I'm directed to the old schoolhouse as I remember this area where I met Kiriya, the math teacher.
"Here we are, where we train and attend classes." Asuka introduces me as I nod but wasn't really paying attention.
They seem to notice as Katsuragi waves her hand in front of me, "Hey~, you still with us?"
"Physically, yes. Mentally, I'm wondering what I'm going to have for dinner." I respond as I shake myself out of my stupor.
Hibari straightens as if remembering something, "Hey Caleb-chan, can I talk to you after this?"
I tilt my head but nod, not really seeing anything wrong with it. So I nod, "Sure, not like I got anything better to do."
She smiles as her steps gain a spring in her steps as Asuka bites her lip but I feign ignorance as we continue walking. Once there, I look around at the building as I notice cameras around the area as I re-evaluated my view of the school and everyone in it.
Not like it's gonna stop me in the end.
I shake my head from those thoughts as I follow the girls into the building and we continue our small talk. Finally, we arrived at a room. It had what looked like a set for tea making, maybe tea ceremonies?.
There was a silence as an improbable idea came to mind, "Girls, are we sure this is the right place?" I ask, since obviously, they wouldn't use hallucinogenic tea for training for their balance and accuracy. It's not like they're drugged off their asses and imagine the whole thing, right?
Right?
They all looked at each other as Katsuragi smirked and Asuka giggled sheepishly while Ikaruga had a slightly smug smirk, Hibari was excited and Yagyu didn't look any different, "Well it wouldn't be a secret if it was in the open? Why don't you try looking for it?" Yagyu said as I gave her the stink eye for that sarcasm.
Sighing as I walked around I started saying, "I'm a fighter, it's not like I'll just fall i-!" I leaned on a wall near the scroll that says 'Tea Ceremony' only for it to spin as I yelp in surprise but find my balance quick as I stumble away from the rotating door.
Staring at the floor as the door rotated a few more times I couldn't help but mumble, "Ok that's pretty cool."
I straighten up as I come face-to-face with the math teacher, Kiriya. We stare at each other as neither of us say anything, until I speak up, "Kiriya, I really hope we won't get extra homework, please."
Kiriya sighed, "Caleb-san, it's nice to meet you once again."
"He's one of your math students Kiriya-sensei?" Katsuragi asks as she sits down near a small table as the others follow her while I sit where there's a slight drop to a small area near the chairs.
"Yes, quite a bright one." Kiriya compliments me as I nod.
"So he's smart?" Hibari says as I shrug.
"Smart is subjective. Do I know what I'm doing once the test is over? Absolutely not. But during it? I stayed up long enough to remember." I say as I shrug while Hibari giggles and Katsuragi chuckles while Ikaruga and Yagyu seem done with me.
I was about to continue but then an alarm rang as the other girls seemed to understand what it meant as they got up and left while waving at me, "What was that?"
"That signifies the start of training. Would you like to join us?" Kiriya asked as I jumped.
"Like with them or watching them?" I ask out of suspicion and curiosity.
"Either one, but I am quite curious about the person who taught Hibari how to fight." Kiriya said as I understood what this was for. He's gauging my intentions.
I was trapped, even if I didn't join, the girls would bother me about it.
"Fine, I'll join." I sigh as I get up, "So, would you mind showing me where we're going?"
Standing in a gym in my normal clothes isn't weird, what's weird is the fact that I'm there at all.
"Do you need any weapon in particular?" Kiriya asks me as he shows me to a closed-off area with different weapons.
All of them were blunted, I noticed as I ran my hand down one of the sharp sides of a katana before putting it down, "Nah, I can use my fists good."
"Are you sure?" Kiriya asked as I stared at the greatsword they had. Nothing like the Unfettered, but…
"This'll do." With one hand, I grab it as I twirl it around with ease to Kiriya's surprise but he quickly regained his senses and coughed into his fist.
"Impressive, though it does raise the question on how you know how to wield a sword." Kiriya mentions as I shrug.
"I've been to a lot of places, picked up a few things that can be quite helpful." I say and leave it at that as I leave the armory.
Now, I'm waiting in the gym as I'm listening to music while Kiriya is hiding somewhere. Considering he's trying to stay hidden and way better than the girls, it's obvious I'd have trouble sensing him. But it still leaves me uncomfortable.
Finally, the girls come in as I fiddle with my phone, choosing a different song, "Caleb-chan?"
"Hm?" I hum as I notice the girls are in gym clothes varying from tracksuits to normal shirts and all that.
"Woah, you can use something like this?" Katsuragi exclaims as she grabs the blunted greatsword.
"Yup, picked up a few things on my trip to Europe." I say as she tries to mimic Japanese sword stances but the sword is too heavy so it drops down every time.
"But how? It's so heavy!" Katsuragi notices as I roll my eyes.
"Because you're using a Japanese katana stance for a greatsword." I grab the sword from her arms and grab it with both arms and show a standard stance for a greatsword.
I relax as I twirl it and use one hand to do idle swings, to their surprise, "Well, that's all there is to it."
Quickly Asuka's eyes widened, "Kiriya-sensei, can I spar with Caleb-kun!"
We turn to him for confirmation as he nods, "As long as he's fine with it."
They all give me hopeful looks as I sigh, "Fine, but only once, I want to go home already."
Soon came the true problem. Who am I gonna fight today?
"I'll fight him tomorrow." Ikaruga says before anyone can react.
"Alright." Kiriya-sensei responds, setting the choice in stone as the other four turn in varying levels of shock.
I just stared at her sword in interest, "Hey, Ikaruga, what's the name of your sword?"
"Hm? It's Hien. Is there any reason why?" Ikaruga asks as Caleb shakes his head.
"No, not really." Except for the feeling I'm getting from the sword.
It feels magical, and so do Asuka's own swords as well.
Speaking of Asuka, "Yay!" "Awww~." "No Fair!"
Seems like she won the rock-paper-scissors competition they were having to decide who'd spar with me today. "Alright then Asuka, you're up first." Kiriya calls as the others give us some space.
"Alright! I won't go easy on you Caleb-kun." She calls as she unsheathes both swords and gets into her stance.
I kick up the resting greatsword and get into my own, "That's fine."
"Ready? Start!" Kiriya calls as Asuka dashes forward with both blades ready, probably looking to overwhelm me with her speed.
I decide to play along as I slash before she could reach me and follow up with another as she seems surprised at the speeds I'm slashing with my weapons.
She parries an upward slash as I send it to the air as she looks up and I run forward in a spinning back kick as she heaves and is sent back from the kick even if I did hold back quite a bit.
Catching the greatsword, I dash forward and thrust at her as she parries it away and I spin with it as I follow with a spinning hook kick as she bands back to evade it and nearly falls victim to an overhead slash as I stopped before it could hit the ground as I slashed at her, catching a strip of her uniform.
We stand a distance away as I decide to use my superior reach as I slash forward and she blocks before spinning as I aim for her legs with the flat end.
She yelps as she falls to the floor as I pin her down and rest the blunt edge of the greatsword onto her neck and ask, "Yield?"
There was a pregnant silence that stretched for a little bit too long until Asuka said, "I yield."
I nod as I get off her and twirl the greatsword a bit before resting it on my shoulder, "Well, guess that's all."
"That was awesome!" It's almost like it didn't weigh at all!" Katsuragi exclaims as she grabs the greatsword.
"Katsuragi's right, you must be quite strong to be able to swing such a heavy sword with ease." Ikaruga notes with a suspicious look.
"All there is to it. I still have a lot to grow with, especially with the way of the blade." I admit as I stretch and flinch. "Should have stretched beforehand." I admit to myself as I roll my shoulders.
"Alright, that's enough. Katsuragi, Ikaruga, you two are up!" Kiriya said as both of them dropped what they were doing, Katsuragi literally in this case as I jumped to catch the greatsword when she dropped it, it may not be my blade but it's someone else's and I still have to take care of it.
Grumbling at Katsuragi as she gives me a wink and a smirk, I get up, "I'm going to put this back."
Kiriya gives me a nod before asking, "Do you remember where the armory was?"
"I'll take him!" Asuka quickly raises her hand to Hibari's displeasure, although she also doesn't know where the armory is.
"Come on, Caleb-san." Asuka says as I get up.
"Again, it's Caleb, no honorifics needed." I insist as I follow after her.
"So, what was England like?" Asuka asked, probably thinking that I learnt how to use a greatsword in England. Which isn't wrong, but…
"It was fine. I was mugged a few times but it rarely went well for the other side." I admitted as Asuka chuckled sheepishly.
"Right… So, what are you and Hibari going to do in the afternoon?" Asuka asks as we get to the Armory.
I place the greatsword in its place as I hum, "I don't know, she probably just wants to tell me something."
Asuka didn't seem to believe me as we left the Armory and returned back to the area.
Though her small glare doesn't leave my back to my confusion.
When we returned, Ikaruga and Katsuragi were fighting pretty hard, Katsuragi using strong kicks that would leave me winded even with my own unnatural endurance.
Ikaruga on the other hand moved with disciplined strokes of her blade with such speed that almost matched my own.
Ikaruga slashed forward as Katsuragi slid under it as she kicked up with her greaves or whatever they're called, and spun in a tornado as Ikaruga jumped back and got in an iaijutsu stance and dashed forward as Katsuragi managed to block.
I stood there as I broke down their fighting style until finally Ikaruga rested her blade on Katsuragi's neck.
"Ikaruga wins." Kiriya calls as Katsuragi sighs while Ikaruga sheathed her blade.
"Aaah, that was hard." Katsuragi groans as she gets back up.
"That was a good spar, Katsuragi." Ikaruga says as Katsuragi gains a worrying glint in her eyes.
"Well~, I think it's time for some payback!" Katsuragi exclaims as she pounces on Ikaruga.
"Katsu-Ah!" Ikaruga moans as she grabs Ikaruga's breasts.
"Hehehehe~, still as large as alwa-ah!" She exclaims as Ikaruga rams the butt of her sword against Katsuragi's head.
"Ka-tsu-ra-gi!" Ikaruga growls as the others chuckle sheepishly and Ikaruga drags Katsuragi to the middle again and asks Kiriya to start once again.
I chuckle at their antics as I sit on the floor and drag my sleeves up, being careful to make sure none of my scars are incredibly noticeable as I cool down.
My expression falls as it sets off another set of memories from my childhood.
Especially, an ardent dislike for anything that went over my knees and elbows. Despite being somewhat of an indoorsy child, I loved short-sleeved shirts and shorts. The fits I threw when I had to wear jeans or similar brought a smile to my face, even if they were stupid.
Shaking my head away from those thoughts before they became darker, I watched Katsuragi put up a fight against Ikaruga's attacks before inevitably losing.
I'm currently inside the bathroom of the studio in the complex I bought from the money I got from robbing thugs and drug dealers, an hour and a half later, as I change into something more casual for a date in half an hour.
The term brings a light flushing to my face as I stare at myself in the mirror, "Remember," I mutter before splashing my face with cold water, "this is only to get closer to her. Plan a way to the Umbral Awn and a way out with the least trouble at the right time. Nothing more, nothing less."
Gripping both sides of the sink of the studio in the complex I own (robbing drug dealers and thugs is quite ludicrous as it turns out) I start to remember what happened.
Slinging the backpack over my shoulder as I fix my Bag of Holding, I sigh as I walk out of the abandoned schoolhouse, "I hope I won't have to wait long."
"Ah! Caleb-chan!" I heard Hibari yell as she ran towards me.
My eyes widen as she trips, she manages to catch herself but stumbles a bit until I grab her, helping her right herself up, "Are you okay?" I ask.
"I-I'm fine." She stutters with a red face. My senses catch the other girls peeking at us from a ways away in anticipation.
What are they anticipating?
Are they waiting for a signal?
That thought puts me in high-alert until I notice that none of them have any killing intent directed at me, more curiosity than anything else.
"So, what did you want to tell me?" I ask as I lean on the wall as Hibari starts fidgeting.
"A-ah, um, I-I w-was w-won-wondering if you ha-have anything to do in two hours?" Hibari asked with a shy look as her fidgeting only intensified.
Cocking a brow, I cross my arms, "Not really? Why?"
Her face flushed, almost imitating a tomato, now if only her hair was green instead of pink I could tease her about being a tomato! "Take a deep breath, if your face becomes any redder I'd think you'd become a tomato."
I still did anyway. "Mou! Caleb-chan!" She exclaims with puffed cheeks and a pouty look.
Gaining a lazy grin, I raise my hands in mercy as I chuckle, "Sorry, go ahead, take your time."
She relaxes as she sighs. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes she opens them as she exhales.
"Um, Caleb-chan," I hum in curiosity as her voice becomes softer, "w-would you like to…" I thought she was going to trail off but she closed her eyes and exclaimed, "Go on a date with me!"
…
Wait. A date? Like not the fruit but the activity where two people who are interested in each other go out and enjoy some time out together.
Before I knew it, my brain stalled as it came across a blank screen for the first time in a while. It only gets worse when Hibari doesn't seem like she's joking.
Yagyu was coming across the same problem for a different reason.
"Oh no, Asuka, quickly!" Katsuragi calls out but nothing happens. She turns and sees Asuka with a jealous face to her shock, "Asuka?"
Ikaruga quickly does what Asuka was supposed to do as she drags Yagyu away from the current scene and Asuka snaps out of it. "Yes, Katsu-nee?"
"Asuka, are you okay?" Katsuragi asks, already guessing what was wrong but she decides to stay quiet.
"A-ah, it's nothing Katsu-nee, I'm fine." Asuka tries to convince Katsuragi but she doesn't believe her.
"... Alright." She says as they go back to the scene in front of them.
Wait, I have to give an answer, "Uh-ah, w-well…"
I fumble over my words as Hibari gives me a hopeful look until I manage to finally stutter out, "S-sure, I have time."
There was a second before her flushed face smiled so brightly that I had to cover my face so as to not be blinded by it, "Then I'll see you at your house in two hours. Bye-bye, Caleb-chan!"
She waves as she walks back and I do the same, "Alright…"
… Damn it. Her smile brings a warm feeling to my chest as I splash water on my face again.
Stepping away, I look at the clothing I'm wearing, some baggy jeans, a white short-sleeved shirt with a black line going across the shirt and a black hoodie over it. Something simple enough. Setting the Bag of Holding where it should, I lock the door behind me as I wait outside, leaning on the railing of the complex I was in.
I had no thoughts and no idea what to do on this date. When I was taken from my family was the time where I gave up the wish to do things that can be considered 'mundane'.
Yet, here I am. Waiting on one of the prettiest girls I met to go out on a date.
Sighing, I run my hands through my hair, "What the hell happened?"
My senses pick up someone coming around the corner.
Using my superior agility and a little use of the Dance of the Spider to get to the rooftop, I spied Hibari wearing a pink skirt with a grey sweater, something simple but I think it suited her.
She was fretting over and over as I couldn't help but smile.
No! I slap my cheeks as I remember why I'm here. Get the Umbral Awn, leave, and hopefully never have to interact with anyone that isn't a target of my revenge.
She finally gathers up the courage to knock on the door as I drop down without making a sound and wait.
She tries again but no one answers, obviously, "Um, C-Caleb-chan?!"
"Yeah?" I answer next to her as she jumps and yelps.
"Caleb-chan! You scared me!" She pouted as I chuckled.
"What do you mean? You walked right by me!" I retaliated to her confusion.
"Wai-huh?" She asked as she looked at the fact that I was outside instead of inside.
She continued looking around until I snorted, "I lied, I jumped down from the roof."
Hibari stilled as she turned to me as I gave her an amused grin, "What?"
"Mou~! Caleb-chan!" She puffed her cheeks while giving me an adorable glare.
"Sorry. Sorry. I was just kinda," I couldn't help but curse my awkwardness internally as I blushed, "excited and anxious, this is the first time I've been on a date…"
An awkward silence overcame us as neither of us really knew what to do on a date.
"Um," I start as she looks up at me, "do… you want to get some sweets or something?"
She brightens up and nods, "Hm!"
Her smile blinds me once more as I try not to show much, "Alright, let's go see what we can find."
"Yay!" She exclaims as she skips ahead while humming.
Smiling fondly, I walk to her to catch up, "Wait up!"
"Mmmh!" Hibari moans as she takes a bite out of some pancakes.
In the afternoon.
I was confused too, don't worry.
Like, I understand, but pancakes are for breakfast. Though I can't say much with my occasional habit of eating cereal for dinner.
"It'sh sho delishus!" Hibari says while holding a hand to her cheek.
"Hibari, it's rude to speak with your mouth full." I remind her as I lean forward and wipe some cream that was on her cheek. Wasting the food would be bad so I brought the cream to my mouth to Hibari's embarrassment.
"R-right." She said with a blush to my confusion and began eating meekly.
I took a bite out of the steamed fish I ordered and had to hold back a moan myself. I love seafood, always have and always will, Though I've never tasted squid. A future idea.
"Ah, do you not like sweets Caleb-chan?" Hibari asks, though I swore I could hear fear in her voice.
"No I do, it's just that I've never been fond of just pure sugar. Or anything that's overly sweet." I admit as she huffs to my confusion.
"You dare say such a thing in my territory, Caleb-chan?" She asked in a vaguely threatening way.
"Yes, I do. Like, sweets are good and all, but if you eat too many you get sick. But sour, spicy, things that are sweet and have a sweet aftertaste are good. Better in my opinion." I admit as I shrug and start sipping from the soda.
"Heresy!" Hibari exclaims while pointing at me, "Sweets should be filled with sugar and taste sweet."
"Yeah, but that's stupid. The sweet aftertaste and the relief after eating something somewhat spicy is what makes it worth it." I try to argue and defend my love for spicy sweets.
"No! Sweets are…" She continued on as we argued light-heartedly on our preferences, the awkward atmosphere mostly gone.
Somewhere outside, four girls spied on the young couple. Two were jealous and two were protecting the youngest of the group.
Leaving the restaurant I sigh as I look around, "Where should we go next?" I ask Hibari as she hums.
"Hmmm," she turns to a certain area before exclaiming, "let's do some karaoke!"
She grabs my arm and forces it to her breast as I try to stop a blush as she leads me to where it was, "C'mon!"
"H-hey, I can walk by myself." I say as I remove my arm from her breast to my own secret disappointment as she pouts and walks up next to me.
"Mou, then don't be so slow! Come on!" She exclaims as she jogs on ahead as I follow.
"They're going in." Ikaruga says as she lowers her binoculars while tailing the young couple.
Katsuragi grinned perversely, "Oh~, can you imagine what kind of dirty thi-ow!"
"Quiet, Hibari would never-." Yagyu started only to be interrupted by Ikaruga.
"They're in, let's give it some time and go down ourselves to get a closer look to give them some time to get a room." Ikaruga stated as the others nodded.
Asuka did but she quickly looked at her own chest in curiosity. Her heart beat and her stomach churned but she didn't know what the source could be.
"Ooooh~, someone's feeling a little jealous~." Katsuragi poked fun at Asuka, expecting a hard denial.
Instead, she got a soft, "Maybe…"
"Huh?" Katsuragi asked as she stared at Asuka.
"Yay!" Hibari exclaimed as she finished her song and was breathing heavily, her large chest heaving up and down in exertion as the sweater she had was replaced by the white shirt she was wearing under it and the silky pale skin under it from when she tried to take her sweater off.
Snapping out of my thoughts, Hibari sits next to me, "That was fun, what song are you gonna choose, Caleb-chan?"
I looked at the selection and came up with a sigh, "I don't know any of these. The only ones I know are in english." I admit as I bite my lip, trying to recognize any of these.
"I know english." Hibari reveals as I turn to her with a raised brow.
"Really?" I ask as she gives me a cute glare.
"Mou, if you keep talking like that I'll get really~ mad, Caleb." She said in fairly good english.
"Well, guess I'll take your word for it." I shrug as I choose the english selection and look it over.
It wasn't that diverse, fairly popular songs in english but none of them really stand out in my opinion.
Finally, I switched back to Japanese as a song jumped out, "Kyouran hey Kids!" by the Oral Cigarettes.
Sighing, I choose it as the system starts and I grab the microphone and stand up, "Let's get this over with."
"Go Caleb-chan!" Hibari encouraged me as I gave her a shaky smile.
The riff started as I nodded along to it as the intro played and the music started.
I got my countdown as I took a deep breath and used my memory and the words as I took a deep breath.
"Fusago no men yei kowasu kyouran kids
Uso kirai? Houkai? Hibi wo touka shite
Amai taion no mitsu nioi tatte
Sosoru flavor flavor flavor
Just wanna hold your hand~."
If Caleb would have paid attention he would have seen Hibari's shocked face as that face quickly became happiness and excitement. He was amazing at singing, considering how he would go around to orphanages and sing for them on occasion, it's a skill he learnt pretty early on.
While the others, those being Ikaruga, Asuka, Katsragi and Yagyu, could only listen on as he sang his heart out with a voice that they didn't know he could pull off. And amazingly.
"Wow." Katsuragi muttered.
"Yeah…" Ikaruga agreed. Yagyu was pouting as she heard the faint voice of Hibari cheering him on and Asuka was enjoying his singing voice.
"Who would have thought he had such a nice voice." Ikaruga continued as the song reached its climax.
No one was sure who said it, but soon they stopped really paying attention and listened to their friends sing their hearts out.
We stepped out of the karaoke place as Hibari looked at me with starry eyes, "I didn't know you could sing that well!"
"Well, you never asked." I responded as she nodded.
"So, do you want to go somewhere?" She asked me as I hummed. "Well, I've been choosing everywhere we go together and haven't really asked your opinion…" Hibari trailed off as I smiled.
Patting her head, I say, "It's fine, I've been having a good time anyway. But it may bore you, so I don't know." I admit as her eyes brighten.
"Tell me and we'll do it." She says as I chuckle.
"Sure, here." I tell her to lean in as she does so and I whisper it into her ear.
She perks up and smiles, "Sure, let's go!"
"Wait, I know where it is, so why don't you follow me?" I say as she stalls before nodding in acceptance.
"Alright, c'mon." I say as I walk towards a certain spot.
"Where are they going?" Yagyu asks as Katsuragi presses a hand against her headphones connected to a weird contraption.
"I don't know, I didn't hear anything." Katsuragi says.
"And the only thing in the direction they're going is the Hotel district." Ikaruga says as everyone stalls at that.
"We've got to follow them." Asuka says.
"Right." They say in unison.
With that group trying to follow them, they overshot their destination and quickly got lost while Hibari and Caleb already bought a second fishing rod for Hibari.
"So, are we gonna use bread? Maybe cheese?" She wonders.
"Worms." Caleb answers as Hibari stalls for a second.
"Ah, you shouldn't joke like that Caleb-chan." Hibari said as she turned back only to stop as a worm was in front of her face that Caleb was holding up with a mischievous grin.
"I'm not," he places the bait back in its container, as Hibari tries to come back from the shock, "I'm also not helping you place the bait on the hook."
"Eh~!" She yelled loudly as Caleb laughed.
Soon, they were in Caleb's fishing spot. Caleb was teasing Hibari, "Come on~, it's only a worm, it's not gonna bite."
"No, it's gross!" Hibari exclaimed as she squirmed back and away from the worm.
"Well, you have to use bait somehow and we don't have anything else that can work like bait." I say as she continues squirming away from the worm.
"No~!" She exclaims as I roll my eyes.
"Fine, give me your rod." I relent as I extend my other hand for her fishing rod. She does so quickly as I chuckle, "Honestly, if I didn't know any better I'd think you're just a normal girl."
"But worms are nasty~." She whines as I stab the hook into the worm as I pull it into the hook as it goes through its whole body to Hibari's disgust.
"Alright, here. Let me teach you." I say as I walk towards her on the dock.
Placing the rod in her hands, I get behind her as I see her blush as I grab both hands. "Here, you cast out like this." I demonstrate while guiding her hands, "Try not to go too far or else you'll reach the other side."
Hibari hums in understanding as she takes a deep breath. She opens her eyes as she repeats the moes I showed her as she exclaimed, scaring away a few fish but landing the hook in the middle of the river.
Humming as she had her eyes closed, she opened one and straightened up, "I did it. Look Caleb-chan! I did it!"
"You sure did." I nod as I rub her head to her happiness, "Now, we wait."
She hummed in agreement as she swung her legs, seated on the pier as I smirked. This is going to take a while.
"Caleb-chaaaan~." Hibari groaned as she leaned on my shoulder. At the beginning, it was heartwarming and anxiety inducing, but I got used to it.
"Hm?"
"When am I gonna catch something?" Hibari whined as I released some air out of amusement.
"When you stop feeling impatient. They can feel it."
"But it's so boring~." Hibari whined as she leaned back on her hands.
"I never said it was going to be fun. Just relaxing." I explain as she pouts.
"You already caught something though." Hibari whines again as I smirk.
"Then you better improve or I'll beat you." I mock with a false air of superiority as she chuckled.
We entered a comfortable silence as I returned my attention to the river. To my surprise, Hibari got off my shoulder and laid on my lap, "C-can I stay like this?" She asked, fidgeting while looking away with a large blush on her face.
"Sure." I mutter as I return to looking back to the river.
This is nice. I originally started fishing to remember my dad since he loved doing it but couldn't catch anything due to the anger that was always present within me. It frustrated me even further until I joined a random old man. I'd curse, yell, and run around in anger until finally he gave me some good advice.
"Emotions are like a flame. Destructive and uncontrollable for long. So, instead of trying to control that flame, harness it. Feel the tranquility instead of trying to stay angry. Let your anger run its course to leave room for other emotions."
After that, my fishing and attitude improved little by little.
I still felt anger, but it was subdued, and left for other emotions.
I should thank that man next time I see him.
Smiling fondly, I look down at Hibari and run my hand through her hair as she blushes for some reason.
I wouldn't be able to enjoy this moment if I didn't meet him.
"Thanks for inviting me Hibari, I had a lot of fun." I tell Hibari as I escort her back to her house.
"Ehe~, me too." Hibari skips next to me.
We continue our comfortable silence until I reach the house where she and the rest of the girls are living.
"Well, guess I'll see you tomorrow, Hibari." I say as she turns around as I gather my courage and move.
Before she could react, I left a peck on her cheek and turned away before it could really catch up to her. Walking away, I put on my headphones as I nearly missed the loud scream that resounded in the house.
Chuckling, I walk back to my house with a grin, reminiscing on the good times I enjoyed, trying to hold back at the memories that would surely dampen my mood.
Besides, I have a spar tomorrow, and I can't exactly go to sleep normally, so may as well use these good times to lull me into a comfortable sleep.
So, here I am, standing in front of Ikaruga, who was wielding a sheathed katana, while I held the Unfettered to my side, preparing to slash at any moment or Kiriya's discretion.
When I entered today, I was given a bunch of weird looks and Yagyu's glare on me only intensified. Regardless, I wanted to use the Unfettered since it's been a while and she had no problem using her Hien. An agreement was made and here we are.
"Begin!" Kiriya lowers his hand as Ikaruga enters a quick draw stance as I dash forward.
Ikaruga grabs her sword as I instead stab the Unfettered into the ground and run jump over it as Ikaruga slashes and only hits the blade.
She was fast. Incredibly so. While in the air, I grab the handle as I get behind her and slash at her back but she parries it as she retaliates. Having the larger blade, I'd be slower. And I have to be so I won't rouse any suspicion as I duck the retaliation and slash upwards as it hits her clothing.
We ignore it as I continue with a wide slash before doing a downward slash as small rubble is thrown around. She returns to a quick draw stance as I lean to the right and let go of the greatsword as she sails by, leaving me with a hand on the blade as I jump back and block another strike before thrusting and spinning as we enter a deadlock.
To her surprise, I step on her foot as she flinches and force her blade down as I headbutt her solidly as I follow with another slash to her stomach as her clothes are ripped up again.
I hear something rip as I find the white shirt I'm wearing has a cut near the collar and another on my side.
Stepping forward, our blades ring out as they collide again and again as we continue moving around the room.
Ducking a slash as a mark appears on the wall, I jump on the wall and kick off it as I block the retaliatory slash witht he Unfettered and backfist her and follow with a kick to her temple. As she stumbles back.
She finds her center as I charge forward and is about to thrust as she nearly disappears and appears behind me as cuts appear all over my clothes.
"That's enough." Kiriya says as we relax. "Ikaruga, I commend you for holding back, but you went a little too far, even if the person is well-trained."
"Ah, my apologies, Caleb-san." Ikaruga apologizes as I chuckle.
"I should be apologizing, I shouldn't have fought like that." I admit as I extended an arm for her to shake. She does as we relax from the spar.
"But your swordsmanship is impressive, if not rough." Ikaruga compliments as she looks at the unfettered, now heavier since I am out of combat.
"It's more of a street style than anything. Had to learn on the fly after all." I admit as her eyes widen.
"Then, would you like to teach you Caleb-san?" She asks with a tilt of her head.
Pausing, I look to the sky as I take in the pros and cons of what she said.
Well, not like I lose much from this, "Sure, I'll take you up on that offer." I say as she smiles and nods.
"Good. but don't think I'll go easy on you." Ikaruga says as she gives me a menacing stare as I nod sheepishly.
Am I really not gonna lose much here?
I swore I could hear Katsuragi start praying for me along with the others giving me a pitying look. I give them a sideways glance but they ignore it as I inwardly curse. How dare they!?
Though I couldn't help but smile in the face of what may amount to torture in the future.
Yup, all is fine. For now.
I know better than to hope for complete peace while I'm still alive.
A/N: It's done. Kinda rush job but its done. Finally!