Back Late [Kazumi]

Linhua sighed happily as she climbed up the stairs of the school dormitories. The brief tutoring session she had with Ms. Mu had proved to be very good for her in a variety of ways. But right now. The fuzzy feelings and joy of the experience had yet to leave the third year's mind. And as she neared the third floor's landing, she began to hum a jaunty tune. Striding down the hall to the door of her dorm room. With a turn of the doorknob, she stepped into the room before noticing the presence of her roommate, Hoshino Kazumi.

"Good afternoon~! I'm back from class!" She called cheerily to the other girl.

Maybe it was the fact that she was already so late, or that Kazumi was rather preoccupied with her own thoughts at the moment, but she had not expected Linhua to come back when she did at all. Suffice to say, she wasn't dressed for someone else being in the room, or even fully dressed at all. Her shirt, drenched in sweat as it was, was hanging in the corner to air out, and she'd changed into a fresh skirt to cool off in. So as it was, she was dressed in nothing but undergarments and that skirt, with a towel draped over her chest.

Nonetheless, she acted as though nothing was wrong when Linhua came in, although she did mentally wonder 'why now'. "Welcome back," Kazumi said, turning and smiling. "You seem rather happy today."

Ah... Looked like Kazumi should have locked the door. A small blush colored Linhua's cheeks due to the embarassing sight she walked in on. "Thanks," She briefly spoke before shrugging the bag currently slung around her shoulder off. She walked over to her bed, placing the book bag onto a nearby desk while flopping unceremoniously onto her bed. "Ah, not been doing too well in trigonometry. I ended up staying after for some tutoring with Ms. Mu though and her tutoring helped me to understand the material better." She wouldn't mention the other part that was the real reason for cheer, but admittedly she was happy to have a better understanding of the material too.

"She offered to keep tutoring me too. Hopefully it'll all pay off."

"Mu-sensei, huh?" Kazumi asked, remembering her own meeting with the teacher. Ah...maybe she should just put that behind her. Especially around Linhua. "Best of luck to you. I know I haven't been able to help you much with that class, so I hope you were able to get more from her." Her words were genuine. She did want the best for Linhua, and her roommate's frustration with math was...not exactly secret. As for Kazumi, she was doing okay with the material, but not nearly good enough to help other people with it. It seemed a little odd for Linhua to be that cheerful over that, but it sounded like she'd had a breakthrough. Kazumi certainly knew how that felt like.

She checked herself to make sure her chest was covered with the towel, then laid back on her own bed. "Actually, I ended up training with her a bit during a free period this morning. Turns out she's a fellow martial artist."

Linhua rolled onto her back, stretching a bit as she did so. "Oh, you did?" The white haired girl asked rhetorically before looking over at Kazumi. She blinked a bit in surprise as her roommate mentioned the teacher's interest in martial arts as well. Huh. She hadn't mentioned it before, but then... Well, they kinda didn't talk that much after a certain thing happened. At that point, it was a very pleasant silence before they parted ways.

"Really? I might have to ask her about that during my next tutoring session. What sort of things does she know?"

"Apparently, she has a history of doing wushu performance competitions," Kazumi said. "Which is...both good and bad." Good because it meant she was doing martial arts, and she certainly knew how to put on a show...in more ways than one... (no, Kazumi wasn't going to think about that anymore) Bad because Kazumi had had to advise her on achieving better technique. "She also asked me to teach her a bit of aikido, although I'm not sure how well that will actually go. I'm hoping to be an instructor eventually, but I'm not completely confident in my ability to teach yet."

To say nothing for how things had ended. Kazumi was going to have a hard time facing Mu-sensei in the future, at least for awhile. And speaking of which, she needed to direct attention away from that subject. So instead, she asked "Which reminds me, you used to do martial arts, right?" She was sure the conversation had come up before, probably after watching one of Linhua's kung fu movies together. But she wanted to be sure.

Hmmm... Teach some Aikido, huh?

Linhua hummed a bit in thought before realizing that Kazumi had asked a question. Come to think of it, hadn't they talked about that before? Well, she couldn't really recall so... "Indeed I did. Just some karate and tae-kwon-do though. But... If you don't mind, I'd like for you to teach me some Aikido as well." She smiled towards her roommate. "If you do wanna be an instructor, best to start figuring out now, huh?"

Oh? Was Linhua asking to be her student as well? That would be...absolutely delightful. Kazumi noticeably smiled at the idea, even before turning to Linhua to give her answer. "I would love to. You're absolutely right, I need the experience if I'm ever going to get there, and there's no better time or place to start." Mentally, she thought back to how her session with Mu-sensei ended and wondered if this could go the same way (preferably without the resolution that they should forget about it and move on). Ah well, they'd have to take that one as it came.

"Oh, actually, if you're interested, I'm also working on getting a martial arts club going. It wouldn't be formal classes or anything, so I'd still be teaching you personally, but if you're interested you should consider joining up once the paperwork goes through. I'd love to have you."

Well. Apparently the idea of taking up students was definitely a good one for Kazumi. The bright smile on her face definitely showed her cheer! At the suggestion of a martial arts club, Linhua began to sit up on her bed, leaning over slightly while placing an elbow on her knee and resting her chin upon the palm of her hand. "A martial arts club, huh? Hmm. Well, I am in the sewing club right now. But I think I can juggle them both. Just need to do a bit of proper scheduling. Won't be so bad to pick it up again. Especially since I have a friend to do it with as well."

It was Linhua's turn to smile cheerily as she gave an answer to the invitation. "When do you think it'll be okay'd?"

"Don't worry about it if you can't handle it. I'd love to have you, but I would rather not force you if it would be too much for your schedule." Truth be told, Kazumi didn't doubt Linhua's ability to manage both clubs, but it was only polite to try and keep her from feeling pressured. She sat up as well, trying to think when everything would go through. "Most likely by next week. I only submitted everything yesterday, so I'm not expecting an immediate response. I double checked all the requirements and nothing's missing though, so hopefully there won't be any trouble. The only issue is whether or not I'd be permitted to use some of the weapons from my karate school. Although, that'll either be approved or it won't."

"I'm sure it'll be fine!" Linhua replied with a grin, trying to assuage Kazumi's worries over the matter of her availability. She'd balanced more than two clubs before in middle school. "Ah, I doubt we'll be allowed to use weapons though. Maybe wooden ones. I think there's a kendo club on school grounds too, after all." She actually wasn't that sure, but what kind of school wouldn't have a kendo club? Ha. Actually, she wondered if there was an archery club as well. She always was kind of interested in that.

"At any rate, I'll be happy to work it into my schedule. It's just the kind of thing I need to relax!"

"Yeah, I'm not too worried about wooden ones. It's kamas and sais I'm not sure of." Sais were right out, and she had only every seen kamas in rubber and metal varieties. And every single rubber pair she had seen had broken entirely too fast. "Kendo club was the justification I gave, though. I'm sure they'll make us lock them up when we're not using them, at least, but..." She trailed off, thinking it over. Well, that was all for her own interests, at least. There was no saying whether the idea of trying out weapons would even take off here. But maybe it would, if she could drum up enough interest. Maybe hold a special meeting just for that or something.

"I'm glad you think so. I haven't gotten nearly enough of a chance to work with you yet."

"Ah yeah, those would be a lot tougher. I'm pretty sure they'll both get denied there." Linhua scratched the back of her head with a slight touch of embarrassment on her face.

"And I'm happy to work more with you as well! It's a shame we don't have more classed together." Only a couple, sadly. But she was happy to see Kazumi in them as well once classes had begun for the third year. Both of her roommates the last couple years hadn't been in any of the same classes. Or at least, not at the same time.

"Oh, I've got an idea. How about we watch some movies? That'll take our minds off worrying about it."

Unfortunately, Linhua was right. While it wasn't bad for the club itself, that was also going to be Kazumi's means to continue practicing with her weapons while away from home. Had to keep in practice, after all. She frowned a little, but then perked up as Linhua responded positively to working together. "We just have to take what opportunities we can, I guess," she answered. Two classes was better than not having any together, at least. And now they'd have a club and lessons as well. More chances to work together meant more chances to spend time with Linhua.

Although, Kazumi worried if it would even be appropriate to think in those terms anymore. One of the many things wrong with how things had ended up with Mu-sensei was the teacher-student dynamic, and how they shouldn't have interfered with that. Now she'd have the same thing with Linhua. As much as Kazumi hated to admit it, it was probably better not to go too far there, either. But Linhua was already proving to be such a great friend, and a like mind as well. And she was so pretty...

Thankfully, Linhua's suggestion of movies brought Kazumi's thoughts back to reality. "Oh, yes, that's a great idea. I love the movies you brought."