Chapter 114 - Playing

"Good morning, everyone." Kotone greets the children gathered at the training yard.

"…Good morning…" The children greet awkwardly.

This is the first time that Kotone is starting their day. The maid, Roku, also had them dress in their training gi's, an outfit they only wear during physical training. Kotone also wearing hers, which is rare even when she is training them, makes them anxious.

"Nee-san! Where's Yoshiko-sensei?" Chihiro asks.

"Did she go home?" Ran follows up.

"She will be away for a few days to learn something." Kotone tells the two lively kids.

The two are still the liveliest and the leaders of the bunch. Chihiro, who was a bit plump when he arrived in the hill, is still plump but half of his fat is converted to muscles. Ran who had a very long raven hair, cut it short as to not get in the way of her physical activity.

"Yes…!" Osamu, the tall and quiet boy quietly celebrates at the absence of Yoshiko.

"She left you some homework to do though." Kotone tells Osamu.

"Oh…" Osamu deflates. Unlike when the he first arrived in the hill, Osamu is no longer skinny, and has a perfectly balanced proportions just like the other kids. He has also grown even taller, and grown the fastest among the children, approaching five feet tall. While he is still quiet, he has learned to express himself more to others.

"Too bad. School is easier…" Taishiro, the bespectacled, bowl-cut having boy, is disappointed meanwhile. Even though Red already fixed his eyes, he still wears fake glasses because he likes the weight of it on his nose, and how he looks in them.

"You don't like training with me, Taishiro?" Kotone asks the child with a smile.

Her smile immediately scares Taishiro.

"I love training!" Taishiro answers in panic.

Kotone simply nods in approval.

While Taishiro does not like training as much as others, he is keeping up with others.

"Kanon?" Kotone calls out to the tiniest child of the bunch.

Kanon is still as absentminded as before.

Kotone and Yoshiko raised their concern about her habit to Red more than a few times but Red told them to leave her be. After all, not only is Kanon the most gifted with the 16 poses, the basic breathing technique, and can perform kata on hours end while being absentminded, she is focused enough when doing something, and easily alerted when the situation calls for it. 

"Yes, Kotone-nee?" She wakes up from spacing out.

"How do you feel?" Kotone asks. She is already seeing some spiritual energy activity around the girl.

"Good, nee-san. Why?" Kanon tilts her head in reply.

Kotone's heart almost melts at the girl's cute habit.

"Do you sleep well these days?" She asks.

"It's hard." Kanon pouts.

"I see." Kotone nods. She will have to ask Red what to do later.

"What will we do today, nee-san?" Ran asks.

"I'll just play some games with you all!" Kotone announces.

"YAY!" The children get excited.

"Okay. First game!" Kotone pulls out five short wooden swords.

"Magic!" The children still find Kotone or Yoshiko using their storage rings entertaining.

"Nee-san, why are they… painted?" Taishiro asks, noticing the oddity of the wooden swords. The edges of the wooden swords after all, were coated by Kotone with oil pastels.

Instead of answering, "Pick your color.", she starts distributing the swords instead.

"Ah…dirty…tsk." Osamu accidentally stains his hand.

He is not the only one.

"Hey!" Taishiro exclaims as he notices a new green stain on his gi. He looks around and finds Kanon holding the wooden sword coated with green oil pastel.

"Sorry." Kanon apologizes half-heartedly.

"Not cool!" Taishiro complains.

"Paint on me too." Kanon offers her sleeve.

"Hmph. Never mind." Taishiro harrumphs and gives up, knowing Kanon's disposition.

"…" Kotone meanwhile, takes a deep breath to suppress her desire to nag.

They have not started with the activity yet and the children's hands are already dirty.

"Kids!" She then takes the children's attention as she takes out a red oil pastel.

"You kids try and paint on my clothes." She announces.

"…" The children are not reacting as excitedly as she thought however.

"What's wrong?" She asks them.

"You won't get mad?" Ran asks.

"No. We're just playing a game." Kotone shrugs. She knows that her being a stern training teacher did not exactly help her become approachable to the kids.

"Okay!" She claps.

"Those who can stain my clothes, less homework for them later!" She announces.

"WHOAH!" The children are excited except for Kanon who could care less, and Taishiro who prefers to draw seals and school than training.

"Less training for you Taishiro, if you manage to paint my clothes, and you Kanon, you get to ask for a wish from me if you succeed." Kotone adds special condition to the two.

"But Kotone-nee! You're strong! Roku-san said you're stronger than her. You're stronger than Ichiki chef-san too." Unlike the others, Taishiro immediately realizes that it will not be easy.

"Yes. But I will go easy so we can all have fune. Promise." Kotone says as she applies resistance seals on herself except on her mind.

"I will weaken myself to … Roku-san's strength."

The lowest she is willing to limit herself however is around high-tier D-Class. Limiting herself any further is only when she is training her body. She is also not afraid of harming the children as even though they themselves are wearing resistance seals, making them just as strong as health non-superiori children, their bodies are D-Class level strong, meaning they will not get hurt in case she accidentally gets rough.

"Now. If I paint your clothes five times, you're out!" Kotone she then presents another challenge as she does a painting motion with her hand that is holding the red oil pastel.

"Are we clear?" She asks.

"YES KOTONE-NEE!" The children answer in unison, all eager to play.

"Are you ready?" She asks as she bends her knees a little, ready for action.

"YES!" The children too get ready to jump at Kotone.

"Alright."

"COME AT ME!" Kotone announces before running away to the road for more space.

*SCREAM* *LAUGHTER* The children also run after her immediately, waving their wooden swords around.

"Looks fun…" Ichiki who was watching from the veranda of the children's house, is amused at the scene.

"Wanna bet?" He asks Hachiyo, a fellow demon, and one of the babysitters, who is also watching beside him. 

"Bet?" Hachiyo gets interested.

"Yes. The one with a worse guess on who gets a first hit on Kotone-san, will wash the dishes." Ichiki offers.

"Alright. Let's do it. My first pick is Osamu."

"Mine's Kanon."

The two start setting their picks as they follow behind the group from a distance.

After Kotone reaches the road, she stops running.

Not soon after.

*whoosh* *whoosh*

*hah* *hah* *hah*

Chihiro and Ran are the first to pounce on her flailing their swords at her. The two however are moving in slow motion in Kotone's eyes, so their attacks are easily dodged.

*Whoosh*… *whoosh*… Osamu and Kanon meanwhile, are making use of Chihiro and Ran's attacks to sneak in their own. The two quiet ones are the ones who Kotone is keeping an eye the closest on.

"Hm?" Kotone then notices Taishiro missing.

The next moment, *taktak* she hears small footsteps from behind her and she quickly jumps in the air.

She looks down and "ahh!" sees from under her Taishiro's figure sailing past, failing to land a sword on her and fails to control his momentum.

"Oho…" She softly exclaims, impressed. The other kids did a great job acting as if Taishiro did not sneak behind her.

"So close!" The children exclaim in unison.

"You kids are sneaky but you have to try harder!" Kotone challenges them as she steps back down on the ground and smears her oil pastel on Taishiro's back.

"AH! NO!" Taishiro cannot help but cry out, feeling something brush on his back.

"Taishiro! Stay back for now! You only have four… lives left." Chihiro gets in front of Taishiro.

Taishiro nods, grateful for his friend's gesture.

"Be careful too. Conserve your energy." Taishiro gives an advice in return.

"Everyone. Spread out. It might be easier." He adds to advice the others.

Kotone meanwhile, becomes more alert and is forced to admit to herself that she underestimated the children.

She does not want anyone succeeding at the game early, preferring the kids to keep moving for an hour straight until the game is over.

...

Half an hour later.

"YES!" Taishiro manages to paint on Kotone's sleeve with his sword.

"Everyone stop!" Kotone orders, and the children freeze in their places.

"Very good, Taishiro. You can rest for the next game." She congratulates Taishiro.

She actually let Taishiro paint on him seeing how tired the boy is. She is also impressed of Taishiro's approach. Unlike the others who wanted to paint her torso or her thighs, the boy consistently tried to paint the sleeves of her gi, or hem of her pants, making things annoying for her.

"Taishiro! Taishiro!" The other children are feeling proud of Taishiro.

They have never seen him put so much effort into something after all. Even though he was the first one to suceed at the task, they do not feel envious at all.

"…" Taishiro is moved by his friends chanting his name.

...

A few minutes later.

"Ran! On your left!" Taishiro yells out.

Ran glances to her left and catches Kotone's hand coming at her. She immediately ducks, successfully dodging Kotone's oil pastel. Also seeing an opening, she excitedly strikes her sword on Kotone's exposed underarm, successfully smearing it.

"STOP!" Kotone makes everyone freeze again.

"Very good, Ran. You can rest." Kotone pats the girl's head.

*clap* *clap* "Ran!" "Ran!" Osamu and Kanon applaud Ran, while Chihiro chants her name.

Ran cannot help but feel proud.

Just like what she did Taishiro, Kotone actually intentionally let Ran hit her as Ran is also at her limit. She actually exposed even more openings to Ran earlier, but the latest one being the easiest to see, Ran was able to exploit it.

..

A few minutes later.

"Now Chihiro!" Chihiro hears Taishiro's voice, allowing him to see an opening in front of him.

He then swings his sword sideways, smearing oil pastel on Kotone's waist.

"Alright. Good job, kid." Kotone tells Chihiro before hopping back to distance herself from Osamu and Kanon.

"Yes!" Chihiro excitedly joins Ran and Taishiro.

Kotone once again, intentionally let a sword land on her. Just like her earlier two decisions on who to land a hit on her, she decided on who is the most tired, which is Chihiro. This time, she made use of Taishiro's coaching to let Chihiro spot her opening easier.

"Oh… Look at Osamu-chan and Kanon-chan… They look angry." Ran points to the two kids still in the game.

"They are…" Chihiro feels bad.

"Osamu! Kanon! It's okay! Only two of you are left so it's harder! Concentrate!" Taishiro continues to coach.

"Yes! It was easier for us!" Ran supports.

"That's right, you two. That's why if only one of you can paint my clothes, then I will count it as two. So, work together." Kotone says.

She does not want the two kids' to be in a bad mood. There are after all, more games for the morning.

...

A few more minutes pass.

"Okay. Only two more lives left for you two." Kotone says.

Osamu and Kanon simply look at her with sharp gazes as a response. The two have received three more stains on their gi's.

The stains however, were not for nothing. Osamu gets a few ideas because of them.

"When I say 'now'. You go for the legs. I go for her body." Osamu he whispers to Kanon.

"Okay…" Kanon is getting frustrated so any plan no matter how bad, is still a plan to her.

"Follow closely." Osamu leads the way.

As soon as Kotone is in his reach, he goes for a tackle.

The move surprises the children, and even Kotone.

Kotone meanwhile, easily steps aside as she brushes her pastel on Osamu's back.

As soon as Osamu feels the pastel, "NOW!" he yells as he, in a feat of incredible flexibility, turns around to swipe his sword at Kotone's chest.

Not soon after, Kanon dashes to swipe her sword on Kotone's leg.

"…" Kotone's brain short-circuits in surprise, seeing no way out from the simultaneous swords.

Osamu's is coming for her chest, while Kanon's is coming from behind her knees. 

She can still dodge if she just looses her resistance seals a bit, but she has to admit that the kids had her. They deserve the satisfaction.

*thunk*

*thunk*

"YES!"

"OSAMU!"

"KANON!"

"OSAMU!"

"KANON!"