As Kurashi dashed through the forest, he came to a sudden stop when something caught his attention in the opposite direction. Letting the information sink in for a moment, he turned around and chased towards an unknown objective. Slowing his pace, he pressed his back against a tree trunk, leaning out just enough to see. There Kurashi saw two teams locked in an intense battle. Studying each of them individually, he noticed that all of the members moved in coordination to each other, a result of training for training together hours on end.
Though all of the members from both teams were fighting with all they had, it was clear that both teams were nearing their limits, every attack and evade taking more of a toll as the fight went on.
Meanwhile, back at the central training grounds, the old man who gave the introduction speech stood on the outside patio of the instructor's building. The rained pummeled at the wooden awning above him, sending streams of water pouring off of the edges. With his hands folded behind his back, the old man gazed at the soaking center field.
Through the rain, an instructor stepped onto the patio drenched from head to toe.
"Sir Nakama, I have a report that Kurashi is getting out of hand.", the instructor stated in concern as he bowed his head, "He's been...severely wounding other trainees. I'm concerned that if he keeps this up-".
"How many?", the old man questioned, his eyes still remaining on the training grounds.
"Four so far...", the instructor responded with his head still to the ground.
"Let him continue...", the old man replied, his voice calm but carrying an unmistakable weight. "Report to me if anything else happens, but for now...let him be".
The instructor hesitated, as though he was about to protest, but he thought better of it. With a final glance at the old man's unreadable expression, he nodded in agreement and took his leave.
Back in the forest, the last member of the losing team fell in defeat.
"Phew, that was rough...", a broad-shouldered boy stated as he wiped the rain from his face, "I thought they had us for a second there".
"But we pulled through in the end.", the girl next to him added on, brushing her damp hair off of her face, "All that matters now is that we rest up".
"You can say that again Yuki, but I swear I'm gonna' need at least a week to recover from that. My arms feel like they're about to fall right off.", another girl responded with a quick grin, leaning back against a tree and closing her eyes in exhaustion.
They all laughed at the girls remark, a rare moment of ease in the tense environment.
But then, as the girl had opened her eyes once more, there was a rush of movement.
"Yuki, Watch out!", the girl sitting at the tree screamed out.
The warning came just as Kurashi's blade swung, a deadly slash intended to end the target's life in a single blow. Yuki's deep blue eyes widened, her fatigue overridden by a burst of adrenaline, and dodged the attack at the last possible second. The edge of his blade missed her by a hair, glinting off of the raindrops as it cut through the air.
Kurashi's cold eyes narrowed as he faced the team before him, their earlier fatigue momentarily forgotten. Yuki, the girl he had attacked, took a shaky step back to join her teammates, her hands instinctively reaching up to touch her neck where the blade nearly cut her.
"Are you alright?" a brown haired boy asked, his tone filled with worry as he glanced over at her.
"I'm fine...", Yuki responded to the boy, her tone differing from her response as she locked eyes with Kurashi.
The broad-shouldered boy beside her clenched his fists, his face twisted in fury as he stepped forward.
"What the hell is your problem?" he shouted at Kurashi, his voice sharp and accusatory, "You could have killed her with that"!
Kurashi met his gaze blankly, showing no reaction to the accusation.
"What are you even doing by yourself? You're a part of this training like the rest of us, right?", the girl who was sitting by the tree stated, crossing her arms tightly as she watched him with suspicion, "Why are you not with your team"?
Without a response, the girl became even more agitated with Kurashi.
"I felt it...I felt it cut through me...", Yuki said to herself, still confused by her interaction as looked down at her palm, "But...there's no blood?"
A strange silence hung between them, only broken by the steady sound of rain.
"By any means...", Kurashi murmured to himself as he lowered his gaze, his voice barley a whisper.
The team strained to hear him, the words almost lost in the rain.
"Speak up if your going to say something!", the broad-shouldered boy stated.
"Be the last one standing.", Kurashi said just a pitch higher than he did before, "By any means...".
"You're not the only one trying to win this, idiot.", the girl from the tree scoffed, her voice filled with disdain, "We've already handled three other teams, so don't think you can handle all of us by yourself".
Yuki's eyes rose from her palms and became fixed on Kurashi, a flicker of recognition crossing her face. There was something about him, something of a mystery that she could not figure out. The thought of who he is ate at her the more time went on. Then it clicked, the realization sending a chill down her spine.
"It's him...", she said to herself, "that guy from the Ito clan".
She had heard the stories about the Ito clan just as everyone in the base has. The threat that even one member alone could be. And now standing before her, calm and unfazed, was a boy who carried that very name.
"Kurashi…Kurashi Ito...", Yuki murmured to the rest of her team, her fear now unmasked.
It was then that Yuki and the rest of her team knew the threat that was in front of them.