"See them forever without glasses?" Maki repeated the words in a murmur, her eyes falling on the mighty naginata that for some reason, starts to radiate a golden shine.
"Take it and see it for yourself." Kenshin stretched his hand forward until the naginata was within Maki's arm's reach.
Maki stared at it for a few seconds and then said to Kenshin, "Are you sure? If you're going to ask for something in return then don't bother."
One of the things Maki hated the most was owing someone a favour.
Kenshin chuckled, "Do I look like the kind of guy who would do that?"
"Definitely yes." Panda straight up answered without hesitation.
"Salmon." On the side, Inumaki nodded his head.
"A hundred percent." Chimed in Maki without a change of expression.
"Oi!" Kenshin helplessly looked at the three.
"Sigh. Look, are you gonna take it or not?"
With that being cue, Maki no longer hesitated and took the Naginata within her hands.
The moment her palm came in contact with its sturdy wooden shaft that felt as light as a feather, she felt a gust of wind blow her hair away and Maki felt like the Naginata truly suited her, like it was made just for her!
"It seems like the Naginata has accepted you as its new master. You should give it a name." Kenshin smiled softly and told her. Well, he purposely made it so whoever touches the naginata a second time would be recognized as the new master.
Of course, he's not gonna tell her about it.
"Congratulations, Maki-san." Panda clapped his hands after hearing his explanation while Inumaki just gave her a thumbs-up.
"Seriously?" Maki thought being recognized would take a long time, like experiencing struggles or challenges. Why is it so easy?
"Do you want to try it? Let's hunt some cursed spirits." Kenshin eagerly told her.
Maki, for the first time, grinned and agreed with him.
"Maybe having them two together is a bad idea." Panda, seeing this, mumbled to himself while scratching his cheek.
"Salmon." Agreed Zipmouth.
"I advise against it, Maki, Kuroki-san" Masamichi, who has been watching from the sidelines, when he heard where their conversation is going, immediately showed up to interrupt.
"Oh it's Principal Masamichi!" Panda greeted him first.
"Why?" Kenshin frowned and curiously asked.
"In this school, unless it's a mission, you're not allowed to go out and hunt cursed spirits." Masamichi strictly replied.
Hearing his words, Maki deflated. Getting missions as a 1st year student is extremely rare, almost nonexistent! The mission yesterday was simply pure luck and their first-ever mission!
"So we let cursed spirits freely hunt humans but we can't?" Kenshin Masamichi's words but with emphasis on a few details.
"That's not what I meant, Kuroki-san." Masamichi was taken aback by his answer and quickly tried to clarify what he truly meant about it.
"Hunting cursed spirits isn't all about just killing them. The cursed spirits, especially the stronger ones sometimes have complex abilities. Imagine this, a cursed spirit has placed a curse on someone. Your first move would be to kill the said cursed spirit, correct? But what if I tell you that killing that cursed spirit would cause the cursed person to die? What would you do?"
Listening to his words, Kenshin was speechless. Why is this guy assuming that he'll directly kill a cursed spirit on the spot? He has various ways to detect or even sever the curse.
"….I'll be taking my leave then. I suggest you don't go against the rules of my school and hunt the 1st-grade cursed spirit that is currently active in Nerima Ward." With that being said, Masamichi finally left, leaving the four 1st-year students gawking at him.
"Did the principal just…" Panda was speechless.
"…" Staring at Masamichi's departing back, a grin crept up to Kenshin's face.
"I'm starting to like this school already!"
————
"Want to spar for a bit?" Maki asked while tucking her hair behind an ear.
It's been an hour since they received an unofficial green light from the principal himself. They decided to leave at night once the entire school is asleep and of course, they'll bring the poor Ijichi along with them to cast a curtain. Kenshin also sent a message to her parents that he'll be staying the night at a friend's house.
While the Panda and Inumaki went back to their dorm rooms to prep, Maki stayed at the training field to practice with her new Naginata.
While Kenshin stayed to watch her and sometimes, advised on her techniques, which she greatly appreciated. In her mind, she already sees Kenshin as someone with a wider array of weapon techniques and experience than her.
"Sure." Kenshin nodded his head and plucked a steel sword out of his inventory. There's nothing special about this sword aside from being enchanted for increased durability.
When Maki saw him taking out a weapon out of nowhere, she curiously asked.
"Is that your cursed technique? You can store your weapons in some kind of private space?" As someone born from the Zenin family, a clan filled with hundreds of different cursed techniques, she's quite familiar with them.
"…Something like that." Kenshin nodded his head.
Maki felt a little bit jealous inside her chest. If only she had something similar, she wouldn't have to rely on a single weapon every time she goes out.
Seeing the jealous look on her face, Kenshin was in contemplation.
"Let's start." Maki did a backflip and landed a few meters away from Kenshin.
"Go ahead." Kenshin nodded his head and gestured for her to initiate the first attack.
Maki, feeling like she's being underestimated, wanted to prove herself and bolted forward explosively, the ground she's stepping on cracking under the pressure.
However, much to her dismay, Kenshin easily dodged, tilting his body to the side just in time as the blade of the naginata missed him by a hair's breadth.
Kenshin counter-attacked by slapping the blunt side of his sword to the naginata's shaft, pushing it away from him. Before Maki could get a breather, Kenshin followed up with a kick to her abdomen.
Thankfully, Maki has learned her lesson to anticipate Kenshin's second attack stacked on the first and she managed to block it in time with the lower end of the naginata.
Bam!
Maki gritted her teeth in pain. Even though she managed to block in time but the force behind the kick pushed through and came in contact with her abdomen.
Watching her fly back and land on the ground with a skid, Kenshin twirled the sword in his hand before making a challenging gesture.
Growling in anger, Maki recovered and this time, she decided to take a new approach.
Since direct confrontation won't work then she's left with no choice but to take advantage of her surroundings.
Maki calmly stood back up, slowly circling Kenshin, who was still busy doing the mocking gesture. On the outside, she looks like she's looking for an opening but inside her mind, she was preparing her distraction.
During the time she was circling around, her feet were discreetly gathering the sand they were stepping on and slowly compiling it in a specific spot.
"What? You're not going to take your move?" Kenshin, who has grown tired of waving his hand to gesture for her to attack him, finally relaxed his guard.
"…I will….and you just gave me the perfect time to take it!" Seeing that Kenshin has grown tired of no action, Maki grinned and finally made her move.
A small bump of compiled sand is gathered in front of her and with one strong kick, a cloud of dust fills the area in front of Kenshin, enough to blind him and hopefully, hurt his eyes.
As the cloud of dust starts to spread around, Maki has marked Kenshin's figure through the lenses of her glasses. She doesn't intend to take it off despite being able to see Cursed Spirits now, everyone knows that she relies on them and it's the perfect way to hide the fact that she can see spirits now.
Seeing the silhouette of Kenshin weaving around the cloud of dust, Maki dashed forward, using her toes to run instead of the soles to muffle her footstep.
When she finally reached him, Maki jumped and brought her naginata downwards.
"You lose!" Maki's mind was already seeing Kenshin admitting defeat!
However, her victory smile faltered when she was finally near Kenshin and noticed that he looked like he was still oblivious of her presence as he was looking in the wrong direction.
That's when Maki realized that she didn't use the blunt side of her naginata!
"Wait! Dodge!" The naginata in her hands slowed down, as she tried to pull herself back.
That's when a smirk can be seen on Kenshin's lower face.
"Guess who lost." He mumbled loud enough for Maki to hear.
When the dust finally settled, that's when she realized that the pointy tip of his steel sword was aimed at her neck, just an inch away and she didn't even notice or feel anything!
"Y-You just cheated!" A tick appeared on her head before she pointed her finger at Kenshin and accused him.
"My my, is this how the great Maki accepts defeat? Blaming her opponent for cheating? Tsk tsk, how disappointing." Kenshin shook his head with a click of his tongue, further adding salt to the wound.
"I'm not! Why didn't you move earlier? You could've died!" Maki growled and kept the accusation, trying to defend her dignity and also justify her loss.
"What do you mean, that was part of my plan. Don't tell me you're the only one allowed to make plans here, hm?" Kenshin crossed his arms and tilted his head at her in confusion.
"This….This…" Maki was speechless. What else is she supposed to say at this point? She was tricked and she lost fair and square, there's nothing she can do about it.
"Hahaha! You're ten thousand years too early to defeat me, girl!" Seeing her expression, Kenshin couldn't hold himself back and laughed out loud, this time, smashing an entire sack of salt on her open wound.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TEN THOUSAND YEARS EARLY, DO YOU THINK YOU'RE THAT OLD, HAHHH??!" Maki glared at him before throwing a punch that Kenshin easily dodged and grabbed the stretched fist on the wrist.
Before she could react, Kenshin swept his feet on hers, causing her to stumble on him, and ended with Kenshin catching her in a princess carry.
For a second, their moment stopped there, just staring into each other's eyes.
While blush was making its way to Maki's cheek, Kenshin remained calm. This was part of his plan after all.
"We're ready, Maki-san, Kenshin-san!" All of a sudden, they heard Panda's voice from a distance.
Without a moment of hesitation, Maki pushed Kenshin away before standing back on her own.
"I-I-I'll prepare also!" Soon, she started running with the naginata strapped on her back.
"Why did Maki-san run?" Once they reached the field, Panda wondered in confusion while scratching his cheek. When he turned his head to Kenshin in search of an answer, he suddenly shivered upon seeing him glaring two holes in his skull.
"I-I did something wrong again, didn't I?" The living animal awkwardly muttered to himself.
"Salmon" Inumaki closed his eyes and silently prayed for his furry friend.
————
Kenshin of course, also had to prepare however, his senses suddenly detected someone in his dorm room. Someone he's quite familiar with.
Sighing, Kenshin opened the door and there he was, a white-haired man lying on his bed, sleeping.
The creaking of the door woke the strongest sorcerer up who, upon seeing him, casually said.
"Sorry about that, you took so long I found myself under the comfort of your amazing bed!"
"What are you doing here?" Kenshin ignored his words and sought an answer instead.
"Wow, so cold. You remind me of Fushiguro-kun…Anyways, I came here to give you a mission."
"Sorry but I'm actually on a mission right now, can't accept it." Kenshin shook his head.
"Relax, this mission actually aligns with the mission Masamichi gave you. The mission is simple, a student is having trouble with a Cursed Spirit. I just need you to fetch him for me."
"…Name?" For some reason, Kenshi felt something familiar about this.
"Yuta Okkotsu."
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[From the looks of it, some of you are against him going to Jujutsu High. Here's the explanation. Well you see, our dear Mc is a few years away from DxD canon, which means Kuoh Academy is currently an All-girls school, in which I actually forgot about and Rias and Sona are still around 6-8 years old during this time. Hence why he's going to Jujutsu High first. Well, most of the reason belongs to Maki being part of his upcoming harem…As for Rias and Sona, they're too used as a harem member so I'm not sure…]
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[Next Chapter: Ch. 46 - Yuta Okkotsu]