Author's Note: Hiya everyone, this is the new chapter. I'm kinda pantsing this one. Normally I go into a story with a full outline but…this one remains kinda drabbley. But maybe that's a good thing. Sometimes I get too bogged down in planning and outlining. Got ideas? Lemme know. And in any case, tell me what you think. - Parkerbear 16 January 2024

Chapter 3: Girl Talk

"Ooof!" For the second time in a quarter hour, Kanae Kotonami found herself flat on her butt, her neck at the point of Kyoko's sword.

"Sorry, Moko!" She rolled her eyes. Kyoko had thrown her sword to the ground and was hovering over her worriedly. "Are you ok? I was too rough—oh no, I was wasn't I? I'm so sorrrryyyyy—"

She got up hurriedly, putting a finger on Kyoko's forehead to prevent her from doing a dogeza. "Don't apologize," she huffed. "Seriously. We're training. You can't apologize every time you knock someone over. You're supposed to. That's the point—"

"But—but—I might have hurt you!" Kyoko wailed.

"But you didn't." She patted the mat beneath them. "That's what the foam is for, remember? To catch us when we fall."

She squared her shoulders. "Again."

"But—"

"Kyoko."

The girl looked at her with big, pleading eyes.

"No buts," Kanae said. "Again. This time I'll be guarding my flank—let's see if you can get me with that kick again."

Kyoko looked doubtful but she picked up her sword—Kanae could only admire her stamina and her resilience. She herself was damn good with a sword, but then…she hadn't grown up out there. She'd been one of the lucky ones: the eldest daughter of a large family, parents who knew a good thing when they saw it. They'd been one of the earliest families to join Lory at LME. She'd lived her entire life surrounded by high, safe walls, electricity, hot water. She didn't know, exactly, what kind of life Kyoko had led before they'd rescued her. But what she did know was that the girl had skills. Apparently she'd trained with an itinerant swordmaster—a real one, just like in the fairytales of Old Japan.

"Master Uesugi always said to use everything around you as a possible weapon," she said. "You were too focused on my sword, so you didn't see my leg coming."

"Most swordsmen wouldn't think to kick," Kanae said thoughtfully.

"I know it's not exactly…conventional," Kyoko responded. "I know I don't fight pretty. But out there…it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is surviving."

Surviving, of course, was a constant. But Kyoko was wrong about not fighting pretty. Kanae knew people came to watch Kyoko practice—she was always up at dawn, catching the sunrise on her blades. Kyoko always ascribed it to people wanting to learn Master Uesugi's techniques but Kanae knew better: watching Kyoko practice was mesmerizing. The girl's kata flowed like water and flashed like lightning. Add all that to her propensity for scaling vertical surfaces, her marksmanship, and her prodigious hand-to-hand combat skills and you had someone who was a veritable goddess of death.

Well…to Walkers, anyway.

Kanae set a new timer. She figured Kyoko would have her disarmed long before the bell rang, but…it gave her a metric on how long she lasted against her.

"Ready?" Kanae faced her, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Until the buzzer runs out or one of us disarms the other, ok?"

Kyoko stepped back, her sword drawn. "OK," she said, "Ready." Her eyes were already in a thousand-yard-stare that made her all the more frightening.

"Don't hold back," Kanae said. "You're helping me get better."

Kyoko nodded.

Their swords clashed. Thrust, slice, parry—Kanae was getting better and better, she knew, but Kyoko was still too fast, too strong. She would gain ground—one foot, two—and then lose it as Kyoko drove forward. "Jeez, no wonder you've been pulverizing Tsuruga's numbers," she muttered. She made a last ditch attack—a reckless move—one which Kyoko should have had no trouble countering—

And then found the girl on her flat on her butt, on the ground, disarmed.

"Eek," Kyoko cried out, rolling to the side right before she could touch the tip of her sword to her heart.

Not that Kanae could've—she was too surprised. But Kyoko was fleeing like a scalded rabbit, scurrying around for a blade, a staff, anything.

"Kyoko…?" she said.

But Kyoko's eyes were dilated, and she was gasping for breath. Her entire body was tense; she looked like she would bolt at any minute. She looked up at Kanae when she heard her name. "Kyoko," Kanae said again. Quieter, this time. Soothing.

"Moko?" Kyoko was shaking.

"Hey," she said. "Hey." She reached out and put a reassuring hand around her shoulder. "What happened out there?" The way Kyoko was trembling took away any elation she may have taken from having disarmed Kyoko for the very first time.

"I—I—" Kyoko took a large breath. "I got distracted." She clenched her fists, her face flushed. "And when we get distracted, we die."

What distracted you? Kanae wanted to ask. It had to have been her offhand comment about Tsuruga. There had been rumors from the last Recon sortie—something about Tsuruga nearly getting bitten. Was that why she was so distressed?

"No one's going to kill you here," Kanae said. "You're ok. We're ok." Perhaps she'd never realized it because Kyoko always seemed so calm and so beautiful when she practiced. But the way she'd reacted when she'd been cornered—it was neither fight nor flight alone, but a fighting flight. It was the kind of reaction she'd expect from a person who'd had to fight for their life time and time again. It gave her pause; made her reassess how she thought of her best friend. Kyoko had always said her skills were the work of practice, not of talent. Kanae disagreed—clearly, Kyoko had talent. But now she also had to add one more thing: Kyoko was a survivor, someone who fought for her life with every breath.

"It was stupid of me," Kyoko muttered. "Stupid stupid stupid—"

She was picking up her sword again, stretching her limbs. She'd mastered her trembling and her blushes. Kanae didn't know whether or not she was acting, but Kyoko was back to her normal self. She was stretching herself into a pretzel when Kanae realized she was getting ready for another bout.

But…Kanae wasn't ready for another bout.

"Kyoko," she said. "Wait."

"Hmm?" Kyoko asked. "Why?"

"That…that was…unusual for you."

Her friend grinned. "It's going to happen more and more often, Moko," she said. "You're learning Master Uesugi's techniques! Soon you'll be—"

"It's Tsuruga," Kanae said flatly. "Ren Tsuruga."

Kyoko choked on whatever word she was about to say. Her face was blushing a deep red—Kanae saw how her grip tightened on her scabbard.

"No-o-o—"

"Liar."

"What about him?" Kyoko said, petulantly.

"You tell me," Kanae countered. "Kyoko, how often have I sparred with you now? I've never seen you like that, not once—and don't give me crap about me getting better. You could've parried that attack with your eyes closed."

Kyoko was looking around the room—anywhere but at Kanae. She looked like someone looking for a place to hide.

"Are the rumors true?" she asked softly. "They're saying he was almost bitten. That you saved him. What happened during the last Recon mission, Kyoko?"

"Mm—arghh—" Kyoko had her eyes scrunched closed. "Kijima and Yashiro both said he was flirting with me," she said.

"Was he?" She'd suspected Tsuruga of having a little crush on Kyoko since he'd brought her in. The man brought her flowers while she was in the hospital, for heavens' sake!

"OF COURSE NOT!" Kanae jumped—Kyoko was nearly yelling. "Tsuruga-senpai would never, ever flirt with anyone while he was on a mission—and even if he wasn't out there, he'd never flirt with me!"

"I'm…not so sure about that," Kanae said, smirking. Kyoko was calling Tsuruga 'senpai,' when everyone knew she'd been calling him 'Ren' for quite some time now. It was cute. Old-fashioned, but cute. The way she was acting all but confirmed the rumors. "Why wouldn't he?"

"Because I'm plain and flat and…and…boring. I'm a stranger. And…you know. I'm not girly. Guys don't like girls like me."

Kanae shook her head. "You're none of those things—"

"And anyway, Tsuruga-senpai knows better," Kyoko said through gritted teeth. "Distraction is death." She slumped backwards, leaning on the wall. "Distraction is death," she repeated. "And he almost died," she wailed, putting her head into her hands. "He might have been able to kick off that Walker but…but…if I hadn't—"

"It was a close call," Kanae finished for her. Maybe Tsuruga hadn't been flirting. It was entirely possible that he'd just been distracted. Just as Kyoko had been.

"Do you like him too?" she asked innocently.

"What do you mean, 'too'?" Kyoko responded. "He doesn't like me. Lots of other things may have distracted him. Maybe he was getting sick. Maybe he…I don't know, maybe he needed to go to the bathroom or something…but he doesn't like me."

"Nevermind all that," Kanae said. "Do you like him?"

Kyoko was silent for a long time.

"No," she said finally. "Of course not." She wasn't meeting Kanae's eyes. "And besides," she added softly, "I can't have anything precious in this world. I want to survive. And anything like that would be a distraction, and—"

"Distraction is death," Kanae finished. She looked over at Kyoko with sympathy.

"Yeah," Kyoko mumbled.

Kanae sighed. "You know what? Let's break for now," she said. "I'll treat you to breakfast."

"Really?! Yayyy!"

Kanae shook her head as she watched Kyoko gather her things up to go. She couldn't help but agree with her—distraction out there did mean death. But there was something between the LME golden boy and their newest foundling. Kyoko was lying. Kanae wasn't sure if Kyoko was lying to herself, but she was certainly lying to her friends. She could nearly see Kyoko's heart beating out of her chest when she said his name. The girl was in love with Ren Tsuruga. She was sure of it.

=.=.=

"Really, bro, you should do this on your own."

"Kijima, shhhh…"

Ren had roused Kijima up from slumber before dawn. He'd hoped to have a practice session with Kyoko—he knew she got up early to practice kata. From time to time, he knew she sparred with Kotonami—but that was why he'd brought Kijima.

"If Lory hadn't torn you a new one, dude, I don't know what I would've said to you."

Ren sighed. "He didn't say anything that wasn't true," he said. "It was bad. It was really, really bad and I know I know better. It won't happen again."

"But the Chief sent you here to…what, check her out?"

"Spar with her. Lory believes in True Love," Ren said. "So he thinks I should give it some kind of try."

"Soooo this is why you're dragging me out of bed before the sun rises?! Why didn't you grab Yashiro!?"

"Yashiro's sick," Ren said. "And he's nearly as bad as Lory. Can't keep a straight face. Aaaaaaaand besides, I know you have a thing for Kotonami."

"You devious little—"

"...Do you like him?" It was Kotonami's voice, echoing from the practice room and out onto the hallway.

"Oh shit," Kijima was whispering, but Ren was desperate to keep him silent.

"Shhhh!"

His heart nearly beat out of his chest waiting for Kyoko's reply.

"No," she said finally. "Of course not."

She'd sucker-punched him in practice before, but that had hurt less than this.

"Oh shiiiiiit," Kijima was whispering again. "Dude, I'm sorry, bro—"

"Kijima, shut up." His mind was reeling.

"You can't possibly give up—"

"I'm not," he said. He wasn't, but his stomach was dropping out of his body and he wasn't sure he could breathe.

He braced himself and then opened the door to the practice room.

No one was there.