Chapter 188: 188
Deafening silence covered the gym and the people that are still writing in their own paper seems to forget what they are doing. They can’t decide whether to look at, me, or the piece of paper that has cuts the same way the lines drawn were.
I just simply broke the silence by clapping very loudly.
*CLAP*
“The f.u.c.k was that bro?! Is that some secret technique or something?!” Russel exclaimed.
“That? No. That’s just my practice swing.” I replied nonchalantly.
“No way.”
“Press ‘X’ for doubt.”
“Really?!”
“Then what are the secret techniques then?!”
“How could you know? They’re called ‘secrets’ for a reason.”
“I really want to learn that.”
“That’s the practice swing? What would happen if you do it for real?”
“You’ll die, obviously. You should’ve seen him dual-wielding.”
“I remember that.”
The people I’m teaching started to set aside the paper they’re writing at and then they started on writing on a new piece of paper with a gleam on their eyes. I saw what they were writing and then I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt.
“These little f.u.c.kers…” I thought to myself.
Some of their drawings at first were just either straight lines or wavy lines with the same length but now it started to make tight turns and have different lengths. Some of them would intersect or loop to a different direction.
“Here!” They actually formed a line and they were giving me weird smiles. Russel was also in the line and he actually drawn on several pieces of paper.
“Okay… *sigh* give it here.” I said as I picked up the first piece.
Rin was first in line and I opened my marker and I placed my signature on it.
“Here, that would be $50.” I said as I handed it back to her.
Her head tilted sideways as she grew confused.
“That’s my autograph. Frame it or something.” I replied.
“B-but we wanted to see that thing you did again!” she exclaimed.
“Yeah!”
“Do that again!”
“Do it!”
“Just do it!”
“Uh, no. I’m not gonna do it. I’m not Shia. We’re still training here, you know?” I said as I told them to place the papers in the stand.
“The purpose of this exercise is just to slowly make the use of our melee weapons like it’s a normal thing. You could say that making the weapon part of yourself or something if we’re talking about it like in the books, novels, or manga.” I explained.
“W-wait, I thought we were practicing control?” Russel asked.
“We are. Isn’t making the weapon you’re holding perform the task similar to what you could with other tools such as this marker an example of perfect control?” I replied.
“Uh…” he can’t seem to understand.
“Let me start from the beginning again. What is 1 + 1?” I said.
“…” Everyone was silent again.
“You suddenly forgot how to do addition? What is 1 + 1?” I asked again.
“2…” they all trailed with weird faces.
“That answer is the easiest thing and the hardest thing to do.” I said.
They’re giving me weird looks.
“Saying the answer to the question is the easiest but that is the case if we’re just talking about it in theory. We had a small discussion about this before when we encountered a sprinter in the gas station that Russel worked at. That’s only a simplified way of talking about it on how the 1 + 1 = 2 statement works. There’s a lot more factors that is in play. It could be movements we’re doing subconsciously by habit or movements we’re doing in our conscious that actually affects the way we perform. Can you really say that you have no other excess or lacking movements? We always put a little more or a little less on the actions that we do and that’s why having the exact answer of ‘2’ every single time is hard even though it sounds so simple.” I explained.
“Well, what is the way to do it then? Like a trick?” Rin asked.
“There’s a lot of different answers to that. It could be anything, really. Constant training can bring you a step closer to have perfect control over your body and that is something we don’t have a shortcut to.” I said.
“But isn’t the purpose of us training is to learn one of your techniques?” Russel asked.
“Yeah, but that is the advanced class. You’d need to pass the basic training first. You need to have great control of your bodies first before you start to learn them. Learning them will just put a strain on your bodies if I teach those techniques to you now, trust me. Having the ability to control your bodies to your heart’s desire is much more important than learning techniques that would boost your fighting power by a couple notches if you ask me. I would pick that first over everything else since being able to do that will slowly transfer over handling different tools as well if we train and train. Our enemies are the dead outside not the samurai from the olden times. You’re also holding different weapons and the movements for it wouldn’t suit on what some of you are holding.” I explained.
“I learned a few things from other weapons though… just not as proficient with my katana.” I thought to myself.
The training then continued but I still made them perform the same basic movements I taught before. I corrected some of the excess in their movements and a few faults in holding their respective weapon. A few things with how they step in is also crucial since just simply swinging them with the arms is not the proper way to use them. You need to make use of your body as a whole and even how you breathe to perform the correct action is necessary.
Kaley was quiet the whole time but she’s intently taking in every information I throw at her and the group I’m teaching.
“She seems… in discomfort?” I thought to myself.
I looked at her and she seems to be doing fine and she would simply nod or just simply answer. Her face is slightly flushed but when I asked her about it, she seemed to get annoyed.
“I’ll just ask her about it later. Did something happen when she went to her parent’s house?” I thought to myself but I brushed it aside for now as I continued the lesson.
Whenever my hands would get placed on my katana, their eyes would follow it hoping I cut the papers hanging on the stand. I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt that what I did was still on their minds but I never did the same thing. I just had fun by making my katana show a glint of its blade as I raise it slightly with my thumb. They would all simultaneously sigh when I brought it down and it started to annoy them, especially Kaley,
“Why is she so irritated right now? Something definitely must have happened for her to get like this.” I thought to myself.
The lesson finally ended and we headed down after cleaning up. We went to the pool area to get dinner and we have nice macaroni soup with bits of cut up chicken and different vegetables which are sliced to small pieces as well. Its main base is chicken stock but evaporated milk is also added. Its always eaten over rice even if there is pasta on it already.
I sat next to Kaley and she’s eating silently but she’s not talking to me and she was actually silent even on the meeting and on our evening workout. She even went down first ahead of everybody and everyone with her acted like it’s a normal thing and I think I’m the only one that is noticing what is happening.
I finished my workout and said goodbye to the people still in the gym. I opened the door to my room and Kaley is covered by our blanket and she’s eating a tub of strawberry ice cream while watching a movie from the TV.
“Hey, something wrong?” I asked her.
“Nothing…” she said as she took another bite.
“Okay… just tell me what’s wrong if you’re comfortable.” I replied.
“I said it’s nothing!” she shouted.
“…” I was silently staring at her.
“Sorry…” she trailed but she started on eating the ice cream in front of her while still being covered with the blanket.
“It’s fine… I’m just gonna take a shower.” I said to her but she never responded.
I picked a change of comfortable clothes as I headed for the shower. I started to think about a few things that might be the case on why she’s so cranky right now.
“Did I do something? Did she have a fight with Marisha? Impossible. How about other people? Nah. Maybe with Olivia or Matthew but she’s not one to involve other people. So, I did something? But what? I have the best memory out of everyone here and I can’t remember anything that I might have done.” I thought to myself.
I finished my shower and I went back to our room and the movie is still playing. She seems to not notice me but I tapped her shoulder and she looked at me. Her face is more flushed than before and she seems to be having a headache. She would sometimes clutch her abdomen and she would sometimes seem to be in discomfort for a few moments.
“You need to tell me if something is wrong. I can solve a few things but I won’t be able to solve it if you won’t tell me what it is.” I said to her in a calm voice.
“Hmph, this is something even you wouldn’t be able to solve.” she replied with an annoyance with her tone.
“What? At least tell me.” I said.
“I’M ON MY PERIOD YOU DOOFUS!!! CAN’T YOU NOTICE IT ALREADY!!!” she shouted on the top of her lungs.
“Oh.” I replied after staring at her blankly.
“So about a week of not…” I trailed in my head.
Then one week quickly passed.