Of burning passions

Reisen was tired. She had already had enough. And it was only seven in the morning.

“Reisen… why did we have to wake up so early…” the kid lamented, half-asleep, leaning on her with nearly all of their weight: that way, she not only had to keep the sack containing her fencing equipment on her back, but she also had to support Yukiya, who was treating her like a koala did with a tree trunk. They weren’t exactly heavy, but still. She wasn’t their personal sofa.

“Because we need at least three hours to reach Osaka and the next train would be too late” she said in automatic response, repeating exactly what she’d been telling them for days.

“Still, this is horrible…” They quieted down again, but she knew that they would’ve complained for the exact same reason later.

“I can’t help but agree” a sun-cream covered Nagai piped up from where he was standing, in the shadow of the canopy of the Narai Station building. He wouldn’t have stood out too much, if it wasn’t for the fact that he also had a sun umbrella open – “just in case”, according to him –. “This hour is simply outrageous.”

Someone save her. “You weren’t obligated to accompany us, you know.”

“No, actually, I was.” His eyes were shielded by sunglasses, but his tone of voice was suddenly very serious. “I won’t risk you two being in danger while I’m far and can’t do anything about it.”

At that point, Reisen simply sighed, knowing that it would’ve been no use to tell him that it was just a sport competition and that they would’ve been fine: the vampire still felt guilty about the chimaera, no matter how many times they tried to reassure him that he wasn’t at fault.

To her relief, however, she was effectively saved just a few minutes later, when the train of the Chūō Line arrived, perfectly on time, and they hopped on their assigned passenger car. While Nagai and Reisen chatted, Yukiya napped until they reached Agematsu Station half-an-hour later; Reisen managed to wake them long enough to change trains, but, as soon as they took their places on the Shinano, the kid promptly fell asleep on her shoulder, using it as a dubiously comfortable pillow.

“Yukiya here must’ve been pretty tired, huh?” Nagai commented.

Reisen glanced at them. They had been drowsy all the time for a few days, something very different from their usual chipper self, but she didn’t quite know the reason why: maybe they hadn’t been sleeping well, but they hadn’t told her, and she hadn’t asked. “Apparently, yeah.”

After that they chatted for a bit, but then switched to their favourite travelling activities. When they reached Nagoya Station, Nagai had nearly finished reading one of his magic books and Reisen had managed to finally listen to her favourite singer’s latest album. She felt all kinds of bad for waking the kid, but she couldn’t carry them on her back at the moment and the vampire’s arms had the strength of wet noodles – no offence to noodles all around the world –, therefore she roused them from their slumber so that they could get on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen.

“… Reisen? Are we there already?” they asked, blinking blearily.

“Not yet, sleepyhead, we still have some more to go.”

“Oh, okay.”

When, another fifty minutes later, they finally, finally reached the Shin-Osaka Station, Reisen started seeing the light – and not of a train, at last –. They hopped first on the Midōsuji Line and then on the Kita-Osaka Kyuko, until they reached Ryokuchi-kōen Station. From there they had to walk – and Reisen had to listen to the grievances of both Yukiya and Nagai –, but after twenty minutes they reached their destination. Seeing one of her favourite places ever – as well as the very reason why she chose the Kansai University in Osaka for her academic studies –, Reisen felt a spark of excitement and her tiredness evaporated. Suddenly, she couldn’t wait anymore.

“We’re here! Welcome to the Senriyama Central Gymnasium!” she exclaimed, turning to her travelling companions.

“Is it where you usually train?” asked Yukiya, who didn’t seem asleep on their feet anymore, looking at the building.

“Yeah!”

“Oh, Hagane!” piped up another voice from behind her, that Reisen would’ve recognised anywhere.

Sure enough, when she turned around, a very familiar woman in sportswear was smiling at her. “Teacher!”

“Good morning, Hagane, I’m glad you managed to make it. I’m sorry for the late notice, but the tournament got organised at the last minute.”

“No problem, it’s fine. Can we get in?”

“Sure, you and your friends can sit on the benches and get comfortable, but you can also start warming up however you prefer; the few other people who could come today are already inside the gymnasium. In any case, as I told you in my message, the tournament begins at one in the afternoon.”

“I see, thank you.” Reisen turned to Yukiya and Nagai. “Come on, let’s go, I want to show you a few things while we eat.”

They entered, to the vampire’s immense relief, and Reisen felt at home: a fencing gymnasium, that was where she was meant to be.

The kid’s eyes lighted up. “Cool!”

She grinned with barely suppressed excitement. “Right?”

While they ate their bentos, she explained to them the rules of the tournament and of épée fencing in particular, since it was her specialisation, pointing at the various needed components for a bout and even introducing her two épées, Corinne and Juniper, while she was at it.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you quite so fired up about something before” Yukiya commented, with an expression that was, somehow, both soft and mischievous, when she finished recounting a training anecdote.

Reisen’s flurry of motions stopped, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Well of course you haven’t, you only saw me dealing with magical problems up until now.”

“… I suppose you’re right.”

“In any case, it’s better if I change and start warming up. See you later!”

After that, everything went well until a little bit before the beginning of the tournament, when Reisen went to the locker room in order to put on her fencing gear. She was on the point of opening the door, but someone who was inside apparently got the same idea: she consequently lost her balance from a mix of surprise and misplaced force, and would’ve possibly fallen, but the other person caught her forearm in a strong grip and helped her to stay upright. Reisen looked up and found a girl her age – an épéeist too, judging from her equipment – with vermilion eyes and fiery red hair, long and wild like a lion mane.

She was beautiful, and was also frowning down at her. She seemed angry, but why would she be? They didn’t even know each other, and it wasn’t Reisen’s fault if they both tried to open the same door on different sides at the same time.

“Uh, thank you” she said in any case, because it was only polite. And then, because she didn’t want to have any problems, she added: “Sorry for the trouble.” When she tried to shake off the other’s hand, however, the girl tightened the grasp on her forearm. Her touch was scalding hot, more than what a human’s one should’ve probably been. “What…?”

“Hagane Reisen. That’s you, isn’t it?”

Reisen wasn’t really good at recognising people unless she met them often, but she was certain they had never even seen each other before, so how could the other know who she was? “Who’s asking?” she said warily.

“It doesn’t matter.” Only that it very much did. The space between them wasn’t that much already, but the girl pulled Reisen towards her with surprising force and got even closer, lowering down a bit and whispering to her ear. “You became a threat, so I’ll eliminate you in the tournament.” Although her touch was burning, her voice was frigid cold, and it sent shivers down Reisen’s spine.

Before Reisen could ask about what the hell she was talking about, however – because they weren’t in a spokon, and that was way too dramatic for what should have been a friendly competition –, the other finally let go of her arm and went past her, returning to the gymnasium, not without sending Reisen one last sharp glance.

Reisen was frozen on the spot, and her skin was tingling in all the points that had been in contact with the other’s grip; even more than that, Reisen was sure that she could’ve traced the contour of the girl’s fingers and palm. What had just happened? She had the feeling that she should’ve told Yukiya and Nagai about that encounter, so that maybe they could keep an eye on that girl, but a quick glance at the clock was all she needed to know that there was no time for that. If she didn’t hurry she wouldn’t have been able to participate in the tournament, and there was no force on the planet that would’ve prevented her from doing that, so she shook off all of those lingering feelings and put on her fencing gear, going back to the gymnasium just in time for her first bout.

She attached the body cord to her primary épée, Corinne, and to the reel of wire, making sure everything worked as it should by hitting first the gymnasium floor, then the piste and lastly her opponent’s weapon guard. She saluted her adversary in front of her, the referee to her left and the public to her right, and only then she put her mask on, being careful with her glasses, having already secured the few longer locks of her hair with two hairpins.

At the referee’s “En garde!” she seamlessly dropped into the combat stance, equipoised and light on her feet.

“Prêts?” There wasn’t even the need to ask: of course she was ready; she was born for that sport, to be on that piste and hold in her hand the familiar weight of her weapon of choice.

At last the referee exclaimed “Allez!”, and she sprang into action, propelled by the unique kind of excitement that fencing gave her, proceeding to win all of her bouts one after the other. Her opponents were quite skilled, but, after having had to fight and defeat an elemental chimaera, a friendly tournament where she could just have fun, without having to worry about being torn apart by beastly claws and dying, wasn’t something she would’ve lost in.

Everything went perfectly well, at least until she reached the final and found herself in front of an épéeist whose fiery red hair, albeit tied, were visible on the back of the mask. Now, Reisen had to admit that at some point she’d just stopped thinking about whatever had happened in the changing room, but she reasoned that the girl must’ve simply been one of those extremely competitive people that took everything very seriously.

She didn’t realise just how wrong she was until the bout started and the other closed the distance between them, hitting Reisen right in the stomach after a fast beat attack.

Reisen barely even heard the beeping of the scoreboard in her adversary’s favour, busy as she was with trying and failing to regain the functionality of her lungs after a blow that had no right to be that heavy.

That wasn’t normal.

She raised her head in the girl’s direction, and, even though she couldn't see the other’s expression through the mask, she knew with startling clarity that theirs wasn’t a friendly bout anymore: if Reisen wasn’t careful, she would’ve lost more than a simple match.