Emmett was sprawled out on the arena floor panting, Thea walking some water over to him and helping him sit up to drink it. Samantha was standing next to Gianna, who was sweating and breathing a little harder but looked more fired up than tired.

“What do you think his chances are?” Samantha asked quietly.

Gianna shook her head. “He’s got two more days until the challenge, and I don’t think he should train the day before it. If he could go into it with the right mindset, he’d have a fair shot, but…”

“Yeah. Emmett won’t want to make any defining moves if it would risk his opponent’s life,” Samantha mumbled, looking down and closing her eyes as she clenched her fists. “I hate this.”

“Me too, wildcat. He’s a good kid.”

Samantha sighed and walked over to Emmett. “Hey, why don’t you and Thea head back?” she asked, kneeling down next to him. Emmett’s shoulders slumped. “Don’t look so down, Emmett. Gianna said you have a lot of skill.”

“That’s a half truth,” he mumbled, not meeting her eyes. “If I would hurt people, I would be better though, right?”

Samantha sighed. “Yeah, that’s what she said. But I don’t want that part of you to change, you know? Besides, I’ll figure something out before the fight happens. So leave your swords here and go on back to the dorm. You don’t mind if I borrow them again, do you?”

Emmett shook his head. “No, it’s fine.” He got up slowly and started to leave the arena.

“I hate seeing him like this,” Thea said, closing the water bottle and going to grab Samantha’s glaive. “And I really don’t like this idea of yours either, you know.”

“I know,” Samantha said, grabbing both swords by the hilt.

“Emmett knows something’s up, too. He knows you lied when you said you were borrowing his swords to figure out how best to train him.”

Samantha smiled sadly. “I know. And he knows that I won’t tell him, which is why he hasn’t called me out on it. He’s probably afraid to know, too.”

Thea put a hand on Samantha’s arm. “Try not to be too reckless. I’d hate to lose you just as much as I’d hate to lose him. You guys are family, okay?”

Samantha nodded and watched her jog to catch up to Emmett. Then she turned and walked back to Gianna. “You aren’t too tired to help me still, are you?” she teased, though her tone was a little flat.

“Of course not. Who do you think you’re talking to?” Gianna scowled, going to pick up her sword again and moving with Samantha to the middle of the arena. “We’re going to try both swords today, okay? You’ve got the off hand down as well as you’re gonna get it before the challenge anyway.”

“Yeah, I feel like I’m at my limit with it in this short of a time as well,” Samantha agreed. Gianna nodded and they got into position for the fight.

They went slowly at first while Samantha got used to using two swords, but Gianna didn’t let her have a long break to get used to them before she started to attack seriously. Samantha knew every time she didn’t block a strike, feeling bruise after bruise forming and healing on her skin. They went for quite a while, until Samantha could feel her body dripping in sweat and her clothes sticking to her skin. She could see that Gianna was in only slightly better condition than her, getting more of a workout with Samantha than she had with Emmett.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The yelling voice interrupted Samantha’s concentration and she felt Gianna’s sword take advantage of it and hit her hard in the side of the head, knocking her to the ground. She was dizzy for only a moment before she sat up and looked in the direction of the voice. Kaguya was storming towards them, her katana on her hip.

“What are you doin’ here, Princess?” Gianna asked, using the nickname that the Kazegami used for her to get on her nerves. Kaguya shot her a glare, but ignored her to go to Samantha.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you helping Emmett prepare?” she snapped. Samantha shook her head still a little fuzzy. She slowly got up, and Kaguya had to force her eyes from taking in the sight of Samantha's clothing sticking to her. By the time Samantha was up and steady, Kaguya had refocused.

“I am helping him,” Samantha told her as she shook off the last of her dizziness. Kaguya stepped forward to push the matter, but Samantha pushed her back. “Stop yelling at me, okay? I’m doing everything I can to help my brother get through this.”

“And that means taking his swords and using them instead of training him to use them?”

“You don’t understand,” Samantha mumbled. “I’m not going to let him get killed, Kaguya. You know Monica will tear him to pieces.”

Kaguya shook her head. “I know, that’s why I came here to help you train him. Instead, I find you working yourself to death instead of working with him.”

“I take it Souma told you we were training in here?” Gianna asked, her sword resting across her shoulders.

“Of course he did,” Kaguya snapped at her. “It’s probably your fault that Samantha isn’t helping her brother right now. What did you tell her, that he’d never get any better so you’re better to find another way?”

“I mean, I didn’t say he’d never get better,” Gianna answered, shrugging.

“Stop yelling, Kaguya,” Samantha said. Kaguya turned to her to say something else, but saw intense tendrils of anger she never thought she’d see in Samantha’s aura while they were together. “I’m going to protect Emmett. Stay out of it if you aren’t going to help me.”

Kaguya bit her lip and looked away, before she straightened back up and left the arena in a huff. Samantha watched her leave sadly, and then sighed, her shoulders dropping.

“She looked really hurt, Samantha.”

“Yeah… I took advantage of her ability, made her think I was angry at her,” she mumbled before getting back into a fighting stance. After a deep breath, she looked up at Gianna. “Let’s keep going.”

“I hope you don’t regret that,” Gianna told her before getting into her own stance as they started fighting again.

Kaguya stormed into her dorm room and put her katana away carefully. Despite her anger towards Samantha at the arena, as soon as she walked into her dorm room she felt it disappear in favor of fear. She made sure to take her time putting her katana where it gets stored, and then stepped into the bathroom to wash her face and take a moment to collect herself again.

I can’t see it, but it has to be in there somewhere, she reminded herself, closing her eyes. After the event with Miguel, and her father breaking her phone before they left, Kaguya was sure he was watching her closely. While she hadn’t found it yet, she was sure he put a camera into her dorm room to keep an eye on her. She hadn’t told Samantha, or even Souma, because she was sure they’d keep her from coming back to the dorm at all.

But if she never came back, there was a chance he’d do something even worse. Her privacy wasn’t worth risking him finding the little hideouts for secret rendezvous with Samantha and using those against her later. She had to protect Samantha as much as possible.