Walking through the busy streets of Valor City, Kimura walks down three blocks down from the Academy, using his weekend to explore. While walking he looks down the street to see a burglar running, the walk sign turns on as the burglar made it just in time, running down as they run past me. Just as that happened a couple of police officers nearby, chase after the burglar. Kimra continued walking as that was none of his business as his destination was Valor Mall.

There’s a lot of people here this time…

Kimura notices as people flood in and out of the mall constantly, walking towards it he squeezes on in as the mall was packed this weekend. Wasting no time, he scurries through the crowd of people as he walks towards the middle section, making a left turn and taking an escalator upwards.

While he stands on the escalator to make it to the second floor, Kimura notices Naoki off in the distance, entering what looks like a trading shop. Huh…what’s my roommate doing there…? Curiosity catches his eyes as he makes his way towards the same shop. Hal’s Trading Card Shop & Figurines was the name, looking at the large sign above the shop, Kimura walked in as it was somewhat bustling with customers.

A trading card shop…?

Kimura notices Naoki standing idly by, staring down through a glass container as he stares at a rare card. Kimura makes his way over silently as he overhears Naoki’s voice mumbling. Looking over at him Kimura notices that he’s just mumbling to himself but he’s unable to make out what he’s saying.

What exactly do they sell here…

Kimura frowned a bit as he softened his expression and looked around, seeing figurines from regular to…unique…ones. However, the main show of this shop was the trading cards, especially Husks and Graces. Naoki was staring at a card called Florescent Harbinger, an entity card with a short explanation of what the card does.

“I need that card…It’ll go great with Twin Ravagers…but I also do need to look for the Valiant Light of the Cosmos magic card…”

“But…Gallard’s Impervious Army will nullify it…but Florescent counters Gallard’s Army…then Icarus’s Feathers will just remove the field buffs…which is why I need Valiant Light…Ahh man…the choices here are just too good to pass up…!”

While Naoki was having a geek breakdown over a couple of cards, Kimura looked around the place to see what else he could find. While looking around Kimura didn’t see anything that seemed to interest him as he made his way out. Just as he did, Naoki looked over to the side just in time to see him leave.

“Kimura?”

He questioned if it was him as he turned back to look down at the Fluorescent Harbinger card being taken out and given to someone else.

“A-Ah! W-Wait!!”

Naoki pleaded as Kimura left the place, walking on the upper floor of the mall. Well, I got sidetracked… Kimura thought as he walked towards a game section, looking up as it was Xendra’s Net Cafe & Arcade. Kimura entered as the receptionist sat there, looking up as she waved at Kimura.

“Hi Kimura!” The girl smiled and waved.

“Hello Yei-Sha.” Kimura replied.

“How was your morning today?” She asked.

“I’m fine so far, it is the weekend, so I have time to stay this time.” He responded chuckling.

“Finally! I needed help on this one dungeon!” She went off track for a second.

“Yei-Sha, my net card?”

“O-Oh right!” She blinks as she gave him his red transparent tech-looking ID card.

“Thanks Yei-Sha.”

“I’ll come and join you once I’m on my break!” she shouts as Kimura walks off.

The Net Café was popular as it had not only regular people but gamers and competitive players within it as well, alongside that it also came with an in-built arcade and trade shop to buy or rent physical copies of games.

I walked up a couple of steps to an upper floor of the Net Café to see my spot taken up, sighing, I walked over to a computer near a girl in a bean bag. Sitting down at the computer, I insert my ID card and login. Let’s see what the guild’s doing… Kimura thought as he logged into a game called Torrent Fantasy Online or TFO for short.

Once he logged in he began his gaming session, however the girl sitting on the bean bag was coincidentally Ayameko who was reading a book. The sound of a fast-paced keyboard clacking was beginning to annoy her as she looked up from her book.

Who the f-

She was about to just send her shadow to yank them off their chair, Ayameko realized it was Kimura who was doing the fast-paced keyboard clacking. What the hell…? When did he get here? Ayameko raised an eyebrow as she was confused. However, upon looking at the screen she realized that Kimura was in an intense duel.

***

The sound of two swords clashing and cutting the air breezed all around as Kimura and his opponent were weaving around and pretty fluently as neither of them has landed a perfect hit, only grazes.

“Nice moves you got there DragonHavest419.”

“You too ReapingClover77.”

Both players were complimenting each other during the middle of the fight as ReapingClover77 ducked under a wide swing, thrusting his dagger towards DragonHarvest419. He shifts his stance as he blocks it in time, his sword going diagonally downwards as he smirks.

ReapingClover77 smiles as they were fighting in a battlefield called The Endless Ocean, a flat world with nothing but water, the sky and the sun. The battlefield was preferred heavily for 1v1 duels as it provided no cover but also revealing the player’s skillful tactics.

As they clashed the sky within the endless river began turning gray, water droplets pouring down as both were inflicted with “Soaked” debuff, making their movements slightly slower and minorly makes them drain more energy.

It was rare for the map to rain as they fought onwards, the debuff being nothing as both players managed to bypass the debuff, using their constant stance switch to give them a single second of regular slashes. Like before they couldn’t land a hit on each other as the timer reached sixty seconds, their health was just about the same as the swords and daggers they were using were only grazing each other’s clothes and skin.

Both ReapingClover77 and DragonHarvest419 continued their onslaught as both used Leaping slash at the same time, 45 seconds. Both leaped at each other as they swung at the same time, their blades clashing once again as both turned around and launched the same move four more times. relishing tides, a movement style skill, into Exodus strike, an upward swing but a horizontal swing for daggers, then Grasping might, a command grab which cancels itself out, into a fake out quick slash.

With only 30 seconds on the timer both players jump back as they begin their chants.

“O’ mighty Azure Dragon from the depth of the seas, heed my call and come fourth! Fight alongside your caller and help attain victory in your name!!”

“Death itself make yourself known, lend me your power and use my body as your vessel, let them feel pain and let them taste death!”

Both players intend on finishing the match as 15 seconds remain on the clock as a blue dragon comes up from the ocean depths, lightning strikes onto the dragon as the lightning begins to form and coat the dragon in a lightning-like armor. However, on the other side, a boat appears behind ReapingClover77, a hooded figure climbs out of the creepy looking boat as it hands the scythe to ReapingClover77. Without hesitation ReapingClover77’s hand grabs onto the scythe as he spins it around him as he takes a different stance.

14…13…12…11…10…!

DragonHarvest419 launches the Azure dragon, using his sword as it’s point of target, the dragon spiraling around the sword as the lightning sparks off of the dragon, forming a second dragon on the opposite side as they spiral around the sword towards ReapingClover77. However, ReapingClover77 stays in his spot, smiling before he spins and tosses the scythe like a spinning dagger, seeing it spin as it begins to form a black cloud.

9…!

8…!

7…!

6…!

5…!

The black cloud and the sword reach ever closer as the black cloud forms into the top hood and a skull underneath it, representing death itself as both items clash into each other.

4…!

Both begin running towards their items as ReapingClover77 and DragonHarvest419 both toss a secondary item towards the middle while they were running.

3…!

About halfway towards the clashed sword and scythe, both players switch places with their second thrown items as they both reach out to their summoned items.

2…!

Both players grasp onto their weapons as they both pull at the same time, retracting their weapons towards them.

1…!

Both players then swing again, ReaperClover77 doing a backspin to gain the most momentum to full swing his scythe as DragonHarvest419 forward spun, gaining the most momentum for his spiraling sword.

0…!

***

The Winner is…ReapingClover77!!!

A winner screen shows up on Kimura’s screen as he sighs out of relief, sitting back on his chair as he was completely stressed about that duel.

“H-How did you win??”

A voice appears behind him as he jumps a bit in his chair, sitting up to see Ayameko over his shoulder, invested in what she watched.

“Jesus! What the fuck are you doing here Ayameko?!?”

“Well, you both clashed, didn’t you? Then why did you win?”

“Uh, dagger.”

“What?” Ayameko was confused.

“Dagger. My dagger landed on his side.” Kimura says without hesitation.

“No, it didn’t, I just saw you teleport and-”

“I didn’t use that skill, I used it’s variant.”

“Huh?” she sounded dumbfounded.

“The variant allows the dagger to continue its track, while I can just do whatever, it’s a simple slight of hand but it works efficiently.”

“Huh…”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE I LOST TO THAT TRASHFUCK CLOVER77!!!”

The voice came from below them as Kimura and Ayameko went silent for a second, looking over the railing as they saw the player who was taking their time raging at his computer, eventually being kicked out for causing a ruckus and disrupting the chill vibes of the café.

“Pfft-”

Kimura and Ayameko laughed a bit at that as they just witnessed a rage moment within a net café. Kimura had the most out of him for the day as he wasn’t expecting his opponent to also be here in the same café.

“That had to be coincidental!”

“Honestly, at this point I can’t tell.”

This was the first time Ayameko and Kimura were on the same page unlike yesterday, but it was short lived when Ayameko decided to try out the game herself. Sitting down beside where Kimura sat, she booted up the game as she made a username called TwistedFury81.

A button showed up for her saying if she’d like to try out the tutorial first. Tutorial? Tutorials are for bitches… she pressed decline as it showed up once again, giving a warning this time.

“Are you sure you don’t want to do the tutorial?” Kimura asked her.

“Yeah, I’m sure, how hard can it be?” Those were Ayameko’s final words before the hell she faced.

Within only the first mission, Ayameko was pushing buttons as she was being swarmed, deciding to play solo as she was being swarmed by arachnids.

“AH! NONO! MOVE!!”

She shouted, leaning forward as she began pressing buttons at random, doing random things as she later died from poison. Poison?!?! Ayameko re-ran the mission again as she began playing through it a little more efficiently as the swarm of arachnids was where she was taking the most damage.

The large Silk Weaver Spiders were poisoning her without her knowing as she hacks and slashes them down, upon reaching the next room her screen turned green as she saw her player fall to the floor.

“You’ve died from poison. Would you like to try again? (1 Times left)”

“……Yes…I…Would…GAME…”

She was furious at this point as Kimura couldn’t help himself but let out a small tinge of laughter from his covered mouth as she looked over at him with intense anger. Kimura let out another small laugh as he couldn’t contain his laughter, bursting out laughing.

“WHAT’S SO FUNNY HUH!!!”

She shouted at him as Kimura fell onto the bean bag laughing still as he wiped tears of joy from his eyes. Ayameko gritted her teeth a bit out of frustration as she picked out something from her bag, tossing it smack dab on Kimura’s face.

Kimura’s head jerks back a bit from it as he picks up whatever she threw at him. He looked at it to see it was a cute plushie, He tilted his head to the side a bit to look at Ayameko, raising an eyebrow. Ayameko was already looking away, still a bit angry at Kimura laughing at her.

Kimura chuckled a little as he got up and walked over hovering over her shoulder, “Alright, let’s try this one last time.” Kimura said a bit seriously as Ayameko looked at him, silently nodding a bit as she clicked Yes.

Instead of laughing at her failures, Kimura began to give her tips and little and simple tricks for her to try out. Within a couple of minutes that would have taken her hours, she finished the first mission with flying colors this time.

***

The Dusk soon became dawn as Kimura was back at the academy once more, standing at the rooftop of the boys’ dormitories. Again, like before, Kimura was working on a simple yet effective combination from a recording.

One…One…Two…

Slip…Knee…

Elbow into the spine…

Kimura practiced that combination as he used shadow boxing to see if he could pull it off. He takes a deep breath as he begins to relax, closing his eyes momentarily as he imagined his opponent, this imaginary opponent being enraged Kumiko.

Examine…note…strike…

Kimura opens his eyes as he keeps the imaginary opponent in-front of him slipping underneath a wide swing and socking the imaginary jaw of Kumiko. Taking the initiative, Kimura then throws two right jabs before smashing her face in with a left, predicting the lash out he slips under the wild left swing before smashing his knee into the imaginary Abdomen.

Looking at them stumble Kimura then wastes no time as he raises his arm up and slams his elbow to where the spine would be. He lets out a breath of air as he stops his training session, seeing a phone call from his sister Kiriko.

“What is it?” He picks up answering the call.

“Dad called me to call you to see if you’re still alive.”

“Again? Why doesn’t he just call me directly?” Kimura begins pacing back and forth.

“Remember, you left abruptly, so he’s still taking time to consider it.”

“Doesn’t he have all our phone numbers on his phone?” Kimura questions Kiriko.

“Don’t you ever take the chance to call any of us?” Kiriko snaps back nonchalantly.

“Fair enough, but still, if he wants to call me, he could just call me directly. I’ve calmed down after that argument.” Kimura sighs a bit.

“Listen, just, go make it up to him or something. Just don’t fuck it up.”

“I was until you called, I was gonna call him tomorrow to thank him for the recordings.”

“What recordings?” Kiriko said curiously.

“The one of mom’s teachings?” Kimura commented.

“……”

“What?” Kimura asked a bit nervous by the radio silence.

“…Where did you get those?” Kiriko suddenly spoke.

“Uh, his phone? Why?” Kimura questioned curiously.

“You went through his phone, dug through his personal shit JUST to learn to fight better?!?” Kiriko was obviously angry on the other side.

“I-”

“Not only that!” Kiriko cuts Kimura off before he could say something, “You had the fucking balls to COPY the files onto your phone! Don’t you know how valuable those fucking recordings are to dad!!” She shouted at over the phone Kimura for his actions.

“OK I GET IT!” He shouts.

“Look- I didn’t mean to copy them just for that…” Kimura sighs, “-I just want to help find mom too…”

“…We know how much you want to help but after the Ishimura Incident we can’t just let you help…You were too young to realize it…”

“…Like you were any better…”

“AT LEAST I TRIED…!” Kiriko sighs briefly, “…Just let me handle the case alright, you’re still in school and I don’t want you getting into fucking trouble over family mishaps…”

“You still have a bright future Makoto…Don’t waste it alright…promise your sister that.”

“…fine. Just…tell mom I said I miss her when you find her…” Makoto told Kiriko.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll tell dad that you’re still kickin’ too.”

“Alright…” Kimura chuckled a bit.

“Later.” Both replied at the same time as Kimura hung up.

Kimura looks at his phone as he turns it off, putting it in his pocket as he looks over at the setting sun over Valor City’s tallest buildings. I wish you guys were here to see it…You two would have been awing the sight… Kimura softly smiled staring at the sunset for a moment.

As the night began to rise, Kimura walked out of the academy building carrying a couple of papers in his hand. He puts those papers in a yellow folder as he looks across the fountain, seeing a person standing there waving.

Kimura walked around the fountain as he began heading to the figure, upon getting closer he saw it was Asuka, lightly waving as he got closer.

“What do you want.” Kimura asked in a colder tone.

“I-I just came to talk to y-you.” She stuttered on some words.

“Why? You brought an illegal-”

“T-That’s what I-I’m here to talk about…” She interrupted Kimura.

“Huh?” Kimura was now confused.

“L-Let’s go for a l-little walk K-Kimura.” She smiled at him softly.

“…My better instincts tell me no…but okay.” Kimura reluctantly agrees.

Kimura then walked towards Asuka as she turned around, beginning to walk a bit as Kimura quickly caught up to her side, both walking out of academy grounds as they take a left turn right outside the academy gates. Their walking styles were also different as Kimura walked with his hands in his pockets as Asuka walked with her hands behind her back, a small and soft smile on her face throughout their walk.

“So, why did you bring the illegal item into my academy?”

“M-My job i-is to drop stuff off f-for other people…student or a-adults alike…”

“So, you’re telling me someone ordered it?” Kimura looked at her.

“Y-Yeah…t-their names a-anonymous…” Asuka nodded lightly.

“Great…that gives us another problem to look into…”

“S-sorry…”

“Huh?”

“S-Sorry…f-for causing a-all of this mess…” She firmly apologizes with her soft toned voice.

Kimura looked at her as she looked down towards the ground while we walked, stopping at a lamppost on a corner turn. Kimura began to piece it together in his head as he sighed briefly.

“It’s not your fault.”

“H-Huh…?” Asuka slightly looked up at Kimura.

“You were just doing your job. We can’t blame you for doing your job.” Kimura reassured her.

“R-Really…?” She said with a little more confidence.

“Yeah. I thought you had ill-intent…but you’re just a person doing their best to survive. I respect that.”

“……” Asuka stared at him a bit astonished.

Before he could mutter another word out, Asuka lunged at him, hugging Kimura as he raised his arms up a bit surprised. Kimura looked down at her since he didn’t know what to do. She had a firm grip around his abdomen as she sheds a bit of tears from her eyes. Kimura barley noticed her tears soaking into his shirt as this means there’s more to her than just doing a job, however he couldn’t do anything right now.

Hesitantly, he lowers his hand to her head, lightly patting her on the head, the lamppost light beaming down upon them as the cars drive past without a second thought. For the first time, Kimura lets down his guard completely, being vulnerable in this singular moment.