"Are you awake?"

"Yeah, just give me a second."

"Okay."

Natsu was now awake, looking at the eager young boy standing at her doorway. She did not think that Tetsumi would take up her offer, but here he was. She would have to be more careful about what she told this boy from now on.

Breakfast itself was uneventful. All the trainees were gathered in the dining hall, each receiving the same thing. Tetsumi and Iria found a table and sat down. Neither talked, none of them entirely comfortable with the other quite yet. They ate their breakfast and left for their first day of classes.

"Who do you have for an instructor, Natsu?"

"Someone by the name of Master Jokyou."

"Hey, I have him too? What a coincidence. Want to walk to class together?"

"Actually… I'd rather not. I don't want the others to get the wrong idea."

"Like us being friends?"

"Exactly. I'll see you later Tetsumi."

"Okay. I guess I'll go to class by myself." Tetsumi told himself.

Tetsumi went to his class, by himself. He entered the classroom. It was a small room, reminding Tetsumi of his room. There was only one door and no windows. He would have to look into the lack of sunlight in the rooms. The instructor was busy reading up on his lesson plan. He looked up and noticed the boy looking around the room.

"May I help you find something, young man?"

"No, I was just looking. Actually, this is my classroom."

"You must be one of my students. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Master Jokyou. Who might you be?"

"I am Tetsumi. It is an honor to have you as an instructor, Master Jokyou."

"I can see that it will be a pleasure to have you as my pupil, but class has not started yet."

"I realize this, Master, but I have nowhere else to be anytime soon, so I came here."

"I see… well you are more than welcome to stay here until class starts, Tetsumi. Tetsumi… that name sounds familiar."

"You probably know my father, Lord Okita."

"Yes, now I remember. You are the talk of the whole monastery, you know?"

"Yes, I know."

(Half an hour later, the room has filled with fifteen or so children.)

"Alright children, please sit and pay attention. My name is Master Jokyou and I will be your instructor for the remainder of your stay here. I will say this from the beginning; I expect the best from all of my students. If this scares you, too bad. If you feel special about being treated differently from everybody else, don't be. All of the instructors here expect the same… Are any of you paying attention to me?"

As with all students and their teachers, the children were not paying attention to Master Jokyou. Apparently, word had spread that Tetsumi, the demon slayer's son was in Jokyou's class. The kids in the room were too busy bombarding Tetsumi with questions to pay attention to the master's words.

"Is Okita really your father?"

"Yes."

"Is it true that he once killed fifty demons in a single night?"

"I don't really know…"

"Don't be stupid, Yawara! Everybody knows that it wasn't fifty demons! It was more like two hundred!"

"That's not what I heard."

"What did you hear, Natsu?"

"I heard it was one thousand demons! I also heard that he used a secret technique that he taught to Tetsumi."

"Really! Tetsumi what was it? Come on, tell us!"

(Master Jokyou, who is clearly angry, screams for the children to be quiet. The students look up at their instructor, their mouths closed.)

"Thank you. There will be time to harass Tetsumi at a later time. For now, we must learn basic arithmetic. Who can tell me how many lily pads would there be if two joined the three that are already in the lake?"