A/N: Thank goodness this chapter took shorter than expected when it comes to updating this story. I'm proud to say that this chapter was done in much less time than the previous three. Anyways, I'm here to provide the next chapter and thanks out to the guys who follow this story and is always eager to see it updated. I hope I can make it thing to upload this quicker seeing as I'm working on other stories to upload here. The name of the chapter has flowers and the themes provided in this chapter references the flowers used in the chapter title. Look them up, it's pretty interesting. Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
"Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world."- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Change is a continuous process. You cannot assess it with the static yardstick of a limited time frame. When a seed is sown into the ground, you cannot immediately see the plant. You have to be patient. With time, it grows into a large tree. And then the flowers bloom, and only then can the fruits be plucked."- Mamata Banarjee
Chapter 4
A week had went by since Ryu promised Misora that he would hold off on leaving and he kept to his word. Even though it was unprecedented, he and Rose had very few qualms about staying in Niigata for just a bit longer.
Maybe it was some working of fate to teach these young girls. As the days went by, he could see them improving slowly but surely; maybe his teachings did help more than he initially thought.
During the times when the girls were at school, he would spar against some of the guards of the Sugiyama household and they shortly discovered that they couldn't hold a candle to Ryu whatsoever. To him, it was a good thing for him to test himself against willing challengers.
Rose was teaching some of the maids and gardeners the allure of fortunetelling and how it could possibly be of some use to them. She knew that horoscopes were a popular topic amongst Japanese women, especially younger ones trying to find a man for courting and marriage. Her powers of divination attracted attention a bit more than the people in Genoa she did and she was always glad to teach them whatever she could about tarot cards, fortunetelling and astrology which were especially popular for women with a significant other.
It was a Saturday night which meant that he was now able to give his new students his full divided attention without schoolwork impeding any of their training, Ryu was sitting at on a porch while they sparred in one of the many yards that Misora's family had. They did continue to train every day but with a shorter time seeing as Misora did promise them that they would give their attention more to their schoolwork than their training during those days.
Ryu saw their results progressing rather quickly which left him impressed but he wondered when exactly they were going to perform a hadoken themselves. Seeing them train their hardest, he had to acknowledge their progress, "You girls are really working hard. Keep it up!"
Stopping after hearing that, Misora turned to him, "Really? Do you think I'm ready to do a hadoken now?"
The excitement in her voice brought some joy to the Shotokan practitioner but he had to be honest. "Not yet but you'll get there. Besides, it's not up to me but up to you to believe in yourself but I'm confident you'll be able to do it."
Even though his news was disheartening, it didn't stop the girls from practicing, it only meant that they had to work much harder.
Seeing that many hours went by since they began their training and it was the third time they sparred today, Ryu knew that they needed a break.
"I think you've done enough training so let's stop for now." They stopped and the sweat on their bodies indicated that they had truly been working hard for a while. "I think you need some food, can't have you overworking yourselves."
"I have some snacks and tea in case you want some." Ayane said while standing at the door with a tray of snacks in her hand.
Thankful for the snacks, they motioned their tired bodies to move to the tray and was glad that they finally had some food after another intense training session. It was nice to relax seeing that they had been training every day ever since Ryu and Rose decided to stay.
"Wow, I'm beat. I don't know if I can go on tonight." Kanae said while eating some onigiri.
Tsubaki felt that had to echo her friend's words. "Yes, it seems that this training is starting to wear down on us much harder than I thought."
Ryu understood their complaints so he decided to do something for them. "Hey, how about I give you a day off tomorrow?"
The girls looked at him with their eyes wide and Misora had to ask just to make sure, "A day off? Are you sure?"
Ryu gave a nod as his answer. "Yeah, you guys have been working hard as of late and you do need a break for you to recuperate. It's not best to train everyday but I guess I should take my own advice, huh?"
As they ate, they took in the outdoor breeze and listened closely to the chirps of crickets and cicadas in the garden. The meditating really helped a lot with their hearing as they were able to hear sounds much clearer and crisper than before.
"Ryu-sensei?" He turned to Tsubaki who caught his attention. "What makes you so strong? What motivates you to keep pushing yourself?"
Not really surprised by her question, he looked into the stars layered in the night sky while answering her question. "Well, many things. Of course to protect myself and to be the strongest person in the world. But I made a promise to my master that I told myself I'd keep going until I'm no longer of this earth."
"Really? So what happened to your master?" Tsubaki asked once more.
"He was killed long ago in a sparring match." He answered solemnly.
The air got spiritless and tense hearing that, the girls never knew that Ryu had encountered tragedy and it explained why he was so powerful and motivated.
Tsubaki looked down and spoke in a dejected tone. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."
He looked to the young girl and put a hand on her shoulder making her look at him surprised by the big grin on his face. "It's alright, you have nothing to apologize for. Rose felt the same way when I told her."
Looking at the three of them, he had a question that he was going to finally have the chance to ask them. "Now I have a question for you. What made you decide to practice martial arts?"
With the sound of the sliding door, Rose appeared and stood at the entranceway surprising the girls. "Yes, I'm also intrigued in why you practiced martial arts also."
The girls looked at each other figuring out who was going to answer him first but Misora decided to do so.
"Well, when I was young, I didn't really have many friends. I think people were scared of offending me seeing as I came from a rich family so none of the other children approached me." She stood up and looked into the sky before continuing, "I was amazing in school and even though it was great that I was having good grades, it felt empty and shallow only being rewarded for just good grades. That was when I met Kanae in kindergarten."
"Yup!" Kanae yelled and continued the story. "We first met each other when we were like 5 and I saw that this girl looked so sad and lonely so I decided to talk to her. Mind you, Misora was sort of a wet blanket at first and it took some time to get her out of her shell but it was worth it in the end."
"Is that so?" Rose asked.
"Yeah, I'd invite her out to my house and we'd watch a lot of martial arts movies because they looked so cool with all the pow and crack and everything! So we asked our families to sign us up for karate classes but they were scared we'd get hurt and everything but after some later convincing we found out we had a knack for it and we were the best in that class beating down all the boys especially making all the girls cheer for us. By the time we were 13, we had already became blackbelts. The instructors were shocked by how strong we were and it just made us closer than before."
Misora smiled at the memory, it always left her with a heartwarming feeling every time she reminisced about that day. It was the reason why she felt that she and Kanae were practically sisters.
"It seems that you two are the very best of friends then. Sounds just like my best friend and I. You might meet him someday if you're lucky." Ryu said with a grin.
"Yes, very good friends and the best friends I could ever ask for." Misora said while sitting letting her raven tresses blow to the direction of the wind.
"So how about you, Tsubaki-san?" Ryu asked wondering how she exactly met them herself.
Tsubaki made a little smile before speaking. "Well, at first I didn't really didn't think much of them at first in all honesty," she said surprising both Rose and Ryu, "I actually fought against both of them first before I became friends with them and that was back when we were in middle school."
"It's true, there was some tension between us and we eventually decided to spar so we could see which one of us was the better fighter." Misora said.
"Yeah, she actually did quite a number on us and weeks after that, we were still hurting a bit." Kanae said while lying down on the porch.
Tsubaki then continued. "Yes, I was a transfer student from Germany seeing that my mother was German and my father was Japanese. You could see by my strange blonde hair that I'm not fully Japanese so I stuck out quite a bit. People were used to mixed Japanese citizens but they still hadn't been used to seeing them go to schools around the area."
"So how did you overcome it?" Ryu asked.
"I couldn't or more like I didn't want to. I visited Japan when I was younger but I never expected myself living ever living there. I left my hometown and all my friends who I had known all my life back in Germany. My father taught me martial arts seeing that he wanted instill discipline in me. To be honest, I resented my father at first because it was like torture but as I got older, I actually found myself grateful to him for instilling this discipline in me." She then looked at her two friends. "If I didn't, I would have never met Kanae or Misora so I'm thankful for that. We respected each other's strength and we slowly became friends like that."
To hear of these girls story, it made Ryu thankful for all the people he met, the cultures he studied, the challengers he faced off against. The thing that made him the most proud was that these three girls were friends who's love of martial arts brought them together. The values he learned from it were incomparable to anything else seeing that it shaped him to be the man he was today.
"I'm proud that you were able to become good friends. I'm sure the three of you will go far in the future." He told them.
Even though they knew Ryu was being modest, it still made them a bit ecstatic and timid to hear of someone with such amazing strength acknowledge them even though they hadn't even scratched the surface of martial arts yet.
"What about you, Rose-san?" Misora asked the Italian fortuneteller.
Rose was surprised by the sudden question but regaining her composure, she answered her question. "Well, I'm just a fortuneteller, that's just about it."
"Just a fortuneteller Rose-san? With your skills, are you sure there isn't more to you than what meets the eye?" Misora obviously knew that Rose was an incredible fighter. Why she didn't talk about it much, she didn't know.
"Well, some of the citizens in my hometown have taught me how to defend myself so I guess that's where my soul powers come in but that's about it. Beyond that, I'm just a fortuneteller." She said seeing that she never really talked about her origin or her fighting ability.
Seeing as that was the answer she was going to receive, Misora decided not to pry into it but continued eating the snacks outside as the night went by.
Once done with all activities, the girls decided to sleep over for the night while Rose and Ryu retired to their room. Before practicing his katas, he talked to Rose knowing that she tried to avoid Misora's question asked earlier. "Rose, I sensed that you tried to avoid Misora's question. Is it about Bison?"
Trying to think of a way to answer him, she knew that he was perceptive of her actions so lying wouldn't work. "Sorry Ryu. I guess I just don't want to be judged about my abilities or my origin."
"We had this discussion already, I highly doubt that they would judge you based on that. I know they respect your strength and your abilities. Don't think everyone is the same, everyone treats you as you are and that is as a human being. Anyways, don't think about it too much and let's get some rest." He then practiced his katas and left Rose to her thinking.
As always, she knew that he was right. What would come in thinking that everyone that talked to her would judge her? With a new resolve, she expunged all thoughts of Bison from her mind and allowed herself to be free of judgment and uneasiness. With this slumber was a new Rose free of all regret and sorrow.
Somewhere in the week, Rose discovered that Misora's household had a big bath house. When she saw it, the bath house contained a bath of tremendous size and judging by the scents lingering inside, she could pick up certain ones such as pomegranate, eucalyptus leaves and many others. Seeing that she had never been to a Japanese bath house before, she decided that seeing as she was a guest that maybe Misora and Ayane would somehow accommodate her in using their bath house. Asking the two women, they allowed her to use it for as long as she was here.
On one condition, though.
That they'd all use it together. To them, it was like a way of seeing the ladies in all of their natural form and some personal girl time.
Right now, Rose, Ayane, Misora, Kanae and Tsubaki were currently soaking in the bath themselves and to them, it was a good way to let the stress out and to relax. Especially the girls who had been training continuously almost every day under Ryu.
The steam was performing its therapeutic treatment of their faces and the rest of their skin. The warm water felt amazing, particularly to Rose who was allowing herself to soak to her heart's content and right now she was relaxing. With the girls washing themselves, Rose looked to the door that was open and was mesmerized by the bright and umbral allure of the moon. With tea and tiny pastries on the side. To them, it was truly bliss.
When Rose turned from the moon back to the other patrons in the bath, she saw them looking directly with blushes on their faces. She wondered if it was something that she did; was she violating bath house etiquette, did she have something on her body?
"Um, is something wrong?" She inquired.
"How did your breasts get so big?" Kanae asked.
Blinking to comprehend their question, she was completely caught off guard by Kanae's question but an elaboration would be needed. "Wait, what do you mean?" Rose asked.
"Rose-san, I also wonder about your chest. It just seems so perfect, I've never really seen breasts like yours before, so healthy and so firm." Ayane said.
Seeing that her attention was on her well-endowed chest, she had to laugh at herself and their transfixed looks on that part of her body. She never really questioned why they were so large. It was something that she never really thought about. It was more of something that just happened as she grew. She could see the lust of men and the envy of women who also took a look at her body.
"Well, I don't really think about them so much. I guess it just naturally happened." Was her answer.
"Do you think that our chest will be like yours one day, Rose-san?" Tsubaki asked after looking at her own chest and noticed that they weren't as big despite that she was a teenager.
"Yes, I desire a body like yours Rose-san. Do all foreigners also have breasts like yours or is it a gift you're blessed with?" Misora asked.
"Why do you want one like mine? Are you not happy with yours as it is?" Rose asked the girls in particular.
"Well, Rose-san. When I look at you, I see a women of immeasurable and bewitching beauty, your opaque and fair skin, your smooth and flowing hair. Rose-san, your body is similar to that of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. It's practically perfect." Misora stated.
Rose could see the admiration for her body in their eyes and even though she never really complimented her body or saw it as a body of work as Misora was saying. She only saw it as her body and she didn't really put too much of a measure on it seeing that she had it for so long.
She moved from her position and pulled the women together to finally speak to them and to clear their misunderstanding. "Ladies, you're giving me more credit than I deserve. Your bodies are wonderful also and I will tell you how."
She first moved to Ayane. "Ayane-san, your body is slender and your breasts are something that you shouldn't be ashamed of. I know you're happy seeing as it is with this body that caught the eye of your husband and I believe that he still loves you."
"Do you believe so?" The Sugiyama matriarch asked.
She nodded, "Yes, I know so."
She then moved to Tsubaki and rubbed her breasts making the mixed girl quietly moan. "Do not let your breasts define who you are Tsubaki-san and remember that you're still developing. Just be patient and I'm sure that you will acquire the body that your heart desires."
Tsubaki looked at her chest and smiled at Rose's words. "Thank you, Rose-san."
Now moving to Kanae, she could tell she was the most developed out of the three girls but maybe some reassurance was needed for her. "Kanae-san, you don't have much to worry about seeing as your body is developing appropriately. Just make sure that you stay healthy and I'm sure that your body will be one that you're proud of."
Hearing her words, Kanae smiled at Rose's words. "Thanks, Rose-san."
"Not a problem." She finally moved to Misora who was looking at her body from all different angles and Rose put her hands on her shoulder gaining her attention.
"Misora, you my dear are one precious girl who I see doing many things in her life which will help benefit many people in the world. With that said, your body will be one of immeasurable beauty and art for any man that desires you. Even though you desire my body, you shouldn't. Be happy about yourself and that will be all you need to succeed." She told Misora.
Even though she really did envy Rose's proportions and curves, she knew that her body would be one to attract numerous men so she felt happy to hear her words from such an older women who had experienced so much.
"Rose-san, thank you for your encouraging words to us. It will help us in the long run and allow us to become who we want to become and desire." She bowed as a form of respect to which Rose vehemently denied her to do.
"No, there's no need to bow to me. I would rather embrace you to show our closeness as women." Misora and the others also came together for a big hug together as gratitude for Rose's wisdom.
After pulling apart and going to their spots in the bath, Rose spoke once more. "Women will always feel like there is a problem with their bodies no matter how beautiful they may be. When we have a world that puts beauty to a specific standard, it creates a vacuum of problems that plants seeds into young girls wishing for things they don't have. It's up to us to help not just ourselves but other females into accepting their bodies and its flaws."
"You're right Rose-san but I've had a request for a while which might be misinterpreted in a way you might find a bit bizarre." Misora said.
"What is it?" Rose asked.
"Um, can I feel your breasts? I mean, I just want to see how the structure is. I-I mean if it's okay with you." She was flustered saying that. Hopefully, Rose wouldn't think of her strange by her request.
With a smile and her eyes closed she said, "Sure, you can. All of you can."
Proud to hear her request granted and to the surprise of the other inhabitants of the bath, they moved to her chest which had her breasts out in the open. Their fingers brushed upon the surface of the skin, they felt how soft her chest was and then eventually started poking random spots making Rose chuckle a bit at their actions. Seeing that they got a feel of her assets, they started poking her breasts making her breath rise a bit. Some minutes later, they started groping them making her stifle some moans a bit. She knew that her chest was sensitive so seeing that numerous hands were upon her bosom, it was inevitable that some sounds were going to leave her mouth at some point.
"Wow, they're really soft, it's like mochi. So big and full. These are a foreigner's breasts, it's like they're unparalleled." Misora said while still touching upon Rose's breasts.
After about five minutes of feeling upon her breasts, they eventually finished with their touching and saw Rose was flushed in the face. They wondered if they did too much so they had to make sure she was okay.
"Rose-san, are you okay? Sorry but they were just so fascinating that we couldn't help it." Ayane said sheepishly.
Looking at her reflection in the water, she could see the huge red tint on her cheeks and she assured them that it wasn't them. "Oh no, it's not your fault. My breasts are just sensitive to touch, that's it. Don't worry about it, I'm fine." She waved her hands just to emphasize that she was alright.
Believing her, they went back to relaxing in the bath until another question was brought to the surface.
"Rose-san, are you and Ryu-sensei lovers?" Kanae asked making everybody's eyes widen, especially Rose's.
"Kanae!" Tsubaki scolded her for asking such a question.
"What, I'm curious. I'm sure you've been wondering the same thing for some time also." She said and Tsubaki couldn't even respond to that seeing that she was right but she had no idea on how to voice it.
"No, no, no!" Rose said quickly. "We're not like that! He's just a traveling companion and a very good friend, that's all." She said trying not to falter at the magnitude of the question.
"Oh, okay. I just thought you were. Another question, can you do some of your fortunetelling for us? I've never seen it before." Kanae asked excitedly.
Rose was amused by how quick this girl was to switch subjects but when it came to fortunetelling, she had no problem at all answering people.
"I would be delighted to." With her soul powers, Rose formed a revolving circle of cards out of nowhere which were levitating. Even though they saw this power before, it still amazed them that someone had this kind of ability and that there were many others like her. As soon as they were done, three cards formed and they were placed face down at the edge of the bath.
"Come and see. This will be one fortune for all of you as I'm sure it will apply to all of you for the future." The ladies went over looking at the three cards face down at the moment.
"Ready?" They nodded at her awaiting what cards were about to be revealed.
Rose then flipped over the cards making each one face up. The cards were: The Sun, The Chariot and The Five of Wands.
"What do they mean, Rose-san?" Ayane wondered seeing that she never got her fortune told before.
"Well, The Sun means a successful life, The Chariot means you will be victorious in whatever you put your heart and mind to and The Five of Wands means that at times you will struggle to get what you desire. These three cards brought together mean that you will be successful but will encounter hardships and conflict but the future will reward you with success." This was the fortune and majority of the time, Rose was right with her predictions.
Even though this was their fortunetelling, the girls could refer this fortune to their current life in learning how to perform a hadoken, they had been and was still struggling to learn but in the end, it was worth it seeing that their hard work would pay off in the end.
"Okay, thank you Rose-san. I'm more motivated than before and I'll continue to do my best." Misora said with conviction.
"Same here!" Yelled Kanae.
"That goes for me also." Tsubaki joined in.
Ayane couldn't help but smile at their ambition and cheered for them believing in their efforts knowing that they had a bright future ahead of them.
"Now seeing as we're done with fortunetelling for the time being, let us return to the bath and enjoy ourselves for the moment." Rose said allowing herself to immerse in the warm water which the other women followed suit.
With only a few days left before leaving, Ryu was now watching his students spar as usual as he continued to teach them the philosophy of Ansatsuken. Sparring with them, he also realized that they improved a lot from when he first met them; their movements weren't erratic and they were able to focus more on precision than power.
As they finished up, they got ready to practice their hadoken training. Days prior, they had never gotten even close of performing it. At times, they were close but unfortunately nothing appeared in their hands and it left the girls in a sullen mood. They then remembered Rose's words and it was because of them that they didn't look at it as a failure but more of a way to learn from their mistakes and figure out what they were doing wrong.
The time to practice was here and in their heart, they knew that they could do it. Confidence, ambition and practice were the factors that would lead them in the direction. Now was the determining point of their training.
Ryu looked at the girls and he could see the confidence brimming in their eyes. Maybe they would be finally be able to perform just one hadoken. "Okay, do you think you're ready?"
"Hai, Ryu-sensei!" Their excitement could be seen radiating off of their bodies so to him, it looked like they were ready.
"Okay, you've trained up to this part and I know you've been struggling but my intuition tells me that you're finally ready. As I've shown you before, get into position, concentrate and let the ki flow into your body. Once you've accumulated the ki, release it like a force."
Taking their teacher's training, they got into position and exhaled. Concentrating all their ki into their hands, they could feel their hands getting warm and just like he said, they released the ki into the sky.
"Hadoken!" They each shot a burst of blue and white into the sky. The amount of energy surprised Ryu but he was proud to see that their efforts finally brought fruition. Shortly after the launch, the hadokens exploded creating a show of blue and white resembling the stars in the sky.
After seeing the bursts of energy dissipate, the girls stood there in awe and major disbelief of what they just witnessed. Taking a few minutes to comprehend what they just did, they stood with their mouths open and looked at Ryu waiting for his reaction.
With a grin on his face, he summed up their efforts in one word, "Congratulations! You've learned how to perform a hadoken."
Looking at the man before them, they each ran up to Ryu and gave him many words of thanks and gratitude. They cheered so loud that they were sure the whole estate could hear it even though it was so late.
"We… really did it." Misora whispered still in awe of what she just did.
"Yes, you did. How does it feel?" Ryu asked the three girls.
"I don't know. I was ready to believe that we weren't going to be able to perform this technique. Ryu-sensei, thank you so much for not giving up on us." Tsubaki said while giving Ryu another hug which he returned.
"The reason why I didn't give up in you is because I knew you had the ability to do so. In all honesty, it was really you who did it, not me. It was your efforts that made you possible to do it."
"Really? So all our previous failures helped us?" Tsubaki inquired.
"You realized your failures and you worked on them to make sure that you didn't do the same thing again. That is what the philosophy of martial arts; it's not to be the best in the world at what we do but how we are able to realize our flaws and make them our strengths which is what you have done." Ryu told them.
When they actually achieved failure, it was only a tool which would help them succeed in future. They never understood why in the beginning but in the current moment, they were never much prouder to have failed as it brought them their desired results.
"So can we practice again?!" Kanae asked with much excitement.
"Sure, whenever you're ready!"
With another stance, they pointed their palms to the sky and gathered ki into their hands once more. "Hadoken!" They yelled and once more, another three bursts of energy went into the sky. As soon as they were done, they felt something they tried ignoring the first time: fatigue.
"Wow, it's actually very tiring using that move," Misora said. "How do you prevent your body from getting tired all the time Ryu-sensei?"
"Because you're using it for the first time, you'll feel sluggish for a bit but as you get used to practicing it for a long time, it'll barely have an effect on you. Just keep practicing. Anyway, I think you've had enough practice for one day, time for you to get some rest." Ryu pulled up the girls and assisted them to the bedroom seeing as they were very tired.
Looking out the window while reading a book, Rose looked at the moon while saying to herself, "I'm proud of you three. You are the future."
The few days went by very quickly and soon Ryu found out that they could perform a hadoken much more quickly and efficient. Still training them, he taught them some of his other moves from his art of Ansatsuken such as the two moves he used on them, the shoryuken and the tatsumaki senpuukyaku. Even though the three girls knew how to perform move just by seeing them, these moves proved to be difficult for them but if they could learn how to do a hadoken, then these moves wouldn't be too much of a problem.
They day of departure was finally here. Ryu and Rose had one last breakfast at the Sugiyama estate. On Sunday, they would finally be able to travel to China. The three weeks there was a much better experience than anticipated, Niigata was a welcoming town to which they were thankful for what they saw and encountered.
The Sugiyama family, the workers and the girls stood in front of them ready to see them off. To have the whole Sugiyama estate to come together to see just two people off, it showed how much they impacted their lives in such a short time.
"Ryu-san, Rose-san. We are very grateful for your company of these past few weeks. I hope you decide to come back one day and tell us of your journey." Ayane bowed along with the workers.
"Ryu-sensei, thank you for your tutelage and your wisdom." Misora said while bowing with Kanae and Tsubaki.
"Yes, thank you for believing in us and for teaching us more of the humility we somehow abandoned along the way." Tsubaki said.
"We really hope you come back to Japan one day and continue to teach us." Kanae said.
"Thank you for having us. Rest assured, this won't be the last time you'll see me and I'll continue to keep gaining more knowledge in my quest. I hope you continue to practice and not abandon your training. Also, you promised me you wouldn't abuse your abilities, I hope you can stay true to that promise in my absence." Ryu admonished them reminding him of their promise.
"We won't Ryu-sensei. Our pride as martial artists would be wounded." Misora spoke on behalf of them.
Ayane, Misora, Kane and Tsubaki gather around Rose and hugged her. "Thank you for your wise words of beauty and acceptance which helped us to accept ourselves Rose-san, it made me more appreciative of myself than before." Tsubaki timidly said.
"Your words are so kind and such a breath of fresh air. I feel more secure about myself than I did before." Misora said while hugging onto her.
"Yes, I feel more beautiful than before and I feel that my husband and I will be more passionate once he comes back from his trip. I'm sorry you couldn't meet him." Ayane said before moving her mouth to Rose's ear to say one more thing, "Also, keep Ryu-san around. There's not many men like him out there and I know he'll protect you. Hold onto him." She whispered into her ear.
With a colored tint accredited to her name, she smiled at Ayane's words while hugging her and the others back. The memories she shared with these women were ones that she would hold dear for the rest of her life. Something told her that fate would allow them to meet again and that was something she would definitely be looking forward to.
"You're all amazing women and look towards the future. The female workers, you have the chance to pursue your own path. Do what makes you happy and brings comfort in your life. Fate will bring you to many paths in life but it's ultimately up to you to decide which path you want to take. I'm grateful for the hospitality that you've provided for me and Ryu and I'll never forget how kind you've been to us during our stay. Thank you."
"Rose-san, we'll miss you so much!" The female workers shouted while some of them were crying sad to see her go and the rest with grateful smiles on their face.
"I'll miss you too. This won't be the last time I'll ever see you. The power of fate will ensure that we meet once more." Rose told them.
"It seems your mode of transportation to the boat has come for you. I'm sure you'll be surprised but thankful at the same. Look above you," Ayane said.
Taking her advice and what they saw the both of them gasp in astonishment at what they just saw.
A helicopter with the Sugiyama's insignia was landing near the entrance of the home and it made them wonder what was going on.
"Ayane-san? What is this?" Rose asked confused by the sudden aircraft's appearance.
"It's for you and Ryu-san to get to Osaka! A lot much quicker than taking a car or a train there. It's our way of saying thanks for staying here and teaching us." Ayane said.
'Well, that's very kind of them even though we would have been fine taking a bus there.' Rose thought.
"Thank you for this, Ayane-san. I will be indebted to your kindness." Ryu told the matriarch.
She laughed at how polite he was, "Nonsense, Ryu-san! It's the least we can do for you and I'm sure you want to reach the boat and relax for a bit before you get on. So go and don't worry about repaying us."
Ayane moved in and hugged Ryu surprising him but he returned it as well. He then looked at his three students and gave them a bow which they returned as well. Another surprise was when they hugged him as well.
"Thank you, Ryu-sensei!" The three girls yelled to their temporary teacher.
"No problem and when I come back, I want to see how much you've improved. I'll probably bring some others who I've trained also. Take care of yourselves!" He said to the group.
Now stepping into the helicopter with a wave of goodbyes to the group, they flew off into the sky on their way to Osaka. They had never been in a helicopter before but as they looked through the windows, they couldn't believe the breathtaking view they had from the air. Multiple buildings and scenes of nature revealed the side of the earth that possessed beauty like no other.
An hour and a half later, they arrived in the Osaka Bay. Requesting that they let them off at this point. The two fighters got off and gave their thanks to the pilots and the Sugiyama family.
As the helicopter flew off into the sky once more back to Niigata, Rose and Ryu looked at the multiple attraction spots and they did have some time before their boat sailed. With an exploration of the city, the city was tantalizing and welcoming. Rose was surprised by the amount of people she talked to who asked her about where she was from but then again her physical features did stick out more than others.
Ryu looked at her uplifted mood by being around all these people. It brought him some joy seeing that she was happy. He wanted to see her smile more as he thought of her graceful as the sun shining upon a new day. He didn't know why but he liked seeing her happy, these feelings were strange but maybe he just liked seeing the people he cared about happy.
The evening came by and it was time for them to make their way onto the boat. As they both looked upon the pier and saw the many people coming on board, it made them think of all the people they met during they stay here in this country. It was strange for them to part this beautiful and cultured country but they told themselves they would come back one day.
The horn of the yacht they blared with a horn indicating that it was time for them to depart. To the two fighters, it was the end of one chapter and the beginning of one another. They had no idea what they would see in China but they would watch over one another as much as possible.
"Are you ready for China, Rose?" Ryu asked the fortuneteller.
"Yes. I don't know what will happen but I can say for sure that as long as you're with me, I'm sure I'll be okay. Wouldn't you say?" Rose replied with a smile.
With a nod from Ryu, both of them could only wonder what experiences awaited them in China.
Feather Drop: Trip to Colorado during spring break
Recently, I just visited the west coast of the U.S. for the first time in my life and it was pretty cool. Not to say that we didn't encounter out share of fuckery and craziness but overall it was a good trip. Me and my friends took in the freedom of sparking up as weed is legal there. Also, don't get high and try to drive just from prior experience. Not exactly me behind the wheel but it's pretty much a bad idea in general. No accidents so we were good. This trip has opened my eyes to more places for me to visit not only in the U.S. but the rest of the world. I want to visit Miami and then California at some point. I do plan on visiting Paris, all I have to do is renew my passport even though I'm really procrastinating on that for some reason.
Anyway, what places do you have in mind to visit and which places would you suggest for me to go to? Anyways, thank you for reading and I hope to keep you updated soon. Peace out.