3 Good Friend

Before the soldiers appeared at Kuoka's village.

Kuoka played around a field, with a girl the same age as him. He harbored slight feelings of romance for her; he was also fully aware of it.

Luckily for him, his behavior around her didn't change much from her first impression of him. Awkward, and just as uneducated as the other villagers in the village. She didn't have any problem with him at all, even though he was pretty much the most uneducated, she was also near his level.

She wouldn't spend time with most of the villagers in the village. She dreamed of becoming a great tactician like Kuoka did.

Both she and Kuoka would spend long hours under a tree together; they spoke of what they dreamed of being, and what they wanted to do.

"I want become a great warlord so that I can rule over this nation!" Kuoka raised his arms into the sky, and grabbed at the air.

"What are you going to do then?" She asked.

"I'm going to take care of my people with kindness and mercy; just like the previous lords that ruled over this nation!"

"Naomi! We need you to help with drying some clothes, could you come over for a while?" Naomi's father yelled from a distance, and she quickly stood up from beneath the tree. "Sorry, I'll tell you about mine later ok?" She smiled. "Sure..." He stared at Naomi as she walked further away from him.

He sighed and relaxed his body; he stared into the bright sky above him. "The clouds are parting from this point... to this point." He mumbled as he raised his right arm to point at one end of the clouds to another. "What do I do now..."

The wind carried leaves inches away from his face and it made him flinch. He frantically scrambled to stand up, and looked at a faraway tree. "It's already autumn?" From far away stood a tree that towered over the forest, like a giant in a bustling city filled with bright minds and young explorers.

He saw a flurry of leaves quickly dashing at his location, so he quickly ran back to his home.

When he approached his house; several soldiers appeared on the path before him... he panicked but soon realised they didn't have any intention to harm him. One of the soldiers knelt infront of him and asked. "Child, where is your village?"

Kuoka turned away from the men and quickly ran back to his village; with the soldiers following closely behind. They soon reached the village and saw children prancing in a field; singing songs of prosperity.

The now 19 year old Kuoka stared at the sky. His younger self held no more space in his mind, and was quickly suppressed.

Naomi was waiting for him outside his house; she stared at him, he stared at the sky. "Hey! What are you thinking about up there?" She waved her hands from side to side, hoping to get his attention... but when he continued being unresponsive, she started jumping up and down. "Hello?!"

Kuoka still kept silent, while smugly facing the sky. "If Tira wants to do that... then I think I'll have to move for me to be able to pinpoint the exact locat-"

'Tack!' Kuoka frantically turned behind him while applying pressure to where his mother had whacked him over the head. "That hurt! What are you doi-" His mother had hit his head with a heavy book from their library; and used it to point at Naomi. "She's been calling you for half an hour. What do you keep mumbling about up here anyway?"

The wind blew harder and made Naomi's hair fling up, causing her to nearly stumble and fall. Kuoka quickly jumped down from one story high to catch her, but she stabilized herself. Kuoka stood infront of her and looked away. "Are you alright?" His mother was already silently laughing at him from inside.

Kuoka's mother, slowly backed away from the balcony and walked outside. "Quite the jump you made there, sure you're alright?" His mother mockingly smiled at him. "Oh shut up!" He hid his face behind his hands and groaned.

"Naomi, are you sure you don't want to cut your hair? It seems too long for you to work." She quickly slipped out a pair of scissors from her left pocket, using her left hand. "No, thank you. I like having long hair, it helps me keep warm." Kuoka's mother shrugged and walked back into her house. "Guess I'll go cut my own hair."

Now that his mother was gone, Kuoka calmed down. He patted his thighs and sighed, "sorry about that, my mother is pretty energetic today." Naomi straightened her hair while slowly saying, "she definitely does."

"Either way, even if we're energetic... it doesn't help the fact that we're at war with Tira... I wanted to go there one day." She tied her hair into a braid that hung, from the top of her head, to the center of her back. "There's also no point in being mopey about it. You won't be involved in the war in a hundred years."

Kuoka placed a hand on her shoulder; but she pushed it away. "You're not going to be involved in the war too right?" She asked worriedly, "I heard that they created something called 'Conscription.' It requires each village to send at least 10 men... don't tell me you're going!"

"Naomi. You're a good friend of mine so I know you understand... I want to become a great warlord someday, you want to be a tactician too right? I'll help you with that." He spoke confidently, Naomi was taken aback, "I never told you I wanted to be a tactician though, how do you know?"

Kuoka covered his mouth and bent over, towards the floor. 'She's right! How do I know this.' He stretched his back and put both his hands nearby his torso. "Itttt... just felt like a possibility!" Naomi stared at his face confusedly, "I see... well you guessed correctly."