3:29pm... 1 minute until the end of regular classes for the day.
Numerous students were already twitching and fiddling in their seats, ready for the commands to "rise" and "bow" to the teacher so they could run home.
Mr. Fujiyama, meanwhile, was finalizing his lecture for the evening.
"Does anyone have any questions about your assignment?"
... Crickets.
"... Then, that is all. Miss Kenji?"
"Sir. Rise!" She commanded.
The class rose to their feet.
"Bow!" She ordered.
The class bowed, and with that, classes were done for the day.
Most of the students immediately bolted for the door, while others stayed to chit chat amongst themselves.
Kyera, sitting in her corner seat, was looking out the window at some birds flying overhead just above the flag on the roof of the building opposite her. And as she sat there, daydreaming, two girls approached her with excitement in their eyes.
"Um, excuse me. Miss Kyera?"
Kyera's eyes drifted to the corners of their sockets to land on two beautiful girls. One a bit shorter with short brown hair, and the other a taller girl with blue hair and a stern look in her eye.
"Umm........ I-I was... W-well. I was w-w-w-wondering..."
The taller girl stepped forward.
"Will you join the Martial Arts Club?" She asked.
"S-Suzuki!" The smaller girl gasped.
"What? I see no reason not to be direct." Suzuki replied.
... I like her. Kyera thought about Sukuzi.
"W-well you should be more polite about it."
"All I did was ask if she wanted to join. I wasn't being rude, Honoka."
Honoka made an "Mmmph!" sound and turned away, a little pink in the cheeks as Suzuki turned back to Kyera.
"We'd like you to join the Martial Arts Club. We saw how you handled the Te'i Sai gangsters outside the gates, and we could really use someone with your skills in our club. Interested?" She asked.
Kyera closed her eyes and contemplated for a moment before opening her eyes again.
"... No." She replied flatly.
Suzuki looked a little like she expected the answer, but Honoka spun around in a panic.
"W-w-w-w-w-w-what do you mean no?!" She practically yelled.
"Now who's being rude?" Suzuki asked.
Honoka made another "Mmmph!" sound, but remained focused Kyera.
"Please miss Kyera. We need you in our club! Currently we're the laughingstock of the school because anytime Te'i Sai challenges us, we lose! Our Captain and President is the only one who has ever beaten one of them, but only one of them in a one on one fight. When they ganged up on her, she lost... Badly."
"That's enough, Honoka. She said 'no', so leave it alone."
... I really like her, Kyera thought.
"B-b-but... Suzuki." Honoka said sadly.
Suzuki shook her head, jerking it the other way in a gesture for Honoka to follow. Honoka did so, but not without turning and looking sadly at Kyera. The door closed, and Kyera blinked once and looked back out the window at the birds floating overhead.
Meanwhile... Back at the Martial Arts Club Room...
"Excuse me? You did what?" Leiya Usawa, Captain and President of the Club, asked.
Honoka flinched. Suzuki just stared back at the Captain.
"We tried to recruit a new and very skilled member to our club."
"What you did was go behind my back. You do remember that I'm in charge of recruitment, don't you? Nobody enters this Clubroom without my say so." Leiya countered.
Suzuki sighed.
"You never let it go, do you?"
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. You never let it go. You're always on a power trip about controlling how the club operates, who's in it, and blah blah blah. You never give us the chance to look for new members, come up with drills, or anything that might be of benefit to our development as martial artists. It's not all about you ya know?"
Leiya was aghast, and her cheeks flushed pink with anger as her fist tightened.
"I will have you know, Suzuki, that I am the President of this Club. As such, it is my responsibility to control its functions, moderate the behavior of the members, and ensure that the Club is operating within school parameters and guidelines of operation! I have to be in charge, and I have to be tough! If you don't like it, then you're free to-"
The doors to the club room opened, and standing in the doorway was Kyera who casually looked around to examine the contents of the room while everyone else gawked at her sudden appearance.
A large training mat was in the center of the room. Roughly a 20 feet by 20 feet square. Not bad. Spacing and layout could use some work.
Training weights were on the left wall. Nice.
Right side had jump ropes, hula hoops (why?), resistance bands, etc. Not too shabby, actually.
And on the back in the corner were two massive punching bags. They had to be at least 300 pounds, and Kyera's eyes lit up upon seeing them though her face, aside from a slight rising of her eyebrows, didn't betray her excitement.
She could get a workout here.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Usawa screamed.
Kyera paid her no attention. She walked right into the room, glancing back and forth from section to section of the room re-organizing it in her head as Usawa marched over to her and slapped her across the face with a very loud SMACK.
Everyone froze, and Kyera's head, turned sideways by the blow, slowly centered itself as her glowing red eyes fell on Usawa's blue eyes.
"I did not give you leave to enter this room! Get out!" She commanded.
Kyera blinked, and cracked her neck.
"I know who you are, and I don't like you. You disregard school uniform policy and walk around like you own the place. You even stepped foot into our club room without permission. So I will say it once, and only once more... Get. Out." She insisted.
Kyera blinked again, cracking her neck the other way.
"Do you think that scares me?!"
Kyera blinked.
"Blinking is not a response! Say something!!" Usawa yelled.
Kyera's eyes narrowed.
"... You're too noisy."
Usawa's face went red with rage, and she instantly lashed out and attempted to punch Kyera in the face with her right hand. But Kyera was ready for her this time. Smooth as could be, Kyera slid out of the way of the punch, passing it off with her left hand, grabbed Usawa's wrist, smashed her hip into Usawa's, and threw her over her shoulder and to the ground with a loud *THUD*.
Usawa let out a loud gasp, shocked and horrified that the new girl had just done that in front of the rest of the club. Speaking of, everyone, Suzuki especially, were in awe. Nobody spoke to Usawa that way, and nobody ever tried fighting her. She was the strongest member of the Martial Arts club by far, hence why she was its Captain and President. This kind of thing didn't happen to her... Ever.
Her red face contorted into a deep frown, and she grabbed Kyera's wrist and threw her legs up to wrap them around Kyera's neck, pulling her down to the floor in a choke hold while holding her arm between her legs as an elbow break. Obviously, she wasn't breaking her elbow. But still, she was going to make her regret the decision to fight back.
Kyera went down, but managed to maintain her grip on Usawa's wrist which was rather surprising. Using her strength, she pushed on the ground with her feet, lifting Usawa's lower body off the ground with her before twisting violently inward, with her shoulder, and quickly did a side-mount position from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Now pinned down with Kyera on top of her, Usawa was less than pleased. But there was little she could do. Kyera was insanely strong for someone so... average sized. Her body belied the strength she possessed, and Usawa could barely wiggle an inch in any direction. So instead, she used a rather underhanded tactic of slamming her forehead into the side of Kyera's head to daze her and push her off while she was stunned.
With Kyera momentarily dazed, Usawa scrambled to her feet and rushed Kyera, slamming her to the ground and straddling her while pinning her hands above her head.
"You don't belong in this club room! Now get OUT!" She screamed.
Kyera shook off the daze, and glared at Usawa.
"You are still too noisy."
Kyera's eyes began glowing brighter, which started to rattle Usawa's confidence. She could feel Kyera's strength rising as she muscled her way out from under her and literally threw her off of herself and to the side.
Kyera made it to her feet and brushed herself off while Usawa stood up in rage and started running in again. Kyera was having none of it, and ducked Usawa's attempt to strike her, slamming her shoulder into the girl's stomach, and hoisting her up and throwing her over herself into the air and into a pile of chairs and desks. All of them tumbled to the ground, and the rest of the Club ran to Usawa's side to help her out of the pile.
But Usawa... She wasn't done yet.
She burst forth from the tables, her own eyes now fully glowing red with pure rage as hot steam poured out of her ears like steam from a boiling tea pot. A small fireball escaped her mouth as she screamed at Kyera, who's stance deepened before Usawa ran towards her.
What followed was chaos.
Following the girls during their battle, they smashed windows, cracked walls, broke blackboards and grease boards, threw desks and chairs, and even bent one of the rails along the Southeast stairwell from a kick.
By the time the pair had settled down, they were back in the Club Room. Both were breathing hard, but it was Kyera who was standing tall while Usawa was on all fours and sweating profusely. Kyera had a few beads here and there, but nothing too bad. She wiped them off, and walked to Usawa.
"Stay down, Captain. I don't want to hurt you any more." She said.
Usawa froze.
"Captain?" She asked.
She looked up at Kyera, angrily.
"I... Am NOT... Your Captain..." She proclaimed.
"Get... Ou-"
Usawa fainted before she could finish the word, collapsing in a heap as Kyera stood above her and backed off a few steps to let the others carry her to the nurses office. Honoka, however, stayed behind.
"So... Does this mean you'll join?"
Kyera nodded.
"Yes!!" Honoka squealed.
She ran to a desk and brought out a sheet of paper and a pen.
"Sign down here, and put the date there! That's all you have to do!" She said excitedly.
Kyera signed her name and put the date, and it was done. She was a member of the club... Pending approval by the teaching staff.
"I'm going to run this to our Administrator right now! Thank you so much miss Kyera!" She said happily.
With that, Honoka dashed off to deliver the papers, and Kyera wiped the sweat from her chin and forehead.
"That girl... She's not bad." She said, looking at the equipment.
"Now... For some home improvement." She said.
Kyera got to work rearranging all of the equipment, and by the time everyone was back, including Usawa, they stood in the doorway in shock.
The place had been cleaned spotless, and everything organized neatly as if brand new. The weights were all aligned from lightest to heaviest, the jump ropes by length, the hula hoops (still, why?) by diameter, and the resistance bands by length as well.
The mats had been rearranged into a longer rectangle, giving more lateral space than the square for more people to line up side to side for partner drills than lining up in a stagger. One punching bag had been moved to the left side of the room, while the other remained on the right side. Overall, there was more space, and everything was sparkling clean.
Everyone's gaze shifted throughout the space before landing on Kyera, who was standing by the shoe rack with a towel wrapped around her neck.
"T-this..." Honoka began.
"It's... Beautiful." Suzuki said.
Some of the others agreed, but the only one who didn't look too happy was Usawa, who marched over to Kyera.
"... Who asked you to rearrange our club room?" She asked quietly.
"It's more practical this way." Kyera replied.
"Don't dodge the question!" Usawa barked.
Kyera blinked.
"Honoka said she already delivered your application, and that it was stamped and approved of by our administrator... I do not approve of this, nor of you." She said, walking forward so they were face to face.
"Give me one good reason not to send in a challenge of approval." She said angrily.
"You lost."
Usawa's face went red with rage and embarrassment.
"That's beside the point! Give me a reason not to challenge your acceptance into the club!" She yelled.
"Because you need me to help get rid of those Te'i Sai thugs who hang around the school."
Usawa shook her head.
"We don't need you for that. We're the Martial Arts Club. Not a police force... Last chance."
"..."
Kyera, without warning, reached out, grabbed the back of Usawa's neck, and pulled her into a hug.
The others gasped, and Usawa's face once again went red with embarrassment as Kyera hugged her.
"You're... Not bad." Kyera said softly.
Usawa blinked several times, trying to wriggle free from Kyera's grip but she couldn't.
"... I like it in here. I want to stay." Kyera said.
She gently released Usawa, who jumped back, tomato red in the face, and tried to shake off what just happened.
"Captain, please?" Honoka asked.
Usawa turned and glared at Honoka, who flinched back behind Suzuki.
"You have to admit she'd be a great help to us. Her skills are undeniable." Suzuki added.
The others all gave their two cents as well in support of Kyera's approval, and Usawa knew then that she was defeated. She relaxed and heaved a sigh, looking back at Kyera who's gaze waited for an answer expectantly.
"... You can stay..."
All the club members started cheering, but were silenced by Usawa.
"But I am still the Captain. That means what I say goes, you got it?" She demanded.
Kyera blinked.
"... Got it."
"And furthermore, I-... Wait, what?" Usawa asked.
"I said, 'Got it.' You needn't explain further." Kyera replied.
Usawa blinked.
"Oh... Well...... Well then, welcome to the club, miss Kyera." She said, slightly pink in the face.
And then... Kyera smiled.
Everyone gasped, pausing to stare at the smile that spread on her lips. The beauty of it. The sheer angelic beauty... And then it was gone. Everyone blinked and looked at Kyera who's face was now back to being stoic and lacking emotion, and everyone cheered and started celebrating their newest and now most powerful member... Save for Usawa, who sat quietly on the bench sipping a bottle of water while everyone else started working out and asking Kyera to show them what she knew.