Institute Earth In Words, Training Grounds

Seijuro ducks under Melinda’s punch, dodging it by hair’s breadth, only to find herself immediately tackled and thrown onto the ground… Although, despite having the air blown out of her lungs, her body is already in motion by the time she reaches the floor, reflexively placing her leg against her opponent’s stomach, then kicking as she rolls backward, throwing the girl off and rising on a single instantaneous movement.

Assuming she’ll have no time to regain her bearings, Seijuro simply rolls sideways as soon she manages to stand again; A good thing, too, for she feels the breeze created by a blow next to her head just as she moves it away.

Melinda’s shout of frustration does not escape Seijuro’s attention, though the smile it’d have normally evoked is overshadowed by her increasingly heavy breath, breath which Melinda doesn’t allow her to regain; Case in point, the first sight upon Seijuro’s vision as she finally manages to rise is that of a fist flying in her direction, she reflexively blocks by slapping it away with the back of her hand.

Melinda’s right is immediately followed by a left, which in turn is dodged by a head tilt, then a knee, sidestepped, as Seijuro moves forward and grabs her kimono, ignoring Melinda’s futile attempt at elbowing her as she throws the girl onto the ground, hard.

Given the brief moment of respite, Seijuro attempts to breathe, her vision swaying slightly as droplets of sweat stream down her face and onto the dojo’s padded floor.

She immediately pulls back her head, however, as the sound of footsteps draws her attention, just about dodging what would have been a flying kick aimed at her face.

As Seijuro’s second opponent lands next to Melinda, who, having risen, makes no attempts at concealing her rage, Seijuro feels her heart thundering against her ears, taking a deep breath… Although doing as much does little to reduce her fatigue as she tries to maintain both opponents within her field of vision once they each settle on a direction to walk, trying encircle her.

“Fools!” Seijuro’s dojo master, Tian Hanying, screams from the side, “Have I thought you nothing?! Charge! Give her no time to breathe!”

Seijuro curses internally; Having hoped their stalemate would last for a while longer, she’s embarrassingly unprepared when Melinda, incited by their master’s words, immediately clenches her teeth and dashes in her direction.

“Just grab her! I don’t care how!” Melinda screams, “This is a fucking embarrassment already!”

Soon occupied with avoiding the other girl’s heavy blows, Seijuro has a hard time maintaining her second opponent within eyesight, relying on brief flashes of her red kimono to immediately put some distance between them, fearing the girl might attempt to tackle her again.

“You think I’m not trying?!”

In the end, Melinda’s blows serve as a way to keep Seijuro’s second opponent at bay more than they threaten her, at least for now, and Seijuro finds herself falling within a strange rhythm to her movements, almost as if following a silent beat…

“All right, that’s enough girls! Time’s up!”

Snapped back into reality by Tian’s scream, Seijuro nearly allows her knees to buckle as Melinda crashes against her, their heavy breathing intertwining for a moment before the taller girl quickly steps back, her cheeks growing redder as she meets Seijuro’s eyes for a brief second then averts her gaze.

“S-sorry about that,” Melinda murmurs before walking away, toward Tian’s angry visage as he screams at the girls for their failure in defeating, or subduing, Seijuro within the time limit.

Unable to stand yet for another second, Seijuro simply allows herself to fall over her knees, drawing shallow breaths of air while her glazed eyes wander through the busy dojo and its many students, some of whom have stopped to watch her punishment… And they seem to be quite enjoying it if their excited whispers and gazes are anything to go by.

Although she’s exhausted, the drawback of skipping classes, and training, for a week, was smaller than Seijuro expected. Then again, considering how often she pushes herself past her limits, it was a much-needed break, more than anything else.

It was a given Tian would punish her once she finally showed up. Still, the old man’s sadistic smile when she walked through the door pissed her off, and so, here they stand, both determined to defeat the other.

“Ah, excuse me, M-Miss Aston…?”

Seijuro glances up, toward the boy’s voice, to find him standing above her with a bottle of water extended in her direction and an unsure smile on his face.

The boy whose arm she broke, and whose name she still hasn’t bothered to learn... Just fucking great.

The boy’s smile disappears completely once several seconds go by and Seijuro still hasn’t reached for the bottle.

He steps back. “Sorry, it was presumptions of me to assume-”

“…Just… I can’t raise my arms… And now you’re forcing me to speak… Fucking dumbass…” Seijur murmurs in between rushed breaths.

The boy’s eyes widen. “Oh… Oh! Do you want me to…? S-should I…?”

“Just give it here,” a new voice, Melinda’s, interjects as its owner steps in between the two, yanking the bottle from his hand, then pausing as she gives his frozen expression a glance, “Sorry.”

“…Rude,” Seijuro murmurs, receiving a dirty glance from Melinda for her troubles as she continues, “Thank you… For the water…”

The boy blinks. “It was no trouble, really?”

He bows his head, fidgeting under both girl’s gazes for a moment, then walking away awkwardly.

Melinda clicks her tongue. “I don’t know if I should praise his guts for coming so far, or mock him for running away in the end.”

“You should… Give me the damn water…”

“Right, sorry.”

Flashing Seijuro a smile, Melinda kneels before her as she uncorks the bottle and presses it against her lips.

Despite her thirst, Seijuro is mindful enough to drink slowly, and to stop before becoming too full to fight properly. Her gaze meets Melinda’s worried one as she pulls the bottle away.

“Should I go easy on you?” Melinda whispers.

“Knock me out… if you can… Think of it as payback… for being a terrible friend…”

Melinda frowns.

“Tian would know… if you started to slack… You’re a terrible… actor…”

Melinda snorts, shaking her head as she then rises and downs the remaining water.

“Have it your way then. Just don’t blame me if you wake up in the infirmary.”

“Indirect… kiss… stupid… idiot…”

Her face heating, Melinda clears her throat while throwing their empty bottle toward one of the watching students, who stumbles to grab it, eyes wide, but ends up managing it in the end.

“We’ll have a five minutes break,” Melinda says, “So, two or three more… Are you sure you’re up for one more round?”

Seijuro narrows her eyes toward Tian, glaring at the short man as he grooms his long beard and meets her gaze with a confident shit-eating grin.

“I could do it… all day…”

Melinda sighs, shaking her head. “You two are impossible. Fine.”

Seijuro releases a sigh of her own as Melinda walks away to rejoin her partner, a short girl of bulkier frame and hungry eyes who focuses on Formless Water as her fighting style… Speaking of which, she must concentrate on regaining her strength if she wishes to make do on her promise of fending them off until the end.

It’d all be so much easier of she was allowed to hit back… Though the purpose of the exercise, namely, increasing her mental and physical endurance, might be lost if that were the case.

Focusing on controlling her breathing, Seijuro sits cross-legged as she closes her eyes and reviews the fights she has been through so far today, all four rounds of them.

Melinda, try as she may, possesses a rather simply if well-polished fighting style, and it doesn’t help that they have fought hundreds of times before. Needless to say, Seijuro could dodge her blows with her eyes closed, even if it would hurt the girl to realize the truth.

The problem lies within Melinda partner for the day, whose name Seijuro has to yet learn. Although she was shy at first, maintaining her distance and waiting for an opening which would never arrive, the last two rounds proved that her red kimono isn’t just for show… After all, Tian would not have given it to her had she not deserved it, or at least shown potential.

Having realized Seijuro can’t truly hurt her, given the rules of their game, the girl’s reckless charges quickly become a problem when combined with Melinda’s, even if they do make for a terrible parring in terms of style and teamwork… Mostly, Seijuro stamina simply won’t be able to keep up for much longer if she’s forced to stay within Melinda’s range the whole fight, whose blows could, and would, send her on a one-way trip to infirmary for the day.

Still, Seijuro felt as though she was close from a breakthrough near the end there…

Suddenly, a loud whistle brings Seijuro out of her thoughts as she opens her eyes to find both of her adversaries already approaching her position, their expression showcasing their determination… Even if Melinda still harbors a glint of hesitation behind her sharp brown eyes.

Seijuro rises… Strangely, she feels ready, although her shaking legs and slightly uneven breath suggest that she’s far from it.

If this was Eden… And she was surrounded by insects again…

Seijuro narrows her eyes, something within her stirring at the thought of the swarm of fleas… It is clear she must overcome her own limits is she wishes to find her mother within a reasonable amount of time, preferably, before her life crumbles around her more than it already has.

“No slacking off this time, the both of you! She’ll dance around you again if you let her!” Tian shouts from the sidelines, prompting the girls to harden their expressions and assume their guards.

Seijuro takes a deep breath. Show time.

Instead of waiting for whatever plan the girls came up with to reach fruition, Seijuro simply charges toward Melinda on her own, releasing her killing intent on a single wave which widens the girl’s eyes and paralyses her body for the slip second necessary for the princess to slide past her legs, grabbing one of them as he rises on the other side.

As Melinda curses, attempting in vain to grab hold of Seijuro from the floor, the princess turns her attention toward her second target, whose gaze meets her as a flash of fear and doubt crosses through her eyes…

Far too late, the girl attempts to stop Seijuro from grabbing her kimono as she runs past, rotates, and pulls, sending her second adversary thumbling through the floor.

“Useless brats, get up! Damn it, I shouldn’t have allowed her to use grabs!”

Then Melinda is upon her, eyes reddened in fury, and all Seijuro can do to stop her body from failing is to keep moving, one calculated step at a time.

Seconds go by within flashes of fluid movement, and then minutes, as Seijuro loses herself in the rhythm at last, allowing her body to react on impulse.

Her thoughts are sluggish, but her movements aren’t without a purpose. After all, she wasn’t the only one to fight through those hellish four rounds, now, was she?

Quickly, Seijuro loses count of how many times her adversaries have come at her, only to find themselves led around, or worse, thrown against the dojo’s softened floor.

Soon, their movements are much easier to see through, even if Melinda is still as determined as she has ever been, displaying near endless stamina through each and every time she has to rise again…

“Punch her! Kick her! Tackle her! It doesn’t matter how, just make so she stops moving!”

Melinda screams, streams of sweat running down her reddened face as she punches and kicks after Seijuro’s moving figure seemingly by the sheer power of her will alone.

Then, something moves on the corner of her vision, which Seijuro barely has time to identify as her second opponent and brace herself for the impact before the girl crashes against her body, sending them body thumbling through the dojo’s floor.

What follows could only be described as a desperate struggle where Seijuro grits her teeth and narrowly avoids having her limbs pinned down or grabbed by her determined opponent, until an opening finally appears as the frantic girl attempts a chokehold, only to have Seijuro slip away at the last second, due the sweat covering both of them, and roll through the floor as she quickly attempts to rise, nearly falling.

Melinda isn’t far behind, as always, and Seijuro widens her eyes as the girl releases a scream while charging towards her, giving the princess no time to breath or move before smashing against her… Except, this time, Seijuro still manages to sidesteps most of the impact, and Melinda ends up crashing down on her own.

“Yes! YES! Keep it up, she can barely move! Just throw yourselves at her!”

Seijuro stops as she tosses her excited master a look. Is he even keeping track of the time? She wouldn’t put it past the sly old man to cheat in order to win… But then again, it hardly matters at this point.

Seijuro takes a deep breath as she straightens herself. Her limbs shake, and remaining still is all that she can do in order continue standing. However, she smiles.

“W-what? What are you doing?! Get up! There’s still enough time to…!”

Tian’s expression of excitement crumbles once he realizes neither of his fighters are moving to follow his instructions. In fact, Seijuro second opponent still remains where she left her, breathing heavily while attempting to force her shaking limbs to rise her body to no avail.

What sort of technique was that even supposed to be, anyway? The girl just ran at her… Then again, it did work better than anything she had tried so far, however dangerous it might have been.

Turning her gaze away from the girl, Seijuro realizes Melinda fares only slightly better, having managed to rise to a standing position if only to smile savagely in Seijuro’s direction as she slowly forces trembling steps to move her body forward, one at a time.

It reminds Seijuro of their last fight, or their first one, as one might interpret. Back then, Melinda’s eyes shone just the same, holding onto the faint hope of victory until the very last moment…

Far from scaring Seijuro, however, such determination brings her heart to beat even faster.

“Come here, you slippery bitch, let me touch you just this once…”

Despite her words, Melinda is practically falling on her own, and the timer for their fight must’ve already run out, even if Tian hasn’t announced as much… Still, Seijuro doesn’t move until Malinda has finally managed to reach her.

Through their locked gazes, Seijuro sees that Melinda is hardly conscious, and so, chooses to remain still as the girl’s punch touches her chest softly.

“Got… you…”

Melinda falls. A moment later, Tian releases an annoyed sigh.

“Somebody calls for stretchers for these two! Have them rest for today!”

Seijuro glances toward Melinda’s fallen form for a moment before shaking her head.

Out cold. If it was going to end up like this, she might as well have beaten them up from the beginning. Then again, if Melinda managed to land her charge at the end, things might have end up differently.

“What is wrong with you! How could you abuse your fellow students to such an extent?! Have you no compassion?!”

Seijuro throws her approaching master a dirty look as he clicks his tongue toward the small commotion intended on moving both Melinda and Seijuro’s second opponent toward the nearby infirmary.

“Useless brats! I should demote them back to white for this!”

Seijuro crosses her arms, remaining silent as she watches Melinda being hovered out of the dojo by a pair of nurses. And while nearby students resume their training, though not before throwing Seijuro a myriad of gazes ranging from admiration to fear, Tian’s expression goes through several shades of red until he finally meets her gaze.

“I won,” Seijuro announces firmly, before the man manages to walk back from their agreement somehow, “Five rounds of ten minutes, where I’m not permitted to hit them... That’s what you said. From now on, I’m allowed to come and go as I please, and you won’t deduct from my merits.”

Tian grumbles something that’s too low volume for Seijuro to catch, then throws his hands up.

“Fine! Do whatever you want, see if I care!”

Seijuro releases a small sigh of relief. One less thing to worry about, at least.

“…What are you still standing there for, huh? Go rest already.”

“I can’t move,” Seijuro confesses. In fact, focusing on breathing and standing is all she can manage at the moment. “My legs won’t stop shaking.”

Tian blinks, then snorts. “You’re really something, aren’t you?”

“I’d appreciate some help.”

“Should I have them call for another stretcher for your highness?” Tian asks as he flashes Seijuro his usual shit-eating grin.

Seijuro sighs, though it takes a lot of her to do so. “Just have somebody help me walk up to a bench, you useless master.”

“You, boy, come here,” Tian shouts, beckoning a nearby student who Seijuro once more recognizes as the one whose arm she broke to approach, though he himself doesn’t wait around, shouting at a group of particularly loud pupils to get back to it as he immediately sets to marching in their direction.

Oh, Seijuro has no doubt someone will have to pay for the old man’s loss, even if she managed to dodge the bullet herself, at least for the time being.

“Miss Aston, you called?”

Seijuro releases a small sigh as she gives the boy a glance; At least, he seems slightly more comfortable around her now, though there’s still a glint of awareness in his gaze once their eyes meet, despite his weak, if at least genuine looking, smile.

“Seijuro will do, please,” Seijuro murmurs tiredly while gesturing toward one of the benches around the dojo, “Lend me your arm for a sec, yes?”

The boy, though surprised, does comply, helping her walk toward the bench under the surprised looks of nearby students, where Seijuro half sits, half falls, before closing her eyes as she attempts to control her breathing enough to stop panting.

“Should I grab some water, Miss- I mean, would you like another bottle of water, S-Seijuro?”

Seijuro smiles. “Right now, we’re just classmates. You should enjoy it while it lasts.”

It’s what she’s trying to do.

“Well… You make it sound so much easier than it actually is,” the boy murmurs.

Seijuro chuckles. “You’re doing just fine. But how about that water, for now?”

“Coming right up, Your Highness!” he says, this time, with obvious jest in his tone.

As the boy walks away, surrounded by the familiar sounds of the dojo, Seijuro soon finds her thoughts drifting in and out of fucus; Flashing through her misadventures within Eden so far, her mother’s form laying in a hospital nanobed, then in Ouroboro’s headquarters… Through a week of nightmares and crippling despair…

Strangely enough, she might have fallen asleep if not for a shout soon cutting through her unhappy thoughts as a knife through butter.

“WHERE IS SHE?!”

Recognizing a familiar voice, Seijuro opens her eyes to immediately spot a small hurricane of blond hair and fury marching in her direction through the small mass of socked dojo students.

Oh.

Of course, Seijuro didn’t forget a certain troublemaker during the week they spent away from each other; In fact, Beatrice has been weighing heavily on Seijuro’s mind since she stood the girl up during the festival, especially the fact she seems to feel something more than simple friendship for her.

Alas, life happened… Or rather, hers crumbled, and she never managed to muster the courage to answer a single text from the many she was sent during the week.

“You!”

Several different expressions cross through Beatrice’s petite face (relief, fury, fear, worry, uncertainty… It’s impressive, actually, how fast she’s able to go through them) as she finally reaches Seijuro’s bench, stopping as she points a finger in Seijuro’s direction.

“I can’t believe I had to find out from somebody else you were back! A WEEK! A week of ignored messages, and you just show up one day?! Do you have any idea how worried I was when you stood me up!?”

“Beatrice,” Seijuro interrupts, or, at least, tries to.

“And then, here I find you, as if nothing happened! Do I really mean so little to you, you wouldn’t even think to let me know you’re okay?!”

“Beatrice, I’m sorry.”

“And you… You… You’re sorry?”

Though she seems on the verge of tears, Seijuro’s words, or perhaps her expression, still give Beatrice pause.

Seijuro smiles sadly. “Yes, I’m sorry. Would you like to know what happened?”

“Would I… Of course I…”

Beatrice sniffs, blinking rapidly as she quickly wipes away a lone tear, before sweeping her gaze across the deadly silent dojo as she seems to realize what she has done.

“Oh Gods…” she murmurs, after a moment of shocked silence.

To say they’ve become the center of attention would be a cute understatement. Still, perhaps due to her tiredness, or in light of recent events, Seijuro simply can’t bring herself to care as she forces her tired legs to rise and walks toward the stunned-looking girl, grabbing her hand softly as Beatrice aims wide, soft blue eyes against hers.

“Don’t worry, it’s okay… Nobody will bother us here.”

Then, Seijuro turns her gaze toward the closest person, uncaring as to who it may be, and releases her killing intent at full power… Needless to say, noise is quick to return after that, and by the time the boy arrives with Seijuru’s water, he finds a furiously blushing Beatrice sitting beside her, gaze downcast, and hand firmly tied to Seijuro’s, to a point the princess isn’t sure she’d be able to pull hers away even if she wanted to.

Seijuro smiles at him. “Thank you. Could you put it over there? I’ll grab it in a moment.”

“No problem.” The boy returns her smile, at least somewhat smoothly for once, and, for his credit, doesn’t give Beatrice more than a quick glance before politely averting his eyes away. “I’ll go back to my training now, before Master Tian realizes I’ve been slacking off for the past hour.”

“…I’m sorry,” Beatrice murmurs as soon as he’s gone. “I could’ve gone a different way about this… No matter how mad I was.”

“You don’t need to apologize. You have a right to be angry. I’d probably have done something similar, in your place.”

While watching the dojo’s usual activities, Seijuro gives Beatrice’s hand a light, comforting squeeze, attracting the girl’s gaze to rest against hers.

“Would you? I don’t believe that… But it doesn’t matter. There’s something I wanted to tell you, something I did tell you, if you bothered to read my messages.”

Seijuro averts her gaze, while Beatrice releases a sigh.

“Fine, I get it. And you know what, you don’t even need to tell me what happened, exactly… At least, not right now, and not right here. As long as I am still your friend… That’s all I need to know.”

Although Seijuro doesn’t have much knowledge on the subject, even she can tell that’s now how a healthy friendship is supposed to work. Besides, she can’t bring herself to simply ignore the sadness in Beatrice’s tone… Not after everything they went through recently.

What was it again? Jump into it and pray for the person to respond… If she’s brave enough to jump into an abyss of darkness, then she’s brave enough to give Beatrice a chance.

Releasing a tired sigh, Seijuro lies her head against Beatrice’s shoulder and closes her eyes. It feels surprisingly comfortable.

“Seijuro?” Beatrice asks, voice strained.

“Remember when I told you my father promised me Eden’s announcement was supposed to be about my mom?”

“I-I remember?”

Seijuro can tell the girl is forcing herself to not freak out. It brings a small smile to her lips.

“Well, it was. Sort of.”

And then, in a soft voice almost drowned by the noise surrounding it, Seijuro tells Beatrice about her mother’s condition, her father’s plan to use Eden as a way to awaken her, and her role in doing so… As well as the fact it all became too much to handle, and how she broke down under the pressure.

“And that’s why I didn’t message you. It’s pathetic, I know…”

Gods, she’s almost falling asleep…

“Seijuro, you’re such an idiot!”

True enough…

“Why wouldn’t you…!? Why didn’t you…?! Ugh!”

Seijuro snuggles herself against Beatrice. “Say, you don’t mind if I rest my eyes for a bit, do you…?”

“W-what do you mean?! Hey, everybody is looking at us again…!”

“Let them. I don’t care anymore…”

“Ah! Seijuro wait, don’t fall asleep yet! I need to tell you about… Well, I guess it seems stupid now,” Beatrice murmurs, “After everything you’ve told me.”

“I’m listening…”

Seijuro forces herself to remain awake for a bit longer as she feels Beatrice taking a deep breath against her.

“It’s just that, you know, I just kinda, you know, found a part-time job… And I was hoping you’d come to watch me play on my first night…”

“Sure…”

“Sure? Just sure? Seijuro, are you even listening?”

“Just send me the details later… I’ll find a way to show up without ruining the party…”

“You mean, Incognito…? I didn’t even think about it… Seijuro…? You do realize I skipped class for this, yes? So I could become your pillow?”

“Are you complaining…?”

“Are you kidding me? Right now, I’d kill anyone who tried taking this away from me.”

She doesn’t sound like she’s joking… Then again, this is Beatrice we’re talking about. She probably isn’t.

“Is the thing about your job all you wanted to tell me…?”

“Sure, I guess? Wait, you weren’t serious about falling asleep, right?

Just be quiet for a second…

“Seijuro…?”

“S-seijuro…?!”