Yet Another Stupid Failure
21/2/15 13:48![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
halfemptyglasses"Doesn't doing this every day get old?" Akihito asks the empty classroom, exhausted. "Plan on going at it again today?"
"Senpai, why do you always stay so late at school?" Mirai asks in return, standing right behind him.
He turns to face her and says, "It'd suck if I went home earlier and you attacked me in front of the other students."
"If that's the case, you can rest at ease! I made sure that we'd be alone."
"Well, thanks for the thought," he says dryly, glancing at the markers that gently misdirect others.
Mirai unwraps her bandages, ready to begin.
"But I've never heard of anyone manipulating their blood and using it as a sword," Akihito comments.
This again. It always feels like explaining her existence, an argument she has little will to fight for.
"Among the Spirit World Warriors, we were loathed as a cursed clan," she tells him.
"Why?"
"I suspect it's because we were too powerful," she says, rather detached from it all. "Since the Spirit World Warriors possess abnormal powers, we have a tendency to want to eliminate any who are exceedingly powerful. As a result, my clan died off. I am the last survivor."
"What a horrible story..." he murmurs.
"Is it? I think that it is-" Mirai draws her sword. "-a rather common one." Now armed, she declares, "Let's commence the battle!"
Akihito sighs, shoulders slumping. "Fine... But first I have something I'd like to ask. Why are you so hung up on me?"
Mirai doesn't answer, raising her sword at him.
"Sheesh!" Akihito exhales, glancing up with a long-suffering look. Then he runs right past her and down the hall.
Mirai turns with a gasp. He's cheating now! She offered him the chance for a fair fight, and he bolted! "Wh-why are you running from me?!"
"I'm not running! This is a tactical retreat!" he calls out from behind a corner. "You've already proven after multiple fights that I can't beat you!"
"I can't believe this!" she cries out before pursuing him, tripping over a wire strung just over the floor. "Wait, Senpai!"
She bounds down the stairs, jumping them three at a time and over the banister to the lower stairwells, falling with a deadly strike that narrowly misses. Where did he- ? Ah! He's jumping through the window! Mirai dives out after him.
"Where did you come from?!" he calls in dismay as she descends from the air. He tries to trip her up by throwing whatever he can grab at her.
Mirai slices through everything easily and hits the ground running. She slides a bit on her shoes as Akihito throws a bucket of water right at her face.
"Hey! You made me kill the bucket!" she yelps as it comes apart on either side of her. Great, something she'll have to pay for. Then she notices the dustpan she instinctively cut through and moans with regret. It's about here that she collides with the tripod Akihito left standing in her way, tripping her once more.
"Really!" she huffs from the ground as he runs off.
Akihito ran into this classroom. Mirai's sure of it. The stillness doesn't fool her. She crouches to check under a desk for him, sword at the ready. She gently steps down the aisle between the seats. She jerks around when she hears a phone ring, distracting her just long enough for Akihito to shove the storage locker on top of her.
"I think it's about time you called it quits," she hears Akihito's voice say.
Mirai pierces through the locker with her sword.
"Am I in a horror movie...?" Akihito asks himself.
She saws through, peeling the metal out until she has enough room to stand, shocked by the sudden darkness. "It- it's dark! Senpai, what'd you do?!"
"You're wearing a bucket," he comments as she feels around to get her bearings.
She stops what she's doing and pulls it off of her head just as her stomach growls.
"Are you hungry?" Akihito asks, leaning on a nearby shelf.
Mirai blushes pink. The last thing she needs is being reminded of Autor. But then she sees an odd shadow approaching the classroom window way too fast. "S- Senpai!"
The black gorilla-like beast crashes through the window, landing between them with a snarl and a puff of breath from its nostrils.
"A youmu..." Akihito says in an exhale.
"R-right..." Mirai responds, trembling slightly.
"Move it!"
Before Mirai could act, one of the teachers runs into the classroom. Without hesitation, she jumps up and strikes the youmu as it opens its impossibly wide, round mouth. It jumps through the window, fleeing on hands and feet.
"Crap!" the teacher complains. She turns to Akihito and goes, "Kanbara-kun, I'm sorry. I feel bad about this, but could you give the Cleaners a call? You were planning to anyway, weren't you?"
She gives them a smile and a, "Later!" as she hops out the window.
"...who was that just now?" Mirai asks.
"Shizuku Ninomiya," Akihito answers. "Also known as Nino-san. She's a kinda famous Spirit World Warrior around these parts."
"Is that right?" she goes, still shaking a bit.
"You've never defeated a youmu?"
"I wouldn't go that far..." Mirai says over dinner, looking down at the tile floor beneath them. It's easier to take that seriously than the cartoonish cacti decorating the wall behind Akihito's booth seat. "But it's close to zero."
"Even though you're a Spirit World Warrior?" Akihito presses.
"I've already told you!" Mirai presses back, facing him again. "My clan is hated because of its ability to control blood. So I've avoided anything to do with subduing youmu in order to keep from showing my powers. Besides..."
"Besides?" he repeats, waiting for her to continue.
She glances down at her lap and goes, "It's nothing..."
"So you decided that I'm a youmu and mustered your courage and attacked me!" Akihito recounts, stabbing his fork through his enchilada.
She nods slightly. "And then you told me that you're an immortal... That means I can stab you all I want and you won't die! I wasn't accustomed to taking down youmu, so..."
"Hold it! Were you using me for practice?"
"Why not? You've got nothing to lose!" she yelps in frustration.
"I do, too! That crap is doing maximum damage to my heart!" he argues, pointing a finger to his chest. "I told you! I can feel pain! Do you have any idea how badly that hurts? If you think you can do whatever you want just because I'm an immortal, I'm gonna cry discrimination!"
"The other people here can hear you," she points out, dropping her voice a little.
"Not a problem! I've already checked to make sure no one's around."
Their chipper waitress returns just then, thanking them for their patience and bringing three more plates of food. "Here are the additional burrito, mole poblano, and chili con carne sets you ordered. Please enjoy yourselves!"
As soon as she leaves, Akihito stands and goes, "You ordered more food?!"
"You're being unpleasant," Mirai says.
"I'm the one finding this unpleasant!" he grouses, sitting back down with his arms folded across his chest. "First you use me as a practice dummy and then you leech dinner off me!"
"'Leech'? Wasn't this the term for our deal?" she asks. "I won't challenge you to any more fights today in exchange for you treating me to dinner."
"Judging from the way you said that, are you gonna attack me again tomorrow?"
"Wasn't that the deal?" she asks before blowing across a hot forkful of food, not thinking about Akihito's sigh.
"It's true that youmu possess humans and take lives," he concedes as they walk through the subway station. "But for those with Spirit World Warrior powers, they aren't all that hard to deal with. At the very least, they should be easier than stabbing me."
"I know that..."
"Then why don't you go after them?"
If she had an answer, it was lost in the sound of the train rushing by. She runs up the stairs alone.
"Kuriyama-san!" Akihito calls out.
Mirai turns and bows her head to him. "Thank you for dinner!"
"Senpai, why do you always stay so late at school?" Mirai asks in return, standing right behind him.
He turns to face her and says, "It'd suck if I went home earlier and you attacked me in front of the other students."
"If that's the case, you can rest at ease! I made sure that we'd be alone."
"Well, thanks for the thought," he says dryly, glancing at the markers that gently misdirect others.
Mirai unwraps her bandages, ready to begin.
"But I've never heard of anyone manipulating their blood and using it as a sword," Akihito comments.
This again. It always feels like explaining her existence, an argument she has little will to fight for.
"Among the Spirit World Warriors, we were loathed as a cursed clan," she tells him.
"Why?"
"I suspect it's because we were too powerful," she says, rather detached from it all. "Since the Spirit World Warriors possess abnormal powers, we have a tendency to want to eliminate any who are exceedingly powerful. As a result, my clan died off. I am the last survivor."
"What a horrible story..." he murmurs.
"Is it? I think that it is-" Mirai draws her sword. "-a rather common one." Now armed, she declares, "Let's commence the battle!"
Akihito sighs, shoulders slumping. "Fine... But first I have something I'd like to ask. Why are you so hung up on me?"
Mirai doesn't answer, raising her sword at him.
"Sheesh!" Akihito exhales, glancing up with a long-suffering look. Then he runs right past her and down the hall.
Mirai turns with a gasp. He's cheating now! She offered him the chance for a fair fight, and he bolted! "Wh-why are you running from me?!"
"I'm not running! This is a tactical retreat!" he calls out from behind a corner. "You've already proven after multiple fights that I can't beat you!"
"I can't believe this!" she cries out before pursuing him, tripping over a wire strung just over the floor. "Wait, Senpai!"
She bounds down the stairs, jumping them three at a time and over the banister to the lower stairwells, falling with a deadly strike that narrowly misses. Where did he- ? Ah! He's jumping through the window! Mirai dives out after him.
"Where did you come from?!" he calls in dismay as she descends from the air. He tries to trip her up by throwing whatever he can grab at her.
Mirai slices through everything easily and hits the ground running. She slides a bit on her shoes as Akihito throws a bucket of water right at her face.
"Hey! You made me kill the bucket!" she yelps as it comes apart on either side of her. Great, something she'll have to pay for. Then she notices the dustpan she instinctively cut through and moans with regret. It's about here that she collides with the tripod Akihito left standing in her way, tripping her once more.
"Really!" she huffs from the ground as he runs off.
Akihito ran into this classroom. Mirai's sure of it. The stillness doesn't fool her. She crouches to check under a desk for him, sword at the ready. She gently steps down the aisle between the seats. She jerks around when she hears a phone ring, distracting her just long enough for Akihito to shove the storage locker on top of her.
"I think it's about time you called it quits," she hears Akihito's voice say.
Mirai pierces through the locker with her sword.
"Am I in a horror movie...?" Akihito asks himself.
She saws through, peeling the metal out until she has enough room to stand, shocked by the sudden darkness. "It- it's dark! Senpai, what'd you do?!"
"You're wearing a bucket," he comments as she feels around to get her bearings.
She stops what she's doing and pulls it off of her head just as her stomach growls.
"Are you hungry?" Akihito asks, leaning on a nearby shelf.
Mirai blushes pink. The last thing she needs is being reminded of Autor. But then she sees an odd shadow approaching the classroom window way too fast. "S- Senpai!"
The black gorilla-like beast crashes through the window, landing between them with a snarl and a puff of breath from its nostrils.
"A youmu..." Akihito says in an exhale.
"R-right..." Mirai responds, trembling slightly.
"Move it!"
Before Mirai could act, one of the teachers runs into the classroom. Without hesitation, she jumps up and strikes the youmu as it opens its impossibly wide, round mouth. It jumps through the window, fleeing on hands and feet.
"Crap!" the teacher complains. She turns to Akihito and goes, "Kanbara-kun, I'm sorry. I feel bad about this, but could you give the Cleaners a call? You were planning to anyway, weren't you?"
She gives them a smile and a, "Later!" as she hops out the window.
"...who was that just now?" Mirai asks.
"Shizuku Ninomiya," Akihito answers. "Also known as Nino-san. She's a kinda famous Spirit World Warrior around these parts."
"Is that right?" she goes, still shaking a bit.
"You've never defeated a youmu?"
"I wouldn't go that far..." Mirai says over dinner, looking down at the tile floor beneath them. It's easier to take that seriously than the cartoonish cacti decorating the wall behind Akihito's booth seat. "But it's close to zero."
"Even though you're a Spirit World Warrior?" Akihito presses.
"I've already told you!" Mirai presses back, facing him again. "My clan is hated because of its ability to control blood. So I've avoided anything to do with subduing youmu in order to keep from showing my powers. Besides..."
"Besides?" he repeats, waiting for her to continue.
She glances down at her lap and goes, "It's nothing..."
"So you decided that I'm a youmu and mustered your courage and attacked me!" Akihito recounts, stabbing his fork through his enchilada.
She nods slightly. "And then you told me that you're an immortal... That means I can stab you all I want and you won't die! I wasn't accustomed to taking down youmu, so..."
"Hold it! Were you using me for practice?"
"Why not? You've got nothing to lose!" she yelps in frustration.
"I do, too! That crap is doing maximum damage to my heart!" he argues, pointing a finger to his chest. "I told you! I can feel pain! Do you have any idea how badly that hurts? If you think you can do whatever you want just because I'm an immortal, I'm gonna cry discrimination!"
"The other people here can hear you," she points out, dropping her voice a little.
"Not a problem! I've already checked to make sure no one's around."
Their chipper waitress returns just then, thanking them for their patience and bringing three more plates of food. "Here are the additional burrito, mole poblano, and chili con carne sets you ordered. Please enjoy yourselves!"
As soon as she leaves, Akihito stands and goes, "You ordered more food?!"
"You're being unpleasant," Mirai says.
"I'm the one finding this unpleasant!" he grouses, sitting back down with his arms folded across his chest. "First you use me as a practice dummy and then you leech dinner off me!"
"'Leech'? Wasn't this the term for our deal?" she asks. "I won't challenge you to any more fights today in exchange for you treating me to dinner."
"Judging from the way you said that, are you gonna attack me again tomorrow?"
"Wasn't that the deal?" she asks before blowing across a hot forkful of food, not thinking about Akihito's sigh.
"It's true that youmu possess humans and take lives," he concedes as they walk through the subway station. "But for those with Spirit World Warrior powers, they aren't all that hard to deal with. At the very least, they should be easier than stabbing me."
"I know that..."
"Then why don't you go after them?"
If she had an answer, it was lost in the sound of the train rushing by. She runs up the stairs alone.
"Kuriyama-san!" Akihito calls out.
Mirai turns and bows her head to him. "Thank you for dinner!"
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