NPCs are Aggressive

It took him a few minutes to reach his destination. The label at the front gate proudly said Hiruma Dojo, the name assumedly alluding to the owner. The place itself looked nice enough in his opinion. Well-kept too. There was nothing to complain on the state of the dojo itself, except for the fact it seemed barren of people.

He said 'mostly' because there was one woman within the dojo itself. She was staring daggers at him since the moment he stepped into the building. He did not remember breaking any form of courtesy by walking into the premise after announcing himself. Maybe the cause of her anger was unrelated to his action, and he was merely the victim here.

God only knows how often he becomes collateral damage when his sister is angry towards something. He had to face her wrath countless times when she has no other means to vent her emotions.

Thing is Higashi Murasaki was by no means collateral damage. He was often the person who derived her anger in the first place. He is simply far too obtuse to realize his own faults whenever such matters occurred.

Getting back to the matter at hand, the woman opened her mouth. Her tone was biting as if tired of all the charades surrounding her life. That was something Mura could relate to. Though her next line certainly caught him off guard.

"Are you here to court me as well?"

Now that was quite the assumption in his humble opinion. Was she so confident in her appearance, to assume anyone who saw her will fall under their beguiling charm? She was certainly alluring with a slim figure and a beautiful face, but that does not mean he has to become infatuated with her at first sight.

"Tch, all men are the same."

And she took offense to him inspecting her looks. Well, he would wholeheartedly agree that he was being rather rude with the act. So his next course of action was to try and apologize for the offense, but that plan was never actualized, interrupted by a high kick from the woman, aimed towards his face.

Too slow.

That was the first thought that came to his mind while perceiving her actions. The attack was merely slow compared to the ones he has faced in the past. The techniques were there but otherwise, it was an attack without any true commitment behind it.

He blocked the offending limb with his right arm. The attacker widened her eyes by the slightest margin but otherwise whatever ran through her mind was concealed from his perception. Half a step of retreat with barely any openings, then another assault within a split second, this time with fists ready held parallel to the torso.

That was quite the maneuver she did there. He could appreciate fighting a martial expert, even if somewhat puzzled as to why she was attacking him. Therefore he decided not to speak a word and continued for another bout. He had been itching for a fight anyway so this was all in all welcome news. He took his stance and prepared for the oncoming clash.

She sent out a first towards the abdomen. He tensed his body and took the hit without blinking. The attack was without determination, leaving him relatively unhurt considering has since learned the method to disperse oncoming kinetic energy.

In exchange, he grabbed the offending limb, pulling it close before twisting it.

"Kh!"

"Mind telling me why you attacked me?"

Mura was not a soft man. He twisted the limb even harder. Not enough to snap anything but more than sufficient to tell her he was not playing around. Many seemed to not realize it, but fighting is a splendid form of communication in its own right.

"Kh! Scum…"

"Saying that to someone when you're at their mercy? Really? Not very bright are we."

However, before anything he was able to get any answers and clear up the situation, more trouble came his way.

"Miss Aoi!"

A young adult stood at the entrance of the dojo, looking as if Mura just offended his great-great-grandfather. Murasaki could imagine how it must have seemed from outsiders' perspective. A random man is physically assaulting a woman.

…This was going to be troublesome in varying manners.

Now the best course of action would be to explain the misunderstanding most likely occurring within the outsider's head. Yet once again his words were prevented as this new youth rushed towards Mura with what seems to be harmful intents.

At this point, he wondered whether everyone within the game was eager for a fight. Why is it that they are so uncivilized with him?

He let go of the woman he held and instead faced the oncoming attacks. This outsider was holding a sword still stuck in its sheath. That was going to pose some trouble, considering armed martial arts are much deadlier than unarmed.

There is a reason why weapons are developed. If they weren't any effective then why would they be so widespread? After millennia of improvement, humanity had managed to create items and techniques that are very efficient at harming one another.

Firearms stood at the peak in terms of efficiency, by far surpassing the second-best weapon in general, which in his opinion was daggers. Daggers are one of the most practical weapons in existence. He was an unarmed martial artist but he was not biased towards his arts when judging combat capability.

The outsider unsheathed his sword while making an attack at the same time. It was something along the lines of iaido which was to cut while unsheathing. The blade was a western one rather than a katana, but it was certainly a curved one-edged blade so the technique was still applicable to it.

Even with all his fighting experiences, he had never battled against an opponent wielding a real blade, unless one counted staged fights. This would certainly be a first. However the angle of the first strike was easily predictable. He evaded it without blinking by taking half a step and leaning sideways.

He stepped forward right after evading the blade. The enemy twisted to evade the oncoming attack to no avail. The previous cut with the blade was made too hastily, leaving openings that could easily be punished for. And punish it he will.

One clean hit to the diaphragm later the swordsman exhaled a mouthful of air, body powerless as the martial artist followed up by whipping hook to the jaw. Mura made sure to hold back a bit since there was no real reason to injure this swordsman at all.

The hit connected just like he envisioned, and the swordsman was blown back, his balance destroyed resulting in a fall to the wooden flooring.

Before Mura realized it a smile visited his lips. This was a clash between two people. Something he lacked for the past year. He didn't know how much he missed this blood-boiling sensation till now.

Nevertheless it seems he was stuck in a rather troublesome situation. He looked towards the fallen swordsman who was slowly recovering, before moving his eyes towards the blue-haired woman. If he recalled correctly her name should be Aoi or something like that.

"So I walked into a dojo. Then someone decided to attack me for whatever reason. I stopped her, self-defense and all. Then ANOTHER bastard decided he has a bone to pick with me…"

"And now we're stuck in this rut."

What a fun game indeed.