Cat Mania

23. Training With Kartein

"Aren't you going to train as well?" Jiwoo asked Cale, who was just chilling on the couch with the cats.

Cale scrunched in disgust at the thought of working out. "No."

"Oh right.. you never accepted the invitation to attend the academy..." Jiwoo looked down, sad.

'What's with that look?' Cale wondered, 'why is he even sad in the first place?'

"I guess I won't be seeing you for a while." His atmosphere became gloomy.

'Shit, why are you doing this?!' Cale began to feel self-conscious.

Kayden sighed, he somewhat expected this to happen.

"I'm going to really miss you, Cale..."

'Please stop.' Cale sweated nervously.

"Will you take care of the cats for me...?"

'Yes yes I will, so stop looking at me like that!'

Jiwoo looked at Cale with big ol' watery eyes.

"Do you want me to come with you to the academy?" Cale asked finally.

Jiwoo cheered up, "can you, Cale?!"

"Yes..." Cale felt this unsettling feeling in his stomach, the one when you feel like something bad will happen. 'I can't believe myself...'

"Yay! I'll go tell Jiyoung—"

"Tell my sister what?" Jisuk and the gang pulled up at his house, opening the door without permission.

'Does this guy not lock his door or do they just have the keys to his house?' Cale wondered. They always came whenever they wanted.

"Oh, Jisuk!" Jiwoo turned to them happily. "Cale is joining the academy as well!"

"Sent. No need to go to their building." Jisuk said as he looked at his phone.

"You fully healed already." Subin commented, happy for his quick recovery. "Mr. Kartein must've done quite a miracle, just like his handsome face." She started daydreaming.

"I bet they get chills just from imagining you thinking of them." Jisuk added with a serious expression.

"Shut up!"

"Are you still thinking of attending when you just recovered?" Wooin asked Jiwoo.

"Yes." Jiwoo responded with a smile, "I want to get stronger and fight with strong individuals."

Wooin smiled, "alright."

"Ow! Ow! Stop hitting me!"

"That's your fault!"

"Keep going until you're tired out." Kayden shouted instructions at Jiwoo.

They were back in session.

"Your moves are getting slower and sloppy! Don't stop there!"

'You don't have to shout...' Cale could hear him from the living room.

"Aren't you going to train as well?" Kartein asked.

"I don't do combat." Cale groaned.

"Then why don't I teach you how to heal?" Kartein blurted out. He didn't know why he said that, but he felt like saying it.

'A healing ability...? That might be useful in the future.' Cale thought, weighing the sides. "Alright."

"We'll start once they get out of the basement." Kartein yawned. Ever since he inhabited a cat's body, he felt sleepy most of the time.

"Wake me up when it's time." Cale went straight to sleep.

'I should take a nap as well.' Kartein kept yawning. He laid down next to Cale as he curled up and fell asleep.

"That feels refreshing! It's been so long since I trained!" Jiwoo excitedly exited the basement. "Hm?" He noticed the two cats sleeping on the couch peacefully, "it looks like they're asleep."  He smiled.

Kayden glared at them, mainly at Kartein. 'Why's he sleeping with Cale?' Kayden jumped on the couch, beside the two sleeping cats. He furrowed his brow, then lifted his paw and tapped Kartein. He kept tapping.

'What's he doing?' Jiwoo wondered as he watched, thinking it looks cute although he had no idea what was happening.

Kartein didn't wake up.

Kayden grinned at this, then he pushed Kartein away from Cale. "I'm going to take a nap." He told Jiwoo as he slept next to Cale.

"Alright!" Jiwoo said, confused at what he did.

A few hours passed.

"Yawwnnn~" Cale stretched his body a cat would as he woke up. 'That was a good nap, should I take another one?' He looked around, then noticed Kartein didn't wake him up for training.

"You're finally awake." Kartein said.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Cale asked.

Kartein looked away, blushing shyly. "There's no need to rush. Then, should we get started?"

"Alright."

Cale and Kartein headed downstairs to the basement.

"Where are you two going?" Kayden asked.

"I decided to teach Cale my force control." Kartein said bluntly.

Kayden's eyes widened in shock, "what..?" He was speechless. He didn't deem Kartein the type to teach anyone.

"Why're you so surprised?"

"I didn't expect you to teach someone your force control."

"But so did you."

"..." Kayden looked away. He was right.

"Let's go, Cale." Kartein headed down.

Cale sat down in the middle of the room.

Kartein transformed back to his human form, so did Cale.

"I'm going to spread my energy around your core, don't reject it." Kartein informed him.

Cale nodded, closing his eyes to focus.

It had the same comforting feelings from when he learnt from Kayden, but it moved in different ways.

Kartein stopped, removing his hand.

Cale continued the flow throughout his body.

'Seems like he has a natural talent just like Jiwoo.' Kartein thought. "Unlike Kayden's, my power doesn't necessarily engage in fights. So you won't be training your body as much, but you will still have to from time to time as healing one's body requires an abundance of power."

"..." 'I already hate this.'

"We'll focus on increasing your awakened prowess for now."

After a while, Cale stopped and opened his eyes.

'What're they doing here?' Cale noticed Jiwoo and his mentor was in the room.

Jiwoo seemed mesmerized by the sight.

"That'll be it for today." Kartein said. "We'll improve on your technique tomorrow."

Cale nodded.