The Final Day

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The Tokushu exam was now tomorrow, and Zenatori realized pretty quickly that he was nowhere near ready. He had made it his ultimate goal to score first place in the exam, but for him to do that, he needed a plan to stand a chance against the 30 other first-years.

Him being a new transfer student and not even having two weeks to prepare instantly set him at a disadvantage. Any normal likely wouldn't even think about participating in the exams, but he couldn't afford normality. For Zenatori to become the strongest syneji artist possible, he had to step out of the average and push beyond.

Class had already ended, and Zenatori needed to use all his time to think of at least something. As the bell sounded through the classroom, Akari got up to leave, but Zenatori quickly stopped her.
"Akari," he said.

As she paused midway through the doorway, Zenatori limped up.

"Meet me in the library, it's about the exam."

She turnt back and deeply stared at him with her blue, but striking eyes. She sighed.

"I suppose."

The two of them rejoin in the library and once again, and it still has its quiet and chilly aura. It makes you wonder why the school built such an extravagant library in the first place. Zenatori cast away those thoughts and began to speak.

"So what are we supposed to even do for this exam?"

Akari folded her arms and leaned back in her chair.

"Listen, I get that you're new and all, but I don't know any more than you. I'm only a first year after all."

"So we really are just screwed, huh?"

"Well, no one necessarily told you to participate, right? I feel like it would be too unfair for someone who just transferred to have to take the tokushu exams."

"You're right, I just want the first-place spot."

Akari paused and leaned forward amusingly.
"Seriously? Even with all these odds stacked upon you, you have yet to yield? I thought your earlier proclamation was a bluff, but you seem to be serious about this. I suppose you really are something special. Heck, if I had that willpower, the gap I'd have between every other first-year student would be impassable. But, you're gonna need a lot more than just being interesting to survive, most likely."

"Well, what can I do?"

Akari looked down slightly.

"I'm not sure..."

Zenatori thought for a moment.
"Is it over..?"

The doors of the library swung open, and an immediate presence filled the entire area. His sunflower lemon mane brushed through the air. An overwhelming aura hit the two of them, and they reacted by looking at the commotion.

"So you need help, Zenatori?" Tsuyo Hayoku said.

Akari looked in brief shock, not knowing what to say.

"Master Hayoku.?!"

Hayoku walked to their table, pulling up a chair from another table and plopping it down.

"So, what exactly are you two even talking about?"

Akari recalibrated her thoughts and cleared her throat.
"What exactly are you doing here, Master Hayoku?"

"Well, I was walking by, I heard Zenatori say over here that he needed help- Ah, who am I kidding, I was just bored, I guess."

Zenatori thought in his state of being appalled.
"Seriously?!"

Hayoku rubbed the back of his neck and yawned.
"Mannn, I didn't feel like making coffee today. So, uh, ya'll still haven't told me what you two are up to."

Zenatori finally spoke up.

"Akari and I were talking about the upcoming exam. I think I'm kinda screwed."

Hayoku smiled slightly.

"Oh yeah, the exam is tomorrow! I suppose that would frighten any newbie, especially if they have just transferred. I also was supposed to keep training you after class, but I kinda forgot about all that."

Zenatori gritted his teeth, lowly glaring at Hayoku.
"This guy..."

Hayoku stood up again and yawned.
"Well, we don't have time to waste. Let's go to the courtyard."

Zenatori stood up and reached his arm out.
"Wait-"

Hayoku grabbed him by the collar and said.
"Try not to get sick."

Dust flew in the air, and Hayoku nearly instantly dashed through the entire school, and they were already outside. As Hayoku let go, Zenatori fell to the ground and covered his mouth, holding his regurgitation.

Hayoku looked down and said.

"Maybe that was too much..."

"Maybe, huh? Of course it was!"

"We seriously don't have time to waste, Zenatori, the exam is tomorrow after all."

Zenatori finally reconfigured himself and got back up.

"Well, what exactly are we doing?"

Hayoku smiled excitedly.
"I'm glad you asked! Today I will teach you isotonic force reinforcement!"

"Isotonic force reinforcement?"

Hayoku nodded.

"Yep, yep. I would try to teach you isotonic energy reinforcement, but that's all kinds of complex and would take you actual years to learn and master, so we'll start from the basics, somewhat. This one is actually relatively simple and only took all the first-year students a few days to learn, but if we spend the entire day learning, I'm sure you'll be able to get it down."

Zenatori looked at him oddly for a moment and sighed.

"Ugh, let's do it already."

"Great! Isotonic force reinforcement is pretty similar to when you put isotonic force into that rock a few days ago, remember? The only difference is that instead of outputting it, you're just inputting it. Unlike isotonic energy reinforcement, isotonic force reinforcement doesn't boost your physical stats, but instead allows you to nullify someone else's syenji, or isotonic force-based attacks. So this is how you'll learn it."

Hayoku rushed back into the building and, at nearly the same time, exited. He held a stack of papers in his hands and placed them on the ground.

"Kaigen Series: Fiery Slit."

Flames manifested from the air and struck themselves onto the papers. Hayoku dropped the stack and walked to a bench. As he sat down, he explained.
"I used my fire aspect of my syneji to manipulate fire onto the papers. All you need to do is try to take out the flames with your isotonic force reinforcement. So basically, all you need to do is overcome the power of my isotonic force by reinforcing your own."

Zenatori shot back.

"You expect my isotonic force to be stronger than yours?! You're too hopeful of me, Hayoku!"

Hayoku slightly chuckled and wrapped one of his legs over his kneecap.

"Of course not! I significantly lowered the output of it to about 1%. You should be able to surpass it." 

"I doubt I could even surpass your 1%..."

"C'mon, Zenatori, stop being such a downer! All you need to do is clear your mind and put all your focus into achieving this. All you need to do is raise your arm out and think of the opposite reaction of inputting isotonic force."

Zenatori walked to the fiery pile and reached his arm out, feeling the glistening heat. He took deep breaths and narrowed his eyes just to the inferno. All he could think of was his racing thoughts.

"Clear the mind. Clear the mind. Clear the mind."

He then greatly inhaled, refusing himself another breath, and attempted to put all the power into his arm. After a while of shaking, desperate for air, he stopped letting out a big sigh.

"What am I supposed to do?!"

Hayoku looked back in short confusion.

"Huh? You didn't do anything wrong. I would've corrected you otherwise."

"Then why isn't it working?"

"It isn't that simple, unfortunately, you just gotta keep trying."

After several hours of Zenatori's desperate attempts, the sun began setting, and his arms began to tire. He had been sitting out her for hours now, repeating the same form over, and over, and over and over again. He was hungry and tired. It wasn't only mental, but his body was physically tired.

Zenatori finally sat up and let out a loud groan.
"How about we just call it here today?"

Suddenly, Hayoku saw a grey flicker, energy channeled through Zenatori's arm, as he felt his entire body covered in the coating. He finally swiped his arm over the flames, and they finally blew out.

Zenatori shot up and smiled.
"I DID IT!"

Hayoku softly smiled.
"Heck yeah, you did!"

Zenatori looked over his arms and looked around himself.
"Am I reaching a new stage?" He quietly thought to himself.

Hayoku continued his smile.
"You remind me of the child I always dreamt of being Zenatori. It would be a waste not to cherish this victory."