Swinging my sword every day for three months didn''t seem like a good idea at first. It still doesn''t seem like a good idea, my arms would probably rather throw themselves into a pit of fire than spend another day being forced to do repetitive motions that already tear them apart.


    I got faster, though. Probably stronger too, but neither of them have talked to me so I haven''t had the chance to either hit a dummy or duel him again. I''m worried that if I try to swing at the house it''ll crumble with a single tap. Then we''ll all have to find another group of people to mooch off of.


    I half-expected the teacher to try and talk to me in some way, or maybe try to force me to talk to him. I had prepared myself to go hungry if he ever took away my food, and I had also made plans to run away if he ever tried to pin me down or hurt me in some other way. Maybe this is his way of trying to force me into conversation. He probably thinks that being anti-social is some horrible endgame for me and that I''d sooner hug Koyo than end up there.


    What''s even the point of staying here? What is there to learn from him? He hasn''t given me anything besides his long talks about how the answer to all my problems is inside of me. That isn''t an idea that I can do anything with. I can''t pull a sword swing out from inside of me. That is not a thing. I''d be better off running away and finding some nearby town. Whatever type of swordsmanship they teach is meaningless, all that matters is that they''ll have people who train with their swords, people who I can fight to see how much I''ve improved.


    The sun was setting again, and so I made my way inside just like usual. I propped my sword up on the wall right next to the door, shoved it into the ground so it didn''t fall over, and made my way into the house. Some dust from the nearby patch of flowers must''ve gotten in my eye, and I had been rubbing it all the way back from where I was swinging my sword around.


    By the time I got inside my right eye was beyond itchy, and I saw through my reflection that my eye had turned pink, with the surrounding swollen area a reddish-brown. I struggled to see fully with my right eye nearly forced shut, but I could catch Koyo dashing up the stairs while the teacher just sat by the door looking at me. Usually, he would go somewhere else in the room, avoiding making eye contact, but he was staring right at me today.


    At least he wasn''t going to force me to cough up some undeserved apology first.


    "Alena is going to be coming by tomorrow."


    I immediately turned towards him, my eyes must''ve looked weirdly wide open to him.


    "Karamazov? The Alena?"


    "Yes, the Alena. She said she wanted to come to invite the both of you to some dumb thing that she''s doing, so she''s coming by to see the both of you."


    "Alena Karamazov is coming by to see me? It''s not some con artist pretending to be her? This isn''t some trick that you''re playing?"


    "Have you gone deaf at the ripe old age of fifteen?"


    He clearly regretted what he had just said. He immediately flinched right after he said it and turned his head away from me.


    "So I''m the problem, not the person who-"


    "I don''t want to have this conversation. Not tonight."


    "When are we going to have it then? Are you just going to ignore the fact that-"


    "I don''t know, Erik. I can''t tell you when we''re going to have a conversation that might end in you storming out of the house and never coming back."


    "Who''s to say I won''t do that right now?"


    "Probably Alena."


    "Well at least you know well where you sit on my list of priorities."


    I stomped up the stairs and into my room, I heard him yell from where he was.


    "That didn''t sound cool you just sounded like a kid who just learned the word ''priorities''."


    "Fuck you!"


    I slammed the door so hard that the frame shook. I heard a crack, it was either the door or the wall supporting it. I threw myself onto my bed and forced myself asleep.


    When I woke up the next morning I waited until I heard two sets of footsteps go down the stairs. I didn''t know if he would try to ambush me with some new conversation as soon as I had opened my eyes, and I didn''t want to see Koyo''s face, not even the back of his head.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    I heard the door open and with it came an unfamiliar voice. It must be hers. I slowly opened my own door and walked down the hallway to the stairs without making a sound. I heard both the teacher and Koyo talking so I didn''t have to worry about either of them walking up behind me.


    I crouched right before the stairs so I could see if it actually was her standing at the door. I saw her entirely dark red outfit that matched her hair, that sword of hers that drove people insane because they said it wouldn''t work, the outfit that was made by the best armorer there ever was.


    I didn''t care about either of them, I ran down the stairs immediately, nearly tripping and falling face first on the floor as I got to the bottom step. Luckily I caught myself, but by the time I had fully stood up they were all staring at me. She was looking at me. I can''t believe she''s looking at me. She doesn''t look very impressed but that doesn''t really matter. I can''t believe it. I was frozen in place while she turned away from me to talk to the teacher.


    "This is the one you were talking about? The stubborn adolescent who does whatever he wants?"


    I glanced over at him, he was glaring back at her while she had a grin on her face, pointing at me. She was pointing at me. I was going to fall onto the floor.


    "Thank you for airing comments made in private letters to the people who they are written about."


    "I would be more inclined to not say anything if he was actually the monster you described him as. You said he was "whatever you think I am, but worse," that''s a pretty low bar."


    "I didn''t know you thought that lowly of me."


    "You absolutely know what I think about you. Anyway, do you want me to take him out for a trip or should I make my own plans seeing as how you apparently don''t understand children."


    "Why are you speaking like you''re a long-time parent?"


    "I''m not a long-time parent, you just don''t understand what emotional maturity is. Should''ve guessed."


    I could feel myself grinning from ear to ear. It was incredible to learn that my idol also disliked the people that I didn''t like. It was like she was saying everything that I was thinking, even more than that, she was saying things that I hadn''t thought of yet, but that I still agreed with. He was still glaring at her, but she wasn''t grinning as much anymore. When he spoke again she looked annoyed.


    "Yes, I still want you to take him."


    "Alright then."


    She turned to me.


    "You''re with me- Erik, was it?"


    She said my name. I can''t believe she actually said my name. Every part of me wanted to jump for joy but I feared that I''d only embarrass myself. No, she was probably the type to be happy when someone was honest about how they were feeling in the moment. Wait, no, that''s him, the teacher, and if she doesn''t like him then she wouldn''t like me jumping for joy. She''d still think it''s awkward and embarrassing.


    I fought through the urge to celebrate her saying my name and instead tried to deliver some sort of half-acknowledgment. I tilted my head downward a bit and snapped my fingers into pointing at her and-


    "Yeah."


    That was horrible. I had just embarrassed myself by trying not to embarrass myself. She knew I had just embarrassed myself, she was staring at me like I had just-


    "Then let''s get going."


    She just turned around and walked out the door. I had almost forgotten but the teacher and Koyo were still standing there watching this all happen. I shoo-d them away with my left hand before running out the door to catch up to Alena.


    I closed the door behind me and got up beside her. She had brought her carriage that was also the same color of her hair. I wouldn''t dare say that the color of her hair is bad but there must be a point where you shouldn''t make everything that you use the same color.


    As soon as we got into the carriage we started moving. She had sat right in front of me, so it would be awkward for me to avoid looking at her, she was looking at me anyways.


    "So, are you a fan of mine?"


    I couldn''t help but immediately respond.


    "Yes! I''ve been your fan for a-"


    I had started to speak too soon after I had swallowed my own spit and started to choke on it, when I finally stopped suffocating in front of the person who''s opinion I cared the most about, I decided that acting frantic wasn''t the right way to go about this.


    "Yeah, you''re cool."


    An awkward stare turned into a smile as she started lightly chuckling.


    "You''re funny. I never really understood having fans, nor really what I was supposed to do about them, but if I need to have fans then at the least I''m happy that it''s a child and not some random old man. I have a lot of old men that are "fans" of mine, it''s really not-"


    She paused for a second, she had been constantly hesitating and staring at me intently while speaking. Was she-


    "Are you nervous?"


    "Not really nervous, more like being careful about what I say around you. You''re still a child at the end of the day."


    I hate being treated like I''m some newborn.


    "Don''t give me that."


    "What? Did you get the confidence to speak that way just now-"


    "You think that I haven''t, what, heard a curse word before? Heard a dirty story, dirty things in general?"


    "You could''ve grown up in the slums of Alarthine for all I care and I still wouldn''t be comfortable speaking how I normally do around you. I only ever speak that way in front of a few people."


    "So you''re going to be like this the entire time that we''re on this ''trip''?"


    My fascination had turned into annoyance, I didn''t know that she would be like this to me just because I wasn''t an adult yet.


    "Listen, you don''t want me to speak how I normally do, okay? One conversation with me would leave you irrevocably mentally scarred."


    "That can''t be true."


    "It is. I''d send you back to that little cottage and you''d have to knock on the door and wait for someone to open it. You''d walk in with a cane and bandages wrapped around your head, and the worst part of all of this is that your teacher would probably say something pretentious like ''I saw this coming.''"


    She was grinning at me again, she had changed to responding in a joking manner, and that was enough for me to abandon whatever dislike I had just held for her.