Well, at the very least, this girl was agreeing with her. Ruriko felt a little bit of surprise at that. Some people said her drive to succeed and make others succeed was... annoying, but this girl was agreeing with her. Feeling a little satisfaction through her general irritation, the short, black-haired girl folded her arms more firmly as she looked up at the taller girl. So, she appeared to want some form of instruction. Perhaps Ruriko would still have an opportunity to have her mock battle, though they would likely have to select a more suitable arena then the training room. Ruriko had to admit that wasn't the most ideal location she could have chosen for a duel such as that.

"In that case," Ruriko began, with a slight nod, "We can easily have a mock battle, once we find a place to do so. I'm looking to train more as well, so it would be training for the both of us."

Of course, Ruriko was certain she would win, but regardless, it was an important matter. Wasn't it?

Yet another silence. That was fine. Sakamori Kuzunao was a patient woman, raised by the head of one of Japan's key Aikido families and forged by the discipline of her clan's trade. Patience was her guide. She grew up with it leading her by the hand as she encountered obstinate problems and even more obstinate people. It was a practice that she needed to apply persistently with Ojima-kun. It the only thing that gave her hope for his recovery. He finally voiced his thoughts after a silence much shorter than the first. His fears were reasonable but he was finally taking some steps forward. Sakamori allowed herself a smile.

"I promise you, I'm much more capable than you probably think I am."

Ojima-kun whispered something, too quiet for her to hear so he was most likely saying it to himself. Hopefully she hadn't missed anything too important. She checked her watch. It was around five in the afternoon.

"If we head off now, we'll have time for a quick spar. We'll use one of the smaller training rooms if you're willing to go today."

@Renny

Orimono

For the most part, I was just relieved that it had worked for the most part, seeing as the girl had stopped looking like she was ready to chop someone up with that sword. And, well, berating me for stepping food into the academy (which wasn't really my idea, come to think of it). It was precisely then that the realization of what I had just agreed to/brought up dawned on me, thought I did my best not to let the slow horror and dread spread across my face. She would probably just take it as more ammunition to throw back at me.

"I think this is an excellent idea; she could use the experience."

Of course she picked now of all times to appear and voice her opinion. And promptly toss me under the bus. Instead of helping me out with the aggravated sword-toting girl.

I laughed nervously.

"Right, sure."

"Uh, you don't mean right now?"

Ruriko raised an eyebrow at the question. What did it sound like she'd been saying? At least it seemed like the girl's contract supported this decision wholeheartedly. The tiny black-haired girl moved her hands from folded across her chest, to her hips, looking up at the somewhat taller girl as she did. It was a rather dumb question, wasn't it? After all, there was no time like the present for some training.

"Of course I mean right now," Ruriko said, irritation rising in her tone once more. Hearing such a dumb question once again had caused her to become more frustrated about the whole thing. But at least she was going to get to perform a mock battle, ideally without anything completely stupid happening like it was before. "We obviously have to find a suitable location to hold it in. And... I suppose a teacher to supervise it. But why else would I have brought it up if I didn't mean right at this moment. Hmph."

After huffing, Ruriko looked away slightly.

"That was a completely stupid question. Don't be dumb like that."

"Two, huh? That's quite a big family," Kaede remarked, "Though twins would explain it. I know what they're like, four of my brothers and sisters are twins. The oldest two should be coming here next year."

The oldest two... of seven. Her family was by any standard enormous and she sometimes wondered how it had become so big, though at least it wasn't going to grow any larger. The second set of twins were definitely going to be the last small children she had to take care of until she actually had any of her own.

The pre-tournament season was a familiar atmosphere for Sakamori. Students would rush out of their classes more quickly, hastily stuffing books into their bags, eager to squeeze in some valuable minutes of training. Battle tactics would be scribbled in the margins of notebooks, the result of bolts of inspiration that had struck the young scholars in the middle of their late night studies. Yes, the pre-tournament excitement always brought a smile to her face. It was always lovely to see the kids embracing their youth in such a way. A shame that the buzz usually resulted in neglected homework though.

Sakamori observed much of this as they made their way to the training rooms. Ojima-kun was beginning to lag behind. She didn’t blame him. This mental block was something that probably seemed impossible to overcome. Before she could make a reassuring comment, Sakamori noticed two other students in the hallway. Adachi Ruriko, abrasive and short-tempered, but got consistently good marks in her studies. She was a good kid at heart; Sakamori knew that her over-competitiveness was just a side effect of the duty she felt to the Adachi family. Orimono Chikazu, a rather lackadaisical girl who seemed to have trouble keeping her Pacts in line. She seemed nice enough, though she didn’t contribute much to class so it was difficult to tell.

“Adachi-kun, busy training for the tournament, I see,” she greeted the short girl, “I marked your Maths test just before. Excellent results as always,”

Sakamori turned to Adachi’s companion.

“You did fairly well too, Orimono-kun, but there’s always room for improvement.”

“Were you two about to have a mock battle?”

@VitaVitaAR @Caasicam

"...W...waaaahhh..."

Never had Ushio wanted to simply melt away and be forgotten as much as right now. Why did Hiromi have to choose a place where anybody could show up? She nervously checked her surroundings, fearing eavesdroppers. There only seemed to be one person nearby, and wasn't paying them any attention, but it was still way too big an audience for Ushio to handle!

"D-do I really have to...?" Ushio mumbled nervously, face glowing red, "U-um, it's... em-embarrassing, um, ca-can't change now..."

"As soon as humanly possible, Ushio-chan," Hiromi replied, simply, with a shrug... and then a smile. Oh, she did want Ushio in her uniform(after all, a girl of her position obviously needed to have a maid on hand at all times. It only made sense, didn't it?), but changing right here was a completely ridiculous proposal. Still, she wanted to see if the smaller girl would think she meant changing right here... Really, it was too amusing not to try and see if the girl would do anything that would embarrass her. Hiromi would stop her, of course.

"So yes, you really have to," she continued.

Orimono

"Okay, sure."

I decided that agreeing with her was the far easier course of action than attempting to convince her otherwise. I didn't particularly feel the inclination to get into a verbal battle right then, just a physical one was going to be difficult enough, and I had the sinking feeling that she was one of those people that tossed any explanations under "excuses" or "complaints". Absently I rubbed my eye, trying not to think about how absolutely messed up my sleep cycle would be right now, and resigned myself to getting knocked around for a bit.

Fortunately, any response that she might have been ready to deliver was interrupted by the arrival of two others. The first I recognized, the mathematics teacher, who I turned to greet. The second was the taller of the two, a younger student who looked about as thrilled to be up and out as bed as I did. Or maybe I was just projecting. Either way, I gave him a sleepy wave.

"Ah? Kuzunao-sensei?"

Ruriko looked up at the sound of the familiar woman's voice, away from her current, intended opponent. The math teacher was accompanied by a boy Ruriko didn't immediately recognize, as well, for whatever reason. Perhaps he needed some sort of extracurricular assistance or something like that. Her comment about the math test was pleasing, but perfectly expected. Ruriko absolutely knew she had to do her best in all categories. After all, she was the child of the Adachi family. What was she if not someone who had to succeed, no matter what? It was simple.

She bowed her head, slightly.

"Thank you, Kuzunao-sensei," she replied, "You're right, we were about to have a mock battle. My last attempt was... interrupted."

The small girl cast a brief glare back at the training room then huffed. As for Kuzunao-sensei herself, out of the teachers Ruriko liked her decently well. She seemed to do her job properly, after all. For the most part Ruriko felt this way about all the teachers at Otsuki. However, any foolish behavior was still foolish, even if it came from a teacher. It didn't matter what the context was, foolishness as still foolishness.

"Not as big as yours apparently." Makoto said before letting out another lighthearted chuckle. So two sets of twins and then her. "Family of five siblings?" He asked to clarify, hopefully not prying too much into the private life of the person he was speaking to.

"So once you graduate, they're gonna take over? I don't exactly wish that my siblings would go here considering the risks that come with the studies." Seriously, they were being trained as warriors and then normal subjects is actually pretty minor. In case the gate ever opens again, they would be the ones to be dispatched to fight.

NAGASE ERI

"Oh, awesome."

I honestly couldn't have known on my own. High tech stuff is usually pretty fragile, after all— Just one little knock on it in the wrong way and the whole thing stalls out.

Or, maybe that's just our computer. The thing is probably as old as I am...

Still, considering it was designed to house superpowered teenagers wielding dangerous weaponry, I guessed that it kind of had to be able to take a licking and keep ticking, as my father would put it. So it shouldn't have come to much of a surprise in the end. Certainly less so than the situation that caused the gash.

Which reminds me:

"Hey, Matsuoka-kun." I start, looking at the kid as he's currently being physically brought down to Hoshino-sensei's level. "Would you like to train with me, since we both stuck around? May as well get to know eachother, bein' basically from the same town and all..."

My accent may have gotten a touch stronger there, but it's hard to read your own voice. I usually pay more attention to the content of what I'm saying than that anyway.

It's really the more important bit, anyway. We both could probably use a friend to bounce ideas off of and spar with and all that.

...

'And all that...'

Man, I'm gonna need to get a lot more serious than this, aren't I?

MATSUOKA MINORU

If one were to ask me how fond I am of people treating the top of my head as an object to be manhandled, the answer to that path of inquiry would be quite evident: to use the American expression, it's a no-brainer that I wouldn't enjoy the painful sensation of Miss Hoshino grinding my head down into an unnatural position where my neck is continuing to grow sore under the pressure. It hurts enough to make me wince as I try and push back up. She's an amicable and pre ... tty (=D) teacher but I'm not particularly feeling too predisposed to spending further amounts of time in her presence thanks to Cloacina's actions.

Not that I ... hadn't been appreciative of her misguided attempts to help me out, but the lack of subtlety didn't exactly bring home the porkchop in regards to successfully schmoozing me up with the other fellows of this school. Couldn't you have been less abrasive, Cloacina?

The term you're looking for is 'bring home the bacon', Matsuoka, and of course I could've.

Hence the reason she had chosen to launch into a respite that was promptly ignored.

I just didn't want to.

Ignoring her justifications, I violently (as in, violent to myself given the intensity of the force exerted) pull away from Miss Hoshino, nearly tripping over my feet as I try and find a solid foundation. I didn't like being treated like a bloody armrest. It hurts a great deal, and I'm pretty sure one can construe it as harassment quite easily. Not that I wish, to use the American expression, kick up a great fuss about it.

I would like to avoid further incidents in the future, however.

"That sounds real swell, senpai," I reply, nursing a crick in my neck as I glance over at Nagase Eri. "I was ah, wantin' to do that too."

"Not five, eight. There's myself, then Ren, Sakura, Kyou, Aoi, Kiku, Ayame, and Tsubaki," the redhead corrected, perfectly aware of how absurdly large her family was in modern Japan, "Ren and Sakura are twins and so are Ayame and Tsubaki. I'm glad there's not going to be any more, else my mother would run out of plants to name us after."

There was a definite theme with her family's names--not only could they be written as plants, they all were. Her mother seemed far too interested in gardens to be healthy.

"Ren and Sakura would come here right now if they could and force me to retire from taking part in anything risky. I'm glad I'll graduate before then, since they won't leave class to find me after the Creatures of Samhain video," Kaede said, not really worried because at least this way they could defend themselves. The video was shown quite early into first year, compiling the rare video footage of something from the other side of the gate.

She found that quite odd to watch, since a large part of it--and the most recent--involved her arms.

"E-Eight?" Makoto stuttered out. It was even more than he originally guessed huh? It truly did surprise him considering that it was considered a big family in their culture. "Now that I think about it, you're all named after plants? You gotta admit, she really put in her effort in naming you all." There was that recurring theme in their names. It was quite cute really.

"It's not dangerous yet at least." Makoto said with a light chuckle. He looked back to the time he watched that video. He didn't actually know what to make of it. It was interesting, weird, mildly terrifying but by the end of the video, eased into the fact that they were training to fight those things.

"The Creatures of Samhain... I still don't exactly know what to make of it."

NAGASE ERI

"Great! Let's get started, then, time's a wasting."

We had a big deal to train for, so the quicker we got to work, the better chances we stood. I was already thinking of a few ways I could use Kuraokami-sama's gift that I hadn't tried yet, albeit namely in the form of weaponry that I was interested in. I'll readily admit it, I wasn't engaged enough yet to really start getting creative...

Which only served to reinforce the notion that I should have expedited the process. You know how it is, you need to start up before you really shift into gear. You can't just put the snowball on the hill and expect it to grow, you had to get it rolling down.

One thing was impeding that starting forward motion, though.

"Oh, uh, sensei?" I ask as I finally walk all the way into the room. "How do we turn this thing on, exactly?"

"It's simple," Akira said, waving her hand, unconcerned about how the boy had shaken her hand off. She walked towards the center of the room. As she did, there was a faint humming sound, until a blue magic circle ignited in the floor, kanji spelling out 'loading options' circling around the rim. After a few seconds, the light grew, and a menu appeared in front of her. The PE teacher turned to face her students, tapping the floating menu with her finger lightly as she did. Various options scrolled by with each impact of her finger.

"Pick whatever you want from here," she explained, "And the room will set it up for you. It's pretty simple, and I'll be here if you need anything."

Sakamori’s attention snapped back to the boy. How could she forget?

“Ah, of course Ojima-kun. Right away.”

She turned back to the girls.

“Well girls, I hope you have a faculty member supervising your mock battle, as the academy protocol states. I can gladly supervise after my spar with Ojima-kun,” Sakamori smiled sagely at the students. “We’ll be on our way then.”

The teacher strode towards their original destination but paused by Adachi to add something.

“Adachi-kun, could you please inform another faculty member about my spar with Ojima-kun? It would be nice to have another supervisor in the room. I apologise for the inconvenience.”

There was no guarantee on how her business with Ojima would turn out. She was quite the seasoned fighter and had confidence in her abilities, but Ojima’s potential berserk nature still worried, frightened her even, to a small extent. But she had to remain professional. It would take too long for Sakamori to go to the faculty office herself, so she was forced to send Adachi. Ojima’s nerve wouldn’t hold out for much longer.

Sakamori and the boy soon reached the training room. She set the room settings to a simple dojo before turning to Ojima.

“I’m going to change now, we’ll begin soon. Let me just say now that I’m quite happy, proud even, that you’ve agreed to start taking steps to your recovery.”

And with that she went into the change room to change into her aikido uniform. She left her work clothes neatly folded on the bench and tied her hair back. As she put her things away she eyed the silver bracelet on her wrist that held her Pact. She had suggested a Ritual Technology-free fight and she intended to go through with that suggestion, but…

No, this was a matter of trust. Sakamori would not mislead her student like that. So she left the bracelet with her clothes, praying that it wouldn’t be a mistake. She took a swig from her flask for good measure. And another. And another. The specially brewed spirit made by a family associate took effect soon enough. Barely tipsy so far. She tucked the flask into an inner pocket of her uniform. After a moment’s hesitation, she tucked the Ritual Device into her pocket too and exited the change room.

“Ready to go.”

@Renny