[3rd August, 1934, Shidan, Karsen, Avenriot]

"Wake up, boy!" a voice came.

It was rough and loud, yet felt strangely soothing.

"Wake up, boy! It's nine o'clock already!" the voice came again, much louder than before.

"I'll wake up in a minute." said the boy as he hid his head under the sheets.

"You leave me no choice." said the man in a disappointing tone.

As the man left, the boy's face appeared out of the sheets. It had a sinister smile.

"I think I'll pass today. One day won't make a difference, would it?" he whispered to himself.

"Oh, what a surprise! Mr. Danon, welcome! Michelle is here too. May I know the reason for such an early visit?" came a voice from downstairs.

'Michelle is here!' the boy thought.

He quickly got out of his bed, running straight to the bathroom. While he brushed his teeth, he could still hear voices from downstairs.

"Ah certainly, it's been really long since we came here.." he heard.

As the cold water from the shower touched his skin, he shivered.

'Curses! This is really cold. I should get out of here quickly. Where is the shampoo when you need one! Where is the soap! Have we gone broke where is everything!'

As his eyes looked around the bathroom, he saw a round object on the shelf.

'There it is.'

As he moved forward to grab the soap, his leg slipped on the wet tile, crashing him onto the shelf.

"Ouch!" he cried, as a shampoo bottle came falling down, hitting him on his head.

"A thousand curses! Talk about a bad day." he cursed.

Somehow, he got out of the bathroom without injuring himself anymore. He went to the closet and opened the door. Inside were his clothes, neatly arranged by his father, for he could not be so organised, not at home at least. He got into his new grey trousers, followed by his white shirt. Rolling his sleeves as he liked it and combing his blonde hair. He was now ready to go downstairs. The voices had stopped now. But he was too lost in his thought of his good impression on Michelle to notice.

As reached the final stair peeking into the living room, he only saw his father.

"Seems you are awake; and dressed too!" his father exclaimed in surprise.

"The Danons were here, right?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Ah, the Danons, I didn't know that trick would be so effective." his father laughed.

"Trick?" he asked in disbelief.

"You aren't the only one knowing how to play tricks, young man." his father said with a prideful smile on his face.

The boy's face turned red with anger.

"You tricked me!" he shouted.

"Now, there, there. That ain't no way for a son to talk to his father." his father said in a stern voice.

The boy, realising his mistake, apologised.

"But then again, you tricked me." he objected in a much respectful tone now.

"Don't you blame me. You know for yourself, that I wasn't the only one playing mind games since morning." his father replied.

"Now, since you have already dressed up, which I didn't expect. You might as we leave for the institute. It's the first day, I wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself. Hurry up! It's 9:20 already." his father continued.

Knowing that he had lost the battle, he went to the door and bid his farewell. But before he could close the door, his father called, "Natria!".

"Did I forget something, dad?" he asked.

"Why not give a visit to the Danons after school. You might meet Michelle there." Frohen(Flohelm) said with a smile.

Natria's head turned red with embarrassment.

"Whatever!" he said as he shut the door close.

The weather outside was warm, with gusts of cool wind passing on periodically. As Natria walked down the sidewalk, he could feel the wind playing with his hair. He looked around here and there, his eyes occasionally meeting another human being. He would nod as in greeting them and continue on his way.

"I wonder if this year would be any different." he said to himself.

'I guess I'll enjoy some drinks with Leon after school.'

He was lost in his thought when he felt an obstruction to his leg; before he could realise, he tripped and fell face first on the ground.

"For the love of Roh(Sun God)! Could this day get any worse?" he cursed.

As he slowly got up, he felt a sharp pain in his forehead. Touching it, he realised he now had a lump on his forehead; to add to his troubles, he was bleeding! He looked around but his vison was blurry.

"And I had to say it!" he cursed again.

As the world around him began to clear up, he looked at what had caused him to trip. Initially, it appeared to be some sort of intelligent slime but as his vison cleared up, he could make out a wiggling tail, followed by four legs and a snout; it was a dog!

"Sparx!" he said, looking at the dog.

Woof!" the dog barked with delight as he ran towards Natria, devouring him in his licks.

"Okay! Okay! I get it! You can stop now!" he said, choking on his laughter.

After a few more licks, Sparx finally stopped.

"So tell me buddy, how come you get here?" he asked, patting him slightly.

"Woof!" he barked cluelessly.

"Of course. Who am I kidding? How could you tell me?" Natria said with a sigh.

'Looks like I'm going crazy.'

"Come! Let's take you back to your home. I'm going the same way so it won't be much of a trouble." he said.

"Woof!" Sparx barked happily.

As Sparx led the way, Natria couldn't help but notice.

'He still has his collar. He couldn't have opened the chain himself. The chain... There is still some part of it still attached to his collar. Was it cut? If yes, then why would it be cut? His fur looks unkempt; there is also a minor bruise on his leg. Was he in a fight? No, Sparx couldn't fight, he is way to old for that stuff. Was he abducted?'

Thoughts danced inside Natria's mind as he tried to put them in a coherent order. He passed the block's information board. As the loosely held paper fluttered in the wind, it caught his attention.

'Pet thief on the loose, huh? Twelve dogs and cats missing.'

As a triumphant smile came on his face, he shouted, "Let's go Sparx!"

"Woof!" Sparx barked with delight.

Ten minutes later, they reached their destination; Haus des Bürgermeisters.

As he rang the doorbell, he called, "Mr. Danon! It's Natria. Remember me? I'm Mr. Hamil's son."

Hectoff Danon, who was on the verandah drinking his tea, heard the call. He put the cup down to check on it and saw a young man with blonde hair knocking on the door.

"Mr. Danon!" Natria called as he continued to knock on the door.

"Natria?" said Hectoff upon hearing his voice.

"Mr. Danon, there you are! It's me Natria, son of Frohen Av' Hamil." Natria said.

"So it is you. My goodness, I'm getting old. These eyes really give me a hard time." said Hectoff, laughing and pointing to his eyes.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you, you still look much more fit than all of our boy scouts." chuckled Natria.

"Oh, you brat! I know there ain't no boy scouts in the institute." laughed Hectoff.

"You got me there." Natria said, walking towards.

As he stepped up the one wooden stair to the verandah, the gate in front of him opened. There in front of him stood a maiden dressed in all white. Natria was mesmerised. Her beautiful, long brown hair danced in the wind as her rosy red lips moved to speak.

"Excuse me? You didn't answer the question." she said.

"Huh? I'm sorry. What? I mean, hi. No, I was here for the cog, I mean, fog. Oh, what am I saying!" Natria said, getting all flustered.

"Hehehe." she laughed politely.

"Your still clumsy as ever, Nate!" she chuckled.

Her laugh gave him a strange relief. He felt happy and relaxed.

"Well, if that's what it takes to get you to laugh, then that it is." Natria said in confident expression.

"Oh, really? So you do that to make me laugh. So you, the cog-fog Nate isn't a huge oaf." she said with amusement.

"Me, an oaf? Of course not and could you please stop with 'Nate', it makes me feel like a Brit." Natria said.

"Of course not, Nate's a much better name and it doesn't sound like that of Brits." Michelle argued.

"Yes, it does." Natria argued back.

"No, it doesn't." she countered.

"Ahem!" coughed Hectoff.

"I think my tutor would be here soon. I should be going." she said as he heard her father's cough. Sparx followed her inside the house.

Seeing the dog, Natria realised the purpose of his visit. As he moved towards Hectoff, he(Hectoff) said, "Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but judging by your attire, you have an opening ceremony to attend."

"Hai?" he said with a blank expression.

"MR. DANON! WHAT TIME IS IT?" he shouted, looking here and there for a watch.

Hectoff, startled by his guest's sudden change in behaviour, tripped over the verandah ledge falling on the ground.

"Yikes!" he cried.

Natria ran to get him up. As he was lifting him, his eyes found the street clock. It was 10:05!

Hurriedly, he got Hectoff on a wooden chair. He was still in a half dazed state. Natria had to hurry; he only had five minutes. He saw the Mayor's cycle. Looking at Hectoff, who still hadn't recovered from his half dazed state, he ran towards the cycle. As the cycle bell rand, Hectoff snapped out of his trance. As he saw Natria running away with his bicycle, he shouted, "Where are you taking it with you? Why were you here?"

"I'll explain you everything in the evening. Thank you!" Natria shouted back.

"But-" before Hectoff could say anything, he realised Natria was too far gone.

As the winds continue to blow, Natria pedalled and pedalled, praying that he wouldn't get late.