It was a quiet afternoon at Ringmasters Training Academy. This wouldn’t be normal for someone like Rey or Neil, but it was the norm for Aiden. At least when Rey and Neil weren’t randomly trying to jump him during the day. Aiden got up from his office desk. He got together a bunch of papers and placed them in a file folder. Once Aiden exited his room, he headed over to Headmaster Devil’s office. As soon as he walked in, Headmaster Devil was alone to his surprise. He was instead more occupied with a book in hand.
“Is this the Tatia effect?” Aiden asked.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You seem to spend less time with women in here.”
“Since no one knows how to knock around here, this is no longer a good place to invite the ladies over.”
“When was it ever a good place for that?”
“Enough bickering. What do you need?”
“I have the one file you wanted me to put together for you.”
Aiden handed the file folder to Headmaster Devil. “Nice work,” Headmaster Devil said as he briefly flipped through the folder’s contents. “So, you’re with Shuto tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How are things going over there?”
“Not much has happened yet. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Well, I’m sure it’s a nice break from all of the work you do here. Anyway, I’ll see you next week.”
“Yeah. See you.”
Aiden left the office and let out a deep sigh.
***
The following day, Aiden reported to the Ringmasters Society building early in the morning. He grabbed an egg and cheese sandwich from the cafeteria for breakfast and headed upstairs to Shuto’s office. Before he could knock on the door, Shuto stepped out of the room and said, “Good morning, Aiden!”
“Good morning.”
“Did you already eat?”
“Yeah. I got a sandwich. What are my duties for today?”
“About that…I have a rather simple task for you today.”
“Okay. What is it?”
“Today, your task is to have fun.”
Aiden found himself puzzled. He was wondering if Shuto was messing around with him. He questioned, “Is this a joke?”
“No, it actually isn’t,” Shuto chuckled. “You see it’s been a while since I took Yashi out. Work here gets pretty hectic. So, I thought I’d take the misses for a nice day out.”
“That’s cool, but what about me?”
“That’s why I’m telling you to take the day to enjoy yourself and relax. You hardly take any time off, so here’s a chance for you to do that.”
“And do what exactly?”
“Seriously, boy? You need to get out more often. Catch a movie. Go roller skating. Anything. Just go have some fun.”
“But…”
“Look, I really have no work for you today. I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
Shuto headed off while Aiden watched him leave. He couldn’t believe he had a whole day to do whatever he wanted. Normally, anyone would be elated for a day off, but he was stumped. He didn’t have a clue as to what he would do today. Aiden took the elevator and headed down to the lobby. As he was about to exit the building, he heard a voice say, “Hey, Aiden.”
Aiden turned around to see it was Haruka. She walked up to him and said, “How are you this morning?”
“Uh, I don’t know. Master Shuto gave me the day off.”
“Oh, that’s nice. It’ll be good to enjoy yourself today.”
“Not really. I have no idea how I’m going to spend my time today with no assignments or tasks to do.”
“Sweety, you’re fifteen. Save this energy for your thirties.”
Aiden sighed. He really had no idea how he was going to spend the day.
“Here’s an idea for you. Take yourself back to Daredevil City. I’m sure a bus ride there can help you pass the time.”
“I guess so. I’ll see you later then.”
As Aiden left, Haruka watched him leave. She shook her head, thinking, That boy…he really is something.
***
And so, Aiden took a bus to Daredevil City. As he was on board, he thought about what he would do while in the city. He could go to the city library, or he could go to a local coffee shop and read. Though he did think that Shuto would give him an earful for not adhering to the concept of “having fun” today. Aiden realized the best way to go about this was to treat it like an assignment. He looked at the bus schedule in his hand and noticed the next stop was Orchard Springs Park. He figured that would be a good place to start.
After some time passed, the bus stopped at Orchard Springs Park. Aiden got off and headed inside the park. As he entered, he realized it wasn’t your average park. With springtime, there were flowers blooming within all of the trees. Fallen petals covered the grass like beautiful jewels forming a necklace. Aiden thought a stroll around a peaceful place such as this would be a nice way to pass the time.
Aiden began walking around, taking note of how quiet the park was. There weren’t many people walking by, which was fairly normal for the time of day. As he continued to walk along the pathway that went through the park, he found himself at peace, but as time passed, he was bored. It wasn’t the scenery that bored him. It was the fact that he was all alone in a decently vacant park.
Aiden sat down on a bench and sighed. With no responsibilities at hand, he had no idea how to spend an entire day’s worth of free time. This sucks, Aiden thought. Is my life so bland that the only thing that I can think of doing now is work? I wonder what Neil’s doing now. It’s Friday, so class probably won’t be all day. Then again, that doesn’t stop him from skipping or anything.
Before he could get lost in more thoughts, Aiden was smacked in the head with a soccer ball. He fell off the bench as the ball rolled further away from him. As he got up, irritated, a kid about his age with short brown hair and brown eyes ran toward him with some other kids behind him. The kid shouted, “Hey, what did you do with our ball?!”
“Nothing, considering I was hit by it,” Aiden said.
“I don’t care about that. Thanks to you we lost it!”
“How exactly does that make sense?”
“If you weren’t in the way, it wouldn’t have gone so far!”
“Well, that’s a pretty stupid argument.”
“What did you say, kid?!”
This is absurd. I’m arguing with this kid over nothing. I should just go, Aiden thought.
As Aiden was about to leave, the kid shouted, “Hey, punk! Where do you think you’re going?! I’m not done talking to you!”
“Kid, I’m no punk. I certainly don’t want to waste my time with a useless argument.”
“Useless?! HA! You’re just afraid of me!”
“Listen, I’m now in a very irritable mood. So, if you want to agitate me further, you’re not going to like it. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
The kid got his fist ready and aimed to swing at Aiden. But before he could land his punch, Aiden caught his fist, surprising him. Aiden said, “I’ll say this once. You threw the ball that hit me. Therefore, you’re responsible for losing it. Not me. Your second mistake was trying to blame me for your incompetence. And thirdly, you tried to throw a punch at me when I told you I’m not to be messed with. What does that say about you? You’re a foolish little boy. Now, leave and don’t make things worse.”
Aiden released his grip on the boy’s hand. The boy looked very shaken and began to scurry away along with the other kids. Aiden sighed. He turned around and was stunned to see Shuto with Yashi at a bench not too far from him. While Yashi was seated at the bench, Shuto was standing and very clearly looking at him. Aiden couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but he could certainly tell he had something to say.
***
After seeing Aiden, Shuto took him to an ice cream shop called The Scoop. He was still set on spending the day with Yashi, but she didn’t mind some time away, so he agreed to meet with her at a different park. While they stood in line, Aiden couldn’t help but wonder why Shuto had to take time away from Yashi to talk to him.
“So, what are you ordering?” Shuto asked.
“What?”
“I brought you to get ice cream. So, you’ll need to tell me what you want.”
“You brought me here to talk about me almost getting into a fight with that kid. Can’t we just get to it already?”
“Boy, I’m helping you out with this “having fun” thing since you clearly suck at it.”
Aiden was stunned. He sighed while Shuto put in an order, saying, “Hey, can I get a small scoop of Ube ice cream?”
Shuto looked over at Aiden, waiting for him to place an order. Aiden sighed and said, “I’d like a medium scoop of strawberry ice cream…with cheesecake bites.”
After getting their ice cream, Shuto and Aiden took a seat at one of the tables inside the shop. Aiden was eating the ice cream, and he was quite fond of it. He hadn’t had ice cream in ages and tasting it again felt rewarding. As he ate, Shuto said, “Enjoying it?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty great. How’s yours?”
“Very nice. You can never go wrong with Ube. So, do you want to talk about what happened back there?”
“Not really. It was simple. A stupid kid got in my face, and I told him off.”
“I know. You’re not to be blamed for how you handled it, but it seems today’s assignment is harder than anything that’s been given to you in the past.”
“Well, you’re not wrong about that.”
“Do you know why that is?”
Aiden sighed. He hadn’t really given it much thought. He took a few seconds to think before giving an answer.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really done the typical fun things kids do. From when Neil and I were kids, all I focused on was training.”
“Are you sure that’s it? Or do you just not remember what it was like to have fun?”
“What?”
“You don’t seem to remember that Haruka used to take you and Neil out for ice cream all the time back in those days. If they didn’t have strawberry, you’d get cookies and cream.”
“With the extra chocolate chunks. And Neil would get mad because he’d want the same thing and they only had enough for one person.”
“Yup. Haruka would make you flip a coin to see who gets it.”
“How could I have forgotten all of that? I’m like an old man.”
“Hey, respect your elders, boy!”
“Sorry, it’s just…I didn’t know how much I’ve been missing out on.”
Aiden let it all sink in. It was a lot for him to think about. And as he was processing it all, another surprise came walking in. Krystal, Zayn, and Neil walked into the shop. As soon as they walked in, Aiden could see Neil stall upon making eye contact with him. Shuto turned around to see the group and said, “Well, I think now is the perfect time for me to take off.”
“Seriously, old man?! You leave when I come in?!” Neil exclaimed.
“It’s not about you, boy,” Shuto said as he got up from the table. “Have a good day, kids.”
As Shuto left, Krystal said, “So, Aiden, what brings you here?”
“Shuto took me out for ice cream,” Aiden said. “I’ve been having a rough day.”
“Oh, yeah?!” Neil said.
“Neil, come on,” Zayn said.
“It’s okay, Zayn. So, why are you guys here?” Aiden asked.
“I was going to take Zayn out for ice cream, and Neil decided to tag along,” Krystal said.
“Why do you sound like you wanted to just go with him?” Neil asked.
“Zayn, let’s get in line,” Krystal said as she quickly got in the line with Zayn following.
Aiden was left with just Neil. He could tell Neil didn’t want to say anything. He figured he’d try to say something himself.
“So, what are you going to get?” Aiden asked Neil.
“Cookies and cream.”
“With the extra chocolate chunks?”
“You remember that?”
“I was just talking about it with Shuto. Those were the times when I used to actually have fun.”
“Geez, you sound like an old man reflecting on the mistakes of his life. Get a grip. You’re fifteen not fifty.”
Neil went in the line while Krystal sat down, holding a spoon and a cup with a scoop of raspberry swirl in it. She said, “So, what’s going on?”
“I was supposed to be doing internship stuff today, but Shuto decided to give me the day off to go learn how to have fun.”
“That’s a bad thing?”
“Well, considering all I did was walk in a park, get bored, and almost get into a fight with some annoying kid, it’s been pretty bad.”
“To be fair, I think we tend to forget you’re our age.”
“That’s the problem. I don’t even act my age. Hell, Neil just told me off for acting like an old man.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say you act like an old man. Maybe you’re just very mature for your age. You’re also quite the workaholic.”
“Yeah.”
“Lucky for you, I can help you.”
“You can?”
“Yeah! Not to brag, but I’m slowly helping Zayn out of his loner boy phase. He hasn’t thanked me yet, but one day he will!”
Zayn and Neil came back to the table with their ice cream. Seeing them come back, Krystal said, “Hey, guys, why don’t we go to the beach after finishing our ice cream?”
“I’m cool with that,” Neil said.
“Same,” Zayn said.
“You coming?” Krystal asked Aiden.
“If you’re fine with it,” Aiden said.
***
And so, later on, Krystal, Zayn, Neil, and Aiden took a bus that eventually stopped at a small beach called Onyx Beach. Once they got there, Aiden could feel just how loose everything was. The way the breeze gently waved over the water, the way the shells popped out in the sand like little sparkling specks, and the way the others took in the atmosphere was all so freeing to him.
“You like it, Aiden?” Krystal asked.
Aiden turned to her and said, “It’s beautiful.”
Aiden walked closer to the water, hoping the waves would touch his feet. While Krystal and Zayn slowly walked in the sand, Neil stopped and watched Aiden. This may have been the calmest vision of him he had ever seen.
The water finally splashed at his feet. He could feel it caress him ever so gently. He let out a deep breath and thought, So, this is what peace feels like.
As he basked in the freedom he was feeling, Krystal called out and said, “Aiden, after this, do you want to go see a movie?”
Now recognizing he certainly had the time and the energy, Aiden said, “Sure.”
Copyright © 2022 Meryl T
All rights reserved. All illustrations created by Meryl T.
The Ringmasters Society 