After lying in the bed for a few moments, the door creaked back open. He heard the clicking of someone's dress shoes, and the sparkle of their golden hair filled the room. As Zenatori looked over, he saw the principal of Tokyo Regiment Academy, Tsuyo Hayoku.

He calmly walked near Zenatori and pulled up the same stool Yachi sat on. He walked over and opened his lips to speak.
"Are you alive?"

Zenatori replied nonchalantly.

"Yes..."

"Wow, you're already awake?"

"Listen, Hayoku, you don't need to feel so guilty. You couldn't have predicted what was going to happen, and you wanted to trust Akari."

"Guilty?"

Zenatori turned to face Hayoku.

"Why else are you here?"

"I didn't even know you were awake. I just came here to kill time, to be honest here."

Zenatori instantly frowned and thought.
"This guy."

He then remembered what he wished to speak about.

"Say Hayoku, how exactly did you become so strong?"

He calmly chuckled, swirling his mug in his hand.
"Please, I'm not much stronger than anyone else here."

"Then why did you say that you don't like to show off? That implies that you weren't going all out."

"You're pretty sharp, I'll give you that. I guess you could say it's a secret."

"Secret?"

"I don't like showing off my abilities, but in that moment, if I didn't, you two would've died."

"Was a supreme manifestation even necessary?"

"Oh, I just wanted to look cool. But, how else would I have gone through its healing factor?"

"Well, I don't know much about you, so that's fair to say. I'm surprised you don't have any coffee breath."

Hayoku softly chuckled and sat up.
"Well, I should probably check on Akari now."

Zenatori shot up from his bed, but limped over and winced slightly at the newly formed scar.

"I still want to take the Tokushu Exam."

Hayoku froze in his tracks, looking back slowly in amusement. 

"Very well, it's in two days from now. I hope those wounds don't drag you down." 

He trotted to the door and murmured.
"This just got interesting."

As he walked through the halls, he opened the door right next to the room he had just left. The room and a small dresser next to the small wooden stool, on which the nurse sat on viewing Akari's bed. The moment he entered the room, his aura filled the room instantly, causing the nurse to notice.
"Master Hayoku!" she said nearly instantly.

He trotted over with his hands in his pockets.
"Is she alright?"

"Her wounds were pretty easy to heal, but she still seems a bit shaken up on the whole ordeal."

"I see."

He stood against the wall for a moment before opening his mouth again.

"Zenatori is awake, you should check on him."

The nurse smiled and said.
"I assume you have it here?"

He nodded in agreement. She got up from her stool and walked out of the room. Hayoku sat in her place and loudly groaned.

"Man, I'm hungry."

She coldly replied.
"Then eat."

"Just trynna start a conversation here."

She turned over on the other side of the bed, looking away from Hayoku. He sighed.

"I get you hate those things and you can't stand losing against them ever since what happened with your dad, but..." 

"Principal Hayoku, I find it best you worry about your own matters."

He palmed his face and leaned forward on the stool.

"Look, you aren't perfect, and someone as smart as you is well aware of that. You were bound to face defeat at some point, you're still a first-year."

"Why can't I be stronger?

No matter how hard a train, that beast that was born yesterday comes into existence and is already miles stronger than me. I don't want to lose anymore. I'm letting everyone down by losing. What's the point of me training if I'm still gonna lose!"

Silence filled the room as the air exited her mouth. After a few seconds, Hayoku broke the silence.

"Without failure, you will never feel success, even if you win."

Akari turned over to face Hayoku.
"What exactly do you mean?"

"You don't train to not fail, you train in order to be the best. Even the most seasoned people fail, because we are human. If you are the best version of yourself, failure matters not."

Akari got up, and her cold gaze vanished into a fiery glare.

"Being the best version of myself is one without failure! Why are you saying stuff like this, knowing you were born stronger than everyone else! You have no idea what it's like knowing how hard you train, you won't be the best!"

Hayoku sat back for a moment and set his coffee cup down at the dresser next to him.

"You must think I'm perfect."

He slightly chuckled at the thought of it, but kept his serious stare.
"I'm human just like the rest of you, and everyone else. Just because I'm strong doesn't mean I am without fault. Strength can only bring you so far, there are things that can't be fixed with strength, and the very flow of time proves that."

Akari stood in a moment of discomfort and a nerve-racking senseless feeling. What was it that Hayoku was trying to see?

He folded his fingers in between each other and spoke.
"Your version of Hayoku may be perfect, but the one universe decided isn't. I am still human."

The room suddenly went quiet, but a quiet murmur fell from Akari's mouth. The salted watery personified melancholy finally hit the floor for the first time in years. 

She weeped.

Hayoku lifted his arm and laid it on her shoulder. As the tears ran down her face her muffled voice still spoke.
"I will never be perfect, won't I?"

Hayoku let out a warm smile.
"No one is, but that doesn't stop you from doing your duty as a human being."