Before Daiki even knew it...
It was time to get back up.
For more "training".
To become "lions".
To "climb out of hell".
Those words were always dramatic and terrifying to Daiki's ears, but for some strange reason—
It worked.
That was the weird part.
At some point over the last few days, Daiki had stopped dragging himself forward purely because he wanted to survive.
Now he wanted more.
Something hotter.
Something sharper.
Strength.
Maybe that was foolish.
It was definitely dangerous.
But the Shinyo Institute had already begun teaching him two important things:
If you stopped moving forward, you died.
And—
If you wanted strength, you had to suffer for it.
In seconds, Daiki pulled himself out of bed at the crack of dawn, threw on his uniform, and left for the Class 1-F Training Arena.
A decision Daiki would've hated making a couple of days ago.
Soon enough, he hopped through the broken window of Class 1-F and entered the arena.
Kojiro-sensei was already standing there.
That wasn't a shocker.
The instructor stood alone in the center of the arena, one hand in the pocket of his hakama while the other lazily scrolled through something on his phone.
Daiki landed with a quiet thud.
Kojiro took his eyes off his phone briefly.
And right there, was when Daiki realized something absolutely terrifying.
"... I'm early?"
He was the only student there.
No Ren.
No Yui.
Nobody.
Just him.
Alone.
With Kojiro.
Daiki felt like he had to use the bathroom.
Kojiro lazily looked at his phone again.
"By a couple of minutes," he said with unusual calmness.
Daiki began to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. "Oh. Cool."
A quiet second.
Then Kojiro threw his phone in his pocket.
"But," he said, his wild characteristic grin slowly spreading across his face, "that doesn't mean we can't start."
Kojiro's sharp eyes settled onto him like a beast.
"I'll just have to begin with you, Fushino."
Daiki felt his heart drop straight to his stomach.
"Oh! Are you sure...? Wouldn't that mess with your lesson plan?"
Kojiro tilted his head a bit to the side.
"Nope. This is actually perfect."
Daiki swallowed.
Everything in him was telling him to fake a stomachache and leave immediately.
Instead, he clenched his fists and mustered up the courage he needed.
"....Alright. I'm ready."
Kojiro's grin transformed into a full-blown smile.
"That's what I like to hear, lamb. Let's continue where we left off yesterday."
Daiki nodded without speaking.
"The three phases were bullshit. Mostly."
Daiki blinked.
"They existed so I could evaluate all of you," Kojiro continued. "Physical ability. Mentality. Instincts. Control. Weaknesses. Limits."
He then pointed a finger at Daiki's chest.
"And more importantly, to see what is limiting you from becoming a lion."
Daiki tilted his head in curiosity. "And... what's limiting me?"
Kojiro answered gladly.
"Your control over your Reiki is shit. Which means your control over your Ketsugojin is shit too."
That felt like an arrow straight to Daiki's back.
Kojiro continued without mercy. "Your Flow Efficiency is terrible. Every time you use your Ketsugojin, you burn yourself alive when you don't have to."
Kojiro grabbed Daiki's wrist and lifted his arm slightly, exposing scars growing on his arms and knuckles.
"Case in point."
Daiki crossed his arms and frowned a bit.
"Everyone says that, but I'm still living."
Kojiro stared at him for a second.
And then he let a laugh escape his mouth.
"That is an unbelievably stupid sentence for someone like you to say. Takagi's definitely rubbing off on you."
Before Daiki could respond, Kojiro stepped in closer and jabbed his finger at Daiki's chest.
"It hasn't been a problem so far because you've used your Ketsugojin in bursts, but the moment you have to use it seriously, you'll die."
Daiki could feel sweat beginning to form on the edges of his head.
"And no student of mine will die because of something I can fix."
That made Daiki turn his head.
That was oddly caring for a maniac like Kojiro.
Kojiro stepped back.
"However," Kojiro said, "don't expect me to teach you how to 'master' your Ketsugojin. That would be foolish in the amount of time we have."
He pointed at Daiki again.
"What we will be doing is getting your Flow Efficiency fixed."
Kojiro had said it before, but Daiki had no clue what that meant.
"What does 'Flow Efficiency' even mean?"
Kojiro answered without missing a beat. "It's how smoothly and properly your Reiki flows through your body. Yours is completely out of whack."
Kojiro tapped Daiki's forehead.
"Your Reiki flows through your body way too fast and way too violently for you to handle."
"You subconsciously force your Ketsugojin to full output almost immediately. Your body can't distribute that kind of power properly, so it slowly tears itself apart trying to keep up."
Daiki scratched the back of his head. "So... if I fix my Flow Efficiency, the pain goes away?"
Kojiro grinned instantly. "Nope."
Daiki frowned.
"Far from it, actually. It'll minimize the damage. Not erase it."
Kojiro's eyes widened as if his excitement was rapidly growing. "But I am confident that is all you'll need to start becoming a lion."
Then he pointed toward Daiki's arm. "Today, you will learn how to direct your Ketsugojin."
Daiki's eyebrows shifted slightly.
"You don't need one hundred percent of your Reiki output flowing through your entire body just to throw a punch."
A moment.
"You only need enough."
"And how am I going to do that...?"
Kojiro put his hand on the sheath of his katana.
"Your Reiki will and always will be subservient to your will—"
In one smooth motion, he pulled the katana from the sheath and pointed its blade towards Daiki.
"—but your 'will' is completely wrong, Daiki."
The use of his first name made Daiki stand straighter unconsciously.
Then, Kojiro drove it into the ground and stared at Daiki.
"Your Ketsugojin is not a 'supermove'. You need to think of it more evenly, and use it like a muscle."
He put his fist up against Daiki's forehead.
"Or more simply, only use your Ketsugojin in spots where it is needed."
Kojiro grabbed the hilt of his katana again.
"If I need to push something heavy, my body is going to activate my chest and shoulders, not my damn ankles."
Daiki blinked.
That... actually makes a lot of sense.
Kojiro tightened his grip around the katana's handle.
"And if I need to slash something—"
The moment his grip tightened, Reiki flowed from his arm into the blade in a thin, controlled layer of Reiki.
"I'm going to use my blade."
Daiki's eyes widened in shock.
"...What the hell?"
He leaned forward slightly.
"How'd you do that?!"
Kojiro smiled.
"Control."
The Reiki around the blade flickered smoothly, not wild or explosive like Daiki's Surge.
"I'm not flooding my entire body with Reiki," Kojiro explained. "I'm directing only the exact amount I need into one specific location."
He gave the blade a small swing before returning it to its sheath.
"That is Flow Efficiency."
Daiki stared at the sword silently.
For the first time since coming to the Institute, someone was explaining Reiki in a way that actually clicked in his head.
Kojiro noticed immediately.
"That look means you're finally starting to use your brain," he said.
"Shut up," Daiki muttered without even realizing who he was talking to.
Surprisingly, Kojiro laughed once before sheathing the blade.
"Now," he said, staring directly at him, "your turn."
Daiki's expression changed.
"Fight me, and try flowing your Reiki and Ketsugojin into just your fist."
Daiki swallowed hard, but began to prep himself.
"...Alright."
He stepped back from Kojiro and inhaled.
For the first time since awakening Surge, Daiki actually tried to feel his Reiki instead of simply unleashing it.
He closed his eyes briefly.
And then... he could feel it.
Reiki surged through his body like a raging current beneath his skin.
Wild.
Desperate.
Continuous.
Unpredictable.
It crashed through him like a great flood trying to escape a tiny container.
The moment Daiki tapped into it, the reaction was immediate.
Reiki burst from his body in unstable waves, flickering around his arms and shoulders like blazing sparks and flickers.
Surge answered him instinctively.
Way too instinctively.
Kojiro's grin widened slightly.
"There it is," he muttered.
Daiki planted his foot forward and charged.
And uncharacteristically, he focused on direction.
My fist...
Only my fist....
Don't let it spread....
For a second, he almost felt it happen.
His Reiki shifted.
Condensed.
Moved toward his arm....
Then immediately exploded back through the rest of his body like a rubber band that just snapped.
Daiki's eyes widened.
Crap.
Kojiro sidestepped the incoming punch and kicked him right in the stomach.
Daiki yelped and crashed backwards across the dirt.
Kojiro looked down at him, slightly disappointed.
"You failed."
Daiki immediately shot back up, his heart quietly beating.
"...I'm trying again!"
Kojiro smiled.
"Alright, lamb."
He swayed his arms out to the side.
"We got all day, hit me."
Daiki placed his hand on his chest.
Giving up here would change nothing.
He would still be weak.
Still scared.
And still stuck at the bottom.
There's no growing stronger if he didn't believe in himself to begin with.
So Daiki forced himself forward again..!
He charged forward once again, raising his fist simultaneously and tapping into the floodgates of his Reiki.
Listen to me...!
Go to my fist...!
To my fist...!
And then he failed again.
And then Kojiro punished him with another kick to the stomach.
Daiki got up again.
Tried again.
And failed again.
And again.
And again.
After getting kicked again, Daiki fell to the ground and let his arms out to the side.
"...Fuck."
Kojiro walked over to him and looked down.
"You're shitter than I thought."
Daiki let out a long breath before slowly getting back up.
"I'm... fine."
Kojiro crossed his arms and frowned a bit.
"You need to slow down."
Daiki looked at Kojiro and frowned.
"What does that even mean anymore...?"
"You're still overcomplicating this like an idiot. You've probably been thinking 'go to my fist' for the last five attempts."
Daiki rubbed the back of his neck as a slight red flushed into his cheeks.
Kojiro let a long sigh escape from his mouth.
"Do you say 'legs move!' when you ride a bike? Stop thinking, and just do it."
Daiki sighed before looking down at his hands.
The concept was simple...
Yet exceedingly hard at the same time.
Daiki knew he was bound to fail.
He wasn't some.... genius.
His logic was telling him to give it a day.
His brain was asking him, "Where was everyone else right now?"
But... screw that.
Screw logic.
Screw common sense.
If "stop thinking" was what he needed to do, that was exactly what he would do.
Daiki stepped back and closed his eyes.
His breathing slowed.
The pain in his body.
The noise in his head.
The panic.
He ignored all of it.
Then he moved. Daiki rushed forward again.
No overthinking.
No forcing it.
Just moving.
He raised his fist and cocked it back.
He threw a punch.
It was still rough.
Still desperate.
But... at the very last second.
It worked.
Reiki flashed to his fist like a condensed blast.
Kojiro's eyes widened immediately.
He moved his head sideways and caught Daiki's wrist.
That did not stop the force that came from it.
A tiny yet compressed blast of energy was released from Daiki's fist, unleashing a gust of wind that blew Kojiro's hair backwards.
Silence followed.
Daiki's eyes widened as he looked at his hand.
Kojiro slowly looked back at him.
And then—
Kojiro's grin widened like a madman's.
"You did it."
For the first time, Daiki was done surviving his power.
He was beginning to control it.