Chapter Fifteen: En Garde
A couple weeks pass and summer vacation is fast approaching. Akio’s regular therapy sessions have proven to be a big help. He and I even sat down one night and hashed some stuff out, specifically his feelings for me. That was… weird. I don’t know what the etiquette is for that kind of situation but we managed somehow. We were on eggshells for a little while but, eventually, we just clicked back into our old song and dance though now he’s being more open with Ritsu and I, and is probably a little wiser for the experience.
“I’m just saying, we could have co-ed water gun fights in the dorms!”
Not that it stops him from being an irredeemable horndog.
“I d-don’t think that would b-be a good idea, Akio…” Hanako offers, cautiously. As the school year wore on, she had become more and more willing to integrate with our little trio and with the newspaper club too.
“Are you telling me you
wouldn’t like to see some of these fine, young specimens in
wet,
tight, t-shirts?” Akio annunciates ‘wet’ and ‘tight’ like he was speaking the words to a lover, hoping to get the maximum effect from Hanako. Of course it succeeds and her face goes flush, her eyes darting around the room. They linger on me for a fraction of a second too long and Ritsu takes advantage.
“Sorry, Hana! This one’s
miiine~” Ritsu purrs, causing poor Hanako to shrink into her hair with an ‘Eep!’.
“Stop teasing her, guys!” I butt in, more than willing to even the odds for Hanako. “Don’t listen to them, Hana. They’re delinquents and deviants, the pair of them.” I give her a sly wink and she snorts to herself.
“And what does that make
you, Taro?” Ritsu punches my arm playfully.
“Clearly, I’m your probation officer. Someone needs to keep an eye on you pair jokers…” I raise my left arm in a ‘What can I do?’ motion.
“S-s-so what are your plans for summer?” Hanako asks, still giggling from my zinger.
“I’m thinking of going to see my grandparents. It’d be nice to catch up.” Akio serves up a surprisingly charming answer.
“Going home seems like the natural thing to do, right?” Ritsu looks up to me and, while I smile, I shrug.
“I’m not in any real hurry to go see my parents. I was thinking I’d spend my last summer at Yamaku
at Yamaku, y’know?”
“Th-that’s a nice thought…” Hanako smiles genuinely
“Nicer than co-ed dorm water wars?” No one is buying what you’re selling, Akio.
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Akio waves as he walks toward the medical wing for his therapy session while myself, Ritsu, whose arms are coiled around my bad arm, Hanako, Suzu and Miki wander towards the dorms.
“Have you ever noticed how many girls Taro seems to attract? It’s like he has an
orbit…” Suzu observes, hands behind her back.
“Is that a fat joke, Short Round?” I raise an eyebrow in her.
Suzu scrunches her face at me. “I might be
short but at least I’m not secretly building a
harem!” I choke on my canned coffee, causing most of the girls to laugh at my expense.
“She fucking got you!” Miki cackles, Suzu and Hanako are giggling, the latter with a mild blush while Ritsu scowls.
“He better
not be! I don’t play well with others…” She turns her nose up.
“I can personally attest to that.” I throw a wry grin her way which she counters with a vice grip of my right arm. I laugh and it just makes her angrier.
“I’m going to make you pay for your insolence, Taro!”
“I’m sure you will…” I grin and she just sticks her tongue out.
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We’re not even into my room when Ritsu pounces; leaping into my arm and wrapping her legs around my waist with her arms draped around my neck, kissing wildly as I fumble the door closed with my foot. We haven’t really moved past heavy petting but in private Ritsu’s become more adventurous when it comes to telling me
when and
how she wants to play.
“I can’t believe Hana stared at you when Akio mentioned wet t-shirts…” Ritsu growls, squeezing me as her legs locking behind my back.
“Give her a break, she looked at me for like
two seconds… Or would you prefer I not include her in the harem, lest she become a challenge?” I laugh at the ridiculous thought as Ritsu playfully nips at my neck.
“As long as she knows to look and not tooooouch!” She yelps in delight as I squeeze her butt.
“I’m sorry, you were saying something about touching?” I grin. Her eyes get their familiar devilish glint and I know I’m in for it no--
Knock-knock “Mail Call! Wahahaha~” comes an all-too familiar boisterous laugh through the door, echoing in the hall outside.
“Did you lock the door?” Ritsu’s eyes dart between me and the door.
“Of course, with my
magical third arm!” I chide in a hushed tone.
Before any more squabbling can happen, the door slides open to reveal Sweet & Sour with a stack of letters. I’m suddenly very aware that my hand is on Ritsu’s butt.
Caught red-handed, indeed.
“Um, {hello, ladies}…” I smile nervously, Ritsu still hung around my shoulders like some romantic novel cover. “Having a… pleasant afternoon?”
Misha instantly doubles over, spilling the mail all over the floor around the door while Shizune is clearly reprimanding us in sign. I slowly ease Ritsu down and, to the best of my one-handed ability, sign the letters [S-O-R-R-Y], pointing to my ear and then Misha. Shizune back-hands the shoulder of her guffawing companion to bring her back in line.
“Sorry, Shicchan, he was just so funny!” Misha quickly speaks and signs before wiping a tear from her eye. “Shicchan says that this sort of behaviour is best kept behind
locked doors.” Misha giggles.
“I seem to recall you barging in, Misha, so the impropriety lies with the Student Council.” I retort, taking a knee to pick up the scattered mail and handing it back to Misha. “So in future, might I suggest that the Student Council, rather than invade the privacy of their charges, simply slide the mail. Under. The. Door.” I punctuate the words and glare at Shizune, who seems to take this as a challenge. Fantastic, another Ritsu. Shizune cockily adjusts her glasses before a flurry of hands throws her.
I didn’t know Ritsu could sign… Okay, I recognised
that sign as cursing. And that one. I turn to Misha who looks equally nervous.
“Please tell me my girlfriend isn’t picking a fight.” I lean and whisper.
“Okay… I won’t.” She chuckles anxiously. I can only ask for my mail as the silent assault comes to an end. Shizune and Ritsu stare each other each down before both erupt into laughter. Well, Ritsu does, Shizune covers her mouth for her silent laugh.
“I guess we’ll be going…” Misha smiles nervously as she follows Shizune out, politely closing the door behind her.
“Do I even want to know what stream of obscenities you just threw at our Student Council president?” I question as I idly flip through my mail before something catches my eye.
I can barely hear her answer as I slowly sit cross-legged on the floor, carefully examining the envelope and a familiar pompuous wax seal. I feel Ritsu press herself against my back. “What’s that, Taro?”
“It’s a summons. From my Father.”
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The early mornings at Yamaku can be very pleasant. The sun is softly diffused through the clouds and the air is fresh. After reading the letter from my Father, I didn’t get much sleep last night, hence why I’m up at 6:00am, heading down to the track field. No nightmares, not in a conventional sense, but an almost conscious feeling of pressure bearing down on me as I slept.
The long black bag I’m carrying feels…
alien to me. It’s been sitting in the back of my closet ever since I enrolled and this is quite possibly the first time I’ve brought it out. There’s dust in some of the seams so clearly a long life of disuse.
I hear a familiar tac-tac-tac-ing in the distance before I see Ibarazaki on her daily morning run. Following closely behind is Miki. I guess there’s no avoiding the third degree from at least one of them. I place the bag on the bleachers near a tree and unzip my rarely used tracksuit jacket. I walk around the track toward the storage shed, waving at the girls as they lap me. Since these guys are here, I doubt there’ll be any problem with me borrowing a couple things.
The shed is musty and untidy but after some digging, I find what I need. …As well as a tube of ‘lemon-scented’ lube. I think I’ll leave that where it is… I exit with a small punch bag, some rope and a weight from a busted bench set to use as a counterweight. The girls make another pass and seem a little more interested in my activities. I just give them a polite smile and nod.
I deposit the gear and quickly rig up the punching bag over a branch. Satisfied that it’s heavy enough not to swing wildly, I zip open the long black bag, removing a long bamboo shinai. Again, this feels alien but still strangely familiar. It’s been a very long time since I last attempted any form of swordplay, let alone the traditional style a shinai is meant for.
I take a few crossing swings, getting used to the weight and balance once more. It’s sluggish, impacting the bag hard but slow. Shinai would ideally be wielded by someone with two working arms for precise strikes and I now remember why I stopped using the traditional Japanese style Father instructed me in. Too rigid. Too… strict. I twirl the shinai in a circular arc with a slight flick of my wrist and bring it to the fore in a fencing stance. It feels utterly wrong, far too front heavy for this. I flash back to the stories and movies shared with me as a child. The Three Musketeers. Captain Blood. Anything with a swashbuckling hero. They were my Mother’s favourites.
“Fucking shinai crap. I’d give my right arm for a rapier…” I curse to myself.
“I’ll take that action,” Laughs Miki, jogging up from the direction of the shed. “I could see you were struggling so I dug out something more your speed.” She’s holding a very old and beat-up fencing foil. Looks pretty
fragile…
“Screw it, I’ll take it over this thing. Would you like the arm above or below the elbow?” I raise an eyebrow and tap my right arm’s bicep and forearm.
“What would I actually do with your arm?” She laughs again, grabbing the shinai out of my hand and handing me the foil from under her arm.
“Paperweight? Draft excluder? All manner of unseemly things a young woman might need a man’s hand for?” I reel off my joke responses, keeping Miki in a fit of giggles.
“Gross! Before you literally disarm yourself; care to go a round?” She does her own little flourishes with the shinai before holding it more like it should be held.
“Have you ever done this before?” I ask, whipping the foil through the air to make sure it won’t instantly snap.
“I’ve seen Seven Samurai, like, twelve times!” She confidently declares, giving me a chuckle.
“
Ha! Good enough. En garde, Miss Miura!” I grin and lunge forward.
She sweeps the shinai horizontally towards my shoulders. I slide the foil along the shinai’s shaft up to my hilt, flicking it upwards to deflect her strike and whip the foil around to land one of my own.
THWIP
“
Sonofabitch!” Miki hisses through gritted teeth, feeling the painful sting on her backside. “Now I’m really going to take your arm and shove it up your ass!”
My gloating laughter is cut short when Miki takes another powerful swing at me and I reflexively hold the foil up to block, only for it to snap in two. She follows up with a thrust to my ribs and a final swing to my collarbone. ‘I fully deserved this’ is the last thing I think before I’m sent flat on my back.
Despite having to clear away the gear I pilfered from the shed and a quick trip to the nurse, me and Miki still make it to class on time.
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“What did you
do to him, you savage?!” Ritsu gasps in shock, sitting on my desk and examining the developing bruise on my right collar bone and ribs. Nurse said it looks worse than it is.
“When you’re walking funny for a while, you can tell me if he fully deserved it or not.” Miki chides following a sharp intake of breath as she gingerly perches on Ritsu’s desk. Akio, sitting in Ritsu’s chair, opens his mouth when a swift cuff upside his head makes him think better. “And not a
peep out of you, filth-monger!”
“What were you even doing messing with swords? Is this to do with that letter from your Dad?” Ritsu quizzes, slowly buttoning my shirt back up and fixing my tie for me.
“Yeah, he wants me to visit for a week in the summer.” I quietly explain, thinking about the implications that this would have.
“And you don’t want to?” Akio asks, still rubbing the back of his head, all too aware of his proximity to Miki.
“Not particularly but if I stay, he’ll just come here and start throwing his weight around.” And I’d rather him not ruin a place that has so many happy memories for me.
“So you’re going?” Ritsu asks, replacing herself on my knee and throwing an arm around my shoulder, my own snaking around her waist.
“No choice, really.” I shrug.
“Then I’m coming with you!” Ritsu beams, breaking me out of my resigned fate. “If it’s only for a week, I can come with you to meet your parents and then you can come meet mine!” Her voice becoming more excited as she formulates the plan.
“I-I can’t promise that it’ll be fun…” It’ll definitely
not be fun. My hesitance doesn’t seem to dissuade her.
“As long as I’m with you, we’ll have fun.” She replies, surprisingly without innuendo. I guess it won’t be too bad.
“Okay, let’s go.” I smile but I can’t help but feel a little anxious.
Seriously though, don't worry about it, mate