You're so distracted, talking about Ten Man, that you don't even notice where Mai is guiding you. It's not to your home at all, but instead to your favorite place to spend time. How considerate of her! "I thought you might enjoy some time with me here," she says, with a melancholic smile. She always gets like this when you find a guy you falsely believe is your true love, though obviously this time it's different because Ten Man really is your one true love. It's strange - it's not like you'll stop being friends just because you're going to get married to Ten Man!
You practically rush into the dojo, and Mai follows after you. Sensei is there, and he smiles dotingly on you. With his heteromorphic characteristics - he looks like a giant reptile man, basically - that means he shows a lot of very pointy teeth, but you're smart enough to know that that's just how he looks and there's no changing that. He's a nice old man. "Ah, Kimura-san, Mai-san. Were you wanting some guidance in technique, or merely planning on practicing?"
"Mai, what do you think?" You ask. "You were the one who brought us here!"
"W-well, I wouldn't mind practicing," Mai explains, fidgeting slightly. Her cheeks are pink as Sensei gives her a knowing look. "I love practicing with you, anyway."
"You make a really good training dummy!" You agree, and Mai blushes a bit brighter. Sometimes she has a hard time with compliments.
"Find a space in one of the corners," Sensei says. "Make sure not to bother the other students too much."
"Of course, Sensei," you say, bowing. Mai bows as well, and you put on one of the spare fencing outfits. Mai doesn't bother. She actually thinks they're gross! You guess maybe her power makes her feel less pain, because you're pretty sure she still gets bruised from being smacked around with a wooden sword.
Honestly, at your skill level, Mai's no match for your technique. She constantly opens up her guard, letting you easily get a hit in. It's weird she's such a bad fencer, because you both started learning at the same time. Oh well!
You get the first hit in within the first minute, smacking her in the stomach, and she takes in heaving breaths, her eyes wide, her cheeks red with embarrassment at having had her guard so easily penetrated. "Got you!" You tell her, with a smile.
"You did," Mai practically breathes out, staring at you, presumably in disbelief at how bad she is at fencing. She licks her lips and straightens up. "But I don't believe you can do it again," she dares, with a manic smile.
She always gets so competitive like that, and she always loses anyway. Oh well. She's still a pretty good training dummy. By the time you're through, she's only gotten through a couple strikes on you (one of them, you just let her get because you were feeling bad - it still took her way too long to notice), and you've practically beaten her senseless.
Her lips are parted, her chest heaving with each breath, her cheeks warm with the glow of a humiliating defeat, her hands on her sword for balance as she struggles to remain upright. "A~ah," she practically pants out, "you beat me very badly, Ganko," she says.
"I did! Maybe you should practice without me some time," you suggest. "You'd probably benefit a lot, given how bad your defense is."
"No!" Mai's response is sharp, her body suddenly stiffening as she straightens out. "No," she says, with a shake of her head, "I only want to practice with you, Ganko. This is our precious time together."
"Well, okay! Should I go easier on you, maybe? I could make my swings slower or something."
"N-no," she says, stuttering. "The... the way you have been doing it, works well, I think."
"If you say so." You shrug. Her dumb pride is preventing her from getting better, but you've argued this a hundred times before. "Now come on, let's go home."
"I might need you to carry me~," she says, almost singing the last bit.
You sigh. "Fine, you big baby," you say, with a smile on your lips. You get out of the uniform and offer her a piggyback ride. She glomps onto you incredibly tightly, her hands affixing themselves around your chest, her thighs on either side of you. She pants a bit as you walk home - you'd think she was the one who was doing all the work, with how heavily she's breathing. Maybe you hurt her more than you meant to?
Once you're home, you let her off, and she hums softly to herself, practically rolling off you. "That was so very wonderful, Ganko. You're incredibly generous." She all but swoons as she says so. She must really be pretty beat up.
"Thanks! I'm putting you as a reference on my marriage resume, so if Ten Man calls you, make sure to mention that!"
Mai's eyes just widen a little. "M-marriage resume?"
"Yeah! Ten Man's got to be at least, like, twenty-five? If I'm going to pursue an older man, I have to make it clear that I'm not looking for a fling or anything, I want to be his bride!"
"I-I see," Mai says, mumbling. She swallows. "I need to heal," she says, quietly.
You think you can see a bit of tears forming in the corners of her eyes. You step over to her, a gentle smile on your lips as you wipe them away. She must be more injured than you thought, if she's crying now. She blushes as your thumbs brush across her cheeks, clearing away the starts of tears. "Sorry for hitting you so hard," you say.
"A-ah, it's not that," she says.
"Oh, are you jealous?" Her eyes widen a little, and you smile. You can see right through her. She's an open book to you. "Don't worry! You'll find a guy of your own! You just have to keep a firm lookout."
"A-ah... yes... of course..." she says, and starts to head inside.
You follow after her. "I could introduce you to some boys. Oh, or I could introduce you to Ten Man! We could be co-girlfriends! Wouldn't that be great? I get to be the legal wife, though!"
"What if he's married already?" Mai asks quietly, to the point you almost don't pick it up.
"What?" You respond, blankly.
"I asked, what if he's married already?"
"Don't be ridiculous, of course he's not," you say, with a wave of your hand. "How could we get married, if he's already married to somebody else?"
"You couldn't," Mai said.
"Exactly! And since we're fated to be together, well! You can figure this one out, I think!" You step into your room, opening the drawer where her heart is currently resting on top of some paper towels. It's all gross and damp but hey, it's her power! You offer it up to her, and she blushes a bit as she takes it.
"C-could you turn around?" She asks, her gaze on the floor.
"Huh? Are you still doing that? Come on, we're both girls. Young women, in fact! Don't you think you should have moved past being all embarrassed about me seeing you shirtless?"
"S-still, it's embarrassing."
"Well, okay," you say, turning around. You impatiently tap your foot as you wait for Mai to get undressed, your mind turning to Ten Man. How should you approach him? You'd need to look into his schedule, but you could probably find him at some kind of superhero function. Would that be too anonymous, too fannish? Maybe go down to the local station? No, that'd be inconveniencing him at work... does he have an email? That would definitely be too anonymous and fannnish. Damn it, if only you knew his real identity, you could set up a little meet cute.
As you think, you hear Mai's school blouse drop to the floor, the quiet click as she unhooks her bra, and the loud, wet noise like a "SCHLORP" as she shoves her "heart" back into her chest. There's a soft sigh of relief as her body knits itself back into proper shape.
A few seconds later, and there's an inversion of that same sound as she sucks her heart back out of her chest. Mai's body presses up against your back, as she presents her heart back to you. "Here, you can put it back now," she says, in a quiet voice. You take it, and she gets dressed again as you return her heart to its proper resting place in your nightstand. "You can look, now," she says.
You turn around, and Mai looks perfectly fine - all the little nicks and bruises and pink marks from your earlier swordplay gone and vanished. She has such a cool power! You decide to say as much. "You have such a cool power!"
"Thank you," Mai says, with a melancholic smile. "You do too."
"You want me to use it on you again?" You suggest.
Mai blushes. "A-ah, no, I don't think," she swallows, "I don't think it'd be appropriate, right now."
You tilt your head in confusion. "Right now?"
"It's just that. We're in your bedroom. Is it really appropriate for me to be... inside of you... in such a place?"
You tilt your head to one side. "Do you want to do it outside?"
"No!" Her cheeks blush crimson. "Ah, forget it!" She practically runs out of the room.
That's weird. You don't get what's so embarrassing about you using your power. It's not like she can actually feel it, anyway. Oh well. Sometimes she just gets weird like that.
You have more important things to do than puzzle over Mai's strange behavior. For example! You need to figure out how best to approach Ten Man for the first time... Hmm... what could you do?
You sit down with your computer, wearing a sincere and dedicated expression as you start to sort through every interview that Ten Man has done, desperately searching for the slightest clue as to his true identity.
After several hours, you have to admit - even if you're really good at telling how Mai is feeling, stuff like this just isn't your strong suit. Everything's a blur and a mush and you have a tough time finding anything important, really. This method definitely didn't play to your strengths...
Still, you got lucky! He mentioned this bar he really likes. Now, you've never been much of a drinker, but this could just be your chance to find Ten Man. Your memory of that toned, sexy body that swooped down to save you could never be forgotten. Also you've been carefully inspecting every pixel of various photographs of him online. And printed several to hang up on your ceiling so you can look up at him when you go to sleep.
Which - you have to admit to yourself as a yawn forces its way out of your mouth - you should probably do. Bars tomorrow!