The girls were surprised to hear that he intended to start the practice right away instead of tomorrow morning, and not even the fact that academy grounds were prohibited at night could dissuade him. Yukina in particular became extremely excited about following him. So Yashiro and the girls broke into the school's gym, where they helped themselves to the training equipment, with Aki exceptionally pleased about the whole enterprise.
He made the girls put on protective gear. He saw no need to wear any himself, since he was, as he pointed out, a professional.
Aki wanted to be the first to attack. Yukina actually took the initiative and went in first. Yashiro answered by throwing every training sword in the rack onto the floor between them, which ruined the momentum of her attack entirely.
The night was not over. Aki charged him next, and Yashiro was appalled to see her use the exact same approach Yukina had. She did manage to keep up with his attacks, because reading his mind made trading blows with him possible. What lost her the exchange was making her intention to counterattack obvious the moment she formed it.
While he was still giving Aki advice about that, Yashiro surprised Sarah by throwing a sword at her. She repelled it and found herself wide open. Sarah argued that this was not fair, and Yashiro made it clear that her enemies would never care in the slightest about giving her a fair fight.
Eventually he got all three of them to come at him again, and pacified Yukina with his jacket, Aki with his boot, and Sarah with Yukina in person, until the trio had run out of breath.
Sarah in particular was frustrated by him playing it dirty, to which Yashiro replied that he now understood exactly why they were losing to him.
He started his criticism with Sarah. She spooked very easily, and her reaction to that, together with her brash attitude, showed she was the type who would prefer to avoid a fight outright if she could — which was why she had been the third of them to attempt anything during sparring. Beyond that, he had worked out that her habit of trying to finish fights very early was precisely what kept putting her on the receiving end, and he judged it to be something she had learned during training.
He was right about that.
Sarah, he concluded, would need to care more about winning no matter what it cost — even if that meant taking her opponent down along with her.
Next was Yukina, and Yashiro was surprised to find her fine exactly as she was in training. Hearing this, the person who had claimed that she never told on anybody decided to tell on Yukina at once: her weakness was purely academic, especially given that Sarah had caught her writing in a code that resembled a child's scribbles. Not taking kindly to the interruption, Yashiro snapped briefly at Sarah, then informed Yukina that she had no major issues.
Seeing that she wanted to get stronger right now, tonight, he snapped at her too, and insisted that he would help her out eventually.
And then the main event. Aki was such a total mess that Yashiro did not know where to start. Aki was surprised to hear this. He insisted that there were so many things wrong that they had to be taken in order. Firstly, her approach to fighting was fundamentally reluctant. It had shown in the fight against Amber Thorns, where she had genuinely believed she could win without eliminating anyone, which made it a problem that went well past her strength.
Aki argued that she had been taught that braves are meant to bring hope to people, not to hurt them. She was perfectly aware that being a brave was a tall order. That was exactly why, she said, it was best to take the approach that could still achieve the ideal outcome.
Yashiro was surprised by her determination to stay true to her ideals, which was the exact opposite of his own creed.
He was thinking about going harder on her when all four of them noticed that there were people coming.
Yukina killed the lights. Sarah worried aloud that they were about to be caught. Yashiro tasked Aki and Sarah with beating the guards into silence, arguing that this was a perfect opportunity for both of them to improve.
Once they had hidden, Aki was still arguing that hurting security guards would be wrong, and Yashiro dismissed that and asked the girls to think of it as helping the guards with their training. While Aki and Sarah were busy debating how seriously to take that, Yukina insisted on getting some more training too, and Yashiro promised her that she would — as long as she heeded his orders, starting with sitting still.
Two figures came into the gym. The man's name was Ido; the woman with him was Levi, and Levi in particular was dead serious about finding out who had broken into the school at this hour. When they reached the training equipment strewn across the floor, Ido thought whoever it was must have run off. Levi argued otherwise and suggested they stay on high alert.
For his part, Yashiro had already become aware that these two were not teachers and not security guards, which made his task considerably simpler. He threw a coin to pull their attention, and pushed Aki and Sarah out at them.
To his surprise, Sarah went straight onto the offensive — and was picked apart by Levi. That was disappointing. Aki's failure to land a single hit on her own opponent was far more disappointing.
Seeing how dangerous these two were, Yashiro injected himself with E3 and told Yukina to get Aki and Sarah out. He managed to fend Levi off, and then was surprised to see Sarah paralysed on the floor.
Worse still, Ido lost control of himself, and grew a second arm, exactly the way the Amber Thorns lord had.
Fortunately for Aki, Yukina got her clear of it. The situation remained abysmal, particularly with Ido pointing out to Levi that Yashiro was the one they were here for. Meanwhile Yashiro was trying to get Sarah up off the floor and out of the building.
Once they reached the academy's gate, Sarah attempted to argue against leaving, and eventually relented to his persistence. As she went, Yashiro turned and found himself fighting Levi alone. He assumed her ether perception was some form of tracking. As she began her attack, he took notice of a dragon's badge on her hoodie, and realised she intended to eliminate him for good.
He tried to argue that they both move on with their evenings. Levi was in no mood to negotiate and attacked more vigorously. While he was still absorbing that, Aki came in to the rescue and was briefly cast aside for her trouble.
Naturally, Yashiro was not pleased to have her at his side. He was more worried about Yukina, and Aki assured him that she must have got clear by now.
With no proper assistant beside him, no proper weapon in his hands, and Levi plainly outclassing him in strength, Yashiro was in a precarious position. A solution was needed. He was still working through what exactly Levi's ether perception could track when Aki mentioned that Levi tracked scent.
He had the information he needed. He did not appreciate how much of a yapper the girl was.
While the two of them were arguing about it, Levi capitalised on the distraction and went for Aki, and Yashiro came in and intercepted the attack, and pacified her.
He did not eliminate her. He still could not tell who Levi and her comrade were. He was just beginning to consider what to do with her when Ido appeared out of nowhere, remarked that Levi was a proud soul, and suggested that they all forget this fight had ever taken place.
Before Yashiro could answer, Aki's happy-go-lucky personality kicked in, and she threatened the man to his face while bragging about how her master would catch him every single time. Not wanting to get into any more trouble, Yashiro left the scene.
Once they were in the safety of the alleyways, he thought back over his last exchange with Ido, who had called the final move between them a draw. In Yashiro's mind, his reaction to Levi's attack would have ensured his victory regardless of how she chose to respond afterwards.
When he asked Aki what all the goofiness had been about, she answered that she had been getting as excited as he was — especially after hearing so much about him from her late father. She had just started talking about the contrast between the man she had met that first night and what she found the deeper she dug into his thoughts, when Yashiro stopped her and asked who her father was.