Amaya had finally found a place where words held no true meaning, and for once her lack of finesse and talent in academic skills was practically waved off as completely inconsequential.

And never had there been a time where Amaya felt like she fit in with a new atmosphere so quickly.

Upon walking into the gym with its unfortunate namesake derived from a member of the feline family, inside was tidy, simply arranged, and the air was rather clean.

There were two forms within the rather quiet gym at the moment Amaya had wandered inside to take a look, and they neither dropped what they were doing to gawk at her or ignore her entirely.

'Hey, kiddo.' The booming voice of a man in his late twenties sounded through the sizable facility. He was a tall blond man appearing to be rather foreign to Japan in spite of his lack of any real accent, with a rather athletic build as he paused mid strike towards the sandbag in front of a Japanese man about the same in age. 'If you're here with questions, I'll be all ears for you in just a few, otherwise feel free to look around to your hearts content!'

And with that, he resumed what looked to be a demonstration of a martial arts move of some variety that Amaya knew neither the name of, or the style it was even derived from. All she knew was that the strike against the sandbag was remarkably forceful from the solid thwock that echoed through the area.

Either which, she'd been happy to leave it at that.

The interior of the gym was set out rather simply considering, with four sandbags in even intervals along the wall opposite the main door, with a raised and padded floor for sparring, speed-balls set up along the right hand wall in the very same manner, and the far left of the room was an open area with access to lockers and a secondary room for breaks.

Realistically there wasn't really all that much to look at, but the atmosphere was far more pleasant than Amaya had expected.

'Right, sorry about the wait!' The blond man spoke up with a pleasant grin as he wandered over. 'So, can I help you with anything? Any questions?'

Amaya was silent for a moment as she blinked up at his remarkable height.

'Not really, I was just curious.' Amaya hedged as she found herself feeling a little self-conscious.

'Well, that's perfectly fine, too. Curious is probably the healthiest thing to be, I reckon.' The blond man remarked as he sauntered over to one of the lockers to tug out what Amaya saw to be two bottles of water. 'In any case, the guy back there's Yamazaki Isshin, and my name's Richards Daniel, best just as Daniel, though. I'm the vice manager of this humble little gym.'

'Umm, I'm Amaya.'

'Amaya-san? Not one for the usual formalities, eh?' Daniel asked.

'Not particularly...'

'That's cool, I'm not, either. Drives the missus nuts, though.'

And with that, he tossed one of the bottles of water over his shoulder towards Isshin.

'Still, I am surprised to hear that curiosity was what brought you here, Amaya-san.' Daniel continued as he sat down on the bench next to the lockers, and unscrewed the lid of his bottle. 'To be curious you've gotta at least have a small notion of interest, which for most girls your age, there's none in this kind of thing to begin with. Do you happen to like martial arts at all?'

Oh god, this guy was the talkative sort, wasn't he?

'Not like so much as I get dragged into enough fights to learn.' Amaya eventually responded.

'Ah, so street brawls are what you're used to.' Daniel nodded his head as he cast a glance back at Isshin. 'Looking at you, I'd guess you're not the instigator.'

Well, not if she wasn't already driven to the brink of needing to vent. She couldn't really lie and claim she was innocent in every scuffle she had been in. So with that in mind, she merely shrugged slightly.

'What exactly is this gym tailored to?' Amaya found herself asking before long. 'I mean, I've never really been in places like this before.'

If possible, Daniel seemed to grin a little more.

'A good question, we cater to the needs of tournament-level martial artists more than any regular gym goer. Our manager is a practitioner of capoeira at Contra-Mestre level and she sometimes gives lessons when she's not away. She's currently in Russia participating in a tournament.' Daniel explained easily as Isshin wandered over to set himself down on the edge of the raised sparring floor. 'We have a guy who comes in to brush up on his muay thai at times as well as one lady who is a mean vale-tudo competitor, and around that we offer lessons and the necessities to facilitate training for generally all tournament-accepted unarmed combat. Generally the only people in here are those who are already proficient in the field, so we don't necessarily offer lessons.'

'What about you?' Amaya couldn't help but ask.

'Me? I'm just your average layabout who enjoys spectating and learning more than participating competitively in tournaments.' Daniel responded easily as he waved off Amaya's question. 'I just watch and help out, sometimes giving pointers. It's more fun that way.'

Really? Did it work that way?

'Now now, don't let Daniel pull the wool over your eyes, Amaya-san,' Isshin responded with a rather airy grin as he motioned up towards the line of walling above the sandbags. 'He says he's all about watching, but those taekwon-do awards above the bags there are all his.'

Amaya followed his motion as Daniel let out a wry chuckle, where she found several large wall-hanging trophies and awards were hung up for display. Several of them were decorated with gold highlights and trim, sign enough that they were awards for placements in first place.

'And as I told you, I'm retired. No point bringing up what I used to do when I don't do it anymore.'

'But you didn't retire because of injury, either.'

'When you hit a dull patch, you either force onwards or kick back and relax. Ain't no problem if I'm the latter on that count.' Daniel responded easily enough as he turned his gaze upon Amaya for a moment. 'Besides, I just enjoy non-competitive atmospheres more when I can train in other martial arts styles, anyways. I don't need any more awards. They take up too much room.'

Well, that sounded rather logical to Amaya.

'So, you've been standing here humoring us old men with our chattering since you got here.' Daniel began as he turned his full attention back upon Amaya. 'You interested in hanging around for a while? Perhaps signing up as a member if you like it here?'

Huh? What the--?

'I thought you said this was a place for people already trained in some form of martial arts?' Amaya questioned.

'Aye I did, but I never said we don't accept membership or visitors who aren't. Our premises are for those who have a need for their use whether just practice or to blow some steam, provided that they know at least a little about what they're doing.' Daniel responded easily as he tossed his water bottle back onto the shelf of the open locker he'd first fished it out of. 'I'd say street fighting more than counts if you're remotely proficient at it.'

Well ... in that case she had a good three years experience.

'Umm, then, I guess?' Amaya hedged.

'Oh no, I didn't mean right now. You're more than welcome to stop by whenever you'd like and decide later if you'd like to, though if you start living here, we'll push for an answer then.'

'Don't let Claudia-chan hear you say that too loud, Daniel.' Isshin chuckled.

'Oh yes, that reminds me.' Daniel then turned his attention upon Isshin. 'Your membership's run out again, you gotta get on top of that before she gets back, or she's gonna have both our guts for garters.'

'Yes yes, I'll make sure to bring the fee tomorrow.' Isshin responded wryly.

'Good. We hear enough of the banshee shrieks when she finds overdue anything as it is.'

Little more took place after that, merely more exchanges of words as the two eventually resumed their task before Amaya had even walked in. She sat and watched, taking in the different atmosphere with a small smile slowly appearing across her face.

She ended up leaving just after sundown with a smile across her face and the intention to return the very next afternoon, and for the most part, nobody seemed to ask her where she'd been when she got back home. Her siblings were already busy with something, and Karma wasn't anywhere around. Though she wasn't surprised when he wandered through the door a mere ten minutes later.

Needless to say, she was enjoying her time at the Wakaba Park After School Nursery far less than her time at the Tigers Fang Gym.

The air was rather thick with tension as Amaya arrived the very next morning mid-complaint at Karma for another cat-related jab, enough so that she almost stopped to visibly acknowledge it. The bulk of the class was already out the back going over the day's plans, and Amaya didn't fail to miss the somewhat wary glances some of the girls were casting her when they noticed her.

She made no move to show that she'd noticed it as she instead went to join the meekly waving Okuda towards the back of the group.

'So now that we have Chiba's blueprints for the new design completed and the basic resources needed to get started, we need to decide on the three groups, again.' Isogai announced as he straightened up on his feet. 'I'd like to keep everyone rotating through roles while we're here, but who would like to volunteer for the entertainment group first of all?'

'Ah, I'll entertain this time.' Nakamura answered as she lifted a hand.

'Yup, me too.' Kurahashi agreed.

'We can do an Art Class this time, right?' Sugaya offered hopefully.

'Hey! That's not a bad idea!'

As the discussions went underway, Amaya let out a breath as she gently set a bag of honeycomb toffees atop Okuda's head, earning a small flinch from the girl almost immediately.

She heard a chuckle escape Karma as they both watched Okuda hesitantly reach up to grab the bundle of sweets, as if fearful that the item could be particularly ominous.

However her face immediately lit up as she lowered it to see, and she turned her head to look up at Amaya. That was nothing compared to the rather bright smile Amaya received as she discretely nodded to the bespectacled girl.

Well, it looked like asking Ritsu about what to pick was a good idea, after all

'Amaya-san?' Isogai's voice spoke up all of a sudden, earning her attention immediately. 'Are you happy to do that?'

'Sorry, can you repeat that?' She responded. 'I wasn't listening.'

'We need some purchases for the building supplies, I was wondering if you wanted to take care of that for us?' Isogai repeated himself with a kind smile.

'Oh, yeah, I can.' She agreed as she reached out for the few pieces of paper Isogai had for her, comprising of both a sum of money and a list of items.

She didn't know if this shopping trip was those instructions Koro-sensei mentioned yesterday, or something Isogai wanted her to actually take care of because he knew she actually could handle it, but not being here was more pleasant for Amaya in the long run.

As Isogai continued assigning jobs to everyone, Amaya's brow furrowed as she scanned the list of supplies she was required to get.

All in all it was a very basic list in spite of the sheer volume of items they apparently needed her to get.

Basic in the sense that the items were just the simple generic names and nothing much more.

Nails

Screws

Bolts

Nuts

Glue

Varnish

Mortar

Sandpaper

Oil

Rivets

Saw Blades

And anything else you feel is

appropriate, Amaya-san, however

try to keep everything beneath

the budget we've been given.

Her name was on the list right at the end, huh? Isogai really had planned for her to do the shopping, she guessed.

But what the hell was with this vague list?! About the only thing she could get with confidence was Sandpaper because she knew exactly what sort they needed.

Was this deliberately kept vague for a damn reason?!

'Alright, then we should get to work!' Isogai surmised once everyone was happy with their chosen jobs for the morning. 'We'll alternate after lunch, like we did yesterday.'

Well actually, she couldn't do anything just yet!

'Oh, Amaya-sa--' Amaya heard Nakamura speak up as everyone began to separate to get on with their assigned tasks, though Amaya ignored her completely as she wandered straight for Isogai. 'Hang on a second--'

'Isogai-kun, I've got a question for you. Well, a few, actually.' Amaya began as she came to a stop right in front of a rather curious Isogai.

'Of course, what can I help with?' He responded.

'Yeah, look, I need you to clarify exactly what you actually need, damnit.' Amaya responded as she held the page up for Isogai to look at it. 'Aside from the sandpaper and mortar cause I can guess exactly why you'd want it, everything else is still as vague as anything! You do realize you can't write "nails" without specifying exactly what type? I could go get masonry nails out of a serious guess, and you probably wouldn't be able to use them at all! Not to mention I need to know quantities of everything.'

'Oh, yes I understand. I'm sorry about that.' Isogai responded immediately as he opened up the page of blueprints that had been drawn up by Chiba. 'To be honest I'm not exactly sure what specific type of each we require. Only a rough estimate more than anything else.'

Oh damn.

'Can I at least borrow the floor plans or whatever to give me a general idea?'

'I'm sorry Amaya-san, but we require them at the present moment to start working on the base structure.' Isogai responded.

And all Amaya could honestly do was let out a weary sigh.

She could tell just by looking at the damn design Chiba had drawn that no attempt at photographing it would replicate any of the intricate scribbles and fine print in the corners. It would honestly just be easier to make her educated guesses and hope for the best.

But she didn't like the prospect of wasting money if she could avoid it, either.

'Why do you have to make this so difficult, Isogai-kun?' Amaya muttered bitterly.

And yet Isogai smiled kindly in spite of her complaint.

'Maya-chan! Do you need me to help you out?' A nearby Maehara questioned.

'That depends.'

'On what?'

'On whether you can tell me the difference between a phillips driver and a blade driver.' Amaya responded seriously.

Entertainingly enough, Maehara fell still in his tracks as he thought carefully on Amaya's indirect question. His brow furrowed as the seconds passed on, and before long Amaya could feel the corner of her lips tugging into a rather wry smile.

'Well, it's a tool called a phillips and the other's a kind of knife, right?' He eventually answered.

And all Amaya could honestly do was shake her head with a small laugh.

'She means household-standard screwdrivers, fool.' A nearby Itona quipped as he and Terasaka wandered past with a length of lumber. 'I'm surprised you didn't even know that much.'

'Wait! You mean those cross-shaped and line screwdrivers?!' Maehara exclaimed in shock. 'I thought they were called Star and Flat!'

'Phillips and Blade.' Terasaka grunted as they continued along.

At that remark, Maehara turned his rather shocked gaze upon Amaya.

'Does that mean I failed?'

'Whether you failed or not, Maehara-kun, we've decided already that you're part of the entertaining group this morning.' Isogai decided to intervene, much to Amaya's relief.

'Eh? But Yuuma--'

'No.'

'But you didn't even let me finish!'

'That's because I know what you were about to say.' Isogai responded with a rather weary sigh. 'We've already made arrangements for the morning, and contrary to what you believe, now is not the time to derail Amaya-san and drag her across the city at your own whims.'

Maehara's expression visibly deflated at that remark.

'Just stopping at one place isn't--'

'The answer is still no.' Isogai reaffirmed with a rather stern tone. 'So please drop it while we are on a time-limit.'

'Pssh, killjoy.' Maehara muttered as he turned dramatically to head inside where the rest of the entertainment group.

'In any case, Amaya-san.' Isogai began after a moment. 'The most I can explain is that the general structure of the building will be of a log-cabin in style, so its overall materials will be wood. Will that help at the very least?'

'It's gonna have to, I guess.' Amaya sighed as she carelessly shoved the list into her pocket. 'Just don't blame me if I end up getting the wrong things because of it.'

'Of course, I completely trust your judgment.' Isogai agreed, before he stepped aside to head towards the group of boys currently working further away.

'Huh, well that's typical.' Amaya muttered as she lifted a hand to ruffle her hair lightly. 'Probably won't stop everyone else from complaining, no matter what he says...'

'Amaya-san, I need to talk to.' Came Nakamura's voice almost as soon as Amaya had dropped her hand to her side, earning the smallest tilt of the head in return. 'I've been trying to get your attention since yesterday.'

'I'm not interested.' Amaya dismissed carelessly as she turned to leave altogether, much to an already exasperated Nakamura's dismay. 'No offense, but I thought that would have been obvious by now.'

'Yeah, it is, and you don't have to be so rude about it.' Nakamura huffed as she quickly walked around to stop right in Amaya's way. 'We need to talk, and to be honest you're being more than difficult about this. You're kind of acting like a bitch.'

'No, you want to talk on your terms. Don't dress up your own wants and opinions up as mutual fact.' Amaya responded simply as she stepped right around Nakamura. 'And to save you the trouble, no, I won't accept whatever half-assed apology you may have. I don't want to talk about it, either, so don't bother.'

And yet it appeared Nakamura wasn't listening.

Amaya fell to a halt in her tracks as she felt a hand land on her shoulder to stop her movements.

'We're talking about this, Amaya-san.'

Amaya turned her head to look down at the hand that had closed around her elbow, before she fixed a glare right upon Nakamura's face.

It reminded her horribly of a particular pain in the ass who'd finally stopped harassing her.

'That's one more thing you've done in common.' She muttered sourly.

'What?' Nakamura questioned, uncomprehending.

'You and Asano Gakushuu. You're taking a leaf right out of his book on how to "force somebody to talk", and the way you seem to look at me as if I'm utterly inferior is exactly the same, but he's never been so rude as to say what you did yesterday. Which puts you in the worse books, and makes me more thankful to the asshole for being remotely tactful.' Amaya responded seriously as she slapped Nakamura's hand away from her elbow. 'What's changed from first term and now? Have you forgotten what it's like to actually be on the receiving end of the main campus' harassment? So soon? Or are you just conceited?'

It was at those words that Nakamura looked as if she'd just been slapped right across the face.

Too bad for her, since Amaya was feeling horribly spiteful at that moment.

'Whatever it is, I honestly couldn't care less. What does matter is that I am petty enough to hold grudges for many years, and I currently hold quite a few.' Amaya remarked as she tore her gaze away from Nakamura's stunned form. 'So leave me alone, and maybe you'll just barely avoid having to deal with one for the rest of the year.'

And without waiting for any reply, Amaya left Nakamura standing there with the verbal slap to the face in order to go complete that shopping Isogai had asked her to do. Though that wasn't before a mysterious and rather intricately duplicated version of Chiba's blueprint managed to drop down from the sky right in front of her.

She wasn't complaining, however.

For once this instance of Koro-sensei's obvious interfering was helping her out.

The following days leading up to the end of her time at the Wakaba Park facility were much the same, in reality, minus any further pestering by the various "offending" students. Essentially the bulk of the boys plus Okuda, Kataoka, Hazama and Kayano treated her more or less normal, while the rest seemed to take Amaya's instructions to Nakamura as the best course of action. They kept their distance for the most part, which was nothing for Amaya to complain about. In fact, she was rather pleased with the peace.

With every school hour spent doing shopping errands for the construction group, afterwards Amaya would spend a few hours at the Tigers Fang Gym, growing more comfortable with the atmosphere with every passing hour before she would return home and eventually end up with Karma's taunting later when he'd inevitably drop by.

Her frequency at the gym was to the point that when Daniel had brought up a small sparring match, Amaya didn't immediately object or find some excuse to back out of it.

Of course, that was moreso because of the way Daniel justified his want for it than anything else.

'Aye, I do much prefer spectating, but I also like instructing, too.' He declared at the rather confused look Amaya had first given him. 'It stands to reason that before I give pointers or any instructions, I best see the kind of style your particular brand of streetfighting includes.'

Amaya cast a small glance at a nearby Isshin for a second, before she tipped her head forward in a tentative nod.

'Awesome! Just gimme a second to get ya some gloves!' Daniel responded brightly as he jogged right out of the room to disappear into the second room that Amaya had just recently learned was a secondary store room among the access way to a set of cubicles for changing clothes and fully equipped restrooms. 'Isshin! Get your ass off the mat before you get stepped on!'

'Yes yes, I'll get up in a second!' Isshin responded dismissively as he remained sprawled lazily across the sparring mat.

Amaya let out a faint breath as she stepped away from the sandbag she'd been practicing her kicks against with. The faint sound of rummaging through boxes filled the air for a brief moment, before Daniel came jogging right back out with a broad grin. He wasted no time in practically tossing a pair of training gloves to Amaya.

'Shove them on and let's get started!' Daniel instructed as he leaped up onto the raised sparring mat to wander over towards Isshin. 'Oi, dumbass. You wanna get flattened?'

'Not particularly, but it's too comfortable here to want to move.' Isshin responded with an airy smile.

'I guess you don't have to move if you don't want to.' Daniel responded cheerfully as he lifted a foot to hover it over Isshin's sprawled form. 'I'll just make sure to stomp on your gonads if you end up in our way.'

Amaya shook her head in slight dismay as she tugged the training gloves on, as instructed, though she had a bit of trouble with her injured hand. The startled yelp that escaped Isshin as he rolled out of the way of a stomp from Daniel said enough about how serious the blond was about his remark. Those two were either friends of quite a few years, or they were one of those rare cases where they just instantly got along like best friends.

'So! Let's get started, Amaya-san!' Daniel called out once he was happy with Isshin's quick retreat, with a broadening grin spreading across his face as he sauntered into the middle of the padded sparring floor. 'Normally I'd insist on you doing warmups, but you've already got that covered.'

'Going for the usual best of three, Daniel?' Isshin asked as he dragged one of the fold-up chairs over.

'Actually not quite.'

'Safe-count?'

'Depends, I guess.' He responded as he waved Amaya over with one hand. 'So, we've got some ground rules to set. More or less these are for any sparring you do here, and its important, so I don't want you forgetting them.'

'Okay.' Amaya responded hesitantly.

'First, the raised floor is the boundaries for all sparring and you can't leave the area. It interferes with anyone using the sandbags or speedballs.' Daniel began listing as he punctuated his words with the lifting of fingers for each point. 'Second, unless otherwise stated we work on the basis of point-matches just like in actual tournament matches, therefore when one person gets a solid hit in, they back off. Third is unless specifically stated, all sparring matches are anything goes, and finally, fourth is the use of the safe-word to end a match if you're not going by point rules. Across board it's been decided that this Gym's safe-word is "Steak".'

'S-steak?' Amaya practically gaped at the grinning man. 'What kind of safe word is that?'

'It's fitting for a Tiger-named gym, right?'

'Tigers like eating meat, Amaya-san!' Isshin remarked pleasantly.

Amaya resisted the urge to facepalm at that remark.

'You game for a proper sparing match? Or just a point-match?' Daniel asked.

'Whichever, I guess.' She responded slowly.

'Aye, then safe-word it is.' Daniel announced as he lightly began to bounce on the balls of his feet and lifted his arms up at the ready. 'Then I'll leave it on your hands to make the first move.'

Amaya said nothing as she blinked owlishly up at the rather intimidating man, inwardly cursing as she found herself feeling as uncomfortable as when she had first started her training sessions with Shigure, much the same with Karasuma. Neither Shigure nor Karasuma were as tall as this giant guy. She was the tallest girl in the class, but she certainly wasn't tall right now.

'Just hit him, Amaya-san!' Isshin called out.

And so, Amaya did.

She threw herself forward to close the distance and with one swift motion, she tried to swing her right leg around in a roundhouse kick straight towards Daniel's head, though her height only granted her a strike towards his shoulder. However she was immediately blocked. The contact of her foot against the open palm of Daniel's raised hand struck with a resounding thwock, hard enough that Amaya spun back around from the rebound.

'Whoaaah! I felt that!' Daniel practically gasped as he looked down at his hand in what appeared to be surprise. 'That hit was solid! And on form, too!'

'It looked like it hurt.' Isshin remarked.

'Aye, it did.'

Oh no. Did she overdo it? Karasuma was always telling her not to curb her strikes, but that was because the aim was to assassinate Koro-sensei in the end.

'Quit panicking, already.' Daniel remarked with a broad grin as he shifted back into position, much to Amaya's fright. 'That was excellent! You need to be able to pack a punch! I'm actually impressed!'

Wait ... really?

'This is a martial arts gym, Amaya-san, not the schoolyard. Just go with what feels most natural and comfortable. You're not going to give him more than just a headache and a split lip.' Isshin remarked with a pleasant grin as he leaned back on the chair he dragged over towards the raised floor. 'And besides, he deserves a bit of punishment.'

'It's best you leave that to my missus, Isshin.' Daniel quipped cockily as he turned his attention back upon Amaya. 'But he is right, don't worry about having to hold back on me.'

Why was everyone saying the same thing to her? Don't hold back. Stop curbing your strikes. Don't do things half hearted.

But then again, she didn't have an opportunity to think any further as a swift high-kick from Daniel came hurdling towards her face, snapping Amaya into action. She barely managed to duck in time to avoid the move before somehow, Daniel had continued the motion with a swing back down towards her.

'I meant it when I said this was a sparring match, Amaya-san.' Daniel remarked as he stepped into a spin-kick towards Amaya's knees. 'If you don't take the initiative, I will.'

'Okay okay!' Amaya squeaked out as she scarcely avoided a pair of leaping kicks by leaping to one side.

'Don't wait for an opening, Amaya-san!' Isshin inputted from the sidelines. 'Just pop him in the face!'

'Shut up!' Amaya snapped as she attempted a swing back in response. 'I'm concentrating!'

'Don't think too hard!'

'Stop distracting me, damnit!'

'Ohh! She's getting feisty!' Daniel prodded as he easily blocked her punch, all the while Isshin laughed lightly.

Another sweeping kick towards her side was barely avoided with a back-step, and a mere second later, Amaya found her feet practically at the edge of the sparring mat. She swore as she barely managed to get her arms up to block another backwards sweeping kick to her side.

Except instead of just landing a fairly solid strike to her, Amaya found herself shocked out of her wits as the back of Daniel's knee hooked right around her neck, and with the continued motion, she was dragged forward and sent hurdling face-first towards the centre of the sparring floor.

A string of barely muttered profanity escaped past Amaya's lips as she managed to haul herself back to her feet as soon as she could. Trying to block out most of her training with Shigure and the Assassination Class wasn't doing her any good – She almost couldn't remember how she used to fight before the start of the year.

Shigure honestly wouldn't care, and she guessed Karasuma would sanction her utilizing her training against somebody like this. She was never going to cause anywhere near as much damage as what the free-running group had with her current situation.

She had to stop being stupid about this.

She threw herself forward in a sweeping high-kick towards what she could possibly reach of Daniel's head, hard enough that she managed to flip backwards and clip him in the chin with her other foot on the way over. Her attempt right after in swinging straight into a footsweep was thwarted as the hulking man ended up leaping right over her, to pull her into another rather painless throw. She felt the rush of air as she was tossed over Daniel's hip with far less force than Shigure's favorite full-body throw, and she barely had enough chance to right her fall before the contact with the sparring floor shot through her upper back.

Yet her training with Shigure did not fail her. She rebounded right back onto her feet before Daniel had even managed to look back, and she threw herself forward to slam her elbow right into his side before he had a chance to turn around.

Of course, Amaya wasn't all that surprised to be knocked right back to square one with one of those bizarre flipping kicks of his – He was undoubtedly going very easy on her.

The sparring session continued for many more minutes leading up to nearly an hour in much the same way, with Amaya barely managing to so much as jostle Daniel as he deflected her strikes and avoided others with obvious ease.

At least until he seemed to slow down a little, and Amaya out of frustration managed to land a solid blow.

A startled and rather pained gasp escaped Daniel as Amaya's twentieth elbow jab actually managed to catch him right in the eye socket, resulting in a squeak escaping her as the blond immediately backed off and clasped a hand right over his eye.

Amaya found herself rather horrified as she realized just how solid a blow she had landed.

'I'm so sorry--' She began, however Daniel actually waved her off with a wry laugh.

'Don't be, my fault for not calling safe earlier.' He groaned out, though his laugh was still there. 'But bloody hell you've got some excessive stamina! What do you do all day? Run laps around the city for hours on end?'

Amaya bit her lip as she remained silent.

'I think you've earned yourself a black eye, Daniel.' Isshin remarked with a cheerful smile.

'Aye, I reckon.'

'But still ... I'm really sorry...' Amaya apologized again.

She really did feel horribly guilty as she watched Daniel wave her off yet again as he wandered off with his hand still pressed over his left eye.

'Don't worry about it Amaya-san.' Isshin told her as he wandered over to clasp a hand to her shoulder amicably. 'He's going to spend all week bragging about it like some giddy older brother.'

'What?!' Amaya practically gaped at the cheerfully grinning man.

'Trust me, you'll see it if you stop in tomorrow.'

And see it, Amaya did.

When she returned with apology snacks the very next afternoon following Karasuma handing everyone a combat uniform at the end of their time at Wakaba Park, she found Daniel with a whopping purple bruise over his eye and a broad grin across his face as he chattered away to who looked to be a delivery man from one of the many courier services available in the city.

'I don't believe you, Daniel-san.' The delivery man remarked with a wry smile. 'You probably stood there and forced the kid to punch you in the eye just so you could have something to talk about.'

'I ain't making this up, Subaru-san! The new kid actually landed this on me all on her own!' Daniel affirmed proudly, much to the delivery man's bemusement. 'I'd love to see what she could do with the missus' influence! Reckon a real gem's just wandered in here.'

'Clarissa-san's just going to know you asked the kid to punch you, too, you know.'

'I didn't ask her to give me a black eye, and she didn't punch me! It was a pretty good elbow-jab, if I say so myself!'

'Sure, whatever you say Daniel-san.' The delivery man remarked as he handed over a large box. 'I'll have to hear what Clarissa-san says next week.'

'I'm not making this up, Subaru-san!' Daniel exclaimed as the delivery man just chuckled and held out a clipboard for signing.

'Sure, sure. And I bet aliens really do exist.' Subaru scoffed, causing Amaya to look away furtively. 'Anyway, I will see you next week, Daniel-san.'

'Aye, don't forget the second kit while you're at it!'

'Yeah yeah, get off my back mother.' Subaru dismissed as he left, walking right past Amaya.

'Oh hey! You're early, Amaya-san!' Daniel called out as he noticed her standing awkwardly in the doorway. 'What's wrong? You look a little spooked.'

Spooked, yes, but she found herself feeling more perturbed by how pleased Daniel looked with that black eye she had accidentally given him.

'I told you, Amaya-san.' Isshin remarked as he came wandering out of the break room with a wry smile. 'He's got more than a few screws loose.'

---=[Authors Note]=---

Hey guys, here's another chapter. Sorry about the delay, I've had a lot of things going on, and it's near Christmas among other things. Anyways hope you all enjoyed, and I'll have another chapter on the way. As I'm sure you've noticed, I skipped the second half of the arc / episode because really, it wasn't really necessary, and as for the Anime I found Koro-sensei going through and basically acting like a real estate salesman a bit much.

In any case, the translation of the title of the chapter is as follows:

Tachiba - in this case, its the noun form of "Position", in reference to Amaya's standing with the current disagreement she has with certain people, which is written as 立場 in Japanese, if I'm not mistaken.

All the best, guys,

<3 Loki-Roki