After all of the combat exams were completed, the students that had won their battles had been escorted to the rafters--the top level of the gym. There was a small viewing area set up with couches and tables on one side, where the winners patiently waited for the guides to arrive.
Ikkei, who had finally found Fujiko after shifting through the crowd, was eager to ask her how her fight went.
"Fujiko! There you are. How did it go? Didja' beat him?"
"Ikkei! That little trick of ours worked! It turns out these spirits can get stronger through contact! Did you use it?"
"Yeah, but I don't think it was intentionally. It was like my body needed to call on higher strength, so it did. I didn't get to use it for long, but it sure did work. Was your opponent strong?"
"Definitely. He had me on the ropes for a while...until I was able to figure out his weakness."
"I wouldn't say weakness...just shortcoming." Hiroki joined in, walking behind the girl.
"Ikkei, this is my opponent Hiroki. He's actually a nice guy...I think." Fujiko teased.
"Heh, of course I am. I can be a bit of an ass in combat, but it's just me getting serious. Helps keep me focused and my flames going. Ikkei, it's a pleasure. You said you belong to the Kagemori clan? Isn't that the ones famous for their dragon spirits?"
"Yeah, actually. We haven't been able to call on it for who knows how many years now, but Fujiko and I may have just cracked the code behind that. Both the tiger and dragon spirits react to one another, so it may just turn out we could get stronger."
"I see. I'm honestly surprised that's all to the test...just a single elimination fight." Hiroki noted.
"It's for efficiency and raw combat skill. That's all they really need to see, anyways. High steaks enough to bring the best abilities out of someone." Fujiko explained.
Just then, a guide appeared from one of the lifts.
"Hello, everyone. If I could have your attention please. We'll be escorting you all into the campus to give you a tour. Once that is complete, we will hand out schedules and assign you your instructor. Please follow me and do keep up." The man said.
Slowly the students made their way out of the gym and back onto the campus grounds, which were as big as a university.
"So, which instructor do you think you'll get, Fujiko?" Ikkei asked, his arms behind his head. He, Fujiko and Hiroki were following the instructor through a beautiful row of cherry blossom trees that led back to the center of campus.
"I don't know. I just hope it's someone strong." She remarked.
"Of course they'll be strong. They say the instructors are supposed to be some of the strongest warriors in all of Japan." Hiroki added.
"Woah. Do you know just how strong they are?" Ikkei asked.
"As far as I know, they've all been carefully selected to be on par with one another evenly, but they have the ability to surpass one another in real combat. Their power is said to be able to destroy entire cities, if not more. I've never actually seen an instructor in action, so I couldn't tell you." Hiroki answered.
"I bet you they're all totally badass looking. They probably all have cool katanas...maybe masks...man, I can't wait to meet them!" Ikkei said enthusiastically. The tour guide ahead of them stopped as they approached the courtyard, the very center of the campus and what was considered to be the most beautiful part of the entire site.
"This, students, is the courtyard. This is the absolute center of everything here at Tokyo Heights, and just about every building and facility except for the head office is around the same distance from one another. This is where most if not all students come to relax and meet in between classes or during breaks. Like most of the campus, the courtyard is not a combat-free area. Any students caught fighting here will be sent to head office. Take in the scenery for a bit, and we'll carry on."
The environment was a lot to take in. The entire courtyard was laid out as a massive field of hilly green grass complimented with stone paths, benches, tables, and of course, cherry blossom trees that were in full bloom. Every direction you looked, the school buildings were visible not too far in the distance.
"Woah...this place is so pretty. I just wanna lay down and take it tall in...." Fujiko said, kneeling onto the grass. She rubbed her hand among the blades, feeling the natural softness the plant provided.
"Ikkei, feel this!" Fujiko demanded, grabbing the boy's hand and pushing it to the ground.
Ikkei slowly rubbed his hand around on the turf and felt it's cozy touch.
"I'm more fascinated in how they managed to get the courtyard to look this beautiful. It's like something out of a movie." Hiroki commented.
The pure uninterrupted beauty and discovery of the moment was immediately interrupted by a large cloud of dust kicking up into the air. Sparks clashed as two figures were locked in a deadly high speed battle.
"What the...? What's going on!?" Fujiko shouted.
"I can't tell...my samurai sense can't detect fighters of that speed." Hiroki said.
"Same here. There's a hard limit for me and these two just surpassed it." Ikkei concurred.
"I can make it out. It's that guy from earlier...the asshat that came up to you demanding to be your rival, Ikkei. He's fighting some girl...and they're going at it." Fujiko analyzed.
"What!?"
The two fighters finally broke their clash, remerging as visible bodies standing at the center of the courtyard atop a small bridge, where a small stream ran under.
"Sheesh, I didn't think you meant to try again this fast! I gotta say toots, you're really pushing my speed limits here! Don't cha just wanna get a burger or something and call it a day?" Yozama laughed.
"Of course not, you bastard. I told you I have to kill you!" Minori declared, readying her arm blades. The snake tattoos on her forearms began to glow like they did before as she charged Yozama at a breakneck speed. The boy tried his best to dodge, but was swept up in a cyclone of cuts that she had formed by spinning around and above him. She then reappeared, ready to strike at the jugular vein in his neck before her attack was promptly stopped. Yozama hadn't been fast enough to stop it, as he just stood there frozen with a scared face. Minori also seemed to be unmoving, as her face was now blank.
"What just happened? Did you stop me?" She muttered. There was a slight tone of fear in her voice.
"Heh, don't look at me! My hands aren't anywhere near you! As far as I'm concerned, I would have been skewered!"
"It was me." A voice called from above. Slowly, from a traditional Japanese umbrella, a woman floated down onto the courtyard ground like some sort of magic witch. She wore a red and white kimono with flowers printed on it, and had a very beautiful yet soft face and long brown hair. From her mouth, she smoked from a Kiseru, a thin wooden Japanese pipe that was about two times longer than a pencil.
The woman landed right between the two teenagers, slowly approaching with a graceful strut. She then placed both her hands on their shoulders, looking directly into their eyes.
"You two should both know by now this is not a place for fighting, correct?" The woman asked. All the onlooking students and even the tour guide himself were all frozen in place, forced to watch as their bodies seemed unmoving and stiff. A barley noticeable red aura surrounded the entire courtyard, and it all seemed to originate from the woman before.
"No way...that's....that's...." Ikkei began, hardly able to speak.
"Miss Nobunaga..." Fujiko followed up, barley able to mutter herself.
Yozama and Minori stood in absolute silence, simply looking at the woman. She had a faint smile and a crooked gaze, like she had asked a genuine question to a close friend.
"Uh...yeah. I'm sorry...whoever you are..." Yozama croaked.
"My apologies...miss." Minori managed to push out.
"Good. As long as you've learned your lesson. It seems you've gone and hurt each other again, so I'm going to have to send you both to the medical ward. Please don't fight each other again in the middle of a tour, or in any non combat sanctioned areas. I will handle the issue again more directly if you do. Go along now." She said, giving the two a bright smile as she turned away. The umbrella glided the woman back up into the air, and with her, the red aura that had engulfed the entire courtyard.
"So that was the power of Miss Nobunga..." Ikkei said, dumbfounded by what he just witnessed.
"She managed to stop all of us dead in our tracks without even touching us...now I see why she's the headmaster." Hiroki assessed.
Minori dropped her hostile stance as staff members appeared behind her, guiding her and Yozama off in a different direction from the students taking the tour.
"Man, that Yozama guy is really something. And that girl...she seems like she's really out to get him. I wonder what he said to piss her off like that..." Ikkei questioned.
The two were being guided through the various buildings towards the head office, where the medical center sat not far up the mountain, just a few steps down from the large castle-like structure that oversaw the entire school.
What they entered was a large, almost entirely white lavish office filled with high tech medical equipment and lots of medical shinobi in training. After waiting in the lobby for only a few seconds, they were greeted by a man in a labcoat and glasses with long black hair that led down to his shoulders, Dr. Hisashi. He was a frail man with paler skin and weak posture, but he ordered the students around him like a proper leader, offsetting the presence his appearance alone gave.
Beside him was a taller woman that seemed to be more fitting of the part appearance wise. She wore a labcoat herself, black sweater and suit pants under. She had a particularly large bust that was hard to conceal, even with her modest getup. Long brown-black hair ran down her shoulders and a pair of thin glasses sat on her nose.
"Hello, students. I am Dr.Hiromi Kentomaro, head of medicine and research here on campus. It appears you were sent back here after a scuffle following the entrance exams. As per orders from Miss Nobunaga, we will administer light aid and send you back off on your way. Please, follow us."
The two teens followed behind Miss Kentomaro as she led the two into a back room, separating them by walls. There were medical beds at the center of the room, surrounded by other sophisticated machinery.
"Have a seat." The woman directed. Yozama happily obeyed as Minori was led on the other side of the room by Dr. Hisashi.
"I'm going to initiate a healing field around you. That'll take off any knicks and should even restore some of your clothing. I noticed you got pretty ripped up." Kentomaro noted. She tossed a few kunai from her labcoat around the boy, projecting a large green sphere.
"Woah...this is sick! How can I do that?" Yozama cheered.
"When you study medical ninjutsu and the human body for 7 years. Now, you should have been told that tomorrow you are to return to campus for your annual mandatory school check up. Since I already have you here, we can take care of that now and you won't have to come back tomorrow. Is that alright?"
"Of course, mam. You can check me out however you want." Yozama flirted. Kentomaro gave a low brow as she removed the field, noting he had been fully healed. A large contraption from the back of the room wheeled forward. It was a circular device that could hold up one human body against it. It looked to be a scanner of sorts.
"I can check physical and spiritual vitals from here. Go ahead and take off your jacket, then set yourself up against it. If I could please have all medical shinobi in training report here, please." Kentomaro demanded, speaking into a microphone on the collar of her labcoat.
Within minutes, the observation room filled with eager students all standing behind Miss Kentomaro.
"I'm going to perform a routine spiritual scan. All first year qualifier tests will require you to perform this perfectly. Take note of my technique and the patient."
Kentomaro then focused on her patient, her eyes glowing with a neon green aura. Yozama gulped loudly as he shut his eyes, letting the woman observe him. After a few moments, the image of the insides of the boy were now being projected out with green spiritual energy beside him.
"This is the patient's spiritual and physical body, documented in one diagram that is generated by my technique. Proceed to check all vitals like normal. The tricky part is observing the spirit of the patient. Watch closely."
The green image now began to turn a deep dark black.
"Oh...well would you look at that...a black spirit....that means you're a--"
"Demon, Oni, Ogre, whatever you wanna call it, it's all the same to me, toots." Yozama added.
The students around Kentomaro began to whisper amongst themselves as they looked on in confusion.
"It's very rare to see a human of demon lineage, students. Please take this opportunity to learn."
Kentomaro began to observe the spirit closely, walking around the projection.
"Demon spirits are undetectable, thus appearing black in nature. They leave no signature to follow. They also tend to have a few more organs than normal humans. If I switch back to his physical projection, you can see here that our patient has two hearts and double the lung capacity of a normal human."
The students all gasped in awe. What they were seeing was rare and beyond most human comprehension, as the idea of humans existing as hybrids was odd enough.
"Your vitals look good. That'll be all for now." Kentomaro declared, allowing the boy to hop from the scanner.
In the other side of the room, Hisashi had gathered his own students to watch him perform the same scan on Minori.
"If you'll look here, you'll notice Miss Kaito has a retractable Ulna bone, a modification made in her bloodline many generations ago by her ancestors. We've already discussed the bone modifications last semester, so seeing something like this shouldn't be unfamiliar. Miss Kaito, I must say you are in prime health. Your spirit is strong. I'm detecting a snake fragment within you..."
"Don't provoke it. Finish this up and let me go on my way."
"Right. That'll be all for now, then. Please follow Miss Kentomaro on the way out. Students, you may return to your stations." Hisashi said, pushing the glasses up on the bridge of his nose. As Minori and the students all walked out of the room, he gave the girl an icy cold glare, taking one last good look at her as she left.