I stood there panting, my arm still caught by Natsumi-san, while she looked like she didn’t even break a sweat. The barrage of attacks I had to dodge was already in the thousands, minus the ones that actually connected. If she hit any harder, I’m sure the force would be enough to have my arm ripped off my body. To be honest, that would be a much better way to go about it.
"Co on, Kazuki. Don’t tell you are done," she said mockingly, and I took a deep breath before getting back in stance. "That’s more like it. Your endurance has improved. Consider impressed."
I didn’t say anything, but my eyes were glued to her body, looking for even the slightest bit of movent she made. I looked at her face to see if there was any way I could know what she would do next, but nothing in her eyes or face indicated anything. She was completely unreadable. There was no projection of an attack or any slight tightening of a muscle to get ready for another hit. I couldn’t make sense of what she was about to do next.
"Don’t just stand there and be quiet. You’re making this boring," she said.
"You have gone back to your roots, I see. That mocking tone and all," I said, and she let out a little laugh.
"Well, if you are too stiff and cautious of what is about to happen to you next, it’ll just be like hitting a punching bag. Don’t be a chicken, co at ," she said, taunting . "You can’t protect yourself or anyone else if you fight like this."
I kicked and jumped as high as I could and aid a hamr fist at her head, which was blocked in an instant. I saw her arm move slightly again, and I quickly got ready for the punch in my solar plexus. Like I thought, it ca when I expected, and I quickly pushed my hands down to deflect it, only for them not to connect. Next thing I knew, I got a backhand in my cheekbone, throwing in the other direction. My shoulder joint and muscles were screaming in pain trying to keep my arm intact in that mont, and I landed on my feet. Looking at her again, a high kick ca right to my head, for which I ducked, but what connected was a punch right in my face.
She finally let go of my arm, and I flipped and toppled my way against the wall. The impact made my bones quiver, and I fell to the floor face-first. My head was killing ; my nose was likely broken, but was quickly healed, though the pain persisted, and I’m pretty sure I am blind in one eye now. I got quickly pulled up and rested against soft and cold, as blood was dropped in my mouth. As soon as it touched my tongue, my instincts started to kick in, but my body was too tired to move, so I just awkwardly tried to drink as much as I could from the stream that dripped in my mouth.
"Are you feeling better, Kazu-kun?" I heard a sweet voice worrying about . "Natsumi-san, you went overboard with it this ti," she complained for .
"He had faced sothing way worse, I’m sure he can keep up with it," I heard her voice co closer to . "Hey, are you alive?"
"If I weren’t a half vampire, that answer wouldn’t likely be yes," I replied, finally feeling a lot better. "Your strength is just ridiculous, Natsumi-san."
"Cos with the training," she nonchalantly replied. I don’t think training was the only reason for it, but then again, she isn’t wrong about that fact.
I sat up straight without any assistance and let out a big sigh. I know why she is going this rough on the training, especially after the news that was just dropped. Sigh, I have to get stronger faster, and the only way I have gotten stronger is in my strength and speed, but that ans nothing when I can’t land hits on the opponent.
"I have to give it to you, though, you have gotten a lot stronger and faster than before. I doubt your old self can even properly keep up with the current you," she said, and I looked up at her, not knowing if she was joking or just wanting to motivate . "I’m not lying. Try fighting Ai if you want to have a more accurate way of knowing."
"Huh?" we both said and looked at each other, confused. I rember I had fought her once before and was defeated horribly, but what about now? No, not now. I can’t at one hundred percent against her.
"I think you chose the wrong person for this," I said, and she let out a sigh.
"Seriously, you two don’t know the difference between normal sparring and fighting? I’m not asking you to injure the other person. If I feel like sothing like that is about to happen, I will personally intervene," she said, reassuring her, but we still didn’t look convinced. "Do you prefer fighting each other, or take on when I actually try?"
"We are fighting each other," we said in unison, and she nodded in satisfaction.
I looked at Ai again, still not too sure about it. If there was even a sliver of a chance to hurt her, I would prefer not doing it. Ai also didn’t look fully happy about this arrangent. "Look, I may not be able to be around you two all the ti, but that doesn’t an you don’t train. Think of the other as your training partner and spar as much as you can. That is the best way you’ll learn how to fight better."
"Can it be soone else?" I asked, and she glared at , shutting up.
"Sparring with each other is a great way to know your partner’s strengths and weaknesses. Where they excel, where they would need you to cover for them. You learn this only when you train together. Iwaguchi and I do this every day," she explained. "You know what? Iwaguchi, co here."
She called over Iwaguchi-san next to her and quickly aid a punch at his face, which he dodged in an instant. He ducked low, aiming for her legs, but Natsumi-san kicked off his shoulder and grabbed his neck with her hand, and using the montum, threw Iwaguchi-san at the wall. Right before he was about to hit the wall, he twisted his body and landed against the wall feet first, but Natsumi-san was already there in an instant, ready to plunge her fist through his face, which he deflected in a quick block.
What happened after that just put us in awe as we saw these two "sparring" and I do say that very loosely because they were so quick I couldn’t even track them with my eyes. They were jumping all over the place, their limbs probably breaking the sound barrier, but neither of them landed a clean hit on the other. Natsumi-san wasn’t joking when she said she wasn’t even trying with . I saw her move like this only twice before, and she was absolutely in a different league from any of us.
Suddenly the both stopped, and all we could see was a tired, slightly bruised Iwaguchi-san and a completely unhard Natsumi-san.
"What the hell was that?" I exclaid, and she proudly chuckled.
"That was what happens when I actually try. Iwaguchi also did well this ti. He was able to keep up with for longer," she said.
"Huff, huff, I’m still so much weaker than you, Natsumi-san, it isn’t even funny," he said, straightening his back and stretching his muscles. I need muscles like that.
"How did he even get hurt?" I asked, and they looked at , confused.
"She landed twenty hits on ," Iwaguchi-san said.
"When?!" I exclaid again and shuddered as Natsumi-san took a step in our direction.
"I’m lucky she didn’t use her weapon this ti, otherwise I would very well have been a chopped tomato," he said while laughing.
I quickly got on my feet and made eye contact with Ai, wondering the sa thing. "We have to do that?"
"Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to be this strong right now, but I hope you understood what I ant. Iwaguchi has a tendency to stay low while attacking because he prefers to go for quick, sneaky hits on his opponents, throwing them off balance. His prowess is a lot different when I force him to stay up in the battle, and I utilize that to my advantage. Physically, he is very strong, and if it were about raw strength, even slightly stronger than , but he can’t use that strength when he is forced to stay high," she explained.
"When I’m low, I can concentrate my strength and attack a lot better and decapitate vampires with ease. The mont they lose their balance, it’s ga over for them," he explained. "Then there is Natsumi-san. I don’t even know what to say about her weakness. In all the ti I have spent with her, I couldn’t see one. Her defence is impenetrable and her offence is so aggressive it always pushes to defend my vital organs rather than actually think about how to attack her."
"I wasn’t always like this, though, being this good took years of sparring with that crafty idiot," she said, and I understood instantly who she was referring to. "That dumbass would find new ways to exploit even the slightest crack in my defence and overpower with just raw strength. Had to make sure I kick his butt once I actually was good enough to do that."
"Wait, was dad the one..."
"Sigh, yes, he was the one who ca up with this training thod. He just jumped into fighting without notice the mont we entered the training area," she explained and looked at . "So, what I am telling you is tried and tested. If you want to have even a chance against the stronger vampires and the lord of the night, you’d better get used to training together."
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