Grueling Training

Kang’s presence in the corner of the room took me by surprise. I looked over at him in shock as Azarin adjusted his glasses, stepping away from me. The door unlocked, and Chiaki ran to me. Without warning, she threw her arms around me, hugging me so tight I blushed under my fur.

“Oh gods Yuka! I’m so happy you’re alright! AND YOU!” She turned towards Azarin, still holding me in a tight embrace.

“How dare you! You could have hurt him or yourself, you idiot! We’re a team, not enemies! How could you be so reckless?” she snapped. Azarin rubbed the back of his neck.

“I’m really sorry… I just needed to make sure he could hold his own. I swear it wasn’t my aim to deceive you, Chiaki, or to harm you, Yuka. I apologize… I just had to know. You can report me for breaking conduct if you’d wish,” Azarin said while bowing to me.

“No it’s fine really. I decided to honor your wish to fight, so honestly I was to blame, too,” I replied softly. Chiaki let go of me with a sigh. She then lifted both hands, a green circle with symbols formed around her wrists. Green sparkles came from my and Azarn’s cheek, and soon I could feel the pain in my cheek ease up. I reached a hand up, touching my face. No blood. The green circle disappeared.

“There we go. If you pull this again, though, I won’t heal it next time,” Chiaki said with a pout. Kang cleared his throat. We all stopped talking, quickly looking at Kang.

“Anyways. Chiaki and Azarin are dismissed. Yuka, you stay,” Kang ordered. Chiaki gave me one more smile before they left, heading out into the hall. I calmly walked over to grab my sword before looking at Kang. He walked to the center of the room with a sigh.

“You’re a mystery to me, Yuka. You act as though you have nothing to fight for, yet during your fight with Azarin, you showed some… interesting determination. Earlier I said there was nothing more to say, but–maybe I was being too harsh. You show promise. You’re combat wit is there, and your focus is impressive. With some training, I think you could really be a part of the team…” Kang explained. His words gave me a small spark of relief. I almost felt a little bad for getting so mad earlier, now.

“‘But?’ I feel like you’re about to say that,” I commented.

“...but I feel like even with that potential, if you have no reason behind your swings, you’ll only go so far. Is there anything that motivated your choice when you were asked by the Director?” I could remember my hands soaked in blood, and hearing the last words of my grandpa.

“I don’t… I don’t like it when people get hurt or die. I know it’s dumb because that happens all the time, but–I want to help who I can. That’s why I couldn’t leave more of a wound on Azarin. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I know it’s dumb…” I said while looking down at my reflection in the sword.

“It’s not dumb… just very optimistic. What happens when you can’t save someone?” Kang asked flatly. I winced.

“I’ve already felt that pain before. So I refuse to ever let it happen again. I’ll… I’ll protect everyone, I swear it.” Kang grinned at my response. When he spoke, it was a lot less cold than before. It was almost teaseful.

“Then let's get started.”

~~~~

Sleeping that night wasn’t hard. The training I was put through was grueling, and at the end my limbs wanted to fall off. It was constant endurance tests, then form adjustments. If my arm was even a millimeter off, Kang would throw my sword to the other end of the room, make me fetch it, then redo the form. 

There were times I wondered why he was putting so much effort into me. With how much I grumbled, I couldn’t have been a good student. It bugged me so much, the next day when I found Chiaki in the lobby area with Kti, I had to ask her.

“Hm? You wanna know why Kang worked with you so much?” I gave a small nod.

“Well… I suppose it’s because that’s just how he is. He may seem like he doesn’t, but he cares about all of us. I only joined somewhat recently, but I know he’s been in charge of Strike Force Zero for some time now,” she replied with a soft gaze.

“He became the king of the rock people! THEN BLEW THEM UP!” Kti said with a laugh. I blinked before looking at Chiaki, who shrugged. So he’s treating me like everyone else. Does that mean I’m fitting in okay?

“Don’t worry too much. I know you’re probably still shaken up from that clash with Azarin… honestly, I’ve never seen him do something like that before,” Chiaki said softly.

“It’s okay, really. In a way, it did help me get to know him better,” I replied. At least I think I did. He’s still a bit of a mystery to me.

“He’s crazy. Anyway, you want to know where bananas come from?” Kti asked me. Should I ignore him? Or would that be mean.

“Um, sure.” After I said that, Kti stared at me blankly.

“So would I,” he said flatly. I sighed before looking to Chiaki for help. Luckily, the long silence was interrupted as the door opened, and Kang entered with Azarin.

“...I just don’t think this is a good idea. I get that Liches aren’t strong, but shouldn’t we have more time to prepare?” Azarin was saying. Kang shook his head.

“Doesn’t matter. The Director gave us orders. We obey those orders for the safety of the country,” Kang replied.

“What’s going on you two?” Chiaki asked softly. I looked between Kang and Azarin, feeling a pit in my stomach. Kang let out a sigh.

“Plans have changed. The mission has been moved up… so gear up. We’re destroying that Lich today.”