Irhaboggle Pride (2022) Gaylor Swift's Version

You Are In Love

One look, dark room, meant just for you...

The look Kirumi gave Maki was unreadable, or perhaps, Maki simply did not want to try to read it. The look Maki gave Kirumi was determined, yet troubled. Kirumi could sense something falter within Maki, even though, externally, Maki refused to break, or even bend.

"I move too fast?" she asked. There was almost a taunting note in her voice, something smug hidden deep within her usual apathy, as she blitzed past Kirumi and disarmed her. She played it back for the maid, showing in slow motion how she so easily disarmed the other woman of her katana.

When she took that first swing, going at normal speed, the very tip of her own katana sliced off one of the buttons on Kirumi's dress. And yes, as Maki would confirm, that was intentional, showing Kirumi just who she was up against. Kirumi was impressed, not just by the skill Maki displayed, but with how almost childishly proud Maki seemed by what she'd done. Maki was even more emotionless than Kirumi, yet Kirumi could detect a flicker of genuine pride and excitement at being able to show off her skills with a blade.

"You move so swiftly, Maki," Kirumi complimented. "Does it come from all the years you surely spent chasing after children?"

"What?" Maki's voice was sharper than her katana, and she bristled at the remark, her earlier humor completely gone.

"It was a lighthearted joke," Kirumi said, smiling. "Such humor is needed from a maid to calm their master. For me, I would tell jokes to mine."

"Master?!" This only made Maki bristle even more.

"You asked to train with me, did you not? That was your request."

"Well, yeah, I asked you to train, but that doesn't mean—! Never mind," Maki rolled her eyes. This maid really was something else.

She acted all innocent and sweet, but she wouldn't even flinch when Maki rushed at her with a katana. And she acted all stoic and distant, yet she apparently tried to tell jokes to make people laugh. Maki didn't think she was very funny.

So, that's at least ONE thing she can't do well, Maki thought with a wry smile. And Kirumi had such a strange obsession with servitude, constantly finding any excuse to call someone "master". Maki hated that, but it was the one thing Kirumi seemed incapable of not doing.

And yet, underneath it all, Maki couldn't deny at least a...fascination with the maid. Maybe it was because she was strange. Maybe it was because, in a way, like Maki herself, she was a bit of a loner, an introvert, someone more comfortable on the fringes or by herself, silent. And more than that, her skill with a blade. Not only was Kirumi unflinching, but she stood up to Maki fairly well in a katana battle. It wasn't much proof, but Maki had seen enough to at least have a curiosity about the maid.

"Are you sure you're a maid?" Maki had asked after their first training session.

"Of course. Why do you ask?" Kirumi replied. While Maki sharpened her blade after practice, Kirumi cleaned hers.

"What sort of maid needs to be so good with a katana?" Maki was almost sneering.

"One who needed to physically defend her master in the past," Kirumi replied calmly, and although the answer seemed intuitive in hindsight, it took Maki by surprise the first time. It was then that Kirumi revealed she was actually very trained in combat.

She wasn't able to become a master on the battlefield, since she had other maidly skills to learn as well, but she still wasn't half bad. However, this inability to devote herself fully to the art of war was why Maki still managed to win against her in every sparring match they ever had. Counterpoint to Kirumi, all Maki did was train with her blade, thus, she far outshined Kirumi's own fighting ability. Maki had to admit, though, of all the rest of their classmates, Kirumi was probably still the only one who even knew how to hold a katana properly, let alone use it with any skill.