It didn't take long to find her. She was talking to a lady teacher I hadn't seen before. I watched her accept a bunch of papers, and then the teacher left.
"What are those?" I asked once I was close enough.
She looked up at me and smiled. She was having trouble juggling her backpack and the papers, so I took them. They seemed to be assignments for older students: guard duties, disciplinary committee papers, and some kind of childish drawings of cats.
She looked embarrassed but answered, "Sometimes Mrs. Omeo will ask me to help with certain duties. I don't mind. I like to keep busy."
A patsy. One problem at a time.
"So, do you need me to talk to Mrs. Omeo then?" I asked, glancing at the door the teacher had left through.
"No need. I had two full years of Imperial Studies. I can miss some."
You can miss them all if you had two years' worth, of an empire that didn't even exist a hundred years ago, but whatever...
"I see. Then are you ready? I just live up that hill," I said, pointing the way.
"Hmm."
We walked mostly in silence. I genuinely wanted to help her. I thought her powers—Teleportation—were excellent for both offense and defense. With training, she could expand both the distance traveled and her stamina consumption.
"I haven't said thank you yet, for taking time out of your day to help me," she said from my right.
"No need to thank me. I actually don't mind training. My mother is a strict sensei, so this is easy."
She smiled and kept her head down. I saw other students playing hooky casting eyes at us, but it was fine. They would look anyway.
Remy and the staff waited outside the house.
"Young Lord, welcome home. My Lady, please enjoy your stay. The training area is already prepared with various refreshments," Remy announced.
Extra as always, but I appreciated it.
"This is Remy Bennett, my family's assigned guardian and friend," I introduced him.
"I'm Mayumi Takumi. Thank you for having me." She bowed deeply and gently smiled at the staff behind Remy, who all wore coy smiles. This is being taken out of context. I planned to train this girl... although I did ruin that word with my sisters earlier.
"Yes, yes. Thank you all. We go." I said, moving past them.
I headed straight to the back garden/training area. I let her sit down and grab some drinks. She was trying everything from pumpkin juice, to soda, all the way to hot chocolate. She must have been incredibly thirsty, or perhaps she'd never seen some of these options before.
After she seemed finished, I told her about my ideas.
"What I think you lack, based on what I saw, is just stamina, really. You looked on the verge of exhaustion before."
"I do tend to overdo it. After our first-year evaluation, I was told the best I could get was a 4th Grade license. So, I've been given less support during E.T..."
The school system was incredibly flawed. Her power could grow, but it needed proper guidance.
"Look at me. I'm telling you they were wrong. You just need some help. I can give you ideas on how to use your power. The stamina issue is just basic physical training. Running and, umm... you see, I only ever had swordsman training, so... have you ever held a sword?"
She shook her head. Yeah, I bet. Nevertheless, with her unlimited movement, it could pair well with a weapon. Something monster-made that could actually hurt Evolveds. Close-combat daggers it is.
"Remy!"
It took him twenty seconds to appear.
"You called, Lord?" he asked with his wide smile.
"Remy, meet your new dagger student."
After a few hours of making her sweat like a dog, Remy pulled out his own golden daggers, made from the same preserved bones of a Mimik that my sword was.
"Now, as you can see, my daggers are somewhat special. But nevertheless, their weight, size, and overall shape are perfectly balanced. Now, please take them and see how they feel."
He put his blades on the table and let her try them out. She looked amazed by everything Remy said and did. It was nice to see someone with this kind of enthusiasm.
"They are breathtaking, Master. A little heavy for the current me," she said, feeling the weapon in her palm.
She admired the daggers for a little while and tried some super slow-motion practice slashes.
"In time, they will be a perfect fit. I will make you a pair similar once you have proven yourself," said Remy.
He seemed entirely absorbed in the master-student thing. I suppose it was too late for me, and my siblings never bothered with actual training.
I spotted my sisters looking out at the garden occasionally but otherwise ignored us.
"I believe that's a great first day, little lady. We should resume at your convenience in the days to come."
"Thank you, Master," she bowed deeply.
Remy left, and we were alone. She sat down and emptied her glass of soda.
"Tell me, do you see yourself doing physical training like that three, maybe even four times a week?" I asked.
"Yes."
I liked her immediate answer. I was afraid that once faced with actual fatigue and sweat, she would back down like ninety percent would. Maybe she was done being the victim.
"Look, I want to invite you tomorrow night; I'm throwing a party. You might like it... no pressure."
"Thank you, I will consider it," she answered with a small smile.
"Good. Now let's talk about your overall fighting style."
We talked for the next hour. She had to go home; her parents would worry. I told her she could just call them, and I'd have the driver drop her home. I took her into the living room and went to the kitchen. I needed this fight with my sisters to end or at least call a truce.
I found them still huffing about earlier.
"Ladies, I'm sorry about today. I need your help. You are both accomplished and talented Evolved. What do you say?"
Some flattery always worked in the end.
"Why so serious? Is it the girl?" asked Sistin, narrowing her eyes.
"Sisi, I have a lot on my plate. Please believe me when I say this: she is just someone... who reminds me of the past, okay? I want you to be nice and help... please?"
They understood what I meant when I said past. I didn't talk about it, but Sistin had spent a lot of time trying to make me. I never told them anything, but occasionally I did slip up in my darker moments.
It was Cily who spoke up first. "Fine. If it's nothing romantic, I'll heal her if needed."
"I'll talk to her, try to give some pointers. Of course, I'll do it," Sistin agreed.
With my sisters on board and Remy providing private teaching, maybe Mimi could turn from night to day.
~
I waved her goodbye as the driver took her home.
I went and laid down on the couch, brand new and with that nice leather smell. I told my sisters to plan for tomorrow, and Remy to send out invitations to the entire school.
I had nothing left to do. Hopefully, I'd get some alone time with Ranni. I decided not to pursue Mikeyla or Lilly; they were beautiful in their own right, yet my mind kept going back to that red hair and her confident, sexy smile.
One more day.
The next day, to my surprise, my sisters stayed home. They wanted to make sure the party was taken care of. So, I left alone, in an extremely good mood.
In class, we had Tetsuya, Amie, and even the twins back.
"Man, please don't tell me you brought your sisters in yesterday? The one day I stayed home??" Tetsuya asked immediately.
"Morning to you too. Yes, they were here, but you see them tonight, so calm yourself."
"Sorry. I just felt weak a little and needed to baby it. I wanted to ask Ranni for help, but I don't know her very well."
"She wouldn't have minded. She is very easygoing, like yourself, you know?"
He looked suspicious. "Uh huh... So, we never had the chance to talk about what happened in E.T. a few days ago. You two hit it off, huh?" he asked, lowering his voice conspiratorially.
I had already made my resolve about tonight. I wanted to find a moment and make out like in the movies. In my mind, it was actually that easy.
"We did. She is something. Thinking about asking her out tonight," I said, opening up a little.
He thought for a second and then found his voice. "I'm going the distance tonight as well. I'll ask out the twins tonight."
Is he serious?
"Tetsuya, listen to me. I can't emphasize this enough: Pick one. Don't you dare ask the both of them out at the same time."
"But I can't decide... besides, this is what I think about love..." And he spent the next ten minutes lecturing me about faith, love, and being a man. There was no helping him.
I saw Ranni walk in and made a signal that I wanted to talk to her.
"Tetsuya, leave now!" He lagged a little but eventually got the message and walked away towards the twins.
"Morning. Something on your mind?" she asked.
She was beautiful and bubbly, and she had handled even my sisters well. I felt all... nervous around her. I had made the right choice.
"I wanted to say sorry about yesterday. I swear we're normal people; they're just... overwhelming."
She giggled a little. I guess my face showed her exactly how I felt.
"Don't be nervous. I was kind of glad I met them. You know... just in case."
Looking at her expectant eyes, I couldn't wait for tonight.
"I'm glad. Maybe next time, I'll meet some of your family. Just in case..."
She came close enough to make me forget we were in a classroom, with most likely all eyes on us. She grabbed my tie and loosened it a little. She clearly had no problem touching me.
"Let's talk it over tonight... alone?" she asked, looking up into my eyes.
Hell yeah, alone...
"I like that."
She walked away, sure-footed as a mountain goat. I had trouble making it back to my seat. I needed to change the flow of our interactions; I'm supposed to be the one making her feel jelly-legged... never mind.
Tetsuya returned with a smile ear to ear.
"Dude, you guys look like a couple already. I can't believe how fast this happened. And you said I didn't waste any time. It's only been the first week."
He was right. I couldn't believe how much had happened in a week's time. In four days spent here, I had found a bunch of interesting characters and plots.
"Yeah... tonight, I'm going to make it official."
Finally, things were coming together.