After taking a shower, Lee goes back into his room and remembers the stone that his mother gave him. Then, from the pocket of his previous trousers, he removes a similar stone, this one bigger. As he examines the stones, Lee realises that they feel warm; the bigger one is actually a bit colder than the smaller one.

  “If this is a beast core, where did the wolf find this one?” Lee asks, looking at the bigger stone. “And why did it give it to me?”

  Lee goes to his computer after closing his bedroom door. Then he opens a hidden file named diary.

  In the file is information that Lee has been logging about things since he woke up from the coma. Then he does a web search about the stones, only to find out that, even though humans have discovered the stones inside the beasts over three hundred years prior, right when the explorers found this planet, and aliens knew about the stones for centuries before that, but even so, the stones can only be used as batteries or treats for pet beasts.

  The biggest one found until this point was the size of a child’s fist, and it took practically an army to get rid of the beast.

  Some stones also have unique characteristics, just like the beasts they come from; some beasts develop the ability to control the elements around them, and once killed, the stone inside them will have the same affinity to the element.

  Lee archives the information. “This was interesting information.” Lee then holds the stone over his phone’s flashlight to look inside. “From what I read, these stones don’t have any element attributes,” he says, looking at the murky cloud inside the crystal stones.

  Lee then goes and sits on his carpet to meditate; he has just closed his eyes when there is a knock at the door. “Big brother, are you in there?” comes the voice of Sakura.

  “Yes Saki, come in,” says Lee without opening his eyes, and he hears the door opening.

  “I was going to ask if you wanted to play, but why do you sit like that?” Sakura asks, looking at Lee in his cross-legged position.

  Lee opens his eyes. “It’s for meditation.”

  “Why? Why do you do that?” Sakura asks, sitting on the floor next to Lee.

  Lee smiles. “It’s good to help with concentration, and balances the energy inside your body; it helps with other things too, like making you calmer and thinking faster.”

  Sakura starts to think for a bit. “Can it help with memory?” she asks, tapping her head, and Lee nods. “Good, will you teach me?”

  Moments later, after having cleaned the rabbits and chopped them into small bits, Sue is about to start on dinner when she realises that things are too quiet; not even the dog is around. “Kenji? Have the kids gone out?” she asks, looking through the wall opening.

  Kenji, who was watching TV, looks back at his wife and shakes his head. “They never asked me to do so.”

  Sue cleans her hands and heads to the upper floor to check on Sakura and Lee. The first thing she notices is Sora lying at Lee’s bedroom entrance. Sue looks inside and finds Lee and Sakura seated on the floor cross-legged in front of one another, backs straight and a steady breathing. Then Sue heads to the stairs and signals Kenji to go upstairs. Once Kenji reaches Lee’s bedroom, he finds the same scenery.

  “I might need your help moving them,” says Sue.

  Kenji shakes his head. “Do you think that they are asleep?”

  “It’s the only reason,” says Sue with a smile. “Sakura is only this still when she is asleep, and Lee must have been tired from hunting the rabbits.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Just as Kenji takes a step into the room alongside Sue, Sora the dog gives out a soft bark. Lee and Sakura open their eyes slowly, then turn their heads to look at the dog and find Sue and Kenji.

  Sakura then turns to Lee. “Thank you, brother,” she says in Latin with a clasped fist against her hand and bows.

  Sue and Kenji look at one another, without having been able to understand what Sakura just said.

  Then, in Japanese, Lee says, “It’s okay, you did well for your first time.”

  “Lee,” calls out Sue. “What were you two doing?”

  “Nothing special, just meditation,” says Lee as he stands up.

  Sakura then stands up too and walks calmly past their parents. “I am going to my room,” she says in Japanese, then Sue and Kenji nod in acknowledgement.

  “Was… did… how is Sakura walking so calmly?” asks Kenji, startling with a look of shock on his face pointing out of the door.

  “Lee, how long have you been meditating?” asks Sue.

  Lee scratches his head. “Today?” he asks, and Sue nods. Lee then looks at his clock. “Well, it’s seven-thirty now, so Sakura came to my room around three. So, after explaining to her why and how I meditate and teaching her the technique, we must have started about four-fifteen!”

  “What do you see or think when you meditate?” asks Kenji, traces of shock still lingering on his face.

  Lee shrugs. “It depends; sometimes I think about what I did in the day, other times I look for ideas on how I can do something.” Lee then walks to his computer table and grabs the stone crystal from the rabbit. “Today, I was thinking what I could do with this.”

  “And what did you come up with? Any ideas?” asks Sue. “By the way, the other three also had crystals.”

  “Perfect!” says Lee, looking at his parents with a smile. “That way they can be turned into necklaces and we each get one.”

  “That is a good idea, Lee, but it will be too expensive,” says Kenji.

  “How much does it cost?” Lee asks.

  Kenji looks at Sue, who nods at him. “It will cost around five hundred yen for a simple necklace, so to make four, it will cost two thousand yen,” Kenji says.

  Lee looks at the stone, then at his dad. “What if we sold the stones?”

  Sue shakes her head. “The stones this size, if we sold them, it would be around one hundred yen each.”

  “What? Why the big difference in the price?” Lee asks, amazed.

  Kenji shakes his head. “We don’t know; craftsmen say that the stones react with the tools and usually explode or break the machine. They need special tools that are too expensive.”

  Sue nods, as she has looked into jewellery made with beast crystals. “So craftsmen prefer to buy the stones to craft something and make more money.”

  During dinner, Sakura eats without a problem; once she finishes the first plate, she asks for seconds. Then, looking at Lee, she asks, pointing at the meat on her fork, “Brother, what is this animal?”

  Sue and Kenji look at Sakura, not having been able to understand her.

  Lee smiles, not just due to the fact that Sakura spoke to him in Latin but due to the face their parents made. “Lepus,” he says in Latin, sounding like ‘Lhepos’, as he opens his left hand, then, opening his right hand, he says, “Rabbit.”

  Sakura looks at the meat, as Kenji and Sue exchange a look, thinking, “She is not going to eat anymore.”

  Then Sakura, still looking at the rabbit meat, shrugs and eats it. “It’s nice!” she says and continues eating normally.