Chapter Text
Hajime and a group of valkyries were both standing on different sides of the simulation room.
One group is shown to be full of B ranked honkai Fighters and the other side is a just solo party which consisted of a B-ranked knight.
Few were showing excitement on how this fight would go.
Hajime cracked his neck as he examined his opponents and sighed deeply.
"Look out, Captain! We are the best combination of valkyries you will ever face." Hajime showed his acknowledgement by nodding to the group of girls in front of him.
"Alright. The promotional exam would start in a few minutes. Are both parties ready?" Fu Hua looked at both groups.
"We are ready!" As the leader of the group showed her enthusiasm.
Hajime nodded as he holstered his greatsword, pistols and newly developed ice gauntlets, which were Fists of Fimbulwintr.
"I will act as a judge to see if one party is truly down for the count!" Hajime nodded and readied his martial art stance.
"Alright. Begin!"
One group led the initiative, hoping to end it soon as possible for the rank promotion.
And it started with a head on speeding full strength punch to the stomach.
Much to their expectations, the other party was sent flying to the wall, leaving a huge dent.
Many wonder why everyone is so wary of Hajime when he was this easy to take down.
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"Looks like this rank promotion would be a piece of cake for them, Overseer." Theresa crossed her arms, thinking as she heard a proud professor's statement.
"Why did you say to the girls that they should be extra-prepared when he was this easy to defeat, Master Durandal?" As the teacher gave a confused look. Bianka only looked disappointed. Rita gave a smirk as if she won a bet, unintentionally ignoring the educator.
"Because Ha~Ji~Me~ never makes it easy for all of us." Elysia placed her chin on her palm as she was amused, watching down below.
On the observation deck, it was shown that Theresa, Durandal And Rita were considering if a certain party was eligible for a rank promotion. And certain promotions comes along with certain perks, responsibilities and recognition. But somebody needs to earn that title first before they could enjoy the glory of ranking up to the top.
Based on Durandal, Theresa and Rita's reaction, they are not that willing to give that to anyone, not especially for those who just rely on brute force. And they also understand that it will never be that easy for anyone to get it.
The professor, who acts as the valkyries' coach, thinks otherwise as Hajime never showed any reaction when he got punched in the stomach before sending him flying to the wall.
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The leader crossed her arms and huffed.
"I can't see what is the big deal about him. This fight already finished as soon as he was our examiner. Right, girls?"
"Yeah! We can become A ranked valkyries now!" The orange hair valkyrie only showed her confusion.
"Hmmm…….."
"Something wrong, Sarah?"
"I heard from Master Durandal that she specifically chose him to be our examiner."
"So? Captain Hajime could not exceed her expectations. And Someone should have been our examiner, not him. It actually felt unfair to him."
"I have heard that from the past few years, Rita is usually the examiner. Meaning that she should have been our examiner, not him."
"Maybe we are lucky that he wasn't that experienced!"
"Uh….. Sorry to break your bubble Luca but I talked to Master Rita about this earlier and she deemed him worthy to be our examiner. It honestly terrified me as she looked very confident about it."
"Oh. Don't worry about it, Joan. We already finished our exams. We did after all take him down. We are now one step closer to becoming S ranked like Master Dutandal!"
"Yeah……… That is true. Well, After this, where should we celebrate our victory? " As the group chatted with potential restaurants to party, never noticing that Fu Hua hadn't even tried to deem Hajime down for the count. She only gave a disappointed look as the valkyries failed to take something in account.
She knew it was going to take more than that to knock him out.
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"I am sure that you are saying that because he is your husband, Elysia. Surely he is not that dangerous." Elysia giggled.
"I could say that but lying things about my husband isn't very cute of me." The teacher showed her confusion. Rita giggled.
"Professor. What Miss Elysia is trying to say is that Hajime has fought Ganesha and Parvati alone before. Do you think he will be that easy?" The teacher widened her eyes and looked at Theresa and Bianka to confirm.
Both of them nodded to her horror.
She ran to the microphone and turned it on.
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" Girls! It is still….." As the teacher tried to warn them.
Ding!
The girls all raised their eyebrow from the weird bell ringing sound just to realize that Fu Hua herself was ringing a trip gong.
"Honestly. Why do you girls keep thinking that it takes an absurd strength to become the world's strongest valkyrie? She has other great feats that qualifies her as an S ranked valkyrie. Her being stupid strong isn't just one of them." The girls were surprised to see that Hajime was standing there, unscathed.
"How did you…?!"
"My turn." As Hajime just touched the leader's shoulder with his gauntlet.
The poor girl didnt even get to react as she got instantly frozen and encased in a solid block of ice.
"Looks like you are frozen now." Both valkyries took distance away from and both aimed at him as Hajime kept his poker face look.
Hajime's eyes glowed fuschia with green pupils. After that, he vanished out of their sight.
"Where did he go?!" As Joan looked left and right as she kept taking distance away from him.
"Behind you." Joan turned to fire her shots but got instantly frozen as Hajime held her hand and firearm.
Sarah, really afraid of the captain, kept evading around in the simulation area, hoping that the captain wouldn't freeze her.
To Hajime, she was panicking and trying to survive.
Seeing that Luca was being left unattended, she tried to help her escape from the ice block prison by striking her flaming blade to the chunk of ice.
Luca finally got the chance to breathe as Sarah helped her got out.
After a few coughs, Sarah said her thanks and slowly stood up.
Ding!
As none of the participating valkyrie noticed that Hajime stopped in his tracks.
"You okay?" Luca coughed.
"Yeah…….. He took me by surprise." She looked at the coach. "What's going on? I thought he was down for the count. We should have won that round!" Fu Hua crossed her arms with an eyebrow raised.
"I never said he was out. You girls prematurely celebrated without checking if you have finished the objective." Luca flinched as she watched Fu Hua's glare as Joan saved Sarah from her prison.
"You girls never bothered to check if he was or not so you have no one else to blame but yourselves." Both Luca and Joan scratched their heads. "And do you think Honkai would stop after you three won only one round?"
Hajime just stood there with his arm crossed while the three were getting reprimanded.
"Be glad that he is just playing a game with you." As the girls and the professor looked on in shock.
"What does that………."
Ding!
"Looks like It is my turn again." Hajime quickly sped to the three.
Hajime froze Joan, causing Luca and Sarah to look in horror as she was the only fire type wielder in the team. Both kept their eyes and crosshairs on him but Hajime just looked unfazed, daring them to shoot him.
"Never forget Honkai adapts quickly. If you can't do that faster, lives will be lost and/or sacrificed. And that is something none of us would rather do." Both can sense a certain animosity from Hajime and realize why Master Durandal and Master Rita recommended him.
Hajime is flexible and can easily break their formation that they really worked hard for. Not only that, due to Hajime's experience of being the field tactician for the Hyperion Valkyries, it would be in the realm of possibility that Hajime had them cornered like a rat.
Most Valkyries fear Rita and Bianka as due to having the most experience of overwhelming others and overpowering them respectively.
Hajime has an abundance of experience of outplaying his.
Luca couldn't use her gauntlets as she might get frozen from his touch.
Sarah was a long ranged fighter but Hajime moved too fast for her.
The worst part is that they absolutely have no idea what he really is capable of.
They are just going in blind and they are definitely going to lose.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What did she mean by 'he is just playing a game with them?" She looked at Theresa, Bianka and Rita but none of the three gave an immediate response as they were occupied with something else.
"Can't believe I lost a bet to Kiana and Rita." Bianka slumped and sighed as Rita gave a smug smirk.
"Can't believe I lost a bet to Hajime." As Theresa held her head. "I don't wanna wear my Homu Pajamas for the whole day in office."
"At least you will be confined to your office all day. Rita and Kiana would take me clothes shopping, for me and Stan." Bianka sighed and sweatdropped.
Elysia giggled as the professor was confused and hurt that she was ignored.
"You didn't notice?" The professor raised an eyebrow, causing Elysia to giggle.
"Hajime is playing freeze tag sprinkled with rules of Red light and Green light with them."
Looking at the simulation area again, It was confirmed that Hajime is playing a game.
And He was it.
Wanting to save the girls, she turned on the microphone But Rita stopped her.
"No need. They are already done." As the professor watched her students get frozen while Hajime adjusting his gauntlets with a bored look.
"From the looks of it, professor. They failed their promotional exam. Please have them sent to the medical wing for further clinical inspection." Theresa gave a bored look to the professor as she gave her profile with a color red 'Failed' stamped on the profile. After that, Theresa left to proceed with her work.
"What happened? He was just a B Ranked Knight. They never should have problem dealing with him." Bianka chuckled as if she heard a bad joke.
"Trust me, He is anything but a B ranked Knight. One of Hajime's abilities is to absorb what was inflicted upon him and then use that as his weapon."
"How does that exactly work?" Elysia, Theresa, Rita and Durandal shrugged their shoulder.
"He couldnt say."
"Couldn't or He doesn't want to?"
"He couldnt as it happened in a dream. Something happened when he was asleep but he doesn't fully remember at his end as it felt like a foggy maze to him. All we know is that the main core of his own ability is to absorb blows after blows."
"Then he should have a limit of what he can absorb." Bianka shook her head.
"Kiana and I fought him together once to test that theory. He did not make it easy as he kept dishing out what we kept giving. As for testing that theory ourselves, it seems that he doesn't have one. If there was, He is certainly not showing it."
"That fight lasted a while where She and I were getting exhausted sparring him. I, in fact, did the same as the girl did to him by punching him in the stomach. Imagine my surprise when he came back, still standing and started to counter attack." Bianka circled her wrists. "Who knew blocking my own power hurts?" As she massaged her own arms.
"I saw him sparring with his own wife and he was having trouble doing so. How can you explain that?"
"Because Miss Elysia's crystals has the ability to siphon his absorbed energy from him. A feat that no one else here has." Rita adjusted her hair and fixed her scythe. Elysia giggled.
"Even if I am probably more than capable to or lead him to a dance, my hubby is really hard to outwaltz. Sometimes it is not a duet anymore. It felt more like a competition between outdoing one another. It is impressive to think about it to be honest." Elysia tapped the corner of her lips with an impressed look.
"You never held back?" Elysia giggled.
"That wouldnt be cute of me, would it now?"
"Then that is the case, Why on earth he is still a B rank?"
"Oh. That is because he didnt even bother to promote himself, saying that it is far more troublesome than being a desk jockey of a captain."
"You are telling me that the reason why he is still B rank is because he got lazy considering about it?!"
"Pretty much." As Bianka, Rita and Elysia answered the professor's inquiry.
"He is missing out the benefits!"
"It would be unnecessary as he was already a captain of the hyperion. No need for him to climb the ranks when he is already at the top." Bianka shrugged her shoulders.
"Why?! If he is a knight, then he should be climbing the ranks!"
The girls shrugged their shoulders.
"He is a simple man. He just wants to have the ability to fight alongside with the valkyries. He just wants to ease them from the burdens as a valkyrie." Both Elysia and Rita nodded in confirmation.
"He is ridiculously insane!" She took off with her students' profile with an annoyed look.
"My only complaint to his combat abilities is that it needs a little bit of work." The two nodded.
"For a man who has the capability of wielding multiple type of weapons, he needs practice using them."
"I am sure my hubby is doing his best."
"I am sure that he is but his combat style is a mess. Sometimes, you can't tell what kind of fighting style does he really want."
"I am sure that Master Fu Hua will think of something for him."
"Well……. i hope so for his sake." Bianka gave a worried look as she watched everyone leaving the simulation area.
Hajime kept his eyes closed as he sat on his knees with a blade placed on the left.
He took a few deep breaths while Mei, who was in the same pose as him, was doing the same meditative state.
Take deep breaths.
Calm your mind.
Enter the state of tranquility
"You ready?" Hajime nodded and slowly stood up while holding his blade.
Mei smiled softly as both held their wooden sword out, preparing for the stance.
"Let's begin, shall we?" As Mei quickly dashed and gave a few slashes.
Hajime reactively but barely parried all of the strikes.
Do not get sloppy with your strikes.
Stand your ground.
Be the blade.
Mei analyzed his movements and nodded to indicate that she will change things a bit.
She has moved to a different location to strike Hajime at his left.
The student noticed this but almost barely blocked her attack.
To his surprise, Mei added weight to her strikes, making Hajime off-balance.
The master of the blade saw this opportunity and swept him off his feet.
Shit!
I forgot to stabilize myself after turning!
As Hajime tried to get up from the fall, His neck was already inches close to Mei's wooden blade.
"Not bad but I do need to let you know that your footing was off. Always consider everything as a factor." Hajime clicked as he realized why he was having trouble blocking her attacks.
"One more time?" Hajime nodded aa his eyes glowed gold.
Mei wanted to ask why but decided to do that after training.
Mei attacked with a different style again, causing Hajime to withdraw and block her sword strikes.
Hajime was barely keeping up with her attacks but the strength he kept exerting to push her off was increasing.
She realized what Hajime was doing and decided to change it up for a bit by shadow stepping behind him to deal with the finishing blow.
To her surprise, He blocked her attack.
Mei smiled.
"Alright. I think I have tested you enough for today." Hajime nodded and collapsed on the floor, causing her to giggle.
"I didnt push you that hard, did I?" Mei showed her concern to the captain.
"No. Just not used to it yet, you know?" Mei nodded.
"Should I…..?" Hajime chuckled.
"You did wonderful, Mei. A teacher shouldnt be walked over by a student. You are gentle with your lesson but harsh with the training." Hajime weakly stood up.
"Sounds to me that you are doing a good job so far." Mei smiled softly.
"I understand that, Hajime but i still need to find ways to improve so I can become a better sensei like Himeko sensei." Hajime chuckled as he took deep breaths.
"Humble as always." As Hajime sheathed his blade.
"Well…… If there is something i would like to point out, It is the limit and capablities."
"As in my limits and capabilities as a teacher?" Hajime shook his head with a smile.
"Not just yours but your students as well. Believe it or not, most tend to push themselves beyond their limits. I dont mind my students reaching way past their limits as it helps them improve. But you sometimes can tell that they are about to crash and burn."
"That is where we come in, right?"
"That is correct. We not only push our students out of their comfort zone just so we could prepare them for the future but we also help them stay grounded to who they are. That way, they could still live a happy lives. Seeing on what they turned out to be in the end is just a nice little bonus." Mei chuckled.
"I am guessing you enjoyed that little perk when we were under your care?"
"Guilty as charged. My only complaint is that Kiana keeps depleting 25% of my savings account every month just for her dang appetitie after all these years." Mei giggled.
"I am sure that it isnt that bad."
"I could buy a Homu sports car just for all of that expense, Mei."
"You will be fine, Captain." Hajime rolled his eyes as he twirled his weapon and holstered it to his waist.
"Seeing you carrying a blade really suits you, Hajime." Hajime chuckled.
"I will have Dr. Nagamitsu develop me a blade that is suited for me." Mei raised an eyebrow.
"You mean to tell me that you havent find a right one, yet?" Hajime pouted and shook his head.
"To her surprise, I keep breaking them."
"Well….. It is fortunate that she is very patient with you." Hajime rolled his eyes upward to remember a distinctive memory.
"I will have Hephaestus and Baldur chase your sorry butt!"
"Oh, Come on! I said I am sorry." As Hajime was being chased by two large Schicksal robots.
"Not enough! Get over here, you dumb nitwit!"
"Yeah……….. Patient." Hajime muttered.
Mei giggled as she can see in him that he had trouble earning Dr. Nagamitsu's patience.
"One last thing, Hajime." Mei took out a rolled out tatami mat and gave him a Steel blade. He rose an eyebrow to show his curiosity.
"I want you to test your might with the blade on the tatami roll."
"Ah……. You mean you want to see how good I am with my 'choppy' skill." Hajime snickered at his own bad joke.
Mei was not amused.
"....... Sorry." Hajime took the blade and prepared his stance.
Before Hajime gets to start, Fu Hua came in unannounced but kept silent as Hajime was still not done with how his training with Mei.
He took deep breaths and deeper thoughts.
Be the blade.
Achieve tranquility.
Show your might.
To Hajime, the world slowed down and he could only hear his loud heartbeat.
He wasn't sure if he could hear both Mei and Fu Hua's conversation.
He quickly drew out his blade and struck the tatami mat.
To his disappointment, the blade broke from its hilt and it only sliced halfway through.
"Darn. I really thought I was going to do it this time." Hajime scratched the back of his head. Mei chuckled.
"You have done well, all things considered." Mei patted his back. "Remember, you are just starting out on how to use the blade.
"Yeah. That is true." He sighed. "Well. Since I am done with my swordsmanship training for the day, I can focus on my other training." He turned to Fu Hua, who was examining the blade.
"You wanted something from me, Master Fu Hua?" Normally Fu Hua would just blush at awkward it is at the situation but now she was engaged with something else as she was currently inspecting the 'broken blade' at the ground.
"Hmmm…….. Intriguing." Fu Hua held her chin and thought deeply.
Both Mei and Hajime showed their curiosity. The latter took the initiative.
"Fu Hua?" Hajime slightly tapped her shoulder.
"Hajime? Did you seriously fight a Parvati with just a dull greatsword using this ability?" Hajime scratched the back of his head and chuckled.
"I am sure that those are the news you heard circulating in Schicksal and St. Freya when Elysia and I took our marriage leave but in truth that isn't actually true." Hajime chuckled causing the immortal valkyrie sigh in relief. Mei still proudly smiled at the feat.
Regardless, Hajime. You won that fight. That is something to be proud of.
Fu Hua nodded with a smile. "Well. You have intrigued me, captain." Hajime scratched the back of his head.
"Thanks. Anyways. If there is nothing else, i am going to get back to Bronya as i promised her that i would be her disciple in today's evasion training." Fu Hua nodded.
"Make sure that you remember to practice the techniques i taught you earlier."
"Ways of the Six Fists, right?" Fu Hua nodded.
"Will do." Hajime took his stuff and headed out.
Mei was curious about something so she stopped him right before he got out of the door.
"Hajime? You told me that the news we heard about you fighting a Parvati alone and won was just misinformation right?"
"Oh. That part is true. I actually fought a Parvati and won alone. Elysia wasnt there with me that time." Hajime reactively held his back to indicate that his back was brutally punished.
"Then what part of the news we heard isn't true?"
"The part that i used a simple greatsword to fight that thing."
"How did you actually win then?"
"By using a baseball starter kit."
Saywhatnow?
Saywhatnow?
Saywhatnow?
"Anyways. Bronya has been waiting for me. Need to go." Hajime took his stuff.
"Toodle-oo." As Hajime ran to get to Bronya.
Mei was left wide-eyed and decided to inspect the broken blade on the floor.
To her surprise, the blade didnt look broken.
It just looked like the blade was detached from the hilt and there was no nick spotted on the edge of the blade. It was still sharp. So sharp that she could slice a paper smoothly like butter.
Another curious thing to her was that the blade was glowing.
Testing that theory, she threw the blade at a nearest training mech.
To her surprise, the mech exploded and what was left behind from its destructive explosion was the same blade, unscathed and undamaged.
Fu Hua decided to look at something else.
"Mei?" Fu Hua examined the rolled up tatami mat. "This is a honkai reinforced, correct?"
"Correct. Dr. Nagamitsu took some concept from Hajime's lightning bows of Odysseus and integrated its absorbing capabilities to the tatami mat."
"Meaning the only way to slice the tatami mat through is to fully utilize all one's stored honkai energy. That would also mean that S ranked valkyries and herscherrs would have no problem breaking it, correct?" Mei nodded.
"Has anyone aside from the one mentioned manage to cut it through?" Mei chuckled sheepishly.
"Only Hajime has managed to cut it halfway through." Fu Hua nodded.
Hmmm……… Impressive. Let me give it a try on him.
Fu Hua nodded while crossing her arms.
"How is the progress on training him?" Fu Hua sighed.
"Hajime is a good student. Problem is he doesn't have a consistency to his fighting style."
"Meaning?"
"He often catch up to his opponents but his movements were like shadow."
"A poor imitation of whom he is against." Fu Hua nodded with regret.
"Not that much, i assume?"
"None at all."
Both teaching valkryies sighed with deep regret as they both unable to find the right method to teach Hajime with.
Hajime was at home, laying his cast leg on a stool.
"Cant believe my leg got burned during training." He rubbed the recently damaged leg with a downtrodded look.
"Well….. I just have to stay like this for one day due to my healing abilities." He sighed. "Well….. Since i got nothing else to do. What shows are on today?" Hajime turned on the TV manually as he couldnt find the remote.
He had snacks and prepared so he could watch the shows he missed out on.
As the television finally turned on, it finally showed him the series.
To his dismay, it wasnt something that he liked.
"You are now watching HOMI's LOVE."
"Ugh….. At least it is for just one episode. I can power through."
Unfortunately for him, it wasnt just for one episode.
To his surprise, Elysia had it recorded so she could binge watch the entire series.
The whole series has 5 seasons, 25 episodes per season.
"Ugh….. Fine. Where is that dang remote or my phone so i could change the channel?"
He looked around to see if he could find his remote or phone at least.
"Aillie? Have you seen where the remote is?"
No response.
As he tried to move, there was a paper note left fell from the nearby drawer.
It was from Ellie.
" Dearest Hubby.
The girls and I decided to hang out just for shopping.
Try not to feel lonely without me~
Love
Your darling wife
Ellie."
Hajime rolled his eyes to that claim.
He also noticed a P.S. note and decided to read it.
"P.S.: I brought Aillie with me just to help us browse through the choices.
I also recorded Homi's love for you so you could enjoy the show.
Hugs and Kisses
Ellie~"
Hajime saw that there was a Chibi ellie drawing on the end of the note.
"Ugh……. That explains everything." He turned his attention to the televsion.
You know, Hajime. You could just switch the channel by actually standing up and change the channel yourself.
"Ugh… I am already comfty on this armchair and I dont want to move." He sighed in defeat.
"Fine. Let's see what this show got for me."
All right. Your choice.
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"Hubby~ I am home!" As Elysia was carrying her shopping bags and placed them on the kitchen counter.
"Did you miss me?" As Elysia was looking for him.
When she arrived at the living room where she could hear sounds being played, she giggled at what she saw.
Hajime had blanket covered his legs and he already has piles of eaten ice cream bucket on his right side.
Right now, He was eating another strawberry ice cream bucket on hand while watching the 5th season finale of the series.
"I am sorry, Homu. But i am in love with someone else."
"But We can still make this work. There is still us, Homei."
"I am sorry, Homu. I truly cherished our friendship together. I really do. But this is the end of the road for us."
"But Homei……."
"Goodbye forever, Homu."
The season finale ended with Pink homei figure leaving the sad yellow Homu alone in the rain.
"Oi! You did not end the season there! What happened to Hola?! And where the hell is Homi?!" Elysia couldn't stop giggling seeing that Hajime got emotionally invested in the show.
"Awww….. Is my hubby sad at how the season ended?"
"Yes………."
"Dont worry, Hajime. The next season is on the works right now and they would upload it sometime tomorrow. If you can, we can just wait for it to show up."
"............ Fine. But i get to choose the snacks."
"Of course~" Elysia giggled as she sat with Hajime.
"What are other show on air right now?" As Elysia took out the phone to switch channels.