Author's Note: So I ran out of titles for Chapter 7. What? It's a lot of action, okay?

Arc II - Chp. 7 ; 28 - ...

Kazu groaned under his breath. "Oh brother..." The group continued to chase after Makiko.

- Three Minutes Ago -

Far from the activities of Class 3 Plum, an automated doll by the position of captian, "Musashi" stood in watch of the present activity going on at the very edge of the wind fields, Class 3-Plums athletic trainings were always interesting to watch since Makiko was instructed to train that group of representatives and students seven years ago. That particular group of teens held Musashi's... no, the Far East's salvation, they would be the ones to make things right, and if they are all still alive by the end, they would be honored like heroes, kings and queens typically. Makiko had down a superb job bringing them up the way she had, aside from the ones who had parents.

"Again, I see..." said an older male voice.

"Musashi" turned to around to greet the man that had walked up deck. "Hello, Principal Sakai."

"Jud." The man clad in loose blue clothing with a blow pipe in his lips said, waving his hand before placing it into one of his oversized pockets. He took a place beside the captain and took watch. "Seems like they are at it again, and so soon too."

"Judge." replied the captian. "Usually, athletics training takes place only once a year, for about an hour. Today, due to the risk anyone could be killed in the next day, Makiko has given the whole day to the class to land one hit on her. It's only been about half an hour, but the students have vastly improved since they got onto the battlefeild. Over."

Sakai nodded and resumed watching. "She's awfully close to the edge, don't you think?"

"Musashi" blankly stood, observing the spectacle with both hands holding eachother infront of her as if she was a maid waiting to recieving orders.

"Do you think that she'll be safe around that, or that any of the students will hurt her in anyway over there, especially my nephew?"

"Musashi" kept silent.

"Do you think she'll be able to handle the new students she has to lead?" Sakai leaned forward to see her face, which remained remotely blank. Eventually, he widened his smile to see if he could cause some sort of responce to come up.

"Makiko..." "Musashi" began slowly. "is an idiot."

Sakai chuckled and straightened his posture, placing a hand on his forehead. "Well, you have a point there..."

"Jud, but the type of idiot she is relates to how useful she can be. She is smart and knows a great deal of knowledge on a lot of types of combat. Her problem is her recklessness and a lack of concern for her well being and others'; especially when it comes to her 'beloved' students. Over."

"Hmm?" Sakai turned his head to her, his attention now caught. "Really?"

"Judge." "Musashi" said blankly. "When Toori had gotten severly injured about six and a half years ago... It was around Makiko's first year instructing the small kids and the students' first years in Middle/High, or basically, the Academy. Grade 4 I believe."

"Really, that long ago?.."

"Jud, you were there..." "Musashi" said, glancing over to him.

"Hmm... you'll have to refresh my memory." Sakai let out, manuevering his head to face her in a relaxed and slanted motion.

"Judge." the captian faced forward. "She was taking the class on a walk around the Musashi, showing them and informing them on what exactly they were living on..."

Makiko and a group of younger kids, all about the age of seven or eight years old, obviously younger versions of her present students were all walking down a shaded path, small streams of light peircing the cracks of the green leaves above. She was pointing out and informing them of various things to her kids, and they attentively listened, some more than others.

"Makiko knew she was not allowed by the board to take her kids outside of the current ship the academy rested on, the Okutama, but she knew the destinies those kids carried. She practically acted like a mother with them at that time."

"Musashi" kept watching the students jump from windmill to windmill, hoping to they would not kill themselves. "She'd take them out on walks, sit down and talk with them in nicely shaded clearings..." The captain then only started to observe the students.

Sakai noticed her pause. "Hmm?" He loked at her from the side of his head. "Well?"

"On that one trip, Toori had gotten excited. There was a large cement stair case in a park. If you would measure it straight up from vertical point A to vertical point B, you'd measure four stories of height the staircase covers."

Makiko lead the group of young students to a long stone staircase, trees continued to provide heavy shade over the entire area. "Makiko told them about a fountain in the middle of the park, a fountain that sat at the bottom of the stair. She told them that if they were hard workers, that would be the place their dreams would come true." "Musashi" narrated. "Toori's dream was to get Horizon back, so naturally, he got excited and believed what she said."

"Musashi" kept watching the students try to hit their instructor, all failing miserably. "I beleive he must have misunderstood what she really meant by "your dreams would come true"..."

Sakai held his head in remourse. "Oh yeah, I remember now... Around that time, I was walking in the park doing some slight maintenance work sombody asked me to do. I had gotten excused from the academy for the time to do it..." His eyes looked on up in grief as he recalled what happened in his own mind.

"Judge." "Musashi" confirmed. "Toori got excited and believed what his teacher and obviously friend told him. The stairs were recently cleaned and were quite slippery. Toori's sudden burst of action caught Makiko completly off guard, he maybe even surprised himself. That little boy was so set on getting to that fountain, it wasn't until he just passed her that she realized Toori was going to run down the steps and hurt himself..."

The young Toori broke from the crowd of children in an instant, running towards the stairs, determined to make his dream a reality. Makiko was surprised by his sudden speed as he ran past her. "No, Toori!" She yelled in anxiety. He was already past her before she could even react, and she reached in vain to grab him.

"Makiko may have been much faster than Toori, but that did not prevent what happened next..."

Makiko desperately reached out to grab hold of Toori's shoulder. "Makiko attempted to restrict Toori before he would run and trip on the stairs, but..." Makiko's hand rocketed forward and hit Toori's shoulder hard, causing him to stumble and fall forward over the cement stairway. Time seemed to stop as Makiko watched in shock and terro as the other kids made their way to him. Toori flew high over the staircase, almost floating as he flew, then, gravity took hold of him in a full force.

*impact*

Makiko looked down, shaking, quivering with fear filled eyes from the high ground as Toori lied unmoving in a small pool of thick red liquid. Kimi and the others ran down the hill, avoiding the stairway as Sakai and other adults ran to his aid.

"Ultimately, she pushed Toori down the ledge and he fell down an equivalent of four stories of hard cement stairs. He suffered major injuries to his arms, legs, and body..."

Kimi was the first to reach him, sliding down on her feet and then sitting beside him, screaming inaudible words as her classmates approached calling his name. Sakai hastily arrived and carefully carressed the injured boy, shouting for help. Tomo had attempted to grab Toori out of care to check to see if he was okay, but another adult held her back.

"Everything was in chaos as the friend of Lady Horizon was in a terrible situation, but thankfully, there was a crew of emergency personal stationed at the park incase anything should happen. They immediatly took Toori into their care as Makiko finally took register to reality and broke down..."

The woman screamed in horror of her actions, unable to percieve what had just taken place. She had harmed one of her precious students, someone she cared dearly for. Makiko started to bullet to his location as Toori was being taken away. Sakai reached her and wrapped his arms around her to keep her back, and another adult hold her other side. She fought to get to him, but was restrained.

"Toori!" she yelled in absolute despair.

"She was held back and taken back to the school without her students breifed on what exactly happened."

"Musashi" stared upon Makiko landing clumsily on the edge of the ship. "It was a miracle that Toori survived and recovered so quickly. He was ready to begin class two weeks later, and his first question was if his teacher was okay."

Sakai smiled. "Toori's always been a smart person... well, when it came to people. His enthusiasm and happiness in class helped Makiko herself to recover from the accident. I doubt without him, she would never have forgiven herself." He resumed his attention back to Makiko as an orange smog enveloped her.

Not too far from them in the shading of an elevated tree on a wooden bench sat Amagi, observing the group as well. She blinked as they continued to run and chase after Makiko. "What a useless game. What could possibly come out of this in their benefit other than showing the entire world how they fight? It makes no sense."

Margot and Malga flew fast as Makiko emerged from the smoke cloud, leathery liquid of orange formed loosely on various positions of her figure. She coughed slightly, but kept running forward, her shoes sticking slightly to the ground.

"Yes, I got her!" Malga exclaimed.

"Wow!" Makiko praised. "I barely escaped that, too bad it doesn't count as a hit!" She smiled at the two. "Nice strategy." Makiko proceeded to sprint faster, causing Malga to scoff in disbelief.

Makiko continued to run away from the class, slightly rubbing her eyes. Then, Persona started to outrun the group, Ninji and Suzu riding on his shoulder.

"This will be great!" Ninji proclaimed, sliding down Persona's right arm and into his hand. The gian lifted his and as Neito moved out of their way. "Here we go!" Ninji yelled as Persona threw him at Makiko.

"Whoa!" Makiko yelled as she jumped to dodge the slime spirit. Ninji kept flying forward as Adele rapidly caught up to her. She used a stabbing motion towards her being. Makiko gasped as Adele's lance hit her sword sheath.

"Wow, you guys are going all out!" Makiko praised.

Margot flew forward and rotated to face her running teacher. "Here, take this!" Margot started to fire off more coins, but Makiko jumped and dodged Adele's strikes and Margot's shots. She hastily landed and then ran, not watching infront of her.

"Hey, Teacher!" yelled Toori from infront of her.

"Huh?" Makiko turned her head to see Toori only an inch from her, standing his hands on his hips, smiling. Makiko screamed for a split second before colliding head first into him, causing them both to flip and land hard on the ground, Makiko on top. She sat up and held her nose. "Ow..." The instructor rubbed her nose softly to console the pain, then stood up to continue on as Toori lied in a daze. The others ran by as Kenji flew by to pick him up.

"Ooh..." murmered Sakai with amazement. "Doesn't that count?"

"Musashi" shook her head "No, it has to be him to her, not her to him."

"Ah, okay..." Sakai nodded his head in understanding.

Makiko slightly stumbled and jumped onto the roof a nearby building. She kept going as Neshinbara made his way to the front.

"Yes, we are in the district." he announced. The clerk surveyed up ahed to see a bridge, cheap, connecting the rooves of two seperate buildings, about twenty feet long. The rooves were built in a more traditional panel style, a red tint over the tiles that blanketed it. Neshinbara looked over the side to see how far below the ground was. "Three stories, she can easily take that..." He pulled up a sign frame. "Futayo, are you in position?"

"Judge." she nodded.

"Good, be ready. The target will be that scaffold. On my mark."

From Neshinbara's position, about sixty feet away, Futayo took her stance, spreaded and stretched her legs, she lifted Tonbokiri over her head with a spin, then reflected the scaffold off of her spear as Makiko ran onto it to cross.

"Now, Futayo!" Neshinbara yelled.

"Huh?" Makiko turned back to see what he meant.

"Bind, Tonbokiri!" Futayo commanded.