Yui stood down like a man obeying a rule he disliked.
He stepped back from the circle and looked Elias over once, from the dirt on his knees to the split in his lip.
"Get used to this feeling after testing days," Yui said. "The suit spared you the worst part, and you still look half finished."
"I can still walk by myself for now."
"The suit can still carry most of the lie."
Yui turned and left through the side corridor without waiting for an answer.
Elias stayed upright until the door sealed. After that, pride stopped paying rent. He sat in the dirt and let the shaking reach his hands.
A medic team arrived with a compact stretcher. He refused to lie down until the nurse threatened to write noncompliance on his chart. That got him seated fast enough.
She had black hair tucked under her cap and calm hands that had clearly patched up people who screamed louder than Elias intended to.
"What did you say to make Rakamaki treat baseline testing like a personal insult?"
Elias winced as she cleaned his lip. "I existed near him while holding a shard, apparently."
"That does it with him sometimes after intake."
"Is he always like that afterward with recruits?"
She pressed a swab against the cut under his cheek. "He is worse with people he thinks might waste what they were given, which is context rather than an excuse."
Elias thought about the red marks around Yui's wrists where the springs had held.
"I do not think he is evil, maybe angry and definitely tired."
The nurse paused. "He kicked you around the stadium for ten minutes and you are diagnosing his mood?"
"I am annoyed enough to complain later, but I am alive because the fight showed me how far behind I am, so both can be true."
She studied him, then finished wrapping the shallow cut near his brow.
"That is either maturity or head trauma, and we will monitor for both."
Oliver arrived before Elias could answer. His uniform was slightly off, his hair less perfect than usual, and he looked ready to start a second fight on Elias's behalf.
"What happened to no serious injuries today, exactly?"
The nurse straightened. "First Lieutenant Rakamaki stayed inside authorized hard stop limits. Kael is bruised, cut, and drained, but stable enough for debrief. The test produced usable output data for tomorrow."
Oliver exhaled through his nose. "That is official language for getting beaten today."
"Official wording keeps departments friendly enough to cooperate."
Elias slid off the stretcher carefully. His ribs objected with each inch of movement.
"I appreciate everyone being furious on my schedule, but can I change before the debrief?"
Oliver looked at the suit's reserve readout and frowned.
"Twelve percent remaining means you pushed it too low for a first session."
"I had a motivational instructor today with boots," Elias said, and Oliver gave him the look he had been saving.
"Do not joke in the report unless you want the report to become longer."
"That removes half my survival tools before dinner."
Oliver walked him back to the changing room. Elias returned to the green tracksuit, which felt soft after the connected suit released its needles. The tiny punctures stung as he moved. Dot stayed close to his chest without speaking much, one hand resting over the place where the shard sat.
They took the elevator back toward Geras's office.
"What was the point of the first green outfit if I needed the combat suit anyway?"
"The green outfit carries passive tracking threads and keeps block residents standardized," Oliver said. "The combat suit reads strain, distributes impact, and records output. You were supposed to use it on the obstacle course first, but Rakamaki accelerated the combat portion."
"That is a diplomatic phrase for it today."
"It is the phrase I can put in a report without starting a disciplinary argument before dinner."
They reached the fifth floor.
The receptionist from earlier looked up from her terminal, then took in Elias's bandages with one slow blink.
"Warden Geras is waiting inside now for him," she said. "Lieutenant Oliver, remain outside unless called by name."
Oliver stopped beside the door.
Elias looked at him. "You are not coming in with me today?"
"Apparently I am being spared more paperwork today."
The door opened.
Elias stepped into Geras's office with dirt still under his nails and Dot tucked against his shoulder.
Geras stood by a whiteboard covered in marked grids and red magnets. The board looked less like a schedule than a battlefield pretending to be office furniture. Names were grouped by block. Lines connected some and avoided others. Elias found his own name written near the bottom in black marker, freshly added.
Geras moved one red magnet, then looked at Elias's face.
"Rakamaki left several visible marks on you today."
Elias touched the bandage near his brow. "He would probably call them educational damage, sir."
"He already did in his preliminary note tonight."
"That is an unfortunate amount of consistency from him."
Geras pointed to the chair across from his desk. "Sit before you prove the nurse too optimistic."
Elias sat. Dot hovered over the armrest and kept staring at the board.
Geras picked up a tablet. "First briefing begins with your new problem today. You produced a reactive restraint using a projected spring structure, and it fed on opposing output, which is useful. It also consumed your suit reserve at an unacceptable rate, which is dangerous."
"Useful and dangerous seems to be the house brand."
"The problem is control, because you used Yui's suit as an anchor. Against an unarmored target, the coil may fail to hold. Against high output, you may drain yourself before the restraint matures. Against a target that understands your timing, you may die while waiting for Dot to form the picture."
Dot's head lifted. "I formed that picture while he was being treated like floor debris."
"You did, and that is why both of you are in this briefing rather than only him."
Dot blinked, caught between pride and worry.
Elias leaned back carefully. "What happens after the educational damage and battery warning?"
Geras tapped the board near A Block. "Tomorrow, you enter course evaluation with your assigned block. The course will measure movement, cooperation, obedience under pressure, and response to unexpected shard events. You are not expected to lead that group. You are expected to stay alive, observe, and avoid becoming the problem everyone else must solve."
"That sounds almost insulting enough to be clear."
"Clarity saves time when people are already tired."
Geras moved Elias's name beside Kikaru's with the end of the marker.
"You will attend the five thirty regimen tomorrow. Kikaru runs it because she is reliable, not because she is gentle. If she tells you to stop, stop immediately. If she tells you to move, move immediately. If Tid tells you a shortcut, assume he benefits from your mistake."
"That last one feels broadly useful already today."
"It is useful enough that I expect you to remember it."
Elias looked at the board again. The red magnets formed a route through three marked zones. Stadium. Medical. Course.
His body hurt. Dot was dim against his shoulder. The day had stretched so far that the restaurant felt like a story somebody had told him last week.
Geras set the tablet down.
"Your first real risk is exhaustion rather than Yui. Eat, sleep, and stop pretending humor replaces recovery."
Elias opened his mouth, and Geras raised one finger before he could waste the breath.
"That was an order, not a conversational opening."
Dot leaned toward Elias. "I like him less when he is correct."
"That is becoming a crowded category already today," Elias said.
Geras looked back to the board and moved one more red magnet into the course lane.
"Briefing ends when you understand the assignment, so tell me what tomorrow is."
Elias swallowed against the soreness in his mouth.
"Survive the course, learn the block, do not let my shiny new springs turn me into a dead battery."
Geras nodded once.
"Good enough for day one, assuming you follow it."