"Goodbye, Maxim!"
waking up abruptly and opening my eyes, I immediately squeezed my eyes shut. I was in pain. It was a bad dream. My daughter, who grew up and entered the institute. My wife crying over our wedding photo.
"Goodbye, Maxim!"
And I was doubly hurt by the realization that came out of nowhere that I would not see such dreams again.
"Goodbye, my love!"
God, how I want to cling to the throat of that creature, because of which I lost my family. But that's not possible. It's not even a natural disaster, it's something more... powerful. And the unattainable. I can only get angry, burn with hatred and restrain it in myself. Because there is simply no one to vent his anger on.
"Okay, Maximka, inhale and exhale. I need to calm down, otherwise I'll just go crazy over time."
The door swung open sharply, thank God, unclosed, revealed to my gaze an incomparable Tire. Standing, by the way, in a defensive stance, most similar to kokutsu-dachi from karate. Carefully, taking small steps into the room and examining it, she relaxed a little. To be honest, I even forgot to get angry, I was so surprised. Who was she going to fight in
my
bedroom?
— Who was here?
I clearly don't understand something.
— My erotic dreams. Before you barged in here, of course.
— And I, then, do not pull on erotic dreams?
The tension in the voice is still felt. What's going on here, anyway?
Looking around the room, purely for prevention, suddenly I really didn't notice something, I stared at the Tire again.
— Maybe you can explain to me what's going on here? I asked, nodding at the door.
"Are you sure there was no one in this very room before I arrived?" — I don't understand what's wrong with her, but it's probably better to pass the back one.
"It was you who woke me up. Is the hint clear?
I don't know how to explain it, but I got the impression that the Tire, already ready to relax, had picked up again. Briskly running around the room and making sure that there was no one here, she came up to me.
—So, Shinji," she said in a serious voice, "now you're getting ready quickly, very quickly, and we're going for a run with you.
That's because I don't even know whether to be indignant or not to be indignant. This... childhood friend is clearly worried about something. And for some reason she is sure that someone was in my room while I was sleeping. And this is unlikely, to put it bluntly, I am sure of the opposite. If someone did not understand, let me remind you - the Absolute and all that. In short, I do not understand what is happening, but I think I will temporarily go along with this alarmist.
Thinking along these lines, I slowly got out of bed. — Oh-oh, Shinz-z-z-i-i-I. You could have thrown a blanket over yourself! — And why doesn't she like my boxers?
— You could have turned away. Probably not in my bedroom. — Oh, those blushing girls. Flying out of the room like an arrow.
I ran the first lap around the block alone. Sheena mumbled some ridiculous excuse and went home. Actually, a witcher of my level, as well as a level below, needs training infrequently. In theory, it is not needed at all. But if you deprive yourself of training, then your level of development will stop. In theory, the Absolute doesn't care about it, but it's only in theory. In practice, I do not know a witcher who has reached his limit, development is ongoing, and there are no limits to perfection. And given the specifics of my work, both in my native world, and, in fact, here, even crumbs of skill, meager improvements can cost lives.
And Sheena doesn't seem to understand this, she's been running from case to case for a year now. Apparently, he does not catch up that even such nonsense as running is some kind of increase in strength. I don't say anything about the rest of her family at all, with the exception of Mizuki, who runs always and wherever possible, I haven't seen anyone else from Koyama training. This, of course, does not mean anything, I do not follow them, but nevertheless…
However, I don't pay attention to such things, first of all, I don't care. Secondly— bahir. This cursed energy, which, as they say, is spilled in the air, invisible, but quite real, confuses all my knowledge and experience. Maybe at a certain level they don't need to train body physics at all. The fact that bahir can strengthen the body is a fact that I have learned in practice. From a punch with which I will tear all the insides to shreds to an ordinary person, the Veteran will simply crumple, and after a couple of seconds, sometimes less, he will be ready to fight again. Damn monsters. It's good that I have different blows, both in strength and in purpose.
When I was just starting to recover, I often thought about starting to master bahir. Even not so, I quite specifically aimed at studying local martial arts in addition to my own powers. I hoped to weave everything together, the witcher's capabilities and the capabilities of the locals, and then become superman. As a result, Maxim broke off. Sheena's father helped me feel the bahir, absorb it, and even light a small flame in the palm of my hand. And after that, I also admired how quickly everything turned out for me. Two hours, as Akeno said, is very, well, just
very
good. That's just when I got home, I realized that I couldn't do anything with my witchcraft abilities. And for two whole days I felt like a very ordinary man in the street. M-yes, I remember my panic now. Brr, in figs, in figs.
That's how I had to make a choice. Either a one-hundred-percent restoration of what I had, or vague, but in theory stronger abilities of the bahir user. Despite the fact that I, with a high probability, may not become a virtuoso. Well, you already know that my choice made me a Patriarch.
— And you, I see, are not out of breath at all? Well done! So, you'll run an extra lap with me, and at the same time I'll make up for the missed one.
Heh, bitch. I haven't run with her for a long time. That's just me, unlike her, for six months now I've been running not for the number of laps, but for the time. Half an hour, and even though the grass does not grow. At my pace, I run a little less than ten kilometers, the Tire distance is fifteen five—hundred-meter laps. Well, since we are running together and at the same speed, I somehow completely parallel for one extra lap of it. And even two. I'm running longer and further anyway. I even wonder if she will continue to train with me or will she turn on the back?
I didn't turn it on. She just squinted at me until the end of the run. And already at our houses she decided to ask me a question.
— A…
—Time," I interrupted her, tapping the clock on my left hand.
— I'm running for a while. Half an hour of jogging — and home.
— Mm, I see. More precisely, it is unclear. Since when do you run like that?
— What's the tone, Shin-san? Did I promise someone something? I run as I want. When was the last time you did it yourself?
— Pf. I'll meet you at school.
After following her with a careful look to the gate, she would have to come back and break into my house on my own shoulders, I went to take a shower.
By the way, I'd like to find out from her how she even got into me this morning.
On the way to school, Mizuki caught up with me and, catching up with me, walked beside me. It's already interesting.
"Are you walking or am I running?" I feigned surprise.
— Come on, this run, there's something to run… I'll only sweat.
"The women of the Koyama clan don't sweat," I said. What earned a suspicious look.
— You sound just like Mom. — Oh, how. "To hear you say it, the women of the Koyama clan aren't human at all.
"Well, they're not people," I raised my index finger. "They're superhumans.
— You're kidding, right? "What is it?" she asked suspiciously.
"They're also very smart," I smiled.
— Ha! I, since the conversation about guesswork came up, have a question.
— Well, let's cut from the shoulder.
— Is it true that you can produce a Yaki that can even penetrate a tire?
Ah, "I-a-aki", that's what it is. Unsuccessfully she came to me in the morning, and I'm good.
— What makes you think that?
In response, she lowered her gaze, hesitated and sighed heavily a couple of times.
— I overheard my father and grandfather discussing today's incident.
— The tire, as I understand it? And what did she do?
—You don't know."
—I guess," I said, grinning. — But it would be nice to know what it looked like for you.
— Turmoil. Sheena raised the whole house with screams that someone had climbed up to you. We didn't even realize right away that this someone else had managed to escape. At the same time, she did not even see this intruder, only felt the "frenzied concentration of the yaki." These are her words.
— And of course, they checked my house while we were jogging.
— I don't know, maybe. Only my grandfather and father doubt that you had someone, and think that it was you who "yaki" pressed on her. Like, you're tired of her going to your house like she goes to her own.
M-yes, pale. And Sheena didn't even guess. It could have been worse in fact, but... oh well, in the end. The very fact that I use "yaks" is probably not news to them, it remains to smooth out the force of the impact itself. And Mizuki will help me in this. Otherwise, I doubt very much that these two monsters didn't notice how she was eavesdropping. So either they sent her to me in a special way, or then the great Kagami herself will find out everything from her daughter.
— I had a bad dream, and then the Tire broke into the house. So I threw out my irritation.
— What an annoyance, even if the sister was scared!
Oh, this is my worship of ranks.
"What's that got to do with me?" This little sister grew up in your greenhouse. And all the same, Teacher! If she was really scared, she wouldn't have come into my room.
— You shouldn't have done that, she always took care of you. — Yes, oddly enough. — You are her forever annoying younger brother who needs to be taken care of.
How low I've fallen. Little brother!
"Well, she's been annoying me a lot lately, too.
In response, Mizuki only sighed, and after a few meters puzzled:
— As long as I remember her, she always wanted a younger brother. So that there would be someone to take care of, someone to raise, who would become the heir of the clan, in the end. The title of heiress always bothered her. In this regard, you were completely suitable for her, except for the heir, of course. And on the other hand, you're weak, I'm sorry. And a weak man is... you know. So he rushes. It seems like I want to sing a lullaby, but it's inappropriate, after all, a man. It would seem that he himself does not want to study, but is this possible: a man is a weakling.