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"How dare you make me ask twice, you hooligans!" the woman threatened, drawing nearer. "Tell me. Who are your parents?!"

Thane\'s entire body began to shiver as the woman spoke. Calix wondered if it was from fear or if his friend\'s muscles were also beginning to give out.

The two were currently kneeling in the drawing room of some merchant\'s wife, arms raised perfectly straight above their heads while the merchant\'s wife in question scolded them.

"I swear…" the woman groaned, pressing her fingers into her forehead. "This is the second time this month."

"It wasn\'t u-"

Calix started to defend himself and his friend before he was silenced by a cautionary side eye from Thane.

Not too long before, they had been happily running through the city near the training arena when they happened upon a group of boys playing on a wide street. There was no traffic on the street, so the boys gleefully kicked a crude leather ball back and forth in some sort of game.

Naturally, Calix and Thane couldn\'t resist the fun and soon found themselves playing alongside the other children. Everything was going well until one of the boys kicked the ball a little too hard and too high, sending it crashing through a nearby window.

Apparently used to such occurrences, the rest of the boys fled before Calix and Thane had even finished processing what they just witnessed. By the time they realized they also needed to run, the angry homeowner already had both of them by the collar.

"Haaa," the woman sighed, frustrated by the two boys\' silence. "I need a break. I\'ll come back in exactly twenty minutes, and you\'d better have some answers for me."

Then with a huff, she stormed out of the room, offering one final warning to not dare move their arms so much as an inch before she came back.

"What do we do now?" Thane lamented, immediately lowering his tired arms.

"Hey! She told us not to move!" Calix hissed.

"Are you really going to listen to that?" Thane shook his head. "How would she even know? We\'ll just put them back up if we hear her coming."

As if triggered by Thane\'s words, the boys\' arms instantly shot back in the air as the sound of footsteps approached the door.

"She\'s back already," Thane whispered nervously.

Surprisingly, it wasn\'t the terrifying woman, but a child whose face peeked through the door.

"Ahem." The silver-haired boy coughed loudly, stepping into the room. "I\'m here to keep an eye on you two while Mother is busy."

"Oh. False alarm," Thane sighed in relief, dropping his arms once again.

The silver-haired child turned to glare at him, his cheeks turning red with anger.

"You better put your arms back up," he threatened Thane.

"Ha. Or what," Thane teased, reaching over to pull Calix\'s arms down as well.

Hesitantly, with his eyes glued to the boy who was busy glaring at Thane over the top of his crooked spectacles, Calix gave in and let his arms fall to his side.

"I\'m going to tell my mother!" The angry boy gasped, clenching his fists.

"Yeah, alright," Thane rolled his eyes. Then he turned to Calix and whispered, "while this brat is out, we can make a break for it."

"I heard that!" The boy snapped, stomping closer to the two.

Uncertainly, Calix glanced between the two boys. Was the bold boy kneeling next to him really the same person who had been trembling in fear moments earlier? And why was he so determined to ruffle the feathers of this new kid?

"Just wait \'til your parents hear about this," the successfully ruffled boy huffed, his entire face now a deep shade of crimson.

Calix noticed his friend flinch at the boy\'s words.

"Y-you can\'t tell our parents if you don\'t know who we are!" Thane retorted, jumping to his feet.

"And who says I don\'t know who you are?" the boy fired back, his anger subsiding now that he\'d gotten ahold of his opponent\'s weakness.

How perceptive, Calix thought to himself.

The boy was certainly quick to anger, but he was also surprisingly calculating and sharp.

Thane, on the other hand, was much better at handling people and keeping a cool head. (Well, for an eight-year-old kid anyway.)

The two were so opposite but also undeniably talented.

"It wasn\'t us that broke the stupid window anyway," Thane was arguing when Calix checked back in to the conversation.

"Ah, that\'s right," Calix added, suddenly feeling guilty for not supporting his friend until now. "It was that group of boys in the street. They all ran, leaving us to take the blame."

Thane folded his arms and nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Those boys, huh?" the hot-headed boy mumbled, turning to look out the drawing room\'s (still intact) window.

"I\'ve seen them playing a lot," he went on, touching the glass lightly with his fingers. "It looks… fun."

Thane and Calix quickly turned to each other, a knowing look passing between them. They had just gotten ahold of the leverage they could use to gain their freedom.

"Well, Kid," Thane shrugged, walking over and throwing his arm around the boy\'s shoulders, "why don\'t you come play with us some time, then?"

"Don\'t call me kid," the boy grumbled, shaking Thane\'s arm off. "I\'m at least the same age as you."

"Oh, my bad," Thane grinned, holding up both hands in surrender. "What should I call you then?"

"Ira," the boy replied quietly.

"What… I-ra?" Thane echoed, jokingly putting a hand to his ear as he leaned closer.

"Yes, Ira!" the boy shouted, shoving Thane away.

Watching from the sidelines, Calix couldn\'t help but feel a bizarre sense of comradery with the strange boy. It seemed Thane\'s go-to play was forcibly befriending, which was ironic considering his exceptional fighting skills.

Though, his friend-making skills were nothing to scoff at either.

"Ira, you want to play too, right?" Thane prodded the boy further. "What if we call it even for that broken window, and…"

He suddenly leapt over to Calix and grabbed his hand.

"... and we\'ll come get you to play with us next time?" he finished.

Calix locked eyes with Ira as he tried to wiggle his hand free from Thane\'s crushing grip.

It seemed Ira was feeling their unspoken comradery as well--both of them unable to refuse Thane\'s energetic whims.

"... I… can show you the back exit," Ira finally conceded, turning to the door.

Before any of them could take a step, however, the frightening woman came stomping into the room.

"Eek!" Thane brought Calix\'s captive hand to his cheek, forcing their bodies even closer together.

"Urgh. Stop that," Calix hissed.

He wanted to take back every pleasant thought he\'d had about this clingy, annoying child.

"Hmmph. Just as I suspected," the woman snapped, crossing her arms across her rather full chest. "Ira! Step away from these two troublemakers immediately!"

"Mother," Ira replied unexpectedly calmly, "I saw the boys who broke our window, and it wasn\'t these two."

"... is that so?" the woman asked skeptically, glaring at Calix and Thane.

Calix felt his friend wince behind him under the woman\'s wrathful gaze.

Just what made him so afraid of her?