Worry

“Papa!” A little girl with sandy blonde hair tied into two pigtails,  tanned skin and crimson square-shaped irises in her eyes, calls. “I’m bored, can’t we go home already?” She wore a pink ballerina outfit and had a tiara with pink bunny ears.

The child was sitting on the shoulders of a slender man. He has a toned skin complexion, long sandy blonde hair that goes past his shoulders with a tall strand going straight right at the center of his head. His eyes are the same color as the girl's, with his being in the shape of an octagon.

He wears dark-blue jeans, black shoes, a light green shirt, and a lab coat over his shoulders. At his head, the same pink tiara that the little girl wore.

“Not yet, dear.” Replied the father while holding onto what seemed like a cigarette. “Papa needs to see this through the end.” As it turns out, the item between his fingers was in fact a lollipop, one with a stick that was suspiciously cigarette-shaped.

“Gah! Fine!” With a groan, the youngster crosses her little arms and pouts cutely.

The man just chuckles, before focusing his attention back on the soccer field down from where they stood. It was a bit hard to see, but the bridge was the safest place for him to watch the battle without being noticed.

“Let’s see what I’m working with here.”

***

Izumi wastes no time after her declaration. She quickly closed in on the boy from the right, while his rogue uniform attacked him from the left.

Their pincer attack made it difficult for the brunet to dodge, by their angle and speed, it was simply not possible for him to go backwards. The sides were obviously not an option, and going forward would leave his back completely open. Blocking also wasn’t an option against two opponents.

“Toh!”

So instead, Hiroto went up.

That too was a risky option, but he was very confident in his jumping abilities. He sprung high into the air, at a height that would take her at least a couple of seconds to reach him, and that was enough for the boy to think of a pla-

“Heh, bad choice Kanzaki-kun!” The silver-haired teen smirks as she pulls the scarf off her shoulder in a dramatic fashion. “You’re not going anywhere!” Almost as if alive, the piece of cloth wrapped itself around her hand. “C’mere!” Izumi shoots the silky cloth towards the brunet.

In normal circumstances, that would be completely idiotic. The scarf would at best just scratch his foot and fall down without doing much of anything, but thanks to what the girl’s Mahōgan ability, the silky cloth simply wrapped around both his feet, like a snake would to bind its prey.

Holding into the makeshift chain with her other hand, Izumi pulled Hiroto back down, slamming him against the ground.

“Gurgh!” He groans in pain at the feeling of the hard, grassed floor against his back. “W-Wha!?” Before he can even process what had transpired, the living uniform jumps atop of his chest and binds both of his hands using its sleeves. “Gah! T-This thing is s-strong!”

While he was being held in place, Izumi approached with a smile on her lips. “Now then, how about we end this?” She lifts her leg high up into the sky and prepares to strike. “Au revoir, mon chéri!”

As the silver-haired girl brings her foot down towards his stomach like a guillotine going for an old king’s neck. Hiroto closes his eyes and thinks. ‘Guh! Guess I’ll have to use it!’

He opens his eyes and a powerful glow emanates from them. “Hah!” With a sudden burst of strength, he sets himself free by tearing both the scarf binding his legs and the sleeves of his uniform. Moving his hands down, he manages to barely block the girl’s stomp while also grabbing onto her foot. “GAH!” He pushes her away, sending Izumi stumbling back and away from him.

“What!? How did he-“ The silver-haired teen takes a couple of seconds to process that exchange.

By all accounts, he shouldn’t have been able to block, let alone counter unless his speed and reactions were at a superhuman level.

Hiroto jumps back into feet and uses that small opportunity to finally get on the offensive. His unexpected counter seemed to have made his opponent lose her balance, both physically and mentally, for some seconds.

But that was all he needed.

Dashing towards the taller teen in an absurd display of speed, the brunet was able to easily close the gap between them. “Huh!” He grabs her arm and positions his foot behind hers. “Hyah!” Hiroto flips Izumi over his shoulder, slamming her into the ground.

Once she crashes on the floor, he quickly clenches his fist and brings it down towards her fac-

‘N-Noooo! S-stop!’

Suddenly, a flash of memory goes through Hiroto’s mind, and the boy stops his fist right before it makes contact with the girl’s face. Just the act of stopping his strike was enough to send a small shockwave that even Umiko at the bench was able to feel.

“…” For a moment, the only sounds echoing through the field were the heavy breathing of both fighters and the howling wind of the afternoon. “Let’s… stop here.” He looks away from the fallen maiden and nervously bites his lip.

A shocked Izumi looked at the boy’s face and once again found that strange expression, except this time, her eyes moved down to his hand, and she saw that he-

-he was quivering.

“Kanzaki-kun?”

***

“How amusing.” The blond man chuckles to himself. “Kids nowadays sure are strong, eh?” He takes one last look at the teenagers down the bridge, before turning around and calling for the little girl. “Hey Laura! Let’s go home.”

She was just a couple feet away from him, playing with a beetle she found flying around. “Yay!” Giggling, the youngster puts the insect back on the ground and waves to it, then she runs up to her father and holds his hand. “Papa! Can we have yakisoba for dinner?”

Holding onto her little hand, the man smirks. “Sure dear, we can.”

The two then disappear into the orange of the sunset.

***

Umiko quickly ran towards the duo with an excited expression on her face. “That was awesome!” She shouts while reaching the two. “But, why did you sto-“

“That should be enough, right?” The brunet interrupts her with a rushed tone, still looking away from them.

It really wasn’t, but the bluenette had a feeling that she shouldn’t say that. “You two were on top of your game. It was really amazing to watch.”

Standing up and dusting herself, Izumi smiles softly. “Indeed. It was quite fun for such a short-notice bout.” She then extends her hand towards the brunet. “I haven’t had that much fun in a good, long while.”

It takes some seconds for him to grabs it back. “Y-Yeah. You’re really strong.” Definitely a lot more than he was expecting. “And that Mahōgan of yours is pretty crazy.”

The tall girl chuckles. “I know right?” She winks at him. “But you dealt with it pretty fast, it normally takes a couple of minutes for people to understand what it does.”

Hiroto scratches his cheek. “To be fair, that was mostly luck. I didn’t really underst-“

Before they could continue their conversation, a loud song emanates from their school bags lying by the bench.

Recognizing the tune as being the one from his phone, the brunet excuses himself and goes towards the benches. He picks up the singing device and flips it open. “Hello?”

“Hiro-chan!”

The sudden, loud sound of his mother’s voice makes the boy wince as he pulls the phone away from his ear. “Mom?”

While he was receiving a scolding through the mobile device, Izumi and Umiko were by the field talking about the battle.

“Guess you didn’t lose your edge after a year without dueling, eh?” The blue-haired girl commented while handing her companion a water bottle.

“Well, I did keep up with my exercises. It’s been a good while since the last time I actually fought someone.” Gulping down the divine liquid that conquered her thirst, the taller teen let out a satisfied moan as she finished the bottle. “I'm surprised at myself, thought I would be a lot more rusty.”

The two continue to make small talk until the brunet comes back.

“Sorry. Mom got worried sick because I haven’t gone back home yet.” He looked at the orange sky, noting to himself how he didn’t even notice time fly by. “Sorry, but I gotta go home now.”

“It’s okay, today was pretty great for our first day as kinda-official-but-not-really club.” Umiko smiled at her own joke, before giving the boy a thumbs up. “Hopefully tomorrow will be even better!”

The brunet chuckles slightly. “Yeah, I-“ Pausing for a second, he seems unsure of what to say. “-had fun.” His tone was once again unsure but at least he seemed happy about it.

Hiroto then looks at his torn uniform lying on the soccer field and worriedly sighs, it didn’t take a genius to understand what he was worried about. ‘There goes this month’s allowance' was written all over his expression.

Before he can move in and retrieve the damaged gakuran, Izumi walks in front of him and waves her finger right at the boy’s eyes. “Non, non, non!” Resting her hands at her own hips, she says. “Don’t even think of grabbing that uniform!”

“Huh? Why?” The brunet asks as the taller girl moves in past him and collects the shirt.

“It’s my fault that your uniform ended up like this, so I shall take responsibility and fix it myself!” She proudly announces, making the boy laugh awkwardly.

“There’s no need, I wouldn’t want to impo-“

“Non chérie, j’insiste!” Izumi shouts, startling the star-eyed boy. “As a member of the fashion club, I cannot allow a mistake of mine to ruin someone else’s style!”

A little far-fetched to say she ruined his style, well, it’s not like he had one to begin with.

But she wasn’t done yet. “And, as a fellow club mate, I cannot let you walk around in poor rags.”

“R-Rags?” That was a brand-new uniform his mother bought specifically for high school! How was that a rag?

“Actually-” Izumi glares at the uniform, then at him. “-I think there’s more to be done about it than just fixing it.” Seeing his confused expression at her words, the tall teen explains. “I’m talking about making your uniform into a custom. What do you think?”

“A custom?” He makes a contemplative expression. “I never thought about it.”

Yumehara was known for having some really lax rules about uniform customization, something about incentivizing students to be more creative.

“Here.” The silver-haired girl snatched the boy’s phone from his hand and quickly typed something onto it. “My number, so you can tell me in more detail what you want in your uniform.” She winks. “Plus, you can brag to your friends about having a pretty girl’s number!”

Izumi was expecting a lot of blushing and stuttering, but yet again the boy just sighed awkwardly. “Sure. If you insist.”

“Nice one Izumi! That’s a great idea!” Umiko suddenly yells, then also takes Hiroto’s phone from his hand. “Here, have my number too!”

To that he did blush, and shook his head. “S-Sure.”

‘So no reaction to me, but blushing for Umiko-chan?' The taller teen smirks. “Oh, I get it.” She mutters to herself with a chuckle. “Anyways, I’ll go over the details with you later.”

Hiroto nods and the trio says their goodbyes. Soon enough the two girls are left alone at the soccer field.

They don’t waste any more time dawdling and start making their way back to school.

“He’s quite the figure, isn’t he?” Izumi comments as the afternoon breeze flies past the duo.

“Yes and pretty strong to boot!” Umiko smiles proudly. “My manager eye never fails me, hohoho!” They reach a crossroad and stop, waiting for the sign to turn green. “Although.” Sighing, the bluenette adds. “There’s definitely something strange about the way he fights.”

“So you noticed it too, huh?”

“How could I not? It was so obvious.”

Throughout the entirety of the duel, Hiroto didn’t take the initiative once, even when there was an opportunity. Only in that last strike that he went on the offensive and well, he asked to stop the battle right after.

It didn’t exactly take a genius to notice that something was up with him.

“That speed when he attacked me and the power of that punch.” Izumi stops in place and looks at the uniform in her hand. “If that hit, I would be out for the count.” The sign finally changes colors to green and the two cross the road.

The blue-haired girl sighs while looking up at the orange sky. “Too bad he won’t be around for long.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t really explain it to you!” Laughing awkwardly, she explains. “Well, there was a change of plans-“

Through the rest of the way to school, Umiko explained the club’s current circumstances in detail. Once the two had reached the gate to the large building, the silver-haired girl was now completely in the loop.

“I see.”

“Dropping a bomb like that on you out of nowhere doesn’t seem fair now that I think about it.” The blue-haired girl awkwardly scratches the back of her head. “It’s understandable if you don’t want to help me out anymore and-“

“Why are you acting like I’m out?” Izumi smirks. “I certainly wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to see the Kurohane boys in action, right up close~”

‘Of course that’s what she is interested in.’ Umiko chuckles at the other girl. “Thank you Izumi, that means a lot.”

With that, the two say their goodbyes and the first day of the dueling club comes to a close.