小嫂子的味道

"Are you ready?" asked Anya as we both held onto our swords and stood in position.

The atmosphere was filled with tension as a cold breeze embraced us gently, Anya looked right into my eyes as if asking "You're prepared right?" to which I looked back in her eyes with confidence and nodded.

Today Anya was taking my graduation exam meaning after this there won't be anything left for her to teach me, well, that was not the important part though. For me what comes afterward was important.

Thus I need to win this no matter what.

"Let's get this done," said Anya and leaped toward me like a burst of wind.

Of course, I was not going for the defensive. We both leaped forward at the exact same time, I held my sword tightly and swung it down-left.

But she was fast, she deduced that I will go for an attack like this. The one who taught me this was her after all, and you can say it was the only disadvantage I had in this battle.

A loud sound of metal clashing was heard as a burst of sparks was launched into the air when our swords clashed, blocking each other's movement. I took a side-step and spun rightwards as I moved my sword only by my right hand and threw a slash aimed at Anya's shoulder.

Noticing the attack coming she first tried to block it but then dodged it by bending backward the instant she realized that that was not a single attack. My sword cut through the air after Anya dodged it, completing a full swing I turned around and took a step forward as I threw two slashes toward her while moving my sword in an X motion.

She dodged the first attack first slash by jumping forward and, "Huh?", I said out of surprise, my blade swishing through nothingness.

Anya…was not there. 'Shit!', I turned back quickly when I realized the situation I was into, while I held my sword right in front of my neck I prepared my hands for the upcoming impact.

Just as my eyes caught the glimpse of the scenery behind me a sword clashed with mine on its side. Both swords scraped and chipped each other releasing a great number of sparks in the process.

I forcefully exhaled and took another breath after barely blocking Anya's attack. Before her sword could begin its motion again, I darted backward to maintain the distance between us.

But I can't be on the defensive for too long or she'll corner me and that will work against me. I clenched onto the handle of my sword and dashed toward Anya, releasing several strikes, down-right, upper-left, and midair.

A *CLANK!* sound was heard every time she blocked my sword with her own; both of our blades were chipped and had gained dents due to this. Finishing my series of attacks I leaped backward to prepare for another combo.

Anya excelled in speed, the more time she'll have the more my chances of winning will decrease. I remembered my C rank strength status as I focused my energy on my arms.

I felt blood rushing through my veins as I launched myself in her direction. I held my sword high and delivered a straight upper to lower slash. Anya placed her sword in front, trying to block my attack.

The sound this time was the loudest when the two blades clashed, as well as the number of sparks released in the air. The attack carried such force behind it that it caused Anya to take a few steps back to maintain her position.

*CLING!*, She pushed back my blade with hers and leaped back, maintaining distance between us. She bent forward as she stood in her place and positioned her sword at a specific angle, all while looking at me as she narrowed her eyes.

'So she's going to use it huh, I thought this is a test thus she'll go easy on me,' I couldn't help but smirk when I thought about that.

If she was going to use "that" series of attacks then it's fair for me to use [Foresight] as well. I practiced a while ago with that skill and I know how to use it; I just need to concentrate and think of using the skill in my mind and that'll activate it.

"Ah well, so be it," I sighed, preparing myself for the upcoming "things".

I held my sword straight toward Anya, signaling that I was accepting her challenge. This must be her way of warning me as if I was careless then the upcoming attack can cause me a serious injury.

My eyes were locked on Anya but just for that moment when I blinked, she vanished from her spot. I looked everywhere in my field of view to find her as quickly as possible, then I noticed her dashing toward me at utmost speed. Her speed was so high that she would look invisible from a normal person's perspective

I felt a blow of air on my face as she stopped a few steps before me and started moving her sword rapidly in almost impossible-to-track motions. It was at that exact moment when I used my skill [Foresight] and activated my ability to look 0.1 seconds into the future.

The view before me changed and now I saw multiple Anya's launching multiple attacks at me. One would say that this made things more difficult but it was not true; the other Anya's I was seeing were all the possible attacks she could do and their movement speed was slow which made it easier for me to block them.

I realized one more thing by this, [Foresight] didn't really show me the future rather it shows me all the possible futures that can come true in the next 0.1 seconds. The time difference was very small but it was enough to change the flow of a fight in my favor.

Anya kept attacking me from multiple angles at high speed while I kept blocking them with my swords. The sounds of metal clashing were all my ears could catch, and my hands were starting to go numb slowly, I was able to predict her next attack with my skill but keeping up with her speed turned out to be more painful than I imagined.

I would have lost this battle long ago if I was not a B ranker with C rank attributes.

The attack Anya was using right now was her specialty, a series of fifty non-stop sword strikes all dealt at an almost impossible speed. This was an attack Anya was practicing for the past four years, one year after she started teaching me.

But I never thought she'll use it in this fight, I mean from her point of view using an attack like this against me, who's supposed to have average stats and does not excel in anything, would mean her complete win won't it?

And this fight was my graduation in which I have to win or that'll mean I learned nothing and she will have to keep on teaching me-Wait!

'Keep on teaching me?' when that thought surfaced I felt like this connected with the situation that happened during dinner last night.

'Could it be that she wants me to lose?'

If this was somehow connected with the thing troubling her then I had no real reason to win. No, in the first place, the reason I wanted to win this fight was so I can know what was troubling her.

'I should give it a try, and it's not like I'll lose anything if all this turned out to be my imagination,' I decided to gamble on this *imagination* of mine.

*CLANK!* her sword clashed with mine, the force behind it caused my sword to fly from my grip and fall to the ground behind. The moment I was unarmed Anya stopped her sword just before my neck.

"You lost," she whispered, loud enough for me to hear.

"Yeah, I guess," I said as I showed a little troubled expression on my face. Now that I think about it, an average-ranked person like me winning against the girl with the highest rank in this city wasn't logical, to begin with.

"Shit! I slacked off because I thought you will go easy on me," I said as I walked to my sword and pick it up.

"There was no meaning to this exam if I was going easy on you. If you lost, then it just means you haven't trained hard enough," said Anya while putting her sword back in its sheath.

"Yeah, figures. By the way…will you now tell me?" I asked, carefully bringing up the topic I wanted to know about.

"Tell you about what?" she asked, giving me a somewhat confused expression, though she was trying to keep a poker face.

I can tell because I myself have done that many times and I'm quite good at it.

"About what's troubling you, about why you're not acting like yourself for a few weeks," I appealed as I looked straight into her eyes.

She didn't reply and averted her gaze from me, but after a moment she spoke, "Sight! Okay, I'll tell you, or you're going to keep asking me forever."

"Well you got that right," I replied with an innocent smile.

So it wasn't my imagination, finally, I'll know what was troubling her. I've been in this world for only five years but I have accepted Ron, Ainge, and Anya as my family.

If something was going on behind the scenes that is causing them trouble then I'll make sure to get rid of it.

After all, I have a great advantage in this world…as an author who's reincarnated in a fantasy setting!