Kami-e Is for Dodging Love

Under the dim starlight, the night was as black as thick ink that could not be spread away.

And Noah's face was even darker than the night.

Consistently placing in the top ten of the Elite Training Camp assessments was already an extraordinary achievement. As long as nothing went wrong before graduation, he would probably start out as a major at the commissioning ceremony.

Someone at his slightly above-average level, if he never improved, would likely top out as a captain at Marine Headquarters.

Damn, this was ridiculous... One obsessive girl who had been following him around for an entire year was bad enough. Why did she have to be this strong too?

Noah truly wanted to travel back in time and slap himself from ten seconds ago, making him use his brain and come up with a better excuse to reject her.

"Ahem, Miss Shiya, assessment results don't necessarily represent real strength. Actual combat is what shows it, you understand what I mean..."

He racked his brains and agonized over it for a long while before inspiration finally struck. "I specialize in martial arts and swordsmanship, especially martial arts. What about you, Miss Shiya?"

"What a coincidence. Martial arts are what I'm best at too," Shiya said softly. "I've basically mastered Rankyaku and Shigan during this time."

"What about Soru?"

"Mm, I know a little, but I'm not very proficient."

"Very well, then let's make a bet. We'll set a limit of ten minutes. You can use any means necessary to attack me, while I'll only block and dodge. I absolutely won't strike back."

Noah secretly rejoiced. He pointed at his chest. "During these ten minutes, if you can hit my chest even once, I'll acknowledge that you're stronger than me and agree to let you formally pursue me from then on. Otherwise, please don't bother me again in the future..."

"No problem." Shiya nodded without hesitation.

She looked confident, her eyes shining as the way she looked at Noah subtly changed.

"..."

Noah, whose words had been cut off, suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

For some reason, her gaze made him feel like prey that already had one foot caught in a hunting trap.

Fine, think whatever you want. I've achieved my goal anyway.

He had been worrying about who to find for testing the power of Intermediate Kami-e this late at night. Now, not only had that problem been perfectly solved, he could also use this opportunity to reject and shake off the obsessive girl's pursuit.

Killing two birds with one stone. It was simply a genius plan.

Not far southeast of the training grounds stood the Marine Headquarters clock tower. Even from several hundred meters away, the movements of its hour and minute hands could still be clearly seen.

Noah and Shiya stood more than ten meters apart. When the clock tower showed exactly nine o'clock, he raised his right hand toward the girl opposite him and gestured for her to begin.

Whoosh!

Before his hand could even lower, a sharp gust suddenly tore through the night, rushing straight at his face.

It was the "Rankyaku" Shiya had unleashed.

Rankyaku was, in essence, a rapidly kicked leg compressing the air in front of it after exceeding the speed of sound, whipping up a "vacuum" and sending forth a sharp slashing wave.

For those without Armament Haki or Iron Body, its destructive power could not be underestimated.

Noah did not dare let his guard down either.

He stared intently at the invisible shockwave cutting through the air. Just before it reached him, his body twisted sharply to the right at an extremely strange angle. As if merging with the airflow itself, he easily evaded the Rankyaku.

Boom!

The Rankyaku shockwave passed Noah and exploded against a sandbag several meters behind him.

Sand and dust sprayed everywhere, drifting across the training grounds.

The blue-haired girl with waist-length hair froze slightly, surprise flashing through her eyes. But she immediately suppressed her emotions, lowered her raised right foot, and stomped the ground at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Soru!

The air seemed to warp as Shiya's figure suddenly vanished. In the next instant, she appeared to Noah's right, her gaze focused as she poured all her strength into her right finger and thrust it toward Noah's chest.

Shigan!

The finger strike was fierce and domineering, its piercing power comparable to a bullet flying at high speed. Yet in Noah's eyes, even though the airflow it stirred was as faint as tiny ripples, it still left a trace to follow.

Thus, in the brief second or two that followed, his body flowed into those subtle changes in the air like smooth silk, once again evading the close-range strike.

"Huh?"

Shiya's eyes widened abruptly. Even Teacher Zephyr had personally praised the speed of her Shigan. How had it been dodged so easily?

She refused to believe it. No longer intending to hold back, she slightly adjusted her breathing rhythm, then used Soru to constantly shift positions while her Shigan shot from the darkness like a torrential storm, stabbing toward Noah.

However.

Even after Shiya pushed her martial arts to the limit, Noah was still able to perfectly evade every attack coming from every direction.

During their continuous exchange, she could even clearly feel Noah's movements becoming increasingly effortless. His steps looked more like a leisurely stroll through his own courtyard, relaxed and unhurried.

How could this be?

Shiya finally showed an expression of disbelief.

No one in the entire Marine Headquarters Elite Training Camp understood Noah better than she did. From all her past observations, Noah's greatest strengths should clearly have been endurance and Two-Sword Style Swordsmanship. When had he trained Kami-e to such a level?

The Six Powers had only begun to be formally taught by Teacher Zephyr two months ago. Even she had only superficially mastered three of them so far, while Kami-e was still in the exploratory beginner stage!

But the facts were right before her, leaving no room for doubt.

As the time crept closer to the ten-minute limit, she had not only failed to strike Noah's chest, but had not even touched him once. Looking at the faintly smug expression on Noah's face, the girl suddenly felt wronged and bitter.

Was she really that inadequate? Even if he would not immediately accept her confession, was he going to completely snuff out any chance for her to keep pursuing him, without giving her even the slightest opportunity?

Noah's mood was the complete opposite. Weaving through the currents of air stirred up by every attack, he was grinning so broadly that the corners of his mouth were nearly splitting apart.

That smile contained both delight at Intermediate Kami-e exceeding his expectations and the subtle thrill of having his two-for-one plan work out perfectly.

If Intermediate Kami-e alone can achieve this much, then once it reaches the advanced level, I probably won't be much worse than those Cipher Pol No. 9 people, right?

Those thousand points were absolutely worth it.

That was roughly what he was thinking.

Unfortunately, that feeling could be understood but not explained. Naturally, Shiya could not comprehend it. She only assumed that Noah was smugly laughing at her in his heart because she had failed to land a single hit.

Shiya felt even more aggrieved. At that exact moment, the ten-minute timer came to an end. She silently glanced at the clock tower, then suddenly withdrew her hand and stopped attacking.

Noah also stopped dodging.

"Time's up!" He steadied himself, a smile rising to his face. "A bet is a bet, Miss Shiya. I won this time, so according to our agreement, from now on..."

Noah's voice abruptly stopped.

Because when he looked up, he discovered in astonishment that the blue-haired girl beneath the black streetlamp was standing there in complete silence, tears streaming down her face.

"Shi... Shiya..."

Noah instantly began to stammer. Having no experience comforting girls, he was at a complete loss for what to say.

He had truly never faced anything like this before. Back in his East Blue hometown, he often angered Bell-mère until she cried, but she would usually retaliate in kind, fiercely getting back at him however he had bullied her.

The result was often the two of them rolling into a brawl beneath the orange trees, oranges raining down all around them. By the time they were pulled apart, both would be bruised and battered, glaring at each other with neither willing to back down.

But Shiya clearly was not that kind of person. Besides, he and her were not even very familiar. They had only been fellow new recruits for less than a year...