Two days outside. Four inside.
While Yūta and Kaito trained in the hall that was not what it appeared from the outside, the rest of the Tokyo compound had its own version of preparation — less concentrated in a single place, more dispersed, with the specific energy of people who have a deadline and are each approaching it in their own way.
Tsukino Hina and Harada Jin had found a training spot at the far north end of the garden that kept them away from the others without either of them having proposed it explicitly — they had simply started training there on the first day and on the second day had returned to the same spot without discussing it. The dynamic between them was one of constant clash — Tsukino wanted to attack, Harada wanted to attack, and both had different reasons to believe their way of attacking was the correct one. Which resulted, against all logic, in a coordination that worked precisely because neither expected the other to yield.
Ishida Taro and Takashima Yui trained in silence. Not the uncomfortable silence of two people with nothing to say to each other, but the functional silence of two people who had assessed the other in the first ten minutes and reached the conclusion that words are less efficient than direct observation. Yui analysed Ishida's chains with the attention of someone cataloguing a new tool. Ishida observed Yui's barriers with the same coolness. Neither asked questions — they simply watched and adjusted.
Shirogane Mei and Sendai Hana were the most quietly appearing team and the most coordinated in practice. Hana had opened the combat telepathy channel from the very first training session — not to give orders but so that Shirogane could feel what she was seeing from another angle. The first time they did it Shirogane stopped mid-blade because the information arrived from somewhere she was not expecting. The second time she integrated it without pausing. The third time she used it before Hana had suggested it.
Arimoto Kenta and Wada Chiho were, on the surface, the team with the least apparent chemistry. Kenta talked. Chiho did not respond. Kenta asked questions about the mana bow. Chiho generated the bow, fired, and kept her silence. Kenta commented on every shot with the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely found what they were seeing fascinating. Chiho did not look at him. But the shots, with time, began to coordinate with Kenta's movements in a way that neither of them had proposed aloud.
Inside the hall that looked like a small house, Yūta and Kaito had spent four days doing what Kaito called training and Yūta called, privately, surviving.
The fourth day was different from the first in ways Yūta could feel but could not always articulate. The strikes arrived earlier than he expected them to because his reading of movement had improved without anyone telling him explicitly. The mana flowed for over thirty seconds under calm conditions and around twenty under combat conditions, which was an enormous difference from the initial five seconds, though still not enough for what Kaito considered satisfactory.
His abdomen, for its part, had developed a tolerance to impact that Yūta would have preferred not to need, but was grateful to have.
They were in the middle of a round when the door opened.
Kirino Yuna entered with the expression of someone who has been looking for something for a reasonable amount of time and has finally found it in the last place they checked.
"I finally find you," she said.
Both of them stopped.
"Maestra Yuna," said Kaito, with a brief bow, while Yūta simply bowed in greeting.
"What are you two still doing in here?" said Yuna, looking around the hall with something between surprise and resignation. "Have you been training in here the whole two days?"
"Yes," they both said at the same time.
Yuna looked at them. Then she let out a short laugh she made no attempt to contain.
"In one hour," she said, recomposing her expression, "Kato will explain the tournament rules. It will be in the compound's forest."
Please don't let him be late, thought Yuna. Please.
"Understood," said Kaito.
"You should leave now," said Yuna. "You'll be late if you wait." She looked at them both once more, with something in her expression that was between approval and the specific kind of tiredness produced by watching people who take things too seriously. "Well done, both of you."
And she left.
Kaito put away what remained in the bag while Yūta looked at the hall for the last time with the expression of someone who has spent four days in a place and has a complicated relationship with it.
"Time to go," said Kaito.
"Yes." Yūta picked the dagger up from the floor where he had left it. "Kaito, what is the compound's forest? Kato never showed it to us."
Kaito looked at him with something between genuine surprise and the specific resignation of someone who has long known that Kato has a particular way of prioritising things.
"He didn't show you the place?"
Yūta smiled and brought a hand to his head.
"We didn't have much time," he said. "Since we arrived we've already had two missions."
Kaito sighed.
"It's a forest inside the compound," he said. "Large. Used mainly for training. Real conditions without leaving the grounds."
"I see," said Yūta.
"Better we go before Maestra Yuna comes back."
They left. The corridor was narrower than the hall and the light was different — the ordinary light of the compound, without that illumination from no visible source that the mana hall had. Yūta blinked for a moment while his eyes adjusted.
They walked talking about the training — what had worked, what still needed work, the difference between fighting with fluid mana and without it — with the ease of two people who have spent four days together doing the same thing and no longer need a preamble to talk about it.
The others were already in the compound's forest when Kaito and Yūta arrived.
Tsukino saw them appear and gave them a nod that was her version of a welcome. Shirogane greeted them with a more visible smile. Ishida looked at them and turned back to face front. The second-years were a little apart — Kenta raised a hand, Jin did nothing, Yui assessed them briefly, Hana smiled, Chiho was looking at the trees.
The four first-years gathered for a moment.
"How did it go?" said Yūta.
"Well," said Shirogane. "Hana and I found something that works."
"Harada is impulsive," said Tsukino, in a tone that was not exactly a complaint, but came close. "But it works when he doesn't get too far ahead of himself."
"Ishida and I are efficient," said Yui, who had approached without anyone explicitly inviting her but without anyone objecting either. "Nothing wasted, but nothing missing either."
Ishida added nothing. Which, for Ishida, was a way of agreeing.
The conversation was cut short when Yuna and Kana appeared along the main forest path.
Everyone greeted them. The second-years with the automatic bow of those who have practised it enough for it to be a reflex. The first-years a second later, with slightly less perfect synchrony but already more natural than the first time.
Yuna looked around the group.
"Where is Kato?" she said, in the tone of someone who already knew the answer but needed to confirm it.
Kana responded without changing her expression.
"Since I expected him to be late, I asked Tatsu to go and fetch him."
I'm going to kill him, thought Yuna.
Tatsu appeared along the path two minutes later, with Kato beside him, hands in his pockets and a bag of something he had clearly bought at some point along the way.
"Sorry for being late," said Kato, with the solemnity of someone who is not particularly sorry. "I was delayed because I went to pick up a few things."
"I found him at a market," said Tatsu, in the completely neutral tone of someone delivering a report. "Buying food."
Now I really am going to kill him, thought Yuna.
"The important thing," said Kana, with a sigh that required no elevation, "is that he's here now."
Kato greeted the group with a bow that had more of a casual gesture than a formal reverence about it, set the bag to one side, and stood before them all with the expression of someone about to explain something.
"As you know," he said, "the tournament will be in pairs. But you won't be alone."
"I've arranged for remnants to be brought into the forest. Strong, medium and weak ones. You'll need to defeat them."
"Remnants?" said Yūta, taken aback.
"He's lost his mind," said Tsukino.
"Is that all right?" asked Shirogane.
"Don't worry, I know you'll be fine," said Kato with a smile. "Besides, we'll be monitoring everything in case anything gets out of hand."
Tatsu handed each person a small vial — fist-sized, transparent, with something that glowed faintly inside when the light caught it at the right angle.
"Each time you defeat a remnant," Kato continued, "the vial will fill. That's your marker." He paused. "But there's a complication. The vials can be stolen."
Some of them exchanged glances.
"If someone steals your vial," said Kato, "they can transfer the points you have into their own. And each person's vial is linked to their partner's, so what happens to one vial affects the other."
"Can we steal vials while we're fighting remnants?" said Kenta, in the tone of someone assessing the possibilities.
"You can do whatever you consider most useful," said Kato. "That's the idea."
"The points," he continued, "are not the same for all remnants. Weak ones give one point. Medium ones give three. The strongest give ten. The first to reach fifty points wins."
The number circulated through the group in different ways — some making visible mental calculations, others simply registering it.
"Finally, this tournament will not end until a team reaches fifty points."
"When the bell sounds," said Kato, "it begins." He looked at Tatsu.
Tatsu produced the bell.
"Any questions?" said Kato.
Nobody asked anything. Which could mean everything was clear or that everyone was too busy processing the vial-stealing part to formulate coherent questions.
"Good," said Kato.
Tatsu rang the bell.
The sound expanded through the forest with that specific clarity of well-tempered metal, and before it had finished resonating the teams were already moving — some running, some walking fast with a calculated direction, all disappearing amongst the trees with the speed of people who have fifty points in mind and a finite number of remnants to obtain them from.
Kana looked at the forest for a moment. Then she turned to Tatsu.
"It surprises me that he remembered everything," she said.
"I always remember everything," said Kato.
Kana looked at the two of them — at Kato, at Yuna, at the forest where the students had already disappeared — with that expression of hers that did not change much but that Tatsu, after years, had learned to read.
"I'll see you in the room," said Kana. "To watch the fights."
Tatsu gave a bow and the two of them went off along the main path.
Kato waited for them to leave. Then he turned to Yuna and lifted the sleeve of his jacket.
On the inside, fixed with something that looked like tape, was a folded piece of paper with everything he had said — point by point, in the exact order in which he had said it.
Yuna looked at it.
She breathed.
"Kato," she said, in the voice of someone choosing their words.
"Now we need to go to the room," said Kato, lowering his sleeve with complete naturalness. "To watch the others."
Yuna closed her fist. She opened it. She decided she did not have enough energy for this conversation and that the room was indeed where they needed to be.
"You're hopeless," she said, and went towards the path.
"You shouldn't get so cross with me," said Kato, following her. "I'm very strong and also fairly good-looking." Trying to wind her up.
Yuna kept walking without responding.
"Don't leave me on my own," said Kato.
In the monitoring room there were four chairs in front of a wall of screens showing different angles of the forest — the paths, the clearings, the points where the remnants had been concentrated before the tournament began. Kana and Tatsu were already seated when Kato and Yuna arrived.
Kato sat down. He looked at the screens. He looked at those present.
"Anyone want to bet on who wins?"
Yuna hit him without looking at him.
Kana and Tatsu did not react visibly.
Someone knocked at the door.
Kato told them to come in. The door opened and it was Kagami Ryo, hands in his pockets and that quiet presence of his that filled the space without needing to announce itself.
"What are you still doing here?" said Kato.
"I invited him," said Kana, without taking her eyes off the screens.
Kato looked at Kana. Then at Kagami.
"Did you really?"
"I didn't have much else to do either," said Kagami, and sat down in the remaining chair.
Kato looked at him for one more second. Then at the screens. Then at Kagami.
"Shall we bet?"
Yuna hit him again.
"Why?" asked Kato.
"You bring it on yourself," replied Yuna.
The five of them sat looking at the screens while in the forest, amongst the trees and the remnants and the vials that glowed faintly with each point accumulated, the teams began to show what two days — or four, depending on where you had spent them — of preparation had built.