A Thursday. The end of November, a month and a half later. The weather was starting to get cold. Still, two people were hanging out in the park. Dressed in light clothing, the muted sound of arms and legs smacking against each other rang in the air.

In other words, Rachel and I were sparring again.

But things were a little different this time. This time, I had some experience behind me. This time, I had some extra Resonance time behind me. This time, I had some new moves. This time, I was actually doing well.

The first time we sparred, I bȧrėly blocked her two or three times before she kicked me to the ground. However, even better than yesterday\'s training, I was holding my ground. I wasn\'t quite pushing her back, but even as just myself, as Venn, I was no longer defenseless. Heck, I was even finding an opportunity to counteratt-

Naturally, as I had that thought, my counterattack was itself countered, and I was thrown to the ground. I think that Rachel was a natural born warrior. Certainly far more so than I was. I got up and brushed myself off. Then, after a moment of thought, I took a ready stance and spoke.

"Let\'s go again," I said.

"That was our third bout today, Venn," Rachel said, a little exasperated. "You still haven\'t gotten tired of me kicking your buŧŧ?"

"Kicking my buŧŧ you may be doing, but I\'m getting better, am I not? It\'s taking you more and more time to knock me down, even a noob like me can see that."

"Did you really use \'noob\' in a conversation about martial arts?"

"Am I wrong?"

Rachel was silent. Either my point was well made, or she was just done arguing. However, she did not take a ready stance. Sensing that she was indeed done for now, I relaxed. Mostly. There was one time before that we had a similar "ending" only for her to strike me as soon as I relaxed. Said she was "testing my reflexes." Classic. Does everyone have to harass their trainee? I get it in the army, where they want to psychologically build someone from the ground up after breaking them down, but is it so universal that even this average ten-year-old girl does it too?

Instead of attacking me, Rachel stepped back and found a place to sit down. Following her lead, I sat beside her.

"No, you\'re not wrong. You are a noob," she said after a moment. Then she gave me a smile. "However, you are my noob, and soon you won\'t be at this rate. You are doing really well for a couple months of training. Even better than my brothers, and they really have it in their blood. You, you have science in your blood. Which reminds me, I\'m going to need help studying for the test coming up next week."

"You know I will." Rachel was generally good at school, but science was her weak point. Math came close behind. Every training session for me was followed by a study session for her. I wasn\'t sure why she felt she needed to remind me. It wasn\'t even a question at this point.

A curious look came over her face. "You know," she said cautiously, "I think that there were some moves I didn\'t teach you there. Where did those come from?"

I think I took it well.

"You look a little panicked. You thought I wouldn\'t notice?"

"I\'ve been… taking lessons."

"Yeah, from me."

"You know what I meant. Extra lessons. I have other teachers. Been taking extra lessons after we\'re done."

Rachel gave me a look that said her question for her. "With what time?" Dang. Even the best answer I had wasn\'t enough. Why couldn\'t she be a clueless ten-year-old? I racked my brain while trying to keep a straight face that said I was just deciding whether or not to tell rather than coming up with something. In the end, I picked the next best answer: I grinned and otherwise kept my mouth shut. After all, talking with her at this point would be like talking to the cops- anything I said could and would be used against me.

My strategy worked rather well- there was an uncomfortably long silence as Rachel stared me down, and eventually decided that it wasn\'t going to make me talk.

"Okay then, keep your secrets."

"I\'m sorry, it\'s just a weird situation that is hard to explain."

"Right."

"No, really. You wouldn\'t believe me if I told you."

Well, not the most ideal situation, but she was at least not pursuing the question anymore. Crisis averted. After a moment of silence, I stood up and offered her my hand.

"Shall we get onto that homework, then? It\'s about time we headed home."

"Yeah, I guess," she said, taking my hand and pulling herself up.

"Great! Race you to my house!" I grabbed my backpack and took off, ignoring Rachel\'s indignant protests. She was faster than me, but maybe the head start would be enough for me to hold the lead for a while.