A Way To Win

Looking at the students trying their best to get stronger and better, Anna thought of a way to make everyone more energised and revved up. Seeing Jake staring at her with a suspicious look, Anna smiled at him and looked away. She was going to tell them about her idea but not yet, she wanted them to keep working first.

Removing his attention from Miss Anna, Jake continued practicing by hitting the doll with the steps he had been taught.

"If you feel your fluency with using the steps are good enough for you, you can take a break." Anna hollered.

They all kept practicing even after hearing what Anna said, except for one student who stopped and went to sit down at a corner of the room.

Seeing the student sitting, Anna asked him "What are you doing?"

Surprised, the student answered "You said we could take a break."

"It's true that I said that but a lie that I meant it. Get back on your feet and keep hitting that doll, no one stops till I say so. My students will not be the weak set out of all the third years."

"I didn't know this was a competition." Jake said stopping for a bit to give his hand time to heal. Receiving a hard smack on the butt, Jake turned around and saw Miss Anna.

"It's not a competition for you guys but it is for me, so my students have to be the best they can be."

"Did you just hit me on my butt?" Jake asked.

"What are you going to do about it? Hit me back?" Anna asked as she turned to make her butt face him.

Raising his hand up, Jake was tempted to hit her back on her butt with his full strength. But after thinking about it, he put his hand down and smiled at her. "No." he said, answering her question. "I'll keep training if you don't mind."

"I'll do something about it for him Miss Anna." Kevin said from where he was hitting his doll.

"Really? You want to help out a friend?" Anna asked.

"Yes, I love helping friends who can't help themselves." Kevin said smiling.

"That's sweet Kevin, but maybe you should focus on hitting the doll and doing those steps perfectly. It looks like Smith is catching up to you faster than I thought."

Quickly facing his doll, Kevin began hitting the doll again while Anna and Jake laughed at him.

"Okay everyone, if your number rating from the doll has increased by at least three points, you can stop and take a break." Anna announced.

They were all hesitant to move away from their dolls at first but after seeing Jake leave his doll and take a seat without getting reprimanded, others began sitting as well.

Walking up to where Smith was sitting, Kyle had something to say to him "Hey man, I'm sorry for what I said to you the other day."

Looking behind him to see if Kyle was talking to someone else, Smith was surprised to find out that Kyle was actually talking to him. "Are you talking to me?" he asked Kyle, still not sure he was the person Kyle was talking to.

"Yeah, you. Sorry for what I said the other day."

"I-it's no problem." Smith said, stuttering a little. "L-let bygones be bygones."

"Thanks." Moving to meet Jake, Kyle also apologised. "And I'm sorry for hitting you in the face."

"Don't sweat it, I didn't feel a thing. I'm also sorry for whooping your butt." Jake said.

"You were lucky."

"Was I though?" Jake asked. "I mean, if you want a proper rematch, I have time for it."

"I do, but not now. It's going to be sooner than you think, why don't you focus on preparing for your upcoming duel with Duke first."

"An upcoming duel?" Anna asked.

"It's nothing." Jake said.

"A duel doesn't sound like nothing. Tell me about it."

"It's just a stupid fight I agreed to have with some stupid idiot who thinks he's better than everyone."

"Do you guys have some sort of wager?" Anna asked.

"Yeah if he wins, he gets to humiliate me in public anytime he wants, whatever that means."

"And if you win?"

"If I win he doesn't hit or bully Smith and any other person I mention." Jake answered.

"It sounds like you are very sure you're going to win." Anna said. "What magic does he have?"

"Invisibility."

"And you're sure you can beat someone you can't see?"

"We keep telling him Miss Anna but he doesn't want to listen to us." Smith said.

"Chill out you guys, he can't stay invisible forever can he? When his mana runs out he'll become visible again and then I can win."

"That's a stupid way to think Jake." Anna said. "What makes you so sure he can't win before he becomes visible again?"

"I just know Miss Anna. Besides, do you have a way for me to see invisible people or can you teach me how to fight an invisible person?"

"As a matter of fact, I can."

Not expecting her to say yes, Jake asked "Really?"

"Can you really teach a person how to fight someone who is invisible Miss Anna?" Smith asked.

"Yes I can. But that is not part of the training for you guys, at least not yet." Anna answered as she stood up from the chair she was sitting on.

'I thought I could beat Duke without having to get ready for the duel because of how high my endurance is but if Miss Anna can teach me how to fight him while he's invisible, problem solved. The problem is how to convince her to teach me, but that shouldn't be too hard.'

"Now you all know how to throw a decent punch, that's enough combat training for today. Time to get back to focusing on your magic flow."

"Oh no."

"Why!"

"Let's keep doing the combat training."

"Let's go home."

"We're tired!"

"Everyone be quiet." Anna yelled over the groans and grumbling of the students. "This is my training room, I'm the one training you all, so you will do what I want when I want. Now be darlings, and start focusing on your flow of magic."

Not without grumbling and complaining some more, the students sat down to focus on the flow of their magic.

***

Many hours passed and Anna was still watching them focus on their flow of magic. Deciding they had done enough today, she called it a day. "That's enough, you can go home now."

Getting up, the students picked the mats they were sitting on and headed for the door.

"Bye Miss Anna." Smith said.

"You coming?" Kevin asked Jake when he saw he was still sitting on the mat.

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you guys." Jake replied.

"Okay, see you next week Miss Anna. You'll be on my mind till then."

"I'm sure I will Kevin, bye." Anna said and blew a kiss at him.

Standing to his feet, Jake put the mat he was sitting on back where he took it from and went to the door.

"I expect you to be back in twenty minutes." Anna said.

While leaving the training room, Jake was messaging Cat to find out if she was still in school.

Jake: What's up? Have you left school yet?

After waiting a while and not getting any response, Jake assumed she was still in school and sent her another message.

Jake: Let me know when you're done with training.

Watching Kevin and Smith leave the building from the floor he was on, Jake went to get some snacks to eat before he returned to where he was and stayed there throughout the remaining time he had left.