Mausho: … The cat gave up.
Iza: I guess he was afraid of water in the end.
Maya looks a little displeased.
Maya: It was hot and cold water, if it had been just-right water, Bukkaru would have won.
Raskan smiles while glancing over at Maya.
Raskan: … If the water was like that, he would just be taking a nice shower in the middle of the battle.
Shima: … I wonder if his eyes are okay.
Zeph: … Liz is all tired out now, so it's goodbye to that guy's eyes.
Defei walks over and takes a seat next to Zizin, while Kofron takes a seat next to Raskan and continues coughing hard, Raskan looks at him.
Raskan: Yo, are you good?
Kofron: My throat… Totally destroyed, man.
Liz, Sosa, and Xika come over to take a seat next to Defei.
Liz: … Everyone's here so we came over here too.
Defei: Cool.
Osora walks over as well but doesn't sit, Defei looks at him.
Defei: … It's your turn right?
Osora: Yeah… Is the girl ready?
Defei glances over, Doa is still asleep.
Defei: Iza, can you wake her up? Ask her if she's ready.
Iza: Okay.
Iza pokes Doa's cheeks multiple times, her eyes slowly open.
Iza: Hey… Are you up to fight yet, by any chance?
Doa groans.
Doa: Not really.
She closes her eyes.
Everyone stares at her awkwardly.
Osora: So uh.
Mausho: What do we do now?
Osora: … I got this.
Osoro walks over to Doa.
Osora: Hey… If the whole fight aspect of it is why it's not motivating you to go, I'll assure you it won't really be a fight.
Doa slowly opens her eyes again.
Doa: What?
Osora: Instead of fighting, I'll teach you how to do gun stuff better than you do it now.
Doa stares at him for a few seconds, she quickly gets up.
Doa: You know what, I'm feeling way better, I'll fight you, and take those gun lessons too.
Osora: Okay, let's go!
…
Iza: Why'd she get up though? It was so sudden.
Mausho: Maybe a random adrenaline boost?
Defei: Maybe she actually wanted those gun lessons?
…
"... Damn, why do I feel like this?" Doa places her hand on her heart.
"I've had this feeling for a few hours… This -
Looming regret? emptiness? sadness?.. I can't even describe it."
Doa starts to remember what happened in the skill center, Ashi's death, Rinka's Crying, her being tied up by Rimin, and everything that followed as well.
"It's that… It's definitely that."
Osora: … Hey, you stopped walking.
Doa looks up at Osora.
Doa: Sorry, I was thinking.
Doa continues walking.
"... I was pretending to be tired and asleep in Iza's lap just so I could ignore these battles. Because at the end of the day I would rather sleep than fight."
Rinka crying and her struggle to escape Rimin's strings continue to repeat in her head.
"... But I have to do this, it's practice, it's experience, I need to get better, stronger."
Osora: Hey, you stopped walking again.
Doa glances back up at Osora, more annoyed this time.
Doa: I'm thinking again.
"... If I was stronger, could I have prevented all of it? Rinka would still be with us, Sumairu would too, we could be at the center, eating, no worries."
" God, I need to get stronger."
…
Doa and Osora reach the field and stare at each other.
Osora: Alright, so we're gonna brawl right?
Doa nods her head.
Osora: Okay, I'll teach you how we gun users traditionally have our battles, or at least start them… First, we gotta face the opposite direction.
Doa and Osora turn around.
Osora: Our backs have to touch, so c'mon.
Their backs touch.
Osora: Now we take 10 steps forward, then draw our guns, and shoot. It's a pretty cool way to start our fight.
Doa: … Were you alive in the wild west or something? What do you mean this is the traditional way you fight?
Osora laughs.
Osora: Its tradition passed down, I'm like 50% sure I've got an ancestor from the wild west Era… Let's go, start walking.
Doa and Osora start walking silently, mouthing out their counting, while they do this Doa glances at her hand which is shaped like a gun, and she sighs.
Doa stops before Osora.
Doa: Hey!
Osora turns around.
Doa: I forgot my gun and ammo
Osora: … You forgot your gun!? To the gunfight?
Doa: I gotta get it.
…
Doa and Osora, backs facing each other, walk away while mouthing their steps. Doa is holding her standard pistol, Osora has a golden handgun with carvings and dragon accessories on it.
Eventually, they both quickly turn around at the same time and shoot a bullet at each other. Doa's bullet misses and flies past Osora's head because he moves it, Osora's bullet "missed" on purpose and hit the floor behind Doa's right leg.
Doa watches as he disappears from in front of her and appears right behind her, his hand wraps around her neck, and his gun points at her head.
Osora: One shot, and you'll be dead. You'd think a bullet wouldn't kill you because of this crazy skill-filled world we live in. But turns out the simple things can be the most deadly.
Doa doesn't move and tries really hard to think of a way to escape the situation.
"If I move, he shoots, I can't do anything here."
Osora pulls the gun away from her head and moves back, Doa glances at him.
Osora: If this was a real fight, I would have blown your head open by now
Doa nods while still thinking.
Osora: You gotta be faster, us gun users have to react as fast as our bullets fly.
Doa: … But how? How do I react to things faster?
Osora: … You know, you train, train your eyes… I used to train them by following the movement patterns of flies… It surprisingly works.
Doa laughs a little.
She remembers an interaction with Sumairu she had.
…
Doa: How should I train?
Sumairu: You know… Do the thing.
Doa: What thing?
Sumairu: You use guns… So shoot something… I don't know! I don't use guns, I use a sword, I'm supposed to be training you in swords!
Doa sighs.
…
"This guy is a little like Sumairu when he used to train me."
Doa: Let's start the fight again, this time I'll try harder.
Osora: Okay, but before that, I have a quick question.
Doa: What is it?
Osora: You didn't REALLY forget your gun did you?
Doa looks confused.
Doa: I did?
Osora points at her fingers.
Osora: That's a gun too, you used it against Iza. I saw.
Doa: … Yeah, but it's not really my main weapon. It's like a backup gun.
Osora: You're lying.
Doa: Huh?
Osora walks up to her and takes her gun, he opens it, pulls its bullets out, and drops them.
Osora: Those aren't your bullets either. Your shotgun had different bullets. They were a little pink.
Doa: … I have 2 different bullets I use, real ones and backup magical ones I can summon.
Osora: … Which one would you say is better? I noticed that your magical bullets seem to always hit your opponent even if you fire them absolutely atrociously.
Doa looks confused and irritated.
Doa: … The magical bullets are better.
Osora: … I don't think they can't be, there's no way they're better than real bullets.
Doa: But they are, as you said, they always land, and that's thanks to my Ultimate Skill which only works with those bullets, and I also don't need to reload anything when I use them, they're faster, they stun my opponents, there's no recoil, and absolutely no drawbacks from using them.
Osora: … THERE is a noticeable drawback though… Those bullets don't kill. We gun users gotta be able to kill, that's what our guns are for.
Doa: … That doesn't really matter, I do the killing physically.
Osora: ... Tell me, in this next fight are you gonna use real bullets or the magical ones?.. Never mind, don't answer, considering I'm going to overwhelm you, you'll probably end up using the magic bullets and your finger gun at some point… But let me tell you now, I don't want to see a single finger gun or magic bullets. A strong real gun user uses real bullets!
Doa puts her hands on her hip, she's annoyed now.
Doa: … It sounds like you're insulting me because I'm not a basic gun user! I'm gonna use magical bullets now just to piss you off.
Osora: …
Doa: If your goal was to get me to use real bullets, you screwed yourself over! I was gonna try my best to only use real bullets against you but now that you put my magical ones down, I realize I prefer using those.
Osora stares at her awkwardly.
Osora: … Is that so? Sorry then… I was just trying to rile you up. I didn't mean anything I said. Your bullets are probably better… I just really want you to use real bullets so maybe I can get you to become stronger. It's part of the training and lessons.
Doa: … Well, I don't want to use real bullets anymore.
Osora: I'm really sorry, please use the bullets for the sake of the training!
Doa: No.
Osora: It's literally part of the training, you have to use them!
Doa: I don't want the training anymore then!
Osora yawns.
Osora: .. Okay, well there goes your opportunity to learn from a Guardian.
Osora starts to walk away from her.
Doa sighs.
Doa: … Hey! Come back, I don't gain anything from hiding this from you so -
Osora stares back blankly.
Doa: … I can't use real bullets because I don't know how, I suck with them! I can never get them to land and all my skills just help my magical bullets be stronger. So at this point, I just prefer my magical bullets.
Osora: Oh.
…
Doa starts to explain every detail about her skills and how they affect her bullets to Osora, he listens attentively.
…
Osora holds onto his chin and nods.
Osora: I see what you mean, there's no point in training you to use real bullets.
Osora closes his eyes and starts thinking.
Osora: … I'm gonna have to train you and your use of magical bullets somehow. Or maybe I'll train your senses?
Osora pulls out a paper and pencil from a bag on his belt.
Osora: Let me write down some of this stuff.
…
Doa stares at him intensely, Osora gives her the paper, on it is a drawing of her and multiple guns and other stuff that she can't tell what is, she tilts her head in confusion and then looks back up at him.
Osora: So the weapons that are compatible with your magical bullets and Skills are, pistols, rifles, SMGs, shotguns, snipers, anything with standard ammo. No bombs or RPGs.
Doa nods her head.
Osora: Weapons boost your magical bullet's speed and strength, so hypothetically if you had a strong enough gun, the strength and speed of your bullet could seriously injure or even kill someone.
Doa nods her head.
Osora: You definitely need a place to store your weapons and an easy way to replace them as well. Actually scratch that, I have to burn into your brain to never lose or break your weapons.
Doa nods her head.
Osora: Your reaction time needs to be improved to the maximum, improved to the point where you can see sounds.
Doa nods her head slower that time.
Osora: Okay, let's start the extra training.
…
Doa, Minaro, and Osora are all standing together.
Osora: Minaro, that was your name right?
Minaro: Yeah.
Osora: Can you bring out the things I listed? please.
A rift appears beside Minaro, guns and gun holders drop out of it into a pile.
Osora: Sick
Doa bends over to pick everything up and starts quickly putting everything on.
Minaro and Osora stare at her as she looks at herself, she has small brown bags wrapped around her waist similar to Osora and guns in holders around her body held by straps.
Osora: Yeah, you look good! Like a real gun user, one who's survived hundreds of wars!
Doa looks over at Minaro to see his reaction to her but he's already walking away.
Osora: … How do you feel?
Doa struggles to stay up and is sweating a little.
Doa: I don't really like it, it's a little hard to move around honestly. It's heavy and I feel pretty stiff.
Doa glances at all the guns on her and then at her hands.
She starts to remember something.
…
A younger Doa is pulled into a restroom by a group of laughing boys. They pull her to the sink and hold her face in it then turn it on.
"Hurry up! Let's wash her."
"She smells like poop!"
"Jeez, I am never gonna get this close to her again!"
The water hits Doa's head, about 3 seconds later they pull her away from the sink, she bumps her head on the handle.
"Take her shirt off, we gotta clean her!"
"Stop moving so much!"
They start tugging on her clothes, Doa screams, and they quickly let go. She stumbles back far away from them and hits the wall.
"Hey, stop! We're trying to help you not smell bad!"
The boys laugh again.
Doa: S-stop. Leave me alone.
"Shower! And we would!"
The boys start to walk towards her, she points her finger at them like a gun and breathes heavily.
"Woah! you're gonna shoot us with your finger!? Oh no!"
The boys laugh obnoxiously hard.
Doa starts firing magical bullets that hit all the boys shutting them up almost instantly, she does it multiple times as the boys cry out for her to stop, eventually they all faint and fall on top of each other in a pile.
Doa starts crying.
"The teacher is gonna get mad at me again!"
…
Doa starts taking all the guns and bags off and dropping them on the floor.
Osora: … So what are you gonna do? We still need to find you a weapon.
Doa: No, we don't. I'm just gonna use the weapons I wanna use, a… Shotgun, and a… Pistol… Let's skip all of this gun stuff for now.
…
Doa and Osora stare at each other from across the battlefield, Doa holds her shotgun tightly, it's all black with a tint of red on it.
Osora: On 1, we start, remember we're testing your reaction time and stuff.
Doa nods.
Osora: 3, 2, 1!
Osora fires a shot that almost hits Doa in the foot but she moves it away.
Osora appears behind her and tries to grab her, Doa quickly squats and shoves her shotgun past her shoulder to shoot Osora.
Osora quickly dashes away and fires multiple bullets at Doa, she dodges them and starts firing from her fingers.
Osora is hit, Doa appears in front of him and fires her shotgun, Osora quickly moves his head and punches her in the stomach.
Osora: … Your reaction time has improved so fast!
Doa: It's because I've finally fully recovered from Iza's punch now.
Osora: … Ah. I'm gonna try harder now then!
Osora removes the band around his neck and ties it to his head, which pushes his hair up.
Osora hears something, he glances over at Liz who's yelling at him.
Liz: Hey! Don't forget I can't heal anymore! I'm very tired
Osora: … Right.
Osora takes the band off his head and ties it to his arm instead.
Osora: … Guess I can't shoot you, punching is all I can do.
A bullet is fired, Osora appears in front of Doa ready to throw a punch, Doa shoots his hand, Osora goes for a kick, As Doa tries to grab his leg, a bullet is fired and Osora appears on the opposite side of Doa and punches her in the face.
Doa staggers back, a bullet is fired, Doa quickly turns around and fires her shotgun, Osora who appears behind her, is hit, he jumps back.
Osora: You caught me that time.
Doa: … My eyes have adjusted to the fact that you use bullets to teleport.
Osora: Took you long enough to realize.
A bullet is fired, Osora appears on a different side of Doa.
Osora: I'll make sure your eyes will have to readjust again.
Multiple bullets are fired at the same time around Doa, she looks around, Osora appears in front of her and punches her in the face.
Doa starts remembering multiple things.
…
A younger doa is sitting in a classroom, all the desks are separated from her, and all the kids are having conversations away from her.
"That girl smells fucking horrible.
I'm surprised they let her come here." Says a male teacher in the room quietly.
"... Her parents must not care about her."
"We don't know her situation."
"Who cares about her situation?"
The kids in the room move their desks even farther, Doa ignores the sounds and continues to do her work.
…
15-year-old Doa is in a training room with Sumairu, Doa fires multiple magical bullets at a board with a target on it.
Sumairu: Doa, are you really going to stick with a gun? I think they're wonky, a sword or an axe, even a stick would fit you better.
Doa: I… like guns, they get the job done if you know how to use them, and they're pretty easy to use.
…
A younger Doa is sitting in an office, she looks embarrassed and holds onto her skirt nervously.
"What seems to be the problem?" Asks a well-dressed man, it was the principal of Doa's school.
A teacher in the room laughs nervously.
"Well, there have been a lot of kids asking us to suspend little Doa here, because of her smell."
"I understand why." Mutters the principal under his breath.
"I don't think we can keep her at this school any longer."
…
A younger Doa is walking down a path, she looks down at a pond and then sniffs herself. Then walks towards the lake and stops right before the pond, she scoops up the water and rubs her face, and then throws some on her head.
"Shower, please shower! Doa, shower! You stink, shower."
The lines from other students repeat in her head. And suddenly, her stomach rumbles and she starts to bawl.
…
Doa's flashbacks end as she lays on the floor, Osora walks toward her.
"... Have I gotten weaker, or has the world gotten stronger?"
"... It got stronger, the world got so much stronger."
"... Could I have beaten that green guardian girl without Maya's help? No… Definitely not!"
"... Why do I feel so weak? Is it my fault that I'm here, and that Rinka is gone?"
"... I'm gonna get stronger. I'm gonna get better. I swear I will."
Doa stands up, Osora throws another punch but stops because Doa drops her gun, he stares at her as she walks away.
Osora: Yo, I think your gun slipped.
Doa: Nah, I let it go… I don't wanna fight anymore.
Doa walks away from the battle.
Osora looks confused.
Osora: What?
Doa: I'm tired, I forfeit or whatever.
Osora: Um, alright.
Doa takes a seat next to Raskan and rests her head on her hand.
Mausho: Another forfeit.
Everyone is silent, at this point they are all too bored to even talk to each other.
Defei: It's time for the last match isn't it?
Kofron: Okay! I'm up. I almost forgot!
Defei glances around.
Minaro stands up and starts walking to the battlefield.
Kofron: … I'll make this quick so we can all finally leave and go do our things!
Kofron walks away and as he does Liz stands up and leaves, she enters the base.
TO BE CONTINUED…