Chapter 13: Training? She's a Sadist!
Veins pulsed on the back of Kazami Yuuka's hand as she stared down at the boy clinging to her thigh. Haruto wasn't just holding on for dear life; he was actively using the hem of her long skirt to wipe away his crocodile tears. She raised her signature parasol, the motion sharp and threatening, but ultimately held back from bringing it down.
"Let go," she said, her voice a low growl ground out from between clenched teeth.
"No!" Haruto wailed, his grip tightening. "Not unless you promise you believe me! And that you won't look for trouble after I let go!"
"...Fine," Yuuka conceded, the word practically scraped from her throat. "I promise."
Only when he was absolutely certain she meant it did Haruto release her. The moment he did, Kazami Yuuka swung her parasol with a snap and turned, stalking deeper into the Sunflower Field. A single, cold sentence drifted back to him.
"Of all the things you could learn, you just had to pick up that Yakumo woman's tricks."
"No way! I was telling the truth, okay?" Haruto protested, scrambling to follow her. This tactic was foolproof; Kazami Yuuka had always been more susceptible to a soft approach than a hard one.
Meanwhile, at the Yakumo Residence, Yakumo Ran watched the entire scene unfold through a gap in reality. She silently gave her young master a thumbs-up.
'As expected of Haruto-sama,' she thought with a mixture of awe and exasperation.
In all of Gensokyo, he was likely the only one who dared to mess with Lady Yuuka like that and get away with it.
If it were Lady Yukari... even if she shamelessly played the rogue, she wouldn't escape a severe beating. After all, Lady Yukari's line of credit with the Flower Master of the Four Seasons had been overdrawn long, long ago.
A flicker of worry sparked in Ran's heart. Being thick-skinned was one thing, but if Haruto also inherited Lady Yukari's completely unscrupulous personality, they would have a real problem on their hands.
"I knew it..." she murmured to herself, making a firm decision. "I need to keep Haruto-sama a little farther away from Lady Yukari."
Haruto followed Kazami Yuuka all the way back to the Dream Mansion. To his surprise, Alice Margatroid was already there, her gentle face wearing an expression that said, 'I knew it.'
"Alice, you're here too! What a coincidence," Haruto greeted her, familiarly plopping down on the seat beside her.
"Mm," Alice replied softly. "I saw Sister Yuuka leave in such a hurry. I had a feeling it was you who had arrived."
There were only two things in the world that could truly command Kazami Yuuka's immediate attention.
The first was people looking for trouble. But that particular breed of fool had gone extinct long before Gensokyo was even created. Anyone living here now knew better than to provoke the Tyrant of Flowers.
The second was Haruto, the young master of the Yakumo family who had mysteriously appeared two years ago.
Though Alice didn't know the specific reason, she could clearly see that her "Sister Yuuka" had a special interest in the boy. As for Alice herself, her own opinion of Haruto was quite high. He always remembered to bring her gifts on holidays she couldn't even recall—sometimes delicious pastries, sometimes rare doll-making materials from the outside world, and sometimes even books on the craft.
"So, what brings you here?" Kazami Yuuka asked, sitting down and narrowing her eyes at Haruto. A faint, dangerous smile touched the corners of her mouth as an idea occurred to her. "Looking for me to train you?"
"No! Impossible! Absolutely not!" Haruto crossed his palms in a frantic 'X'. "You just promised me you wouldn't look for trouble because of what happened!"
Alice poured a cup of fragrant flower tea and handed it to Haruto, her ears perked with curiosity about what could have possibly transpired.
"How is this looking for trouble?" Yuuka countered, taking a light sip of her own tea. "Didn't you claim to be my younger brother? As an older sister, isn't it only natural to supervise her little brother's training?"
Haruto's finger, which he had just pointed at her in accusation, began to tremble violently. "The dignified Tyrant of Flowers, the Master of the Four Seasons, the strongest youkai in Gensokyo, is actually going back on her word! How despicable of you—"
Sensing the murderous glint in those crimson eyes, Haruto wisely cut himself off. With a 'swish', he dove behind Alice for cover.
"Anyway, I'm not fighting! If you want to fight, go with Alice!" he declared. Leaning close to Alice's ear, he whispered, "I'll give you buffs. I guarantee it'll double your combat power."
'Double my combat power?' Alice's mouth twitched. It wasn't that she doubted Haruto could do it, but even if they teamed up, they couldn't defeat Sister Yuuka with one hand tied behind her back. Their power levels weren't even in the same dimension.
Haruto, of course, understood this perfectly. He quietly added, "Then you can call your Mother-sama and have her hide in the shadows to launch a sneak attack. Three against one, it's a guaranteed win!"
He looked for all the world like they held the decisive advantage.
Alice glanced at the serenely smiling Kazami Yuuka, then back at the boy cowering behind her. She sighed, a wave of helplessness washing over her.
"Sister Yuuka, please don't scare him anymore."
"I'm not joking," Kazami Yuuka said, setting down her teacup. Her tone was calm, yet it carried an authority that permitted no argument. "Since you claim to be my, Kazami Yuuka's, younger brother, you must possess the strength befitting that title."
A flicker of amusement danced in her eyes. "It was you who said Yakumo Yukari's name was useless and that you'd cover for me. That's the only reason I called myself your younger brother. If you're not happy with it, I can take a step down... calling myself your little follower is fine too."
Haruto was adamant. He would not fight. He really, really did not want to fight Kazami Yuuka.
Teach him to fight? It was a sadistic outburst, plain and simple!
One shouldn't be fooled by the fact that her attacks had no flashy names or special effects; every one of her "normal" attacks was comparable to a full-power ultimate move. Every single strike would leave him severely injured. The most terrifying part was that her fists also carried a restorative effect, rapidly healing his body even as she was crippling it.
'Isn't that just like getting beaten with a belt dipped in iodine?'he thought in despair.'It disinfects you while it beats you!'
Haruto would never forget the look in Kazami Yuuka's crimson eyes after their first "training" session—the genuine, terrifying excitement that grew the more she fought.
"No! Absolutely not!" Haruto shook his head frantically. "At worst, at worst, I just won't use your name anymore!"
Kazami Yuuka's name was a useful deterrent, but he needed to be alive to use it.
"No need," she said calmly. "You don't have to claim it; I acknowledge it. From now on, you are the younger brother I, Kazami Yuuka, recognize."
Her gaze swept over Haruto from head to toe, her tone unwavering. "I'm truly doing this for your own good. Your bones are too weak. They need to be broken and rebuilt."
"Sister Yuuka, Haruto is still young," Alice couldn't help but interject. "Not just as a youkai, but even before he became one, he was still a child. It's normal for him to be a bit weak."
Her words moved Haruto to his core.
Alice offered him a strained smile in return. The truth was, she really didn't want to get dragged into a "training session" with him.
Kazami Yuuka sighed, a hint of regret in her eyes as she looked at Haruto. She said no more, implicitly agreeing with their protests.
Seeing this, Haruto finally breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly took a strange-looking fruit from his pocket and placed it on the table. "Here, a gift I brought for you."
The fruit was a pale, jaundiced yellow, blushed with a sickly red. Its skin was a grotesque landscape of bumps and ridges, like a network of bulging veins stretched taut just beneath the surface.
"You brought this out of an instance?" Kazami Yuuka asked, examining the fleshy fruit with keen interest.
Haruto nodded, a little surprised she knew about the instances. He guessed that either his sister Yukari or Ran must have told her. It couldn't have been Kaguya; Haruto had only told her that he was traveling to other worlds. He'd mentioned they could be dangerous and were unknown, but he'd carefully omitted the part about them being horror-themed survival games. Kaguya was probably still happily fantasizing about him becoming an overpowered protagonist, defeating a Demon King, and becoming a world savior.
"What's an 'instance'?" Alice asked, her curiosity piqued. "Haruto, have you left Gensokyo recently?"
While Kazami Yuuka continued to study the fruit, Haruto began to briefly explain, introducing Alice to the concepts of Infinite Flow and horror instances.
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