Chapter 10: Kendo and Integrative Learning

Yoshiro woke up feeling very tired. The heaviness in his limbs from last night had not gone away. With a huge effort, he heaved his body out of bed and got dressed, almost wincing at the effort.

Ah… so tired…

At school, he could still feel eyes looking at him curiously, but he was too tired to care. He couldn't even manage to keep his eyes open and slept not a minute after class started.

Lunchtime presented him with a rude awakening.

"Yoshiro, I have a huge favor to ask you."

"Huh?" He snapped awake and found himself staring at Ms. Toriumi. At first, he thought he was in trouble for sleeping in class, but apparently that wasn't why she was talking to him.

"It's about our athletic teams... Participation is down. The coach says he needs more people..." Ms. Toriumi started to say.

Oh no. He didn't like where this was going.

"Since you're not in any team, Yoshiro, you must have time on your hands, right?"

Oh, please don't…

"Between track, kendo, and swimming, there's got to be one that interests you, right?"

No, there's not! Really!

"Please! Join something!" Ms. Toriumi begged.

This can't be happening.

"Well, I – I don't –" Yoshiro began to make an excuse. However, the look in Ms. Toriumi's eyes told him there was no way to get out of this. He sighed. "I'll join the kendo team," he finally said dejectedly. He didn't know anything about kendo, but he did know that he sunk like a stone and running…

Might as well go with the lesser of three evils.

Ms. Toriumi looked positively thrilled. "Really! You'll do it! Thank you! Yes! A free lunch!"

What?

"...Oh, um, disregard that last part. Then, can you go see the team after school and tell them you want to join?"

So, all this is for a free lunch? That… hardly seemed worth it.

Well, looked like he was going to the gym after school. While still feeling like crap.

"Better to get more sleep in before then, I suppose," he mumbled to himself, putting his head back on his desk and closing his eyes.

He headed to the gym right after school ended. Of course, he'd much prefer it if he wouldn't be heading to the gym in the first place. But he already gave Ms. Toriumi his word, so he couldn't just blow it off. Well, at least he'd gotten his energy back thanks to that nap.

The moment he entered the gym, he was greeted by the coach. After a quick chat, he was introduced to the rest of the team.

"Looks like we've got another student joining the team. Everyone, this is Yoshiro Akio," the coach said.

A girl with dark skin and black hair stepped up. The manager, he'd guess. "Hello, I'm the manager, Yuko Nishiwaki." Yup, he was right. "Nice to meet you," she greeted.

He smiled politely. "Likewise," he answered.

"Hm… Let's see… Hey! Minato!" the coach called.

What?

Minato stepped forward and Yoshiro's spirits brightened a little when he saw the guy. There's a familiar face, at least.

"Hey, Minato. Didn't know you're part of the kendo team," he remarked.

"Oh, you two know each other?" the coach asked.

"Yeah," Yoshiro answered.

"Well, Minato here also joined us recently, but he's shown remarkable potential. Hasn't he, Kazushi?" the coach asked another student.

He had short, spiky black hair and one look was enough to tell that he was definitely serious about sports. "You could say that again, coach," Kazushi said lightly.

"So, Minato, Kazushi, since he's in the same class as you guys, why don't you both keep an eye on him?" the coach finished.

Minato shrugged, though it didn't look like he was refusing.

Kazushi's answer was more definite. "You got it, coach," he said before turning to Yoshiro, "So, you're Yoshiro? The guy that scored a perfect score on the exams, right?"

Yoshiro sighed. Great, it was circulating just as badly as he'd thought. "Yeah, I am."

"Well, we'll see if you're as good in kendo, then," he continued good-naturedly, "I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Minato: from now on, you're mine after school."

Yoshiro grinned. "Sir, yes, sir," he said with a two finger salute.

Well, good to see the kendo team had a sense of humor. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

"You were pretty good out there, Minato," Yoshiro remarked. Practice had ended and they were making their way back to the dorm. He didn't do much his first practice, thank goodness; just observed the others practice. Yuko assured him that his uniform and gear would be ready by next practice, so he had from now till then to learn all he could about kendo.

"But yeah, I'd never would've thought you'd be in the kendo team. Just didn't strike me as the type," Yoshiro continued, "But I guess all that 'special training' in Tartarus helps, huh?"

"You could say that," Minato answered.

"But I'm in way over my head here," Yoshiro said with a sigh, "I don't know a single thing about kendo."

"Then, why did you join?" Minato asked.

"Well, Ms. Toriumi didn't really give me much of a choice. It's either this, the swim team, or track. I don't know how to swim, so that's out of the question. And between the other two options, kendo just seemed more interesting."

"Even when you don't know anything about it?"

Yoshiro nodded. "Even when I don't know anything about it. I could always learn, you know?"

They arrived at the dorm shortly after that. "Well, I've gotta go and do some research now. Later, Minato," Yoshiro said, heading up the stairs straight to his room.

Yoshiro yawned and then rested his head on his desk.

"Research?" Minato asked next to him.

He nodded tiredly. He'd spent way too much time finding out about kendo last night. Funny how he could feel fine running around fighting Shadows during the Dark Hour, yet still feel like crap from just a few hours in front of a computer.

The human body is definitely weird. Or maybe it was just him.

Speaking of weird…

"I'm Edogawa, in charge of integrative learning."

Now, if he remembered correctly - which he was sure he did - there should've been no such class in the curriculum. And he was also pretty sure that guy was the school nurse.

"Eeheehee… In this class, I'll ease all your worries," Mr. Edogawa continued.

Yoshiro scoffed. Obviously, the guy didn't know just what those worries were. Alright, what was it? Breathing exercises? Positive thinking?

"It's psychotherapy through magic!"

…

…

…What?

About half the class must've reacted the way he did.

"All right, everyone, be very, very quiet. No talking… Silence! Were you surprised to hear me bring up magic?" Mr. Edogawa continued, "It's a recent proposal, so it's not well known yet."

Maybe it was not well known because it's nuts?

…Then again, they fought monsters during a thirteenth hour no one else was aware of by shooting themselves in the head, so maybe he should pay attention.

Mr. Edogawa continued. "Here it is: those who believe will be saved. Study hard and I can beat your weak minds into shape."

Oh, joy.

...That… wasn't bad. Not at all. In fact, Mr. Edogawa's lecture actually sounded… well, interesting. Still kind of off, but less crazy than he thought it would be.

He stopped by the gym after school for kendo and thankfully managed not to make a complete fool out of himself. The workout itself was a piece of cake compared to fighting Shadows during the Dark Hour, so he had no problems there. It was kind of fun, in fact, and before he knew it, practice was over.

As he arrived at the dorm, Minato, Mitsuru, and Yukari seemed to be having a conversation.

"…If that's the case, what's the point of fighting?" he caught Yukari say.

"Hm? If what's the case?" he chimed in.

"Oh, hey, Yoshiro-kun. Senpai was just telling us that the number of The Lost is increasing again," Yukari explained.

"Really?" He hadn't noticed. The Lost weren't really his concern.

Mitsuru nodded. "That's right. But still, if we do nothing, then everyone will eventually join The Lost. Our efforts have prevented the crisis from escalating."

"I guess you're right," Yukari said reluctantly, "...Ya know, it's kinda creepy when you think about it... If we couldn't use our Personas, then the whole city would be crawling with zombies..."

"That's why we have to keep fighting," Minato finally chimed in.

"Well, there's that, at least. And I'm sure that we all also have our own personal reasons too," Yoshiro added, "Am I right?"

"…Yeah," Yukari said weakly.

He also noticed Mitsuru looking down guiltily. Did he touch on a subject he shouldn't have?

"Well, if you're that worried about it, how about we go to Tartarus tonight?" Minato offered, dispelling the gloom, "We need to get Junpei back into things anyway."

They all voiced their assent.

"I'll tell the others then," Mitsuru said, walking away.

"I'm going back to my room. Gonna get some sleep in while I can," Yoshiro said, heading to the stairs before pausing, "And don't you dare leave me behind," he added.

Minato chuckled. "We won't," he replied.

Hey all! Sorry for the short chapter, but I'm really trying to speed through the next two weeks. Once the full moon's over, I promise it'll pick up cause most of the things I plan actually starts then. So please bear with me.