Three days later Mess Hall:
The voices were loud. In my opinion, far too loud. On top of that, everyone was crammed together like in some mass-breeding cage. It's disgusting really disgusting.
Right in front of me, the main attraction of this whole circus was playing out. I looked at Yuna, who sat on the other side of the wooden table – annoyed, no, offended. Her gaze was fixed on Riku as if she were waiting for an answer.
And then there was Riku, sitting next to me, doing his best to avoid her gaze. Like a man possessed, he stared at his food.
(Good luck with that. What you're trying there is impossible, Riku.)
I don't know what you did, but I've never seen Yuna this pissed before.
To my left, it was basically the same as always: Shiro trying to make a move on Ichigo, who once again completely freaked out and cursed him and his entire bloodline. Really nothing new. After that, her sharp gaze turned to me, as if she was plotting something again.
To top it off, she even waved at me with a smile. What the hell?! Why does she always have to punish me?
Shiro's head slowly turned toward me – with lifeless eyes. I quickly avoided eye contact, otherwise he might actually kill me.
Now that I think about it, maybe I should install some sort of security system. Because, knowing Ichigo, she'll probably sneak into my room soon, drug me or whatever, until I help her.
And then she'll just use me again to make Shiro jealous – and of course, no one will notice. On the outside, she still acts like the well-behaved, holy class rep. Totally unfair, if you ask me.
The next moment, Yuna suddenly stood up angrily, shot Riku a furious look, and stormed off.
"Yuna, wait!" Ichigo called after her and
quickly followed.
Thud – Riku's head dropped into his porridge.
"Hey, Riku?"
Silence.
"Looks like you're not gonna eat your porridge anymore. Can I have it?"
Riku nodded, still with his head in the porridge.
Shiro stared at me, speechless.
"What? The porridge is tasty. Would be such a waste."
"Pull, pull."
I tugged at the tray holding the plate with Riku's head in it.
"It's stuck… pull, pull. Riku, your head!"
He didn't react.
"Hmph."
Yank – with a final pull, I slid the tray toward me, and Riku's head, covered in slimy porridge, landed on the wooden table.
"Bon appétit… oh, look, there's still hair in it."
Kaede carefully picked Riku's hairs out of the porridge.
That's pretty much how the last three days went. Morning and noon we learned more military basics, otherwise nothing exciting happened.
At least until now. Because today, in the afternoon, we had to form into combat squads.
Normally, boys and girls were separated, but not for today's exercise. Honestly, this whole thing annoyed me, but I still went along with it for Mr. Watsukawa's sake.
"Poke, poke. Hey Riku, come on, we need to line up."
No reaction
"Too bad… you could've made up with Yuna this afternoon."
Suddenly he shot to his feet.
"Let's go," he said, striking his proud, knightly pose again.
"Poke, poke. Hey Shiro, this afternoon you can definitely show Ichigo how strong you are. She's into that kind of thing."
Of course, I didn't tell him that Ichigo was in another group.
"Alright, let's go," Shiro said and summoned three warriors who carried us.
Training Ground:
This time the training ground was near the forest. But there weren't as many students here – probably the combat squads were spread out to different areas.
"Silence, please!" the lieutenant shouted. Everyone fell quiet.
"Today is a special training that makes up a major part of your provisional military license evaluation. The task is simple: It's four against one. The enemy retreats, you must work together to prevent his escape. You can use your magic freely. Killing magic, however, is forbidden. For communication, you'll receive a microphone to connect to Miss Susuna here if necessary. The exercise will be overseen by Mr. Watsukawa, who is already in the forest."
"He really has to be everywhere, doesn't he?" I muttered.
"Now, the four groups will each be assigned a trainer as their opponent."
"Group 2 then. Our trainer is Mr. Osuke."
I looked at the three of them.
Great, what a mood. Everyone's pissed. For once I'm not the one pissed and actually want to put in effort, and suddenly nobody else cares anymore.
And they're all acting like it's my fault, ever since the train.
I swallowed hard. Doesn't matter, Kaede, remember. How pathetic would I be if I couldn't do this? Mother, Father – I'll prove to you that I can preserve peace with my powers. I have to prove it.
I took a deep breath and touched my trembling hand.
Suddenly a whistle – the first group ran off and quickly disappeared into the forest.
About 30 minutes later, confirmation came through the microphone that they had successfully caught their trainer. Miss Susuna congratulated them and instructed them to leave the forest via another route.
Somehow Miss Susuna looks like one of those answering machines. The headset doesn't suit her at all.
Our trainer slowly entered the forest. He already had a one-minute head start. That's unfair.
Pffii – the whistle blew, and we ran off.
"Guys, I have a plan," I said as we sprinted across the meadow toward the forest.
"You, Kaede?" Yuna asked, surprised.
"Yeah, me."
Why did she look at me like she didn't expect that from me? I frowned.
"I just meant… usually you don't speak up," she said.
"Yeah, and what's that supposed to mean?"
"Enough, Kaede! What's your plan?" Riku asked, annoyed.
I looked at him and nodded. Almost forgot. Focus.
"First of all, we shouldn't split up. Alone, we'd have a hard time catching him without killing magic. Like I said, we need to work together or it won't work. I suggest Shiro sends out his warriors to track Mr. Osuke. Once they find him, they just follow him – that way we can't lose him. Then, once we've caught up, Yuna can hinder his escape with spear throws. I can use my explosions to push off trees and cut off his path. Since Riku is a close-range fighter, it should be easy for him to pin him down."
Riku nodded. We were still running.
"Isn't that risky, Kaede?" Yuna asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, but aside from me, no one else here is that mobile."
"Doesn't matter, we can't keep discussing. Let's just do it."
Shiro summoned five warriors. Each ran in a different direction. They were more like sprinters than warriors.
"And now?" Yuna asked.
I sat down and grinned.
"Now we wait."
8 minutes later:
Shiro's expression turned serious.
"I've got him. He's east. My warrior is tailing him."
"Let's go!"
We ran as fast as we could. Riku led the way with his shield.
"What if he's also a close-range fighter, Kaede?" Riku asked as we ran.
"Then he's lost anyway. It's four against one, and he'd have to stop to fight."
But Riku's right… we don't know his magic. And we've already been tailing him for more than ten minutes. He's moving pretty fast.
They could've made this exercise even harder.
The worst case would be if he had movement magic.
10 minutes later:
We were still running through the forest. Branches and leaves covered the ground everywhere. I don't know how deep we want to go into the woods.
"There, I see him!" Yuna suddenly shouted. "He's going left! Spear magic!"
A spear appeared in her hand. She pulled back and hurled it precisely. Her motion was fluid, not even a second to aim at Mr. Osuke.
"Now we've got you!"
The spear landed in a tree right at head height, directly in front of him.
But instead of stopping, he leapt over the spear – with a massive jump.
"He's getting faster!" I shouted.
Shit, that's bad. We're already pretty deep in the forest. If he loses us once, that's it. And I don't even know how much time we have left.
"Yuna, ask Miss Susuna how much time we have."
"Alright."
Yuna reached for the small microphone in her ear and pressed a button.
"Hello, Miss Susuna, how much time do we have left?"
Zsshhh.
"Hello, Miss Susuna?"
Zsshhh.
Yuna looked at me, confused, and kept fiddling with her device. Then she shook her head and shrugged.
"I can't get through. The connection's cut!"
At the same time – Info Center
"Shiro, can you hear me? You're outside the training zone. Return immediately, or you'll fail."
"Hello? Shiro
"I can't get through. I'll try Kaede."
Miss Susuna looked slightly tense as she tapped on the field device.(What are they doing so far out in the forest?) she muttered quietly.
"Kaede, can you hear me?"
Zsshh… zsshh…
"Kaede, please respond."
Zsshh… zsshh…
"I can't get through. What's going on?"
Susuna stood up and turned to the lieutenant, who was observing as well.
"Lieutenant, I can't reach them."
"That's unusual, but probably just a technical error. Keep trying."
The general turned and signaled the soldiers to ready the vehicle.
"Contact Mr. Watsukawa. He should check it out."
Miss Susuna nodded nervously and typed faster on the device.
"Mr. Watsukawa, can you hear me?"
Zsshh… zsshh…
"Mr. Watsukawa?"
Zsshh…
Then suddenly:
"Yes, I'm here. What is it?"
"The connection to Group Two has been lost, and they're outside the training zone to the east. Please check what's going on."
"Understood. I'm on my way."
Mr. Watsukawa spat out his gum, rolled his neck, and fixed his gaze ahead.
Alright then.
Sparks of lightning flickered all around him. He leapt from the branch he'd been perched on and dashed east.
Zsshh, zsshh
"Miss Susuna, this is Group One's trainer. Miss Susuna, please respond!"
"This is Susuna. What's wrong?"
"The exercise must be aborted immediately."
The voice was serious.
"What's going on?"
The lieutenant now listened in.
"I don't know who that guy was who looked like Osuke, but it's not him."
The voice hissed through the speakers.
"And how do you know that?"
…Silence…
"Because Mr. Osuke is lying here dead in front of us."
The lieutenant didn't hesitate and signaled the soldiers to move out. The vehicle roared to life.
Susuna stood, didn't hesitate a second, ran to the vehicle, and climbed in.
"What do you think you're doing, Susuna?"
"Those are my students. So I'm coming too."
The commander nodded in understanding and gave the signal to depart.
"I'm leaving the command to you, Susuna."
Forest – Group Two:
"Wait, I lost him! My warrior… he's gone? He destroyed him!"
"What, destroyed? That easily?"
Kaede grimaced and ground his teeth.
"Doesn't matter, we have to keep going. If we stop now, we fail. That can't be Group One managed it too."
"Yuna," Riku said, turning. "Let's try our tactic."
"Are you serious, Riku? We can't do that," Yuna said, surprised.
"If we push the boundaries a little, no one will notice," Riku said confidently.
"Stick to the plan, Riku. No crossing boundaries, got it?" Shiro cut him off, annoyed. "What's wrong with you guys today?"
Elsewhere in the forest Mr. Watsukawa:
"Something's wrong," Susuna's voice came through his earpiece.
"I know, Susuna. I'm almost there."
Watsukawa clenched his fists. His gaze was serious, his stride firm.
"Okay, but be caref… shhh…"
"Susuna? Susuna? Please respond."
Only static.
His expression hardened."My signal's being jammed. That means it's serious."
A fraction of a second later – a shout:
"Stooop! Stooop, stooop, stooop!"
A massive branch crashed down in front of Watsukawa. It missed him by inches. Splinters flew, leaves whirled through the air.
He leapt aside, instantly taking cover, scanning the treetops.
His eyes narrowed.
A voice. High-pitched. Almost playful:
"Sorry, but you're not allowed to go any further."
The sound came from above – somewhere in the shadows of the branches.
Watsukawa looked up. His expression remained neutral, only a slight twitch in his brow betraying his impatience.
And then he saw her.
A girl young, with pink hair, a strange smile, and a gaze far too curious for this situation.
"You've got to be kidding me…" he muttered.
"And you are?"
She didn't answer right away. Instead, she spread her arms and dropped from the branch.
No spell, no effect, no protection. She just landed cleanly, controlled, like someone who'd done it a hundred times.
Now she stood five meters in front of him.
The wind played with her hair. She gave a slight bow, as if this were a polite introduction, not the start of something ominous.
Then she raised her head. Her grin wasn't open or warm – it was wrong. Too perfect.
Her eyes: dreamy, yet something about them was… off.
"Well, since you asked so nicely…"
She tilted her head slightly. Her voice softened, sounding almost tender.
"Let me introduce myself…"
Pause.
She looked straight at him.
"I am…"