Chapter 5: The Start of a Brand New Life
Today's training is different than the past two days. When I reach the dojo, Shinji tells me that I won't need to change into my uniform. Instead, I find that we are leaving today, and going to a place that is better suited for today's training. When Sensei arrives, she has Shinji and I follow her to a car. After a twenty minute drive into Okinomiya, we stop in front of what seems to be a shooting range. I see. Today we are going to test my skills with a gun. I am excited.
When we enter the building, the manager greets Sensei with a polite, "Welcome, Oryou-sama." I guess that the Sonozaki family probably owns this shooting range. The manager turns to me. "This must be your new pupil."
I bow to the man. "I am Micheal. It is a pleasure to meet you."
After we exchange greetings, Shinji takes me off into a side room. He tosses me some gear. "Here," he says as he throws it. I catch it, as it comes within reach. I examine what has been thrown at me. In my hands, I hold a bullet-proof vest, a pair of safety glasses, and some earmuffs. I have seen some cop shows before and they seem to where the same gear during their practice as well. I quickly put the gear on and follow Shinji out to the armory.
He hands me a handgun and some extra clips. He then instructs me to take a position at the range. I set my clips down on the counter and take aim down the range. As I do, a paper target drops down in front of me.
It is about ten feet away from me. I line the sites up on the number ten, placed at the center or the paper target's chest, and pull the trigger. The trigger doesn't budge. Forgot the safety. I examine the gun a little before I find a small switch near the back of the gun. I flip it and return to my aiming. Right as I am about to pull the trigger, I tighten my grip of the gun as to not lose grip of it when it recoils. I proceed to pull the trigger. Thankfully, this time, the gun fires. The gun kicks back a little and I quickly bring it back down. I see that my shot is pretty accurate. I am able to hit the target on the ten. Pleased with my shot, I begin to take aim again.
I repeat the process of aiming, tightening my grip, and pulling the trigger. Each time I am able to hit the target on the ten. After about ten shots, my gun only clicks when I pull the trigger. I pull it again to test it, and it clicks again. It's obvious at that point that I'm out of bullets so I press the clip release, catch the clip as it falls, and place it on the counter, opposite the full clips.
As I am about the load my second clip I feel a presence behind me. I turn my head to the side to look at who it is, through my peripherals. It's Shinji. I lift a side of my earmuffs.
"What's up?" I ask.
"I just came to give you a little instruction." He replies. "This next clip; try to take less time aiming and more time firing. In a live situation, your target isn't going to give you time to take an accurate shot at him."
"Alright." I reply, seeing his point.
After I have loaded my second clip, I take aim again. This time I don't give myself the time to make my shots accurate. As soon as the barrel comes down, I fire again. After my ten shots are gone, I look at my target to see how I did. Surprisingly, I was able to hit the target in the ten a couple of times. About two shots hit the nine, and one hit the eight. I am still pleased with the results as this is still my first time.
Again, as I am reloading, Shinji come up from behind me. As he does, I see the target begin to retract into the ceiling and another drop down in its place. This time the target is about twenty feet away. Shinji tells me what is already obvious to me.
"From now on, after you finish two clips, a new target will come down. It will be ten feet farther back than the previous." He explains.
"Alright." I reply.
I am enjoying myself as I fire at the targets. I think I was actually thinking about doing something like this for my eighteenth birthday, back in my world. It is harder to hit the targets that are farther away, I manage to avoid missing it completely. Even at the farthest distance, I manage to hit it will all of my bullets. Though, one wasn't even on any of the point values, I still hit the target itself though.
After I have run out of clips, Shinji comes back out. He tells me to bring the gun and clips back in. I flip the safety back on, grab the spent clips, and head back to the armory. When I finish turning them into the armory, Shinji hands me a sub machine gun. Great. I am glad that I was able to use a handgun, but I'm not to certain about using an SMG. It's not likely that I'll end up using one to protect Mion anyways. I begin to wonder if Sensei is actually thinking about training me as an assassin or something. I decide not to argue and proceed to repeat the process I just went through with the handgun.
I am surprised at how well I am able to handle the gun. At close range I am able to hit the target, a fair amount, in the center. From my starting shots, there is a little trail going up the target, but after those few shots, I was able to find the right amount of pressure to control it. The remaining shots were well centered, and I was able to create a semi-round circle in the target. I had a bit more difficulty at the greater distances, but I was still able to do fairly well. On my last target, I was unable to hit every shot though. I ended up missing two shots. Shinji comes back and we head to the armory again. I hand my weapon and clips in, glad I remembered to flip the safety, and turn to Shinji. He tells me that this is all we are going to do today. After I finish changing out of my safety gear, I follow Shinji into a room with a large glass window that overlooks the range. Sensei and the manager are looking over a number of paper targets; mine of course. Each one is labeled with a distance.
When Sensei turns to us, we bow to her. Sensei walks up to me and asks, "Have you had any training with arms before now Mike-kun?"
"I have not." I reply. "This is my first time handling guns."
"Hmm…" She thinks to herself.
The manager speaks up, "If that's true then it seems that you have quite a bit of natural talent for small arms."
After a brief conversation about how well I did, Sensei announces that training is done for the day. We head back to the car and drive back to the mansion. When we arrive, I head back to my room. I am not tired today, since firing guns isn't quite as physically taxing as hand-to-hand combat, so I don't really need to sleep any longer. The clock in my room reads 10:11 a.m. Training took a while today. I still have a bit of time before I go.
I decide to go check the refrigerator. There is a plate of food with a note on it, like yesterday. Hope training went well today. Good luck with your test. Hope you enjoy your breakfast. –Mion. I am glad that she didn't put something similar to yesterday's note.
I don't mind how she acts tomboyish sometimes. I think that's how she is normally, so I feel like I want her to act like that more when I'm around. I do find it funny when I tease her about something and she punches me in the arm or something. It makes me laugh.
After I finish the breakfast Mion made for me, I head out towards the school, eager to do my test. I arrive around 10:50. When I enter the principal's office, I see him sitting at his desk. We greet each other and promptly get down to business. He hands me a packet and a pencil. He tells me that I can take it wherever I like, so I decide to move out into the hall, as to not disturb him. I flip through the pages to see what I am up against. The packet isn't as small as I first thought. It is about thirty pages. It looks like about three pages per subject.
I begin to take my test. The first subject I need to do is math. Most of the work seems pretty simple enough. I have always excelled at math. Near the end of the math section I come across many problems that I don't know. I am forced to make guesses as to how to solve them. After math, comes English. I find this subject pretty easy. When I look at the words, written in English, I can easily tell that I was originally from a country that speaks English. I wonder how I learned Japanese, since I likely grew up in an English speaking country.
I continue to take the test for what seems like hours. If I think about it, I am sure that it has to have been at least two hours since I started.
I finally finish the test and stand up to turn it in to the principal. Just as I am about to grab the doorknob, the door opens. The principal is standing there with his bell in hand.
"Finished?" He asks me.
"Yep." I reply as I make way for him.
He rings the bell a couple of times, signaling the end of school. I follow him as he walks back to his room. I hand him the test when he sits down.
"Very good. I will grade your test now. You may stick around if you like. If not, then you can come in tomorrow. It will probably take about an hour for me to grade it and assess what level you are at." He explains.
"I'll stick around till then." I reply.
"Very well. I will let you know when I finish."
I leave the room so he can grade my test. I can see many of the younger students heading towards the doorway. I'm curious if Mion and her friends are having club activities today so I decide to enter the classroom. I see Mion, Rena, Rika, and Satoko sitting together. They have pulled four desks together to create a make-shift table. They are all looking at the door to see who has intruded on their club activities. Rika is the first to speak.
"Well if it isn't Mikey. Nipah!"
"What brings you here today Micheal-kun?" Satoko asks.
"Ah well, I just finished my test, so the principal is grading it. He said that he will be done in about an hour and that I could stick around till then if I wanted. I was wondering if you guys were having club activities today so I came to check it out." I explain.
Mion gets up and walks over to me. She looks extremely happy that I stopped by.
"You don't you join us Mike? If you're going to join the club, it's better to do it now rather than later, right?" She asks.
"I suppose." I reply.
She grabs my hand and drags me over to the "table". I grab a seat and sit on the end.
"First off, tell us how you did." Mion orders.
"Okay well, I think I did well on it. There were a couple of questions in each subject that I was unable to answer, but not too many. If I were to make a guess, I'd say that it's likely that I will be able to get in."
Everyone's faces light up.
"That's great!" Mion declares.
"Yeah. I really hope that I do get in. I'd rather be here, doing something useful, then at your place, doing nothing." I reply.
"Are you sure that you don't want to get in just so you can be with Mion-san all the time?" Satoko teases.
"Nah, I just love the scenery here. Its soooo boringly, bland at Mion's place. You can pretty much count every color there, since there's so few." I reply sarcastically.
"IT IS NOT!" Mion roars out.
"Mii, I'll make sure to never go over to Mii's house then. I might just die from all the blandness." Rika says.
"Ohohoho! I don't know how you can stand it Mike-kun. I would never be able to stand such a boring environment. I would go crazy!" Satoko adds.
Its Rena's turn, "Rena doesn't think she would be able to live in a place if it was that boring. I wonder how Mii-chan has lived there for soo long, I wonder."
"Mike, you butthead! Look what you did!" Mion complains to me.
We all start laughing except for Mion, who has begun to pout. Rika suggests something to change to mood.
"How about we have a game now? Mii can take her frustration out on Mikey then."
Suddenly Mion's expression changes to one of a devil.
"Excellent idea Rika." She says as she chuckles to herself.
I get a little worried at her expression. "Ah, we're here to have fun right? How 'bout we just try to do that, okay?" I suggest.
She begins laughing. "It seems you are misunderstanding Mike-kun. Rule number one: Only aim for the top, just playing is unforgivable!"
Satoko adds in, "Rule number 2: To get to the top, you're allowed to do anything you want!"
"Geez, sounds like I'm about to enter a battle or something." I sigh.
"Since this is your first time Mike, we will play something that everyone knows." Mion announces. "Old Maid."
Sounds simple enough. I just have to be lucky enough to not get passed the old maid or to pick it up.
As Mion searches through the locker for the cards, she explains, "The loser must obey the winner. This is how we do things. Got it Mike?"
"Got it." I reply.
It's a gamble, but if I win I can have them do what I wish.
After shuffling the deck, Mion deals the cards out to everyone. I pick up my hand and examine my cards. I notice something about the cards themselves though.
"These cards look pretty old. Some of them have some pretty unique scratches and such on them. Do you guys play with them often?" I ask.
"Oh yes. We play with them quite often." Mion replies.
Suddenly a thought comes to me. "Hey, you guys couldn't have memorized what cards are which by the scratches on them, could you?" I ask.
Each of the girl's expressions turns sinister.
"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!!" I exclaim.
Satoko repeats what she said earlier, "Rule number 2: You are allowed to do ANYTHING to win."
Man, what did I get myself into?
I sigh. "Alright, let's do this!" I say, as I put on a serious expression. I hope they are just lying about memorizing the cards, and are just trying to psyche me out.
After about seven games, I realize how futile it is. I have been singled out every game. I am unable to do anything as all four of the girls have completely memorized the deck, by the unique scratches on each card. Mion begins to snicker.
"I can name off all your cards Mike."
She proceeds to do so, in exact order. I let my head fall to the desk.
"Kill me now."
I second later, I feel a pat on my head. I turn my head to see Rika has begun to pat me on the head to comfort me.
"It's okay Mikey. You can do it. Nipah!"
Though I do a bit comforted by Rika, I am still unable to see a way out of this. The game ends in total defeat on my part. I am completely outmatched. Rena suggests to Mion, "Maybe we shouldn't play with such beat up cards so Mike-kun has a chance."
Mion chuckles. "Nah, its fine. What good is it for Mike to go to training every day, if he can't handle being beaten in a simple game like this?"
I reply sarcastically, "Not even training with Oryou-Sensei can prepare me for this. This is like trying to fight an invading army with a fork."
Everyone laughs, except for me.
"Oh, don't be so down Mike. I won't make you do anything too bad, since it's your first time." She states like it will make me feel better.
I sigh. "Alright, what do I have to do?" I ask.
She rests her chin on her fist as she thinks. "Hmm….Let me see." After a few seconds. "Ah, I know!"
I don't like where this is going.
"You have to stand on your head and sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star twenty times." She declares.
"What if I pass out from all the blood rushing to my head?" I ask.
"Then you will have to start over when you wake up. Do it fast, so you don't pass out, okay?" She replies happily.
"Glad to know you care so much." I reply sarcastically.
Wanting to get it over with as fast as I can I prepare for my task. I tuck my shirt in so it doesn't fall down. I then go up to a wall, and flip myself up onto it. I let myself slide down so my head is resting on the floor. I begin sing as fast as I can. Mion complains.
"No, Mike. You're doing it too fast. We can barely tell what you're saying."
I start over again, but at a slower tempo. She doesn't complain this time so I continue with my punishment. It truly feels like that to me, since all the girls are watching me and making stupid comments. I feel quite embarrassed. I am unsure if my cheeks are red from embarrassment or from the blood rushing to my head. After about twelve times through, the principal walks in.
"Ah, thank God." I say, relieved.
"Hold on Mike! I'll take care of it." Mion says to me as I am about to quit. She then turns to Rena, "Make sure he finishes."
Rena reply's with a short, "Okay."
I continue my singing, even more embarrassed that the principal had to see me like this. Mion sits back down by the time I'm at the fourteenth repetition. Rena fills her in on which on I am at. I continue on till I reach my last one. At this point I am starting to feel dizzy. Feeling like I might pass out soon, I speed through my last repetition of the song and promptly fall to the floor. I roll over so I am not breathing in the dust on the floor. Mion complains again.
"Ah come on Mike, You sped up on the last one."
"Give me a break Mion. I was just about to pass out." I reply.
I'm starting to have second thoughts about who I chose to fall in love with.
"What do you guys think?" She asks the others.
"Mii, I think Mikey has done enough." Rika replies.
Satoko voices her opinion, "I think he's had enough. You don't want him to actually pass out do you?"
I lift my head to see Mion's reaction. She looks at me as I do. She then replies, "No. I'd rather he didn't. It wouldn't be good for him."
Rena decides to point out the obvious about me. "Look. Mike-kun's face is all red, like a tomato." They all laugh. She then adds. "He's soo cute! I want to take him home!"
Mion is about to say something, but I interject. "Good luck with that. If you can lift me, then more power to you, but if you start dragging me, I'll fight back."
This time Rena is the one left out of the laughter, as she puts on a pouting face. I am curious about how I did on the test so I lift myself up to a sitting position. I regret doing so though as my vision begins to spin and I feel light-headed. I let myself fall back down. Right as my vision leaves the girls, I think I see another girl in the group. My head hits the floor with a low *thump*. I lie there for a second, still dizzy.
The girls rush over, obviously concerned. They all ask, "are you okay?" and stand around me. Mion sits next to me and takes my hand.
"Are you alright Mike?" She asks, after I am able to focus on her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy." I reply.
She still has a very worried look on her face. At least I know she still cares. I smile at her to ease her worries and her face changes to a smile as well. I try to sit back up again, but am pushed down by Mion.
"What are you doing? Lie there for a second. I don't want you to fall over again." She orders.
It seems she has a motherly side to her as well.
I reply, "How can I fall over when I have you here by my side?"
She blushes. I realize that what I said had a bit of a romantic feel to it. I try one more time to sit up, and she lets me. I go up slowly this time since I really don't want to fall back over, even if Mion is there to support me. She helps me up by pressing on my back. When I am in a sitting position, I take a look around the room; specifically towards Rika. The extra girl is nowhere to be seen. I could have sworn…
After a couple of seconds, I am allowed to stand up. Again, Mion is there to support me, as well as the rest of the club members.
"Thanks guys. I appreciate your help." I tell them.
We walk over to the "table" where Mion set the test. I begin to go through it. Most of the first pages are unmarked except for a number at the top. Must be total for the page. Many questions have red circles around the question number. After going through the whole packet, I turn it to the back. Originally it was blank, but the principal has seemed to write a note on the back. I read it out loud, After reviewing your test I have found you to be at a Junior in High School level. If you wish, you may begin attending this school, starting tomorrow, to finish your education.
The girls rejoice and I smile.
"Mii, it looks like Mikey will become one of us now." Rika says.
"Ohohoho, looks like I have someone to test my trap making skills on now." Satoko adds.
"Rena is happy that Mike-kun is coming to our school now, she is!" Rena states.
Mion says nothing, but it is obvious that she is very happy.
"Thanks everyone. I can't wait to start school with all of you. What do you mean by traps though Satoko?"
She again gives that sinister laugh of hers again, "Ohohoho, you'll see Mike-kun. You'll see."
Everyone laughs.
When I look at the clock I see that it's about 5:00. I announce that I need to get going for my job. As I leave, I wave goodbye to everyone. Mion is following me out the door. Just as I am about to exit the room I see her; the extra girl. She is there behind Rika. I can't say that she is standing there, as it seems to me that she is actually floating. I also notice that she is transparent. I blink a couple of times and look again. She's still there.
"What's wrong Mike." Mion says to me since I've stopped.
I am pulled back to reality. "Nothing, thought I saw something." I say as I exit the room. Mion follows me to the end of the hall. I turn to her and tell her that I'll see her later tonight. She is staring down a little bit. Concerned I ask her. "What's wrong?"
She replies, "Do you think that I was a little harsh today?"
"Harsh, how so?" I ask.
"You know, with the game and all. It wasn't really fair to you." She replies.
"Mion, its fine." I try to comfort her. "I wasn't really upset at all. I was just messing around."
"I know, but I was thinking that I should act more like my usual self when with the others. I wasn't sure if you would like how I treat you when I do, but I didn't know what to do with everyone else there."
Though she is being serious I chuckle.
"Mion, you're being ridiculous. Are you really that insecure? I don't care how you act. I'm not going to take it personally. Besides, I want you to act normally. I don't want you to have to put a mask on every time we're together. If you did, I would never get to know the real Mion, and that would make me really sad."
She smiles.
"So you were even okay with the punishment game?" she asks.
"Pssh, that. That was nothing. I could do that a million times a day. Compared to what Sensei has me do, that's nothing."
She giggles and lunges to embrace me. I grab her as she comes and uses her momentum to spin her around. After we stop spinning, I bring my lips in and we kiss. We release each other and I tell her, "good bye." I am sad to leave her, but I need to get to my job. Before I do though, I say to her, "Don't worry about the punishment games. I'll be a man and accept them. Maybe one day, I'll beat you. If that day comes I'll have to get you back for all the other days.
She begins to laugh. "Okay, Mike. I'll have to think up some real good ones for you then."
I wave to her and turn my back to leave. She calls out to me though.
"What's up?" I ask.
"Well, I was just thinking that since you'll be a part of the club from now on, that you will need a faster way to get to your job." She replies.
"I'm fine with walking, but if you have a good solution, I'd like to hear it." I reply to her.
"Ah well, I could bring my bike to school and you could use it to ride into Okinomiya."
"That's really thoughtful. I'd really appreciate that Mion."
She blushes.
"Anyway, I'll see you later. I'll probably be home around 11:00 so I won't be able to make it for dinner. We might need to change the bath order around as well."
She frowns. "We were going to tell my parents about us today."
I frown as well. "I know. I'm sorry. I might be able to figure something out though."
Mion then says, "We don't have club activities every day. Sometimes I have to go to work too. Maybe on one of those days, we can tell them."
I am surprised to hear that Mion has a job too. She never mentioned it before.
"That sounds good. I'll tell my boss that I would be able to come in earlier on those days." I reply.
"Alright. Work hard. I'll save some dinner for you."
"Okay, I will. Bye Mion." I call out.
On my way to Okinomiya, I think about how things went today in club. I was happy to be able to join in with them, even though I was completely singled out. I am also glad that I am going to be able to start attending the school starting tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun. Another thought comes to mind as well. I remember the extra girl who is constantly hanging around Rika. She looked to be about Rika's age. She was completely transparent, and was floating, instead of standing, so I am assuming that what I am seeing is a ghost, or a spirit of some sort. I'll have to ask Rika about it tomorrow, to see if she is aware of it herself.
I arrive at the shop around 6:00 like I promised. I greet the store owner and he instructs me on what I will be doing. I am mostly going to be moving the heavier items around and doing stock of the items. If any new items are brought in, I handle the bigger ones. I begin working after he has explained my work to me. There are plenty of large items store in the back room. I begin bringing them out into the main store. I ask the owner where he wants each item and he tells me the desired location. After I finish moving all the heavy items into the store, I begin doing the inventory of the shop. This all takes me about three hours and thirty minutes, so it's about 9:30 by the time I finish. While doing inventory, I notice a large sword up on the wall. I am interested in the sword and ask the owner if I may see it.
He lets me get it down from the wall. He explains that a mysterious old man brought it in. I pull the blade from its sheath. The blade is extremely large. It is about three and a half feet long, and one foot wide. The blade is about three inches in width, in the back, and steadily gets smaller as it comes to the cutting edge. Near the top of the blade, it slants back. As I look at the sword I am reminded of a similar sword, that I saw in my old world. I think it was called a buster sword.
I sheath the sword and place it back on its rack. I compliment the weapon to the owner. "If you want it, I will trade you this week's pay for it." He offers.
"Nah, I think I'll take the money this week, but I might take you up on your offer next week." I reply.
He nods his head in approval. He then lets me know that I did a good job for the day and I am free to go. Before I leave, I explain my situation about coming in earlier. He tells me that it should be fine.
I begin walking back to the mansion. I am thankful Mion is going to let me use her bike. Walking to and from everywhere is beginning to wear on my feet. I continue walking till I reach the mansion. It is about 11:00 when I arrive so I am careful to be quite. I head to the kitchen to grab dinner for myself. I open the refrigerator to find it waiting for me. I eat it and head to the bath. The water is considerably cooler than it usually is, but I guess it can't be helped. After my bath I head to my room.
As I pass Mion's room I see that her light is still on. She must have waited for me. I knock on the door. She says, "Come in" and I enter. She is smiling as she sees me enter.
"You didn't have to wait for me, you know." I tell her.
"I know, but I wanted to see you before I went to bed." She replies.
I walk over and sit next to her.
"How was work?" She asks me.
"It was good." I reply. I then explain the details of my work.
"Sounds boring."
"I guess. It is interesting to see all the different types of antiques though."
She then decides to ask me about club. "Did you have fun today at club, today?"
"I did." I reply. "It was a lot of fun. I'll have to think of a way to beat you guys though. I don't plan on losing to you guys forever."
She giggles.
"Oh, you think so? I think you'll have a hard time beating us at our games."
"Hopefully we won't be playing rigged card games the whole time, right?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right. You might be able to beat us when we do an active game."
I smile. That's when I will get them.
"You'll have to look out for Satoko though."
I give Mion a curious expression.
"We don't call her the 'trap master' for nothing."
"I see. I'll be wary then."
We remain silent for a second since we have run out of things to talk about. I reach my arm around her shoulder and pull her closer to me. She rests her head on my shoulder, and I rest mine on hers. She gives a happy sigh. I wish that we could stay like this forever. After a minute or two I tell her that I should be going. "We have school tomorrow, and I still have training in the morning."
She sighs, but lets me up. I offer her my hand. She takes it, and I pull her to her feet. We embrace and give each other a good night kiss. I then tell her, "Good night" and head to the door. She sits back down and replies with her own, "Good night." I leave the room and head to mine. It is almost 11:30 by the time I am lying in my futon, ready to go to bed. I am excited to go to school tomorrow with Mion. I can't wait. With that, my mind goes blank, and sleep overtakes me.