Starting to Train Again

Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.

After returning to his room, Tatsuo continued his work on the fans he planned to make for Mai. At the same time, he was reading the [Dimensional Chat] in his head.

{[Dimensional Chat]

Sumire: So what exactly is the Grand Magic Games?

Lici: It's kind of like the Olympics… Just with magic

Sumire: Huh? Does the world you come from have the Olympics, too?

Alfonzo: No, but… Hmm? How do I explain this?

Tatsuo (Admin): They've probably been to worlds that are like most Earths

Tatsuo (Admin): Right?

Alfonzo: Something like that

James: I'm sure Earth isn't the only world with the Olympics, anyway}

At this point, Tatsuo realized that he had not told Sumire about being reincarnated from a different Earth. And he had no intention to. However, he also had no intention of telling her that he suspected that James, Alfonzo, and Elicia were in situations similar to his. Hell, he did not even intend to discuss it with the three of them. That was their business, after all.

{[Dimensional Chat]

Sumire: I guess that's true

Sumire: Anyway, what's the Grand Magic Games like?

Lici: Well, it's a competition meant for all the magical guilds in the kingdom we live in, Fiore

Lici: However, that would make it too big

Lici: Don't say anything, Fonzie

James: That's what she said

Lici: Oh great

Lici: There's another one

Alfonzo: lol🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Sumire: I don't get it, what's so funny?

Lici: It's better to not think about it

Lici: Don't let yourself be corrupted by these two degenerates

James: I'm a half-devil

James: Being a degenerate kinda comes with the territory

Tatsuo (Admin): And what's your excuse, Alfonzo?

Alfonzo: I'm easily amused

James: …

Sumire: …

Tatsuo (Admin): …

Lici: Well, I guess you have to be some kind of degenerate to have a harem

Alfonzo: And you have to marry a degenerate for her to talk you into starting a harem

Tatsuo (Admin): Wait! What?

James: Oh! This sounds interesting

Sumire: Who would do such a thing

Lici: I would

Alfonzo: And she did

Sumire: But why?

Lici: It started because my best friend, Cana, had a crush on Fonzie when we were kids

Lici: And when we grew up a little more, she started competing with me for Fonzie's attention

Lici: So, I suggested we share Fonzie so that things didn't get awkward between us when Fonzie made a choice

Lici: And since harems are not illegal on Ishgar, she agreed

Alfonzo: And then things just kinda snow balled from there

Lici: And now he has nine wives and another girlfriend

James: Not bad

Sumire: I… see…}

The conversation went on for a while longer while Tatsuo continued creating fans. Until Sumire changed the subject as she did not know how to add to the conversation about harems.

{[Dimensional Chat]

Sumire: By the way, what are you up to Tatsuo-Kun?

Sumire: It should be pretty late there, right?

Tatsuo (Admin): I'm just doing some forging

Alfonzo: You forge?

Alfonzo: Forge what?

Sumire: What are you making?

Tatsuo (Admin): All kinds of things

Tatsuo (Admin): Weapons… Armors… I even do leatherworking and sewing

Tatsuo (Admin): Right now, I'm making fans for my mom's assistant, Mai-Nee

Lici: You can sew?

Lici: I run a clothing business here on Earth Land, you know

Tatsuo (Admin): Your original ID kinda gave that away, I think

Sumire: Now that you mention it, Lici's name was magic Seamstress, right?

Lici: That's right!

Lici: And people love my clothes

Lici: I could make some for you guys, too

James: If you made some for me, all my girls would want some, too

James: I think even Master would want some

Alfonzo: Master?

James: Yeah, my master and the Queen of my first peerage, Scáthach, the former Warrior-Queen of Dun Scaith

Lici: Whoa!

Lici: She's seriously your master?

Alfonzo: You're probably the best trained among us, then

Alfonzo: I'm completely self-trained

Lici: Me, too

Lici: Fonzie did help me develop my own fighting style, though

Lici: It was based on Capoeira

James: Like Eddie from Tekken?

James: Nice

Tatsuo (Admin): I've gone through some pretty extensive training in Vale Tudo and the use of daggers

Tatsuo (Admin): It wasn't by choice, though

Sumire: Huh?

Sumire: Didn't your parents run a dojo that taught those things?

Tatsuo (Admin): That was only the background I was given for the mission in your world, remember?

Sumire: Oh yeah, I forgot

Lici: What do you mean it wasn't your choice?

Tatsuo (Admin): Well, when I was six, I was kidnapped and forced to train in more things than a person should be able to learn, for eight years

Tatsuo (Admin): This company, DOATECH, originally wanted to clone me because they saw my potential

Tatsuo (Admin): But when that didn't work, they pumped me full of all kinds of drugs to make me obedient while making me learn all the things they thought an assassin would need to be successful

Scattered Cherry Blossoms Universe, Human World, Japan, Kyoto

While chatting with the others in the [Dimensional Chat], James was on his way to Amaterasu's shrine to see another one of his lovers, Yasaka, the Nine-Tailed Fox, in Kyoto after class. Walking next to him was one of his girlfriends, Flora Nanadan. And when he read what happened to Tatsuo in his childhood, seemingly out of nowhere, his killing intent flared up, causing all the animals in the area to flee and some of the normal people in the area to either tremble in fear or faint.

"James, what's wrong?" Flora asked in surprise after feeling James' burst of killing intent.

Hearing Flora's voice, James slowly calmed down while retracting his killing intent. Then, he looked at Flora apologetically.

"Do you remember when I told you that I was invited to a multiversal chat group?" James asked in an awkward toen.

"*Sigh* You're talking about that again?" Flora asked in a tired tone. "Maybe becoming a Satan was a bad idea. I think you're working too hard. So hard, in fact, that you're hallucinating."

As she said that, Flora reached up to place her palm on James' forehead to see if he had a fever.

"I'm not sick." James said while avoiding Flora's hand. "I swear to Grandma that it's true."

It should be noted that the one James called Grandma was Lilith, the world's first succubus and one of the progenitors of the Devil Race. So, him swearing to her was kind of a big deal.

Hearing James swear to Lilith, Flora did not know what to say. Over the past week, James had been trying to convince everyone that he was telling the truth about the [Dimensional Chat]. However, the only ones who believed him were the otaku, Rias Gremory, and the dragon attached to his soul, Ddraig.

Even James' master, Scáthach was quite skeptical about his claim. Though, she did not dismiss it outright because she knew her disciple's personality. His senior apprentice brother and best friend, Cu Chulainn used every opportunity to make fun of him for his delusions of grandeur, though.

["They'll believe you one day, Partner."] Ddraig said consolingly. ["But until you can prove that it's not just a chat group full of weirdos, that is something for the future."]

'*Sigh* I know.' James said.

["By the way, what made you so angry just now?"] Ddraig asked, as he was unable to see the [Dimensional Chat] when James was using it within his mind.

James then proceeded to tell Ddraig about Tatsuo's circumstances.

["Poor kid."] Ddraig said. ["There really isn't anything you can do about it, right? Besides, he's already been freed."]

'I know.' James replied.

["Unless you plan on asking her to train him."] Ddraig said apprehensively. ["But that might be even worse than what he already went through."]

'I actually was considering that.' James replied with a smile. Though, a bead of cold sweat was forming on his forehead. ["At least with Master's training, he would be able to protect himself if they ever came back.'

Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.

While James was talking to Flora and Ddraig, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Sumire were also outraged by what Tatsuo had been through. Especially Sumire, who asked if she should come over to Tatsuo's world to help him make DOATECH pay.

Reading everyone's words of concern made Tatsuo feel all warm and fuzzy inside. However, out of nowhere, he felt this inexplicable chill run up his spine from his tail bone to his brain. It was as if his life was in danger. Yet, he had no idea where that feeling came from.

Deciding that feeling came from working too hard for too long, Tatsuo decisively ended his forging session for the night. He was almost done, anyway. He would be able to start adding the Giant Sword Tiger's fur in place of the paper used for Washi. The next day

{[Dimensional Chat]

Tatsuo (Admin): Alright, everyone

Tatsuo (Admin): I'm gonna call it a night

Tatsuo (Admin): The study group is coming to my house tomorrow

Lici: Okay

Lici: Have a good night

Sumire: The study group?

Sumire: They're all girls, right?

Tatsuo (Admin): Yeah

Sumire: …

James: Not bad

James: A house full of girls will be nice

Sumire: Don't encourage him

Alfonzo: Hey Tatsuo

Alfonzo: When you're done with the forging, let me see some of those fans

Tatsuo (Admin): Sure

Tatsuo (Admin): Anyway, I'm going to bed

Tatsuo (Admin): Good night everyone}

Tatsuo then closed the [Dimensional Chat], put away his forging tools and materials, took a shower, and went to bed.

The next morning, Tatsuo woke up feeling refreshed. Then, he changed into his training clothes and made his way down to the training floor. Although his mother told him he did not need to worry about training until after the midterms, he woke up wanting to get back into the swing of things.

To his surprise, however, when Tatsuo arrived on the floor below the penthouse, only Sumire and Kasumi were there. But Mai was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Mai-Nee?" Tatsuo asked curiously. "She almost never misses training."

"Oh, I sent her to do something for me." Sumire said with a smile. "Since you told us that Christie found you, I asked her to go out and find all of Christie's hideouts today."

Hearing that, Tatsuo's eyes lit up.

"Does that mean she won't be here when Yakumo-San, Sasaki-San, and the others are here?" Tatsuo asked hopefully.

"She shouldn't be." Sumire said. "Tokyo is a big city, you know. And we have no idea where Christie might have set up shop."

Hearing how convincing Sumire's tone was, Kasumi almost believed that she had no idea where Christie's safehouses were, despite already knowing that Sumire had already found them. And to stop herself from laughing, she covered her mouth while shuddering from the suppressed laughter.

"Anyway, more importantly, why are you here, Tatsu-Chan?" Sumire asked curiously. "Did you wanna watch Mommy and Kasumi-Chan train?"

"Not really." Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "It's been almost a week since the last time I trained, and I feel like I'll get rusty if I don't get back into it."

"Tatsuo-Kun, you're only fifteen." Kasumi said gently. "And considering how much you've been through, it's okay to take a break every once in a while, you know?"

"Just let him do what he wants, Kasumi-Chan." Sumire said with a smile. "If he wants to train, there's no reason to stop him."

"I guess you're right." Kasumi said.

Meanwhile, Sumire, who knew that Tatsuo had spent quite a while in another world, was proud that Tatsuo was not just taking the time to slack off. Not wanting to train after school and studying with the girls for a few hours was one thing. But since he had the time and energy to do so on the weekend, it was better to keep himself sharp.

*Clap!*

"Now, let's start training." Sumire said as her expression turned serious while she clapped her hands. "This will be the first time you've trained with us since you awakened your [Energy], Tatsu-Chan. So, we're going to spar today."

Expecting that, Tatsuo nodded his head solemnly.

"Before that, I want you to run around the track." Sumire continued. "But not your usual warm up. I want top speed for as long as you can. I need to see what your current capabilities are."

"Got it." Tatsuo replied as he started stretching.

"After that, we'll see what your limit is with the weights." Sumire said. "And since I found out that you've awakened your [Energy], I expected that your strength would improve, as well. So, I had all the weight machines replaced with hydraulic weight machines. We'll find out what your lifting limit is with and without your energy."

"Understood." Tatsuo replied.

"Finally, we'll end the session with our spar." Sumire said in conclusion.

Tatsuo nodded in reply. Then, he ran off to start running around the track.

"Sumire-Sama, isn't this a bit much?" Kasumi asked in a somewhat concerned tone. "Tatsuo-Kun just awakened his [Energy]. Was there really a need for such drastic changes in the equipment?"

"Did you forget, Kasumi-Chan?" Sumire asked with a smile making its way back onto her face. "When someone awakens their energy, they usually have an increase in their raw physical abilities, too."

"Yeah, but…" Kasumi replied uncertainly.

"And Tatsu-Chan was already physically as strong as you or Mai-Chan when you used your [energy] to enhance your bodies, wasn't he?"

"Hmm… Now that you mention it." Kasumi muttered.

"And both of you were already capable of maxing out on any of the old machines if you pushed yourselves to your limits, right?" Sumire asked once again.

"That's true." Kasumi said with a nod. "*Sigh* I understand. To think he's surpassed us already.'

"Don't feel depressed." Sumire said while patting Kasumi on the back and watching Tatsuo sprint around the track at the same time. "You might have been experimented on by DOATECH, too. But it was for nowhere near as long as Tatsu-Chan."

"*Sigh* I know." Kasumi said as she clenched her fists. "One day, I'm going to kill Victor Donavan."

"Well then, you better do it fast." Sumire said with a chuckle. "Because I'm pretty sure Tatsu-Chan wants the same thing."

Hearing that, Kasumi glanced at Tatsuo. And when she saw the determination to get stronger and crush his enemies on his face, she smiled. The, her expression turned serious as well.

"Well, if I can't do it, I can at least help Tatsuo-Kun when he goes to do it." Kasumi said in a determined tone. "OH, by the way…"

Kasumi then turned back to Sumire as she continued.

"Tatsuo-Kun wants to participate in next year's Dead or Alive Tournament." Kasumi said with a smile. "He said he wants to show DOATECH what kind of weapon of mass destruction they created."

Sumire could not help laughing when she heard that.

"Well then, I guess our summer vacation destination has been settled, hasn't' it?" Sumire asked. "Don't worry, I'll take care of all the arrangements. Now, you should start your training, too."

Nodding in response, Kasumi ran off and started running around the track, as well. Meanwhile, Sumire smiled while watching her children work hard.

"Don't worry, Tatsu-Chan." Sumire said quietly to herself. "I'll make sure you're not only the strongest this world has to offer, but every other world in existence, too."