Chapter 07

It's been six months since I joined [Zodiac Beasts], and I'm doing really well, despite waking up every single day with a blow to the chest, which impressed more than half the group, because I'm sure I heard Tiger-nee-san, Monkey and Ox celebrate for winning a bet.

My sister even called me from time to time to see if I was okay. I was happy to hear her voice and that she was fine as long as I managed to curl her up that everything was normal.

My training with breathing techniques is going very well, to the point that I can already do the first three forms of breathing water, the first of thunder breathing and the first of wind breathing. I was already in the second type of gourd that I had to break with just one breath, which made Dragon-Sensei's eyes shine.

I've been training my intellect with Goat-san, to the point that I'm already taking series material above mine, I think that breathing techniques really made people smarter, or at least helped, because Goat-san is a great teacher. I never saw Goat-san fighting in the arena.

I was taking martial arts classes from Monkey, he and Ox asked me to call them casually. I asked him to teach me how to fight without any kind of weapon on the same day that Dragon-Sensei disarmed me and beat me up, because I realized that I was very vulnerable without the sword.

Money's fighting style, according to him, is called Renewal Taekwondo, where you only fought with your legs and all attacks emphasize strength and speed, which I thought was great, because I could use the thunder breath to improve the my performance. He said he learned from his grandfather, who has passed away.

From time to time, I would do sparring with Ox or Dog-san, although I realized that the two of them took it easy on me, especially Dog-san, which made her take a kick or another, and after taking the kick she went with everything, and after the fight was over she kept apologizing to me. Ox fought like he was a MMA fighter, while Dog-san appeared to be a boxer.

I tried to start practicing equipment maintenance as well, but Rabbit-san wouldn't let me touch anything because I was a child, which I thought was a tremendous injustice. Rabbit-san used custom firearms, but her favorite was a sniper rifle, which I saw her transform into an assault rifle and a submachine gun.

Horse-san was always ecstatic when I went to help her in the kitchen, which made me feel a little sorry for her at first, but after seeing how Tiger-nee-san and Monkey ate and just left, I understood the why. She also fought with her own hands, like Tiger-nee-san, but she used her feet in the middle of the movements while Tiger-nee-san, just used her feet in a flight and look there.

Snake-san started teaching me about different types of plants, especially poisons. Sometimes she gave the impression of being a loving mother. The only thing I didn't understand was the fact that she slept a lot. I got to see her fighting Dog-san once and she used a whip as a weapon.

Mice-san was either at the library or at the computer in the main hall, researching a possible target. I asked her to teach me some things about computing, at first she seemed hesitant, but she started to teach me, although during the classes I have the feeling that she wants to get me out of the computer in a beating. Mice-san used a pair of daggers as a weapon.

Pig-san taught me the basics of first aid, although I don't have to worry about bleeding thanks to breathing techniques, I still needed to know how to act if I, or any of my companions, suffered something serious. Like Goat-san, I never saw Pig-san fight.

Rooster-san and Tiger-nee-san were the most relaxed of the group, so I understood that they were the ones, in Pig-san's words, who spent most of their time on the spree.

Rooster-san was a typical womanizer, he even took me off base once. He flirted with every beautiful woman we met, some just refused him and others even beat him, or their boyfriends beat him.

I wondered if he was a masochist or if he was in no pain, after all he could just deflect and retreat, but he took the blow without even reacting. He tried to teach me a few lines, but by the reaction I saw from women in his turn, I swore never to use them.

When we came back, all the women surrounded him and took him somewhere, at dinner time, Rooster-san had a full face, from what I understood, the women in the group didn't want me to become that neither he.

He asked why this was, after all, polygamy was not illegal. And it was Tiger-nee-san who gave the answer. She said it was because there was a great chance that I would remain alone for the rest of my life if I tried to imitate him, so they didn't want him to have an influence on me.

Rooster-san didn't leave the room for a whole week after that comment and when he left he fought Tiger-nee-san, where she ended up defeating him. He used a pair of tonfa.

But I actually found this outing with Rooster-san productive, after all it made me realize when a woman might be interested, he even commented on some cases that a woman was really in the mood. I had to admit, he had the courage, because all the women were looking at him as if they were going to rip his head off in his hand.

When I said that my friend Ling had done one of those situations, the 'I'll always cook for you' situation, Rooster-san almost jumped to choke me up while shedding tears that for some reason were red, but was held by the women in the group. Tiger-nee-san made fun of me for getting a bride before I was ten years old.

I didn't know how to react to this, and I decided to wait until I was reunited with Ling, although Tiger-nee-san kept teasing me that I should have her as a wife and a few others and I felt my face get hot for some reason .

Tiger-nee-san was the one I most enjoyed having the company with, we had so much fun that some people on the street really thought we were brothers, despite the fact that Tiger-nee-san had a fight on the street several times.

I also found out a little bit about my teammates.

Goat-san, according to him, came from a family that raised butlers and combat maids, that is, servants who had physical abilities to fight and defend their masters. He happened to be the butler of the previous 'Goat', who ended up finding out about his abilities, and when he died of a disease that hit his brain, he asked Goat-san to join [Group], he was 41 years and joined the group 7 years ago.

Monkey had the habit of going after strong opponents, martial fighters, swordsmen and so on, a custom he gained from his grandfather, when he ended up meeting the previous 'Monkey' who was, according to Monkey, a kung-master fu. The two fought, but ended in a draw, they met a few more times to fight, with each time giving a draw, until the previous Monkey 'defeated him and invited Monkey to join the group, he was 22 years old now, and was in the group for 3 years.

Monkey kept saying that the old man had only won because he was hungry, which in my opinion, that was more like a loser's cry, but I wouldn't say it out loud, after all even with the thunder breath, Monkey still made me kiss the floor.

Ox was a former member of Yakuza, he told me that he ended up joining being cheated by a friend and being in debt with Yakuza, which he was paying for with his services, he joined the [Zodiac Beasts] when the former 'Ox' killed the former Yakuza leader and saw that Ox was not like the other members, he was 29 years old and was in the group for 4 years.

Dog-san was the daughter of a former boxing champion, who when he retired created a boxing academy, she was trained by her father from an early age. She joined when the old 'Dog' who happened to train at the gym and was a childhood friend of her father, invited her after the death of her father, who died naturally, she was the same age as Monkey and was in group for 5 years.

Horse-san was the daughter of a scientist who had contact with [Zodiac Beasts], after his murder, where [Zodiac Beasts] managed to catch those responsible, she called Dragon-Sensei to be able to join the group. She was 23 years old and had been in the group for 5 years.

Rabbit-san was just a gun fanatic, and she contacted the group after going to a store that sold gun models, which happened to be the old 'Rabbit's' store, after she demonstrated all her knowledge of guns , the previous 'Rabbit' invited her, at first she refused, but when he had commented on the weapons she could customize she accepted at once. She is 19 years old and was in the group for 2 years.

Snake-san owned a florist, and had the hobby of researching different types of plants, it was in these outings to search for plants that she found the previous 'Snake', who had been poisoned in a fight. After saving her the previous 'Snake' invited her to the group, and she accepted. She is 25 years old and was in the group for 5 years.

Mice-san was the daughter of a former president of a computer company, she has always been playing with computer programming since she was little. Her father was killed by a group and when they went to kill her, the previous 'Mice' saved her and invited her to join the group. She was 18 and had been in the group for 3 years.

Pig-san was a doctor, with a degree and everything, she always tried to improve the medicines with experiments, but then one of her superiors, who was jealous of her, I try to get rid of her and keep the glory of the discovery. Incidentally, this same guy had already been involved in human experiments with a terrorist group and was the target of the previous 'Pig', she was saved by him, and he invited her to join the group. She was 28 and was in the group for 4 years.

Rooster-san, kind of joined the group by accident, because he was in a drinking bar, when the old 'Rooster' started drinking next to him, and so they became friends with drink, one day when they were coming back from the night , the old 'Rooster' ended up bringing him here. After that he was convinced, I heard threatened, to join the group. He was 27 and had been in the group for 3 years.

Tiger-nee-san is the daughter of the former 'Tiger', so her mother trained her to become the 'Tiger' from a young age. She was 18 and had been in the group for 5 years.

I didn't ask what happened to the previous [Zodiac Beasts], whether they died of illness like the previous 'Goat', or whether they were murdered, or whether it was a natural death, as I didn't want to sink my foot into another land mine.

And so was my day-to-day.

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