Chapter Text
“I have officially underestimated you, Niijima-san.” Byleth’s statement is breathy and labored. She wipes sweat from her brow, then slides down the Shujin gym wall into a sitting position in the corner. “There’s room for improvement, as always, but I’m impressed.” She reaches next to her priorly discarded gym bag and produces two ice cold bottles of water, then extends one in Makoto’s direction.
Makoto accepts the offer, and has already cracked the bottle open and drank half of its contents by the time she’s seated next to Byleth. “That makes two of us, Sensei.” She inclines her head to rest against the wall, making any attempt to slow her breaths. “You kept me on my toes, that’s for sure.”
The next items from Byleth’s bag are a few dry towels to rid themselves of sweat. “What specific martial art did you say you trained in?” She tosses the towel directly at Makoto’s face, eliciting a sheepish giggle.
She yanks the towel away and starts to rub it against her neck and arms. “Aikido. And what about you? That display implies some kind of formal technique.”
“Systema, mostly.”
“Hmmm, I think I’ve read about that. It’s Russian, right?”
Byleth rises from her seat and offers a helping hand to Makoto. “Yes. Aikido is one of the martial arts that inspired it, actually.” Makoto accepts, and she effortlessly pulls her up. “Well, probably. It’s unverified, but likely.”
“I see… that explains all the joint lock techniques you used.”
Byleth assumes a stance for demonstration. “Systema teaches that if you control someone's ‘levers,’ you can control their body entirely. Try it.”
“And ‘levers’ here refers to the elbows, knees, and neck?” Makoto mimics the stance, not too far from what she’s grown accustomed to in her own martial training. Then, she performs a gentle but thorough arm bar technique, completely in control of Byleth’s movements despite the size difference between them.
She points to her collarbone with her free hand, still as calm as can be. “As well as the shoulders and hips, to a lesser extent.”
“Fascinating. I’m curious, were there any mental aspects of training as well?” Makoto releases her, finally standing to her full height.
“Not particularly. But I found that mindfulness meditation made a difference. Why do you ask?”
“Aikido applies a mental preparedness to meet your opponent’s energy and cooperate with it, so to speak. In doing so, you can use their momentum against them, or control it entirely.”
Byleth collects her possessions and starts to massage different muscles in her arms, hoping to avoid unnecessary aches in the coming days. “Interesting. Suffice to say: you won’t have much to learn under my tutelage, aside from a bracing spar here and there.”
Makoto actually smiles in response, genuinely excited at the prospect. “Good. That was always a complaint of mine when I was learning it. My sparring partners never attacked with intent to follow through. Granted, not harming your attacker violently is one of Aikido’s core philosophies, but…” Her eyes flit to the side as she considers her unusual circumstances.
“That won’t work well against shadows.”
Her eyes land back on Byleth, who is now rolling her joints to ensure they remain loose. “Precisely.”
“I don’t think any training could have prepared you for what you’re going through now. I’m glad that I can be around for all of you, otherwise there wouldn’t be anyone who could train you for that.” By now, they’ve started unconsciously heading towards the gym’s exit, ready to wrap up for the day. The partly cloudy weather in the courtyard is a welcome comfort after a sweaty training session.
“You’ve got experience. That’s important in its own right.”
An unusual silence falls between them. Byleth has taken out her phone and is trying to open her schedule and figure out what the rest of her week is going to look like, leaving Makoto awkwardly grasping for conversational straws.
“Say, Sensei. Where did you learn Systema, anyway?”
Byleth is jolted back to reality. “Oh. My dad taught me when I was young. He learned it as part of military training and wanted to pass it on to me, for self-defense.” She doesn’t look up from her phone whatsoever. Whether to avoid eye contact or to really, really get her shit together is unclear.
“Ah, so your father, too…” Makoto presses a pensive thumb underneath her chin. There’s something more to Byleth here that she’s not saying.
“Hm?” Now she’s finally looking up.
Makoto’s eyes are as piercing as ever, though that might just be the result of her crimson irises driving the point home. “My dad was in the police when I was younger. I wonder what he would think of me now if he were still around.”
She has to dig through her own thoughts to find a response. “I… think he’d be proud. You’re doing something good.”
“I think so, too. What about your father, Sensei? I know you said you lost him…”
“There were a lot of people who expected I would be entirely over his death, since I had so much to deal with after waking up. For a while, that was true.” She leans against the walkway’s handrail, looking down to follow lines in the pavement. “I’d even avenged him before those five years. But after the last of my business was over… the compartmentalization started to leak. It felt like I’d lost a bit of purpose, of identity.”
“Sensei…” Makoto grips Byleth’s forearm to comfort her. She’s surprised to feel that she’s… pretty buff.
“It’s okay. I’m in therapy now, and I found new reasons to live. Before anything, I’m a teacher. I care for my students, and I want to see them grow into flourishing, mature adults. All of you are a part of humanity already, but you’ll be steering us later. I need to prepare you for that.” Then, she looks back at Makoto, eyes glimmering with compassion. “Speaking of. I need you to be prepared to look to the future after we’ve finished all of our business. Don’t get so focused on it that you lose who you are.” For the first time since this conversation started, Byleth smiles again. “Of the entire team, I think I don’t have to worry about you finding that.”
“I don’t know about that…” Makoto’s hand finds the back of her neck, and she winces at the accusation. “I’ve been so focused on my studies that I haven’t given much thought to what to do.”
“You don’t have to know yet. Know yourself, and the rest will follow.” Before Makoto gets the chance to respond, Byleth has dug her hands into her pockets and is walking away. In spite of the conversation’s tone near the end, her voice chimes with a joyous clarity. “Good lesson today, Niijima-san. Let me know when you’d like another.”
“O-okay. I’ll see you around, Sensei.”
Byleth doesn’t look back.
Who knows how similar we might be, underneath it all?