121

Chapter 121:

Oscar collapsed on a bench, panting for breath, completely flummoxed at the turn his day had taken. He'd started out with the expectation of spending the day sulking and moaning over his lost chance at love, only to meet someone who'd, rather forcefully, wrenched him out of those feelings, and made him enjoy himself through sheer force.

And Natsuki was a force, a force of nature. She'd dragged Oscar to and fro across the festival grounds, peppering him with questions about everything they encountered, and that was in the most literal sense possible. Oscar had quickly come to realize that everything about the festival, and about Natsuki's experience with the Kingdoms, was completely novel to her. Sure, there were stalls selling things that she was familiar with in her homeland, but so many of the little nuances about how they were made were new to her, to say nothing of the many pieces of technology and culture that were unique to the Kingdoms specifically.

And Oscar's depression had faded, once he'd realized that Natsuki had been hanging onto his every word, not because they were his words, but because he was talking about things she hadn't known before, and helping her learn about this incredible new place she was visiting for the first time. Oftentimes, they made discoveries together, as Oscar found his experience as a rather isolated Mistralian coming up against the products and cultures unique to Vale, Vacuo, and Atlas. The excitement of it all had reduced his previous depression to a fleeting memory.

Part of that was because of just how tired he was. Natsuki's energy was boundless, often prompting her to rush right to the next thing that caught her eye, with poor Oscar trailing after her like a kite on a string, unable to lag because of the grip she had on him.

"Isn't this cool?" asked Natsuki, flopping down on the bench beside him. Compared to him, she barely looked winded, a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead being the only indicator that she'd exerted herself at all.

"It is," Oscar admitted readily enough. After all, it was the Vytal Festival, and the Four Kingdoms had come together to showcase the best aspects of their culture to one another. Even for someone who'd grown up in the Kingdoms, this event was full of things Oscar hadn't seen or done before, probably more than he'd be able to do before the festival ended too.

"Are you having fun?" prodded Natsuki.

Oscar was prepared to give her a purely perfunctory response, but paused, upon hearing a strange seriousness in her voice. Natsuki's question hadn't just been an empty inquiry. She genuinely wanted to know if he was enjoying himself, and that prompted Oscar to examine whether or not he, in fact, had been. After thinking about it for a moment, he found his lips curling up in a smile of his own. "Yeah."

"That's great!" cheered Natsuki. "You looked pretty down before, so I wanted to cheer you up."

"Y-you did?" asked Oscar, cheeks reddening from embarrassment.

"I thought you might be feeling down in the dumps," said Natsuki earnestly. "So I wanted to help."

Oscar's embarrassment was compounded by burning shame...and anger. It was what he'd feared, should he meet any of Ruby's friends and acquaintances after his "talk" with Jaune. At best, he'd figure they'd pity him for investing so much in a crush on Ruby, not aware that she already had a boyfriend. At worst, he figured they'd look down their noses at him, his imagination subtly planting his thoughts about himself in their heads. He could certainly see one or more of them wanting to "help" him by distracting him from his depression over his failure, exactly what Natsuki admitted to doing, and that irked him.

"Is that all?" asked Oscar, a bit of his irritation leaking into his voice.

Natsuki's expression softened a little, appearing to draw back slightly in response to his anger. "Nope," she said. "Besides, Miyu-chan and Setsuna-kun decided they wanted to see the festival together, and I was just gonna be in the way when they started being lovey-dovey. I didn't want to do stuff by myself, but I hadn't run into any of Ruby-chan's other friends yet, until I found you."

"Huh?" Oscar wasn't sure he felt better or worse at that. On one hand, Natsuki hadn't wholly been motivated by some desire to "help" him. But, on the other hand, he'd apparently just been the first familiar face she'd run into, after parting with her other two companions.

"Why does it matter anyway?" asked Natsuki tartly, puffing out her cheeks and looking away sharply. "Why is it so bad to want to help somebody feeling down have fun?"

Because I don't want to have fun, thought Oscar bitterly. He wanted to sulk, to spend time belittling himself for what an idiot he was. However, the thought didn't reach his lips, because he knew how stupid and immature it sounded. He was enough of an idiot already, not needing to say something so obviously wrong to someone who was trying to help him, however unsolicited said help had been.

"I mean, I figured you wanted to be miserable," said Natsuki, surprising Oscar.

"Y-you did?" asked Oscar.

"Sure," said Natsuki. "Doesn't everyone have those moments? Something bad happens, and you just wanna spend some time feeling bad. It's kinda weird, but you wanna just yell at the world, 'Quit trying to pick me up! I'm moping here!'"

She began to twirl a blue-haired bang around her finger. "When bad things happen, you're supposed to feel bad. It'd just be weird if something awful happened, and you're all sunshine and rainbows about it."

"Then why try to help someone out of it?" asked Oscar.

"Because it doesn't do any good to just stay like that," said Natsuki, grinning at him. "You can't be down in the dumps forever. If you just keep trying to feel bad, you'll just make yourself feel worse. And..." She swept an arm out to encompass the festival grounds before them. "...with all this going on, it'd be awful to miss out on all the awesome stuff you can do, just 'cause you're spending too much time feeling sorry for yourself."

"That...actually makes sense," Oscar found himself admitting. As silly as his reasons for coming to the Vytal Festival felt, in hindsight, it would be even stupider for him to sulk his way through the whole affair.

Still, shaking off that previous melancholy funk wasn't so easy. "It's just...I feel like an idiot."

"Why?" asked Natsuki, canting her head.

"Because I came all the way out here to meet a girl I hadn't seen in two years," said Oscar. "I blew so much time and money on this. I took a whole bunch of chores, even got a couple of part-time jobs to help save up for it, put so much into this, all for nothing..."

"But that's really cool," said Natsuki.

"Huh?" grunted Oscar, staring at her in shock.

"I mean, that's a huge risk," said Natsuki. "You really put yourself out there for Ruby-chan, and not in the stupid way, like hanging out under her window and singing love songs..."

Oscar couldn't help but snort at the mental image of him trying to woo Ruby by singing sappy ballads beneath her window, in the dark of the night.

"It's sorta like fighting," continued Natsuki.

"What?" blurted Oscar, staring at her in confusion.

"When you fight, especially against an opponent at your level, you need to take risks," explained Natsuki. "At some point, if you're fighting to win, you have to be willing to put it all on the line. My teachers and Tou-san always told me that it's the difference between fighting to win and fighting to 'not lose'."

"What does that mean?" asked Oscar.

"Well, a person who fights to 'not lose' will always play it safe," said Natsuki. "If that's the case, then they'll keep missing chances to win, 'cause they hold back, 'cause they think it'll open them up to losing. If two fighters are equal, a person who'll fight to 'not lose' will always lose to someone who fights to win, because the person who fights to win is willing to take that risk.

"And it's the same with you. You could've played it safe, just stayed in Mistral and not come. You knew there was a chance that Ruby-chan was with someone else, or that she wouldn't be interested in you the same way. But you still felt strongly enough to put in the extra work and really take that chance. Yeah, it's too bad that it didn't work out for you. But that doesn't make you an idiot for trying, especially when you came so far."

Natsuki's grin brightened further. "And I know Ruby-chan appreciates that. She might not return your feelings, but she sure as heck respects them. Heck, I know she feels awful that she couldn't do that with you, because she knows you felt so strongly about it.

"And I think that, if you had played it safe, you'd regret it. Maybe you'd be happy on your farm. Maybe you'd find some other girl to settle down with. But you'd probably still wind up spending a lot of your time going 'what if', and wondering how things would've worked out."

Oscar could honestly see that happening. Part of his motivation had been that, if he didn't capitalize on this chance to see Ruby again, he'd spend the rest of his life kicking himself for missing it. It had even been the excuse he'd made to Maria and his mother at one point, when they'd both pointed out the utter improbability of things working out the way he wanted them to. Granted, said excuse had momentarily folded beneath the weight of failure, when their warnings had proven completely prophetic. But Natsuki had just pointed out that that didn't make the sentiment any less true.

"Besides," continued Natsuki, "no one, least of all Ruby-chan, looks down on you."

"Sh-she doesn't?" asked Oscar.

Sure, he'd been spared the embarrassment of confessing his feelings for Ruby, only for her to shoot him down, instead of being gracefully turned away by Jaune. But he still felt like a fool, and wouldn't fault Ruby and her friends for thinking him one, especially for continuing to sulk over her after the fact.

"Ruby-chan was the same way, you know," said Natsuki.

"Huh?" grunted Oscar.

"Remember Miyu-chan and Setsuna-kun?" asked Natsuki.

Oscar nodded.

"Well-and this was before she went on that trip where she met you-Ruby-chan had a huge crush on Setsuna-kun," explained Natsuki.

"Sh-she did?"

Natsuki nodded emphatically, cheeks coloring slightly. "W-well, all three of us did, at one point. I decided not to get too into it, because I didn't feel that strongly about it, and I didn't want to compete with Ruby-chan and Miyu-chan, when they obviously felt so much stronger about it. But Ruby-chan was crushing hard. It was a huuuuuge blow, when Setsuna picked Miyu-chan.

"Ruby-chan bowed out gracefully, because Miyu-chan and Setsuna-kun were both her friends. But she still felt awful about it. Even months afterwards, when Setsuna-kun and Miyu-chan would have one of their sappy moments, Ruby-chan would get this look in her eyes, and you could just tell that she was imagining herself in Miyu-chan's place, and feeling depressed and jealous about it.

"Ruby-chan knows what it's like to miss out, and knows that you can't 'just get over it' like that. So there's no reason for you to feel stupid, just because you aren't over her yet."

Oscar sighed, leaning back against the bench, turning his eyes upwards. "Thanks," he said. "But I still feel like it's all so pointless now."

"So change the point," said Natsuki.

"Come again?"

"Change the point," repeated Natsuki. "Forget about why you came here before. This is the Vytal Festival! I'm not even from the Kingdoms, and I can tell this is a big deal. There's so much to see and do. It's not just you. Tons of people have come from all over the Kingdoms, maybe saved up and worked hard to afford it, just so that they could come to this festival. It's the biggest party that only happens every two years, and you're right in the middle of it."

She shot up onto her feet, spinning around to grab Oscar's hands and pull him to his feet. "So let's have more fun, and make this the most amazing thing we've ever done!"

Once again, Oscar found himself being yanked back into the fray by the exuberant girl. And he found he couldn't keep a smile from his face, his previous pain slipping into the back of his mind, still there, but no longer coloring his view of everything around him.

Just maybe...he could enjoy the festival after all.

It was, Oscar decided, probably the best consolation he'd received. It was seemingly impossible for him to keep feeling down, with Natsuki being the irrepressible ball of sunshine and joy that she was. Her entire being seemed to completely overflow with pure optimism, and Oscar couldn't help but feel that things would get better, when he was around her.

Running into another pair enjoying the festival didn't hurt matters. Partway through their exploration, Natsuki and Oscar had run into none other than Weiss and Ashley. The four of them even wound up having lunch together, where Oscar and Ashley found themselves bonding over the shared experience of having to get over their feelings for the same girl.

"A kindred spirit!" gushed Ashley excitedly, seizing Oscar's hands in a tight grip across the table.

"You had a crush on Ruby too?" asked Oscar.

"Big one," replied Ashley.

"Did you try to confess to her, only to have her boyfriend warn you off?" asked Oscar in deadpan.

"Nope, they weren't together yet," Ashley replied, before switching to a deadpan tone to match his. "Did you lay a kiss on her, only to find she swings the other way?"

"Dang, that's rough," said Oscar.

"I know, right?!"

Weiss and Natsuki watched this all unfold, feeling somewhat amazed. "You know," Natsuki whispered to Weiss, "when you really think about it...Ruby-chan is kinda scary."

Weiss nodded. "And the scariest thing of all is that she doesn't even realize she's doing it."

They decided to weigh in, and see if they could swing the conversation in a less-troublesome direction It was nice that Oscar and Ashley could bond over the shared heartache at their failure to start up a romantic relationship with Ruby. But Weiss and Natsuki were starting to feel like they were side characters in some kind of romantic comedy harem series. It was a more than a little disconcerting.

"So...I heard Maria was training you to be a Huntsman," commented Weiss.

"Uh...that's right," said Oscar, jolted a little by the sudden shift in the conversation, and a bit surprised that somebody as exalted as Weiss Schnee was curious about him.

He might not have been the most well-informed person in the world, but he knew well enough about the SDC, when their logo was plastered over nearly every crate of Dust that arrived in town, some of which they used on the farm, and in his own training. After learning that Ruby was at Beacon, Oscar had been on the network in their town's CCT center, digging up everything he could learn about her, including about her teammates, which included the heiress to the most powerful company on Remnant, though that had been about the limit to Oscar's knowledge about her.

"So, Maria-san is a Huntress?" asked Natsuki.

"A retired one," clarified Oscar. "She used to be really good, if you believe her. She certainly knows her business though."

"What weapons is she training you in?" asked Weiss, finding herself genuinely curious.

"W-well...I'm not sure I should draw them here," said Oscar, looking around, noted they were surrounded by festival-goers. "But...if we went somewhere quieter, I could show you."

"Sounds like a plan," said Ashley eagerly.

They adjourned, Weiss actually using her status as a Beacon student to get them inside the school itself, and even all the way into one of the sparring rings, where Oscar could show his weapons off, away from prying eyes.

Once they were in the room, Oscar reached into either side of his jacket, before pulling out a pair of what looked almost like batons, each capped with a large, metal orb at one end. With a series of clicks, the shafts lengthened, and an object unfolded out from beneath the orb, the length of metal telescoping out at a right-angle to the shaft. Soon, Oscar was holding a pair of curving blades, which bent sharply downward at the tip.

"Dual kama," noted Weiss, studying Oscar's weapons with interest.

"Ooooh!" cooed Natsuki, bending in to examine the weapons closely. "Wow! So this is what weapons are like in the Kingdoms. And you have kama, just like Setsuna-kun! Maybe you should talk to him."

Oscar had noticed the very similar weapons that the silver-haired boy had holstered behind his back, noticing that they were much simpler in design than his own, not even capable of any kind of mechashift transformations. It made him wonder just what kind of style Setsuna used that allowed him to rely on such basic weaponry.

"Are they Dust-equipped?" asked Weiss.

"Yeah," said Oscar. "They're equipped with gravity-Dust, and they have a magazine for Dust-rounds too."

"Gravity-rounds, I'm guessing," commented Weiss. It made sense after all. Whatever bullets these kama had been fitted with couldn't have been very large-caliber, certainly not if they were going to fit into the heads of relatively small, handheld weapons. Gravity-rounds were the preferred choice, since they gave smaller guns a lot more kick than their size alone would suggest.

"When I can afford them," said Oscar. "I need to practice with 'em to get used to the recoil, but you can't exactly afford a lot of gravity-rounds on a farmer's budget."

Understandable, thought Weiss.

"So Maria-san started you on kama-techniques?" asked Natsuki.

"Actually...she started me on juggling," said Oscar.

His three new friends were silent for a moment, before responding in unison. "What?"

Oscar began to juggle his own weapons, flipping the kama into the air, blades spinning around the shaft, before they came back down, the boy catching them deftly by their handles in each hand, trading them back and forth between his two hands, while the three girls watched in amazement.

"Why would you need to learn that?" asked Weiss.

"Well, it's because throwing these is a big part of the style Ms. Maria taught me," explained Oscar.

Stepping away from them, he drew back his right arm, then threw the kama, sending it flipping end over end across the ring, its blade whistling as it cut through the air. The middle finger of his left hand pressed an activator-button on the handle, located behind the trigger for the gun, which his index finger rested above. The shaft telescoped further, revealing cylinders just below the blade and right at the tip of the shaft. Those cylinders each held a piece of dark-violet Dust, which shimmered with the same shade of energy as it activated.

Across the ring, the flying kama quickly slowed to a stop, before reversing course, tumbling back the way it came, identical chambers opening up along the length of its shaft. Its fight was angled toward the kama in Oscar's left hand, but Oscar, in a move that showed the ease of long practice, shifted to place his right hand in its path, the shaft thudding securely into his palm before his fingers closed around it.

"Cool!" squealed Natsuki. "So that's how Dust works, huh?"

"That's one way," said Weiss, nodding sagely. She was able to tell that the Dust in both weapons was high-quality. It showed that he hadn't skimped on the design. "The blade is a top-grade Atlesian spring-steel alloy," she observed.

"Uh huh," said Oscar, remembering how he'd needed to scrimp and work to get the money to purchase the steel to make the blades.

Weiss nodded to herself, impressed. For a farm-boy from Mistral, Oscar was remarkably well-equipped. These weren't mere training tools, but full Huntsman-level equipment. If Maria had anything to do with these, then Weiss' estimation of the formidable woman went up by several more notches.

"It's pretty neat," said Natsuki. "Setsuna-kun uses gravity too!"

"He uses gravity-Dust?" asked Oscar, looking at Natsuki in slight confusion.

"Nah, just gravity," said Natsuki cheerfully.

"Huh?" Oscar turned to look at Ashley and Weiss. The other two girls appeared to know what Natsuki was talking about...somewhat.

"The Mibu utilize their Auras," explained Weiss. "With training, they can learn to produce effects almost the same as what we can do with Dust. They call it Manifestation, which is sort of like a Semblance, except that they've basically learned to make their own."

"Yep," replied Natsuki. "Setsuna-kun's learning the Mumyo Dai'On Ryu. It's the art of Earth, which allows him to control gravity."

I wonder what that would look like, mused Weiss.

Oscar stared at Natsuki in wonder. "Y-you can do that?" he asked. "You can make your own Semblance?"

"Um...well...if it's what I think you're talking about, then yeah...sorta," said Natsuki.

"Can you do it too?" asked Oscar.

"Yeah," replied Natsuki nodding eagerly. "I'm a student of the Mumyo Homusubi Ryu, the art of Fire."

To demonstrate, she drew one of her kodachi, the longer one, and held it out to one side. There was a flashing spark, originating from the base of the blade, by the square-shaped guard that protected it. A second later, the length of the blade was lined with flames, which began to blaze with incredible intensity.

"You're doing this with your Aura!?" gasped Oscar, gaping openly at the spectacle.

"Yep," replied Natsuki, extinguishing the flames and sheathing the blade.

"This...this is incredible," whispered Oscar, lifting up his own weapons to inspect them, imagining what it would be like to do what he did now, without needing to use Dust, without needing to pay through the nose to recharge and rearm them. The thought was absurdly tantalizing.

"So here you are," commented Sasame, entering the room with an amused smile on her face. "The festival going on outside, and the four of you are sequestered away in an empty room."

"Oscar-kun was showing us his weapons," explained Natsuki, turning to grin at Sasame.

"I can see that," said Sasame, smiling wryly, even as she took in the shape of Oscar's weapons. A bit like Setsuna-kun's, she noted to herself, making the same observation Natsuki had. "Perhaps we should take the opportunity to put them through their paces. Would you like to spar, Oscar-kun."

"Um...With who?" asked Oscar, looking around. "You?"

"That probably wouldn't be a good match," said Sasame, shaking her head. Weiss and Natsuki, already knowing about Sasame's regenerative abilities, quickly pictured an image of Oscar swinging his kama at Sasame repeatedly, while she simply stood there and let him, the cuts in her body vanishing as quickly as he made them. Silently, they agreed with Sasame.

"What if we brought Setsuna-kun here?" asked Natsuki. "It'd be cool if they fought."

"That would be a bit inconvenient for Setsuna-kun and Miyu-chan," said Sasame. "They're probably enjoying their date right now. It would be a shame to interrupt it."

"Yeah," said Natsuki, her face falling.

"Why don't you fight him, Natsu-chan?" asked Sasame.

"Me...!?" Natsuki pointed to herself, seeming almost incredulous.

"Of course," replied Sasame. "You seem eager to show off. This is a good chance. And Oscar-kun can get a taste of Manifestation while he does it."

"Uh...um..." Oscar looked back and forth between Natsuki and Sasame.

Weiss and Ashley exchanged uncertain looks. They didn't want to put Oscar on the spot.

"Sounds like a wonderful idea," commented an aged voice, accompanied by the familiar click of a walking stick, coming from the doorway behind Sasame. Maria and Ruby entered into the room, Ruby looking a little confused.

"M-Ms. Maria," stammered Oscar, "a-are you sure?"

"Never pass up a chance to gain experience, boy," said Maria sagely. "Fighting different opponents can only be to your benefit...so long as you don't get yourself killed or maimed, of course."

"R-right," said Oscar his nerves only getting worse. The thought of fighting his new friend had been daunting enough, but to do it in front of Ruby, and have her see what would probably look like him acting like a complete amateur, he was about ready to die from embarrassment at the mere thought of it.

"Besides, I'm quite curious about this Manifestation thing myself," added Maria. "Ruby here has been telling me about it, was even able to track you lot down like it was nothing. Seems there's even more to Aura than I thought."

"If...if you're sure..." said Oscar.

"Only if you are," said Ruby, walking up to Oscar, who found himself struggling to keep from averting his eyes, even as his cheeks lit up. "You don't have to do this, if you don't want to."

"Aw, don't coddle the boy," grumbled Maria. "Well, it is the Vytal Festival. So, in the spirit of things, I'll let him take a pass if he really wants to."

Oscar was undecided. On one hand, he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Ruby. But backing down like this was plenty embarrassing on its own, and he wasn't sure which was more.

Ruby stepped a little closer, her presence making Oscar's heart beat faster. To his utter shock, she pulled him into a hug. His heart was threatening to burst out of his ribs at the contact with the girl he'd spent so long pining over. But that feeling began to be soothed away as he found himself reminded of how she'd hugged him, back during those days, when he was a grieving child who'd just lost his parents. There was warmth and reassurance in the gesture, nothing romantic, but comforting all the same.

"You don't have to worry about impressing anyone," said Ruby softly, speaking at a level that only he could hear. "It's completely up to you."

Oscar nodded, allowing Ruby to release him and step away. He glanced down at the weapons in his hands, then up at Natsuki, who was looking at him quizzically. It seemed she didn't exactly have any qualms about this, though she wasn't jumping at the chance. Their eyes met and she gave him one of her signature sunny smiles, a silent reassurance that she was fine with whatever he chose.

He glanced down at his kama again, then back up at her. Finally, he took a deep breath. "Okay," he said. "I'll do it."

Natsuki grinned with an eagerness that sent a surprising rush of excitement tingling through Oscar's body. It wasn't a malicious grin, but an eager and playful one, like that of a child about to play her favorite game. Natsuki didn't really regard him an opponent, nor someone to look down upon, but as a friend and playmate. That realization actually made Oscar feel a little better.

It was the work of just a few minutes for them to get ready. It had caused Weiss a little difficulty to set Natsuki up. Without a scroll to synch with Beacon's systems, they couldn't set it up to monitor her Aura. Fortunately, Ruby simply lent Natsuki her scroll, registering her Aura to allow the device to monitor it. Natsuki was fascinated by the process, much like she was everything else in the outside world.

As Natsuki and Oscar were entering the ring for their match, several other people entered the room. Weiss had also taken the time to call the rest of team RASP, along with RYNB, inviting them in to watch the spar. The enlarged audience was more than a little daunting to Oscar, while Natsuki was feeling guilty for being one of the people responsible for putting her new friend on the spot. She didn't mind showing off for an audience, especially if it was one of people she knew and liked. She didn't yet know Ruby's friends as well as she would have liked, but she could already tell that they were good people (though there was something off about that orange-haired girl from Atlas that Natsuki just couldn't put her finger on). But it was obvious that Oscar was not at all comfortable with fighting in front of anyone other than his teacher.

Still, the boy swallowed his nerves, doing his best to focus completely on the opponent in front of him. Drawing his kama, he twirled them in his hands, feeling their weight and balance, a quick way of telling if there was any need for adjustment. However, they felt perfectly natural in his hands. In front of him, Natsuki drew her kodachi. The one in her right hand was a little bit longer than the one in the left, sporting a rectangular guard above the wrapped handle. The one in her left hand was shorter, sporting a smooth, polished handle, with a small red tassel dangling from the pommel.

The two of them eyed each other warily, the circumstances of their fight falling away, replaced by their complete focus on the opponent in front of them.

In the seats outside the ring, the others looked on eagerly.

"What do you think?" asked Maria.

"Well, Natsu-chan has been studying the sword for almost as long as Ruby-chan," said Sasame. "She's quite talented, and took to the Mumyo Homusubi Ryu with ease. And, with Ruby-chan as a role model, she was a diligent student as well."

"I've only had Oscar for a little over a year," noted Maria. "The boy's definitely got the talent. He can be a bit flighty though. Still...he's gotten further along than I thought he would be by now, almost as though it's something he's done before."

"How interesting," mused Sasame, narrowing her eyes to stare more intently at Oscar. "I'm impressed that you've trained him to Temper his Aura."

"Is that what you people call it?" wondered Maria. "And here I just worked out that if I kept my Aura collected around me, it would protect me better."

"And that you could hide more effectively by shutting it off," guessed Sasame, raising an eyebrow at the woman, who lowered her head.

"I'm not proud of that," she said.

"We all do things that we are not proud of, from time to time," noted Sasame. "Besides, it's a useful skill to master. I wonder if you've learned what lies beyond that."

"Beyond...?" wondered Maria.

"Well, even as venerable as you are, there is still plenty more for you to learn, Maria-dono," said Sasame cheerfully.

"I look forward to it," said Maria, grinning.

Beside them, Ruby looked on curiously, silently wondering just how the fight would go. But her distracted eyes kept wandering to Natsuki's blade, particularly the shorter one. So that's one of Muramasa's swords...

"Ready?" asked Natsuki, keeping her swords arrayed in front of her, a stance that Oscar nearly mirrored with his own weapons.

"Yeah," said Oscar. "Let's do it."

The two of them tensed, then rushed each other. Oscar's eyes widened as he watched Natsuki's body blur, crossing the distance between them in an instant. With a yelp, he brought up his kama, catching the slashing attack from her leading kodachi on the shaft of his right-handed one. Maria's training took over, and Oscar immediately turned his wrist, pulling back on the sickle to hook the blade over the back of Natsuki's blade, pulling it down and out of the way, while he swung over it with his left-handed one.

Natsuki immediately blocked with her other kodachi, striking hard against Oscar's attacking kama to knock it back, so that he couldn't repeat his previous maneuver. From there, Natsuki bent her legs, sinking into a crouch, dropping her arm to lower her right-hand kodachi out of the way of Oscar's kama, and then stepped into a spin, reversing her grip and lashing out with the shorter kodachi in her left hand. Oscar yelped, falling back and deflecting it with the shaft of his weapon, only for Natsuki to follow through by continuing her spin, allowing her to bring her right-hand weapon around in a slash as well.

Managing to deflect that, Oscar jumped back, lowering his kama to point their rounded heads right at Natsuki, the heads pulling back to reveal concealed gun barrels. Oscar quickly fired a pair of shots at Natsuki, who gasped in surprise. Her shorter kodachi seemed to move of its own volition, rushing up to deflect both shots with surprising speed. Since the bullets were enhanced with gravity-Dust, they struck a good bit harder than normal bullets, especially for their size. That force sent Natsuki staggering back.

Oscar immediately tried to capitalize on the situation, drawing back, before throwing his right-handed kama at Natsuki, sending the weapon whirling end over end through the air at her, threatening to send the sickle's tip stabbing down into her shoulder. The blade sliced downwards, and passed through Natsuki's shoulder as though it wasn't even there.

A second later, Natsuki's image blurred, splitting and separating, making it seem as though she was in multiple places at the same time. This wasn't an afterimage from speed though. In fact, Natsuki seemed to be moving strangely slowly, fading in and out of sight, drifting back and forth in front of Oscar's field of vision as she crossed the space between them.

Oscar's eyes widened, realizing that he wasn't able to keep track of Natsuki's movements or her position. Nonetheless, Maria's training showed through again, the boy refusing to panic in this unexpected situation. Instead, he triggered the gravity-Dust in his left-handed kama, activating the Dust remotely in the thrown one at the same time, the two weapons pulling at each other, resulting in the thrown weapon being drawn back, still spinning from his initial throw.

Oscar's actions weren't a moment too soon. All of a sudden, Natsuki's image solidified into perfect clarity in front of him, both her kodachi held in a reverse-grip. Seeing his chance, Oscar lunged forward with the kama in his left hand, while the other one flew at Natuski from behind. Natsuki's body blurred once again, the girl seeming to spin in opposite directions simultaneously. Her swords became lines of light to Oscar's vision. Suddenly, his hand was stinging from the impact of three powerful slashes, executed so rapidly that it was impossible to discern their individual order. A series of three impacts rang from Natsuki's other side, her other sword deflecting Oscar's thrown kama.

They jumped away from each other, Oscar continuing to call his kama back to his empty hand. Catching it, he held the weapons up, regarding Natsuki with even greater wariness than before. She's amazing!

"Natsu-chan's sword-forms are really good," said Ruby.

"Is this that Manifestation-thing you were talking about?" asked Maria. "It was quite unusual, her moving so strangely."

"Oh no, that's a form for Natsu-chan's particular kenjutsu," said Sasame, "though there are a few minor Manifestation elements to it."

"I'm not sure I follow," said Maria cautiously.

"It varies from school to school, but the nature of Manifestation is almost infinitely varied," explained Sasame. "However, when it comes to Mibu combat-styles, they have two basic components; Bujutsu, or fighting arts; and Reijutsu, or spirit arts. Bujutsu is a blanket term that encompasses the physical aspects, such as swordsmanship or the movement of the body, martial arts in other words. In that sense, Natsu-chan's Bujutsu is the Kodachi Nitto Ryu, the dual-kodachi school. Reijutsu is the actual school of utilizing one's Manifestation. In a way she has been learning two styles at the same time, so that they might build off of each other.

"Right now, Natsu-chan is relying primarily on her Bujutsu, mostly to test the waters with Oscar-kun, and gauge his capacity as an opponent. Now that she's started to take his measure, she'll shift to a more serious approach."

Oscar didn't know his body could contain so much sweat. He felt soaked. It was an unbelievable experience to face off with another person. The biggest disadvantage of being the lone student of a retired Huntress, in a farming town with only a single other Huntsman on call, was that Oscar's opportunities to face off against other people were extremely limited, their local Huntsman only having time for a spar very rarely, and being an opponent well above Oscar's level. Facing off someone closer in ability to him, even if she clearly had much more training behind her, was both thrilling and terrifying.

For her part, Natsuki looked like she was having the time of her left, her exuberant grin only wider after their previous exchange. Now she held her kodachi out to either side of her. It was a rather frivolous-looking stance, practically leaving herself wide-open. But Oscar saw why she'd moved her blades clear of her body when they began to spark. Abruptly, orange and yellow flames erupted from them, running up their edges, both blades burning intensely.

Oscar's mouth went dry. Natsuki thrust her right-handed kodachi out at him. "Hitodama!" A trio of fireballs erupted outwards, flying at Oscar on curving trajectories, almost as fast as the bullets of his own weapons.

Thankfully, his training still held, and Oscar's body automatically went into motion, in response to the attack. He ducked underneath the first fireball, before throwing himself out of the way of the next. The third was perfectly-positioned to intercept him, but Oscar struck it with the shaft of his kama, just below the blade, feeling as though he'd hit a tangible object, and knocking it away.

A trio of explosions erupted from where the fireballs hit, flames and smoke washing outwards, throwing out a flares that backlit Oscar's body dramatically, catching the tail of his coat, and making it flare. Though Oscar wasn't aware of it, the explosions behind him made him look a great deal cooler than he felt at the moment, feeling as though he'd barely managed to avoid that attack by the skin of his teeth.

And Natsuki was already closing in, swinging her longer kodachi to send a wave of flames rushing at him, the fires also concealing the blade of her sword, making it almost impossible for Oscar to track.

Oscar's response was to activate the gravity-Dust in his left-handed kama, spinning it in his grip, producing a gravitational field that pulled at the flames, dispersing them around his body, also revealing the path of Natsuki's sword. Oscar moved his left arm aside so that he could swing his right-handed weapon out to meet it. Again, he hooked the sickle's blade around Natsuki's sword, moving as thought to pull it aside, but actually moving to line up the hidden gun-barrel with Natsuki's stomach. The concealed weapon popped out, and Oscar launched a shot at point-blank range.

Natsuki gasped in surprise, the sound occurring almost perfectly in time with the sharp "Ping!" of Oscar's bullet striking off the blade of her shorter sword, which had already moved to intercept Oscar's shot. The bullet cut through the flames lining the blade to deflect off to the side, gouging a sizable chunk out of the floor of the sparring ring, the recoil of the impact knocking Natsuki's arm back and out to the side.

The fires around Natsuki's longer kodachi, which had been partially dispersed by Oscar's spin earlier, reignited, then exploded outwards, threatening to completely engulf Oscar's body. Oscar jumped back, pulling his kama away from Natsuki's sword, and bringing the shafts of his weapons together, connecting their ends, merging them into a single, long, double-bladed staff, which Oscar rapidly spun, the swirling field of gravitational energy successfully dispersing Natsuki's flames.

From there, Oscar transitioned from spinning his weapon to separating it into its individual components, reversing direction and charging right back in, catching a startled Natsuki in double-slash from opposing directions. He could see his sickles biting into her Aura, making it almost look as though he'd cut her apart with them.

A second later, that seemed to become literal truth, with Natsuki's body separating along the line of his cuts. But Oscar didn't even have the time for a panicked thought that he'd accidentally killed his new friend, panic immediately overwritten by confusion as Natsuki's form dissolved into flame.

Feeling the heat intensify to his left, Oscar leapt back, swinging out with the kama on that side, its blade piercing into the stomach of Natsuki, only for her body to once again dissolve into a human-shaped construct of flames.

The air was growing uncomfortably hot, and Oscar found himself sweating even harder than before. The illumination of fire came from all sides, the flames bathing him with their heat. Looking around, Oscar saw Natsuki, once again fading in and out of sight, her form rippling and distorting in the air, seeming to multiply, until Oscar realized that he was completely surrounded by spectral images of his opponent.

"So the flames are this Reijutsu you were talking about?" asked Pyrrha, watching the fight unfold in amazement. She'd grown used to seeing incredible feats of Aura-based skill, thanks to Ruby. But Natsuki's was so different in its overall form that it was like discovering the nature of Manifestation anew.

"Yes," replied Sasame.

"So the Mumyo Homusubi Ryu uses kodachi?" asked Ren.

"Not specifically," said Sasame. "As I said, it varies between schools. Some schools are heavily integrated, with Bujutsu and Reijutsu developed together as complimentary styles. For example, the Mumyo Saigyo Ryu, which Ruby-chan trained in initially, is like that, though she focused entirely on the Bujutsu forms. Kyo's style is like that as well.

"In contrast, other schools are more flexible in nature, and are accommodating to a variety of Bujutsu forms to potentially compliment the Reijutsu aspect. Natsu-chan's Mumyo Homusubi Ryu and Setuna-kun's Mumyo Dai'On Ryu are examples. Setsuna-kun preferred to use kama himself, but tessen are popular in his school as well. As for Natsu-chan's school, her own teacher, Keikoku, is a spear-user."

"So...who taught her how to use swords like that?" asked Yang.

"Her father," replied Sasame simply. "Once it was understood that Natsu-chan was serious about her learning, it was only natural that she would learn Bujutsu from her father."

"Is he good?" asked Nora.

Sasame's smile widened. "One of the best," she said. "After all, Shinomori Aoshi was formerly a leader of the Imperial Guard of one of the previous Taishiro. He was renowned as a prodigy in his day."

"So what are we seeing now?" asked Ashley, staring down into the ring with fascination.

"This is one of Natsu-chan's original techniques," replied Sasame. "Fire clones are often used to distract in the Mumyo Homusubi Ryu, but Natsu-chan combined that with the kenbu, or sword-dance forms, that her father's style specializes in to create a disorienting mirage that renders her opponent unable to follow her. She calls it Engetsu Kenbu."

"Sword-dance...?" prompted Pyrrha.

Sasame hummed in confirmation. "Sword-dances can be either ceremonial or practical. Natsu-chan's version is obviously the latter. It uses flowing movements, alternating between fast and slow to distort her opponent's perception of her location. Adding to that, she uses the heat of her flames to alter the air's refractive index to produce mirages, combined with her fire-clones as an added distraction."

Down below, Oscar combined his kama again, gripping near the head of one end to extend his overall reach, warily watching for his opponent to attack, or his own chance to strike.

"Your student is well-trained, Maria-dono," noted Sasame with a smile.

"The boy's as studious as they come," said Maria. "Real Huntsman material for sure."

Oscar tightened his grip on the shaft of his double-headed kama, sweat dripping down his face. The heat was intense, here in the center of this conflagration. Natsuki continued to waver in and out of sight, her form rippling, bending, and twisting with each movement. Oscar couldn't afford to let the heat get to him. He had to keep calm and wait for that sign, the one that would indicate that Natsuki was making her move.

Then he felt it, the heat intensifying behind him. The flickering and fading movements of Natsuki became more frantic. Oscar spun about towards the source of the heat. Sure enough, there Natsuki was, her appearance coming into perfect clarity as she dashed at him. But the longer reach of Oscar's weapon allowed him to strike out at her first.

His blade bit into her body, which dissolved into another flame construct. Despite that, Oscar didn't falter, instead continuing his swing, exchanging hands and using that to bring the swing around to directly behind him. He felt the blade of his weapon make contact with a hard object, one of Natsuki's kodachi. The girl yelped, and Oscar used the hesitation caused by his attack to turn about and continue to press her, only to find that Natsuki had leapt upward.

She pointed the longer kodachi down at him. "Shakuran Entei!" The flames lining the blade abruptly exploded and launched downward in a jet of fire. Oscar jumped back, activating the gravity-Dust in his weapon while spinning it. Fortunately, he managed to dodge the main attack, and the spin of his weapon produced a gravity field that deflected the flames that spilled outward from the point of impact.

Natsuki touched down behind and to the right of him. Oscar was already turning to intercept her, but she was too close for him to use his weapon in its double-kama form. So he split it once more, swinging his right-handed kama to intercept Natsuki's incoming slash. At the instant of impact, Oscar triggered the gravity-Dust in his weapon again. The blade flared with black and violet energy, increasing its weight and momentum dramatically. At the same time, the flames lining Natsuki's sword exploded outward, the two powerful forces clashing in an explosion that shook the entire ring.

The two fighters disappeared in a plume of dust and smoke, chunks and pieces of the floor being flung in every direction. The the safety barrier crackled and buzzed angrily as Oscar's back slammed into it, the poor boy having been thrown clear of the cloud of smoke and sent flying all the way out of the ring. He slid down the barrier with a faint buzz, his feet touching down, then his legs giving out, sinking to his knees.

The smoke cleared to reveal Natsuki, who'd been driven back, but not as far, having driven her shorter kodachi into the floor to anchor herself, before she could be thrown away, her other one still held up, having been used to ward off the explosive force of the blows she and Oscar had exchanged.

Both fighters were tired, sweaty, bruised, battered, and smudged from their match. But the screen above told the truth, namely that Oscar had taken the brunt of it. His Aura had fallen into the critical zone, while Natsuki's was still more than half full.

Looking up, Oscar took in the depressing sight, before letting out a breath and lowering his head in defeat.

Weiss brought down the barrier, allowing the group to approach their friends. Ruby crouched worriedly by Oscar, slipping his arm over her shoulders and helping him up. From there, she helped him to a seat, sitting down next to the exhausted boy, who was too tired and battered to even remember to be embarrassed by the close proximity and contact with the girl he'd pined after for so long.

"How do you feel?" asked Ruby.

"Like a piece of pounded meat," said Oscar ruefully.

"It looks like you got baked a little," added Jaune, bringing over a towel, which Oscar accepted gratefully, wiping the sweat off his face.

"I feel grilled," replied Oscar, giving Jaune a shaky smile, prompting a giggle from Ruby.

"I can help with that," said Sasame, gently brushing past Jaune and bringing her hands up to cup Oscar's face. The warm, pink light of her Aura flowed into Oscar's body, and the boy gasped with relief as the burning sensation faded away, along with all the aches and pains of the match.

Treatment complete, Sasame released Oscar's face, allowing him to lean back with a tired sigh, his eyelids feeling heavy after the healing.

The sound of footsteps prompted Ruby to look up, her eyes widening as she saw Natsuki approaching. Reading the intent in Natsuki's eyes, Ruby gladly slid over to allow Natsuki to take her place, sitting next to Oscar.

"Hey," she said softly, giving Oscar a more gentle smile than she usually used.

"Hey," Oscar said back. "Congrats on winning."

Natsuki laughed. "Wasn't that fun?" she asked.

"It was incredible," said Oscar. "I'm sorry I wasn't much of an opponent."

"Are you kidding!?" exclaimed Natsuki. "You're amazing! I've been training for five years. You've only been working for one, and you're two years younger than me. I can't believe how well you did. There are people my age, back home, who couldn't beat you."

The complete sincerity Natsuki spoke with was enough of a reassurance to Oscar that he found himself leaning back with a relieved sigh. "That's good to hear."

"We should do it again sometime," said Natsuki.

"Sure," said Oscar with a dry chuckle.

The fight had been intense; terrifying, but also exhilarating. After the first few clashes against Natsuki, Oscar had just been too occupied with keeping up with her to worry about how he looked, or what their audience thought of his performance. Even though he'd lost, he felt a strange sense of contentment.

He twitched, tensing at the click of Maria's cane as she hobbled her way up to him. Oscar, swallowed nervously, fully expecting a furious tirade for losing. Instead, Maria favored him with a grin.

"You did me proud, my boy," she said. "Good job showing your mettle as my student."

"Thank you, Ms. Maria," said Oscar.

His body felt heavy and, honestly, Oscar felt as though he might fall asleep where he sat. He didn't mind though. After the rush of fighting against Natsuki, the melancholy he'd felt earlier that day felt like a distant memory. Maybe this had been what he needed.