I stood before Ai, both still in our usual clothes instead of mission suits. We were supposed to now spar with each other, but I was still not too sure about this idea. Even though Natsumi-san is the absolute demon-level threat, she is.
"You want me to kill you?" she spoke up from behind me.
"Are you a psychic? How can you always tell when I'm thinking something rude about you?" I asked.
"Intuition," she simply replied, and I slouched my shoulders in defeat. She has done so many things way beyond my comprehension, I am not even taking this actually being her answer off the table.
"Now, start," she announced, and I locked eyes with Ai. I could see it; she didn't want to do it either. It was easier going against anyone else, but fighting Ai was a completely different thing. I mostly never had a chance against all of my sparring partners, but against Ai, I don't know how I fare against her now. I want to say we might be almost at the same level, making both of us equally prone to injury, which I know she also doesn't want. "Stop treating it like a fight to the death, you two. You are just squaring up against each other, testing your partner's strengths and weaknesses. That's all. No one has to get hurt in this."
"Watching Iwaguchi-san doesn't give me much confidence in when you will intervene," I replied.
"Iwaguchi can easily take this much, so I can hold back a lot less," she replied, and my ears perked. What do you mean you were still holding back? "Anyways, if you don't move soon, I'll have to assist you then."
Both our bodies shuddered at the thought, and watching Natsumi-san actually fight for longer than a few seconds before our eyes, we knew that wasn't an offer we wanted to take. "I'm sorry, Kazu-kun," Ai said with a worried face, with a hint of excitement, and rushed at me.
I did the same, and as we got in range, I saw her nails grow bigger and she plunged them right at my shoulder. I quickly moved my hand, pushing her hand out of the way, and countered with a hard push to make her slide against the ground. She looked at me, surprised and a little excited.
"I was correct! Kazu-kun has gotten a lot stronger and faster," she said. "That was so cool, can you do that again? Maybe a bit harder, please. I want to see it again."
"If any one of you opens your mouth to flirt again, I will seriously have to train you, personally," Natsumi-san threatened, and we stiffened in our place.
Ai held her hand against her mouth and mumbled some words unable to be understood before anyone else before she let go of it. She took a deep breath and looked at me with expectation in her eyes. Kicking the ground, Ai moved quickly, but I was able to track her easily. She circled around me and jumped as she got in range, a kick coming right for the back of my head. I quickly ducked it and grabbed her leg in the process to throw her away, but what I soon found out was that her aim wasn't that. She twisted her leg and slid it down my arm before she ended up holding my hand in an arm bar. Her eyes were filled with excitement, and I knew exactly what she wanted.
She wanted to test my strength. She pulled at my hand, bending it in the opposite way, and I started to pull it back up, not wanting to break my arm. I could feel her putting more strength into it, and I did the same before I was able to fully pull her back up, and our faces were inches away from each other. I could see the smile on her face not going away. She was enjoying this. All that hesitation for not wanting to fight me, and here we are. I do think she enjoys this. Her techniques and hits were precise and well executed. I could feel I was fighting someone with years of experience.
If she is having fun, time to get a little more serious. I yanked my arm, making her let go, and chased her. As she was about to drop on the ground, I was already where she was about to land and kick her off balance. She twisted her body and used my shoulders as support to land behind me. I twisted my body to the side, dodging a back kick that would have broken my spine if I were still a human. I grabbed her and locked her under my armpit. She jumped to kick me in the head, but I leaned back, dodging it. Though in the process, my grip around her leg loosened, which was enough for her to pull it out of my reach.
"Kazu-kun, stop holding back," she said, and I looked confused. "You could have been on the offense so many times, but you are only countering or dodging me. I want to see you actually fight, too."
"Um…" I was at a loss for words because I didn't want to say that I was scared of hurting her while she was already aiming for my vital organs, almost trying to knock me out. "If I stop holding back, will you too?" I ended up taunting her.
"I don't want to hurt Kazu-kun," she said, and I chuckled a little.
"Then the same goes for me, can't ask for it when you aren't doing it yourself," I said, and she put some thought into it and then turned to look at Natsumi-san.
"Do you promise that if things are about to get bad, you will stop us?" she asked, and she nodded. "Okay…" she said and faced me again. "This is Kazu-kun's fault, all because I wanted to know how strong he has actually gotten."
"Didn't you see you see it when I was training with Natsumi-san?"
"Different when I am not facing you head-on," she said.
She got into a lot wider stance and lowered her body. I could feel the aura around her change completely. Ai was actually being serious about not wanting to hold back. I could see her eyes glow, so I took a lot more serious stance. Though a lot slower, Ai's speed wasn't something to laugh at, so I made sure to keep my eyes on her as much as possible. Remembering the last time I fought her, her speed was the thing that put the most at a disadvantage.
I let out a slow and controlled breath, making sure to track her, and then it happened, she moved, her legs propelled her in the air, but something weird happened. I could see it; I could track it all without any issue. Her movement almost felt slowed to me, and I couldn't help but wonder why that was. I remember this feeling, when it last happened. I kept my eyes on her as she straightened her body and fell at me, almost being a human-sized bullet aiming to pierce right through my heart. As she came closer, I didn't move, and right as she was about to make contact, I moved out of the way and grabbed her by her waist, feeling a heavier force on my body. I twisted it along with her, letting go of any excess force a sudden stop could put on her or me, and came to a stop, planting my feet firmly in the ground.
"Huh?" Ai said, finding herself being carried by me like a barrel. She looked at me, confused, and I flashed a big smile at her. "What just happened?"
"I…don't know," I said, and we both looked at Natsumi-san, looking at us, smirking. Then, a dreaded feeling came to me, the last time this happened, oh no.
"You never stop surprising me, kid," she said, walking over to us as I helped Ai onto her feet. "That was quite impressive. Do you know how you did it?"
I grabbed my head as I got a little dizzy, and pain started to rise in every part of my body. I handled it a lot better than last time, literally getting unconscious after what I did. Though most of it was thanks to Koto. My feet stumbled a little, and I quickly held onto Ai, who supported my frame. I looked at her and the worried expression on her face. Looks like I did go overboard. Sigh, now I'm worrying them all over again.
"I heard about something similar in Koto's report, but got to see it myself too this time," Natsumi-san said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "You did good, Kazuki. Rest up now, training is over. I'll come with Iwaguchi tomorrow morning, so be ready."
"Um…we didn't really pack our stuff yet," Ai said, and she let out a sigh.
"I knew something like that might happen. Don't worry, I have a moving company to help with everything. Just be sure you pack up all your clothes yourself or any stuff you don't want others to see," she said, smirking a little.
"What do you mean?" I said, still feeling a little dizzy.
"I don't know what you kids are up to these days," she said mockingly.
Just kill me.
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