***
(Shifting POV: Fialova)
"Damn it. This idiot. Who even stands that close? " I thought, annoyed.
I was still trying to process what had just happened.
Why did he have to stand that close?
I had to start yapping about the sword just to compose myself.
"Ummm, Luna… did you listen to a word I said?" Sensei's voice cut through my thoughts.
I snapped back to reality and slowly nodded my head.
Truthfully, I hadn't heard a single word he'd said.
My mind was still somewhere else, replaying what had just happened. As I was trying to figure out what Sensei had been saying about our next training, but before I could piece it together, this idiot interrupted me.
"So, Luna…" he said, tilting his head teasingly.
"Is that your nickname? Luna?" he teased again.
I immediately jabbed my elbow into his stomach and glared at him.
"Okay, okay, jeez! I won't call you that," he said, backing away with both hands raised like I was holding him at gunpoint.
"But I will call you sweetheart," he teased again.
"Don't you dare," I warned, glaring at him.
"Whatever you say, princess," he added, still refusing to give up.
That stupid nickname made me blush for a second.
I quickly composed myself.
"But seriously, what did Sensei say?"
"Oh, he said now he'll show us how to fight with swords—"
A watermelon suddenly flew straight at him.
We both jumped out of the way.
"—by throwing fruits at us," he continued, giving me an obvious look as more fruits were already being launched at us.
I quickly nodded, and we both got back into position, facing the machines that were firing fruits at us like this was some kind of fruit tornado.
"Wait! What about the grading?" I asked Kai mid-swing.
He turned toward me—
SMACK!
A freaking orange hit him.
I couldn't help it.
I burst out laughing.
He stared at me, clearly offended, and I desperately tried to hide my laughter when our eyes met.
"He said we'll be graded on this—correct grip and correct posture," he answered.
SMACK!
Another orange hit him directly in the face.
He stood completely still, his expression screaming, face twitching as he tried to hide how annoyed he was.
I completely failed to hide my laughter.
But we both quickly snapped back to reality.
We had a fruit tornado to survive.
Different kinds of fruits were being launched from the machines nonstop. At this point, we had two choices:
Get hit by the fruits… or slice them with our swords.
After what felt like forever, it finally ended.
Or so we thought.
"Now that the test run is over…" Sensei paused.
We both slowly turned toward him with the most unbelievable, exhausted glare we could manage.
"We can start the actual test," he said awkwardly.
There was a moment of silence.
Then—
"IT WAS A TEST RUN?!"
Kai and I screamed at the exact same time, glaring at Sensei.
"What do you mean, testrun? We've been fighting FRUITS for hours!" Kai complained.
"Yeah!" I added. "We're exhausted!"
I was still sweating and desperately trying to catch my breath.
Sensei shrugged.
"Well… it's not me who chose this target, now is it?"
He gave us an obvious look.
We both immediately lowered our heads, suddenly very interested in the floor as we awkwardly avoided eye contact.
"Yeah. Exactly what I thought. Now, chop-chop. Get back into position."
Sensei clapped his hands together.
Kai and I sighed so loudly, I was pretty sure the birds outside heard us.
Then—
BOOM.
This time, it wasn't just a couple of machines.
There were six.
All around us.
Two on each side.
My jaw dropped as I looked around.
"WHAT THE—"
"Umm… is he trying to kill us?" Kai whispered, side-eyeing Sensei.
We both stared at him.
Sensei looked back at us.
We immediately gave him forced smiles.
Then looked back at each other.
"I never thought I'd say this…" I said, completely serious, "but I think fruits might actually kill us today."
Kai nodded solemnly.
We started discussing our possible deaths while giving Sensei innocent little smiles whenever he looked our way.
Totally innocent.
Definitely not fed up with him.
"Ready… set… GO!"
Sensei shouted.
We quickly adjusted our stances.
And then—
BOOM.
Another fruit tornado began.
Except this time, it wasn't just a tornado.
It was a freaking RAINSTORM TORNADO.
A few hours later, the fruits finally stopped attacking us.
Kai and I stood there, completely exhausted and covered in fruit from head to toe.
I swear I had an orange sitting on my head like a hat.
"Aww, you two look great!" Sensei said, taking a picture of us.
We both turned toward him.
"SENSEI!!!!"
We snapped at him at the exact same time and immediately started complaining about how horrible we looked.
"My hair looks horrible! And I look like a chef!" I sulked.
"That's not my best side! It's my left, not my right, Sensei!" Kai complained.
We were complaining like two little kids.
Sensei just laughed.
"Oh, come on. This is a good first picture. It's not like I'm going to frame it."
Kai and I exchanged a look.
We knew Sensei well enough to know he was absolutely going to do something with that picture.
But eventually, we gave up.
We stood there looking like fruit salads.
Except salads looks good.
We looked like someone had vomited a salad all over us.
"We need to change," I said, staring into absolutely nothing, completely done with life.
"Yeah. I smell like papaya," Kai added smelling himself.
And just like that, we both headed to our rooms.
I took off the watch, placed it down, and got ready to take a shower.
Just as I was about to step away—
The watch lit up.
A large screen suddenly projected into the air, almost like a holographic projector.
"Points added for today's training."
A robotic voice echoed from the watch.
A whole chart appeared.
It showed everything.
My sword skills.
My speed.
My grip.
My strength.
My balance.
My reaction speed.
My defense.
My attacks.
Everything.
I stared at it in shock.
Although, honestly, I wasn't that shocked anymore.
At this point, anything was possible.
"Analyzing strengths and weaknesses."
The screen updated.
It showed what I needed to focus on and what I was already good at.
My strongest point was speed.
My weakness—
Posture.
"Got it."
I pointed at the screen with one finger and gave it a little wink.
After turning the screen off, I finally took a shower, got dressed, and lay down on my bed to relax for a bit.
I guess I dozed off.
When I woke up, I headed to the main room.
Kai was already there, sitting on the couch and staring at the front wall.
I stopped beside him and gave him a confused look.
He looked completely done with everything.
I followed his gaze toward the wall.
I stared at it.
For a moment, I genuinely thought I was hallucinating.
Kai sighed.
"Sit down. He's not done yet."
I looked at him.
"He's going to hang it up. He went to get the hammer."
I slowly sat down beside him.
"Oh, you also came!" Sensei's voice suddenly echoed from behind us.
We looked up.
Sensei came down the stairs and walked toward us, then dramatically spread both hands toward the wall.
"So… what do you think of my masterpiece?"
Kai and I just stared.
I immediately started to get up, ready to give Sensei a piece of my mind.
"Don't even bother," Kai stopped me.
I looked at him.
He looked exhausted.
Clearly, he'd already tried.
Severaltimes.
So I slowly sat back down.
Sensei continued hanging up his so-called masterpiece.
Finally, he stepped back.
Then he came behind the couch and placed one hand on each of our shoulders.
He proudly looked at the wall.
"It looks great."
Kai and I stared at him.
Completely.
Utterly.
DONE.
Sensei looked incredibly proud of himself.
And there it was.
The picture he'd taken earlier.
Except he hadn't just printed it.
He had framed it.
And hung it right in the middle of the room.
Not a small frame.
Not a normal-sized picture.
It was freaking THREE FEET TALL.
We both sighed.
Then, still perfectly in sync, we stood up, shook our heads, and walked away.
"See you tomorrow!" Sensei called after us, still ridiculously proud of his masterpiece.
We didn't even turn around.