“We? You mean with Akabori-san.” Momoka sounded nervous. Aoi didn’t blame her. Tatsuo was a little scary, not to mention likely stronger than the both of them combined.
“Maybe not with Akabori-san. He’s still a lot better than me. Maybe it could just be you and me. I bet we’re about on the same level.”
That made Momoka smile. “Training with Onee-chan? Really?”
“Oh, so now you’re interested?” Pocahontas teased. “I would’ve suggested you look for Ms. Arisawa sooner if I’d realized that was all it took to get you to start training.”
Momoka just shrugged her shoulders and smiled a bright, innocent smile. Her enthusiasm was almost suffocating. It was a little contagious too.
“Fighting is a serious matter, Nishihara-san,” Mulan scolded. “Do not treat it lightly.”
“Yeah.” Aoi looked away.
Despite the older spirit’s words, Momoka was bouncing on her toes. “When can we start? How about today? I wanna give it my best shot! I promise I’ll be good!” She rambled on and on, growing more excited by the minute.
“Today?” Aoi had to think for a moment. “Well, I guess just for a little while would be fine. Midterms are next week and all.”
Momoka nodded. She understood. “Yeah. I’ve been studying really hard too, but a little time won’t hurt.”
“Yeah, I guess not.” Aoi wasn’t too sure about her logic, but she was smiling. She couldn’t really tell the girl no.
“When should we meet up?”
“Well, I’d have to go get Akabori-san.”
“What?” Momoka squeaked. “Why?”
“Well, he didn’t come to school today, and I’m not exactly the best judge when it comes to fighting.” Truthfully, Aoi hardly knew anything about it. She could, however, offer a place to do this. “We could train at my house. So, um . . . I guess just meet up at my house in thirty minutes.”
“Where’s your house?”
Aoi turned to Mulan. “Hua-san, do you think you could take her to my house?”
“Certainly,” the warrior said, stepping towards Momoka.
“She can show you the way,” Aoi said. “I’d take you there myself, but I have to check the arcade for Senpai, so . . .”
“It’s no trouble at all,” she said.
Now to pick up Tatsuo, or perhaps just invite him to her house. If he hadn’t skipped school, this would have been so much easier. But they hadn’t planned on training today. She texted him and asked him to meet her at her place, telling him it was about training. He said he’d be there soon.
Tatsuo stood barefoot on Aoi’s yard. He was ready to fight, ready to practice—except for the dumbfounded expression on his face. He just didn’t seem to understand. Aoi wondered if he’d listened to her at all.
“Akabori-senpai, we’re not gonna fight.” She could have sworn she’d said this before already.
“What? I thought you said we were gonna train.” He leaned his bokken against his shoulder. “That’s why you dragged me down here, right?”
Aoi sighed. Maybe she’d been too subtle in trying to tell him about Momoka last time. That just meant she had to say things a little differently. “Well, yeah. Sort of.”
His brows furrowed. “Sort of?”
“I went by Nishihara-chan’s school today.”
His look of confusion quickly turned into annoyance. “I thought you said we were gonna let her get better before she joined us.”
This definitely wasn’t going as well as she hoped.
“She will. But that’s only when she joins us officially, right?” Aoi laughed nervously.
Tatsuo sighed. He probably thought it would be easier if he just gave in. Aoi had already made up her mind, and she could be quite annoying when needed. “So . . . What? We’re gonna teach her?”
“I guess.” Aoi shrugged. She hadn’t thought things through that far yet. But there was something she wanted to know. “I wanted to see how good she is first. Maybe she’s got a knack for this or something.”
It could happen. It had been that way with Aoi, at least.
“You’re crazy, Arisawa.” Tatsuo shook his head. “You gotta think things through first.”
He didn’t try to stop her, but still . . . His tone made her feel bad.
“I know,” she said softly.
“What if you end up hurting her?”
There was always that possibility, wasn’t there? Accidents happen. She thought for a moment, then an idea came to her. “I’ll pay her medical bills, if needed!”
He groaned and shook his head. “Arisawa, we both know you ain’t got the money for that.”
Tatsuo was getting frustrated with her. She had to say something to make this better. But what? She chose to go with her default response. “I’m sorry.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but there wasn’t time. Someone cut him off.
“We’ve arrived.” Mulan said, disappearing as soon as she was in Aoi’s sight.
“Hey! I’m not too late, am I?” Momoka ran towards them, clad in pink sweats, a matching jacket, and a white shirt.
Aoi couldn’t help but stare at Momoka’s outfit. Was she really going to wear that while training? Aoi held her tongue.
Tatsuo sneered. “Nice outfit.”
Momoka’s cheeks reddened. Her gaze fell to her outfit, as if only noticing then what she was wearing. “Oh . . . Is this a bit much? Wasn’t sure what we were doing, so I wanted to be ready . . .”
Aoi managed a small laugh just to lighten the mood, hopefully making things a little less awkward.
“No, you’re just fine, Nishihara-chan. Akabori-senpai just isn’t all that nice to people he just met.”
“Hey!” Tatsuo shot a glare at Aoi.
She didn’t mind. She gave him a small smile and a shrug. “Well, don’t be mean.”
He groaned again.
“Fine, fine. You girls train and I’ll watch.” He waved the two off and took a seat on the porch. “C’mon, ain’t got all day.”
Things would be perfect if only he’d stop being so pushy. Well, Aoi could be snippy too.
“Not like you’ve got anything planned, Senpai!”
“I could too have something planned. You don’t know that,” he snapped back.
Momoka looked between the two, shuffling her feet anxiously.
“Anyways,” Tatsuo said, “if you’re gonna train, train. We got studying to do later.”
Now, that Aoi couldn’t argue with. Midterms would be here in a couple of days. Not that she expected Tatsuo to actually study.
“Study, huh?” She raised an eyebrow.
Tatsuo looked away. “Shut up.”
“Guess we should hurry up then, huh?” Aoi turned her attention to Momoka. Mulan stood by her side, and in seconds her ring appeared in her hand.
Momoka’s eyes widened in awe—the first sign something was wrong. What came out of her mouth was worse.
“Wow! You made it appear so fast!” She shifted her weight, eyes staring at the ground as she admitted, “It takes forever for me.”
That was not what Aoi wanted to hear. Tatsuo groaned from where he sat, but Aoi carefully avoided his gaze. Maybe Momoka would be fine once her weapon appeared. If Aoi was wasting Tatsuo’s time . . .
“Well,” Aoi said hesitantly, “take your time.”
Momoka was right. It did take forever for her weapon to appear. It took at least fifteen minutes. It looked like she was really trying, too. Her eyes were shut tight. Her brows furrowed. Pocahontas stood by her holder, gripping her hand and whispering what Aoi thought was instructions. For a long time, nothing happened.
But, eventually, her weapon appeared. At least Momoka got to that step. But what she held in her hand was the last thing Aoi expected.
“Is that . . . ?” Aoi couldn’t get the words out, or even make sense of what she was looking at.
Tatsuo just shook his head in disbelief. “You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me.”
In Momoka’s hand was
no blade, staff, gun, or anything even remotely resembling a real weapon. Instead, there was a wand, almost like something out of a magical girl anime.
“Is something wrong?” Pocahontas asked haughtily.
Momoka glanced down at her weapon, then back up at Aoi and Tatsuo. “It’s cute, right?”
If only was that was the problem.
“Well, it’s certainly cute,” Aoi forced the words out. She had to remind herself not to be too harsh.
“It’s different, sure. But I’m sure I can learn something with it.”
Learn? Did that mean she couldn’t do anything with her weapon yet? Things just kept getting worse.
Pocahontas’ cheeks flushed as she lowered her head. “We’ve tried figuring out what the wand can do, but we’ve been struggling. At the very least, we’ve helped her summon her weapon quicker. It took hours when we first started.”
Tatsuo’s spirit appeared, then. “What kind of warrior doesn’t understand her weapon?”
Aoi was glad Momoka hadn’t been introduced to Masanori yet, so she couldn’t hear his words. Aoi hadn’t known anything about fighting when she’d started, either. Mulan taught her everything she knew. Momoka could be taught too. She just had to be given time and a chance.
But maybe it was best to ask for guidance first. “Should I, Hua-san?”
“Go on,” Mulan spoke directly to Aoi’s mind. “Just be gentle.”
Right. She hadn’t wanted to rough Momoka up anyways. She was a sweet girl.
“Let’s begin,” Aoi said. “You make the first move.”
The younger girl nodded. “Sure thing, Onee-chan!”
She swung the wand and her brows furrowed. “Nothing happened.”
Pocahontas buried her head in her hands, as if she’d expected this to happen but it was still going horribly wrong.
Aoi opened her mouth to give some patient reply, but Tatsuo spoke before she could. “Well, of course not. You actually have to hit her. What’d you expect?”
Momoka chewed at her lip, then shifted her weight. Aoi felt bad for her. She was doing her best. But then Momoka smile and nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. Let me try again!”
Aoi smiled. “Of course.” Momoka could try as much as she needed to. Aoi didn’t mind.
This time, Momoka ran at Aoi. She swung her wand at Aoi’s head, but she was too slow. Aoi ducked under the wand, then rose behind Momoka.
With a tap to the back of the brunette’s head, Aoi announced, “You’re dead.”
Momoka looked shocked, almost scared. Only one word—one sound, really—squeaked out of her. “Huh?”
Oh. Right. Aoi hadn’t exactly explained the rules to their sparring, had she? “If I really hit you there, you would’ve died, so I won,” she explained with a small shrug. “I’d be more than happy to spar again though.”
Momoka nodded eagerly. Her eyes lit up with determination. She could do this.
Aoi was sure she could do this.
Momoka tried again and again, and each time her the Native American spirit gave more and more advice. It didn’t help. Aoi wasn’t sure how long they practiced, but it felt like hours. Things weren’t looking good.
The light was beginning to turn golden when Tatsuo clapped his hands loudly. The girls flinched.
“What? Did I do something wrong? Or right?” Momoka asked.
“I don’t know,” Aoi said. Momoka was doing okay, she supposed. Or at least a little better.
“That’s enough.” Tatsuo rose from where he sat. “I’ve seen enough.”
“Oh,” was all Momoka said, but the word alone was like a grimace.
Why had Tatsuo felt the need to be so gruff? Sure, he was a little rough around the edges, but he normally wasn’t this bad. Aoi let her ring disappear. Granted, he probably didn’t have the patience for stuff like this. He didn’t have much patience at all.
“I’m sure everything’s okay,” Aoi said, putting a hand on Momoka’s shoulder. It was a lie, but she didn’t want Momoka to be too upset. “Senpai probably just saw enough to decide how he should train you, you know?”
“I hope so.”
Aoi wished that was the case, but she knew better.
“Arisawa, c’mon. We need to talk.”
“Coming.” She followed him into her home. She didn’t get it. Why did he want to talk alone? Why couldn’t they talk in front of Momoka?
At least her father wasn’t home. By this point in the school year, her father thought being Linked was just a fun activity for Aoi to do, and her sparring matches with Mulan to be a good way to get Aoi out of the house. She’d hate to explain that she was actually preparing for some kind of battle, let alone that she was doing it with a boy he specifically told her to stay away from.
Tatsuo strolled in like he owned the place and flopped down on the couch. He patted the spot next to him.
And that’s where Aoi sat. It was different. The guys weren’t around, but she’d been alone with Tatsuo before. Maybe it was how close they were. Their elbows grazed each other. She could smell his cologne; it reminded her of something fiery, maybe cinnamon.
“So,” she said softly. Might as well let him speak his mind.
“This isn’t going to work.”
So that was what he decided. It didn’t feel right. “Momoka trained really hard. I think she even improved a little.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she did her best.”
Was he being sarcastic? Aoi opened her mouth to protest.
“He believes you, Arisawa-san,” Masanori appeared leaning against the TV. “But he has a point. If she still can’t fight after this, she’s, well . . .”
“Dead weight.” Tatsuo finished bluntly.
“That’s harsh!” Aoi protested. “You can’t just expect someone to learn how to fight in a day!”
“Certainly,” Mulan chimed in, appearing next to the other spirit. “Took Aoi a week to become simply decent.”
Aoi couldn’t exactly say she was helping.
“And she still makes plenty of mistakes, doesn’t she?” Tatsuo’s brows furrowed. “I dare you to say she doesn’t.”
Aoi felt the need to at least defend herself. “I’ve gotten better,” she insisted.
“She has,” Mulan agreed.
“Yeah, I know. But this ain’t exactly about you, Arisawa.”
She bit her lip. Aoi wouldn’t have felt the need to defend herself if he hadn’t been so harsh. But he had a point.
“I know,” she mumbled. “It’s about Nishihara-chan. But I think if we could just train her, she could improve.”
“And who’s gonna train her?” he pressed. “You? Hua-san? Her spirit doesn’t seem to be any help.”
Hua-san shook her head the moment she was mentioned. She probably had her hands full enough with just Aoi.
Good thing that’s not what Aoi was going to suggest. “I thought you could,” she told Tatsuo.
“Not until she’s better.”
Not even a moment’s hesitation.
“But—”
Tatsuo shook his head, silencing her. The movement blew more of his fiery scent her way. “Arisawa, you know I’m a bad guy to hang around. Too dangerous for people who can’t fight.”
“But I’m still with you, and I can’t fight too well yet.”
He shrugged. “You’re in too deep. You remember what happened with those other yankii.”
How could she forget? She still had nightmares about being kidnapped sometimes.
“And you had a weapon you could use to defend yourself with, and you still got yourself into a world of hurt, didn’tcha?”
She slowly nodded. She didn’t want to admit it was true, but it was.
“What about that kid? She can’t even fight.”
“She really can’t, can she?” A sad smile crossed Aoi’s face. “She never even managed to hit me once.”
“And that’s exactly why I can’t let a kid like that hang around with us. Too dangerous.”
“What we do is to
o dangerous? You won’t even let me help you look for Yamamoto-san!”
He folded his arms over his chest and looked away. His brows furrowed. “Exactly.”
“But I need to start helping people. I’m useless right now.”
“Arisawa . . .” He slowly looked back to her. His fingers twitched and his elbow nudged hers. The touch shocked her, and she shifted away.
“Arisawa-san, don’t think like that,” Mulan added.
“He could be hurt or something. We need to help him. We need to help everyone.”
Masanori said, “But you need to take this one step at a time, kid.”
“Yes, bite off more than you can chew and we’ll have a problem,” Mulan said.
Aoi sighed, clasping her hands together and leaning forward. She knew they were right. She’d drop the subject in a moment, but she still had more to say. “But, Senpai?”
Another groan. He must have grown tired of arguing with her today. But, slowly, he asked. “What is it now, Arisawa?”
“What if she gets better? Can we at least give her another chance?”
“Gets better at what?” he snapped. His irritation finally seeped through his words. “She’s got a wand, Arisawa. Like outta some girly anime. Can’t do nothing with that.”
“We don’t know that,” she pleaded, sitting up. “We could give her another chance. See how that goes. It could be worth it.”
Tatsuo folded his arms over his chest. He was trying to close himself off from this conversation. He was trying to end it.
But Aoi was not going to give up so easily. Momoka deserved that much. “Please, Senpai? We need the other Linked. I don’t know what we’re meant to do, but I’m sure there must be a reason we’re not the only ones. So . . . Please.”
Silence filled the room. It reminded Aoi of those early days of awkward silence when she first met Tatsuo. She didn’t like it.
Again, Aoi repeated, “Please.”
He drew in a deep breath as he sank into the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. He exhaled. “Is that what you wanna do, Arisawa?”
She nodded.
“Guess I can’t argue with you then. Seems you’ve got your mind made up.”
Linked: The War of the Gems - Book 1 Page 14