Say You Love Me (ChaeYu / ChaeTzu)

Ch.10 Bite My Mind

Tzuyu hasn't felt this anxious in a long time.

Yesterday at the archery competition, she wasn't nervous at all. Sure the atmosphere was tense but she wasn't nervous; she was actually excited. She wanted to prove even more that she isn't just a pretty face and she loves the feeling of using her bow. 

But today was different. Today she had to pick up her sword and fight. The Swordsmanship competition is more complicated and eccentric than the archery one and with shorter breaks in-between rounds. Just like the archery team, there were 6 members total: 3 boys and 3 girls. They each had their own specialization; one boy and girl had to slice and dice at objects being thrown at them. Another boy and girl had to fight as many bots as they could and the last pair had to fight the last pair of the other teams. The PVP match was obviously not to kill and the point was to make your opponent move out of the boundaries. Injuries obviously do happen but there are penalties for potential fatal strikes. 

Guess which one Tzuyu has to participate in.

"It'll be alright, Tzuyu," Chaeyoung says softly and wraps her arms around her waist. 

"I'm doing this to prove my skill and I now want to do this...but I'm nervous," Tzuyu says quietly and rubs her clammy hands together. 

"It's understandable, Tzu," Chaeyoung rests her head on her shoulder, "But you'll do great, I know it. You're very skilled and capable so I believe in you."

"You're just saying that to be nice," Tzuyu blushes and wraps her arms around Chaeyoung and buries her head into her shoulder. 

"Maybe, maybe not," Chaeyoung chuckles.

"Can you two get a room?" Nayeon fakes irritability as the others are eating a snack before Tzuyu has to go down to the floor. 

"Leave them be," Sana laughs lightly, "It would be a bad idea to leave the them in the room wouldn't it?"

"Oh my gosh, Sana..." Momo shakes her head with a small smile as she takes her third mini cracker, ham, and cheese sandwich. 

"Pardon me, Lady Chou it's time to get ready," The assistant bowed deeply to all of them before closing the door and waiting outside.

"Good luck, Tzuyu, stay safe," Chaeyoung squeezes her tight before letting her arms fall to her side. 

"Thank you, I will," Tzuyu smiles down at her and she goes to the others who wish her luck as well. 

Tzuyu exits the room and walks with the assistant down a flight of steps to the team's gearing up area. She was already in a long sleeve indigo shirt and leggings so all she had to do was put on protective armor. She greeted her fellow team members before going to her set of leather armor and strapping on the arm, elbow, shin, and knee guards. The assistant from before helped her put on the chest armor. After adjusting the straps herself, she stretches and practices moving around in it. As she's cracking her knuckles and putting on the hand wraps, the assistant comes in again with her sword and gently places it down in front of Tzuyu before bowing and leaving. Tzuyu attaches the sheath to her belt and rests her hand on the hilt. She then turns to her left and puts on her helmet before looking at her appearance in the mirror. She looks like a palace Royal Guard except without shoulder pauldrons.

When it's time to go out on the field, the other athletes share words of advice with each other and Tzuyu apologizes for being unable to say anything except, 'Good luck.' The others laugh at that comment and reassure the young Lady that it's all alright; if she was anyone else they probably would've thought low of her. They enter the floor and the crowd goes wild at the appearance of them all. As she stared at the other swords of the people on her team and Tempus' she can feel her hands get clammy. She doesn't get it, why can't she just deal with double edged blades. Even if her mind is somewhat ok at the sight of a double edged blade, her body just reacts and she hates it. She looks up at the Royal box and notices Nayeon and Chaeyoung giving her concerned looks, their concern warms her surprisingly cold insides. I can do this...