An Assassin's Respite

Kari and Yuu

Kazuna and Kagura were continuing their training. The training camp was closing in so Kazuna was increasing the intensity of their training so that she could finish before the camp. She had gotten past the training for the 2nd and third strikes, so she was now on the 4th strike, momentum. This was the most difficult of them to master since it required the user to have the ability to control the fight or read their opponent. But, despite that, she was doing better than he had expected her to. Even though she had mostly trained herself up to this point in swordsmanship, she was learning very quickly. As she practiced her ability to continuously strike fluidly, without hesitation, and without repeating attacks, he couldn't help but marvel at the progress she had made since they first met. 

"There's more confidence in her swings and that hesitance she used to show isn't there anymore. She's clearly a natural with a sword, it's just that she's never had someone to train her until now. She has a lot of potential and I'm going to ensure she realizes it." He notes to himself as she swings at him over and over.

After a few more swings, she hesitates for a moment too long and Kazuna shoves the hilt of his sword into her gut in punishment.

"13, not bad, but still not good enough. You need to reach 20 strikes before we can move on." He notes.

"Right," She nods as she prepares to go again, but Kazuna raises his hand to stop her.

"That's enough for today. Although training diligently is important, rest is just as important." He states.

It looked as if she was going to protest, but she decided to follow his advice and call it a day there.

"So, how have Kari and Yuu been getting along?" She asks as she wipes sweat from her face.

"Just fine, I think Kari will become more comfortable around him as she spends time with him. Plus, It'll do her some good to have someone stronger than me to rely on." Kazuna replies.

"You always do that thing where you write yourself off as good as dead," Kagura says with a glare in her eyes.

"It's not like that this time I promise. It's just that Zer is someone that shouldn't be underestimated nor should we assume that we even have the smallest idea as to what he's planning. As long as she's a possible target, the more powerful people around her the better." He clarifies/

"Oh, well, then do you think that Zer is that big of a threat?" She asks.

"I do. He was able to completely outmatch me during our last confrontation and he did so while not using his power until the end. The next time we face him not only will he be fighting at full force, but he will most likely have some new tricks up his sleeve." He theorizes.

"Do you have a plan to combat him?" She asks.

"With the number of unknowns surrounding him, there's no possible way I could create a plan that could cover any possibility. Our plan, for now, should be focusing on strengthening our abilities as much as we can." He answers.

"That makes sense although it would have been reassuring to hear that you had a plan." She says with a shrug.

"I'm sorry for my lack of ability to counter him," Kazuna replies.

"Huh, no, you don't need to apologize. If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I was hoping that you would find a solution to the problem instead of thinking for myself. If there's one thing that I always have confidence in, it's your ability." Kagura assures him with a smile.

Kazuna smiles slightly back as they head out of the arena. Later that day once Kari had gotten out of school, she was walking through the city with Yuu. Ever since the data of the GA training camp was announced, Yuu had been picking up Kari from school and watching over her for a couple of hours so they could become better acquainted. She looked over to Yuu and could see that he had a somewhat troubled expression on his face.

"Are-Are you okay?" She asks a little hesitant to point it out.

Yuu realizes that he had been showing more emotion than usual so he quickly clears his face before answering.

"I'm fine, just a lot on my mind." He assures her.

They walk in silence a bit longer before Kari speaks up again.

"Mr. Kazuna usually has that same look on his face before something happens or troubling news gets out," Kari notes.

Yuu looks over at her but she was looking straight so he turns his head back forward before sighing.

"My investigation has led me to some troublesome discoveries." He says.

"Are you planning on dealing with it alone?" She asks.

"What makes you think that?" He asks.

"Because Mr. Kazuna would try and do the same thing." She replies.

Yuu looks back over at her but she was walking while wildly swinging her arms, she looked just like any normal kid. But, there was something about the way she thought that was different than normal kids. She seemed to have an understanding of how people thought or, at the very least, an ability to know when people are troubled and what could be troubling them. She may be a kid, but the things she went through had matured her faster than her peers. He didn't know why, but for some reason, he felt compelled to tell her a bit about it.

"It's something I have to do alone." He replies.

"But why? Don't you have an agency of people to help you?" She asks.

"I do, but this is something that's better for me to handle alone," Yuu replies.

"Are you sure it would be better?" Kari asks.

"Although it would be very reassuring to have my comrades there, I can't endager them." He says.

"That's wrong. Kari says.

"What do you mean?" Yuu asks.

"Protecting your friends is nice, but I bet they want to be there to help you." Kari explains.

"This girl." Yuu says to himself.

"I understand that, but if they were to come along, without a doubt I would lose multiple agents." Yuu notes.

"So you're weighing their lives as more valuable than your own?" Kari guesses.

"You could word it like that. But you could also say that I"m choosing the route that will lead to the fewest deaths and in the best case scenario, no deaths at all." Yuu says.

It looked as if Kari wanted to say something in protest, but she didn't know what she should say.

"You know, for a kid you have a pretty mature way of seeing things, but you still have some of that child naivety. Not every problem has a solution that leads to a happy ending. Sometimes there's got to be a little turmoil in order to get tot eh best ending." He says.

Yuu wasn't the best at cheering people up or at offering words of encouragement, but he decided to offer what little words he could.

"But what's wrong with trying to get the happy ending?" She asks.

Yuu looks over at her and sees that she's looking at him this time. Her eyes weren't dream like, but were filled with belief. She believed that a happy ending was possible. Maybe he should too?

They were silent until Yuu dropped her off at Kazuna's. He teleported into his office and began to pour over the documents he had taken pictures of from Ban's computer.Somehow, Ban seemed to have even more knowledge on Zer then he did despite having been chasing Zer for years. There were all types of deals and events that he had been looking into from missing people's, to money laundering, and even buildings mysteriously collapsing.He wasn't sure if Ban was a spy or if he had just been trying to take Zer down. Either way, the amount of information he had was suspicious to say the least. He leans back in his chair and thinks about what Kari had said to him.

"Maybe we need a little naiveity." He whispers.