Bickering
"Tch." Osho clicked his tongue as he failed to avoid a metal ball that fell from above and bonked his head.
He expected it to hurt a lot more, but all it did was make him lose his balance and fall off a pole that was just big enough for his two feet to be on.
He wanted to ask Gale to assist him, but the bird was already busy deflecting as many balls as possible. That wasn't all as there were also blunt spikes being shot out of the wall. Moreover, the poles kept on moving, so it was difficult for him to plan where to jump next.
He couldn't even begin to guess where one would encounter such obstacles, but he just ran with it. Still, he was destined to fail.
He had already fallen a few times. A few times too many as all his accumulated time ran out and Mrs Jane called his name.
"Alright Osho, that's enough. Your time is up." She called out, her voice still miraculously sounding so close despite being so far away.
However, her tone was noticeably softer than when she addressed the others. Clearly. She already felt like Osho had done more than enough.
Osho sighed as he picked himself up and went out of the obstacle course and walked back to where the class was gathered.
As he neared, he saw how everyone was staring at him with awe, shock, admiration, and envy. Ellie just looked unsurprised.
"You did good." Mrs Jane said with a nod and patted his shoulder. Osho nodded and stretched. Inevitably, he had expended quite a bit of energy and felt a little bit tired.
Gale chose the moment to land on his shoulder and flap his wings a few times before snuggling against his neck, also feeling a bit tired.
While the strain wasn't as extreme as yesterday when they fought the dummies, it was still intense. Moreover, they expended more mental energy as they figured out ways to get passed the various obstacles.
On the bright side, the gains were also quite fruitful. Osho got better at transferring images and more precise commands to Gale while Gale was getting more proficient at using his brain, sometimes taking the initiative at different intervals in the course
Then there was Osho's control over his Mana and wind. It seemed like they were exaggerating when they said pressure makes people perform better.
As his Mana dwindled, he found himself using it more efficiently and his mastery over the wind got better and better as he focused more on quality than quantity.
In short, just this day had granted him some significant gains.
"Of course you're athletic," Ellie said as they walked to the back of the group.
Osho just shrugged reached his bike where his bag was and sat down next to it.
Ellie followed suit and stared at him intently as he took out a lunch box as well as a large zip lock back filled with high-quality beast food.
He opened the bag and balanced it against his lap causing Gale to happily hop off his shoulder to approach the bag and start eating happily.
Osho also opened his lunch box and a fragrant smell wafted out as his lunch was revealed. Expertly made Japanese curry and soy-infused eggs.
As he took out his spoon to start eating, another spoon descended with his towards the rice.
Osho: (–_–)
Ellie: (0_0?)
"What are you doing?" Osho stared at her with a mix of exasperation and annoyance.
"Hm? Eating with you." She said like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"... Why?" He pressed and she just shrugged.
"I'm hungry."
"..." He stared at her and she stared back at him innocently.
"... I only brought enough for myself." He countered.
"Aw, but I didn't bring any food. You aren't gonna let a pretty girl like me starve will you?" She pouted and Osho rolled his eyes.
"You can just buy something from the cafeteria. Aren't you like, rich or something?" He said and started to push her spoon away using his.
"Gasp. Telling a girl to buy herself food when you can just feed her yourself? What happened to chivalry.?" She gasped dramatically and she started pushing back against his spoon.
"Chivalry is dead. Now leave my food alone." He retorted flatly as he pushed back with more force and Ellie pouted some more.
"Cone oooon! I'm hungry!" She whined and Osho resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"My goodness, you're being a brat! Haven't your parents ever told you not to beg for food?" He didn't buy her act at all
"But it's okay when it's from a friend!" She shot back.
"That isn't how that works." He sighed.
The two of them kept on bickering, and their classmates just watched from a distance.
"Man, that guy is truly dense, isn't he?" One of them said and they all shook their heads, seemingly in disappointment.
"Well, it makes sense I guess. I mean, he's good-looking, good-natured, and has a good future. If he was good at reading signals as well, I'd question the universe for the unfairness.' Another said.
Eventually, Osho relented and let Ellie eat some of the food, and he won't lie, seeing her reaction to his cooking made him almost want to give her more. Almost.
"Ugh, your cooking skills are simply divine! Why are you so good? The cooks at home simply can't compare." She gushed as she tried to get another spoon, but Osho just turned away from her, much to her disappointment.
'Why am I so good huh?' He repeated the question in his mind as he recalled something from his last life.
'How about I become your personal chef?'
'No! Your cooking is horrible!'
'Aw. But I swear I got better!'
'That doesn't change the fact that it's still bad.'
'Tch. Fine! I'll make sure to become the best chef ever. That way, you'll be begging for my cooking!'
'Ha! As if. Just make sure nor to lose any fingers in the process. I won't be there to comfort you when it happens.'
'Hmph. We'll see.'
The childish conversation washed over him like a tide and Osho couldn't help but smile ever so slightly.
'I think I won that bet, Ellie.' He thought. Since he was turned away from her, Ellie didn't see the smile as she just kept trying to beg for more, but Osho was determined to eat his fill.
By his lap, Gale was on his back, his small belly bulging slightly as he stared up, eyes slightly dazed. The bird was content.
***
When the class ended and Osho finished sparring with Ellie, he didn't head home immediately. Instead, he went towards the Beast Emporium once more.
He'd been putting off this venture for a while now, but he wanted to evolve Gale again as soon as possible.
One could say that doing so would just be a quick way of drawing attention to himself. But he was still committed for two reasons.
The first was that his instincts told him that the more Gale grew, the harder it would be to evolve him again. That was to say, the price of the things he'd need to evolve Gale again would shoot up.
The second was that, well, he just wanted to get it out of this way. He didn't like how he kept nagging himself to get it over with, so he decided to just get it over with.
As such, he approached the store with purpose.