ayame's flower realm . JUJUTSU KAISEN

fourteen . cockroach

"hey there, cockroach."

the cold breeze of the morning glazed over their skins. it was cold, as expected of the temperature in the mountains.

the field was empty and quiet, save for the sound of crickets and birds whistling. the moon was still out, its light peeked out of the clouds that were passing by.

it was 5 am in the morning.

ayame gritted her teeth at the nickname.

cockroach.

unlike a few months before, her body was now used to waking up early, and thus was able to respond well towards anything that was thrown to her. including hakari's words.

hakari had started calling her cockroach because of their endurance training. in a way, he was praising her.

over the course of their training, hakari had pretty much threw ayame around like a ragdoll. and every time she would hit the ground, ayame would quickly jump back on her feet and charge towards hakari again. it was an endless cycle of getting beaten up, getting back up, countering, falling, and all that.

she kept coming back, like cockroaches.

but calling her cockroach is a bit...

"hakari-kun... you gotta stop calling me that. if anyone else hears that, they'd think you're insulting me." ayame said.

hakari raised a brow. "i'm not insulting you."

"i... know, but..."

"come on, let's begin our training. warm up."

ayame sighed. "okay."

the two began their usual stretches in the middle of the field. the whole area was dimly lit, but thankfully they had access to the field's lights. everyone was probably still asleep.

another breeze passed by, and ayame rubbed her cheeks.

"winter is coming soon."

"mhm."

"can't believe it's almost been a year."

"hmm. true."

--

"urgh!"

ayame's body slammed onto the ground forcefully, landing on her side. she gritted her teeth, before jumping up to a squat.

she pushed forward with strength focused on her knees. she kept her body low to the ground, keeping a distance from hakari.

the male threw a punch from the right. ayame dropped to her left. she swiped her legs towards hakari's feet. the male however, jumped to avoid it.

ayame rolled backwards, getting away from hakari. the two stared each other down for a few seconds.

hakari made the first move.

he sprinted towards ayame, reeling back his fist. ayame held up her arms in front of her. her eyes wide open, as if even blinking once would cause her to lose.

hakari delivered swift but heavy blows, and ayame dodged every one of it. upper cut. a jab. another upper cut.

it went on like that for a while. hakari kept on attacking, while ayame was stuck in dodging every hit.

'damn. does he have the stamina of a horse or something...?' ayame thought as she ducked away from another hit. 'not only is he fast, but he hits like a truck too.'

in midst of blows, hakari spoke. "are you just going to keep dodging? you should be countering too!"

before ayame could open her mouth, hakari spun on his feet, his fist reeled back for another blow. this time, though, there was a lot more momentum than the others. it was faster, too.