The killer detective

21 - My master

Instead of leaving Meiko’s office feeling a bit better about the situation I was in, it got even worse. But they say, gain some, lose some. If I wanted my suspension to be lifted, so I could operate as freely as before, get the due points, and have my favorite rifle, I had to do it. But I didn’t know how I was supposed to tell it to Omita. We hadn’t worked together before, which meant I would have to completely babysit her. I didn’t even know her skills and her body reactions to crisis situations. I sighed.

I was holding the papers with the mission in my left hand in front of me in the elevator. I wasn’t reading what it said, I was only staring at the papers and sighing. This was going to be a serious bother. Not to mention it could get dangerous very easily. One wrong step or move from our side, which was to be expected to happen, and we’d be doomed. I let out a big sigh again before the elevator dinged and opened at the ground floor. Omita was patiently waiting there like a dog in front of a supermarket waiting for its owner.

“Did things go well?” She asked me after she had finished saluting. I sighed again.

“How long have you been training your close combat skills?” I asked without a second thought. I needed to make sure that at least she could survive for longer than five minutes in the Ruinees territory.

“It’s one of my basic skills…” Her answer didn’t sound very convincing. She wasn’t sure about her own skills. Great. And you tell me to go and get ourselves basically killed, Meiko?! I grunted. I didn’t like this at all.

“Guess we’ll have to test it out,” I mumbled.

“Pardon?” Omita asked me as I didn’t speak up loud enough. The lobby was quite busy today.

“Come with me,” I muttered and grabbed her by her arm. I wasn’t the best when it came to close combat, but I did have a few tricks up my sleeve. I had to be able to defend myself in case things went terribly wrong. Omita was silent and let me pull her to the training grounds. I didn’t need to see her shooting skills. I wanted to see how she could fight with anyone not holding a gun. I was there to make sure nobody would be able to point us down.

I opened up the old rusty door by pulling it to the sound. It didn’t make much sound as the hinges and other parts were always well-maintained. The sparring rings were completely empty this early in the morning as most of the soldiers just went for jogs or other training activities in the mornings. I entered the sparring ring and looked back. Omita stopped right in front of it, contemplating if she should enter or not.

“Don’t feel intimidated. The best way to know is to just have a go at it.” I came to the middle of the ring and started slowly stretching and warming up.

“Just do what she says. She doesn’t give second chances!” I heard a familiar voice talking to Omita. I raised my body up as I was stretching my legs close to the ground. Isaac was standing next to Omita, making her look a lot smaller than she actually was. His arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Morning, Lieutenant.” He tried lecturing me about my position. I frowned. We knew each other for so long that I didn’t have to salute him unless some higher-ups were present.

“No need to give me that face in the morning! You’re sparring, so have a go, I want to see if your skills haven’t gotten rusty during your suspension!” He smiled and sat down on one of the benches, which were lining the tall walls. Isaac was keen on watching the two girls sparring.

“Rusty? Is that even a word for me?” I asked him, feeling a bit annoyed. I threw the jacket at one of the corners. Omita was surely taking her time coming up.

“Make sure you are warmed up well,” I told her while she was doing a few jumping jacks. But she seemed like she wasn’t really listening, she was lost in her thoughts, in her own world. Concentrating was important for us as well, but too much concentration could be dangerous when we had to keep our senses to the maximum while in enemy territory.

I took up the stance for close fist combat. I was standing in front of my pupil, who was supposed to learn many things from me. I had to teach her well, so she could survive for as long as possible out there on missions or future jobs. She didn’t wait for anything and threw a punch at me. I blocked. I could feel her power in my arms. I grabbed her arm with my hand as I was swiftly changing the stance to throw her over my shoulder. But she evaded it and blocked me.

Our eyes were battling each other, while we were doing our best to not get hit or knocked down. In fact, we each got a few punches or kicks each. My belly was still hurting from one of her kicks. I got careless.

“Okay, okay, I think that’s enough. Are you trying to kill yourselves here?” Isaac had to jump in between of us. Well, if he didn’t, we probably wouldn’t be able to even go for our mission. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a while. Being beaten up like this was nothing to how things used to go bad on our missions. I had also seen Isaac and Basil in a way worse states than the two of us were now. In fact, this was basically nothing. We were still able to move without any difficulties.

“Hey, Serapheim, your gear arrived. Go pick it up!” I turned around to see another lieutenant calling me from the door. I was holding my waist, trying to support myself while I was breathing out the pain I was feeling. Good thing she didn’t aim for my face. If she did, I would definitely not be able to go for the quest at all.

“Thanks,” I replied, straightening my back with a deep exhale, trying to survive the pain. Omita didn’t look better than me, either. I could see that our skills were on par, but I knew that we were both holding back. If this was a real fight, it would look completely different.

“Good. I hope you both calmed down. Alth, you go pick your gear. You girl go get treated. You should be in your best condition before going to the forbidden part of the town.” Isaac was treating Omita with much more care than me. I scoffed with a painful smirk playing on my face. I can see that newbies are more important than your long-lived allies, eh? That’s so low and mean, Isaac! 

“Any questions?” He raised his eyebrows and made his voice resonate more. He was getting irritated and impatient. I shook my head sideways. I didn’t need to listen to any of his lectures nor going for a few laps around the training place. I had to save my energy for tonight when our mission was supposed to start.

“Oh and Alth, don’t remember we’re coming as support with Basil. We won’t be helping you out, though. Just making sure you don’t die.” Isaac made sure to explain his role tonight well.

“I know, you don’t need to tell me. Even if it’s my first time training someone, it doesn’t mean I have no idea about how it works. I was trained by my former master as well, may the ground be light for him.” I retorted, softening my voice at the end. My former trainer, or master, as we called them, did a lot for me. He wasn’t much older than me, just like five years or so. He was always cheerful. His skills were second to none. Just remembering the smile on his face, his hazelnut short-cut hair, and his positive attitude made me smile as well.

“Well, but that doesn’t mean we won’t let you get beaten up…” Isaac had to add to be on top of everything. He knew my master very well. They used to be rivals and good friends. Isaac was the serious poker-faced one, while my master was the funny and careless one in the duo. But his attitude always changed while he was on a mission. He could be very serious too but making the overall mood better with his cheerfulness and positivity.

“Thank you for the reminder, Isaac,” I mumbled, grabbing my jacket and walking out of the training place to get my gear.

“Oh, so you’re the newbie! Nice to meet you! I’m Cailean, your new master!” After graduating from university, this was the first thing I had heard when I got out of the building with my diploma. He was waiting there in a black tie and suit, all dolled-up and smiley. His big hand was stretched to me.

“I’m… Althea.” I replied timidly. Even though I used to do well at school, always making sure I was around the top of my class and group, I never had enough confidence when it came to human relations.

“I know that!” He laughed out loud, making others turn their heads. Everyone around us was being picked up by their new teachers. Why did he even call himself a master? He was only supposed to teach me!

“And why do you say master? You’re just a teacher. I’m not your servant nor anything.” I muttered, trying to sound as silent as possible. Even though I was a timid person when I was interacting with others, when it came to my mind, it was sharper than my battle knife.

“Oh? Nobody told you?” His eyebrows puckered and the smile disappeared from his lips. I was staring at him, not knowing what to think of all of this.

“I’m your MASTER. And you will call me Cail. Everything I say from this point on, you will listen to and you will do without any questions. That is if you want to continue training under me.” He finished the lecture and cleared his throat. He left me quite speechless. It was too much of a turn in his character.

“But why should I train under you? You’ve been assigned to me. Why do you take this so seriously?” I asked him, not understanding his way of thinking at all. He looked lost in his thoughts while staring at me. His eyes got clouded as his brows were growing closer to each other.

“Do you want to live or die?” A sudden question, basically out of nowhere. But it sounded very serious.

“Well, of course, I want to live!” I answered with all my determination.

“Good! Because you’re going to train under one of the best snipers there are now! I have the highest success rate in my quests and I have the highest amount of confirmed kills!” A wide smile appeared on his lips once again. I was speechless.

“Don’t just stay and stare! You are moving in with me!” He grabbed my arm and started pulling me after him. I was still frozen from what he had said. His personality was seriously going to be too hard to handle.

“Wait… What? We’re going to LIVE TOGETHER?!”