One Kick Girl — Chapter 45: "The Dissonant Tide"
Under the sea, drama was supposed to be quiet.
It wasn't.
It sounded like a broken washing machine having an identity crisis.
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1. The Duel Begins (Kind of)
ECHO-3 raised her shimmering arms, the water bending around her like liquid glass.
> "You cannot defeat sound itself."
Raon squinted. "I can try."
She kicked.
A single bloop echoed through the deep.
A nearby whale exploded in confusion.
A school of fish formed the word 'BRUH' before scattering.
ECHO-3 blinked, slightly offended.
> "That wasn't… possible."
"Neither is my rent," Raon replied flatly, "but I still kick through it."
Shion hovered nearby in her Resonance Field bubble, frantically typing on her holo-console.
> "Raon! That kick displaced seven cubic kilometers of water!" "Good cardio."
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2. Ocean Physics: 0, Raon: 1
The ocean didn't know how to react.
Half the seafloor was a crater. The other half was floating upwards like a confused pancake.
A giant squid waved a surrender flag made from its own tentacle.
Shion groaned.
> "We're rewriting marine biology as we speak!"
Raon kicked again — not at ECHO-3, but at a passing rock.
The shockwave turned the rock into a perfect sphere, then vaporized it into bubbles spelling "LMAO."
> "Stop doing that!" Shion shouted.
"I'm calibrating," Raon replied.
"Calibrating what?"
"My boredom."
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3. ECHO-3's Counterattack
ECHO-3, trying to salvage her dignity, conjured a wall of vibrating energy.
> "ENOUGH! Witness the Symphony of Oblivion!"
The ocean glowed like a nightclub. Soundwaves spun like disco lasers.
Shion gasped. "She's manipulating frequencies at quantum level!"
Raon stared. "…So she's DJ Bloop's cousin?"
ECHO-3 froze mid-pose.
> "Excuse me?"
Raon pointed. "Same aesthetic. Glowy hands. Weird voice filter."
> "I am the voice of eternity—" "Cool. Drop the bass then."
ECHO-3 hesitated. The silence dragged.
Then, against all reason, a beat dropped — an underwater EDM rhythm that somehow made jellyfish start headbanging.
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4. The Accidental Dance Battle
Shion: "Raon, please don't—"
Raon was already dancing.
A slow, offbeat head nod.
A lazy shuffle.
A backflip that shattered a coral reef.
ECHO-3 tried to match her tempo, summoning harmonic waves — but each move Raon made created anti-beats that distorted the rhythm.
The ocean itself started glitching between dubstep and Gregorian chanting.
> "Stop! You're destabilizing the tempo!" Raon: "Skill issue."
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5. Shion's Scientific Breakdown
Shion clutched her temples.
> "Raon, this isn't a fight anymore! You're creating a sound paradox! If your frequency overlaps hers, reality might—"
POOF.
The water turned into air bubbles shaped like thumbs-up emojis.
Shion stared blankly. "—do that."
ECHO-3 screamed in existential reverb.
> "This frequency… cannot be… catalogued!"
Raon raised an eyebrow. "You ever tried karaoke?"
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6. The Final Kick (of Bass)
The ocean trembled.
Raon exhaled, lifted one leg lazily.
> "Serious move."
Shion's eyes widened. "No, Raon! Not underwater!"
Raon kicked downward.
BOOM.
The sea flipped.
Literally.
Up became down. Fish wore sunglasses. The moon briefly appeared at the bottom of the ocean, confused and late for work.
When everything resettled, Raon stood calmly in a massive crater of still water — ECHO-3 floating upside down, eyes spinning.
> "Remix… denied…"
Raon dusted off her hoodie. "Next time, learn the beat."
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7. Aftermath
Back on the surface, the Bureau's HQ screens lit up with red warnings.
> ALERT: TECTONIC SOUND EVENT DETECTED UNDER MARINA TRENCH. CAUSE: UNKNOWN HERO-CLASS IDIOT.
Shion, wringing seawater from her hair, sighed.
> "Do you ever take anything seriously?" Raon: "Rent day."
They floated on a broken sub door, surrounded by confused dolphins.
Shion pulled out her holo-pad, groaning.
> "We're getting billed again, aren't we?" Raon: "Already kicked the invoice."