Heart? Like a war drum.

Legs? Barely holding her weight.

Hands? She didn't realize how sweaty they could be.

The Oni? Still there and ready to turn her into a pancake.

Overall? Stella was fucked.

The red brute waited for her to make the first move, but the girl didn't budge once. I guess she thought Hanaken worked like a Jurassic Park dino.

"Kid, you're ruining this! I figured you'd be a wimp, but COME ON! What a disappointment!"

That comment ignited something inside Stella.

"Tch! Don't let this go under your skin. She'll smack me to oblivion!" She repeated to herself like a mantra.

A voice came from above. It was the Baku again, in his real-life form. He and his lobster friend stood on the wall behind the Human.

"Hey! We want some entertainment, at least! Fight! Fight! FIGHT!!!"

"STOP WIGGLING ME!" The Amikiri shouted.

The Oni shook her head. "I came all the way here to fight a real Human! It isn't fun if I do all the beating, you know?"

Funnily enough, she had fought a Human not so long ago, although it was a one-sided humiliation. However, Stella was conflicted about revealing that to escape this monster.

Mmm... Staying loyal to the sacred code of secret-keeping or continuing to breathe? What a difficult-

The Monoke growled. "I'm not killing you, okay?!" She threw her weapon away. "Even if I wanted to, you're still more valuable alive."

Oh. Well, that cleared things up. Secret-keeping, it was!

Stella's boots anxiously drew circles on the ground. "So, I only need to fight you?"

"Yes! Now, come on and hit me!"

The girl took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and THEN-

Her hands relaxed, and her posture slumped. "You know what? I'm not feeling like it anymore."

The Baku and the Amikiri booed her while the Oni facepalmed.

"You HAVE to be kidding me! I saw you rolling downhill for that pup without hesitating, but you can't throw a single punch!?"

"I'm sorry, okay!? I'm not in the mood for this crap! It happens!" Then, the girl's eyes noticed the lack of red backpack straps around her shoulders. "Where did you put my bag?"

The muscle mountain shrugged.

Surprisingly, the lobster-snake interjected on this matter. "I knew I saw something falling off! I'll get it to you, don't worry!"

These clowns were contenders for the world's most polite kidnappers.

"Alright, girl! You want motivation?!" The Oni took slow yet powerful steps towards Stella.

Only a few inches apart, she stopped. Her piercing stare looked down at her as if she was a lowly cockroach. No, even lower than that.

Silence. It was a torture like no other. This creature kept Stella on her toes, waiting for a painful fate that refused to come. Why were the gods so unmerciful to that poor child?! WHY?!

The Oni smirked. "You're a little baby."

The Human's eyes and ears were glued to the female behemoth. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me!" She started making a mocking gesture of crying. "Here you are, crying for your mommy because you're a wee wittle baby!"

That bitch...

"THAT'S your idea for motivation?!" Stella put her hands on her hips. "How old do you think I am!?"

The Monoke shrugged. "I dunno. Not a Human specialist."

The girl huffed. "Well, I'm over these kindergarten insults!" She forced a cocky smirk. "You have to try a little harder than that, girl!"

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

In reality, Stella was less than amused with the brute's taunting. She always had a thinner skin when it came to that. However, most of the time, the girl knew how to make the "comedian" lose a few teeth to rethink their life choices. There wasn't much she could do with... Uh... Haki? Asking her name at that point was an embarrassing endeavor.

The Oni closed her eyes and crossed her arms, probably brewing another way to wind Stella up. So long as she wasn't using the Human as a karate board...

The girl's butt met the soft grass once again. The Baku appeared to have gone along with his slithering companion. Her only source of entertainment... was watching the Oni. Not the worst situation, she supposed.

Actually, she wasn't that ugly from the neck down. Her muscles were not all that defined, but they were MASSIVE! She was bringing an entire steakhouse on each arm alone.

Besides... These straps around her chest didn't conceal all that much...

Namadi's light, why was Stella thirsting for anyone these days?! She could only blame that on hormones, whatever that was! All she knew was that they seemingly made teens horny and stupid.

She was already fitting both categories.

Crap! The Oni noticed! Fuck!

"I see..." She chuckled, and then it blew into a loud cackle. "How could I have been so stupid?! Of course, you'd feel that way!"

Stella felt naked, exposed. She wanted to dig her own grave and stay there until her bones were ground to dust.

"I know, I know! Flat-chested girls don't get much attention, but you shouldn't be ashamed!"

The Human's cheeks burned. "W-What?!"

A condescending grin was carved into the brute's lips. "Don't get me wrong, your gaze is flattering! Not everyone can obtain these big, round, juicy-"

A surge of embarrassment mixed with rage overwhelmed Stella's common sense.

"I AM NOT JEALOUS OF YOUR TITS!!!"

The Oni's mouth shut. Maybe her tactic worked TOO well.

The girl's head spun as if she had blown a fuse inside her head, but she couldn't let this big-ass bitch get the last word. "'Sides... At least I don't look like Shrek's grandma after passing through a tube of ketchup..."

"What the hell is 'Shrek'?"

"Only the best movie franchise ever made. There are four movies, but you can completely ignore the third- Wait, why am I talking to YOU about perfection?! You're not worthy! Fuck you!"

That only served to amuse the walking wall of beef even more. "You got spunk, kid!"

Stella retorted. "And you have much more than muscle hiding on those guns if you know what I mean."

The brute's eyes narrowed. "No, I don't think I do..."

Antagonizing a 9-foot-tall behemoth was a recipe for an early death, but the girl was too deep in the zone to stop! Her blood ran hot and almost as fast as her mouth.

"Just saying, you should ease up on the big macs, hun!" She backslapped the Oni's tummy, only to hiss with pain from the impact. "Shit! Do you eat rocks for breakfast?!"

"A piece of basalt a day keeps the doctor at bay!" She proudly bumped her fist on her abs. "But I'll admit this last comment was the closest you got to hurting my ego!" Her toothy grin widened while she spoke in a low, growling-like tone. "Bold of you to mock my size. Do you think you're cute?" The yellow shade returned to her eyes.

"Bitch, I'm adorable!" Stella's pride overcame rational fear.

"Let's see how adorable you'll be when I turn you into a rock sandwich!"

"Let's see how you handle THIS!"

Stella's fist connected straight into the Oni's abdomen!

...

......

.........

Pain.

So... much...

Fuck!

Her fist throbbed with the agony of hitting a wall of muscles as durable as titanium. The Human knelt, squirming pathetically.

"Yeah, I should've expected that." The Oni lamented. "But hey! I actually felt that punch! Not bad, I suppose."

If this was an attempt to fix her ego, it would take more than platitudes to accomplish that.

"Gentō's the one with healing magic, so you just sit tight here and wait for him." A tiny pillar sprouted from the floor behind Stella.

The girl obliged, clutching her fist while suppressing any pesky tears. What did she think this was worth it?! She could've stayed on the insult duel.

"You'll be fine! I'm here with you!" The Oni sat on an enormous makeshift bench. Her tone had softened considerably, sounding more like a cool older sister. "Didn't even hear anything cracking, so it'll be alright."

Stella weirdly appreciated the carefree attitude of her warden. The coddling approach of some people really went under her skin. Like, dude! She wasn't a poor, helpless baby! She could do stuff by herself!

All that talk about what she could or couldn't do, only to not even stick around for a week. Hypocrites, all of them...

Geez... Her mind flashed to some pretty dark memories. She preferred focusing on her broken knuckle if she was frank.

Thankfully, her attention was robbed by the Oni clearing her throat. "So, kid. What's your name?"

"Stella."

"Hanaken, nice to meet you." She snickered. "Knowing each other's names AFTER a fight! What a mess!"

"I'd hardly call it a fight. I just made a fool of myself, as always." And just like that, her frustrations resurfaced as reality crashed its undeniable truth upon her.

She be weak as hell, bruh.

Hanaken shrugged. "Eh, you just need Saniya practice, that's all. Tell me, do Humans don't train their Saniya?"

"I think that's a privilege for a select few, from what I gathered," Stella explained.

The Monoke cocked an eyebrow. "Wow. How did you survive this long?!"

That comment brought a smile to Stella. She wasn't sure why she was grinning, though. Probably to not plunge herself deeper into self-loathing.

"I think I got lucky. The first guys I met were a bunch of weaklings compared to anyone else I met after."

"Who were they?"

"The Lads. Those Ogre kids or teens or whatever they are. Holy fuck, were they annoying!"

Hanaken facepalmed. "Oh, sister! You got both lucky AND unlucky! Congratulations are in order."

Stella's curiosity piqued. "Do you know them?"

The Oni's eyes widened. "Do I know them?! Girl, I have so much to tell!"

It was a strange thing. As the red brute kept rambling about the unpleasant encounters with the Ganvi Woods punks, the girl's throbbing hand felt like an irritating distraction at most.

Heh. The weirdest bonds are forged on the fires of dumb insults.