An Heir for the Dragon

Chapter 11: Tokyo Field Trip

"Okay! It's done," Saiki said when she held up the other glove. They had gotten up at 7:00 in the morning when Kiryu's alarm went off. She had to make sure there was enough time to finish the glove and test it on the pig carcass. He was sitting at her workbench with her in his lap. They were both dressed in the fluffy robes for now as they planned to shower after eating.

"I have to admit that some parts of my body hurt. But it's from lack of exercise," Kiryu sighed. "I really need to get back into shape."

"I know," she smiled and hopped out of his lap to fix some of the leather stitching to tighten it. Once it was done, she brought the glove over to him. "We have to build you up slowly. If we try going too fast, it will have a negative effect. So, we'll work on your punches. Your stamina. Your overall heart rate. This also includes your breathing. I already told you I printed out a few things. Now come with me to finish off the pig so I can cook breakfast. Okay?"

"I should cook for you," he said and put on both gloves to test them.

"You can cook dinner," she nodded.

"No. I want to cook breakfast. My turn," he smiled.

"Fine. I'll check the rice cooker," she chuckled. "The others will be here in an hour. So we have a bit of time."

"Hmm. I like to take my time cooking..." he frowned.

"It's why I said I'd cook," she winked. That got him laughing softly. "Work on that pig while I start the stove?"

"Right," he nodded. He studied the metal claws and mused. "I have to wonder what you made your scythe out of. It's really light!"

"It actually isn't. You're just strong enough to hold it. I agreed on the weight to confuse the others. It actually weighs...at least fifty pounds. The staff is made of an aluminum base, but I re-enforced it with titanium. The blade is carbonized steel over a main body of titanium. The core is made of tungsten ore to keep it from shattering. I don't mix them together. It's like...layering very delicately with extreme finesse of fine-tuning," she said.

"How do you get it to fold into the pole?" he asked.

"Every single part of the blade fits together like a bunch of robotic puzzle pieces. They are all slivers of each other that can fold in and expand out at the click of a button. That took me five years of intense study in robotic mechanical arts and microtechnology techniques. If that scythe broke...I can only fix it here. I do have a small repair kit on me, but I'd have to know exactly where to fix it. Or I fucked up my own weapon," she sighed and shook her head. "The pole is just wide enough and hollow enough to store everything in it. All the computer components are in the whip to allow me to remove it and replace it as needed like an extra hard drive. It's...complicated."

"How long have you had it?"

"About fifteen years. I had just made the scythe when I was sent out on that mission to remove the Clan. Thus...my tattoo."

"I see. But...wait. Wouldn't your scythe weigh even more if it's compacted like that?! All of that metal combined in such a way?"

"You would think so. I guess I'm just so strong that...I don't notice. Once again...it's very complicated to explain."

"It is definitely complicated," he chuckled again. Then he turned to the carcass to start focusing on where to cut into it with his punches. When he started to increase his tempo, she snapped her fingers to get his attention.

"Remember! Two punches. Pause for five seconds. Punch again. You have to breathe between the punches or you'll hurt yourself," she said and started to make the egg fried rice. She had already diced up chicken, beef and pork pieces to stir into it, and two large eggs were added to the white rice. The wok was already searing everything neatly, and chopped carrots, chives and peppers were thrown into it. A touch of seasoning was added to flavor it further.