Koutetsu's school life was going in a steady direction since he arrived at the school. He was getting used to doing his job as head disciplinarian better, even gaining more respect from his peers for his fairness in judgement calls. After meeting Rina, they became good friends at school quickly, they had a good chemistry same way he did with Itsuki. She helped him out from time to time with clothing choices, even Itsuki liked hanging with her, she was friendly and had nice personality that people could gravitate to. Natsume was a pain still with her teasing but she was slowly working her way up to being a friend as well, not completely on best terms but least tolerable were she didn't bug Koutetsu as much. She was already at the 'frenemy' level with Itsuki, a 50/50 relationship between the two, though at times the council would separate them when Natsume's teasing would irritate Itsuki.
Koutetsu was at his home finishing his daily at home workout routine. He completed his 1,000 pushups in record time. He felt great breaking his record, he would shoot for 1,500 next at the beginning of next week.
His home was looking better thanks to Itsuki helping him. He got the black card from her as well, he promised he only use it for food and utilities, and he would never use it for personal spending. He still wanted to find a job for that.
Itsuki was able to keep Tsukikage at home, her parents didn't mind her owning him after hearing about his circumstances. Koutetsu was imagining her playing with Tsukikage at her house laughing and smiling like a little kid again. He had a pet at one time when he was a kid in his old life as well, but he forgot to lock the window in his room, it got out and was run over, breaking his heart.
He felt responsible for that, it made him think owning pets was a big distraction, another excuse he made to sacrifice everything for studies, one he regrets now thinking back on it.
Koutetsu finished making his dinner, after the workout he tried to eat and enjoy an old samurai movie, he still loved watching those types of genres on his free time. His otaku hear never left him, it sneaked up her and there when he was in a moment of relaxation.
His phone rang during the battle scenes of the film. He tried to ignore the call for a bit, but the consistent ringing was grating on his nerves. He had enough of it, so he figured he'd answer quick than hang up if it wasn't important.
"Man, hello hello." He answered annoyed still.
"Hello Hayashi, it's Natsume, did I call at a bad time?"
Koutetsu almost choked. He didn't see who called him on the caller ID because of his phone caused he hurried to watch the movie. He swallowed his food too fast, he nearly choked from it, he avoided suffocating by drinking his whole glass of milk to avoid choking to death.
"Hello, Hayashi, are you ok?"
"Sorry, I was eating right now. Anyways what's up Prez do you need something?"
"Oh please call me Natsume, we're close now aren't we?"
'Close my ass! We're barely at the respect level of friends. You're lucky Itsuki doesn't have a sixth sense when it comes to you, she sick Tsukikage on you for that stunt you pulled last time. Trying to use your weapons of mass destruction on me. We're ok so far, not that close yet.'
At Itsuki's house, she had instinctively sneezed upon her name being mentioned. She was confused for a bit but shook it off.
"Argh, fine how about Kurenai then. If it'll make you feel better."
He couldn't see it but Natsume was pouting he still wouldn't call her on a first-name basis.
"Kurenai is fine then. Anyway, I called because of those instructors I mentioned before. They arrived, and they wanted to meet everyone this weekend for the demonstration. Since you agreed to the sparring match I wanted to give you a heads-up about it."
"This weekend! Are they insane, that's two days from now. You can't prepare in that short time." Koutetsu's face was exasperated upon hearing that. A short notice like this wasn't ideal for anyone who wanted adequate prep time to study their opponent or practice their moves ahead of time.
"I said the same thing but they wouldn't take no for an answer. I'm sorry Hayashi I'll make it up to you I swear. Please don't back out now there's nobody who can replace you this late."
Now Koutetsu couldn't enjoy the movie anymore. The news ruined the mood.
'For crying out loud. This is ridiculous. Two days to prepare for a match against a potential elite instructor who's coming to the school. I've seen the teachers there now and they're not pushovers. Can't imagine how these ones will be.'
"Argh, fine I'll agree to it, but question who's the other ones fighting with me?"
"Oh right, I forgot to mention it to you. Let's see Misturugi Ren, Sakurai Ryuji, Yagami Hiro, and Ichinose Tatsuya."
"Who?" Koutetsu asked upon hearing the unknown name.
"Ichinose Tatsuya the other student who signed up late like you did. He's supposed to be a part-time idol and musician so getting him registered was difficult."
"I can see that but why is he participating if he's an idol? Won't he get hurt?"
"That was a condition with his manager. She said he'll participate as an apology for the late registration. Apparently, Ichinose kept forgetting to fill out the paperwork so it's his punishment."
Koutetsu felt dead inside after hearing that.
'He forgot to fill out the paperwork is he stupid? And it's a sparring match, what can he do that merits his skills in a fight? Oh my aching head.'
"Fine, but I'll hold you to the owing me part."
Natsume giggled at Koutetsu finally agreeing to her request, she thanked Koutetsu and hung up to start the arrangements. Koutetsu fell to his floor, he was completely exhausted from that crazy conversation. In an irritating rush, he gobbled down the rest of his food and went to bed on his futon unhappy with the scenario he was put in.
The next morning he went out jogging, his music blasting through his earbuds trying to keep his mind calm from the annoyance he had from last night. He made his way to the park, where he ran up to grab a tree branch to perform pull-ups. He made it almost to two hundred but stopped when someone began tickling his sides. He couldn't help but laugh and lose concentration from it.
He lost his grip from the branch falling on his rear end from the drop.
"Itai, who did that!"
His head snapped back to see who was behind him. Rina was leaning over laughing at him after the trick she pulled.
'That's weird. How did she sneak up on me like that? I should have sensed her coming or smelled her at least. That was perfect silence in masking her presence against my trained senses. Definitely more to her than she appears to be.'
"Yo." She said offering a hand to lift him up.
Koutetsu accepted, still a little irritatable after the prank she pulled on him.
"What are you doing here?"
"Training. I just got told last minute those sparring matches with the instructors are tomorrow so warming up beforehand"
"Sure that's a good idea. Maybe you should take it easy instead."
"Nah, not in my nature. I like to be prepared just in case. Anyways why are you here. You're not working today?"
"Nope. I got the next three days off from the overtime I put in. I was doing some cardio when I saw you. Mind if I join?"
He nodded yes. Rina was glad he agreed to let her join. The two ran together, with her surprisingly keeping up with him. They kept it up till they saw Ryuji a few feet away.
The two hid behind a tree to see what he was up to. He was private about his life. No one knew what he did after school besides being in the clubs he was in. Koutetsu and Rina saw him talking to an older woman, she was sturdy, wearing bandages around her chest, a biker jacket, and pants. She looked like an old delinquent from the Showa era.
"Who's he talking to?"
"Don't know. Didn't think he was into older women that had more muscle than him."
They listened carefully to the conversation at hand. The older woman sounded like she was disgusted with Ryuji, he stood there quiet, almost submissive, something they never saw him act in a way.
"Heard you're taking part in the exhibition matches tomorrow."
"Yes."
"Will you win?"
"Yes."
The older woman didn't believe him. She smacked him across his face which shocked Koutetsu and Rina.
"You don't sound confident. Say it again, will you win."
"Yes."
Another slap could be heard as it thundered in the air.
"I don't believe you. Are you really my younger brother? How did you come from my late father? This is why you'll never amount to anything. No confidence in yourself. If you lose don't bother coming home. Our family doesn't need some weakling who gets into meaningless fights just to prove how tough he is. That clear?"
"Yes."
The woman walked away from Ryuji, the sight of the ends of her coat flowing in the air made her look even stronger and mysterious. Ryuji gritted his teeth and fists. He felt ashamed he was being treated like a child. He lit up a cigarette to calm his nerves as he headed off.
"Will he be ok?" Rina asked.
"Don't know. He must be under a lot of pressure for tomorrow."
"Are you as well?"
Rina asked Koutetsu, with concern in her eyes.
"I try not to be. My Master told me 'being under pressure is worthless like a dog turd. Just get rid of it so you don't have to deal with it anymore' or something to that matter."
"Sounds like they were pretty tough."
"Oh yes, she was," Koutetsu said affectionately, then stopped when a black silhouette of his master invaded his mind.
Koutetsu shook his head to get that image out, he asked Rina if she wanted to continue the jog for a bit till he headed home later to prep more for his match.
The day had finally come. Koutetsu and the students arrived at the school arena to meet the new instructors and see the matches they would witness.
Koutetsu was bored waiting for the ceremony to start. He was drowning out the boredom with his earbuds, he didn't see Itsuki yet or the others who would compete with him. He felt a tap on his shoulders during his wait, it was Rina standing next to him.
"Hello, Koutetsu."
"Oh, hey Rina. You here by yourself?"
"Actually I came here with friends but I wanted to say hi to you first."
Koutetsu appreciated the gesture Rina gave. Rina ran back to her friends, who teased her for talking to Koutetsu. After his makeover students didn't fear him anymore, instead now the females fawned over him as they did with Hiro, knocking him off his status as the number one.
Itsuki would get annoyed when they would approach Koutetsu, he had to do his best to avoid those situations since he didn't want to get bit in the ankles by Tsukikage again for annoying Itsuki. It became a running gag for him, that anytime Itsuki got jealous or upset with anything involving Koutetsu, Tsukikage would bite him every time.
Itsuki wouldn't be present in the seats with Koutetsu, she had to stand next to Natsume for the presentation. Answering the question of why Koutetsu didn't see her earlier.
Anna Takemura stood at the podium to address the students and parents who arrived graciously to meet the instructors.
"Good morning everyone. I'm sorry for this scheduling but it was the wish of the new instructors. As you know I'm the headmaster of this School Takemura Anna, everyone in attendance will be treated to free food and beverages as the matches start. There'll be five matches in general each one will last at a minimum 12min like in professional sports. We've asked the participants to limit their abilities to avoid accidental killings. We hope you enjoy the show of force and approve of the strength of the instructors coming here to lead your children into a bright future. And now to present them to you."
Itsuki and Natsume opened the door for the new instructors to present themselves. There were two women and two men, one of them wasn't there yet. Anna just got the word the fifth was late due to oversleeping. She was fuming in anger at the incompetence but continued as a professional for the attendees.
Each of the instructors was either from a different country or style. Koutetsu could tell they were impressive from their auras, the matches were going to be interesting.
Rina changed her seat to sit next to Koutetsu before the introductions began.
"I thought you were with friends?"
"Well you seemed lonely so I thought I keep you company. My friends will sit down in their own seats for the day. Is it ok to sit next to you?"
"Do as you please. I'm not bothered." Rina accepted the invitation. The two sat patiently waiting for the instructors to start introducing themselves.
"Ok everyone we shall let our new instructors begin. Please if you will."
They nodded in acceptance. Number one was a woman in priestess clothing with charms in her hair.
"Good morning everyone, my name is Izumi Akira. I'll be helping with incantations and purifying ritual techniques, if you need guidance along the way of your life I will be there for you. It is very nice to meet you all, may Buddha bless you in your days."
Number two stepped forward next. This one was a tall woman in a soldier's uniform, she had tied blonde hair and an intimidating face. Her Japanese was choppy, being garbled by her thick Russian accent, so a translator spell was put on her to fix the problem.
"Good morning everyone. I'm Alexandra Lundgren. I'll be assisting in combative training programs and military tactics along with coaching the wrestling team. Nice to meet with you all."
Number three came up. The man wore traditional clothing for a Master in Aikido. He looked close to his forties but everyone could see he was not a pushover.
"Greetings young ones, I'm Kurosawa Gentaro, and I'll be helping with advanced martial arts training. It's a pleasure to be your teacher in the path of a warrior."
Everyone was in awe of him the most. His demeanor and speech radiated authority. Koutetsu really wanted to train with him.
Number four went up. This one was American, he too was a retired soldier with an impressive appearance short hair, and a beard. He couldn't speak Japanese well either so another translator spell was used on him.
"Hello everyone. I'm Barnaby Morales. I'm helping with weapons training and equipment maintenance upgrade programs. It's always good to have an understanding of one's equipment before battle. Everyone I look forward to training you."
Everyone clapped at the instructors. Anna felt embarrassed the last one didn't show up, she promised to rip their ear off when they arrived.
"Sorry everyone we promised five but the last one is busy at the moment so we will proceed with..."
"WAAAAAIT!!!!"
Everyone heard the voice coming down from the entrance. The next thing they saw was a young woman dashing to the stage with lightning speed. She leaped with great force till she landed next to Anna.
Everyone gasped at her. She was bent over breathing heavily after that rushed run to the school she just did. Everyone could tell, even the other instructors despite how young the woman was, her aura emanating from her was massive, near suffocating. She had to be the strongest one out of them all.
She had on sports shoes, athletic short shorts, with short leggings underneath. She wore a sports crop top with silks underneath it too, and a large hoodie bigger than her upper body. Her black hair was tied in a large braid from behind, with three small braids on each side of her head with her bangs shifting on what eye they would cover. The most impressive part of her was her body. She was slim but her muscles were extremely ripped and developed on an unbelievable scale.
"Sorry, I overslept my alarm clock didn't go off." The late instructor said still trying to catch her breath.
"The hell, did you run all the way here in the short amount of time?"
"Yes, I did Headmaster. I'm sorry I'll accept punishment later. Ahem, yo everyone! Kuramori Megumi at you're service. I'm not sure what I can teach but I'm glad to be here with you all."
The way Megumi spoke was extremely carefree. The other instructors looked embarrassed including Anna. Everyone was amazed at her introduction and her brazen display of lateness without any apology to it.
"HUH!!!!!" Koutetsu shouted as Rina saw his face look completely terrified.
"Eh, Koutetsu you ok? Do you know that woman?"
"Know her? That's my….my…. That's my Master!"
Rina was quiet for a moment but upon seeing his face and reaction she knew he wasn't lying.
"EH!!!!!"