Weapon training! Ri’s not with me because she doesn’t use a bow. There’s a lot of people here I don’t recognize. There are so many people in the school; I can’t remember them all. Um, some of these people look older than me, but they’re not old like adults. They’re just tall. How come they’re weapon training so late? Maybe they didn’t like the first weapons they picked.

“Attention!”

Um? It’s the teacher. He looks pretty old. I’ve never seen him in the sect before; I don’t think he’s very important. Most of the important people visit Mommy or Auntie Ilya, and they give me snacks and presents when they do.

“Until you graduate from my class by passing the final test, all of you shall be my students.” The teacher’s face looked a little like a bird’s, a mean bird’s. “You shall address me as Instructor. Until you pass the final test, none of you are worthy of learning my name.”

Um? “Isn’t your name Ling Su?”

The teacher paused and glared at me. “Who told you that?”

“It’s on the class syllabus, see?” It’s right here: archery class under the instruction of Ling Su. The nice lady at the front entrance gave me this paper when I told her I was going to learn how to use the bow.

The teacher’s face turned bright red. It was even redder than Mommy’s tomatoes after mashing them. “Since you know everything, why don’t you come up here and demonstrate your archery skills!”

Um? I’m not Auntie Ilya; I don’t know everything.

“What are you waiting for? Snap to it! You brought a bow, didn’t you? Come up here and shoot that target!”

Why is he yelling? It’s hurting my ears. Is this what Mommy meant by bullying? Mommy told me she’d beat up anyone who dared bully me, but I didn’t know what that meant, so I asked her. She said bullying is doing anything to make me feel bad. Um, I’m going to ask Mommy if this is bullying when I eat dinner with her. Maybe it’s not bullying, and he’s just a very loud man. I’ll listen to him because Mommy said I have to listen to the teachers.

“You call that a proper stance? What are you going to do? Hit the target with your bow!?” The teacher grabbed a bow off the wall, and he stood while holding it in a weird way. “You do it like this! Do it like this, you see!?”

Like this? “Now what?”

“Now you take your arrow, draw it back along the string, and release!”

Thwang!

Wow! The arrow flew from the teacher’s bow and hit the straw dummy across the field! It hit it right in the head! That’s so cool! It’s my turn now! I grab the arrow and pull the string and release!

Thwomp!

I did it! My arrow hit the teacher’s arrow, pushing it further into the straw dummy!

“You…. What in tarnation?” The teacher seemed confused, but then he got mad. His eyes shrank, and his forehead wrinkled up. “Kid! This is the class for beginners! If you already knew how to shoot like that, why are you here?”

Um? “This is my first time using a bow.”

“What!?” The teacher’s eyes widened. “Really? Are you serious?”

“Yeah! I turned six a few days ago! You can ask my mommy.”

“Is that…, is that really the case?” the teacher mumbled, but I could still hear what he said. “A prodigy? Impossible. Even a prodigy can’t accurately hit a target seventy meters away if they’ve never picked up a bow before.” The teacher stared at me. “Then it can only be … beginner’s luck! Do it again. Shoot the target.”

Beginner’s luck? That could be it, um. Let’s try it again. I put an arrow onto the bowstring, pull back, and release!

Thwomp!

It hit! I did it again; the arrow hit the target dummy in the same exact spot! The teacher looks super amazed. Am I amazing? Am I a genius? “Look, look! What do you think?”

“Again! Shoot it again!”

I’ll do it again!

Thwomp!

“A genius! You’re a true prodigy! You were practically born to use a bow!” The teacher lifted me up and threw me into the air! I’m going to fall! Ah! He caught me before I hit the ground. “You said you just turned six a few days ago? You’ve never touched a bow before today?”

“Auntie Ilya gave me my bow yesterday!” Um, it’s a really nice bow too! “She said it was a bow meant for children.”

“Wait a second….” The teacher stared at my bow. Um? Did he want to take it away from me? Auntie Ilya gave me this! “Can I see your bow?”

“Yeah.” I’ll let him see it. Auntie Ilya never said I had to hide it, so it should be okay. “Hey! I said you can see it!” He’s trying to take it away from me! “I never said you could touch it! I’m going to tell my mommy if you don’t let go right now!” Um!? He snatched it! “Give it back!”

“Y-y-you! You little trickster!” The teacher pointed at the bow and glared at me. “This bow has targeting formations built into it! Even a pig could accurately hit that target with this bow! You actually dared to deceive me! Get out! Get out of my classroom this instant!”

Um!? The teacher picked me up and threw me out of the room! I hit my head against the wall! It hurts! What’s wrong with this teacher!? It hurts so much! Ow! He threw my bow at me!

“And stay out! Never come back here again!”

Bang!

The teacher slammed the door! What, what just happened? Did that really happen? Um, my head, it hurts! Where do I go? I was supposed to learn how to use a bow today, but the teacher told me not to leave…. “Waaaah! Mommy! Mrs. Feathers! Hic, hic. Auntie Ilya! Help!”