After she had finished putting on her fencing gear, Silver Rose stepped out of the storeroom, holding her foil and helmet under one arm. Quillion Riposte and a few others had already started practice, with others like Fleur Dis Lee still attending to their hair before putting their helmets on.

“Another day, another time to practice,” Royal Pin said as he flourished his foil. “I do hope they include fencing in the Friendship Games. I would very much like to have an event I am skilled at.”

“You’re competing too, Royal Pin?” Silver asked him. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yes, well, Principal Cinch had informed me that I would be one of the chosen students representing the school.” He lifted his head proudly. “Won’t I look just dashing on the victory podium?”

“I think you will, Royal Pin,” Silver chuckled and put her helmet on. “I’ll be rooting for all of you.”

“You may begin when ready, Quillion,” Mr. Fowl said from behind a book.

After doing some stretches, Silver Rose took up her usual position on the fencing mat, which was to say that she would be sparring against Fleur today. Silver had learned from facing her before that Fleur’s offensive capabilities were high, but she tended to leave her left side unguarded as a result of her more aggressive tactics.

Sacrificing defense for attack, as some might say.

“Are you ready for a round, Silver Rose?” Fleur held her foil vertically in front of herself.

“Ready as I’ll always be,” the pink haired girl answered, lifting her foil.

Crossing swords for the moment, Fleur was the first to attack, pressing forward, her foil swishing left and right as she tried to knock Silver’s defense down. Silver Rose kept up her parrying, her eyes darting around she she tried to pick out the right time to lash out. But then she messed up on one parry and Fleur took the chance to step in and jab her in the shoulder, scoring a point.

“Score one!” Fleur cheered, pulling her helmet off to rearrange her hair.

Silver watched her, unsure of how a type of girl like Fleur Dis Lee could be so good at fencing. Outside their sport, Fleur always seemed to be the kind that didn’t want to get her hands dirty. She was attractive, likely one of the prettiest girls in school with lots of students pining after her, but she wasn’t useless and whiny. If it got to a fight, like this, Fleur could handle herself just fine. Somehow, the picture didn’t quite fit for Silver, but then she remembered herself. Perhaps humans had their own secrets too.

“Round two,” she said, waiting for the white-skinned girl to replace her helmet.

“Ready.” Fleur raised her foil after she was done.

This time, Silver attacked first, stepping in far and thrusting forward so fast that a regular person would’ve been done in just like that. But not Fleur. The girl was nimble on her feet, leaning to the side and parrying Silver’s attack in one move. Then she advanced, pushing Silver back to defense in an instant.

Hmm, so she’s been holding back all this time, huh?

Silver felt that she had mastered quite a bit of fencing since joining, but perhaps she still had much to learn in the sport.

“Get back on the offense, Silver Rose,” Fleur said as she spun her foil in a circle, then jabbed from around Silver’s own blade.

Caught off guard, Silver threw herself to the ground, avoiding the attack, then kicking Fleur’s legs from under her before raising her foil tip to the girl’s helmet after getting back on her feet.

“Silver Rose…” Quillion walked over, his helmet under one arm. “I don’t want to have to keep reminding you, but that isn’t fencing. Good moves, but not fencing.”

“R-Right, I’m sorry… Habit…” Silver blushed hard and looked away, suddenly taking interest in the basketball team on the other end of the gym.

Unfortunately, most of the basketball team was now watching her as well, distracted from their practice. Sunny Flare noticed Silver was looking over and gave a quick wave, then a thumbs up.

My newest friend is cheering me on. I’ll have to try harder.

With a nod of thanks, Silver put her helmet back on and got ready again.

“Remember, no kicks, Silver Rose.” Fleur reached one arm backwards and the one holding her foil forward.

Taking a stab at attacking first, Silver lunged forward, feinting a stab to the left, the pulling back and going right. Fleur blocked her attack, but went on the defensive as Silver kept pushing forward, looking for an opening. She waited for Fleur’s weakpoint to show itself. Seeing as the girl was dominantly right handed, she tended to strike from the right more. On the attack, Silver couldn’t quite see the opening.

Maybe I’ll have to look at this from a different angle.

Attacking left again, Silver watched as Fleur cut out to the side, knocking her blade far, then lunged in, foil tip aimed for Silver’s chest. Once again, Silver was back on defense, but this time, she had planned for it. Watching Fleur attack, Silver waited for the right moment, her eyes keeping an eye on the girl’s left side.

And there it was. Whenever she thrust her weapon forward, she had a pull back before doing so, moving her right arm back and her left forward, leaving Silver with a second or less to attack her left shoulder.

Gotcha.

The next time Fleur readied an attack, Silver leaned in, keeping low, but keeping her foil leveled, by the time Fleur’s attack had gone forward, Silver already had her foil tip against the white-skinned girl’s shoulder, scoring her the point.

“I did it!” Silver yelled enthusiastically.

“Good timing, Silver Rose.” Fleur rubbed her shoulder and took her helmet off to rearrange her hair again. “You’re improving, even if you do employ unorthodox techniques from time to time.”

“Yeah… I don’t know why I keep doing that…” Silver put her arms behind her back. “My mistake. I’ll keep trying to get better at this.”

“As will all of us.” Fleur flicked her foil to the side with a swish of air. “But for now, let us take a water break.”

“Do you happen to be competing in the Friendship Games too, Fleur?” Silver asked as they arrived at the side where they had left their bags. “You’re quite skilled.”

“Unfortunately…” Fleur flipped her pink hair back. “I was not chosen by Principal Cinch, so she clearly does not think like you do.”

“Aw… That’s a shame.” Silver drank from her bottle of water. “You’ve got really fast reflexes for a hu- uh… for a… a skinny girl. I mean… I don’t mean any… no offense.”

Fleur raised an eyebrow and wiped her forehead with her towel. “None taken… I think. You need to speak more confidently, Silver Rose. You stammer a lot.”

“Yeah, uh, sorry. I’m not like my mother… I don’t have what it takes to be in front of people,” Silver admitted.

“I’m sure you can be in front of people,” Fleur said sympathetically. “Maybe you need a few lessons, sure, but anything’s possible if you work at it enough. I didn’t become a great fencer overnight, you know.”

“Well… maybe you’re right…” Silver said, playing with the tip of her foil. “Well, enough of me. How about we go a few more rounds? I’d like to work on my form and stuff.”

“Of course.” Fleur put her things down and got her foil back out. “We still have plenty of time.”

Silver took her foil and bent it with her fingers. It was such a thin, flimsy sword, so unlike the ones she was used to. No good in a real fight. Quillion had mentioned that they had sabers, but she had yet to see any in use. Perhaps she would ask about them once the club meeting was over.

“Okay, let’s try again,” Silver slipped her helmet back over her face. Fleur did the same and they took up positions on the mat. Once again, Fleur came at her in a tempest, thrusting her foil at Silver, who batted it aside.

The young changeling was once again on the defense, unable to pass Fleur’s speed without expending some love, and she wasn’t planning on using up any right now. Being so skinny must somehow make her lighter and faster.

Working on her feet positioning, Silver parried Fleur’s attacks, making sure she had the right balance to try and push her back to defense. All she needed, again, was a well timed strike.

Seeing the opening again, Silver jabbed for Fleur’s shoulder, but unfortunately this time, the other girl had learnt from her mistake. Twisted her body to the side, Fleur completely avoided the blow, but just barely, then striking out with her own foil, catching Silver in her side.

“Don’t use the same trick so often, Silver Rose.” Fleur walked back to her side and held her foil up. “Now, again. Change your tactics.”

“Right.”

After crossing foils, Silver was first to attack again, advancing with small steps and wide slashes, trying to get Fleur’s foil as far as she could from her body so that she could attack before the girl could recover. To her disappointment, her method didn’t seem to work much, as Fleur kept stepping back in, keeping close to prevent her large movements. Eventually, Silver felt another prod in her shoulder, sighing to herself as she failed to defend adequately. Again.

“Your mind has to be as quick as your body,” Fleur instructed. “You have proven your physical speed, but you still have to work on your quick planning and decisions.”

Silver panted, sweat dripping down her face from all her moving and attacking. She could feel Fleur’s skill in fencing, but even more than that, something inside her knew that Fleur was still holding back. Maybe it was the way her feet moved, or maybe her posture, but Silver just knew there was more than meets the eye with her.

“Again.” She raised her foil, hoping to find out just what the lithe girl knew.

After practice was over, Sunny Flare wiped her face with her towel, before building up enough courage to go over to the fencing team and congratulate Silver Rose on a job well done. She figured she needed to do as much as she can to get over every shred of fear she had of the new girl; the more concentration she had during the Games, the better.

Silver already had her suit off by the time Sunny reached them, waving to the pink haired girl as she got closer.

“H-Hey, Silver,” she greeted, trying to calm her nerves. It seemed she was still a little afraid those mauve hands would shoot up and strangle her. “Nice f-fencing, by the way. I, um, saw some of it from over there.”

“I tried my hardest, but I couldn’t best her.” Silver’s face was beaded with sweat. “Fleur’s really good at this.”

“Yeah.” Sunny looked at Fleur Dis Lee, who was now rearranging her silky pink hair. “I’ve heard from others that she really knows her stuff. But nice try, S-Silver. I think you really put in a lot of e-effort today. I-I mean, it looked like you were.”

Picking up her things, Silver began heading for the changing rooms, with Sunny following her. “I’ll just have to work harder, hmm? Anyway, how’s your basketball practice? You back in the game?”

“Yeah, I’m getting there…” Sunny scratched her cheek. “Umm… I’m less f-frightened by you now.”

“Watch out!” a voice warned.

Sunny turned just in time to see a basketball coming for her face. She flinched, but just before it could hit her, she watched a mauve-skinned hand shoot out and knock the ball away, sending it bouncing back to the court.

“My bad, Sunny!” It was one of the team’s members, Stark White.

Without warning, Sunny’s face warped into a frown and she shook a fist. “Watch where you’re throwing the ball next time!”

Like he was shot with a bullet, Stark White seemed to fall back, then nodded his head nervously before returning to the bleachers.

“Clumsy guy…” Sunny mumbled, continuing her walk to the changing rooms. “Thanks, Silver.”

“No problem.” The pink haired girl shrugged. “I just saw it coming, so I did what I should.”

“Yeah... They need to watch where they’re throwing those things. I could’ve gotten hurt.”

“Um, sure, Sunny.”

Pulling open her locker in the changing room, Sunny got out her uniform and towel before proceeding into one of the cubicles. She heard Silver go into the one next to her.

“So you seem all set for the Games now, Sunny,” Silver’s voice echoed from beyond the cubicle wall. “Think you’re ready now?”

Thinking about it, Sunny guessed she was ready. She was back to playing basketball, she had been exercising to the best of her ability, her schoolwork was improving again, except for English, and she had even yelled at someone just now, something she hadn’t done in quite some time. She still felt a sense of fear from Silver Rose, something she couldn’t quite place her finger on, but as long as she kept her focus on the Games, she knew she could do it.

“I think I’ve got this, Silver.” Sunny stripped out of her PE attire and shifted her shoes to the side. “I think I’m almost back to the way I was.”

“Yeah, with you yelling at that guy just now?” Silver could be heard turning on her shower. “I think you’re back to normal, Sunny. You can do this.”

“Well, almost b-back to normal…” Sunny hung her clothes on the rack, then turned on her own shower. “I’m very so-sorry I tried to bully you into s-submission when you first arrived. That’s the only difference now. Now you’re my f-friend, right?”

“That’s right, Sunny. Friends.”

Sunny smiled to herself and washed her hair. Silver Rose really was a nice girl. The other Shadowbolts had seemed to think so, but Sunny had been so adamant that she had an ulterior motive for being so nice to them. Maybe she was wrong. Silver really was genuinely trying to be friendly.

Sunny thought back to the scene in this room again. Silver’s hand had gone around her throat, squeezing hard. Sunny remembered being unable to breathe, the thought making her shiver again. But then she remembered the kiss that followed after that.

Like Lemon Zest had said the other day, she used to make out with her ex-boyfriend, Domino, all the time. They’d never gone further than kissing, before he decided to break up with her, but Silver’s one kiss had felt different. Sunny couldn’t quite explain it, but it felt natural. Domino had decided to break up with her last year, saying that their relationship was going nowhere. It had devastated Sunny and she had cried for a whole week, but eventually she had gotten over it, realizing there was no point being sad about it.

Now here was the Silver Rose scenario, where she first had a serious vendetta against the new girl, which then became a great fear of her after she had tried to kill her in this very changing room. Sunny hadn’t gotten over Silver showing off, like she had gotten over Domino Ace, but she had deeply regretted her actions and wished she had ignored it from the start.

And then after that, Silver had been so nice to her, also regretting her actions, but Sunny couldn’t blame her; she only reacted the way she did because of Sunny’s continuous torment on her.

Sunny pressed the back of a hand to her lips, trying to remember what Silver Rose’s kiss had exactly felt like. After doing so, she realized what she was doing and threw her hand aside, blushing furiously.

What the hay are you doing, Sunny?

The mulberry haired girl tried to fill her mind with other things instead, thinking back to the other Shadowbolts. They had prepared so long to win the Friendship Games and they weren’t going to falter now. After thinking about each one, Sunny had remembered her chat with Lemon Zest yesterday, with the girl changing back into her uniform.

Somehow, that led Sunny’s mind to Silver Rose again. When the girl had torn the cubicle right off its hinges, she had only been clad in her towel, which wasn’t the best of things to hide your body’s features. Silver Rose was slim, but also quite toned at the same time, meaning she had plenty of exercise, like herself and the rest of the Shadowbolts. She also had an about average sized pair of breasts, which were not bad to look at-

Sunny squirmed back in her cubicle again, placing her back against the cool wall, her blush darkening.

Sunny, what do you think you’re thinking about?

Sunny knew she was into guys. She had loved Domino Ace and she was most certainly in love with Fast Bender. She didn’t think there was any girl who could resist the man’s handsome features and muscled body. But why was she thinking about Silver Rose like that again?

“Everything alright over there, Sunny?” Silver’s voice broke her chain of thoughts, returning her under the shower in the cubicle.

“Um, y-yeah! Yeah! Everything’s alright!” Sunny swiftly answered, her hands on her burning cheeks now. “Nothing to worry about here!”

“Okay… If you say so.”

Sunny stood under the shower in silence and embarrassment for a while, the quietness only broken when she heard the other girls from the basketball and fencing teams enter the changing room. There were the sounds of lockers closing and opening and girls talking to each other, along with the slams of cubicle doors and other showers turning on.

Sunny figured she had been washing off long enough and decided to head out, turning off the shower to dry herself off with her towel. After she had her uniform on and back in place, she stepped out, deciding to head out to avoid the crowd before all the girls were to exit their cubicles as well.

When she pushed the locker room door open, Silver Rose was leaning against the right, waving at her when she walked out.

“All good?” the pink haired girl asked.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s all good.” Sunny nodded, hoping her cheeks had lost their red tinge by now. She hadn’t expected Silver to be waiting for her outside. She hadn’t expected her to be done with the shower already.

If Silver noticed anything, she didn’t say. “Will you be heading home now?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Sunny nodded, looking down the hall. “Still have homework to do besides practicing for the Games.”

The two girls began walking out to the exit.

“Sounds tough, having to keep practicing,” Silver muttered. “But I understand. We’ve got to be the best, right?”

“Yes we do,” Sunny laughed and raised an arm. “CHS is going to eat our dust. We’ve got a tradition to keep up. We’ve never lost to them. Never.”

“That’s good to know.” Silver skipped along, almost like nothing ever worried her.

Sunny watched as Silver Rose’s short skirt lifted higher when she jumped, revealing more mauve skin between her thigh socks and her skirt. Swallowing hard, the mulberry haired girl averted her eyes, berating herself mentally for still doing something weird like that.

She’d seen plenty of girls almost naked in the changing rooms before, seeing as they were all together. She was a girl herself, so seeing another girl in underwear was no big deal, but why was it different for Silver Rose? Sunny couldn’t figure it out and it bothered her.

Exiting the school’s main entrance, Sunny’s eyes were partially blinded by the sun’s light reflecting off the school’s crystalline floor. That was one thing she didn’t like about the floor.

“Well, my ride’s here.” Silver motioned to a black car in the carpark. “How do you get home, Sunny?”

“I usually walk,” the mulberry haired girl answered, looking down the street. “I don’t live very far from here.”

“Oh, that’s interesting. Would you like a lift home? I’m sure my aunt wouldn’t mind.”

“Oh, uh…” Sunny blushed again and looked at the ground. “Oh, I-I don’t want to t-trouble you. Don’t worry about me. I c-can get home just fine…”

“Well, if you insist then. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Silver smiled a most attractive smile.

Sunny’s eyes darted all around Silver, afraid to look at her. “Y-Yeah, I’ll see you then…”

Then Silver bent slightly, looking up at Sunny’s face, a confused look on her own. “Are you feeling alright?”

Shoot, she must’ve noticed! Shaking her head quickly, Sunny quickly put on a smile and said, “Just tired. I’ll be fine once I get home.”

“Well, okay. You take care, okay?” With one last wave, Silver Rose skipped down the steps and to her car, where she disappeared behind the door and black tinted windows.

Sunny stood unmoving for a few seconds, her mind racing. Then she lifted a hand and slapped it to the side of her head. “What’s wrong with you, Sunny? Just what is wrong with you right now?”