The first thing I did Wen I woke up was to grab the small piece of paper on my desk. When I looked at it, something caught my eye.

Some kind of symbol had appeared in the bottom.

I had seen that mark, that sign before. But where?

And I was sure the drawing hadn’t been there when I went to sleep.

I speculated about it the whole morning, and at last decided to take it with me to school.

I met Alien, Show, Albee and Amber at the school gate, where Amber and Albee were in the middle of a very tragic description of how Angela had been too late for the bus.

“…and I was like; oh my god, I thought you bought a new eyeliner last week! And then she was like; yeah, but I already used that. And then she realized that she was too late for the bus, and we, like, panicked, ‘cause she got no liquid eyeliner on. But then I told her to buy it on her way and put it on while taking the bus, but then the shop didn’t have the right one. And then I, like…”

“Okay, Albee, I think we got it now,” Alien said in a tired voice, but lit up as soon as he saw me.

“Gui Gui! We were waiting for you! Where is Genie?” he shouted. Show looked up.

“Got no idea!” I replied, and ran the last piece of way.

But Genie arrived only one minute after me, so we all - except for Albee and Amber, who decided to wait for Angela - went to our first class together.

On the way, I showed them all the paper and asked if they knew the symbol.

“It looks like a circle with five from the middle, but it’s very unclear. Reminds me of a math assignment I had to do in sixth grade though,” Show said.

“I’ve never seen it before,” Alien declared.

Genie shook her head, but blinked informed to me.

Genie dragged me to the head quarter, even though it was the last place I wanted to go to.

“Do you recognize the symbol?” I asked.

She didn’t answer, but made me wait in the cafeteria while she went to get something.

I decided to buy cake for us while waiting, and looked around to get the attention of a waiter. A female one came to my table.

“Excuse me, but isn’t Mr. Hu – George – working today?” I wanted to know. I couldn’t see him anywhere.

“No. Can I take your order?”

I ordered chocolate cake and tea, and continued waiting for Genie. About ten minutes later, she showed up. She must’ve been running, since she was out of breath.

She slammed a book down on the table.

“Why don’t you remember?! You read this book as the first!” she breathed.

“What?” I was still clueless.

She took the paper from me, and leafed through the book until she found the right page. She placed the symbol of the paper next to a drawing in the book.

Even though the drawing in the book was much more decorated, it was basically the same. A circle with five from the middle to the periphery. I read the text beneath the picture.

“Symbol of the Blazing Rings. Oh...”

“There you got it!” Genie looked like she had just won the lottery.

“But how does that... Hey, wait! Maybe this tells us how to find the rings!” I exclaimed.

“Probably not all of them,” Genie corrected me.

“Let’s see...” I flatted the paper on the table.

“No partner, no smith

No extravagance

A way to the aim

A part of the bunch

When it comes to luxury, I’d be without

Wood is where I’d be around

Forest high, north due

Not far from the ocean blue

Friends are worth searching for

Will find one another

But in the deep and dusky dark

Light is true a leader.”

“A way to the aim, a part of the bunch... supports our theory that it’s one of the rings,” I said.

“But which one?” Genie wondered. I read the first verse again, and stared into the air while thinking.

I looked at a painting on the wall. A bunch of flowers...

“Flower Ring,” I whispered.

“What?” Genie said.

“No partner, no smith, no extravagance. Look, the Silver Ring and the Gold Ring are both made of metal – silver and gold. The Sun Ring and Air Ring are both not made of anything solid, and they’re both transparent. The Flower Ring is the only one left – no partner. And no smith, ‘cause the material isn’t made by human. No extravagance, as it’s made of flower leaves, so it isn’t flashy or gaudy.”

Genie gaped.

“And all that you just figured out?”

I smiled, and looked at the next verse.

“This is more clear. It is in a forest... in the northern part of the island. ‘Forest high’... maybe in the mountains. And near the ocean,” I mumbled. A sudden thought hit me.

I still hadn’t asked any Z Coder for support.  And if I had to go on a mission to find this ring – which I probably couldn’t avoid – it was urgent.

“Then what about the last verse?” Genie asked.

“No idea.” I didn’t want to think further about it now. I had other stuff to do.

I didn’t dare to ask Rainie. I didn’t want to (at least I made myself believe that) ask Aaron. Jolin wasn’t a Z Coder. Selina, Hebe and Ella were ideal.

And fortunately, they were always together. I just had to find one, and then the other two would be around.

I used the tunnels to get around, but had to search for a long time before I found... Aaron.

I got a shock when I saw him and would have turned away immediately if my legs hadn’t deserted.

Jiro, Calvin and that other guy were with him. Aaron froze when he saw me, while Jiro smirked and Calvin whispered something to the last guy which made them both chuckle.

“Miss Y8.” Jiro tauntingly bowed. “I hear that you aren’t just as weak and wimpy as you look.”

I didn’t answer.

“Maybe we should present; this is Calvin, Z16, and Chun, Z15.”

Chun nodded distantly while Calvin bowed in the same way Jiro had done.

So they were Z Coders too. Not that I would ever ask any of them for help.

I curtseyed, which made them all burst into laughter – well, except for Aaron.

“Please, guys, you should act more adult,” Aaron said in a tired tone.

“Yeah, but... haha...”

“She just replied your bow.”

Jiro suddenly stopped laughing, and looked thoughtfully at me, like he was discussing with himself if I was taunting him.

Chun had stopped laughing at Aaron’s first comment, but Calvin was rolling on the floor.

“Calvin, stop it, or I’ll step on your nose. Or what’s worse,” Aaron threatened. Calvin took a deep breath and got on his feet.

“Can I ask you something?” I decided to ignore the other guys and concentrate on Aaron.

“Uhm... yes. Jiro, Calvin, Chun, please wait for me in the weight training room, okay?”

As soon as they had left, and we had made sure that nobody else was around, Aaron took the word:

“Okay, I told Master Na that you wanted to quit. It is just really, really important to...”

“That wasn’t what I wanted to ask you.”

“But listen anyways; you have no idea about how important it is to get all the rings. And we’re not the only organization that is after them. We, however, have the advantage of having the Silver Ring,” he spoke very fast. “But it also makes you in a great danger, ‘cause some other organizations won’t stand back from killing. And that’s the only way the Ring can leave you.”

“Does this organization stand back from killing?” I asked.

“We... if it’s possible, yes,” he hesitating answered.

“And is anyone ever going to bother telling me why it’s so important to collect all the Rings?”

“At... some point.”

 “Of course. The tool doesn’t have to know the reason.”

“It’s not like that! You’re not a tool.”

“Then why does everybody treat me like one?!” To my surprise, I could easily hold back my tears.

“It’s too early for you to know.”

“To know what? I’m not five years old.”

“No, but you’re too sensitive!”

I stared at him with open mouth for a moment before talking back.

“So now we’re back to the main point, right? Don’t show your feelings. Don’t have any feelings. And I’m too sensitive, right? So everybody just waits until my pure mind has been damaged enough. But it doesn’t matter, ‘cause I’ll get used to being damaged, and then it’s too late for me to step out of this. That’s how this works, isn’t it?” I couldn’t remember ever speaking with so much irony and coldness before. I continued:

“But you don’t care, nobody cares, not even if my soul gets tortured. Not when people attack me, but when I attack others. I will be hurting from hurting others, but that doesn’t matter, right?”

 “I’m sorry,” he said. And then did something I had never expected him to do.

He stepped forward and pulled me into a close hug, taking away my breath. Before I could react, he obviously realized what he was doing, and let go of me.

Awkward silence.

“So... what did you want to ask me?” He tried to take on his usual, indifferent tone. Failed to.

“I... don’t know if it’s worth asking you anymore.” I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck. I wanted him to give a more qualified response to my accuses, but I guess I was too... sensitive.

“Give it a try.”
“Well, I might have an idea about where one of the Rings – the Flower Ring – is. And... Master Na said I needed support from a Z Coder, and I wanted to ask Ella, Selina and Hebe, but then I found you, and...”

“So you’re basically asking me if I want to help you find the Rings.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

I looked down when he glanced at me. Of some reason, I felt very weak whenever he did it.

I could nearly hear his brain activity. And see through his eyes how hard he was speculating.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” he finally said.

A weird, deep feeling of... was it happiness? went through my body as soon as he agreed.

When I came home, I tiredly walked upstairs to drop off my bag in my room before going to the living room.

But my usual, favourite chair next to the book cases was already occupied.

A black haired boy – man – with deep, dark eyes and very familiar face features brightened up in a smile when he saw me.

“No! It’s impossible!” I shouted, happy that it wasn’t.

“Can you recognize me? Lord, I hoped I had changed...”

“A bit uglier, maybe,” I laughed.

He stood up and hugged me. This hug was full of warmth, friendship and happiness.

***

I want to SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

But I had to update :b

Omg, thank you guys SO much for all the sweet, amazing x100000 comments <3

Really, you guys are so great :] I couldn’t write this without you. If I wasn’t too tired, I’d dance around in happiness. However, I do that whenever I see a new comment. Lol <3

Aaron agreed to help Gui Gui. How will it turn out?

Will they find the flower ring?

What about the other rings?

And who is visiting Gui Gui?

Please pleeeeeeease write a comment :3

- Blitz