Rough edges

Takumi woke up feeling groggy, with tired eyes and sore on the top of his head and other places where he got hit the day before.

Takumi: (i did not have a good night sleep, i feel terrible)

Yuriko: You're finally awake, took you long enough, when is breakfast coming?

She was sitting on her improvised bed, also visibly tired, Amano slept in her plushie form like if she was a lapdog

Takumi: breakfast? I don't eat that. Also, why are you wearing my clothes?, i hung that shirt to use it today

Yuriko: Was I supposed to sleep on this cold hard floor naked? such nonsense. call whoever does the laundry, all my clothes are in that backpack. and what do you mean “you don't eat that”? breakfast is breakfast, bring it now.

Takumi: you have some nerve to be bossing me in my own house, why should i—

He took a deep breath, imagined himself under a waterfall, and regained inner calm

Takumi: pick up the blankets and put them on the closet and i’ll take your clothes to the laundromat later

Yuriko: stop treating me like a kid, peasant

his inner calm didn’t last long

Takumi: I'm just trying to help you grow up and you’re acting like you own me again, why did I even accept to help you?

Amano.. huh? wa’s going on? good mornin’

Takumi: wake up, deity of exhibitionism, make your idiot priestess get her act together or im throwing you guys out

Yuriko: “idiot” ? i really need to put you in your place

Amano: Wait wait guys, lets calm down, remember, the walls are thin, we don't wanna disturb the neighbors, right?, right?

Yuriko: he started, i cant just let his arrogance slide

Takumi: sure, whatever, i wont be late for school because of you, i better find this place clean when i come back or im really throwing you out

Takumi got out of his apartment, ran his usual morning jog to school, angry at all the things that had happened in the span of less than 24 hours.

The same road he jogged every day now felt very long and grueling, he was already tired before getting to his destination. When he finally reached his university, later than usual, he was drenched in sweat and gasping for air. A taxi dropped Sato off shortly after

Sato: well well, what do we have here?, told ya you should just take the taxi

Takumi: shut... shut up man, im not in the mood

Sato: is that so?, see ya in class then, dont forget to shower, i can smell you from here

Takumi could not reply because he choked on his own spit combined with the cold winter wind

When he tried to picture himself under a waterfall in the gym showers, what he got instead was a bone chilling rain of cold water against his tired body. He gritted his teeth and their chattering generated echoes all over the bathroom. he had to hastily wash himself and got out of there without properly cleaning some spots off soap

when he tried to do his stretches, he felt stiff and prone to injure himself at any moment, there was no time to enjoy the morning sky, he was running late for class. he tried to not fall asleep and got embarrassed by the smug teachers more than once when they noticed how his head was bobbing. When he tried to sleep between classes or during lunch, Sato and others approached him, he was too tired to properly reply, so he would just walk out

school was finally over, it was time to jog back to his neighborhood. He tried to cover some distance but gave up, so he decided to take the bus, a small but meaningful hit to his ever shrinking wallet.

he arrived to the dojo later than usual, Hinami was already there training with the master

Hinami: oh Takumi, you’re finally here?, woah, looks like school was rough

Takumi: good afternoon, and yeah, it was

Master: good afternoon, you are 10 minutes late, you know what that means heh heh heh

Takumi: right, 100 push ups…

Takumi was too tired to do his exercises as fast as he was used to, but he refused to give up. When the class was halfway over, he had to bring himself down to Hinami’s pace or he would collapse

Hinami: its been a while since we trained together hehe, if only Yamazaki showed up today, the council of black belts would be complete

Master: yes, Yamazaki, you, Takumi, Ryotaro, Azama, Kairi, Jean Paul—

Hinami: oh teacher, I doubt those will be coming back, Jean Paul returned to France, and the others, well, they are more into Kiseki Code fighting so…

Master: a Master can only have faith in his students heh heh heh

Takumi: …how can you say that after how they looked down on us?, they stole our Karate and teach it like if they invented it, they even refuse to call it by its name, they say its called “Kiseki-based CQB” or some nonsense like that

Master: hmm… when you give from the bottom of your heart, you must not expect anything in return, love is just given

Takumi: yeah but, at least they should be grateful, not putting on an entitled attitude!

Master: hmm… when we are in need, we feel very small and cornered. A small cornered animal might bite the hand that feeds it. When you help someone, you must accept you can be bitten

Takumi: Why should I even help people like that?, if they can't even control themselves, and they’ll just act entitled and bossy

Máster: when you help others, think of them, not of you, only then you’ll understand why. Helping is not something easy, young one, it takes someone very strong to help others, like me, heh heh heh

Hinami: I don't understand, who acted bossy? Was it Ryoutaro or Azama?

Takumi: none of them, I was thinking of someone else, sorry

Master: oh? someone “entitled and bossy”? heh heh

Takumi: not only that!, they’re also spoiled, they act high and mighty, and their morality is twisted, i cant ever see myself agreeing with them. I just wanted to help because I tried to follow your teachings but… i guess im not as strong as i thought

Master: quite the predicament. i think you should firstly live your life, don't try to follow my steps, look where that has led me heh heh. but if you truly feel it in your heart, remember that we are all different, but we’re also very similar, we all know hunger, cold, and fear, and how it makes us act. Would you yell at a starving kid that spits the natto you feed him? heh

Takumi: …it just caught me by surprise back then, but im grateful for it

Hinami: oh? story time of how you met the teacher?, i want to hear!

Takumi: Not today, I have something to do. Thank you for the class

Takumi arrived to his apartment door and took a deep breath

he walked into what seemed like a burglary scene, there were things on the floor, some others looked like they were moved and hastily put back, at least the blankets where the girls slept were not on the floor, instead, it was them who were lying there

Takumi: Good evening, care to explain this mess?

Amano: oh?, you’re finally back, i can feel my strength returning, hmm, this means the linking mark does have a range, if we are separated, the link is temporarily disconnected and i lose access to your energy

Yuriko: …do you see?... I cleaned the place, just like you demanded… i tried to, clean over there but i dont really know how, and im… very hungry

Takumi:... not bad for your first time, i guess. im also hungry, let me reheat the food so we can eat

The girls regained enough strength to stand up and wait impatiently for the food, Yuriko asking if it was ready yet every 2 minutes. When the hot convenience store food was finally on the table, the excited shine on their eyes blurred away

Takumi: what? were you expecting a 5 star meal?, im no chef, go back home if you want to eat fancy

Yuriko: hmph, you are a cruel man, this is barely enough to keep us alive

Takumi: “us” ? the spirit also eats?

Amano: Don't worry about me, just let me have the spring roll and I'll be alright. I can't put more weight on you

Yuriko: r-right, i am her priestess, i’ll share half with her. We can't put you under more financial stress, you already spent all your money after all

Takumi: looks like hunger really messed you guys up, what happened to yesterday’s attitude?

Yuriko: hmph, since we have no games to play, all we could do was reflect all day…

Amano: We can't just treat you like that after all your help… Why are you looking at us like that? start eating already

Takumi: … you can have this one, i dont like this brand, i’ll just reheat the tasty one for myself

Yuriko: you truly are a cruel man