The Power Enthusiast

MINERVO 14: The Back is Getting Away

"Wow! So you guys have faced a hail of rocks!? That's just amazing! Bro!" said Jeddy while chewing his fried chicken meat greedily.

"It is actually not appropriate to call it 'rainy stone', because it feels like the stones were thrown by some people from the top of the building deliberately," Colin replied in a flat tone, then he swallowed a wisp of white rice into his mouth, and he again spoke, "But it is not worth your fight against the Mad Goat Organization in Groen City! I think it's more awesome! And it sounds like a real hero story!"

Now that Jeddy, Colin, and Paul were eating the meal - ordered by the host - together in the living room, they sat lined up in the same long chair. Colin was about to return to his workplace, but being offered by Paul for breakfast - with a little coercion - he didn't want to obey. Coincidentally also Colin had not had time to eat breakfast from home, this is a very pleasant luck. Plus, Colin was also happy that he was finally able to meet his mentor again, after waiting for the person's arrival for days in the tavern.

Jeddy and Colin continue to chatter, discussing all things that are not important, making Paul who is eating next to them so disturbed. However, Paul did not yell at them, as the food was still full, he had to finish first. After the plate was glistened clean, Paul also stored the object to the surface of the table with a rough, making Jeddy and Colin shocked to hear it.

"Not a lot of talk! Goddamn bum! Quickly finish your food! After that! Wash each of your dishes at once my plate too! I count to ten!" paul shouted threateningly at them, Jeddy and Colin immediately put all his food in his mouth. "Four!" Then, Jeddy and Colin rush to bring their own plates and Paul's plates to wash in the kitchen. "Six!" When washing in the kitchen, they are chuckling with each other, racing not to be the last. "Nine!" After washing the dishes, they ran back to the living room, and finally they managed to finish their task and sat down again in the chair. "TEN!"

Bugs! Bugs!

Even though Jeddy and Colin did their job in time, Paul hit them hard on the head, leaving them both astonished.

"Hey, Paul! Why did you hit us? Isn't we-"

"SILENCE!" colin's words were immediately cut by Paul's blaring clash, while Jeddy just laughed crisply at the ridiculous incident. "Jeddy! You too! Put your clothes on! I'm sick of seeing you still bare-chested like that! It's disgusting!" And finally Jeddy was sprayed from Paul, because he still did not wear clothes, just wearing a towel. And now it was Colin's turn to laugh at that.

"OK-okay! Bro!" Jeddy gets out of his chair and steps up to go to Paul's room. Two minutes later, Jeddy came down from Paul's room wearing a green sweater and green shorts, just like yesterday. "Hows it? I'm handsome, haven't I? Bro? Ahaha!"

"Stupid!" paul snapped with a bitter grieve, looking at Jeddy's performance. "Why are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday!? Goddamn bum! You can wear my clothes in the closet! But fine! For now I let it! Then let's go! Bastard!" Paul got up from his seat, stood up straight to get out of his house. While Colin who was still sitting sweetly on the chair, furrowed his brows, still did not understand what they were doing.

"Hey Paul?" ask Colin, ask for an explanation. "Where are you really going? To college, right? To school, huh? To work, is it? Or maybe! You guys are going to the meeting place of the heroes, huh!?" Colin's face seemed radiant as he said that, then, his expression became agitated instantly. "Huh.if only today I have a holiday, maybe I will go with you. But unfortunately, reality is not that beautiful. How wonderful is my life."

Jeddy reflexively looked up at Colin's expression which looked very funny. "Haha! That expression! Ahaha! How funny! Bro! Huhah!"

"I don't care about your work! Anyway you should come with us too, Fucking Colin!" paul said with a rough sting. "Because we're going to another city to find the next hero! You idiot!"

Suddenly the silent expression on Colin's face immediately turned to shimmer, like the weather that had been cloudy so bright for a moment. Colin immediately got up from the chair, and said to Paul with a big smile. "Finding the next hero, huh!?" Colin looked happy. "Then! I have to come! Because I'm curious about the next hero after me and Jeddy! I've decided! Today I'm going on vacation! Thank you so much for asking! Paul!"

"BUT!" Instantly Paul snapped at Colin with a grim face. "Change clothes! I don't want to see you go in a tavern uniform! Hurry along! Replace your clothes with normal clothes in my room! You can wear any shirt on my closet! The important thing is not to be completely naked! Idiots!"

Hearing the order, Colin was shocked. "Eh!?" Colin looked puzzled by frowning his forehead. "But I've never been in your room, so I don't know where it is!"

"JEDDY!" Paul called Jeddy, and the man understood the meaning of the call. Jeddy takes Colin to Paul's room. And a few minutes waiting, they finally returned with Colin wearing a bright blue denim jacket combined with a white T-shirt interior, as well as corduroy-pants long-dark blue material. "Over so long you guys! Basic suck! Then let's go!"

Just as the three of them came out of the gate, Paul's phone in his pants pocket was shaking, marked by someone calling him. Nimble, Paul flicked his steps temporarily, to pick up the phone, making Colin and Jeddy stop.

"Ah, sorry to bother you again, Sir. It's me, Roswel. Want to provide information about the target you will be looking for."

Apparently the one who called Paul was Roswel, he became accustomed to the call from the pale man, because some things must be conveyed by phone rather than having to meet face to face at all times. Then, firmly, Paul replied, "It's fast! What are you trying to tell me!? I don't have much time, asshole!"

"This time, the target you will meet is a fifteen-year-old little girl living in Poppe City. The little girl was one of the patients at the local mental hospital in the city, sir," Roswel said in a soft tone. "And from what I've seen, she has long pink hair, but she always seems to have two. Her body was very small and petite, she always wore a short dress similar in color to her hair. He also often holds lollipops in both hands. And as it sounds, she's always been called 'Cherry' by some nurse over there, sir."

"HUH!?" Paul was really shocked to hear that, he did not expect that the next human hero would be a little girl who was a patient in a mental hospital. Paul was constantly gawking so shocked, that Jeddy and Colin were observing the strange attitude of his mentor, so they were surprised. Although they did not know what Paul was hearing on the phone, but it seemed very surprising until Paul's face gawked so.

"I wonder what he's talking about, huh?" colin said with a scratch on his neck.

"Haha! Just relax, at most she heard something funny, Bro! So don't be too curious about her, hahaha!" jeddy replied with a loud laugh, making Colin more astonished at this man's attitude than Paul; I think he laughed all the time, I was curious, is his brain still working, huh? That was how Colin was thinking about the behavior of Jeddy who was beside him.

Unilaterally, Paul immediately hung up on her, feeling that all the information Roswel had conveyed to her was more than enough. Then, Paul put his phone back in his pants pocket, and he called out to Colin and Jeddy loudly. "What are you standing there for! Move your legs! We're going to Poppe City! Hurry along! You idiot!"

"Why is he angry, anyway? Aren't we here waiting for him? Weirdo." cursed Colin with a whisper in Jeddy's ear.

And Jeddy's response did not laugh as usual, because the expression of the green-haired man looked shocked after hearing what Paul called. Then, Jeddy ignores Colin and walks faster to get to Paul, after getting close enough, he asks his mentor, "To Poppe City!? You're serious, Bro!? Isn't Poppe's town-"

"WHY!?" Paul immediately turned his head to Jeddy with a fierce face. "You want to protest, asshole!?" paul jolts loudly, but it doesn't work to make Jeddy speechless.

"Bro, let me tell you!" said Jeddy with a pretty tense tone. "Poppe City is terrible! We better go to another city first, bro! You see, many of my friends told me that most of the people in Poppe City are human-like dolls, Bro! And even more terrifying, those dolls sometimes don't like the presence of humans, Bro! Many tourists who visit there suddenly die without cause! Bro!"

Hearing that, Paul only raised his eyebrows arrogantly. "It's just a myth, you idiot!" paul said harshly. "Most of the inhabitants are dolls? How ridiculous!"

Meanwhile, Colin who was walking alone behind them was just grieving bitterly, he was very upset, for feeling neglected there. Behind the bedroom window, Paul's mother noticed the departure of her son with two foreign youths with teary eyes, she seemed moved to see her son walking with the two young men. He remembered the last few weeks when he saw Paul leaving and coming home from school alone. Never his son brought his schoolmates to play, never at all. And now, behold, for the first time, he saw Paul taking his friends home, even one of them staying in his room. The woman smiled faintly.

"Finally you have a friend you can trust, Paul," said the woman in a trembling voice, until her tears broke and flowed down her cheeks gently.

"Be careful on the road, dear," she sobbed, not holding back her cries as she looked at the back of her child who was getting away.

"I'm putting Paul on you guys, yeah, kids."