Tomoe moved her hand away from Dulga’s hand seeing how she didn't generally care about cuddly stuff like that. Dulga didn't look like she had any weak points about her harsh and strict personality but Tomoe would find it at some point. Tomoe was the cuddle expert herself so Dulga probably had a tickly spot somewhere on her body too.
They were in the training room with an artificial forest in it. The trees and everything else in the room seemed fake but was sufficient for training. It had real ground but the trees were made of some sort of material that acted the same as wood but felt a lot smoother and made out of plastic. Tomoe looked around gasping a little at what she saw, it was a nice training room with plenty of terrain that you would come across in real life. Tomoe faced Dulga as she started to talk to her about what she would be teaching her today.
They were gonna make traps and had to get a few things in order to make sufficient traps. First a rope and as second an anchor. Off course Tomoe thought that she meant an actual anchor of a ship but that wasn't the case. A mere stick of a tree was enough. Dulga snapped one off for her own as well as for Dulga. She had to make a small hook in it? Dulga showed her what to do which looked relatively easy for Dulga to do but once Tomoe tried she noticed it wasn't as easy as it seemed... Dulga used brute force to peel the wood apart but Tomoe didn't even manage to get a mere piece of it before already feeling exhausted. Tomoe gave Dulga a troubled look seeing how she had already finished so fast.
Dulga noticed how Tomoe had trouble and showed her something easier to do instead, despites it draining her stamina. As Tomoe finished with her anchor she was panting slightly as she wiped away sweat drops from her forehead. She looked back at Dulga who already started to explain the follow up to her anchor. Tomoe was wondering if she was actually serious about going on already. This first objective was already exhausting enough.
"What!? Are you serious!? You're too fast at this!"
Tomoe gave a quick yelp at Dulga looking a bit troubled by her explanation. Despites Tomoe her tiredness she tried keeping up with Dulga as best as she could. Next thing was making a noose which was plausible. It was an easy to remember so she didn't have much problem with it at all. Dulga then explained how to put one and two together to make a perfect easy trap to catch stupid creatures. It wasn't complicates and quite easy to make if you had the time for it. It wasn't perfect however, seeing how Dulga took it off without much of a problem. Tomoe gave a small nod at Dulga as she experimented with her own feet stuck in the trap short after. It wasn't hard at all to get out but it would obviously get someone off guard.
Tomoe did feel like one of her stats rose just now, just like in a videogame, so she felt kind of proud of it. Tomoe wanted to thank Dulga for her lesson but was caught off guard by the sudden comment of Dulga telling her to practice some more. Tomoe gave another small yelp looking troubled yet again.
"E-eh, didn't we do enough for today? That last branch took enough effort already hehe..."
Tomoe wasn't let free of this torment just yet…
”We have not. Keep practicing.”Dulga said in a stern voice. Tomoe may have managed to make one trap, but if she wanted to get better than she needed to keep going. And if Tomoe didn’t want to get better than this whole thing was a waste of Dulga’s time and she was ashamed to have bothered in the first place. But she wanted to give Tomoe the benefit of the doubt.
”Traps are perfect for the lazy hunter. Once you set them you don’t need to do anything else but check on them. Put them in the right places and you’re able to cover a large area without going anywhere.” Hopefully this would be enough to convince Tomoe to keep trying.
Handing Tomoe some sticks Dulga watched her try and make the anchor. Dulga had some sticks herself and was pretending to scrap a notch into them, just like how Tomoe is suppose to. Suddenly all the power went out in the training room and the entire place went dark. It was pitch black and not even the light from the observation room was on. Dulga immediately moved to Tomoe to make sure she didn’t panic and run. It looked like the fake trees were still up.
”Stay calm and stay with me. Looks like I’ll be teaching you one more thing; how to make a fire.” Dulga really hoped these sticks burned as well as regular wood.
Dulga wasn’t reasoning with Tomoe her request however. Tomoe was looking at Dulga with bright begging eyes but Dulga didn’t budge. She only gave Tomoe a quick scold to keep practicing. Tomoe let out a soft sad puppy sound while looking down at her feet. If she had dog ears they would be droopy right about now. Dulga meant the best for her but she wasn’t as active and full of stamina as Dulga so it was difficult to keep up.
Tomoe took one of the sticks and softly began carving into it with another stick while listening to Dulga talk. Tomoe didn’t look all too happy doing her task but she was at least doing something. Dulga told her that learning this was perfect for her and she knew it herself too, if she put some effort in the start of her hunting she didn’t have to worry about anything later. She only has to check her traps and feast of the food after.
”And live a happy life full of sleep and food. I understand but, can we at least take it easy…”
The room went quiet with only the sound of wood being scraped, Tomoe turned a bit slower on scraping the wood the whole time, it was difficult to keep her eyes open but she managed to stay awake for now. She had crafted a lot of anchors already so she thought she had done a pretty good job for her. Tomoe never really had done a lot of work in her life, she never had a job and nobody asked her to help either since she was so weak and didn’t have any stamina. Tomoe was fine with no one relying on her though, it meant less problems for her. She only decided to go to this school because she could sleep a lot to use her quirk not to train her body to be fit.
”I can’t anymore… I just can’t.”
Tomoe fell backwards onto her back from sitting on the ground while spreading her arms and legs. She was lightly panting while looking up at the ceiling. Her body felt heavy just like her eyes. Dulga was probably mad at her for having given up on her lessons. She hoped she would forgive Tomoe for this, maybe telling her situation might clear Dulga her mind giving Dulga less expectations of Tomoe? Suddenly the light flickered off.
”Eh?! What was that.”
Tomoe quickly seated herself upright again with both her hands clutched to her chest once she was upright again. She hastily looked around, being wide awake once more. It was a bit scary at first but once her eyes got used to it she was mostly fine with the dark. Dulga had made her way to Tomoe so she knew she wasn’t alone in the training room. She felt kind of reassured that she had an expert with the wild with her now but Dulga took this as some sort of joke? Dulga wanted to learn Tomoe how to make fire with this situation? Was that a wise thing to do?
”Do you recon the power went out? What? Shouldn’t we get out of the classroom? Maybe there is something happening in the school.”
Dulga took a few of the sticks from the trees and started showing Tomoe how to make fire… Tomoe gave a shrug and carefully looked how Dulga began the fire making.
”I’m sure we’re not in any trouble. But this is a good opportunity.” Dulga showed Tomoe the components she’d need. One bow-shaped stick, the length of rope, and a fairly large piece of bark. Dulga also gathered up the sawdust from all the anchors she made.
”By making a fire you can… Stay warm when it’s cold. And see things when it’s dark.” Dulga slowly started wondering if it was such a good idea to teach Tomoe how to make fire. Perhaps it was a bit excessive. However Dulga was determined to teach Tomoe something useful.
”The next part does take a lot of hard work. But the more you do it the easier it is.” Dulga wrapped the rope around one of the stick, which she pressed against the bark.
“It’s all about friction. You just have to keep spinning until you get an ember. You have to be very careful.” Dulga went slowly so Tomoe could see what Dulga was doing. She started drilling her stick into the bark, slowly at first, but then progressively faster. There was a slight smell of smoke after a few minutes of drilling into the wood.
”Do you see those little orange lights? That’s an ember. It’ll take awhile to get one of these. But once you do you’re almost ready.”Dulga kept drilling into the wood, showing Tomoe the technique needed to handle the fire drill correctly. Eventually she did stop so she could actually handle the embers.
”Now you just need tinder. We’ll use some of the wood that you carved with the anchors, that’ll be good.” Dulga carefully rested the sawdust on the ember, blowing softly to spread the heat. Slowly but surely the sawdust started to smoke, and eventually the sawdust was hot enough to catch fire.
”I’ll admit it’s easy for me. Hopefully you’ll be good too.” Truth be told Dulga just wanted to make a fire. All she really wanted to do was make a fire, rig up a few traps, and do some hunting. It felt too tempting to just go back to her old way of life, before all this craziness happened.
Dulga didn’t see this power outage as a problem but more one for an opportunity. Well it probably wasn’t as much of a problem since the teacher didn’t get them yet so it probably wasn’t a third world disaster. Tomoe gulped and gave a short nod at Dulga telling her that she was alright with it for now.
Dulga got the parts that were needed for the fire and showed Tomoe what to do exactly, Tomoe sat next to her seemingly in awe of how it was done. She saw this way of making fire on tv once but never really realised it would be something she had to do herself. Tomoe quietly watched Dulga her hands move looking at how she was doing it. It did look easy how she was doing it but it looked like hard work seeing how long it took. Nothing was easy in survival it seemed.
Finally the fire started smoking severely and shortly after a small light erupted from the sawdust. Tomoe her mouth gaped wide open at seeing how the fire started forming. Dulga was careful to move the sawdust around but managed to keep the embers firing till she got more fuel for the fire. It got bigger and bigger and eventually was a proper fire warming Dulga and Tomoe. It wasn’t really needed since the room temperature was plenty of warmth for both of them but the thought was what counted. As Tomoe and Dulgas eyes met again Tomoe gave Dulga a brief kind smile. It was quite fun to learn from Dulga sometimes.
”You are a good teacher...Uhh, I never got your name hehe..”
Tomoe quietly faced herself towards the fire while raising up her legs to her body, hugging them softly. It was warm, comforting, she felt safe. Tomoe let out a soft yawn while her eyes softly closed as Dulga her voice resounded in her ears again.
”... Tatara. I think we’re done here. You can leave if you want. I’m just going to be here for a bit.” Dulga took a few more sticks to build the fire up some more. She wasn’t going to start making a bonfire or anything, but a sizable flame to not only brighten up the area but also provide some warmth. The fire was comforting. But it also reminded Dulga of something deeper, darker in the back of her mind. She remembered the warmth and comfort, but she also remembers the pain fire brought too. A vision of a great inferno flashed before her eyes as Dulga felt someone on her leg. It looked like Tomoe decided to nap on her.
”Oi.” Dulga was about to shove her off, but her hand stopped. It was quiet.
Sighing, Dulga simply grabbed a branch, broke it up some more, and put it into the fire. Class would be over soon enough. For now Dulga would just enjoy this simple pleasure and stared into the fire. Unconsciously she also started petting Tomoe’s hair as if she was a cat.
"That is a nice name Ta..tara"
Tomoe spoke with a soft drowsy voice as her eyes shut close. Tomoe had fallen to the side with her head onto Dulga her lap. Tomoe softly panted while her head was resting on Dulga her lap, her mouth was slightly open as the soft puffs of breath went in and out perfectly synchronous with the moving of her chest. A hand softly brushed over her head, sturdy yet kind fingers brushing past her hairs lightly tickling her head. It was time for the next class but this was nice for once. She had gotten close to someone she wouldn’t suspect to get close with. She could do this more often.
Sighing Dulga decided that after letting Tomoe rest for a while it was time to leave. Standing up she carried Tomoe in her arms and killed the fire, even though the training room could clean it up afterwards. She stomped out the flames and buried the embers in dirt. Dulga walked out of the training room as everyone else was putting their things away. She took her gun case back from the firing range and headed back to class to get her other belongings. Once they reached the class Dulga woke Tomoe up.
”Wake up. Class is over.”Dulga didn't stay to actually make Tomoe go to class though. She already carried the girl back to class, now she needed to get on her own two feet and go to the next one. As for the six-armed girl herself, she decided to head to her next class while also carrying her case with her too. It made her feel calmer just having it nearby. Once everything was in order Dulga headed to Villain Psychology.
Being carried around on Dulga her back was very comfortable, Tomoe had plenty of space to rest her body on due to Dulga her tall exterior. It was sort of warm and not as hard as the ground. Tomoe could hire this person to walk her around all the time while she was sleeping. The room where the class was located before heading to the gymnasium wasn't far off the gym at all so it only took a matter of minutes to arrive. Still Dulga did a good job to take her a bit to her next classroom already. Dulga tried waking her up by calling out to her but to no avail. Tomoe only let out a soft grunt while she was already being lowered towards the ground. Tomoe patiently woke up as her feet touched the ground while Dulga was still holding her. She wasn't awake enough to keep herself standing just yet so she leaned against Dulga her backside as long as possible. When Dulga stepped away and Tomoe almost fell she quickly shook her head out of pure panic and was quick about balancing herself before she completely fell face first onto the ground.
"WHAA!"
Tomoe tensely stared out in front of her with both her hands stretched to the side in balancing manner. Her eyes were wide open as she made a quick gulp. It was clear that she was wide awake now from experiencing that dangerous situation. Her hands dropped back to the side as she let out a huff of breath as if she had almost died. Tomoe looked up at Dulga with melancholic look on her face.
"Thank you for carrying me but warn me when you put me down next time pretty please."
Tomoe put back a kind smile on her face again after telling Dulga something mean like that. She was deep asleep when Dulga tried to warn her the first time so she didn't hear it which made her complain to Dulga about it.
Tomoe stretched both her arms into the air while tiptoeing to stretch her whole body again making her belly show somewhat under her untucked blouse. A satisfied sound erupted from Tomoe her vocal cords showing that she had slept quite well. It was off course obvious she had slept well since she used Dulga as pillow. Tomoe dropped her arms by her side again as she made the effort to look around the hallway short after. Seemed like they were at the classroom she was suppose to be in first during gadget class. Tomoe looked back at Dulga seeing how she was ready to head off and leave Tomoe on her own. Tomoe stared at Dulga in surprise thinking on what to do before she started to talk out of her own.
"I'm in villain psychology and you?... I'll walk with you if you don't mind."
Whatever answer Dulga would give she would try to keep up with Dulga her walking if Dulga did the same or not. If she was left behind in Dulga her tracks she would walk a bit slower on her own but arrive anyway.
Arrival in Villain psychology
Upon arriving into the classroom she waved goodbye to Dulga knowing that they would be needing to sit separate of each other in the class. They would still be seeing each other in the class but wouldn't be able to talk to each other she thought to herself. Tomoe flashed a bright smile at Dulga while giving a small word before they headed to their seats.
"Bye bye Tatata-san, I hope you will train me more often hehe."
The classroom still looked quite empty despites the teacher having written something on the board already. She seemed to be waiting for more students to arrive however now so Tomoe still had some time to get to her seat before the teacher would get made most likely. Softly she began dragging her feet over the floor again.
Tomoe gave a small wave at Dulga before walking straight ahead while moving the waving hand in front of her mouth instead and giving a big yawn in the progress. Her head turned forwards too while she closed her eyes in reaction of yawning. Keeping on walking wasn't the best decision however. Tomoe walked straight into a tall blonde boy who was standing nearby his desk. She made a small huff sound as she bounced off of him and stammered backwards two steps. Tomoe stared forwards in surprise seeing how she had bumped into something. Her eyes trailed upwards into the sky to see it was a blonde boy with glasses, he looked quite serious all the time it seemed. With a slight agape mouth Tomoe stared at his face for a bit before lightly rubbing on of her eyes with one of her balled up hands while patiently talking to him in a monotone slow voice.
"Sorry mister tower-san. I didn't see you standing there all so vividly. Please take my apology for granted instead of my life."
Tomoe gave a soft bow towards him untill he accepted her apology or killed her, either way was fine with her however. If it took too long she was asleep while bowing towards him.