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║sprinkling marigold grails ━━━ (CHAPTER FIVE)
THE TREE WAS WOUNDED, BUT SO WAS SHE.
She thought about how deep the red ran on her fists, bloodied and battered, and thought about the trail of red ants meandering the dent on the southern red oak tree, how they looked like a rivulet of blood from afar. Then she thought of wine. The kind her mother used to drink but stopped years ago. It stained.
She threw another punch and called it a day.
"Hey, Sister!" In spite of her aching fists and aching bare feet, fifteen-year-old Anemone swung by the church with one of the widest smiles on her face. "Can you heal me again, please? I trained really hard today so my hands are, well..."
"Oh, Anemone!" Sister Lily cried out before taking out her grimoire, beckoning for the girl to come nearer to her so she could heal her. "I know you want to train physically too but you should know your limits and—"
"Be more careful, yeah, I'll be kinder to myself next time!" She cut off with an excited gleam in her eyes.
'That's what you said last time...' Sister Lily eyed her warily.
"Oh, and by the way, I already helped fertilize the plants around the church."
"Really? Thank you, Anemone."
Just as Sister Lily finished healing her bloodied hands, making them seem as good as new, a certain ash-blond came sliding into the room. "Nemy!! Remember our training today!!"
"Of course, of course." She dismissed his loud presence. "Have you seen Yuno?"
"It's his turn today to accompany Father to the neighbouring church to buy more tatoes." He said, compiling his words together swiftly. His excitement was getting the better of him, Anemone noted in her head with a deadpan expression. "Now, come on!"
"Okay, okay." She repeated again and stands, stretching her arms. "Gosh, you're like a five-year-old begging for candy. See ya, Sister!"
Asta had not given up on his dream. She doubted he ever will. Long before they got their grimoires and Asta believed he'd get magic someday, he and Yuno used to train non-stop with Anemone observing them. Yuno would use his Wind Magic to blow Asta away as Asta's goal was to get close enough to him to bonk his head with a stick. 90% of the time, the aforementioned boy remained victorious, but the other 10% was the latter winning against him. Still, Anemone felt bad for Asta mostly relying on physical exercises and training against Yuno, who was far above his league back then just because he had magic and he didn't.
So Anemone helped Asta with his training regime growing up.
To even the playing field, the two would occasionally spar using their bare fists. He learned fighting techniques without relying on his clinging hope to having magic in the future and she learned an alternative to fighting without being overly reliant on her magic. A win-win situation.
