"Everyone must have come to Sakura Bushido for its fame throughout the San Fernando Valley; some were brought to this place by their mothers upon hearing that discipline and values would be taught here." Dash walked around the center and said, "The reason you are here is not far from the truth."
"However, there will be cases where some of you are here because you want to learn to defend yourselves, and in other cases, to strike back at those who mess with you at school."
There were many reasons to learn martial arts, some more innocent than others. However, each of them had to be addressed in the first class since there could be serious consequences for the apprentice, and that would be Sakura Bushido's fault for not teaching them correctly.
Dash approached a boy with a bruised cheek and said, "Defending yourself is not bad, but if your plan is to use martial arts to achieve everything you haven't been able to accomplish now, it would be better for you to leave this school."
"Life doesn't work that way; you can defend yourself now, and maybe, with luck, they'll stop bothering you. But there will be times when they'll come after you with twice as many friends, so even if you're an expert in martial arts, they might beat you up."
Dash made a pause and said, "But here, if you want to learn, I'll teach you the right way to win a fight, and even better, the right way to choose when and when not to fight."
Martial arts were incredible, but nowadays, everyone carried a knife in their pocket or a gun, so wanting to show off knowing martial arts was just asking to die quickly. Also, believing that they would be lucky to win a fight against four people was foolish; street fights were not clean, and there were no codes of honor.
Dash wanted to make this clear so that no Sakura Bushido student would get the wrong idea when learning the martial arts taught in this place.
When Devon heard Dash's class, she nodded in agreement with this point because she had discussed it with him. Fights were not good outside tournaments, especially when you fought without knowing what each enemy was capable of.
Devon knew that Dash might not implement these clauses correctly, but situations were often unavoidable, but that didn't mean everyone was in that type of situation all the time.
"Some might have something like this!" Dash, who was speaking seriously, suddenly pulled out a black object from behind his back.
When everyone saw this, they fell silent, their hearts squeezed with fear, and they all began to look at the older students.
"What the hell is he doing?"
"I want to get out of here."
"He's crazy."
Dash frowned and said, "Devon, come forward."
Doing just what Dash asked, in front of all the students, Devon stood in front of Dash to serve as an example to the others.
Maybe some noticed, but the gun in Dash's hands was fake, so there was nothing to worry about.
Dash stared at Devon for a moment and, raising his gun towards her, said, "Class, what do you do against a gun?"
"Run, Sensei!"
"How do you avoid this situation?"
"Not fighting recklessly, Sensei!"
"How do we face this situation if it's inevitable?" Dash looked towards the class and asked in a loud voice.
"Analyzing our surroundings very well, Sensei, withdrawing from dangerous places, and not bothering the people around us."
All the new students were stunned; just now, many who didn't know what was happening understood that it was a lesson. Dash shouted and said, "Respect, discipline, and inner peace are what is taught in this Dojo. If you are angry, you can release all your fury in training; if someone bothers you, we will teach you how to handle it in the best possible way, and if you can't do it, an older peer will do it for you. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sensei!"
The eyes of many lit up at this point; some felt their blood boiling because of how things had unfolded, so they began to understand the value of this place.
Some had come here because the mothers of other boys had talked to them about how incredible this place was for the education of young children, and just now, Dash had been generous enough to give them a good lesson.
All those who thought martial arts were a joke stopped thinking that before realistic classes that would be given in this place. This was outside their thoughts about this place, and not seeing tricks or inspirational conversations to make them lions in life changed their minds.
At least it was realistic, so belonging to Sakura Bushido couldn't be that bad in most cases. They just hoped that the training wouldn't be so tough from now on.
"All yours, Devon." Dash smiled as he finished his talk and left the rest to Devon to start the warm-up training.
"All right, class, we'll start with warm-up exercises, so if you're here, you should at least have confidence in your physical condition." Devon said as she instructed the students to form up in the respective positions.
For her, this was the best part of the first class because she could see with her own eyes how those who trusted their physical condition fell to the ground exhausted.
The first class was designed to push the students to their limits both mentally and physically before starting with the martial arts. This was not just for Sakura Bushido but also for the students who wouldn't last long in training. Leaving early sometimes is much better than doing it late.
If they couldn't handle today's training, it would be better for everyone to quit Sakura Bushido, as this would not be their home.