Description: Tenma crashes the Pacific High campus, looking for members of his rival team to get into a fight with; instead, he happens upon a completely different Pacific student, Nadine, innocently studying. This, of course, CANNOT BE ALLOWED.
Pacific High, in Southtown, is not a very large school. There's only a couple hundred people in it, and - what with it still being summer - not all of them are here yet. The campus isn't precisely abandoned, but it's certainly less busy than it is most of the time.
Nadine, however, is here already. She's been in Japan most of the summer so this is not terribly unexpected. She is currently sitting on a wooden bench between the dormitories and the athletics field, and has her nose in a language book. Apparently she's trying to learn German. Her bookbag sits on the bench next to her, and she appears to be paying very little attention to the area around her, although she is truthfully not totally oblivious.
The whole dichotomy of western versus Japanese school years can probably get pretty confusing for teenagers in Southtown - some school use one system others the other - but there are always those who don't really give a crap. Take, for example, Gedo High's Tenma Kiryuu, for whom schedules are a concern for lesser beings. This perhaps contributes to just why it is he goes to Gedo instead of a more reputable institution.
But honestly, he likes it better that way.
Just because he doesn't /go/ to Pacific, however, doesn't mean the leader of the Guardian Kings doesn't feel it necessary to inflict his presence on the campus once in a while. Usually, looking for someone to provoke into a fight... Especially if it's one of his archrivals, who all just happen to attend this particular school. Whoever he's looking for, though, the first person the tall, dark-haired boy comes across that catches his attention is Nadine. Does he recognise her as a fighter? ...Not at first. It takes him a minute to get to looking her in the face.
"Huh," says the Japanese boy, his voice loud and strident, likely cutting easily through Nadine's focus on notes. Against his shoulder is a long, slender cloth-wrapped object; anyone who's seen him fight knows exactly what it is. "Ain't I seen you fighting on TV?" Yes, this passes for an introduction, where he comes from.
Nadine quite probably heard Tenma coming. She isn't quite as inattentive as she often looks when she is reading; she doesn't blank out the area around her. Keeping alert is important, especially when people are looking at you; you never know what they're going to do.
She still does not look up when he first speaks. "Probably," she says, "as I was on television several times. You're not the first person to have asked me that." Peering over the edge of her book, over her glasses, she adds as she looks up at him, "Although most of them gave me their name first."
Nadine does not comment about the weapon. Perhaps she hasn't seen Tenma fight.
Talk like that is going to hurt Tenma's feelings; he's been in lots of big fights on TV! He beat Geese freakin' Howard! ...Okay, sure, he did it with help from four other people, but still. He was the one who delivered the finishing attack! For a moment, the tall, lean boy's expression falters, before his mouth pulls back into a confident smirk. "I just ain't like most folks," Tenma supplies for an explanation at Nadine's rather disdainful comment. And he really isn't, not even in matters like 'common courtesy'.
The bundle shifts, the arm holding it hitching the cloth-wrapped item lower on his shoulder, and he takes a single step forward, bringing himself closer to the blonde girl; perceptive as she is, she's probably able to tell as his whole stance shifts, and then as though to prove his utter lack of basic politeness, he lunges forward, swinging the cloth-wrapped bokken down from his shoulder, right at Nadine. "What is it with the chicks at this school, are they ALL completely stuck-up?!" Tenma wonders, half-rhetorically, as he lunges forth. Because you know, it can't be HIS fault people talk to him that way...
COMBATSYS: Tenma has started a fight here.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Nadine has joined the fight here.
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Nadine
COMBATSYS: Tenma successfully hits Nadine with Random Weapon.
- Power hit! -
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Tenma 0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0 Nadine
Nadine realized Tenma was going to attack. That was obvious. What she couldn't predict is how. A slash was the expected way, and a slash is what she got, but it came both at an unexpected angle and at a very bad time.
The weapon strikes Nadine's shoulder as she starts to rise, smashing her back down to the bench with a heavy crash. She's driven down with enough force to make the boards of the bench flex despite her light weight - but she herself does not make much in the way of noise.
She drives one foot forward instead, aiming to plant her heel on Tenma's knee and bend it backward, and /then/ rise up the rest of the way. "I can't say your manners are any better," Nadine snaps, glancing down at her shoulder and the bruise she just /knows/ is going to form there. "Or do you make it a habit of swinging that thing at random girls? It wouldn't surprise me."
COMBATSYS: Nadine successfully hits Tenma with Strong Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Tenma 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Nadine
Would any sort of normal person actually /want/ to get kicked in the knee? No, odds are they would not. However, Tenma is hardly a normal person; he doesn't even /move/ as Nadine's heel comes towards him, and he pays for it when the girl's strength proves to be greater than he'd imagined. It puts some pretty serious hurt on what is a very important joint, but the Gedo gang member grins through the pain, his teeth gritting faintly. Okay, time to get a little more serious.
"What, you gonna go cry about it?" Tenma wonders, backing up a little with a slight limp. The ties of the cloth wrapping are undone, and that sheath falls to the ground, exposing the length of carefully carved wood, ritually blessed and slightly curved like a Japanese sword. "Thought you were a big tough fighter," he continues, lifting his left hand to his face. What for? Well, to bite his thumb. Right into the fleshy pad, breaking the skin without a flinch and drawing his own blood. This is the part where it gets good.
This bleeding thumb is drawn down the length of his bokken, painting a crimson stripe along the blade, forming the chi link. He swings his weapon in the air then, and it lights up, a misty aura of crimson, blood and chi mingled together indiscriminately, radiating from the wooden sword. "But if you can't take it... Just ask real nice, an' maybe I'll stop!!" Tenma declares, lunging once more with a downwards slash, to strike with both the wooden weight, and the force of his chi. But at the bottom of the slash, he suddenly twists his hands and reverses the blade, swinging back up to make a shallow V-shape. "Uraah!!"
COMBATSYS: Nadine dodges Tenma's Ungyou.
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Tenma 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Nadine
Once on her feet, Nadine moves with a good deal more speed and agility. She steps up and backwards almost immediately, standing on the bench for extra height in case she needs to jump. "Nice stick," she says sarcastically, rather out of the blue. "And I'm sure biting yourself is a winning strategy. Do you cut, too? I don't see it on your arms."
The sudden surge of chi is less worthy of a sarcastic comment. She feels she should probably keep an eye on that, and her eyes narrow slightly as she watches the blade. Nadine tenses as Tenma lunges - and then leaps when he slashes, gripping the tree branch overhead and swinging herself to land behind him.
She doesn't attack. Instead, Nadine draws her knives from their sheaths one at a time, holding them in a careful manner, before straightening up and brushing her skirt to sit more or less flat again. Then she watches Tenma with a possibly uncomfortable degree of scrutiny, especially his arms and legs - the best places to watch a fighter. The torso is irrelevant because you can tell where it is from the limbs.
COMBATSYS: Nadine focuses on her next action.
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Tenma 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Nadine
"Heh," the tall boy chuckles faintly when Nadine avoids his attack, and rather acrobatically besides. As the girl throws herself over his head, though, Tenma tenses faintly, plainly expecting an attack from the rear... Which never comes? He glances back over his shoulder at the blonde girl, his gaze rather dubious. "Funny. Accuse me of cuttin', but you're the crazy bitch with the knives," he remarks, turning to face his opponent properly. He can tell he's being studied, like a bug under a magnifying glass or something, but...
The chi-emanating bokken slants against Tenma's shoulder as he slips his free hand into the pocket of his slacks, and slowly, his head tilts to one side. "Hey, if you just wanna check me out, go right ahead," he says, his tone both smug and taunting. And then his sword arm swings down, the bokken cutting through the air uselessly, nowhere near Nadine; but from the arc of the blade, the afterimage of crimson energy in the air, springs forth a crescent of roiling blood, violent red as it tears through the air towards the British girl's center of mass. "Eat this!!"
COMBATSYS: Nadine fails to slow Dharmapala from Tenma with Rolling Storm.
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Tenma 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Nadine
"I don't cut /myself/ with them," Nadine points out, "and I don't bite myself either. Do you have any idea how many germs are in the human mouth?"
She sees the cut coming before it does, prepares to clear out of the way, and then realizing that she doesn't need to; there's no way it can touch her. If he is anything like her, though, that means she's about to have to deal with a chi assault, and Tenma doesn't disappoint her there. Nadine flicks one hand in the general direction of the afterimage of energy, forming a short tornado of wind in front of her that blows forward, toward the -
"Is that /blood/?" she demands, a moment before it hits her. The tornado might have helped a little, but not really enough to buffer the impact of the energy; Nadine is driven back a pace or two from the blast, trying to at least shield her mouth and eyes.
It sure is blood! Tenma's power is... Well, pretty messy. "See, again, I'm struck with irony here," he says, considering Nadine's rather displeased demand. "'cause... Knives?" Though it's possible he's the only one who sees the comedy inherent in the girl who cuts people being disgusted by blood. But he's not about to let the clever blonde get her footing back right away; instead, he's going to try to press the advantage, rushing forward at her.
He crosses the distance between himself and Nadine with surprising speed, and as he gets close enough, he fully extends his sword arm, thrusting the chi-emanating weapon forward, point first, right at... Nadine's neck! Tenma doesn't seem to be the kind of guy to fight gently just because he's up against a girl, does he? But at least it's not a live blade, so it /probably/ can't cut her any. "Tch...!"
COMBATSYS: Nadine dodges Tenma's Weapon Jab.
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Tenma 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Nadine
Nadine is not about to explain the difference between blood that comes out because she has stabbed someone and blood that is spraying everywhere for no readily apparent reason. For starters, she's not sure she can without sounding strange...but she is entirely convinced that yes, there is a big difference there.
The sword coming at her neck causes Nadine to twist to one side and bend backwards, the two at once causing her back to flex almost painfully until she straightens up, a step further away from Tenma than she was before - and then she backs up further, taking several steps down the path.
Once she thinks she has enough distance, Nadine throws one of her knives underhand, and without a lot of force. The momentum is provided by the sudden gust of wind that literally picks up her weapon, whipping it straight at Tenma, and then straight back afterwards to her waiting hand.
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Nadine's Zephyr Dart.
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Tenma 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Nadine
"Fast," Tenma mutters, as Nadine avoids his thrusting attack, skidding to a halt and twisting around just in time to see... A knife headed right for him, propelled by the wind. It'd likely be more sensible of him to avoid it, or deflect it, but instead he lunges into the oncoming blade, letting it slash him... And continuing forward. "What, is that all?!" he wonders, even as the blade boomerangs back to its thrower, in defiance of all probability. So who's the /real/ freak here?
Continuing forward, the arrogant boy twists and reaches out to try and catch Nadine - by her clothes, by her hair, whatever he can get a handful of quickly enough - and then leap forward into her with his knee extended. If that part works out, then he follows it up with another slash of his bokken. "Come on!!"
COMBATSYS: Nadine dodges Tenma's Fierce Strike.
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Tenma 0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0 Nadine
Everyone has been grabbing Nadine's shirt lately. It's getting to the point that she's getting rather tired of it. Grabbing her own knife out of the air as it returns to her, she continues to back up, giving more ground as she moves toward the athletic field. It isn't as if she needs to defend anything or there's a limited amount of room. She can do this all day.
"This is, as you put it, 'coming on'," Nadine says. "I thought you'd watched me fight." She'd rather be careful and right than rush into things, after all, and it shows in her defensive strategy. "If you'd rather, though."
Another one of her knives flicks through the air, thrown with a skilled overhand toss. This one does not come back to her immediately. Even Nadine can't do that /all/ the time. "Tell me, do you randomly yell at all your opponents?"
COMBATSYS: Nadine successfully hits Tenma with Power Shot.
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Tenma 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Nadine
Well, clearly it's an obvious target for some reason! Tenma might even be a little impressed as Nadine avoids him again, but it's not as though he's going to /admit/ to something like that... He's got a reputation to maintain, after all. Once the knife comes his way though, the tall boy actually shows the motivation to at least /try/ to get out of the way for once, slipping to one side... But not fast enough, instead getting caught in the shoulder with a grunt of pain. But...
This actually gives Tenma pause, as he takes a moment to yank the blade out of his shoulder, tossing it onto the ground. "Pretty much," he admits with a slight shrug, apparently ignoring the growing red stain on his white uniform shirt, standing once more with his bokken against his shoulder, his other hand at his side, thumb tucked into his pocket. "Why, were you hopin' you were special, Glasses?" Tenma wonders with a taunting grin, lightly pacing around Nadine. "Hate t' disappoint you, there." Nah, he really doesn't.
COMBATSYS: Tenma focuses on his next action.
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Tenma 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Nadine
The knife finally does return to Nadine, although it doesn't rise up quite as high as the others, having no momentum for her to play with; it rolls along the ground instead, and she bends to scoop it up.
"Everybody else seems to prefer it when I make small talk during a fight. I don't see the point," Nadine admits, straightening back up. After that, she stays quiet, staring at the standing Tenma without a word.
A few moments after /that/, she throws a knife at him. It is actually aimed to hit hilt-first, rather than point, and is as much a stinging distraction as anything else. A knife-hilt to the forehead tends to work very well to convince people to stop watching her quite so carefully.
COMBATSYS: Tenma endures Nadine's Quick Shot.
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Tenma 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Nadine
Hitting Tenma in the head? Not really a good solution to most problems, because he's likely to just grin and bear it... Literally. With a wide grin on his face, the Gedo swordsman throws his upper body forward, and leans right into the blow, taking it hard on the forehead. "Weak," Tenma chides, continuing forward /towards/ Nadine, twisting to slant his bokken across his back, the point sticking up over his left shoulder. Uh oh, what's he got planned now?!
As he gets in close, he skids one foot forward, trying to force Nadine off a proper footing, as he lashes out with his left fist, aiming punches at specific locations on her torso to disrupt the way chi flows through her body, even as he tries to herd her into a more advantageous position for him...
COMBATSYS: Nadine dodges Tenma's Flow Breaker.
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Tenma 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Nadine
Nadine makes it look, at first, that it's working even though she never is quite touched. She keeps moving to evade the punches, but lets them come close enough that she's being forced into what looks like a bad position, forced back again and again.
The illusion ends when, after a fist comes just a little too close for comfort, Nadine lets go of the chi she was holding in. A wave of air blasts away from her, messing up her hair and ruffling her skirt, which she holds down with one hand; the blast is not particularly strong but it does push objects near her back some distance. Hopefully including Tenma.
COMBATSYS: Tenma interrupts Gale Press from Nadine with Dead End Breaker.
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Tenma 0/-------/------=|=======\===----\1 Nadine
But the thing is? It IS a bad position.
The sudden blast of air starts to knock Tenma back, but he focuses and forces his way forward, twisting to bring his bokken back out in a wide cross-body slash, surprisingly quick to forestall the rest of the blast of air. "You're WIDE OPEN!!" Tenma bellows, following up the initial slash with a second, suddenly twisting to move in the other direction to swing his fist into her gut, roughly. His mouth pulls into a wide grin throughout, especially when he ends off his little combination by throwing himself forward, headfirst, and driving his forehead right into the blonde's bespectacled face. He's such a nice boy!
There is a muffled crunch. Two, actually.
Nadine seems profoundly unworried about her swelling and possibly broken nose. She is much more concerned, judging by her expression, by the fact that her glasses are now bent in along the nosepiece and the whole thing is rendered unusable. They slide off her face and onto the ground.
Nadine straightens up, squinting in Tenma's general direction with an expression of near-fury on her face; it's one of the few expressions she's actually shown so far. Snapping both arms forward, another tornado springs up in front of her - but this is a howling windstorm six feet tall or so, spinning in place and drawing debris - the ruins of her glasses, rocks, small branches - up into it before it rockets forward, trailing wind and dust, at the same time Nadine tears back at a dead run for her bookbag.
There's another pair of glasses in there.
COMBATSYS: Nadine successfully hits Tenma with Iron Cyclone.
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Tenma 0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0 Nadine
You know, you're not supposed to hit girls in the face. But Tenma? Tenma's never been one to go with what he is or isn't supposed to do. Instead, he goes with his heart. Skidding back a bit after headbutting Nadine, the Guardian King wears an /extremely/ confident smirk, like the cat who caught that proverbial canary, apparently not the least bit contrite that he just wrecked the hell out of some girl's glasses. And sure, possibly her nose, but c'mon, she goes to Pacific. She can afford the nose job.
But the windstorm, that's a problem. He tries to bear with it, but it's simply too much for him this time, the wind and debris shearing at him and sending him a-flyin', landing awkwardly on the turf. By the time he gets back up? Nadine's almost certainly made it to her bookbag. Tenma spits up a gob of blood as he straightens, bringing his bokken up in front of him... And he's gonna take a second to catch his breath. "Crazy bitch," he mutters, somewhere between irritated and impressed.
COMBATSYS: Tenma gains composure.
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Tenma 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Nadine
Nadine finally gets a pair of glasses back on her nose, which is still bleeding. At least it seems straight enough; Nadine /won't/ be happy if her attractive face (well, she thinks so) ends up with a crooked nose.
"I heard that," she says, and it comes out moderately intelligable. Seeing as Tenma is taking a quick break, Nadine doesn't see a need to immediately press the assault either; she holds one hand to her nose to try to stem the bleeding while looking at him through slightly bleary eyes. She starts to say something else, but thinks better of it before she actually gets any words out; maybe she doesn't think he'll understand it.
COMBATSYS: Nadine gains composure.
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Tenma 0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0 Nadine
She can hear all she wants, for all Tenma cares! And were he asked, he'd probably say the crooked nose would suit her personality. Of course, he'd say this while looking somehat lower. Hey, he's a teenager, he can't help it! But since he's clearly not the only one who was in need of a moment, Tenma straightens up once Nadine's settled in with her new glasses and holding her bloody nose. "Yeah, well," he says. "You're gonna /feel/ this."
Rushing forward again, he holds his bokken backhanded and low, the tip with its bloody chi skimming along the grass, and when he gets closer to the bespectacled girl, he twists, swinging the wooden sword up at Nadine's torso in a violent slash... And if it works, he continues moving with the momentum, twisting around to aim a kick right at her midsection. "Graaah!!"
COMBATSYS: Nadine dodges Tenma's Deep Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0 Nadine
When Tenma comes at her, Nadine lets go of her nose (which has at least mostly stopped bleeding), grabs her bookbag, and throws herself in a forward tuck and roll right under Tenma's slashing sword.
She comes up behind him, and this time Nadine does not let him get away free. Nadine swings her bag around on its long strap, once to pick up momentum that totally misses Tenma - and then a second time to try to club him in the head, or if he turns, the face. She keeps hardcovers in there.
"Jerk," she says, mostly to herself, as she finishes revolving in place.
COMBATSYS: Nadine successfully hits Tenma with Random Weapon.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Nadine
Fast... Perhaps too fast for Tenma, today. His slash is avoided, and then there's Nadine behind him and /this/ time she's actually going to take advantage of the fact?! He tries to duck out of the way of the swung bookbag, but ends up taking the hit even worse, the blow staggering him... But not staggering him enough. He twists on his heel, and then ducking low, he moves forward...
The bokken is held low to one side, his swordarm across his body, as he tries to step /under/ Nadine's guard. Looking up at her with dark blue eyes, Tenma grins wildly, certain that this time will do the trick, he leaps /into/ her, twisting around as he does so, into a whirling, leaping slash with his chi-charged weapon, trying to take the blonde into the air with him before knocking her down to the ground. "VAJRA!!"
COMBATSYS: Nadine dodges Tenma's Vajra.
[ \\\\\ < > ///////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0 Nadine
Nadine actually seems to speed up when pained and close to defeat. Defeat is unacceptable, especially to a random guy who just started to beat her up after recognizing her on the street (or while she was sitting on campus, which is much the same thing).
She jerks to the side; the slash nearly clips her arm and does skim the side of her skirt as Nadine moves forward and sideways. This brings her up close to Tenma, which is really the entire goal; she reverses one of her knives and tries to smack him on the side of the head with the butt end of the hilt, going for the quick knockout. "Stop yelling."
COMBATSYS: Nadine successfully hits Tenma with Quick Strike.
[ \\\ < > ///////////// ]
Tenma 0/-------/--=====|=------\-------\0 Nadine
Landing, there's a faintly irritated sound from Tenma as his attack is dodged again - Nadine's speed is, clearly, quite impressive - and then she's coming at him with the butt end of her knife, which... He just stands there for, hoping to create an opening for himself... But things don't seem to be going in his favour overall today, and the blow staggers him more than he expected. He's not /out/, for better or worse, but the fight's just about gone out of him. He's got enough juice left for one last gasp.
Dropping the bokken with a clatter, the aura around the blade dissipates, fading with a sound like a slowly exhaled breath; and Tenma lunges with both hands, woozily, wobbily, aiming to grab two handfuls of Nadine's shirt. Why? Because he's a jerk. And because he's going to try to headbutt her again before, if it works, tossing her aside.
But succeed or fail, Tenma's got nothing left to give, so he stumbles back...
COMBATSYS: Tenma can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Nadine 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Nadine dodges Tenma's Head Breaker.
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Nadine 0/-------/------=|
Nadine is still not in the mood for having her shirt ripped or to have someone fall unconcious on her chest, both of which have very nearly happened in the past week. She slaps at one of the hands, then shoves so that Tenma falls away from her, not towards. He's big enough that it would be uncomfortable and he might hit her nose again.
That done, she nudges Tenma with a foot. Twice. Apparently satisfied that he is not going to get up and keep beating her up, Nadine turns away to retrieve her German book and the bookbag. And the pieces of her old glasses, because she liked those glasses.
Then she simply heads to walk off. He can pick himself up when he comes to. Nadine really doesn't care.
Well, down isn't quite right; Tenma's still got enough verve to stay conscious, but he's pretty well worn down. Big hits weren't in it, but Nadine's ability to avoid his attacks... There was the heart of the matter. Also, he wouldn't have fallen unconscious on her chest... But he probably would've pretended to. He does, however, end up on his duff, and he gets nudged, but it's clear he's not going to continue fighting. His mouth pulls into a grin, acting like nothing at all happened, because he's an extraordinarily poor loser... And as Nadine starts walking off, he says something.
"Hey, that was pretty good," Tenma declares, before spitting another bit of blood up on the grass. Poor grass. With a grunt, he reaches for his bokken, but mostly because he's not going to leave it lying around hwere some Pacific High jerk could find it. "Didn't think anybody with boobs that big would be so fast." Ha ha ha... He really IS a jerk.
Nadine freezes for just a moment, having heard what Tenma called after her (it wasn't hard).
She smiles, eventually, although it's rather cold, and returns to walking off. Admit nothing. Show no weakness.
Log created on 18:14:39 08/16/2007 by Tenma, and last modified on 13:42:58 08/19/2007.