"Sorry I didn't stop him earlier, but you needed to hear that."
Liam blinked.
His mind went blank for a few seconds.
Lee had said those words in such a relaxed tone that they almost didn't match what he was talking about. It was like casually telling someone they had something on their face when that something happened to be a giant leech.
"E-excuse me?"
Liam sat up to face him.
Lee observed him for a few moments before replying.
"Think about what Kazumi actually said. Ignore the insults."
He shifted into a lotus position.
"He told you exactly what went wrong. You failed to use information you'd already gathered. You focused too much on what was directly in front of you. You attacked before properly considering the situation, and you ignored your surroundings."
Liam frowned. Then when he looked down and thought it over, his eyes widened slightly.
Lee was right.
Kazumi had been unnecessarily cruel, but buried underneath all of it had been an accurate breakdown of nearly everything Liam had done wrong.
Liam frowned. He didn't tell me how to fix it though...
That part, apparently, was Liam's problem.
Liam looked at him. "...Why are you telling me this?"
Lee returned the gaze, noting Liam's slight frown.
It was obvious to Liam that Lee didn't particularly care about him, yet he'd just stopped Liam from taking Kazumi's words in the worst possible way.
Liam already lacked self-confidence.
If Lee hadn't said anything, he probably would've spent hours replaying every insult in his head until eventually—
Maybe he's right. Maybe I should stop.
The thought alone made Liam uncomfortable.
Lee had stopped that before it could happen.
"I don't get it," Liam admitted. "Why help me?"
Lee met his gaze calmly.
Liam lasted approximately three seconds before looking away.
Something about Lee's eyes made direct eye contact strangely difficult.
And being drawn into another guy's eyes was making him feel weird.
"The only other place I've ever ranked below first, apart from this school, is in my own family."
Liam looked back at him.
"Huh?"
A small smirk appeared on Lee's face.
"Academics. Sports. Extracurricular activities. I usually came first without needing to put in much effort."
Liam stared at him.
Is he... bragging?
"When I came here, I assumed Dawn wouldn't be any different."
Lee's smirk widened.
"So I intentionally held back on the theory portion of the entrance exam."
A vein twitched on Liam's forehead.
Are you telling me I beat this guy because he LET me?!
"Then I went to the classroom after the ceremony and found Kazumi staring at the rankings."
Lee leaned back slightly.
"The first thing he asked me was..."
His voice shifted into a disturbingly accurate imitation of Kazumi.
"'Are you Liam Paxton?'"
Liam blinked.
Then blinked again.
"...He said what?"
Lee chuckled.
"I told him no. He asked if I was Lieren Lee, I said yes, and then I looked at the rankings."
His expression became almost offended at the memory.
"Third."
Liam stared.
Staaaare...
Lee raised an eyebrow.
"Liam?"
Staaaaaare...
"You heard me, right?"
Staaaaaaaaare...
Lee sighed."...Fine."
"Both Kazumi and I expected whoever came second to be someone similar to us. Confident. Capable. A good fighter."
He looked Liam up and down.
"Instead, we got you."
Liam flinched and lowered his head.
That you contained an unreasonable amount of disrespect.
Then Lee continued.
"You, with the potential to become all of those things."
Huh?
Liam looked up.
Lee's expression had hardened.
"You're weak right now. Physically and mentally."
Liam flinched again.
"And it's irritating."
"...Excuse me?"
"It's irritating watching someone with obvious potential waste it."
Lee stood.
"You ranked above me, yet you don't carry yourself like someone capable of doing that. You hesitate. You let people walk over you. You don't seem hungry to improve."
His shadow fell over Liam.
"I refuse to accept losing—even intentionally—to someone who intends to stay like that."
Liam swallowed.
Then Lee said something completely unexpected.
"So I'm going to train you."
Liam froze.
Completely.
His brain had essentially gone offline.
...
Reconnecting...
Reconnecting...
Lee chopped him on the head.
"Ow!"
"Get it together."
Liam grabbed his head and stared up at him.
"Do you understand what I just offered you?"
Liam frowned.
Why was another student offering to train him?
Why did Lee seem uncaring and strangely helpful at the exact same time?
And, most importantly—
"What... exactly are you getting out of this?"
Lee gave him a look that suggested the answer should have been obvious.
He raised a finger.
"One: if you become strong and I lose to you again, at least I'll have lost to someone worthy."
A second finger.
"Two: teaching forces me to understand what I know well enough to explain it."
A third.
"Three: the stronger you become, the more Kazumi will bother you for spars instead of me."
Liam's expression immediately soured.
A fourth finger rose.
"And four: I gain an ally whose capabilities I understand because I helped develop them."
Liam stared at the four fingers.
The first reason was fine.
The second actually made sense.
The third was horrifying.
And the fourth...
Liam looked at Lee.
Ally?
Something about the way he'd said it bothered him.
...Do I really need to point out how disturbing that sounds?
This was an incredible opportunity.
There was absolutely no reason to ruin it by—
"What exactly did you m-m-mean when you said 'ally'?"
YOU IDIOT!
Liam looked down at his feet.
"Why do you ask?"
Liam paused.
He... doesn't sound angry.
He gathered what little courage he had.
"It's just... the way you said it made it sound like I'd be your... um..."
He swallowed.
"...subordinate."
Silence.
Then—
"Good."
Liam looked up.
Lee was smiling faintly.
"You're already trying to stand up for yourself."
Liam blinked.
"Look, I don't need a subordinate."
Lee folded his arms.
"This would be closer to a master-disciple relationship. Yes, if I need your help someday, I'll ask for it. But what you gain from working with me should outweigh any inconvenience."
Then, almost casually, he switched languages.
"Nǐ míngbái ma?"
Do you understand?
Liam scratched the back of his head.
Then sighed.
"Wǒ xiǎng nǐ shì duì de."
I guess you're right.
Lee froze.
His eyes widened.
"Nǐ huì shuō Zhōngwén ma?!"
You speak Mandarin?!
Liam smirked.
"Méi cuò. Hěn jīngyà ba?"
Yep. Surprised, aren't you?
Lee cleared his throat and looked away.
"...I am."
He continued in Mandarin.
"I didn't expect you to speak it that fluently. Your accent is good, too."
Liam's smirk widened.
Lee waved a hand dismissively and returned to his lotus position.
"Alright. At least language won't be a problem."
He looked at Liam.
"I assume that means you've accepted?"
Liam remained silent for a few moments.
Then he bowed slightly.
"I would really benefit from studying under your guidance, so I'll gladly accept."
Lee nodded.
"Then we'll begin with something simple."
Liam straightened.
Lee raised one finger.
"You need to understand yourself and whoever you're dealing with."
Liam listened carefully.
"There's a line from The Art of War: if you know yourself and know your enemy, you don't need to fear the result of a hundred battles."
Liam nodded slowly.
"That's what Kazumi was criticizing earlier. You gathered information, but you didn't properly use it. And you barely understood what you were doing."
Lee raised another finger.
"Second: all warfare is based on deception."
Liam's expression shifted slightly.
"You need to learn how to control what other people know about you. Sometimes that means lying. Sometimes it means redirecting attention, avoiding a topic, or letting someone reach the wrong conclusion by themselves."
"...That sounds dangerous."
"It is."
Lee seemed entirely unbothered by that fact.
"And finally, information doesn't simply appear because you want it."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"You get it from people."
Liam thought for a few moments.
"So..."
He slowly nodded.
"If people trust me, they'll tell me things. Rumours, facts, secrets..."
His eyes widened slightly.
"You're telling me to build an information network."
Lee smiled.
"You missed something."
Liam frowned.
"I did?"
"I'm not telling you to build an information network."
Lee's smile became colder.
"You're going to become part of mine."
Liam stared at him.
And once again reminded himself of something important.
They were not friends.
"...I don't think I can deceive people," Liam muttered.
Lee chuckled.
"Don't worry."
A dark light entered his eyes.
"There are many ways to construct a believable story."
Liam shivered.
"And I happen to know quite a few."
He's way more dangerous than I thought.
Lee stood.
"That's enough for today."
"Huh? Already?"
Liam followed him up.
"The verbal lessons aren't going to be very long. They're things you need to think about."
Lee glanced at him.
"You think too much already, so that should be easy for you."
"...I guess you're right."
They switched back to English as they left the Crucible and started towards the dorms.
"By the way," Lee asked, "what's your room number?"
Liam looked at him suspiciously.
Lee chuckled.
"Oh, come on. Mine's 423."
Liam did a double take.
"W-what?! You're on the same floor as me?"
"Hm?"
"My room's 419."
Lee's slender eyebrows rose slightly.
"Really?"
He shrugged.
"I guess we'll be seeing each other often."
"...Y-yeah."
They continued walking.
Silence.
Lee glanced down at him.
"We should probably find something to talk about instead of walking in awkward silence."
Silence.
An even more awkward one.
Liam scratched his cheek.
We could talk about...
Then an idea came to him.
"Hey."
"Hm?"
"Since you're technically my teacher..."
Liam smiled.
"Should I call you Shifu?"
Lee stopped walking.
Slowly, he turned.
He looked at Liam as though Liam had just confessed to a serious crime.
"If you ever call me that, I will punch a hole through your gut."
Liam shuddered.
That's somehow worse than just saying, 'I'll kill you if you say that.'
Lee resumed walking.
Liam stared after him.
Then grinned.
"Hey, wait up, Shifu!"
Lee stopped.
Liam's smile vanished.
"...Uh-oh."
Something Liam would be doing for a long time to come.
"No, wait! Don't attack me—ARGH!"