144 Combat Training

Since everyone else was waiting for Aida and Xiao, they decided to stay in place and train.

The first lesson was led by Light with the help of Yukio and Rin. They wanted to teach Rose and Little White the high level concepts of Aikido. The core essence of aikido is to redirect and manage any oncoming attacks. It didn't require one to have extreme strength, but rather to understand how to use the opponent's strength and attacks against them.

Light explained, "Aikido is centered around the way of unifying energy. Ai means combining or gathering. Ki means spirit or energy. Do means way or path. This technique doesn't focus on extreme strength, but rather flexibility and fluidity."

Aikido is the best weapon for those with lower strength, but it still requires one to have good endurance. This is why Rose had been training for the past week on creating that stable and solid base, so she wouldn't be easily thrown.

Light started first with teaching the concepts and sharing the general motions, then they continued by practicing with a partner. Light was partnered with Lucifer, Yukio was partnered with Rose, and Rin was partnered with Little White. They began practicing the basic attacks and throws. Rin had the hardest time because Little White was a Level 2 Reaper who didn't fully comprehend his own strength. This caused Rin to get tossed around left and right.

While practicing throws, Light also taught each of them how to minimize the impact of a throw. He explained as he demonstrated with Rin, beckoning Rin to attack. As Rin attacked and he deflected, tossing Rin, he explained, "The key to not getting hurt is to not forcefully stop the momentum of the throw."

As he said this, Rin rolled across the floor. "If you feel like the impact was hard, then roll a couple more times to disperse the energy before stopping. Injuries occur because a person tries to endure the full force of a hit with their body."

Rin got back up again and charged at Light again, only to be flipped yet again. This time, instead of rolling, Rin slapped the ground hard. Light continued to explain, "If you don't have space to roll, then slap the ground to get rid of most of the energy from your body. Now all of you try."

The three began practicing with the guidance of the Light and the twins. They provided constant feedback as they continually tossed each person. Even Lucifer from the special forces was gaining a lot from this lesson. After recognizing that all three of them had grasped the high level concepts of Aikido, Light continued, "Next is the practical application of Aikido. You can only learn this through sparring. Many people have doubts on whether Aikido is flexible enough to be used in a real life situation. To those people, I can only say that they don't grasp Aikido well enough."

Rose immediately became nervous when she heard they were going to spar. She was afraid of standing before everyone and not meeting their expectations after they spent so much time teaching her. She didn't want to be a burden on everyone here.

Since joining Aida and this motley crew of a family, it was the first time in her entire life that she was able to sleep on a full stomach without the uncertainty of whether she would have food the next day. Her father had always fed her his scraps, so there would be days that she wouldn't get any dinner at all. Before she joined, she thought she had already given up on life. However, she could feel her heart slowly mend as she felt the warmth from everyone. Aida took her in, Light made sure she had enough to eat, Rin and Lucifer trained her endurance, Yukio healed her every moment he could, Little White silently protected her when they were outside, Xiao Ai who treated her like a true sister, and even Ace who would make jokes every now and again to make her feel more comfortable. Rose was terrified that she would disappoint everyone here and that they would want to throw her away while calling her useless.

Light called various pairings to go up. Finally it was Rose's turn. At this point in time, Rose was already shaking in fear. She dearly wanted to find some place to hide. Light could sense her emotions but pretended not to notice. He knew that only she could help herself overcome these fears.

Yukio stood up at the ring with a kind and sweet smile, encouraging her to come up. Reluctant to disappoint this new family of hers, she forced herself to walk towards the ring step by step. Her hands grasped her shoulders, fingernails digging into her skin. She dragged her feet, but no one made any negative comment. They patiently stood there with understanding and waited for her to overcome this psychological barrier.

Finally reaching the ring, she gritted her teeth and prepared herself for the fight.

On the side, Rin cheered her on, "Yeah! Go Rose!! Beat my brother."

Yukio on the ring gave Rin a despising look before beckoning Rose. He said, "Come on! Imagine I'm one of those bad guys and fight me. We need to get stronger together!"

Nodding in agreement, Rose charged at him. The fight ended after 2 minutes with Rose laying on the ground, breathing hard and sweating buckets. Despite all that, everyone cheered for Rose, praising her tenacity. Rose stared up at the sky, she unknowingly had a giant smile on her doll-like face that made her look beautiful. It was the first time she ever felt the cloudy skies looked so fluffy and her body felt much lighter, as though she had been unchained. She felt fantastic and free despite having been defeated by Yukio.

Hopping up, she bowed to Yukio and eagerly awaited her next chance to fight.

After a few more sparring sessions, they moved onto shooting lessons. Lucifer was in charge of teaching everyone with Yukio as the assistant. This was a much more fun and interactive game as Lucifer was able to use his telekinetic abilities to move the targets around in unexpected ways.

Since Light and Rin already knew how to shoot, they were practicing on the side. Lucifer and Yukio focused on teaching Rose and Little White. Little White seemed to have a bit more trouble with shooting, but Rose picked up on the skills fairly quickly as it was similar to throwing out her ice spikes.

After they ran through the set of bullets they had prepared for the session, Light then brought all the kids in for class while simultaneously preparing dinner. He wanted to practice using his powers more, so instead of teaching the normal way, he placed everyone under an illusion. It was an entirely immersive experience that didn't allow anyone to get distracted.

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