(Hey hey hey! What’s up with all of you lovely readers of mine? Anyway, today’s recommendation is the amazing “Trouble with Horns”, by the awesome QuietValerie here on Scribblehub! Yes, the same author who wrote “Ryn of Avonside”, but I promise you, it’s just as good, if not better! Tami is a total badass, and her wild, wacky, and whimsical adventures are sure to sweep you along for the ride! But enough promoting, on with Chapter 7!)

  After lunch, I have to take it easy thanks to my new Stigmata, and luckily it’s Pandora History and a side order of Combat Tactics with Ms Yu-Mi. I make sure to take copious notes, working hard to keep my handwriting neat and more in-line with my corrected gender. I’ll have to ask Chihaya for some handwriting lessons to go with the etiquette. During the break between csses, a small gaggle of girls from my year surround me.

  “You’re the new Pandora, right? The one who fought Arnett? You were incredible!” A small brunette squeals, and I blush.

  “It wasn’t anything special… if she hadn’t restricted herself, I’d have lost without a doubt. She made it possible for me to win. I’m nowhere near as skilled as she is…” I admit, but, for some reason, they just think I’m being modest. Several Limiters are giving me curious looks, before one of them, a sandy-blonde boy with a tall, stocky build, approaches.

  “Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to apologize for my brother. He’s not a bad guy; he just… acts like a dumbass. Please forgive me for not stopping him!” He bows at the waist, and I shake my head.

  “O-oh, no! I’m sorry I overreacted. I shouldn’t have put him on the floor-”

  He holds up a hand. “No, it’ll teach him not to act without engaging his brain, thanks for that. Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say, have a good afternoon.” He turns and leaves, re-joining his friends.

  I spend most of the rest of my break fielding unwarranted admiration, before my phone rings. Slipping it out of my desk drawer, I check the dispy.

  “Grandfather?”

  Looking up at the clock, I can see I still have about ten minutes. Ducking out into the hall, I answer and press the cell to my ear. “H-hello, Grandfather…”

  “Akira-kun? What’s up with your voice, you sound like a girl. Is something wrong with the connection? Hrrrrrmmm…”

  My grandfather’s measured, firm voice fills my ear, a faint crackling underlying the distance between us.

  “A-actually, Grandfather…” I start to expin. “The reason I sound like a girl… is because I am one. Look!” I pull the phone away from my ear and switch the video-feed on.

  My Grandfather’s lined face comes into view. His bushy eyebrows rise up his forehead as I pan the lens over my face and body.

  “You… you’re my grandso- my grandchild?”

  I nod slowly. “I was invited for a Baptism by a Pandora. When she impnted one of her Stigmata into my back, I… I was turned into a girl. And I… prefer myself like this. I LIKE being a girl. It feels natural, and like a part of me that was missing has been put back into pce… and, that’s not all. I can use the sword arts you taught me with my Volt Weapon!”

  I deploy Odin, drawing the katana to show him. His face softens. “You still care to learn the way of the sword?”

  I smile. “Of course! I managed to win my first duel with the techniques you taught me! I combined the only Pandora skill I managed to learn with a reversed Waterfall. I call it Tidal Surge.”

  My grandfather’s face lights up. “You won a duel with the Shimizu style? That is good to hear. And, if you are still the same child who begged me to teach… her… the sword, than I have no issues with you continuing your studies abroad… my granddaughter. Do you wish for me to call you something different?”

  I nod. “I… I want to be called Akari… after mom. She told me that, if I’d been a girl, that would have been my name. I want to honour her…”

  My grandfather nods. “Very well. Train hard, study well, and, when you return, show me what you have learned, Akari-chan.”

  “I will, Grandfather. Thank you.”

  He hangs up, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I hadn’t expected to deal with that so soon, but… he’s still my family, after all. He’s accepted me!

  Slipping back into the cssroom, I take my seat just as Dr. Elise enters the room, her high-heels clicking rhythmically on the floor as she makes her way to the front of the css.

  “Okay, everyone! Time for P.E! Except for Akari, you still need to recover from your injuries and the Stigmatic Impntation. You can sit out this time, okay?”

  I nod, biting my lip as the rest of the css stands, following them out to the outdoor sportsground, taking a seat on a bench as the rest of my css goes to change for gym.

  While the Pandora perform their routines, the Limiter students work on speed and stamina in order to keep up with their partners, since no Limiter can wield an anti-Nova weapon. Well, until me, that was the case. I wince as my back twinges in pain. Arnett’s attack still hurts, but the sensation of the five new Stigmata buried in my back is not pleasant in the slightest. The pain is bearable, but the feeling of having these small things embedded in my back is weird and kind of gross.

  I simply lean back slightly, taking in a deep breath, the afternoon sun pying over my face. It’s soothing, and I let myself rex a little. If I can learn enough, maybe even Grandfather will be impressed? He might even teach me more techniques I can adapt to a Pandora’s way of battle…

  Over at one side of the sportsground, I can see another css, from the year above, pying basketball. Chihaya is pying, and so is Ganessa, the redheaded Pandora that Arthur’s partnered with. My Pandora is clearly in her element, dodging and passing the ball around with fluid grace. Her teammates are good, too, but I’m more focussed on Chihaya. I can’t stop thinking about the things she said about me. How calling myself ‘cute’ was an understatement…

  P.E finishes an hour and a half ter, and I wait for Chihaya to come out of the changing room, toying with a lock of my long, raven-bck hair. She charges out of the door and almost skids to a halt.

  “Hey! There you are! So, I had an idea, if you feel up to it? I realised I still haven’t shown you my Volt Weapon’s abilities and techniques! If we’re supposed to be partners, I need to redress this imbance now! I mean, I’ve seen yours, so it’s only fair I show you mine!” she says, a small, oddly-sexy smirk on her face.

  “S-sure. I’m feeling fine, apart from a little achy. I guess the simuted training rooms again?”

  She nods, and holds her hand out to me. “c’mon, let’s go?” Pcing my hand in hers, I nod.

  After passing through the reception and booking Room 8 for an hour, Chihaya smiles at me. “Can you set up a three-on-one Carnival sim, please?”

  I tap at the console in the raised booth, before skipping down to the shielded observation ptform. “READY!”

  The room changes to resemble the battle coliseum designed to look like an Arena-type Carnival stage, three randomised holographic Pandora generated from approved training data. They surround Chihaya, and I stare as she raises a hand. “Volt-weapon deploy! Gungnir!”

  In a fsh of cyan light, a long, thin object appears in her upraised hand, and she twirls, spinning the weapon like a cheerleader’s baton. In her hands, she’s gripping a long, sturdy-looking haft, the end topped with a cylindrical mechanism. The mechanism has a bde protruding out of it. It resembles a futuristic naginata.

  The three replica Pandora charge, before Chihaya backflips from her standing position, sshing rapidly with wide, yet controlled swings. Despite how open she appears to be, I can tell. She’s either a natural, or she’s had extensive training. There are no real holes in her defence, only feints manufactured to bait an opponent into underestimating her.

  Sure enough, one of the trio of digital assaints falls for the bluff, and ends up getting kicked in the side of the head as Chihaya uses the haft of her naginata as a pole, before she twists the grip. The mechanism at the business-end of her Gungnir makes a loud snapping sound, and, when she swings next, the long bde catapults from the handle, trailing a chain behind it, impacting the chest of the second hologram, which crumples, impaled straight through, before vanishing like morning dew, as Chihaya retracts the chain, the bde flicking back into position.

  Two more times, the bde shes out like a harpoon, retracting after each ‘shot’. The other two digital Pandora avoid the bde, but Chihaya darts in, getting between the pair of them and twisting the grip, swinging as rapidly as she can. The bde blurs, extended on its chain about six feet or so, sshing the air around her in a barely-visible flicker of motion. The Pandoras’ Volt-weapons shatter as they try to block, both of the holograms coming apart and flickering out of existence.

  A kxon sounds, and the hologram of the Carnival arena fades away, as Chihaya stands there, panting lightly. She waves up at me, beckoning me down, and I hurry out to meet her, my heart racing. She’s… so cool!

  “So… did you like what you saw?” Chihaya grins at me as she tries to catch her breath. I nod.

  “That was incredible! You didn’t even use Accel Turn or anything! What Volt-weapon IS that?”

  She twirls it idly in one hand. “This is Gungnir. It’s a naginata with a built-in retractable harpoon uncher! I even showed off a couple of my special moves! The one where I fired the bde out three times is the Trident Cannon, and the one where I just started sshing everything as fast as I could? That is Ragnar?k!”

  I cp, giggling at how proud Chihaya is of herself. Then again, it’s not like she doesn’t have good reason to be.

  “My grandfather would be most impressed! I mean, he teaches swordsmanship, so seeing new fighting-styles and techniques has always been a passion of his.”

  Chihaya giggles, “oh, yeah! You mentioned that he taught you how to use a sword, right? I bet, if we get you used to your new body, you’ll be faster than you ever were before! You might not have the same level of strength or the same reach, but you won’t need them if you can outspeed your targets! Once you’re fully-healed, you should start working on speed and stamina, before you really go all-in on making new techniques!”

  I nod, feeling another twinge of pain in my back as my wounds slowly heal, bonding the Stigmata to me. If I can figure out how best to work with them, I should be able to keep up with other Pandora and not be a liability. I clench my fist, smiling. I would have sucked as a Limiter, but now… I can be useful, and even fight alongside my partner. I breathe out, and murmur, “Deploying Freezing area…”

  A ring of icy blue light erupts from me, expanding, widening fast. I stare as it exceeds the bounds of my personal best in moments, growing bigger and bigger. At an impressive fifteen or so metres diameter, it holds, though I get the feeling I could expand it more if I pushed myself. Exhaling, I shut down the Freezing field, and smile.

  “It seems my Limiter abilities have improved, not just my Pandora-ness. I can support you like a Limiter should!”

  Chihaya, paralyzed by the field, rexes when I disable it. “Whoa, that’s quite a powerful Freezing effect. I couldn’t even waggle my toes! See? I was right when I said you had great potential!” She squeals.