Man on a Mission (Part 1)

Mirrors don’t lie.

My pajamas were disheveled, like always, and my cheek was red from where my pillow had been, as expected. My eyes were barely half-open, and my crimson hair was messy like it always was.

So yeah, mirrors don’t lie. But if that was the case, then why did I have a pair of cat ears on my head?

“Huh?” was all that left my mouth.

I was mostly human. Half to be precise. All my life I’d been cat-ear-free, something like that wouldn’t change overnight. But the truth couldn’t be ignored, I now had ears…except I had a pretty good idea why.

“Ta-da!” a high-pitched voice let out behind me. “Now we’re more alike!”

From the mirror, my best friend Kokoro bounced from my shoulders and stuck her cheek against mine. On her short blue hair was a pair of cat ears like mine. But hers weren’t stiff and unnaturally pointy. Her ears twitched naturally, and moved happily side-to-side.

Those were real, authentic, cat ears.

I pulled off the fake ears, “These don’t look good on me.”

“I beg to differ,” she took the headband, “I think it makes you look a lot like your dad. He’s a pretty handsome guy.”

“Are you hitting on my dad right now?”

“I mean if he’s available~ ♥”

I flicked her head.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” she massaged her forehead, “You look handsome even without them.”

“That’s not really what I’m concerned with.”

I turned on the faucet and splashed some water on my face. I didn’t bother kicking Kokoro out of the bathroom. She wasn’t one for listening to what I said anyway.

As I washed my face, I heard some shuffling coming from behind. I hadn’t heard Kokoro leave, so she was probably up to something. Then something like cloth fell to the floor. I had started to form an idea of what she was doing, but once she turned on the shower, I knew I had fully caught on.

She was undressing.

“Taking a shower?” I asked nonchalantly.

She poked my back and answered, “Yes, so don’t turn around~” she giggled.

At her request, like the gentleman I was, I of course…

…turned around.

My face was still drenched, but through squints, I could see her blurry silhouette. Unlike what the sound might’ve implied, Kokoro was standing there, fully clothed.

She laughed, “Are you really that desperate to see me naked?” Turning off the shower, Kokoro picked up the towel she dropped and tossed it to me.

“No,” I dried my face. “I know when you’re lying.” I tossed the towel back on the rack. “Plus, it’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.” It might’ve been when we were younger, but the point still stands.

“Pfft, you’re no fun,” she said with a pout and stormed out of the bathroom. But after only a few seconds, she peeked her head out the side of the door frame and said, “You’re making breakfast today, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there in a bit.”

“Hurry up then!” she said before closing the door behind her.

This was a normal morning at the Tsutsumi household.

Kokoro, my aunt, and I lived under one roof and had done so for the past three months. Since then, we made a system for who cooked what day. Today just happened to be my turn.

After breakfast, on weekdays, Kokoro and I would go to school and my aunt would go to work. On weekends, none of us had any obligations, so we lazed around for most of the day. Well, at least I did. The other two were hellbent on “working out” because it's “healthy”. I, on the other hand, had studying to do.

As luck might have it, today was the weekend. Unfortunately for me, neither Kokoro nor my aunt would let me enjoy it.

A wooden sword smacked me at the top of my head.

“Ow,” I let out monotoned.

“Come on, at least try to block it,” Kokoro drew back her sword.

Unlike the pajamas she’d worn all morning, her new attire was more appropriate for moving. It consisted of black shorts and a dark purple sports bra. It’s what she usually wore while working out.

Unlike her, I was much less prepared. I wore a tracksuit I’d kept collecting dust in my closet and that was it. It was even a bit tight, having been the same one I used in middle school.

Before I knew it, Kokoro swung her sword again, creating a horizontal arc aimed at my arm. I quickly launched myself back, narrowly avoiding her strike.

“You know, you’d probably get better if you stopped leering at me every five seconds,” she smirked.

“As if there was anything to leer at,” I shot back as I lazily swung my sword. And as expected, Kokoro parried it with minimal effort.

She swung again, towards my chest this time. I quickly lowered my sword, blocking her attack by a hair’s breadth. A loud Clack resonated across the small training room.

“Hey, that was actually hard!”

“You gotta learn somehow,” Kokoro grinned maniacally.

“Learn what?”

“To get serious of course,” she smiled.

Something told me that wasn’t the full truth, but I wasn’t going to push my luck.

But suddenly, a shiver ran down my spine. A looming threat cast its shadow on the floor in front of me. Kokoro’s eyes widened. She pulled my arm and clutched me against her chest before quickly raising her sword again.

CRACK!

The very ground rattled after what sounded like an explosion. I could hear Kokoro gritting her teeth as she was pushed to her knees. And I, of course, got dragged down with her.

“Heh, you think your puny sword is enough to go against the very essence of strength!?” A voice boomed.

Kokoro grunted, “My sword is justice. My strength, a reflection of that. I won’t fall to the likes of you!”

I sighed.

The position I was in wasn’t all that flattering, but I would probably have to stay like this for a little while longer.

Kokoro and the woman who served as the newfound opponent stood at a standstill. Each side, presumably, using every fiber of their being to withhold the other’s force. The wooden sword creaked from the stress. They threatened to snap at any second.

“So you say,” the woman spat, “but no matter how much you struggle, how much you fight, the ending to this journey has already been decided!” the woman pushed harder, making Kokoro’s sword nearly reach her own face.

“Heh,” with a single sound, Kokoro began pushing back.

“What, impossible!”

“You can say whatever you want, but I have something else I’m fighting for,” she took a glance at me, her glittering eyes locking with mine. “For my sweet Angelie, I could take on the world!” Like it was nothing, Kokoro tossed the woman’s sword back and launched it out of her hand.

“…That’s not my name,” I murmured.

“I…I lost?” The woman fell to the ground, devastated.

“That’s because,” Kokoro stood and drew me in until our hips touched. I was like a rescued helpless maiden. “Nothing beats love and justice,” she triumphantly raised her sword in the air.

A long silence filled the room. I decided to cut through that with a slow clap, dragging the two women out of character.

“Thank you, thank you,”

The two of them held hands and bowed.

“We’ll be here all day.”

Alright, bit over.

“So what was that for?” I felt compelled to ask.

“To show you how serious you need to be,” the woman wearing an outfit similar to Kokoro said. This woman was Ina Tsutsumi, my aunt. She was every bit the athletic that she looked to be and was more fit than most people I had ever met. I mean, her abs looked hard enough to block a sword strike from a proper sword.

And by the cat ears on her head, it was evident she was part of the Pantherian side of my family.

“Did you really have to recreate an entire scene from a movie to show that?”

After gulping down an entire bottle of water, Kokoro said, “It drives the point easier.”

“I don’t think it does…”

If that whole impromptu scene wasn’t telling enough, Kokoro and my aunt had become close friends since living together. The scene was from one of their favorite bad movies that they rewatched hundreds of times. I hadn’t personally seen it, but I’d heard enough about it while talking to them to get the gist of it.

I picked up my practice sword, “Why do I have to practice though? It’s not like I’m doing that bad in my sword fighting class—”

Kokoro swung down towards my head. This time, I instinctively blocked it. It might’ve not been the smoothest block, but it was enough to not be killed in combat. Not that there were sword fights in this day in age, but if there were, my head would still be on my shoulders.

“So what you’re saying is that you need to practice in the things you’re struggling in,” she pulled the sword back and swung it horizontally.

“I never said that,” I squeaked out.

I really was saying that, but mentioning it right now wasn’t something I wanted to do.

Suddenly, from my left, my aunt swung her own sword down, forcing me to dodge it last second.

“You’re struggling with something? Huh, I always took you for a snobby genius,” she pulled back and fainted a swing, cuing Kokoro to swing from my right.

“You haven’t heard? He’s terrible in history,” her swing struck me on the side. “He would immediately fail the class if they were to put in the grades in the system today.”

“Really? I never would’ve expected that,” Ina took the opening made by Kokoro’s swing to strike my sword. With perfect accuracy, she launched it straight out of my hand.

After the barrage of swings, I knelt down and tried to catch my breath, “…Haa…haa…can you two not talk about me while I’m fighting for my life…?”

I might’ve not been bad at the sword, but I wasn’t Kokoro or Ina strong. Those two were monsters in their own right.

“How much longer until they put in the grades? Like two months?” Kokoro asked.

Finally catching my breath, I answered, “One month, sixteen days, and thirteen hours…to be exact.”

Kokoro nodded. She slowly walked up to me and pat my head, “With a memory like that, remembering history stuff should be a breeze.” She looked down at her hand which was now covered in my sweat and cleaned it off on my tracksuit’s sleeve.

“If only it were that easy…” I sighed.

My memory was impeccable, if I were to humbly say, but history was much too boring for my brain to process any information. Still, it wasn’t like I could just blow this off. It was essential for my life not to fall apart and crumble to ash…or something like that.

“…Guess I’ll head to the library then…” I slowly turned towards the exit.

But then, I was stopped by the blade in Ina’s hand, dangerously close to my throat. “You better not be saying that just to skip out on training.”

“Why would I do that…?” I asked knowing full well that was partially what I was doing.

“Come on, it’s not like he’s going to go hang out with some girl or something, right?” Kokoro interjected. “If anything, I wish that was the case. The way things are going, I fear the Tsutsumi lineage will have a branch cut off,” she finished dramatically.

“Yeah…you’re right…” Ina looked thoroughly concerned. She put a hand on my shoulder and nodded, “Go out there and find a girlfriend.”

“My feelings can be hurt you know?”

Now, with a stab at my pride, I put away my sword and headed towards the exit. “I’m going to the library.”

“You better have every corner of history memorized by the time you come back!” Kokoro yelled.

“Don’t hold your breath on that.”

I slid the door open and left, but not before hearing my aunt yell out, “Make sure you talk to at least one cute girl before coming back!”

Not thinking that warranted a response, I closed the door behind me.

As if that would happen…