An Assassin's Respite

An Unexpected Beginning to Mid-Terms

"AHHHH! I don't get this." Matt exclaims as he lies his head on the table.

It was their second day of studying and Matt was still struggling tremendously.

"You're overcomplicating things. There is no specific way you have to remember things, any way will do whether you use destinations, songs, or even food. As long as it helps you retain information, it's viable." Kazuna states.

"What do you mean?" Matt asks.

"Take H2O for example. It's easy to remember that there are 2 hydrogen molecules because of the 2 before the H. Or how the fruit orange is orange as well." Kazuna explains.

"I'm still not following you," Matt says.

Kazana was silent for a moment before whispering something in Matt's ear. Matt's eyes widen as he quickly solves the math problem he was struggling with.

"That's correct," Akeno says after he pushes the paper to her.

"Yes!?" Matt exclaims as he jumps up.

"What did you say to him that helped so much?" Akeno asks.

"I'd rather not say," Kazuna replies.

"There's no way I could tell them with a straight face that he could remember mx+b as milk + breast as an example. Even if it was because it was something he would understand." Kazuna says while slightly blushing from embarrassment.

As he watched them, he had one of those moments where he realized just how different their upbringings were. If things had happened slightly differently, he would never experience what he was now. His classmates were worrying about midterms, which in the grand scheme of things, were trivial matters. But to them, they were of utmost importance. No matter how much time he spent with them, he still felt like he was out of place, a feeling that he wondered would ever go away. Before he realized it, the time for their study session quickly ran out.

"Uh, even after all that time I feel like I'm still in trouble." Matt moans.

"You'll do fine as long as you remember what I told you," Kazuna says.

"Gotcha," Matt says with a smile.

After a day of rest, their mid-terms began. As Kazuna walked into school, he noticed that the atmosphere felt different. There seemed to be more tension and fewer students loitering in the halls. When he walked into class, no one was talking and instead was reviewing the material. As odd of a connection as it was, it sort of reminded him of how he felt before a mission. He takes a seat and waits patiently for Ms. Saugoma to start class.

"Alright class, I'll cut right to the chase. Mid-terms have started, and they will be much more difficult than last year. The first couple of days will focus on how you have improved with fieldwork and the days after will be over your studies. In order to properly gauge how all of you have improved, we have ensured that the training portion you will be tested on includes roles that allow for every student to shine. So without further ado, your mid-terms will now begin." She says as an alarm rings in the building.

The students, caught off guard, look to her for guidance, but she was calmly leaning back in her chair and eating doughnuts. As most of the class sat there, confused as to why she was acting that way, some of the more proactive students took action. 

"Remain calm everyone and evacuate in an orderly fashion," Juro says.

"We don't know what the alarm is for so be on your guard," Akeno adds.

"I see, so that's why there weren't as many students in the halls. If I were to guess, the third years are probably helping in some compacity and the first years are probably not in the building. In any case, this will give me a chance to see what the thirds years are made of, I've heard some of them are quite impressive." Kazuna thinks to himself.

As he finishes this thought, the wall that was lined with windows was torn away.

"Hello there." A voice says.

Kazuna looks over and can see a GA student dressed up in clothing he found pretty ridiculous.

"Keep the damage to a minimum Mina!" Ms. Saugoma shouts.

"Sorry," She says.

"Big sis?" Katsuro says in shock.

"Hey, Lil sis." She says with a smile.

Before their conversation could continue, Kazuna had appeared in front of her.

"He's fast." She notes to herself in shock.

Before he could attack, he's suddenly thrown into the ground. 

"She's Katsuro's sister all right," Kazuna notes as he gets up from the ground.

"A boy with three swords who not only has exceptional abilities but also has a knack for thinking quickly and with great intelligence. I've been wanting to meet you." She says with a smile.

"Well, I'm honored," Kazuna replies.

"Despite her taking such a bold approach, I can't let myself get too transfixed on her. If there are supposed to be ways for everyone to shine, then defeating her can't be how we end this scenario. There must be more. That being said, I still have to do something about her." He thinks to himself.

He jumps back up to his classroom and whispers something to Akeno. She nods and spreads a plan to her classmates. After a few seconds, two groups of students left the class, one going left and the other right. All who were left in the class were himself, Katsuro, and Natsuki.

"He's even more intelligent than what I've heard. Most people would be transfixed on me, the threat in front of them, but he thought far beyond that. I wonder what plan he has behind the groups he's created?" She thinks to herself.

"Are you sure you should have split up your fighting force so much?" She questions.

"I'm sure. I made sure we had enough fighting power to take you on." He replies.

"I see, but I think you're underestimating me." She replies as she waves her hand and a tree begins to fly towards them.

Katsuro and Natsuki jump to the side while Kauzna slices through the tree. Natsuki flies towards her, but he's thrown to the side. Katsuro launches the tree she threw at them back, but she stops it easily and sends it back. Katsuro tries to do the same, but her sister overpowered her, and Kazuna was forced to move her out of the way.

"So her telekinesis is much stronger than her sisters and it seems that she has no trouble with moving people," Kazuna notes.

"I haven't been able to really help you with training, Katsuro, so here's some advice to make up for it. Don't overthink it." He says as he bursts towards Mina.

Meanwhile, Kagura was running through the halls with her group. With her, she had Ayame, Ria, Shiba, Vincent, Haruka, and Chiyo.

"Shouldn't we have stayed and helped Kazuna? I mean, isn't he still recovering?" Shiba asks.

"We shouldn't focus too much on what's in front of us, plus it's Kazuna, I have faith that he'll be alright," Kagura replies.

"Yeah, you do have a point," Shiba says.

Akeno had determined that they were far enough away to stop and hold a strategy meeting.

"I'm assuming Kazuna has some sort of plan set up?" Haruna assumes.

"I'm not exactly sure what he's thinking, but I have some kind of idea. He probably wants the rest of us to find the real problem." Akeno replies.

"So the real problem isn't the girl that tore a hole through the wall?" Matt questions.

"Her approach was so brazen that it was painfully obvious that she wanted us to focus our attention on her," Akeno replies.

"That does make sense. The real question then is what was she providing cover for?" Juro wonders.

"That is what Kazuna wants us to find out," Akeno notes.

"So, where should we look?" Emiko asks.

"It may seem a little obvious, but based on the direction she pulled our attention, it makes sense to start in the opposite direction," Akeno suggests.

The group nods and follows her towards the courtyard. Once they reach the opening to the courtyard, they notice a gathering of people. There were some tied up and others that looked like guards.

"I guess we found the real problem," Shiba notes.

"So, what now?" Masahiro asks.

Akeno surveys the area before seeing Kagura across the way.

"It looks like we aren't the only ones that found the issue." She notes. 

Everyone follows her gaze towards Kagura's group.

"Nice," Matt says.

"Actually, this poses a bit of a problem." Akeno points out.

"How?" Emiko asks.

"Even though having backup is reassuring, it can also mess up our plan since we can't communicate with them." She explains.

"I see. In that case, we have to get her attention somehow and try and make a plan based on what she might do." Juro states.

"Macey, can you use your eyebeams to get their attention without alerting the people in the courtyard?" Akeno asks.

Macey nods as she begins to signal Kagura. Kagura notices the signal and turns her attention towards it and notices Akeno and her group.

"Akeno is here too?" Kagura whispers.

"Nice, now we can hit them with a pincer attack," Chiyo notes.

"Wait, we can't be too hasty or we might just mess up each other's plans." Kagura notes

."Then what should we do?" Shiba asks.

"How would Akeno attack?" She wonders.

"How will Kagura attack?" Akeno wonders.

Kazuna was still facing off against Mina. Natsuki was unable to get anywhere near her and Katusro's power was completely inferior to her sister's. 

"Katsuro, stop thinking so much and just feel it," Kazuna shouts as he dodges a tree that had been thrown at him.

"What does that even mean!" She shouts back in frustration.

"Think about all the things you do in a day. Walk, talk, read, write, eat. All of these things are done with very little thought or none at all." He replies after getting thrown back after he tried to attack.

"Just look at what you want to move and think about moving it, not about using your power." He states while now standing next to her.

"But I have to think about moving things in order to actually use my power." She replies.

"Just give it a shot." He responds.

He quickly jumps back into the fight, leaving her there to figure it out herself while he and Natsuki continued their assault. 

"How am I supposed to use my power without thinking when it requires me to use my mind to move things?" She thinks to herself.

As she watches them, questions begin to form in her mind. 

"How they can use their powers so effortlessly and respond so quickly. It must take Natuski a lot of thought to fly and move his body so precisely. And what about her sister? She had the same power as her and was only a year older so why was she significantly better at it than her? Maybe Kazuna was right, maybe there is a way for her to use her power without thinking." She thinks to herself.

She looks from her hand to some rubble that was on the ground beside her.

"Feel it, don't think, just feel," She thinks to herself.

She begins to notice a change in how her power felt. It wasn't as strenuous on her mind and she could better judge the weight and shape of the object she had. She opens her eyes and launches the rock at her sister. Mina notices the rock and manages to just barely dodge.

"Hey! You could have killed me with that!" She yells in response before knocking Natsuki away.

Katsuro looks at her hand in shock. She had never thrown something with so much force before. She looks at her sister with a look of newfound determination.

"For the first time ever, I will beat you, big sis." She says to herself.