5. He Was a Stern Father
Master effortlessly nocked an arrow to his bow, drew back the bowstring, and loosed it.
When he did, whoosh flew the arrow, and thock... it stabbed into the tree he’d aimed at.
“Wow!” Yume clapped despite herself.
Master lowered the bow, looking sideways to her.
“...Listen. How many times have I shown you this now? You don’t need to clap. This is no time to be getting giddy.”
“Oh, yeah. But, y’know, when Yume sees Master shootin’ his bow, every time she thinks, ‘That’s so cool! That’s so pretty!’”
“I don’t care about your impressions. Do as I did.”
“Sure. Got it! Yume, she’s gonna try!”
Yume stood beside Master, drawing an arrow from her quiver and nocking it.
“Listen, Yume,” he said. “The truth is, there’s no fixed form in archery.”
“Fixdorm?”
“...No. I said ‘no fixed form.’ What did you even think a fixdorm is?”
“Meow!”
“Hey! What are you suddenly shooting for?! I was in the middle of trying to explain it to you, you know?! Listen, then shoot! This is common sense!”
“Ohh. Sorry. It missed, too.”
“...Just listen.”
“Listenin’!”
“Your responses are good, if nothing else... well, whatever. Like I was saying. There’s no fixed form in archery. There are, of course, some dos and don’ts. But if you just get those down, you can shoot however you like. So long as you hit your target, that is.”
“Mm-hm, mm-hm.”
“So, once you learn how to hit your targets, just shoot the same way every time. No matter what happens, don’t change. Don’t bend. Don’t waver. You stick to it, and you’ll never miss your mark.”
“You’ll never piss or bark?”
“No, miss your mark. Miss. Your. Mark. Get it?”
“Mister Mark?”
“No... Oh, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Forget it.”
“Yume, she’s gonna forget it!”
“Good.” When Master grinned, he was quick to hide the bottom half of his face with his hand, for some reason. “A-Anyway, you can imitate what I do or find your own way, but the first thing is to hit your target. If you hit, repeat what you did, until muscle memory kicks in.”
“Muscle memory. Got it!”
“Now do it.”
“Doin’ it!”
Yume fired her bow.
She fired, and fired, and fired, and fired, and picked up the arrows once her quiver was empty, and put the arrows back in the quiver, and fired, and fired, and fired, and fired.
She just kept firing.
“Yume.”
“Nuwah?”
“That’s enough. Stop for now.”
“Got it. Yume, she’s gonna stop for now.”
“How did you not hit even once...?” Master was clutching his head.
Yume rubbed Master’s back. “Master, you okay? What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s not a ‘what.’ It’s you. You fired a hundred times and still missed. That’s a godly trick you pulled off there.”
“Ohh... It’s Yume’s fault, then. Sorry, Master.”
“I don’t know that I’d say it’s your fault. It’s a mystery to me. Even a total amateur ought to get the occasional lucky hit. It’s not like you aren’t reaching the target because of a lack of strength, so how did you miss every time?”
“How do you think? Yume, she’s aimin’ at that tree like she oughta be, but, zoom, the arrows go flyin’ off in a whole other direction!”
“Something is wrong. Something... Your form isn’t that weird. What’s the problem?”
“Maybe Yume’s got no talent!”
“You moron!” he suddenly yelled at her.
Yume pulled her hands back reflexively.
Master looked around awkwardly. “No... sorry. It’s just... um... Y-You can’t say that. Don’t blame talent so easily. There’s a cause somewhere. I just have no idea what it is... Maybe it’s my fault?”
“You’re not doin’ anythin’ wrong, Master!” Yume declared.
“Y-Yeah? I-I guess...”
“Yeah! Master, you’re doin’ your best to teach Yume. You’re not wrong. Yume’s the one shootin’ the arrows, so it’s Yume’s fault if they don’t hit.”
“Well, yes, but...”
“Master, that’s how it is, so cheer up, okay?”
“R-Right. No, hold on, you should be a bit more depressed...”
“Is gettin’ depressed gonna make the arrows hit?”
“No, probably not. You have a point. Getting depressed isn’t going to help.”
“It won’t help? Well, that’s a problem.”
“Tell me about it.” Master cleared his throat, taking one step away from Yume. “Just so we’re clear, I want to straighten out one misconception.”
“Sure. Yume, she’s listenin’.”
“I’m... well... you know. I’ve had a number of students before, and all of them have told me I’m a strict father.”
“But you’re so nice, Master!”
“That’s where you’re misunderstanding.”
“Yume’s misunderstanding?”
“That’s right... Honestly, people are even a little terrified of me. I’ve even had a guy run away during basic training. Just one, but it happened.”
“Yume’s not gonna be runnin’ away, though.”
“O-Oh, yeah?”
“’Cause bein’ with Master’s fun!”
“It... It is?”
“Master, is bein’ with Yume unpleasant for you?”
“N-No, it’s not.” Master hid the bottom half of his face, then, on top of that, he turned away. “Of course it’s not... you dummy.”
“Oh, good. If you hated Yume, she’d be super sad, you know?”
“I-I could never hate...” Master suddenly coughed and cleared his throat.
Yume rubbed Master’s back again. “Master, are you okay? Have you got a cold? If you do, keep warm, okay?”
“I-It’s not a cold. I’m fine. I don’t catch colds. I never get sick. I’ve got a good, healthy body, so this is... nothing.”
“Well, good. Yume, she was gettin’ worried, you know?”
“S-Sorry... No, no, no! What am I apologizing for? Damn it, listen up, Yume!”
“Yes, siiiir!”
“That’s a good response.”
“Yay!”
“No, that’s not it... This is a declaration! The other mothers and fathers return to the guild during basic training, but we won’t! Because I’m strict!”
“Oho!”
“In the basic training I have for you, you won’t be going back to the guild once! We’re living in the wild the whole time! How’s that? You can’t bathe, and the mosquitoes are relentless, that’s got to be hard on a girl like you! I’m strict!”
“Fwooooooooo!” Yume cried, excited.
“Wh-Why are your eyes sparkling like that?”
“This’s gonna be so much fun! Livin’ with Master in the woods the whole time! Takin’ baths is nice, but you only stink if you don’t! Oh, but, Master, are you okay with a stinky Yume?”
“You don’t smell that bad... I mean, I think I’ve got a beastly smell to me, too. I can’t really tell myself, though...”
“Beastly smell?” Yume brought her face up to Master’s chest, sniffing him. “...Nuh? You do smell. Is it beastly? Huh? Well, it’s not unpleasant. It’s not a nice smell, but it’s a smell Yume could get hooked on.”
“Wh-Whoa, Yume.”
“Mew?”
“S-Stop it! No... D-Don’t sniff me!”
“Why not?”
“J-Just stop!” Master took two, three steps back, then hung his head. “...This is weird. It’s not supposed to be like this. I’m a solitary hunter, and a strict father, and my students hate me...”
“Ah!”
“Wh-What?” Master asked.
“Yume, she wants to practice with the bow some more. Can she?”
“...S-Sure. That’s fine. Of course. You’re enthusiastic.”
“Well, sure!”
Yume took a stance with the bow, without nocking an arrow, and drew back the bowstring.
Was this it? Or did she need to change her facing? There were all sorts of things she could try adjusting.
“If Yume doesn’t get good with the bow, she’ll feel bad for you,” she announced.
“Y-You...” When she looked over, Master was covering the bottom of his face. “Would you stop that?”
“Stop? Stop what? Huh?”
“Forget me. I don’t matter. You practice for you.”
“Well, sure. But Yume wants to work hard for her master, too. Is that wrong?”
“It’s not wrong, but still!”
“Well, then Yume’s gonna do her best for herself and for her master, too!”
“Oh, yeah? Do your best.”
“Yume’s gonna do her best!”
“Do your best, Yume...”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login