Because I Want to Protect You
The training ground inside the garden was no small facility. It was an enormous space that felt like stepping into a fantasy world, complete with a shooting range. Most of the syndicate members were practicing swordsmanship, swinging Japanese swords at straw dummies. When Reina arrived, they stopped and bowed their heads in greeting just like before. She cut them off with a cold gaze.
“Keep training.”
At that single command, everyone immediately resumed their drills. Reina’s icy demeanor was frightening, yet at times it radiated such charisma that it looked striking.
“Hehe, Yujin! What do you think!? Our syndicate is pretty impressive, right?”
“Huh? Y-Yeah… This is way beyond impressive…”
The spirited shouts were thunderous, and within them the sharp whistle of blades slicing through air echoed across the garden. At the shooting range, five members who looked like executives were firing at targets with one eye closed. Their guns made no sound at all, clearly built with some special mechanism. I stared blankly, entranced.
“The shooters are our syndicate’s core strike force.”
“Eh? Core strike force?”
“Yep~ They’re a unit trained to eliminate targets within three seconds, no matter what.”
“Eek! Three seconds!?”
In games they usually used sniper rifles, right? But every gun these people held was a pistol, albeit with abnormally long barrels. Watching the shooting made me uneasy, and Reina must have noticed, because she immediately took my hand and led me back toward the sword-training area.
‘It’s been a while. Still, that’s probably nothing like a wooden sword, huh?’
I had learned kendo once. Someone had recommended it, and it suited me better than expected, so I’d trained seriously. The memory surfaced as I gazed at the scene again. One syndicate member approached and bowed.
“Boss. Is this the new recruit?”
“Shut up! Yujin isn’t a syndicate member! Watch your mouth!”
She immediately scolded the member with a freezing glare. The man then looked at me and remarked that my eyes looked promising and that I seemed to have an aptitude for it.
“What? That’s all it takes? Still no. Yujin is…”
With an unmistakable “absolutely not” aura, she pulled me into her arms. I had already been held like this more than ten times today, yet it still made me blush. Even so, seeing people wield swords again after so long, I felt I would regret staying silent.
“Nuna… Ah, no… Boss…”
“Hm? Drop the ‘boss.’ No matter how public this is! You’re my boyfriend! Seo Yujin!”
She grumbled, cheeks slightly puffed. Still, acting this way in front of her subordinates felt wrong, so I nodded and continued.
“If I asked for one of those Japanese swords over there… would you refuse?”
“What!? What are you talking about! Why that! Don’t tell me it’s about what we discussed yesterday!”
“N-No! It’s just…”
A Japanese sword was, after all, a live blade. I wanted to feel its real weight and swing speed with my own body. Afraid she would misunderstand, I gave her a proper reason.
“If I can hold this… then even if something dangerous happens, I might be able to protect myself!”
“Hmm. Now that you say it, that makes sense… Come to think of it, Yujin, you mentioned yesterday that you’d learned some kendo…”
“Y-Yes! That’s right!”
When I explained my past kendo experience, Reina brightened, saying she had studied it too. She immediately ordered training to halt and had the best Japanese sword brought over. She watched me with curious eyes, and I tilted my head.
“Same as before. You looked scared during the shooting earlier, yet you’re not the least bit frightened of a sword blade?”
“Haha… Well… It kind of feels like nostalgia for home…”
Smiling wryly, I accepted the sword a member handed me. It was far heavier than expected. Reina immediately scolded them for giving me something so heavy and had a lighter one brought instead.
Swish—
I carefully drew the blade from its scabbard and tested the weight. It was light, yet unmistakably a real sword.
“Um, Nuna.”
“Yeah?”
“A wooden sword and a real Japanese sword feel pretty different in weight, don’t they?”
“Of course. The difference is so extreme they’re not even comparable. And if you mishandle a live blade, you’ll hurt yourself.”
She told me to sheathe it, but I wanted to test something. Ignoring her, I gripped the sword with both hands and assumed a stance. At first I nearly lost my balance, but once I grew accustomed to the weight I could perform the basic movements smoothly.
‘Just like this feeling…’
A straw dummy stood in front of me. I sliced it cleanly into three sections. The syndicate members stared in shock, and Reina’s crimson eyes widened like saucers. Too focused to notice the atmosphere, I turned to the bamboo beside me, lowered my stance as though about to draw, and prepared to strike.
“T-That’s—!?”
Reina gasped again. The members murmured among themselves. What I was attempting was iaido. Though still rusty, the techniques I had once learned remained in my body. I swung at the bamboo, but the sudden weight overwhelmed me and the sword slipped from my hands.
“Kyaaaaah!”
My posture collapsed and I lost my balance. One member caught me instantly, but—
“Don’t touch him. Who gave you permission?”
Reina’s glare was ice-cold. I wondered why she had to be so harsh to someone simply helping, until I realized the member was female.
‘Ah…’
The woman quickly stepped back, flustered, and apologized. Reina continued glaring at her before yanking me into her embrace.
“Are you hurt!?”
“N-No, I’m fine…”
If I had started with iaido on the dummy, my body might have remembered and I wouldn’t have dropped the sword. After holding me for a long while, Reina pulled back and asked why I was so interested. I dodged the question, claiming it was just a misunderstanding. Then, as though struck by an idea, she had two wooden swords brought over and handed one to me.
“Huh? Why are you giving me this…?”
“Let’s spar. Yujin.”
“Eh!? H-How could I spar with the Boss—!”
“That again!? You’re not even a member! If you keep saying that, I’m really going to get angry!”
She glared at me with the same frosty tone she used on her subordinates. Raising her wooden sword, she told me to come at her. Left with no choice, I gripped mine and took a stance.
‘It’s light… With this, I should be able to…’
I tried the iaido stance once more. This time I struck the bamboo cleanly. But my opponent was Reina, the boss of the syndicate.
“Iaido again? I know it’s not an ordinary stance, but an obvious attack like that won’t work on me!”
She held her sword in one hand, smiling wryly as she warned that I wouldn’t reach her unless I closed the distance. What I attempted next wasn’t iaido. I charged straight in and brought my sword down with all my strength.
Thwack— Thwack— Thwack—
Reina parried each blow effortlessly and countered.
“Hehe, not bad~”
Declaring it her turn, she smiled brightly and thrust the tip straight at me.
‘A—A thrust!?’
It was nothing like the kendo thrusts I knew—more like a fencer’s perfect lunge. Startled, I dropped my posture and blocked with the flat of my sword. For once I felt no fear. I watched her attacks to the end and parried every one. Seeing that, she grinned in surprise.
“I only thought you were cute~ Turns out my boyfriend is actually cool.”
“Haa… haa… I barely managed to block… Nuna, you’re really amazing…”
I had tried to feint and strike from another angle, but she countered instantly. I thought I might lose, yet my concentration held and I blocked everything—though my stamina was already reaching its limit.
“Yujin~ Want to make a bet?”
“A bet?”
“Yep! Loser grants the winner a wish! How about it?”
My ears perked up. Escaping this place was probably impossible, but maybe I could at least secure my own room. After all, it was obvious I’d be forced to sleep naked again tonight for some ridiculous reason. I nodded and accepted.
‘I can never beat Nuna with attacks… So then—!’
Even the boss of a syndicate had limits to her stamina. I focused purely on light, efficient defense. Reina, perhaps expecting another surprise attack, swung at me relentlessly.
Thwack— Thwack— Thwack— Thwack— Thwack—
Five consecutive strikes, all blocked. Her breathing had grown noticeably rougher.
“How about giving up? You just need to give me one room, right?”
“No! Absolutely not! I can’t allow that! We only got to sleep together once! I refuse to be separated from Yujin because of one sparring match!”
Cheeks puffed, she glared at me, clearly sulking. Her tone had turned sharp. But this was all part of my plan—provoke her into attacking recklessly. Growing impatient, she launched another flurry, yet her patterns were already burned into my mind. I no longer needed to parry; simple evasion sufficed. When her sword came from the same direction as before, I slipped aside.
“Damn it! You—!”
She repeated the same pattern. I saw the opening—her waist was exposed the moment she swung. I raised my sword to strike, but—
“!?”
Fear surged through me. Goosebumps erupted across my skin. My hands went numb and the wooden sword clattered to the ground. Reina stopped, startled. I immediately raised both hands.
“I surrender! I lost! I forfeit!”
“What!?”
Reina’s eyes widened again. The surrounding members murmured in confusion. Instead of looking pleased, she frowned, genuinely upset.
“What was that!? You were aiming for my waist, weren’t you? You could have hit me! Why didn’t you!? Even if it’s a match, deliberately losing feels awful!”
For the first time she looked truly angry at me. I hesitated, then explained.
“N-No, please listen! I… I can’t attack. I can only defend…”
“What!? What are you saying!? You attacked first earlier! And you sliced those straw dummies without hesitation!”
She puffed her cheeks and warned that lying would make her truly angry. It was a fair point, so I explained again. The straw was just a practice tool. My first attack hadn’t been aimed at her body—I had only meant to knock her sword away.
“And… I don’t want to hurt Nuna.”
“Huh?”
“Th-Think about it! It’s only our first day… How could I hurt my cute, pretty, beautiful girlfriend!?”
My face burned as I confessed. The syndicate members around us wore unpleasant expressions.
“You bastards! Fix your faces! What, am I not allowed to date!?”
She snarled at them, and they instantly schooled their expressions. I almost laughed, but—
“Also! Nuna was obviously holding back! What’s the point of beating someone who isn’t even serious!?”
It was embarrassing to admit, but I had realized it after we had been intimate. Even while breathing hard, Reina showed no sign of fatigue as she pounced and pulled me into her arms. From that alone, I could tell her stamina far surpassed mine.