Reiji sat down on a bench at the edge of the hall, shifting his focus back to the panel of judges and the lone redhead standing in front of them.
"Candidate Tachibana, are you ready for the First Phase of the Promotion Exam?" the taekwondo coach spoke up, her voice both loud and firm.
"Yes!"
"Good. We'll start with the basic stances. Proceed as soon as you are prepared."
The coach walked over and stood near Yui, her eyes staring intently in anticipation so that she could better analyze the perfection of the stances.
The entire building was silent, with no remaining students, and yet there was an air of attentive sharpness enveloping the place.
Both the judges and Reiji watched the girl close her eyes and exhale, and the panel at the table sat with their backs straight, their expressions calm and unreadable.
Yui stepped forward and bowed, the confidence in her gaze not deterred by the gravity of the moment.
She then moved into her first stance, her front knee bent deeply and the back leg straight and rooted to the ground, with a weight so balanced that one word came to mind,
Unshakeable.
Her arms were aligned at her waist, with her fists tight, but not tense, as she stepped forward again, each foot landing with purpose.
She continued a sequence of moves, each one flowing to the next as a step, block, and strike showcased power, precision, and coordination.
There was no wasted movement, no embellishments, and certainly no awkwardness.
To Reiji, it seemed more like she was dancing rather than showing off her fundamentals, and even then, he could tell just how polished her stances were.
No matter how much of a monster Reiji was, he had only been formally learning martial arts for about two months, and he knew that he was still a long way away from his own movements being that efficient.
That didn't mean he'd lose in a fight, though.
After all, he had his own advantages.
He actually wasn't sure who'd win if he sparred with Yui right now, which he didn't really want to do in the first place.
As he was thinking about this, Yui's steps came to a pause as she breathed out steadily and followed with a final bow, signaling the end of the free stances.
The panel of judges nodded and wrote something in their notebooks, but they didn't give anything away.
Except for the taekwondo coach.
Her proud smile could barely be hidden, and Reiji caught the trembling in her lips as she struggled to stop them from curving up.
Then she coughed lightly and straightened up.
"Ahem...Now I'll ask you to do something similar. Upon my command, show us the stance or strike I tell you to, but keep your speed slow and deliberate. Ready?"
"Yes!"
Reiji crossed one leg over the other and watched Yui follow the instructions of the coach, where each and every step of hers was comparatively decelerated.
Her balance and control were tested to their limit, but she still didn't even break a sweat.
Figuratively, of course.
The first phase came to an end soon enough, and it was clear from the grin on the face of Yui's coach that she had passed with flying colors.
They quickly moved to the second phase after a quick two-minute break, but Reiji didn't approach her so that her focus wasn't broken.
This phase was tougher, since she had to show her techniques with certain interferences.
The blindfold was probably the worst of the bunch, since eyesight is extremely crucial in steadying balance and overall body coordination.
Even Yui showed a small dip in the connection between her techniques, though it was barely noticeable.
Reiji closed his own eyes while she was performing, trying to emulate how it would be to do such movements without his vision, and he knew he'd probably trip over himself at one of the difficult combos.
'Huh.....This was actually way more eye-opening than I thought it would be.'
He'd only come to support Yui, but soon realized his own shortcomings as her test continued, which managed to give him some direction in the areas to work on in the future.
Finally, it was time for the third and final test.
The one where she'd spar with each coach on the judges' panel.
However, Reiji noticed the fatigue on Yui's face, with sweat rolling down her cheeks and her chest heaving up and down in an attempt to catch her breath.
This was intentional, since the judges wanted to see how she would fare in a battle where her limits were tested to the max.
That's why the sparring was placed as the final phase of the examination.
The first to fight her was the coach of the Karate club, who bowed towards Yui with a trace of respect in her eyes.
"I shouldn't be saying this already, but you're very impressive. I look forward to our spar," she said softly.
Yui's tired eyes lit up at the compliment as she returned the bow.
The taekwondo coach stepped up, acting as the referee, and raised her hand.
"Begin!"
The battle started instantly, neither side waiting for the other.
The contrast in their styles was visible at a glance, as Yui's stance was light and mobile, ready to shift and move at an instant, while the coach's posture was slightly lower, more rooted as her elbows were positioned close to her body.
Yui feinted forward, a quick half-step to test the reaction and reflexes of her opponent, but the fish didn't bite.
Instead, the coach threw the first strike, a fast front kick towards the midsection, which Yui checked with a downward block, her forearm absorbing the impact.
She responded with a roundhouse kick, arcing towards the shoulder. The coach stepped inside instead of blocking or retreating, countering immediately.
This diffused both attacks, and they each stepped back to regain their footing.
This time, Yui made the first move, a low kick towards her calf, followed by a high kick.
The coach shifted her foot slightly to absorb the damage of the first kick and then raised her arm to parry the second, but the advantage shifted as Yui started her relentless combinations, giving her opponent no time to breathe or counter.
The coach finally saw an opening and threw a punch, which Yui somewhat dodged by leaning away from it.
These exchanges continued for another few minutes, and neither side could gain a major advantage over the other.
Which spoke volumes about Yui's skill.
Of course, the coach still held back a little, but even if she went all-out, she wouldn't be able to take down the feisty redhead in a short amount of time.
"STOP!"
The taekwondo coach raised her hand again and stopped the spar, the two people in the ring backing away and simultaneously bowing to each other.
Reiji took all of this in with shining eyes, his admiration for his girlfriend breaking through the roof at this moment.
'Damn....she's so cool!!'
Yui's tall back, despite her exhaustion, was quite attractive to him for some reason.
Just then, he heard footsteps coming from the exit passage next to him.
He reluctantly turned his head away from the ring and checked to see who was coming, because no one else was supposed to be here.
But when he saw the person, his eyebrows raised in confusion.
'Why is she here?'
Fujikawa Noa walked towards the martial arts hall with unhurried steps, holding a set of documents in her arms.
When she entered, she saw Reiji staring at her with his arms crossed, catching her by surprise.
"Why are you here?"
"Why are you here?"
They both asked the same question at the same time, freezing up once they realized it.
Reiji chuckled and shook his head.
"I'm here to support my friend. She's taking the black belt promotion exam," he said, gesturing towards Yui, who had begun her second spar already.
Noa nodded and replied, "I'm here to submit a few documents regarding the martial arts tournament next week. I need the coaches to sign off on them since they need to be sent in tomorrow."
Reiji's eyes flickered when he heard that, and he instantly thought of the original event with Tadano, where he would hide the documents out of spite.
He wasn't sure if that would still take place, especially after the Kahawara incident backfired spectacularly and gave Noa a massive boost, solidifying her position at the Student Council.
There was actually a bit of inner conflict for Reiji in the past two days, regarding whether or not he should notify Noa about this possibility.
And now was a good time as any, but he had no idea how to bring it up.
"Wow...She's really good," Noa muttered.
Reiji snapped out of his thoughts and followed her line of sight, grinning when he saw Yui fighting extremely well against his own coach.
The old Nishimura Sensei seemed slightly overwhelmed because of her energy and speed, but he still held the upper hand.
"She's awesome, isn't she?" he laughed.
Noa glanced at him with an odd look.
"What's the relationship between you two?" she asked. "She even came barging into the Student Council last time because of the post."
"Uhhh..."
Yui didn't want to reveal their relationship yet because of 'them', so he wasn't sure how to answer the question.
Seeing him at a loss for words, Noa shrugged.
"No need to answer, I was just curious."
"Oh.....Okay."
Noa quickly changed the topic, probably to diffuse the awkward ambience.
"Hmm.....I didn't know there was a promotion exam today. Do you know how long they'll take?"
"Probably another 15-20 minutes? It's almost over."
"That's a little too long..." she murmured. And then she turned to Reiji. "If you're staying until the end, can you ask the coaches to look over this document and sign it? I'll come to your class tomorrow morning to pick it up."
"....Eh?"