Manami noticed that the closer they got to noon, the more outwardly nervous the Elric brothers appeared to be. Even as they arrived at the entrance to the courtyard, they fell behind her, allowing her to walk ahead.

After a few steps, Manami whipped around, managing to catch a split second of fear washed over Ed's expression, before he quickly tried to hide it.

"What's up with you two?" She asked, frowning. "You're acting weird."

"Weird?" Ed put on a smile that wasn't even convincing. "What are you talking about? Everything's fine!"

"Nope, nothing weird about us!" Al added, his tone a pitch higher than normal.

"Look," Ed pointed. "There's y-your teacher!"

Manami looked over her shoulder to see a woman standing in the middle of the courtyard. Her arms were crossed, and she didn't seem to be in a good mood.

"..."

"Go say hi, Manami!"

"We'll be over here cheering you on!"

Manami looked back to see that Ed and Al had moved back towards the entrance.

"Wait," She turned her back to the stranger, prepared to chase the boys. "Where are you going?!"

From behind her, Manami's new teacher cocked her eyebrow.

"And WHERE do you two think you're going?" She barked.

Ed and Al froze.

"Busted…"

As the Elric brothers slowly shuffled back to her side, Manami turned to face the woman, who had uncrossed her arms and was approaching them.

The woman stopped in front of them, glaring down at Ed and Al before looking over Manami, her expression unfaltering.

"So... you're the new Keyblade Wielder." She said. "Manami is it? I am Izumi Curtis."

"N-Nice to meet you…" Manami said, trying to put on a brave front as she bowed politely to her new teacher.

"Normally I refuse to accept pupils or even associate with the military... but, given the current circumstances, I unfortunately had to make an exception." Izumi said with a sigh.

"So, I'm going to be your magic instructor. Understand so far?"

Manami quickly nodded, still a little intimidated. "Y-Yes ma'am, I'll do my best!"

"Good." Izumi nodded in approval. "Then let's begin. Summon your Keyblade, please."

"You got it!"

Ed and Al stepped away from Manami to give her room, as she extended her arm and opened her hand.

"..." But, nothing happened.

"... well?" Izumi's frown grew deeper.

The tension only made Ed and Al more nervous.

"Sorry! U-Uh..!" Manami began to sweat herself, waving her hand expectantly.

Still, her hand remained empty.

"H-Heh…" Manami let out a weak chuckle. "Nerves, y'know?"

Izumi was clearly unimpressed.

"Come on!" Manami whipped her arm out one more time...

FLASH!

The Keyblade finally appeared in her hand. She, nor the Elric brothers, could contain a sigh out of pure relief.

"It's obvious you barely understand the thing." Izumi muttered, only letting out a sigh of impatience.

"A Keyblade is a weapon composed of magic, but powered by one's heart and summoned by their will." She explained. "Our first step is going to be teaching you how to summon and de-summon your Keyblade at your command. If you can't manage something as simple as that, you will be struck down at the start of a fight— and my two pupils will NOT always be there to pick up your slack!"

Manami flinched at that harsh fact, only revealing her nervousness more.

"Now then... think of the Keyblade as a literal extension of yourself and de-summon it. Like the claws of a cat receding back into it's paw."

"O-Okay…" Manami stammered, nervously looking down to the weapon in her hand.

"The first step is to remain focused." Izumi reminded her, calmly. "As you said, your nerves are affecting the connection between your heart and the Keyblade."

"Right…" Manami closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she let the breath out of her mouth, the Keyblade disappeared from her hand with a small flash of light.

Manami opened her eyes once she felt the weight of the weapon disappear from her hand. "Hey, I did it!"

"Good." Izumi nodded. "Now then... Your next task will be to summon the Keyblade in the heat of battle."

"Huh—"

Izumi clapped her hands, and Ed and Al gasped. They both tried to warn her, but Izumi had already touched the ground. Sparks flew across the courtyard to Manami, and she could only watch as the earth below her feet was brought up to form shackles around her ankles.

"?!" She was anchored down to the spot she stood!

"I'm going to be attacking you... your job will be to summon the Keyblade and deflect my attacks."

"HUH?!" Manami looked up from her feet at Izumi with wide eyes.

"Also, you are forbidden from dodging. And just in case you do…"

Izumi clapped her hands once more, and Manami squinted her eyes shut as she braced for something, anything… but instead, she heard Ed grunt from behind her.

"Brother!" Al cried.

"HEY! Why am I being dragged into this?!"

Manami opened her eyes and looked behind her to see Ed bound to a post, constricted by the same earth that held her own feet down. But, Ed's hands were also bound behind his back.

"If you dodge, the attacks will go past you and hit Edward." Izumi said. "If you wish to ensure that both of you won't get hurt, you'll have no choice but to deflect the attacks! Are we clear?"

"This woman is crazy!" Manami barely had time to have that thought as Izumi clapped her hands once more, touching the ground to summon rocks to throw at her.

But yet, as the rock approached Manami, she realized that it also was on fire.

"!" Manami gave into her instinct and hunched down, allowing the small fireball to shoot past her and hit Ed on the leg.

Of course, not the one made out of automail.

"Ow!" Ed yelped. It wasn't anything serious, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

"I-I'm sorry!" Manami made the mistake of looking back to Ed as she apologized. "I-It's instinct to— OW!"

She looked back to hold where she was pelted in the shoulder.

"PAY ATTENTION!"

"Okay, okay!" Manami grunted in frustration, and then Izumi shot another fireball. She opened her hand to summon the Keyblade… but it didn't come.

WHACK! She took a second fireball to the thigh.

"Manami!" Al cried. "Teacher, this is insane!"

"REALLY insane!" Ed struggled in his bind.

Izumi ignored both of them and summoned another fireball to shoot. Manami closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the thought of holding the Keyblade…

But, nothing came, and felt herself giving up as she heard the fireball come closer, lowering her head in defeat.

WHACK!

"Ghh…" This fireball had hit her on the side of the head, and she groaned as she went to hold it.

Izumi's eyes narrowed at the sight of her.

"I won't stop just because you gave up."

With that, she clapped her hands once more, throwing three small fireballs this time.

Manami's eyes widened at the sight, but she gritted her teeth. It was now or never…

The first two fireballs hit her, but she suddenly felt a surge of energy course through her. The Keyblade appeared in her hand, and she gripped it firmly in both hands as she smacked the third fireball away.

"Ha… I did it!" Manami panted, already having broken a sweat.

"Don't celebrate just yet." Izumi shook her head. "You're going to have to keep going until you can do it at least 10 times in a row without missing!"

"... huh?" Manami's smile disappeared.

"WHAT!?" Ed cried.

"But Manami's been hit by so many attacks so far... there's no way she can keep it up!" Al argued.

"Do you really think I'm using my full power?" Izumi asked. "Not only is this the weakest fire spell I know, but I've modified it to make certain that it doesn't burn her alive. I can't teach her any magic if she has no endurance or stamina."

Izumi once again clapped her hands.

"The best way to build up endurance and stamina… is to be pushed to past your limits. Otherwise, you gain nothing."

Manami felt the sting of that last sentence, and swallowed thickly at the thought of all of this… being for nothing.

"NOW, KEEP AT IT, MANAMI!"

Manami looked up in horror as Izumi threw not one, not three, but five fireballs at once. She raised her Keyblade and managed to hit the first fireball, but was hit by the second and third, the fourth hitting Ed, and the fifth hitting Manami once again.

"That's a reset! Ten times in a row without missing, go!"

"Come on..!" Manami gritted her teeth, frustrated.

She slashed one, two, three fireballs away… and got excited. So much so, that she missed the next two and took both hits.

"Ow..!" She hissed.

"Has this girl seriously never fought before..?" Izumi thought to herself, summoning five more fireballs. "Why did the Keyblade choose someone so... inexperienced..?"

She watched as Manami then managed to deflect all five of the fireballs she just threw. And while Izumi threw another five, Manami managed to hit two, but then moved to be in the way of any fireballs she failed to hit... so that Ed no longer took damage.

"Hmm... she does show perseverance."

And eventually, after multiple tries, Manami smacked the tenth fireball away with a loud yell.

"HYAH!"

She hunched over, her legs wobbly as she panted. "That's… that's ten…"

"Good. That'll do for now…" Izumi clapped her hands and touched the ground, retracting the earth that had bound Manami and Ed throughout this exercise.

Manami's wobbly legs gave out and she fell to her knees, still trying to catch her breath.

"You alright?" Ed asked as he and Al approached her.

"Y-Yeah… tired…" Manami lifted her hand to give them a weak thumbs up.

"They make it look so easy to wield a sword in video games…" She thought.

"Manami managed to master that pretty quickly, didn't she, Teacher?" Al looked up to Izumi.

"Not really." She shook her head and crossed her arms. "We spent so much time on this, that I don't even have time to teach her any basics of spells."

"..." Manami didn't have the energy to say anything, but she felt terrible.

"..." Izumi sighed. "But you were able to pass. Take that victory for today. Just know that this was merely the first step to using magic, as well as your Keyblade... tomorrow I will teach you the basics of spells and spell casting."

With that, Izumi clapped her hands once more. Manami looked up, worried that she was attacking again, but saw that she was instead making a big, green bubble appear in her hands.

"..?" Manami flinched back as the bubble touched her, but immediately felt a rush of relief. All the burns on her skin disappeared, and she had energy again!

"Whoa…" Manami looked over herself, confirming that all the burns and scrapes from the battle were, in fact, gone.

She was healed!

"Your next teacher will NOT be as merciful as I'm being. You'll need your strength for what's up ahead…"

"Um… Teacher?" Ed asked. "Aren't you going to heal me, too?"

"I seem to recall that I taught you healing spells and medical alchemy, Edward." Izumi crossed her arms.

"R-Right! How silly of me to forget!" Ed laughed nervously and clapped his hands.

Manami watched in amazement as a green bubble formed in Ed's hands. The bubble touched him, making his body glow for a moment, and the burns and scrapes he had disappeared too!

"You're dismissed. And…" Izumi turned her back to them and started to walk away. "Good luck."

Manami and the Elric brothers watched her go, before Manami slowly pushed herself to stand with a grunt.

"You okay, Manami..?" Al asked her.

"Yeah… I guess so…" She mumbled, frowning down at her feet.

"I need good luck for the next teacher?" She thought. "What was this considered, a picnic?"

"... she's coming." She snapped back to reality when she heard Ed speak, and looked over her shoulder to see someone walking out to the courtyard, passing Izumi.

Just her presence alone brought a chill to everyone... especially Alphonse.

Another woman, but with long blonde hair. She wore a soldier's uniform with a sheathed saber on her side, sporting an even deeper frown than Izumi had.

Manami swallowed thickly when the woman stopped in front of her, raising a hand to give a weak wave. "H-Hello…"

The woman just glared down at her, saying nothing.

"Um…" Manami dropped her hand back to her side. "Heh... okay…"

The way this woman was looking down at her… she looked disappointed. As if she was expecting more. Seeing that a mere child was chosen to wield the Keyblade…

Manami felt like this woman could just breathe and it would knock her down.

"Listen here," The woman finally spoke. "I am Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong. I am here to personally train you in the art of weapons combat, Manami Mitsuko."

Manami's eyes widened in surprise. She knew her last name?

"Considering the Keyblade likely chose you during a moment of chance, I'm going to assume that you've had no prior training. Just know that I will NOT coddle you; I'm going to train you the Briggs way! ARE WE CLEAR?"

"Y-Yes ma'am… I'll do my best!" Manami squeaked.

Al shivered, having flashbacks of his own intense training with Olivier. While he and Ed had both trained with both teachers, Al was trained extensively by Olivier to accelerate his progress in armed combat.

Before Manami could say anything, Olivier suddenly unsheathed her sword and pointed it at Manami, the tip an inch away from her nose at most.

"GAH!" Manami flinched and took a step back.

"Your best won't be good enough." Olivier snarled. "On this journey, you'll have to be THE best!"

Manami was already sweating. She held out her hand and, thankfully, the Keyblade appeared in her hand without a problem.

That was the only thing she had to show for her training so far...

"Now then…" Olivier pulled her blade back, but got in a battle-ready stance. "Come at me."

"Huh?" Manami blinked.

"It's clear you can't defend to literally save your life, not that I expect anything differently from a novice." Olivier spat. "So let's see how well your offensive ability is."

Manami scowled, readying herself to charge.

"HYAH!" Manami lunged forward, slashing the Keyblade, but Olivier dodged easily.

"Huh?!" She turned to catch a glimpse of Olivier attacking, and she held up the Keyblade in front of her, managing to block the blow.

Still, Olivier stomped down on Manami's foot, making her yelp out in pain.

"OW!"

Manami had left herself wide open. Olivier slashed her across the torso and knocked her down with a loud THUD.

"Ngh…" Manami groaned.

"Get up." Olivier demanded, pointing her sword at Manami once more. "At this rate, you're far too inexperienced to be sent out on this mission. You'll only be dead weight to your comrades, endangering them as well!"

That was the second time… another reminder that she was still so weak, and probably more of a liability than an asset…

The thought of her being the reason that Ed or Al got hurt— maybe killed— because she was too weak to hold her own… it made her grit her teeth, and push herself to stand up once more.

She charged again, and Olivier merely dodged each and every attack she threw at her. Manami only got more and more frustrated, and Olivier used that to her advantage…

In one fell swoop, Olivier lunged and knocked the Keyblade out of Manami's hand, sending it flying behind her.

"?!" Manami turned away from Olivier as she watched the Keyblade fall to the ground, and Olivier SLAMMED the hilt of her sword into Manami's side.

"GUH!" Manami's eyes bulged and she fell to her knees, holding her side as she rode out the immense pain.

"I don't consider myself merciful, but if I wanted... you would have been skewered by my blade already." Olivier hissed. "No one else you fight is going to hesitate to deal the killing blow!"

Manami felt tears come to her eyes, gritting her teeth as she was immobilized from the pain.

"NOW GET UP!" Olivier yelled. "I know you can take a lot more than that, and if you can't, then you're wasting mine and EVERYONE else's time!"

Manami found that she had no will to get up...

Al couldn't bear to watch anymore. He stepped forward to pick up her Keyblade, but...

"You will not interfere, Alphonse Elric." Olivier snarled.

"B-But Master Olivier... she's unarmed!" Al pleaded. "She can't defend herself like this!"

Master? So… she had trained Ed and Al, too. Izumi was also probably a teacher of theirs.

Manami now understood... why they were afraid.

"She should have the ability to call the Keyblade back to her." Olivier said. "She needs to learn to do so! DO NOT INTERFERE, OR ELSE!"

"..." Al lowered his head, stepping away from the Keyblade. "Y-Yes, Master…"

Manami, still panting heavily, looked up to see the Keyblade. Olivier walked around and stood in front of her, in the way of the Keyblade.

"..." Manami lifted a shaky hand to reach out for it… but nothing happened.

"Concentrate. Call to it!" Olivier demanded.

"I'm trying!" Manami yelled back, frustrated.

"Not hard enough!" Olivier struck Manami with her sword once more, sending her flying back.

As Manami landed on her back, her necklace had flown off from around her neck and landed a few feet away.

"..." Olivier eyed the star-shaped necklace for a moment, before walking up to it and crouching down to pick it up.

"..!" Manami looked up to see her necklace in Olivier's hand, reaching to her chest to feel for it and confirm that it was no longer there.

"H-Hey!" She got up to her knees. "Give that back!"

"You mean this?" Olivier held up the necklace on display. "If you didn't want it to be destroyed, you shouldn't be wearing such a useless trinket to battle in the first place."

Manami pushed herself to stand up, frantically looking back and forth between the Keyblade and the necklace in Olivier's hand.

"If you want this thing so much, come get it. Otherwise, I'll dispose of it myself."

"Master, wait!" Al cried.

"This is going too far!" Ed protested.

Olivier didn't acknowledge either of their cries, throwing the necklace up in the air, and readying her sword to slash at it as it came back down.

"!" Manami reached for the Keyblade once more, wishing with all her might… and it suddenly appeared back in her hand!

But, unexpectedly, Manami threw they Keyblade at Olivier… and missed.

"Pathetic." Olivier pulled back her sword to strike the necklace, but suddenly… the Keyblade came back around, like a boomerang.

Ed and Al's eyes went wide, watching as the Keyblade hit Olivier in the ankles, and knocking her down.

Manami ran forward and dove for the necklace, managing to catch it in her hands as she landed on her stomach.

She lay face-first in the dirt for a long moment, panting heavily as she closed her fingers tightly around her necklace. She slowly got up to sit on her knees and clutched the necklace closely to her chest.

"..." Her back was facing everyone, but they could see that her shoulders were trembling.

"You may… be my teacher…"

Manami looked over her shoulder to glare at Olivier, tears stinging the corner of her eyes.

"But... I will not allow you to destroy... what's most important to me!"

"..." Olivier said nothing, pushing herself off the ground to stand up.

"..." Manami turned away once again, putting the necklace back around her neck, before pushing herself to stand up on wobbly legs.

"... I'm done…"

And with that, she turned to walk out of the courtyard.

"Your lesson isn't finished." Olivier hissed, watching Manami walk to the door that led inside the building.

"Yes, it is." Manami didn't look back as she threw the door open and stepped inside, then throwing the door shut behind her with a loud SLAM!

"..." Ed and Al stood there, staring at the door Manami just walked through, frozen in shock.

No one had EVER defied Olivier like that before... and lived to tell the tale.

"Well? What are you two doing?" Olivier spoke, snapping them both back to reality.

"It's your job to watch her, isn't it? SO GET GOING! Or do you need refreshment courses?"

"NO THANK YOU!" Ed and Al bolted across the courtyard and through the same door Manami went through, quickly catching up with her.

The Elric brothers exchanged glances, neither of them really sure of what to say… if they should say anything at all.

Manami didn't even notice them following her as she stormed out the front doors to Central HQ. The further down the street they went, in the opposite direction of the Hughes estate, the more Ed and Al caught on to the fact that she was just walking in a blind rage.

"Um…" Al started.

"Do you know where you're going?" Ed asked.

"..." Manami slowly came to a stop, sighing heavily. "No… I don't."

She didn't turn to face them, but she clenched her fists tightly.

"Well... we can help you…" Al offered. "Where do you want to go—"

"HOME!" Manami whipped around to face them. "Where I want is to go home! But that's not possible, is it?!"

Ed and Al flinched at the sudden outburst, and Manami immediately felt guilty. She sighed once more, turning away from them.

"I'm sorry… that was uncalled for…"

"It's okay…" Al assured her. "You're going through a lot…"

"... what's the point?" Manami asked, still not looking at them. "Why did this stupid thing choose the most useless person to wield it, if it's so damn important?"

She thought she would be better at this. She would always defend Kai and herself from bullies, growing up. She did fine, then… but now, all she was was some novice.

"You're not useless, Manami…" Al said, his voice soft. "There's something about you that the Keyblade saw in you. Maybe it's the strength and resolve of your heart, or maybe it's something that you don't even know yet."

"You're being too hard on yourself." Ed added. "While I'm not one of the people who believes in destiny or anything like that, I do believe that things have a logical reason for happening. So there's a logical reason why that Keyblade chose you."

"That's right!" Al agreed. "You definitely have hidden talent; it's not just the power imbued into you by the Keyblade! Trust us... we saw it today."

Manami slowly turned to look back at the Elric brothers. "... really?"

"Yeah!" Al nodded. "All this training is hard, but it'll be worth it! You'll see!"

"And when in doubt, remember that we survived their training— and we don't even have Keyblades." Ed crossed his arms.

"Heck, Al and I had to survive on an island for a whole month by ourselves! And that was back when we were kids."

"..." Manami couldn't help but chuckle. "This world is absolutely insane with its training regimens…"

Ed smiled sheepishly back at her, while Al hummed happily.

"Well…" Manami sighed. "I have to try to take your word for it."

She paused, thinking for a moment.

"... be honest, how dead I am I for storming out like that?" She asked.

"Oh, you're toast." Ed said, matter-of-factly.

"BROTHER!"

"What?! She said to be honest!"

Al was about to scold his brother, but was stopped at the abrupt sound of Manami beginning to… laugh?

The Elric brothers looked back at Manami, seeing her holding her sides and laughing…

Once her laughter died down, she smiled at them.

"Thanks, guys..."

Ed and Al didn't really get it, but… hey, she laughed.

That had to account for something.