CHAPTER 169: UNDERSTANDING EACH PERSON’S POV

Understanding Each Person’s POV

"First of all," Osho began. "What Irene said about going all out from the start is true. I’ve never fought Peter before, so I had to take a moment to analyze what he could and couldn’t do. If I tried to use the finisher I used at the end of the fight in the beginning, and I ended up hitting his arm, I’d have probably snapped my wrist in half and shattered my knuckles." Most of them nodded at this.

This was the conclusion they’d all come to. Even if it wasn’t the same, they’d more or less guessed that going all out from the start wasn’t too smart. Ellie looked like she wanted to retort, though, and Osho quickly continued.

"Now, you may retort by saying I could have ended it as soon as I noticed what style he employed since I managed to do so pretty early on in the fight. But you need to understand," He gestured to the unconscious Peter who was currently being operated on by the mechanical arms.

"None of my ’siblings’ are normal, and I dare say that Oeter is more of an anomaly than most of us, since his entire theme is doing things that shouldn’t entirely be possible at his level or age. For all intents and purposes, he’s THE prodigy among us. With him, things like combat aren’t always a foregone conclusion, and he is perfectly capable of pulling out some move you’ve never seen before to turn the situation around." He paused.

"The entirety of that fight was essentially just me making sure I had thoroughly analyzed everything he could do, so that when I properly countered, I wouldn’t be caught off-guard for any reason. Otherwise, there were many opportunities where I could have chosen to counterattack, believing that the Corona version of the Flare Style was his trump card, only to be caught off-guard by Helios and get my skull smashed in." He then hesitated, and the others waited while Osho saw Ellie gesture for him to continue, making him sigh.

"That’s the logical explanation for why I fought the way I did, and it’s not a lie either. However, there is another underlying reason." He slightly averted his gaze. "I... was enjoying myself." There was a brief silence, and Osho decided to continue.

"Don’t have an insane amount of things I like a lot. Other than cooking, experimenting, and hanging out/training with you guys, or my beasts, chances are that you’ll find me on my phone or sleeping." He explained, and he saw them all nod slowly. Ellie was fuming, but she seemed to agree as she knew him best.

"I hate thinking too freely," Osho admitted. "If I don’t have anything to do that I enjoy or takes most of my attention, my mind wanders. Sometimes, I can channel those thoughts by thinking about things I enjoy. If not, though, then my mind goes into less-than-pleasant places, and I do whatever I can to not do that.

Peter being here more or less reminded me of some of those things, and you guys also knowing more about my past kinda gave me anxiety, to be honest. So when the chance came to fight, I realized I had the opportunity to do something that I enjoy doing and temporarily stave off those thoughts while also blowing off some steam. And Peter is someone whom I can truly let loose against in hand-to-hand combat without worrying about beating him up from the get-go. So perhaps I got a bit too carried away and got more hurt than necessary..." Osho trailed off. He realized that he’d gone on a bit of a tangent and cursed himself internally.

’So much for not saying everything at once.’ He sighed internally, a bit miffed at himself for doing something he thought he’d managed to curb, which was oversharing.

"If you like fighting so much, then why don’t you do so with us?" Ellie asked, her voice a touch softer now.

"Well, no offense to you guys, but there’s only so much you can do that would warrant me to take a fight of pure hands seriously." He pointed out, which, after his display against Peter, they couldn’t exactly refute his point.

"Okay, fine. I can more or less understand that, but..." Ellie sighed, and Osho stayed quiet as she started speaking from her point of view.

"I know I can’t tell you what you can and can’t do most of the time, especially in regards to combat, since that’s gonna be the running theme for our lives as Beast Tamers, if it isn’t already." She took a deep breath.

"But I just want you to know that seeing you like that... didn’t feel good. In fact, seeing you hurt in general never feels good to me. This, along with when you took on the Abyssal Scrounger by yourself, are two times where I’ve seen you messed up pretty badly, and it feels like my heart is getting stabbed with every bit of blood that leaves your body." She slowly lowered herself until her head was just over the bed railings which she continued to grip, but her hands had visibly loosened.

"I just don’t like it. And I know it isn’t logical or fair as injuries are a given. Moreover, with how you described the cult, I’m sure fighting is a normal thing, especially if they have their own martial arts techniques as devastating as what you and Peter used. I know it makes little sense to feel this way, but I do. And I just want you to know that I feel like crao when I see you like this." She sighed and reached over to gently massage his scalp.

Osho was silent as he let her words sink in.

’How would I feel if I saw her seriously injured even while knowing it was a foregone conclusion?’ He asked himself, and he already knew the answer.

First of all, he’d do everything in his power to make sure she stopped hurting, and after that, he’d hunt down whatever or whoever hurt her to that point.

After all...

He’d already watched her die once...

He closed his eyes to rid himself of that particular memory and sighed.

"Yeah... You’re right, you’re entitled to feel that way, since I would feel the same if you were in the same situation." He said quietly, conceding.

Ellie let out a relieved sigh at knowing she got her point across, and she used her other hand to grab and squeeze Osho’s.

"I’m not telling you to stop fighting or anything like that. Just... keep me in the back of your mind whenever you do so, alright?" Asked softly, and Osho gave a small nod.

The two of them continued staring at at other, and the air seemed to almost physically clear up as the tension eased.

"Phew. Another win for proper communication, am I right?" Kurt exhaled, sounding both happy and amused by the resolved situation.

"Indeed." Sam nodded before addressing Osho directly.

"Also. Why are you so determined to deny that you have ADHD?" She asked flatly, and Osho’s head snapped to her.

"Meaning?" He asked dryly, and she rolled her eyes.

"That. Every time someone brings up your potential ADHD, you shoot it down like it’s some detectable curse." She pointed out, and Osho huffed.

"There is no proof that I have it." He shot back.

"The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence." Irene shrugged. "Besides, even if we don’t go down that route, the number of signs I’ve seen you display since I got to know you just makes your denial all the more petty. You said it yourself just now, your mind starts wandering as soon as you’re doing something that doesn’t require all your attention, and you’d rather just sleep than face your thoughts. And in that same explanation, you went on a tangent to to explain your point of view, almost going past what you wanted to explain in the first place as, let me guess, you found it difficult to properly articulate your thoughts into words?" She asked pointedly, and Osho frowned.

"What’s more, you hyperfocus like crazy." Kurt shook his head. "As soon as you find something genuinely interesting, you jump headfirst into it without rest, esoecially when there are no excuses to prevent you from doing that thing. The month you spent with the eggs during the month-long break back in the Blossom Citadel is an example of this." Kurt added his two-cents.

"Alternatively, you’re very likely to forget something existed unless it’s right in your face. And the most damning piece of evidence is how dense you are. You are smart, yet you suck at reading between the lines regarding how people feel and just say what’s on your mind." With the evidence stacked against him so fiercely, Osho found it difficult to muster up a defense. However, he seemed strangely stubborn on this matter, as he huffed and looked away.

"I won’t acknowledge anything until I get a legitimate diagnosis with a proper verdict." He muttered.

"Then get diagnosed!" Kurt practically shouted.

"Uh, I wanna ask something." Ellie suddenly said, her voice breaking through the bickering as they all looked at her.

She fixed her gaze on Osho and asked.

"Peter kept calling you Isaac. What was that about?"