"War"
Peering through his bangs of pale hair, his red eyes glared at the young woman seated across from him. "You don't want to do this, Tsubaki."
"Okay," she chirped, a small smile forming on her face.
He eyed her. Well, that was fast.
"You're absolutely right; forget I even deigned to make such a challenge. How silly of me," she concluded, forcing out laugh.
The young man smirked, a bit of his sharp teeth shining through. "So, chickening out?"
The cheerfulness in her eyes hardened into determination, and Tsubaki Nakatsukasa's small smile slowly expanded into a sneer. "Never."
Both boys stared at her. While Soul Eater was dumbfounded—he hadn't known her for long, but isn't she usually more polite than this?—Black Star's surprise quickly gave way to a gleeful smile.
"That's my weapon!" he shouted.
Her partner for just a few months, he was already her Number One fan. Not that that was saying much, Tsubaki thought, as she felt the same about him. Not that that said much, either, given the glares her meister was receiving from a handful of students sitting in the cafeteria and trying to enjoy their meals. And one student in particular looked rather upset, Tsubaki noticed: the short girl with pigtails seated across from her. Even with that thick, tall tome obscuring the pigtailed girl's face, Tsubaki could feel her glare piercing through that book at both her and her meister.
But Tsubaki ignored the hate. She had to focus. Back to staring down Soul, who also was barely tolerating Black Star's loud boasts.
"No one can beat Tsubaki! No one! She is the best weapon there is, and with her I will topple any opponent who stands in my way, starting with you, Soul!" Black Star punctuated his point by poking his finger into Soul's nose—just for a second, before the white-haired jagged-tooth weapon smacked the ninja's hand away.
"Keep dreaming! The next Death Scythe of this academy is not about to be beaten by anyone," Soul said, turning his gaze to Tsubaki, "including you, friend."
Tsubaki allowed herself a small smirk. "Big words. You think you can meet such expectations?" She put out her hand. She was ready to start this battle.
"That's what I like to hear." Soul extended his right hand, his fingers curled on top of themselves, the heel of his palm facing down to the table, his thumb lifted upward. The young woman opposite him did likewise with her own, interlocking her fingers in his. Strong grip, he thought—or he would have, if he didn't grimace at feeling that much strength in just those slender fingers. And he thought his bookworm was strong!
"You two know the rules," Black Star said, before correcting himself—"I mean, of course Tsubaki knows, but you sure you can remember them, Soul?"
Ignoring the pressure of Tsubaki's fingers, Soul met Black Star's smirk. "Do you?"
Black Star maintained his stare—for just a second too long. Soul's smile broadened, seeing a little sweat form on the ninja's forehead. The other weapon giggled, noticing just a bit of Soul's sharp teeth poking through his smile.
"Tsubaki, what are the rules again?" Black Star whispered, without removing his eyes from Soul.
"One match, all or nothing—I understand."
"That's my weapon! CHALLENGERS!"—now every student in the cafeteria was glaring at the ninja, and Tsubaki tried to avoid looking at the increasingly reddening ears of the pigtailed girl whose face was hidden by her book—"GIRD YOURSELVES!"
"Ooh, good job expanding your vocab, Star."
"Thanks, Soul!" Black Star whispered before resuming his announcer voice: "READY!"
Soul could feel Tsubaki's grip tighten—"Am I sweating?" he quickly thought.
"STEADY!"
As for Tsubaki, she was surprised his fingers were so strong for being so nimble—Soul often skipped weapons training, so what was he exercising with so strenuously? Hadn't his partner mentioned he played a musical instrument? A piano? An organ?
Or was he exercising some other organ?
She blushed for a second, suppressed an image, chastised herself for her perverted thought, furrowed her brow, and met Soul's stare.
"GO!"
The two weapons chanted simultaneously.
"One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war!"
Soul's thumb jabbed at Tsubaki's, but she was not about to go down. She had already swung her thumb counterclockwise, and was coming back, hard. Down slammed her thumb onto Soul's—but the boy could not help but notice how light it felt. "That's it?" he thought. "And I thought I had something to be scared of." He slid his thumb out from under hers, swung his directly over her nail and above her joint, and held down, hard. "No escape!" he yelled mentally.
Tsubaki smirked. "That the best you got?"
Soul's eyes widened—it was a trap! No wonder it was so easy to pull out from her pin—she was faking, testing his own strength! He had to hold on until—
But it was already too late. Her thumb jutted forward, tickling the web of Soul's hand, effecting an escape. Both fighters leaned back in their seats, their hands still locked. But Tsubaki held back for only a second, then lunged at his digit. Soul's thumb zigzag, her thumb barely touching his. He moved so—what would she call it, gracefully? Soul hardly seemed so fluid when he fought in human form, so how was his thumb so easily avoiding her attacks? Maybe she, too, should practice piano.
"GO! GO! GO!" chanted Black Star. No one joined him. The girl holding the book gripped its edges harder, thankful that no one in the cafeteria was throwing their food at them, this time.
Tsubaki noticed Soul gritting his teeth. Now leaning forward, with his red eyes focused on her thumb, he was trying to jab at her, but she was too quick. "Damn it," he thought. "Why did I accept this challenge?" He was doubting himself—yet again. "No!" he yelled at himself. "Need this win! Need this victory!"
The girl with the book, sitting beside him, could feel her face begin to redden.
Then, for as momentous as this contest had begun, it ended quickly. Her thumb went nail down, right at his cuticle—damn! Soul screamed mentally, these rules really should have something about long nails, he thought. She bent at her joint, holding onto the nail by just her thumb.
Then she doubted herself: It wasn't the strongest grip. She could feel herself sweating. Should she let go, try again? Maybe that would be for the best—it wasn't like she could win this easily.
She glanced at her partner, and all she could see was his big teeth and his tongue flapping words she could not hear. His smile was infectious. If he could be this confident in her over a silly game, then she shouldn't worry.
Soul didn't notice Tsubaki looking away, as he wondered how she was keeping his thumb held just above that joint!
"One!" shouted Black Star.
Tsubaki could feel time slowing down, her wrist aching as she tried to keep Soul's thumb down.
"Two!"
Soul could feel his elbow tighten as he desperately tried to extricate himself from this warrior's grasp.
"Three!" Black Star shouted, knocking his food tray to the floor, the remains of a desiccated lunch splattering its particles against the bookworm's legs—she kept staring at the same word on her page, the grinding of her teeth barely audible.
"We have our winner!" the ninja shouted, practically lifting his weapon into the air by just her arm. Tsubaki felt like Black Star was going to rip her arm out at the shoulder—and that arm was still holding onto Soul's!
"I never doubted you for a second, Tsubaki! You are truly the best weapon IN THIS ENTIRE ACADEMY!" It sounded like Black Star was saying that last part more to everyone else in the cafeteria rather than to his partner or her opponent.
"Congratulations much deserved, Tsubaki," Soul said, tugging back so that Black Star's strength would not lift him above the table. Successfully extricating himself from Tsubaki's grasp, he re-seated himself, starting to examine his digit for any damage. "Good match. The better weapon did win," he concluded, as he shook his right hand loose, while his left hand took up the book he was skimming, and his hungry eyes returned to the meal in front of him.
"The best weapon!" Black Star corrected him, before crouching to leap onto the table, shaking it at its legs. "And for that insult against her quality, Tsubaki is going to challenge you to another match!"
"Really, Black Star, that's not necessar—"
"Alright then," Soul met Black Star's stare, "best two out of three?"
"Why stop there? Three out of five?" Black Star's smile was starting to fade.
"Five out of seven?"
"Seven out of fifteen!"
"That's not a majority, Black Star," Tsubaki said, trying not to roll her eyes.
"Nine out of ten, then!"
"Alright, Black Star," Soul screamed, ignoring the bad math, "you're on! I'll kick Tsubaki's ass, then your ass, then I'll—"
Both boys felt the floor before they felt the pain reverberating through the back of their skulls. Tsubaki glanced around the cafeteria, offering an apologetic smile to anyone who would make eye contact with her. Most of the other students at the Death Weapon Meister Academy just glared, although a few were applauding the pigtailed girl standing over the unconscious bodies of her colleagues, her fingers making indents against her weapon of choice: a thick textbook.
Maka Albarn replaced the book back onto the tower of tomes at their cafeteria table. She took a deep breath, sighed, and her grimace was quickly replaced with a bright smile. "Okay, everyone," Maka said, "how about we get back to studying so we all pass that midterm? What do you say!"
"Sure," Soul mumbled, peeling his lips from the linoleum.
"Cool," Black Star rejoined.
As the two boys scrapped themselves off the floor and opened their books back to Chapter 4 for Professor Sid's midterm, Tsubaki had a small smile. She didn't need to look to her left to see how focused Black Star was on that one page in the book, struggling to define that one word he just couldn't figure out. She allowed herself a moment to peer above her volume, at the weapon seated across from her. Soul, feeling her eyes on him, glanced up. Her eyes meeting his, she put on an exaggerated frown, and dramatically tipped her right hand and pointed her index and middle finger first to her eyes, then to his. Soul, initially surprised, met her glare, held a thumb up, then twisted his wrist to give a thumb down to his worthy opponent.
Avoiding his glare, Tsubaki snuck back behind her book before either of their meisters noticed, closed her eyes for a moment, and smiled. She was so looking forward to round two.