Disclaimer: Arknights and all related characters are properties of Yostar and Hypergryph.
AN: There's a snooker scene in this chapter; however, as I do not play snooker myself (all my information is from Wikipedia) it may be inaccurate. Snooker players, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Noir Corne and Yato were left in the dorm room after Rangers and Durin left. After a short while, Noir Corne broke the silence. "So, what now?"
"Training."
"Oh, come on! It's our day off, Yato." Noir Corne replied
"Unless you have something else to do?"
"You sound like Dobermann."
"You haven't answered my question."
"Fine…" Noir Corne whined.
"Good. Let's go." That said, Yato grabbed Noir Corne by his collar and started forcibly dragging him through the hallways, much to his chagrin.
"Come on, I can walk the way there myself! Yato!"
A short while later, they reached the training room. Fortunately, it was still open, albeit without any people in it. Noir Corne and Yato walked in, picking up their practice weapons, a large wood shield and a blunted wood sword, respectively.
"Duel?" Noir Corne motioned to the ring in the center of the training room.
"Sure." The two positioned themselves on opposite corners of the room, and their practice duel began. As usual, Yato opened with a downwards slash, knowing that any sort of forwards thrust was useless against Noir Corne's shield.
Noir Corne raised his shield upwards to block, and the sword bounced off the shield with a dull thunk. Anticipating a forwards thrust now that his vision was blocked, he put his shield back down; only to suddenly feel the blunted sword against his neck.
"Had that been real combat, you would've been dead." Yato said, still maintaining her hold on the sword.
"How am I supposed to defend that? I have one shield and I have to defend two spots!" Noir Corne protested.
"I've told you this before. Lower your shield immediately after a strike."
"Easier said than done." Noir Corne complained.
"But still doable."
"Fine, let's go again." Noir Corne entered a ready posture again, keeping his eye on Yato's sword. She opened with a downwards thrust again, and Noir Corne raised his shield to block; lowering it immediately after, just in time to block a forwards thrust.
Yato sidestepped to his left, trying a diagonal slash at his flank; he turned and blocked it. She then tried another downwards slash, forcing Noir Corne to raise his shield. Immediately after, he lowered it; only to raise it again when another downwards slash came this way.
"Better." Yato commented, before launching a series of thrusts and slashes. Most were cleanly blocked by Noir Corne, but one slipped past his guard, knocking him off balance.
Before he could regain his balance, Yato rammed him with her shoulder, knocking him to the ground, before raising her sword in a plunging motion; stopping halfway. "Getting knocked off balance is often fatal, Noir."
"Got it." Noir Corne was about to add another complaint but stopped when he realized that Yato's sword was still held above his stomach. He didn't want to get stabbed, even if only by a blunted wooden practice sword.
"Hm. Try again." Yato waited for Noir Corne to get back up and regain his balance, then immediately started attacking him again, forcing Noir Corne, once again, to frantically attempt to block blow after blow.
He never was very successful when practicing against Yato. She knew his style too well, and as such was able to exploit it to its fullest. He was reminded of this again when he braced for an impact too early, allowing Yato's sword to once again slip past his guard and hit his side.
"Ouch!" He immediately bent over, clutching his side; and losing grip of his shield in the process. That spot would probably bruise later.
"You braced for an attack too early." Yato said, standing in front of him.
"Thanks for stating the obvious, Yato." Noir Corne replied. "Can we do something else?"
"Not until you solve your problems." Came the curt reply.
"There goes the entire morning, I guess." Noir Corne sighed.
His suspicious proved correct, as, uncaring of their day off, Yato started berating him for the various mistakes he often made all the way up to lunch. He did improve, sure – but it was at the cost of countless bruises and sore muscles.
After, they went to get lunch at the cafeteria. Noir Corne immediately dug in, while Yato was far more reserved, often just stopping and staring into empty space.
"Hey, Yato?" Noir Corne stopped eating for a moment and looked up on her.
"Do you need something?" Yato immediately replied.
"I was just wondering… do you have anything planned for the afternoon?" Noir Corne asked.
"Not at the moment."
"Would you like to go meet some of my buddies? They probably have something set up for the afternoon."
Yato paused for a short moment before giving her reply. "… Sure."
"Okay. They're probably in the Recreational Center now. We can take a look after you finish eating."
Yato nodded, before going back to eating.
After another dozen minutes, they were out of the cafeteria, and going towards the Recreational Center. The Recreational Center wasn't a building, but rather a loosely defined region of the landship where the majority of recreational amenities were; Noir Corne came here often, usually to the bar, as they served good drinks.
He guessed they were at the sports section right now, though, as it was never a good idea to get intoxicated in the middle of the day. Acting on his guess, he began walking towards the section; traversing through the various hallways of the Recreational Center before he opened the door to an expansive room – could it even be considered one anymore? – with a variety of indoor sports equipment, sunlight from the room's glass skylights illuminating it.
However, the familiar faces of his buddies weren't there; just a bunch of strangers, playing some sports.
"They're not here, I guess." Noir Corne said. "Then they're probably playing cards."
"Got it." Yato replied. "We're going there next, then?"
"Yes." Noir Corne began walking through the hallways again, mind rapidly conjuring a mental map of the region; he had been here enough to know where almost all hallways led.
A short while later, they reached the entrance to the board game room. Noir Corne pushed the door open and walked in, and almost immediately spotted Operators Barty, Chard and Dylan playing a game of snooker.
"Ah, crap!" As he watched, Dylan's cue ball just barely missed its target, sliding past it and accomplishing absolutely nothing of value.
Shot finished, Dylan stood up, stretching his body – and seeing Noir Corne in the distance. "Hi, Noir! Want to join u…s?"
He promptly stopped speaking when he saw Yato behind him.
"Calm down, Dylan. She's not some evil monster." Noir Corne chuckled, walking towards the snooker table. "Sure, I'll join you. Yato?"
"I'll join." Yato followed him, albeit less confidently.
"Alright. Noir, can you take over this round?" Dylan handed the cue stick to Noir Corne and went to spectate the match from a couch nearby, along with Barty.
"He's only handing it to you because he's down more than twenty points." Chard said, tapping at the cue ball with his stick and knocking another ball into a corner pocket. Fortunately for Noir Corne, though, he missed on his next attempt, his cue ball bouncing around the table a few times without hitting anything.
"Well, I can still try to win." Noir Corne tapped the cue ball lightly, shifting a ball slightly – and making it fall into a side pocket.
"Right, I forgot you were good at this." Chard proceeded to watch as Noir Corne effortlessly sent another two balls into the pockets, before – finally – missing a shot.
"Finally!" He returned to the table, observing the positions of the balls before finally choosing to aim for a ball near a faraway corner; perhaps because of his rush, though, he missed. "Agh…"
Eventually, the game settled slightly, both players having trouble knocking balls into pockets due to the peculiar positions the remaining balls were in; however, by virtue of his higher accuracy, Noir Corne eventually won by seven points.
"Whoo!" Noir Corne pumped his fist into the air, elated – before turning to Dylan and handing the cue stick to him. "How were you even losing by twenty points, anyways?"
"I suck." Came the deadpan response.
"Yes, you do." Noir Corne then turned towards Yato, who had been watching from afar. "Yato, you want to try a round?"
"How do you play?" Came the immediate response.
"Well, I'll teach you. You can play against Dylan for your first round – he's probably going to be around your level." As he spoke, Noir Corne received the cue stick from Chard, before handing it to Yato and beginning to explain the rules.
A half-hour later, she was ready for her first try. Starting the round, she placed the cue ball, lined up the cue stick, tested the movements a few times, and hit the cue ball – only for it to fly very off-course, bouncing between the sides of the table twice before just barely touching a red ball – enough to not constitute a foul.
Dylan took his shot, accurately hitting the cue ball and scattering the pyramid of red balls, knocking a red ball into a pocket. He then attempted to hit a colored ball in, only to fail.
The game continued, Yato slowing down her movements and potting a red ball; however, her next shot missed the colored ball.
Dylan then potted a red and colored ball.
On Yato's turn, she potted three balls in a row, hands steady from countless hours of sword training.
The game continued, Yato getting more familiar with the rules and strategy; enough to eventually beat Dylan by seven points.
A fact that Chard was quick to take advantage of. "Imagine losing to somebody playing their first game, Dylan."
"I barely play snooker, okay?" Dylan frantically tried to defend himself.
"But that was her first game."
"She's obviously far more talented at snooker!"
Dylan's protests fell on deaf ears, as Chard continued to tease him. "But you could still have won with skill."
"I should never have agreed to this in the first place…" Dylan sighed, before going to sit on the couch. "I'm spectating from now on."
They played a few more games with Yato, discovering that she was a quick learner, and extremely talented; Noir Corne supposed her unerring accuracy with the sword had transferred to snooker, too. In the end, everybody got tired of just playing the same thing over and over again, though.
"This is getting a bit boring." Barty said as he finished his latest round, winning against Chard.
"I agree." Noir Corne nodded. "You guys got anything planned for the night?"
"Dylan picked a decent bar in Kawalerielki we can go to today night. It's pretty cheap, and the drinks are supposedly quite good." Barty replied.
"Alright, I'll see you then." Noir Corne said, standing up from the couch he had been sitting on. "I'll be looking around Kawalerielki, so feel free to call me if you need something."
"Sure." Barty and the rest of the group gave Noir Corne and Yato a wave as they left.
"So, you're going to Kawalerielki next?" Yato asked Noir Corne as they walked through the hallways.
"Yep. You?"
"I don't have much else to do. I might as well join you." Yato replied. "My skin's sensitivity to sunlight shouldn't pose much of an issue this late in the afternoon."
"Speaking of time…" Noir Corne looked at a clock on the wall. "Wait, it's five in the afternoon already?"
"Time passes quickly when you're having fun." Yato observed.
"Yep."
The two quickly made their way up to the deck, Yato double-checking her clothing on the way, and boarded a transport from Rhodes Island to Kawalerielki.
As the automatic doors to the transport opened once more, they were greeted with a familiar face; Rangers was also boarding the transport, it seemed.
"What's up, Grandpa Rangers?" Noir Corne teasingly said as Rangers walked in.
"Is there a reason you use that nickname every time?" Rangers chuckled. "Not that I really mind it."
"Because you're old. Why else?" Noir Corne said – even though the real reason was just to tease Rangers.
"I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything else." Rangers said, sighing. "So, why are you going to the city?"
"I have a few buddies who want to check out the nightlife here. It's not often we get an opportunity like this." Noir Corne replied.
"I see. Where are you planning to go? I might join you later."
"Brightlight Street. It's pretty famous, according to my buddies. Ask around and you'll find it." Noir Corne replied just as the doors to the transport opened with a hiss.
A surprisingly short ride, but considering Rhodes Island was almost finished docking with Kawalerielki, it made sense. "That was short. Well, see ya later."
The two groups went their separate ways; Rangers to do… well, old man stuff, Noir Corne supposed, while Noir Corne and Yato decided to go straight towards Brightlight Street; if the rest of the group wasn't there yet, they could always find something interesting in the region.
It was a short trip, as Kawalerielki had taxis virtually everywhere. However, the rest of the group wasn't there yet.
"Well… let's walk around the street for a while." Noir Corne said.
"Sure." Yato did a short survey of the area – surprisingly, despite their appearances, they weren't drawing much attention.
And so they began walking along the street, looking for anything that seemed interesting.
They didn't find much – though they eventually stopped near the entrance of a building titled "Bladehelm Knightclub Recruitment", as the receptionist was – for some reason – beckoning them in.
Yato was about to leave, before Noir Corne stopped her. "Might as well see what they have to say."
It was probably a shameless recruitment pitch, but leaving when somebody was beckoning you over was just impolite.
The two walked into the building, and the receptionist immediately greeted them. "You two seem very skilled. Would you be interested in a job as a competition knight?"
Surprise, surpise, it was a shameless recruitment pitch. Noir Corne tried to deny the pitch as politely as possible. "Erm… no. We've pretty much settled into our current jobs right now and have no intention of changing them."
"If I may, what are your current occupations?"
Okay, this was shameless to the extreme. Noir Corne was still about to answer, though, when Yato cut him off. "We'd rather not disclose that."
Wh- that was completely unnecessary! It wasn't as if being part of Rhodes Island's paramilitary was anything to be ashamed of. The mood immediately soured, but the receptionist pushed on. "Well, we offer a monthly salary of…"
Noir Corne completely lost focus once she started droning on and on about all the benefits and salaries and such; and soon, she noticed that. "Alright, I'll not bother you two any longer. Here's a brochure with the details. We hope you consider the Bladehelm Knightclub as a possible job opportunity!"
Oh, finally. Noir Corne accepted the brochure, and the two left the building.
"Was it really necessary to not disclose that we're part of Rhodes Island?" Noir Corne asked once they were out of earshot.
"Yes. Rhodes Island is reputed to hire Infected, who don't have the best of reputations. To reveal that we are part of Rhodes would immediately sour the mood further. Also, it's best to ensure the other side of the deal has as little information as possible when you don't know their intentions." Yato replied.
"It's still impolite, though."
"And sometimes that is necessary." Yato sighed.
"Fine…" The two continued walking along the street, but didn't find much else of interest; eventually, after a short meal at a nearby restaurant, they decided to go to the bar – which, unfortunately, was on the other end of the street.
"Ugh... I shouldn't have eaten that much." Noir Corne said, walking behind Yato.
"Definitely." Yato agreed.
"And now we have to walk all the way back?"
"Yes."
"Damn." Noir Corne sighed, but nonetheless kept walking forward. He supposed the exercise was good, at least.
It was time to go to the bar – and Noir Corne just hoped he wouldn't "accidentally" drink too much again.