Training begins

Minako woke up in her room and was surprised to see both Izume and Rani in there.

"What happened?" She asked.

Izume was the one who responded. "Rani had to use her powers to put you to sleep. You kind of lost it back there. Ichisuda had to step in, though he was reckless himself. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Ms Izume. I guess I just lost my temper." A few seconds had passed, then she asked, "is Sando okay?"

"Yeah, he is" Izume said "Ichisuda got there in time." She moved closer to Minako and sat on the bed. "Don't blame yourself for what happened. I totally understood how you felt. Don't forget I'm surrounded by male teachers myself. I understand the kind of pressure you're under" She looked at Rani, "the both of you. A part of me is glad you lost your temper. At least now all the boys will respect and or fear you but as your teacher I have to tell you that was an incredibly dangerous thing you did back there." Still talking, she placed a reassuring hand on Minako's shoulder, who looked a bit upset. "We are going to need to work on your temper a bit but other than that, well done. You fought well." She got up and began walking to the door, "I'll leave you girls to talk"

"I've never seen you that angry before " Rani said, with a smile on her face.

Minako laughed, "thank you for stepping in. I rarely lose control but when I do it can get pretty bad"

Shihata walked in shortly after and immediately went to hug Minako.

The girls spoke for a little while and came to the conclusion that Minako had won the fight against Sando. Then they faded into topics teenage girls spoke about. The bottom line was; Minako was okay.

Yashiro looked up at the sign on the door in front of him, which said, "staff room. Students not allowed"

He knocked twice before he was told to enter.

Ichisuda and Zuno were the only ones in the staff room as he meekly walked in.

"Zuno if you wouldn't mind please, I need to speak to Mr Katsui alone"

Zuno nodded and placed a hand on Yashiro's shoulder as he walked out.

As soon as he exited the room, Ichisuda started speaking.

"I can see your confidence has taken quite the knock. I apologise. That was not my intention."

"What can I do to improve, Mr Ichisuda? I feel useless here. Seeing my friends at the arena earlier today, I felt so out of place. At this point in time, I don't feel like I belong here, in this Academy."

"It's only natural you feel that way Yashiro. That doesn't mean it's true. The purpose of this Academy is guiding you so you use your powers efficiently and most importantly, in the correct way. I also noticed you were using your powers incorrectly right from the entrance examination but I thought you would figure that out yourself but I guess you just need a little guidance." He paused for a second, thinking about what he could say that would make Yashiro feel better. "I'll let you in on a little secret. Miss Izume already noticed but I don't have full control of my powers."

Yashiro looked up as he said this, with surprise written all over his face. Ichisuda laughed and continued. "That's what these rings are for"

Yashiro came to the sudden realisation that during the entrance examination, Ichisuda wore 4 rings but during the incident that day, he only wore 3 and that came with a very noticable difference in power.

Ichisuda was still speaking. "So you see. It's not an uncommon or bad thing that you're behind your classmates in terms of power usage because I believe when you do start using your power properly, that gap would close almost immediately."

Yashiro smiled a bit, before asking "do you really think so? Or are you just being a good teacher and trying to make me feel better?"

Ichisuda laughed again,"I do believe it Yashiro but I'm the least experienced teacher here. So I do have to try"

"so what do I have to do to improve?"

"Well, to fully utilise your power. You have to completely understand the human body." He handed Yashiro a few biology textbooks. Most of them based on the human anatomy.

"I don't understand. All I have to do to use my powers well is read a couple of text books? No physical training or anything like that?"

Ichisuda pointed to his head, "the key is up here. Just read the textbooks, really study them. I think you will be fine. I'm sure you're not the type of student who wants to be spoon fed answers"

Yashiro shook his head before standing up. His mood had improved a lot. He now had a determined look on his face again "Thank you very much Mr Ichisuda"

"Anytime, Yashiro. It's nice to see you back to normal"

[should I have told him about my rings?] Ichisuda thought as Yashiro left the room. [Oh well, I don't think I would've gotten through to him had I not been honest. At least it worked. Now, let's see you soar to the top Yashiro]

A few days later, the staff of the horizon Academy were called into the staff room for an emergency meeting. Even the principal of the academy Fujimoto Isokuro was in attendance.

Imahaya was there with Fuhira, Yagita and Kaneda.

"we have reason to believe your academy may come under attack at some point in the near future. That's the reason for this meeting." Imahaya said

Fujimoto looked concerned. "What makes you think anyone would attack this academy?"

"I'm sure you saw the news and resulting press conference. The group who attacked my police station was the same group who has been robbing antique stores and museums all over this city. For artefacts that look like this." He slid pictures of the broken fragments towards Fujimoto before continuing.

"Right before their attack of the station, my detectives here discovered a map showing the locations of their attack and it appears the Horizon Academy is next on their list. Do you have any thing in this institution that resembles that artefact there?"

As the pictures were passed around the room, the unanimous answer to that question, was no. None of them had seen anything like it.

After the last member of staff observed the pictures and answered, Imahaya continued speaking.

"We are going to increase the amount of officers patrolling the area. If you don't mind, I would also like to place some officers within the grounds of the academy. They will be out of uniform so the kids aren't alarmed. I'm also going to leave a briefing of some of the members of the terrorist group and their powers. These precautions are quite necessary because that group isn't to be taken lightly. I mean, they attacked a police station in broad day light. They clearly do not fear anything"

Fujimoto thought it over for a few seconds, then realised it wouldn't do any harm having more security. So he agreed and the men shook hands before the captain and his detectives left the room.

"What are we going to do if they actually attack?" Tokiho asked.

Izume laughed "Let them"

Zuno looked at Izume and shook his head "even though Izume wants them to attack for the wrong reasons. I think it would be a good opportunity to finally put an end to their streak. With the police here I believe we can apprehended the vast majority of them."

"What about the children?" Ichisuda asked. "Isn't it risky keeping them on academy grounds knowing an attack might be imminent?"

"You raise an interesting point there Mr Ichisuda" the principal said, "but I don't think the kids are in any danger. Their plan is to steal an artefact. I doubt they'd attack the kids or put them in harms way"

"hopefully, because nothing about them in this briefing indicates they're reasonable individuals"

Fujimoto laughed, before addressing the whole room "we will gradually increase the amount of guards there are and place most of them near the dorms of the students. For now, let's go about our daily businesses. There's also a chance they may not attack. The police are not always right on these things"

After Fujimoto finished speaking, everyone left and went about their daily activities.

Yashiro was in his bed reading one of the textbooks Ichisuda gave to him. He still didn't understand how he was meant to improve because the textbooks did not come with specific instructions. He had to figure it out himself.

As he read a section in one of the books, titled: Powers and our abilities. Which said, "unless activated, our powers usually lay dormant within us. Just like our limbs, they should be treated as a part of us and not something external. Our brain is responsible for sending the signals which activate our abilities and let us use them in different ways. The more we use our powers, the stronger that part of our brain becomes, resulting in stronger abilities.", there was a knock on his door.

"hey, it's Rani. Can I come in? "

Yashiro sat up and made space on his bed, "come in"

"Hey Yashiro. You alright?"

"Yeah I'm good, what's up?"

She sat next to him on the bed. "Nothing much, we haven't really heard from you the last few days. Just wanted to make sure you were okay"

"I'll admit, a couple of days ago, I wasn't so good. Mr Ichisuda told me I wasn't using my powers well and I just felt out of place. After seeing Minako and Sando fight I felt even more out of place."

"Oh no. Why didn't you tell us?" She asked, before immediately realising that if he had admitted it to his friends, it would've made things worse for him. "Never mind, you don't have to answer that" She quickly added.

Yashiro laughed. "I'm good now. I went back to Mr Ichisuda after the combat training. He gave me these textbooks which haven't helped much and told me a pretty helpful story. I haven't made much progress with the books but at least they could possibly help"

Rani looked down at the text books and saw something interesting. It was a page in one of the biology textbooks showing a labelled version of the human anatomy. "Well this is pretty cool" She said, "this page basically shows what other parts of your body you could strenghten and enlarge"

Yashiro froze where he sat, the words "other parts" echoing through his mind like his head was hollow. He turned to Rani, eyes widened. His face full of excitement.

Not knowing how to react, she said, "Erm, Yashiro. Why is your face like that? Are you okay?"

"Other parts" He said, still inexplicably excited

Rani had an even more confused look on her face. He got up, and kissed her on the cheek, "Rani, you're a legend. I'll see you later I have to go see Mr Ichisuda" before bolting out of his room.

[What a weirdo] she thought, with a huge smile on her face as she blushed. A few seconds later, picking up the textbooks again and reading them.

As Yashiro got to the staff room he noticed there were already a few students there waiting in line. Upon further inspection, he noticed that they were his classmates who fought during the combat training.

He tapped Koda on the shoulder, "Hey Koda, what's going on?"

"Hey Yashiro. Mr Ichisuda and Ms Izume called us to give us our feedback from last week's combat training. What about you?"

"Oh, I need to talk to Mr Ichisuda about something"

Before they could continue their conversation Ichisuda stepped out and called all of them in, including Yashiro.

"it will be easier this way. Boys with me, Girls, with Izume"

After the group split up, the feedback began. Izume's feedback to Shihata was to work on a better way of subdueing her opponents. She said Shihata's technique was nice and effecient unless it involved individuals who were physically stronger than her. Finally, Izume told her she'd work closely with her to find a new way to use her powers during combat or a better way of making her opponents surrender.

To Minako, she said she needed to work on her anger and most importantly, her decision making. She mentioned that Minako could've ended the match early when she entrapped Sando in ice but she gave him time to recover. She also brought up the fact that Minako hindered her own vision with a defensive move.

Izume spoke with a determined smile on her face "You're going to be working with me and Shihata, Minako. We girls have to show these guys we're better "

Both Minako and Shihata were both encouraged by Izume's enthusiasm.

Yashiro listened as Ichisuda gave individual advice to Aibuto, Koda, Hirase and Sando.

Starting with Aibuto, he told him he needed to mimic substances much quicker and know when to switch from offence to defence, and vice versa.

To Koda, he asked if there was a way he could use his powers without stamping his feet everytime because it gave away his next move and he believed that was the only thing Koda was doing wrong at the moment.

He told Hirase to not limit his tremor ability to the ground. He mentioned that water and potentially the air were other mediums where his ability could be used and that it would give him many more options. Otherwise, he did a brilliant job in his battle against Koda.

Finally to Sando, who had been extremely quiet for the past few days, which was unusual for him. Ichisuda told him he had a good fight and didn't really have any criticism as he was using his powers brilliantly. He tried not to bring up the fact that Sando froze at a crucial moment because he knew that was the reason he'd been quiet this whole time. Instead, he said "I really didn't expect Minako to unleash a full scale attack indoors. That really took me by surprise." but Sando remained quiet.

As the students thanked their teachers and left, Sando put his hands in his pockets and walked out first. Tanori was waiting for him as he got out.

"You good?" He asked.

Sando ignored him and continued walking. As they got outside the main building and began walking back to their dorms, Tanori spoke again.

"Are you going to keep sulking? Just because you froze due to an attack no one saw coming"

Sando stopped in his tracks and flames gathered in his arms but before he could act on his anger, his friend placed a very familiar and reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"No one saw that attack coming Sando" Tanori said in a calming voice. "I know you, and I know you're beating yourself up but even Ms Izume couldn't react in time. Look, I know you're angry but the teachers are far more experienced than us and Mr Ichisuda barely got there in time. Don't beat yourself Sando. It'll do more harm than good"

As the flames on Sando's arm dissipated, Tanori removed his hand from his shoulder and began walking away. "If you wanna break something, break something. If you wanna punch something, then do that. Do whatever you need to do to get back to normal. I hate seeing you like this. When you're done, I'll be in my room"

Sando put his hands back into his pocket and smiled a little. "Dumbass" he said.

Meanwhile, Yashiro was rambling to Ichisuda in the staff room.

"I figured it out" He said, speaking very quickly "Well, not entirely me. Rani said something and it made me realise what you meant when you said I was using my powers wrong. See, throught my life, I've only seen my mum strengthen and/or enlarge the muscles in her arm but quite a few years ago we realised I could do it with my legs too. So I unconsciously conditioned myself to believe I could only do it on those parts of my body but that's not the case. Is it, sir?"

Ichisuda smiled and leaned back on his chair, waiting for Yashiro to say the words.

"I have full control of every single muscle in my body." Something occurred to him as he said this, the paragraphs he read earlier coming to mind. "That's what you were trying to tell me when you pointed to your head. The key"

Ichisuda was proud, and it showed in his face. "It didn't take you as long as I thought it would to figure that out. Well done Yashiro"

"thank you, sir" Yashiro couldn't contain his grin

"okay, you have a lot of work to do. As I'm sure you've read already there are certain signals that are responsible for activating your powers. As it stands right now you won't be able to strengthen all the muscles in your body because the signals are only focused on your arms and legs. In other words, because you haven't been sending signals to other parts of your body, the connections are weak or disconnected. So right now, your main focus is recalibrating and reconnecting the signal going from your brain to the rest of your body"

Yashiro's jaw dropped. "How am I meant to do that?"

"It's simple really," Ichisuda said with another smile on his face "meditation".

As an overjoyed Yashiro left the staff room, Izume sat next to Ichisuda.

"It seems you've already found your favourite student, Ichisuda"

Looking slightly surprised, he replied. "What? Is it that obvious"

Izume laughed, "don't sweat it. We all have our favourites"

"He reminds me of myself a lot"

"Well, it's fine having a favourite as long as you don't make it obvious to the other students"

Ichisuda nodded.

"By the way" Izume said, "how did you know he was using his powers wrong? There are certain powers that can only be activated in the hands and feet, like Hirase, for example"

"It was a hunch really. I studied all the students files and saw the reports of their abilities. It didn't say Yashiro's was limited to his arms and legs. So I observed his activation delay and something didn't feel right. So I just assumed it's because he wasn't using his power the way it's meant to be used"

Izume laughed, "you're really taking this teacher thing serious aren't you?"

Ichisuda smiled

"Well I'm bored" She said, walking out of the staff room "I'm gonna go shoot stuff"

[crazy woman] he thought.