Moments after Mrs. Walker stepped out of class, the children started shouting like they were waiting for her to leave.
"Did you really have to say that to Mrs. Walker? She was almost about to commit the sin of killing you."
"Killing someone like him might not be a sin." Follow current novᴇls on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚·𝔫𝔢𝔱
"The sins sound terrifying; we should stay away from them."
"She said all that to scare us. I will try every sin after leaving this place."
"Oh Wait... it’s Mr. Huggins’s class. I heard he is back."
While the kids were groaning and whining, Jinn casually stood up from his seat and started walking towards the exit.
"Look, Jinn is going out. I heard he was blessed by one of the seven major Gods, The One Eyed Goddess, Lucia."
"Where is he going? Is he skipping class again?"
"Now that the main classes are over, maybe he wants to start skipping like us?"
Those who talked about the blue-eyed boy only whispered under their breath, fearing that he might listen.
Geralt seemed to hear their whispers and looked over. His eyes tracked Jinn closely, like a hawk.
Just as the boy was about to step out, someone entered the classroom.
Looking at the living definition of despair, Jinn barely held himself from recoiling and greeted the man with respect. "Good Morning, Mr. Huggins."
"Ah, Good Morning, Jinn... even though my mornings are anything but good."
’Okay, I am definitely not sitting through one of "his" lectures.’ Groaning inwardly, Jinn kept a fake smile on his face. "I was thinking of taking the rest of the day off and preparing for the entrance exams—"
Just as he was weaving through a well-thought-out lie, Mr. Huggins stopped him in the middle by patting his shoulder. "Say no more, Jinn. You can take the day off and prepare well to become renowned throughout the kingdom. Maybe then—then you might not end up like me..."
’How can he start an encouraging sentence only to turn it into a despairing mess?’ Jinn attempted to offer some words of encouragement, but they were met with silence.
After he left the room, Mr. Higgins stepped behind the teaching stand when another student approached him.
"Ah, Geralt! This is our second brightest star. How can I help you?"
Had it been some other teenage kids obsessed with fantasies, they would say there was no downside of reincarnation, especially with all of your memories intact.
However, their thoughts were just as fictional as their romantic experiences.
Jinn had practical experience with understanding how hard it was to start over.
Being an adult in the body of a child was a torture in itself.
For the first few hours he could not even see anything. He almost believed that he had been born blind, but it turned out to be normal for newborns.
His vision slowly came back, but all he could see were blurry images. Everything was only shapes and shadows, and it took him months to see clearly.
Then came the problem of powerlessness in the infant body.
His muscles were so weak that he could not even stop himself from pooping or peeing whenever his body needed to discard waste.
As he grew up, Jinn believed his life would become easier, but emotional trauma in the form of little devils stepped into his life. He was forced to live with other kids of different ages once he turned six.
Surrounded by the curious kids who wanted to know everything, Jinn felt worn out all the time. Somehow, every child believed that Jinn was the only one capable of answering their questions.
Over the years, Jinn came to hate children. He slowly grew distant from other kids in the orphanage while only a handful were willing to stay by his side. Sally and Kyle were two of those people.
But this was all part of his grand plan; Jinn made sure the kids would stay away from him.
When he became one of the two children who awakened the root chakra, all his efforts went down in vain. Now suddenly everyone looked at him with admiration and curiosity.
"Big Brother Jinn!" Kids who he had never even met would shout in excitement upon seeing him, waving at him like fans.
Jinn was deep in thought when he heard the voice call out to him again.
Startled, he looked over. A group of ten-year-old boys squealed like teenage girls might act upon seeing their crush.
They broke into a sprint, rushing towards him. Their eyes were shining with excitement and awe.
With a blank expression on his face, Jinn pretended not to see anyone and quickly spun around, sprinting back upstairs.
"Wait, brother Jinn!" When they arrived at the corner where Jinn had turned, one of the boys attempted to stop him, but he had already left. No matter how much they looked, the three kids could not find him anywhere.
"Where did he go? He was right here..."
"It’s all your fault!"
"Yeah, you shouted so loudly that you scared him away."
After a few more unsuccessful attempts at finding their idol, three of them gave up and left.
The second they turned, air in the stairway twisted, and a burst of silver mist leaked out.
From the mist, Jinn stepped out with a pale face and haggard breath. Peeking through the stairway, he saw the three kids, still standing there, blaming each other.
’Nu-uh, I am not dealing with this right now.’ Without even blinking, Jinn turned around and walked away. The silver mist devoured him once more.
Seconds later, the sound of rushed footsteps echoed in the stairway, catching the attention of the kids.
"It must be big brother Jinn!" One of them exclaimed before running back towards the stairs. The other kids barely heard him before they joined the chase as well.
As he reached the end, the boy wanted to call out to Jinn, but he collided with someone and stumbled back.
"Ouch!" Rubbing his nose, the boy looked up and realized it was not Jinn and swallowed the rest of his words with a gasp.
"Oh, are you okay?" Surprised by the sudden collision, Geralt smiled and patted the boy. "Why were you running in such a hurry?"
The other kids caught up, their eyes brightening up with surprise.
"Big brother Geralt! We thought you were big brother Jinn; we just saw him. But it appears we lost him again." The boy standing before Geralt spoke, fidgeting shyly under his gaze.
"Jinn was here?" Geralt was caught off guard. "Did you see where he went?"
"He went upstairs, but we also went to look there, and we did not find him anywhere."