"So you're meaning to tell me…. That there were no other higher-ups!?" I exclaim with frustration and anger.
Shiro tries to calm me down, but everything he says is just getting drowned out as I continue to yell at him.
"Alright, Alright! You've got us. I'm sorry we lied to you before… but you have to admit, it was pretty funny watching you panic when we first met you." Shiro uttered with a bit of regret, but I can tell he's toying with me.
I tried shoving him; however, he weaved out of the way. "Oooh, you wanna go right now? You know you can't touch me, right?" Shiro continues to repeatedly weave all of my pitiful attempts of hitting him.
I tried even harder; however, he tripped me in the obstacle course's mud.
"Damn you! Why is everyone so difficult here!? Ms. Asami is always so mean to me, Daki keeps teasing me, and now you are just a straight-up bully!!!"
I huff with anger before continuing,
"My life was perfect before I met you guys, and now I can't even enjoy a simple takoyaki ball from Mr. Yama!!!"
After hearing my words, Shiro couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. His expression turned a bit solemn as he held out his hand towards me.
"Namo man… I'm sorry about everything. The prank, the lies, everything. We wanted to break it to you slowly… but I just couldn't keep my big mouth shut."
I get up from the mud with the help of Shiro, and he wipes off some mud from my back.
"It's time for you to go to Daki's training in about 5 minutes. In the meantime, why don't you go take another bath in the bathhouse to get the mud out…?" I nod, and I slowly walk to the bathhouse.
When I finally arrive at the bathhouse, I prepare to get undressed; however, I hear some familiar voices on the female side of the bathhouse…
"Oh, come on, chief, just give him a chance! You're always so harsh on him, can't you see that he's trying…?"
That voice sounded like Daki on the other side, and it appears that she's talking to…
"I want to give him a chance… It's just that… he's not what I was expecting. I thought he was going to be like… You know, Ms. Rumi Himoka. My expectations were completely underwhelming."
When I heard that from Ms. Asami, my heart dropped. She… She expected me to be like… my mother? I know they're the defense league, but I didn't expect them to actually talk about her.
I get in the bath and wash away the mud. My mind is still on what Ms. Asami told Daki, and then it hit me.
"What if… they only recruited me because of my mother…? Did they expect me to have her skills or something? Damn it… I have to ask them, but now isn't the time." I mutter to myself.
After getting out of the bath, I see some new temporary clothes folded near the door since my kimono is covered in mud.
Soon after getting dressed, I head to the archery field. I see a bunch of other lower-rank archers shooting at targets, with Daki giving them feedback on their techniques.
I make my way over to her, and I clear my throat. "Oh, hey Namo-Kun! Sorry about the mud incident today…" Daki said with a guilty expression.
I rub the back of my head, my expression still nonchalant, "It's no problem. I didn't really care about it or anything." I say while shrugging my shoulders.
Daki notices something wrong, but she decides to just move on from it,
"Oookay…. Well, it's time for your first lesson with me! Aren't you excited~?" She says while leaning closer to me.
I take a small step back and shrug again, which makes Daki really notice that something is up.
"Hmm… anyways, you aren't going to actually be using a bow and arrow, because that's a job for the deadeye or the evader."
She paused before continuing,
"We'll just be working on your focus, adaptability, and-" Before she could finish, I cut her off.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's just start." I began walking away when Daki suddenly grabbed my arm.
"What's your problem!? Why are you being such a jerk today?" She said with a very nonplussed expression. All I can do is look at her, my expression not changing at all in the slightest.
"Gee, I don't know… maybe because the defense league keeps lying to me? How come you guys didn't tell me about you three, and almost including me, being the higher-ups?" I mumble under my breath.
Daki's eyes widened, and she leaned down to look me in the eyes, "Namo-Kun, I swear on my life I was going to tell you, and I wanted to break it off to you slowly, but-" I held up my hand so she stopped talking.
"Daki… you don't need to say anything else… I just want to get this training over with." I say with nonchalance.
Daki straightens up and takes a deep breath, "Very well, as you wish… first thing you should do is take deep breaths…"
She demonstrates by taking another deep breath. I calm down slightly, and I also take a deep breath right after her.
"Good… don't you feel a little better already?" She says while smiling softly at me. I must admit, after a good breather, I did feel a bit better.
After breathing for a while, Daki lets out a hum. "Nice job! Now we're going to be getting into the good stuff. I want you to stare down the field until you see a small blue dot in the trees. This will be going towards your focus training."
I nod and look out at the large field. I scanned all of the trees, trying to find that blue dot. Daki then nudges my arm. "A little hint, it's actually more in front of you than you think~."
That confused me until I looked directly in front of me, where I could see just a small blue colored dot painted in the middle of a tree.
"There! Painted right on that large tree!" Daki looked in the direction I was pointing, and she smiled again.
"You have exceptional eyesight, Mr. Reconnaissance~" Unlike Shiro's grueling training in the obstacle course, Daki's training is actually very enjoyable and calming. I guess it makes sense, since she's an archer and does Kyūdō, which takes a lot of patience and concentration to master.
I couldn't help but feel a little bad for being a jerk to her because all she wanted to do was help me, and I practically pushed her away.
"Daki… I'm sorry about my behavior. I was just a bit upset because I really don't like it when people keep secrets from me."
Daki softens her gaze and lifts my chin so that I'm looking directly at her,
"It's not your fault, Namo-Kun. Your reaction was completely valid. I don't blame you for being upset at all."
I sighed and shook my head,
"But you're so sweet to me, unlike the other two. I just felt so bad when I treated you like that, and I-" Daki suddenly puts a finger to my lip, shushing me from saying anymore.
"I forgive you, Namo-Kun. I'm here to train you, my feelings can come afterwards, okay?" Daki says softly while tilting her head.
I know arguing with her will just be useless, so I just nod slowly before continuing her training session. "Yeah… I will keep that in mind."