"Alright, guys, we're done for today." Tahno disengages the machines, and everyone gathers in the prep room. They line up side by side as Tahno reads off their training results. "Mai let's start with you. Your offensive training module clocked in at 30 seconds, your defensive module at 40, and your comprehensive module at 60 seconds. These are all personal bests. Not only have you surpassed your already impressive levels, but you've also got the fastest times out of all the other students, these guys included. Excellent job, though I'd never expect anything less from you."
"Thank you, Sir. It's an honor to have the privilege of training under you." Mai salutes and stands perfectly at attention, reminding everyone that despite appearances, this is still considered a military academy. Mai has always taken it seriously, which earns her favor with the officials.
"Alright, moving on, let's do you, Gunther. Your offensive module came in at 150 seconds, your defensive at 45, and comprehensive at 175—also your personal bests in each module. Good job."
"Thank you, Sir. I'll keep doing my best." He doesn't salute like Mai, but he stands at attention.
"Alright, Noah, your turn. Offensive module 33 seconds, defensive 42, and comprehensive 61. These are all your personal bests, and not just that—you've had the largest improvement of everyone, just seconds away from surpassing Mai in each module. If this wasn't our last session today, I'd bet you'd beat her next time." Tahno looks at Noah with a raised eyebrow. "What have you been doing? I've never seen such fast improvement in anyone before, even for a demon. Care to share your secrets?"
Noah smirks smugly and says, "I guess I'm just good like that, Tahno."
Tahno scowls, annoyed by his smart-ass comment, but then grins. "Alright, I'll leave it at that then. Good job, you little shit."
He moves to Nik next. "Alright, Nikoli, your offensive was 120, your defensive 160, and comprehensive 180. You improved in everything except your comprehensive, where you actually dropped by 2 seconds. It's good you improved in everything else, but it's not good to be going down in anything at this point. Make sure you work on your compound skills."
"Yes…Sir." Nik grits his teeth and clenches his fists, furious with himself for going down in anything. If there's one thing he prides himself on, it's his superior skill over all fire elementals.
"Alright, Lili, let's see…." Tahno looks at her with a disappointed expression, and before he even says a word, tears are already forming in her eyes. The others all look on in remorse, especially Mai, knowing that Lili hadn't improved before he even starts reading her results. "Lili…where do I even begin?"
"Just tell her the damn stats already!" Tahno glares at Noah for his outburst but says nothing.
"Okay, then I'll just cut to the chase. Not only did you not improve, but you went down significantly in everything, continuing your steady decline over the last month. Your offensive was 300 seconds, down 15, your defensive was 290, down 10, and comprehensive was 400, down 50. This has been your worst performance to date. What's going on, Lilianna? You should be at your best by now, not your worst."
"I—I'm sorry, Sir." She looks down, unable to say more. She can feel his eyes of disappointment glaring down on her, but she can't explain it. She has no words to describe how ever since that night, her world's been falling apart and she's sinking towards the ocean floor, slowly drowning.
Mai knows why, and she's been trying her best to keep Lili afloat, but the chains are latched on too strong. Ever since Noah cut her off, she's been slipping into a deep depression, becoming withdrawn and struggling in both her academics and training. She's realized over this past month just how deeply rooted her trauma is and has come to see that perhaps Noah's unconventional methods were helping her more than she thought. She's even considered offering herself as a replacement for Noah, which is what Lili initially wanted, but she turned it down and stuck to her decision because even if that's a solution, it's only temporary. Mai doesn't want Lili to cope by leaning on others for comfort; she wants her to heal, but she can only do that on her own.
Noah knows that his abrupt ending of their relationship is to blame for Lili's slip-ups, but as remorseful as he feels for her, he doesn't regret it and doesn't want to go back. He's done all he can for her, so it's up to her now to stand on her own two feet. Though watching her now, as the tears stream down her face, he's not so sure she's going to make it on her own. Even still, it's not his problem anymore. None of them are. Just as he promised, he went to Tahno the very next morning and told him he was done, and to his surprise, Tahno didn't even care.
He told him to "do whatever the hell he wants" and then kicked him out of his office. Tahno's probably just as fed up with all of them and their so-called "team" himself and may have given up as well. What was the point of the Junsui Hunter Force anyway? It's not doing much good in a world that's more or less at peace. The Junsui military forces have been doing a fine job at managing any rogue Junsui, so a high-profile team like theirs was never really needed. Noah's convinced that Tahno just wanted to command a fancy-sounding unit or something. Whatever the case, he's finally free, in more ways than one, and he's never going back, not for anyone.
"Alright, I can see you have nothing more to say about it, so neither do I. However, I'm sure you're aware already, but as a reminder, if you fail to qualify in the Battle of Elementals to the standard required of all prospective graduates, you will not be allowed to graduate. Furthermore, if you are not able to improve yourself to the standard that's expected of you…well, all I can say is it's not good."
Lili's eyes go wide, and she trembles, suddenly struck with fear at Tahno's ominous words. They all feel a bit fearful after hearing that, but no one asks for clarification, as they're not sure they want to know.
"Alright, with that, you all are dismissed. As I said, this is the last training session before the Battle begins on Monday. So you've got the weekend to do as you please, but please be reasonable, as there will be dire consequences for anyone who misses the qualifiers first thing Monday morning. That'll be all." Everyone immediately removes their gear and starts to file out of the training sector one by one. "Oh, Lili, please stay back a moment, I'd like to talk to you," he says, reviewing some documents.
Lili stops and looks at Mai, who also looks at her with concern, but then offers encouragement. "It'll be fine, Lil; he probably just wants to make sure you're okay. Tahno's tough, but he's not evil. So relax, okay?"
Lili tries to give a reassuring smile, but she can't really bring herself to do it. She turns her attention to Tahno and then slowly walks over. With a trembling voice, she says, "You wanted to see me, Sir?"
He looks up to see that everyone is out of the room and then looks at Lili. He stares at her for a moment, unsure of how to begin. He's good when it comes to barking orders at them or running them ragged, but at times like this, when he needs to be gentler, he has a hard time. Her hands tremble, though he can tell she's trying to be strong, so he takes a deep breath and finally just comes out with it. "What's going on, Lili? I thought that maybe you'd been slipping a bit this last month due to the pressures of finals and classes, but your performance today was just a mess. It's only aggravating to me because I know you're better than this, much better. So what's going on? There must be something."
"Um…." She's unable to get words out, and this only raises her anxiety. "I…um…I…I don't know, okay!" Tahno is surprised by her sudden agitation, and Lili immediately regrets it. "I'm sorry, I'm just…." The pressure finally mounts and becomes too much to handle, causing Lili to shake more aggressively. Feeling like the world is closing in on her, she starts to hyperventilate, alarming Tahno.
"Lili, are you alright? What's happening?" As she continues to hyperventilate, she clutches her chest and sweat starts to pour down her face. He realizes that she's having an anxiety attack. "It's okay, Lili, you're okay." He grabs her shoulder, and like a trigger, Lili reacts to his touch with a blast of air to the face.
"No! Don't touch me!" Reacting in fear, Lili subconsciously creates a whirlwind in the room, sending several papers and small objects flying. Even Tahno is knocked back in surprise as Lili hovers in the air.
"What the hell?" Tahno quickly recovers, but he's shocked to see that Lili is still going at it and that the twister is only getting stronger. "How is that possible?" It's long been known that Marked Children cannot project such powerful energy without a conduit, yet somehow, she's able to not only manifest a full twister but keep it going. He always suspected she was strong from his observations of them over time, but what he's seeing now far surpasses all expectations. "Lili, calm down, you're safe!"
His words are lost in the wind, and Lili isn't hearing them. She's not even fully aware of what's happening. Just as Tahno starts to reach for a tranquilizer, suddenly, the wind stops. It happens in an instant, leaving the floating papers temporarily suspended for a few seconds longer before they drop to the ground. Tahno finally gets himself up and, once he has, looks over to where Lili was, only to see another person. Sitting before him is Kira, holding Lili in her arms as she sleeps.
Kira looks at the girl in sadness and then turns to Tahno with a frown. "Just what are you doing to my daughter, Mason?" she asks in a stern but concerned tone as she strokes Lili's head.
"I was hoping you could tell me! I simply asked her to stay back a moment so I could talk to her about her slipping performance, but then she suddenly freaked out on me and did that! How did she even do that? Even you can't make a twister of that magnitude without a channel, yet she did that with nothing more than herself. That shouldn't even be possible, should it? Have you ever seen this?"
"No, I've never seen this happen in all my years of teaching here or as a council member. I'm a bit at a loss myself with this. Even just getting close enough to hit her pressure point and settle her down took some effort. It's concerning, I suppose, but in all honesty, I'm much more concerned about why she reacted that way in the first place. She hasn't had an attack like that since the abuse stopped, has she?"
"Not that I've seen. She seemed to be doing pretty well, actually, especially once they were all together as a team. She's been much more sociable and confident in recent years; it's only these last few weeks that I've noticed her slipping back into old habits, which is why I wanted to talk with her. And you? I know you've been sneaking time with her. Notice anything on your end?"
"From what I've observed personally and from progress reports from her teachers, there's been nothing to show any significant occurrences, but their most recent updates have been unanimously reporting a slip in her academics this last month or so. It's actually why I was coming here, to talk to you about it."
"So basically, it seems like something's happened within this last month that's affecting her mental stability and as a result, her academics and training performances. What could it be?"
"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it must be significant. I'll talk to her and see if I can get to the truth. I'm not sure if she's come to trust me enough to open up, but I must try, for her sake."
"Right." Tahno places down the papers and prepares to leave. "I'll give you the time you need with her. Please do your best Kira. I really want to see her perform at her level and do well. I know she's capable, but she needs to believe it too. I think you're the only one who can do it." He walks out, and Kira stares down at Lili, wondering which Kira she currently needs her to be.