"Wrong... it's still wrong!"
She threw out another Kasane Ate, her fighting spirit making the wooden training dummy before her sway slightly—but she shook her head in dissatisfaction.
The KOF 96 tournament had made her acutely aware of the chasm-like gap between herself and the world's top fighters.
Though she'd also received an energy gift from the departed masters, improving her abilities, she felt like she'd hit a bottleneck—no matter how hard she pushed, she couldn't advance further.
That sense of powerlessness left her frustrated.
"Father... Grandfather... What do I have to do to become stronger? To restore our Todoh-ryu's glory?"
She murmured to herself, a trace of confusion in her eyes.
Just then, a teasing, lazy voice drifted from the shadows of the dojo.
"Little miss, it's the middle of the night. Instead of sleeping, you're picking a fight with a wooden pole. Don't you think that's a bit boring?"
"Who's there?!"
Kasumi's entire body tensed. She instantly assumed a defensive stance, warily scanning the direction of the voice.
She saw a man in casual clothes leaning against the dojo's doorframe, a foxtail grass dangling from his lips, watching her with amusement.
In the moonlight, that face—almost too handsome—and those deep eyes that seemed capable of seeing through everything made Kasumi's heart skip a beat for no reason she could name.
"You're... the King of Fighters, Cloud!" She recognized him instantly, surprise coloring her voice, though her guard didn't drop one bit. "What... what are you doing here?"
"What am I doing?" Cloud spat out the foxtail grass and sauntered toward her. "Obviously... fulfilling a commission to be your personal tutor."
"Personal tutor?" Kasumi's face was a mask of confusion.
"That's right." Cloud walked up to her, extended a finger, and lightly tapped the wooden dummy she'd just attacked.
Crack...
That training dummy, made of iron-hard wood, suddenly sprouted spider-web cracks radiating from where his finger touched—then collapsed into a pile of splinters with a crash.
Kasumi's eyes went perfectly round.
She'd used her full strength and only made it sway. This man, with one casual touch...
This was the King of Fighters' power?
"Your Kasane Ate has the form but lacks the spirit." Cloud withdrew his hand and began his "showing off" lesson. "You're only thinking about pushing power outward, forgetting that the true essence of Kasane Ate lies in layering and penetration."
"Come on—throw a punch at me. Right here." Cloud opened his palm toward her.
Kasumi hesitated, but steeled herself, took a deep breath, gathered all her strength into her fist, and drove it toward Cloud's palm with everything she had.
But the instant before her fist connected, she felt her power sink into cotton—or fall into a bottomless whirlpool—dissolved, redirected, and dissipated by a strange spiral force.
"Wha... what is this?" She stared at Cloud in shock.
"Did you see that?" Cloud smiled, grasping her small hand that still held its punching form. "Your power is too linear—you don't know how to adapt. Just like your personality. Totally single-minded."
His palm was warm and strong, completely enveloping her smaller hand. Kasumi's face flared red. She instinctively tried to pull away, but he only gripped tighter.
"Don't move. Feel this." Cloud's voice seemed to carry a kind of magic. "Imagine your power isn't a straight line, but a dragon spiraling upward. First sink, then spiral, and only then—explode."
He guided her hand, slowly demonstrating the Kasane Ate's power trajectory anew.
Under his guidance, for the first time, Kasumi clearly felt the energy within her operating in an entirely new, far more efficient way.
The sensation was like enlightenment poured directly into her skull—a door to a new world flung wide open.
"So that's... how it works..." she murmured, completely forgetting her hand was still held by a man.
When awareness returned, she realized how impossibly close she was to Cloud.
She could even smell him—that pleasant scent, distinctly masculine.
Her heart began pounding wildly for no reason at all.
"Um... thank you... could you... let go of my hand now?" Face crimson, head bowed, her voice barely a mosquito's whisper.
"Oh, sorry—the hand-feel was too good, I forgot." Cloud finally released her with an "enlightened" expression, looking like he was still savoring the sensation.
Kasumi felt both embarrassed and annoyed. She glared at him, yet somewhere in her heart, an inexplicable sweetness had begun to bloom.
This man, despite his inappropriate mouth... he was really strong, and also... really gentle.
[DING! Kasumi Todoh's affection toward Host has increased! Current affection: 0 (Stranger) → +20 (Handsome guy with skills)!]
Cloud looked at this stubborn girl before him—cheeks flushed, gaze averted, yet lips unconsciously curving upward—and smiled his "all according to plan" smile.
He knew conquering this thorny rose was only a matter of time.
And his "private lessons" with this "daddy-hunting girl"—full of ambiguity and sweetness—had only just begun.
...
Time flew by like a fast-forwarded progress bar, and suddenly it was 1997.
This year, the world maintained its surface peace under the deterrent presence of Cloud, its "guardian in the shadows."
Major corporations busied themselves repairing economic damage from the KOF 96 catastrophe. Fighters remained immersed in their "elder's gift" buffs, sparking an unprecedented wave of "everyone's training" fever.
And Cloud continued his "corrupt" lifestyle of "guiding the harem in martial arts by day, studying life philosophy by night"—living his best life.
Until one day, an unexpected "guest" shattered that tranquility.
"Yo, Cloud! I'm back! Brought you a surprise!"
With boisterous fanfare, Kyo Kusanagi—that "eternal high schooler"—burst into Cloud's estate.
...
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