Chương 2: The Son of Soul Gear Part 2
He walked down the hallway of his residential building, he sighed as he walked with his hands in his pocket, with his head looking near his feet and his back slouched. He had received the nickname of 'Rank-F' because he was one of the lowest ranking SG users in SG schooling system, only better than a couple year 1s. Clara was Rank S, the highest rank in the SG system, she also happened to be the best in the school, the student council president, no one had ever beaten her. He had once, but that was when she underestimated him and he only won because of a technical failure in her SGT, the left shield core of her Soul Gear Tech hadn't activated and he landed an empowered strike to her, seriously damaging her SGT, making her forfeit, but no know was there to watch, nor did he care about that. He was wearing sports clothes unlike the girls who were heading to the food hall to eat dinner, they were in school uniform. He pushed open the door to the gym and walked in, it was nearly empty, only Mr. Desportes was there, he couldn't use an SG but still he was there to help the students, not to teach them with SGT combat or SG knowledge, so he didn't need one.
"Hey, Victor, how are you?" He said in his usual friendliness, "What's up? You look down? Is it about your grades?"
"I don't care about my grades, I am already failing the SGT classes."
"So?"
"I have a week to train, no classes, just training, so I am starting now."
"Train for what?"
"The spring festival tournament."
"Are you participating?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I see, so what can I do to help you?"
"I need to work on my combat, boxing."
"Okay, well, let's get started, so just combat?"
"Yes, that is what my SGT is built for, so I need to work on it."
"Do you have someone to train with tomorrow? Since it is a day off."
"Yeah, Clara offered to help me, so I think I will be training the whole day."
"Of course, she is the nicest student here, she seems to be the only one who cares for you, so let's warm up and get started," He said as he walked over to the treadmills, "Basic warm up then we can train a little."
"Sounds good, I need to win this fucking tournament."
"Language."
"Sorry, let's get started."
After a short warm up, they moved to the actual training, Mr. Desportes put on a stomach pad and two hand pads. They trained like this for around 30 minutes before Victor thanked Mr. Desportes and left, covered in sweat, he walked back to his room, walking down the path of the school. Night had fallen and the sky was filled with stars. He stopped and looked at the stars before someone called his attention.
"Hey, Rank-F!" He resisted the temptation to turn to face her, "Are you deaf?"
"You were talking to me?" He asked as Catherine walked up to him, "My name is Victor, if you forgot, but what do you want?"
"I saw you are in the spring festival tournament, do you really think you can win?"
"Sure, why not."
"Well, you won't make it past the round of 32."
"Why not?"
"You are up against me, I beat you before, I'll beat you again," She smiled at him maliciously, "A Rank-F can't beat a Rank-A, and you know that."
"If you say so, well, I am going to go to my room, see you later, Catherine."
"See you later, Rank-F, you better train so that I don't beat your ass too hard."
He pushed open the door and a marvelous smell caught his scent. He licked his lips and closed the door behind him and locked it. He walked into the main part of the room and saw Clara sitting at the table, with her backed to the door. The food was untouched in the dishes. She hadn't noticed him and was blankly staring at the food. He walked over next to her and touched her shoulder and kissed her cheek.
"Ah!" She jumped as he kissed her cheek, "Victor! You know I don't like that."
"Sorry, I just saw the perfect opportunity to do that," He laughed, "Why didn't you eat? I said I would be out for a little bit, you should have eaten."
"I wanted to eat with you."
"Sorry, I took a little longer than I planned," He said as he walked towards the bathroom, "Can you wait a couple minutes more?"
"Ja, ja, ja I can," She sighed then muttered to herself, "This competition, he is never going to have time for me, I even scrapped our plans for tomorrow," She felt a tear go down her cheek, "I am really selfish, I want him to graduate, but I want him to spend time with me, maybe afterwards, we still have few months, but with finals, he won't be able to do anything else but study, I want him to spend time with me."
"Clara? Why are you crying?"
"Me, nien, nothing, are you done?" She turned around and blushed.
"I have clothes on, just no shirt, what?"
"Can you put a shirt on?" She stammered nervously, "You know how I am."
"Okay, just let me grab one, but why were you crying?"
"I don't know if we'll ever get to spend time, like together, since tomorrow, you are training and you are going to need to study for finals and you won't have any time."
"I don't need to do finals."
"WAS?!"
"Yeah, I just need the tournament and then I can graduate, so I am going to have loads of time after the tournament."
"Lucky."
"Hey, I have to WIN the tournament."
"Ja, so do you want to eat?" She said wiping her tears and looking up at him, "I made pasta with homemade pesto."
"You really know what I like," He said as she served him, "Too bad I suck at cooking."
"I am fine with cooking, I like it, it gives me time to relax and not stress about exams," She smiled, "And I enjoy it to get to moments like this, with you."
"Are you that stressed out?" Victor said as they began to eat, "But you are a good student? What could you stress about?"
"The final exams, at least, the 5th years last year, said that they were super difficult," She said as she ate a little then began speaking again, "So, I am stressed out."
"If I can win the tournament, you can pass those exams, easy as that."
"Then I hope you win the tournament."
"Thanks, this is really good."
"Thank you, Victor, I tried to make it good."
"You always say that, even if you know it's fucking amazing."
"Please, Victor."
"Sorry, I am just saying it how it is."
"Thank you," She blushed at his compliment, "I thought of a plan for you."
"A plan? What for?"
"A plan for your training, tomorrow, when we train together."
"Okay, so, what is it?"
"I am planning on making you only train melee, no ranged combat, you don't need that," The problem Victor had in SGT classes, was his own SGT, being that it was his own project and still had hundreds of flaws, but also it had no range, he wasn't exactly highly skilled in SGT engineering and his shooting wasn't amazing, far from amazing. In practice fights, he could never close the distance with the range that his opponents had and always fell short in combats and wasn't able to finish or engage well, "I want to help you deal with ranged opponents, I think that I can help you with that with my SGT since I have a good range attack, two weapons to be exact."
"Okay, so you think I don't need range?"
"Nien, I think that it can help you if, even if you have no range, if you can close the distance and stay on top of an opponent, tomorrow morning, we are going to work on your SGT, I think you could do without limiters or with limiters a little less powerful."
"Okay," He said as he served himself more, she glared at him, "Oh, sorry, do you want some more? I was rude."
"Ja, bitte, I would like some more," He held her plate and served her, "Danke, what limiters did you install on your SGT?"
"I don't remember, I would have to check them, I remember that my uncle told me to install them because of the power core I had installed and he wanted me to be safe, so he got me some expensive limiters that I installed, they were pretty heavy and also pretty hard to install, let me ask Lasgi, she should know."
"Who is Lasgi?"
"Learning Artificial Soul Gear Intelligence, she is a prototype engine that my uncle was developing, so she is the one who helps me with my SGT."
"Okay, okay, ask her then, if she helps you with your SGT, she should know."
"Lasgi, Lasgi, wake up," He said as he grabbed the glove next to his bed, "I have a question, Lasgi."
"Yes, Victor?"
"What limiters are on my SGT?"
"Your limiters are ranked S-," Clara dropped her fork and stained her shirt, her jaw dropped and she stared at Victor.
"And the power core?"
"The power core is ranked Triple S+, causing a power output of rank B+."
"Y-You are kidding me," She shook her head and blinked blankly, "How-How did you get a Triple S+ power core?"
"I don't know, I don't know what that means."
"Triple S+ is the most powerful power core that is available without any manipulation or requirement of the black market."
"Okay, and why does that shock you?"
"You could be so powerful, I will just need to get rid of the limiters."
"Completely? Wouldn't that be dangerous?"
"Well, if you train a little bit with it, nien, it shouldn't be, you would be so much more powerful."
"Okay, if you say so," He yawned, "I'll wash the dishes," He got up and placed the dishes and the plates in the sink. He began washing the plates, "But what does yours have?"
"My power core is Double A+ and no limiter, I don't think it would be smart for me to use one, since my SGT isn't built for that but, how did you install the S- limiter? Wasn't it heavy?"
"Well, I don't know, when I was building it, I used my uncle's workshop, so I never lifted the limiter myself."
"Well, I'll show you how heavy it is tomorrow, I'll let it drop from its place onto the floor and you listen to the noise," She laughed then yawned, "I am tired, I think I might go to sleep soon."
"I will as well, training awaits me."
"You mean us, ja?"
"Sorry, training awaits US."
"Tch, I got a stain on my shirt," She said looking at the green stain in the middle of her white shirt. She grimaced and pulled off her shirt. He finished washing the plates and turned around, she was removing her bra, "Victor, turn around."
"2 years, yet you insist I can't look at you when you are changing."
"Ja, I have morals, I am not an easy going girl, and you know that."
"Yeah," He said as he leaned on the counter, "Are you done yet?"
"Wait! I am changing," She said as she got changed.
"You could have gone to the bathroom," He sighed, "Done?"
"Ja, you can turn around now," He sighed and turned around, and then instantly turned around again, "What's wrong? Does it look bad?"
"I-I thought you were done," He said blushing, "Why are you like, like, like that?"
"You don't like it?"
"Um, I, I, well, I, um, I don't, I don't know how to answer that."
"Be honest," She said as she put on her pajama shirt, "I wanted to see if it looked good on me, nothing else, it wasn't a trap."
"I thought you did that to get me to be your slave for a day."
"Ja, I realized, but I asked you to look, so I wouldn't tell you that, you weren't peeking or trying to look."
"Well, um, were you serious about the question?"
"Ja, of course I was."
"Well, um, it looks good, really good."
"Oh, you think so? I don't know, are you serious?"
"Yeah, it looks good on you, can I look?"
"Ja, ja, oops, I forgot to tell you," He turned around and she was in her typical pajama, he rolled his eyes and smiled. He walked into the bathroom and began brushing his teeth, "Victor, do you think I am pretty?"
"Of course I do."
"Really?"
"I love you, why wouldn't I?"
"Aww, thank you, you are really sweet."
"Why wouldn't I? With a girl like you?" He chuckled, "I would be losing a major chance, but I have a question."
"Yes?"
"Are, like, are we official?"
"Huh?"
"Like, are, are, are we together, like lovers?"
"Yeah, I told you that when you asked me out, under the condition that we keep it a secret, so that my father never finds out."
"Sure, okay, cool," He let out a sigh of relief, "I was worried."
"Just stop worrying," She said as she walked next to him and began whispering, "I love you," She kissed his cheek.
He woke up early the next morning. He felt something touching him. He turned his head and saw Clara sleeping next to him. His eyes opened wide, then he realized he still had clothes and so did she. She had crawled into his bed during the night. He sighed and got up, it was 4:30. He sat up and crawled out from under her arm to avoid wake her. He sat on the side of the bed for a minute or so then stood up. He walked slowly over to the bathroom and turned on the lights, trying to make the less noise possible. He heard her wake up and sighed.
"Mm, Victor? Is that you?"
"Yeah," He walked out of the bathroom and sat on her bed in front of her as she woke up, "Sleep well?"
"Ja, but why are you up so early?"
"I always have, so why would it change?"
"Why does my bed smell like you?" She said as she sniffed the air. She looked at him and he smiled and held himself from laughing.
"I am sitting on your bed."
"On my bed? Was?! Why am I in your bed?"
"Don't ask me, I woke up with you next to me, so yep," He walked over and kissed her cheek. She was blushing brightly as she got up.
"Um, let me get dressed, we should start soon."
"Okay, I'll get dressed as well," He said as he grabbed his clothes and walked into the bathroom.
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