Day by Day

Days go by, each battle taking its place and being fought, each person increasing in strength every fight. Every day Rina approaches Inei and attempts to talk to him, Inei very slowly engaging more and more into her conversations, Azami watching with concern as they grow closer. The last day of fights are about to begin, Inei facing off with master Tochi. They stand across from each other, master Tochi cracking his fingers and his back.

"Are you prepared? You are the only boy, I will go full power on you."

Inei stares, not reacting at all, water streaming down his cheeks, preparing himself. Master Tochi prepares himself, his eyes closed. The intercom begins counting down, Rina shouting out.

"Come on Inei! You can beat him!"

Azami shoots Rina a look with her eyes wide and anger clear on her face, static shooting down the sides of her body and her hair sticking out with static, the other girls noticing, frowning. Inei doesn't react, the intercom begins the match, Inei charging forward, master Tochi furrowing his eyebrows with his eyes closed. Master Tochi matches Inei's footsteps, dodging any of Inei's movements. Inei notices immediately.

He is reading my footsteps through the ground; let's shake things up a bit.

Inei jumps back and punches the floor, geysers squirting water in inconsistent pairs around the arena, master Tochi opening his eyes with a smirk.

"That was quick; Inei. You are growing so well. Now let's test your agility."

Master Tochi attacks, every step he takes launches a ground towards Inei, Inei block strikes, kicks, and the ground attacks. Inei then suddenly notices a pattern, escaping the combination with ease, sliding under and up striking master Tochi, landing a few strikes and a kick that pushes master Tochi back into a geyser, launching him in the air, taking two other geysers to slam into him from opposing sides, knocking him out of the ring quickly. Inei then closes his eyes, the streams slowing and stopping from his eyes. He walks over to master Tochi, lifting him up, master Tochi patting him on the shoulder.

"Well done, I tested you and you did excellent. Congrats on your new level of talent."

Inei nods, looking over at the leader board. He sits third behind Azami and Rina, who are tied.

That's the battle of the day and saved for last. Azami against Rina is going to be a showdown.

Inei glances to both of them, Rina standing with a smile on her face and Azami staring her down, the static continuing all over her body.

It feels like they have changed. Rina has taken Azami's personality and Azami has taken Rina's. It feels wrong.

Inei turns to watch the rest of the battles, Aneko beating Yui and Yasu beating Chura. The rankings stand Chura last, then Yui, Yasu, Aneko, master Tochi, Inei, then Rina and Azami tied. The announcements ring out.

"Rina and Azami, to the field."

The two of them line up, Rina standing with a straight face and standing naturally, Azami with a tad of slumping posture, the static getting more intense by the second. Azami's hair stands straight up, her eyes gaining a yellow tint to them, and her clothes begin to wave. Rina's mood does not change, and she prepares herself for battle. The intercom counts down, then the battle begins. Azami disappears, Rina's eyes moving quickly, Rina taking a deep breath then pushes her hands forward, snow covering the arena, snow clouds forming above and snowing consistently. The temperatures begins to drop rapidly, master Tochi stomping twice, a wall of sand growing on each side of the arena. He looks over to Aneko.

"If you could make glass please."

Aneko nods and flings flames towards the sand, making glass, the temperature inside cooling the glass to form a dome around the arena. Everyone watches, the sound being completely muted by the glass. Azami slows down, becoming visible from the cold. Rina slowly walks towards her, a soft smile on her face. Azami sucks her teeth, the static forming a barrier around her body in a current, rising from her feet to the top of her hair. Rina giggles.

"It must be below zero in here, you stand no chance. You really think Inei would want a girl like you? I know his true personality."

Azami's static starts becoming mixed with a blue color, beginning to breathe heavily with anger. Rina continues on.

"This time I have spent with him these last few weeks; I think I can understand why I fell in love with him again. I'm sure he still has feelings for me, being his first love and all. Good luck watching all your work move on; you lose, Azami."

Azami's pupils shrink with rage, disappearing and reappearing behind Rina, a surprised look as her head turns to look, Azami landing a hard punch on her face, blasting her hard through a pillar, slamming her against the glass, falling hard to the floor, Rina looks up with a glimmer and her eye, wiping a drop of blood from her lower lip with a smirk.

"This is the battle I have yearned for."

Rumbling starts, Azami creating lightning bolts shoot down from the now clouds, Rina dodging them with expertise. She then throws highly compacted snowballs, Azami seemingly teleporting side to side with the amount of speed she has. Rina grits her teeth as she continues to dodge the lightning bolts. Everyone watches it from outside the dome, everyone in disbelief, Inei analyzing.

Rina must be telling Azami something she doesn't like. Azami looks incredibly angry. Whether it's a vendetta against Rina for her or not, this fight is going to get ugly. I have not seen Azami use that much force before.

The other girls begin cheering Azami on, master Tochi getting close to Inei, mumbling to him.

"They do realize she can't hear them if they can't hear her right?"

Inei doesn't turn his head, shrugging. Master Tochi looks towards the fight, continuing his speech.

"You have increased your talent exponentially. I am incredibly impressed. Even though your record doesn't say it, you're stronger than both of those girls combined."

Inei side eyes him for a moment, master Tochi continuing.

"You are just too reserved. You don't want to use your strength, why is that? When I first met you I didn't take you as the caring type but that seems to be the issue."

Inei turns his head away, master Tochi looking at him and pointing at him.

"That reaction says it all. You care about these girls and for me."

Inei doesn't react, standing completely still.

I hate to admit it, but he's right, even Rina I went fairly moderate on, I have even lost a couple of matches because of my lack of will to be strong.

Inei looks up to Azami, and remembers the beat down she gave him that day he listened to Rina's advice.

Azami has not talked to me more than a sentence since that day. Does she feel guilty, or is there something I am not grasping?

A loud thud of Azami hitting the glass startles him, waking him from his thoughts. She takes off fast towards Rina, the two of them fighting hand to hand combat, both blocking and landing strikes on each other. Suddenly Rina grabs Azami's arm, freezing it solid in ice. Azami shrills in pain, letting her frozen arm hang limp from her shoulder. Rina giggles maniacally, her hair covering her face, slowly tilting up to show a sinister grin as she finishes laughing.

"This has been fun, but I have beaten you now Azami. You are off balance; weak and slow due to your frozen arm. You will succumb to my strength; and when you do you won't want to show your face around here ever again."

Azami yells in frustration, attacking Rina, but quickly becoming off balance, Rina taking advantage of it and blasting her with a large snowball, slamming her through the glass and out of the battle arena. Azami stares at the ceiling with defeat, then quickly gets up holding her arm and runs away, sobbing. The other girls take off after her, calling out to her but being left in the dust from Azami's speed. Rina slowly walks out of the arena, bruised and breathing heavily. Inei looks at the doorway, then back to Rina, who attempts a soft smile but is beaten too badly to give a successful one.

"That girl is something else. She easily gave me the best fight out of anyone; I don't resort to freezing unless I have to or if I'm not intending to fight."

Inei stares her down, Rina tilting her head.

"What's wrong?"

Inei looks down, typing on his phone then hands it to Rina.

"What did you say to her in there? I saw your lips moving."

Rina chuckles, putting her hands on her cheeks in a swooning fashion.

"I told her I fell in love with you again and that they will all finish behind me in obtaining your love."

Inei sucks his teeth and slams Rina to the ground with a water cannon from his hand, Rina gasping for air as she hits the ground with ferocious strength. Inei pushes more pressure with then water, making it slowly harder for Rina to breath. He then suddenly stops, Rina gasping for air, then yells at Inei.

"You could have killed me asshole!"

Inei shakes his head, the angry look on his face remaining, then leaves the building on his own. Rina brushes herself off, her clothes drenched from the water, master Tochi resting a hand on her shoulder.

"You played nasty and paid the price for it. You're too hard on all of them."

Master Tochi then turns and walks away, leaving Rina standing miserably on her own in the middle of the arena.

Night has fallen, Inei is strolling through the park, following the lights on the path.

Rina is full of crap. She only said that to her to make her angry to get a better fight; there's no way Rina would actually care for me again. I know she wouldn't, because deep down I'm still the same me, but I've caged myself down below.

He slowly begins kicking a rock as he walks, still thinking to himself.

I've been talking with Rina way too much. That must be why Azami is mad; maybe because Rina is mean? I need to talk to Azami as soon as possible.

Inei kicks the rock, and a clang rings through the open woods, the rock hitting a ladder that is left from replacing a light bulb. Inei softly smiles, looking at the ladder.

Azami sits at her desk in her room, completely healed from Yui's healing skills. She examines her arm that had previously been frozen, thinking about the fight she had endured. The more she thinks, static slowly starts radiating up and down her arm, her skin serving almost like a tesla. She's suddenly knocked out of her trance with a thud on her window. She slowly turns, seeing Inei on the other side. Azami looks down and sighs, getting up and going to the window, opening it slowly.

"What do you want, Inei?"

Azami looks down, her face softening, realizing that he had done the same as she had before, getting a ladder to get into the room. Inei slowly climbs in and sits on her bed, Azami closing the window. Azami sits down in her chair, directly in front of Inei. Inei hands her his phone, Azami looking down and reading it to herself.

"Azami, I want to apologize for our distance lately. Even though I am unsure of what has happened, I don't want to lose you as my friend."

Azami stares at the phone for a minute, static shooting from the top of her head and down her back.

"You seriously don't understand what you have done wrong?"

Inei tilts his head in confusion, Azami standing up, her frosts clinched and electricity sparking all around them.

"I have put myself forward to be your friend, I have defended you against that woman, your ex that psychologically tore you to pieces to the point that you no longer speak, yet we suddenly find out she's under the same martial arts master and you are best friends with her all over again? I thought I was your best friend!"

Azami's hair stands up, her emotions spiraling out of control. Inei notices tears coming from her eyes, then he boots forward, Azami preparing to block an attack, but is put into shock. Inei tightly embraces Azami, holding her to him tightly in a tight hug. Azami begins to cry, her hair falling down and the static stoping going around the both of them once. As Azami sobs, Inei thinks to himself.

I have been cruel. Azami really is my best friend and she cares about me like no other. She's been there for me since day one, and know cold woman is going to make me forget that. In the end, that woman is still the same woman who ruined me.

Inei holds Azami tighter, Azami sobbing loudly.

Thank you, Azami. I won't let this happen again.

Inei suddenly feels a presence, then turns to look at the window, seeing nothing but the tip of the ladder. He stares longingly, then Azami looks up, wiping her tears away.

"What is it, Inei? Did you hear something?"

Inei doesn't budge, then lets go of Azami, walking over and pushing the window open, looking around with curiosity.

I don't feel it anymore; but it definitely felt like someone was watching us through the window.

Inei then shuts the window, looking over at Azami who hands him his phone. He types out explaining his feeling, Azami reading it and responding.

"So you felt a presence? That's odd. I mean, maybe it was Yasu with her shadows. She's admitted to having watched you a couple of times with her shadow technique."

Inei gets chills from her words.

That's kind of stalker like!

Azami notices his reaction and giggles a little bit.

"I'm just teasing you. I think that says a lot about your opinion of her with that reaction."

Inei rubs his neck anxiously, Azami giggling a little more then softly punches his arm and takes a seat in her chair.

"So, which one would you pick?"

Inei cuts his eyes at Azami, his cheeks burning red.

"You know what I mean, of my friends, which one would you pick?"

Inei quickly shakes his head, Azami tilting hers.

"You must be super shy about it considering how red you are getting. So you do have a girl in mind?"

Inei shakes his head more, flustered to her onslaught of questions.

This woman is going to make me explode! I cannot deal with her like this; I really do not have a crush on anyone!

Inei quickly begins typing on his phone, handing it to Azami. She excitingly takes it covering the screen and kicking her feet.

"Now all will be revealed on which girl you like; it is-"

She lifts the phone to see the screen, her enthusiasm leaving as fast as it came, seeing Inei's response.

"I do not have a crush on any of you. We are all just friends. It's come clear to me that even if I found interest, I could not pick one of you because it would tear you all apart."

Azami slouches back with a sigh, then tosses Inei his phone to him, bouncing her foot with her ankle with that leg on top of the other one, crossing at her knee, disappointment pasted on her face.

"So you intend to date someone who is not friends with us? For you it's all or none?"

Inei hesitates for a moment, then softly nods, Azami's face becomes angry, static showing around her pupils, then she takes a deep breath. She exhales slowly, then smirks.

"So, you haven't gotten over Rina?"

Azami is flung against the ball, breaking her desk, falling to the floor, a geyser of water having slammed her into the wall. Inei stands facing her with an angry look, then crosses his arms and goes towards the window, Azami quickly grabs his arm and pulls on him.

"Wait; Inei I'm sorry! It was a joke!"

Inei doesn't budge, then slowly releases his tense shoulders, Azami sighing in relief. Inei then takes his phone, typing on it and handing it to Azami.

"I do not appreciate that assumption at all, just because I'm playing nice with her does not mean that I'm in love with her. She crushed me, she ruined me, and I would never give her that satisfaction of dating her ever again. I find it disrespectful as my friend to believe in such a thing, has that been your problem?"

Azami stays silent for a moment, crossing her arms and pouting, then eyeballing Inei and slouching in defeat.

"Okay yes that's been my problem. You just seemed like you were ready to give her another chance, you have been talking to her more than any of us and as your friend I could not stand seeing you go through that again!"

Inei stands still for a moment, cutting a look at her, then faces her, and nods softly, typing on his phone once more then handing it to Azami.

"I do apologize. I did not want her to ruin our friendship, but in the end; it did. I am truly sorry and intend on talking to all of you more often."

Azami nods, then smiles big.

"Thank you, Inei. Now, I am ready for bed, if you want you can stay here, I have an air mattress I can blow up for you so you can sleep on the floor next to my bed."

Inei stands still for another moment, then nods again. They work together to blow up the mattress, then Inei lies down on it, his bottom half hanging off until he pulls his knees in, causing Azami to laugh to herself. She then climbs in her bed and looks down to Inei.

"Goodnight, Inei. Oh! By the way, we're all skipping training tomorrow, we're going to have a rest day for the end of the ranking phase."

Inei tilts his head, looking at her and Azami claps her hands; turning out the lights for the night.

Inei slowly opens his eyes, seeing a dark figure straddling his body. His eyes open wide, a shadow smiling down to him, then puts a finger to his lips, then speaks with ripples in her voice.

"This is normally where I'd tell you to "shush" but you do not speak. You have not answered my call. I need you, Inei."

Inei tries to push the person off of him, but his body is frozen still, terror taking over his mind.

"Please, Inei, I need you, fight for me."

Inei begins to panic, attempting to move his limbs with no success.

Who are you?! Why can I not move?! Get off of me!

The figure smiles wider.

"If you wish."

The figure begins levitating off of him, a black mist making up her legs.

"Don't you remember? Please come back!"

Inei then realizes, closing his eyes tight.

It's that voice! Get out of my head! I don't need you!

Inei slowly opens his eyes, the shadow slowly begins to frown.

"Please, Inei, I need you."

Inei shakes his head.

I'm sorry, I don't need you. I finally have peace and hardly hear you.

The shadow begins producing tears, then lets out a bloodcurdling scream. Inei holds his ears and winces, bending his body in half, then looks up, the shadow rushing towards him.

Inei sits up quickly, gasping for air, Azami shrieking and clapping to turn on the light, rubbing her eyes and looking at Inei.

"Inei what's wrong?! What happened?!"

Inei breathes heavily, attempting to catch his breath, then picks up his phone, seeing that it is one-fifteen in the morning. Azami does the same with her phone, then looks back at Inei.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

Inei nods softly, tears beginning to roll down his cheek. Azami slowly gets down from her bed, kneels down and hugs Inei. Inei slowly her back, then she lets go, kneeling in front of him, Inei only then noticing she is only in a bra and underwear. Azami blushes softly.

"Inei, if it would help you sleep, you can sleep in the bed with me. But only if you never tell anyone about this! Not even with your phone!"

Inei looks away with a blush, the nods softly, Azami quickly getting up and getting in the bed, putting the blankets on herself, Inei very slowly getting in the bed with her. Azami claps, turning off the lights, lying down and leaving Inei lying beside her, staring at the ceiling. Moments pass and Azami begins snoring, Inei still staring at the ceiling.

I must have fallen asleep first last time because I do not remember the snoring; she's so loud! It's like thunder booming next to me!

Inei tosses and turns, and slowly looks over to Azami who is lying facing away from Inei. He then turns his body towards her to get comfortable, and slowly closes his eyes trying to block out the sound, when suddenly something pushes against him and his eyes open wide. Azami has brought her knees to her stomach, her backside pushing up against Inei pelvic region. Inei blushes, very slowly trying to move away and then realizing he is against the wall with nowhere to go. Flustered, Inei closes his eyes and tries to sleep.

Please just sleep; I need to get through the night!

As time passes, Inei eventually passes out.

Azami slowly opens her eyes, performing a silent yawn, then feels something against her body. She looks down, Inei's arm around her body and resting on her chest, his body pushed completely against hers. She blushes heavily and softly grabs his hand, moving it off of her and rolling out of the bed. She quickly grabs a towel and runs to the bathroom, turning on the water. She gets in and stands under the water and with her hands against the wall, looking down. She slowly stands up and shakes her head, slapping her own face softly with her hands twice at the same time. She washes her hair and wraps the towel around herself, then walks back in the room, Inei still out cold. Azami looks down at Inei's phone and picks it up, looking and seeing all the girls have texted him this morning already. Azami takes her phone charger and plugs his phone in, attempting to set it on her desk, but the phone falls as the desk was destroyed. Azami sighs softly then grabs her clothes out of her drawer. She peaks over at Inei, noticing he is still asleep, then removes her towel, trying to get dressed very quickly. She gets completely dressed, looking over at Inei again who has not moved other than his breathing. Azami sighs softly, then heads downstairs to make breakfast. She begins cooking a typical American breakfast, when her front door opens, voices filling her house

"Hi Azami!"

She turns with fear in her eyes, the four girls walking in together. Aneko notices the look immediately, pressuring her.

"What is that look? Is Inei here?"

Azami blushes, giving Aneko her answer. Aneko then squints at her and looks at her room up the stairs, and back to Azami.

"You said you didn't like him, how long has this been going on for?"

The other three girls watch and listen, confused. Azami shakes her head.

"There's nothing going on, he's not even here!"

Aneko lifts an eyebrow then holds up her phone.

"Well I need to borrow your charger, so I will be going up there and seeing for myself."

She goes up the stairs and swings the door open, finding a made bed and a clean room, the window open. Aneko very slowly makes her way to grab the charger, examining the room, and then leaves while shouting.

"I apologize, you were telling the truth."

Inei sits on the ladder right outside the window, slowly climbing down and hiding out before going to the front door and pretending to just having showed up for the day.