Chpt. 27) Double Tap
The following day I woke up early with a splitting headache and a fuzzy fox snuggled under my chin with her butt on my right eye. I reached up and removed Yuki’s butt from my face and scratched her behind the ear, waking her up silently. Sitting up, much to Yuki’s displeasure, I opened my status screen and examined it.
Name: Zeana Si’enn; Title: The Endless Storm; Race: Deadly Zin; Cores: 6; Age: 9.
First Core 1: Lightning And Force Lvl 7
First Core 2: Water And Life Lvl 7
Second Core 1: Earth And Force Lvl 7
Second Core 2: Ice, Edge, And Force Lvl 7
Third Core 1: undecided
Third Core 2: undecided
Skills:
Quick Advancements Lvl 9
High Pain Tolerance Lvl 1
Natural Abilities: Flight, Hard Skin, High Agility, High Dexterity, High Intelligence, Hivemind, Multiply, Genetic Alterations, Kitsune Form, Split Cores, Climbing Form, Tsudzurao Form, Quick Transformation.
Racial Abilities: Sin, Penance.
Oh, my quick advancements finally leveled up. That’s nice. I closed the screen and looked around the room, my fox eyes seeing clearly in the dark. Everyone was still asleep, and Haze was missing. She’s probably off training. Or still with Shiro at the hospital. With Yuki in my arms, I crawled out of bed and went to the bathroom. We had put the food bowl for Yuki in there, and I fed her a handful of kibble while I did my business.
Once done, I grabbed my golden belt and snuck out of the room with Yuki. Closing the door silently, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned face-to-face with Haze and Shiro. I jumped back in surprise and suppressed a yelp. Taking a few deep breaths to calm myself, I whispered, “What are you two doing up so late?”
“Could ask the same of you being up so early,” Haze countered, her hands on her hips disapprovingly.
“I woke up this early,” I said defensively.
“Uhhuh, and why were you sneaking out?”
“I wanted to go get some practice in.”
“Mmmhmm, well, at least you’re doing that instead of something else,” Haze said, shrugging, “I’m going to get some sleep. Don’t train too much. You have the doubles tournament in a few hours.” Then she went into the room to go to bed. Leaving Shiro and I alone in the hallway … and with Yuki.
I felt awkward standing there. So I tried to break the silence, “So, you feeling better?”
Shiro looked at me severely, “They could only grow back one.”
“Only grow back—” I trailed off for a second before I realized what he meant, “Oh. Oh! OH! OH, MY GOD! I’M SO SORRY!!” I said pleadingly, almost forgetting to keep my voice down.
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Shiro shook his head and waved me off, “It’s okay. They can grow the other one back later. Not like I was using them anyways.”
“Still, hmm hmm, I’m, hmm ha, I’m really sorry! Hmhaha.”
“Are you laughing!” Shiro asked incredulously. I nodded, struggling to keep my mirth down. Shiro shook his head in resolute anger, “You, absolute asshole.”
“I’m sorry! Hahaha! It’s just funny!” I said, trying to contain myself.
“I’d better face you in the singles tournament so I can kick your ass myself.”
“That’s fine,” I said, chuckling a little, “But let me ask you this before I go.”
“What?”
“Is the left or the right one still gone?” I asked. Shiro didn’t answer just opened his door and slammed it shut behind him as he entered his room. I shook my head, amused, and placed Yuki on my shoulders as I walked down the hall.
Soon I made it outside, and the smell of tobacco assaulted my nose. I turned to follow the scent and saw Ruby sitting in the dark with her back against the building’s wall. She looked at the clear night sky and sucked a makeshift rolled-up cigarette. Or maybe it’s called drag instead of suck. I don’t know. Curious, I approached her and asked, “What are you doing out here?”
Ruby turned my way lazily and said, “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Why not?”
Pulling her knees up to her chest, she said, “We lost our match.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you lost.”
Ruby scoffed, “Of course, you didn’t. You’re just a monster on a team that won their match. Of course, you didn’t care.”
Anger at the comment surged inside me, but I suppressed it and sat beside her, “I’m going to ignore that because I know you’re pissed. Why are you mad, though?”
“I just told you!”
“Yes, losing a match sucks, but that is no reason to get this upset. Why are you mad?”
“Because—” Ruby began to say something, then trailed off, “What do you care? As I said, you’re just a monster.”
“True,” I confirmed, “But before that, I was a human.”
Ruby blinked and looked my way, “What?”
I nodded, “Yep, I was human before I died and reincarnated here.”
“You died and got reincarnated?”
At that question, I figured that it wasn’t known to everyone that reincarnation existed. “Yeah, though, mind keeping that a secret? I’m guessing not many people know about that.”
“Sure, but how? How are you a reincarnation? Dead is dead.”
“Maybe here,” I hedged, “But I’m not from this world. I’m from a different one. Magic didn’t exist in my world. Neither did monsters, cultivation, or giant, magical trees growing from the ground. It was just normal. So, why are you mad?”
Ruby seemed astonished by my quick explanation and shook her head, “I’m the leader of Team Ruby. As ironic as that sounds, it’s true. All my team members are older than me and have way more experience fighting than me. But I’m good at finding the best strategy and the path to victory. All that falls apart when I can’t even hold my own in a one-on-one fight.”
“Wait, don’t you usually use team tactics?”
“Yeah, but the other team somehow knew that and picked us off individually. Soon enough, it was just Penny and I against a whole team with no injuries. We were bound to lose.”
I nodded solemnly, “Well, I—”
“What was the point of becoming a cultivator if I can’t even win a fight alone!?” Ruby yelled, interrupting me and sobbing, “I wanted to be just like the ones in the stories. The heroes that always won no matter the odds,” she took another drag of her cigarette and tossed the last of it away, “What was the point of this?”
I stood up, authoritatively placed my hands on my hips, and began growing my wings, “Ruby!” I said, in the most commanding voice I could, drawing her attention, “What makes you think heroes don’t struggle?”
Ruby looked up at me, “Well, um—”
“They always struggle, and they always keep fighting! Without struggle, they would never grow!” my wings sprouted from my back, and I spread them wide, sending my storm chakra through them for effect. They began to glow and spark with power giving me excellent backlighting. “Will you learn from this experience?!” I asked.
“Yes,” Ruby said weakly.
“Will you keep fighting for your dreams!?” I asked, reaching out a hand.
Ruby took it, stood, and said with more energy, “Yes!”
“Will you come train with me right now!!?”
“No.”
My wings drained of energy and stopped glowing as my shoulders drooped, “Why not?”
“Because I am tired. And we have doubles tomorrow. I’m going to get some sleep so I won’t be a dead weight for us tomorrow.”
“All right,” I said, resigned and un-growing my wings, “Get some sleep.”
Ruby chuckled and held out a fist. I happily gave her a small fist bump and waved her goodbye. Yuki nuzzled under my chin, and I scratched behind her ear as I made my way to the training building.
***