(Joint post by Rise and Lt, sorry for the wait.)
"I'm sorry for the wait, Silmeria-san. Shall we begin?" Arika asked as she took her battle stance. As she did, she began to focus on Silmeria's knees and elbows, the joints that would allow her to track and predict Silmeria's actions.
Silmeria simply stood straight. She didn't feel the need for a stance. Was she taking this too lightly or was just lazy was unknown to all. She was almost expressionless, staring at her opponent. "Of course," she replied, then making a faint smile. She had her weapon face Arika, "Be sure to not bother me with more duels after this," she said. It seemed that the girls stared in awe as of now.
"I didn't realize that I was bothering you; I apologize for that, Silmeria-san." Arika said, not taking her eyes off of her opponent for a second. "But I'd like to get to know you better in the future, if that's alright. Maybe we can even be friends, if you'll have me." she finished, smiling brightly. Even as she said this, she looked for any indications from Silmeria's joints that would hint towards her first attack, and didn't drop her guard for even a moment.
"Time shall tell what relationship we may end up having in the future, Arika-san," she ended with a graceful smile. And that's when she abruptly zoomed in to strike Arika. It was meant to be horizontal blow, coming from the right from Arika's view.
Arika immediately caught onto the movements of Silmeria's joints and decided to parry Silmeria's blow. She quickly stepped forward and attempted to knock her opponent's weapon slightly upward to neutralize the horizontal force.
Silmeria jumped back, this allowed her to avoid having Arika's next attempt void. But she couldn't quite predict her movements in this manner, so she simply waited for her to come head on at her.
Arika instinctively knew that Silmeria was attemting to bait her into a direct attack, so she decided to fake a forward charge. If Silmeria overextended, she would adjust and counterattack. If Silemeria played it safe, she would attempt to get a light blow in and then back off.
Silmeria moved to the right, then attempted to get behind her back sneakily. A rather strange tactic of trying to hit behind the back in flash... or so it seems.
Arika immediately saw through Silmeria's feint and spun to follow the girl, swiftly swinging her weapon in an attempt to get a light blow to the side.
Silmeria took the light blow to her side, but she then took hold of her weapon in both hands and hit her opponent by her neck.
Arika's eyes widened at the sudden attack, but she immediately moved her body forward so that only the portion right above the guard of Silmeria's weapon hit Arika's neck. Deciding that she couldn't pull any punches, she used her momentum to attempt to thrust her staff straight into the center of Silmeria's chest. Silmeria received the hit to her chest, she immediately pushed at Arika's neck, so as to move her away from herself, though it was painful. A hit to the chest isn't a small issue in a fight.
Immediately after being pushed back, Arika noticed that the side of her neck was beginning to sting. Despite neutralizing most of the force of Silmeria's blow, a strike to the neck wasn't something to be looked at lightly. At the same time, she noticed that her own strike to Silmeria's chest had done its damage, and felt a sense of fulfillment with their duel. She could tell that Silmeria was skilled beyond a shadow of a doubt, and would have enjoyed having her as a sparring partner... but judging from Silmeria's lifestyle, it probably wasn't going to happen. In the end, she decided that she was satisfied with the well-fought but brief duel, and would try to become Silmeria's friend, if at all possible.
"It looks like we've both received injuries that shouldn't be taken lightly... shall we end our duel in a draw, Silmeria-san?" the brunette asked brightly. "Hmm... very well then, a draw it shall be," Silmeria answered, taking back her weapon. The girls started being rowdy again. Which was out of Silmeria's control, so she decided to just leave and take the hoard of females with her.
"Oh, please wait!" Arika exclaimed, rushing forward with a small jar of her curative salve in her hand. "Please rub this salve on the injured area of your chest. It will help reduce any bruising and will lessen the pain. Also, thank you very much for dueling me today, Silmeria-san! I hope we can get along better in the future." she said quickly before bowing and offering the jar. "And I hope we can still go to Akiba tomorrow..." she added while laughing shyly.
"Thank you, but it's okay, please don't worry about me, it'll be taken care of soon," Silmeria replied, raising her hand. "It's going to be taken care of at home, you see. So it's okay," she then continued, flashing a faint smile "As for going to Akiba, we need to set a time. So, as I said before, I'll send you a text message tonight after I know when I'll be free for this, bye," Silmeria then walked out, with the girls being usually rowdy.
"Oh... Alright then, I'll look forward to it!" Arika replied brightly as she watched Silmeria's retreating form. After her classmate exited the dojo, she applied her salve to the injured area on her neck and immediately felt the pain lessen considerably. As she began to pack her belongings, she noticed that she couldn't stop smiling. I must have really enjoyed that duel! she thought cheerily. After changing back into her school uniform, she hefted her duffel bag over her shoulder and began her trek home.
Silmeria then went out to the academy grounds outside the building, then got in on her grand car that awaited her presence and left. Today she had a violin lesson to attend, but nothing else after that. Her day passed with her relaxing herself, and thought about how the battle went. It was a bit hard to believe that they were just about equally matched with the ending. She felt the need to get ahead of Arika, whether her skills were on par with her didn't matter, she just felt the need to get stronger.
Nothing seemed to had came up that would make tomorrow busy, she took up her cell phone, sent a text message to Arika writing to her that they can go to Akiba tomorrow after school. She then took out her katana weapon, tossed her phone to her bed, walked her way to the rooftop at night. Her blade slashed the air around, slicing through the wind, creating metalic noises. As such, she spent her time like this, until finally getting tired of her activity and later went to sleep on her extravagant room.
For some reason, Arika felt extremely pumped during the length of her entire trek home, to the point that when she stepped into her family's dojo she immediately threw on her battle uniform, took one of the karate effigies used for practice, and proceeded to dismantle it with her staff. She had found someone skilled enough to land a blow on her neck, even if her strike had only been to gauge the extent of Silmeria's abilities. She knew that it probably wouldn't happen anytime soon, but if Silmeria agreed to a rematch she decided that she would strike down her silver-haired classmate with everything she had. Although she also enjoyed the prospect of gaining a new friend in Silmeria, a thought which made her extremely happy.
After cleaning up the demolished practice dummy, Arika took a long soak in the bath, then studied for an hour after dinner. As she was preparing to go to bed, a buzz from her cell phone signalled the text message that she had been waiting for. She was delighted to read that Silmeria would be available to accompany her to Akiba the next day, and fell asleep that night with a wide smile on her face.