An Afternoon(?) with Rinko

As Cid was leaving the academy to walk to his home, Rinko blocked his path.

She looked serious, as if she wanted to talk to someone as bland as him. Why, though?

"Huh, aren't you Yukikaze's friend? What do you want?" He asked, and Rinko had become a bit more serious.

"I want to talk with you at the school's gym until dusk, is that okay with you?" She asked, awaiting his response.

"Eh.... I think I might have to leave." He replied, knowing that this is not a good time for a mob like him.

But it seems like he underestimated the Heroine, who decided to tightly grab his arm.

"Kagenou.... I want to talk with you in the Gym." She stated, this time, she was dead serious as she emitted aura close to that of an angry Oni.

And being the mob that he is, decided to look scared to her.

"A-Alright, fine! Please don't hurt me..." He said, making himself sound weak, flinching on her grasp.

Rinko led Cid forwards until when nobody could see them, she created a portal made out of Taima Particles before entering it.

This room being the inside of the Gym right behind the campus, where most training sessions and certain sports activities would be held.

For a campus with around 1500 students, it sure had a large Gymnasium ready to fit all of them here.

Feeling that the pressure on his arm was gone, Cid looked at Rinko once more.

"So what do you want to talk about?" He asked the older girl, as she was standing right there without a change in expression.

For a while, she asked him different questions, about Yukikaze, about himself and his dreams for the future.

To her, it seemed like he was weak, and he actually was just some student with average looks and personality like her brother, but her instincts told her there was something off within Cid.

Something that resembled a Demon of sorts.

'... Must be my imagination, he doesn't feel like a demon to me.'

Cid wasn't an incubus, nor was he something else. What she should do was not give herself to superstitions, but a simple thing she'd do.

Test his ability and strength. Maybe he was some sort of secret genius due to his strange background?

"Care for a spar with wooden swords? I'll be gentle enough." She asked him, and he looked around in mild confusion.

"Huh? Why? We don't have anything to pick up around, and this request of yours is sudden."

The Gym was completely empty, there were no school equipment that could be used for them.

Rinko took a while to walk towards the wall, and pressed a hidden button to reveal a set of kendo sticks, coming from inside the walls, revealed like a secret room behind a rotating bookshelf.

Picking out two, she tossed one of them to Cid, who took it by the hilt.

"Strike me with your best!" She spoke out loud, gesturing for Cid to come as she took a defensive stance.

'.... Looks like I have no other choice, huh....'

"Haaa!!!"

Cid held onto the kendo stick with both his hands and charged towards Rinko, raising the stick up like an amateur, calculating the strike needed to hit her.

Then, with the calculated force, he struck Rinko, who blocked the attack with no difficulty.

She redirected the attack behind in order to make Cid trip to the ground.

Said mob put his hands down to the floor to support himself, and slowly get up.

"Akiyama, that's not fair!" With a complaint out his mouth, he regained his stance in order to show a bit of determination.

With a light smile, she explained something she thinks is important.

"In real missions, anything a Taimanin does is fair, no matter how unfair it is, get it? As your senior, I do not approve that you have to be weak, however."

But her smile dropped almost instantly the moment her last sentence came out her mouth.

"Now, start attacking for real, I will teach you how to use your sword!" She yelled out, and Cid complied.

He started out small by striking her plainly, with her replying by blocking or parrying his basic strikes.

Each strike, although plain and basic, had spirit in it, making the senior Taimanin to believe that he had a lot of untapped potential.

Was it due to his upbringing? Or natural talent?

It was soon that she inwardly decided to teach him her own style while being a bit more serious.

"Cid, follow my lead. I've decided to teach you my swordsmanship, even though this is the second time I did."

"Second? You already tried to teach someone else? Cool."

"Tatsurou. Though I don't really know how much he's learned, I believed that in many years after this, he will be at a level good enough. Now focus!"

Dusk was setting, and yet it did not bother the two as Rinko taught Cid whatever she thought is needed, in a decently slow speed.

She noticed that he was observing her movements closely, as if taking note of it mentally.

'His determination, I can feel it....'

The two sparred with each other for a three more hours, their focus unhindered even when little light was inside the Gym.

And since Taimanin can see in the dark with the help of Taima Particles, the two still didn't notice that they've been training for hours.

Cid goes down and is knocked back many times, yet he keeps getting up, determined to keep the decently strong mob facade for a while.

His clothing had become dirty from all the drops he had made, and he was too focused in doing many tasks at the ame time, such as the current spar, his mental simulations involving him finding each flaw Rinko makes and improving on them, and et cetera.

When the waning crescent's light hit his eyes, he finally noticed that they were here for a long time.

"Haaah~ I'm exhausted and hungry!" He said, dropping down to the ground butt-first, breathing heavily as he stared up to Rinko.

A loud growl came up his stomach, and he had laid down the kendo stick that had been slightly damaged by the recent session.

He rubbed his arms,

Rinko is only a bit tired, and she could keep this up for several more hours, and when Cid was tired, she had stopped the spar.

"Oh, really? Then I suppose we should continue.... This.... Tomorrow..."

Then she finally noticed that they had sparred for a long time, and now it was late.

Embarrassment filled her face, she couldn't believe they had sparred for hours, and Cid had only learnt a few of the basic techniques of the Akiyama Clan's "Single Sword Style".

It honestly surprised her that hours had already passed. Sighing, she returned the Kendo sticks to where they were supposed to be.

"Cid, I'm sorry for troubling you. Is it fine if I lead you to your home?"

"Well, I don't really mind...."

"You also have to rest tomorrow to ease the pain you will feel. For now, let's keep this a secret, okay?"

With guidance from Cid, Rinko used her Void Art to locate his home and send him inside there.

His home was surprisingly tidy, and aside from that, nothing important needed to be described other than the time was now 8:15 PM.

Other than that, her brother and Clan members are going to be worried about her late appearance.

"Cid, I'll be returning to my Clan's house now, see you in Wednesday, I suppose..."

"Right... I'll just cook something for my stomach here."

The senior Taimanin vanished inside a portal she created, leaving Cid alone to his devices.

First things first, he heated up water using the heater until it boiled, opened an instant noodles cup, put the seasoning on the hardened noodles, then he ate it before pouring the boiled eater to his mouth.

He's already grown this habit of eating instant noodles since it was instant and he doesn't have to worry burning his mouth for this stupid and random reason at all.

Aside from that, he immediately laid on his bed without questioning himself, there was nothing to be said about the encounters that had happened earlier.

Cid was still a mob (a decently strong one, not a weak mob), and he had dedicated himself into keeping that thing for a very long time.

It's not much trouble to him, but why does he feel like he's going to become a Side Character?

[ •~• LINE BREAKER •~• ]

In the next day, somewhere in the Igawa Village's Infirmary.....

Asagi opened her eyes slowly, observing the ceiling, and the figures of Sakura and the high ranking official that is also the leader of Section Three, Yamamoto Nobushige

Her head still felt like a mess, her memories were quite foggy for possibly a while. When she tried to groggily get up, Yamamoto held her shoulder and pushed her back down.

"Asagi, you still need some rest." He spoke calmly, "it's been two days since you were defeated by an unknown force."

What does he mean? Asagi speculated as her head throbbed in pain.

Sakura then hugged her tightly, expressing her worry on her older sister.

Soon, her memories, or perhaps jumbled ones resurfaced.....

< ~ TO = BE = CONTINUED ~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Fuck power scaling, wankers, we ballin.