Chapter 4 - Chapter 36: Cousin

*𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙀𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙*

It's been a week since MSC High School and XX High School became allies.

A lot of changes came between the two schools' relationship. Before, they used to be on the total opposites and now, they discuss before taking a decision.

Overall, Kaori's plan to make the two schools allies to deal and deal with the offer at the same time was a total bomb.

On a school day before the weekend in the lunch break.

Willia asked first to her friends, "Do you have any plans for the weekends?"

Kaori, who was sitting before her, nodded slowly, "I do," she drank some water.

All of the other seven now looked at her with attention.

"What plan?" Yamaken asked her first.

"We have to go over to the headquarter, remember? We can't ignore them this time," She replied in a stern voice.

Yamaken let out a sigh, "Yeah, you're right. We should go there."

He took a bite of his sandwich and began munching.

Kaori moved her gaze from him, "What will you guys do?" She asked the others.

Willia became sad, "I can't come with you! I wanted to... But dad told me that I had to go on a business trip with him, mom will go with us. I can't decline his order this time."

"Mom's gonna give me tons of works of the household," Wood said bitterly, "She always makes me do the household works in the weekends that I can't go anywhere for two straight days."

As Kaori turned at Robin and Tom, they said almost at the same time, "The same goes for us."

"What about Melissa and Dylanthy?" Kaori asked the two girls.

Melissa replied first, "I'm going to my hometown with my family."

Kaori gave her a curious look, "Where is your hometown?"

"It's in Green Hills," Melissa answered promptly.

"Oh!" Kaori nodded, "Then you are going to your hometown. Dylanthy? Where are you going?" She turned at Dylanthy who was drinking milk from the milk-pack that she bought from the vending machine.

"I'm going to see my brother," She answered happily.

"You have a brother?" All of the other seven asked loudly.

Dylanthy giggled, "Yeah, I do. Everyone gets surprised when they hear I have an elder brother and it seems that you guys are no different."

"An elder brother to that?" Kaori whistled lowly, "Cool."

"More than just an elder brother. He's a protective elder brother," Dylanthy added as she giggled more. It was as if she was enjoying their reactions which surely, she did.

"Aw, I always wanted a protective elder brother," Kaori said sadly.

Robin joked, "Rather than having someone being protective over you, you are always protective over people!"

The friends laughed out.

"Well, duh," Kaori tsk-ed at the reaction of her friends towards the joke.

"But don't you think of me as an elder brother?" Yamaken suddenly asked Kaori out of the blue.

Kaori frowned, "Huh? Why would I bother to think that? Plus, we are the same age, why..I mean how, could I even bring myself to think that?" She scolded Yamaken lightly.

"But I'm older than you, though," Yamaken said blankly.

"Huh?" Kaori blinked.

"It's true. I'm a year elder than you," Yamaken said again.

"Wait, seriously?!" Kaori yelled out as Yamaken nodded in assurance.

"When's your birthday?" Willia asked curiously.

"On December 31," Yamaken replied.

"The last day of a year? Wow!" Robin exclaimed.

"When is Kaori's birthday?" Melissa asked eagerly.

"It's in September," Kaori shrugged as she took a bite of her food.

"I'm also in September," Said Wood as he smiled at Kaori.

Kaori returned the smile, "That's nice."

"Anyway," Yamaken changed the subject back to the previous one, "I'm a year older than you, so you can think of me as an elder brother and I'm also protective towards you.

Why don't you just be satisfied and not be sad hearing someone talking about their protective elder brother?"

Kaori stopped eating and looked directly into Yamaken's eyes, "Hey, you really want me to do that? Are you definitely sure you want me to do that?"

Yamaken blinked a few times before turning away, "Nah, Forget it."

Kaori gave a slight smirk before continuing her lunch.

While the others decided to ignore the two friends' conversation, Melissa decided to say something.

"Yamaken was really angry when Kaori went to MSC High without informing anyone," Melissa spoke whilst smiling sidewards, "He also seemed really possessive towards you."

As Kaori and Yamaken gagged on their food, Willia and Dylanthy smiled sideways.

Yamaken tried to explain, "Th-that's n-not-" Unfortunately, he was stuttered too much.

"I think you're wrong, though," Wood suddenly spoke, making everyone look at him.

"What?" Melissa asked, surprised.

"Everyone was tensed to think that Kaori was going to leave us, it wasn't just Yamaken. Willia literally cried while the boys were also astounded. So I think that you're wrong to have said what you stated earlier," Wood explained in an expressionless tone.

"Oh," Melissa was at a loss for words, "I g-guess you're right.."

Yamaken frowned but he let it slide by saying to Melissa, who seemed to be feeling embarrassed now, "Let's just enjoy our food."

As they were eating, it was now clear that the eight friends wouldn't be able to spend the weekends together this time.

Even if they all hoped for Kaori and Yamaken to have a fun time in the clan by teaching the students but they also knew, it wasn't long enough for Kaori to face another journey yet again.

*****

Nagasaki, Japan.

Power Clan Headquarters.

There were almost fifty students gathered in the combat field to be taught lessons on different types of combat techniques.

For now, it was Kaori, who was going to teach the students on Knives.

"Listen here you all!" Kaori said to her class.

"You see this?" She held up a pocket knife in her right hand, "Yes, a knife. You can do tons of things with a knife, do you know that?"

She took some steps around the students, "To save, to torture or... to kill."

She stopped in front of a male student, "What's your name?"

"Damien," He replied dryly.

Kaori was mostly feared by the students in the clan. Because they have heard of her doings from the past.

"Hm, good," She gave a small smile before turning back to the class.

"Now, enough of those lectures. Let's talk about techniques," Kaori twirled the knife in her hand.

"I met a lot of new kids who try to act cool by twirling the knives in their hands as if they know how to use a knife. But in the end, it turned out to be that they were all just empty shells," She rolled her eyes before saying,

"Never, ever do this in front of your enemy. If, you are a novice with knives.

You'll only end up killing yourself on the spot."

"Now, how do you hold a knife?" She asked the students before picking a specific one out, "You, come here."

A girl walked forwards to her.

"What's your name?"

"Mayami," She replied.

"Good. Show me how you handle a knife... Are you a single or a double?" Kaori asked before handing Mayami the knife.

"Single," Mayami answered as she took the knife from Kaori's hand. She held it up as if she was using a kitchen knife.

"Try to give me a blow," Kaori told the girl.

Susan moved her hand fast, but Kaori moved away and grabbed Susan's hand. As she gave the hand a slight twist, the knife fell from Mayami's hand and she yelled in slight pain.

Kaori immediately let go, "Sorry. Are you okay?"

Susan nodded while rubbing her hand.

Kaori bend down to pick the knife up, "That's not how you handle a knife when you are in a combat mode. You also have to increase your speed," She told Susan before looking back at the class.

"You all know, knife is a close combat weapon, right?

So when you are dealing an enemy with a knife, remember to be super fast so that your opponent won't be able to guess your movements."

"Knife is all about skill and speed.

I'll show you guys some special techniques before I leave," Kaori said to the attentive students before her.

"Now, I don't know which major you are in, but you must be able to fight with a knife.

Not all the time you'll be able to attck your enemy from a comfortable distance and it's easier to fight with a knife when you are closer to your enemy," Said Kaori as she took out another pocket knife.

"I'm a master at knife now. I used to be very flawed but now I am skilled. I hope that I can turn you all into the same," She grinned.

"Are you a double knife user?" Doumyoji, a male student, asked.

"Yeah," Kaori replied to him before announcing to her class, "Everyone! Come at me with your knives!

I'll try to find out your flaws and try to teach you while we're at it.

Now come!"

At once, everyone took out their knives and attacked Kaori. The combat field turned into a small war field, a knife war.

*****

"Phew! That was tiring," Kaori sat down under a tree on the field.

As a cold something touched her face, she looked up to see Yamaken.

"Here," He held out a cold orange juice bottle to her before sitting down next to her.

"Thanks," Kaori took a sip after opening the seal.

"How was your first class?" He asked.

"Tiring! They got so many things to learn! Most of them don't even know how to hold a knife," Kaori whined.

"Why take the knife class, though?" Yamaken looked at Kaori, "You could take archery or hand-to-hand combat class."

"I like knives," Kaori mumbled before taking a huge sip from the bottle.

At that time, Aomu, a teacher in the clan, walked up to them.

The two stood up to show respect to their teacher.

"Aomu-sensei," Kaori nodded at the man who pulled her in for a hug.

"Long time no see, Kaori," He let her go, "You've changed a lot. It's good to see you, girl."

She smiled softly, "You, too, sensei."

Yamaken went straight to point, "Did you come here to say something?"

Aomu smiled at him, "Yes.

Since you two are here, I was thinking of holding a friendly combat session between two teams which will be consisting of every single student of the clan."

"You mean us, too?" Yamaken said curiously, "The seniors and the juniors altogether?"

"Yeah. I think it'll be easier to teach like this. So what do you think?" Aomu asked enthusiastically.

"I'm in!" Yamaken said happily. He loved this kind of friendly combat sessions among the students of the clan.

Kaori asked, "Does headmaster know?"

"Yes! I asked him earlier and he's fine with it!" Aomu said excitedly.

"Then," Kaori smiled, "We have no problem with it."

"Kaori!" Yukine was running up to them from afar.

The three looked at his nearing figure with questions in their eyes.

"Kaori," Yukone huffed, "The headmaster is calling for you."

"Oh, let's go," Kaori handed the empty juice bottle to Yamaken and gave a nod towards Aomu, "Let's talk again later."

Then, she left the spot with Yukine, leaving the other two behind.

*****

Kaori knocked on the headmaster's room door before entering.

As soon as she stepped into the room, she spotted a stranger, sitting before the headmaster.

The boy looked younger than her. He had red messy hair which was all over his forehead and almond colour eyes. He was eyeing Kaori with slight annoyance visible on his face.

Kaori stood before the headmaster and showed courtesy towards him, ignoring the stranger boy, "Headmaster, did you call for me?"

"Yes," The headmaster gave a pleasant smile before introducing the young boy sitting before him, "Kaori, meet Touma. Hyoudou Touma."

Kaori frowned, "Hyoudou as in-?"

The headmaster cut in, "Yes, he's your cousin. The one and only grandson of my father, your grandfather."

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