Upon entering the village, she immediately noticed something was wrong. But already having made it this far, she kept pushing onwards to what she had committed herself to do. Three days later on Saturday evening, Asuka worked her way back up to the Glade of Ninjas, wondering if returning was a bad idea after all. And if she was lying well, their next rematch would definitely not be in Ibuki's favor this time around. Besides, if Ibuki's words were sincere, she had promised that she would get out of having to do any more 'escape training', so it wasn't like she was going to get tied up again in the near future. Nodding to herself, she decided to at least give the program one more chance. It certainly didn't hurt that she got a little bit of pay back herself afterwards Ibuki seemed genuinely apologetic, so maybe she could cut her a little bit of slack after all. She still wasn't too keen on forgiving Ibuki for what she did to her, but after mulling it over some more, Asuka figured she could at least try to tone down the hostility the next time they met. 'As as much as I hate to admit it, I guess it did sort of count as legitimate training still perverted, though.'
'I did focus more while trying to get free than I have in a lot of other ways and I sure as hell didn't give in, either.' She thought to herself, idly correcting a student's stance as she passed them by. 'It is something that could serve someone like you well in the long run, a way to refine and focus that fighting spirit of yours and channel it into something productive both physically and mentally.'įrowning, she considered the situation she found herself in on Sunday again with his words giving it new context. She thought back to the words Sekigawa told her a month ago. How she had to focus so intently and for so long just to begin to chip away at what was hindering her strength How vulnerable she was like that, to be forced to her own weaknesses in such a humiliating fashion. Her mind drifting once again to the events of the weekend. On Wednesday as she helped her father instruct at their family's dojo, she found
As a result, she didn't exactly have anyone to readily consult the issue with. Curiously enough, Sekigawa seemed to have taken a leave of absence for the week, something he had never done before. The next few days passed by in a blur, with her mind working over the details of that Sunday and how she might approach requesting to be let off early from the program. As she left the warehouse district to double back to her way home, she idly noted a couple of oddly marked trucks rolling past her, but she paid them no mind. "Hope you learned your lesson, you jerk!" she said, satisfied that she got all of her targets. She finally put an end to the chase by jumping at him with a flying kick to the back that sent him flying to the ground and delivering a punch to his head.
He eventually started to lose steam, slowing down as they entered a warehouse district. She chased him down relentlessly for the next ten minutes, never being one to be satisfied with losing her prey. If there was one thing she had to give him credit for, he sure could run pretty fast. She easily disposed of the first three, but as she turned to finish things by knocking out the last one, she saw that he had already taken off. 'Forget window shopping, THIS is a proper stress relief!' she thought, an almost feral grin forming on her face. On her way home, she ran into a couple of punks trying to shake down a businessman for his money. She spent the rest of the day around town, trying to take her mind off of things. Contract or no, she wanted out of this craziness. She hated how helpless she felt and hated Ibuki for forcefully putting her into that situation in the first place. The entire day's experience annoyed her to no end. She immediately left the village, not wanting to stick around for the ninja girl to reappear. Asuka had wasted no time in returning to the village and changing back to her street clothes.