Cross Worlds (Hiatus)

Side Chapter 3-1: "Growth" (Side- Fantasy)

Three months have passed since I first switched bodies with Reality. With all the exercise and training I've been doing, I've become quite a bit stronger. As time has passed, I've only grown closer to the people around me. Jira and Remi are a given, and Yujita isn't all that surprising, but I even grew closer to Yoshitabi.

The two of us are in the middle of another one of our evening sparring sessions, and to this day I still haven't beaten her. However, I've practically memorized her attack and defense patterns. If I were to use my magic to help me, I'd win for sure, but I'm not the type of person who would do something like that. I plan on beating her fair and square today.

As per usual, she starts off with a swipe to my legs, which I avoid by jumping up. As she grabs my leg with both hands, I grab her wrist and flip backwards, lifting her in the process. She looks a bit surprised as she's being pulled up into the air, which isn't all that shocking. After all, with my weak body before, I couldn't lift her two inches off the ground, much less send her body flying up into the air. The day I tried was both awkward and embarrassing. Needless to say, we cut training short that day...

Once I have her off the ground, I kick her in the stomach to send her up even higher. She grunts, but I know she can take that little kick. I land on my hands and launch myself up after her, tackling into her and the two of us fall to the ground. However, she flips us whilst we fall and I'm the one who's under her. "This wasn't the plan, but I'm not down yet." I roll before she can bring her fist to my face, making her fall on her side. I try to roll away again, but she wraps her legs around my waist tightly so I can't get away from her. If that's the game we're playing, then I'm more than willing to escalate it.

Being with Yoshitabi like this used to always make me flustered, which would quickly lead to my loss. Unfortunately for her, after our many training sessions, Jira and Remi's constant teasing, and having the opportunity to be around the president; Emica, this is nothing. I roll once again, but in the opposite direction, slamming her body against the mat once again. Try as she might to sit up and get a hit in on me, I'm much too fast, I roll back and forth up until she lets go of me. This does more than just a few tries, but it's worth it in the end.

This time, I move in to get on top of her and I thrust my hand towards her throat. I, of course, plan on stopping and announcing my victory, but Yoshitabi seems to have other plans. She grabs my wrist and pulls her knees up to her stomach, kicking me in the gut, hard. She has me gasping for air as she rolls backwards and slams me down onto my back, earning another grunt out of me.

I try to catch my breath, but the sight of Yoshitabi in the air with her fist pulled back, has me quickly rolling out of the way and hopping up to my feet, albeit slouchily. I cough a few times and hold up my hand, grasping at my aching gut. "W-Wait..!" She's clearly been holding back during our fights. I can take a strong hit with no problem these days, but that kick has me wanting to throw up my dinner.

Yoshitabi doesn't stop, however, she charges at me with a growl in her voice. I jump at this slightly and run at her myself, groaning as I dodge her next punch and slam my body into hers. I pin her to the ground despite her struggles and take a deep breath. "Yoshitabi! Snap out of it!"

My shouting quickly makes Yoshitabi go wide-eyed, the two of us panting as we stare one another down. "R-Riku... You've pinned me..."

I continue panting and coughing, giving her a nod. "Are you...alright now..?" She gazes up at me with a light frown, nodding. I nod in return before letting her go and rolling off, taking the time to catch my breath and rub my pained stomach.

"Are you alright? Let me see your stomach." Before I can say a word, she lifts up my green sleeveless. Though I haven't gained the figure of my previous body, there have been some clear changes from my pale skinny form from three months ago. My skin is now fair and somewhat tanned, and I'm now much leaner. I've even gained a bit of muscle. As far as being "ripped" however, I don't even have abs yet. Which is why letting people see my figure still embarrasses me to this day.

"There's a bruise..." I look down to see she's correct. I groan a little bit as I touch it, but I manage to sit myself up so my shirt can fall back down. I look at Yoshitabi to see her looking down. It upsets me to see her this way, so I do what's natural.

"Hey." That simple word is all it takes to get her to look up a bit to meet my gaze. "It's nothing to feel bad about. I'm sure you're probably hurting in a couple places after I banged you around so much, right?"

"Well..." She slowly rubs one of her arms. It's not bruised, but it's obvious it's giving her a little bit of pain.

"We can't expect to spar everyday and come out without any injuries every time. Didn't you tell me from day one that you weren't going to hold back? Although, that was clearly a lie." I chuckle nervously.

"I apologize, but I didn't want you to go easy on me. I figured it would...help me. But I suppose...even after all this time..." I reach over and place my hand on her shoulder. This makes her look up at me fully, and I give her a reassuring smile.

"I came to you because I did want to become stronger, but also because I wanted to help you with whatever internal struggle you were dealing with. Clearly, this has all helped out a lot. After all, you haven't looked at me like that again since we've started doing this." I'm referring to the very first day of class, where I had her on the ground and she looked up at me with a hint of fear in her eyes. "Then again, this was only the first time I've won, so I might have to keep winning so you can really get used to it." I give her a playful grin.

She stares back at me with a bit of awe before smiling softly herself. Never once have I ever seen this woman smile, but it's all too short lived. Why? Because she jumps up and tackles me to the ground, lightly tapping her knuckles against my forehead after she has me pinned with her body. I yelp slightly in pain, as she's sitting right on my bruise, but it doesn't stop her this time. "Don't let one win get you cocky now, boy. After all, it's one to how many losses now?"

My eyes are swirling from how dizzy she's made me, but I manage to speak. "42069..?" I joke.

"Funny." Her fist is blocking my view, so I can't see her face, but I can hear her smile when she talks. "You did well today, Riku. Thank you, for your consideration. You're a good man." She gets off of me and starts walking off. "Dismissed."

I groan as I sit up, looking over at her. "Aren't you gonna help me clean all this up..?"

She turns her head back to me, not trying to hide the smile on her face this time. There's a slight liveliness to it, but only slight. "You'll help me out just this once again, won't you Riku? After all, since I'm a fragile woman who needs the help of a young man like you, surely you can do that much for me right?" She then walks out of the room.

I grumble under my breath. "That's not what I was..." I sigh. I can't even make a proper retort because the smile she gave me was beautiful. It'll be a memory I can never forget. Especially not since I can feel the redness in my cheeks. "Not again... I thought I had gotten over women making me flustered..? Dammit..." The sad part of all of this is, there's still one more piece of training I have to accomplish tonight. My magic training with Yujita still awaits.