A week passed since his arrival. Dr. Lianne, who's supposed to monitor Kevin, gave him an order to rest up and do whatever he wants whilst giving him money to do so. The young man though expected it would only last for a day, was wrong and immediately ran out of things to do, thus he sets out to the lower floors of their base.
"Maybe I should go to the training room today..." yearning to get off some sweat, Kevin said in his mind before setting his sights onto the training room. Kevin, arriving at its designated floor noticed three signs leading to each training room. One leading to the ranger's room and the other for physical training.
Obviously looking to get some exercise the man followed the path where the physical training room is. Opening the door, the room was almost empty except for one girl. Wielding a wooden sword, her hair moves smoothly with her steps as she strikes with her weapon consecutively. Taking a step forward, she hacks her sword upward before following pursuit with a barrage of slices, before she piercing through with her the sword.
"...this sword is too light." her serious expression vanished, only a hint of melancholy remains as she plays with the grip of the wooden sword.
Her eyes wander before finally facing Kevin, whose casually inspecting the training equipments. "I've never really saw one personally before...so this how it works." Kevin thought to himself as he tries out a spin bike.
"I didn't quite expect to see you here, Mr. Montefalco. I thought myself that you're always the bookworm." Appearing beside him was Hannah, wearing a matching lime green sports bra and bike shorts.
"Hello, Miss...Hannah?" Kevin stopped as soon as he heard her voice. "Hannah is fine. We're going to be a team anyway, might as well we get accustomed to it."
Kevin let out a small laugh, "It's alright to call me Kevin. When I entered I didn't quite notice you in here, so I was surprised to see you without taking notice of it."
"I suppose I am still changing when you came inside. That aside, I heard about your situation from--" Hannah who took notice of another person inside the room immediately jumped out and waved to call out to her.
"Ahh! It's Miss Roselia!! Miss Roselia, good afternoon! Come on, let's have you introduce yourself to her." Hannah then casually picked Kevin up and carried him onto the woman earlier. Panicking, Kevin struggled slightly before accepting his fate after realizing he can't escape her grip.
"That aside, this girl's basically speaking in exclamation marks." Kevin thought to himself after taking notice of her energetic personality.
"Miss Roselia! Here I introduce you our new teammate." Hannah placed Kevin back up like a life-sized figurine. The young man composed himself first before facing Roselia.
"And you are...?"
"Kevin Montefalco, Maam. I am the newly appointed Reaper in the 4th Division."
"I certainly heard the name, so you're the guy who survived an Anima burst. You're an interesting individual. My name's Roselia, I'm a good friend of Georgia and Hannah." Roselia reached out her hand and Kevin took it for a shake.
"It waa a pleasure meeting you, Miss Roselia."
"Uwah, you two are so formal! Mr. Montefalco, Miss Roselia here is the leader of the 1st squad. She was also one of the big three which only consists of A rank Reapers, the "Mystic Blade"." Hannah said.
"It is nothing much, the organization made it so to increase the Reapers' morale. Speaking of being formal, Kevin does remind me of Denise when we first met."
Roselia links her arms together and thinks for a moment. Then her eyes lit up, as if her light bulb was turned on.
"How about a little spar? You know, to test your skills." Roselia suggests as she soon heads on to the nearest shelves of training equipment. "Choose whatever weapon you feel like using!"
"Um...I've not exactly fought before so--" Kevin who's about to protest was tapped on the shoulders by Hannah. Her smile was the brightest as ever, but in Kevin's mind "She definitely planned this!!"
"A-ahem, I suppose it can be used as a necessary reference for my anima equip." Kevin said as he goes towards the weapon shelves, deciding which to use.
"I need to carefully think this through. Daggers although are light and allows me to be agile, has a weakness of short reach. Getting closer brings a lot of risks and I'm not confident either with my agility..." Kevin thought to himself and skipped the daggers, polearm and was only left to the section of blades. "At the end this is still where I end up with." Kevin muttered as he picks up his suited weaponry.
"Hmm, with that slender body of yours I thought you would choose the lighter ones. I hope this is just not your way of showing your sense of humor."
"Don't worry Miss Roselia, I think I know the concept behind this. I am certain I can put it to practice." Kevin answered as he holds the longsword with his both hands, with one hand with loose grip. Swinging his sword to test the weight, he affirmed that he can indeed handle it.
Walking onto an open space, Hannah stood there jumping around like a cheerleader as she roots for both teams. The two then exchanged their respects. Kevin was tensely holding his weapon unlike his calm partner. Hannah, noticing that neither will move without any signal, volunteered to do the honor.
"Ready..." with each second his heart beats louder.
"--fight!"
Kevin immediately charged as soon as Hannah shouts out the signal. Roselia, waited for Kevin to come closer. Anticipating that he would attack once he is in range, Roselia prepares herself to counter his attack, by misdirecting such a heavy attack and striking at his opening. Kevin got in range, he then took root on his position and prepared to swing as he bends his hips. Roselia, who was prepared to parry the attack.
"Seeing his stance, his most likely strike would be a swing to the left, quite the hard one to receive." Roselia then jumped back, before engaging in as soon as Kevin delivered his swing. However, using the momentum of the swing and following its weight, Kevin then followed with an attack from below, a strike upward from his sword that pushed Roselia back as she tries to block it.
Kevin then changed his grip and turned his body to strike again. But Roselia rushed to intercept him, striking him with a heavy blow from her sword.
"Hngg!!?", Kevin blocks the attack, yet staggers at the weight of both his weapon and her attack.
Roselia did not give him any chance to breathe and prepares to attack again. Thrusting her blade at an open spot, causing her to reach Kevin's stomach, inflicting small damage.
"It seems like you do have an idea on how to use that weapon." Roselia said to Kevin, the man smiled and answered "Only at that level unfortunately, there's still much more left to practice."
Roselia released a soft laugh, her expression loosened up and she held up her hands. "That should be good enough, I'm satisfied myself. Anymore than that and I would be ruining my name as an A-rank.", she jokingly said as she pats Kevin's shoulders and helped him up.. The windows outside then revealing the golden shine outside, a sign that the day will nearly end. Noticing this, Roselia approached Hannah.
"Hannah, let's have some coffee first at the cafe today. I bet you have a lot to tell me about." Roselia then bid farewell to Kevin as Hannah drags her off. Left alone, the lights inside turns on as the day went into its twilight. Kevin then sighed in relief. It wasn't as bad as he thought, although he speaks in his mind while clutching at his stomach. The strike definitely came from an enhanced human, he was fortunate it was blunt.
"Her strike was really heavy...but not only that, it came so suddenly." Kevin came to understood their difference from the fight. Another important thing he learned was that is his limits. "I only know the theory, yet had never applied it like this. I should look for someone to teach me."