Whew! I am terribly sorry, dear readers and writers for the hiatus, but now that fall term finals are done and over with, I can finally get on with this! I hope I have not lost your loyalty as readers.
Unlike when they were heading to the Takagi estate, there were no obstacles, keeping their ETA within the estimate. The four remained silent throughout the entire ride, but the atmosphere around Saeko was the heaviest and gloomiest by far.
At the front door, the five that stayed behind welcomed them, with a tray and seven cocktail glasses at the ready. "Bienvenue, mon fils." Karena embraced the boy who was now half a head taller than her, and gave him a light peck on his cheek.
"Je suis rentre, mère." Ryuji wrapped her arms around her and returned the peck as well.
"Nice to see you all in one piece. To the wolves."
"To the wolves!" Everyone echoed, and after a clink of glasses and a chorus of short howling, they downed their drinks.
"Now then," Vladimir clapped his hands together sucking on a cube of ice, "I'll be making seconds if anyone is interested. If you are, follow me."
"Once you're done, get back to work. I'll be posting up on the roof. And Vladimir, I don't mind you being our local bartender, but keep the proof low and drink at least two glasses of water when you finish." With that, Karena quickly made her way up the stairs and disappeared, while Specter and the rest of the adults went to the kitchen for a second drink, leaving Ryuji and Saeko alone.
Silence fell for the longest time until Saeko broke it with a trembling whisper. "Is it really impossible? For me to be accepted?" Although she had her head down with her hair covering her eyes, Ryuji could tell that she was on the verge of crying, but kept his back turned to her.
"With your current stats? Yes. And Vector is known for his obstinance, but not to worry. I'm here to change that. Follow me." Taking the stairs that Karena did, they descended, revealing a room far too spacious to be called a basement. In the far corners were gym equipment such as treadmills weights and punching bags. The right wall had a large workbench, every kind of tool, firearm and blade imaginable alongside crates of ammunition, explosives, spare gear, extra food, and water. Next to that were industrial size refrigerators, freezers and generators, all covered by faraday cages. The opposite wall had three heavily customized cars and two motorcycles parked next to each other. Straight ahead was a slope connected to the streets at ground level with heavy metal shutters. In the center of all of this was a makeshift "ring" indicated by ten meters of red tape in a square.
"Oh my god," Saeko whispered in awe, "how exactly did you set this place up? This is basically a trillion dollar fortress!"
"Only over a billion, actually thanks to a discount. Long story that involves front companies of both the yakuza and the Bratva among other channels of the criminal world we have access to."
"Bratva?"
"Russian mob. Very scary people, but fiercely loyal. One of the greatest party people in Europe. Our resident tech-wizard and sniper Vladimir was an active member, but now both he and I are honorary members. Apparently taking a bullet for the higher echelons and their family and then killing those responsible for it in front of them with your bare hands does wonders. They ask us to do some things from time to time and we do the same for a price. This compound is part of the deal."
Saeko began rubbing her temples. The nonchalance of Ryuji's exploits were beginning to give her a headache. "What exactly did you do? The favor could not have been a simple errand."
"Obviously you've never heard the phrase enlightenment can drive you mad. You do not wanna know. Shit, I'm digressing. Go to that crate over there, put the same gear that I have on and step inside the ring."
Fitting a plate carrier, chest rig and leg holster on herself, Saeko realized just how heavy it was. The usual lightness in her step was now gone.
"A lot heavier than kendo gear, right? Now then." Removing one of his knives from the sheath, Ryuji tossed it at her feet. "You need to try and kill me."
"Um….excuse me?" Saeko stared at the other knife in the boy's hand. The blade length was at least another ten centimeters greater than the one she was given, and the point was aimed directly at her.
"We're starting your training right now, and rest assured, you will have to work as if your life depended on it. Now I won't kill you, but a word of caution: I will take shots at your face but with open palms only. Anything and everything else including biting and groin attacks is fair game." As soon as he finished, Ryuji lunged at her with a left palm strike which she parried, but with her usual speed gone, she could not react to the spinning elbow strike in time, sending her stumbling forward. "So that means bruises, cuts, sores and concussions. But if you want to minimize it as much as possible, keep your guard up, keep your blade up, and pay attention."
But it was impossible. Ryuji's attacks seemed to come out of nowhere, strike places she would never think of. Like a magician's sleight of hand, the knife kept disappearing and appearing in and out of his hands, and even between his teeth. The gear, or rather, the weights slowing her down made things difficult, leaving flesh-deep cuts all over her body, with welts and bruises forming under her clothes. The digital clock on the wall indicated that not even a quarter of an hour had passed.
"Get up." Ryuji prodded Saeko with his toe who was on the ground after being tossed a few meters away from a tomoe-nage. She was gasping for breath, the knife now out of her grasp. "Get up!"
"I….can barely…stand…." Saeko struggled to keep her hands up, but her legs were shaking like a newborn doe.
"Oh, for fuck's sake." Ryuji muttered before rushing at her and with a sent her sprawling again with a single front kick to the diaphragm. "The undead are the least of your problems. What's more threatening is the living, simply because they have a functioning brain and are capable of thinking on one level or another. You think they're going to wait for you because they're feminists and you're fucking tired? Fuck no! They'll force themselves on you, rape your brains out and do god knows what else!"
Before Saeko could make a retort, she regurgitated a stream of stomach fluids on the mat and began coughing and sputtering. Ryuji put a canteen of cold water and a towel beside her.
"Never mind, we'll take five."
"How did I beat you?" Ryuji asked as Saeko guzzled half a quart of water from the canteen.
"You're too….fast, too strong. You're superior in every way in fighting."
"No, it's because you're a liar."
"What?"
"I said, you're a liar. What pisses me off the most is that you're lying to yourself. Not to me or anyone else; your own damn self. I know that you know there's a part of you that relishes the thrill of combat, the rush of life, the…pulse, for lack of a better word, that grows stronger with every passing minute of fighting. I've seen it when we first met. That look in your eyes…..I could tell you were luring him in. You were going to beat him within an inch of his life, if not kill."
Saeko was thunderstruck. He was reading her like open pages of a diary. It was true. When she was first accosted by the man, she let him continue as he pushed her into the dark alley out of the public eye. She was relishing the moment of what he would look like, what he would sound like with every strike landing on him as he squealed and howled in pain as his bones shattered.
"You seem surprised, but this is nothing. Reading people is one of the basic things that I learned over the years as a freelance mercenary strike force. I do assassinations, espionage, security and sabotage. The same goes for your moves. It has fighting spirit in it, but that's it. There's no killing intent because you held yourself back."
"I did no such thing!" Saeko shouted, now clearly offended at his words.
"Listen to me. Every martial art and every weapon used in the art ever created to this day was made for one purpose: to kill. Kendo is just one of the many examples. Militaries around the world use martial arts to train their soldiers so they can incapacitate and kill efficiently. You're a practitioner, and yet you deny its purpose, what it's meant to be used for. That is why you lost."
"What is wrong with fearing to take a person's life? You can't just ask me to make such a choice!"
Ryuji was getting very close to just decking her across the jaw with a left hook. Never in his life did he ever want to punch an unarmed woman in the face, until now. But he had to remain patient. "In a world like this, there are three kinds of people that die first: the naive, the good samaritans and the morbidly obese. Those words belong to the naive. Besides, would you really be worried about your attacker's wellbeing when he is about to end your life?"
Saeko bit down on her lower lip, mind racing furiously to think of a counterpoint.
"Didn't think so. So, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear your last statement." But before she could organize her thoughts completely, Ryuji, who was already back in the middle of the ring, tossed the knife that Saeko lost at her feet. "This is round two. As the great Morpheus said: You have to let it all go." Ryuji spread his legs and arms, leaving every opening imaginable unguarded and exposed. "Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind."
Picking up the knife, Saeko slowly walked back into the ring. Learning from the beatings, she had changed her strategy: quick, compact swings to overwhelm and constant motion to avoid giving away the next attack, with her feet always on the ground.
"Okay," Ryuji chuckled, "now we're getting somewhere." Swaying his body left and right as he dodged her attacks, adding rolls and flips to it as if he were dancing. As he set his eyes back on Saeko after a backflip, he saw the knife coming at him in a downward stab. The tip was about ten centimeters away from Ryuji's face, but he made no attempt to dodge.
"Hngh…" Saeko grunted as the knife hand slightly jerked back.
"And back to square one." Grabbing that hand by the wrist, Ryuji pulled Saeko into a clinch, ramming knee kicks into her sides. He finished with a roundhouse kick, following through all the way. The force knocked her off her feet again and outside the ring. His shin Saeko took felt like a wooden sword with a steel core in it and vomited up the water she drank despite the gear cushioning the blow to some degree. "Okay….half an hour. Oh and just FYI: I take no pleasure in committing physical violence against women, so I hope you don't take it personally."
Saeko was half passed out, her consciousness fading in and out like waves on a beach. Her entire body was numb from fatigue and pain. Her clothes and the gear she had on was cold and soaked with sweat, robbing what little energy she had left. Almost every inch of her body was covered in bruises and small scabs, her locks of raven-black hair now loose and unkempt.
"Good for a novice, but not ready yet. Don't you think you went a little overboard with her?" Michaela was standing at the foot of the stairs with a medical kit, an ice pack, a clean towel and a glass of orange juice.
"I didn't wanna kill her so I did hold back. But I will keep using your Spartan carrot-and-stick policy. Oh, and how's our new nurse doing? Is she….well, useful?"
"Hey, she is undeniably a ditz, but you seem to forget that she is both Christine's student and mine. Of course she's competent. I did have a…little bit of fun with her, so she's sleeping now." The tip of her tongue glazing her lips in a meaningful way, Ryuji sighed.
"My god, why is it that Vector fell for a freaky woman like you? I can already imagine him crying."
"Oh, give it a rest. His face is like a stone wall. I doubt I'd see him cry unless I die or something. Besides, he knows about my….escapades from time to time. Here." She handed him the glass, which Ryuji downed in several large gulps. The tangy sweetness of the orange juice was followed by a slight tingle of the tongue.
"Did you….wait, this is a fucking screwdriver!"
"There's only half a shot worth of vodka in there. I'll take care of her so you go take a shower. You stink."
"Oh, since when did man-stench bother you? You fuck Vector in every which way after a workout at least once a week."
"Shut up and go clean yourself up." Michaela snorted as she smacked his bottom. "And bring that glass back to the kitchen."
" 'Kaaaay, love you too." With light steps, Ryuji hopped up the stairs. Despite Vector's harsh words, Saeko does show some promise. Even after that last kick, the knife remained tightly in her grasp. She probably will stay unconscious for a while but he'll spoil her rotten on the bed again. He had to think of a sweet, light cocktail for her as well.