~ Third Person Pov, the next day~
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"Hey! I heard that we're getting a new transfer today..."
"Huh? Really? It's like the middle of the semester...? Didn't they think it's a bad time?"
"I don't know, but I heard it was a girl... Some rumors say she's from the sea, the Mie prefecture."
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"No way!?... You mean those people? I thought they decided they would never come back on land since like, what? Near a century ago, if not more? What do ya' think changed?"
The person shrugged. "I don't really know to be honest with you... Apparently the birth rates been in decline down there... Don't you all watch the news, or read the news-paper?"
"Nah, who even reads newspapers these days?" One of the students scoffed, leaning back in his chair. "If it's not trending online, I ain't seeing it."
"That's your problem," another student shot back, flipping through their phone. "It was trending... A whole article about it last week. Some kind of cultural exchange, or whatever... Apparently, the government's involved too."
"Huh...? So, what? Is she's like some kind of ambassador, or somethin'?"
"She's probably more like a test subject..." someone else interjected, getting the attention of others. "Maybe seeing if their people can integrate again after all these years."
The classroom was essentially filled with wild speculations; Whispers overlapping some theories as well... Some wondered if she'd have gills like some of the stories they heard as kids, the others joked about webbed fingers, some fins and others tails... A few even questioned if she could drink fresh water without getting sick...
Then, the door slid open. Immediately, the room fell silent, while their teacher stepped inside. But he wasn't alone.
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Behind him, stood a lone girl...
She was slightly taller than the average girl, lean, with a certain fluidity to the way she moved; as if she wasn't entirely used to the gravity pressing down on her... Her uniform was neat, elegant and crisp. Identical to theirs of course, but there was an odd grace in how she held herself—controlled, and modest.
Not only that... She carried an elegant style that highlighted her stunning figure, even through the uniform she wore.
Her hair was a deep shade of violet, and it almost shimmered under the classroom lights. But the most striking thing however, were her eyes. They were a soft ocean, yet deep ocean blue, like moonlight reflecting off the ocean's surface...
The teacher cleared his throat... "Everyone, settle down. We have a new student joining us today. Introduce yourself young miss..."
A girl stepped forward, her voice calm, but carrying an undertone of something, else...
"Hello..." She bowed, slowly... "And, good morning, my name is Chisaki Haminora. I hope we can all get along with each other from now on."
For a moment, no one had spoken a single word...
Then—
"EHHH!?"
"Whoa! Isn't her voice kind of hypnotic..."
"Shut up, dude!"
But no one could deny it... She was breathtaking.
While Ayano couldn't have really cared less. However, hearing all the rumors, he was a bit confused; but also curious, even if it was to a relatively small degree...
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He barely spared the new girl a proper glance. While the rest of the class buzzed with curiosity, whispering theories and speculations about her origins, he remained mostly uninterested... 'Still... The hell are sea people?' The rumor sounded absolutely absurd to him, like something out of an old mythology...
Still, it wasn't his problem at the moment...
His fingers tapped lightly against his desk as his mind drifted elsewhere. Last night's fight, and later his training, had given him a lot to think about. Especially after taking down over a hundred people, he quickly had realized a glaring flaw in his fighting style—he knew that his close-range combat was up to par, and mostly efficient, but against larger numbers, it wasn't nearly as versatile as he desired it to be...
There were still small gaps in his movement that needed ironing out, and a few moments where he had wasted energy in movements when he didn't need to. That was the reason why he had decided to pick up a new martial art, in hopes to balance himself out.
'Taekkyeon.' He thought to himself, a bit pleased at his choice...
'Unlike boxing or Muay Thai, which emphasized close-range strikes, Taekkyeon specialized in speed, distance control, and powerful, precise kicks... It's practically a perfect match for what I'm going for.'
He was looking for the ability to control a large amount of space would be a major advantage when dealing with multiple people at once. He had spent hours training last night, and thanks to his passive, he was already getting the hang of all the fundamentals.
Now, all that was left was to simply test it out properly.
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"Hey, Keiji-san"
The voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Ayano turned to see Renji giving him his usual lazy smirk. "You're zoning out again there bud..."
"Oh, sorry, just, thinkin'." he responded.
Renji smiled. "Lemme guess. Not so much about the new girl?"
Ayano barely reacted, offering a half-hearted shrug. "She's just another transfer, like I was... Not really a big deal."
Renji scoffed. "Man, you're the only guy here not losing his mind over her..." He subtly glanced at the rest of his, quote-on-quote, classmates. "Just look at 'em all."
Keiji's eyes swept across the entire room... As expected, most of the class was still fixated on Chisaki, and he couldn't blame them entirely... The girls looked intrigued but also wary of her, while the guys were lack of the better word, utterly entranced. Ayano realizing all this, did feel a bit bad for her since they would instantly flock the poor girl as her as soon as break/lunch time came around...
But, as he was looking, he also saw the expression of Sekai...
'Hmm? What's with her?' Ayano thought, 'She looks as if someone ripped her heart out...' But, going against his better judgement, he decided to ignore her for the time being...
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"Alright, quiet down everyone... Miss Chisaki, you can sit beside Sekai. Sekai, please raise your hand."
Ayano shook his head, 'Phew~ Talk about bad fortune...'
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~ Ayano's Pov, break-Time... ~
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"Finally! Some well needed alone time..." I opened up my lunch box. I needed to finish this all within ten minutes so I could get some more practice in before I continue that damned quest I have... The more I practice, the better I got, a win-win scenario for me...
"Why are you in such a rush all of a sudden..? Something going on?" Renji asked, eating as well.
"Not, particularly... But, could I ask you something?" Ayano said.
"Ah, sure... What do you wanna know?"
"Well, I'm absolutely clueless about who these sea people are, mind filling me in?"
Renji, shook his head, "Sorry man I can't really tell ya' the details on that, since I'm not so well versed in that part of history..."
Keiji was slightly bummed out about that, but he turned his attention to Katsura instead, "Hey, Kotonoha-san, do you know anything at all about the sea people by any chance...?"
Katsura quickly stopped eating for a moment, "Hmm... Are you also interested in Chisaki-san by any chance?" She asked, innocently.
He thought about it for a moment. "Well... as someone to like, or of that kid of interest, then no, not really; but it's definitely about her origins... I haven't really heard about them before."
Katsura tilted her head, tapping her chopsticks against the side of her bento. "Huh, you really don't know? I guess that makes sense… Well, it's been nearly a century since the last major event involving them, or anything much at all."
She placed her food down and leaned forward slightly. "Alright, listen closely... You know how some of the old legends that talk about people who lived in the sea? Based on what I know... those weren't just baseless stories. A very long time ago, there were actual settlements underwater. The people there—Chisaki-san's people—were called the Sea Dwellers. They had their own culture, traditions, and even some… unique traits that set them apart from us."
"Like what?" he asked, genuinely intrigued now...
"Well, for one, I read that they didn't age the same way we do." she explained. "I read that they lived much longer than normal humans, or at least, they used to... They could also survive underwater indefinitely because their bodies adapted to it over generations, but some say it's a force called Ena. But their way of life started changing about ninety, or so years ago I believe."
Renji raised a brow; "Correct me if I'm wrong... But, wasn't that when the big migration started happening? When a bunch of them decided to actively start living on land?"
Katsura nodded, "Yes... Back then, apparently there was a big divide between the Sea Dwellers, and land people, or us. Some of them thought that mingling with humans would destroy their traditions, while others believed it was necessary to survive. Eventually, the ones who wanted to live on land left the ocean behind. But… I heard it wasn't that simple. Some eventually lost their ability to breathe underwater or use Ena; while the others had trouble adjusting to life up here."
Ayano crossed his arms, slowly piecing it all together. "And the ones who stayed behind?"
"They simply kept their way of life, but at a cost," she said. "Over time, their numbers started to shrink... Rumors have it, that their birth rates have dropped significantly, and without any new/young people, they slowly started fading... No one knows exactly why, but some say it's because their connection to the sea isn't as strong as it used to be."
Renji whistled. "So, wait for a minute... if Chisaki's here, doesn't that mean…?"
Katsura nodded... "She's likely part of whatever effort they're making to reintegrate with humans again... Maybe they're also testing if they can adjust without completely losing their heritage."
Keiji glanced toward the the sky, his mind now lingering on Chisaki for a just bit...
She didn't seem the type to be openly struggling, but he felt as if there was a quiet tension about her. If she was really here as some sort of 'trial' then she was carrying more than just school stress on her shoulders.
"If that's the case, I... kind of feel sorry for her..."
Renji raised a brow at Keiji. "Huh? Didn't think you'd care."
Keiji shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "It's not about caring. Just… sounds like a pain to deal with... Think about it man. Imagine being sent to a completely different environment, surrounded by people who likely don't understand you, all while carrying the expectations of an entire civilization on your back. at least potentially."
He scoffed. "It's a setup due for failure if you ask me."
Katsura sighed, pitifully, resting her chin in her hand. "You're... Not really wrong. I think it must be exhausting, trying to fit in while knowing everyone sees you as an outsider first..."
Renji snorted. "Yeah, but look at her so far... She already has more than half, if not all the guys in our class being ready to throw themselves at her feet. I can tell you one thing, she won't be struggling for attention, that's for sure."
"True... But, attention doesn't inherently mean acceptance." Katsura countered softly, "People are... only interested now because she's probably new and, equally mysterious." She looked downward slightly, swindling her fingers... "But even that won't last forever... If she doesn't fit in, they'll likely move on eventually."
Keiji didn't respond to that, idly tapping his fingers against the desk. To him, it sounded like Katsura was genuinely speaking from experience...
"Alright guys, let's not dwell on the potential negatives... Actually, you both wanna see something cool?"
Katsura raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? W-what are you planning to show us?"
Keiji smirked, standing up and stretching his arms. "I've been working on something new... Figured I'd test it out."
He took a few steps away from the desks, rolling his shoulders before settling into a stance—one noticeably different from either the boxing, or Muay-Thai movements. His posture was much more relaxed, and calm, with his weight quickly shifting lightly between the soles of his feet.
Then, without warning, he jumped and kicked.
Fwish!~
Keiji's leg snapped out in a sudden, sweeping motion—controlled, yet deceptively fast. The air seemed to almost ripple as he executed a wide, circular kick, his body twisting with a natural grace... He didn't stop there...
Flowing seamlessly into the next movement, he spun on his heel and delivered another kick, this one rising even higher, striking an invisible target in another near perfect arc, before he silently landed effortlessly back into his initial stance...
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Both Katsura, and Renji stared, momentarily speechless.
"Woah...! That was CRAZYgood..." Renji shouted.
Katsura nodded, still speechless at what she had seen... 'I-It's, beautiful...' She had thought. She noted that he had done it so fluidly, it looked completely unreal, almost unnatural even... She knew he was likely a very good fighter before they had started to hang out, but not to this extent...
"That—that wasn't your usual style... What was that?" Renji asked.
Keiji exhaled, "It's a martial art called Taekkyeon," he answered. "It's also a martial art focused on fluidity, flexibility and strength. Thought it'd be a good addition to my skill set...
Katsura folded her arms, intrigued. "I think it suits you... Your movements looked... natural, almost like you were dancing, at least to me..."
Keiji smiled, somewhat shyly. "Heheh~ Yeah, thanks, that's kind of the point of it really. It's pretty much all about rhythm, and adaptability and as far as I'm concerned, as well as the above mentioned of course... I definitely needed something like this in my repertoire."
Katsura on the other hand continued to observe him, still captivated by how effortlessly he had done movements that looked incredibly difficult just moments ago... "It really didn't look like regular martial arts to me." she mused. "It was almost... too fluid. If I had to put it into words, it's almost as if you weren't bound by either weight, or gravity. It sounds awkward, doesn't it...?"
Keiji tilted his head slightly, considering her words... To an extent, she was somewhat correct, "Not at all... That's because Taekkyeon focuses on natural movement... It's not focused on brute strength, or rigid forms—it's about flow. It lets me control my momentum instead of fighting against it."
Renji smirked, "Well, it definitely makes you look like some kind of action movie protagonist."
Keiji smiled. "Guess I'll take that one as a compliment."
Katsura, however, was still thinking... Watching him move reminded her of something—something beyond just martial arts. The way he carried himself, the way his body moved without hesitation... it almost felt like it wasn't just skill, but on pure instinct.
She wasn't sure why, but for the first time, she found herself wondering just who Keiji really was. Until, she saw him suddenly stiffen up...
Keiji looked as if he was staring into blank space, but to him, a new quest had popped up;
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{SIDE QUEST: Check on Sekai Saionji...
REWARD: ??????}
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Reading it made him even more confused... 'You have got to be kidding me...'
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END