𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝑰 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 [𝕘𝕚𝕪𝕦𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕠] (KNY)

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝟤: 𝑀𝑒𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈, 𝑀𝑒𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈, 𝑀𝑒𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈

A/N: Phones will exist in this book for commuincation reasons, even though I know logically phones shouldn't exist in the Taisho era.

Giyu POV:

Oyakata-sama was droning on and on and on and ON. 

Don't get me wrong, I love him. He's totally respectable and all that and he's a great employer and he's very kind and all that shtuff but COME ON, do I really have to listen to him read the safety rules of a Hashira's work for the FIFTH BILLION TIME?

It's been like an hour, mate, get a hold of yourself. I get that rules are interesting and amazing and totally speech-worthy and all that, but how about you let yourself breathe for a quick sec while I reply to my phone that's been pinging off millions of times already? Take a hint, please.

I slid my phone out of the mismatched fabric of my haori for a moment as I checked who was messaging me. It was Tsutako, my sister. Hmm. She doesn't usually spam me; she just leaves a voicemail. 

I quickly stuffed my phone back into my haori before Oyakata-sama could see and scold me. I wanted this meeting to be over already. I had promised Tsutako I was going to make dinner today and I still had a mission I hadn't completed yet. 

Well, to be fair, it was an easy mission that would take me less than an hour, but still!

Shinobu POV:

I glared furiously at Giyu's stupid mismatched haori. His phone couldn't stop beeping inside of it and it was distracting me like crazy. Couldn't he keep that thing in control? Silence it, person.

Oyakata-sama had moved on from explaining rules to telling us a new battle format he wanted us to try out at today's  training session.

Oyakata-sama had started requiring all of us to attend a Hashira battle training session every Sunday (unless you had a mission). I found it pretty useless; others enjoyed it. I pretty much hated it since I lost almost every practice match; I wasn't allowed to use poison for obvious reasons, and that was my main method. 

Kanae had taught me everything she knew. She had tried to train me more on a physical scale but I just wasn't cut out for it. Well, scrap that; Kanae taught me almost everything. She herself injected wisteria poison into her body to build immunity against demons, but she wouldn't let me do it, no matter how hard I tried. 

Finally, after another half hour of lecturing, Oyakata-sama let us go to do our practice matches for this week's practice match.

As soon as we got outside, Tengen took control. "Alright, everyone, were you listening to Oyakata-sama? Cause I sure wasn't."

Sanemi rolled his eyes. "If you want to be top, you've gotta listen. OK, I'll explain it again:

The nine of us stand in a circle shape around the blasted demon, or demons. Gyomei and Kanroji are on defence duty, because their weapons have a long range. Kanroji will be in charge of protecting Tengen, Rengoku, Sanemi and Muichiro. Gyomei will be taking care of Tomioka, Kocho, Sanemi and Obanai. 

So this is how the attack works: worse case scenario is there's a lot of demons. So Tengen and Kyojuro will be taking care of any strength-based demons. Tomioka and Kocho, with their speed, defeat any high-velocity demons. Muichiro and Sanemi deals with anyone else with any helpers, if there are any. Meanwhile, Obanai is on watch duty, for any demons that might come popping up.

Got it, you lot?"

I nodded absently. It all sounded fine. Everything was reasonable. It made sense that I was on speed-demon duty. But....

WHY DID I HAVE TO GET STUCK WITH THE NO-FRIENDS LOSER?? Like, come on, he wasn't even that fast. Nothing that could match me. 

Rengoku must have seen the expression on my face, because he hastily said, "Come on, guys, let's split up into our groups. Mitsuri, Tengen, Rengoku, Sanemi and Muichiro are on the left field. Tengen, me, and Sanemi, Muichiro, split up into pairs. Some ai dummies will be there acting like the demons they're supposed to target. Mitsuri's on defence duty. Same with the other group. Let's get cracking, guys!"

Still grumbling, I walked over to the right side of the field. From a purely battle-based perspective, I disliked my group. Obanai's was okay, but Sanemi's fighting style didn't suit mine. I hate to say it, but Tomioka's compliments mine okay. I feel at ease with Gyomei on defence, but Sanemi pretty much ruined any needles I could poke into a demon. His style was extremley dominant and usually didn't allow any space, not even an opening for me to direct a syringe at. 

Giyu POV:

I had mixed feelings about my group. I'd hoped to be with Rengoku and Muichiro, but being with Shinobu is a great plus. Expect maybe it's a tiny bit outweighed by Sanemi and Obanai. The pair of them pretty much hated me, and I was sure they would give me hell from this week onwards. 

At least I wasn't partners with one of them. I liked Shinobu's fighting style; even though she didn't contribute much from a dueling point of view, she almost always caught even me off guard with a poison or a needle she'd injected into my opponent without me noticing. It was like getting a secret buff. 

"Alright, everyone, I'm activating the dummies now." Gyomei informed us. Without further warning, before I could even snap back to planet earth, the dummies were alive, the machinery twisting and the fake demon springing into a battle position, it's teeth baring. 

There were four demons altogether. On battle mode now, I unsheathed my katana, carefully asessing the demons. Sanemi and Obanai had already claimed two of them, slashing away. 

I regarded the remaining two carefully. They were exactly the handpicked dummies me and Shinobu were supposed to face; two demons with long legs, a lean body and flexible limbs. Definetly fast. 

I glanced sideways at Shinobu. 

There was a sparkle in her eyes.

A/N: IM BRINGING BACK THE HASHIRA TRAINING SESSIONS FROM ONE OF MY OLD BOOOOOKS (i cant remember which one) 

im getting deja vu right now

will these training sessions be better now, after a year of improvement?? :>>