.
Despite her grandfather being distracted, Tomoyo was clearly watching Kazuya's each and every action. She heard the adults say that he had been a victim of bullying from Hashiyama Lee, a person who didn't even make it to the elite class in their dojo. She wondered how someone as strong as him could be bullied. The moment she stopped glancing towards Kazuya to catch a glimpse of who he had been mocking, her legs trembled.
"Hmm? (Crap she saw)" Kazuya turned towards Tomoyo and found her looking at Lee.
"What's wrong granddaughter?" Jirou who noticed as well asked worriedly.
"She's probably still tired from the exercises I made her do" he moved to block her sight by moving in front of her and explained to Jirou what he asked her to do earlier in the dojo. He told him about how the students all got swept up in her pace and ended up doing only those exercises the whole time they trained.
"Now I'm interested to see what kind of swing you showed her. Come to think of it, I should take you to one of my friends' places to choose a bamboo sword. I figured you'd want to choose one for yourself"
"Oh, I was going to ask you about that" Kazuya was glad to hear the offer.
"Alright I'll make a call then" he turned away and took out his cellphone to call.
Tomoyo's gaze was still looking into Kazuya's eyes. She didn't know why but she seemed to be calming down. What she didn't know was that Kazuya was using a small amount of mana to calm her tensed up nerves. This was usually one of the very basic first aid skills he learned so it's mana consumption was very low.
"Have you calmed down? (I wasn't sure before, but I am now. This girl's weakness… Is that why she lost in the last tournament?)"
*nod*
"You don't need to worry about that guy. I can take care of him with my eyes closed. His enmity isn't with you anyway, so you don't have to worry about anything" he tried to comfort the robot girl.
*nod*
She understood. The boy before her had overcome what she couldn't. This was the reason he was so strong. She wanted to ask him how he did it. People praised her to be a talent that was cut above the rest when it came to swordsmanship, but she didn't think so. It even cost her to lose in the last tournament.
"Do you want to overcome your weakness?"
She was shocked as her small mouth gaped open. This person that hardly even knew her would sometimes understand her and would sometimes not. She was unsure and thought that the times he was correct were coincidences, but this was entirely different.
*nod nod nod* she couldn't help but be excited not because of his offer but by what she had just realized.
"Do you trust me?"
*nod*
"Do you think I would hurt you?"
She hesitated for a moment she remembered the first time they had met. He had said more than once that he did not want to hurt her and despite her persistence, he still didn't.
*shake shake*
"Hey, that hesitation is really not reassuring"
He was intrigued. This robot girl had finally shown him a clear weakness. She didn't seem all that scary now that he had grasped it. The memory of him being beaten to a pulp every time was slowly being overwritten by this interesting version of the robot girl. He preferred this version rather than the violent android that tormented him.
*tug tug* She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention and stared him in the eye.
"Is this you trying to convince me? Well I'll trust you for now and we'll see if you change your mind later" He turned towards Lee who had already left. He wasn't afraid of what that petty-minded guy would do but rather mocked him because he was looking forward to it.
"Sorry for the wait you two. My friend says he'll open his store, so we'll stop by on the way there"
The three of them got in the van and headed for the shop. Much to Kazuya's surprise, it was more of a workshop than an actual store. There were many varieties to choose from so he wasted no time to look through the merchandise.
"You brought an interesting kid Jirou" the shopkeeper said after observing the cheerful boy looking carefully through his works.
"That kid's called Kazuya. He's old Kou's grandchild"
"What!? Kyouko-chan's child? Then he's…"
"Yeah and It's too early to be surprised. He wiped the floor with Tomoyo when they sparred"
"#@^&@!! He beat the young miss!? How!?" he so surprised that he garbled his words.
"He's just that good. With him and Tomoyo, that old racoon will never know what hit him"
The two old men chatted as Kazuya stopped in front of the section that had different kinds of wooden swords. Kendo regulations were strict so he really didn't have much to choose from when it came to bamboo swords but what he really wanted was something that he could practice with. A real sword still wasn't an option he could pick since Kyouko would never allow it so this was the next best thing.
"This should be around the right weight for my current body"
He picked up one of the wooden swords and did a stance using only one arm. It was on the heavy side but he smiled and thought that it was perfect.
"You really are old Kou's grandson. Still a child and still prefer the heavy ones" The shopkeeper commented.
"Grandfather liked heavy swords?"
"Yeah he would always nitpick about the wooden swords I make being too light. I made an especially heavy one just to hear him complain that it was too heavy, but he loved it instead"
"I wonder if we still have it…" he thought about the two storage buildings in the Kouzuki household he had yet to explore.
"You should grow a bit more before even trying to use that one kid. Even that one is a bit too heavy for you but since you're old Kou's grandson I bet you'd like it"
"Yes. It's perfect for me right now. I trust your craftsmanship, so I will be taking this one along with a bamboo sword that isn't against any of the regulations"
"Hey I'll give it to you for free as long as you print my shop's logo on your uniform. Plus, you can just ask me for new ones if they break down or you want an upgrade"
"You really are friends with grandpa Jirou. I was intending to have the uniform altered to add my mom's company logo in it if I'm going to be used as advertisement, so I guess I can add yours in too"
"Leave that to me. I'll have one made for you soon" Jirou chimed in on the conversation and was glad to see them getting along. He had a plan to slowly introduce Kazuya to their peers and looked forward to watching their reactions once they've met him.
He thanked the shopkeeper and arrived at the dojo not too far away from the workshop. Kazuya had been ignoring it all this time but Tomoyo's interest in his wooden sword as he carried it was interesting to watch. She was like a cat that saw something new and would closely follow it silently with her eyes.
"Get changed and meet me in the courtyard if you want me to teach you" he said as he moved towards the changing rooms.
Jirou heard this and was immediately elated. He didn't know what his granddaughter did but she had successfully established a good relationship with this difficult child. He was curious about what the kid was going to teach his granddaughter so he acted like he didn't notice and hid himself in a place where he could observe them.
Kazuya had roamed around the dojo before so he took note of some places where he could practice alone. One of them was a courtyard that had a big tree. He placed the wooden sword under the tree and immediately begun training.
"First a warmup"
Tomoyo who saw him practicing at the courtyard walked closer while hugging her wooden sword. Her steps came to a stop when she felt the atmosphere change as soon as she came closer. He didn't hold his sword but she felt that she would be cut if she had moved any closer. He had an intimidating pressure that made her feel heavy. This was like the feeling she had earlier but for some reason it had felt different.
"You're here. Looks like you can feel the difference between hostile and non-hostile intentions"
"?" she tilter her head and gave him a look that she didn't understand.
"It would be much easier if I showed you" his gaze at her changed as he directed a sliver of bloodlust towards her.
"!!" Tomoyo trembled. She felt fear. This was the same feeling she got when she saw Lee earlier today. Kazuya noted the difference of her body's reaction and withdrew his bloodlust.
"Didn't you say that you trusted that I wouldn't hurt you? Was that a lie? I should just leave you alone then" he smiled mischievously after turning his back towards her.
"!!" *tug tug* she immediately ran to stop him by tugging his sleeve nervously. She looked straight into his eyes as soon as he turned back as if telling him that it was not going to happen again.
"I doubt that it won't happen again. It wouldn't be a fatal weakness if it were easy to fix"
"!!" she was shocked to find that he understood what she wanted to tell him almost instantly. Kazuya failed to notice this himself and thought that her surprise was caused by not being able to overcome her fear.
"Your weakness is first, you're a spoiled child. You're this dojo's successor and no one dares treat you badly here. No one has ever shown hostility towards you openly, so you have no idea how to deal with it especially since you're good at sensing other people's feelings"
*nod* she understood and accepted it. He was right.
"The second and most fatal is fear. Whenever you feel pressure you instantly get paralyzed. We both have bad experiences but the difference is that you freeze instead of either fighting or fleeing from it. I assume this is the reason you lost the last tournament since more passionate people tend to be hostile to whoever they are up against. You indeed have some skill but because of this fatal weakness, I would rather have a less skilled person with me than you. Think about it, if Lee came to bully me again and no one but you is here, can I count on you to protect me after what you showed me earlier?"
"…" she looked down. She was a bit happy that he recognized that she was skilled but was immediately disappointed when he told her that he couldn't count on her.
"The last isn't exactly a weakness but It's your sensitivity to pressure. This is supposed to be an advantage normally but like I said earlier, your initial reaction is to freeze. The good news is, I can tell that you can differentiate them instinctively. If you learn how to use it, you will be able to tell what other peoples' intentions are but if you can't move, it's pointless"
"…" Tomoyo kept her head down and was deep in thought.
"(Does this girl even understand? Damnit I can't tell)" he thought as he continued observing the silent girl. It was at that moment that he suddenly realized something.
Compared to the older version of this girl in his memories, they had their similarities but they were still totally different because this one had not grown up yet. He remembered the times that she would beat him up and came to a realization when he compared her with the one right in front of him. They both had a change whenever they would feel hostility.
Kazuya had always been patient, but every person has their limits. Shiroyuki Tomoyo had dragged him along countless times and would beat him up under the guise of kendo. She would start off by light strikes every time and would stop him whenever he tried to escape. He realized now that the point she would start beating him badly was all the same. It was the point that he lost his patience and would let his anger take over.
"(I see… so the only thing this girl got to fix was being paralyzed. She never learned how to deal with it and I was beaten badly for a perfectly reasonable reaction!)" despite what what he just realized, he still felt wronged. There still wasn't a clear answer as to what made her beat him up in the first place.
The two were silently standing in the courtyard busy with their own thoughts as Jirou secretly observed from his hiding place. He heard every single word Kazuya said and could only sigh.
"He even noticed something that I didn't. He's right, this certainly is a deadly weakness for a swordsman" the aged man admitted his eyes being clouded. He always taught his granddaughter strictly but he never thought of letting her feel any hostility from him.
He had always wondered why Tomoyo lost the tournament last year. He was there to watch at the time and noticed her sluggish movements when she lost. He attributed it to fatigue and her opponent's body advantage but after listening, it seems that it was not that at all. Children were still children, but the more passionate ones tend to let their desires leak out.
Jirou had been proud of last year's results because Tomoyo was still a child. He now realized that she was lucky not to have faced an opponent that saw her as a real enemy and not just a competitor. That would have been enough to get her eliminated in the earlier rounds without a problem.
"Hey robot girl" Kazuya suddenly broke the silence.
"?" She gave him a confused look. She didn't know if he was referring to her or not.
"It's going to be the same deal with the swing. I'll check your progress once a day and see if you're improving on overcoming this weakness. We don't have much time until the tournament begins so if you don't get over it, then your ranking will only depend on luck" Kazuya placed a finger on his chin to come up with something. "I'll give you an incentive. If you can perform normally under pressure, then I will give you a gift" this was the best thing that he could think of at the moment. He really didn't know this girl too much and only used a rule Miyamoto taught him that 'girls always love gifts'.
He thought about it and chose a simple approach to deal with this six-year-old version of his nemesis. His current circumstances didn't allow him to treat her badly so he decided that he would let this girl overcome her weakness. This was for the version of himself that got beaten badly every time he lost his patience. This was the best thing he could think of because he did not want to betray Kyouko's expectations of him for a person he never really understood in the first place.
Tomoyo heard his offer and was immediately motivated. Like any other child, the sound of receiving a reward was always tempting. She didn't know if he was serious or not but she knew that she wanted assurance.
"…p-promise?" she meekly let her voice out and extended her little finger nervously towards Kazuya.
"D-did you just speak?" he stuttered.
*nod*
"(This girl is really weird... Welp! One problem at a time I guess)" He sighed before extending his little finger towards her. "Fine. I promise"
He sealed their promise and locked little fingers with this robot girl.