Kimura's head jerks back a bit from it as he picks up whatever she threw at him. He looked at it to see it was a cute plushie, He tilted his head to the side a bit to look at Ayameko, raising an eyebrow. Ayameko was already looking away, still a bit angry at Kimura laughing at her.
Kimura chuckled a little as he got up and walked over hovering over her shoulder, "Alright, let's try this one last time." Kimura said a bit seriously as Ayameko looked at him, silently nodding a bit as she clicked Yes.
Instead of laughing at her failures, Kimura began to give her tips and little and simple tricks for her to try out. Within a couple of minutes that would have taken her hours, she finished the first mission with flying colors this time.
***
The Dusk soon became dawn as Kimura was back at the academy once more, standing at the rooftop of the boys' dormitories. Again, like before, Kimura was working on a simple yet effective combination from a recording.
One…One…Two…
Slip…Knee…
Elbow into the spine…
Kimura practiced that combination as he used shadow boxing to see if he could pull it off. He takes a deep breath as he begins to relax, closing his eyes momentarily as he imagined his opponent, this imaginary opponent being enraged Kumiko.
Examine…note…strike…
Kimura opens his eyes as he keeps the imaginary opponent in-front of him slipping underneath a wide swing and socking the imaginary jaw of Kumiko. Taking the initiative, Kimura then throws two right jabs before smashing her face in with a left, predicting the lash out he slips under the wild left swing before smashing his knee into the imaginary Abdomen.
Looking at them stumble Kimura then wastes no time as he raises his arm up and slams his elbow to where the spine would be. He lets out a breath of air as he stops his training session, seeing a phone call from his sister Kiriko.
"What is it?" He picks up answering the call.
"Dad called me to call you to see if you're still alive."
"Again? Why doesn't he just call me directly?" Kimura begins pacing back and forth.
"Remember, you left abruptly, so he's still taking time to consider it."
"Doesn't he have all our phone numbers on his phone?" Kimura questions Kiriko.
"Don't you ever take the chance to call any of us?" Kiriko snaps back nonchalantly.
"Fair enough, but still, if he wants to call me, he could just call me directly. I've calmed down after that argument." Kimura sighs a bit.
"Listen, just, go make it up to him or something. Just don't fuck it up."
"I was until you called, I was gonna call him tomorrow to thank him for the recordings."
"What recordings?" Kiriko said curiously.
"The one of mom's teachings?" Kimura commented.
"..."
"What?" Kimura asked a bit nervous by the radio silence.
"…Where did you get those?" Kiriko suddenly spoke.
"Uh, his phone? Why?" Kimura questioned curiously.
"You went through his phone, dug through his personal shit JUST to learn to fight better?!?" Kiriko was obviously angry on the other side.
"I-"
"Not only that!" Kiriko cuts Kimura off before he could say something, "You had the fucking balls to COPY the files onto your phone! Don't you know how valuable those fucking recordings are to dad!!" She shouted at over the phone Kimura for his actions.
"OK I GET IT!" He shouts.
"Look- I didn't mean to copy them just for that…" Kimura sighs, "-I just want to help find mom too…"
"…We know how much you want to help but after the Ishimura Incident we can't just let you help…You were too young to realize it…"
"…Like you were any better…"
"AT LEAST I TRIED…!" Kiriko sighs briefly, "…Just let me handle the case alright, you're still in school and I don't want you getting into fucking trouble over family mishaps…"
"You still have a bright future Makoto…Don't waste it alright…promise your sister that."
"…fine. Just…tell mom I said I miss her when you find her…" Makoto told Kiriko.
"Yeah yeah, I'll tell dad that you're still kickin' too."
"Alright…" Kimura chuckled a bit.
"Later." Both replied at the same time as Kimura hung up.
Kimura looks at his phone as he turns it off, putting it in his pocket as he looks over at the setting sun over Valor City's tallest buildings. I wish you guys were here to see it…You two would have been awing the sight… Kimura softly smiled staring at the sunset for a moment.
As the night began to rise, Kimura walked out of the academy building carrying a couple of papers in his hand. He puts those papers in a yellow folder as he looks across the fountain, seeing a person standing there waving.
Kimura walked around the fountain as he began heading to the figure, upon getting closer he saw it was Asuka, lightly waving as he got closer.
"What do you want." Kimura asked in a colder tone.
"I-I just came to talk to y-you." She stuttered on some words.
"Why? You brought an illegal-"
"T-That's what I-I'm here to talk about…" She interrupted Kimura.
"Huh?" Kimura was now confused.
"L-Let's go for a l-little walk K-Kimura." She smiled at him softly.
"…My better instincts tell me no…but okay." Kimura reluctantly agrees.
Kimura then walked towards Asuka as she turned around, beginning to walk a bit as Kimura quickly caught up to her side, both walking out of academy grounds as they take a left turn right outside the academy gates. Their walking styles were also different as Kimura walked with his hands in his pockets as Asuka walked with her hands behind her back, a small and soft smile on her face throughout their walk.
"So, why did you bring the illegal item into my academy?"
"M-My job i-is to drop stuff off f-for other people…student or a-adults alike…"
"So, you're telling me someone ordered it?" Kimura looked at her.
"Y-Yeah…t-their names a-anonymous…" Asuka nodded lightly.
"Great…that gives us another problem to look into…"
"S-sorry…"
"Huh?"
"S-Sorry…f-for causing a-all of this mess…" She firmly apologizes with her soft toned voice.
Kimura looked at her as she looked down towards the ground while we walked, stopping at a lamppost on a corner turn. Kimura began to piece it together in his head as he sighed briefly.
"It's not your fault."
"H-Huh…?" Asuka slightly looked up at Kimura.
"You were just doing your job. We can't blame you for doing your job." Kimura reassured her.
"R-Really…?" She said with a little more confidence.
"Yeah. I thought you had ill-intent…but you're just a person doing their best to survive. I respect that."
"..." Asuka stared at him a bit astonished.
Before he could mutter another word out, Asuka lunged at him, hugging Kimura as he raised his arms up a bit surprised. Kimura looked down at her since he didn't know what to do. She had a firm grip around his abdomen as she sheds a bit of tears from her eyes. Kimura barley noticed her tears soaking into his shirt as this means there's more to her than just doing a job, however he couldn't do anything right now.
Hesitantly, he lowers his hand to her head, lightly patting her on the head, the lamppost light beaming down upon them as the cars drive past without a second thought. For the first time, Kimura lets down his guard completely, being vulnerable in this singular moment.