121 Good Friend (1/2)
It was dusk. The last bit sunlight slowly faded away, but the basement light was still on. Charles studied the leather robe on the hanger, mending the tears and holes. The design had been perfect enough, but now he could see that once something was actually put in use, there would be problems. Many problems had arisen in just one night.
Charles opened the lining, checking the ‘steel bone’ structure inside. He muttered to himself, ”The shoulder’s shock absorbance isn’t good enough. There might be metal fatigue as time goes on. There are problems with the force guidance too, but it should be easy to fix. Its own stability… junior’s really good at coming up with hard questions. I have to make it lighter, but still strong…”
”Still working?” a voice sounded behind him.
”Professor?” Charles turned around in shock, ”Shouldn’t you be teaching?”
Abraham shrugged, ”The only student who’s willing to come also ditched today.”
”What about junior?”
”Still sleeping. Maybe he’s tired.”
”He can get tired too? Sounds like a joke.” Charles shook his head, ”Sometimes I feel like he’s made of steel. But even if he’s steel, he shouldn’t put so much pressure on himself. He can get metal fatigue too. He’s already reached the Rhythm level in one month…”
”It’s already been one month? It feels like only a few days have passed.” Abraham sighed, ”I had worried that you two wouldn’t get along, but now it seems like you two are good friends.”
”Good friends?” Thinking of something, Charles laughed.
”What’s wrong?”
”Nothing, I just heard a joke a few days ago,” Charles said. ”Good friends are like stars. No matter how often you see them, you know that if you look up, you’ll see them watching you from afar, not doing anything.”
”…Charles, why do I find you more and more annoying?”
”Professor, I try not to be,” Charles said helplessly. ”Once I dreamed of a really interesting comic about a bat knight. He would fight against the evils in his city and had many powerful enemies. While he was fighting for justice, he met a group of powerful friends.
”Some of them were able to fly, and their eyes could shoot lasers. Some were female warriors in bikinis, others had green light, and another one could talk with fish. They united and even became members of a tight-clothing club together. But no matter how many friends he had, the bat knight always fought by himself. When he faced powerful enemies, his good friends were useless…just like Yezi.”
Looking back at the robe, Charles’ eyes darkened. ”Professor, look, I want to be a superhero that can shoot lasers with my eyes too, but sadly, I’m just a pile of useless trash. Sometimes, I really feel like I’ll become the useless friend too.”
Abraham was silent for a long time. Finally, he patted Charles’s shoulders, saying, ”Some people are not destined to receive help.”
Charles shrugged.
--
”But anyway, I feel like Junior is a little weird these days.”
”Maybe he grew up?” Abraham nodded, ”You were like this too. You’d always hide under the bed to look at porn.”
”Uh, I’m not talking about that,” Charles quickly explained, almost choking on his spit. ”I mean that he looks the same as before but he looks scared of something.”
”Oh.” Abraham nodded.
”Professor, do you have any solutions?”
Abraham shook his head.
”You can’t do anything either?”
”From what I see, just let him be scared. Why should you force yourself to stop being scared?” Abraham looked at him, ”Charles, didn’t you have many nightmares when you were little?”
Charles’s smile froze and he looked away, ”That’s all in the past.”
”Yes, everything will pass,” Abraham said. The room fell silent again.
Charles studied the steel bone structure in the long silence. He suddenly asked, ”Professor, are you scared of anything?”
”Yes, many things.” Abraham nodded calmly, though his eyes were bitter. ”A few days ago, I was scared the academy wouldn’t pay me… You know, you owe too much money. If you can’t pay them back, it’ll be hard for you to stay here.”
”Uh…”