"Here you go, Mr. Tofunami," she said nonchalantly.
As she handed me the wooden sword, I felt anger slightly rise up.
"What am I supposed to do with this…?" I mumbled to myself.
"What are you supposed to do? Hit your adversaries, obviously. Your skill is 'Steal,' so you may need to just steal stuff, not kill. Maybe you'll be good for going into the Demon Lands."
Demon Lands…?
"However, wouldn't that also mean I should have, like, a real sword, just in case I get into a fight to the death?" I said, nervously moving around the wooden sword with my gestures.
"Well, that's why you're going to learn how to use this sword, so when that scenario comes around, you won't have to kill, but only knock them unconscious." Shalm said, giving a smirk.
There's no point in arguing, is there?
I thought before I gave up.
*
"Okay, everybody. Now that you've got your own weapons, it's time for you to try and learn how to use them. First off, let's start off with the easiest—Mr. Tofunami, please come up here." Shalm said. She faced her head toward me and waved her hand, ushering me to move over to where she was.
I hesitantly moved to her.
Shalm raised her first in the air, in a fighting stance. She looked like she was ready to fight someone. Apparently, I was the opponent.
This is a common trope… I'm gonna get beat up as an example, huh?
I thought, holding my wooden sword in the only stance I thought I knew. I completely butchered it. It felt like my hand was gonna burst.
Shalm smiled at me, almost in a pitied way. I would've done the same thing.
With both of us standing ten feet away from each other, we both carefully watched one another. I was staring near the middle of her body, where her legs were. I was making sure that neither her arms or legs moved.
After five minutes of pure silence between us two, and the rest of the class, Shalm jolted in my direction. She didn't seem to put up any guard as she got closer.
She hastily got to where I stood and quickly threw a punch at my abdomen. Pain erupted throughout my whole body. I couldn't breathe. My vision went pitch black.
I laid on the floor, gasping for air that burned once entering.
I stood up. My vision was blurred, but I could faintly see the silhouette of Shalm. So, like an idiot, I charged at her and thrusted down my blood on top of her head.
"Mr. Tofunami! What are you doing?!" Shalm said from my left. "Mr. Kazuma, are you okay?!"
My vision cleared and I could see what happened. Riku Kazuma laid on the ground, bits of blood oozed out of his head. His eyes were shut.
"Mr. Tofunami, why did you hit Mr. Kazuma?!" Shalm said, anger in her voice.
"..."
I couldn't say anything.
*
Kazuma was taken to the infirmary after my attack on him. I explained what had happened, and Shalm forgave me. After she gave me a hesitant look, though.
I'm not sure Kazuma will forgive me…
I shivered at the thought of being his enemy.
In the middle of my thinking, I accidentally bumped into someone. I looked up and saw Kazata Moshi, his eyes glared at me.
"…Sorry," I exclaimed. "I didn't mean to bump into you."
"It's whatever," Kazata said. He walked to his room and slammed his door shut.
Today has been utter crap…
*
Hours later, I laid in my bed. My eyes wandered to the ceiling as I started to remember my past life—the life that I had before entering the king's castle. I closed my eyes and went to sleep. I didn't want to remember anymore.
"Yuu," a distant voice called out. The childish tone to it echoed throughout my mind. "Wake up, Yuu!"
"I'm up, I'm up," I said with a yawn.
The girl who had woken me up was my sister, Yukon Tofunami. She had bright yellow hair, which was a contrast to my dark-black hair. Her eyes were stained with blue, different from mine, as well.
Even though she was my biological sister, we had different mothers. A mother that we had not seen past Yukon being born.
"Can you leave for a second," I asked in a groggy voice. "I gotta change my clothes."
"Yep," she exclaimed. She left the room, and I put my school uniform on. I left the room to see her sitting still, at the doorway. She was looking up at me, her eyes as dead as fish.
"…What's wrong, Yukon…?" I hesitantly asked her, crouching over to look at her eyes more thoroughly.
With a moment of silence, she said, "Why did you leave me, brother?"
"What?" I stood up and backed up against my door, "What do you mean?"
"You suddenly disappeared… Why aren't you here anymore?"
A migraine erupted from inside my head, it was painful. "What's happening…?"
"Aah!"
I flew out from under my bed's sheets. The dark room filled throughout my vision, only being lit up by the midnight sky.
"What just happened…?" My breath was heavy and rampant. I couldn't control it.
*
A knock on the door came. The door was opened immediately with a man in, what looked like metallic armor.
"Is everything alright in here, sir," he asked, his face shielded by the mask.
I took a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for worrying…"
The door shut without hesitation, and I was alone with my thoughts, once again. But, instead of staying awake, because of the nightmare I had, I fell asleep.
There was a sense of drowsiness throughout my room, one that I couldn't fight against.
"Goodbye, Tofunami," a voice said right as I was about to fall unconscious.