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Atsushi had been training with Kunikida for a couple months now, and Kunikida had definitely seen improvement. Every once in a while Atsushi gets the jump on him and he gets this sense of pride. However, more recently, he’s noticed a change in his fighting style. He had begun lowering his stance and widening his legs. Whenever the man-tiger did this, he felt a shiver down his spine, it reminded him of a how wild animal would behave in a face off.
Atsushi was flexible to begin with, but Kunikida saw no harm in improving that skill. When the idealist began implementing the muscle stretching, and conditioning the flexibility already seen, the animalistic fighting style had really started taking shape. The silver-haired boy’s blows were impossibly powerful, even without the tigers strength, and is now being seen as one of the agencies heavy-hitters.
He’s almost like a snake (the irony of it) with the way he wraps around his opponent’s with such speed. Cat-like eyes trained on their every movement, stalking his prey until the time to strike is appropriate. Atsushi strikes with intent and purpose, carrying out the blows until they’ve lost their momentum. His speed is unmatched while in human form, which also happens to translate to his ability as well.
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Of course his partner, Akutagawa, took notice to this change of fighting technique. He noticed first when Atsushi was taking someone on and got knocked off balance by a swipe to his legs; Rashomon reached out to catch him, but the tiger boy was already pulling himself forward onto his hands, and throwing an axe kick over the targets head, and back on his feet all in 7 seconds flat. Akutagawa barely even had the time to blink when it happened.
“So, that’s new,” Akutagawa practically ogled. “Huh? What is?” Atsushi cocked his head to the side almost like a cat. “You know the whole…” the older vaguely gestured. The younger merely hummed but it appeared as he didn’t “know.” Akutagawa huffed in feigned annoyance, then simply carried on, what’s the use in continuing this useless conversation anyways. The raven-haired pretend not to notice the heavier, more graceful, calculated moves.
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Atsushi is resourceful with the battlegrounds he is given, he prepares to set up his next attack, and is aware of the terrain around him. He had developed this skill far before the agency, always taking in his surroundings, and planning an escape route.
During the events of Dead Apple, he took note of the underground pathways, destroyed buildings, and heavy debris scattered about. When the trio split up to defeat their abilities he knew exactly which direction Kyouka and Akutagawa headed towards, even if just subconsciously. The man-tiger made plan after plan in his mind including every detail he could just to be sure.
When Shibusawa appeared newly formed, he knew there wouldn’t be much of an opportunity to use the terrain with Rashomon as a sort of arena with no footing, so he used Shibusawa as leverage, slithering around him as if he were a Boa Constrictor, wrapping his limbs around the stark-white-haired man, and essentially hurricanrana-ing around him. Atsushi later came up with a way to refine this if he found himself mid-air needing to dodge (cough cough Mark Twain cough cough) essentially he carefully calculates how he spins, uses his ability, and overall his flexibility to his advantage.
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Dazai thought it’d be beneficial to teach Atsushi some stealth techniques; I mean his mentee is one of the clumsiest people he’s met, he couldn’t possibly be getting around quietly at all. Wrong. The moment they started Atsushi took to it like a fish to water. Dazai turned his back a mere minute and Atsushi was on his tail without making so much as a wrinkle in his clothing.
“Dazai-San, I thought you were meant to turn around when you heard me?” Atsushi confusedly asked. “Yeah… the thing is I didn’t hear you, not even the grass moving,” marveled the brunette. “You’re lying I swear I was only just getting a feel for it. there’s no way you didn’t hear me, can we try again?” Debated Nakajima. “Sure, but I’m telling you I didn’t hear a single peep,” Dazai answered honestly, kind of still surprised himself.
They did it five more times before Atsushi finally gave in to his mentor’s insistence. ‘Maybe I should’ve just trained him on how to be grateful instead’ Dazai snickered to himself. “What’s so funny?” Atsushi inquired from behind the laughing man. “Oh nothing cat boy,” Dazai replied in a teasing tone, and Atsushi turned red at the snip to his very not cat ability.
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