KON POV

Rakansen.

The art of throwing small projectiles like coins using fingers was one of the many useful skills I learned during my time in the city slum. Originally, this technique wasn't intended for direct combat; instead, I often utilized it as a tool for distraction and misdirection.

Rule number one when sneaking around: Limit your body movements and visibility. Make yourself as small as possible, and never, under any circumstances, make sudden or wide movements that could disturb the flow of wind and sound.

So, what do you do when the place you want to access is guarded with no way in or out? You create a distraction in the opposite direction to draw their attention away or, at the very least, make them turn their heads. Of course, throwing objects using your arms is out of the question, as the required range of motion is too wide. That's where using your fingers as a means of throwing becomes the next best option.

It was challenging, and it took me a long time to master the technique.

Accuracy is particularly challenging to achieve because the nail on your thumb is curved, and developing the necessary propelling power requires practice and finger training. That's precisely what I focused on.

Partial training, or hand conditioning.

Through repetitive practice and enduring the discomfort of striking through the sands repeatedly, I gradually developed a tougher and more solid skeletal hand structure. This enabled me to flick a coin at the speed of an airsoft gun across the street.

Ah, those were the hard days. I endured countless instances of practicing hand conditioning until the nails on my thumbs cracked and peeled off. However, the pain is a worthwhile trade-off for this skill, especially considering that my courier job doesn't require me to carry items with my fingers. As a result, it doesn't significantly impact my ability to earn a living.

Back to the present.

The instant I hurled that hard candy at Venti, I had already completed the mental mapping of all the spaces, objects, and contours within the room. I possess a 3D-printed map of the room inside my head, complete with various objects that I can utilize to shift the balance in my favor—or, to be precise, in Elizabeth's favor.

With my Area of Intent read, I visualized all the actors within the 3D printed map, creating a mental minimap of everyone's positions in the room. Now, it's just a game of chess from here on out.

Here comes Venti, rushing at me confidently. He guards his chin to avoid a sudden knockout strike, prioritizing speed in his approach. It's not necessarily a wrong move, as he intends to absorb a hit or two from me before attempting to grapple me to the ground.

The moment any part of my body other than my feet touched the ground in front of Venti, it spelled game over. His checking kick was as fast as a boxer's jab, making it nearly impossible to evade. Moreover, facing opponents larger than me, grappling me down would pose a formidable challenge, leaving me with little chance of escape.

So I made a tactical retreat back to my uselessly large king-sized bed. I grabbed a box of pilfered jawbreakers, withholding from shooting it at Venti until I found a better angle that would allow me to hit both Zack and Venti simultaneously. With only six jawbreakers in the box, I had to make each shot count.

“Nowhere to run Kon!”

“Who says I’m running.”

As Venti leaped onto the bed, I seized the opportunity the moment he landed and aimed a jawbreaker at his forehead. Although he dodged it effortlessly, my primary target was Zack.

Just as Zack was about to counter Elizabeth's cane thrust with a kick, he had to abruptly abort and duck his head slightly, narrowly avoiding the candy that was hurtling towards his temple.

Elizabeth capitalized on the opening, pressing in deeper and opting for swipes targeting Zack's limb joints.

Not to be outdone, Venti launched a barrage of low kicks and leg swipes at me. However, he quickly realized that I wouldn't engage him directly, rendering his boasted fast leg checks ineffective in this scenario.

Even standing atop the bed, I struggled to weather Venti's relentless kicks. Initially, I had anticipated having the upper hand by using the soft footing of the bed to disrupt his weight distribution and kicking angles. After all, being far lighter than him meant that the soft footing didn't affect me as much.

Once again, I had to commend Venti's natural battle instinct. It didn't take him long to adjust to the bouncy footing of the bed and start closing in on me with each leg strike, interspersing jabs and strikes whenever I got too close.

Retreating further and further until my back was close to the headboard, I opted not to engage in parrying and deflecting Venti's kicks at this point. With plenty of objects in the room to exploit, I grabbed a pillow with one hand and hurled it at Venti's leg. As predicted, he attempted to kick it back at me. While dodging, I used the opportunity to gather more power for my next move, a Rakansen.

The moment I finished dodging, I unleashed one of my fastest shots yet, which Venti narrowly managed to evade. The jawbreaker rebounded off a wall and struck Zack's head with force, disrupting his dodge. As a result, he ended up taking a thrusting strike to his solar plexus, which would have landed had he not promptly blocked it with his palm.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Hehe, it must have stung. That's what you get for pinching my belly and calling me fat.

“Holy smokes, how devilish can you get.”

“Ooo, you have no idea. Come, Venti, there’s still more fun to be had.”

I swiftly grabbed a golden-wrapped chocolate candy from beneath the pillow and tossed it in another direction, diverting Venti's attention as he abandoned his pursuit to grab the chocolate instead. With the bed now ineffective against Venti, I needed to find other means to disrupt his pace.

I was acutely aware that the longer the battle dragged on, the more disadvantaged Elizabeth and I would become, as we were not accustomed to prolonged close-quarter combat.

That's precisely why I'm keeping a closer eye on Elizabeth's condition rather than those two. Monitoring her breathing, posture, and lunging speed is crucial. She needs to find an opening for a decisive strike before any signs of fatigue start to show.

Zack and Venti were aware of that as well. It's up to me to create that opening for Elizabeth to capitalize on before her performance begins to deteriorate.

Jumping away from the bed, I rolled safely onto the carpet before flicking a candy from my blind spot at Venti's face as he chased me down. He hesitated for a moment, choosing to catch the candy with his hand rather than dodge, which worked in my favor, buying me even more time to get closer to another bag of goodies.

“Kon…. don’t you dare.”

“The cute mascot didn’t hear the word please.”

As expected, Venti halted at my threat, but I wasn't cruel enough to ruin their bag of loot any further. So, imagine his surprise when I was the one rushing back towards him, preparing for another candy flick.

“This one’s for you ZACK!”

Intentionally calling out Zack's name, I flicked the shot at Venti instead, utilizing a wall bounce. Though Venti easily dodged it by swaying, the combination of my shout and the sound of the candy hitting the wall momentarily distracted Zack. This brief distraction allowed Elizabeth to recover her footing after a shoulder tackle and resume her offensive.

Immediately after, I swiftly shot another candy, utilizing a wall bounce to aim at Zack's blind spot, further distracting him from Elizabeth's frontal assault.

Though Zack managed to dodge the candy, there was a noticeable hesitation in his movements as he dealt with Elizabeth's attack. Now, he was forced to parry most of her swipes, unable to dodge everything she threw at him due to the brief sense of lull I exploited during the counter.

To counter his counter so to speak.

Venti finally obliged to meet me head-to-head. This time, he postured even lower to prevent me from tackling his leg like last time, opting instead for hand-to-hand combat.

A couple of jabs in, and I found myself at a disadvantage, forced to parry and block most of Venti's blows. He rained down blows from a downward angle, making dodging difficult. However, it didn't take long for me to manipulate our position to my advantage by baiting him into my retreat.

This last shot is special.

Forgoing all my intent reading aimed at Venti, I instead solely focused on Elizabeth's fight, calculating the timing needed to distract Zack. Using my right arm to block Venti's final rush, I launched the last jawbreaker. However, instead of bouncing it off the wall like my previous shots, this time I aimed it directly from the ceiling above Zack.

Humans are habitual creatures.

When faced with the unknown, individuals often attempt to predict the direction they should take based on patterns derived from past observations. In this case, all my past three shots were bounced from the same wall, producing the same distinct sound that had become ingrained in their ears.

So that’s why Zack was caught off guard by the unexpected sound of the jawbreaker bouncing from the ceiling above, which allowed Elizabeth to capitalize on the opportunity. With precision, she used the umbrella's ferrule to hook Zack's foot, causing him to trip and fall.

Elizabeth halted her cane thrust just an inch above Zack's throat, the tension palpable as they both froze into a stare-off. Zack raised both hands above his head in a gesture of surrender, while Elizabeth kept her cane pointed downward at him, her breath coming in heavy gasps.

I'm grateful that I created an opening before Elizabeth's stamina and performance began to decline. Another 10 seconds would have significantly diminished our chances of winning, allowing Zack and Venti to overwhelm us with brute force.

“You win. That last strike is hella stylish.”

“Haah haah we won. We won desuwa!”

Venti and I ceased our skirmish as Elizabeth erupted into laughter with an Ojou-sama's Ohoho voice. She seemed genuinely ecstatic, and rightfully so. A hard-fought victory is worth celebrating. Elizabeth earned it through her quick thinking and change in pace. If she can become more flexible in her thinking, I have no doubt she'll become even stronger.

“Nice cane strike at the end there Eliz, and Kon, the heck was that candy throw? You almost bruised my head dude.”

“As if. Your noggin is thicker than a steel plate.”

“By any chance, are you angry at being called mascot?”

“Nope, not at all.”

I lied. It peeved me off for being called mascot and it brought back memories of ordeals I'd rather keep in the past. However, for now, it's time to celebrate our newest member. We may not have a team name yet, but let's not dampen the mood.

“Speaking of which, Kon, did you pull back your punches? I don’t see you making use of other objects around the room. I thought you would have thrown glasses, and bottles and even come up with crazier stuff.” Venti asked.

“I don’t like vandalizing other people’s stuff. If it were up to me I would have killed the light, grabbed Elizabeth, and ran away while peppering you guys with jawbreakers from afar.”

“And you didn’t because?”

“Elizabeth chooses to fight.”

“Awww, our Pathfinder is a softie, you want her to win don’tcha. Oh yes, you do.” Zack bubbled with his annoying over-the-top voice while poking my cheeks.

This creature has a knack for getting under people's skin. A pro tip for dealing with Zack: never take his teasing lightly unless you want him to escalate it further. Always counter whenever you have the chance.

“Says the guy that holds back himself. I didn’t see you use your advanced martial arts techniques other than basic punches and kicks.”

“EH!? Is that true desuka?”

Oh, shoot. Me and my big mouth. Just as I was saying about dampening the mood.

“Well…..”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. We are officially a team now, and as a team, we are to perform a group activity together!”

“What sort of group activity desuno?”

Zack approached the table with a microphone he conjured from who knows where, and began listing out a plethora of items we needed for team building. Jacket uniforms, badges, Team App registration, artist commissions, team role training, and most importantly, the purchase of SpeedGear itself.

“Tomorrow is Sunday. Just nice for our first outing to be the hardware shop.”

“Zack, you know a place or two?”

“Hehe, I do know a place or two. We shall head there tomorrow after breakfast, and grab ourselves some gears and lunch.”

With this, my savings will take a dip, but I have long since accounted for it.

Time to double-check my specifications and customization request.