The Power Enthusiast

MINERVO 04: A Time Limit

Olivia walks alone, traversing the winding lonely streets, with wet reddened eyes, after being evicted from the residence of her classmate, Paul. Olivia's heart is wounded, because her good intentions, who wants to help Paul, are violently rejected. It made Olivia surprised, she came to understand, that it turns out, in this world, not everyone will be happy if helped by others, he said, there are some people who will be angry when others want to help him, like Paul for example.

The sky had started to turn yellow, which meant that noon had changed to afternoon. Soon the sun will set, and stupidly, Olivia still hasn't come home. In the middle of the road, Olivia worries about herself if her parents realize that her only daughter is coming home late. He would definitely be scolded all out, if caught.

This is all because of Paul, Olivia thought with annoyance. Yeah, he thinks it's all because of Paul. If the man had brought her bag before returning home, Olivia would have no need to bother visiting Paul's house, only to give him her bag that was left behind in class. Really annoying. And also, if Paul had brought her bag before he came home, Olivia would not have experienced such a painful thing either, being dishonorably expelled by the person he helped. A very painful humiliation, only this time Olivia felt it. It hurts so bad.

The girl continued walking while daydreaming with a sobbing nose, holding back her tears that would drip again. Olivia is also actually angry at herself for; wasting her time and tears just to remember and cry over the evil man. Obviously a man like Paul doesn't deserve to be wept at, in fact, his tears are too expensive just to cry over a delinquent man.

"Here Olivia is, don't cry anymore! Enough's enough! Enough's enough! Calm yourself, okay!"

Olivia tried to calm herself down so as not to cry, because it would be a shame if someone saw her wet face, people would definitely think that she was this poor girl. And Olivia hates being looked upon as pathetic as that.

However, his steps came to a sudden halt, as there were a bunch of fireflies blocking his path, they flew towards Olivia's face, the light from the fireflies coming at her getting brighter and more colorful, and more colorful, it amazes the girl. Just this time Olivia saw the fireflies directly, there were many, and their light was colorful. Olivia was so excited.

"That's pretty. I don't know why you guys suddenly appeared in front of me, but my goodness, this is the first time I've seen a firefly, and I didn't expect that you guys turned out to be this beautiful!"

Occasionally the fireflies perched on Olivia's hair, nose, ears, shoulders, and hands, leaving the girl a little amused, until they flew around her again. The firefly continued to hover, circling the legs, the body up to the tip of Olivia's head. It felt like Olivia was a Cinderella who was being bewitched by tiny fairies to get a dress and glass shoes. Very amusing.

In fact, because it dissolved in pleasure, Olivia forgot that at this time, the sky was almost close to black. And the girl was playing around with tiny animals flying around her body.

"LIVECHAAAAAA!"

Olivia looked back, when she heard someone calling her name from a distance. And if heard carefully, the voice of the person who called him, felt very familiar, not too foreign. And when he saw a man running from a distance, came to him, with dirty clothes in the mud and the back of a bloody hand like it had hit something. Finally he realized, that the person who was currently running was,

"It's not wrong, it's Paul! But why did he suddenly come to me that way!?"

"Well... Huh... Huh... Finally got to." Arriving in front of Olivia, Paul caught his breath, smiling happily. His sweat made Paul's entire body wet, including his clothes.

"He-Hey!? Why you-"

"You guys are here, yeah. Huh... Huh... Huh.... Good riddance! My guess is right." Paul smiled his big smile at the fireflies flying around Olivia's body, and then, his gaze shifted to the girl's face. "Emm. You must be surprised to hear me yell calling you that, so sorry, yes, Olivia."

Both of Olivia's cheeks instantly turned red, after hearing the word 'sorry' coming out of Paul's mouth. A great feeling of hatred, resentment, and annoyance towards Paul, so it disappeared completely just because of a word 'sorry'. It makes Olivia confused about her own feelings. In fact, his negative feelings towards Paul instantly turned into feelings of shame, awkwardness, and confusion.

But, Olivia quickly regained consciousness, so as not to be easily overwhelmed by trivial things. This was what he hated about himself, easily influenced by something trivial. Therefore, Olivia fieryly, trying to recall her pain of being treated harshly by Paul, for her negative feelings towards the man to grow again. And little by little, Olivia finally begins to regain her 'hatred' of Paul.

And in a cold tone, Olivia answered Paul's words, "you said 'sorry'?" Olivia grunts. "That's ridiculous. Though you were driving me out rudely, now suddenly come and apologize? You think I'm a girl who's easily conquered by such sweet words, huh? And besides, what do you mean by calling them 'you'? Do you want to claim that these fireflies are yours?"

Surprised, Paul does not believe that the Olivia he knows is chatty and annoying, can say something sadistic. Women cannot be underestimated. Makes Paul finally understand Olivia's current situation.

"Looks like you hate me, yeah," Paul replied with a slanted smile. "But it's none of my business, anyway. Obviously, I'll bring home my fireflies. They're precious, you know."

Suddenly, after hearing Paul's words, Olivia got an interesting idea in her head. He could take this opportunity to make Paul subjugate to him. But again Olivia did not realize that the sky was very black now.

"Oh, yeah. So they are very valuable to you. Actually I don't mind, just go ahead if you want to bring them, after all they belong to you, right? But, I think, they're more interested in playing with me than you are" Olivia giggled. "It's a shame, yeah, Paul."

"Don't make me repeat my words. My mood is very bad right now, lest you provoke my anger, Olivia. I'm indiscriminate when I'm on a rampage, if you want to know." said Paul with a growling annoyance. She was really being underestimated right now by Olivia, her pride was being trampled on. The girl played him.

So obnoxious.

Shrugging her shoulders quietly, Olivia exhaled. "Hey Paul, I told you, right? Go ahead if you want to take them, I don't mind. But the thing is, your pet fireflies look more comfortable playing with me than with you. The proof is, at this time they are still flying around me, even though you as the master are here. Doesn't that mean they don't want to stay with you anymore, right?Paul?"

Paul's anger slowly peaked, it felt like he wanted to beat up two or three people at once. His right hand was really itching to hit someone's face. The veins on his forehead and neck began to protrude, signifying that Paul was very angry right now.

"What's up, Olivia? You look scared." asked Paul, growling, making Olivia even more horrified.

"I? The fear? Who said!?" reply Olivia by putting on a face of bravery, even though she was very afraid of Paul. "Don't underestimate women! I can also make you battered!"

"Then show me your skills, Olivia."

However, just after Paul said that, the fireflies immediately flew to the man's face, piercing the skin of his face to cause a fairly painful scar.

"Argh! Goddamnit! What's wrong with you guys! Oye! Stop attacking me!"

As much as Paul could shake his hand, so that the fireflies would no longer attack him blindly. But they did not obey Paul's orders, which there, their attacks even more savage. Makes Paul scream in pain because his smooth face is constantly pierced by the fireflies.

Meanwhile, Olivia was surprised to see him, she did not expect that fireflies could be so violent when attacking humans. Unbearable, Olivia yelled at the firefly, "That's enough! Stopit! Don't hurt Paul more than that!" While running up to Paul, trying to drive the tiny animals away from the man's face.

Luckily, the fireflies complied, and began to fly away from Paul. Then, Olivia looked at Paul's face filled with blood dripping from pierced skin. Really, Olivia's hatred for Paul faded after seeing this.

"You should be brought to-"

"No need! I can treat my own wounds! You better go home, Olivia." Paul said by cutting Olivia's words. Although his face is now injured, Paul is more worried about Olivia than himself, because the girl is still not home, even though the moon and stars have appeared in the sky.

Understanding what Paul meant, Olivia replied, "Then take care of yourself, Paul!" then the girl looked at the fireflies flying through the air. "You're going home to Paul too, yeah. I'm fine, really! So you don't have to follow me anymore! Bye bye! Fireflies!"

Eventually, the girl's back vanished from Paul's sight, indicating that Olivia had walked far enough away that he could no longer see her. With his face still bleeding, Paul ordered his fireflies to return to his house.

Miraculously, they obey Paul's orders and fly towards the man's house. While Paul who walked behind them, just smiled faintly looking at the tiny animals in front of him.

"Now I understand," murmured Paul softly. "You have your own thoughts, yes."

Arriving home, Paul is scolded by his mother for coming home with dirty clothes and a face full of wounds. But it only lasted for a little while, until he was finally ordered to take a shower and have dinner.

After finishing all that, Paul went up the stairs and went into his room, and he spoke to the fireflies who were now flying by the window.

"I want you to get in this jar, please." ask Paul to the firefly by putting a glass jar on the wooden table.

Surprisingly, one by one the fireflies flew into the jar provided, leaving Paul amazed to see it.

Finally, the entire firefly, which numbered ten, had all entered into the jar. Paul immediately closed the jar tightly so that they did not go out carelessly again.

"I'll take good care of you from now on."

Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!

Instantly, the phone that Paul had stored on the surface of the mattress trembled, a sign that someone was calling him. Paul immediately picked up the phone and without seeing the name of the person who contacted him these nights, he just picked it up.

"Hello?" Paul tried to speak first.

"Ah, earlier I apologize if interrupting your rest time, Sir. It's me, Roswel. The reason why I'm calling you, is because I want to tell you, that the task assigned to you, starting this second, will be time-limited. And, the maximum limit, is one month. So, as much as possible, you should have found ten containers for the ten spirits within a month. If you fail to complete the task, you will be exposed to something painful, Sir."

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Paul was surprised to hear that.