A Not So Romantic First Meeting

I felt transfixed by the scarlet eyes staring back at me, my breath caught in my throat. I had never seen someone with this eye colour and coupled with her pitch-black hair, even I found myself captured by her beauty. However, I was above such trivialities as romance and that wouldn’t be swayed.

I upturned my nose and cocked my head to the side, as if to provide myself a physical reminder not to engage with this woman. When I looked back towards her, she was much closer to me than I had remembered and was fast approaching. When I sharpened my gaze, I noticed a black sword in her hand, brandished in such a way that she was clearly preparing to strike.

My immediate response was to lift my arms in front of me to defend myself, but when I tried to lift up my arms, I noticed that my hands had gripped onto something as well. Correctly assuming this item to be a sword, I quickly drew it in front of me to block the strike. The force of the impact was much stronger than I expected, despite the fact I blocked it. My centre of balance was thrown backward and my hands waved around uncontrollably above my head.

The woman then immediately followed up with a well placed strike at the hilt of my sword, forcing it out of my hands. Taking advantage of my poor balance, she then gripped onto my collar and pushed me onto my back, I didn’t even have time to react.

Before I knew it, she had pinned me to the ground and hovered her sword over my neck. I tried to force myself out of this situation, but she had placed her body over my stomach in such a way that escape was impossible.

My mind continued to scramble, unable to assemble any coherent thoughts.

“Wh- why? Who is she? Where am I? Why is she attacking me?”

These thoughts floated around my head with such speed and urgency that my mind couldn’t dwell on any of them or even bring myself to ask them.

Possibly noticing the frantic expression on my face, the woman decided to interrupt my thoughts with her voice.

“What’s wrong, sensei? You’ve never let me defeat you so easily before. Were you intimidated by my superior strength?”

‘Sensei’? Who was I? She seemed very hostile to be attacking her sensei. I could only assume that this was an act of rebellion against an abusive teacher, or something along those lines.

“Ar- are you going to kill me?”

“No. This is neither the time, nor the place. But now you know what will happen to you if you let your guard down around me again.”

She whispered delicately into my ear, so the sound of her voice would be ingrained into my head. I knew immediately that I would never cross this girl again.

I glanced briefly at my surroundings to try to better gauge the situation. Rocky walls on a stone floor with various torches illuminating the room from the wall. I thought that nobody else was around judging from the small portion of the room I could see, but the voice that followed proved my assumption incorrect.

“Well that was disappointing, Benjiro! I know Aile’s only 18, but you didn’t have to take it that easy on her!”

I couldn’t see where the voice originated from, but the girl on top of me quickly lightened, as she pushed herself off of me and bounced towards the voice.

“Hideo! I didn’t know you were here! It’s so nice to see you. How have you been?”

She seemed to be a completely different person now. The malicious aura she had earlier had dissipated and she had morphed into a surprisingly happy-go-lucky girl. I forced myself up and responded to the voice out of impulse.

“I’m only twenty, you make it sound like she’s a child compared to me.”

“I thought you were only 19.”

I wasn’t thinking. I clearly wasn’t partnered with the body I had been for my life up until this point, but I still referred to my original age. At least this taught me that the person who I had inhabited was 19.

“Oh yeah, I guess I’m a little out of it today.”

I tried to laugh it off, a skill that I had perfected after countless attempts of avoiding attention.

The boy I was speaking to appeared to be the same age as me, with blonde hair cut quite short. He had already moved on from his conversation with me and now spoke gleefully to Aile, which I inferred was the name of the girl who just attacked me.

Still dazed, I watched them converse for a few moments, before my mind steadied into it’s usual space. The more I watched them, the more they reminded me of an annoying couple I’d see on the street or in tv shows.

I quietly turned around and ambled towards the door behind me, hoping to find a place to rest. I thought I could escape with ease, but Hideo’s voice taught me otherwise.

“Benjiro, where are you going? Don’t tell me you’re being a sore loser. Aile’s your responsibility so don’t abandon your job.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘my responsibility’, but my exhaustion had superseded my curiosity and I only wanted to leave.

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to run from my responsibilities. I just don’t like seeing couples acting lovey-dovey with each other, so I thought I’d leave you two alone.”

They both donned surprised expressions as they stared at me, speechless. I wasn’t sure why they were surprised, but I quickly understood that something I said had been wrong.

“Hideo, you can get back to work now, I’ll deal with him alone.”

Hideo swallowed, before nodding and exiting the door behind him. Aile waited for him to be out of sight, then strutted towards me intently. She continued until she was so close to me that I could practically feel her pressing against me, despite the fact she left a small distance between us.

“Alright Benjiro! I wasn’t sure before, but that weird comment about my brother just confirmed it. Something is up with you and I’m not leaving until you tell me every last detail!”