Akane's Challenge

The following morning, after breakfast, I headed up to the third floor and looked around again. The two classrooms, as all the others, had nothing interesting to reveal, just student desks, a teacher's desk, and a digital chalkboard. Nothing under the floorboards, or any of the desks. The digital chalkboard was blank in each room, as well.

Leaving the classrooms alone, I moved on to the Shop Room. Soda was in there, putting something together. I didn't really see a need to bother him, so I made my way to the Track Room instead. The track room was empty, and I didn't notice anyone inside, so I decided to look around. The track itself was made of a rubber-like material. It was pleasant to run on, as the material seemed to cause a small bounce in my step, taking pressure off my ankles and knees as I ran. I didn't notice anything along the walls, or along the track itself. Satisfied that the track wasn't holding any secrets, I departed after running a few laps.

However, when I entered the Dojo, Akane was in there, beating on the various punching bags in a frenzy. When I entered the Dojo, she froze and looked straight at me, like a hungry wolf sensing fresh prey.

"Hmmmmm...what brings ya in here, Shuriken?" Akane was almost grinning.

"Huh? I don't see any weapons in here..." I looked around, confused.

Akane eyed me up, and I could see her wheels spinning, but wasn't really sure what was going through her head. I then realized she was talking to me, and I didn't like where this was going.

"Well, I don't want to interrupt what you're doing, so I'm gonna -"

Akane interrupted me. "Hmmmm...my gut says I can't let ya leave me here."

I blinked a few times, puzzled. "Huh? Why? Is something wrong?"

Akane punched her opened hand, in front of her chest. "My gut say you can handle yourself in a fight. How about ya fight me, now!"

I closed my eyes, a mix of disappointment and confusion washing over me. "I have no interest in fighting you, Akane."

I went to leave, and Akane back-flipped past me, rolling to a handstand before standing between me and the door. "No way! I wanna fight! My gut says you'll put up a great challenge! Just one round on the mat, no weapons, until one of us gives up!"

Seeing no way out of this without a fight (ironically enough), I finally nodded and made my way to the far side of the mat. Akane approached me, hands opened and palms upward, looking almost wolf-like. She was grinning ear to ear, looking almost ecstatic about this. I took a deep breath, watching her movements carefully.

She finally charged at me, fists at her sides, and swung her right fist at my face. Expecting this, I dodged it, and as her momentum brought her past me, she spun around and swept her left foot upwards, missing my face as I leaned backwards. Now directly facing me, she went to tackle me, but I saw this coming as well, and dodged my upper body to the left, driving my right knee into her stomach. Feeling the wind knocked out of her, I then flipped her onto her back, and went for a Triangle Choke on the ground.

Akane promptly spun herself around on the ground, escaped my hold, and sprung to her feet. I quickly rolled to the side to avoid a swift kick to my ribs. Returning to my feet, I realized she was grinning ear to ear, as if she was actually enjoying this. This, somewhat, played to my strengths, as I have always preferred a defensive approach. Thus, I decided to let her approach me, which didn't take very long at all.

She charged me again, this time with a spinning butterfly kick, which I ducked, but was unable to dodge a kick to my face. I was only able to move my head out of the way, and her foot connected with my shoulder instead. Thinking quickly, I grabbed her foot and quickly stood up, hoping to catch her off-balance. However, she merely backflipped out of my grip, nearly kicking me under the jaw in the process, and landed on her feet, chuckling to herself.

"Did you really expect to catch the Ultimate Gymnast off balance like that? Hahahaha!" Akane taunted, then let out a roar and charged me again. This time, I had to dodge a right kick to the head, but she quickly caught me with a side kick to my right kidney. It only staggered me a step or two, though, and I managed to tackle her to the ground.

Sitting on her chest, I had her pinned to the ground, her wrists in my hands. She tried unsuccessfully to use her knees to buck me over her, but I bent my knees to take the brunt of the force. After watching her struggle a bit longer, she relaxed, realizing she wasn't escaping me.

"Dammit...I guess ya got me." Akane's shoulders slumped, and I got off of her, holding her hands to pull her up.

"Hell of a match, I must admit. Nice to get a workout on this level, too."

Akane put her hands on hips and nodded. "Yeah, you're no pushover yourself. Man, all this fighting has made me hungry! I need to EAT!!"

She promptly pushed past me and dashed off, at a nearly inhuman speed, out of the room, presumably to the kitchen. I decided to leave as well. I poked my head into the Library, but Byakuya wasn't in there, so I made my way to the second floor instead.

The classrooms were, of course, empty, and it looked like Soda wasn't in the Shop Room. However, when I poked my head into the Music Room, I saw Ibuki there, tuning a guitar. I talked to her for a bit, mostly about different strumming styles. Ibuki seemed really upbeat, and it was refreshing to see her back to normal. After a while, I left Ibuki in the Music Room, happy to spend some time with her.

The next day, we'd be plunged into someone else's nightmare, where the last murder was solved incorrectly, and this person would try to bring...us...all...down.