Chapter 6: A Connection

I got to training, the sky was filled with an entire blanket of clouds. The days are getting colder and the wind keeps on picking up more speed. As she trains with her katana, her sword cuts through the air making a nice ringing sound. And her hair flows strongly behind her.

I shouted as the wind happened to pick up, "You're up early."

She stopped herself and looked at me. She walked up to me.

"So how do we-"

Katy slashed her sword at me. I pulled back and caught the sword with both hands. My reaction speed saved my life because judging by the swing she wasn't planning to stop for me.

She pulls back her sword to set it free, "Good job. You passed." Turns around to walk toward her previous training position.

"Don't do that again."

Katy turns back and smiles confidently, "Or what shadowy man?"

"If it wasn't so early in the morning, I would've taken you down."

"Pft, you wish." She throws me an actual sword this time, "That's why I told you that you passed. Not aced it."

I said to myself fair enough and continued. I looked at the sword and it doesn't seem like it will kill anyone. We got to training and gave me more lessons on how to fight properly with a sword. We even went to learn hand-to-hand combat and let me tell you. Don't underestimate this girl. She was able to lift me up and throw me down. I felt like I made a crater form under me. Now I know the true meaning of 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall.' Every time she would throw me in the air after she kicked me up, I would slam the ground so hard that an earthquake can be felt throughout the entire park. A few more pounds and I start forming explosions below me like a meteor crashing down on earth.

I raised my hand to stop her and to catch my breath, "How do you manage to do this?"

"What do you mean "

"I am six feet and about one-eighty in weight. How are you managing to throw me like this?"

"I thought everyone knew to never underestimate your opponent."

I just stood there silent not knowing what to say

Katy commanded, "Now hit the showers and get ready for class. I'll be there and we will train more. Tonight you better have some dinner ready."

"I don't know how to cook."

"Then we are both starving."

"I'll just grab some pizza in the cafeteria."

"No, I don't like the food in the cafeteria so it's either you make something or our training will be starving us tonight while we study Bio together."

She left and I was surprised how stern she was. Barely a week has gone by and I am already put on some tough regimen. Now the thought of quitting and letting this be over went through my head. A guy wanting a normal life which is just a simple house and maybe a lovely wife, if lucky, is too much to ask now? I shook the idea out of my head and told myself that will never happen. I've always been telling myself that. Never quit. I grabbed my stuff and headed back to campus to shower and change my clothes. Got to the Bio class and started to do my work. By the end of the class, Katy followed me to my dorm room to study together.

"Stay here and let me get some groceries."

"What are you doing?" Katy replied

"Not leaving you hungry for the night." I shut the door behind me and went to a food market.

I got some lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, lemons, garlic, and whatever was on this list I found online about how to make a good salad. Then I went to the campus cafeteria and got some steak for a change. I went up to my room and came back, opening the door.

"Welcome back," Katy said while focusing on her Biology textbook.

I got to work in the kitchen and started to cook. I asked her where she was in the readings and she told me about the digestive system. We go in-depth with it but that seems to be the beginning chapters of the bio. It's fair game though since the test will be about everything they covered in the Bio class. I was chopping up vegetables and squeezing lemon juice while giving her an entire speech about the digestive system. How it starts and where it ends up. Literally, everything including the specific enzyme, what it needs to be activated, and what it does for your body. She wrote down everything I said. Then she asked me more questions and I kept answering them. They seemed like simple questions to me. If I didn't know the answer I looked it up and went back to cooking. The salad was done and I heated the steak a bit more.

Katy complained, "I'm starving!"

"Looks like you are ready to eat." I looked at the microwave timer.

"Yes please."

I put the books to the side and took her pen away. I gave her two dishes. One was steak, the other was a bowl of salad. Then I gave her a fork and knife. "Eat up." She grabbed the fork and knife and ate like it has been a week since her last meal.

"Did you eat anything today?"

"No, you?"

"... no but you shouldn't do that to yourself."

"Why do you do it?"

"I do it to lose weight, but not to your extreme." I might have said that in a scolding voice. Did not want her doing that again.

I sat down with my plates and utensils and got down to eating. I was surprised with my cooking skills since Katy didn't complain about it yet. She seems to be enjoying it a lot to my shock. I ate quickly and went back to studying while Katy was eating slowly. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable so I didn't say anything and let her eat at her own leisure. I continued my work and kept helping her out with some notes I wrote down. When she said she was tired, she got up and hugged me. She said thank you and left. It felt really warm. It was a short hug but I didn't want her to let go. I went to bed thinking I can get that hug again tomorrow. Hopefully.

The next day arrived and we were doing the same thing. We were working hard. No breaks for a good twelve hours and I had to come up with a way to make some dinner. It was great since I started stacking up food in the fridge and we were also getting ready for the big test. We even went to the dojo and Katy had to vouch for me that I was training under her wing and got a black belt just like that. I felt like I didn't deserve it but it got me to spar with the students. At the end of the day, what surprised me the most was that Katy wanted to hug me every night. I tried to give her some comfort because she seemed off, something was making her feel uneasy but I did my best to help her relax. The hugs were more frequent and sometimes it got deep.

During our morning meetup, Katy asked, "How are you doing?"

I replied, "I'm fine, what about you?"

She nodded her head to tell me she's fine, but I immediately went up to her and asked, "Hug?" While opening my arms up, she went in to hug one out. I knew something wasn't fine. There was no hiding it anymore.

After some days have passed. Training got harder. It even rained one day and Katy still kept on fighting me in the park. We laughed, had fun, and got back to work. At this point, I didn't know what was going through my head. My head was thinking about Katy all the time and I could not stay attentive to my studies. I've decided to give myself a little mentor. Basically, I looked at a mirror and talked to myself. I had enough and wanted to ask Katy out on a date. Thought that maybe this weekend we would have a night to ourselves. We can go out and eat something nice together. I was trying to get my self-esteem up since we have been getting a lot closer lately. It was Friday and Katy had to go to her dorm to pick up some supplies before we have another study session. I took it to be the right time to ask her and so I waited and steadied my heart. She knocked on the door. I opened it and leaned on the doorway.

"What are you doing?"

"Um... this is hard for me to ask but like." Kept stuttering my words for a moment.

Katy looked at me weirdly, "Y-yea?"

"Would you like to go... get something to eat by the school? I believe there is a bar shop that I heard comes around once a month... Figured... we can... you know." I was really losing it.

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

"No no no... more like a... " Her right eyebrow went up, challenging my lie. I gave in, "Yea... I am." I put my head down in shame.

She started to giggle and then said, "Follow me."

It wasn't a direct answer. Couldn't tell exactly if that was a yes or no. I did have everything on me so I followed her. She somehow knows I love sushi since we went to this bar that was next to the school. I have heard it only comes around to display itself next to the campus once a month for a week and then leaves. She probably knew that from the number of times I brought sushi from the cafeteria during our study sessions.

Katy asked with a cute girly voice, "You like sushi, no?"

I started to blush when I heard that cute voice, "Y-yeah. A lot."

"Then let's eat here together for tonight. Oh and you order whatever is most delicious and I will try it."

"I assume you don't eat sushi much."

"No, but I heard it is really healthy for you."

"I'll make sure to get you the most delicious sushi for you."

I gave my order to the chef who seemed like the owner since he was the only one there. I ordered some classic plain rolls such as the salmon roll, tuna roll, and California roll as a start-up. Order two miso soups as well to give it a try for her. I also ordered the rolls I liked and paid right away.

Katy yelled, "HEY!!!"

I explained, "No no no it's okay. I was the one to ask you out plus this is my thanks for training me under your wing. I know I can be tough on people sometimes."

"No, you weren't plus you helped me with my classes and I have a chance to not fail."

"This is still my gift to you so accept it."

"You still don't know anything about me." she blew her hair out of her face and turned to look sideways.

I challenged that and started to ask her some questions. We started off with the hobbies and found out that Katy liked to draw and write stories. Though she never really got the chance to fully go out and put her mind into it. She would always be busy training because of her father. I expected that much from her. She tells me how she would like to live her life when everything comes to an end. That was our biggest talking point since it came into line with what I had in mind. In summary, it was to settle down and find a nice place to relax. Since all this hustling for years keeps tearing our bodies apart. Every teenager or young adult would wish it could happen so they can enjoy their lives more.

The sushi came and I told her what was inside of the miso soup. She gave it a try, liked the soup, and then liked the tuna roll and the California roll. I ordered some rock shrimp and eel avocado roll for myself. I told her to try some of my rock shrimp and eel avocado roll which she did. She enjoyed the rock shrimp a lot more than my personally favorite sushi roll. So I gave her the rock shrimp plate and the salmon roll. I had a lot of fun with her and I wanted this to happen more.