What? Knives didn’t kill me, you think your punches can kill me?” he said, turning his head slightly, and another laugh escaped his throat. was humor, irony? He knew deep down that if the nine seriously beat him, he might have died, and the irony of saying a statement so contradictory made his cheeks twitch again, and that same sound escaped his throat.

”I swear, kaka, if you ruined my naive, blind recruit, I will kill myself,” kiuga said, still accusing Kaka. he had gotten used to sagiri being sagiri. ”Whatever you have done to him, it is good. let the initiation continue!!” Kiuga announced.

N’varu hesitated before holding back sagiri once again.

”Go!” N’varu said, and sagiri felt a rain of punches to his stomach. Even Banga, the most silent member, did not hold back, and N’varu was the last to hit, sending him to the ground. He lay unmoving for a couple of seconds. He might have overestimated his ability to take punches. He should have listened to N’varu and thrown in the towel, but his newfound sense of humor had made him humor himself to death.

”Aren’t you going to salute your comrades?” Maita said, looking like it pained him to have to admit that they were now comrades. It seemed that the chimera clan had men who did not like admitting, and the Bami clan had men with pride. He tried to get to his feet, but he fell back down for the third time, and Kaka sighed. Sagiri’s body might have had the ability to heal quickly, but the guys hit hard. Banga packed the least strength into the punch, but if he could rank his damage, it was a seven out of ten.

N’varu couldn’t wait anymore, even though sagiri wanted to do it himself. He had trouble even hitting his right fist to his chest. He had to do it softly, not to accidentally kill himself. kiuga cheered the most and wrapped his hand around Sagiri’s neck.

”How do you like my plan, sagiri the blind. I even managed to convince Mother Hen here not to talk to you in case it ruined your initiation,” kiuga said, and sagiri wondered how he hadn’t thought anything of it, and instead thought they had abandoned him. So this was the reason. He might have lied to himself that he was better off alone, but he somehow felt relieved they hadn’t abandoned him.

”Don’t call me mother hen or I might just take your spot in blade handling,” N’varu said, and kiuga ignored him.

”No one can beat me in blade training when my clan makes them,” kiuga bragged.

”But I hear sagiri beat you hands down,” N’varu mocked. It seemed team 25 was finally starting to show some teamwork. Initiating him might have been the first thing they did without the instructions of an instructor.

Banga stretched out his hand towards sagiri oru-shells. sagiri opened his hand to receive, and there lay his oru-shells.

”I asked him to repair them,” N’varu said. If Banga was as good as everyone claimed, then he for sure found out the use of the aids. He did not say anything, however, and just stepped back. No one could hear his hearing was unusually normal anyway. He pressed a hand to his throat and asked.

”Who made those?” the voice came out mechanical.

”My father, he is from the Mekarili tribe, ” sagiri answered, and Banga shook his head immediately.

”Mekarili only makes metal limbs. No one in the Mekarili clan can make what you wear. Even we, the Wataida, haven’t reached this level, and we are the second best, even the now leading clan, Fuzaka, can’t make this. Only one clan used to make this, and they are not Mekarili.” Banga said, and sagiri narrowed his eyes. Those were the most words sagiri had heard him say.

”What did he mean, the top two tribes of the central plains could not make the aids he wore.

Of course, he never questioned Bakuru, where he made the aids, but if not the two top innovation clans, then who was more skilled than the two enough to make such a complex material that made Banga feel the need to speak.