Excerpt

When night arrived, Aimi suddenly asked Naoko whether they could spar together. 

Feeling that her request was odd, Naoko rejected Aimi with a wry smile. "I have no interest in sparring, Ai-chan. I just treat this like an exercise to keep my body fit."

Aimi pouted a tiny bit before running off to spar with the boys instead. It did not take very long nor was it hard for her to win the boys who barely had much practice or experience. She was especially merciless towards Isamu but merciful towards Hansuke. In fact, she gave Hansuke extra tips and guided him more than she did for anyone else. 

Just as Naoko intended to begin her mecha practice, Aimi came bounding over. "Na-chan, I've already sparred with everyone else, can't you spare me a bit of your time? I think you'll be the best match up with me. We can learn a lot from each other through an exchange of blows."

"... I-" 

Aimi cut her off by turning her attention onto Tadashi who had walked over with the intention to help get Aimi off Naoko's back. 

"Tadashi-kun, didn't you learn something from exchanging blows with me?" 

Although it was a simple question, he managed to stop himself from giving an honest reply. He knew how his answer would affect Naoko's escape. 

He closed his mouth, frowned, then opened it again to give a calculated answer. However, Naoko used that very brief lag in his reply to answer Aimi before he could.

"Fine, I'll spar with you." 

Tadashi turned his gaze onto Naoko with the deep frown still between his brows. It happened enough times for him to realise that every time Aimi made him pick a side, no matter how subtly, Naoko would always back off. 

He could not tell if it was because she was afraid of knowing his answer or if she was protecting him from having to choose. Nonetheless, each time she did so, his frustration and angst would build up. 

Now that it happened again, he realised that he was reaching his limit soon. Instead of letting her escape as what she would usually do, he bit out, "Naoko. You don't have to do it if you don't feel like it. Aimi-san, aren't you getting increasingly willful? Do you not realise that you're just being spoiled by Naoko?"

"I... I just wanted to get better... And the only one that could be my match in martial arts is Na-chan..." 

He finally understood that Aimi had not truly changed back to who she was before they started the journey. Her words may sound pretty and innocent and her actions may seem friendly, but the intentions behind them were very self-serving. 

Having had enough of her, his frown went deeper. Before he could get a word out to tell her off, Naoko pulled Aimi away then started their sparring match.

Stunned by Naoko's sudden and strange behaviour, he stared at the now open space before him. He then growled low and deep in his throat and his hands balled into fists. I won't let her brush my questions off anymore. What exactly is running through her mind?

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