I called Haru into my office the next day and instructed him to change Kaori's trainings to the most highest and hardest levels.
As expected, he was surprised by my orders and asked me the reason for it.
I told him that Kaori needed to improve faster to go on regular missions and she needed the skills to become a senior, which she still had a long way to go. I couldn't keep her away from all kinds of harms forever, she had to learn to protect herself from it as well.
"Train her so that," I said firmly, "She defeats me next time I fight against her."
Seeing the look in my eyes, Haru finally agreed to teach Kaori everything he knew and take her to the highest level.
"Tell her that she'll have a training session with me in the afternoon," I told Haru loudly as he reached the door to leave the room.
He gave a nod and bowed to me before leaving the room.
**********************************************
"What?" Kaori said, flabbergasted, "He ordered that?"
Haru nodded gravely, "I have to listen to him. So Kaori, from today onwards, your training sessions will be much more strict. Do your best."
"No!" Kaori said weakly, "I want to quit already! This is so tiring!"
"Don't you want to defeat Kazuma-sensei?" Haru questioned.
Kaori pouted, "Of course, I do. Though I don't know if I can."
Haru smiled, "You can. I'll help you. Kazuma-sensei also asked me to train you the way for you to be able to defeat him the next time he goes against you. And, you have a training session with him in the afternoon."
"Really?" Kaori's ears perked up, hearing Haru mention about defeating Kazuma, "Can you really teach me that way?"
"Yes," Haru said confidently, "I observed all his moves and techniques when you fought against him. But if you want to do this properly, you have to do everything I tell you to. You have to listen to me no matter what it is."
"Okay!" Kaori slapped her hands on Haru's shoulder, "Bring it on!"
**********************************************
Xeno and the others were watching Kaori practice swordsmanship with Haru on the training ground from the sidelines at noon.
"Whoa," Xeno said in awe, "Young miss really is amazing!"
Maki nodded in agreement, "She's really good with sharp objects."
"Yeah," Gin added, "I watched her practice how to throw at a target. She was pretty good with that, too."
Xeno smiled, "She seems to practice harder these days."
But Saki said glumly, "We don't get to spend much time together now for this reason."
"Ah, how Xeno misses the times he spent with young miss!" Xeno stretched his hands over his head as he stood up. His eyes fell on the quiet Yamaken who was watching Kaori without blinking.
He leaned over, "Hey, hey, Yamaken-kun."
Little Yamaken looked at Xeno who gave him a big smile, "Do you want to practice with them? You seem to like swords as you are watching them so intensely."
Yamaken thought for a long time before saying so quietly that it could have gone unheard by the others, "I like sharp objects, too."
But it didn't, as everybody else turned at Yamaken with open jaws.
"Yamaken!" Maki lunged on him, "Want to have a round against me?"
"What?"
"Come on!" Maki picked up his spear and pulled Yamaken towards the training ground while the other chorused joyous sounds and followed the two at the front.
Hearing all the sound, Kaori turned around to see what was going on and met eyes with Xeno who smiled warmly at her.
She smiled back and turned back to the training while Xeno walked away with his gang.
**********************************************
In another afternoon.
Ever since the afternoon Kaori had a training session with me, I continuously saved a training session for the afternoon on the next day.
I arrived at our meeting place - the training ground - at the designated time. Soon enough, Kaori and Haru had arrived as well.
"Hurry up and cover her eyes, Haru," I instructed Haru who came forwards with a white blindfold to put over Kaori's eyes.
No sooner had he put the blindfold over her eyes than she started whining, "I really don't understand why I have to go through this training. This one's so absurd. I'm still not used to it."
"Suppose you were kidnapped and they blindfolded your eyes," I started with my readymade explanation, "You have no weapons, not to mention you can't even use your eye sight. So what would you do then? To make you used to these kinds of situations, I decided to give you this training while Haru took the role of teaching you swordsmanship. Remember Kaori, to become strong, you need to have all kinds of experiences and skills."
Kaori stayed put until Haru was done tying up the piece of cloth to her head. When he was finished, he moved away from the two and stood at a safe distance.
Kaori took out her sword and stood in position.
I had put all the mannequins encircling her standing position. When I told her to begin, she swung her sword and only cut through one of the mannequins.
She held her sword tight, trying to figure out where the other manikins were at.
"Use your senses, Kaori," I suggested her, "Use your senses and find out the positions of your enemies."
Hardly had I finished when Kaori made a swift movement and jumped up in the air. Holding her sword tight, she swung it in the air with great force, which made a small storm of wind rise. When she landed back on the ground and the mist of raised sand died down, I wasn't surprised to see all the mannequins lying on the ground - all withered and destroyed.
Kaori pulled on the blindfold and took it off her eyes, letting it dangle around her neck, "Did I get them all?" She swung her sword again and looked around the surroundings.
A satisfied smile appeared on her lips when she saw the scene, "How interesting, right, Haru?" She looked over at the stunned boy who was still too taken away by the sudden showcase of Kaori's capability.
He jumped as he heard his name and looked up at Kaori, "Oh, yes.. But I didn't know you were this good."
Kaori glanced at the sword she was holding and then looked back at me, "Actually, I'm quite surprised, too. I feel as if my strength improved a lot. Do you know anything about this?" She asked me sharply.
Of course I knew. This was one of the proof that Kaori was slowly awakening her ability.
But as I had decided not to tell Kaori her real identity yet, I said, "It's because your practices are finally paying off."
Then, without further ado, I called it a day there, "Today's session ends here. Let's meet again tomorrow."
**********************************************
Staring at the dull afternoon sky while sitting on the grassy ground, Kaori let out a sigh and spreaded her legs in relaxation.
"Why are you sighing?" A can of coke was pushed towards her.
Kaori looked up at the person to see that it was none other than Xeno Xin, who was smiling softly at her.
Kaori looked back at the can and let out a laugh, "It looks like a lot of people has been coming with refreshments to me after training these days." She thanked Xeno and accepted his offering.
Xeno plopped down next to her and asked, "Who else came?"
"Well," Kaori opened the can with a hissing sound coming from it, "The first time I met Haru, he gave me a bottle of water after my laps of running."
"Oh," Xeno looked ahead, enjoying the scenery before him that was caused due to the sun setting down for the day.
"Maki, Gin and Aoi visited me yesterday, too," Kaori took a sip of her coke. "Saki came to show her disappointment of not being able to hang out with me anymore as well," She laughed, "And now-"
"Young miss looks happy," Xeno interrupted quietly that stopped Kaori from continuing.
Feeling Kaori's stare for a minute, Xeno turned his head to lock eyes with her. He smiled again. "You seem happy when you talk about us," He pointed out slowly.
Xeno couldn't tell if a light blush had appeared on Kaori's cheeks or if it was just the light of sunset that was reflecting on her face.
They drowned in each other's eyes for a short time - which seemed like years to Kaori - until Kaori ripped apart the eye contact and looked away.
"I'm n-not happy," She stammered, "Wh-why would I be happy?"
Xeno didn't look away from her and confessed without holding back, "Xeno is happy."
"Huh?" Kaori looked back at him to be slightly surprised as she saw him wearing his soft smile again.
"Xeno said that he is happy," Xeno repeated with a voice that sounded so soothing and assuring at the same time, "He is happy to have become friends with young miss and to be able to enjoy the sunset with you."
Kaori quickly looked away as soon as he finished his sentence.
𝘜𝘨𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺! 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘔𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘵, 𝘵𝘰𝘰!
It was then, when she noticed something. She looked back at Xeno, "Why do you address me like that?" she demanded.
Xeno was taken aback by the sudden question, "What?"
"You call me 'young miss' all the time. I rarely hear you call me by my name. Why is that?" She asked again, determined to get the answer.
Xeno laughed nervously, "Ah, that.. It became a habit of Xeno to address people like that. Sorry, Xeno will do his best to call you by your name from now."
Kaori didn't listen to any of his words aside the ones that entered her ears exceptionally. "You got used to it?" She asked curiously, "Why?"
"Xeno's family served the family of royalty in the ancient times," Xeno blasted Kaori with the unknown information, "So the way of talking formally runs in the blood."
Kaori jumped closer to Xeno and clung onto him, "Family of royalty?" Exclaiming eagerly, "Chinese..?" She asked uncertainly.
Xeno laughed at Kaori's childish behaviour but didn't mind it. "No, it's not Chinese. It's Korean," He replied.
Kaori got confused, "Korean? But your name is Chinese, right? Specially your surname is..."
"My name was originally given by my mom," Xeno explained, "And my surname isn't actually 'Xin'. Xin Han was my mom's maiden name. I'm a half, by the way. My dad's a Korean while my mom was a Chinese. According to that, my real surname is 'Kim'."
"Kim?" Kaori shouted, "Then, Kim Xeno?"
Xeno gave a nervous laugh and added a small nod of agreement.
"Eh, it sounds weird," She flexed her lips to one side uncertainly. But she smiled again, "Xeno Xin suits you better!"
Xeno grinned at her, "I know." "What about your family?" He asked.
"As you know, my mom was the second daughter of Sakagami family," Kaori started blabbering about herself, "My dad on the other hand was Sanemi family's first born son. So basically, my mom and dad both were Japanese but I was born elsewhere."
"Oh," Xeno hummed. "Then," He asked again, slower this time, "Your surname doesn't match with your real one, too. Did you change it?"
Kaori's eyes widened when he asked the question and that gave Xeno the clue that he shouldn't be asking anything about it.
So he quickly refused, "It's okay. You don't need to tell me."
"Your mom," She said quietly, "Is she no more? You used past tense when you were talking about her."
A small silence followed the sorrowful answer from Xeno, "Yes."
"She was the only person who showered me with so much love that I could never have imagined of," He broke the silence quietly but emotionally.
"Yeah," Kaori said with a broken voice as well, "I can relate to that more than anyone."
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.
**********************************************
Haru barged into my office after some time of my dismissal of the training session for the day.
He faced me head forth and asked right away, "You are hiding something aren't you?"
"I am?" I asked him instead.
"Yes, you are," He said with determination, "You suddenly changed Kaori's training schedule and just now, we all saw what Kaori did."
"We did," now I acted as if I couldn't understand what he was saying.
"You're tasting my patience, sensei," Haru slammed his hand on the table, "Tell me. What are you hiding?" His enraged eyes engulfed mine and I couldn't but give up.
I sighed in defeat, "Fine, I'll tell you what's happening to Kaori."
He hastily pulled a chair and sat down on it, "Hurry and spill the beans."
"Kaori is very close to awakening her power," I said, "That's the reason of the sudden strength that appeared within her."
As I saw Haru was not satisfied with just this much information, I enquired him if there was anything else he was intending to hear.
"Is this the reason why you changed all the trainings and stuff?" He asked doubtfully.
My brain started storming in search of what to reply his question with. I didn't want to tell him everything I know, not yet. So I had to lie.
"Yes," I lied smoothly, "I wanted to tough her up while it was still the beginning."
It was clear that the doubt in Haru's mind wasn't fully gone but he suddenly stood up from his chair.
He looked at me, "In that case, I'll do better in training her."
I nodded in approval and he turned around to leave.
Even if an inch of guilt pinched me in the heart, I couldn't really speak to him so casually about this matter. I had to wait for the right moment to do so.
**********************************************
Though it was sudden, it was sure to come. The time of a yearly practical exam for the students was here faster than I thought.
A yearly practical exam was an exam that all the students, the juniors and the seniors, of the clan had to take part in. Each classes of each years would be divided into groups of ten students. Each of the groups would get a mission to complete by the headmaster himself. Though it sounded like a mission like any other days, it was way more dangerous than usual.
The students are sent to face the corrupted spirits in groups, without any upper class fighters. They aren't just to go there and kill the evil spirits, they are supposed to help human beings in daily life by ending those spirits which sometimes possesses people and control their doings.
So overall, this was a medium-hard task for the students to face all of a sudden. But the teachers remained unfazed since they had trained them well before the arrival of this event. It was the same for Kazuma. However, worries remain all the same.
On the day of the exam starting, the whole clan residents - the students, teachers and the others - appeared at the frontal hall for the opening speech of the headmaster.
After the speech, I announced the teams along with what missions they would be getting and the locations of where they should be for the appointed task.
As I continued to announce the list of teams, the members of those which were announced, collected themselves together accordingly and stuck together.
Most of the teams started to make plans of how they should do everything and some even left the hall to set out for their journey.
Inside the almost empty hall room, the last team to be announced was the one Kaori was in.
I didn't really want her to take this exam but she insisted that she should do it to have a clear niew on her improvements on the field.
"The last team," I said loudly, "The members are - "Shiiro Aoi, Miroku Gin, Houtarou Haru, Izumi Kaori, Muichirou Maki, Saneka Saki, Yamaguchi Yamaken, Xeno Xin and Zenna Hayako. Please gather together and form a team."
"I repeat, the members of the last team are - Shiiro Aoi, Miroku Gin, Houtarou Haru, Izumi Kaori, Muichirou Maki, Saneka Saki, Yamaguchi Yamaken, Xeno Xin and Zenna Hayako. Please gather together and form a team."
Kaori raised her hand in question, "Excuse me, sir, but we are nine in total."
I nodded, "That's right. There aren't any more students left so we couldn't make this team with ten members."
I walked down the platform and stood before the members of the last team.
Calling Zenna to my side, I introduced her to the others, "Say hello to Zenna Hayako. She's from the earth section." Then I turned to Zenna and pointed at her team, "This is your team, try to get along with them well."
After the short session of meet and greet, I announced their mission to them.
"We had been receiving continuous message to send help for XY elementary school since most of the students were getting out of control, being corrupted by the spirits. So you guys will go to XY elementary school to help the students as well as all those who will be in the need of help, okay?" He asked to get a positive response from us.
"Be careful with the spirits," I warned, "Don't let them touch you lest you should suffer all the horrible things you could never imagine."
"Yes!" The nine of them said in unison.
Just watching them like this made my heart flutter. They're growing up, somehow...
I looked at Kaori who was already looking at me, "Kaori-" I was beginning but she cut me off.
"I know," She said firmly with a mix of annoyance.
A helpless smile appeared on my face as I shook my head lightly by her behaviour. I turned at the others then, "All of you, be careful, too," My eyes landed on Xeno who was looking directly at my eyes.
Everyone nodded silently as the reply.
But Xeno assured me with his soft voice and smile, "You don't have to be concerned about Kaori, sensei. She has us. We'll be there for her if she needs us to."
I was surprised by the thought that he knew what I was worried about. I let out a small laugh, "Ok, kiddo."
"Huh?" He fumed at once, "Xeno is not a kid!"
But there was this one boy who kept attracting my eyes. It was Yamaken. He was quiet as he ever could be but his presence was enough to make me feel... something. I couldn't really describe it with words.
When I looked over at him again, I saw him looking at Kaori. I followed his eyes and looked at Kaori who was lightly blushing for some reason.
I was dumbfounded by her sudden blush that I blurted, "What's wrong with you, Kaori?"
With this one question, I made all the others turn their head at her and everyone found out that Kaori was secretly blushing about something.
They all started yelling, "Hey! What's with you!" "You're creeping me out! What's with that crazy sticky blush?!"
Kaori mumbled in a daze, "Xeno changed his way of speaking about me..."
Although she mumbled, it was heard by everyone. They were all petrified by the sudden awkwardness and turned to Xeno who looked like he was also about to blush, too.
But he grinned instead, "You were the one who told me to call you by your name!"
They all started chattering about the matter then, unbothered about the mission they were supposed to head out for.
I was darting my eyes from Yamaken to Kaori to Xeno, with pure surprise. I couldn't understand what was going on but I could tell that something was definitely going on with these three.
By clapping my hands with the view to gain their attention, I told them importantly, "Okay, Haru will lead your team," I indicated to him.
As there wasn't any objection to that, I told them to be careful for the last time and let them set out for their journey.
⭐❤❤⭐🌟❤🌟⭐❤❤⭐🌟❤🌟⭐❤❤⭐