Three days passed since their first date, and Miku noticed that Takeya was still in his tired-before-noon setting. It ticked her off more now than before for some reason. During lunch she couldn't take it anymore. Her eyes were on fire as her face became a tundra. She stomped over to him and to her shock another girl speared Takeya from his seat. She had long red hair and her uniform shirt was replaced with a black tank top bearing the logo of "Starstruck Gym" on the upper back. That gym is Berserk's current top rival for supremacy over the World Circuit!
"Take-dom! I'm back from America!" the girl exclaimed.
"Setsuna-chan?!" Takeya exclaimed in surprise.
"Takeya… first the ice queen and now the transfer student? Share some of that magnetism, man…" Okita groaned.
"Sorry Okita… Setsuna's sort of been my self-proclaimed love since primary school… I've told her numerous times I'm not interested though." Takeya chuckled nervously.
"You said ice queen… that implies another girl… are you CHEATING on me, Take-dom?!" Setsuna demanded to know grabbing hold of his shirt collar.
"First, it was one date and we didn't kiss let alone hold hands. Second, he didn't ask me out, our parents made us wrestle for the opportunity. Third, what the hell does 'Take-dom' mean?" Miku spoke.
"How can you be so thick?! Take-dom obviously refers to his ability to dominate in the ring! He holds a record of 0-97 on me!" Setsuna scolded her, and Miku simply gave her usual cold look.
"Wow, you lost to him 97 times… you might want to train harder on your form as well as your muscles." Miku spoke mockingly.
"Bitch, he's the ONLY person that's beaten me clean to date!" Setsuna barked standing to get in her face.
"Losing clean 97 times in a row? Now I definitely know you just suck. In our match he just imitated Cupid Dragon or whatever her name is." Miku scoffed.
"Love Dragon! Her name is LOVE, DRAGON! If you can't respect the name of the Dragon Knight wrestlers then you're unfit to even share the same gym as Take-dom! I bet you don't even know the name of Noire Dragon's illegitimate son either…" Setsuna lectured as if she were superior.
"To be fair, Chaos Dragon is a non-canon character because the movie universe is separate from the show universe. That's also why Scarlet Dragon doesn't bust out the Nightmare Power Buster in the show, because she never met Miss Minna thus never undertaking the training Noire Dragon did to attain the forbidden techniques that she knows in the show. It'd be understandable if she didn't know who Chaos Dragon is since he only appeared in two of the twenty films in the franchise." Takeya spoke and Setsuna broken to her knees bowing to him.
"Take-dom! You truly are the ultimate master of the lore in the series!" Setsuna exclaimed.
"Oh!? So she too understands the greatness of the Ultra Dragon Knights movie universe?!" Okita exclaimed pushing his glasses up.
"Yes! Movies one through fifteen, give me an obscure fact question and I'll answer it correctly! I'm still studying sixteen, Wicked Fang Returns, so please refrain from it!" Setsuna shouted raising her head.
"Movie four, Love Dragon versus Succubus Queen, who won and how?!" Okita fired.
"Succubus Queen, she pinned her after a chair shot to the head while the ref was distracted!" Setsuna returned.
"Class is starting! Asses in chairs!" the teacher barked.
After school, Setsuna stood before Miku with a challenging look. It was painfully obvious that she knew Miku was from the Berserk gym. She started to growl, and then took a deep breath.
"I challenge you, Miku Kazama!" Setsuna roared.
"You know what it'll mean if you lose, right?" Miku responded.
"Perfectly… the winner gets Take-dom's first kiss and the right to be his true girlfriend!" Setsuna told her aiming a finger, and Miku froze.
"I'm sorry, but we seemed to be thinking of two entirely different things… care to explain what you're challenging me to…?" Miku asked.
"A three-stage competition! First round, cooking! Second round, housekeeping! Final round, caring for your sick love!" Setsuna answered.
"I don't do manga competitions." Miku sighed walking past her.
"It isn't out of a manga! It's a real competition of love! I refuse to believe an ice queen can get one date with Take-dom!" Setsuna roared, and Miku looked over her shoulder in disgust at her.
"Stop living in a romance manga and focus on real life. If he loved you he'd say so and you'd already be dating. So before you continue claiming I love him, check the facts. I only went on that date because he won a match." Miku lectured coldly before walking off leaving Setsuna buried under a mound of snow.
"I-I see why she's called the Ice Queen of Berserk now…" Setsuna cried silently.
That night as Miku bathed, her bad habit took over… and she fell asleep in the piping hot water. While asleep she had the usual dream… she was creaming her competition, nobody could touch her. All who lost to her were turned to icicles, and the only way they could be freed was if she lost. In the middle of her queenly laughter, she was groped from behind making her swing at her fondler… to find Takeya there. He threw her off kilter grabbing and feeling her to break her guard allowing him to land moves on her. He pinned her and then began undoing her top.
"W-What are you doing?!" Dream Miku shouted.
"You lost… so now you'll be the nest of my children…" Dream Takeya cackled as he grabbed Dream Miku making her cry out.
Miku sprang awake in the bath screaming in horror. Why was she having dreams like that about a guy she can't stand? She started bashing her head against the wall in an attempt to make the thoughts go away. Downstairs, her mother was laughing her head off… because that's exactly how it started with her husband! First dirty dreams that then escalates to dirty thoughts, further going to becoming pissed at the sight of him, and finally to that moment of realization that your heart's perimeter defenses have been pierced. Unlike Rio though, Miku doesn't have the same social skills she had. It made her smile thinking of all the awkwardness she'll go through to realize her feelings.
At the Hagiwara Residence, Takeya found himself looking at his old Ultra Dragon Knights memorabilia from over the years he's been a fan since his mom was secretly Scarlet Dragon. His dad tried everything to keep it secret from him, because just like a kid at that age he believed it was real. His mom even went to the extra trouble of using a wig and makeup to hide her appearance when the human personas were on-screen. While it did blast apart his childlike imagery when he found out, he looked fondly on the memory of it. It actually amazed him that he was still a super nerd of the franchise even though he personally knows the cast nowadays. His attention broke when his mother knocked.
"Takeya. I know I shouldn't prod… but… how do you feel about Kazama-chan?" Sakura asked him.
"Well, if you put on thick enough gloves and an Alaskan coat, she can be a decent person at the least." Takeya replied, and Sakura couldn't help snickering.
"That's just like you, Takeya… but try to look at her as a woman instead of a wrestler for once. You might be able to see beyond the ring for once." Sakura told him with a smile.
Takeya was utterly baffled by her words. He wound up forgetting to take notes in class because he was focused on deciphering what it meant. At lunch his brain was starting to fry a bit, so he thought he'd ask Miku.
"Kazama-chan…" Takeya addressed her.
"What is it?" she asked.
"What does it mean to look at you as a woman and not a wrestler?" Takeya asked, and she went a bit red.
"It means putting the fact that I wrestle aside and look only at my physique and personality. Loving someone for profession alone is shallow." Miku replied.
"That… answers so many question but leaves just as many in its wake." Takeya spoke bluntly.
"You're seriously asking a girl about this, Takeya?" Okita asked.
"Who else would I ask?" Takeya replied.
"You could always try the perverts in 3-A. They're experts at analyzing the female anatomy." Okita told him.
"Don't go making him learn weird things." Miku scolded.
Takeya continued to be perplexed by the words of his mother. He'd always seen the women in Berserk and other gyms as wrestlers, nothing more. He had no clue what looking at them as women meant. To him, breasts were just bouncy flesh with no real appeal and the rear end was a powerful weapon if used correctly. It felt like he was trying to figure out rocket science. He finished his homework faster than ever so he'd have as much time as possible to try and learn the secret. In the end he resorted to looking in romance manga to find the secret. His desire to know the answer filled him with determination. All he could seem to figure out was that it has something to do with a kiss on the lips and learning more about them.
The next day he decided he'd try it with Miku. If it didn't give him an answer, he'd have no choice but to attempt further measures. He walked to her desk, and before she could say anything he planted one right on her lips. She went deep red and kicked him down under dropping him to the floor.
"The HELL do you think you're doing?!" Miku roared as Setsuna jealously bit her thumb across the room.
"Despite my pain, your lips are surprisingly soft…" Takeya groaned.
"Is that supposed to justify stealing my first kiss?!" she yelled and immediately regretted it as everyone in the class froze.
"Hey whore… you mean to tell me that you went on a date and didn't kiss him on the lips… or go to a hotel together…?" Setsuna growled with a deadly aura around her.
"What's it to you? More importantly, who are you calling a whore when you're offended we didn't do it on the first date?" Miku growled.
"If you're going to date someone you have to show that you're serious! A kiss or making love are the #1 ways of proving it then and there!" Setsuna barked.
"You don't just dive into that sort of stuff!" Miku barked back.
"Then your heart is obviously too cold for love!" Setsuna roared.
"I'm not the one looking to spread 'em on the first date!" Miku howled.
"You should be honored that Takeya would consider giving you the honor!" Setsuna barked.
"Takeya… they're scary… but I'm still somehow jealous…" Okita gulped.
"So long as they don't start grapping in the middle of the classroom." Takeya sighed.
That evening at the gym Miku couldn't stop thinking about the kiss. She'd never admit it to anyone, but she didn't altogether dislike it. When she caught herself touching her lips she freaked accidentally dropping a weight on her foot making her hop up and down holding her foot crying out in pain. Naturally they made sure her foot was okay, although many found it odd that she'd do something silly like dropping a weight on her foot. She was lucky it was just a small 5lb weight or her foot could have really been hurt. She got an ice pack for it and finished off with some stretches. Once at home she was even more conflicted. She didn't understand why she felt so warm when she thoughts about the kiss. Against her moral will, she inevitably went to her mother.
"Heh. What you're feeling is the bud of love, kid. You should just be happy that your first kiss was more graceful than mine." Rio chuckled.
"What do you mean?" Miku asked.
"Your father was thrown my direction and catching me off guard. It was a very awkward first kiss to say the least… he broke out apologizing to me on his hands and knees and everything too." Rio answered.
"I'm surprised you didn't put dad through the ring." Miku commented.
"Oh I made sure he 'paid' for that kiss as my gopher. He was endearing though… he always gave his utmost to meet my slightly unfair time constraints. Of course, I only did that because he never complained and just did it. He was only late one time." Rio told her.
"Why was he late?" Miku asked.
"His best friend was an ass and decided to lift and carry him off. You know how short your dad is… poor guy was powerless to stop him." Rio laughed.
"What'd you do to him for being late?" Miku asked.
"I gave him the option of either wrestling to escape punishment, or taking 50 piledrivers." Rio replied.
"Wrestling would seem like a punishment to me." Miku commented.
"Well naturally I didn't go full-force on him, you and I both know how fragile your dad can be." Rio laughed.
"Mom… I don't know what to do…" Miku sighed.
"You'll have the answer soon enough, Miku. Every girl goes through this phase at some point… whether they're just in middle school as they blossom or they're well into their thirties." Rio told her while opening a can of soda.
Days continued to go on as Miku continued to train fighting her constant thoughts of Takeya Hagiwara. Setsuna barking at her to show love for him, continuing to assume that she's a rival. Takeya seemed to brush off Setsuna's passes as well as he continued to pursue a really obvious answer for a really obvious question. Okita could only try to help Takeya see what he was missing in girls. One day after Chess Club though… Miku cornered Okita.
"W-What do you want from me, Kazama-san?" Okita asked nervously.
"Lend me season one of Ultra Dragon Knights." Miku demanded.
"Huh?" Okita asked in confusion.
"The show you and Hagiwara nerd out over… lend me season one." Miku answered with her signature cold stare.
"O-Okay… but I'm not sure why… just make sure you take good care of it… it's the collectors' edition, so it's really expensive to replace just the cover of one disk." Okita replied, and they went to his home so he could fetch it for her.
That night Miku would do her homework while using the show as background noise. Almost a quarter into the second episode she wound up locked into the show. In the end, she was up until morning binging all 34 episodes of the season. Even Rio was surprised by the effect an all-nighter had on Miku, she couldn't even stand without help. Any other parent would punish her by sending her to school anyway, but with Miku unable to so much as coherently retort to insults she had no choice but to put her to bed. Miku had Takeya come pick up Okita's DVD, although he was surprised she'd taken an interest in it. Miku made the excuse that she had to get the theme song out of her head and thought seeing the show would do the job. At least that's what she convinced herself it is.
When she'd recovered the next day, she found herself confronted by Setsuna. She looked to have a fool's grin on her face. Miku would have suplexed her if it didn't mean detention.
"So, trying to binge the series so you can get closer to Takeya? You sly fox, but I have nine seasons on you! So you have a long time before you'll catch up!" Setsuna laughed.
"It was on a whim, completely unrelated to him." Miku growled.
"Oh? Despite people continuing to say the show is a bit of a mockery of the sport? You don't care what they'll say if you become a fan?" Setsuna giggled.
"If I cared about opinions wouldn't I have laid you out by now?" Miku told her and Setsuna was again buried in snow as Miku took her seat when the bell rang.
That afternoon when she arrived at the Berserk gym she found numerous of the freshman members seemingly beaten. The senior members were making sure they weren't injured by whatever happened. She quickly approached Sakura, who looked a bit frightened.
"What happened?" Miku asked.
"We had an Inter-Gym Recruits Tournament with another gym to see how much our recruits had learned and improved since joining… they were unexpectedly brutal with them. They were clean wins and I'm at least thankful for that… but… I'm not used to seeing that level of cruelty… one of their recruits… I had to beg them to end it… her opponent couldn't even stand, but she kept picking her up to do more…" Sakura answered trying to remain calm.
"Which gym was it?" Miku asked.
"One of the newer ones that started last year, Bloodthirsty Fangs. They already have fifteen recruits too. There were only two pro wrestling vets, but I could tell they were already World Circuit competitors, even if one is in the mixed league and another competes solely in the female league." Sakura answered.
"There's a mixed league?!" Miku asked in shock.
"Always has been, but it requires at least three male and female competitors to be registered in your gym. You know our regime, and it's just a bit too tough for beginning guys these days. So naturally we don't participate in the mixed league and focus on the female league exclusively." Sakura answered with a nervous chuckle.
"So they didn't have male competitors in the tournament here." Miku sighed.
"Their vets tried to get them to, but naturally as recruits they're too nervous to actually compete with girls in the ring yet. They could take a page from Takeya's book. If he pictures them as someone he can be natural around he won't have a problem even if they're a DD cup. He helped us stretch a lot back when he was a little boy." Sakura chuckled.
"Was he any help?" Miku asked.
"Not really because of his height at the time, but we appreciated the gesture." Sakura replied.
"So why'd he stop coming?" Miku asked.
"I think his interests answer that one, Kazama-chan." Sakura answered.
"I see… yet you registered him for a life membership knowing he'd waste it." Miku commented.
"At the time I thought he'd use it, and he did for a while." Sakura chuckled.
That night on the way home from the gym, a girl with blood red hair was waiting at the last turn onto her home's street. Miku could recognize her grin in an instant. This girl had been expelled from several gyms. She was only known as Kurohime, a so-called "Goddess of Carnage" in the ring. Why was she waiting for her?
"Miku Kazama… I missed you today at the Berserk gym…" Kurohime giggled.
"Kurohime… so you changed gyms again… I'm surprised you haven't been blacklisted." Miku spoke.
"Don't be like that, Miku Kazama… only two people have made me cry… and I always repay the favor… you and Setsuna Yawane will cry at my hands… you see, I'm the one who talked my gym into suggested the tournament to Berserk… and they'll do the same for Starstruck next. Only… I made sure they request that Setsuna Yawane is there… for me to wrestle…" Kurohime giggled.
"It's always about revenge with you…" Miku growled.
"No, no, no… it's about enjoying myself. You two are the only ones who have ever pinned me in a public match… and made me cry… it's been my drive to return the favor these past few years…" Kurohime chuckled.
"What do you want, Kurohime?" Miku demanded.
"One thing… to make you cry… not from something arbitrary like hitting you or insulting you… but from making your heart twist, bend, and break… much like when you two took first place from me… first you, and the same contest the next year by her." Kurohime giggled before walking away.
That put Miku on edge. Once Kurohime has someone in her eyes, she will pursue them until she accomplishes her goal. She almost couldn't focus in class or training either. The thought of what she would do made her afraid.
Two days later the Starstruck Gym and Bloodthirsty Fangs tournament would be held at the Bloodthirsty Fangs gym. This would be an opportunity for the rookies to show off their stuff to the vets. Setsuna was confident in her ability, and noticed Kurohime B-lining for her. Kurohime was dressed in blood red knee-length boots, black kneepads that seemed to have blood stains on them, a black two-piece outfit with similar blood stains, matching elbow pads, and red gloves. She had the same sadistic grin on her face as when she saw Miku.
"Kurohime, it's been years." Setsuna greeted her.
"Yeah… seven, in fact, since we last wrestled let alone saw each other." Kurohime spoke.
"Heh, just looking at you I bet you're the ace rookie of your gym." Setsuna complimented.
"Hmm, and you look like you have so long to go…" Kurohime teased.
"Hey!" Setsuna shouted.
"I'm only teasing." Kurohime giggled.
"I hear there won't be disqualifications in the tournament. Is it true?" Setsuna whispered.
"Indeed. Weapons, interference, choking, low blows, hanging your feet on the ropes… it's all legal in this tournament…" Kurohime chuckled.
"Isn't that a bit extreme for rookies though?" Setsuna asked her.
"I don't think so. I think it makes it more interesting… even the most inexperienced of your team has a chance at winning if they land a good enough shot with a chair or bat…" Kurohime giggled.
The vets explained everything to the rookies before having them draw lots to see who would face who in the first round. Setsuna lucked out facing a member of her own gym and on the farthest end of the bracket from Kurohime too. The Bloodthirsty Fangs gym had four rings, so they were able to hold four first-round matches at the same time. Setsuna had to wait to face her opponent because during the race to decide who goes first she had to use the bathroom.
Once it was her turn she revealed her attire. She wore her black knee-length boots, signature fire red and dark gold leotard with a dragon motif to the chest region, fire red knee and elbow pads, and black gloves. She was able to handily defeat her opponent narrowly evading a chair from the get-go. Her next opponent was even easier since they went for a clean win. Setsuna tried not to let the cries of Kurohime's opponents unnerve her. It took not looking in that direction to keep it together when she saw the blood. Soon it was the finals, and as much as she was afraid… it was her versus Kurohime now. This would decide which gym was the victor in the tournament, even if half the matches were each gym eliminating their own participants.
"Final match: Setsuna Yawane vs Kurohime!" the ref announced before giving the signal.
-DING-
Setsuna and Kurohime locked up in an intense power struggle. Kurohime then grinned slamming her knee into Setsuna's crotch dropping her to her knees holding herself. Setsuna recovered a bit and got a knee to the jaw by Kurohime making her lip bleed a bit. Kurohime rolled her on her back and put a finger on her.
One!...
Setsuna naturally rolled and when she got up high kicked Kurohime knocking her back to the ropes. Kurohime came back from the ropes and got clotheslined. She got up and received another one. Setsuna tried for a fourth but Kurohime ducked under it catching her neck in the process. Kurohime then performed a running choke slam on Setsuna making her cough as she tried to recover. Kurohime pulled her up with her head between her legs, hooked her arms, and lifted her up. She aimed for an implant buster, but Setsuna tucked her legs stopping her landing despite making her bounce back to the ropes as Kurohime had to recover from losing her grip. The two rushed back in and threw punches, but for some reason Kurohime's punch packed more punch laying Setsuna on her back in the center of the ring. The audience was confused until Kurohime took brass knuckles off of her chuckling with a grin as she waved them before tossing them aside to hook Setsuna's leg.
One! Two!...
Setsuna amazed even the referee by kicking out as if by a miracle. Kurohime giddily giggled standing letting Setsuna unsteadily use her legs and then her hips to get a bearing on where she was standing. Kurohime threw her to the corner ramming Setsuna's shoulder on the middle turnbuckle making her cry out in pain. Kurohime then began punching and kicking Setsuna's gut against the corner. She then began sadistically bashing her head on it eventually making her forehead begin to bleed. Setsuna elbowed her trying to figure out where she was, and Kurohime continued to giggle.
She got out of the ring and pulled a chair from under it before reentering. Just when Setsuna thought she recovered some kind of sense Kurohime slammed the back of the chair on her head knocking her down again. Kurohime laughed maniacally as she bashed the chair on Setsuna's body until it was completely bent out of useful shape. She then got all kinds of weapons and began brutally beating on Setsuna with them laughing all the while as Setsuna's cries of pain filled the gym. The other trainees were too scared to do anything to help her. The match looked more like wanton violence than wrestling now as Setsuna bled from multiple places. Setsuna's screams soon faded as Kurohime kicked her a few times to check she was still breathing.
"Heh… I hoped to make you cry some more… but I guess this'll have to do…" Kurohime giggled before rolling Setsuna over and sitting on her ribs stroking her blood-stained bangs.
One! Two! Three!
-Ding Ding Ding-
An ambulance was called for Setsuna, who couldn't even speak because of how battered she was. Once at the hospital she'd lost so much blood they had to give her a transfusion. Luckily the Starstruck Gym's health insurance policy had Setsuna's back when her mother came in and couldn't help asking about the cost to help her. When Setsuna had at least regained partial cognitive function all she could do was say "Take-dom". Her mother visited Berserk and had Sakura alert Takeya to what'd happened. Like a bat out of hell Takeya made a dead sprint for the hospital to see her. Once there he got the story of her injuries from Setsuna herself. She had some fractured bones, but luckily enough nothing was completely broken.
The next day at school saw Takeya acting differently as he entered the classroom… he had his afternoon personality from the start with a slight scowl on his face. He was intimidating to the other students now, when normally he's so approachable. Even Miku was surprised by his look of pure anger.
"Takeya? It's rare to see you in a foul mood… before noon too." Okita spoke.
"Setsuna is in the hospital. Ten of her bones are fractured and she has tons of lacerations on her body. A member of a gym called Bloodthirsty Fangs was behind it… and Setsuna wasn't the first… others were harmed by the same person. She tricked them by agreeing to no disqualification stipulations… just to get away with being overly cruel to her opponents…" Takeya growled.
"T-Takeya… it's abnormal to see you angry…" Okita commented nervously.
"The girl you're referring to is called Kurohime." Miku spoke standing from her seat.
"Why would she do that?" Takeya asked.
"Even I don't know. She's an enigma who desires to be the biggest sadist in all of wrestling." Miku answered.
"So many things are on my plate… Setsuna wants me to keep her from doing the same thing to Berserk's trainees… evidently she plans on coercing an upcoming competition to use no disqualification stipulations." Takeya sighed.
"You mean the Shooting Star Competition where gyms get to show off their trainee's ability in a cross-gym tournament." Miku told him.
"It's mixed, so it'd be my best chance to punish this Kurohime… that means I have to start training…" Takeya spoke.
After school, Takeya walked with Miku to the gym for training. He'd gone pretty soft, even if he did still have enough skill to pull off a win against a trainee with Miku's skill. The tournament was a long five weeks away, but that didn't mean they could slack off. The Berserk way is to train your ass off every day until the day of the tournament or match. Seeing his determination, Miku pieced together that Takeya is lazy, nerdy, and sometimes a little too dense… but when his friends are involved he'll snap into the mindset of a wrestler in an instant. It sort of made her see the allure of him. In her heart, it made her want him to notice her making her try harder than the others were used to seeing. It made the others silently giggle seeing her work to impress a boy.
"Miku-chan, you'll be sparring with Takeya today." one of the coaches told her.
"Right." Miku replied, and the two got in the ring.
They wrestled for what seemed like hours. Round after round they went at it seemingly trading wins, sometimes streaks on one another. Takeya felt strange after they finished… like he wanted to wrestle her more. Or was it the desire to wrestle? He couldn't tell, but the feeling definitely centered around Miku. That night he decided to talk to his mom about it.
"Like you want to just overall see her again, huh? I guess it's starting to click in your head what love is." Sakura giggled as they ate dinner.
"Take's got a girlfriend! Take's got a girlfriend!" the twins teased.
"I'll put both of you to bed with sleeper holds if you don't shut up…" Takeya growled making them squeal in faked fear as they ran to hide behind Sakura still giggling.
"Girls, come on, this is your brother's first actual crush." Sakura chuckled.
"Is that it is?" Takeya asked.
"You're seeing her determination first-hand and just how much effort she puts into training. Knowing she cares so much about a subject you grew up with probably trips a switch in your head." Sakura answered with a smile.
"What's that mean?" the twins asked her.
"It means that he's a guy who prefers his women able to be completely independent, not requiring any form of masculine figure to defend them, standing completely on their own. Kazama-chan and Yawane-chan are both prime examples of such women, in his age group anyway." Sakura explained.
"So, big bro hates girly girls then?" the twins asked.
"I wouldn't say hates, but more or less is incapable of feeling attracted to them." Sakura replied thinking about it.
"That'd be a blow to the pride of the popular girls…" the twins snickered.
"Hmm… independent girls, huh?" Takeya spoke while lost in thought.
The next day at school in the hallway Miku walked straight to Takeya. She grabbed him and kissed him on the lips. Everyone in the hall was shocked, including Takeya. It was unheard of for Miku to show any emotion except maybe anger toward him.
"Takeya Hagiwara… you're taking me on a date this Sunday." Miku told him with a dead serious face.
"Okay…?" Takeya answered.
"Meet me in front of the Berserk gym at ten o'clock." Miku ordered before walking off.
"Huh… guess it's true, everyone loves the strong silent types." Okita joked patting Takeya's back.
"Cut it out." Takeya scolded while blushing.
"Nailed it." Miku thought to herself as she walked.
Sunday rolled around and Takeya met her there. Miku had on her ring boots and a black overcoat hiding her clothes. Takeya was confused as she took his hand going inside the gym. It was empty, so he guessed that she reserved it. She led him to the ring, inside the ring, and only turned to him once they were in the center. She turned to him and dropped her overcoat revealing she was wearing black lingerie giving Takeya a nosebleed.
"W-Why are you only in your underwear?!" Takeya asked in shock.
"T-This is the only way I could get the message through that thick skull of yours apparently… like when Love Dragon tried to make Ocean Dragon fall in love with her in Season One Episode Ten, she had to strip down in front of him to make him realize what she'd been trying to tell him." Miku answered blushing.
"So… you're saying… you like me?" Takeya asked blushing.
"Grr… fall in love with me, damn it!" Miku shouted going deeper red.
"I-In love…" Takeya thought to himself nervously.
"You and me, right now! The best way to determine our compatibility is to wrestle in our underwear!" Miku shouted, and Takeya nervously nodded stripping down to his boxers.
In truth it was Rio that told Miku to do this, knowing full-well that Miku would take her seriously and attempt it. The two awkwardly wrestled in their underwear with Takeya eventually coming out on top with a pin. Worn out, the two definitely felt closer somehow. Miku was also sensible enough to bring actual clothes in her bag for when they got dressed again.
"H-Hagiwara… c-consider that my application to… m-maybe be your girlfriend from now on." Miku spoke.
"W-Why… why does she look so cute now that we've wrestled like that…?" Takeya thought to himself occasionally stealing a glance at her.
The rest of the date was a somewhat awkward walk through the park, lunch at a local place, and then a horror movie Miku had been wanting to see. During the movie Miku found herself clinging to Takeya's arm when she got spooked. Was this what it's like being a girl in love? In a way she felt like a manga character the way she was showing her feminine side with her ability to be frightened by things when she's normally composed and emotionless. Thinking on it, she hasn't been able to keep her cool at all when around Takeya, Okita, and Setsuna. Was that ability to emote part of a normal school life?
After the movie there was one last stop Miku wanted to hit. She wanted to use a couples' photo booth. She had to be absolutely sure she was emoting. In the pictures the standard side-by-side showed her deadpan look, but in the ones where they were touching she saw it… her smile. The last photo she'd ever smiled in was when she entered kindergarten. Every single one since then had seen her with her default emotionless look. Her smile in the images proved it beyond a doubt… Miku was in love, and oddly enough with a guy that irritated the crap out of her just a few weeks ago. They got two copies of the photos, and it was finally time to walk Miku home at roughly a quarter past five. Rio grinned wide seeing Miku's slight smile at the gate and then when she turned to kiss Takeya on the lips before going inside.
"So, how'd the match go?" Rio asked Miku as she sat on the couch.
"Embarrassing… I still can't believe I went through with it…" Miku sighed.
"Me either…" Rio thought to herself chuckling.
"I'm glad I did though… even though I lost I was still able to finally say it to him… and I'm more than certain he feels the same way." Miku smiled blushing.
"You didn't get a definite?" Rio asked.
"It'd be unfair to Yawane-san, who also feels that way about him." Miku replied going deadpan again.
"Oh, so you want a fair competition with her instead of capitalizing on her hospitalization… that's pretty big of you." Rio chuckled with a finger on her chin.
"Mother, did you ever wrestle dad like that?" Miku asked making Rio nervous.
"Yeah, of course, all the time, what the hell…" Rio replied avoiding eye contact.
"What's the current score?" Miku asked, almost as if purposely backing her into a corner.
"I-It's 325 to 340… y-your father's played dirty to get ahead the past few months… b-but I don't altogether mind it…" Rio replied nervously.
"Do those matches segway into intercourse?" Miku asked.
"O-Only because we're married…" Rio answered.
In Takeya's room, he was hanging by his legs from a bar and curling up. Even Sakura was surprised by the amount of effort he's putting into getting trained. The twins even acted as extra weight while doing pushups sometimes too. The competition was only two weeks away now. While Takeya had finally achieved his goal of learning how to see Miku as a woman, he also knew that he couldn't lose focus on making sure Kurohime paid for what she did to Setsuna.
End Chapter 2-POST-CHAPTER FUNTIME-
Miku: The tournament is almost here.
Takeya: Kurohime… I don't know who you are… but my name is Takeya Hagiwara, you hospitalized my friend, prepare to wrestle.
Twins: Good luck big bro!
Sakura: We'll try to keep the weapons from reaching the ring since it's no disqualifications.
Rio: I refuse to have Miku bleeding all over the ring, so you can bet that we'll be keeping a sharp eye on them.
Miku & Takeya: Let's go for it!
Takeya: Okita, you're coming too!
Okita: Why me?!
Miku: Next time, "The Competition Is Here! Extreme Violence Incoming!"!