Game 2 - Chapter 1

Igarashi Did not remember anything of consequence after he had passed out in his sparring match with Anshou, though somehow he woke up with an odd tune dangling in his mind, not sure if he had heard it before, he did not thing it was of importance however, and shrugged it of after he got up from his bed that morning, a bit groggy from yesterday since he was still a bit tired from all the effort he put to the spar.

While he cleaned himself up after not doing that the previous morning, he noticed another thing he had missed the previous morning, the bed next to him was empty, no one had slept on it for the past two days. Since Igarashi had arrived both night in less than stellar conditions he failed to pay attention to this, but it now bugged him, as far as he knew, everyone had to share their room with someone else, but his partner was nowhere to be seen in there, Who was it again? Dammit! I can't remember!, Igarashi cursed his lack of attention to these things as he finished changing himself and headed out of the room, looking at the sign in front in order to see who was his suposed roommate.

Quote :

366:
Sakimoto, Igarashi
Takeshi, Satoko

Satoko eh? lucky break for me I guess, at least it's not an annoying person... but why is he not here anyway? Igarashi thought to himself as he headed to the cafeteria with his eyes still half open, he would have to ask Satoko himself later. After grabbing a quick breakfast, Igarashi then headed to the Homeroom, with eyes still half closed.

Isane slid open the door to her homeroom, smiling widely. "Good morning, class," she said, practically singing.

"You're in an awfully good mood today, sensei," one student said.

"That's because you've got my class this afternoon," she grinned. "And half of you look as tired as walking death. It's only the third day of school, and you're already not getting enough sleep." She took on a wicked glint in her eye. "And you don't even want to know what I do to people who fall asleep in my class."

The bell suddenly rang.

"Alright, homeroom's over. Head to the gym and see Lieutenant Hisagi." Isane waved to her class as they disappeared out the door. "And I'll see you all after lunch," she sang after them.

'Hmm, Isane-Sensei is happy today. I bet she's excited to teach us.' Chiken thought ah he got right up and left the classroom.

'Well, I'd better stay with everyone so as to not get lost like before.' As Chiken thought this he realized that he didn't see anyone from his class in front of him. Looking left and right he still didn't see anyone from his class. Darting off down the nearest hallway Chiken smacked his forehead for losing everyone.

After a few turns Chiken saw a blue haired person down the hallway. Relaxed that he found Naomi, Chiken ran down to go to the gym with her. However, Chiken noticed something was wrong when he noticed that the hair wasn't the same length as Naomi's. Figuring that she might've cut it, Chiken continued onwards to her. It wasn't until Chiken was right next to the person that he realized the person wasn't Naomi since the person was a guy. Feeling stupid, Chiken continued down hallways, desperate to find someone he knew.

Luckily, after only a few more turns (and a dead end), Chiken saw a group of people containing a blue haired person, two green haired people, a red haired guy, and others. Knowing that only that combination of hair colors was in his class, Chiken caught up with them and slid into their group to get to the gym.

Zetsu managed to find the gym. It was not that difficult as he had been there before. He waved to Chiken when he came in after the group of them. He then looks for Lieutenant Hisagi. He sees what appears to be a man with the tattoo of 69 on his face. Zestu starts laughing uncontrollably.

Maybe he doesn't know what that means?

The morning sun beat down brightly through the glass ceiling of the 3rd year gymnasium, making it seem like everything was set outside in the open air as the students filtered into the gym from the Men's and Women's changing rooms, clad in their training outfits. The ground was unpaved dirt and gravel, with some patches of grass growing here and there, and very uneven, with exposed stone ledges of various heights and tall, rocky outcroppings reaching toward the ceiling. In the center of the room was a tall plateau about 10 meters in diameter, and 8 meters up off the ground.

Standing on top of this plateau, silhouetted by the sun, was what appeared to be a teenage boy with punkish purple hair and a black choker. "Good," he said. "Looks like you're all here." He leapt from his place to the ground eight meters below without a flinch and stood up before the class. Everyone could see that he had tattoos on his face, three black rectangles under his right eye, and a block number 69 under his left. He wore a training outfit consisting of a light t-shirt and thin black athletic pants, and around his left arm, he wore the badge of a 9th Division Lieutenant.

"I'm Lieutenant Hisagi, your teacher for Advanced Tactics II," he addressed the class, commanding an aura of respect despite the fact that he looked so young and wasn't more than maybe five-foot-nine. "I'm not going to waste much time talking. You all know what this class is, and why you're here." He crossed his arms in front of himself, leaning back against the rocky wall behind him. "You're the Advanced class, so this should be a breeze for all of you. You'll be expected to maintain a minimum level of skill, intelligence, and physical fitness. That being said, I'm not going to take it easy on you because it's your first day. So." Shuhei stood up. "Let's start off with a warm up." He pointed toward the wall. "Give me ten laps around the gym. And watch the uneven ground. You don't want to trip and break your ankles. Come on, let's go."

Naomi got to the gym in time for class. She heard the teacher command. Naomi darted around the the gym withy a amminse amount of speed. She was a very good sprinter.

A good jog was probably just what Midori needed - it would get her blood pumping and wake her up, and physical exertion would help clear her mind some. She took up a jogging pace, not too slow but nowhere near a sprint, and conserved her energy for the full ten rounds of the gym floor. In the meanwhile she focused her mind on the mysteries of the previous night. I'll need to ask again, she thought as she began rounding the second lap. And I'm gonna have to ask the right question this time... whatever that is.

She pushed further thoughts on the issue aside and concentrated on maintaining her pace and energy for the remaining nine laps.

Naomi continued running she was on her eighth lap when she noticed that Midori had also started jogging. Naomi finished her final lap around the gym. The entire run was kind of fast paced.

Naomi walked over to her teacher of the class. "What would you like the people that are finished to do?

((Do we have to roll to see if we successfully run around the gym?))

Zetsumei managed to stop laughing and started jogging around the gym.

Uneven ground shouldn't be a problem.

As he was running, he concentrated on the task at hand. He knew if he wa able to talk while he was running around the gym, he wasn't trying hard enough. He wasn't half bad at running given he had to do it a lot as a kid to stay alive. Now it was a matter of something he did once in a while to keep in shape

Even strides, good hand placement and watch breathing regularity.

He knew enough about running to do it correctly even if he was no expert. The thing he liked most about running was it was a distraction from his other problems. Last night's dream seemed far away.

Just a few more laps now.

((I was in track for a little while a long time ago, so apologies for making the running part seem more complicated than it is.))

Chiken started the laps jogging, not really caring about what place he was in. 'It's a warm up lap, no need to waste too much energy.' As he was thinking this he couldn't help but notice that Naomi seemed to be going full speed. She had to have lapped him at some point, but Chiken didn't really care. He could run if he wanted but he'd rather just wait until he would have no choice but to do so.

Later on, Chiken was on his 7th lap, 'Is it my 7th? Ah well, I'll just stop with the others I suppose.', when he noticed that Naomi had finished. He was watching her ask the teacher about what to do now and, consequently, wasn't looking at the ground. He put his foot right into a small depression on the ground, but it was enough to make him lose his balance and fall onto his side. He got up, brushed himself off, and continued onwards. 'Eh, no harm done but I'd better pay more attention to where I'm going.'

Igarashi had arrived to the class barely in time still looking half asleep, when he first heard that their first task was to run around, he groaned a bit, feeling a bit lazy, but then thought it would help him to wake up a little.

Igarashi was not accustomed to run in laps or jogging, but he was pretty fast, as soon as he started he quickly gained over everyone else, sprinting and leaping around for the three first laps, but before long he began to feel the toll of running so fast and had to slow down. By the seventh lap he was now running in a slower but steady pace, but was evidently looking agitated, still, he did his best not to show himself tired and pant as less as possible. At this point he was no longer feeling sleepy, and was now focusing to finish the rest of the course without tripping... or fainting.

After breakfast and homeroom, Kasahara arrived at her Advanced Tactics class. Being in the gym reminded her of the fight she saw last night between Sakimoto and Kanue. She just gave as audible huff and said nothing about it. While the teacher was talking, Kasahara couldn't help but study him; underneath his awkward tattoos, she bet that he was a fairly handsome young man. She thought for a second why he might have them decorating his face but it wasn't any of her business so she didn't. As soon as he commanded them to run laps around the gym, Kasahara grinned. For what seemed like the first time since last night, Kasahara felt confident and content again. Why? Exercises like these are what she was good at.

As she sprinted around the building, staying close to the walls, she thought back to what Ikkaku-sensei had told her two days ago. According to him she was 'was a real man!' In his drunken mood he called her 'one of the best he ever had' for running 'the five-kilometer in only eighteen minutes!'. Although Kasahara wanted to forget about how her favorite teacher mistakened her for a man, she was still proud of his words. Two laps into the run, she tried not to think about anything anymore and cleared her mind for the rest of the laps.

Kasahara was fast, there was no mistaking it. Compared to running five-kilometers, the laps around the ouside of the gym felt like a breeze. She kept a fast, but steady pace throughout the exercise without any trouble at all. The tomboy barely noticed the uneven ground beneath her feet. In fact, running like this seemed natural to her like she had done this countless times before.

As she neared the end of her lap, she noticed that she was first to finish. After all, what was this compared to the five kilometers? Kasahara wasn't rushing or dashing with ungodly effort like the run Ikkkaku-sensei had mentioned, but she was still very quick about Shuhei-sensei's exercise. A moment after she was done, Naomi had finished and asked what they were to do afterwards. The brunette stood there and watched her classmates run as she waited for the teacher's next directions.

Satoko stretched, he had slept well, although it had been a strange sleep. He had not dreamed, something he was unaccustomed too, and so he did not allow the reality of his not dreaming touch his mind, merely subconsciously deny it by filling blank with an “I can't remember it”. Now awake, he stood his neck mildly sore from sleeping propped up against a wall. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was Kasahara making some sort of gesture with her hands, it looked as though it may have been a wave, but at the time he was too tired to tell. Awake and rested, Takeshi made his way to his homeroom, not hungry for breakfast.

After homeroom, he followed the class towards the gym, uninterested in what the class may actually be about, or in the man who would apparently be teaching them. It all was dull to him, his mind was elsewhere, wandering to places of unimportance. He managed to drag it back to the reality he was being presented with when most of the other class had already begun jogging, whatever that was. Takeshi did not understand the term 'joggging', it had never come up before, and it held little importtance to him. However, he managed to take that it had something in common with running, by how his classmates had taken off, running slowly. Jogging=Running? That's the best I've got, off I go

Takeshi grinned, he enjoyed running, it was one of the few things which could squeeze a smile out of him. He stretched a bit, somehow he knew how to do that properly, and took off, running at an accelerated pace, dashing past his classmates and exceeding the speed which was intended for 'jogging'. Soon he wound up in the same boat as Igarashi, tired and trying to prevent showing signs of it, he was veen on the same lap as Igarashi, simply lagging a bit behind him. Taking in a quick breath, Satoko sped up slightly so as to catch up with Igarashi, and gave a quick wave in order to greet the red-haired man who's pace he was now matching.

Igarashi was entering his eight lap now when he noticed that someone had caught up to him, it was none other than Satoko that was now waving at him, Igarashi smiled back at him and nodded back at him, as it was now Igarashi's usual way of greeting. In other circumstances, Igarashi would have challenged Satoko right there to a race to see who would finish first, but he did not feel enough energy on him to do so, so he simply decided to run along with Satoko for the remainder of the course, fortunately for Igarashi, Satoko was running at a similar pace to him, so he was able to run along fine for the rest of the course.

Hikari had been yawning softly into her hand as she'd entered with the others, Kage-chan walking just a little ways behind her. "An-chan," she smiled, looking around. "Good morning! How did you..." She stopped talking as she noticed the huge bruise on her An-chan's face. "Oh my god, An-chan! What on earth happened to you?!"

She ran over and slipped her hands around Anshou's arm, but even in her concern, the golden-haired girl looked as prim and as superior as she always did, smirking softly as she looked around at her classmates. The training outfits they all wore were highly functional, and hardly flattering. Daisuke Kokubunji looked, quite frankly, like some kind of bizarre stone statue, towering above all the other students. And as for Rikiki...was that a little celulite she could see?

Ooooh, someone's been having a few too many sweet buns, now haven't they?

She chuckled to herself, smiling. All of these girls were so unrefined, so clumsy, and so utterly beneath her in terms of skill and strength that it hardly seemed fair for her to even be in this class. Oh, sure...She'd slipped up once or twice, like in Luitenant Kira's class...

Hikari shook her head, 'hhmph'-ing to herself as the teacher began to speak. It didn't really matter, anyway. She knew that she'd be the best Shinigami in the class. Well, her and An-chan, anyway... Her mind began to drift, even as Luitenant Shuhei was talking.

Just him and me, standing there...The most powerful Shinigami officers in Soul Society...Dressed in our uniforms, his arms around my shoulders and his voice in my ear, telling me that he-

Suddenly, she realised that almost everyone else in the class was jogging laps around the gym. Even the slowest runner was a few metres or so ahead of where she stood, and as for the leaders, they'd already run two laps! She looked up at the instructor, who just raised his eyebrows at her
"Well, Miss Kijou?"
He was going to make her do laps?
She was about to say something when she saw the cold look in his eyes. No, it wouldn't be a good idea for her to just disobey her instructor like that.
Still, maybe she could get Daddy to...
And they had the nerve to just run ahead of me like that?
Even Ashibue was jogging, or at least, trying to jog, pumping her arms with a kind of manic slowness.

Hikari snorted, and gritting her teeth, she sprinted across the floor, determined to get ahead of all the others. Her arms and legs were pistonning like mad, her feet hitting the floor hard as she overtook the slowest students with pure ease. After a few laps, she'd even begun to catch up to that damned emo kid. But suddenly, something caught her foot, sending a blot of pain all the way up her leg, and she went flying across the floor, almost crashing headfirst into a wall. Hikari hissed through her teeth, blinking tears back. She looked down at her leg and saw that her ankle was beginning to swell. Had she twisted it?

Hikari made a sound of annoyance, and turned to look back at Luitenant Shuhei. Just what the hell were they thinking? Making students run laps on something that wasn't even a proper racetrack. She'd hoped that he'd give her some kind of help, but the instructor still had that cold, indifferent look in his face, and Hikari stared dumbly as the people she'd just overtaken jogged past her cheerfully. Some of them even seemed to be laughing at her. With a low growl, Hikari rose shakily to her feet, muttering darkly under her breath as she started limping around the track.

Just wait until Daddy hears about this....

It felt like she was miles behind everyone else, and as she finally stumbled across the finish line she could swear she read Rikiki Brown giggling under her breath. Hikari had come dead last. Even Kokubunji and Kage-chan had been able to finish before she had.
Hikari turned away from her sister, and looked over to Anshou, who had been one of the first to finish. She still couldn't believe what that arrogant fool Sakimoto had done to her An-chan. She hobbled over to the blond boy, slipping her arm around him and resting her head on his shoulder.

"An-chaaaaaaan..." she whined, "Just look at what that nasty course did to my leg."

But Anshou didn't seem to be listening to her. Instead, he was staring up at the instructor, apparently waiting to see what they'd have to do next.

After all... thought Hikari,That brute did say this was just a warm up...

Just what on earth did he expect them to do next?!

To Kasahara
OCC: Wahh I finsihed first not you. Dont you bother to read? No Im just kidding I felt like posting something because I cant post until the teacher does so. Yeah.OCC

Daisuke was rather surprised to see his classmates with droopy eyes and tired faces. It seemed that few around him knew the value of a good night's sleep. Even Midori looked like she hadn't slept a wink, though the troubled look on her face gave the indication that there might be something else troubling her.

The groaning at the prospect of a mere ten laps around the gym also brought a smirk to Daisuke's face as the portly man trotted around the outside wall at a quick pace, quite a bit faster than anyone expected of such a large person. Ten laps? This was nothing compared to what they put him through at the stable, Daisuke chuckled to himself.

Rikiki had arrived to class bouncing. Waking up sleepy in the morning, she had taken some of the energy-loaded candy she kept in a box under her bed. Unfortunately, as she had probably done many times before, she took far too much of it, and the caffiene rushed her system like pure adrenaline.

So, when Hisagi had issued the 10 laps, Rikiki more... buzzed through it then ran it. She wasn't as fast as Kasahara or Satoko, but she never slowed, and finshed her race still wired. Growing bored even faster on her hyperactive rush, she flitted about like a bee; stopping only too giggle at Hikari's limping finish, amused that karma seemed to be swinging around.

Ryouichi was positively beaming as the class began. In an uncharacteristic show of excitement, he was actually humming a song under his breath, and there was a slight bounce in his step. Damn, do I love Tactics! When the class was told to run laps, he began to grin. This will be a breeze. For someone of his stature, Ryouichi was very good at timing his breathing.

On his first lap, Ryouichi took the most basic path, running on the inside of the track. Usually that would be the fastest route, but by the end of the first lap, Ryouichi realized that it would actually be much faster to take a slightly zig-zagging course, using the uneven parts of the ground to his advantage.

As he continued his laps, Ryouichi took to watching the other students. He was passing them fairly easily, and most of them were too absorbed in their own running to notice as he drew ahead of them. Igarashi and Satoko are... racing? Ryouichi raised an eyebrow. He was a bit impressed by their speed. Even with his improved route, they were still moving through the course at the same pace. Not that Ryouichi was using his full speed. This is supposed to be a warm-up, not a race. Still, maybe I should show them up, just for fun. If nothing else, they'll drive themselves harder. Ryouichi leaned forward a bit more, and increased his pace until he was rapidly gaining on the two rivals. He emerged a hair's breadth ahead of Igarashi on the inner part of the track.

Igarashi was holding his own on the last lap of the course along with Satoko, when suddenly, he noticed that Kanue was heading towards them, he looked awfully cheery, and confident too. At first it was not clear to Igarashi that Kanue, unlike Satoko, was actually challenging him to a race, but as Kanue gained on him from the inner part of the track, Igarashi knew what Kanue was challenging him, cursing under his breath, Igarashi was feeling tired enough, and did not want to burn himself in the last lap, but on the other hand, he was not one to turn down a challenge, and besides, it was Kanue, Igarashi had been itching to put that guy's ego in place.

Just as Kanue emerged ahead of him, Igarashi sped up, he had been keeping a slower pace on the last laps so he would not exhaust himself, but now, he was sprinting again, no longer bothering to check if Satoko had decided to keep up, Igarashi was now focused in getting ahead of Kanue again, Being in the innermost part, kanue had a clear edge, but Igarashi had gone full out now, determined not to lose to Kanue, he quickly regained the lead by sprinting and leaping again across the uneven ground, in matter of seconds, both of them reached the goal, finishing the laps. Igarashi was not completely sure, but he believed that had managed to arrive first, if only by a few miliseconds. But he was very exhausted, and he was no longer able to hide it, crouching and placing his hand on his knees, he was now panting and struggling to catch his breath, even if he had won that petty challenge, he had screwed up, no doubt he was now the only exhausted person to arrive, and he was not even in the first places, as Naomi, Kasajara, Anshou and some other where already there.

Igarashi glared briefly at Kanue before standing up and gathering around the rest, who where now waiting on Lieutenant Hisagi to tell them what to do next.

As the class finally began to finish the laps, Ryouichi dropped his exhilarated grin for an amused smile. Igarashi's just the kind of person who can't say no to a challenge. It's not like he even gained anything from winning our race, and now he's worn out. That's a pretty easy button to push. Turning back to the Sensei, Ryouichi smiled a bit wider, hoping that the next part of the lesson would be on battle strategy, his all-time favorite subject.

Zestu had been standing around the finish line, watching perhaps a few students finish after him. To him, his placement was not as important as his performance. He had done relatively well in keeping a good pace without tiring himself out. Given his less than ideal sleep last night, he was feelings pretty good. Somewhere in there though, a worry was nagging him. Perhaps that was truly what was keeping him alert.

Once Kijou crossed the finish line, he couldn't help but notice her leg. That needed treatment... but how exactly? He didn't want to come off the wrong way, but he wanted to help...

Might as well try... it's not like things can get much worse.

"Excuse me... Kijou? I don't mean to be rude. I noticed something happened to your leg. Are you all right? Do you need help getting to the nurses office? At least, there are supplies there. I could help bandage you up if the nurses seem to be away again today."

I'll ask sensie for permission if she agrees I guess.

Like any good athlete, Midori didn't stop moving after the last lap. She spent a couple of moments slowing from a paced run to a walk, then after a few moments to cool down started stretching. Probably should have done this before running, but better late than never, she thought with a slight smile. The problems of the night before had effectively been shoved back out of the way and the run had indeed done the duty of waking her up from her ill-rested previous night, leaving her effectively fully prepared for the rest of Lieutenant Hisagi's class... hopefully, anyway. If it was anything like the last Tactics class she was in, last year, she'd need it.

Once the stretches were done, she stood at a relaxed attention, waiting for the rest of the runners to finish and/or for the instructor to give another task.

"Huh?"

Hikari looked up to see another of her classmates, the quiet looking guy with the green hair and the yellow cat eyes, talking to her. She raised an eyebrow.

"Um... uh, yeah, I'm, uh... I'm fine, um...," she muttered quietly. Hikari looked down at her leg, and then shook her head.

What the hell am I doing? I'm acting like Kage-chan.

Hikari stood up and crossed her arms, raising her nose into the air. "Hmph. I wasn't asking for any help. And anyway, you're probably just looking for some excuse to touch my legs, aren't you," she sneered at Zetsumei. "Come on, An-chan," she clung to Anshou's elbow and walked back toward the teacher, limping slightly, but noticeably.

Hikari Kijou wrote:

"Huh?"

Hikari looked up to see another of her classmates, the quiet looking guy with the green hair and the yellow cat eyes, talking to her. She raised an eyebrow.

"Um... uh, yeah, I'm, uh... I'm fine, um...," she muttered quietly. Hikari looked down at her leg, and then shook her head.

What the hell am I doing? I'm acting like Kage-chan.

Hikari stood up and crossed her arms, raising her nose into the air. "Hmph. I wasn't asking for any help. And anyway, you're probably just looking for some excuse to touch my legs, aren't you," she sneered at Zetsumei. "Come on, An-chan," she clung to Anshou's elbow and walked back toward the teacher, limping slightly, but noticeably.

"Well no, it's not like that... I just wanted to help you..."

*Zestumie wasn't sure if she heard him as she was walking away. He frowned slightly to himself and sighed.*

Well, what did you expect with someone like that?

*Normally, he would have felt frustrated with himself, but his attitude had changed on that front. He had to prove to himself that he wasn't changing... that he was still himself. He then felt a slight pain in his chest. It wasn't a medical problem. It was something that just happened once in a while. Zestu had gotten so used to them, he ignored the feeling.*

What's next?

So we're going to do laps now?

Ashibue wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings as she jogged around the perimeter of the third year gym, her feet somehow instinctively finding their way around the uneven, rocky pathway. It felt good to get some exercise, even though Ashibue's mind wasn't on the workout at all.

Hm. I wonder where Tenkawa is, Ashibue casually said to herself.

And why on earth are you looking for Tenkawa, Ashibue's mind answered back to herself.

It's nothing at all. Conversations with herself like this weren't unusual in Ashibue's mind, not by any means. She cast a glance back over her shoulder before turning her eyes ahead. There was nothing at all wrong with thinking of a fellow classmate, wondering offhand where he might be. After all, if he wasn't here, then that might mean that something could be wrong with there he is.

Ahead of her, about a fifth of a lap, Tenkawa was jogging, sort of hidden between another couple of students, with that same bored look over his face that he always had, pumping his arms as he ran, looking almost as distracted as Ashibue herself.

So, you found him, Ashibue said to herself. So now what? Ashibue quickened her pace a little, slowly making her way ahead, and slowly catching up to Tenkawa.

What on earth are you doing? Ashibue looked away from the dark haired boy, back down at her feet. Nothing. I'm just going to say hello to him, nothing wrong with that, is there? I'm just going to jog up to him and say, "Good morning, Tenkawa-san." That's all. Nothing special at all. People do it a million times a day, all over the world.

She was only about 1/8 of a lap behind him now. Getting closer and closer. "Good morning, Tenkawa-san," Ashibue repeated that same line over and over in her head, as if she was practicing it, worried that it might come out wrong if she said it without enough preparation.

Ashibue was almost alongside him now. It was almost time.

"G... g..." The words caught in her throat as she attempted to look up and speak to the boy as she ran.

Oh, what is wrong with you? Ashibue snapped at herself. It's one line, one simple sentence, and you can't even get it right?

"G... ... ..." Tenkawa hadn't noticed her at all, running just a few paces behind him, but matching his speed perfectly. Ashibue looked down at her feet. Would it be best to not say anything, she wondered, still jogging along, matching Tenkawa step by step.

Ashibue took a deep breath. She was on her 9th lap already, not much time to do anything.

She ran a bit faster, getting even closer. She was almost totally alongside him now, though he still didn't notice.

"Um... T... Tenka... er...," Still no response. She tried again.

"G... g... g... goo...." She took a deep breath. "Goo... goo... good... ... ... ... good mo--"

The sound of a loud shriek cut her off.

That was Onee-chan's voice! Ashibue stopped in her tracks, allowing herself a single glance toward the quarter-lap in front of her, as the oblivious Tenkawa sped away from her and over the finish line. She turned back to see Hikari lying on the ground, clutching her ankle. She'd fallen. Probably twisted her ankle on these rocks on the ground.

Her first instinct was to rush over to her sister right away, but Ashibue hesitated. She turned her head over her shoulder. The finish line was practically right there. It would be a shame to--

Two more students dashed past Ashibue and over the finish line, and that made up the darker sister's mind for her. She turned toward the finish line and picked up speed, sprinting as fast as she possibly could. She practically leaped over the finish line, and then without another thought, took off running at the same speed toward her sister. That green haired Zetsumei boy said something to Hikari, but Ashibue ignored that, and the way Hikaru blue him off was all too familiar.

OOC: Sorry, I've been busy for the past few days/weeks.


Junshirou crossed the finish line without much trouble (he was glad it wasn't any longer, though, as it would have been difficult to regulate his pace if not). His mind, as always, wasn't really on the race, though... he'd been on autopilot since the night before. Since returning to bed, still not entirely sure what had happened or what it had signified, he'd managed to drift back off to sleep, but there'd been a dream. This was strange, as usually, he didn't have many dreams, but this one was occupying his thoughts.

He'd been on... he didn't know, a hill of some sort, he thought. Some sort of grassy slope, anyway. He'd been lying down, with his arms behind his head, looking up at the clouds. It seemed like he was a lot younger.

"See anything interesting, Shiro-chan?", came a voice from his side. He glanced over and gave a slight smile.

"You always ask that. Look for yourself, why don't you?", he responded.

The girl lying next to him took on a mockingly disappointed tone. "C'mon, don't be mean," it said, and Junshirou felt himself being pushed playfully. He got up, pulled her to her feet, and glanced at his watch. Forgetting himself for a moment, he then glanced again, as was his habit. He looked up again and smiled. "Well, there wasn't all that much interesting up there. Just clouds."

The girl looked down at him. ...Junshirou noticed how much taller than him she was. She must be a few years older, at the very least. Still, this seemed familiar somehow... he wondered how he knew her, and where from.

"No interesting ones at all?", she sulked.

"Not really..."

Junshirou looked around again. There wasn't anything interesting up there, no. Normally when people looked up at the clouds they saw clouds that looked like rabbits, or flowers, or Santa, or things like that. With Junshirou, though, they just looked like clouds.

"Blink."

...what? Junshirou spun round, wondering what that was about. She'd disappeared, somehow. He looked all around, but there was just more grass and sky. She'd vanished without a trace. He panicked. He... he kind of ran around for a little bit, calling her name, and then... and then...

It was about now that he'd woken up. He looked around the bedroom, but there was nobody else there - Zetsumei had obviously already woken up. He looked out the window, but there was no-one there.

He punched the mattress, and then wondered why he had. He still wanted to find her, even though he knew it had been a dream. It wasn't even that it had seemed so real... nothing really had. It had had some sort of a dreamlike quality to it even inside. But he was sure that he knew this girl from somewhere, and he didn't know where that was exactly.

He remembered how he'd felt yesterday with the old man. The two seemed linked, somehow. If he found one, he'd find the other; or at least the significance of the other. His thoughts still a muddle, he'd wandered to class, not really absorbing any information.

Hmm. He really needed to get this sorted out. It was definitely hindering his progress, having so much emotional baggage that he didn't even understand the significance of yet. He sighed, and looked to the nearest person, who at this point seemed to be Midori.

"Ohayou gozaimasu", he said in a melodic but tired voice. "Slept well?"

Naomi was paying little attention to her surrondings when she realized that Hikari had a bad leg. Naomi thought to herself I wonder if she needs help. Naomi was about to walk over to her when Zetsumei walked over and offered help. Naomi thought to herself "that was nice of him". Just then Hikari responded in a very rude manor. Naomi stood by and watched as the boy got scolded for attempting to do something nice. Naomi walked towards Hikari. Naomi was thinking about taking her anger and frusteration out on Hikari, after all the little bitch deserved it! Naomi watched Hikari walk away. Naomi controlled herself enough not to give pursuit and do something she might regret. Naomi then walked over to zetsumei. She patted him on the shoulder. "Don't listen to her shes just a inconsiderit little bitch. Do you want to sit with me for lunch?" Naomi then asked?

Satoko grinned, his short jog along side Igarashi was amusing him, although the steady pace they shared was not slow, Takeshi had found this much easier to maintain then the sprint he had taken off at. Steadily running alongside Igarashi,, he allowed a grin to slip off his face, and his mind to wander slightly. It toyed with ideas, played with fantasies, and thought about the deep, depressing topics which so commonly took hold of his mind. He played with the thoughts of who he could have been, why he couldn't read, and what that feeling he felt when he thought something pleasurable was. Takeshi shurgged, and reverted back to the run at hand, it appeared as though he and his red-haired compnaion were nearing the end of their jog.

Takeshi was beginning to slow, he had taken no notice of Kanue, unable to truely tell that he had wanted to race, and was honestly surprised when Igarashi had taken off. He raised an eyebrow as Igarashi won their little race, although Takeshi had been unable to tell it was that, and showed obvious signs of exhaustion. Confused by the red-haired man's sudden need to exhaust himself, Takeshi decided to speak with him in a moment or two, for now he need to reach the finished line. Satoko grinned, and resumed complete focus on jogging.

Y'know, it is taking me a lot longer then I thought it would to finish this lap, I wasn't that far behind Igarashi... Wait a moment, why am I over here!? And so he who is oblivious clued in to how his thought process had been working, he had been so absorbed in simply running, he had forgotten to pay attention to where he was, and was now half-way through another lap. "Son of a..." Takeshi drew in a breath, he was tired of these fumbles he kept making, he must put a stop to them, but for now he would finish his extra lap. Releasing the breath he had drawn in, Satoko sprinted the remainder of the course, stumbling over his own feet as he ran, his lungs stung and his legs ached. When he finally crossed the finish line, for the 11th time, he simply sat down, flat on his arse, and panted like a dog.

Satoko looked over to Igarashi, who, although appearing tired, was not likely as tired as the oblivious boy who now sat on the the ground, gasping for air. Suddenly, out of the blue, Takeshi flashed a big grin, which he was so accustomed to that it actually irritated his face. For some reason I fell very... strange, this feeling reminds of something, almost akin to pleasure. And so he laughed for a reason unbenounced to him, Takeshi laughed at Igarashi's competitive nature, at his own mistake, and mostly to make up for the time he'd gone without it. In the end of his laughing fit, Satoko found himself at an even larger loss of air, and began gasping for air, after which he found himself supressing even more laughter. Standing himself upright, Satoko made his way over to Igarashi, and asked, with some of the laughter still clinging to his voice,
"What the hell was that I was just doing?"

Igarashi had taken advantage of the time the others where taking to arrive to the finish line to grab some more air and rest himself, his once arched back now straightened up, and tried to pull himself together, he hated to look weak, or vulnerable. As he recovered his air, he noticed a few going ons with some other students, especially the loud and brash behavior shown by that spoiled blond girl. Igarashi had not liked her much when she introduced herself, but had really paid any more mind to her after that, but now it was getting on his nerves with that attitude. Still, that did not really concerned him so decided not to act.

As he waited for the teacher to give them further instructions, Igarashi suddenly remembered that he had been jogging with Satoko, and that he also wanted to ask him about his absence in their dorm room. Looking around, Igarashi failed to spot him, which was odd, because everyone else had already arrived at that point. Igarashi wondered where he could be, as far as he knew, he had not fallen behind by that much when he took Kanue's challenge, but then, he spotted the skinny young boy running in the middle of the course.

Igarashi could not resist himself to chuckle when he saw Satoko arrive to the finish line yet again, looking even more exhausted than Igarashi himself. Igarashi tried to supress his amusement at the whole thing to avoid making Satoko feel bad about it, but then the blond boy just started to grin, and then began to laugh out loud. Igarashi cocked his head to the side a bit when he saw this, which was confusing to him, as far as he remembered, Satoko was not one to laugh often.

Igarashi then noticed Satoko was now heading towards where he was standing, wondering what could be going on in that boy's head, Igarashi chose to try and keep a normal looking face as the boy approached, but as Satoko asked to Igarashi what the hell he had just done, Igarashi could not hold it anymore, and broke out in laughter himself, amused by Satoko's antics, and the fact that he had took all that with humor. Holding his breath for a bit so he could stop laughing, Igarashi then replied to Satoko, with a visible grin on his face; "Apparently, you found the normal 10 lap course to be lacking, and decided to take it one step further by running another lap." He then snorted, and laughed again, this was all too refreshing for him, He was used to be so serious all the time that moments like these or the one in the nurse's office really made him feel good.

As he stopped laughing however, he decided to use that time they had before the teacher issued their next task to finally ask Satoko about his absence; "Joking aside, I want to ask you something, why are you not sleeping in the dorms?"

Shuhei clapped his hands together once. "Alright, good job," he said to the class as he nodded curtly toward Hikari. "You alright, Kijou-san." No one was sure if Shuhei was asking if Hikari was alright or telling her that she was alright.

"It's also certainly interesting that some of you seem to have misheard me," he shot a somewhat amused look over toward Igarashi, Satoko, and Ryouichi. "I said 'warm up,' not 'Summer Olympic 1500 meter dash.' You don't want to be wearing yourself out this early. We've still got a lot of class to go, and you REALLY don't want to be tired for Lt. Kotetsu's SLAP class this afternoon," Shuhei smirked.

"Next up!" he announced, his loud, commanding voice echoing through the gym. He stepped over to the rock wall behind him and opened up a very well camouflaged locker from which he produced a clipboard, a pen, and a remote control. Shuhei pressed a button on the control, and a whirring noise started up underneath the students feet. There was a hum of electricity and a groan of machinery and three round panels opened in the ground in front of the class. Up floated three small, spherical steel orbs, each about the size of a basketball, all well-worn with slight marks and dents covering them. On the side of each orb was a dark red circle about 8 cm in diameter inside of a larger bright white circle.

Shuhei pushed another button on the control. With a very loud racket, a gust of wind and a cloud of dust, the 8 meter plateau behind the Lieutenant slowly sank into the ground. With a crash and a rumble, the ground settled, and Shuhei stepped into the center of the now-flat open space in the middle of the gym, the three orbs following him. "Come on," he said to the class, and all the cadets followed Shuhei and the orbs, forming a circle around the sensei.

"These," Shuhei addressed everyone, placing his hand on the side of one of the orbs, "Will allow me to test your hand to hand combat skills. One at a time, you'll all take a turn in the ring with these Target Drones. Your target--" He tapped the red circle on the side of one of the drones. There was a loud electronic blip and the circle lit up, glowing orange. "--is here. Once you hit all three targets, your turn is over. But be careful...," he hurried out of the circle leaving the three orbs floating there. "These targets can hit back."

With that, Shuhei pressed another button on his control and the orbs whirred to life.

Whoosh!

Cutting through the air, whirring as they flew, the orbs darted here and there around the center of the circle, through the center of the circle, moving apparently totally randomly, and moving and changing direction so incredibly fast that no one in the class could follow their motion, only a series of buzzing blurs as the steel orbs pulverized the air between them.

"Whoops," muttered Shuhei. "It was still set on Level 9 from last year." He twisted the knobs on his dial, and the orbs slowed down significantly, pausing in the air from time to time, but still moving quite quickly. Still challenging, but not impossible. "Now, don't worry," he continued. "This is not a graded exercise. This is just to see what exactly you all can do, and what things we might need to work on."

"Alright," Shuhei pocketed the remote control and lifted his pen and clipboard. "Who's up first?"

Kasahara listened to Shuhei-sensei as he gave his next set of directions to the class. Hesitantly, she volunteered to go first. At first, the tomboy was skeptical about this new exercise; she understood the point of it but she was unsure of how to go about it. Thinking back to her first meeting with Hyakushi-sensei, she remembered the chain smoking teacher complimenting her for her defense and pointing out her weak attacks. She was more of a defender than an attacker. Another thing that made her uneasy with this activity was the fact that she was being to be up against 3 spherical devices. They were nothing like a person or a beast and Kasahara imagined that this added to the already seemingly hard challenge. Ofcourse, she couldn't possible know how she'd fair until she tried.

During the briefing, the brunette thought that the orbs would focus on evading her advances rather than barraging her with an onslaught. As soon as she stepped into the ring, Kasahara playfully waved her arms at the closest of the three orbs. Ofcourse, the object dodged her lazy swing and flew above her reach. For a mere second, all three metallic objects hovered motionlessly in the air as if they were pausing to study her and registering her as their target. Before Kasahara could say anything or react to their strange behavior, all three of the orbs shot at her at once with blazing speed. Well, this certainly changes everything; it was no longer fun and games as far as the tomboy was concerned.

The tall girl was caught off guard for a moment and nearly had one of the spheres hit her square in the head. NEARLY. Startled by the sudden movement, Kasahara managed to move her head inches away from the orb, having the object whiz by her ear. She instantly took on defense as the orbs descended down upon her like bolts of lightning. Just as she backed away, the other two orbs collided into the ground and created small craters where she last stood. There was no time for her to gawk at the sheer force the orbs were using against her; the three baseball shaped machines pulled themselves out of the ground and regrouped. Kasahara held her ground, awaiting their next move.

They shot out towards her again but this time the tough girl knew what to expect from the objects and was more prepared. She curled the fingers of her right hand inward, not quite making a fist. As one of the orbs was about to strike her, Kasahara thrusted her palm out in a swift yet powerful motion. The palm of her hand connected with the orb and knocked the object back, both attacking it and blocking its assault. Unfortunately for her, the brunette wasn't lucky enough to hit the red area of the orb. Kasahara didn't have time to hiss in pain from her palm's encounter with the ball-like object. She did manage to step back to avoid contact with another orb and let it collide into the ground again. That was two orbs she had seen just now. Where was the third?

Kasahara almost missed the mechanical buzz of the third orb behind her. Were the first two distractions for the third? As it flung itself at the girl, trying to bash itself dangerously into her back, Kasahara swiftly side stepped away from it's path. She took her left hand and swiped at the object as it flew by her. Catching it, the tomboy simply redirected it towards the orb that she had blocked earlier with her palm. She was using the sphere's own momentum against it and made it crash into the other orb. There was the clear sound of a 'blip' but she did not see which of the two she managed to take down. The brunette had forgotten about the object embedded in the ground; this orb didn't hesitate to attack again.

It darted up from the ground and smashed into the left side of her face. Luckily for Kasahara, the force wasn't strong enough to cripple her or knock any of her teeth out. However, it did make her momentarily see white due to the immense pain. A normal person would've blacked out, but Kasahara was different; she was still standing even though she was in horrible pain. The hurting girl staggered back only to have the only other active orb take advantage of her and struck her on her right inner thigh. Her leg buckled under the pain and had the tall brunette kneeling down on one knee for a second. It was then that something inside her snapped and a war cry sprung forth from her lips "URYAAAAAA!!!"

She grabbed the steel orb that assaulted her leg, plucking it out of the air as it bounced back after injuring her limb. Kasahara didn't waver at the slightest bit as she barbarically hurled the object into the ground in rage. All that was heard after it had smashed into the ground was a weak 'blip'. The enraged girl didn't wait for the last orb to launch itself at her again. In pure blood lust and anger, Kasahara went after the damned orb before it striked. Just as it drove toward her, the injured brunette rammed her fist into the last of the three flying spheres with shocking accuracy. It flew out of the ring with a final 'blip' and laid still on the floor like the others...

Kasahara stood still with a wild look in her eyes briefly before she came to her senses. Oh god was she hurting! The knuckles on her left hand and the palm of her right hand felt like they were on fire! Her leg still stung and throbbed under her weight. And her face! She couldn't describe the pain her left cheek was in. Gingerly, she covered the swelling and discoloring part of her face as she walked out of the ring silently. The echoes of her war cry still rang in her ears, but all she could think about was the pain she was in. She walked past her classmates blindly, their words towards her, if any, went unheard. Kasahara didn't say anything nor indicated that she was in pain, but her odd behavior was apparent for anyone to see. She leaned against a wall, propping herself up so she wouldn't have to put so much weight on her injured leg.

The ring was empty now with the exception of two of the three orbs laying on the ground. With a simple push of a button, Shuhei-sensei could reactivate them and the exercise would start again for someone else...

Ryouichi watched silently as Kasahara began to take on the target drones. I expect that she'll succeed in this exercise. Kasahara looks like the type of girl who knows how to defend herself. Not that this exercise requires only defense; you still need to hit the targets. That will probably be the most difficult part, for all of us. Those drones are moving pretty fast. How am I going to hit them? Maybe I shouldn't rely on my eyesight. My sense are more tuned than any of the other students, after all. Hmmm... Ryouichi's thoughts wandered off as Kasahara's fight continued. In fact, Ryouichi was so lost in thought that he didn't see the fight, or even register the results. He was only brought back to reality when Shuhei started talking. "Next!"

Straightening himself, Ryouichi eagerly stepped forward into the center of the 'circle', though none of his excitement showed on his face. "Alright," Shuhei announced, nodding at him, "Kanue-san here is up next." Ryouichi allowed his hands to rest at his sides, closing his eyes as he waited for the exercise to begin. In his mind's eye, he could see each of the drones humming and buzzing, though he couldn't tell where the targets were. Opening his eyes for a moment, he quickly scanned the drones to see where each target was. Re-orienting himself, Ryouichi once again closed his eyes. This will probably only work once. I just hope they don't start spinning while they move. Shuhei's voice reached him, as if from a great distance, "Ready? Begin!"

Instantly, the orbs shot toward Ryouichi. Expecting this, he back-flipped over them and immediately sent a kick toward the spot on one drone where he was sure the bullseye was. His attack connected, and Ryouichi felt a smile tugging at his lips as he landed gracefully on his feet, the now glowing target drone falling to the ground. Everything according to plan. Suddenly the smile was wiped off of his face as he heard something strange. Huh? But that means... Oh shi- His eyes opening wide, Ryouichi had just enough time to execute a matrix-style dodge against one of the drones that had swerved back to hit him. As it passed over him, he realized with glee that the target was on it's underside. This is just my lucky day! Two of Ryouichi's fingers connecting with the red bullseye made the second orb glow orange.

Quickly, Ryouichi scanned the circle for signs of the last target drone. Let's see. Sensei is scribbling on his notepad, Kasahara is leaning against the wall, and - what the-!? Ryouichi was interrupted by the sound of something whistling through the air. He brought his arm up to block the drone, which was rushing down from above. Wincing, he sidestepped the next attack, whacking the red bullseye on the back of the drone. As it took on an orange hue and dropped to the ground, Ryouichi had to stop himself from sighing in relief.

Moving back to the edges of the circle, Ryouichi waited for the next student to begin.

((Sorry if this post sucks. I couldn't write a good fight scene if my life depended on it.))

Almost right after He made his question to Satoko, the Lieutenant began speaking, and told them about their next assignment. The first thing Igarashi did when he heard what their next task would be, was to swear under his breath. Now more than ever, the red haired man regretted to have fallen for Kanue's taunt and overdone himself the way he did, he would have otherwise would be more than happy to do that exercise, but right now, tired as he was from his little stunt for today, and the aftereffects of yesterday's spar, Igarashi was far from feeling near his prime to fight.

Despite of this, Igarashi decided that it would be best for him to do the exercise sooner than later, before his muscles began to get cold and make the whole thing even more difficult, at this point, he had managed to recover his breath and his hearth rate was more or less where it should be. Without saying a word, Igarashi quickly stood up after Kanue left the main circle, and walked to the center, nodding to the Lieutenant as his way of acknowledging he was ready to begin.

As soon as Lieutenant Hisagi gave the go sign and activated the orbs, Igarashi quickly rushed towards the nearest of the orbs, which had only started to hover from the floor. Igarashi's aim was to strike the orbs down first before they could have a chance to attack, and thus end the exercise quickly and draining as less energy from him as possible. Soon however, he realized it would not be that simple, as fast as he was, when he attempted to swat down the orb he had rushed towards, the orb dodged the swipe entirely, backing away from Igarashi by a few inches. Seeing the orb was still near, Igarashi decided to press on his offensive, and launched a fast straight punch at the orb, this time managing to hit it, but missing the orange spot.

Frustrated, Igarashi was eager to strike at that orb again before it could counter attack, but he then remembered that there where another two orbs, that by now no doubt where fully functional and soon to charge at him, and sure enough, he heard a loud buzzing behind him, indicating that at least one of the orbs was about to ram him. Quickly glancing behind, it only took Igarashi a fragment of second to locate where the orb was heading: the right side of his back. At this point, one would have chosen to simply dodge the orb, but Igarashi was not a defensive person, and still wanted to end this as fast as possible, So his reaction was to use his right elbow to counter the ram, and caught the orb fully with his elbow. The resulting recoil sent the orb flying away towards the outer parts of the ring.

Igarashi was unsure if he had heard a 'blip' from it or not, but he was right now trying hard not to scream in pain as that blow had bad effects on his elbow too, those things where too damn hard and heavy. His mind only had fraction to wander off however, as there was a third orb that had yet to act, and was now hovering at fast speeds towards the side of Igarashi. Having no more than a second to react, Igarashi was forced to dodge the tackle this time by spining quickly, barely avoiding the orb, but this let Igarashi position himself facing the first orb who was now rushing at him too. Those orbs surely wasted no time.

Had Igarash's reflexes been any duller, or the ones from an average person, he would have received a full blow from one of the orbs by now, but at this point his mind was now fully into the fight, and was now suppressing even the sharp pain Igarashi was feeling in his elbow, fully focused on the rushing orb, Igarashi was able to spot the position of the orange circle on the orb, which was located in the upper section of the orb. this time he made no mistakes, and anticipating the direction of the orb, Igarashi placed his left hand in front of his face, quickly swinging it down with his palm open and pressing firmly on the rushing's orb upper part, effectively pressing the button, and hearing a 'blip' as the orb ricocheted towards the ground.

Still fully focused but also looking more tired. Igarashi now turned on the remaining orb, that was now circling around him, almost as if looking for a perfect angle to strike. Igarashi decided not to repeat his mistake and rush to the orb, Instead waiting and let the orb come at him just as the others did, but the orb did not rush at him, which was odd considering they had until now rushed towards him one after another.

As Igarashi followed that orb's movements, he failed to notice that the first orb was soaring at him from behind, it had never been deactivated in the first place. Igarashi realized this too late as he turned around only to catch the orb fully in the stomach, robing him from all air, and feeling his sight all blurry. Almost as if a reflex, Igarashi slammed down his fists at the orb, sending it to the ground, finally hearing a 'blip' this time, it was useless however, because the other once hovering orb was now heading towards Igarashi's face. Igarashi only managed to turn his face to the side and see a blurry object coming fast at him, tired and staggered as he was, there was nothing more Igarashi could do as the last orb rammed right into Igarashi's right side of his face, sending him into the ground, unconscious.