Chapter 14 making up for lost time
Shido approached Tohka's with eyes of sincerity as he gazed deeply into her eyes. "Shido what's the matter?" Tohka questioned as shido now bowed his head towards her.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you before Tohka. But I promise you that I'm going to from today onwards, train to get stronger so I can protect everyone." Shido said his eyes gazing back into hers. Tohka smiled as Shido showed her his resolve and nodded.
"Yes please be careful Shido." Tohka replied as Shido left the room. Shido ascended the stairs and opened his bedroom door. Tsubaki stood by his window while reina slept in Shido's bed exhausted after all the fighting she had experienced today. Tsubaki turned towards Shido acknowledging his existence as soon as he entered the room. "Good evening master, are you retiring for the night?" Tsubaki said
"No Tsubaki actually I have a favour to ask of you." Shido said as he entered the room.
"What is it master?" Tsubaki questioned
Shido bowed his head towards Tsubaki. "Please train me Tsubaki, I want to become stronger." Shido requested.
"My training won't be easy master shido, I can't guarantee your safety." Tsubaki said in response to his master's request.
"I will endure it all if it will help me protect everyone. I beg of you Tsubaki!" Shido said bowing his head again.
"Very well. I will train you in the ways of the sword and I will also increase your capability with the spiritual power you possess." Tsubaki said placing a hand on Shido's shoulder.
And so from that point on Shido began training with Tsubaki with the help of the fraxinus transporting them to an isolated area to go wild.
"The first step is to improve your skills with the blade master." Tsubaki said unsheathing his personal katana.
"I understand, but what sword will I use?" Shido said being hugged from behind suddenly.
"I brought Reina with us to help your training progress well. You need to learn how to harness Reina's power and how to battle with her to the fullest extent." Tsubaki said as he took a stance.
"Reina may I borrow your power?" Shido asked holding out his hand towards her.
"Of course Master use me all you like!" Reina said grasping his hand and changing her form.
After a surge of light shone from the transformation, A golden blade now held in Shido's wrist formed.
"That's right come!" Tsubaki charged Shido slicing downwards before he could even make a stance. Shido held his blade sideways parrying Tsubaki's strike. "Focus master. Don't think of you and the sword as a separate entity; picture yourself and the blade as one soul a part of yourself and with that swing with all your might!" Tsubaki said as he attacked again.
Shido side stepped narrowly avoiding his mentors strike and crashing sandaraiha into the ground surging thunder bolts from the ground below them. Tsubaki used his incredible speed to brush past the surprise attack and drove his boot into Shido's gut. Shido collapsed to his knee's the breath knocked out of him from Tsubaki's mighty kick.
"Giving up master?" Tsubaki said looking down at his master.
"Not even close!" Shido said grasped the hilt tighter slashing the blade with all his might to create a powerful surge of spiritual energy forming into a thunder blast cannon.
Tsubaki grinned and did the unexpected. Shido expected Tsubaki to evade or simply counter with his own spiritual energy. However, his actions astonished Shido as Tsubaki leaped onto his thunder cannon and ran on top of the blast as if it were merely a common footpath. Tsubaki dashed across Shido's attack his fist flying forwards in front of him. Shido anticipated this counter attack and countered Tsubaki's fist with his own electrifying it first with Reina's spiritual power. As their fists collided a huge shockwave erupted destroying a huge portion of the ground below them. After another 30 minutes of sparring, Shido collapsed onto his back breathing heavily as he stared up at the sky.
After 20 minutes of rest, Tsubaki initiated Shido's second training program.
"All great spiritual warriors have to have great stamina in order to exceed their current potential and use more spiritual power and for longer durations. In other words, we need to strengthen your body as well as your swordsmanship. Once you have stronger upper arm strength and higher stamina, you will be able to fully harness Reina's power and also be able to put more force into your sword strikes. We're going to start with some push ups." Tsubaki said ordering Shido straight into another routine.
Shido complied starting immediately determined to get stronger.
Tohka sat in her classroom, her head rested on her desk sighing heavily as she felt a huge sensation of loneliness. It has been two weeks since Shido started training with Tsubaki Tohka hasn't been able to spend any time with Shido. He hasn't even been attending school due Tsubaki's vigorous training schedule.
"Is shido still ill Tohka?" Tohka lifted her head up from her desk and saw Ai yamabuki in front of her one of the girls from the famous trio in the classroom.
"Yeah I haven't been able to spend much time with him since he's been in bed still recovering from his illness." Tohka said with a sad expression on her face.
"Awww you must be pretty lonely Tohka don't worry I'm sure he will be back soon." Ai said hugging Tohka. The door to the classroom slid open as Tamae Okamine walked into the classroom clip board in hand.
"Okay class settle down please and take your seats lunch is over." The homeroom teacher said closing the door behind her.
All of a sudden, the door to the classroom slid open again as someone else entered the classroom. All of the girls including the teachers' eyes fell on the person who walked inside.
"Oh shido are you feeling better now?" Tamae said.
"Yes Miss Okamine I apologise for the wait." Shido said bowing his head to her.
As shido walked up towards his desk, loads of whispering between the girls started as they observed changes to Shido's appearance.
"Is that really Shido? His biceps are bigger and you can clearly see his physique has hardened." The girls said as Shido passed them.
Tohka's eyes were fixated on Shido as he walked towards her. After all this time Tohka has not seen him since he began his training. Her eyes leaked tiny tears as she felt happy once again sitting next to Shido. With Shido back in the same class as her, Tohka's school day went by extremely fast and was a lot of fun. Tohka missed walking home with Shido so she cherished every moment she spent with him.
"Tohka here take these." Shido said handing her two items.
"It's two tickets for a movie tomorrow; I want to make up for the time we haven't spent with each other. And I'm going to go all out with dinner tonight." Shido said smiling at her.
Tohka blushed as she missed seeing Shido's smile so much it had the power to drain all of her fatigue and her sadness.
"Does this mean you're inviting me out on a date?" Tohka said unable to hide her smirk.
"Of course tomorrow's a Saturday so I'll spend the entire day with you just the two of us and we can do whatever you like." Shido said smiling at her again.
"You really mean it? We can spend the day together? Just the two of us?" Tohka said eyes full of hope.
"Of course we'll do anything you like." Shido said making Tohka smile brightly as she took his arm into her chest.
The next day just as promised, Shido and Tohka met up at the statue outside of the train station. Tohka smiled as she ran towards Shido frantically waving as she got closer to him.
"Good morning Tohka."
"Good morning Shido"
"Should we go then?" Shido said holding out his hand to her.
"Yeah let's go!" Tohka said gladly grabbing his hand.
Tohka and shido walked into the town square heading towards the movie theatre.
Shido handed the clerk the tickets and escorted tohka into the screen room holding a bunch of
Popcorn knowing full well of Tohka's healthy appetite. The hours flew by as they both laughed as
they watched he film. Shido was holding Tohka's hand watching her instead of the film. As soon they
exited the theatre, Tohka was happily smiling.
"Thanks for that Shido it was very fun!" Tohka said.
Tohka was laughing until her face blushed when her laughter was interrupted by her stomach rumbling.
"How about we get something to eat Tohka?" Shido said smiling as he pointed to the café next to them.
"Sure!" Tohka said happily running into the café dragging Shido in with her.
Shido and Tohka ordered some tea and waited patiently for their meals to be prepared.
"So Tohka have you got used to life here now?" Shido asked
"Yeah thanks to you and everyone else I've been able to get used to how things work around here so now I'm not worried anymore. I was worried that I wouldn't be accepted and everybody would try to rid me of this world. But when you gave me your hand I knew everything was going to be okay." Tohka said blushing as she put her hand on top of his.
"I'm glad to here that listen there is something I want to tell you, you see for a long time I've been in lo" Before Shido could finish his sentence, a huge explosion resounded in the area shaking the ground in the atmosphere. The tea cups in the café shook and rattled.
"It's an earthquake everybody get down!" The manager shouted as civilians crawled under their tables. "Tohka lets go!" Shido said rushing out side with her.
As the smoke cleared a huge figure stood upon the rubble and debris of the fallen buildings.
"Been a long time Itsuka Shido. But this time you won't survive! I'll take everything you love and crush it!"
"Wait a second Kage?! What happened to you?"
"I became stronger that's what happened!" Kage said. Kane had a robotic artificial arm and half of his body had now been modified.
"Tsubaki! Reina!" At lightning speed the two spirits appeared.
"You called master?"
"Yes no time to chat please change form!" Shido said as they both transformed into dual blades as they landed in Shido's hands.
"Stay back Tohka I'll finish this quickly. You're not the only one who has gotten stronger Kage! It's time to show you the fruits of my training!" Shido said his eyes full of fire as he wielded his weapons.