Chapter 21: For The Team

Meanwhile Rose and Cecilia were talking it out on the street of the city, Matthew finally found Yuki sitting on a tree branch munching on an apple. When she saw Matthew approaching, she greeted him.

“Yo.”

Matthew swiveled his head left and right before finally looking up. “Oh there you are,” said Matthew.

“Took you a while to get here.” Yuki threw her half eaten apple away and jumped down.

“You know this place is huge right?” Matthew put a hand on his waist.

“Well, that shouldn’t be a challenge, should it?”

“Well, I’d like to save my energy for the fight.”

“Oh, so you really think highly of me?” Yuki had a slight smug on her face. “I’m flattered.”

“Well, you are a senior after all, of course I would.”

Yuki’s smug was wiped off as her face grew red. “Please stop calling me senior. It’s embarrassing.”

Even after being told to, Matthew kept teasing her. “Why? You said it yourself that you’re a senior.”

“Do you enjoy teasing me that much?”

“Ehehe… Kinda.”

Yuki shook her head and sighed. “Hah… Then I guess I’ll have to teach you a lesson. Let’s get this sparring session started, why don’t we?”

“Alright then. So are we just going to go in an all out fight?”

“Not exactly. We don’t want any serious injuries now, do we? So I’m gonna have to restrict uses of weapons. As you can see, I don’t have any on me right now.” Yuki spread her arms and twirled around to show evidence. “ So you, put yours away..”

“Got it.” Matthew did as instructed and hung his sword on a tree branch.

“Good. Now, we will not be fighting with full force or until either of us are knocked out. So here’s the rule. The first to land a clean hit is the winner.”

Matthew seemed a bit surprised at the moment. “Wait, that’s it?”

“Yup, why?” Yuki tilted her head slightly.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit too easy?”

“Ah~ so you think it’s too easy? Then why don’t try it out? Ready, get set-” Yuki instantly counted down and was already prepared to attack, leaving Matthew surprised and confused. And she started, “GO!”

In an instant, Yuki leapt in front of Matthew and threw a punch at him. Matthew parried Yuki’s punch with one hand and stopped her advance with his other forearm. Yuki let out a sly smile. She ducked and swiped her leg under Matthew.

Matthew stumbled and fell with a grunt. Yuki threw another punch at the fallen Matthew. Matthew caught it and with his legs, he pushed Yuki by the abdomen and flipped her over him. Yuki spun in a front flip once before swiftly landing on her feet.

Matthew stood back up in a hurry and said, “I wasn’t ready yet!”

Yuki once again smiled. “A Hunter needs to be ready at all times.” Without giving any room to breathe, Yuki dashed back in.

They both exchanged attacks with dodges, blocks and parries. Matthew was in hyper focus right now because he did not want to get hit or he’ll lose. He was pushing his reflexes further to catch all of Yuki’s movements as she was also quite fast. At one point, they broke off from each other and skidded away a bit.

“Pretty good. You really deserve to be ranked Rookie,” said Yuki.

“Fuu~ thanks.”

“Let’s step it up a notch. [Deceiving Light].” Then, Yuki suddenly disappeared.

Matthew looked around. He could not find her anywhere. “Where’d you go?” He asked.

“Try to find me. You won’t know what hit you.” Matthew could hear her voice but he could not see her anywhere.

“Damn it.” Matthew now really got his guard up. ‘She must’ve used some kind of spell, or maybe it was her Astral Skill? She can’t hide for long, [Astral Sense]”

Matthew used his [Astral Sense]. With that, he instantly found where Yuki was. “There you are!” Without waiting long, Matthew jumped at the place where Yuki was and thrusted his fist forward.

To his surprise, where he thought he could win the fight with this hit, he was only met with thin air. Matthew skidded a bit forward before coming to a stop. He turned around and looked back.

“What was that?” Matthew asked no-one. ‘She definite is there, but why?’ From his [Astral Sense], Matthew could still see Yuki’s faint signature. However, there was nothing there physically.

“You fell for my decoy.”

Matthew sensed an incoming danger, he jumped backward and crouch landed a few meters away. When looked at where he just was, he saw Yuki was now visible. Yuki was still in a position after just throwing a punch.

“You dodged. Impressive reflexes.”

“That’s not fair! That’s cheating!” Matthew shouted.

“Is it now? But you dodged it.”

“Just barely. How did you do that?”

“A Hunter doesn’t expose their tricks and traps. But I’ll make an exception, IF you can beat me. Come on now. Catch me if you can.” Yuki said before disappearing again.

“Tch! Fine then. Guess I’ll step it up a notch too.” Matthew has decided. He raised his astral output a bit more and maintained his [Astral Sense] as well.

Now with more power being used, he was able to see clearly. Yuki set up a few decoys with faint signatures. No wonder Matthew actually attacked nothing before. How did she do that exactly? That was not important now. Matthew focused back and found something, Yuki herself was actually almost invisible, even now. She was hiding her presence really well that even this much output Matthew almost did not see her.

Matthew also detected a slight change in Yuki’s signature when he increased his output. Her signature spiked for a second before going back down. That only made it clearer for Matthew that he needed to hit that one. Not wanting to waste time now, Matthew rushed towards that very signature.

Having increased his output, it was only natural that his speed would increase as well. Matthew’s very quick movement surprised Yuki that she dismissed her invisibility and she raised her arms in a cross to block Matthew’s punch. She was pushed away and bumped hard against a tree. “Gah!”

Her arms stinged from pain where Matthew hit her. She saw how Matthew was and he seemed really fired up now. Yuki realised that she could not afford to hold back anymore. Yuki’s signature suddenly spiked high.

“I won’t hold back anymore. Get ready!”

Matthew himself was surprised to see that. As surprised as he was, a smile still crept up on his face. His heart was beating even faster. He was feeling a thrill of battle growing inside him. “Bring it!”

Both of them rushed in at the same time. They once again exchanged dodges, blocks and parries. Now with a much fiercer speed.

Matthew thrusted his fist but it was parried by Yuki. Yuki quickly thrusted her foot at Matthew’s stomach. Matthew dodged it and grabbed her foot, pulled it and knocked Yuki down. Matthew threw in another punch but it was grabbed by both of Yuki’s hands, only centimeters away from hitting her.

Yuki wrapped her leg around Matthew’s arm and pulled him to the ground. Yuki’s now got Matthew in a hand lock with her legs on Matthew’s neck.

“You better give now or I might break your arm.” Yuki warned.

Matthew’s face was growing red from lack of oxygen and his arm was hurting. However, he did not want to give up. Matthew beared with the pain to lift his arm along with Yuki. Yuki was shocked and confused to see him do this.

After a certain height was reached, Matthew slammed Yuki on the ground. “Gah!” Yuki let go of Matthew’s arm in an instant.

Matthew gasped for air as he hurriedly stood up. Yuki was unable to stand. Matthew wanted to land the finishing blow for him to win, but seeing how Yuki was, he could bring himself to do it. He dispersed his astra.

He extended a hand to Yuki and lifted her up. Yuki was barely able to stand properly and flopped on Matthew weakly. Matthew let her use him as a stand.

“Are you okay?” Matthew asked.

“Hnngghh… Yeah, I’m okay,” Yuki said.

“Can you stand?”

“Just, just lay me down for a sec.”

“Okay.” Matthew slowly and gently put Yuki down in a sitting position.

Yuki breathed in and out, trying to catch some air after getting them knocked out of her. “Ha… Ha… Damn Matthew, you sure got me back there.”

“Sorry about that.” Matthew apologised.

“Nah, it’s fine. It ain’t your fault. Guh… My back hurts so bad.” Yuki rubbed her back with the back of her wrist. Matthew also rubbed Yuki back, feeling really bad now. “Thanks, but you don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, o-okay. Maybe we should get you to Cecilia. She can heal you right away.”

“Hngh… Yup, let’s do that. Help me up would you?” Yuki flailed her arms waiting to be picked up. Matthew immediately grabbed them and lifted Yuki up, supporting her from under her arm.. “Don’t forget your sword.” Yuki reminded him.

“Ah, right.” Matthew walked towards the tree where he hung his sword with Yuki in tow. He swung it over his other shoulder. “Okay, let’s go.”

They both walked out of the forest and onto the city streets under the afternoon sun. They had been silent all the while they were walking through the forest, only when they arrived in the city did they chatted.

“Alright, I think I can walk on my own from here,” said Yuki. “It’s gonna be embarrassing if people see me like this.”

“Okay.” Matthew slowly slid Yuki off his shoulder. “Careful now.”

“Ahaha~ I’ll be fine. Thanks for carrying me until now,” Yuki said. “Hnggh- Ow ow ow!” She stretched her body but abruptly stopped in pain.

“Are you sure you’re fine?” Matthew asked.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about me.” Yuki waved her hand in dismissal. “Let’s keep going.” Yuki walked ahead of Matthew.

Matthew followed behind closely, worried that Yuki might just stumble. She was still weak after all.

“The Hunter station is still aways, why don’t we chat a little?” Yuki said.

“Uhh sure, about what?”

“About what happened back there.”

“Hm?” Now the topic caught Matthew’s attention.

“I was really surprised by the sudden spike in power from you. Although I’m a mage archer, your astra was strong enough to give me chills.”

“Oh, really?” Matthew seemed a bit happy hearing that.

“Yes really. You were really holding back before that huh?” Yuki grinned at Matthew.

“Ah, well, yes actually. Speaking of the fight, did that count as my win?”

When Matthew asked that question, Yuki suddenly came to a stop which made Matthew stop as well. Yuki turned around to face Matthew. She could see Matthew’s eyes were glittering, but she straightforwardly with a monotone said, “Nope, you didn’t win.”

“Eh, say what?” Matthew’s jaw dropped. “Why?”

“I said the first to land a clean hit on the other is the winner right?” Yuki raised her index finger at Matthew. “You never landed a clean attack on me.”

“Well, neither did you.” Matthew thrusted his hands forward in retortion.

“Ah yes, I didn’t, did I? But…”

“Oof!” Yuki lightly punched Matthew in the stomach that knocked some air out of him. “Ow… What was that for?”

“But with that punch right there, I win.” Yuki said with a smirk and a wink.

“Wait, whattt?! That’s not fair! I thought the fight was over!” Matthew threw a tantrum.

“I told you didn’t I? A Hunter needs to always be ready.”

“You cheated! I want a rematch! This is not fair!”

“Ahaha! Why are you so angry?”

“Because I really want you to join the team.” Matthew crossed his arms and pouted.

Yuki was taken aback by Matthew’s answer. “You… Just really want me to join?”

“Yeah, if not why would I try so hard?”

“That’s… I don’t know. I thought you just didn’t wanna lose is all.”

“Well, that IS the reason I didn’t wanna lose.”

Once again, Yuki was struck by Matthew’s answer. She now had a better opinion of Matthew.

It was time to tell Matthew that, “you know, I always was gonna join you in the first place.”

Matthew flinched. “What?”

“Yup, I was gonna join you either way. I just wanted to see how far you were willing to go for that to happen. And you did indeed impress me,” said Yuki

“Wait, so you were gonna join us whether I win or lose?” Matthew wanted to confirm that statement.

“Yup. I mean, who’s gonna pay back my finances that I just spent for you guys?” Yuki threatened.

“Erk! Oh yeah…” Matthew laughed nervously. “Well, if that’s what it takes for you to join us, then I’m down to pay you back. Welcome to the team?” Matthew extended a hand to Yuki.

Yuki smiled and accepted the hand with her own. “Happy to be on the team.” Both Yuki and Matthew chuckled as they shook their hands. After that, they both made their way to the Hunter Station as promised and met up with Rose and Cecilia.