Forest on the outskirts of Tokyo, morning
Homura is training, as is usual for her mornings.
Most of her training sessions consist of cutting bamboos with her blades.
It's not a big deal to cut them, even with her six swords. The actual point of this training is the quality of the cut.
It must be clean, you can see if it is just by looking at the place where the bamboo had been sliced.
If it's smooth, that means the slash was nice. If there are splinters, that means it wasn't.
And today, Homura's attacks made several imperfect cuts…
"Damnit…" Homura says in a murmur, frustrated.
Of course, she notices she's off of her norm. She has an idea about the reason for this, but she's just ignoring it.
However, somebody else noticed something isn't right…
"Not great, Homura…" A familiar voice says.
Homura immediately recognizes the voice, but is astonished to hear it since she went here alone.
"Hikage? What are you doing here?!" Homura asks.
"Training, like you. Even if we left our cave, this place is fine for that…" Hikage explains in a monotone voice.
Homura doesn't have anything to say in return, but Hikage hasn't finished yet.
"But since we're there, shall we train together?" Hikage asks.
The tanned girl obviously doesn't hesitate.
"Of course!" Homura answers, setting into a fighting stance.
Hikage immediately rushes at her, trying to stab her.
Homura is surprised by the sudden attack, and barely counters it by crossing her six swords.
The snake girl then moves again. Her speed is so high it looks like teleportation. She stops behind Homura and tries again to rteach her.
Homura immediately turns back and counters the attack, narrowly again.
But this time, Homura immediately attacks and slashes in front of her. However, Hikage easily dodges and throws several knives on Homura.
The tanned girl dodges, but loses sight of Hikage for a split second.
And that was the snake girl's goal. Hikage uses this opportunity to move behind Homura and attack her.
The leader quickly turns back to counter, but this time, it's too late.
Only half a centimeter remains between the edge of the knife and Homura's throat. And there was no way Homura could slash Hikage before she stabbed her.
It's Hikage's victory.
"H-How?! I'm stronger than you! I couldn't…" Homura tries to complain, but the frustration puts a stop to her.
She then turns back and holds her head with her right hand.
"Well done, Hikage…" She says in a sigh.
Hikage doesn't say anything, she doesn't even seem to care about the fight anymore.
"I got it… You're afraid." Hikage says.
Those words confuse Homura, who turns back again to face Hikage.
"What?" She asks, confused yet curious.
"During our fight, I felt something was scaring you… Hence your low performance, I guess…" Hikage explains in a monotone voice.
Homura keeps quiet for a mere seconds, then, she asks:
"You barely have emotions yourself, how could you figure about people's ones?!" Homura asks.
Hikage keeps quiet too, for approximately ten seconds.
"I don't know, I just feel it…" She nonchalantly answers.
Homura almost topples over because of Hikage's answer. But decides to just ignore it.
"Anyway… I…" Homura starts, but hesitates about telling the truth.
Hikage doesn't say anything, she's just staring at her friend with emotionless eyes.
"I can't deny it…" Homura admits before sighing.
Mere seconds later, Hikage speaks up again.
"What are you afraid of?" She asks.
Homura looks into Hikage's eyes for a long moment before looking down and answering.
"Losing you…" She confesses.
Those words of Homura make Hikage confused, to the point where she actually looks confused.
"Losing… me?" She says, clearly not understanding.
Homura has already given up her pride, so, she doesn't fear to look pitiful anymore.
"Not only you, bu yeah. You're aware that Shin is coming soon and… I honestly don't know if I can't protect you against this monster…" Homura tries to explain, but the mixture of shame and sadness makes it hard for her.
However, Hikage now completely understands what makes Homura weaker.
Better yet, she already knows how to fix the situation.
"Homura… You're dumb… Of course, you can't…" Hikage says.
"Eh?! You could at least try to comfort me!" Homura frets, blushing.
But Homura calms down when she notices Hikage is smiling.
"That's why we must protect each other. That's what a group is for, right?" Hikage asks while putting her hand on Homura's left shoulder.
Homura stays quiet for a moment and smiles back at Hikage..
"Hehe, you're right.." Homura says.
However, Hikage still has something to say.
"And even if we die, it should be fine… Dying for a great cause isn't that bad." She says, making Homura sick.
"E-Eh! Don't say something like that!" Homura screams, scared.
But a mere seconds later, Homura calms down… And even laughs a little.
"Sorry…" Hikage says.
"You silly…" Homura says, smiling, but also sighing.
The tanned girl then extends her hand toward Hikage in a shake proposal.
The snake-girl gladly accepts and slaps her hand on Homura's one.
"Let's sacrifice ourselves for the will of our dance!" Homura proudly exclaims.
"Let's sacrifice ourselves for the will of our dance…" Hikage says in a calm voice.
After that, Homura takes a few steps back. Then, she adopts an offensive stance.
"Do you mind a second round?" Homura asks, smirking.
Hikage, still smiling, is already ready.
"Of course…" She says.
The two girls resume training, in order to make sure it's not the last time they train together.
Special thanks to NeoDingleBat for his proofreading