Izumi Kayoko

“I assure you darling, your ears do not deceive you!” Izumi chuckles at his dumbfounded reaction.

“Why though?”

“Well, you see-“ The girl giddily jumps in place. “-I am an admirer of the male physique and my stipulation to help out other clubs is that they provide me with a boy for me to gawk at to my heart's content!” She blushes while hugging herself and giggling. “Oh! But I don’t just enjoy pretty boys! I like'em manly and cute too!”

That was so incredibly shameless that the brunet was left completely stunned. Her words felt like something a pervert would say, but he had a feeling she was more on the side of eccentricity than anything malicious.

At the very least, he hoped it was just that.

Shaking his head to get snap out of his stun, the boy comments. “I didn’t exactly see any boys outside…”

“Oh, dear! Fashion is my passion and I would join the fashion club even if the only members were some of the ugliest gals to ever step on this earth.” With a chuckle, the taller girl adds. “Thankfully, all the girls around here are beautiful in their own ways!”

Well, she was quite direct and the brunet was certain that at some point she most definitely called someone ugly to their face without any regrets. Still, apparently he was passable at her ‘pretty boy’ scale, and that was… hopefully a good thing.

“But-“ There still some questions the boy had. “-how strong are you really?”

“Are you doubting my abilities?” Changing into a serious expression, Izumi glares at his direction.

“U-Uh, sorry if that offended you, that wasn’t my-“ Hiroto tries to explain himself, but is interrupted by the silver-haired girl’s laugh.

“Ohohoho! Sorry dear, you just looked so easy to tease!” With a hearty laugh, the silver-haired girl waves her hand. “I was actually a member of the junior dueling club back at my old middle-school.” She explains with a nostalgic smile on her face. “My original plan when I transferred to this school was to have the dueling club as my secondary club, but it only had one member and well-“ Looking at bluenette, the taller teen chuckles. “-She’s not exactly a boy, and I already have my fill of looking at chicks in the fashion club.”

Hiroto sends a glance towards Umiko that said: ‘She’s quite the odd duck, isn’t she?’

To which the blue-haired girl replied with a nod that meant: ‘You don’t even know the first about it.’

“Anyways!” Izumi shouts, getting back the duo’s attention. “As I was saying.” Walking towards one of the mannequins in the room, she stands by its side and smiles. “I may not look like someone that enjoys a good brawl, but I assure you that I quite do.” Holding onto the dark-blue scarf the faceless doll and pulls it off in a dramatic fashion. “And to prove my abilities, how about a friendly bout between you and me?” She wraps the long silky cloth around her shoulders.

“Huh?” Hiroto gasps as the taller girl approaches him and lifts his chin with her finger.

“That’s fine, isn’t it?”

Jet-black meets blue as their eyes focus on each other for a moment. Truth be told, Izumi was expecting a lot of blushing and stutters to come out of the brunet, she had that effect on boys, and it was quite fun to tease them with it, but to her surprise, she was only met with a strange look from Hiroto.

It was a mix of doubt, anxiousness, and weirdly enough, a bit of something else she couldn’t pinpoint, although he was obviously trying to hide that last one.

“D-Do we even have the time for that?” The star-eyed boy asks while stepping away from Izumi. “Don’t we need to recruit the third member?”

“…” Umiko was silent through that whole interaction. She had a thoughtful look on her face. “Actually-“ Looking towards Hiroto, she adds. “-I think Izumi’s idea is pretty good.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, while you did do something impressive when you saved me that day, that was just kinda it.” Says the bluenette as she crosses her arms. “I don’t actually have any idea of how you fight or your combat prowess. A duel between you two would help me grasp your strength and also serve as a reminder to how strong Izumi is.” As she explains, the smaller girl smiles and adds while winking. “Plus I’d love to see how my knight in shining armor fights!”

What she said was obviously a jest, but the brunet couldn’t help but blush slightly at her words, to which Izumi took notice of.

“… urgh.” Hiroto groaned, knowing that her logic was pretty sound and also because he just couldn’t argue against Umiko’s unique brand of cuteness. “Fine.”

Clasping her hands together, the silver-haired girl chuckles. “Wonderful! I know just the place for it too!” With a flick of her scarf, she moves towards the door. “Let’s not waste any more time!” She stops just before grabbing the doorknob. “Oh, and my name is Izumi Kayoko.” The taller teen finally introduces herself to the boy.

With a sigh, he replies. “Kanzaki Hiroto.”

***

Hiroto found himself stretching by the corner of a soccer field close to the river that went right across town. He was obviously tense and staring at his opponent on the other side of the arena just made the boy even more nervous.

Just the fact that this was going to be his first battle in a couple of years was already stressful enough, but to add more to his nerves, they had to be quick about it too. Duels are forbidden on public spaces without a permit for exhibition matches, and he doubted that this little soccer field by the river would have that.

At least the place was located at an angle that made it somewhat hidden from the main roads unless you’re looking for it.

“Are you ready?” Izumi asks in a calm tone.

“Yeah.” Sighing, the brunet slaps his own cheeks and focuses on his breathing. “It’s just a friendly bout, no need to get upset over it.” He whispers, then takes another deep breath.

Umiko was sitting by the benches at a safe distance from them, or as safe as a duel without barriers could provide to someone. Hopefully she would be out of the line of fire.

Lifting her arm, the blue-haired teen announces. “Ready?” She brings her arm and shouts. “Go!”

As soon as the starting word comes out of Umiko’s mouth, Izumi bursts forth at an incredible speed towards Hiroto.

“Woah!” The brunet steps back and takes a defensive position. “She’s fast!”

In the blink of an eye, the silver-haired teen had crossed the soccer field in a ridiculous showing of pure speed. Once she got close to the boy, Izumi jumped and spun around in the air.

By the way her legs moved into a specific position after she left the ground, Hiroto predicted a spinning kick to try and pin down his defense. With that logic, he put his defenses more on the upper part of his body.

‘Gotcha!’ The silver-haired girl smirks.

“Huh?!”

Antithetically to what he predicted, she landed after the spin instead of kicking and because of how her legs were situated during the faint, it made her land in a way that left her in the prime position for a follow-up attack.

“Hah!” Izumi used her open palm to strike the boy’s chest, but to her surprise, he was able to block it in the last second.

The impact of her attack was strong enough to move both of them away from each other. Hiroto used the momentum from her attack to jump back and create even more distance between the two.

“That’s-“ A smile forms on the taller girl’s face. “-incredible!”

While to a layman’s eyes that exchange might not seem like much, the way he was able to react to her faint so quickly and get out of that exchange basically unscathed was a very clear sign of his combat prowess.

Hiroto took a deep breath and focused on Izumi’s position. She was obviously fast and by her choice of opening move, clearly knowledgeable of battle flow and strategy. ‘You really can’t judge a book by its cover, eh?' The boy felt his heart starting to beat faster a small smirk appeared on his lips, before he shook his head. ‘Need to focus!'

He didn’t have the time for that however, because his opponent closed in and started to throw out palm strikes and powerful kicks, locking him into a defensive stance.

Because of the length of her slender legs, she was able to use her kicks from a safer distance that made it difficult for the boy to counter without taking any large risks himself. Not just that, but her palm strikes were fast and relentless, so he was stuck in her amazing pressure.

‘Her movements-‘ While doing his best to dodge and defend, the brunet noticed something. ‘-It’s almost like a dance.’

From her excellent footwork to her powerful yet elegant strikes, Izumi had a rhythm that was hard to grasp, let alone predict.

She is quite the fighter.

‘Time to bring out the big guns!’ With a swift change in her movements, the silver-haired teen managed to land an attack on his left rib. “Ataerugan!” She whispers as her jet-black eyes light up and a reddish sparkle pops out of her open hand.

“Lightning!?" The brunet shouts while jumping away from the girl. “No. Her eyes don’t look like a Gensogan, so it must be something else.” He brings his hand to the place where she struck him. “Huh?” Hiroto was expecting at least a bit of pain, but instead he didn’t feel anything. “That’s strang- gah!”

Suddenly, he feels something tightly squeeze his chest, strong enough to make him lose his breath.

Before he can even try to understand what’s happening, Izumi’s tall figure appears in front of him. She takes advantage of his situation to kick the boy right in the gut, sending him tumbling down into the ground. “I know how breathtaking I can be, but please at least try to pay attention!” She laughs at her own joke while the brunet continues to struggle with his current predicament.

‘I-It’s even s-squeezing my arm-' at that thought, it clicked in Hiroto’s mind. “Hah!” With a lot of effort, he is able to undo the buttons of his gakuran and tosses it away, leaving him only in his white undershirt.

Once the uniform landed on the ground, it did something that took the boy by complete surprise.

It got up on its sleeves like a gorilla without its head and legs!

“Pretty neat, eh?” Izumi chuckled while moving her hand down. “The real show-“ Touching her scarf, a surge of red sparkle come into contact with the cloth. “-starts now!”