As Akari opens the door, the dorm room is quite bland and retains most of the original features from which it started. A fan sat on a desk next to the wall and a mirror, but that was it.

"Woah, Akari's dorm!" Zenatori said.

"I understand your lack of female attention, but please try not to show it."

"That's an amusing theory."

Akari clears her throat,

"Anyway, first, I'd like to see where we are starting from. Your raw physical strength is apparent. You are probably stronger than every first year here, but what lacks is your syneji. Your mastery in your syneji in what I saw in the exams is pretty lackluster, and you often result in physical fights. I hope you realize the higher you get in artistry, the less likely you're going to get to just throw hands. Now, of course hand to hand combat is important, but trying to be a brawler and going against someone who mastered their syneji is like trying to bring a knife to a gunfight. Someone reliant on their syneji vs someone reliant on physical attributes will lose to the person reliant on their syneji 8 times out of ten. So now, I'd like you to try hitting me."

Zenatori hurls a jab only for Akari to effortlessly evade it. Akari says,

"Even though you are physically stronger than I, my isotonic energy is much more refined than yours. Isotonic energy is bound into one's body, giving them physical attributes. When you train isotonic force, you also train your isotonic energy. You can't directly train your isotonic energy, but once you've reached your cap, you'd know. Since isotonic energy is bound to your body, there's no way of weakening it outside of straight physical attacks. Isotonic force, on the other hand, is bound to your soul, so against the average syneji artist, they will have no way of disrupting it outside of you, just using it. But, soul-striking methods in any way could temporarily disrupt the usage of your isotonic force. One thing about you I found interesting is that when you were fighting that Berserker automorph two days ago, you were somehow able to damage its soul directly. I'm not sure how that's even possible, especially for a high schooler, so that probably has something to do with your syneji or something. Maybe I'm just digging too deep."

Zenatori thinks for a bit, processing the information,

Akari looks at Zenatori,

"To be honest, you have the potential to pass me given a few years."

"Ha! I am the man with infinite potential after all."

"Although we are in my dorm, I'd like to spar with you for a bit."

"You want to spar with me? It's already OVER."

Zenatori bolts forward and shoots his arm out, but Akari sidesteps it. Zenatori kneels, sending a power kick, but Akari dodges it again. Zenatori sends a hook, only for Akari to side step, then she bolts forward and places her hand on his back. She whispers in his ear,

"All I need to do is activate my syneji, and just like that, you're dead."

She walks back, leaving Zenatori puzzled. Akari says,

"Even though you are physically stronger than me and better than me at martial arts, the refinement in my isotonic energy makes me much faster than you and react much faster than you. This is the true power of having a syneji, don't you see?" 

Zenatori clenches his fist and says

"So basically, can you-"

He instantly races forward, cutting off his sentence and catching Akari off guard. She looks at him at says,

"Fool."

She narrowly evades and races behind Zenatori in a flash, kicking him to the ground. Zenatori thought.

Akari sits on her bed and crosses her legs, looking at the destroyed Zenatori from above. She says,

"You have potential, you'd only need a few years to surpass me."

She pats her bed and says,

"C'mon, sit here."

Zenatori looks up and thinks,

Zenatori shakingly kneels back up and sits next to Akari. She then gets closer to him and says,

"Zenatori-kun, why is it you never smile?"