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On Kazuya's third and last night at the Shiroyuki dojo, he stood in front of the old man wearing a kendo uniform that would be more like rags than clothes now.
"We should stop here. It won't be good if you're worn out for tomorrow's competition" Jirou lowered his stance and took a look at his own state. He wasn't any better than how Kazuya looked.
Though it had only been three days, they both have had their clothes ruined many times. Unlike, wounds or injuries, clothes wouldn't heal themselves and he was given earfuls by Kaori for showing up appearing as such.
*tug* *riiip*
Tomoyo who tried tugging Kazuya's sleeve frowned after tearing it completely from his arm. She tried to fix it by clumsily tying it to another part of his sleeve but that part ripped as well. Kazuya glanced at her and took the towel in her arm since Jirou already had no intention of continuing.
"Thanks" Kazuya thanked the girl who looked relieved after finally finding a part of his sleeve that was still intact.
*nod* Tomoyo moved to give Jirou a towel as well but moved back to Kazuya as soon as Jirou received his.
The grandfather couldn't help but give a sigh after seeing his beloved granddaughter favoring Kazuya more than himself. Tomoyo's attachment to Kazuya grew more during his stay since Jirou had arranged for Kazuya to sleep in her room.
He would smile when he checked up on the two of them late at night to find Tomoyo clutching the sleeve of Kazuya who slept like a log in their sleep. This had been another reason for him to prolong and extend Kazuya's sword fighting sessions. Making him have less of a resistance to Tomoyo's actions.
Unfortunately, Jirou now felt a little regretful since he was being ignored like this. Tomoyo herself grew a lot during these three days. She would train with the instructors but she would be asked to watch whenever Kazuya and Jirou sparred. Her understanding of mana improved a lot that even Kazuya couldn't help but admit her progress.
"Tell me grandpa Jirou, was everything just to prepare me for the Nationals?" Kazuya had to ask because he didn't want things to end like this. It was true that Tomoyo was steadily improving but she was still far from letting him take her seriously.
"I know what you're worried about the kid so don't worry. Training you for the Nationals was just an excuse for me to get a good grasp of your real capabilities. It won't be as frequent as these past few days but I will spar with you and help you hone your swordsmanship" Jirou smiled. This kid had always been a bit troublesome to deal with so it was nice seeing him being tame like this.
Three days may not have been enough to make much progress with Kazuya's capabilities but it was enough for him to realize what Jirou had been trying to point out. He had definitely been lucky to have survived as a hero with how much he realized his swordsmanship lacked. He plowed his way through the Mork continent with his power advantage and the demons' lack of skilled individuals.
This was like a cold ice bucket that has been poured directly on his back. He shuddered at the thought of him being summoned as a regular person instead. He had confidence because of his achievements but he had taken quite a few blows that rocked his foundations. This realization gave him a headache as he had to once again change his plans for the future.
"(I guess things in real life really don't go as well as they do in manga or novels)" he sighed and concentrated on recovering his stamina.
Jirou observed from the side with a frown. He may have been kicking Kazuya's ass for the past three days most of the time but he still couldn't help but see the kid as a monster. This was most evident in his recovery speed. Being a child doesn't explain how fast Kazuya recovers his stamina or how quickly his wounds heal.
He once asked Kazuya how he recovers so fast when he returned on his second day without as much as a scratch or bruise left in their first exchange. He was nonchalantly answered with the 'youthful recovery' excuse and would say it every time Jirou asked.
To make things worse, her granddaughter has been taught by Kazuya and would act exactly like him whenever she tried to recover. Although Tomoyo's recovery speed was not as fast as Kazuya's, she still recovered her stamina abnormally fast. With her personality, she wouldn't be able to explain it even if she wanted to so unless Kazuya reveals the secret, he could only be envious of the two children.
He may have been old but he had keen eyes. He could see from his point of view the bruises on Kazuya's body slowly begin to disappear. The boy despite being so young could take a hit without yelling out in pain like he expected so Jirou couldn't help but give him his admiration. Despite this, the envious healing speed made him lose restrictions and stopped being fearful of hurting Kazuya.
Kazuya didn't make all his injuries disappear, he only healed them enough so they wouldn't hinder his movements. He may have grown a lot since he first returned but relying on mana too much, especially on earth was something that he didn't want to do. His body still needed to heal naturally to have some improvement.
"You sure have a way of making an old man feel really old. Why don't you teach me how you heal so fast so that this old man can get rid of his pains quicker" he shamelessly tried playing the sympathy card.
"Teaching you shouldn't be too much of a problem but I told this robot girl here that if you wanted to learn then it should be from her. She needs to master it first though" Kazuya stood up and moved behind Jirou before placing a palm on his back.
"This…" Jirou could feel warm energy slowly circulating in his body. It felt soothing and the pains in his body slowly started receding.
He hadn't suffered much when they first started but it was already the third day. Kazuya's improvement rate was astonishing and his battle sense was even more terrifying than his improvement. There were a lot of moments where Jirou couldn't help but take hits hence his current state.
"Sorry…" Kazuya removed his hand and stopped the treatment. "This would be the best I can do for now since I really would collapse if I expended more energy" he apologized and took a seat before closing his eyes to completely immerse himself in recovery.
"It's fine. This would be enough for me to move without pushing myself. I'll go and fetch some clothes for you to change into before Kaori sees us and scolds me again" Jirou excused himself and left Kazuya to recover. Tomoyo remained and picked up the wooden sword on the ground and began to train by herself. She knew that Kazuya wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.
--
Inside the large western mansion of the Stocktons, Kurumi was inside her room watching the various videos taken by the people her father sent to the last regional kendo tournament. She was amazed at how much the boy who was brave but frail had changed. He really was not the Kazuya she knew anymore and felt like a new person especially since he didn't have the smile Kurumi was used to seeing.
"Kazuya-kun…" she hugged her pillow. She felt his existence getting farther especially after seeing the cool looking girl who always stood by his side in the videos.
Kurumi had already noticed Tomoyo and Mahiru at the start of the videos. She paid little attention to Tomoyo because it was just Mahiru that was communicating smoothly with Kazuya. This changed when Mahiru had disappeared later on.
Even though Mahiru had gone, the silent girl Kazuya had not been talking to remained by his side as if it was the natural order of things. Kurumi was informed that the girl was called Shiroyuki Tomoyo and she was the granddaughter of the head of the kendo dojo that Kazuya had joined.
"Shiroyuki Tomoyo…" Kurumi felt envious after seeing her getting praised for winning her match with a gentle patting. She would have been the one getting patted on the head if he didn't lose his memories which was why she was really mad at the person responsible for Kazuya's amnesia.
She paused the recording to study the features of the person that replaced her. Unlike her cute features and foreign blonde hair, Tomoyo had more refined features and silky black hair that she was quite envious of. Both of them were doing the same things and with such a person beside him, Kurumi couldn't blame Kazuya for getting along with her.
"So this is the girl that Ka-kun has been hanging out with?" the sudden comment startled Kurumi as she tried to quickly reach for the remote. It was grabbed just as she was about to get it by the intruder who was grinning at the screen.
This tall and a bit tanned girl was the very person Kurumi and her father didn't want to inform about Kazuya's situation. The reason was simple, she was very selfish and did everything she wanted with little to no concern of what people thought.
"Maron…" Kurumi was startled. She didn't want to let this cousin of her know where Kazuya had been else who knows what she would have done.
"Don't look so scared Ku-chan. I've known for a while where he was. One of the people he beat up in that tournament tried to threaten him by using me. Ka-kun didn't have any memories so of course he wasn't scared" the girl grinned as she pressed play button and continued the recording.
"That's right… he doesn't even remember me, so he probably doesn't even know you too" Kurumi gloomily hugged her pillow.
"You're too soft as usual Ku-chan. If he doesn't remember, then just let him remember" her long and messy hair swayed as she put a fist right above the image of Kazuya's head making it look like she was hitting it.
"No! You can't hurt him! If you think that he's the same person you once knew then you're wrong" Kurumi had already seen and heard enough to be confident in her words.
"Hoh… is that so?" the grin on the cocky girl's face grew wider. She watched the rest of the recording together with Kurumi and she grew more excited.
Kurumi wasn't lying when she said that he changed but him changing was an understatement. What Maron witnessed was like a complete transformation. The most noticeable was Kazuya appearing to be leading and encouraging his fellow teammates who looked at him with respect.
"(This is 'that' Ka-kun!?)" she found it hard to believe. She looked at her cousin who was admiring what she was seeing yet looking lonely at the same time and couldn't help but give a sigh.
She knew the friendship the two had and she was dragged into it as well. Maron supported this handful of a cousin of hers and developed a liking to the boy who seemed to be a perfect friend for her. It was only until she heard about him getting sent to the hospital for having internal injuries did she feel a little bad about how roughly he treated the boy.
Maron was initially afraid that she was the cause for him being sent to the hospital. She was always rough with him because she couldn't stand how he and Kurumi were so alike. Kurumi was the stocktons' princess so she could only use Kazuya as an example for how frustrated she was with how both of them were.
Kazuya was even dragged by her to join the basketball team so she could at least toughen him up a bit. He was average at everything which was why seeing him doing so well in kendo and hearing about it from the people in their school was so shocking.
She hadn't heard a peep about it from Kurumi so she knew that it was deliberately being hidden from her. Maron wasn't surprised about this because she knew how she had been acting around him. She didn't believe Kazuya really had amnesia and thought that it was an excuse that his parents used to get him transferred. She thought that he was transferred because he tattled on how roughly he had been treated by her.
"Ku-chan. Tell me what you know" she looked at Kurumi seriously and made her understand that she wouldn't be taking no for an answer.
"But—" Kurumi hesitated.
"I can always ask him myself you know" Maron gave a threatening smile. "I'm asking you what you know so I don't have to go to the trouble of going myself after the effort you and uncle made to keep me in the dark"
"I-I'll tell you... just don't go to Kazuya-kun and make trouble for him" Kurumi folded easily and explained everything she knew about the situation. It really wasn't that big of a secret anymore since it caused the tension of both the Kouzuki and the Kurogane families to grow even more cautious against each other.
"I see… so it turns out to be caused by his adopted brother" Maron breathed a sigh of relief. She had been secretly worrying about him. She thought that Kurumi didn't discuss his disappearance with her because she had been the cause of everything.
"Was he really threatened? They used your name to threaten him?" since everything was out in the open, Kurumu asked the question that had been bugging her when Maron declared that she knew about the situation.
"The upperclassmen he eliminated from our school told me about it. They tried to make it sound like Ka-kun didn't see me as anything but after beating them up, they confessed. If it had been the old Ka-kun then that would not have happened" she confidently declared.
"Those people…" Kurumi was annoyed. They could have mentioned their relation and that would make him avoid her even more. She already assumed that the bad feeling Kazuya mentioned when they met was because of her cousin so she thought that she still had a chance to clear things up with him after she successfully transferred to his school in secret.
"I've already taught them a lesson for using my name and threatening Ka-kun" Maron proudly declared. "No one aside from me has the right to do that" she threw a punch in the air.
"Are you really going to leave Kazuya-kun alone?" Kurumi wasn't convinced. Maron looked at her and felt a little disappointed that her beloved cousin's trust in her was close to non-existent.
"I won't but…" she thought for a few moments. Maron knew her cousin and well what her next step would be. "I plan on transferring to Sacred Forest Academy" she gave a smile that caused Kurumi a headache.
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