Chapter 31 : Out Of Sight

It had already been 10 minutes since Ryuko and Rumi were watching the fight unfold.

If the beginning was an eye opener for them, what they were seeing right now was completely another level altogether.

At first, Kurai had the upper-hand, he kept dealing sharp attacks with either his palm or heels to the old priest.

Most of his attacks though, were only baits, they could feel that he was waiting for the right moment to strike.

It was more correct to say that Kurai was waiting for the priest to make a mistake so he could end him with a finishing move.

...But the old man never made a mistake, even though he personally never fought against someone using Kurai's martial art, it didn't mean he would be at a disadvantage.

It's like how an experienced driver would never be scared of an unknown road, because he already drove upon thousands of roads. So he'll know that novelty won't make him fail.

It was the same for the head priest, who was an old master, even if he never fought against someone using this wild and deadly style, he instinctively knew what to do to counter him.

That's why, he only remained on the defensive side, redirecting his hits out of his body's way, and never giving Kurai the opportunity to strike.

He could feel that if he took the hit, the following one would mark his end, that was his intuition as an old master.

And up until then, when he told Kurai that he was done warming up, he was analyzing him, trying to decipher this new fighting style.

Starting from there, he switched his mode, and halted Kurai's mad attacks. He was now going on the offensive.

Both girls opened their eyes wide, not wanting to miss a beat, this time it was the old man who disappeared for a second from their vision.

Imitating Kurai, he went behind him and attacked his spine with a vertical punch.

It would've been the end already if he didn't underestimate Kurai's resourcefulness.

Making full use of his feline body, he bent his spine to avoid the punch and let his body fall to the ground. Which startled the old master when he saw his follow-up heel kick coming for his neck again.

He was forced to block the kick with both hands, 'He's very dangerous, he doesn't even leave a single opportunity without trying to go for my neck, huh?'

The old man took a few steps back, he joined his hands together and bowed, "I must say… Congratulations, you are the first youngster who pushed me this far…"

Kurai relaxed his tense stance, and started to circle around the old man, already preparing for his next move.

"Allow me to show you our family's arts: The Northern Dragon Style." He declared proudly, rooting his feet to the ground.

Raising his hand, he signalled Kurai to come, while on the side Ryuko had stars in her eyes, it would be the first time for her to actually see her father using their arts.

Just like the mystical Dragon God, Dragon Style Kung Fu is full of contrast. Their family used it to create an art where the fighter would move gently and fluidly, then all of a sudden he might become aggressive and throw a mighty strike. In other terms, Dragon Style Kung Fu fighters would be considered as counter-punchers, who wait for their enemy to make the first move and then react by attacking their weakest point.

Wiping his sweat off, Kurai released his breath and focused on the old man.

He could see him in a relaxed stance, but his feet were rooted firmly on the ground. His arms were down above his knees, but he was ready to strike at any moment.

'I see no openings.' He still continued to circle him.

'This means that I'll need to create one.' Kurai sped up and used Shunpo for the first time in the fight.

He told the old man that he won't use his quirk, but this remastered version of Shunpo was his own skill, a skill using footwork that he created himself, taking inspiration from Yoruichi's memories and his own understanding of martial art.

"Dragon's claw!"

Still, the old man wasn't shaken by this, calmly he threw a palm strike. Kurai's heart missed a beat and he ducked quickly under his palm, increasing his Shunpo's speed.

'That was impressive.' The palm strike left his peripheral vision, though he could feel the remaining air current behind him, showing how strong the hit was.

Ironically, Kurai launched a dragon claw punch to the old man's chin too, planning to knock him out.

The old man inhaled sharply and shouted, "Dragon's jaws!"

Of course, the old priest didn't let him unhindered, smashing his feet deep into the dojo's wooden plank, he initiated a 2 way block: Kurai's arm was soon sandwiched by his left and right elbow, both pushing in the opposite way, therefore halting Kurai's movement.

"Got you." Ryuko's dad showed him a feral grin.

Rotating his arms, and taking Kurai's with him, he pushed the feline out of his way, just enough to leave plenty of leeway for himself to reorient his body.

Using all the inertia he could, he didn't stop his two hands' momentum, and followed up with 2 dragon claws, further provoking Kurai, who did the same previously.

"Dragon's roar!"

Kurai was now in a bind, all of a sudden it was as if he was looked down by an emerald dragon God roaring at him with his maw wide open, threateningly trying to devour him.

'I'm not done yet!' Clenching his jaw, Kurai tried to stop his body, but his sweaty feet were sliding on the wooden ground.

'Shit!'

Both claws were now very close to him, the old man didn't let his guard down but he was sure that the fight would end soon.

At this moment, Kurai's concentration spiked up, and it was as if time slowed down, not literally but this is what it seemed to him, mostly because he had a sudden adrenaline rush.

His resourcefulness, and experience with death were his strong points, so instead of backing, he tried to lock his left foot, leaving his right one pursuing its route.

Bending his body forward, he initiated a kick with his right heel, which was going round behind him until it came exactly between the old man's 2 hands, and straight for his neck.

Unknowingly, during the fight's excitement, when his concentration reached its peak, he transformed into his half-cat form. Making the 3 persons who were looking at him gape their mouth, even Rumi, although she was more shocked after seeing his move, 'It's like mine, but better!'

The old man then breathed out, "Nicely done… The tiger cub was in fact a cat, it seems like I wasn't that far off." Ryuko started applauding both opponents.

But Kurai only sighed, "Thanks for your time, old man." He retracted his foot.

Continuing, he bowed to the old master, "But it is your win, in the end I used my quirk."

"Oho! So it's like that... " He bowed too, showing the respect due between 2 fighters.

The fight lasted for around 15 minutes but Kurai felt like an hour passed. After thanking the old man, who thanked him back for allowing his daughter to see the fight, he left the dojo.

"So what do you think?"

Now that Kurai had left, both father and daughter were alone. "Father, without quirk I think he's very strong, if not the strongest young generation fighter I've seen."

He nodded at his daughter's words, patting her head, he gazed in Kurai's direction, "And it wasn't his favorite kind of fight…"

Although Ryuko couldn't comprehend her dad, she understood that Kurai could be even stronger. The old man, though, knew that face to face and one-on-one fights weren't Kurai forte.

And he wasn't wrong either, after all assassins don't need to directly face their opponents…

…

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…

Kurai directly went to his dormitory after leaving the dojo, he still made sure that the little bunny reached her's too before. He actually felt her leaving when they finished the fight but decided to not surprise her and leave her time to reminisce about the fight.

Chuckling at her antics, he closed his eyes, 'She could've just asked, ahah!' Still he hoped that she could reminisce enough to not have nightmares tonight.

The next day, he woke up early, thinking about how he could further improve himself after that fight and directly went to the dining hall.

That's where he saw Ryuko already eating, sitting alone.

She was gracefully eating with her chopsticks with the sun shining in the background, she truly looked like an angel, even more so with how her hair blended with the sunrays.

Kurai looked around and saw no one else, so he decided to approach her, "Yo! Can I eat with you?"

Ryuko's long eyelashes battled as she gazed up at him, coming out of her daze, "Kurai-san!" She started to stand up and bow but a firm hand held her shoulder down.

"No need for this now." Kurai sat in front of her.

Smiling, he continued, "Aren't we the same age? Or did I scare you that much yesterday night, heh?"

Ryuko frowned at that, "No, not at all! Your performance was incredible! That's why I—…"

"Alright, alright, I got it but please call me Kurai, anything else doesn't suit me, is that okay for you, Ryuko-chan~?"

Ryuko started to nervously fidget, she couldn't go against the etiquette she had learned up until now, but the thought of 'rebelling' sounded so thrilling…

"Y-yes… K-kurai!" She stuttered on his name, which made her blush at her embarrassing mistake.

"Ahaha! You'll get used to it in no time at all, don't worry."

Ryuko nodded and resumed eating, her red cheeks slowly gained back their initial colour.

"Yosh, time to dig in!" Kurai exclaimed.

Slowly as they were eating and getting to know each other better, Ryuko started to feel more comfortable around him.

At first, she had erected a barrier around him by herself. She was raised to respect strong and talented people, so seeing him fight yesterday unknowingly put unneeded distance between them.

Fortunately Kurai was perceptive enough and easily broke down those walls, putting Ryuko at ease around him. Showing her that he was more of a chill guy most of the time… 'Ahem…'

"What is it, Kurai?" Ryuko glanced up at him from her plate, hearing his cough.

"Oh nothing, I just had difficulty swallowing this piece of meat, aha!"

Ryuko sighed, "Please eat at your own pace, there are enough refills." She kindly offered him water.

This is what Kurai liked about her, even if he never saw fighting, he knew that she was strong. But she remained humble and kind under any circumstances. 'An angel, really.'

After a while a certain bunny joined them too, she still had her bed hair, because food was more important for now.

Ryuko saw her first, since Rumi was coming from Kurai's back. "Hello Rumi-san!"

The little bunny paused and looked at her. It was the first time someone one called her with honorifics, someone her age at least, teachers didn't count, and Kurai… Well…

"Good morning." She greeted back, settling her eyes on Kurai a bit longer.

At first, Rumi didn't talk much because she was still sleepy, but even after a while she didn't have a lot of opportunities to speak…

'Kurai this, Kurai that, Kurai… Since when did she get so close to him like this?? She calls me -san and not him?'

The more she listened to them the more she was astounded, Rumi was initially thinking that Ryuko was more like a prude and reserved girl. But seeing her now talk naturally with Kurai proved her wrong.

Well, in fact she was right, it was just that Kurai knew what to do and say to those kinds of girls, which made them more open around him.

Fortunately for Rumi, "Kurai, Rumi-san, I have to leave early to prepare for the afternoon activity, please excuse me." Ryuko had to leave, so she respectfully bowed to them.

"No worries, see you later!" Kurai saw her off, while Rumi only smiled at her.

When she left, Kurai turned to Rumi, "Since when were you so stiff during lunch?" He smirked.

"Hmph!" Rumi stuffed her mouth with food.

Swallowing, she continued to say, "And since when were you two this close?"

Kurai raised his eyebrow, now understanding what was this about but then he smirked, wanting to play with her, "Don't you know already?"

"Huh?" Rumi looked at him confusedly, she was at loss for words.

"We naturally connected after she asked for pointers… After yesterday's fight... The fight you not so sneakily speactated, ahah!"

This time Rumi's mouth dropped down, she didn't know that he caught her! Why didn't he tell her sooner!

"I didn't know that rabbits were sneaky too now!" Kurai continued to laugh at her.

A blush creeped up slowly on Rumi's cheeks as she was infuriated further and further by Kurai's jokes at her spying attempt.

It was in this joyful mood that breakfast ended as they had to leave the Temple and go to their first activity: Loh Kanta.

…

…

…

The location of the activity was chosen by Ryuko, as the guide for their trip she had to shoulder the role of preparing almost everything, while thinking about their security.

It was on a shore further away from the village, where two small islands could be seen.

All the kids were now grouped on the shore, they were standing in front of Ryuko, who was telling them the rules for the first challenge.

Ryuko pointed toward the sea, "As you can see, there are 2 islands, one for each team."

"Soon, I'll randomly give you a coloured bandana, though, the equity between boys and girls will be respected."

Turning back at them, she started explaining, "For this first challenge you'll need to go through a simple obstacle course. Both teams will have to swim to their islands and pass a few obstacles until they reach the finish line. You have to know that you are 80 students..."

Squinting her eyes at them, her tone became more serious, "...And this is a survival game, so after this first run, only 20 members on each team will see the next day. The others will be given a failing grade by the teachers."

She then clapped her hands.

"So please come forward now, time to make the teams!"

In the end, Ryuko really gave the bandanas randomly.

So random that Rumi and Kurai weren't even in the same team.

This unsettled Rumi, who understood that she'll have to tolerate other people now that Kurai wasn't with her.

The 2 teams were formed, on one side, the beach was red and the other yellow, at the front Kurai grinned at Rumi, "Isn't this perfect? I'll have another chance to beat you, lil' bunny!"

He knew what to say to rile her up so as to not let her think about the useless stuff that goes through her mind.

Unfortunately, Rumi could only growl and show her teeth because Ryuko resumed talking, "I hope everyone is ready, the first challenge starts soon!"

"5!"

She raised her hand up in the air, putting one finger down.

"4!"

"3!"

Rumi and Kurai, both at the front of their respective teams lowered themselves, getting ready to sprint directly.

"2!"

"1!"

Sharing a last look, they grinned before flexing their calves.

Ryuko shouted at the top of her lungs, "Start!!"

And the first race started explosively with a big jump from both tanned kids.