The Raven's Curse

Chapter Thirteen

(Y/n) got up as fast as she fell down. She was panting in her mask-helmet called men already. But she couldn't give up yet. It was too early for that. How was she to master this art if she quited after two weeks of training. She held the wooden katana called shinai infront of her and adjusted her gripping. She must have another round.

"We'll call it a day." Kiku said as he took off his men. "Trust me, you've practised enough, though you still need to work on your footwork."

(Y/n) lowered her shinai. She sighed. It was always the footwork. Even when she started practising european swordsmanship it was always the footwork that went wrong. She didn't knew why she could make a mistake out of something as simple as footwork.

"Here." Kiku handed her a mineral water bottle.

She snatched it and started to quench her thirst. Maybe she had been practising too hard. But she needed to work hard. It had been two weeks since she had lowered her ego to take up Kiku's offer. To learn the art of katana. Or the basic for that, Kendo. And because of that she could not simply quit because of her stupid footwork. Besides, she had improved tremendously. Maybe it was because she had the basic 101 of using blades. Or maybe she was just natural. (Y/n) dismissed the thought, hardwork beats talent. Most successful people in the world paid off by hardwork. And with the help of Kiku, she will be successful too. She hate to admit but he was a really good teacher. He had been very helpful despite how strict he was. Sometimes he would call her 'baka', meaning stupid in japanese, when she did some mistakes. Surprisingly behind all those calmness he could be mean when he wanted to. 

"You are too impatient." he said after taking a swig.

"Impatient. You think I am impatient?" she scoffed.

"Yes."

(Y/n) was a little irritated with the fact that Kiku was showing his irritating side. Was he always that irritating? Or maybe this was sweet revenge for how she treated him before? She couldn't tell. One thing for sure, he was an irritating country.

"Japan." she called as they went to the courtyard.

"Yes."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"No."

Another thing that was irritating about him was the fact that most of his answers are a 'no' or just some excuses to dismiss the favour. If he weren't her teacher in some way, she would beat him to a bloody pulp. She was cursing mentally even they both were already at the courtyard to witness the sunset.

"What is it you wanted to ask me?" Kiku asked so suddenly.

"So now you're talking!" (Y/n) spiced her words with sarcasm but soon went quiet. "It's alright. It's not important anyway." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Did you know that when it rains too much, the river will overflow." he said it more like a statement than question.

(Y/n) knew the meaning of his words. She wanted to ask the question but felt hesitant and stupid somehow. She sighed. "I'm sorry, maybe next time."

Kiku nodded. He understood that she was not ready to share. His head was brought to face the sunset. The huge fireball was blazing red.

"Ah! I almost forgot. Tell the Ace Team to gather at the old meeting room tonight about 10 p.m." (y/n) really almost forgot. She wanted to tell Arthur during lunch time, but he was such in a hurry to prepare his presentation for next his next class that (y/n) didn't have the heart to add more weights to his mind.

"Why not after dinner?"

"Because I wanted to video call my dad first." she gritted her teeth. She hate admiting it to anyone else besides Arthur and (f/n) that she would try as possible to video call her dad every night. It would clash her prideful personality. Some people would make fun of her. For example, Gilbert.