Magatsu starts the fight with a right jab after a short dash. Shinda leans back to dodge it, using Magatsu's momentum to throw a right hook of his own.

Magatsu is hit dead on the face but follows the impact's direction to ease the damage. As his head is naturally dragged to the ground by Shinda's fist, he uses the opportunity to land a kick with the back of his left foot with a body twirl. It hits with force.

Using the twist to his favor, both his feet already on the floor again, Magatsu prepares a left, heavy punch, but Shinda is already preparing a similar attack of his own. Both fists clash with force as both boys shake their hands with pained smiles.

– Damn, take it easy, Shinda. – Magatsu says with a playful tone. – This is just a spar.

– If you want to defeat my dad, you're gonna have to do so much better than that and you know it. – He retorts while readying the stance he shares with Magatsu, the latter doing the same

This time, Magatsu goes for a barrage of weaker blows as he dashes forward with speed, taking Shinda by surprise. He proceeds to throw punch after punch as Shinda is hit by a few of them.

After the seventh blow, Shinda starts to take the fight a bit more seriously and channels his Affinity to cover his body with a funny, thin and persistent light blue veil. It feels wet to touch.

After that, all of Magatsu's attacks become way too weak to deal any substantial damage, so he changes the strategy and goes for a right punch. Shinda easily dodges it by crouching and uses the opportunity to sweep Magatsu's legs with a kick.

Magatsu foreshadowed this, so the punch he threw wasn't packed with a lot of force, and thus, momentum, giving him enough time to dodge the swipe with a short leap.

Once with his feet touching the ground again, he spins his right leg in a near-full 360 degrees around his body, aiming a heavy blow against Shinda, who is still crouched.

Since Shinda sees that he has no time to dodge, he uses his arms to block the blow as best as he can. Since it's him it works, but if that was someone else it would have broke their arms with ease. A shockwave is sent across a few meters around the clash.

Now with both of them standing straight again, Magatsu takes a deep breath.

– Tired already? – Shinda asks. – Damn. And I was the one slacking off.

– Shush, I just got started. – Magatsu says while wiping a sweat drop from his forehead.

Their fight proceeds for the next three minutes or so as Magatsu occasionally remembers some of the things they used to do when they were younger.

Ever since Magatsu was introduced to Master D. when he was 4, he and Shinda grew side by side as if they were brothers.

They always did about everything together. They trained together, which explained why their stances were similar, they pranked a bunch of people together, and most importantly: they challenged each other as often as they could.

Shinda would constantly brag about how much more powerful he was in comparison to his friend, and always prove his point with various feats, but he was always secretly happy that there was someone his age that could somewhat match him, unlike everyone else he had met before.

From age 12 onwards, he discovered which Affinity he had and practiced day and night to have control over it. Magatsu knew he was a Wind Adept, but he couldn't freely control his Affinity no matter how hard he trained.

Sometimes, it felt like something was restraining him from accessing the damn thing.

The gap between them, however, slowly disappeared as Magatsu proved from a very early age to have potential even greater than Shinda's, given how fast he was improving while under Master D.'s tutelage.

But every time Shinda triggered his Affinity, his already insane strength would almost double, topping Magatsu with ease.

And it wasn't being different now.

Despite being raised in similar backgrounds, Magatsu and Shinda's differences were evident once they started fighting.

Shinda had better technique and endurance, allowing him to keep with his current pace for as long as a whole hour without getting tired, and unlike his friend, he could top the entire dojo all by himself if he wanted, with a lot of struggle, of course, but still.

Magatsu was mildly but consistently panting as Shinda finally grew tired of overusing his Affinity. It was, after all, extremely exhausting to keep up with it. He hadn't mastered it quite yet, so a lot of energy leaked from him every time he triggered it.

– Tired? – Shinda asks Magatsu with a smirk.

– Perhaps, why you ask? – He answers with a wide and excited grin, ready for round two, when Master D. kicks in.

– You should rest, Magatsu. I'll start the trials in six minutes. Shinda, accompany him upstairs and give him a glass of water, would you?

– In the best part! Damn, dad. – Shinda says with an annoyed tone as he snaps his fingers. – Whatever. Come. Mag. – He wastes no time in sprinting upstairs, Magatsu right behind him.

At least he was faster.

– Damn – Magatsu starts to brag while walking down the corridor aside Shinda. – , not even with a head start you're faster than me in a race.

– Shut it, you. – Shinda says while playfully punching his friend's arm.

The second floor, like the first, was primarily brown, white, black and green. All doors were made of paper and were sliding ones, not regular wooden ones. The house overall somewhat resembled a japanese-styled one.

After taking a left turn, they enter the green kitchen and Magatsu drinks a cup of water with satisfaction, his friend drinking three.

– Ah! – Magatsu says while wiping his mouth. – That was good. – He looks up to the analog clock hanging above the sliding door, thinking about how long these five minutes are going to be.

– Chill, Mag. Dad won't go anywhere and you still have five minutes.

They take their time going back to the main floor as they realize everyone is already finished with their warm-up matches. In one corner, the floor had burn marks scattered around, obviously Louis's fault.

Now standing in front of Master D., Magatsu patiently waits for the time of the beginning of the trials as Shinda merely watches from a distance while talking to a girl that was watching with everyone else. She was laughing from something he told her.

– Alright, students – Master D. starts his speech. – , I'm sure all of you are warmed up and ready for this year's trial.

Magatsu didn't notice it at first, but not all students were taking the trial with everyone else. Someone in the background asks.

– What is the trial and how does it work?

– Glad you asked. – Master D. addresses his son. – Care to explain to them, son?

Taken aback by the request, Shinda grunts mildly for a second.

– Fine. For the scrubs that don't know what the trial is, it's our way of telling if a person is skilled enough to receive an official diploma.

– Quite rude and bare-bones – Master D. continues. – , but thanks anyway. The trial happens every year on this day exactly, and everyone is free to take a try. Just be wary of how challenging it is.

– What do we have to do to pass? – The same person asks.

– Simple. You must fight me. If I find you skilled or strong enough to receive the degree, you pass.

– Funny how you make it sound so easy, dad. – Shinda jokingly says with a smirk smug.

– For those who are attempting this year's trial – Master D. starts to finish his explanations. – , you already know how things work, so I'll save time with formalities. As usual, ten minutes max for each one of you.

After that, he calls one of the students, a girl, to take a step forward.

She fights fiercely with all of her skills (Magatsu finds them quite impressive), and it seems that she has Master D. cornered.

Obviously, he was merely defending and dodging throughout the entire fight, not raising a single finger against her.

Eventually, the ten minutes mark ends and after mumbling mental notes to himself, D. scratches his thick brown beard and nods slowly. No one really knows what that means, so they just wait for the next one to be called.

One after the other, all 30 current disciples took the trial before Magatsu's turn finally came.

He could barely hold his excitement as he was finally going to officially challenge his master.

– Take it easy with our old man, Magatsu. – One of his colleagues spoke, gaining chuckles from his friends. Magatsu merely rolled his eyes sarcastically while smiling.

– Focus, Magatsu. – D.'s voice gains his full attention as he prepares his fighting stance once more, ready to strike. – Come when you're ready.

That was everything he needed to hear.

Without wasting time, Magatsu leaps with blinding speed against D. while aiming a left punch, but the latter easily dodges his strike with a sidestep.

Magatsu twirls his body and goes for a left hook. In comparison to his previous spar, this one was considerably faster but still didn't make much difference as D. leans his head back to dodge it.

This fight would be even harder, despite D. holding back, given how incredibly in shape his muscles were for his age of 50.

Magatsu proceeds to throw punches and kicks against his master, all of which had been blocked with either his palms or legs. Something he was noticing is that D. was, at least, putting considerable effort into blocking his attacks if compared with his other students.

– Not bad, but you can do better. – D. says as he aims a left karate chop against his apprentice's chest. Magatsu barely has time to block it with his right hand as one with the other hand is aimed at the side of his neck.

He manages to backstep it in time to jump high in the air, aiming an aerial straight kick to D.'s face. His master leans his upper torso to the right while grabbing his student's leg and hurling his back against the ground. Magatsu grasps for the air that leaves his lungs.

– Up. – D. calmly says as he waits. Magatsu jumps while still laying on the floor by pushing his upper back and hands against the ground to gain enough impulse to stand on his feet without having to move around the floor.

– Didn't think you would fight back this hard. – He says while moving his shoulders with hard movements back and forth, cracking his back a few times.

– This is a trial, Magatsu, and I must properly scale myself to my students' level to properly give them their notes. You're quite ahead of your friends, so naturally, your turn will be harder than theirs.

– Yeah, yeah, so I was told. – And with that, he goes back to trying his best against his master while enjoying every second of it.

Everything he wanted was to challenge his master in a fair 1v1, but deep down, even now, he knew that D. was still holding back.

He wanted to fight him at his fullest, and one day he would get that privilege.

It would be necessary if he wanted to stand a realistic chance against his father.

Magatsu's trial ends rather quickly, for him at least, as he pants heavily from the fight. His master was struggling, to some small degree, to breathe as well, which made Magatsu extremely happy with himself.

He had made his master breathless.

– And that ends yours and this year's trial. – Master D. excitedly says while taking mental notes of his fight with Magatsu, leaving the latter quite anxious for the result.

– Damn, Mag – Shinda says while walking over to his friend. Everyone else was either going over to their families, friends or taking the time to think. – , that was intense, and I bet the others are thinking the same. Looks like we have our front-page story ready to be printed.

– Knock it off, you. – Magatsu slaps him with the back of his hand while grinning. His limbs were shaking with the excitement and tension of the recent fight.

– Now, give my father the time he needs to come up with everyone's results. That shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

Magatsu sits down on the first degree of the staircase, his friend aside him, as they have some small talk to spend the time. They mainly focus on a specific prank they pulled off on the bakery when they were 9 that might or might not have cost both of them one hundred push-ups.

D. had gone upstairs to review everyone's scores, and thirty minutes later he comes down with audible footsteps.

No one wastes time with getting in their respective positions while waiting for their master to come.

Once close enough, Master D. clears his throat loudly and starts to speak.

– Alright, I have come with my conclusions on everyone's score this year, and I must say I'm quite impressed. This is the first time so many people actually manage to pass at once.

– Nah – Shinda interrupts. – , you've been growing softer on them, that's all. Means you're getting older, and that's something good I guess.

– Perhaps. – D. contents himself with that one word before continuing. – Now, I'll name those who managed to pass. For those, come here and grab your diploma with well-earned pride.

He takes several scrolled pieces of paper from inside the large sleeve of his kimono, wiggling it around to everyone.

One by one, he calls the name of 9 different people, each call followed by a short round of applause.

– ...And finally, Magatsu Astarosa. A step forward to receive your well-deserved reward. – D. says with a wide, warm smile.

As Magatsu goes to fetch his diploma, he hears his master asking him the same thing he asked everyone else.

– Do you wish to hear out loud how well you performed?

– Sure thing. – He says after thinking for about three seconds.

– I must say, I am impressed with your performance. Out of everyone who did the trial this year, you're the one that passed with the highest score.

Magatsu hears some mumbling across the room but doesn't pay it too much attention as he slowly and proudly holds his diploma high above his head with a wide grin.

He had finally graduated from the dojo.

But most importantly, he was a step closer to defeating his father.

Meanwhile, Agatha was speaking with herself while combing her hair in front of her emerald-green mirror.

– I'm pretty sure my precious little gift got his hands on his degree by now. Yes, son, grow stronger, rise to your father's level so you can kill that damned backstabber for...

She looks to herself in the mirror, seeing the face of an animal. She breathes in and out deeply, recomposing herself.

– Calm down, Agatha. Be patient. Your little gift will take care of him in due time, and when the day finally comes... Ah, I can only imagine how satisfying it'll be to see his face when he loses to his son.

– He'll pay for what he did to me, big time.