First Impressions: Basic Close Combat Sparring
The first impression (5): Basic Close Combat Lecture. It was originally a class that required separate registration, but for new students it was included in the basic curriculum until registration closed. And of course, the academy's very first class wouldn't be complete without sparring.
"Luna! Faye! Get ready for the next match!"
"Lady Luna. What weapon will you be using?"
"Me? Do you have any leg wraps? Those should do."
Leg wraps were protective gear worn from below the knee down to the ankle. Normally defensive equipment, but if made from sturdy material they could just as easily be used as weapons. Same principle as smashing someone's head in with a shield. However, the training grounds usually didn't stock much armor. After all, they were using wooden swords, so no one would die, and the children of this fantasy world were sturdy enough anyway.
"I brought some!"
"Huh. You did?"
"I did!"
What Claire held out was indeed a pair of leg wraps. Wooden ones, at that.
"Surely you didn't think you were the only rabbit beastman in the academy's long history?"
"Well, you've got a point."
Listening to Theo's half-teasing, half-chiding remark, I strapped the wraps onto my legs. I gave them a few taps to check they were secure. While I finished preparing, the current match was still ongoing. My turn would come once it ended. Was there anything else I needed to get ready?
…Ah.
"Theo, Claire. Could you stand in front of me for a second?"
Something had just occurred to me, so I positioned the two of them ahead of me. They tilted their heads in confusion but obediently did as I asked.
Good. Now no one should see. Time to take off the skirt. Since we had free dress code during sparring, it shouldn't matter. Though someone might argue that if taking it off was fine, wearing it backwards should be too—but kicking in a skirt would just draw every eye straight underneath it. There was a black hole under that skirt sucking in male gazes. Even if I was wearing shorts underneath, being stared at with lustful eyes wasn't exactly pleasant. Off it goes.
"Hup."
"……?!"
"Lady Luna?!"
Theo and Claire looked horrified.
"Hm? Oh, it's fine. I'm wearing pants underneath."
What I had on under the skirt were shorts. Not the kind of spats you see in Japanese anime that are "technically okay to show." These were proper pants that were "supposed to be visible." So it was fine!
"How could it possibly be fine!"
Claire raised her voice while Theo shook his head, covering his eyes with one hand. Was this my fault? Didn't feel like it. This body—Luna's body—was fully prepared to fight back against unfair accusations. Even if the accusers were Theo and Claire, there would be no exceptions. I hadn't done anything wrong. Acting confident was the right thing to do.
"That's enough! Next! Luna! Faye!"
Before I could dramatically rise up and deliver my righteous rebuke, my turn for sparring arrived. Tch. They should thank Professor Ines.
"I can tell you're thinking something weird again. Just go and get it over with."
"I have plenty I'd like to say, but… Lady Luna, please be careful!"
With their send-offs, I walked to the center of the training grounds.
"Luna. Are those leg wraps enough? If you want, I can provide gloves as well."
"Thank you, Professor Ines. I'm fine like this."
"If you're fine, then so be it."
Professor Ines checked our preparations and stepped back. In the brief moment before the match began, my eyes met Faye's. Orange hair cut to shoulder length, an energetic impression. She was someone I knew. A heroine who appeared prominently in the game, and we'd fought together just the other day. Faye, who recognized me too, greeted me cheerfully.
"Hey! We've met before, right?"
"Yeah. You fight pretty well."
"Hehe. Thanks! You were super quick too!"
A warm atmosphere flowed between us. This was exactly why participating in the entrance ceremony raid event had been a good idea. Even if honor and whatnot didn't matter, it let me get acquainted with the heroines. In other words, it was a +1 favorability event with all the heroines. Of course, high favorability with certain heroines wasn't always a good thing.
"Begin!"
At Professor Ines's signal, Faye's figure instantly closed the distance. Whoosh—the wooden sword sliced right past my leaning torso. Even though her first attack missed, Faye's face remained bright. With an innocently pure expression, she shouted,
"Ever since that day, I've really wanted to fight you! You felt the same, right, Luna?!"
Her face looked like it belonged at a tea party with other noble ladies, giggling away, yet the words coming out of her mouth were downright bloodthirsty. But this was exactly the Faye I knew. Faye, a close-quarters fighter who used a sword as her main weapon. Her character trait was… "battle maniac." In the game, the higher her favorability got, the more she'd challenge the protagonist to fights. Winning would raise favorability and make her easier to pursue, but losing even once would tank it dramatically. Now it seemed I was the one in that position. Still…
"Yeah. Let's do this!"
Since I had no intention of avoiding the fight she'd brought to me, we were pretty well-matched opponents.
…….
Having your body move exactly as you think is far more enjoyable than you'd imagine. For example… well, it's like something that happens all the time in games. You clearly see an enemy's attack and react to it, but your character doesn't move in time and gets hit. If you couldn't react at all, that'd be one thing, but getting hit by an attack you knew was coming just doubles the frustration. Of course, games and reality were different, but that was exactly how I felt after possessing this body. Any attack I could react to, I could actually respond to. If I thought about dodging like this, I could do it. Just moving my body naturally started to feel genuinely fun.
Whoosh! The wooden sword whistled past my face with a sharp sound. But it didn't hit. That was enough. I took one step forward and threw a front kick. Thwack! Faye quickly pulled her sword back and blocked my kick. The wooden leg wrap and wooden sword collided with a dull impact.
"Ugh! That kick feels like getting hit by a mace!"
"Was that a compliment?"
"Obviously!"
I kept up the pressure with a mix of roundhouse kicks and low kicks. An ordinary martial artist wouldn't be able to pull this off against a swordsman of similar skill. If the swordsman was willing to take a hit or two to close in and slash, the martial artist would eventually lose. But beastmen, a race specialized in physical abilities, were different. Just like Faye said, a single punch or kick could rival a blunt weapon, so swordsmen couldn't recklessly engage. Especially against a beastman like me whose legs were particularly strong.
My legs were also quite long, letting me exchange blows without needing to get right in their face. Even so, it wasn't quite longsword range, but if you were being generous it reached about shortsword distance. However, the fundamental problem with kicks—the large openings they created—couldn't be overcome even by a rabbit beastman.
"Now!"
Thud! Was it coincidence? No, she must have aimed for it. Faye's wooden sword slipped into the trajectory of my raised kick and disrupted the point of impact. No matter the attack, if the striking point wasn't precise, the power dropped sharply. My kick, which could rival a heavy mace, was reduced in that moment to the level of an ordinary human's kick. And that much was nothing to a swordsman who'd trained relentlessly into adulthood. Faye's counterattack began. Up, down, left, right. A relentless barrage of strikes. True to her personality, Faye's attacks were honest. They didn't curve or feint—they charged straight along the shortest path. That made them fast and strong. If I tried any clumsy tricks, I'd just get smashed head-on. I swayed my upper body to redirect the attacks whistling past with vicious force and dodged them. My only weapon and armor was on my lower legs, so the only way to deal with strikes aimed at my upper body was evasion. It was even harder because my rabbit-sense wasn't working properly. Was it because she was holding a wooden sword and didn't feel that threatening? I'd discovered an unexpected weakness. If I'd known it'd be like this, I should've swallowed my pride and taken the gloves.
If I could block even once, I'd have an opening. I kept my stance steady and waited for my chance. From what I'd seen so far, Faye had plenty of openings in her lower body. Probably due to lack of experience. After all, people didn't often aim for the legs when fighting with weapons. And finally—
"Hah!"
At the exact moment she swung horizontally across my chest, I dropped my body low. It was the technique of ducking to avoid an attack while lowering your stance. Using that momentum, I closed the distance to Faye. We were now at point-blank range where she couldn't even properly swing her sword. I'd secured the most important thing in close combat: "distance."
"Ah…!"
Faye panicked and tried to backpedal to create space. But I was faster. Rising from my lowered stance like a spring, I drove my knee into her side—
"Stop!"
—just before impact, Professor Ines's declaration ended the match.
"That was a good match for both of you. There are still more matches left, so I'll give feedback in writing later. Any objections?"
"None."
"None!"
"Good. Both of you, step down and review this match. It was a bout where you had much to learn from each other."
Professor Ines said no more and called the next students. Faye and I descended from the training grounds together.
"Whoa, Luna, you really fight well! I couldn't even tell where the attacks were coming from!"
"Probably because you don't have much experience fighting martial artists. You blocked pretty well yourself, considering."
"Really? I did good? Hehe…"
Faye grinned sheepishly. Looking at her smiling face now, it was hard to believe she was the same person who'd been swinging her wooden sword like she wanted to kill me moments ago. Either way, she was a cute kid.
After chatting with Faye, we parted ways. I headed toward Theo and Claire while she went to her friends.
"Huh?"
Claire seemed to sense something and spoke while watching Faye's retreating back.
"I feel something similar from her to what I felt from that person."
"That person? Ah. You mean a Soul Fragment holder?"
"I think so."
"Hmm…"
Theo fell into quiet thought after hearing Claire's words.
"Theo. What's on your mind?"
"Ah. I was just calculating how much it would help to add more people to the dungeon exploration."
"C'mon, why go through all that calculation? What was your first impression when you saw Faye?"
"First impression? Well, she seemed like a bright and energetic kid?"
"And pretty and cute too. So? Do you like her?"
"Well, if we're dividing it into like or dislike, then yeah, I like her. Just being around her makes the atmosphere feel brighter."
"Right? Got it."
"…Why are you asking that, though? Luna. Hey, Luna?"
I'd heard everything I needed to hear. I'd leave the rest to myself.