—
Ace:
Deuce:
Trey:
Cater: I
Cinque: I
Sice: I
Seven:
Eight: I
Nine: IIII III
Jack:
Queen: I
King:
Machina:
Rem:
When Kurasame entered the classroom on the third day of his challenge, he had yet to be attacked since he'd awoken that morning. Which was why he expected one any moment.
But no… no signs of an ambush. Just one student engrossed in the book on his desk – something that would have been a warning sign were it anyone else, but that was normal for Trey. Although… Trey didn't normally beat him to class.
Kurasame paused, raising a questioning eyebrow at the blond.
Trey looked up, meeting his gaze for a moment before supplying, "As entertaining as witnessing all of their ill-planned and poorly executed strategies is, I rather enjoy the textbook assignments we're awarded. You have no cause to worry about dodging arrows."
Awarded. Of course that's how Trey would see his homework. Very well. Moving on.
Kurasame waited until all the other students had arrived to start jotting down the tally marks from the day before. Perhaps that would help further ingrain the failures into their heads.
He hesitated when he got to Sice's name. Was that even worth counting as an attempt? He glanced over his shoulder at her, and she sank lower into her chair. Well, she'd been planning something that didn't work out. He added the tally, but didn't make any comments to any of them about their statuses. He really didn't need to. The board would speak for itself.
Machina's leg vibrated up and down as he stared intently at their instructor, waiting for the right moment. He didn't want to do this. He couldn't believe he'd let the others talk him into this. But now they were all expecting him to make a move, and all he could do was hope Kurasame hadn't noticed the torrent of sweat flowing down his neck.
Come on. He just needed an opening…
There! Kurasame had turned his back to write something on the board – the half that didn't have tally marks, that was.
Machina shoved his chair back and vaulted over his desk, summoning his rapiers as–
Kurasame stopped him in his tracks with a steely glare. "Did you have a question, Cadet?" He didn't even look back at the board as he filled in a tally mark next to Machina's name.
Machina's rapiers disappeared. "Um… no, sir…" He shuffled back to his seat, his face boiling with his embarrassment.
From the back of the room, Nine snorted. "Smooth, hey."
Cater barked out a laugh. "Oh, you're the one to talk! You have how many attempts now?"
Nine shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "I dunno… like, seven?"
Machina glanced at the board, and he could have sworn he saw Kurasame's eyes roll a second later. "It would appear I'll be needing to add simple addition to your homework after this."
"Hey! It ain't over yet!" Nine protested, apparently still holding to the illusion that one of them might succeed and rid them all of after-class work.
"Yeah!" Cater crossed her arms. "We still got plenty of time!"
Machina dropped his head to his desk. Hopeless. They were hopeless. He just hoped none of the others had roped Rem into this too…
Kurasame tossed Nine's spear after him and pulled the door shut. Couldn't the boy come up with something more original than charging at him like an enraged behemoth? At this rate, Kurasame was going to have more total time with that spear in his hands than its owner.
Ace swallowed, not making any sudden movements as he spotted the commander heading in his direction down the hall. There was no way the commander hadn't spotted him in return, so he kept walking very calmly.
"Cadet," Kurasame acknowledged with a nod of his head as they passed each other.
"Commander," Ace returned. Now their backs were turned. This could be the chance none of the others had gotten. His hand crept towards his bag of playing cards as he turned–
"I heard you think about that."
…Or not. The commander hadn't even spared him a glance.
"This isn't working. We've got to come up with a better strategy." Seven took a sip of her drink before setting it back on the table.
There were nods from the eight others at the table: Deuce, Sice, Jack, Rem, Eight, Machina, Cater, and Ace. Trey and King were at a different table across the room.
"But how?" Deuce asked. "The commander has so much more experience than us!"
"Soooooo, we even the odds, then!" Jack grinned.
"How would we do that?" Eight leaned back in his chair, arms crossed.
"Double-team, baby!" Jack fist-pumped.
Seven frowned. "Is that allowed?"
"Heh. I don't remember there being any rules set," Sice said.
Machina groaned. "Count me out." He pushed his chair back and left the table.
"Wuss!" Cater yelled.
"Cater!" Seven hissed. "Give him a break. He tried already."
"I'd… better go after him." Rem tossed them a smile before jogging to catch up with her boyfr– ahem, 'friend.'
Sice cleared her throat. "So, what's the new plan?"
Trey passed the commander yet again as he exited the Crystarium. What an enjoyable person Quon was. They'd just had a lovely discussion on–
"Raaaaagghhhhh!"
When Kurasame paused to let his student go first out of the Crystarium, he was simply trying to keep an eye on him. He was not expecting said student to drop like a sack of flan when the dull end of a spear nailed him in the head.
"Oh, shoot! Trey! Are you okay, hey?"
Trust Nine not to know when someone was unconscious.
Kurasame darted forward, quickly snatching Nine's spear away to toss it on the floor as he crouched next to his fallen student, rolling him over. "Cadet?"
There was a thin line of blood near his temple, and Kurasame held his hand up, releasing a small healing spell around the area.
Trey groaned, coming to almost instantly. He blinked drearily. "Commander? What happened?"
"You, uh, ran into the door, yo?" Nine suggested.
Trey scowled. "I did no such thing. That is absurd."
"Apparently your classmate finds us difficult to tell apart." Kurasame offered his hand to the archer, helping him up.
"You struck me with your spear?" Once back on his feet, Trey touched the bloody spot on his head. "Has all reasoning left you?"
Kurasame wondered how it had taken Trey of all people this long to figure that out.
—