When all the wolves disperse, Lee’s legs finally buckle under his weight and he falls down to the ground; he finally lets go of all the emotions and his breath starts to come out fast, matching his racing heart. He then reaches in the bag and takes his bottle of water, takes a sip, and splashes some onto his face.
“What an adrenaline rush that was,” he calls out, lying with his back on the forest ground.
As he decides to head home, he kills two rabbits and three of the jumping squirrel beasts. Once home, he takes a shower as Kenji and Sue prepare the meat; Lee found out from Kenji that the jumping squirrel beast's meat is very expensive in the market. Each beast, half the size of the one Lee caught, sells for thirty yen each.
As he gets to his room, he finds five beast stones on his bed. As he examines them with his phone's app, he discovers that the rabbit stones are level one beast crystals, two of the squirrels are level three crystals, and one is a beast core of level one.
When he looks at them, he compares them to the stones he has and notices that the difference between the stones and crystals is that crystals look like gems, whereas the stones look like glass; as for the core, it seems to have an inner glow. Lee suspects that it came from the one that he shot three times and only died once Lee slammed it against a rock, snapping its neck.
He decides to keep quiet regarding the incident with the wolves; after all, he had promised to be careful and not do anything dangerous, and that was reckless and pure daredevil risk.
As he passes by his school bag, he knocks it down and an envelope falls out; noticing it, Lee remembers the birthday party. So he heads downstairs into the kitchen with the envelope in his hand.
“Mum, can I go to a friend's birthday party Saturday?” Lee asks when he gets near Sue, who is in the process of preparing the meat for dinner.
“You mean next Saturday, right?” asks Sue.
Lee checks the invitation and notices the date. Then, doing some maths, says, “I thought it was, but it is only on the next one, the twenty-second of July.”
“Sure, that will be okay,” Sue says, then adds, “Do you know what your friend likes? Who is it, anyway?”
Lee places the invitation on the planner board—an interactive board with a calendar and a magnetic side to attach notes and important papers.
He then turns around and says, “It’s Suhan Grassphin, and I don't know exactly what she likes.”
Sue’s head snaps to look at Lee. “She’s from the Grassphin family?” Lee nods. “Lee, do you really think that is a good idea to go? The Grassphins are a rich family; they are not like us, and it will be hard to get her something that she doesn't have.”
“But she knows we don't have much money, and unlike her cousin and his friend, she plays with everyone,” Lee says; then looking at Sue, his mind starts to swirl and he adds, “Is that why you never let me go before, on the other times she invited me?”
Sue sighs, then nods. “People when they are rich like the Grassphins, they are not very nice to people with less money, so I was afraid that they mistreated you.”
“That’s okay; I will go this time, and if they are mean to me...” Lee shrugs. “I will have an excuse to say no next time.” Sue looks at Lee and nods with a smile.
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In no time, two weeks go by; Lee finds himself in his last lesson, still pondering what he might give Suhan as a birthday gift.
“Okay, students,” calls out the teacher from the front of the class. “I am having a headache right now, and this year we are finishing earlier for the summer holidays; next week there is no school, as it will be under renovations.” The teacher reaches into her bag and takes some papers. “It was a last-minute decision, so you will need to take a letter home.” The teacher then starts to go down the desks and gives each student a letter.
“Lee, are you coming to my birthday party tomorrow?” Suhan asks as the teacher distributes the letters.
Lee nods. “Yes, I will; I just don't know...” Lee is about to say ‘what to give you,’ but noticing her face, says, “What to wear; will there be a dress code?”
Suhan laughs. “No, silly, just dress normal.” She says with a smile. “I don't care about that; I just want you to go.”
Lee nods with a smile. As the teacher gets back to the front of the class, she says, “Now, we have one hour left; I don't care what you do, just be quiet and remain in the class. You can talk with each other; I even allow you to play games on your phones or tablets.” Everyone in class looks around to be sure that everyone heard the same thing. So the teacher adds, “All I ask is that you stay quiet.” She then sits on her chair and rubs the bridge of her nose.
Lee approaches her. “Miss, where is your head hurting?”
The teacher looks up startled, as she never heard Lee approach; then she says, “It’s here, on my forehead.” She says rubbing at it.
“Have you tried lemon tea?” Lee asks, and the teacher shakes her head in confusion, so Lee adds, “Cut a lemon skin and place it in a cup and add hot water, then you can add a spoon of honey. I heard that it helps the pain go away.”
At first, the teacher is about to reject Lee’s suggestion, but then, remembering what he has accomplished in the last month, she thinks twice and says, standing up, “Students, I will be back in a bit; stay in class.” She then leaves the class and moments later returns with a mug in her hands, hot steam coming out of it.
As the final bell rings, everyone packs their things in quiet while cheering noises explode from the other classes. “Thank you, everyone,” the teacher says with a smile. “But it's summertime; you should be celebrating!” She adds and braces herself as the class erupts, too, into cheers as the students exit the class on a run.
Lee shakes his head as he stays behind, still packing his bag. Sensing a shadow, he looks up. “Hello, miss, how’s your head?”
“Better, thank you for your suggestion,” the teacher says. She then looks to the side and adds, “Suhan, have fun tomorrow.”
“Thank you, miss, I will,” says Suhan with a smile.
As Lee leaves his class, he gets a text message; opening it, he sees that it's from his mum. ‘Sorry kid, there is a bit of traffic; can you please get Saki and wait by the office. Thank you, mum.’ Lee sends an okay and puts his phone back in his pocket.
“What is that, Lee?” says Suhan, approaching Lee.
Lee gives a small smile. “It was my dad’s old phone; he gifted it to me,” Lee says showing the phone.
Suhan shakes her head. “I know that is a phone; I mean this! It’s beautiful,” she says indicating the pendant on Lee’s phone, one he made with the strings.
Lee is about to reply but a girl from another class, friends with Suhan, takes her away chatting. Looking at the pendant, Lee gets an idea, so he goes and gets Sakura from her class; at first, the teacher is reluctant to let her go, saying, “Sorry, I know she is your sister, but I can't let you take her.”
Thinking fast, Lee looks behind the teacher. “Miss, she is the last one, and we will wait by the office. Don't you want to just go on your summer holidays?” He then takes his phone and shows the message. “Mum said she will be late because of traffic.”
“You know what? You are right; I need my holidays,” the teacher says. “But I can't let you take her on your own. So just let me get my bag, and I will go with the two of you to the office.”
Lee and Sakura wait for five minutes before Sue gets to school; at first, she is panicking, but when she gets to the office, she notices that she wasn't the only one delayed by the traffic, as there are other students also waiting for their parents.
In the car, Lee asks, “Mum, can we go to town? I know what to give Suhan tomorrow.”
Sue nods. “Yes, I also need to buy some things. What are you gifting her?”
Lee smiles a devilish smile. “Something that I noticed is very rare and cheap.”
Sue shakes her head. “Lee, if things are rare, they are expensive; the only thing that…” Sue stops talking and just looks at Lee, who smiles with raised eyebrows and nods. “What do you need?”
