THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 105: Internship (2)

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This was his first time travelling by train in this life, and Neji could proudly say he would choose the car over it any day if it was allowed by the school.

Fortunately, the bullet train was faster than his sports car so it only took around 20 minutes for him to reach the city where Pro Hero Mirko worked.

She didn’t have any agency, as far as Neji knew, and merely handed the criminals she caught directly to the Police.

Staring at the map on his phone, Neji had to walk for 20 more minutes to reach the edge of the city where he was surprised to find a traditional Japanese mansion surrounded by so many trees that he almost mistook it for a mini forest.

After observing the surroundings for a bit longer, he pressed the bell of the front gate.

Immediately, he heard a fwoosh from the other side, as if someone had moved at a great speed, just as he felt someone stand opposite the door.

“Who?”

A feminine voice deeper than normal, asked from the other side.

“It’s your intern, miss-”

Neji couldn’t finish his words before he felt a sense of danger crash into his shoulders. He snapped his head at the sky where a tanned rabbit had her leg raised vertically, her face forming a huge grin.

“<Luna Fall>!”

Her huge and thick right leg clenched as her muscles got highlighted before she swung it down at Neji’s head.

If it landed… it'd surely crack his skull in half.

However, it wouldn't land.

Neji’s eyes flashed red for a single instant as he strode his shoulders to the right side, therefore letting the attack simply slip by his side and crash into the ground, making a crater.

“Nice dodge!” 

The Hero said before she swung her leg at Neji’s neck. 

Neji didn’t dodge this time and instead grabbed her leg mid-air, twisting her ankle, and then pushing her body on the ground face first. He grabbed her arms and locked them on her back via his hand.

“Hello, I am your intern, Neji Hado,” Neji said as he ignored her struggle. “Nice legs, very strong. Luckily my homeroom teacher warned us that some Pros might take some kind of 'test', so I was prepared. Or, who knows, you might just have killed me, Ma’am.”

“Tch,” Rumi grumbled from below him, finally stopping her struggle though still grinning. “Don’t act as if you couldn’t see the attack coming. That fluid dodge gives up your act.”

Then, with a small grunt, she jerked her hands free and then backflipped away from Neji. 

“Now, I ain’t gonna let you pin me down for too long, it’d look bad for me.” The rabbit said as she rested her left hand on her waist while her right played with her hair. “Yo, the name’s Rumi, you can call me Mirko though.”

“Sure, Rumi.”

The rabbit grinned. “Oh-ho, daring, I see." She stared at his blue eyes with her red ones. "Heh. Anyway, I was surprised to know you accepted my invitation, Neji. Calling you Neji is fine right?” Neji nodded as Rumi continued. “I thought you’d choose Ryukyu, honestly. Since I heard that’s where your sister is working. But guess the rabbit’s charm isn’t to be defeated that easily.”

At her arrogant grin and narcissistic remark, Neji smiled softly. “...Oh well, I just thought it’d be fun to choose the Pro infamous for never working in a team—let alone taking in an intern. Though I am serious about my training here, as well.”

Bullshit.

First of all, Rumi was weaker than him. She was a Tier-5. Her only saving grace here might be her speed, but Neji doubted he'd lose to Rumi in regards to speed. Speed-wise, a Tier 5 shouldn't be able to outmatch him. 

Kimi was just... special.

...Secondly, Rumi’s battle experience wasn't anything above him either. She's been a hero for the past 8 years, which should have given her a lot of experience. But Neji’s been visiting the door of the underworld regularly for 5 years now.

In other words, there was very little he could learn from her. He wouldn't have come here—where the chance of actual development was low—when he could spend time with his girls. There was certainly a bigger reason present here.

While Neji thought, Rumi observed him.

"Heh." Rumi chuckled. "I plan to take this seriously, too. I primarily chose you because you seemed interesting to me, more than those cowards calling themselves Pros. But I hope to play my role as your temporary mentor, unduly. Can't break my famous streak just 'cus I wanted to meet a kid, can I now?"

She chuckled to herself as Neji humoured her with his own laugh.

"We will have to test out your limits first." Rumi continued before turning and then jumping around the boundary of the mansion. "Follow me!"

Neji stared as she jumped over, before following with a burst of his quirk.

The reason he was here wasn't for training or battle experience. It was because…

'How lovely.'

...He wanted her.

Just as he had previously decided, he needed many, many strong companions—preferably females since he was a horny bastard—to fight beside him in the far future. He can make them strong with Tier potions, but it's still better if they were strong from the get-go. 

Rumi checked out all the boxes here.

She was also hard-working, unlike someone like Ryukyu, who he learned had reached this far just by the bit of instruction her hero school had offered her back in the day. She was just a girl lucky to be born with a strong quirk—though that wouldn't stop Neji from making her his 'companion' too.

'Anyway, let's think about all this later.'

Neji now stood in the backyard of the traditional mansion where a large open space filled with grass was laid.

"So… what are we going to do?"

Neji asked to which Rumi scratched her head.

She was not really used to having interns, so she was mostly lost at what to do with the kid… but of course, she couldn't tell him that. That would lower her view as a mentor in his mind.

After a moment of thought, she spoke. "We have a week on our hands… So, for today we'd do some physical activities to get to know each other better. I am the type who believes that fighting shows the truest side of a person, therefore either bringing them closer or pushing them further." That wasn't a lie, she truly believed so. "So after spending today training, I'd start to show you what a Pro does, starting from tomorrow."

She will have to ask Ryukyu for some tips… although the idea didn't please her at all. But she will do it because she has taken a liking to this lad.

“Anyway, put your suitcase down. No costume for this match for the both of us, no quirk either—well, no quirk for you since mine isn’t really something that can be turned off. As for why that is…" She trailed off. "I am sure you are aware, there aren't many heroes who can teach you more about your quirk, let alone me who is a Physical-type. So, since you have indeed chosen me, I will do what I am best at—which is fighting you in hand-to-hand combat. Our goal is to test your physical limit and then push you beyond it."

Neji was wearing his school uniform while Rumi was wearing a yellow leotard with a window over her boobs and fur-choker on her neck. The end of her leotard barely covered her backside.

[Image Here]
Rumi watched Neji nod at her words before he dropped his suitcase beside the mansion’s wall with his telekinesis before he turned back to her.

 “Good," Nodding, the rabbit stretched her legs. "Then... let us begin.”

Without any further warning, she kicked the ground and vanished from the spot like a burst of wind. Her eyes followed the blurring surrounding and she went towards Neji. 

She circled around him for a bit, making sure he wasn't caught too off guard, before running and striking towards his chest with her right leg.

The wind made a sound as if it was being cut before her leg crashed onto Neji—but not on his chest, as she had targeted.

It crashed into Neji's raised arms.

Rumi's eyebrows rose in surprise as she saw it.

That was certainly not a killing blow, but she was the type who didn't know how to hold back. So she was sure something like that could at the very least break an adult man's rib cage upon contact. Moreover, the sheer speed that she attacked at…

Rumi gave a *Whistle*. 

"I saw how you attacked that bomb kid in the sports festival. Really fast and flexible movement. But I wasn't expecting you to actually block my attack so casually. You are pretty good, kid." She grinned. 

'Guess Ryukyu wasn't just hallucinating because of blood loss back then.' Rumi thought in her mind.

"Oh, why thank you." Neji smiled at her. 

Then, without any more useless chattering, Rumi vanished from her spot before flanking around and then striking at his back. 

She is usually not the one to strike at someone's back, but it didn't matter where she attacked from—this kid could somehow see the attacks coming.

As she had expected, despite how she used more power than the last attack, Neji turned at the perfect time to let the attack pass by him.

This time, he didn't stay on the defensive and instead grabbed her leg with a strong grip.

Rumi immediately tried to free herself from his clutch, but Neji raised her body by her leg before thrashing her into the ground like a bag of garbage.

The ground shook for a moment before Rumi twisted her confined leg, forcing Neji to let go of it. 

Rumi didn't get up immediately and swiped her leg around Neji's feet, instead.

Being caught off guard, stumbling, Neji started to fall face first and instinctively tried to use his quirk to propel himself back—but stopped before that could happen. However, all this gave Rumi a chance to strike.

So, she clenched her legs and narrowed them together like a spear before using her hands to push her body forward, therefore shoving her leg right into Neji's falling face.

There was an impact as her feet hit Neji's jaw and then his neck twisted the other way. With a burst of wind, his body was thrown far back.

Rumi immediately rushed to attack him again, certain he was fine.

As she had expected, while her leg was going down in a <Luna Fall> towards his head, Neji moved from the ground, narrowly avoiding the attack, before he kicked a few metres away.

"Phew, you are stronger than I thought, Rumi," Neji said while wiping blood from his swollen lips to which Rumi just snorted.

"You are not taking this seriously." She said in a stern tone. "I dislike people who don't take things seriously."

He hasn't even done a proper attack. If it was any other hero, they'd have assumed Neji was too caught up in dodging to get the chance to attack.

But it was Rumi, and she could guess what her opponent could and could not do.

'She dislikes people who don't take things seriously…? Yikes, bad match.' Neji stared at her for a moment in strange irony before shrugging. 

"Fine." He said. "I will give my all."

Then he disappeared.

Rumi's animalistic instinct all of a sudden went frenzy just as danger screamed from behind her.

For an instant, she was almost frightened to turn back. That single instant was enough for the person behind her to grab her hair in a grip and then slam her body on the ground face first.

She turned around immediately, but as her eyes turned to the sky, she saw a huge fist coming down her face. It landed and whacked on her nose, causing the noise of crunch to sound out before she saw the fist, now painted red, come down to her face again.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw her first time in ever intern's cold and expressionless face, which opposed her brightly grinning one, as he punched towards her brutally.

She gave out a loud laugh, feeling a rush of adrenaline stream through her whole body as his second punch also landed.

The third one however, was dodged by the rabbit. She did it by twisting her waist before throwing her leg at his neck, causing him to block it by withdrawing his punch.

However, even as he blocked the kick, the next instant,  her fist came crashing upwards at his nose. 

Her arms lacked the explosive strength of her legs, but it was still many times stronger than a normal adult. So, it threw Neji's head backwards, giving her a chance to jump up and take a standing position a few metres away from the man who she had mistaken for a child until now.

Then, she rushed at him again.

…..

The fight lasted for an extra 23 long minutes, a match of dodge and attack.

Their strengths were an almost exact match.

When he punched her five times, she turned it two folds. Then, he returned two-fold of that.

In the end, they slumped down on the ground, opposite to each other with their heads touching.

It's been half an hour since then.

"Yeah… and after that the big fat villain tried to squash my head with his large feet. If not for Nana Shimura's arrival, I would have honestly died." Rumi said, her breathing heavier than usual. "That's when I knew being weak wouldn't work, I gotta become strong enough to at the very least protect myself."

Neji made an agreeing sound from the other side. "That was your turning point, I presume."

"Heh, it was."

At her chuckle, Neji looked back at the words she had spoken just before the match, as a smile formed on his bloody swollen lips.

'Guess fighting does show the truest side of a person, therefore bringing them either closer or pushing them further. Luckily, this time it's the former.'

After their fight, which was more or less a wrestling match at the last phase, Rumi had opened up a little, by herself he might add.

Neji then heard a yawn before the rabbit spoke again. "Anyway," she said. "That's all for my backstory. Not many people know it, so consider yourself special, Neji." With a chuckle, she sat up with a grunt. 

"I am real thirsty right now. I guess you are too. Follow me inside, I have some cold drinks." She rubbed her backside as she strode forward. 

Neji, seconds later, casually stood up before following suit. He had to ask the System to slow down his HP Recovery so that his wounds didn't disappear in minutes, yet even after doing that, he could barely feel any strain in his body after that breathtaking fight.

Then, he walked inside the Japanese mansion that had a fresh aroma as if he had just entered a forest,  causing him to release a soft sigh of satisfaction.

Things were developing perfectly.

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[Self Note: Image on this chapter!]