A Glimpse Of The Past (1)

"Matthew, what are you doing?"

"I'm watching this guy on YouCylinder playing the guitar with his dog, mom," Matthew said while leaning his body back on a couch.

"Mom, can we have a dog and a guitar?" Matthew suddenly asked his mother.

"No, who will take care of the dog? I don't want to do it. Taking care of your father and you are enough for me."

"Then what about the guitar? Can I at least get a guitar?"

"Also no, you don't even know how to play it."

"I can learn"

"No, why would you waste your time learning something useless like that? Why don't you use your time to review your lessons instead? The competition is in three days, right? Don't watch too many useless videos on that phone, it's bad for you."

Matthew wanted to argue and explain to his mother that he will take care of the dog on his own and how he really wanted to play the guitar, but knowing that his mother won't listen to him even if he gave her a concrete and logical explanation as long as she thought that she was right he was wrong, Matthew decided not to pursue it anymore.

"Yes mom, I understand." Is all he managed to say.

—---------

"And the first place winner of the national math competition goes to… Matthew from Sower Junior High School!"

The announcer said in a big hall filled with hundreds of top students from all over the country.

"Congrats on another win, Matthew!"

"How many times have you won a national maths competition? I've lost count already!'"

"We're already competing for second place from the start after knowing that you'll also participate because the first place had been reserved for you, Matthew. Congratulations! You deserve it."

Matthew's friends from the same high school that participated in the competition all congratulate him, saying words of congratulations and praises for him without uttering a single bitter word even though they're also competing with him.

"Thanks, guys, we've all worked hard for it and I've only been luckier than you guys this time," Matthew replied to his friends.

"You mean you've only been luckier than us throughout these past 2 years right?" One of his friends retorted.

Hearing that, Matthew could only smile awkwardly and didn't say anything else.

After the MC announced the end of the event, all the participants slowly started to leave the huge hall and went their own separate ways, including Matthew who is currently inside his car with his mom and dad.

"Congratulations on winning the competition Matthew, what do you want for your gift this time?" His father asked.

"Umm… Can I get a dog?"

"No Matthew, I've told you already that we won't be getting a dog. They are messy, they will bite all your things and break them, and they leave furs everywhere! I will accept anything else other than a dog." His mother is the one who replied to his question.

"Then…"

"Also no cats or other furry pets!" She added.

"I meant to say, can I get a guitar instead?"

"Why are you insisting on getting a guitar Matthew? I've already told you that it is useless and it will only waste your time!"

"But mom, I really want to play the guitar! Just hearing the sounds that it makes really calms me down and seeing people playing it, they look so cool and awesome!"

"No means no, Matthew! What if your grades drop because you spend your time playing that useless thing! This must be because of all those videos you watched on your phone! Now you can only use it for one hour a day, no more than that! Using that phone is only giving you bad influence."

"But, Mom…"

For the first time in a long time, Matthew felt his chest hurt as if something was about to burst and he didn't think that he could hold it in anymore.

Fortunately, Matthew heard his father's voice before he could open his mouth and vomit all the pent-up feelings on his chest.

"I think it's okay to give him a guitar. A boy needs his hobby don't you think?" He said.

"But honey, what if he spent all his time playing that thing and neglected his study?"

"But his grades so far are always perfect and he always won the competitions right? Why don't you trust him more?"

"But…"

"Alright, he can have a guitar, but if his grades go down, he will have to sell it."

"You hear that Matthew?"

"Yes, dad! Thank you, dad! Thank you, mom! I promise that won't happen." As he said that, the tension in his chest lessened and the boiling emotions receded as his heartbeat went back to normal.

—---------

"Big brother!"

"Big brother Matthew!"

"Wake up wake up ! It's already morning!"

Matthew suddenly heard the same voice that he had been hearing for the past two days once again calling out his name and woke him up from his sleep.

The same voice that had been interrupting his sleep for the past two days and came back again today to once again wake him up. Fortunately, Matthew slept early yesterday after having a light meal with the kobolds and thus he didn't look like a sleep-deprived kobold today.

But nonetheless, the voice interrupted Matthew in the middle of his dream. Matthew hadn't been dreaming ever since he was born in this world and his recent dream was the first time that he had a dream ever since becoming a chameleon.

But it wasn't necessarily a nice dream since it was literally a flashback of what happened in his life when he was still a human and it was the period where Matthew wasn't too fond of. So Matthew didn't want to complain or sulk when the first kobold kid woke him up from his sleep again.

"Brother Matthew!"

"Yes, yes I'm awake now thank you."

Matthew then got up from his bed and did his usual morning stretch before coming outside the house along with the first kobold kid.

"What are you doing here, kid? Aren't you supposed to be learning magic with your grandpa?" Matthew asked while squinting his eyes.

"Of course I am! I just wanted to wake you up since I know you never wake up on time in the morning."

'It's not me who's not on time, it's you guys who love to wake up too early in the morning.' Matthew grumbled in his heart without saying it out loud.

"And I want to tell you where the twins lived, they usually woke up at the same time as I do, but just in case they overslept, you can wake them up after I wake you up instead."

"Do you plan on waking me up every morning…?"

"Of course! It already started forming as a habit of mine after doing it a couple of times."

'Should I turn the scanner function back on before I fall asleep to wake me up every time this kid gets close to me…'

Matthew had turned off his scanner function ever since living in the kobold village because hearing a notification every time a kobold walked inside his scanner range is quite annoying considering that he will meet a kobold or two every ten steps that he took.

'But if I could wake up before the kid wakes me up then maybe he will give up after a few days and stop waking me up when I want to get some extra sleep…'

But in the end, Matthew decided not to do so because the first kobold kid seems to not mind walking to his house, waking him up every morning and he even seems happy to do it.

'It's not too bad waking early in the morning if I sleep early the day before and the first kobold kid seems to enjoy doing it so maybe I will just let him do it.' Is what Matthew thought.

The first kobold kid then lead Matthew towards the twins' house which was located in the complete opposite of Matthew's house and the house was located at the outskirts of the village since their parents were kobold warriors and locating the kobold warriors houses at the outskirts of the village is a way to protect the village just in case the village was suddenly invaded.

The kobold warriors could react quickly and protect the weaker kobolds that lived in the inner parts of the village.

The two then soon arrived at the twins' house and they could see the twins were doing awkward movements with their bodies that Matthew could only guess that they were trying to do the morning stretch that he taught the first kobold kid.

"Have you been doing it like that all this time?" Matthew asked the first kobold kid.

"Yes- I mean no?"

"Hah… Come here you three. I will do it slowly, so please try to follow me as best as you can."

Matthew then proceeds to teach the kids step by step how to stretch their whole body starting from their necks, backs, until their legs.

As the stretching movement that Matthew taught was the basic stretch that his P.E teacher taught him while in primary school, the three kids could do them perfectly in their first try with only slight adjustments from Matthew.

"Now then, you will go back to your grandfather while you two will follow me," Matthew said to the three kids.

One kid is visibly sulking while the other two are excited as they start walking towards their own destinations.