The courtyard filled again before afternoon training.
This time, there were no marks on the ground.
No wounded dummies.
No cut white lines.
No mana smoke.
And yet, everyone walked as if they could still step on something invisible and fail.
Yūta arrived with Sota at his side. The boy from Misato looked at the courtyard with more attention than curiosity, as if he were still trying to learn the rules of a world that changed every time he started to understand it.
Kenta was near the center, talking to Kaito. Or trying to. His hands opened and closed without fire, but with the memory of fire. Kaito listened with his arms crossed and the rigid patience of someone who did not want to look worried.
Ishida stood beside a column, holding a closed book.
That worried Yūta more than if he had been reading it.
Mei was with Hina, but she was not talking to her. She was looking toward the side, where Kasumi was speaking with Yuna. Mei's expression said many things, most of them violent.
Chiho held a thin string of mana between her fingers without turning it into a bow. Yui stood beside her, watching the space of the courtyard as if she were already calculating where she would place barriers if something went wrong.
A few steps behind them, Hana observed everyone.
She did not seem to be looking.
She seemed to be listening to the way each person breathed.
"Everyone got here early," Sota said.
Yūta looked around.
"That's a bad sign. Teenagers only arrive early when there's food, a fight, or collective anxiety."
"Which one is this?"
"I don't see food yet."
Sota smiled faintly.
Kenta raised his voice from the center.
"Still, last year's festival would've been better than this."
Yui sighed.
"This hasn't even started yet."
"Exactly. It's already started badly."
Yūta approached.
"I've never seen someone miss a beating they didn't receive so much."
Kenta looked at him.
"Someone from Kyoto won last year."
Yūta blinked.
"That explains everything and nothing."
Kaito turned slightly toward him.
"He was strong."
Kenta let out a short laugh.
"Not strong. Absurd."
Harada, leaning against a nearby wall, added without emotion:
"In the final, his opponent didn't touch him once."
Sota looked up.
"Not even once?"
"Not once," Kaito said.
Mei spoke from where she stood, without taking her eyes off Kasumi.
"The match lasted less than it takes Kenta to say he's going to win something."
Kenta pointed at her.
"That's false."
Ishida opened his book, looked at one page, and closed it again.
"It isn't completely false."
"Thanks, traitorous chain."
Yūta looked at Kaito.
"So what's his name?"
Kaito took one second to answer.
"It doesn't matter right now."
That made it matter more.
Hina noticed.
"Are you not saying his name because it's secret, or because it sounds more dramatic that way?"
Harada answered:
"Because everyone ended up calling him 'the one from Kyoto.'"
Yūta opened his eyes.
"Ah, great. Worse. When someone loses their name and gains an article, it's because they traumatized people."
Kenta smiled.
"I wanted to see him up close this year."
Yui looked at him.
"You wanted to fight him."
"Also."
"That was obvious."
"Don't judge me for having goals."
Chiho lowered the mana string.
"The normal festival was individual. If someone like that won, everyone knew where the difference was."
Sota looked at her.
"Does that help?"
Chiho thought before answering.
"It hurts."
Then she looked toward the empty courtyard.
"But it helps."
Sota lowered his gaze slightly.
Yūta understood something late.
For Sota, the festival was not only a suspended tournament.
It was another door that had appeared and closed before he could cross it.
Baku appeared behind Kenta as if the word "traumatized" had summoned him.
"I love school memories with the flavor of national humiliation."
Kenta jumped slightly.
"Don't appear like that!"
"Appearing like that is half my charm."
Kanzaki was walking behind him.
"No."
Baku turned.
"Not even half?"
"No."
"A quarter?"
"Not that either."
"Damn idiot, you negotiate like a closed door."
Kanzaki kept walking.
"Closed doors are useful."
"See, that's why no one invites you to birthdays."
"Correct."
Baku opened his arms toward the students.
"Today smells like tournament, frustration, and decisions someone will regret in front of witnesses. Beautiful."
Mei looked at him.
"Are you participating in the explanation?"
"I hope so. I dressed in my finest absence of shirt."
Yui watched him with exhaustion.
"You're always like that."
"And yet today it feels special."
Kana appeared from the main entrance of the courtyard.
The noise lowered.
It did not vanish all at once.
It simply organized itself.
Tatsu was beside her with a folder. Kato and Yuna walked behind them. Kagami stayed near a column. Kasumi advanced with a calm that made Mei tighten her grip on her fans before realizing it. Baku moved aside, though not enough to look disciplined. Kanzaki chose a position from which he could see the whole courtyard and every exit.
Kana stopped in front of the students.
"You've read the notice."
No one answered.
Kenta almost raised his hand.
Yui looked at him.
Kenta lowered it.
Baku murmured:
"They grow up so fast."
Kana continued:
"The annual festival between branches remains suspended. That has not changed. There will be no student travel, no external representatives, and no visitors from other branches."
The sentence grew heavy again.
Even though they already knew it.
Knowing bad news did not make it hurt less when someone said it out loud.
"What we will hold," Kana said, "is an internal Tokyo activity."
Kenta looked up.
So did Mei.
Sota tightened his fingers.
"It does not replace the festival," Kana clarified. "It is not meant to. The normal festival measures individual growth between branches. This year, we cannot measure that without putting you at risk."
Tatsu opened the folder.
"The authorized format will be an internal tournament, controlled matches, two-on-two."
The murmur appeared immediately.
Two-on-two.
The phrase moved through the courtyard faster than a technique.
Yūta looked at Sota.
He did not want to.
He did it anyway.
Sota looked back.
For one second, neither said anything.
Then Kato spoke from the side.
"No."
Yūta closed his eyes.
"I hadn't even opened my mouth."
"Your face was already negotiating."
Sota lowered his gaze, but he did not look surprised.
That worried Yūta more than if he had protested.
Kana raised one hand.
The murmur lowered.
"Before explaining the tournament, one decision must be made clear."
Sota took a deep breath.
As if he already knew.
Kana looked directly at him.
"Sota Miyazaki will not participate."
The silence was not large.
It was precise.
Sota nodded.
"I understand."
Yūta took half a step.
"But—"
"Amane," Kato said.
It was not loud.
It did not need to be.
Yūta stopped.
Kana did not look away from Sota.
"It is not punishment."
"I know," Sota said.
"It is not lack of trust."
Sota lifted his eyes slightly.
Kana placed both hands on her cane.
"It is level. You do not yet have enough control for a tournament match, even a controlled one. You will observe. You will train separately. And you will learn from what you see."
Sota swallowed.
"Yes."
Yūta clenched his teeth.
Sota looked at him before he could say anything.
"It's okay."
"It doesn't look okay."
"No. But it's okay."
The answer was too mature to sound comfortable.
Yūta did not know what to do with it.
Surprisingly, Baku made no joke.
He only watched Sota for one second.
Then he looked at Kato.
Kato did not return the look.
Kana continued.
"Ten students will participate."
Tatsu read from the folder.
"Yūta Amane. Taro Ishida. Hina Tsukino. Mei Shirogane. Kaito Mura. Kenta Arimoto. Jin Harada. Yui Takashima. Hana Sendai. Chiho Wada."
Each name fell in a different way.
Yūta heard his as a question.
Ishida, as a responsibility.
Hina, as something she could no longer avoid.
Mei, as a provocation.
Kaito, as an order.
Kenta, as an opportunity.
Harada, as data.
Yui, as a structure that did not yet exist.
Hana, as too much noise around her.
Chiho, as a string pulling tight.
Kana let the names settle.
"There will be five pairs. Each pair will have two matches during the scoring phase."
Tatsu continued:
"Victory: three points. Draw by time limit: one point. Defeat: zero points. Penalty for placing your partner in real danger: minus one point. The two pairs with the highest scores advance to the final."
Kenta raised his hand.
Kana looked at him.
"Arimoto."
"What counts as placing your partner in real danger?"
Baku tilted his mask.
"I love that you ask as if you weren't example material."
Kenta ignored him with effort.
That effort showed.
Kanzaki answered:
"An action that forces an instructor to intervene in order to prevent serious harm."
Yuna added:
"Or a technique that, due to lack of control, crosses an area occupied by your partner."
Kenta lowered his hand.
"Understood."
Baku pointed at Kato.
"A previous lesson just started hurting him. What a beautiful educational ecosystem."
Kato did not smile.
"Don't distract him."
"I'm watering him."
"He isn't a plant."
"Not with that attitude."
Kana continued:
"No lethal techniques. No simulated remnants. No hidden objectives. No special trials. This is a two-on-two tournament, nothing more."
Yūta whispered:
"When someone says 'nothing more,' there's usually something more."
Beside him, Ishida answered:
"In this case, the something more is us."
Yūta looked at him.
"That was considerably worse."
"It was correct."
"That's why."
Kana raised her voice slightly.
"The teams will not be chosen by you."
The courtyard reacted more strongly than before.
Mei clicked her tongue.
Kenta opened his arms.
Yūta looked at Sota again, even though he already knew.
Hina did not react immediately.
Chiho did: she lowered her eyes as if someone had just touched the string of her bow.
Yui breathed more slowly.
Kaito stayed still.
Harada's expression did not change, which, with him, could mean anything.
Kana waited until everyone fell silent.
"The teams were decided by the instructors."
Baku raised a hand.
"I would like to clarify that several of my proposals were rejected due to institutional cowardice."
Tatsu did not even look at the folder.
"They were rejected because they were illegible."
"My handwriting expresses inner conflict."
Kanzaki said:
"It expresses lack of basic education."
"Again with precision against my autobiography."
Kana looked at Baku.
"You will not announce the pairs."
Baku placed a hand on his chest.
"Censorship returns with new boots."
"Tatsu."
Tatsu opened the final sheet.
The courtyard went still.
Even Kenta stopped moving his fingers.
"First pair," Tatsu read. "Yūta Amane and Chiho Wada."
Yūta blinked.
So did Chiho.
Then they looked at each other.
Not with rejection.
With the kind of fear that appears when two people understand they have no idea how not to get in each other's way.
"Ah," Yūta said.
Chiho raised an eyebrow.
"Ah?"
"I'm looking for a better sentence."
"And?"
"It didn't appear."
Chiho lowered the mana string she was still holding between her fingers.
"I need space to shoot."
"And I have a tendency to run toward problems."
"That isn't compatible."
"Not yet. But it sounds educational."
Chiho looked at him with a seriousness that was not coldness.
It was fear of failing visibly.
"Don't block my shot."
Yūta nodded.
This time, he did not make a joke right away.
"I'll try."
Chiho studied him.
"And I'll try to shoot before you do something impossible to read."
"That's almost a promise of friendship."
"Don't exaggerate."
From the side, Yuna observed the pair.
"Good."
Kato looked at Yūta.
"She needs a line."
"And he needs to learn not to occupy all of them," Yuna said.
Kato drank coffee.
"I was going to say that."
"No."
"Something close."
"Not that either."
Tatsu read the second pair.
"Taro Ishida and Kenta Arimoto."
A different silence fell over the courtyard.
Kenta looked at Ishida.
Ishida looked at Kenta.
For one second, they looked like two problems waiting to decide which one was worse.
Kenta spoke first.
"They put me with the human fire extinguisher."
Ishida closed his book.
"I am not a fire extinguisher."
"You have chains. You can hold me back if I go too far."
"I'm not going to hold you down so you don't get angry. That part is yours."
Kenta closed his mouth.
From the side, Baku tilted his head.
"Oh."
Kato looked at him.
"What?"
"Nothing. Chain boy just brought a knife to an emotional conversation. I like it."
Ishida continued, looking at Kenta:
"I can mark your limits. I can cover angles. I can stop a technique if it puts someone at risk."
"So, hold me back."
"No. Warn you before you become a casualty for your own team."
Kenta clenched his teeth.
"How kind."
"It wasn't kindness."
"Yeah, I noticed."
Baku raised a finger.
"This pair smells like a medical report and unsolicited personal growth."
Yui murmured:
"That's too specific."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't praise."
"I collect it anyway."
Tatsu continued.
"Third pair: Mei Shirogane and Jin Harada."
Mei slowly turned toward Harada.
Harada looked at her without moving from the wall.
"No."
Tatsu lifted his eyes.
"It is the designated pair."
"I didn't say no to you," Mei said. "I said it to the universe."
Harada pushed away from the wall.
"Accepted."
Mei looked at him.
"Accepted what?"
"Your complaint to the universe. It does not modify the result."
Yūta covered his mouth with one hand.
"I don't want to laugh."
Sota whispered:
"Yes, you do."
"Yes, but I don't want to die."
Mei opened one fan.
"If you disappear in the middle of the match without warning, I'm cutting where you were."
Harada nodded.
"If you attack without warning, I won't be where you think."
"That isn't an answer."
"It is preventive coordination."
Kasumi smiled from the side.
"What a lovely pair."
Without looking at her, Mei pointed at her with the fan.
"Don't talk."
Kasumi rested the closed fan against her cheek.
"You're already communicating."
"I hate you."
"You communicate that very clearly too."
Baku leaned toward Kanzaki.
"They were born divorced."
Kanzaki looked at Mei and Harada.
"Functional if they learn to inform before moving."
"You just defined the saddest marriage in the world."
"I'm not talking about marriage."
"That's why."
Tatsu read the fourth pair.
"Hina Tsukino and Kaito Mura."
Hina looked at Kaito.
Kaito looked back seriously.
He did not seem uncomfortable.
He seemed to be evaluating how careful he had to be not to look too careful.
For Hina, that was already a warning.
"Don't stand in front of me by reflex," she said.
Kaito lifted his eyebrows slightly.
"I could say the same."
Hina placed one hand on the handle of her axe.
"I have an axe. My front is more dangerous."
Kaito took one second.
Then nodded.
"Fair."
Hina looked at him more closely.
"I don't want you covering me like I'm going to break."
"I wasn't going to."
"Yes, you were."
Kaito did not answer immediately.
Then he exhaled.
"Maybe."
Hina nodded.
"I won't treat you like a wall either."
Kaito looked at her.
"Even if I look like one?"
"Especially because of that."
Kato watched that pair carefully.
"Two people who think enduring solves more than it does."
Yuna nodded.
"But Hina learned not to turn every wound into a debt."
Kato looked at Kaito.
"Mura is still learning that standing in front doesn't always organize the field."
Baku raised a hand.
"And that having shoulders like a door doesn't make you an emergency exit."
Kanzaki looked at him.
"That image was almost useful."
Baku went still.
"I don't know what to do with that approval."
"Nothing."
"You always return to pain."
Tatsu looked at the final line.
"Fifth pair: Hana Sendai and Yui Takashima."
Hana lowered her eyes.
Yui looked at her immediately.
"Are you okay?"
Hana nodded.
"Yes."
"That sounded like no."
Hana breathed.
"I see too many things. Sometimes I don't know which one to say first."
Yui did not answer quickly.
That was good.
She thought.
"Then don't try to say all of them."
Hana lifted her gaze.
Yui continued:
"Tell me where not to close."
Hana blinked.
"Where not to close?"
"If I make a complete barrier, I can get in the way. Kasumi-san said it. If you can see the route, I can leave a door."
Hana looked at her with quiet surprise.
"I can warn you before something arrives."
"And I can make sure it doesn't arrive completely."
Hana nodded slowly.
"That sounds possible."
Yui smiled faintly.
"Possible is a good start."
No one made a joke.
Not even Baku.
Then he raised one hand, as if he could not endure his own restraint.
"This pair seems calm, so statistically they're going to ruin someone's day."
Hana looked at him.
"I heard that as praise."
Baku pointed at Kato.
"I like her. She's scary in a quiet voice."
Kato crossed his arms.
"Yes."
Yūta looked at the five pairs.
Yūta and Chiho.
Ishida and Kenta.
Mei and Harada.
Hina and Kaito.
Hana and Yui.
They were not comfortable pairs.
That was obvious.
But they did not seem chosen at random either.
That was the irritating part.
Every pair had a clear way to go wrong.
And, for that very reason, a difficult way to go right.
Kana let the courtyard murmur for a few seconds.
Then she struck the ground with her cane.
"Listen."
Silence returned.
"These pairs were not chosen to make you comfortable. Nor to punish you."
Mei looked at Kasumi.
Kasumi smiled.
Kana continued:
"They were chosen because each of you needs to learn something that only appears when someone is beside you."
Kenta looked at Ishida.
Ishida did not look back.
Somehow, that made Kenta feel more observed.
"The pairs will remain fixed throughout the scoring phase," Kana said. "There will be no changes except by injury or instructor decision."
Tatsu read:
"Each match will have a time limit. Victory can be obtained by joint immobilization, forced ring-out, surrender, or instructor decision if one pair loses the ability to continue."
Yūta raised his hand.
Kana looked at him.
"Amane."
"What counts as joint immobilization?"
Kanzaki answered before Tatsu.
"When both members of a pair are unable to move or act for three seconds."
Yūta nodded.
"So taking down one isn't enough."
"No."
"Good."
Chiho looked at him.
"Why does that sound good to you?"
"Because I'm usually the one ending up on the ground."
"That isn't reassuring."
"I'm being transparent."
"I'd prefer you be solid."
"I'll work on that."
Sota watched from behind.
Not with clean envy.
Not with clean resignation either.
There was something else mixed in.
Yūta approached him while the others kept talking.
"Sota."
"I'm okay."
"You said that before I asked."
"Because you were going to ask."
Yūta closed his mouth.
Sota looked at the pairs.
"I wanted to participate."
The sentence came out simple.
Without drama.
That made it harder.
"I know," Yūta said.
"But if I participated, you would've been watching me."
Yūta did not answer.
"And if I wasn't paired with you, I would've been focused on proving I could be without you."
Sota tightened his fingers.
"So Kana-san is right."
Yūta let out a breath.
"I hate that."
"Me too."
"A lot?"
"Yes."
Yūta looked at the courtyard.
Then at Chiho.
Then back at Sota.
"I'm going to win anyway, then."
Sota looked at him.
"For me?"
Yūta shook his head.
This time, he thought before answering.
"No. Because I want to win."
Sota smiled a little.
"That sounds better."
"I'm worried that growing as a person will ruin my style."
"A little."
"Thanks for the honesty, traitor."
Kato was watching them from the side.
Yuna approached him.
"He didn't intervene."
"Who?"
"Yūta. When Kana said Sota wouldn't participate."
Kato drank coffee.
"Almost."
"But he didn't."
"Yes."
Yuna looked at Sota.
"That is training too."
"Everything is training lately."
"Not everything."
Kato looked at her.
Yuna kept watching the courtyard.
"Some things are still choices."
Kato did not answer.
Maybe because he could not argue.
Or maybe because he wanted to believe it.
Baku appeared beside them.
"The atmosphere is maturing too much. It makes me uncomfortable."
Yuna looked at him.
"That says a lot about you."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't praise."
"You know how it works."
Kana spoke again:
"The first match will be announced now."
The courtyard tensed.
Kenta smiled.
Mei straightened her back.
Ishida closed his book with one hand.
Yūta felt Chiho, several steps away, stop playing with the mana string.
Tatsu read from the sheet.
"First match of the scoring phase: Yūta Amane and Chiho Wada versus Hana Sendai and Yui Takashima."
Yūta looked at Chiho.
Chiho looked at him.
Then both of them looked at Hana and Yui.
Hana seemed surprised, but not afraid.
Yui took a deep breath.
"Well," Yūta said.
Chiho closed her fingers.
"Don't run in front of my shot."
"Don't close your eyes if I do something weird."
"Are you going to do something weird?"
Yūta looked at Hana.
Then at Yui.
Then at the courtyard.
"Probably."
Chiho sighed.
"Then warn me."
Yūta smiled.
"That I can try."
On the other side, Hana looked at Yui.
"He's going to improvise."
"Yes," Yui said.
"That will be hard to read."
Yui lifted one hand and formed a small barrier, barely a transparent plate between her fingers.
"Then we won't try to read everything. We'll close what we know and leave open what you need to see."
Hana watched her.
"Tell me if I speak too little."
"Tell me if I protect too much."
They both nodded.
They did not look excited.
They looked ready to try something.
That was more dangerous.
Baku rubbed his hands together.
"First match: improvisation and arrows against sensory anxiety and defensive architecture. I love this sport."
Kanzaki looked at him.
"It is not a sport."
"It has scoring, an audience, and teenagers about to make bad decisions. It's a sport."
Kana passed beside them.
"No betting."
Baku placed a hand on his chest.
"I'm offended you'd assume that."
Kanzaki spoke:
"You already made a list."
"I'm offended you know that."
"You left it on the table."
"It was a conceptual piece."
Kana did not even turn.
"I burned it."
Baku went still.
"That was institutional violence."
Kato looked at Yūta.
"Amane."
Yūta approached.
Chiho did too, though more slowly.
Kato watched them both.
"Don't try to win alone."
Yūta nodded.
"Yes."
Kato looked at him for one second longer.
"And don't try to prove you learned that."
Yūta opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Chiho glanced at him.
"Were you going to do that?"
"No."
Kato raised an eyebrow.
Yūta sighed.
"A little."
Chiho breathed out through her nose.
It was not a full laugh.
But close.
Kato looked at Chiho.
"Don't wait for the perfect shot."
"Yes."
"And don't use Amane as an excuse not to shoot."
Chiho tightened her fingers.
The sentence bothered her.
Because it was possible.
"Yes."
Kato stepped away.
"Then get ready."
Yūta and Chiho walked toward the edge of the field.
On the other side, Hana and Yui did the same.
Sota stayed behind the spectator barrier.
He was not inside.
That hurt.
But he was watching.
Yūta saw him.
Sota raised a hand.
It was not a big wave.
It was not a promise.
It was something simpler.
I'm here.
Yūta answered in the same way.
Then he looked at Chiho.
"I'm not very good at staying beside someone."
Chiho adjusted the mana string between her fingers.
"I'm not very good at shooting when the line isn't clear."
"Perfect."
"I don't see what part of that is perfect."
Yūta smiled.
"Then we both have something to ruin."
Chiho looked at him.
This time, the seriousness did not disappear.
But its weight changed.
"Let's try not to ruin it at the same time."
"Deal."
At the other end, Hana closed her eyes for one second.
When she opened them, she looked at Yūta.
Then at Chiho.
Then at Yui.
"They're going to move strangely."
Yui raised a small barrier to her left.
"Then we won't."
Hana nodded.
"Yes."
Kana raised her cane.
The courtyard went silent.
The annual festival was still suspended.
Kyoto would not come.
Nagoya would not come.
No branch would cross the country to measure its pride against Tokyo.
There would be no perfect one-on-one where someone could win alone and pretend that was enough.
This year, there was something smaller.
More closed.
More uncomfortable.
Two people.
Side by side.
And all the questions that could fit in that space.
Kana lowered her cane.
"Begin."
The tournament began without shouting.
Only with the sound of a mana arrow taking shape.
And with Yūta taking one step.
Not forward.
To the side.