Waking up

Slowly, I opened my eyes to see a dark but dimly lit room. Looking around with my limited eyesight, I saw that I was in some kind of Clinic.

Before I could move out of the bed, a sleepy-eyed Miu raised herself up from the side of my bed. When she opened her eyes a little, she cutely looked around like a cat who just woke up before rubbing her eyes of any residue tiredness in them.

When she finished she abruptly stopped her movements before lowering one hand and looking at me with her big blue eye.

"Kurosawa-kun...you're awake..." she spoke in a slightly absentminded tone before she quickly realized I must have seen her sleeping with her head on my 'hospital' bed.

Though I didn't see that, she didn't know that.

And I did see her waking up, so it's not exactly a full lie...it's more like a half-truth, I guess.

"You're awake!" with this, she quickly stood up and straightened out her pajamas - a yellow pajama top which went past her hips, which was covered in animal paw prints, presumably cat paw prints as Miu was obsessed with Cats. After straightening out her pajamas, she looked embarrassed and averted her gaze from me.

...Especially when she caught me looking at her thick, milky thighs...I must train my willpower to not look...!

"Are...are you okay, Kurosawa-kun? Do you have any discomfort anywhere?" seemingly to distract herself from her own embarrassment, Miu leaned over me before checking me up and down.

This didn't exactly help me as I could get a better look at her...let's just say, curvaceous figure.

I'm a straight, teenage boy! Being this close to a pretty girl is sending my hormones into a storm!

Keeping myself calm, at least outwardly so, I let out a small release of air before smiling at Miu, "I'm fine, Furinji-san, my body is incredibly sturdy and my healing ability is very good as well," as if to prove my point, I lifted my arm up and flexed, showing I was fine.

Which was even a surprise to me. I didn't think I'd be okay after the beating I got my Sakaki, especially after that last punch. But flexing the muscles in my body...I felt that I was next to fine. In fact, I felt even better than before. Like my body had learned from that beatdown and had improved itself somehow.

Why am I feeling better? I didn't ask to born as a Saiyan, right?!

Pulling me out of such useless thoughts, Miu looked at me with an angry pout, "You don't need to try and fool me! You should've seen how beat up you were after Sakaki finished with you...I felt so worried..." her angry pout soon changed into a sad frown and her eyes were getting a bit watery.

Feeling surprised she was this worried about me, I quickly shuffled toward her and smiled reassuringly, "Hey, hey, don't get upset...I really am fine, Furinji-san," pulling the bandages away from my arm which took the brunt of one of Sakaki's heavy hits earlier, I showed Miu that the serious bruising from before was merely a slight discoloration of the skin now, "See?"

Seeing the barely damaged arm, Miu felt at a loss for words and simply kept looking between me and my arm before she finally plopped down on a chair next to me.

"You...Kurosawa-kun, you're a real mystery, you know that right? First, it was you seeming exactly like a Martial Artist, then there was that weird form you took on when you were fighting Sakaki...now you're showing me you have incredible recovery powers...You're making me very curious about you, you know?" she pouted her juicy lips cutely before sulking a little and she looked incredibly coy. The fact she wasn't meaning to look coy made her even more alluring.

"Oh? A pretty girl like you is curious about little ol' me? Well, it seems to be my lucky day~" hearing what I was saying, Miu's facial expression didn't change but her face itself got more and more red from what I was saying.

To save her some of the embarrassment, I moved the subject to something I was wondering about.

"Hey Furinji-san..." letting my voice trail off, I waited for Miu to look over at me, which she did pretty quickly, "Why were you so worried about me? You've barely known me for a day...yet you seemed sincerely worried for me earlier...why?" I tilted my head in genuine confusion as this question was bugging me.

I knew Miu was a kind and gentle girl, who cared about most people's well-being but even then...You don't get teary-eyed for a stranger. No matter how kind you are.

Hearing my question, Miu went into a cute thinking pose with a fist supporting her chin.

Before long, she thought of an answer and looked up at me with determined eyes, "Because you're my friend, and I care for my friends even if they don't want me to. I've...I've never really had any friends and..." as if she came to a horrifying realization, she went pale before looking at me with scared, wet eyes, "...Do you not want to be friends with me? I know we haven't known each other for long but I'm sure we could become friends through martial arts, I-I-I'll teach you as well!" her voice became desperate and tears started to roll down her face.

Seeing this, I felt terrible for the young girl. She had constantly been on the move throughout her childhood and couldn't make many if any, friends at all, and when she finally got a chance to settle down, the girls at her school singled her out through pure jealousy because of her superior grades, looks, and athletic ability.

No wonder she has such low-self esteem and started second guessing herself so quickly.

Quickly shuffling closer to her, I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder before gently smiling at her, "Calm down, Furinji-san. Why wouldn't I want to be friends with you - someone who's so kind and brilliant? If anything, I should be the one asking if you want to be friends with me--" before I could finish, Miu took my hand from her shoulder and held it with both her hands while looking up at me with bright eyes.

"I want to be friends with you, Kurosawa-kun! I'm not brilliant at all, so you don't have to worry about that! We can be friends, and we can practice martial arts together. It's going to be so much fun!" her hands were squeezing my hand with enough force to break concrete.

...Luckily, my high body density protected me from this deceptively strong girl's hands.

But looking at the hopeful look in her eyes, I couldn't help but sigh before gently smiling at her.

"Then it's settled, Furinji-chan, we're friends and you're stuck with me for good~" putting my free hand over hers, I gave her hand a little squeeze before leaning back into the bed I was on.

Hearing what I called her, Miu went a bit red before squeaking out, "-chan? Why are you calling me with the -chan honorific...?"

"Simple - because we're friends now. Calling you with -san felt a bit too formal," looking at her flustered look, I smirked, "What? Do you want me to change it back?"

Hearing me, she quickly shook her head before pouting at me with teary-eyes.

...I think I may have just gained diabetes from how cute she is.

Seeing me go a little red, Miu got worried and started checking my temperature to see if I had a fever. Her care, while slightly embarrassing because of her lack of self-awareness of her body touching mine, was still quite...heartwarming.

After she deduced that I was fine, she just sat back and continued to hold my hand. There was nothing weird about it, nor any ulterior motives, she just seemed to feel comfort in holding my hand.

Not that I minded either. Holding her hand felt calming.

And I wouldn't mind some calm after what happened earlier.

We just sat there (well, I was lying down, but oh well) and talked to one another. What I said about barely knowing one another was true, so we decided to rectify that. We spoke until what seemed like midnight before Miu checked and saw that it was 1 am in the morning. She started to get down about having to call off our talking but I reassured her that we could talk whenever she wanted - we did go to school together and most of my free time would be spent here at the Dojo.

This perked her up but before she could fully say her goodbye, the door opened and a tall figure walked in.

"Shouldn't you be in bed, Miu?" the Elder ducked under the doorway before walking over to us with a casual smile on his face.

Though I did see the smile twitch a little when he saw Miu holding my hand.

Seeing her grandfather, Miu got a little flustered but soon calmed herself down when she realized she'd done nothing wrong.

"Sorry grandfather, I was just keeping Kurosawa-kun company and lost track of time," she looked over at me reluctantly before looking back at her grandfather, "I'll go to bed now, goodnight grandpa, goodnight Kurosawa-kun," with this she went to walk out but the Elder held up a hand to stop her.

"I came here so late at night because I had things to discuss with Kuro-chan alone...But, you should most likely stay to hear the conversation, Miu, so you know what your new friend is," his voice wasn't as booming as it usually was, instead it was kind of quiet.

Hearing what he last said put me on edge but I soon calmed down when I realized what he was talking about:

My earlier transformation.

It seems that the Kure Clan exists in this world as well, and the Elder has seen the Kure Clan members, he's probably even fought with them.

Miu, confused, sat back down and grabbed my hand again, tightly squeezing it. I gently squeezed it back and she went frozen for a second before going a bit red.

...It seems she only just now realized she'd been holding my hand this entire time.

But before she could go red, the Elder coughed a little before glaring down at me. Feeling his glare, I pretended to not notice it and kept holding Miu's hand. She didn't let go either.

Hah, take that you old codger.

"Haah~ Youth..." he let out this small whisper before sitting down on the edge of my bed on the opposite side to Miu.

Contrary to my expectations, the bed didn't bend under his massive weight...thinking about it, contrary to my expectations as well, it didn't bend or break under my massive weight which should easily be in the 200kg range or even more.

"First off of the things we need to discuss, my boy, do you know your heritage?"

Hearing his question, I thought of whether to play the oblivious kid who doesn't know anything or to just tell them. I knew everyone at Ryozanpaku was nice and wouldn't fuck me over for the sake of it but...was it worth telling them?

Not about how I was transmigrated here - I'd be in a Mental Asylum before I knew it - but how I had the Kure Clan Bloodline and was a mixture of every great fighter from the last few Kengan Matches. It'd be easy enough to just lie and say I was made in a lab with the goal of making the perfect fighter but before anything could be done, I escaped.

It's a bit unbelievable but everyone here is from an anime, right? Their common sense must be a bit wacky as well.

Coming to a conclusion, I nodded my head, "Yeah, I know my heritage. I have the Kure Bloodline flowing through my veins,"

The Elder nodded his head when he heard me, but Miu just looked between me and her grandfather with a confused face.

Seeing this, The Elder looked to me before looking at Miu, "You see, Miu, just like we come from the Furinji Clan - a clan of Martial Artists -, Kuro-chan over here comes from a similar Clan called the Kure Clan. Ever since the Asuka period, the Kure Clan has undergone a 1300 year process of selective breeding, adoption of special techniques and outside combat arts; as a result, with each generation, the Kure has become a race specialized for battle. Through this selective breeding they've gained physical superiority, even when compared to us from the Furinji Clan, and Kuro-chan over here seems to be a deviant even by their standards," he let Miu take in this information before dropping more onto her, "However, the most notable result of their selective breeding process is their ability to consciously remove their brain's limits on their muscular strength output, as well as the physical constitution needed to handle unrestrained exertion of the muscle's strength, in a process known as Removal," he let out a sigh before saying one last thing, "And this is why they're the most notorious Assassin Clan on Earth."

Hearing I came from a clan of Assassins, Miu went a bit pale before looking up at me for confirmation.

"It's true, Furinji-chan, I'm from the Kure Clan," my voice sounded a bit apprehensive, and I don't know why. If I had to take a guess, it'd be because I knew Miu was from a group of people who were the opposite of the Kure Clan - they were protectors, not killers and I didn't want Miu to see me as a killer because I knew that she'd never open up to me if that happened.

Before either of them could speak, I spoke up again, "But I'm not defined by the clan I'm from, okay? I'm not some ruthless killer, just because I'm from that clan," letting out a sigh, I weakly smiled up at the Elder, "If it's any consolation, I didn't grow up in the clan, I'm an orphan."

Hearing the slight worry in my voice, the Elder smiled dotingly, "Don't worry, boy, we do not judge people on their pasts or where they come from, but on how their actions in the present portray them!" he slapped my shoulder with his giant hand and if it weren't for my sturdy body, I'm sure my shoulder would've been crushed.

Miu, on the other hand, just nodded with a cute fervor while holding my hand tightly just like before.

Seeing this, I decided not to tell them that I was a genetic freak who was made up of genes from the best fighters from around the world or at least those who went to compete in Kengan Matches. I'd leave that bombshell for another day.

Remembering something, I looked up at the Elder and raised an eyebrow, "Wait, didn't you come in here to talk to me about something? I'm guessing it's to do with the Kure Clan...so fire away, Elder,"

"Oh, I don't have to talk about it anymore," he let out a hearty laugh before continuing, "I was just wondering if the Kure Clan knew you were out and about, but from what you just told me, they don't seem to care about you that much, especially seeing that they orphaned you," the Elder heard a firm cough before he looked over at Miu who was glaring at him for what he just said. The Elder, realizing his bluntness and how it had gained the ire of his precious granddaughter, immediately looked to me with a weak smile, "Ah...I'm sorry about what I just said, it just came out...I'm sorry if I upset you," he bowed his head a little toward me.

Seeing him like this, I looked at Miu like she was some kind of all-powerful God which got me a confused stare, before I finally turned back to the Elder, "It's fine, so raise your head, old man. I've never seen them in all my life, so not caring about one another is a mutual feeling between me and the Kure Clan," smiling, I reassured the two of them that I was emotionally fine before the Elder stood up.

"Well, we should all get some rest, you two have school tomorrow...or today, I should say. Come along, Miu," he got up and walked to the door before turning and waiting for Miu.

The girl in question nodded before smiling at me, "Goodnight, Kurosawa-kun, I'll see you in the morning when I come to wake you up!"

And with that, she was gone and I was left alone with my thoughts.

Would I run into the Kure Clan one day? Probably. Would they be super-duper curious as to why I have their Bloodline? Absolutely. But most importantly, do I really care enough to lose sleep over it? Not at all.

With that thought finishing in my head, I forced myself to sleep, dreaming of a certain blonde-haired girl wearing cat pajamas much too small for her.