Chapter 25

Today our 'classroom' are fields for our weapons. So we won't have class together. And now I have to un-glue Anna, clinging to me because she doesn't want to leave my side. She's sprawled over my right side, her arms around my waist and fake bawling. My face is a mix of embarrassement, because of course she did that outside our dorm, and fond exasperation.

"Anna. Get off. Look, Eliza is perfectly fine." I say as I point at Eliza beside us.

"Noooo! Let me come with youuuu! I don't care about classes!" Anna answer, whining.

Meanwhile Eliza is barely restraining her laughter behind one hand, her shoulders shaking. I sigh. There would be absolutely no point in her coming with me. She's a staff user, not a sword user. Unless she's trying to apply sword-swinging to her staff..

I try to push her shoulders to peel her off me and she surprisingly let go without much fuss. I narrow my eyes at her, ears flat against my head. Smells off. She's preparing something, I'm sure of it. And I'm right. She leans toward my ears.

"Then later I'll try out if your blood taste better elsewhere" She whisper mischievously, sending a shudder down my spine.

"W-wha.. What do you mean? Also stop whispering right into my ears!" My voice crack for a second before I can steady it. She knows what that can do to me.

"Your tongue was very tasty. But I wonder how your ears taste." She ignored me, still whispering in my ears.

"Hum... I'm not sure you will appreciate the fur in your mouth.."

Well, actually that should be fine. I haven't see any shed fur since I changed into a foxgirl. So she shouldn't have problem with that.

I'm still not sure about that idea though!

If just a nibble can make me shudder like that... I don't want to imagine a vampire bite.

"Anyway that's a no on the ears! I don't know what's the goal, but stop targeting my ears" I say sternly, narrowing my eyes at her. "And don't you start too Eliza!"

It's a lie, I can kind of understand what they are trying to accomplish. And it's not something I'm ready for at all. Ignoring the fact that it's not been long since I'm a girl, I don't regret that at all and I don't miss being a guy. I still don't agree I deserve them. Yes, they do shower me with as much love as they can. Yes, I do love them. But there's better for them.

"I said and did nothing! Yet." Eliza threw her hands up with exaggeration, a smile hanging on her lips.

"Yet. And yesterday?" This time I narrow my eyes at her.

"Hm? I don't recall anything specific? Pray tell, what are you talking about?" Eliza answer, her face the very definition of innocence.

I just pinch my nose, a deep sigh escaping my lips. These girls will be the death of me one day. Death by embarrassement would be... Well, embarrassing.

"Let's go now girls. We'll be late with your shenanigans." I say with a heavy sigh, walking toward the fields for our next classes.

Of course both giggle before they follow me.

When we arrive where we have to separate, they each kiss me with a 'see you tonight', sending my tail in a swishing frenzy, warming my face. My heart flipping in my chest.

They ambushed me again! And I can't complain much with how nice it feels! Ugh.

They are unrepentant of course and they just go to their own fields. I shake my head and ignore the stares around me as I practically flee toward the next class.

When I finally reach the field, I notice I'm among the last. If Anna didn't take this much time to get of me, I wouldn't be last. I take a little moment to look at the other students since they already summoned their swords, I'm pretty curious who has what.

I can see various types. Some have a classic straight one handed sword, some others have greatswords. I see Katanas too. I'm surprised. I thought the Academy would separate the different sword wielders. Each type needs a different way to wield after all.

"Alright you little shit! Welcome to my class! I'm your instructor Gemma! I hope you are ready to suffer!"

The booming voice ringing suddenly belong to a very tall and very muscular woman that somehow appeared in front of us just now. She seems pretty proud of her muscles since she's only wearing training shorts and a sports bra. I lift one eyebrow in surprise.

Yeah right, not my taste. Too much muscles

I never really understood the attractiveness people feels for 'muscle mommy' on the internet. But well, each to their own taste I guess..

"Alright, I know you are all confused why you aren't separated by sword types. It would be more efficient to teach you yes. But! You will never face the same sword as your own all the time. It will happen, of course, but not every time. So it's important that you learn the fighting style of all the swords type. Some of those are still too specific though, so they will be taught in different manners."

She summoned her weapon, a standard longsword without any flourish. I'm surprised, I totally thought it would be a greatsword with the strength she seems to possess. I feel like it's a bit wasted on that weapon.

"In a fight with swords it's important to judge the reach your opponent has. Some of you have swords with way more reach than mine for exemple. It's a disadvantage. So you need to change that into an advantage. Someone with a longer weapon will use it as much as they can to avoid you getting close. What to do then? Step into their strikes. Target their wrists, arm, torso. A longer reach also mean a different distribution of strength and weight on the blade. You here. With the greatsword. Try to swing at me. Don't hold back."

Instructor Gemma pointed to the guy with a greatsword in hand. A bit confused by the order, he still came forward and slashed at her with a downward strike. I can see that he tried to hit her with only the furthest part of his sword. Instructor Gemma didn't retreat, like she said she stepped into his strike and... Punched the part of the blade closest to his guard. I wince a little, it must hurt her fist a bit. But the effect is immediate. Since almost all his strength is concentrated on the tip of his sword, the push from the punch make his weapon swing wide outward and almost drop it. Then she put her own sword on his neck.

"See? Too much force spent on his longer reach, my punch made his stance unstable. Right. That's also something you need to know. Yes you have a weapon in hand. But your own body can be a weapon too. Anyway, form duos randomly and duel. Don't worry about injuries, we have a healer."

Instructor Gemma gestured to a woman dressed in white at the edge of the field, she waved enthusiastically.

The rest of the class was spent in duels between each other, sometimes the instructor came to correct some stances or give us advices on how to efficiently use our swords. For some reasons most of them didn't want to duel me at all.

Did I scare them that much? A few limbs flying and they can't stand it? Meh.

I don't mind. It's even better. Since they didn't want to fight me, instructor Gemma decided to do it herself. And damn she's strong. So I decided to never try to compete in strength with her, simply deflecting her sword whenever I could. Never engaging in a sword lock.

"Your foundation is great Miss Denki. Did you train with a katana before the awakening?" She asked, her voice tinged with curiosity.

"Not at all. I... I couldn't really do that. But I think it's only because I also awakened a dagger that my foundation is good. There's no other way." I answer, shrugging a little.

Gemma simply hummed, then continued her instructions.

The next class was dagger training. When I arrived on the field I see the students all have hoodies on and seems to sneak around... Even as they are on an open field. I massage my temple with a sigh.

"What is this? A seminar on 'how to be creepy'?..." I say, my voice tinged with tiredness.

A movement near me makes me snap my head to my right instantly, summoning my dagger and lifting it until a certain point. A vague figure shimmered in existence. It's a very beautiful girl with long blonde hair and striking red eyes. My dagger is right on her throat, her hands up like she's showing she isn't a threat.

"Wow! You noticed me? How did you do that! Hehe is that your beastkin's instincts?! Oh I'm Luna by the way! Nice to meet you! You are so cute! Can I eat you?" The girl, Luna apparently, says with enthusiasm. Her voice is lively and pleasant to hear.

I'm a little dizzy from her onslaught of question, did she add something outrageous at the end?!

I take my dagger back and step back a little to watch her. She has the same uniform as everyone, of course, and at least she doesn't have a hoodie like almost everyone on the field right now.

"Nice to meet you? I'm Jane. Also uuh... Thanks? And no? The fuck is that kind of question?!" I answer, throwing my hands in the air.

She slides closer to me while giggling, looking totally unrepentant.

"Sorry sorry! Can't hold back when I see someone so delicious! So, how did you know I was here? I'm pretty confident in my stealth you know."

This person is a dangerous pervert! Why such a beautiful girl is like that?!

I take another step back but she still cling to me. Actually, now that I really look, she's still maintaining a proper stance. She's not touching me at all, there's always a distance around the size of a thumb between us. Well, since she will certainly keep it that way... Let's just stop trying to increase the distance, I guess.

"Aah.. I don't know. I just knew you were here. Like them, except I see them."

I gesture toward the field. I just noticed that their forms are like looking through fog. I can see their silhouettes, but not precisely.

Uh. I highly doubt I should be able to do that. Another thing to tell Virina?

Yes beastkins have better vision, hearing etc than other races. But seeing through stealth? Hard to think it's possible. It may also be the fact that these people aren't that strong. Someone with a better stealth might very well escape my senses. Like Luna. I look at her again.

Let's not count on that ability. It may be a bad idea. I'll ask Virina if she has any thoughts on that. And the girls of course.

"I think for you it was more of a fluke. And you were very close too. So close it would be too late to do much if you decided to assassinate me."

"What! I would never do that!" She gasped, hands on her mouth with an exaggeratedly shocked expression.

This makes me roll my eyes. Then suddenly a figure flickered besides me. A tall man dressed in the usual teacher uniform. He looked at me for a second before stepping forward.

Uh. So I'm right, can't detect someone with a stronger stealth at all.

"Alright. Stop playing with that bad sneaking around students. For newbies you aren't bad. But it's still not enough."

His words made the others still, and the 'fog' obscuring them faded to reveal their appearance. One man stepped forward, brow knitted.

"Besides you, teacher, nobody should have seen any of us right?"

The teacher smirked a little and pointed toward me with his thumb.

"She saw all of you. But that's alright. After all you are new to this."

I lean a bit toward Luna, confused.

"What are they talking about? It's a dagger training class right? Why do I feel like I missed an important information." I whisper.

"Oh! You didn't know? No wonder you just walked in like that. We received a notice that we should try to not be seen on the field when we arrive. Something about judging our stealth."

I understand now. Maybe they didn't tell me because I'm just here to learn a bit more about dagger combat? They all seems like they are training to be professional thieves.

"I'll be your instructor in dagger training. And also for scouts related techniques. Someone that awakened a dagger is very very often suited for scouting. They can use stealth and have better senses to detect traps and monsters. We are almost mandatory in any teams, unless someone awakened something better. But I have yet to see anyone like that. Usually, fighting with a dagger shouldn't really be considered 'fighting'. Our reach is very short and we don't have much blade length to parry most attacks."

I summon my own dagger again. Red, longer than a traditional dagger. With that second very short blade in front of the handguard. It's not as long as my katana. But at least it's still capable of parrying, better than theirs I think.

"A dagger is made for speed and ambushes. One second you have nothing in hand, the second your enemy has a few new holes in their throat or any vital spot. But once the surprise attack fails, it's hard to really compete in strength with them. So the goal is to be faster and more elusive than them. Striking precisely is mandatory. And can sometimes reverse the battle to your advantage. Now, let's form duos. I'll go to you one by one to instruct you."

The others quickly found an opponent to train with. I'm looking around when Luna came over with a light and cheerful step.

"Let's spar Jane!" She says with a big smile.

"Sure. It's like my previous class I guess. At least this time someone isn't afraid of sparring with me." I answer with a sweet smile of my own.

"Ugh, you know your smile is dangerous?" She grab at her heart like I just stabbed her.

"Right, quit that you." I just roll my eyes at her shenanigans.

She just giggle before suddenly accelerating toward me, dagger already posed to strike at my throat. I step back instantly, bringing my own to swat hers away. My tail starting to swish excitedly behind me, ears perked up.

I think I'll have fun with her

She doesn't let my deflection bother her, stepping forward again to try and stab me in the arm. I block it, letting her blade get stuck in the little space between the main part of my dagger and the second blade in front of the handguard. Then I step into her reach, driving my elbow in her torso. This makes her take a few step back as she rub the struck area.

"Ouch, hey that hurts! Can't you be gentler with a poor and weak girl?" She whine, even if her voice is devoid of any pain or grievance.

"A pervert you mean?" I shoot back with a smile.

"I'm not a pervert! I'm an appreciator of cute thing!" She says as righteously as she think she can.

"Right..."

We once again engage back and forth for the rest of the class. It's indeed quite fun to spar with her, of course neither of us uses any elements. Or the spar would take another turn. It's a different feeling than usual. Since the awakening until now, it was either fighting for my life. Or fighting in an arena where I couldn't kill or have fun for real.

While we were sparing the teacher came to us to give some pointers before going to other groups. Most of them didn't have the same speed as us and it seemed like they couldn't even see much of our movements.

At the end of class, the teacher dismissed us. Just in time for my stomach to growl a bit. Luna, as she hear that, giggled. I give her my most withering glare that she ignored with an innocent face.

"Let's go eat? I want to meet your... Girlfriends?" She says, sounding a bit unsure at the end.

"I... Uuh... Yeah. If you want, why not." My face immediately warmed as I stuttered an answer.

Maybe she would be a good addition to team? Luna has good stealth and seems very skilled with a dagger.

That makes two potential new members of our team. Claire and Luna. Well, it's not sure they will accept though. I never talked to Claire, she seems very shy. Maybe this afternoon we'll be in the same group? I did take Archery as one of my electives.

And I just met Luna. She seems a little dangerous though. Especially what she said in our first conversation. Who the heck ask if she can eat the other person right off the bat?!