Sam stood in front of a large and secluded house. He was wearing his usual attire. Jeans and a plaid shirt. Also not forgetting the steel-toed boots.
He has been standing in front of the front door for 5 minutes now. Sam would be lying if he said he wasn't afraid.
He was terrified. He recalls every single moment of their last meeting. How she instantly triggered flashbacks of Zola into his mind.
But he has to do this. He feels that if he just ignored this offer, he would lose his chance to heal, and move on.
He doesn't expect to be healed here, but if he can at least take a step toward his own recovery, he might not be totally lost.
'This is what you wanted, right Zola?'
Zola only ever wanted to be free of the horrors of war in Africa. That was her dream. But as he is now, it's like he never left.
He steels himself and knocks on the door.
Knock
Knock
Knock
The door opens and… Sam feels his instincts screaming to dodge. Sam gets off the front porch and dives into the grass right by the porch.
BOOM!
In one moment, the porch is entirely obliterated.
And standing in the crater that used to be the front porch, was a tan skinned, muscular rabbit woman. Mirko.
"About time you got here. Now. Let's fight!"
Mirko stepped forward, showing Sam her leotard and her fit body.
He was shocked at how strong she was. He saw for himself how she destroyed pavement like it was chalk, but seeing it again is stunning.
"What the hell? You just destroyed your front porch!"
Sam was honestly dumbfounded. Who would be stupid enough to destroy their own home for a fight?
Well. Sam had an answer. The rabbit in front of him.
"So what? I needed to test you. To see if those victories against those other guys was a fluke. But your instincts are sharp. Very good."
Sam sighed.
"That's… a warm welcome."
"Yup. Anyways, long-time no see!"
She had a cocky grin. A familiar cocky grin.
'She looks so much like you. And she acts like you.'
Sam was unfortunately hit with flashbacks of that moment that shredded his heart apart.
'*Live, Samuel.*'
Sam's breathing got harder.
Mirko, seeing this, lost her smile.
She decided to walk up to him.
He didn't even notice.
He needed to get out of here. He couldn't do it. It was too painful. He can't stop seeing it. The moment she died.
He was about to go into a massive panic attack.
SMACK!
Sam was suddenly slapped hard in the face.
"Calm the fuck down!"
Mirko yelled as she removed her glove to slap Sam.
Sam felt his face. It stung.
But… he thought of where his thoughts were just a moment ago.
'I can't do this? Who the fuck said that?!?'
He took a deep breath. He was going to stay strong. He was at least going to try and get through this day.
"…Thanks."
Mirko lightly smiled.
"Yeah. You looked ready to fall into hysteria. You looked the same the day we first met."
Sam nodded.
What she said was true. He was about to go into a panic attack. Luckily he got away. But the damage was done. He was a crying mess. He cried on a rooftop after seeing her.
He feels a bit more in control this time. He doesn't feel like running away and crying, or going into hysteria. Not now. Honestly, he just felt so… tired.
His eyes were empty again. He felt so tired. Tired of all the suffering. The flashbacks, the panic attacks, the fear. All of it. He was only hanging in there for Zola. Her final wish was for him to live.
But that didn't mean he wanted to live.
"Yeah…"
Seeing him not comfortable talking about it, she shrugged.
"Alright. Well, come in."
She entered. Jumping over the destroyed front porch to get into her damn house.
Sam followed without complaint.
"Welcome to my home. It's private and it has a nice forest out back that is a great place to fight. Get changed into your costume."
"I don't have a costume."
She paused and looked at Sam with a face that said 'really?'
"Aren't you in the hero course?"
"Technically, I'm only in the academic part. In fact I didn't need to join an internship. You were the only one to request me."
"Hmm… I guess that makes sense. Alright."
She then turns back around and gestures him to follow her.
The house was fairly empty. Except for one theme. Exercise equipment. All over there was at least one piece of exercise equipment.
"Question. Why don't you keep the exercise equipment in a gym, rather than just scatter them all over?"
She chuckled.
"I do have a gym. Those are spares. If I'm in a room and feel like getting my sweat on, I can just use the nearby equipment rather than go all the way to the gym in the basement."
Sam was dumbfounded.
'She is a huge exercise junkie, but too damn lazy to go down to her gym, so she keeps some exercise equipment in random parts of her house.'
"Wow…"
She turned again.
"I don't like your tone, brat! Don't judge me!"
"I'm not judging you! Well, maybe a bit. It's ridiculous how you can just leave this equipment in different rooms for convenience sake, when you have better equipment, I'm guessing,
In your gym. Also, I'm 18!"
Mirko looked closer at Sam.
"Hmm… now that I look closer, you don't look like a brat. Hmm. Not bad."
Sam raised a brow.
"Thanks?"
"Yeah. Nice muscles. Gotta respect the muscles."
She says with a flex.
Sam was understanding something.
She was a lot like Zola. But Zola was much more different. She had a hard childhood. She had eyes that hid guilt and sadness.
Sam sighed.
'She looks and acts like you Zola… but the two of you are not the same. At least you're one of a kind… but knowing I won't see you again…'
Sam just shook his head.
"You okay?"
Sam looked and saw a somewhat worried Mirko.
"Yeah, sorry."
"If you're sorry, come with me."
Mirko said leading him towards the back door. Out the back door? Was a huge empty space.
"Pretty neat, huh? It's perfect for spars."
"So you want to spar?"
"Yeah!"
"Fine… I guess I owe you that much."
She smirked wildly. She went to one side and Sam went to another.
No announcements. No signals. She just launched at Sam.
"Luna Arc!"
She comes in with a spinning kick like a windmill kick from Street Fighter.
Sam dodges, feeling tremendous danger.
He gets on guard.
She is already blasting out of the dirt that flew from her impacting the ground, right at Sam.
She goes for a kick to his head and Sam ducks. As she passes over him, he grabs her meaty leg and pulls her towards him. He then punches her in the gut when he pulls her in.
"Oof!"
She backed off and held her stomach.
She was in pain… but she was smiling.
'A fighting maniac.'
That was all Sam saw.
She came at him again, this time her kick was a downward kick, but from a much higher height.
'Not good!'
"Luna Fall!"
Sam moves in the nick of time.
He then makes sure to punish her for missing and goes to kick her while she has her leg in the ground.
But she doesn't a spin kick right from the crater made from her Luna Fall. this was heading right for Sam's chest. With no other choice, he brings his arms up.
Smash!
"Gahh!"
That hurt. Sam felt like he was just hit by a truck.
His arms were shaking and aching,
"I'm gonna feel that tomorrow."
Sam admitted.
"Yeah. I'm gonna have a nice bruise myself."
She still had that crazy smile on her face.
He got ready to go all out. He had sufficient data to proceed.
"Just so you know, I'm not going to lose this bout."
Sam said, clear as crystal.
Mirko, still smiling, felt a vein pop on her head.
"Cocky bastard."
She was peeved by Sam's comment and was gonna bring him a world of pain.
She immediately goes for a kick to his chest again.
Something Sam noticed was that she tried not to hit too hard. He can tell she can kill someone with her kicks. The force they hold is astonishing.
This is also why she avoids head shots. He also notices that she is primarily using kicks. Nothing else.
'She doesn't punch. Well, her legs are dangerous weapons. But like all heroes, she limits herself to her legs.'
Sam was ready to act now.
He once again grabs the kick to his chest and once again grabs her leg. But this time she was ready. The moment his hand grabbed her leg, her other leg came around for a kick to his side.
But Sam was ready.
He ducked, making the kick head for Sam's head.
Sam was trusting his observations.
Mirko sees this and immediately halts the kick moments before it hit Sam.
Sam, seeing an opportunity, quickly gets up and punches Mirko right in the face.
He then grabs her arm and pulls her towards him again and he head butts her right in her forehead.
"Argh!"
She backed up again. She felt dizzy.
She felt her lip and felt a nice cut.
She licked the blood off like a lunatic as she smiled.
"You knew I ease up on head kicks."
"I suspected."
"You sneaky rat."
"It's called strategy."
"It's called fighting dirty."
"Well, rabbit, in the real world, things like honor mean shit. You should know. Heroes always gang up on villains at the same time if they are strong."
Mirko could deny Sam's words.
"Touché."
Sam charges this time with a kick for her shin. She dodges but Sam chases with a punch. This time it connects with her thigh.
"Grr!"
She launches a kick at Sam's side. He couldn't dodge and gets a nasty kick to his side.
"Oof!"
Sam backs up, feeling like he just got hit with a sledgehammer.
"Yeah. Definitely strong."
"I can say the same. That hurt."
Sam and Mirko get back into position.
She charges and goes for a roundhouse kick. This time she isn't holding back and goes for his head. She believes he can take it.
Sam blocks it again.
Crack!
"Grrrr!"
He felt a minor fracture.
But he has her where he wants her.
He holds her leg with his fractured arm and starts elbowing her leg. He is doing it in a quick set of elbow strikes to the most important parts of her leg.
"Oww!!"
She goes to kick him after he got in 4 different elbow strikes to her leg.
She uses her fist this time and punches Sam in the face.
"Pfft!!"
Sam didn't think she'd punch. But it seems she can do it. But one thing is certain.
'Her punch is 100 times weaker than her kicks.
Sam just felt a minor cut from that punch. Meanwhile, Mirko was on a knee. The damage to her leg was pretty big.
"Damn it!"
"Can you keep going?"
Mirko just got up and kicked her leg around a bit. But she got back into position.
"En guarde motherfucker!"
"That's a mean rabbit."
"Fuck you."
Sam smirked a bit. Matched by Mirkos smirk.
They continued to fight. Sam's tactics, vs Mirkos brawn.
———
By the time the day ended and he was supposed to return to UA, Sam and Mirko were both laying on the ground of her backyard which looked like a war zone.
Sam's shirt was completely torn, showing off his scarred body that had bruises all over. His face had a few bruises too.
Mirko was also hurt. She had some blood from a broken nose falling and she had many bruises on her legs and midsection. She could hardly stand.
Sam was the same.
"Hey… you still breathing?"
"Yeah…"
"It's about time for me to go…"
"Really? Damn. I didn't even get to patrol."
"I don't think you will be patrolling for a while."
"It'll be fine. Someone can amputate my arms and legs and I would still get ready to fight."
Sam sighed.
"You really aren't ladylike."
"Fuck off! You ain't childlike!"
Sam rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"Help me inside please."
Sam chuckled making mirko grit her teeth.
"Did I hurt the little rabbit."
"I'm gonna- ow!"
"Yeah. I'd be careful."
Mirko was able to get to her knees but the moment she tried to stand she could just wobble before plopping on her butt.
"See? You should use some other weapons. This is what's wrong with you heroes. You're so predictable. Get some variety for gods sake."
"Bastard! I'm supposed to be the one teaching you!"
"Well, we could have learned something if you weren't a battle crazed lunatic!"
"What did you call me?!?"
"You heard me!"
Sam and Mirko glared at each other, ready to rip each other's heads off.
But after intensely staring at each other, she starts cracking up.
"Hahahahahaha!"
Sam just smirks.
"I like you."
"Careful. People can misinterpret that."
"Tch. Yeah right. I'm not interested."
"Me neither."
"I meant that you're alright. It'll be fun beating the crap outta ya."
Sam just scoffed.
"Yeah right. I'm gonna turn your legs into jelly by the time I'm done."
She snickered.
"Careful, people might misinterpret those words."
Sam lightly blushed.
"Shut up, rabbit lady."
She just snickers.
"Alright, joking aside help me."
"Fine…"
Sam helped her stand and then held her arm over his shoulder.
"You should be honored to be so touchy feely with me. You know how many guys would kill to be in your position."
"I don't know, and guess what? I don't fucking care."
"Tch."
Sam just shakes his head.
Finally, they get in and he plops her on a couch.
"Hey! Couldn't you be more gentle?!? Is that how you treat a lady?!"
"Lady? You? You're a muscle headed rabbit."
"If my legs weren't fucked up, I'd fuck you up."
"Yeah."
Sam scoffed.
"Well I'm not doing too hot. I'm sure I have a few fractured ribs. I'm sure my arm is fractured. Not to mention the shiner and the busted lip. I'm sure I'll get an earful from recovery girl."
"Tch. Lucky."
"How are you gonna fix yourself up?"
"I've got my ways."
"If you say so."
Sam turned to leave.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Mirko. Rest well."
"…Rumi."
Sam turned around.
"What?"
"My name is Rumi. Call me that."
Sam smirked.
"Rumi. Call me Sam then. The other kids in my class do it even though I didn't give them permission. Well… I did introduce myself as Sam to them so I guess that's to be expected."
"Sam… alright. We'll get to work tomorrow. Make sure you bring exercise clothes. We are gonna be working a sweat all day tomorrow."
Sam nodded. He went back to the front door.
"I'm leaving. See you later… Rumi."
"Yeah. Be late and I'll smash your head in like a pumpkin."
Sam clicked his tongue and left.
Rumi watched as Sam left. She felt a smile, not a battle hungry smile, but a smile of joy from finding a friend.
"Heh. He's pretty tough. I'll have to see if we can spar even after the internships."
She sunk into the couch, thinking about how much fun this fight was.
But then…
She sat up quickly.
"Dammit! I should have asked him to help me upstairs!"
Mirko was in for a long night on the couch.
———
Sam was in a taxi. The buses were already gone. It was late as hell. Him and Rumi were fighting for hours.
Sam wouldn't deny that he actually had some fun.
He was relieved. He felt… a bit happy. He enjoyed fighting.
'I always thought I wanted a peaceful life… but is it what I want? I felt alive while fighting today. Just because I fight, doesn't mean I have to kill. I'm confused. I need to think about my priorities.'
Sam was questioning himself. He didn't know it but this was a first step. A step towards recovery.