Hachi Academy, Ninja Room of the high-school section
Today is the first day of Homura Crimson Squad as Hachi students, more specifically elite students.
They don't know their schedule, so they're waiting in their room, hoping someone will come as soon as possible.
Right now, they're killing time, mainly by chatting.
"I noticed something strange… Why does the school not have any traps?"
Yomi asks. If you judge by her friends' reactions, they didn't think about it.
"That's right, It was a real pain to find your way at Hebijo. Here, the only thing between the normal and the shinobi worlds is a closed door…"
Haruka says, unable to answer.
"I believe the school just moved there, perhaps they just haven't done it yet?"
Homura answers, but even herself doubts about her answer.
"I don't think so, the building was built for that move. Building it to move inside then put traps doesn't make sense…"
Mirai says, crushing her leader's theory.
"What do you think about it, Hikage?"
Yomi asks her friend with snake eyes.
"Don't know and don't care."
She responds without even moving her head.
"What an interesting answer…"
Homura ironically says.
Then..
"Allow me to give the correct answer ladies, the master just thought it was useless."
A pretty threatening female voice answers. A voice Homura and her friends never heard before coming from Mirai back.
"Eh?!"
The little shinobi yells by turning around, which makes her face a twenty years old looking woman.
She's pretty tall, has long blood-red hair, single braided and emerald eyes. Even if she has a pretty face, the woman's facial expression is sinister like Haruka or Ryoubi when they have bad intentions.
Her clothes are strange too, she's dressed like a nurse. She's wearing a nurse cap with the usual red cross, a white short-sleeved shirt, a white skirt, black stockings, white point shoes, and latex gloves.
Also, like Fumiyo, she seems very powerful.
"You… You're an elite student, aren't you?"
Homura asks, she acts proudly despite the sweat drop on her cheek.
"Exactly my dear, my name is Arisa, I am the elite squad leader too."
Homura was right, even if she wasn't expecting her to be the leader, she thought Fumiyo was.
Yomi and Mirai are impressed, not to say scared, by Arisa, more by her threatening aura than her actual strength.
Hikage, even if she has a kind of curiosity, doesn't really care about her. Haruka is attracted by the pretty sexy suit of the young woman, even if the woman herself isn't really her type.
"Nice to meet you, you're here to brief us I guess?"
Homura asks by staying polite, she doesn't want to have to deal with her, at least, not yet.
"Exactly, first, I will explain the program that will become your daily routine, then show you some great places of our school and introduce you to the rest of the elite squad. And right now, I'll taste this lady's blood!"
Under those words, Arisa pulls out a scalpel and in a flash, cut Hikage's skin before anyone could react.
"But fuck the hell what?!"
Mirai yells in confusion while Arisa licks her blade to drink the blood on it.
"A little tasty, you would be a good donor…"
The blood-haired woman comments, even if her victim doesn't feel praised.
"You…"
Hikage says before trying to stab her aggressor with her knives, unsuccessfully since she dodges them without effort.
"Please stay calm, you are only bleeding a little, just put some bandages and tomorrow, it will be gone."
Arisa tells her to calm her, of course, it doesn't work.
"Alright, now, let's see how this blond-haired's blood tastes…"
Arisa says by looking at Yomi in a concerning way.
But before she could do anything…
"YOU!"
Homura screams, calming everyone.
"These girls are my precious friends, touch them one more time and I'll crush you, get it?!"
She adds, still feeling and with a face full of fury.
Even if Arisa doesn't really look impressed, she holsters her scalpel.
"Alright, today is your first one here, I guess I can be kind to you this time."
She says, her voice sounds more professional.
"Follow me, we are directly going to the third stage where Ai and Yû, the two other elite students, are."
Following those words, Arisa opens the door of the Ninja Room and motions for Homura's group to leave the room. They obey by keeping an eye on her.
Second floor
This floor is very different as the first one.
It looks more like the inside of a company, there even are names of typical services such as "administration" or "supply" on the different doors.
"I guess it's the management part of the school?"
Homura asks Arisa, who IS right in front of her.
"It is, to keep it simple, the ground floor is the Yoseikan Budo dojo, the first underground the classrooms, the second underground, the storage room, the first floor the dormitories, this one the different services and management section. We are going to the third one where our Ninja Room is."
Arisa explains.
Third floor
Arisa and her new comrades just arrived at the Ninja Room of her squad.
"They should be here, let me warn you, they aren't really the "kind" girls, don't pay attention to their attitude."
Arisa tells them before opening the door, revealing a Ninja Room that looks a lot like Homura's group's one.
And like Arisa said, two other women are there, sitting on the chairs.
The first one has middle-long brown hairs and eyes with the same colour. She's wearing a navy blue cap, a dark grey T-shirt, a jean, and black boots. Furthermore, she's surrounded by four Labrador retrievers with a nice looking coat.
The second one has long blond and curly hair, her eyes are light blue, and she's only wearing a pink tank top and a white short, she's barefoot.
"Girls, here are Yû and Ai."
Arisa says by showing the brown-haired girl as Yû and the blond-haired one as Ai.
"Nice to meet ya."
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Hi."
"N-nice to meet you.."
"Nice to meet you, cuties!"
Homura, Yomi, Hikage, Mirai, and Haruka respectivly say.
However, Yû doesn't respond, all she does is give a quick look at them, and thus without even moving her head.
And Ai…
"Hi you deep shits."
Of course, that very friendly greeting make Homura and her friends happy.
"What?!"
An angry Homura yells.
"Ignore her Homura, the introductions are done, let's move."
Arisa says by leaving the room followed by Homura's squad, even if Yomi and Mirai had to insist a lot to stop her fighting Ai.
Later, during the evening
Arisa spent the morning explaining to explain Homura's group everything they needed to know. The afternoon, they started the actual training, which wasn't very different from what they used to do at Hebijo.
And now, they only have one last thing to do, Yoseikan Budo lesson.
They aren't alone, several people, including shinobi, joined them.
And among those shinobi, there is Miyabi's group, who don't seem more seduced than Homura's one about that activity way too soft for shinobi like them.
Especially since the master, a man in his thirties, isn't a shinobi even if his martial art skills seem real.
"Everyone bow!"
One of the students, likely a senior student, yells by bowing. All the students do the same, including our protagonists.
"Good evening and welcome to the new ones. My name is Edward, I'm Scottish and the master here."
That instruction doesn't have anything special, but by hearing the master's nationality, Homura just realized something.
Some, or rather most of the shinobi students are western like Edward, including Yuuma and the elite students."
That shouldn't surprise her since it used to be a European school, so, Homura feels stupid for just realizinf that now.
"I think a brief history is necessary to understand our martial practice well…"
Of course, the girls aren't glad to hear that…
"This is a martial art created by Hiroo Mochizuki, whose father, Minoru Mochizuki, was a great martial arts specialist in this country. For example, he created his own Aïkido style, the Yoseikan Ryu Aïkido, that later became the base for other martial arts such as Nihon Tai Jitsu or Aïkibudo. But master Minoru Mochizuki always thought the split of the traditional Japanese martials arts into different budo actually made them less efficient, so he decided to learn and teach all of them in a single dojo. His son created the Yoseikan Budo from those ideas and is still making sure his art will never lose this purpose."
The presentation lasted a little longer but curiously, most of our shinobi, including Miyabi and Homura, actually enjoyed it, especially the philosophy of the Mochizuki family.
"Alright, now, let's warm up a little before the practice…"
Following those words, all the students stand up and reproduce the master's movements. Of course, this is nothing for the shinobi there.
After several minutes, the students need to practice in a pairing, but something unexpected will complicate the evening.
"Usually, I let the students choose their partners, but since there are many new students, for some days, I'll be the one making the pairing. I want the best cohesion in our dojo, not seeing it split into tribes."
Practising in an inferior level is already boring for the shinobi, but it won't be better with people they don't even know.
After a few moments, the pairings are done and of course, both Homura and Miyabi's groups are dispersed.
Fortunately, Haruka is going to practice with Imu, Ryouna with Hikage, the others are with other shinobi, expect Mirai and Murasaki who are with normal students.
Even worst for Murasaki since her partner is a man, and she doesn't have Bebetan to protect her there.
"Let's start with a simple counter of a straight right. Your partner attacks, you counter it while hitting it with a quick jab on the face or the throat like that, then, you take it down with a joint manipulation on the elbow such as this."
The teacher explains by doing the technique on one of his students.
Right after it, the students try to do it.
On Murasaki's side, she starts as the one who does the technique and her partner attacks her with a kinda quick direct hit. Murasaki, even if she's a shinobi, she's not very good at bare hand combat and isn't sure how to perform the movements the master just showed.
Surprisingly, she actually managed to do it pretty well. Perhaps she kept in mind the few lessons she got before she became a shut-in.
And once her partner stood…
"Not bad at all, your joint manipulation was well-executed, but something is wrong with the beginning… Attack me, I'll show you."
Those words surprise Murasaki, as an incarnation of shyness, she cannot say anything. She barely manages to nod and do what he said.
Murasaki tries to hit him, and he blocks her fist, but doesn't continue the technique.
"That's what you did, blocking the hit, but that's not how we work in this school. Do it again."
Murasaki hits him again, but this time, her partner doesn't block it, he's content to deflect it a little.
And this time, he continues the movement and delivers a direct hit on Murasaki's face. Of course, he stops before touching her, but for a no-shinobi, he's fast, Murasaki knows she wouldn't avoid it if he actually tried to hit her.
"See the difference? I didn't block the direct, I just "absorbed" it by deflecting it just a little, try."
They change their roles again, Murasaki uses a defensive stance.
"Tshak!"
Her partner yells by hitting.
Murasaki focuses on his opponent and manages to counter it in the way he told her to do, by absorbing the hit instead of blocking it. She then successfully performs the rest of the movement."
"Perfect, you're good at this!"
Those praises embarrass Murasaki a lot.
"Well well, seems you're getting along."
Master Edward says, Murasaki didn't notice him coming.
"Kazuto, can I know what interesting things you told this new student?"
The master asks with an authoritarian tone of voice, his disciple kneels to answer.
"Master, I was correcting her movement by telling her to absorb the strikes instead of blocking her, she did it well right after I told her, hence my praises."
He explains with a serious tone by smiling.
"Your name is Murasaki, am I wrong?"
Murasaki, who's very embarrassed because she hates being the center of the attention, is starting to panic, but still manages to answer.
"Yes…"
"Do you understand why it's better to absorb when you use that kind of technique?"
The master asks, still with his serious voice.
"N-no, master…"
Murasaki answers, about to snap because of stress.
"Kazuto, since you want to teach Yoseikan, explain to her."
The master asks his disciple, who stands up before talking.
"When you do this technique, you have to break the distance to use the joint manipulation. However, if you block the strike, you "free" your opponent without taking advantage and thus, it could try another strike or retreat to avoid the danger. If you absorb the strike, he could continue its movement and he won't immediately understand that it actually misses you, which is a great occasion to get closer and try something."
Kazuto explains, he was clear enough so Murasaki understood him.
"That's right, but it doesn't mean blocking attack is bad, in some fighting styles such as boxing when the opponents keep a certain distance, blocking is the best thing to do. Remember this, in a fight, the absolute best doesn't exist, there are any contextual best."
The master adds.
Murasaki, despite not having any interest in that sort of thing, was strangely captivated by the explanations, to the point her stress is now gone.
"Alright, now, resume the practice!"
The master orders with an authoritarian voice.
"Understood!"
Kazuto answers while bowing.
"A-Alright…"
Murasaki answers, bowing too.
One hour and a half later
The lesson is about to end, the last exercise consists of lateral kicking.
Everything is alright, except for Mirai…
Her partner is holding a punching bag without paying attention to Mirai, who's softly kicking in order not to hurt her.
Of course, Mirai hates this a lot…
"Don't ignore me!"
She yells by performing a way harder kick, throwing her partner to the ground… and making herself the center of the attention.
Mirai feels bad, first because everybody is looking at her but also because she used her full strength, a strength a small girl like her should have, she can feel trouble coming…
"Wow! That kick was awesome!"
Her partner yells by standing up, Mirai, of course, wasn't expecting that.
"I'm ready this time, do it again!"
Mirai, in the confusion, obeys her and hits the bag with the same strength.
This time, even if her partner didn't fall, she moved back a meter away.
"Your kick is so powerful, you're amazing!"
That unexpected praise shocks Mirai, who's embarrassed, but also happy to hear that.
"Saori, calm down..."
Under those words, the young woman bows by apologizing.
"Okay, enough for this lesson, prepare for the salute!"
The master yells, putting an end to this training session.
And our girls actually enjoyed this lesson, which is, in a martial point of view, interesting, even for them, but also pleasant. It's very different from the other lessons, way harder for both body and mind. Some of them even look forward to the next lesson.
"Asuka, too bad you aren't there, I'm sure you would like it…"
Homura thinks by walking to the dormitories alongside her friends.