2 TWO
The figure looking back at her, with tired, yet curious eyes, stares back at her after asking his sudden question. His smooth head shimmered in the dim light from her night light, allowing her to see his small, coned horns protruding from either side of his head. He looked like a little baby tucked under her blanket that got woken up by some noise that it was curious about.
Miu immediately screams and suddenly sends her fist straight into his face and scampers out of the bed to the bathroom door and tucks her legs in to try to widen the distance. The figure groans loudly in his throat as he flails wildly in the bed holding his face from the sudden pain of the impact to his nose. His tail finally removes the cover he was under, sending it into the air and letting it flutter back to the floor. Miu soon got a better look at the figure in her bed, and she became even more unnerved by what she saw. She stands up and rushes to the light switch and cuts it on. The figure was revealed to be the strange being from the monitor, who was now pressing his face into the pillow with his body curled in and his legs forcing his body to push into the wall. His tail was whipping about like an aggravated cat. He finally stops panicking from the pain he felt and lets his body relax then curls in on himself into a fetal position whimpering a bit between each breath.
PLUTOS
"Owie… ow… owowow. Owie owie~... that really hurts~! Argh, I won't be able to smell anything for a week after this. I get it, I deserved that. I'm sorry for surprising you. I didn't mean any harm by my statement, though. I promise."
Plutos sits up in the bed crossed legged still holding his nose as tears welled up in his eyes, letting his tail ease its way around his feet as if to keep them warm. He really was no bigger than she was. He might have been smaller.
MIU
"What…?? What are you doing here? Who are you? What are you? What is happening right now??"
PLUTOS
"You have a lot of questions, but I suppose I can try to answer them. Hopefully my concussion isn't too serious for it. Well, my name is Plutos. An Acrosian frost demon. I hail from the planet Acresia in the eastern most part of this universe… oow… I think you broke it. I… was looking for a civilized place to congregate in for a while but something happened and I had to find somewhere to hide since the local enforcements here seem pretty hostile and I really didn't want to deal with any trouble so I came here to hide for a while until i can meet my brothers again."
MIU
"… so… did you open the window to get in here?"
PLUTOS
"No. it was already opened when I got here. I figured this might be a safe peaceful place if you trust others enough to leave it open."
MIU
"I didn't…"
PLUTOS
"Eh?..."
Plutos was able to see straight and took a good look at Miu who now seemed to be steaming with fury.
PLUTOS
"Wha-w-w-wait! Hold on! I didn't mean to impose! I shouldn't have assumed the space was free to use! Please hear me out!!"
MIU
"Out of the bed…"
PLUTOS
"Ah… y-yes! Of course!"
Plutos scurries out of the bed quickly and stands straight with his tail high and his body stiff. Now that she had a good look at his full body, if she didn't count his horns, he would be standing at her height exactly. Plutos noticed her eyes trailed to the cover on the floor that he knocked off the bed. He immediately responds in turn and covers the bed back with it neatly and quickly then returns to his original stance like a soldier. Miu studies him more thoroughly and notices how war-like his stance was, as if he had just come from a long battle elsewhere and chose to hide to relax from a long battle.
MIU
"… are you in the middle of something big right now? Like a fight or something?"
Plutos looks at her baffled for a moment.
PLUTOS
"… How do you figure that?"
MIU
"You're standing there like you were ready for an order."
PLUTOS
"… ah. Well, you see. My brother is a very strict and scary person, ever since we left our home planet to find a new place to live he would always interrupt my naps and make me keep my guard up. So it's become a habit."
MIU
"… wait there's more of you?? How many brothers do you have?"
PLUTOS
"At the moment, three others, but only two of them have come here with me."
MIU
"So why aren't you with them?"
PLUTOS
"We decided to split up to find a good settling spot for each of us and learn from our environments separately."
MIU
"I see… so which one of you was the cause of the disaster at the central tower in mozu plaza?"
After hearing that question Plutos felt an instant chill run down his spine. Miu's questioning was a way for her to find out if he was the cause of the chaos that happened that afternoon. And it seems she came to an instant conclusion as her expression changed from cautious to hostile. It was a rhetorical question and Plutos saw he was cornered the moment he stood from the bed.
PLUTOS
(think) 'No… I've been cornered the moment I step into this room.'
Some time before, in the acrosian spaceship travelling the galaxy… plutos, Hypo, and Thermo were training in the open battle chamber. Every now and then they would take a break to eat, meditate, and sleep.
PLUTOS
"*yawn*... [smack!] Ow!"
THERMO
"Focus, you lazy idiot. We should at least practice what the fighters of this planet do so we don't end up like the others from home."
PLUTOS
"But why though? Everything shown to us about this earth place showed a lot of peaceful environments that we could easily get accustomed to if they accepted us, right? Why should we practice fighting if our duty is to simply learn about their peace?"
HYPO
"Just because they don't fight with others outside of their home doesn't mean they don't fight amongst each other. If we're not careful, we may end up getting hurt just for being naive. You can't just think they are as simpleminded as you are."
PLUTOS
"Heh."
Plutos moves a little and he suddenly disappears from his spot. The reappears behind Hypo with his tail around his neck.
PLUTOS
"If a peaceful conversation doesn't work then we just have to smack them around a bit don't we? If this earth is going to be our new home then why not conquer it?"
Plutos soon felt a warm prickling on his back and neck.
HYPO
"If that were the case we would have done so to our own planet and lowered the casualties then."
THERMO
"We weren't strong enough to do anything then anyway so it would have been no use. We might have gotten the chance to do so then if we had this level of power at our disposal but that's all done for now. We can only keep this up until we get there and hope for the best."
HYPO
"True enough, baby brother. Now, since you lost this round again, you can do the clean this time, little brother."
THERMO
"Good luck with that washroom you messed up this morning."
PLUTOS
"Urgh…"
Present…
Plutos leans forward into a semi-bow-like pose and lowers his head.
PLUTOS
"… w-would you believe me if I said it were an accident on my part?"
MIU
"… how??"
PLUTOS
"Now let me explain! Please. You may think this to be the dumbest thing in the world to say, but this is the reality. I was simply traveling around following the road from the abandoned base just west of the city, that is where we chose to park our ship for the time being, and I was made to come this way to see the city as it is. As I was exploring the… hovercraft soon started following me around and when I noticed it I decided to greet the passengers inside it, but when I approached them they kind of panicked and spun out of control on their own. I did absolutely nothing to provoke such a thing."
Miu stares at him quietly for a minute.
MIU
"… so you're telling me that the chopper spazzed out because they saw you and got scared because you existed?"
PLUTOS
"Well when you put it like that, you make it sound like I'm some freak of nature. I was only passing by, that's all."
MIU
"Right. If anyone else heard this story they would think you were plotting something and shoot you where you stood."
PLUTOS
"… But you believe me, and that is okay with me."
MIU
"Don't expect me to be as convincing as you, just being in this building makes me the least reliable person to get a pass from."
PLUTOS
"Huh? What does that mean? Are you a fugitive?"
MIU
"…*sigh* Worse. I'm an orphan."
PLUTOS
"Then we are kin! My brothers and I are abandoned! So I feel I can find some solace being with you!"
MIU
"… Quite the optimist, aren't you?"
PLUTOS
"I was told to do my best to see the brighter side of the neutral things as they come to me. Otherwise, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you like this."
MIU
"… alright then. I suppose that's a convincing statement. Now explain to me what you were doing in my bed."
PLUTOS
"Well, I never planned on staying outside to sleep. And I tend to have a bad habit of napping anywhere I can that seems comfortable."
MIU
"So you're lazy."
PLUTOS
"Hey, now that is rude!"
MIU
"Says the guy that broke an entry to sleep in someone else's bed."
PLUTOS
"Uh… well… c-come now. You can't really expect me to sleep outside do you? I promise not to take up space and be a bother. Honest. I… I may even be helpful to you later on. Uh… just for tonight. Please?"
MIU
"… mm~... *sigh* whatever. I don't care anymore, I'm too tired for this. Come on."
Miu opens the door and walks out the room. Plutos cautiously follows her out to the living room and watches her go to the closet there and pull a small futon out and lays it out on the floor near the little table.
MIU
"You can sleep here tonight. But that's it. I'm not feeding you since I don't have much as it is."
PLUTOS
"Yes! Thank you! Thank you very much! I promise not to disturb you more after this."
MIU
"… yeah. Fine. just don't expect much else from me."
PLUTOS
"… may ask why that is? If it's not too much trouble?"
MIU
"… just go to bed. You better be gone by morning. People come and go in this building to check on me once a week and tomorrow is that day and I don't wanna deal with them asking why I'm smuggling a weirdo."
PLUTOS
"Fair enough. Ooh! May I have your name? So I know who to be grateful to."
MIU
"… Miu."
PLUTOS
"Good night, Miu. Thank you again."
Miu doesn't respond and goes back to her room to try to sleep.
The next morning, Miu wakes up more tired than the night before. She forces herself to freshen up and get dressed for school then leaves her room to get breakfast when she notices the futon folded neatly on the sofa. A flash of last night's drama runs through her mind and she panics for a second before rushing to put the futon back in the closet. As soon as she closes it, a sheet of paper falls out of the futon covers and gets her attention.
She picked it to see some fancy writing on it but it was legible enough to understand. She was amazed that he knew how to write in her language as well as speak it.
"'Thank you for your hospitality and understanding. If we ever cross paths again, I hope to be able to repay you for your courtesy.'"
-PLUTOS
Miu folds the paper and puts it in her bag, then looks at her window for a moment. She grabs a broom staff from the closet and puts it against the window before walking out and locking the door behind her. Outside, she sees Officer Kosuke talking to the landlord who looked like he was complaining to him about something. Officer Kosuke was writing down what he was being told until he saw Miu and smiled and waved at her. This told her the landlord wasn't saying anything about last night's incident in the office. She smiles and waves back then hurries down to greet them.
MIU
"Good morning Mr. Kosuke… Mr. Endou."
Endou, the landlord, buckles back a bit and snarls at her as Officer Kosuke greets her.
OFFICER KOSUKE
"Hey there, Miu! You have a good rest?"
MIU
"Yup! I'm ready for a new day."
OFFICER KOSUKE
"Great! Get in the patroller, I'm taking you to school today with the boys."
MIU
"Okay. bye bye, Mr. Endou."
Endou glares at her as she runs off and gets in the car. She is instantly greeted by Matsuda and Kobi.
MATSUDA\KOBI
"Hey, Miu!"
MIU
"Hey there Matsuda."
KOBI
"And hey there…"
MIU
"Shove it, Kobi. I'm still mad at you. I wanna have a good day today so don't talk to me."
KOBI
"B-but…"
Miu sits by Matsuda in the back and huffs with her arms folded over her chest. Kobi sighs in agony from her treatment.
MATSUDA
"You okay, Miu? You look like you had a rough night."
MIU
"Eh?? Oh. yeah, I'm fine. Just… uh… bad dreams. That's all."
MATSUDA
"Wanna hang at the club in the morning? Let off some steam?"
MIU
"Nah, that's okay. I gotta talk to Mr. Hamada before class today. So i don't know if i'll be able to get there before class starts."
MATSUDA
"Ah. yeah that would be a pain to walk from his office to the club with that distance."
MIU
"Right. So what's new?"
MATSUDA
"Aside from your landlord being an absolute ass holding up dad before going to school, we're getting a new student in our class. Guess who it is?"
MIU
"Hm?? Who??"
MATSUDA
"Alto! He's gonna be part of the club!"
MIU
"You're joking…"
MATSUDA
"Dead serious!! This is gonna be epic!!"
Miu sits back and sighs to relax for a bit.
Officer Kosuke enters the patroller and they drive off.
MATSUDA
"Hey dad, what was taking so long?"
OFFICER KOSUKE
"He said he saw the horned demon fly by here this morning after watching the news and started complaining about the lack of security in the area. Though that being said, he almost always refuses the offer everytime I bring up allowing some patrol officers to scout the area every week. The guy a damn hassle, swear. You doing okay back there, Miu? You seem pretty worn out. Did last night hit you pretty bad?"
MIU
"… not really. Im fine. Just didn't get enough sleep last night."
OFFICER KOSUKE
"… those dreams huh?"
MIU
"Yeah… imma take a nap for a while."
OFFICER KOSUKE
"Go right ahead, Miu. get some rest."
Miu shuts her eyes and nods off. The patroller zooms by through the traffic as they head for the school, unaware of the figure following them from above.
At the school, Miu walks through the corridors to get to the teachers lounge where a few teachers were chatting and getting papers ready for their classes. Miu looks around the room and greets some of them before finding Mr. Hamada at his desk on his computer typing frivolously. He seemed extremely focussed on his work.
MIU
"Excuse me, Mr. Hamada."
HAMADA
"Hello, Mi. What can I do for you?"
MIU
"I wanted to talk to you about the class rep thing."
HAMADA
"It's taken care of already. Matoki came to me yesterday saying it wasn't fair that the second place got set as the class president and wanted a redraw. I figured you would come to me eventually to decline and took the liberty to fill the forms for you. Here."
Mr. Hamada reaches in his desk and hands her a form and a pen.
HAMADA
"Just sign the back and you can go about your day."
MIU
"Yes, sir. Thank you."
Miu fills out the paper and hands it back to Mr. Hamada, he hasn't looked at her once as she arrived.
MIU
"What about Kobi? He's still vise prez right?"
HAMADA
"Of course not. Like I would let that degenerate stay in that position after ruining all these documents in just a day. That said the position is currently vacant thanks to that."
Mr. Hamada finally turned to face Miu. her face said she knew exactly what he wanted her to do.
HAMADA
"I hope you understand that this is only temporary until I can find a better candidate."
MIU
"Wh-what about the new guy that's transfering in today?"
HAMADA
"I still need to wait a week for the documents to go through before I can change it again. Think you can get through it till then, Mi?"
MIU
"… I… I understand, Mr. Hamada."
HAMADA
"Good. I'll start you off light today since you seem a bit worn right now, but get that energy back up soon. You'll need it."
MIU
"Yes, sir."
HAMADA
"You're dismissed."
Miu left the office and Mr. Hamada sat back in his seat then scrolled through his attendance sheet to find a new face on it. Alto was going to be attending his class and he instantly saw why Miu mentioned him. While Hamada did his review on Alto, he overheard the other teachers talking about Miu's conversation with him.
"What did she think would happen? Once that man makes a choice for you, it's best to give up and do as he says.
"You sure? It sounded more like he was planning for her to do that from the start.
"Isn't she one of his best students? That was Miu Mi right? The girl with a strange origin?
"Anyway that girl must have really bootlicked the man during her time in his class to gain that kind of favor. To even be allowed to negotiate with him is a gift.
"What is she planning to do with her career to have his class?
HAMADA
"I'm sure you lazy idiots have more important things to do that don't include wasting time in here chatting amongst yourselves."
The room goes quiet and everyone returns to their stations to work.
In the classroom, Miu had taken her seat by the front door and starts working on the documents Mr. Hamada gave her. Kobi walks into the room twenty later to find her working on the documents. He beams suddenly and rushes to her side.
KOBI(loudly)
"Hey, Miu!"
Miu jumps in her seat from his sudden shout and sees she had messed up one of the documents she was working on in pen. She glares at Kobi as he struts to her seat with that goofy grin on his face, unaware of her anger. He leans on her desk with his round arms taking up the space she needs for the documents.
KOBI
"See, I knew you would come around. Now you just need to quit that club so you don't get too over burdened with distractions."
Miu clutches the pen in her fist and throws a straight right to his forehead making him stumble back and get smacked by the door opening behind him and causing him to fall forward on his face at her feet. Matoki, the new class president, had walked into the classroom to find Kobi on the floor in front of Miu as she looked from Kobi to him. Miu was reluctant to greet him.
MIU
"Hey, Matoki. Mr. Hamada said you wanted the position and gave it to you instantly. So now I have to take this idiots' place."
MATOKI
"… Why? Kobi should be the one doing those."
MIU
"Apparently, he messed up all of the documents Mr. Hamada gave him yesterday and removed him from the position to remake all of these papers. He only gave me half to do for now since he already did the other half."
MATOKI
"Seriously? Kobi, get up. What are you doing, groveling on the floor?"
KOBI
"Hey! It's your fault! You knocked me on the floor!"
MATOKI
"Why are you shouting? Anyway, How far have you gotten then?"
MIU
"About eighty-five percent at the moment. I need to redo this one cuz dumbass here came barging in like a damn freight train. I made it clear I was tired today, and now my head is ringing cuz of his loud voice. It's too early for all that energy."
MATOKI
"Well, you're usually more or less energetic yourself. Something real bad must have messed with you last night. How about I take over the rest?"
MIU
"If you're willing to rewrite these few pages, be my guest."
MATOKI
"Geh!! How in the…!?"
MIU
"Kobi, that's how."
KOBI
"What?? What did I do?"
Matoki sighs and sits behind Miu to finish the last of the papers before putting them on the desk while Kobi rambles on about how he did Miu a favor until she trips him.
Outside, Plutos floats to her classroom window after searching every floor for her around the outside of the building through the windows. He sits in the nearby tree to hide in the leaves and watches her progress through the rest of the day until her last class before lunch. Miu and Matoki directed the class to take their seats when Mr. Hamada entered the room. Some of the students were still standing around and chatting.
HAMADA
"Out of the way. You come with me."
ALTO
"Y-yes, sir."
Miu hears Alto's voice behind Mr. Hamada and looks to find him walking in with the school uniform on and a matching turban. The uniform colors clashed with his green skin and made miu snicker at him. He hears her and smiles and waves at her shyly. She waves back in amusement.
HAMADA
"Everybody, shut it and pay attention. We got a new student from the northern highlands. Mr. Alto of the Battle Clan just transferred here as a temporary attendee, but treat him like he'll be graduating with you. He might choose to stay in the school after the semester is over. Lucky for him, he has the next two and a half months to do just that. Go ahead and take your seat in the back. Since that's the only place left to sit."
ALTO
"Yes sir."
Alto goes to the back of the room passing Miu in the front and sneaking a note on her desk. She sees it and reads it.
"Hope you're willing to show me around later. I got lost finding the teachers office when Mr. Hamada found me. Xp"
Miu giggles and tries to hold back her laughter. As soon as Alto sits down he sees Miu look towards him and give him an okay sign with a big smile. He smiles back and Hamada starts the class.
Lunchtime finally rolls around and Miu gets up to talk to Alto who is now surrounded by the sports club members in the class. He instantly became the most popular guy in the room.
Plutos sees Miu and Alto Leave the room. He thinks back on the first time he countered his brother's sneak attacks, when he learned how to find and follow them without seeing them. He closes his eyes and lets his vision go dark with only a traced light shining in the darkness behind his eyes. He opens his eyes and the traced light moves through the building and he follows it to the center courtyard outside. The light becomes Miu as soon as she steps outside. Plutos smiles to himself and sits on the Roof above her and Alto to watch Miu's day continue.
He follows her light through the building and peaks through windows she passes by to see what she's up to occasionally as she guides Alto throughout the building and introduces him to some of her clubmates, then back to their class and spend the rest of the afternoon there until the day is near its end. She and Alto finally head to her club room. Plutos looks around to find a window to peek through and finds a skylight to watch from above. Inside, Miu and the club members get to know Alto and enjoy Conversation. Plutos starts to notice that she wasn't acting the same way as when they first met. He figured it was because of their encounter and keeps watch to study her more. The more he watched her, the more he wanted to know about her. She had a heavy hold on his curiosity. Miu was soon approached By her friend, Matsuda, to fight her with a few others today and plutos didn't find that too unfair with how little power she seemed to have to fight that many people at once. She instantly proved that thought wrong within minutes of the fight.
Miu is surrounded at all sides. One person at each pole and corner of the mate, a total of eight people, giving her no escape route. Miu only smiles at them and gets into her fighting stance, fists to her chest and face, knees bent, legs loose, and light on her toes ready to hop around. The first person rushes at her from behind and she backflips over him and kicks him into the person in front of her. The one in front shoves the tumbler out of the way and rushes at her with a straight strike in front of her, timing his punch for when she lands. Miu ducks as soon as she hits the ground and uses the momentum to send an uppercut into his chin. Another rushes behind him into her blind spot with a second jumping to drop kick her from the side. She redirects the kick into the one in her blindspot and sends a punch into her next victim's face, letting her elbow hit the surprise behind her. She spins around and lets her other hand swing into the victims head, then turns to her side and ducks with a sweep of her foot, tripping one of the last two that rushes in after her. Matsuda was one of them.
Matsuda jumps over her kick and sends a roundhouse to her side. Miu Blocks it and punches at his stomach but misses and then sends a barrage of punches at him until he fails to dodge one and gets sent to the door off the mat. Miu was the last one standing on the mat.
Plutos laid on the Roof of the building in amaze at how fast she plowed through the club members so easily. She didn't seem as strong as they did with how small she was in comparison, but she proved him wrong in an instant.
PLUTOS
(think) '...I have no words… well, I figured she was well off enough but to handle herself so perfectly against so many opponents in one session like that… to think someone could be this strong on this desolate planet. I wonder how strong she can actually get. I feel like she was holding back on them. How odd… I could even feel some of the pressure from up here. It's not much but the fact that it's there is amazing on its own. Lord Kai said that the life here is extremely weak and showed no promise the last time he checked up on it, and his main concern wasn't their strength it seems… well, if I can learn anything from this place, I know for sure I can learn something from her… then again… there could also be the possibility that the others were holding back on her…'
While Plutos thought to himself about Miu's potential, Alto suddenly approached her on the mat with a face of excitement.
PLUTOS
(thinks) '… isn't that a namekian?? I thought they were decimated during Fathers purge with the god of destruction? Now that i have a good look around the room… There are a lot of other familiar races here from around the galaxy here too. Hm… Lord Kai might want to know about this. I can report back later after this. It seems the namekian has challenged Miss Miu Mi. They tend to be fair fighters, especially the warrior clans… for some reason, I feel a bit concerned about this fight.'
Inside…
ALTO
"Do you mind if I try my hands with you? You seem to have a good grasp on a few techniques."
MIU
"Oh? You want to spar with me? Wait, don't you do some sort of special training up north? This is a self defence club after all, not a true fight club. So I'm sorry for being a pit paranoid."
ALTO
"Nah. you should be concerned. Cuz you're right. The dragon clan specialty is hand to hand combat through martial arts training and meditation. But you're a freestyle kind of person so the methods might be super different, right?"
MIU
"Yeah, that's right."
ALTO
"Don't worry too much. I just never fought with different styles before so i wanted to see how our methods can compare. If you don't mind that is."
MIU
"… I feel like you might break something so let's go outside. Matsuda, you good over there?"
MATSUDA
"Yeah, I'm fine. Wazzup?"
MIU
"Go and get a teacher to supervise. Can't be getting into trouble on his first day, right?"
MATSUDA
"Oh! Sure! Be right back."
Matsuda opens the door to head out but is stopped by a few people at the door.
MATSUDA
"Ah… oh dad! And Officer Flute! Hey!"
OFFICER KOSUKE
"Hey there, son. Where're you going in such a hurry?"
MATSUDA
"Miu asked me to get the supervisor to watch a spar match outside."
OFFICER KOSUKE
"Outside? With who?"
MATSUDA
"Alto challenged her to a match and Miu said they should take it outside."
OFFICER FLUTE
"… Why don't we watch over it? Since we're here and all."
MATSUDA
"Really!? Hey, Miu! Dad and Officer Flute said they'll supervise the match!"
MIU
"Yeah? Okay. guess that settles it. Let's head out for some fresh air, everybody."
EVERYONE
"Yes, ma'am!"
Miu guilds the room outside to the grass yard at the side of the school and they make a line along the pavement while Miu and Alto make their way to the center. Plutos stays in the air away from prying eyes nearby to watch the match.
ALTO
"… well. Hope you take good care of me. I look forward to this."
MIU
"… yeah… same to you."
Miu's facade instantly changed to become more serious as she took a more wild and serious stance that intimidated the other club members and Officer Kosuke. Alto felt the air around her had changed. As did Officer Flute and Plutos.
PLUTOS
"… so she can tell too. That she should feel threatened by this namekian youth. Given the circumstances, I'd say she probably wouldn't last long after man handling that many people before this fight. She may not have needed to break a sweat then but she might end up worn out after this… thinking about it now… Who would care for her if she goes back to that little room of hers and collapses from this?"
Alto takes a dignified yet intimidating stance and it seemed like for a moment that the air around him was moving around him ready to avoid his first move.
ALTO
"… Ready when you are, friend."
MIU
"… Officer Kosuke. If you please?"
OFFICER KOSUKE
"Uh… sure. Ready!"
The tension between the two starts to build slowly.
OfFFICER KOSUKE
"BEGIN!!!"
Alto immediately leaps forward in a blink without a sound and catches everyone off guard. His knee lands into her arms as she guards her chest and catches his attack. She suddenly flies through the air a few feet away from her original spot and lands and slides back another foot, digging her legs into the ground as she stops. She hadn't taken her eyes off of Alto. Alto smirks in interest.
ALTO
"Wow. not bad. You held up great for that hit. Though it seems obvious that you haven't met a match for your skills."
MIU
"…"
Alto rushes at Miu again and starts sending his elbows and knees at her vital points. Miu blocks every attack while backing away from him. She wasn't trying to open the distance though. Alto suddenly roundhouse kicks at her head and grabs her neck with his leg, then throws her behind him and sends her back across the field. The club was stunned that Miu was getting tossed and pushed around so much. They started thinking that she didn't have a chance to get a hit in until Alto spoke again.
ALTO
"Still studying me up huh?"
MIU
"… can't really do much with a style I don't know."
ALTO
"Heh! True enough. I can give you a hint. It's a Muay Thai style of fighting."
MIU
"Muay Thai? No wonder I can't ready your movements. This is going to be a pain to get used to, literally."
ALTO
"(Laughs) well, better late than never, right? Better learn quickly though, before your hands get worse."
No one noticed that she was badly brushed already. Her arms were completely covered in purple spots from her elbow to her hands. Miu ignores the remark and gets back into her stance. Alto smiles and rushes her again. Miu raises her guard but suddenly gets a fist in her stomach and she is sent into the air. Alto jumps and kicks her higher up and falls to the ground with a leg ready to send another kick at her when she falls back to the ground. Miu regathers herself as she falls and lands on his leg then pounces him into the ground and jamming her fists into his chest and knocking the wind out of him. She then quickly expands the distance from him to recover from her pain. Alto rolls over to stand again and everyone notices the crater he left in the ground. Miu takes the opportunity to rush at him as he tries to recover from her sudden counter. He sees her running to him at full speed and gets ready to block her next move, but doesn't predict that she would faint him. Miu dives under him and uses her legs to trip him and make him fall forward then swings her legs back as he falls. He sees what she wanted to do and catches himself before hitting her heels. He throws himself up, away from her before Miu kicks up and gets back on her feet. Miu rushes Alto again and throws a flurry of punches and kicks mainly aiming for his lower body.
Alto dodges and blocks all of her attacks and counters with his own, with Miu blocking and dodging all the same. The fight was intense and long, yet neither of them had landed a critical enough hit to call the fight. Everyone was worried for Miu since she had the disadvantage from Alto's first attacks. Alto finally throws a heavy attack from above and nearly smashes Miu's back, then grabs her, holds her high in the air, then throws her down into the ground. Miu takes a moment to collect herself and sits up again. Alto was ready to attack her again until she raised her hand over her head.
MIU
"I yield!"
Alto stops right above her watching her catch her breath.
ALTO
"… ok."
Alto kneels down in front of Miu and lends her his hand. Miu looks up at him and sees him smiling innocently and takes his offer to help.
ALTO
"You're really good. You didn't seem like you had a lot of training before since your moves are freestyle, but you really showed a lot of potential."
MIU
"Says the guy holding back. I know you northerners train your entire life in those mountains."
ALTO
"(laughs) yeah well, I wouldn't be saying anything about how you fight if it weren't true."
MIU
"… thank you. That actually means a lot."
ALTO
"Not a problem. Anyway…"
Alto holds out his hand and a gold light shimmers from his palm then vanishes with Miu's wounds. Miu looks at her arms and notices they didn't hurt anymore.
ALTO
"That should do it."
MIU
"… what did you do? I don't feel anything!"
ALTO
"Hahahah do worry it's nothing crazy. I just healed you with my ki. Almost all of us in the north can do that. Though to be honest I think you can just heal yourself in no time, but I wouldn't feel right leaving a good rival potential like that."
MIU
"R-rival he says."
ALTO
"Of course! You got a lot of potential."
MIU
"Again, says the guy holding back."
ALTO
"Ah, come on. I can't just kick your ass. Do you realize how hard it was to hold back on you? You kept getting faster and I had to stop and think for a second to figure out how to not break my clans code."
MIU
"Code?"
ALTO
"I'll tell you later. It looks like it's getting dark and the old guys look like the edge is about to break their backs."
FLUTE
"I hope you're not referring to me, you cheeky brat."
ALTO
"Nee heeheehee. Anyway, I had a ton of fun thanks to you. You should try working on some ki channeling. I just know you'll get a lot out of proper training."
MIU
"Yeah, okay."
The club returns to the clubroom and moments later head home for the night. Miu is outside the school gates about to walk home when her name gets called.
MATSUDA
"MIU!!"
Matsuda rushed out of the school to the front gates as fast as he could.
MIU
"Hey, Matsuda."
MATSUDA
"Hey. how are you doing? That fight was super intense. Are you really alright?"
MIU
"Yeah. I went to the nurse just in case and she didn't find anything wrong with me physically, although I do feel pretty sluggish and tired. He may have fixed up the damage but not my energy. I'll probably get a real good night sleep tonight."
Matsuda walks with Miu down the road heading to her apartment chatting about the fight until they make it to the entry and stop to continue chatting, unaware of Plutos tailing them from the skies. Plutos quickly makes his way to the door before Miu and Matsuda notices him. He sees the window was opened and remembers it being closed when he last left. He flies to the roof over the room and uses his ability to see if someone else was there. Low and behold, a very weak energy was roaming around Miu's apartment room heading to the bedroom. It seemed to be content there.
PLUTOS
(thinking) 'if I recall the rooms layout, it must be going through her wardrobes. Why though? They don't seem to be moving so they must not know that she's here. To be fair, she has been talking to this boy for a while. Hmm…'
Plutos points a finger at the energy in the room and shoots a beam of light through the ceiling and hits the energy he saw. The energy spazzed throughout the room and rushed the hall to the other side of the apartment, knocking into the walls and other obstacles. Until it stops at the end. He could see the energy quivering below him.
MIU
"What the hell??"
MATSUDA
"What was that? That came from your place, didn't it?"
MIU
"Call your dad right now."
MATSUDA
"On it.(dialing) 'Dad! Get to Miu's! There's someone in there that's not supposed to be. I think they got through the…'"
Matsuda suddenly caught a glimpse of Plutos on the roof of the building and then vanished as soon as Miu got to the stairs.
MATSUDA
"… What the hell!?"
Matsuda and officer Kosuke rush to the stairs and go inside to find Miu taking something from the landlord and holding him in a headlock. A piece of paper falls gently through the window and lands next to Matsuda and he picks it up and reads it.
"THIS MAN IS A THIEF AND FULL OF CRAP.
DO NOT BELIEVE HIS LIES."
Later that night, Miu was allowed to live with the Kosuke family for a while. They give her a room to herself as they help her move the little things she had. After everything was done, Miu was left alone in her new room with her thoughts.
MIU
(Thinking) '… finally. No one would believe me before this, and now that the idiot's been caught, I don't know what to do about this uneasy feeling in the back of my mind. What will happen to me now that that place is getting terminated? Is this for the better that I won't be there anymore? … I can't stay here long so I don't know where they'll send me next. Will I be able to stay in this city after this? Or will they send me to a new school? I don't know. I don't want to leave the Kosuke family. They are the closest thing to family I have right now. The best thing I have to keep me from resorting to my "origin"...'
Miu's thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a knock on her window behind her. This was odd considering she was on the third floor with no balcony. She looked through it for a moment to see if she could find someone on the ground floor but she didn't even see a shadow from the wall light below her. Pink blur suddenly sways at her eye level and startles her out of her seat. A purple face peeks through the window from the roof with bright eyes staring at her. She recognized that curious look from their first meeting. Miu stands and opens the window quietly and stares back at the pair of curious eyes in shock.
MIU
(whisper) "Plutos!? What are you doing here!?"
PLUTOS
"Ello~. I wanted to check on you since you weren't back in that room of yours."
MIU
"Well, it's not my place anymore. And hold on! What were you doing back there anyways?"
Plutos hovers down from the roof and sits in the windowsill comfortably. Miu had forgotten that he could fly and backs away nervously to give him space.
Plutos
"I was following you around actually. To see how you live out your day."
MIU
"… wha… are you a stalker?"
PLUTOS
"Well I wasn't going to fly around aimlessly looking for someone to study for my project."
MIU
"Project?? … oh yeah. Wait a minute. You did say something about that before didn't you? That you were studying the planet's living conditions?"
PLUTOS
"That's right. Though, I must admit it's going to be difficult doing that with my head on the wanted list because of a dumb mistake I made. *sigh* Neither of them are going to let me live this one down once they find out about it."
MIU
"… you mean your brothers?"
PLUTOS
"Yes. I'm actually glad you remembered."
MIU
"Right… So back to the current issue, what are you doing here?"
PLUTOS
"Still tailing you, if I may be so bold."
MIU
"Why!?"
PLUTOS
"Shh! Because I had an epiphany. What better way to learn than to socialize? You were the only I really got to interact with here on this planet, so I thought why not ask for your assistance?"
MIU
"And what in this vast universe made you think I would help you with that?"
PLUTOS
"Well, for one, you have me to thank for that thief."
MIU
"Oh really? Then I guess I also have you to thank for making me homeless too."
PLUTOS
"… eh??"
Miu sighs and sits on the floor then grabs her bracelet and stares at it. She seemed melancholy. Plutos watches her and notices the compartment on it.
PLUTOS
".. I take it this trinket is important to you."
MIU
"… it was my parents. My mom and dad were romantics and had this made for me when they found out I was coming. They passed when I was a brat starting middle school… but because of where they were from, I was put into a lot of special places that dealt with kids with my "origin". Being a blood resident from the south."
PLUTOS
"… could you explain? I'm not sure I follow."
MIU
"It just means I'm a bit different from everyone else in this part of the world. Compared to most other humans here, I'm basically considered mutated, or superhuman. My check ups always show my physique to be more defined than everyone else. My body can withstand a lot of damage. From burns to deep cuts or even a bad fall from some high places. Most of the time I would just end up with a few stitches but no scars. I'm weird compared to everyone else, and because of that i have to stay quiet and keep to myself even if it means I have to deal with all my problems that I shouldn't be handling myself. All because I'm not like the rest."
PLUTOS
"… I've made up my mind."
MIU
"Hm??"
PLUTOS
"From now on, you and I will be the best of friends."
