5/28/19

I was in the medical room of the DES building. I only regained consciousness a few hours ago. Once they found out that I was awake, the nurses immediately gave me an eyepatch and a new uniform. The uniform was not blue anymore like my old one. It is now black and white like the rank 1 and special executioners.

I read the tag on it and it read: Semi Rank 1 Executioner. Mayumi Masashi.

I smile as a read the words on the tag, but the feeling of glee was short lived. A nurse told me to report to Astrum immediately. I wonder if this is about my sudden promotion. I can’t wait to hear everything Astrum has to say to me! 

“I’m glad you have arrived, Mayumi. Please take a seat.”

The atmosphere feels different than it did last time. It felt hostile and eerie, like many eyes were watching me and waiting for each move I made. The look that Astrum was giving me didn’t make it feel any better. 

“Mayumi, I admire your effort during the mission and it earned you a promotion, however…” Astrum placed a finger on my chest. “You are not strong enough. You are weak.”

My heart sinks at his words. I suppose I did lose terribly, but weak? 

“I will be giving you a mentor so that you grow in strength. Your strength is not up to the standards, you have a weak mind, and you lack many other attributes that have yet to be mastered.”

“I- I understand, Astrum.” I trip up on my words due to how distraught I was. “Who will I be training with?”

“He is currently waiting for you at the Mori Dojo. You know where it is right?”

“It’s that Dojo that is behind our building, right?”

“Indeed. You will see a man in there. He is a rough trainer and won’t hesitate to kill you. It will be a good learning experience for you and I hope you come back stronger than ever.”

I bow to Astrum and leave the building. Who the hell does he have me training with? Won't hesitate to kill me? Well whoever it is, I’ll make sure to humble them before they get too comfortable. I should have asked how Sachiko was doing before I left, but she is probably fine without me right now. I have to get stronger for Kyoto and the rest of the world. 

Behind the DES headquarters was a long path that connected to a large temple which is the Dojo that Astrum wanted me to go to. Nobody knows about this place except for members of the DES. I slowly walk across the rough path. The only thing accompanying me was the chirps of birds and the sound of my shoes moving across the path. 

After a few minutes of walking, I could see the temple. I start pacing faster and two rows of torches that were adjacent from each other started lighting up as I passed each pair. Each pair of torches were getting further and further the more I walked. The temple also got further away. I was not able to pass the second pair of torches for some reason.

I turn around to walk backwards to see if that would work, and to my surprise, it did. The second pair of torches lit up. As I kept walking in the opposite direction, the temple appeared in front of me again. There was someone standing in front of the temple this time though. He had a muscular build but looked younger than me and had brown hair. He had a black cap that had kanji that read “Destroy” and also had a black jacket tied around his waist and was wearing a white t-shirt. 

I walk past the last pair of adjacent torches and I keep a distance in front of the young man. He has his arm crossed while smiling at me. 

“Welcome to the Executioner Training Temple, big shot! Why are ya keepin’ a distance away from me? Are ya scared that a I might give ya a beatin’?”

I slowly inch closer to him and in almost an instant, he vanishes and kicks my neck from behind me. 

“Gah!”

“Ya should have walked faster. I ain’t like when people are slow like that. Now keep that balance before I kick ya again!”

———————————

“And here I thought ya were actually keeping balance, but I actually just knocked the daylights out of ya! Hahahaha!!!”

Could this kid get any more condescending than this? I wasn’t expected to be humbled so quickly like that. Is this guy really a kid or is he one of those ‘look young but actually your ancestor’ people? 

“Mind telling me your name? I need to address you by something, right?”

“Oh yeah! How rude me, man! My name is Araki Everstrong! You can call me Araki-sensei!”

“How old are you?”

“19.”

“I see…” I would have guessed a bit younger, but he does only look an inch shorter than me. It would have been embarrassing if it was another high-schooler taking me down…

“Alright!” Araki stretches his arms and legs while speaking. “Let’s work on your speed and reaction time before we do anything else. It’s one of the most important things for executioners to be in control of. You’ll be thankin’ me once we finish this one up!”

As I try to stand, my feet feel heavier than before. As I progressively gain balance, Araki opens his mouth once again.

“Ya seem to be doin’ a pretty damn good job! I put those socks onto you whenever you were unconscious. I’m sure I don’t need to explain what those socks do to ya! I also have the very same socks on!”

It feels like my legs are being dragged down by an enormous force, even with me being able to keep balance. 

“I’m ready.”

“Bet! Let’s get the ball rollin’!” He adjust his stance and slightly raises his foot. “Now if ya wanna some a good ol’ speed, ya gotta have a part of your foot off the ground or your entire foot.” He gave demonstrations as he spoke. I raise the heel of my foot off the ground, awaiting his response.

“This is correct, right?”

“Yup, really doesn’t matter how you do it! So, you’re probably wondering why you oughta have a part of your foot off the ground. It’s because it’s basically like a lift-off. You need to have some start up before you start flying at high speeds. It also requires a lot of fuel, which is what you’ll be using your shinkuro energy for. Finally, you’ll push off that foot and you’ll be moving at a faster speed than usual!”

“That somewhat makes sense…” 

“You’re gonna have to do that all at the same time! If ya fail to do it, then you’ll just end up moving at your typical speed and waste your energy.” Sitting down, Everstrong continues to speak. “I’ll sit here until you’re able to execute it!”

It all seemed simple until I made failure after failure, having Everstrong constantly telling me that I’m doing certain actions too slow or too fast and I’m not launching off correctly. With each comment getting more aggravating, I finally realized what the problem was. 

“The weight on my foot is lighter than it was just an hour ago…”

“Wanna do attempt 584?”

“More like set 584. This is an exercise to make my foot and legs lighter. These socks block shinkuro from being able to be used in that specific area, which is why I wasn’t able to launch off.”

Gleeful laughter erupts from Everstrong. “Ya caught me! I was wondering how long it would have taken ya to notice it! Now take ‘em off and get to tryin’ for reals this time!”

I remove the socks and take stance again. My shinkuro is flowing through my body, my body is more light, my hyper-focused gaze set on Everstrong. One foot on the ground and the other was getting ready to rise. I raise the heel of my foot, fuel it with the energy of my shinkuro, launch myself at him, and threw a kick that was blocked faultlessly, all of which happened in only a moment. 

Everstrong whistles as he blocks my kick. “Ya traveled 41 meters in… 1 second! You could have been faster, but I find these results pleasing. Let’s take a break before I get to roughin’ ya up some more!”

Everstrong comes back from a room at the back of the Dojo and brung ramen and onigiri that looked as if it were just now finished being prepared. 

“Did you just now make that?”

“Uh huh! I got a fire element shinkuro!” While he places down the food on a stand, he follows up with a question. “That reminds me, I never asked you what your element was! C’moooon, spill!”

“Same as yours.”

Everstrong’s eyes light up. “No wonder you’re my little student!”

“I am a lot older than you!”

After a moment of laughter, Everstrong speaks again. "So... Astrum has ya working as his right hand man now?"

"Indeed. I find it an honor to be held to such standards."

"I wouldn't call it an honor..." 

Knock knock knock

“I’ll get the door for ya.”

Everstrong gives me a distressed look. “Good luck…” 

“Thanks?” I slowly slide the fusuma door and I see a young, brown haired girl standing outside in a red and white tracksuit, glasses almost slipping off her eyes, and a gym bag around her shoulders. “Uh… hey? I think you came to the wr—“

A loud grunt escapes my body as the girl punches me in the stomach with significant power. What is it with younger people being so much stronger than me!?

“Oops! He was a visitor…”

“Bahahaha! Welcome back, Hyacinth! I’ve been here training the guy. He’s gonna be livin’ here from now on until our training is over with!”

“Thank the heavens! I stood there thinking that I had gotten you into some deep troubles with the DES inspectors again.”

Everstrong scoffs. “Even if ya did, they would just get their asses beat by me next!”

As I’m slowly crawling back up to my feet, I see the girl reaching for my onigiri. 

“Thats MY food!”

I launch myself back to the stand and start eating once again. 

The girl starts pouting and Everstrong tries to make up it for her. “I’ll make ya some purin!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Gimme a sec!”

“Hey! What about me!? I trained for 2 hours!”

“Well you’re not my daughter are ya?”

“D-daughter?” 

Hyacinth nods at me with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.