to bid you adieu | t. muichiro

03

CHAPTER 3:
an unsteady pact.

—

For the rest of the week and as soon as the rope was severed, you'd been deliberately avoiding Tokito. He seemed to share your sentiment, the two of you both in denial of what you saw.

Unfortunately, any hopes you had of keeping your distance seemed to topple to the floor at the announcement of your upcoming rehabilitation trainings. The trainings were given to students who'd been injured and were attempting to get back onto their feet; these trainings included very rigorous drills and exercises occurring outside in the snow.

"Well, this is unfortunate..." Kocho Shinobu, the one who typically conducted these trainings, held one bokken in each of her hands. "I was intending on having the two of you spar with these," she glanced at the two wooden katanas, "but it would be unfair as L/N's customary weapon is a European dagger while Tokito's is a katana."

"I have mine in my locker," you jutted your thumb back to the main building of the academy. "I can go grab it, if that'd be preferable?"

Unlike the reaction you'd expected, the upperclassman girl just laughed sweetly. "You're so polite, L/N!" She smiled, her expression slightly growing a bit unsettling. "I just don't want to risk either of you actually getting hurt, since your weapon is made out of steel. It'd be counterintuitive."

The snow clung to the fabric of your uniforms, the tips of your eyelashes, and the crown of your heads. The blazers of your school attire laid discarded in a pile beneath a tree, and you were debating trading your school's skirt in for something a bit more reliable. A large portion of your frequently attacks and moves while fighting had you utilizing the flexibility you'd trained with your mentor, meaning that fighting anyone would inevitably cause a moment of embarrassment.

Suddenly, Kocho dropped the bokken straight to the floor and let them linger within the snow, clasping her hands together in amusement. "Hand-to-hand combat will provide a fair chance for the both of you, don't you think?" You inwardly groaned, but out of your admiration towards Kocho, you strained a smile in response. She walked over to an elevated area and gestured for the two of you to start whenever you were ready.

You stared Tokito dead in the eye, contemplating the best move. He was surely stronger than you in terms of physical strength, that you had no doubt about. Besting him without your Gift or weapon would prove to be a challenge. Not only that, but his speed is remarkable too. He wasn't quite as fast as Douma--Douma's speed aren't of the likes of a human--but agile enough to where it'd be an issue.

With the smallest twitch of his eye, you started at him. It'd been awhile since you'd done any fighting with only your hands, but you didn't have much of a choice here.

"See, if you're up against a really strong person," your mentor, Kanroji Mitsuri, had mentioned a tactic that she knew would eventually become handy. "You can attack something called a pressure point and completely cut off the circulation of energy within a person's body. It'll throw them off and leave them fatigued enough to make the playing field even!"

The circulation of energy throughout the body was most concentrated within the wrists, the head, and the neck. You knew you couldn't quite attack his wrists due to the energy restraints, so the head and neck would have to do.

Tokito steadied his feet into the snow, watching you closely like he was daring you to deliver the first hit. The sheer amount of mind games the guy was capable of playing was laughable, from the manipulation of his uniform to make him appear slower to his provoking comments that he carefully thought out. You paid no mind to his unreadable face, and moved to make an unpredictable step.