Izumo's eyes were trained straight ahead as she waited for the teachers to give the signal to go. It was clear now that it was every man for himself, and she was glad of that. All she needed was to find that lantern, use her familiars to bring it back, and claim one of the three coveted positions on future combat missions. It was child's play, really.

In her peripheral vision she could see the ever-lengthening black hair of Yuma Tsukioka being tied back into a high-sitting ponytail. His bandaged arm held the thin strands in place while the other hand wrapped the hair elastic around it. When he pulled it tight, he inclined his head in her direction, and she tore her gaze away so as not to let him know she had been watching. She had always wondered at the fact that he never cut his hair. It was almost longer than hers now. Not that she had a problem with guys having long hair. It was more the idea of it getting in his eyes when he was shooting. Not that it would be a problem, since it was likely he wouldn't make the cut after this camp. He was absent more often than anyone else in the class, and he always seemed to be getting sick or injured. Not that it mattered to Izumo whether he made it or not.

"Good luck," she heard him say. Her heart skipped a beat. Had he been talking to her? She didn't dare look at him. She resisted the urge to respond. She wasn't here to make friends. She was here to compete with her rivals. That was what she needed to remind herself.

With a near-deafening gunshot fired into the air, the exwires were off. They had three days to find the lanterns, though Izumo counted on most of them being found within the first. She had to get to one of them first, no matter what. Failure was not an option.

She summoned her familiars, Uke and Mike. She needed them to ward off any low-level demons who might be swarming the forest at this time of night. She couldn't allow anything to stand in her way. By choice, she also turned her flashlight off, allowing her reasonable night vision to guide her. Having a light on would alert the demons to her presence, and hence attract them. It would make more work for the white foxes. They already resented her enough. She wasn't about to make them hate her more, if that was even possible.

Izumo came upon a lantern relatively quickly. Her foxes had sensed it first, as the lantern did hold demonic energy. She realised that was the easy part, though. She had to light it and bring it back while still lit. Of course, carrying it wasn't an issue. Her familiars could take care of that with their ability to multiply. No, it was containing the lantern itself, preventing it from moving around, from coming after her. But she had a few tricks up her sleeve. She always carried around white talismans from the shrine for exactly this kind of situation, and she had memorised a few aria's passages that would keep this lantern at bay.

Her planning was interrupted by the sound of a twig snapping from behind. Instinctively, she turned around, about to order her familiars to attack the incoming demon. Except it wasn't a demon. It was a human. One of her classmates.

"Tsukioka-kun," she said. Of all the people in her class, she had been the least willing to find him. She had silently been hoping he had gone for one of the other lanterns.

"Kamiki-san," Tsukioka started, but his eye was quickly caught by the lantern. "Wow," he whispered. "It's so much bigger than I was expecting."

"What? Were you expecting a tiny little hand lantern?" Izumo teased him. "What are you, stupid?"

She half expected him to snap at her or charge into an attack. That's what Suguro or Okumura would have done, while little Miwa would have tried to break them up. Moriyama, that twit, would have just agreed with her or said something passive. Shima would have thought she was flirting with him. Tsukioka, though, just laughed.

"No," he said. "But about half that size might have been manageable."

"With those scrawny arms?" Izumo taunted. She was laying it on. She wasn't sure why she was doing that. Maybe Paku was right about her needing to be nicer to people.

"Well, how are you moving it then, since you're so clever?" he asked in a similar taunting voice.

"Obviously, I'm not," Izumo said. "My familiars will, though."

"You win," Tsukioka said. "Not that I wasn't going to let you have it anyway. After all, you were here first."

That was true. But even so, it puzzled her that he was giving up so easily. Any of the others would have put up more of a fight. Well, except maybe Moriyama, because she was a pushover. But Tsukioka had come through every time Izumo had thought 'he can't do it'. His determination was one of the reasons she respected him. He wasn't like Suguro or Okumura, who actually had the strength to back up their confidence. Tsukioka was always exceeding expectations, surprising everyone. Why was he suddenly backing out now?

"What's wrong with you?" Izumo demanded.

"Nothing," he said. A lie. A really obvious lie.

"It's clearly not 'nothing'," she retorted. "Every time I thought you were going to give up on cram school, you kept on coming back. You broke your ribs and couldn't go on missions but you still kept coming to class. You were back on the shooting range within an hour of the doctor giving you the all clear to start training again. You haven't been getting any stronger physically, and in fact you've lost weight since you got back, which in your case can't be good, yet you're still somehow still making it. But even after all that, you're just going to give up one of only three chances to qualify for real missions because I was here first?"

Tsukioka gaped at her, seeming unsure of how to respond.

"I'm going to ask one more time, and don't lie to me this time. What the hell is wrong with you?"

He didn't answer at first. It was as though he was deciding whether he was going to tell her or not. Then, he spoke. "When I found out there were only three positions on combat missions, I was devastated. I didn't like the idea of having to put my dream of becoming an exorcist on hold until the next opportunity to progress came by. Like most people here, I came with a specific goal, and I am running out of time to achieve it. But you know what I hated more? The idea of being one of the ones who went forward, because that meant leaving behind some of the only friends I've ever had."

"You think I don't hate the idea of leaving them behind?" Izumo snapped at him. "But I can't afford to think like that. I have to become an exorcist. I have no choice. I can't think about anyone else. But for some reason I always seem to be thinking about you! For some reason I want the little weakling who nobody thought would make it to progress alongside me. But now, you're just giving up and I won't accept it."

"I'm not giving up!" he yelled. "I will never give up. I will never give up on being an exorcist, just like I'll never give up on fighting this stupid disease that's trying it's hardest to kill me!"

Izumo felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop to the ground. Yuma Tsukioka had his back to her now. She could hear him breathing. Each inhale was even, but each exhale was a shudder.

"I've had cancer since I was eight years old," he said shakily. "I have been fighting for half my life. I'm not about to stop now. Take the lantern back, Izumo. Use your familiars, and that talisman you've had in your hand the last twenty minutes. Go. Claim your place. Nobody deserves this more than you."

"What will you do?" she asked.

"I will return to camp without a lantern, but I still have two days so I might take the long way. No doubt the other lanterns have already been found, so there's little purpose in searching for them now."

"They might have been found," Izumo said. "But maybe the others will be slower than us."

It hit her then, the realisation of what the true test was. She remembered the words of Okumura-sensei. No exorcist can fight alone.

"Come with me," she said.

"What?"

"Come with me," she repeated. "Bring the lantern back with me. Okumura said that whoever can bring back a lantern safely will qualify. If we both bring it back, they'll have no choice but to accept us both. Besides, he'll probably be happy that I learned something from the last training camp. He is always going on about teamwork, right?"

"No exorcist can fight alone," Tsukioka quoted. He had turned to face her now, his eyes lit up like fireflies.

"Yuma," Izumo said. Instinctively she took his hands in hers. They were bony and freezing cold, but somehow, they felt comfortable. "We've both been fighting alone this whole time. For once, let's fight together."