This will be my year.

Even though her brother's loud complaining was blaring at her through the earphones, those were the only words Hiyori Iki had on her mind that afternoon.

" What do you mean, you're not coming this semester? I've alredy prepared your room! I've planned out a welcome back dinner for you! Where are you right now?"

"On a train," she peeked over her shoulder to glance at the arrivals schedule as she leisurely replied to her brother. Almost there. "I'm sorry, I'd have told you sooner, but I wasn't sure if Mom and Dad would agree to it. I really would."

" And they said yes?"

She made a face at the window. "Of course they did. They said that skipping a year isn't that big of a deal, as long as I get my degree. Mom even suggested that I take more if I need. That free time is a serious self-discovering journey that should not be taken lightly." Their parents could be amazingly considerate.

" Well, they can be awfully considerate," Masaomi mumbled. Then, after a short pause, he added " What are you gonna do then? Except skip our dinner, I mean?"

"Oh, I'm still thinking about it." The train halted to a stop. "Probably some travelling? I've wanted to return to Hokkaido for some time."

" Alone?"

"Yes."

" Totally alone? "

Hiyori laughed and jumped out of the wagon. "Want to come with, brother?"

An excessive groan sounded on the other end of the line. " I can't miss work for a year. You know that. " She did know that, it was precisely the reason she had even dared to ask. " But, who is going to take care of you?"

Looking around to check her direction, Hiyori chuckled. "I believe that would be me." She glanced down at her arms, hidden in the sleeves of a pink trench. It was a bit of a private joke- Masaomi claiming he was supposed to be there to protect his little sister, even though said sister would be able to knock him out in a matter of seconds if it came to a showdown. Thanks to years of "losing her head and time to weird hobbies", of course.

And really, his voice instantly softened. " I have no doubts. But I would really feel better if somebody -"

Hiyori turned a corner and stopped in her tracks.

"Ah,I- I'll have to hang up now!"

"Oh. Call me later tonight, okay? Alright, have a safe trip!" She nodded and absentmindedly pressed the red button on the phone screen.

Above her loomed at least 7 floors of light yellow façade and various niches and closed balconies. Most of the highest level was covered by a top-to-floor window which, she guessed, offered a wonderful view of the city shimmering beneath the spring sun. People were sitting on massive stairs in front of the entrance, chatting under a big sign that announced the building's name: " Hafuri".

It looked even better live than on the TV. The pictures on their website didn't do it justice.

She repositioned the bag on her back and climbed up the stairs. Every step was followed by a thump on the rich marble, after pushing through the glass door, she entered a big lobby. To her right were a few sets of lounge sofas and coffee tables, and to her left… To her left, a trophy exhibition. A wall entirely covered in photos of champions of a wide range of age and clothing smiling and shining their medals at the camera, groups hugging and posing after their matches. Various cups and medals were there too, too shiny and big to overlook, but blending in with the rest of the treasures that were lined on the shelves. Hafuri hadn't earned its status by chance- years and years of effort and tournaments and awards gave it its name, having this hall as an undeniable proof.

Hiyori took just a moment to dream. She shook her head. She wouldn't stop on dreaming alone.

And so she approached the desk positioned across the room from the entrance. A young blonde woman sat in front of a computer screen. Noticing the girl, she smiled brightly. "Hello! Welcome to Studio Hafuri, how may I help you?"

"Hello! I'm Hiyori Iki, we talked on the phone last week? I'm here to see," her heart jumped a bit, "one of your coaches… Yato-san?"

She didn't manage to find his full name anywhere online, but based on the woman's reaction, just "Yato" was enough. The blonde scrunched up her nose for a second. "Sure, Iki-san." She pressed a tiny button of a microphone on her desk. "Tell Yato his 4 PM appointment is here."

Just Yato again, Hiyori noticed. No honorifics, either.

The woman turned back to her, a smile on her face again. "Hall 5, take the right hallway elevator, second floor, turn right and keep going until you see a big 5 sign. Do you want me to call for a guide?"

"Thank you that will be enough!" Hiyori answered over her shoulder and skipped to the elevator.

Once inside, she pressed the second floor button. Her hands covered an impatient smile. In a matter of minutes, she'd be standing in the same room as the God of Calamity.

Finding Hall 5 was easy. As she opened the door to the big soft-padded gym, it was relieving to see that it was still empty. She had some time to prepare for the trial meeting. Judging from the equipment scattered around two big fence-encircled rings, the room was obviously intended for sparring training - perfect. She took out gloves from her bag and took off her trench and hoodie, picking a dummy close to a bench to leave her things in the vicinity. The trip from her parents' house was more than enough to get her blood running, but doing a few warm up exercises would be better. Of course. Hiyori expected quite a lot from the next hour or so- she prepared herself for sparring, and revised the little speech she had prepared a hundred times in the past few days (just in case she needed it- what if he decided she wasn't qualified enough to stay? She couldn't have that). He'd definitely want to see what she was capable of, and impressing him enough to earn some special lessons would be hard.

The first time Hiyori saw him was just a few weeks ago, when her MMA club hosted a friendly meeting in their gym to commemorate the end of the semester. The students weren't allowed to participate, but were required to attend as a bonus seminar. (It was a great experience for her; nothing beat the thrill of seeing a real match unfolding. Well, except participating in one, but it was the next best thing.) She was already tired from all the shouting and jumping she had been doing since that morning, and her hand hurt from clutching the pencil for too long-there was an instructor sitting right next to her, so she tried to appear as professional as possible. It was one of the final matches of the meeting, a coach from her club was alredy in one corner of the cage. Ishi, as strong and stubborn as a rock. Hiyori was often enough at the other side of his harsh methods that laughing behind his back with other students didn't feel too mean.

And then, a tiny figure appeared on the stage. Well, looking back, he wasn't as tiny as it seemed at first glance- it was probably him standing next to Ishi, a heavyweight champion that created that impression. The man's messy ink-black hair reached right to Ishi's collarbone, and although finely sculptured, he was nowhere near buff enough to close the distance that the missing pounds left gaping open.

"Look closely, girl," whispered her instructor, not taking her eyes from the man shaking Ishi's arm, "Carefully."

Hiyori did as she was told or at least had tried to, because after the bell rang, the dark-haired fighter appeared to be nothing more than a swift line of lightning speeding across the cage.

To Ishi's credit, he did try to follow his movements. But whenever he lunged to the place where his opponent was supposed to reappear, he got kicked in the shins, or grabbed from the side, or simply ended up on the floor for whatever reason.

Three supposed-to-be-five-minute rounds ended in a blink. The winner smiled through his mouthguard (it made it look closer to a snarl) and helped Ishi up before ignoring the door and jumping out of the ring. The crowd went crazy, clapping and screaming, a single name clear in the undistinguishable noise that filled the air: God of Calamity.

Hiyori's fist connected to the dummies head.

She had spent that entire night watching online videos of his previous fights, trying to understand at least a bit of what she was seeing. She settled for the slow motion mode and made an effort to break down his movements one by one, find a pattern, but it was almost impossible- when she predicted he might go left, he jumped up. When she was sure he would use that one move preferred in case of being tackled from downwards, he would thrill her by introducing a completely abstractly-styled kick. Morning had arrived, and she was still at square one- this time wondering why the heck a person like him wasn't alredy a world-famous champion. He was a God, indeed.

It was hard to believe he was even a real person. But he was, and she… will be meeting him. The God of Calamity. The thought alone made her dizzy. And if he really accepted her wish… She'd finally have a chance to win her own personal battle.

Hiyori bit back her smile and swung once again.

"Hey, you must be the new kid, right? Well, nice to meet you, name's-"

Her fist connected to something warm and… alive. Her eyes flew open as a loud yelp shot through the mist of anticipation that surrounded her thoughts.

"Oh, no!" The horrified girl threw herself next to the figure crouching under her dummy. "I am so sorry! I spaced out, I didn't mean to hit you! I'm so sorry!"

Her bag was next to them. Alarmed by a few drops of blood on her glove, Hiyori grabbed it in favor of finding for some water and tissues.

" Well, " a grave voice came out muffled through hands folded over his nose, "you sure could make a few heads roll."

"Oh," her cheeks flushed with surprise at the compliment coming from somebody she had just injured. She nudged him to remove his fingers to allow a better view of the damage. "It was nothing, it was-" She froze. "… God."

He chuckled once, like Ha!. "Interesting. What pissed him off this time?"

"No, I mean… I…" There was a reason there were tissues in her hands, she was sure of it. She just couldn't quite recall anything except the familiar person in front of her. And then it all returned, crashing down all at once.

She punched the God of Calamity.

"If you don't mind, I sure could use one of those tissues."

And possibly broke his nose.

"I am so sorry!" Hiyori's trembling hands refused to pull out the paper fast enough so she accidently ripped it in the process. Yato didn't seem to mind, he just looked happy to have something to plug the little stream of blood dripping from his nostrils. " I really just- here, have thi- ah, no!" Instead on the tissue, she spilled water right on her pants leg.

" Look, it's okay!" he picked up the bottle himself and started dabbing his bloodied chin. " Nothing's broken! It hurts like a bitch, but I've had worse. Just… just breathe, okay? Please don't faint, I don't need to spend another night writing one of those stupid reports."

She blinked, confused by the uncharacteristic tone he used. But it certainly made her pulse slow down (altough she was pretty sure her heart would jump out of her ribcage and run away in shame any minute now). And now that he mentioned it, his nose was still in the centre of his sharp face, just a bit red.

But that did not erase the offense she had just subjected him to. Hiyori bowed her head. "Please forgive me. It will not happen again."

"Then why are you here, if not to try to give me another bruise or two?"

He was joking. "I really want- Please let me stay and train with you for the next year. And maybe even longer, I have so much to learn, if- if you'll have me."

Yato didn't respond. No, she thought. No, no, no, please don't refuse. Please. Hesitating, she glanced up from under her bangs.

He didn't seem angry- instead, his eyes were wide with slight surprise. They were different than in the photos, she noticed- a bright shade of blue. However, they quickly darkened as he slowly stood up.

"What's your name?" There wasn't much interest behind that question.

"Hiyori Iki."

"Sure. No problem. If you'll be able to make it through the year, I don't know why I would send you away, Iki-san."

The doubt in his voice made the blood rush to her cheeks. "I will. I believe you will find it hard to leave me behind. I'll do absolutely everything to keep up with whatever you find fitting to teach me, Yato-sama."

He snapped back to her. Immidiately she thought she was a bit too disrespectful in her claim- but his face was, in fact, shining with… glee? The change was so sudden she scooted backwards a bit.

"Well," he puffed his chest, "I am a damn good teacher. You'll be able to kick major ass in no time, you'll see."

"O-oh… that's great!" What is this? Her head felt a bit light. "Shall we- the training schedule. When are you free?"

He waved his hand, the other one on his chin as if he was deep in thought. "Just come in whenever suits you best. This place."

"Really? Every day? Just… whenever?"

"Yep!" He grabbed her by the arm and hauled her from the floor. " Except during lunchtime. You can kiss the door in that case, as far as I'm concerned."

"Isn't that a bit… vague? And weren't we supposed to- Don't you want to check if I'm even ready to be tra-"

But he wasn't listening anymore. He flipped out a blue cellphone and started typing something. She waited for a bit, hoping he'd look back in her direction, but when that didn't happen she decided to leave. Gathering her unused equipment, she observed him from the corner of her eye. It was next to impossible to imagine this weird guy as the black lightning that dominated every stage it touched, that this was the intimidating encounter that kept her awake previous nights. His goofy grin and two tissues sticked up his nose didn't exactly help, either.

But I have a feeling that isn't all there is to this guy.

Even though yesterday Yato had proved very… welcoming when it came to scheduling, Hiyori still decided to schedule another appointment with the blonde at the entrance before going back to her apartement. She didn't want him leaving her to wait in an empty gym until he remembers in the middle of grocery shopping that they were supposed to meet up. Or something similiar. Whatever he did in his (obviously vast amount of) free time.

It was supposed to be the last night before her first training with the God of Calamity. She was supposed to sleep and gather as much energy as she could. But her head was still buzzing with thoughts of bloodied noses and discarded dummies; it did a great job of keeping her awake. She made herself some herb tea, turned on the TV and watched the 2AM drama reruns block. That did the trick, but once she finally fell asleep, noses turned into intense eyes and cellphones, too real to shake off.

And at 4 pm sharp the next day, she was standing in Hall 5 with him once again.

"Mornin'!"

Despite the fact that his hair did look as if he just woke up, she went with the appropriate "Good afternoon, Yato-sama."

"But it is morning. Morning of a new period in your education. The Yato-sama era. We'll begin with learning what is a starting stance and what do we use it for," Yato called from his place while balancing on top of a dummy, straightened back and hands on his hips.

Hiyori mimicked his pose in the middle of one of the stages, minus the grin, "I don't think that's what I need instructions on."

"You say you have alredy mastered it?"

"Yes, I've been taking MMA lessions for a few years now."

He clapped. "Great! Less job for me. Then, show me your favorite starting move."

That was easy enough. She repositioned her feet and just prepared to sweep low with her right leg when-

"No! No, that is not- I thought you said you knew the stance?"

She glanced down at his confused face. "E-eh?"

"The starting position! Don't tell me you call that mastered?"

"Well, I-I'm doing everything right?" A bead of ghostly sweat tickled her brow as she checked the accuracy of her statement. "No, it's fine," she breathed, "chin down, elbows close, keep moving, left foot forward, right back, weight in the… centre…"

The dissapointed look didn't go away from those piercing eyes.

"It's alphabetical!" Panic was starting to surge in her veins as she babbled on. Just how oblivious was she? "So I don't forget anything! It's the shorter version, but my trainer has taught me the longer version t-"

"Look, it's obvious that it's wrong. Think fast," he swung a glove at her, making her yell in surprise. "See? See? Right there! Slow and wrong!"

Hiyori tried to ignore the pang of shame in her temples. She knew there were different types of formations, but also always felt quite alright with using the basic one she was taught all those years ago. The need for trying out something new had never surfaced. So her voice came out relatively small as she asked, "Is it really not good enough?"

"Oh no, no, it is good enough!" Yato snapped his fingers. "Just good enough to last exactly this long before getting kicked out of the window with your teeth tucked real damn neat in a jam jar."

Whoa.

"Could you then maybe… show me how to do a proper stance?"

"Who? Me?" Another Ha!. "No way. You'll have to do that yourself. Show me… Stand as if you're preparing to jump in a fight, but not as a contestant. Try to mix in a bit of something you see in the movies. Just relax. All natural."

Her hands suddenly seemed very heavy and out of place. All natural. As seen on TV? That was the exact opposite of the instructions usually drilled into her head. All natural.

"Aha, no, that's too movies. Keep in mind that funny recital from earlier."

Now he was sitting on the fence right in front of her, taking out… a pack of sweets. "Now you're too relaxed. If I decided to pat your stomach, you'd prematurely spill out all that yummy cake. Mint?"

"How do you…"

"Oh, I love that shop next to the bus stop! I could drown in their cupcakes. Have you tried them yet? Peach ones are the best."

He must've noticed the plastic wrapper peeking out of her jacket, she realized. "No, I've… never went there before today, actually."

"Try them tomorrow. Today, lesh tawking and mowe wowkin."

You were the one talking!

It was getting a bit overwhelming. Desperaton started dripping in from the cracs in her resolve punctured during yesterday's meeting. How could the too-serious, intimidating streak of light that was the God of Calamity share the same face as this… this ridiculous man with a voice disorted by a stupid mint- was it really too big to properly fit into his mouth?!

"Noh, now yewr thoo-"

"Let me guess, too natural?"

Yato hurried to answer and swallowed the drop. "No! Why? Listen carefully now, my young pupil," he leaned torwards her, suddenly serious, as if getting ready to give out a secret. "It's never too natural. There is a lot to think about while fighting, and it's good to get as many of those thoughts out of the way while you can. The person in front of you sure as hell won't wait for you to get your crown sitting comfortably enough before they dropkick your head from beneath it."

Now, this was more like it.

"I'll make sure to remember that, Yato-sama!"

"Hehe," he rested his hands behind his head. "Now don't try too hard, or it will become another stupid thing you'll have to forget about."

A few hours later, Hiyori bid goodbye to the desk lady and pushed her way outside, cold air shocking her still-warm face. The sun has alredy set, but Hafuri's lighting was providing a view of the steps and surrounding pavement as clear as during the day.

However, now there were no people hanging out in front of it- which made her wonder if the candy shop was still open. Even though during training she did nothing but stand in various positions, cupcakes did sound pretty great. Maybe not peach- she wasn't too fond of peaches- but if strawberry or simple chocolate were availible-

A sneeze interrupted her descent.

"Ehh?!"

Her previous observation had been wrong- there was somebody in front of the studio. A single sleeping figure at the edge of the entrance, hidden partially by the massive steps. A pretty small figure.

Probably a club member waiting for a ride home, Hiyori concluded and continued her way, reaching the street lit from the inside of the sweets shop. But as she was paying for a banana-chocolate goody, she found the restless tug in her gut still present. There was still around 25 minutes before she had to board her train. Enough to do a quick check. Just to make sure.

Hurrying over the road and back to Hafuri, she tried to think of something to say to the stranger. Waking her up seemed rude, but leaving her out there when it was obviously too cold to be cozy seemed even worse. Maybe she could offer to call her parents. Or ask whose student she was- they would know what to do about it.

But when she got near to the sleeping child, she noticed a few things she had not before.

First, she was wearing a jacket a few sizes too big. Second, the jacket wasn't big enough to cover a school unform that proved that the child in question wasn't actually a girl at all. Nor was the fur lining the hood thick enough to cover a bouquet of bruises blossoming from a cut on his lip over his nose, right cheek and eye.

The third realization made Hiyori's voice shaky.

"H-hey… Wake up," she nudged the arm crossed over the shoolbag. "Wake up, please."

The boy groaned. His eyelashes fluttered. Thank god.

"How do you feel?"

"Just fine…"

She attempted to help him stand up, but he beat her to it and steadied his legs by himself. No problems with balance, no swaying. No vomit was visible anywhere near, either. These were all good signs- concussion was a terrible experience to have.

"Have you let somebody examine those?"

"Examine…?"

"Your bruises. They look fresh. Have you gotten hurt in training?"

" What?" he snapped. Then he blinked a few times. "Oh. Right. Yes, training. I… there was a bit of an accident and I… was just waiting for a bus. To go to the hospital. So they can fix it. Yeah."

She frowned, dusting stray strands of grass off from his bag. "Are you sure you'll be able to get there by yourself? It's getting pretty late."

"What's with the questions? Of course I'm not going alone, I'm meeting my parents halfway and we'll be going together from that point on."

"Oh," She had no idea what else to say. It was obvious she was making him uncomfortable. "Anyway, you shouldn't wait out here. It's pretty cold."

"I'm fine."

"I did hear you sneezing just now. Let's go back to the lobby."

Pink covered his unbruised cheek. He grabbed the schoolbag from her grip. "My bus is here! Good thing you woke me up. Right on time. Bye!" With that, he ran for the headlights in the distance.

"W-wait! That is-"

But the boy was alredy gone, leaving the rest of Hiyori's yell unheard.

She watched the bus disappear around the corner. But the uneasy feeling did not go away no matter how long she tried. So she turned on her heel and went the other direction.

After all, she had yet to pass the first step of ensuring her face wouldn't look like that after matches, with a real God of Calamity peeking over her shoulder at all times.

Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.