Bus line 3O, it is the route she remembered, to the Admirer's lodge, to her home. The heat from the crowded bus doesn't seem to bother her as bad now. Maybe it's the ice tea working, maybe its because she took off her shawl, and put it around her waist to cover the pant she also took off.
What just happened keep on weighting in her mind, how miserable someone can be, how a pair of eyes became devoid of light.
But then, something woke herself up, waking her from stupor. It was her back, someone was caressing her barely covered back, slowly, from her waist to her nape.
It wasn't strange, for the crowded passenger to touch each other due to the bus rocking around. It was also expected that her get up made her more susceptible to skin contact.
Skin contact to her bare back was considered as inevitable, but the motion of slowly caressing her back upwards toward her neck was, chilling. If it wasn't for her gag, she would have uttered a moan.
Aware of her surrounding, she snapped out of it, and turned around.
"So, you up for noodles now?" It was Arjun.
Seeing familiar face relieved her, but what he just did can't be justified.
"What were you doing, to me?" Sayyea asked, irritated.
"If I see a fine linen, is it wrong if I want to feel its texture, feel how fine it is?"
"But, I know, it is wrong, sorry, i just can't help myself. So you still up for the noods?" Arjun asked while tilting his head to the left.
"You want to see me nude? I'm sorry, I haven't made any admirers exclusive account yet, maybe later. Oh, you mean noods as in noodles." Sayyea chortled.
"Sorry, maybe next time, I'm all sweaty, and knee's weak. And I bought chicken!" Sayyea said as she lifted a bag with her dinner inside.
"Guess we'll talk later, over free meal at the lodge. Unfortunately, it's back to vegetable soup, no meat. So, you mind turning around again?" Arjun said, smiling.
He was always seen with a cardigan akin of a lab coat, white in colour. But this time it seemed to be more formal.
"You work at the lab? You didn't look like you suit hero work, skinny boy." Sayyea said teasingly.
"Well, yeah, but no. I am an engineer, but I have field permission when I want to do some, defensive duty. Not, just preventing, strolling aimlessly." Arjun's eyes turned sharper.
"If I remember correctly, we have a field at the lodge, we'll settle it there, boy."
"You're on, you are allowed to use any kind of weaponry. No, it's not chivalry, you see, I'm nothing but bones, so I need some hefty apparatus to stop my adversaries." He said menacingly.
"About time we moved on to the next welcome party." A bald men with a gas mask walked in on them.
"Oh, Breath. Thank you for this morning, your help was much, appreciated." Said Sayyea somewhat, offensive.
Breath doesn't say anything, but his eyes hinted that he made a big grin, showing great pleasure knowing what he did had "helped" his junior.
"No, Yeri. Don't pick a fight with him, he's kinda wrong in the head." Arjun stepped in between the two.
"And what's with the get up, girl. You trying to catch a pervert? Or are you one yourself?" Arjun chided her.
"It's not your business, even my father never questions my sense of fashion. Oh, you don't seem to know it, do you?"
"Careful now, remember who gave you that mask this morning? I guess you really needed a warm welcome." Arjun spoke back.
As the bus had stopped on terminal 3O, they proceeded to step out of the bus. But, to get to the lodge they have to step down from the terminal atop the flyover.
"We are here, I'll gather the boys. Arjun, ask for the boss's permission to use the gym." Breath moved fast, only leaving dusts behind. He skipped the stairs, jumping down with smokes breaking his fall.
"You ready, little girl?" Arjun teased.
"Are you sure you're an engineer? Can't you measure our height differences? Oh, it seems like you are compensating for something." Yeri said as she walked past Arjun while bumping shoulders.
The room behind the kitchen had stairs, one leading upstairs and one downstairs. At exactly a level lower than the kitchen, there was a wide opening, with gym equipment on the side, and an octagon in the middle.
"Alright, step up you two. And remember, what happens on the ring, stays on the ring. Yeri, you sure you only need those pair of gloves?" Mr. Heller acting as referee was explaining the rules.
"No excessive force, usage of your unique ability are permitted, weaponry are permitted, but no ground fighting. Those downed will be given ten counts to get up, otherwise you lose. Are we clear?"
"And kids, no betting." Heller added. Then some grumbles between the one not participating was heard.
Yeri stepped on the octagon, with the clothing she wore before, minus the shawl and cargo pants. At a glance, one can tell that she was accustomed to hand to hand combat.
On the other side, Arjun stepped in with tank top and quarter pants. Wielding buckler and rubber flail.
With the buckler up front, his stance gave the idea that he was trying to cover his opponent's field of view with the buckler.
And it begins as the two had done the ceremonial fist bumps.
Yeri ducked, closing in fast with her body lowered.
Arjun reacted with blocking Yeri's eyes with his buckler, while swinging his flail targeting her side.
"Stay!" Yeri yelled.
A moment of pause was enough, Yeri was inside Arjun's defence, with body blow ready to come in contact.
But what she just overlooked was that the flail was already swung, no matter how she stopped Arjun mid swing.
It hit her back, the resulting force made her body blow hitting too far inside, making her punch became no more than a shove.
Getting his control back after being shoved, Arjun swung his flail.
Unable to guess the direction he swung, due to the buckler, Yeri decided to take a step back, all the way to the octagon's chain wall.
Hitting nothing but air, Arjun pulled back his stance.
Feeling irritated that the opponent was harder than she thought, Yeri let out a high tone from her clenched teeth.
*Shiiiinggg* a loud ringing voice was heard all around the gym. Making Jade closed her ears.
It was but a moment, Yeri was at the other side of the octagon, but she suddenly closes in from Arjun's left side. No less, with a right straight, forming what was called a superman punch.
Startled, Arjun desperately tried to parry her punch to the side. While swinging his flail in downward motion.
Knowing that her punch was deflected, she used the remaining force from her dash, to do a flying knee to the body.
And it hit, a double hit. As the flail that was swung downward resulted in the ball launching down hitting her behind the neck.
It resulted in double knockdown.
1..2..3..4..5..6
Arjun stood up sooner.
At the count of 8, Yeri float up with a low tone sung in whispers.
Feeling that he can't play around further, Arjun spun his flail fast and charged in aggressively.
"Miss! Miss! Miss!" Yeri said as she kept on dodging the rubber ball. Arjun's moments of pause made it easier to deduct the trajectory of the flail's ball.
As she saw an opening from below, she struck Arjun's outer leg with a sweeping kick. Then yelled at the same time: "Kneel!"
Before he fall, he used the momentum from her kick to launch his kicked leg, sharply to Yeri's lower stomach.
*Thud* a dull voice was produced by the impact.
As Yeri was about to go down, she reached her hand desperately towards Arjun's face.
"Realm collapse." She said spontaneously.
Arjun doesn't know what hit him, but his vision turned black, and he can't feel anything, but the cold. And he heard nothing, but a loud silence.
He wished he fainted instead, but he's awake, unable to process anything. He can't remember anything hitting him. He doesn't even know if he's standing or laying down, he doesn't even know where up and down is. And it felt like, closing his eyes will be the easy way out.
After what felt like an eternity, he heard a voice, sweet just like how his mother had woken him up every morning in his childhood.
"Wake up!" Yeri's sound was echoing in his head.
Then he wake up, laid down side by side with Yeri laying on her stomach. Touching his hand.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that! Are you okay? You didn't see anything, right? Can you feel your legs? Hands? Please say something" Yeri said as she tried to sit up and holding her opponent's head to straighten it.
"Heh." Arjun chuckled. "So you can make such caring face, you looked better this way. And laying my head on your lap? I see this as a win."
"Dirty scallops, who won then?" Jade cursed at the ref.
"As I said, no betting." Mr. Heller acting as the ref chided her.
"Well, it seemed that the fight was deemed, void, as we got ourselves a soap opera instead." Mr. Heller announced.
"And Arjun, stop taking advantage of the situation." Mr. Heller added as he saw Arjun wiping Yeri's eyes.
Both fighter was able to go down from the octagon by themselves, so further medical check ups was deemed unnecessary.
During dinner, after both fighters were done washing themselves. Bridge and Jade was reviewing their fight.
"Arjun, man. You wielded those flail better now, if you just used your tricked up balls, you would have her wrapped already." Bridge said while talking Arjun up.
"No, if she were to notice the ball tricks, she would have rushed in quick and stunned him before he knows it. If, she didn't underestimate him. See what I mean? She's the better pick." Jade said not wanting to lose.
As the two blockheads was arguing, Yeri approached Arjun.
"Hey, come to my room tonight."
The kitchen was rowdy, now became still.