3rd period - Battle Terrain Practical

It's the hour I have been so not keen on attending. What am I supposed to do?

"Hey, you look like crap. Are you sure you'll be fine?" Yosuke asked.

"Y-yeah, I'll be okay." I replied, obviously lying.

We got changed into our combat gear---actually, we just removed our long jackets. They haven't provided us with protective gear of any sort. Henry did mention that yurei and rekishiya have enhanced physical strength, but there is no point in having super strength if everyone's going to have it.

*PDA VIBRATING*

MESSAGE: MS. MARIKO

"All students to assemble at the open field in 10 minutes."

"The open field? Where's that?" I asked.

"It's a nearby training ground... A lot of students usually go there to test out their fighting skills after classes. But, it is usually occupied by the seniors, and they rarely let us first-years train." Yosuke replied.

10 minutes later - Open Field

"All right, now that you're all here, let me explain what we're going to be doing here---form a pair, and fight against other pairs. Simple as that. The condition to win is to defeat at least one of the two opponents. Losers will have to attend supplementary training classes on weekends for a month. Got it?"

Good grief, that's the worst possible luck I could have.

"You can pair up with anyone, and I will choose the match up."

Everyone's frantically looking for someone to pair up with. There are 28 students in total, so 14 pairs---that is, 7 matches. I only know two people so far, so maybe I can ask them to---

"I'm going to kick your ass, Yosuke!"

"I'm going to make you regret that you didn't pair up with me, Ayase!"

Eh, maybe not. Those two have already paired up with other students, anyway. And now that I look---everybody's in a group. I'm literally at a disadvantage, since it's my first day. Nobody else knows me, and---oh wait, there's a guy left out. Maybe I should ask him.

"I'd advice you to stay away from him. He's umm... kind of weird." Yosuke said.

"Weird? Why? Just because he has slightly long hair?" I said in a joking manner.

"He rarely talks to anyone, and acts like a hotshot. And, he keeps ignoring those around him. But surprisingly, he's had the best test scores so far."

"I don't really have a choice, so I'll have to make do."

I went, and stood next to him, and he didn't even bother to turn and look. I could see why people would want to stay away from him, due to his intimidating looks---long, blonde hair up to the shoulders. He’s also tall, to boot. He seems like a delinquent.

"Hey, want to team up?" I asked.

"You're the new guy, aren't you?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm Yoshida Ryou. Nice to meet you."

"Utsumi Takashi. I'll join you, under one condition."

"Okay, go on."

"Only dodge and run. Understand?"

What kind of a condition is that? Dodge and run only? Actually, now that I think about it, that's the only thing I can do. So, does he know that I have zero experience regarding this?

"I don't really have a choice, so I'll accept it."

"Good. Now, we wait until our opponents are decided."

We paired up, and are now waiting for the line-up of the matches. I don't know most of them, so I can't form a strategy either. There seems to be a slight commotion regarding a pair. I wonder what it is...?

"Ah crap, this is the worst." Yosuke panicked.

"What is worst?" I asked.

"The monster pair. The class rep, Tsujihara Fumika, and the strongest male student in our class---Yoritaka Izumo. They are both the strongest students in our class. There's no way anybody can win against them."

Strongest, huh? Doesn't matter---I'm going to lose.

"This is such a waste of time." Utsumi said.

"You don't seem worried."

He didn't answer. He's too quiet. I can't believe I've become the talkative one, now. Delinquents never really give much thought to things, do they?

"Attention, students. I'll be demonstrating a technique which you can incorporate into your battles. It's called fast-step---easy to use, and very reliable for escaping, or reducing the gap between you and your opponent. It requires very less energy too. Now, Tsujihara will be helping me show you how it's done."

The two of them---Mariko-sensei and Tsujihara, got into positions, far away from each other.

"Okay, I'm about 20 metres away from her, and my goal is to reduce the gap to about 7 metres---almost one-third the distance. But I have to make sure that I do it quickly. So, follow my movements. Here I go." Mariko-sensei said.

In a flash, she rocketed towards Tsujihara, completely closing the gap---what incredible speed! She left a huge trail of dust behind. That took less than a second. Amazing.

"What I did was simple---exerted energy onto my dominant leg, and in one step, I charged. Normally, using this technique multiple times in a day will cause extreme fatigue, but I'm still not tired. Hell, this was nothing for me. Once you train long enough, you can use this on a daily basis. Remember, one step is all you need."

That was fairly simple to understand, but how do I exert my energy onto my leg?

"You seem perplexed, new guy." Utsumi guessed right.

"I'm not sure about the exerting energy part. How is that done?"

"Just do what I told you to do during our match. That was the only condition we agreed upon. Now, relax."

So much for asking.

"Okay, all pairs will be assigned names, such as A, B, and C. And, matchups will be decided in a few moments." Mariko-sensei said, as she started assigning team names.

There are 14 pairs---all the way from A to N. We've been assigned as Team C.

"Here are the matchups:

Team A vs Team N

Team B vs Team M

Team C vs Team L

Team D vs Team K

Team E vs Team J

Team F vs Team I

Team G vs Team H

I'm sure we may not be able to finish all the matches in an hour, so we will continue the remaining matches next week. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" Everybody said in unison.

Yosuke's in Team A, and Team G has Ayase. Guess they won't be fighting each other. And my opponents are from Team L... crap---the class rep and the big, muscular guy, who is apparently the strongest male student in our class. The goddess of luck has finally left me hanging out to dry.

The first match is about to begin, and Yosuke looks pretty confident, consistently fixing his spiky hair---but he also looks serious, and not having his usual goofy expression. His opponents are... I have no clue, honestly. I will have to watch this one closely.

"Okay, ready? Begin!" Mariko-sensei initiated the match.

Using fast-step, one of Yosuke's opponents charged towards him and punched him in the face. Ouch, that must have hurt. But the charging speed wasn't as much as Mariko-sensei's---in fact, even I could easily see the movement, but it was faster than running.

Yosuke's constantly taking hits---why? He could dodge them, but isn't. He's even bleeding.

"I know what you're thinking---he isn't trying to avoid the attacks, right?" Ayase read my thoughts.

"Y-yeah... He'll lose at this rate---no, he’ll be hospitalised."

"I've known him since we were 8. Trust me, he's fine. He's not that weak. In fact, calling him weak is a mistake."

"DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH, YOU IDIOT?!" Yosuke's opponent shouted.

"Defend myself?” Yosuke replied, while spitting out blood, “You hit like a baby."

"Grr... You asked for it."

In that very moment, the opponent started launching a barrage of punches and kicks at some serious speeds, but... Yosuke is dodging all of them? How? He was not able to dodge against slower attacks, but now he's avoiding them like it's nothing.

"It's begun. Yosuke's finally using his power." Ayase said, with a smirk on her face.

"HOW ARE YOU DODGING MY ATTACKS!?"

"Your attacks are fast, I admit it. But, your position is horrible. You're standing way too close to me, and you're using attacks meant to hit an opponent at least a couple of metres away from you. You suck."

In that moment, Yosuke used fast-step---at very close range from the opponent, and charged right at him, and struck him with a punch to his chin, and knocked him out---and it was almost as fast as Mariko-sensei's!

"As one of Team N's members is knocked out cold, the winner is Team A. Good work." Mariko-sensei said, with a delighted face.

“WHAT ABOUT MY MOMENT!?” Yosuke’s teammate shouted. Nobody listened to him, though. He was getting beat up pretty bad. Good thing the match ended quickly.

"You took your time, moron. This guy should have been a piece of cake." Ayase said.

"I didn’t count on my teammate for doing much, so I had to use my brains a little. Besides, Ryou is the one whom you should worry about. His opponents are those two monsters."