Kenta stopped smiling too late.
Far too late, judging by Yui's expression.
Kagami's training had ended less than five minutes ago, and dust was still drifting over the courtyard. Yūta was still catching his breath with one hand on his knee. Sota sat on the ground, trying not to look as tired as he was. Harada brushed dirt from his uniform. Hana kept her eyes lowered, not out of shame, but because she seemed to be arranging everything she had seen inside her head.
Kenta, on the other hand, was still staring at Baku Shishido.
The masked man stood in the center of the courtyard, rolling his neck from side to side as if he had just woken from an uncomfortable nap. His open jacket hung from his shoulders. His bare torso, covered in scars, looked like a bad decision repeated over too many years. The short pick was still fastened to his pants by the metal hook.
Baku looked at his group.
Kaito Mura.
Kenta Arimoto.
And three second-year students from the physical block, who had stepped forward with less confidence than they were trying to show.
"Good," Baku said. "My turn."
Kenta stretched his arms.
"I hope this one has less talking and more fighting."
Baku tilted the mask toward him.
"Oh, fire boy."
His voice still sounded amused.
Too amused.
"With me, you're going to talk a lot."
Kenta smiled.
"I'm not scared."
Baku did not answer right away.
For one second, he only touched the hook of the short pick with two fingers.
The smile remained hidden behind the mask.
Or maybe it no longer did.
"We'll measure that too."
Kaito glanced sideways at Kenta.
"Don't provoke him before we even start."
"He started it."
"That doesn't mean you need to help him."
Baku raised a hand.
"No, no. Let him help. I love it when the teaching material comes with initiative."
Kenta frowned.
"Teaching material?"
"Yes. In your case, flammable."
From the edge of the courtyard, Yūta leaned toward Sota.
"See? That's why you don't answer him."
Sota nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"I would've answered anyway."
"I thought so too."
"Good start. We're already learning bad habits."
Sota let out a quiet laugh.
Kagami approached the side where Kana, Kato, Yuna, Tatsu, Kasumi, and Kanzaki were standing. He put on his coat without hurry and watched the center of the courtyard.
"This is going to go badly," he said.
Kato did not take his eyes off Baku.
"That's the method."
Yuna crossed her arms.
"That method should come with a written warning."
"It came with Baku," Kato said. "That's worse."
Kasumi smiled.
"How dramatic, Ginjiro. You used to enjoy it."
"I used to be young."
"You used to be less honest about what you enjoyed."
Yuna turned her head slightly toward Kato.
"Does that mean something?"
"No," Kato said far too quickly.
Kasumi's smile deepened.
"A lot."
Kana struck the ground with her cane.
"Shirogane."
Kasumi lifted both hands with false innocence.
"I'm observing."
"Observe with less poison."
"I don't promise miracles."
At the center, Baku clapped once.
Only once.
The sound was dry.
"Rules," he said. "Three minutes. Objective: stay inside the area, don't fall, don't break formation, and touch me once."
Kenta smiled.
"That's all?"
"No."
Baku unhooked the short pick from his pants, but did not let it go completely. The weapon dropped a few centimeters and remained hanging from the metal hook.
"I'm also going to lie to you, insult you, distract you, and cheat within what is allowed."
Kaito frowned.
"Is that allowed?"
Baku turned toward him.
"In a real fight, you damn idiot, what isn't allowed usually shows up anyway."
One of the students from the physical block swallowed.
Baku pointed at him.
"That sound was survival instinct. Good. Ugly, but good."
Kenta lit a spark in his palm.
"So it's a dirty fight."
"No. It's an honest fight without manners."
Kaito took one step forward.
"Limits?"
"Don't aim for my eyes, throat, or anywhere life stops being funny. I'll do the same, but better."
Yuna closed her eyes.
"I can't believe that counts as an official explanation."
Kanzaki spoke without changing expression.
"Insufficient, but clear."
Baku pointed at him with the pick.
"Thank you, Mr. Tombstone."
"It wasn't a compliment."
"I collect them anyway."
Kana raised her cane.
"Begin."
Kaito moved first.
He did not throw himself forward without thinking.
That was what separated him from Kenta.
He advanced with his body reinforced by mana, shoulders low, feet firm, and hands ready to block. He did not try to strike immediately. He tried to close the distance.
Good.
Baku let him approach.
That was the first strange thing.
He did not step back.
He did not dodge.
He did not ready the pick.
He only tilted the mask.
"Good advance," he said. "Very heroic. Very noble. Very useful for dying while facing forward."
Kaito did not take the bait.
He kept advancing.
Kenta did.
"Can you fight without talking?"
"I can," Baku said.
His voice smiled.
"But usually, when I do, someone learns too fast."
Kenta launched the first burst of flame.
It was not large.
It was a short line of fire, controlled from his right palm, meant to force Baku to move toward Kaito.
Baku moved.
But not where they wanted.
The pick shot out from the hook on his pants.
Not like a sword.
Not like a spear.
Like a bad idea with an edge.
It buried itself in the ground beside Kaito's left foot.
Kaito glanced down.
Mistake.
Baku pulled the hook.
His body changed direction mid-advance, dragged by the anchor point as if the world had tilted in his favor. He passed beside the flame, brushed past Kaito's range, and appeared behind one of the support students.
The student turned too late.
Baku touched his back with two fingers.
"Dead because you watched the weapon and not the man using it."
The student tensed.
"But the weapon was—"
"Yes. That was the trap. Congratulations, you saw it. Now you're dead."
Kaito turned.
Kenta lit fire again.
"It's not over yet!"
"I hope not," Baku said. "That would be depressing even by my standards, and my standards wear a mask."
Kenta fired another burst.
Wider this time.
Baku avoided it with one short, almost lazy step and pulled the hook again. The pick came loose from the ground, spun through the air, and returned to his hand.
The movement was not elegant.
It was fast.
Dirty.
Efficient.
Then Kaito attacked.
His reinforced fist drove toward Baku's torso.
Baku blocked it with the handle of the pick.
The impact produced a dry metallic sound.
Kaito's eyes widened slightly.
Baku had not used superior strength.
He had placed the handle at the exact angle where the strike lost direction.
"Mura," Baku said, "you punch like someone expecting the wall to apologize for being in the way."
Kaito clenched his teeth.
"I'm not punching a wall."
"Not yet. But emotionally, you're heading in that direction."
Kaito tried to grab his arm.
Baku let him almost touch him.
Almost.
Then he released a minimal burst of pure mana into the hook at his belt.
It was not an attack.
It was a push.
The pick, still in his hand, pulled downward as if it had become ten times heavier. Baku's body followed that drop for half a second and vanished from Kaito's reach.
He did not truly disappear.
He only went low.
Turned.
And drove his shoulder into Kaito's ribs.
Kaito retreated two steps.
He did not fall.
That made Baku tilt his head.
"Ah. Good body."
Kaito glared at him.
"Don't say it like that."
"So sensitive. Fine, I'll rephrase. You have a useful structure for receiving damage you could've avoided."
From the side, Yūta raised a hand.
"That sentence hurt and it wasn't even for me."
Sota was staring.
"He moves strangely."
"Yes," Harada said.
Hana nodded slowly.
"He has no fixed rhythm."
Kagami heard her and looked at her.
"Good."
Hana tensed out of habit.
Then breathed.
"Thank you."
"That one was praise."
Hana blinked.
Yūta opened his eyes wide.
"That exists."
Kagami ignored him.
At the center, the students tried to surround Baku.
Kaito in front.
Kenta to the right.
The other three opening angles from behind and the sides.
The formation was not perfect.
But it was not bad either.
Baku looked around.
"Ah, look at that. A functional family for four seconds. I'm moved."
Kenta launched a low flame, trying to cut off his exit.
One student moved in from behind.
Kaito closed from the front.
Baku jumped.
Not very high.
Just enough.
He drove the pick into the ground as he landed, released mana through the handle, and the impact lifted a short wave of dust. Nothing spectacular. Nothing that looked like a named technique.
But everyone blinked.
Only for an instant.
Baku used that instant.
He slipped under Kaito's arm, pushed one student's knee with his heel, redirected another's wrist, and appeared in front of Kenta.
"Boo."
Kenta stepped back before he could stop himself.
Baku pointed at his feet.
"That was fear. Nothing wrong with that. Fear is useful. The shame afterward is optional."
Kenta lit his fingers.
"That wasn't fear."
"Of course. Spiritual retreat."
Kenta attacked.
Too fast.
The flame came out crooked.
It did not aim at Baku.
It aimed where Baku had been half a second earlier.
The fire crossed the space between Kaito and one of the support students. It did not touch them, but it forced them apart.
Baku looked at the line of fire.
Then at Kenta.
"Damn idiot."
The phrase did not sound angry.
Not yet.
It sounded almost cheerful.
As if he had found exactly what he was looking for.
Kenta tensed.
"What did you say?"
"I said you have a talent for turning an advantage into an accident with witnesses."
Kaito turned toward Kenta.
"Control the angle."
"I had it under control."
"No."
"Don't talk to me like—"
Baku appeared between them.
Neither of them had seen him approach.
"And there it is," he said. "My favorite part: when the team decides to argue in the middle of dying."
Kaito tried to strike him.
Baku ducked.
Kenta raised fire.
Baku did not move.
He only pointed with the pick at the student behind Kenta.
Kenta hesitated.
One second.
Baku smiled with his voice.
"Now you're thinking."
Kenta lowered his hand slightly.
Baku tapped his chest with the handle of the pick.
"Dead because you arrived late to your own decision."
Kenta stepped back, furious.
From the side, Kato crossed his arms.
"He's using his mouth more than the weapon."
Yuna watched the field.
"He's separating decisions."
"Yes."
Kana observed Kenta.
"Arimoto gets angry quickly."
"We already knew that," Kato said.
"Knowing it and seeing it under pressure are not the same," Kana replied.
Tatsu spoke quietly.
"Mura is trying to maintain formation, but he's reacting to Arimoto's mistakes instead of anticipating them."
Kanzaki nodded.
"He assumes frontal strength can organize the field."
Kagami looked at Kaito.
"He can lead, but he still thinks leading means standing in front."
Kasumi placed one hand on her hip.
"Everyone has such a dramatic idea of standing in front."
Kato looked at her.
"Was that aimed at me?"
"Not everything revolves around you, Ginjiro."
From the center, Baku lifted the mask toward them.
"Lie! Sometimes it does revolve around him. He's like an emotional rock in the middle of a river."
Kato closed his eyes.
"Keep training."
"I'm using tactical metaphors."
Yuna muttered:
"I wish I could declare them illegal."
Kasumi smiled at her.
"You could try. Prohibiting things suits you."
"And ignoring them suits you."
"See? We complement each other."
Yuna did not answer.
But Kato noticed her gaze returned to the field too quickly.
Baku would have noticed too, if he had not been busy ruining Kenta's afternoon.
The fire lit again.
Higher this time.
Kenta was breathing hard. His hands were open, fingers tense. He had talent. That much was obvious. His mana responded quickly, and the flames were born clean.
The problem was his head.
The flame obeyed.
The anger did not.
Kaito extended a hand.
"Kenta, wait."
"I've got it."
"You don't."
"I said I've got it!"
The fire came out before the sentence ended.
A wide burst of flame crossed the courtyard.
It did not go straight toward any teammate.
But it passed too close to one of the support students, who had to throw himself to the ground to avoid it. The formation broke all at once.
The entire courtyard felt the shift.
Baku did not make a single joke.
That was the first thing everyone noticed.
Not the flame.
Not the smoke.
Not the student falling sideways.
The silence.
The leather mask, which until then had looked almost absurd, stopped looking like a joke.
Baku lowered the pick.
The tip brushed the ground.
Kenta still had his hand extended.
The fire went out between his fingers.
Baku tilted his head.
"Son of a bitch."
He said it quietly.
Without joy.
Without theater.
Without noise.
And then the courtyard understood that Baku had stopped playing.
Kenta opened his mouth.
He did not get to say anything.
Baku moved.
He was not faster than what they had already seen.
It was worse.
He was cleaner.
The pick buried itself in the ground in front of Kaito.
Baku released the hook, pulled the line of mana connecting him to the weapon, and changed direction as if he had cut through an invisible corner. His body passed between Kaito and Kenta before either of them could raise a defense.
He touched Kaito's knee with the handle.
Not hard.
Exact.
Kaito dropped onto one leg.
Baku was no longer there.
The second student tried to cover the left.
Baku pushed his elbow, turned him around, and left him facing the wrong way.
"Dead," he said.
The word was dry.
No joke.
The third student stepped back.
Baku appeared in front of him.
There was no sound of footsteps.
Only the strike of the pick burying itself beside his foot.
"Dead."
The student froze.
Kenta lit fire again.
Or tried to.
Baku was already in front of him.
The tip of the pick stopped one finger away from his throat.
It did not touch him.
The mana around the tip did.
Cold.
Thin.
Precise.
Like a warning that had already decided it would not repeat itself.
Kenta did not breathe.
Baku held the position.
One.
Two.
Three seconds.
Then he withdrew the weapon.
"Dead."
Kenta lowered his hand.
The silence remained.
Even after Baku stepped away.
Even after Kaito slowly stood up.
Even after the student who had fallen because of the flame got back to his feet and said he was fine.
No one laughed.
Baku hooked the pick back to his pants.
The metal made a small sound.
Too normal.
From the side, Kato spoke quietly.
"There it is."
Yuna looked at him.
"What?"
Kato did not take his eyes off Baku.
"The part that doesn't make jokes."
Kana held her cane with both hands.
"That is the part I called him for."
Kasumi watched Baku with a smile that was no longer amused.
"And the part many people stopped calling him for."
Yuna looked at her.
Kasumi added nothing.
Neither did Kagami.
Kanzaki was the only one who spoke.
"Arimoto lost emotional control in less than a minute."
Baku turned the mask toward him.
"I heard that, Mr. Tombstone."
Kanzaki did not change expression.
"It wasn't confidential."
For the first time in the entire training session, Baku did not answer right away.
Then he exhaled through his nose.
"Good. Diagnosis."
Kenta was still looking at the ground.
Kaito stood with one hand on the knee Baku had touched.
The other students remained rigid.
Baku walked in front of them.
He was already moving like before.
A little crooked.
A little exaggerated.
But the laughter had not fully returned.
That was worse.
"Mura," he said, "you fight as if the enemy has a moral obligation to respect your front."
Kaito frowned.
"My front?"
"Your line. Your body. Your whole 'come at me one at a time, I can take it' thing. Very noble. Very clean. Very useful for decorating a tombstone with good posture."
Kaito tightened his jaw.
He did not argue.
Baku pointed toward the center of the field.
"You have strength. Presence. When you stand in front, the others understand where the front line is. That helps."
Kaito lifted his gaze slightly.
"But if the enemy doesn't want a front, then you don't have a fight. You have a chase. And if you run after him, your group runs after you."
Kaito looked back at the students behind him.
One of them still had dust on his uniform from throwing himself to the ground.
"Understood," he said.
Baku tilted his head.
"No. Right now, you just hate hearing it. Understanding comes later."
Then he looked at Kenta.
The courtyard seemed to tense with that movement.
Kenta swallowed.
"And you, fire boy."
Kenta clenched his fists.
Baku did not raise his voice.
"You confuse anger with power."
Kenta tried to answer.
He could not.
"That works until someone aims your anger at your friends."
The sentence stayed between them.
Kenta glanced sideways at the student his flame had nearly reached.
The boy was not accusing him.
That made it worse.
"I wasn't going to hit him," Kenta said.
His voice came out lower than usual.
Baku looked at him.
"Fire doesn't ask who you meant to hit."
Kenta lowered his gaze.
From the side, Yūta stopped smiling.
Sota looked at his own hands.
Hina, in Kasumi's group, watched Kenta with her lips pressed together. Mei said nothing. She did not even seem to enjoy someone else receiving a harsh lesson.
Baku continued:
"You have good output. Good mana. Good reaction. If you were calmer, you'd be genuinely annoying."
Kenta lifted his head slightly.
"Then—"
"But you're easy to ignite."
Kenta shut his mouth.
"And I don't mean the fire."
Baku walked toward the spot where the flame had crossed too close to his teammate.
He crouched.
Touched the burned ground with two fingers.
"I wasn't trying to beat you. That would have been fast, sad, and administratively boring."
From the side, Tatsu muttered:
"At least he recognizes the administrative part."
Kana gave him a brief look.
Tatsu became still again.
Baku straightened.
"I was seeing how long it took you to let me decide the fight."
He looked at Kaito.
"When you moved."
He looked at the support students.
"Where you looked."
Finally, he looked at Kenta.
"When you got angry."
The wind moved the edge of his open jacket slightly.
"You were quick. Good data. Horrible result."
No one answered.
Baku hooked the pick more securely to his belt and tapped the metal with two fingers.
"Again."
Kenta lifted his head.
"What?"
"Again," Baku repeated. "This time with fewer attempted team barbecues."
Kaito took a step.
"Same objective?"
"No."
Baku pointed at the student who had been forced to throw himself to the ground.
"New objective. He reaches the other end of the area. You make sure he gets there. I'm going to stop him."
The student widened his eyes.
"Me?"
"Yes. Congratulations. You've been promoted to emotional baggage."
"Is that good?"
"Almost never."
Kaito looked at the area.
So did Kenta.
For the first time since the training had begun, they did not seem to be thinking about touching Baku.
They seemed to be thinking about someone else.
From the side, Kanzaki inclined his head slightly.
"Better."
Kagami looked at him.
"Was that approval?"
"It was one less useless possibility."
"Almost human."
"Don't exaggerate."
Baku positioned himself in front of them.
"Whenever you want."
Kenta lit a small flame.
He looked at it.
Then put it out.
Baku said nothing.
Kaito saw it.
"Kenta."
"I know."
"I didn't say anything."
"But you were going to."
Kaito took a deep breath.
"This time, we don't push him toward Baku. We get him away from Baku."
Kenta looked at the designated student.
Then at the field.
"I'll cover the right."
Baku tilted the mask.
"Look at that beauty. Fire learned geography."
Kenta clenched his teeth.
But he did not answer.
That was new.
Kana noticed.
So did Kato.
Yuna spoke quietly:
"He didn't answer."
Kato nodded.
"It cost him."
"But he didn't answer."
Kasumi watched Kenta closely.
"Sometimes a small improvement is more honest than a large one."
Baku threw the pick.
The second round began.
This time, Kaito did not run toward Baku.
He stood in front of the support student, but not too close. He left space for him to move. The other two students covered the sides. Kenta kept the fire low, in short lines, not as an attack, but as a warning.
Baku changed direction with the hook.
Kaito did not follow him.
"Good," Baku said.
The word surprised everyone.
Maybe even him.
Then he attacked from the left.
Kenta raised fire.
Not large.
Not impulsive.
A low, brief wall, just enough to force Baku to open the angle.
Baku crossed the edge with pure mana around his forearm.
The fire brushed his skin.
He did not react.
The support student advanced three steps.
Kaito retreated with him.
Not in front.
With him.
Baku appeared beside Kenta.
"Now."
Kenta almost turned with a burst of flame.
It showed in his fingers.
In his breathing.
In his shoulders.
But he did not do it.
Instead, he lowered the fire to the ground, creating a short line between Baku and the support student.
It was not enough to stop him.
But it was enough to warn them.
Kaito saw the line and pushed the student to the opposite side.
Baku's pick passed through the place where they had been.
It buried itself in the ground.
Baku remained still for one second.
Then he lifted his head toward Kenta.
"Damn idiot."
Kenta tensed.
But this time Baku sounded different.
Almost satisfied.
"You almost thought before burning something. I'm moved and disappointed at the same time."
Kenta let out a breath.
"Was that praise?"
"Don't get excited. It was an alarm with shoes."
The support student reached the edge of the area.
He did not cross it completely.
Baku appeared in front of him before he could take the final step.
Kaito advanced.
Kenta raised fire.
The other two covered late.
Too late.
Baku touched the student's shoulder with the handle of the pick.
"Dead."
The boy lowered his gaze.
Kaito clenched his teeth.
"Almost."
"Yes," Baku said.
Kenta looked at him.
Baku hooked the pick again.
"And 'almost' is much better than 'group fire with witnesses.'"
Kenta did not smile.
But he did not lower his head either.
Baku looked at all of them.
"That was less horrible."
Kaito breathed heavily.
"How much less horrible?"
"Enough that we can repeat tomorrow without me asking permission to dig a preventive grave."
One of the students opened his mouth.
Baku pointed at him.
"Don't ask what a preventive grave is. You'll sleep better."
Kana struck the ground with her cane.
"That is enough for this group."
Baku raised both hands.
"No one died, no one lost any limbs, and only part of my faith in youth was destroyed. Excellent start."
This time, no one laughed right away.
Baku tilted his head slightly.
As if that too were data.
Kenta looked at his own hands.
He could still light fire.
That had not changed.
What had changed was something worse.
For the first time in a long while, he understood that his fire could be exactly what an enemy was waiting to use against him.
Kaito approached.
"It wasn't that bad."
Kenta let out a short laugh.
Dry.
"That means it was horrible."
"Yes."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Baku passed beside them on his way back to the side.
When he was near Kenta, he stopped.
Kenta did not raise his eyes right away.
Baku spoke lower.
Not loud enough for everyone to hear.
But Kaito heard him.
"Don't blame the fire for the fact that you like using it when you're angry."
Kenta tightened his fingers.
"I don't like it."
"Lie."
Kenta lifted his gaze.
The mask was waiting for him.
"You like it because it answers fast. Because when it burns, you feel like something obeyed you. That's dangerous."
Kenta said nothing.
Baku touched the hook of his pick.
"Tomorrow, we're going to make it obey you when you don't feel like burning anything."
And he walked away before Kenta could answer.
From the side, Kato watched him return.
"You were gentle."
Baku turned toward him.
"I'm getting old."
"No. You're pretending you didn't care."
Baku's mask went still.
Only for an instant.
Then he raised one finger.
"Damn idiot."
Kato did not smile.
But he did not look away either.
"Yes."
Yuna watched that exchange in silence.
So did Kasumi.
Kana said nothing.
Sometimes, among old hunters, entire conversations happened around a single word.
Kanzaki looked toward his group.
Ishida was already waiting.
Still.
Serious.
The chains had not appeared yet, but somehow they were already present in his posture.
"We're next," Kanzaki said.
Ishida nodded.
"Understood."
From the edge of the courtyard, Yūta watched Baku.
In the previous training, Kagami had taught them that it was not enough to fight near each other.
Baku had just taught them something else.
That an enemy did not need to be stronger in order to destroy a group.
Sometimes, it was enough to make them angry.
Make them run.
Make them look in the wrong place.
And then go quiet.
Baku made another joke as he walked toward the shadow at the side.
Something about teenagers, fire, and medical insurance.
The line was absurd.
Probably horrible.
But the courtyard took one second longer than usual to react.
Because now everyone knew that the noise was not the most dangerous thing about Baku Shishido.
The dangerous thing was what remained when the noise stopped.