Chapter 132 — Love Bite
Chapter 132 — Love Bite
Akeno
“I-I’m so sorry Koneko-chan! This was a mistake. We should—“
“Stop.” Koneko-chan said firmly, cutting her off before she could spiral. “We knew something like this might happen. It’s fine, Yuki-senpai.”
Her entire face was pink.
Asia-chan was already at her side checking on her neck.
“I don’t know if we should continue this Koneko,” Rias said. “If we can’t ensure your safety, then I don’t know if we can practice Yuki’s new ability this way.”
“Buchou is right, Koneko-chan. I don’t want to hurt any of you. This was—“
“Senpai. Be quiet.” Koneko said, cutting Yuki-chan off again.
Yuki-chan opened her mouth to protest until Koneko-chan leveled a glare at her.
She immediately closed her mouth.
“…This was the first attempt,” Koneko-chan said, looking at Rias. “I was surprised and let Yuki-senpai get the jump on me in our spar, and Gya-kun wasn’t able to react in time to help.”
“I-I’m! S-S-Sorry!” Gasper-kun cried out. “I couldn’t use my Sacred Gear without hitting Akeno-senpai too! I panicked! I’m sorryyyy!”
He hid behind Buchou as he wailed.
“….we can’t give up after the first attempt. We were surprised and caught off guard. We know what to expect now. Things will be different.” Koneko-chan said.
Rias didn’t look completely convinced.
“I’m not certain that is enough for us to continue…”
I decided to weigh in on the issue.
“I think we should try again. But first, Yuki-chan, what are you worried about if we try to have you two spar again?”
Yuki-chan glanced at Koneko-chan before answering.
“I don't want to hurt any of you,” Yuki-chan said quietly. “And I don’t want to make any of you uncomfortable or unable to stand being near me. I hate the idea that I could harm any of you like that.”
I smiled.
“Well, I for one am not uncomfortable, only intrigued,” I said with a grin. “What about you Koneko-chan? I think you’re the one Yuki-chan is the most worried about right now.”
“I’m fine. It was embarrassing and I’m annoyed, but I’ll feel better when I get to hit Yuki-senpai when we spar again.” Koneko-chan said. “And I’m not hurt.”
“She wasn’t,” Asia-chan added. “It’s only a bruise and a few small punctures from her, uh… teeth. If Yuki-chan had actually bit hard enough she could have seriously hurt Koneko-chan, but it’s only skin deep.”
She moved away from Koneko-chan’s side.
We could now see a large and noticeable bruise on Koneko-chan’s neck and a few small marks where teeth had broken the skin.
But to a Devil, it was nothing.
It would be healed by tomorrow if it was left alone.
“I can heal it right now,” Asia-chan said.
“No,” Koneko-chan said, far too quickly. “I’ll leave it until after we are done sparring. It will remind me not to let Yuki-senpai surprise me again.”
“O-oh, umm alright. I guess it’s not really a big deal either way.” Asia-chan said.
Gasper-kun gave her a confused look as he peeked out from behind Rias.
Rias, Yuki-chan, and I all gave her skeptical looks.
Koneko-chan ignored all of it.
I, sadly, decided to be kind for once and ignore that for now.
There were more important things to talk about.
“So I don’t see any issues with continuing. Yuki-chan only left a mark on Koneko-chan, we will all be more ready for anything happening during the next spar, and Koneko-chan doesn’t have a problem with it. It’s certainly not the most embarrassing thing that an ability of someone in our peerage could do. Ise-kun has his Dress Break. And Asia-chan has even let him practice it on her.” I said with a wide smile.
“Akeno-san!” Asia shouted, quickly turning red. “You said you wouldn’t tell anyone! I was just helping him practice so he could make sure he didn’t accidentally do anything to Yuki-chan again!”
“You did that?” Yuki-chan asked.
“W-well yeah. Ise-san felt awful about almost hitting you when he was sparring against Irina-san, so he asked me to help him practice. I could help Ise-san and make sure nothing happened to you, so I helped.”
Yuki-chan shook her head with a sigh.
“You’re far too kind, Asia.”
Asia-chan smiled warmly back at her
“We are getting off topic,” Rias said. “But it sounds like both Koneko and Akeno believe there isn’t a reason not to continue with another spar. Is that alright with you Yuki? This is your training. I don’t want to push you to do something you’re uncomfortable with.”
Yuki-chan looked at each of us.
Gasper-kun peeked out from behind rias and gave a small shy smile.
Asia-chan gave her one of her warm, kind smiles.
Koneko-chan was still a bit pink, but she nodded to Yuki-chan.
I dropped my teasing smile and gave her a smaller, more genuine one.
“Let’s go again. Koneko-chan needs to get her chance to hit me after losing.”
_________________________________________
There ended up being two more spars before we finished training for the day.
The first ended with Koneko-chan knocking Yuki-chan to the ground and then pinning her.
Koneko-chan took her declaration to beat Yuki-chan seriously during the second match between them.
She had been ready for Yuki-chan’s aggressive assault.
She put her on the back foot and didn’t let Yuki-chan get the chance to grapple her again.
After the second spar Asia had to be called in to heal Yuki-chan so that she could go again.
The third spar had Yuki-chan acting much more cautious with her approach while still being aggressive.
The match was longer and lasted until Yuki-chan got impatient enough to use her shadow ability and tripped Koneko-chan again.
This time Gasper-kun was able to react properly when Rias gave the order to stop Yuki-chan.
When Rias called it for the day, Yuki-chan stood in front of the group and bowed to us.
She didn’t say anything more, and everyone dispersed to get cleaned up before dinner.
I paused as I watched Yuki-chan leave before heading to my own room.
I would have plenty to tease her with over dinner tonight.
_________________________________________
Koneko
I entered my room after training and leaned back against the door.
Things had gone well with Yuki-senpai’s group training, for the most part.
The only real hiccup had been during the first spar we had.
I put my hand over the already fading bruise on my neck.
In the end I hadn’t gone to Asia-senpai to get it healed.
When I thought about it, I could still feel the feeling of her mouth on my neck.
I walked over to the bathroom attached to my room.
I looked at myself in the mirror.
There was a dark bruise on the side of my neck.
It stood out against the pale skin around it.
I ran my hand over it and recalled the moment Yuki-senpai had me on the ground.
Her weight on my back.
Hot breath on my neck.
Her voice, lower and rougher than normal.
Mine.
My ears flattened to my head as my face turned pink.
I dropped my hand from my neck and frowned at my reflection as I felt my face heat up.
I didn’t know why I reacted that way.
Yuki-senpai had been under the influence of her ability.
It made everything more intense and from what Asia-senpai had told us, something similar had happened to her when she walked in on Yuki-senpai’s training.
It was just how she reacted to others when she was like that.
I had only wanted to help Yuki-senpai like she had helped me.
She had reached out to me regarding my Youkai heritage when she realized it was what had been upsetting me.
I wanted her to see that the drawbacks of her power weren't her.
Just like she told me about my worries over using Senjutsu and Youjutsu.
I had been struggling to accept them and I had wanted to grow stronger.
Like Yuuto-senpai, Ise-senpai, and Yuki-senpai were,
They had all reached breakthroughs or had clear paths forward to increase their power, but I didn't unless I embraced my Nekomata half.
And Yuki had wanted me to be able to do that.
So my goal was to ensure her training succeeded.
Then my thoughts had been scrambled when she had won the first spar and left a mark on me.
The thought of the way she had been staring at me during the fight and what she had said when she was trying to get me to give up made me flush again.
If Buchou and Akeno-senpai hadn’t pulled her off of me…
There was no point in thinking about that, or why thinking about it now made me disappointed for some reason.
I walked to my bed and lied down.
I grabbed a pillow and placed it over my face.
We would include the joint training for the the rest of the days we have left during our training period.
That means that I would likely spar with Yuki-senpai every day, and that there was chance for another incident to occur.
Though the chances were much lower now.
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at my door.
I lifted the pillow off my face and checked the clock in the wall.
It was still to early for somone to come get me for dinner.
I got out of bed and moved to answer the door.
When I opened it, I found Yuki-senpai waiting for me.
Her eyes immediately glanced to the mark in my neck and a small frown formed on her face.
“…what is it, Yuki-senpai?” I asked before her staring could make me blush again.
“I came to apologize again and make sure you were alright after training,” she replied, looking away from my neck.
“I’m fine, senpai. Like I said before, it really didn’t bother me. You don’t need to apologize to me.”
She shifted her stance as she stood in my doorway.
“I understand. I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable around me. I was worried you were forcing yourself for me, but I appreciate what you’re doing for me Koneko-chan.”
I felt the coner of my mouth lift into a small grin.
“…you don’t need to worry about it. You should be more worried about yourself, senpai. I think most of our matches aren’t going to go very well for you moving forward. And I’m know not to go easy on you.”
That made her chuckle.
“I think you’re right, Koneko-chan. But you really didn’t pull your punches with me,” she said, rubbing her side. “If it weren’t for Asia, it would hurt when I breath for a week. I was hoping you were kidding when you said you would give me a beating.”
“It felt fair after you bit me.”
That made her smile thin.
“I suppose you’re right. I’m not really meant for those kinds of fight anyways, so I’ll just have to survive our next spars,” she glanced over her shoulder, down the hall. “It’s getting close to being time to head to dinner. Would you want to head there together?”
I nodded and stepped into the hall, closing the door behind me.
“Akeno-senpai is going to be a pain at dinner.” I muttered
“She probably will be. I don’t think she’ll let this go for a while, and will bother both of us with it. But at least she mentioned Asia being the target dummy for Ise’s dress break practice. That should be able to distract her a bit.” Yuki-senpai replied as we walked.
“…we could ignore her.” I suggested.
“That’s not a terrible idea, but she would probably only get worse if we tried to ignore her completely. We will just have to suffer through dinner.”
I glanced at her and saw she had a small, genuine smile on her face.
I smiled to myself.
“…it will be bearable.” I said.
Yuki-senpai hummed in agreement.
We continued the rest of our walk in a comfortable silence.
When we arrived Gya-kun and Buchou were already there.
Asia-senpai and Asia-senpai each arrived a little while later.
Food was brought in by servants and we started to eat and talk.
Asia-senpai healed the bruise Yuki-senpai left on my neck and checked on Yuki-senpai to see if she was still hurt from our spar.
Gya-kun nervously talked about how he was able to use his Sacred Gear to stop Yuki-senpai and seemed proud of himself, under all the anxiety and fear.
Akeno-senpai predictably poked fun at Yuki-senpai and I about what had happened.
She batted her eyes at Yuki-senpai and asked if it was only something for me or if she could get a hickey too.
I ignored most of her teasing and Yuki-senpai delt with Akeno-senpai’s teasing better than most sould, but eventually Buchou told her to knock it off, which Akeno-senpai agreed to with an over dramatic sigh.
Buchou talked to each of us about our training and spoke about the Rating Game footage and notes she had been reviewing.
She seemed determined not to lose to Sona-Kaichou.
And Yuki-senpai was talking to everyone like normal.
She didn’t seem distant or concerned about something.
She spoke kindly to Gya-kun, poked fun at Akeno-senpai, laughed at something Asia-senpai said, and spoke to Buchou normally.
It was good to see things back to normal and her less worried about the new training and her unstable ability.
I understood exactly how she felt to be afraid of your own power like that, but she seemed to be feeling better about it.
Like she was happier.
That thought made me smile down at my plate.
Akeno-senpai noticed the change in my normally stoic expression.
“Oh, did you think of something nice, Koneko-chan?” She said with a smile that told me she was ready to bother me again. “Perhaps you were thinking of Yuki-chan being pressed close to you in a compromising position again?”
I glanced at her before looking back at my plate.
“…I was thinking that it would be nice of you had to leave for your training like the others.” I said as I speared a piece of food with my fork.
Akeno-senpai leaned back in faux shock as she clutched one hand to her chest.
“Ara, Koneko-chan! Do you not enjoy my presence and friendly conversation?” She smiled at me again. “Or is it because you’re annoyed that I’m going to be taking some of the spars against Yuki-chan away from you tomorrow? Don’t worry. I’ll be much more gentle with her than you were.”
“You did kind of hit Yuki-senpai kind of hard, Koneko-chan,” Gya-kun added.
I shot him a look and then flung a small piece of garlic that had been on my plate at him.
He shrieked and dove off his chair, away from the garlic.
“Noooo! Koneko-chan is bullying me againnnnn!”
“Koneko, don’t throw food, please,” Buchou sighed. “And Gasper, get off the floor. Akeno, I already told you to knock it off for the night.”
“Fine, Fine. I was only asking some harmless questions,” Akeno-senpai said as she leaned back in her seat.
Rais shook her head.
I don’t think any of us believed Akeno-senpai.
Dinner wound down after that and after the table was cleared by servants everyone decided to call it a night.
We all said goodnight to each other and headed to our respective rooms.
I glanced back at Yuki-senpai as she disappeared around a corner.
Then I made my way back to my room and sat on the edge of my bed once inside.
Tomorrow would hold more group training for Yuki-senpai again.
We would attend our own training and then meet in the same room as today.
I would get to spar with her again, and Akeno-senpai would spar with her using basic magic as well.
I was annoyed that I had to sit out from some of the spar’s but I would still have a few matches against senpai.
I changed into my night wear and laid my head on my pillow as I got ready to sleep.
I was looking forward to tomorrow's training with Yuki-senpai.
Like I told myself before, I would focus on training and winning our Rating Game against the student council.
Then after that, I would figure out what I wanted from Yuki-senpai.