People call her the "crazy hound" for a reason. The two-faced being that is Yuudachi is quite the force to be reckoned with.

In itself, she is quite an unusual specimen. Unparalleled in her class in combat ability and agility, she often gives even experienced light cruisers a run for their money. Then, right afterward, she is quite the energetic and... you could say, cute girl.

I, as a commander, have had more than my share of her insanity. I visit the gym in town regularly since it has facilities that we don't have space for on base. In particular, the bouldering wall.

Man, I love bouldering. Ever since my friends showed me the ropes over a decade ago, I've been at it for years now. I'm still not the best, but I'm definitely improving.

On this particular autumn day, I finished all my duties and notified the admiral. He let me go with his usual nod. "Take care," he flatly responded.

Nagato decided to come along, as she oftentimes did. "I have to catch up to Mutsu!" she would always proclaim. Alas, she would only ever be playing catch-up.

However, Yuudachi also wanted to tag along.
"Where are you going, Tachi-kun, poi?" she asked, with her hair flaps rising with her curiosity.
"Just to the gym. I'll be back soon."
"Ooh! Ooh! Can I come, poi?"
"If you can convince the admiral."
"Okay, poi!"
She was practically jumping up and down with excitement. Just for going to the gym with me. What a peculiar girl.
"She's really something, huh?" noted Nagato.
"Yeah, no kidding."

Just as we were about to leave the main building, Yuudachi tackled Nagato from behind.
"Whoa there!" cried Nagato.
"Ehehe," Yuudachi giggled, "Admiral-san gave the a-ok, poi!"
I smiled. "Alright then, shall we get changed?"
"Yes, poi!" and she scampered off.
"You can't get enough of her, can you?" wistfully asked Nagato.
"Yeah, really."

After we changed, we met up at the front of the base, where we were checked out by the receptionist and the security guard.

It was a short drive to town. Once we pulled up to the gym, you could hear Yuudachi's fair flaps going up and down in excitement. It was clear she was excited to see a new place like this gym.

As we walked in, the woman manning the front desk, couldn't help but smirk. "Quite the ball of energy you have there," she commented. "She have a membership?"
"No, I'll be using my guest pass."
"Alright... and will she need shoes?"
"No, I brought a pair for her."

She nodded and waved us in. Yuudachi dashed in and was greeted by a wide wall of climbing routes. Taken aback by what she saw, she gaped and spun around to see the vast amount of colorful pieces of plastic around her. There were a couple of people already attempting climbs, and the girl ran all around the gym.
"Hey, Yuudachi, come back!" I called.
She zipped back as quickly as she left.
"Don't go running around like that. It's dangerous. Also, do you even know how to climb?"
"No... poi."
"I'll let Nagato show you the basics."

The duo scampered up to the nearest wall, and I watched her point out the basics to Yuudachi from afar as I stretched. Nothing special: start on the start holds, use only the right colored holds, volumes are okay always, and end on the ending hold. Oh, and always stay safe.

Nagato went up a simple route to show her how it's done, and Yuudachi repeated it after her.

After this, I tapped Nagato on the shoulder and beckoned them to follow me to the competition routes that I've been working on for the past few days. These routes were the most challenging in the establishment, and one off to the side even had a bounty on it.

The one I had in my sights required raw strength, flexibility, and perseverance. The whole gamut. There was a brutal overhang with a usual volume forcing some interesting positions to climb around it. Following it required a jump to grab a hold that protruded no more than 7mm from the wall, then using that alone to hoist yourself to the finish.

Nagato, of course, would make it from the start past the volume, but never make it past the jump. As expected of the Big Seven: all power, no finesse. I was the opposite. Dynos, as they were called, were not bad, but flat overhangs give me nightmares.

Yuudachi sat down behind us, quietly observing. Her hair flaps would go up and down when she was thinking about the route, and occasionally she would make a "poi" noise.

Nagato would smile every time.

After a while of struggling at the route, Yuudachi walked up and proclaimed, "I wanna try, poi!"
"You sure?" I asked. "This route is extremely difficult."
"I want to try, poi!" she repeated.
"Just let her give it a go," pleaded Nagato.

I relented, and Yuudachi situated herself on the starting holds. We stepped back, and curiously anticipated what was to come next.

She gracefully hopped from hold to hold and executed the dyno with precision I have never seen before. With great ease, she pulled her way to the top.

"I did it, poi!"

Nagato and I were, to say the least, shocked. She had bested us. Combined.

We took her to the route with a bounty on it. One excellent climber in town proclaimed that "gravity has to work upwards for you to complete this one." It had stumped us, and her, too.

Not for Yuudachi. She hacked at it for a solid 20 minutes. While Nagato and I were contemplating a different route, Yuudachi shouted from the top, "I did it, poi!"
She then repeated it in front of the gym owner, Ise, who was just as shocked.

"Are you kidding me? She just joined today!"
"I'm just as shocked as you are," I responded.
"This is no fair, having you military idiots bring superhumans to collect bounties."
The bounty was 100k yen, so a pretty impressive haul for Yuudachi.

We treated her to some sweets at Houshou's, and she was cheerful as ever. In that little package, just over 150cm, childish build, lived a monster.

The Nightmare of Solomon, as it were.

P.S. Yuudachi did complain about her forearms hurting the next day, so I guess she's still human.