Conversation in the Rosemary dojo ran freely as many topics were brought up and discussed by Nami’s fellow students. Most of them were useless to her and her investigation as she found it surprising how the guys in the dojo could talk about braindead topics as if they were discussing a scientific theorem.

Talk of the party was brought up here and there, but none of it centered on what she wanted to know. She finished gearing up for training without having learned anything useful. Her thoughts still wandered on the "Puppeteer's" identity, suffering through a long sleepless night only to come up with a few suspects. Even then she barely had any evidence to back her claims. Her mind wandered off to Mohammed’s words causing her to slam her fist on the walls of her stall, leaving a slight dent in it. They had barely known each other and yet she was already labeled a snake. She let out a calming sigh before she could deepen the dent on the wall and stood to leave her stall.

Out of her stall she ran into Mitchell standing in front of her as if he’d been waiting.

"May I help you?" She asked. On top of Mitchell’s refusal to go to the party and his implied “bad relationship” with Mazekien, Mithcell’s was one of the few she suspected.

"Yes, I want to call in a favor." He answered. Nami raised her brow at him wondering what the favor was about.

"What makes you think I owe you anything?" She asked.

"Well, I have been spending the past two days with Greg and last I checked he was supposed to be our freshman, not mine alone." It wasn’t as if she wanted him to take over Greg for that long, the two of them just mashed well together. Then again, she had to admit that she had been avoiding the boy as best as she could, not wanting to have to deal with another headache. Defeatedly, Nami rolled her eyes at his reasoning and crossed her arms, signaling to him that she was ready to hear him out.

"I need you to deny Bastien's match request." He said. Nami laughed at him, but she noticed that he was actually serious.

"Bastien will request a match with you as his final sparring match before his suspension. I need you to deny his request and offer him an alternative."

"You want me to say he must fight you first?" Nami asked.

"Exactly."

"But what if he doesn't want to?"

"Everybody to the mat! We have no time to waste today!" The instructor called and everyone began walking out of the changing room.

"Just trust me, okay." Mitchell finished as he walked ahead of her.

Nami's eyes narrowed at him as she wondered.How does Mitchell know of Bastien's suspension? As far as she knew Bastien’s suspension had yet to be public news.

Could he be...?

“To the mat you two, I will not be repeating myself.” The instructor barked getting the two of them to hastily join the others in the dojo

She sat on the mat as the instructor began to speak, her gaze trained on Mitchell as she put together a theory. The instructor was busy naming the team exercises they would be doing for the day, but Nami couldn’t pay attention to any of it.

He didn't go to the party so it can't be him. Or was that all a farce to remove suspicion from him? Is he a Mage? What are his motivations? And why cooperate with me if he knows I'm after him? All these questions ran rampant in Nami's mind. She wanted to interrogate these answers out of him, but if her suspicions were true, she’d still have no way of protecting Mohammed.

She continued the team exercises with her eyes never leaving him. Constantly wondering how she should approach him. Eventually the end of the session came along, and it was time for the sparring sessions to start.

"Alright ladies, before we start sparring, I have a few announcements to make." The instructor said, standing in between all the students.

"We have a mock tournament coming in about a month or so right before your mid-terms. Our opponents will be St. Mary high. They've been our rivals for quite a while now and we've been able to amass two consecutive victories over them in the past two years. I will not be looking for defeat this time either. So, get ready to kick it into high gear for the next few weeks, cause I'll be shaping you sissies into proper warriors." The students clapped at the announcement as there was an obvious few of them who were more than excited to go against the rival school.

"My last announcement to you is that Bastien will be suspended from this dojo from tomorrow on. He will be facing a 3-month suspension due to evidence of unsavory behavior outside of school. Today will be the last day for Bastien until the suspension is lifted." Everyone looked at Bastien out of curiosity, but he kept a level head.

“But Instructor, how will we beat St. Mary without him?” One of them asked and the others began to worry as they thought about the student that rivalled Bastien in strength.

“Are you sissies so weak that you can’t think of a way to win without Bastien!? We are Rosemary high, and you are being trained by Retired Sword: Brendan Leclue. If any of you feel you cannot beat Elijah, then you may escort yourself out of my Dojo!” The entire Dojo went quiet as the students looked among themselves.

"May I make a request Instructor?" Bastien asked, drawing everyone’s gaze at him. Nami kept her gaze on Mitchell, but he just sat there with a pleased smile on his face. The instructor nodded and gave Bastien the floor.

"I request a one on one against Nami, in an all-out, no holds barred match of first blood." He said staring daggers at Nami. The crowd turned to her, waiting in anticipation for her answer. Ever since her fight with the instructor no one had stepped up to challenge her. The same rang true for Bastien. If she was ever going to fight him this was her chance. She looked at Mitchell and he still wore that weirdly pleased smile on his face.

I can still just accept his request and piss all over your plans so why are you so damn confident!? She wondered out of frustration.

"I decline." Nami simply said, but before Bastien could press her more on the matter Mitchell stood up and announced.

"I have agreed to be Nami's fledgling and as the rules state. The fledgling is to be challenged before the master!" Bastien looked at him in confusion and then looked at the instructor.

"That depends, Nami, is that true? Is Mitchell your fledgling?" The instructor asked.

Nami turned to Mitchell who gave her a reassuring smile that did nothing to assure her.

"Yes sir, Mitchell is my fledgling." Nami didn't even know what the term meant, but she went along with it either way. It still annoyed her that she missed her chance to take Bastien on.

"Bullshit, Instructor, you can see that they're lying, right?" Bastien complained, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"As long as both parties' consent then it is as real as any other Master and fledgling pairing." The instructor said nonchalantly. Bastien sighed.

"Get on the mat Banks." He demanded as he walked on to the sparring circle. Mitchell followed him and readied himself.

"This is a no holds barred match between Bastien and Mitchell. Everything except for magic is allowed in this showdown. Are you two ready?" The instructor asked standing between the two fighters.

“This won’t go like last time.” Mitchell said in a calming seriousness as he assumed his fighting stance. Fire-God style. Nami noted. His stance was standard stance for a Practitioner.

"Let's get this over with." Bastien cracked his knuckles and assumed his fighting stance. It was a more advanced version of Mitchell’s stance. Bastien was probably Professional in Fire-God style, which didn’t fare well with Mitchell’s chances at victory. But the conviction behind Mitchell’s eyes made Nami realize that he was plotting something.

"BEGIN!"

Bastien wasted no time and went in straight for the kill, barely missing him with a flying kick. He recovered quickly and began an onslaught of punches that Mitchell struggled to block and evade. Bastien landed a devastating combo on Mitchell's abdomen. Downing the fighter.

Bastien jumped in for the finishing blow with a hammer fist to the face, and that’s when it clicked for Nami. With Mitchell’s back on the floor, his legs raised in waiting and his arms spread to his side, like a Maga Bear trap he caught Bastien’s head between his thighs and arm in a tight triangle hold. A Water-God style submission and perfect counter to Fire-God style. Bastien struggled to escape as he flailed in the submission.

The submission was sloppy work at best and with a fighter of Bastien’s caliber it wouldn’t be long until he broke out. But Nami was surprised, yet again, when she saw Bastien struggling to get out. His breathing began to slow as his flailing began to cease. But before he could pass out, he was released, and he rolled away to catch his breath only to be met with a punt kick to the face that ended the match.______________________________________________________________________________________

The changing room was loud with Mitchell’s victory shaking the foundation of the Combat club. Everyone was stunned in the changing room after Mitchell's display in his sparring match. Bastien was still out cold and being treated by the members of the first aid club.

"What was that?" Nami asked as she entered the changing room alongside Mitchell. She felt very skeptical about the outcome of that match. Yes, the Water-God submission was a perfect counter to Bastien’s attack at that moment, but it was too unrefined to possibly keep him still, let alone knock him out.

"That is what you call a victory, malady." Mitchell's malady comment didn't sit right with Nami, and it showed on her face. More of the other members gathered around him to congratulate him on his victory. Nami noticed Duncan’s absence but decided to focus on that detail later.

Mitchell pushed through and grabbed Nami by the wrist before she could enter her stall to change. "Follow me." He said, pulling her out of the changing room, Nami reluctantly followed him with the other students making crude remarks at the two.

“Mitchell’s going to claim his prize!”

“He won the match and got the girl!”

“Three cheers for Mitchell the Goblin slayer!” The whole locker room erupted in a chant for him as he made his way out with Nami in tow, dropping her head out of embarrassment. She had just been reduced to a simple prize for Mitchell and she hated every second of it.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The two walked behind the dojo, away from prying eyes. He first checked if the coast was clear then dug in his pocket and took out a small glass vile. He handed it to Nami who examined it and looked at him in shock.

"Xylazine, a quick working sedative. I sprinkled some on my crotch before the match started. My entire plan was to trap Bastien in a Triangle lock, so that I could sedate him long enough to deliver a finishing blow. It's cheating I know, but I would have lost otherwise." Mitchell explained.

"Why? Why did it have to be Bastien?" Nami asked.

"That's simple, ever heard of what's called a hierarchy?" Nami could piece together what he meant by it.

"So, you took on the strongest fighter in the dojo just to be on the top of the food chain? I hate to say that I'm a bit offended." She said, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Oh don't be, I chose Bastien because it was the easier choice. I know who you are, BlackSilver." A brush of wind blew past as Nami’s eyes narrowed at him.

"So," Nami started, unfolding her arms and dropping them to her sides. "How did you know about Bastien's suspension?" She asked, readying herself as her body loosened

"It sounds like you're accusing me of something incriminating." Mitchell's attitude also changed as he too raised his guard.

"And what if I am?"

Mitchell chuckled. "It seems that I've been caught. So, what do you intend to do with this knowledge?"

"Just a few questions. What is your endgame? You got Bastien and Tiffany suspended out of their respective positions, Maze hasn't come to school, and Mohammed is also absent, so tell me what your goal is in all of this?" Nami asked. A deafening silence came over them as everything seemed to stand still. Nami loosened her fingers, readying her next attack. Mitchell opened his mouth to speak and Nami got ready to blitz him.

"What?" He asked in confusion. Nami eased up a bit in his confusion but remained ready.

"Okay, okay, listen, I don't know what conspiracy theory you have on the fall of the big 4, but trust me when I say that I am not involved in their drama." It was now Nami's turn to be confused.

"I'll confess that I got info on Bastien via non-ethical means, but everything else you just listed has nothing to do with me." Mitchell defended.

"Then what's your aim?" Nami asked with a gaze that could pierce through an iron wall.

"I am going to be the captain of Rosemary's Combat club, but of course in order to achieve that goal I needed to take Bastien's top spot." Mitchell explained.

Nami maintained her glare as if trying to see through him, Mitchell tried to step back, being stopped by a foot that hovered by his face. He didn’t even see her move. After a while she relaxed and retracted her foot, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“You’re not a Mage. If you were, you would have done something by now.” She slapped her palm over her eyes as she sat herself on the grass. Mitchell had to retrieve his jaw from the floor before he could speak.

"Now it's my turn to ask the questions, how are you involved in Bastien's scandal?" Mitchell asked. Nami dug her fingers through her hair as she thought on what to say next.

"Can we pretend you didn't hear what I said?" Nami asked, awkwardly scratching her head.

"You wanted to interrogate me first!" Mitchell complained.

"Listen, I’m not involved with whatever is happening between those 4, but I used to be friends with them. I might have the information you need." Mitchell had a determined air about him, further confirming his innocence. How annoying. “Things between us aren’t the best right now, but this is not the way I thought they’d go out. So please.” His tone was so gentle that Nami almost felt bad for him. Adding another person to the investigation was bound to open more avenues for the “Puppeteer” to gain information on her. Unless she could keep him close without exposing their cooperation, she would be the one risking her career and reputation.

Nami gave in with a sigh.

"Fine, but not here, let me go change and I'll tell you outside of school." Nami explained.

________________________________________________________________________________

The changing room was empty when Nami entered it. Their little interrogation session went on longer than she anticipated, but she had no complaints. To her the more information she got on the victims of the puppeteer the easier it would be to narrow down her suspects. She needed the sleep.

"I'll be quick so wait near my stall." Nami said and Mitchell complied without complaint. Nami began changing as quick as she could.

When she was buttoning her shirt though it dawned onto her what time it was, and she panicked. She opened her stall door and pulled Mitchell in. Before he could complain she shushed him by slapping her hand over his lips.

A stall door opened, and Bastien walked out of it with an ice pack on his head. He rested at his usual spot right next to Nami's stall and let out an exhausted sigh. Everything was quiet for a long five minutes before the door opened and another set of footsteps walked in.

"I knew that I'd find you here." The instructor said as he walked up to his son. He sat next to Bastien and asked.

"Why do you like this spot so much?" He asked.

"Y'know, back in 10th grade when I was about to go for my first tournament this was the spot I sat in before the first match. I was so nervous that night that I nearly pissed myself." Bastien laughed at the memory.

"I was only 17 going up against some 20-year-old who wanted to test his strength against the son of Leclue."

"But you did win the fi---""It was not about the fight dad! I was scared, I had the whole of Newark watching me, you and mom were watching me. It was my first major fight against someone older and twice my size and you didn't think that was going to affect me?"

"I'm sorry son I-I didn't know." Brendan apologized.

"This was the spot I sat in, and everything tuned out. The crowd stopped cheering, my heart stopped racing, it was as if everything had stood still. I was calm. Now...I'm faced with that same pressure. If people get their hands on that video I'm done, people will see me as a disgrace to the Leclue name, and worst of all, I won’t be able to fulfill your wish for me." Bastien finished.

Brendan put an arm over his son's shoulder and said "Listen, your mom wanted me to convince you to come back home, but I won't do that. Right now, you need to find yourself Bastien, regardless of what I or anyone else thinks. You can stay over at Ms. Williams place, just don’t do anything stupid." Brendan got up and began walking out of the changing room.

"What about mom?" Bastien asked, getting a chuckle out of his dad.

"I've been married to your mom for 20 years now, I'm sure I'll figure something out." Brendan said as he closed the door behind him.

Bastien chuckled a bit and whispered, "Thanks dad."

He walked back to his stall to get changed leaving the concealed Nami and Mitchell to let out a quiet breath of relief.

"We should get out of here!" Mitchell whispered.

"Not yet!" Nami whispered back.

"Are you crazy! What if we get caught!?"

"We'll get caught if you don't keep quiet!"

Amid their quiet bickering Mitchell noticed the fact that he could see Nami's cleavage which forced him to look to the ceiling.

"What's wrong?" Nami asked, noticing his sudden shift. What Nami hadn't accounted for was the claustrophobic stall they were both in as it was designed to fit one person.

"Can you...back up?" Mitchell asked trying his hardest to not look down on the short female.

"Huh!? You do know this is the best I could do standing up!" She whispered.

"Then sit down!" Mitchell demanded in a whisper.

"No way! What if we need to escape!?" Nami argued.

The door suddenly opened causing them both to keep quiet. A new set of footsteps, lighter than those of the instructor walked in.

"Hey Bastien, mind if I join you?" It was Tiffany and she stood in front of the shower Bastien was in.

"You're a bit late Tiffany, I'm already done." Bastien said still behind the cover of the shower curtain.

"Bummer, and here I was thinking I can get myself a nice warm shower before going home." She said faking a disappointed voice.

"Someone's a little impatient today, what got you excited?" Bastien asked.

"Is there something wrong with wanting to be with my man at school, you know we don't speak during the day, right?" Bastien chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, I see your point, but patience is a knights virtue babe?" Bastien retorted. Tiffany giggled a bit before saying "Hurry up Leclue, this changing room is not exactly romantic."

"Fine, fine, just give me a sec." Bastien turned off the shower water and took his towel before sliding the blurred shower curtain open. With only a towel covering his most vital parts he greeted Tiffany with his chiseled figure exposed. Some of his dark strands stuck on his forehead and there was the obvious purple bruise on his cheek.

"He fucked you up good, didn't he?" Tiffany teased. Bastien closed the shower curtain, robbing her of her eye candy.

"Oh, come on Bastien stop acting like such a little bitch! I'm sorry okay!" Tiffany cried causing Bastien to peak out again.

"Yay, there is my Western Demigod!" She cheered causing Bastien to roll his eyes. He stepped out of the shower and pulled her in for a kiss which she happily invited. Bastien pinned her on the stall door behind her, deepening their kiss. Tiffany broke it off in a fit of laughter.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's excited." She said, rubbing his hardened member under the cloth of his towel.

"Shut up." Bastien said as he went to plant kisses on her neck and going down to her shoulder only to be stopped by the school jersey she was wearing.

A few moans released themselves from Tiffany's lips and that's when Bastien took the opportunity to catch her lips once again.

Bastien began lifting her skirt ever so slowly as his hand glided up her upper thigh, just before he could reach the laced underwear she had on, they heard a door being violently opened and closed.

"What was that?" Bastien asked as he went to go check who it was. The door leading out of the Changing room was wide open while all the other stall doors were closed.

"Fuck." Bastien sighed realizing someone probably caught them.

"I'll wait for you outside." Tiffany said. Bastien just agreed and watched her walk out with hungry eyes.

"Fuck!" He cried once she was out.

________________________________________________________________________________

Nami and Mitchell were panting out of exhaustion as they were far away from the school at that point.

"That got a little out of hand." Nami stated, an obvious blush of embarrassment glowing on her cheeks.

"Do you listen to that every time you decide to eaves drop on Bastien's conversations?" Mitchell asked as he struggled to stand upright.

"This was the first time this happened, okay!" She defended

"Yeah sure, I believe you." Mitchell said sarcastically.

"Speaking of perversion, what was that touching my stomach right before we left?" Nami asked with a snarky look in her eye.

"It wasn't on purpose! It was a natural reaction!" Mitchell defended.

Nami laughed maniacally."Are you telling me two people getting it on is enough to get a "Natural reaction" out of you or is that just a preference?" She retorted, slowly closing the distance between them.

"That's not it at all!"

"Oh, or is it because you were stuck in a cramped space with a beautiful woman such as myself?" Nami asked playfully outlining her figure. She didn’t miss the groan that came out of his throat, alongside the bright red that flushed over his cream skin.

"Oh my God, no way!" Nami burst out in laughter at the revelation causing a bunch of bystanders to look at them. Mitchell tried to cover her mouth noticing the attention she was attracting which Nami easily evaded, still in a fit of laughter.

She danced around him as he continuously tried to shut her up which led to them getting into a little game of cat and mouse. The whole purpose of Mitchell pursuit was swiftly forgotten as he chased her around, also getting infected by Nami's laughter. The two continued on like this for a good hour before Mitchell was finally able to get a hold of her. He dragged her to the grass, pinning her to the ground with his hand over her mouth as he tried to control his own laughter. The two were both huffing in exhaustion and recovering from their laughing fit.

"Stop laughing." Mitchell said while still laughing himself. Nami shook his hand off her mouth, "Make me!" She teased.

Mitchell caught his breath and finally controlled himself, soon finding himself looking at the teary eyed Nami under him, still trying to recover from her fit of laughter. Her chest rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath. A lavender scent wafted over his nose and despite her missing out on the shower, he just knew that the scent was coming from her. Maybe it was the setting sun, or peculiar position he pinned her in, but for some reason...

"Get off me creep." Mitchell was snapped back to reality as she had Nami glare at him distastefully. Mitchell blinked twice just to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Right, my bad." He apologized and got up.

She got up and dusted herself off and turned to leave. Mitchell dropped his head as he turned the opposite direction before feeling his arm being grabbed, nearly stumbling over at the force of her pull.

"There's a park nearby, we can chat there." She said as she began pulling him into the direction of said park. She didn't turn her face to look at him, keeping her gaze toward the road before her.

Mitchell didn't do much to argue and followed her lead with her hand on his wrist. For some reason Mitchell found himself staring at that hand of hers. So small and delicate, as if it never worked a day in its life.

They reached said park and Nami sat on a swing, inviting Mitchell to sit on the swing next to her.

"Not a lot of people come to this park around this time, so it's usually quiet." Nami started.

"I see," Mitchell said as he was still somewhat in a daze.

"So tell me, what happened between the “Big 4” you mentioned." The request snapped Mitchell out of his Daze as he began remembering his memories with the group. He plopped himself on the swing next to her and with a sigh he started.

“Before the Big 4 was the Big 4 there were 5 of us…”