I did not know what I was expecting when I did my little stunt but an impromptu date was not one of them. They somehow convinced themselves that even if I was the culprit, I would be more open if I was pampered and shown a good time. They calmed down in my comforting presence before sighing contentment and I don't think they were ready to leave it yet. The conversation itself was amusing to behold. They wanted to get to know me but at the same time, they considered me a criminal so they came up with a convoluted reason as to why I needed to be taken on a date for a better interrogation. I just went with it because the more they like me the better off I was in the long run.

Very quickly, however, I found out how inept they were at this whole scene. The first thing they did was take me to a personal training ground where they went to de-stress. No romantic gestures or overtures or anything remotely of that variant. One I will say though, the place had very cool dojo vibes. I never went to a real one but this is how I always fantasized it would look. They came here while listing all the times it helped them calm down or forget about their sorrows. I just kept quiet and listened. I felt they had a lot of pent-up emotions they could not let out or did not even know-how. My massive charisma combined with my skills broke their outer shells and they were using me as their world's version of a shrink.

I did not mind for two reasons, one was already aforementioned and the other was that I was learning a lot of the differences between the knowledge I had in my head and the how the world worked making me realize I was right and not jumping the gun and taking the cautious route. There were a lot of differences primary of which was the combat, it completely slipped my mind that this was the real world, and combat was not turn-based. I was thankful for the providence that was these two combat nuts so when they asked what weapon I wanted to train with I asked.

"What do you think is a good weapon for someone completely new to combat to train with?"

They looked at me perplexed.

"Where you not given combat training as a child?" asked Brianna.

"No," I answered simply

"Why? is training not compulsory for all children above the age of 5?" asked Audrey scratching her head.

"Why would it be? I was never trained as a combatant." I asked in response.

"Hmm. Well did you not want to be an adventurer? I thought combat was compulsory. We know that we are a special case, we are not that stupid." said Brianna. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they had a little self-awareness of their slight lack of intelligence and were not complete air-heads.

"Well, it isn't for men. I want to be a support." I answered honestly. This was one of the few times my knowledge from this realm helped me but also made me realize I needed to dig into those memories more not partition them off. I was afraid of how they might make me change but it was increasingly evident that they were more helpful than harmful.

Their shoulder stooped a bit when I mentioned I did not need to be present in combat.

"But I want to learn. Maybe one day it will come in handy." I said to bring up the mood and like a charm. Now I only hope this would not be like anime where you immediately regret your decision.

"Really! Well come on then, better get you suited and ready," said Brianna cheering me up in unison and working in perfect harmony fitted in some sort of pads. These two are always in perfect sync with one another.

"What are these for?" I asked pulling at the pads to make them more comfortable.

"Well... These are for children who never fought before. Many tend to cry so they use these to lessen the pain as they get more and more used to it." answered Audrey.

"That did not sound right. Is hitting children at an early age a form of training?" I asked, dreading the next few words that would come out of her mouth. I knew that was not true in both memories which left a very uncomfortable answer.

"Yes. Although, because we were special we skipped the pads and went straight to the tough-up stage of our training. Why? Is that not normal? Our caretaker told us you needed to learn to fight while beaten within an inch of your life to truly become great warriors. I mean she was right, we became very well-known before we left and took up positions as guard captains." answered Audrey honestly no sarcasm or malice in her voice.

"Yeah. Thank god for healers otherwise all anyone would see us as is a bruise. Am I right?" chimed in Brianna in a clear attempt at humor. It only made me want to cry, like holy shit how twisted were their backstories?

"Umm. Can both of you come here?" I asked gesturing out my arms in a come hither motion, my emotions seemed supercharged and I needed an outlet.

"Ok?" answered both of them in unison as they came within arm's reach.

I wrapped both of them in a tight hug murmuring in a soft tone.

"It's gonna be ok, it's gonna be ok, it's gonna be ok..."

I droned on like a mantra lost in dark memories of a time long forgotten.

They picked up on my mood and started to pat me on the back whispering platitudes in my ear which I later realized was hard for them to do as they were a head taller than me. That helped calm me down and slowly I eased my grip on them sighing as coherency started to return.

"Are you ok?" asked Brianna in a soft voice.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" asked Audrey.

"Not really," I replied

"Ok. Ok. How about we skip the first step and teach you how to swing a weapon?" asked Brianna showing absurd perceptiveness for a woman dubbed to be stupid.

"Ok," I replied.

I let them go with great reluctance as Brianna went and brought two spears from a weapon rack hanging on the back wall and said.

"Alright. Let us get started."