A Kickboxer's Submission Lesson

It hadn’t been long ago now that Akino met a member of the kawaii division by the name of Konata Ishido. And despite Akino’s stoic and stern nature, Konata was a persistent little ball of energy and managed to get some conversation going between them. And as they talked, the blue haired maid was somewhat surprised to learn this girl was a kickboxer. Not that that was the most unbelievable thing in the world. Hell, here Akino was competing as a pro-wrestler with only one working eye. Still, she’d met another striker fairly recently, a woman who she certainly would not be forgetting anytime soon. But Konata was very different in, well...just about every way she could think of.

Nonetheless, Akino found herself somewhat intrigued. And when the energetic kawaii had asked for some help practicing submission holds, the surprised maiden had agreed to it before even considering it. She wasn’t much of a people person, nor had she ever actually taught anyone anything before. One way or another, this was going to be interesting...

The day they’d agreed upon finally arrived, and Akino stood waiting in the ring inside the Friction gym, wearing a pair of tight black shorts and a blue tank top that matched her hair. Facing the door, a straight face marked her expression, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and her foot tapped against the mat as she waited patiently as she could. And finally, Konata came bursting through the door so hard the doors almost went crashing right into the walls on either side. Akino lifted an eyebrow at the sight, though she had to say she admired the girl’s enthusiasm.

“Glad you made it.” she replied, before motioning a hand toward the ring. “Come on in, and we’ll get started.”

The list of people that had seen Akino lighten up and act casual was pretty small, and consisted almost exclusively of people who knew her very well. Perhaps Konata would get to that point eventually, but for now the Akino she was stuck with was the stoic one who tended to take things rather seriously. Quite a contrast from Konata. But seeing energy in the kawaii wasn’t a bad thing. It meant she was excited and enthusiastic about learning, which was respectable, even if she was a little eccentric in Akino’s opinion.

As Konata entered the ring and spoke, Akino was just about to answer her question, but abruptly stopped as “that last one” started to escape the girl’s mouth, at which point she shot the kawaii a somewhat questioning glance. But she chose to take the girl’s advice and ignore it, and moved on to answer the question as she originally intended. “I’ll show you how to do a few holds, and then we can practice them with some light sparring. Oh, and whenever a hold is locked in, just tap out immediately. I’ll be doing the same. What we’re doing here isn’t competitive, so there’s no need to risk unnecessary injury. Any other questions before we get started?”

“Yes, what is it?” Akino asked, crossing her arms in front of her as she waited to hear Konata’s question, expecting it to be something serious about the workout they were about to do. But what the kawaii actually did managed to accomplish something the one-eyed maiden wouldn’t have predicted would happen today. Akino’s lips turned into a just barely visible smile, and the faintest of chuckles escaped her lips. She wasn’t the type to smile and laugh extremely often, but with Konata’s fun and energetic nature, she just couldn’t help it this time.

“I guess we’ll find out soon, won’t we?” she replied, before getting right back to business. “Alright then, lets get started.” She took a step back just to make a bit more room between the two of them. “We’ll start with a good old fashioned armbar. I’ll show you how it’s done first, then I’ll let you try it out on me.” she explained, before crouching down a bit and putting her hands up in front of her. “Now, I want you to come toward me and throw a punch at my face with your right arm.”

Akino watched carefully as Konata came in and threw her fist forward with a light, quick jab. Just before it could connect with her face, she pivoted to the side and moved her hands to grab onto Konata’s slender arm while pulling on it to bring the kawaii’s body forward. As she did this, she brought both legs up and rolled to the side, causing the other girl’s body to roll forward.

As they finished rolling, Konata would find herself flat on her back with Akino’s legs draped over over her, and her arm being stretched out between the one-eyed woman’s legs in an armbar. Akino wouldn’t wrench back on the hold enough to cause any severe pain, but she pulled just enough on the arm that it should give Konata an idea of the danger of being caught in a position like this.

As soon as Akino felt the taps on her leg, she eased up on the armbar so pressure was no longer being applied to the hold. “Pay attention to how my legs and hips are positioned. You use the legs to hold the body down, then push up with the hips. That’s what pushes the arm out of place and makes it painful.” she said, wanting to make sure Konata understood the mechanics of the hold she was teaching her. “With your arms and hands, hold on to the arm as tightly as you can to keep it extended, but the pressure is mostly applied through the hips. Got it?”

She then released Konata’s arm altogether and moved up onto her knees beside the girl. “Now I want you to try it. You can try to do the takedown like I did if you want. Or if you’d rather just focus on the hold, we can do it without the takedown. Your call.”