The rest of the week was like a rollercoaster for Sayuri. She wasn't allowed to take part in the first practical lessons. No Seclusion – no participation. Useless she was sitting on the side and watching her classmates demonstrate their powers. According to this they were categorized in ranks from X to Z. X for the most talented, those who already mastered their tangs for their age and experience and with even greater potential. Most of the class was an Y – average with a good potential and Z was for those few pupils who still had a long way to control and flesh out their powers. And even they seemed pretty amazing to her. But Sayuri being a Momaina could not be fitted into the rank system. So she got the temporary rank 0 – zero. Very frustrating to the girl. But Osakabe-sensei assured her there was no reason for feeling bad about it. The ranks were not carved in stone, you could easily switch up or down at any time.

The theory class was much more to Sayuri's liking. Now most of the others were bored, probably because they had already heard most of it a thousand times from their family before. But for her it was so interesting finally learning something about the world she actually belonged to. She absorbed all the information and could not await learning more!
During lunch time, everyone had another story about their first lessons. Hana told about her tutor training with Emily, who could control sound waves, while Ryota and Hiroshi were bragging about their excellent results in stamina training. Sayuri also had the feeling Ryota was very popular with the girls, she could even feel all the glances at their table and everytime he stood up to get something, those glances followed him. Kira also ate lunch with them all today, but she was just as reserved as Sayuri when it came to talking about themselves. She was just so likable for her!

Then Sayuri had her stamina training after lunch break with Hana and Toki. It was somehow relieving to just run in circles for a while without thinking too much about anything, without the need of demonstrating any non existing skills.
Hana really was as unsporty as she said and always had to stop to gasp for air. Sayuri just stayed in the middle field and Toki who ran in the first rows in the beginning dropped back to her and they ran the rest from the class together. They even lapped Hana once, who would surely rather have been in an oxygen tent.

On Wednesday morning neither Sayuri, Hana or Toki had lessons, so they decided to hang out together. Because of rainy weather they met in the girls room and just talked about everything and anything. Sayuri found out, that Toki and Hana were neighbors since their birth and that her family has a dog named Tofu.
In the afternoon Sayuri had the dancing course, where she didn't know anyone, since Hana didn't choose this class. Sure, there were some girls from her class as well, but she never had talked to one of them. For the warm-up she was paired with a small green haired girl named Yuki. She was very talkative, but she only tattled about random people and complained about all the things she disliked. Sayuri felt a bit uncomfortable listening to Yuki's rants, but at least, she didn't have to say something herself.

Thursday morning Sayuri used her free time to train with her baton. She tried to internalize the movements and poses that Vincent showed her and define them more precisely. She still could not imagine what that had to do with ghosts and how she would ever be able to contact or even control them. And to be honest Sayuri wasn't even sure if she wanted to learn that after all. But she had the feeling that it was necessary and better than neglecting and denying it any further. She told herself that it would work out in the end somehow.
After lunch Kira worked with Sayuri on her Seclusion as promised. She was the best trainer you could wish for. In the end Kira knew in an instant if a barrier was successful or not. On top of that, she could also tell where the weak points were and what you could do to make it better. This way Sayuri was able to improve her Seclusion very fast! Maybe the school should consider switching those stupid devices with actuall telepaths … 

It still was so odd for Sayuri to have so much free time. At her old school, she would drown in lessons, homework, projects and club activities with little time to herself and now she almost got bored. They had no TV or PC in their rooms, her laptop gathered dust at home and staring at her smartphone for hours didn't help her either. And she felt weird strolling around the building and school yard and still felt like an uninvited guest so she preferred staying in her room nevertheless. Did all the other students permanently train in their leisure time? Or what did they do? Maybe social stuff, hanging around with classmates on the campus. Oof.
Then Sayuri remembered what Miss Osakabe said earlier. They also had club activities at the Northwind! And when she had scanned the board, there actually was one that took her interest. She looked at her phone where she had saved the photo she made from the club board. Photography. Friday afternoon. Perfect! At least her digi cam was here so she grabbed it and headed to the club room. Again no familiar faces. But they welcomed her with some other newbies as well. You didn't have to attend every week, you actually could do what you want. Take photos and discuss them, ask about related topics and more. The club leaders gave out a prompt that would be showcased at the school festival, so Sayuri thought she would maybe try that. A festival sounded really nice and normal, so she wanted to participate.

Saturday Hana managed to persuade Kira and Sayuri to go to town shopping and Sayuri really had fun, cause again that gave her a feeling of a normal high school life. The girls somehow were on the same wavelengths, Sayuri enjoyed the time and even bought some new clothes.
On Sunday Hiroshi invited the Squirrels for dinner. Yes, he liked to cook and he was really good at it. Sayuri learned that Yuki was in the same class as him and Ryota, as she was also invited. What might be her tang?

Faster than expected the first week went to an end. Sayuri still wasn't sure how to feel about it. On the one hand everything felt like a normal school life. Even with everyone having supernatural powers, they were still humans, breathing, laughing, doing totally normal stuff … on the other hand it still was scary with all the things that already happened to her. She was really happy to have found some people who didn't seem to care about her oddness. And maybe, if some more time would pass, the oddness would also be gone.

🔹

Even though Sayuri was happy about finally having history lessons, she couldn't concentrate. Her thoughts already were in the afternoon about Vincent and the next training. How would it be today? Would he be satisfied with her and maybe even show something new? She nibbled at the end of her biro. No time for spacing out! Currently Osakabe-sensei told them about important milestones in Tokuni history and what awaits the class throughout the year.
And so the morning as well as lunch time went by. Hana led Sayuri to the room again, just to be sure she wouldn't get lost on the floors. Sayuri's tutor was already there, wearing the school uniform this time. But he didn't even look towards her, when she entered.

Sayuri: "Uhm … hello."

Vincent: "Hello." Still not looking. "Let's start then. The gauge is over there."

Sayuri: "O-okay? Yeah … then, I'm starting my Seclusion …" //What's with him again today?// 

Sayuri started concentrating. She closed her eyes and started imagining a wall, just like Vincent told her last time. But thanks to Kira's support she knew now that it also was very important to mind the texture of it. It was best to choose materials you feel comfortable with, they didn't need to be "strong" or "hard". That's why she created a wall of white lily flowers as this was her name's meaning. And this wall didn't start at the floor, it went deep down into the ground. The flower's roots were thick and mixed up and even deep down there were still flowers blooming. Would it work? Would that stupid gauge hit out? Since Sayuri had her eyes closed, she couldn't see it, but also did not want to take a peek, because she thought that might ruin her concentration together with her wall.

Vincent: "Open your eyes." After some time he broke the silence.

But Sayuri didn't trust him. She was sure he just wanted to disturb her so she would fail.

Vincent: "Come on, I mean it."

She still hesitated a bit, but still did it. Oh. The pointers really hit out. Barely to the half from the scale, but hey. It worked at least. The girl smiled.

Sayuri: "And? How's this?" She still didn't know if this was good or bad, but at least she was content with herself.

Vincent: "Not bad, for a Momaina at least. But I can give you an example, how it also could be. He turned the gauge towards him and blankly stared at it. "Come here and look."

Sayuri did as she was told and was flabbergasted. The pointer was at its limit and still shaking. It would definitely go even further if it could. Why hasn't Vincent been able to teach her a basic Seclusion when he was able to do something like that? 

Vincent: "Now let's get practical."

Sayuri: "What? Immediately?" //No further comment on my performance? Sigh …//

Vincent: "Your Seclusion was alright for the start. I really thought you'd take longer. All the better because we're having time for the important things. Or do you wanna stay a Momaina forever?"

She was sick of this term. She'd give her all to get rid of this title!
Sayuri: "Okay, so what are we gonna do today?" She fetched her rod.

Vincent: "Your movements. And maybe a little bit of baton control."

Sayuri showed him what she had practiced the last week and Vincent was actually satisfied with her improvement. 

Vincent: "It's very important that you find your own rhythm with your baton. When you feel its energy you'll even get better."

Sayuri: "How?"

Sayuri's tutor started explaining some things and encouraged her to try it straight away. She held her baton tight with both of her hands horizontally and put all her concentration to it. Vincent had said she should try to transfer her presence into the rod. Sayuri felt the cold titanium and the warmth of the golden ornaments she didn't even touch. Did this mean it was working? Suddenly she felt something else, something new. It was like lightweight electrical impulses at her fingertips. This strange energy was flowing into her hands, what an awkward feeling. But the girl wanted nothing more than getting this work. This might have been a first step in becoming like everyone else in this school and so she let the energy in, filling out her whole body. Was this what being a real necromancer felt like? Somewhat peculiar and somewhat painful. Her veins started feeling like liquid fire ran through them. Was this normal?
Something felt off as her pain started to grow even further, but she couldn't move. Before her inner eyes black specters and shadows emerged and swirled around. Her blood was boiling, she wanted to scream, but her voice didn't work. And the more she tried to let go of her baton the more her fingers convulsed around it.

And suddenly she found herself pushed hard down to the floor. Shakingly she looked around, everything was blurry. It took some seconds for her to grasp the situation. She's been in the project room and her blurry view came from her tears filled eyes. After wiping them away, she realized Vincent was sitting in front of her insistently talking to her. But only now she could perceive his voice.

Vincent: "Hey, can you hear me?"

Sayuri looked at him puzzledly and nodded.

Vincent: "Baka! What was that? You can't just soak up the rod's energy! This is way too dangerous for you!" He just screamed at her.

Sayuri: "I-I …" She didn't even know what to say. No matter what she had done right now, this wasn't on purpose. She looked to the ground.

Vincent: "I had to knock the baton out of your hand!" His voice was a bit calmer now, but still vexed. "Actually I wanted to teach you the next steps, but your mind has gone somewhere different already! You should transfer YOUR energy on it, not the other way round. Strange enough there's already something in your baton, you're not its first owner … I didn't think of such things with you being a Momaina and your parents being normal humans."

Sayuri: "I-I'm sorry …" She didn't exactly understand what he was talking about, but it seemed she failed again. She looked over to where Vincent had thrown her baton over to. How should she ever fit in? Maybe she should just quit this school after all …

Vincent: "It's alright." He sighed. "Just … don't do this again. This won't end well for either one of us." He creased his face, got up and fetched Sayuri's rod. "Get up. We'll end our training for today."

Sayuri's legs felt like pudding and she needed to hold on to a chair for some seconds. When Vincent wanted to hand her baton over, she felt nauseous instantly. He somehow seemed to notice it, even if Sayuri wanted to hide this. So Vincent put her baton inside her bag. They looked at each other for a few seconds without saying anything. Then, after making sure, she wouldn't faint, Sayuri grabbed her bag and left.

Back at her room, she was happy no one else was there. She dropped her bag and ran to the toilet. Sayuri had to vomit. A lot. This has just been too much. How should she go on? She knew it wouldn't be easy, but this …? She couldn't bear such pain again. And she was sick of others having to help her all the time. She still couldn't do anything herself. Sayuri needed to become stronger. As fast as possible.