>>5332361"Thank you, sensei.” You say, giving the Amalgam swordsman a respectful bow, which he then returns with a warm chuckle that only serves to highlight the twinkle in his eyes.
“You know what? Call me…Zatoichi.” He intones, testing the syllables on the tip of his tongue. “Or maybe Yojimbo? Ha, I’ll stick to Zato for now, in any case. Who knows? Maybe I’ll start collecting names, too.”
“Thank you, Zato-Sensei!” You grin, but your expression falters when you realize you’ve got one too many. "Er, I mean, Cheruem-sensei is my *Sensei-sensei*.”
“The first and best, it seems.” He smirks, forcing a little noise of irritation (or is it admiration?) out of your teacher.
“Cheruem-sensei is going to be really happy about this, once she stops screaming about how Mom is going to kill her for letting me be so reckless, but I learned some stuff from this so..." Your eyes go wide as you connect the dots. Sensei ‘x’ Sensei! "Oh! right! Do you wanna meet Cheruem-sensei? I think she wants to meet you, too. Mom can make a spirit shell for dream friends like Cheruem sensei so we can do stuff together like teaching each other as each other's sensei’s, and sparring too!"
This is absolutely, positively the best idea, even if Cheruem’s trying to stop you very loudly for some reason. "We can even mix things up to make it fun! Like each of us using a different legendary sword and a different sword style in a free-for-all spar! Or a two-vee-one with me and Cheruem-sensei against you!"
“Listen here you meddlesome grub, I’ll have you know that I’ve no intention of-!” Cheruem protests, but you give her a gentle reminder of something she said not but a few minutes ago.
“But you said that, ahem; ‘I’d get Shu to make a Spiritus Shell so I could show Zato—only he wasn’t Zato then, but he’s Zato now, so it counts— a thing or two about swordsmanship!” You echo, your Sensei’s protests reaching a crescendo of violence you’re doing a very good job of tuning out. “Cheruem said so! Honest!"
“Did she, now?” Mom hums, arching an eyebrow down at you.
“Uh-huh, I swear it! Cross my heart and…” You trail off, choosing your next words with a bit more care. “…and I hope we can all train together!”
…
Nailed it!
“I’d be honored. And speaking of honor, well…I believe this is yours.” Zatoichi insists, raising the blade up to your waiting hands. His smile is one that makes his black eyes gleam like polished onyx, and when you reach out and curl your fingers around Cheruem’s ancient blade, you can’t help but feel…
…proud.
>>HEXANE RELIC ACQUIRED—CHERUEM’S PRIDE>>AMARA—HUNTER’S HONOR AUGMENT UNLOCKED(Keep Smiling)
