"I'll be back soon." Charlotte embraces me for a few more moments before finally letting go.
Even though I've accepted it, I still would've preferred if I could go with her, but if I'm just going to hold her back and make her job harder, then I understand.
"Stay safe!"
"Mhmm! Will do~"
Seeing her off from the front door, I mimic the same action she's doing, waving out her hand as she closes the car door.
Lisa and I continue to wait out by the front door as we watch her slowly drives off. The further she gets, the heavier my body feels as I find it hard to hold this smile of mine up any longer. And by the time she was no longer in sight.
"Hahh..." I finally dropped my hand down in sync with my smile.
"It's alright." Lisa places a hand on my shoulder as she responds in a soft manner. "She'll be fine."
"You're not afraid?"
"Of course I worry about her. I see her as a little sister. If I could, I'd prefer going out there and helping her as well."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Pfft. Well, I can't have you waiting here all by yourself now can I?" She shoots me a smile that makes my body feel ever so lighter.
We end up walking back inside, closing the door behind us as we walk back over to the table, Lisa tidying up the left over documents, but all I have on my mind is what Charlotte must be doing right now. I know she's still driving, but I can't help but feel anxious in not knowing anything. What if she got ambushed again? What if I never get to see her again? I feel a little stupid to be worried like this, but Charlotte is the one that saved me from that place... I don't want anything bad happening to her.
"Okay!~" Suddenly, Lisa raises her voice, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Let's get started."
"Huh?" Confused, I tilt my head, puzzled at what Lisa means.
"Come on. Let's go out the back."
We end up moving out back, the same place where Charlotte and I tend to go to relax; the meadow. But seeing Lisa begin moving her arms and legs around, twisting and arching her body, I somehow get the feeling that we're not here to relax.
"Come on. It's important to stretch your body before exercise."
"O-okay?"
"Here, just copy me."
I end up copying Lisa as she says, bending my body to the side, but when I see Lisa touch her toes without bending her legs, I find it almost impossible for me to even come close to doing it.
"Don't worry. Just stretch until you feel a bit of a burning feeling."
"Okay."
I do as I say and push my body harder. It was then that I felt the 'burn' that Lisa mentioned. It's not all too painful, nothing like when I was in the white room, so I was able to follow Lisa's stretches quite easily to an extent.
"Uhm, Lisa?"
"Hmm?"
"Why are we doing this?"
"I'll be teaching you how to fight. At least a little so you can defend yourself against most."
Defend myself... Wait, could it be that Lisa wanted me to stay back so that she can teach me how to protect myself? So that I don't have to hold Charlotte back?
"This'll also serve as an experiment as well."
"Huh? Experiment?"
"Well, when your body is under threat, your body will instinctively try and produce more mana. It's probably one of the main reasons why your mana was so volatile for so long."
"Wait, so that's why I killed all those people?"
"Correct, well, a part of it. But it most certainly didn't help that your body was subjected to all that pain for all these years."
It's all starting to come together now... So because of that mask, I couldn't use all the built up mana that my body was producing, leading for it to be even more hostile... I always thought that I was just born like this, so to hear that I was practically created this way puts me at ease. Being able to look at Lisa now without any mask... I'm glad...
"Alright, enough talking though. Let's begin."
"Y-yes!"
"We'll start by you attacking me with your fists. Try and hit me wherever you can."
"Wait, hit you?"
"Yes. Don't worry, just trust me."
I hesitate for a few moments but end up going along with Lisa. I'll just make sure to not use all of my strength just in case.
And so, I move up closer to Lisa before trying to punch towards her chest. Only instead of seeing and feeling my fist make contact with her chest, miraculously, in a blink of an eye, I find myself looking up into the blue sky, and in the next moment, I felt a sudden pain spread all around the back of my head as my body crashes onto the ground; grass tickling my cheeks.
"Hehe. Nice attempt, but you need to be faster than that." Sitting up, I see Lisa towering above me, a devilish smile plastered on her face. "One more time."
Getting up from the ground, I do as she says as I try and hit her once more, only this time, she deflected my blow, flinging my arm off to the side before grabbing it. In the same moment, she steps in closer, sweeping my legs up from under me as I once again see the sky once more as a feeling of weightlessness overcomes me. Is that what happened just before? But as I pondered that, the familiar pain rang at the back of my head once more as I crash into the ground.
"You saw that, right?"
"Y-yes... I think." Sitting up once more, Lisa offers a hand, helping me stand back up.
"Sorry, hehe. I just wanted to give you a little taste before I delve into the basics."
"It's okay." It wasn't all too painful anyways.
"Okay, then let's continue."
"Yes!"