“Huh? The reason?” Mrs. Stam turns her head to face me.
“I’m really sorry if it sounds rude to you but you know.. In case we want to get along we have to get to know more about each other.” try to explain the reason for my question.
This morning, in our warm up time, I asked her about her criminal background and reasons.
It’s true what my brother said last night, I didn’t find anything useful in my browser.
If I really want to know what the reason was, there’s no other way than asking her directly about it.
Well.. It’s a bit too straightforward..
She turns her head forward so her back is facing me right now.
“That’s nothing important.” She says.
“Well… You’re my coach, right? Aren’t you the one who wants to get along first?” try to persuade her.
No response from her.
Ok. I was dumped.
The room fills with silence again.
Just both of us warming up before the full day of practice again.
About my arm condition, I’ve already checked it before coming to this room.
Seems it’s getting a lot better than before but I’m still afraid that it will not fully recover in Summer Camp later.
“How’s your arm?” She breaks the silence first by asking about my condition.
“Hmm.. I checked it this morning. It feels a lot better but I’m still afraid of using it too much.”
“Then how about this?”
Turns around to face her and a wooden sword already right in front of my face.
Thankfully because of my fast response, I can catch the sword right before it hits my face.
“Nice. Your response seems pretty good. And..” She points to my right arm. “You use that hand.”
When she said that, that is the moment where I just realized it as well.
My right arm doesn’t hurt anymore because of the previous movement.
“For today..” She takes one of the wooden swords “Let’s start from this.”
She’s standing near her chair right now.
That’s right, I need to get closer to her because she can’t go further than this red line.
This training will be useless if I keep myself behind this red line.
Just walk forward to her, closing our distance.
“Alright then. Ready? In one.. ” She’s getting to her position ready to fight.
That makes me do the same thing as her, getting to my combat position.
“Two..”
Tighten the grips on my sword.
“Three!” Right after she says the last cue, she suddenly rushes forward.
Her movement is a lot faster than Quinne, she's on another level than all of us.
It feels like her sword is already right in front of me before one second passes by.
Because of that, I fail to dodge her sword or defend myself using my sword.
Still in my combat position and doesn’t move a slight bit from it.
On the other hand, she stops her sword right before it hits my neck.
Her face is really different from before and there’s something more about her attacks.
Something that makes me more terrified than the first time I saw her.
Feels like there’s an urge to kill me, a bloodlust, with her.
That makes my eyes wide open, my heart beats fast, and it makes me stop to breathe for a moment.
Is this the feeling of want to get murder?
“Why didn't you move your sword?” She once again breaks the silence in this room.
She closes her eyes for a while then her facial expression changes the moment she opens her eyes.
To make my body stop freezing, she slaps me on the cheek.
It’s not a hard slap, just a small slap so I snap out of it.
Finally, I can take a breath again.
But still, my heart still can’t calm down from what happened.
“How about we make a deal?” She says while turning around to walk away from me.
“A deal?” replying to her.
“Yep. You’ve already read all of my criminal articles, right?” She faces me again.
Responding to her question, I nod my head as a confirmation.
“Good. Then you must know that I will get out of the prison this Sunday, right? Precisely at five in the afternoon.” She says.
Nodding once again to her.
“Then..” Her smirk shows “Tomorrow, if you win against me, I will let you know the reason behind it. How was it?” She offers her deal to me.
That’s a bit weird of motivation for training.
In contrast, I’m really curious about her background.
From her personality that she has shown to me yesterday and her colour, I doubt that she did without any specific reason.
“What will happen if I lose?” this time, I’m the one who ask her.
“Hmm.. I haven’t thought about that..” She’s rubbing the behind of her neck “Oh! There’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time!” She says.
“Ok.. What is it?” Try to ask for a clarification of her wants.
“Nah.. Some people said that if you tell anyone about your wishes, those wishes won’t come true, you know?” Her playful voice tone shows again.
If she acts like this, I really can’t tell what she wants or what she's thinking.
Something is suspicious here but I don’t think I need to overthink it.
“Alright. Deal” I say to her.
She smiles widely at me.
“Nice! Now, let’s train hard for today!” She responds, taking her sword again..
Try to take a deep breath once again and calm myself down.
Before getting to my combat position, she interrupts our training.
“Ah! You can’t train too hard today with your right arm if you want to have a match with me tomorrow.” She says.
Well, she has a point about that but I have to train with my right arm as well.
“It’s okay, mrs..” my words get cut off from her.
“Then let’s improve your flexibility, responses, and your movement. Later on before today’s training ends, we’ll train with your right hand again.” She describes today’s agenda.
That’s only makes me look at her with a confused face
“Wait.. Can you explain more about what you just said before?” ask her, still have no idea what she’s just talking about.
She moves the sword from her right hand to her other hand.
“If I can do this, you can do this too.” She says.
Even though she tries to show me with her actions, I still don’t get any idea from it.
“You’re not that dumb, aren’t you, Queen?” She asks me like she’s done with it.
“Are you saying that..” moves the sword to my left hand “I will train with you with this hand?”
“Yep. If I can do it, you can do it too.” She says then gets to her position.
Her position is a bit different from her right handed before.
On the other hand, I have no idea how to get into my position.
Take a glance over her and she already shows that hopeless expression.
Okay, this is embarrassing..
“Well sorry! I never thought that I would do combat with my left hand!” trying to defend myself.
This is the first time I see her let out a sigh of frustration then she comes closer to me.
“Very grateful today that I know that perfect queen who always get admired by everyone can be this so stupid.” She says sarcastically.
Looking at her with a frustrated face mixed with embarrassment.
“Here.” this time she gently helps me to get into the right position “Let’s try using the same position as mine.” She says.
Because of the little help from her, I can get to my comfortable position for combat.
Still a little bit weird because this is the first time I use left handed.
“Why are you staying silent now? If you don't say anything, I won’t figure out which one is comfortable for you, you dumbass.” She says in an annoyed voice.
“Sorry.. It's just a little bit weird using my left hand.” Replying to her “But I guess, I can get the image now.”
“Good then.” She says while walking away from me again “Let’s get started.” getting to her position.
Because of that, I’m also trying my best to get my best condition using my left hand.
The cue always starts from her before the training begins.
From my perspective, she holds herself back so that I can learn step by step from her.
She didn’t rush as fast as before.
Also she’s aiming for my weapon now, not my body.
But there’s always a time where she tries to hit me, I guess that is for defense and fast response training.
Half of the day passes, now we’re back having our lunch together.
“How is it?” She asks me.
“I think I can keep it up with my left hand, Mrs. Stam.” replying to her.
Once again, the silence fills the room.
The atmosphere between us is still a little bit awkward but I can feel that I’m no longer that scared with her.
Even with this close distance with her, having lunch together, or getting touched by her like before, I didn’t sense any threat from her for now.
“Stam.” She says while turning her body so her back once again facing me.
“Sorry, what?” I say with a confused voice.
“Just don’t use the formalities, you dumbass!” She raises her voice.
That surprised me.
Never thought she would do something like that.
By the way, why does she always call me dumbass..
But at this moment again, I just realized again that maybe my prediction towards her is true.
Anyway, maybe I could try to make the conversation first.
“If you want me to do that, you must do the same thing too, Stam.” answering to her.
No response from her.
She didn’t even turn around to look at me.
“Well.. It’s okay if you want to stay like that.” I say while standing holding my plate “I guess it will be the first time I will win against you, right?”
Finally, she turns her head even though it’s only just a few seconds.
“Selfish, stupid, irritating.. Heh, just because I didn’t give any responses, you take that as a win, huh?” she responds sarcastically again.
Alright. This is the first time someone gets me really irritated so easily.
Taking my sword again using my left hand.
“You just want to sit there or prove to me that I was wrong?” Intimidating her.
Finally, she turns around to face me.
“Oh? You still want to use your left hand?” She walks away to put the plate away.
There’s no need to give any responses to her now.
Just getting to my position.
“Alright then. Shall we?” She says then takes her sword too. “But.. let’s do some improvement this time.” She continues
Lowering my sword to listen to her carefully.
“You're already a bit comfortable with your left hand right? Then try to mix your movement with your right hand.” She turns away and goes to the weapon racks.
She takes a lot of weapons from there then puts them randomly on the floor.
Because of her actions, it only makes me look at her with a confused face again.
“Take two or just one is your choice.” She says “As your wise coach, I’ll only use this one sword.” Sarcastically again to me.
“If you can make me lose this sword, you win. Easy, right?” She says playfully with a wide smile.
She knows well how to motivate me, huh.
But I won’t lie, it's true that time by time I became comfortable using my left hand for combat.
Maybe she’s right that I need to mix it now.
This time, I pick on of the swords with my right hand.
Looking at her, she only nods and smirks to me.
“That’s all? Get ready then.” Both of us get into our position.
**Night after the second day training**
Knock. Knock.
“Come in.” giving a response to the door.
The one who knocked on my door again is my brother.
Two cups of tea in his hand too.
When he enters my room, he looks surprised by what I am doing in my room.
“Wow! What are you doing, sis?” He says while closing the door.
He looks at me still practicing how to fight with both of my hands.
Because of that deal, it really gives me more strength to do better for tomorrow.
“Hmm.. reviewing what I have learned today, I guess?”
“Sis, you already trained this whole day. Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard again?” He says worriedly.
Even after he said that to me, I’m still doing some light practices on my own.
But still I have to pay attention to my right arm too.
“It’s okay, bro. My right arm seems in good condition now. That doctor's medicine really works well for me.” replying to him.
He lets out a sigh, seems like he doesn’t like it if I work too much.
“Anyway. You got gifts from your friends today.” He says while giving me
At this moment, my brother gets my attention to stop my practices.
“What gift? From who?” Put away both of the swords then walk toward where my brother sits.
First, he takes out one wrapped gift from the bag.
“This one.. From the twins.” another wrapped gift comes out “this one if from Colombain and friends.” He says.
“A gift from Colombain?” asking him a bit confused.
“Yep and the other two friends of his. Seems like you have a good relationship with them. That’s nice, Vil” He pats my head
A gift from Colombain and friends is kinda weird for me.
Because this is the first time that I got a gift when there’s something going on with me.
Did the twins tell them? But there’s no way, right..?
Put that aside for now, these gifts and a warm action from my brother always successfully warm my heart.
Both of the wrapped gifts have a letter to encourage me.
“You got this, sis.” He says then releases his hand from my head “Alright then I don’t want to bother you that long. I’ll take my leave now. Good night, sis.”
“Thanks a lot bro. Night. Love you.” replying to his kindness.
**Last day of training*
The clock on the wall shows it’s already 6PM.
From morning until this moment, I still can’t take her sword away from her.
I’m the one who always loses against her.
Fall to my knees because I’m almost out of breath fighting with her.
“Hm? Wanna give up?” She says.
She still can keep steady in front of me.
Based on my view, she isn't even slightly tired.
Come on, Vil.. how long you want to stay like this..
Try to stand up again but this time I only use my right hand.
This time, I’ll use all my strength to where I’m best with.
“Oh? Still wanna fight? Our time is over since one hour ago, you know?” She smirks looking at me, who is already very tired.
Can’t give any responses to her because I don’t think I have the energy to speak.
“Alright then. I know you want to defeat me because you want to know the reason for it, right?” She says putting down her sword on the ground.
Still no responses.
“Put down your sword, will you?” She sits down.
Because of that, I put my sword down as well.
“Want to change the deal? I know something that we need to put into a test ever since we first met.” She offers.
That’s right. It’s impossible for me to win against her in this condition.
“What.. will you.. offer this time?” My words get cut off because it’s still hard to catch my breath.
“Hmm.. nothing actually. I just want to lift the deal and tell you the truth for free.”
She says with a wide smile on her face.
“Why would you..?” asking her for confirmation.
“Well.. you already train so hard even in that condition.” She points out my right arm again “So I wisely want to give you a reward for your hard work.”
Nothing comes into my mind right now.
Is it because I’m too tired to think?
“Really?” try to get confirmation from her once again.
“A stam won’t lie, you know? Come here. Let’s talk.” She says and waves her hand to call over me.
This time, I’m just doing what she said to me.
These training days, she didn’t do anything to hurt me so I guess my prediction towards her is right.
She’s not a bad person at all.
After I get close enough with her, I sit in front of her.
“This will be our last day, right? Damn~ I wish we could have more time than this~” She says playfully while stretching her back.
“Yeah. Thank you for everything, Stam.” replying to her.
“Ah!” She says then bent down.
One of her hands is touching her back.
That makes me stand on my knees to hold her shoulders.
“What’s wrong, Stam?” I ask her worriedly.
“Ahh.. you know.. My back really hurts these days because I’m not able to move freely with this chain.” she points to her neck.
My eyes widened because of the realization.
How long does this chain connect to her neck?
Looking at the time, it already shows 6:10PM
“Hey. Didn’t you say yesterday that you can be free when it passes five?” I ask her.
“Oh, yeah. That’s right.” She replies.
“Then,” cut off the chain that connected her neck and the floor with a sharp metal sword “This chain won’t be necessary anymore.”
Her face looks very shocked from my actions.
“Yo, Vil! Are you really that stupid?!” She says, raising her voice.
“Why? That’s the rule right?” Replying to her.
After hearing my reply to her, she stays silent for a moment then burst out to laughter.
“Hahaha.. You really are something else, huh?” She says.
“You should be..” my words get cut off again by her actions.
Suddenly she pulls me really quick then pins me down on the floor once again.
This is like the first time she met me and first training from yesterday.
She shows me once again, her urge to kill and a bloodlust of hers.
But this time, something different from her action.
Without noticing it, she’s holding a knife in her right hand and that knife already scratches at my neck.
Feels like my neck is bleeding at this moment.
That’s right, this time she looks very serious and the tension of her wanting to kill me is real.
The feeling of the previous thrill is still here but there’s something changed in myself too.
My heart doesn’t beat that fast like before.
My eyes are not widely open like before.
My breath is still normal.
Still feel a bit surprised by her actions but on the other hand I don’t feel as scared as before.
Both of us are now staring at each other and in her eyes I can really see the wants of her wanting to kill me.
After a moment, she let out a small chuckle.
“Pft.” She takes away the knife from me “You really are something else, huh?” She says with a smirk on her face.
No words can come out from my mouth.
The reason is still questionable for me now but I don’t think it’s because I’m afraid of wanting to get killed.
She gives me her hand to help me sit down.
“You passed. The last test is about your mentality. Seems like none of those cowardly conglomerates kiddos will be able to surpass the current you, now.” She says.
Still remain silent from what she just said to me.
“Alright. You get a free pass to know my backstory.”
For a moment, I just realized something else changed from her.
That slightly white just became a bright purple.
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