Manato was glad that the tavern in Altana was open all night long. As he slowly trudged back towards the reserve force lodge about an hour before sunrise, he couldn't help but revisit his humiliating defeat the previous night. The other boy was skilled, that was for sure. Why had he bothered to set him up as being on his level then? Did he plan from the start to prop him up, only to make himself look better when he finally brought him low?

He clenched his fists. Manato didn't remember anything more about himself than any of the others did, but he was pretty sure that he was the type of person who really didn't like deferring to others and taking orders from higher-ups. If he was being honest with himself, he had become a priest not because he was selfless, but because it felt good when others relied on him, it made him feel important. He didn't ask for Shirou's approval when he decided that he would be both the party healer as well as a melee combatant – he just wanted to be able to show off his worth. And if it earned him the affection of one or two cute girls, well…

There was a reason Renji hadn't picked him for his party. He was at least as strong as Adachi, he was sure of that. Physically speaking, he was the fourth largest of the boys from the larger group, only falling behind Moguzo, Renji, and Ron, but when Renji had looked him over, he had seen the defiance smoldering within him and found him wanting. Even that felt good, like recognition from Renji that Manato was somebody too strong to be controlled. Unlike that damn swordsman's pity, who grouped him together with all the rest as just unwanted leftovers. It wasn't as if he could just up and leave for another group, either, as that would not only make him lose face with his current group, but it wasn't like he would just be accepted as a leader elsewhere either.

All of that led to his current situation: hungover, and rapidly hemorrhaging what meager coin he still had left. Buying rounds for everyone in the tavern wasn't necessarily wise, but at least it endeared him to the other patrons, and he had some drinks bought for him in return. Maybe he could surpass Shirou that way – the power of networking. He chuckled a little bit as he walked. Who knew? A little rumor here or there couldn't exactly be fought with swords.

As he slipped inside the lodge as silently as he could manage, he was surprised to see both Ranta and Moguzo crouched behind one of the pillars surrounding the courtyard, just at the bottom of the stairs. Moguzo was still blearily wiping the sleep from his eyes, but Ranta looked bright and attentive, and was making wild gestures that seemed to convey that Manato should come and join them, but quietly.

Curiosity piqued, he crouched down besides the two, and whispered "What is it?"

"Shh! Listen for yourself!" Ranta whispered back, pointing towards the courtyard from which muted conversation could be heard.

"…since it's your first time, it'll be very painful. Even afterwards, it will hurt, but not nearly as much. Are you sure you really want me to do this?" The owner of the first voice was unmistakably Shirou.

"Y-yes, I'm sure… I want this." And the other, of course, was Shihoru.

"Very well. I need to touch you, is that alright?"

"O-of course, go ahead… Please be gentle…"

They were talking about… Manato felt heat rush to his head. They had known each other for a week! Already?!

"Alright, I've found them… They're unusually high quality, Shihoru. You should be proud."

All three boys eavesdropping could only imagine what was happening in front of them, but were too afraid to try and peek lest they be seen – especially after the beating they'd received the previous night. "That man is a god, I tell you. Damn, it, I'm jealous. Shihoru's unusually high quality…" Ranta muttered as he made squeezing motions with his hands, his eyes glazed over as he lost himself in fantasy. His outburst drowned out a few of Shirou's next words, but when they heard him continue…

"…putting in a little of my own, first. It should kick-start the process into motion. Your body will react violently at first, trying to expel the foreign intrusion, but once everything is flowing properly, the worst you should feel is a dull burning or numbness. Just remember, I'll be right here the whole time."

"I trust you, Shirou…"

There wasn't even any passion in his voice, damn it! Manato grit his teeth together. This will not stand! Such things, in public no less!

"Stop!" Before he even realized he was doing so, he was striding out from behind the pillar, calling out to save Shihoru from the attentions of that pervert, snapping Ranta from his reverie as he did so, who looked at him with the most genuine expression of hurt and betrayal he'd ever seen on the small boy. Ranta dove for him as he moved, trying to stop him, but he was too late, Manato had already turned the corner, only to see…

Shihoru, now propping herself up from where she had been lying on a towel spread over the dewy grass, looking at him curiously… and Shirou, sitting in seiza style next to her with a finger lightly touching her on the forehead with a matching expression.

"Oh, good morning Manato. You were up early, you weren't in your bed when I checked."

"Don't try and change the subject, Shirou! Just what do you think you're doing?"

"This? You're welcome to watch, if you want, but I must insist that you let us both concentrate. I'm sure Shihoru would appreciate someone to hold her other hand."

There was a sputtering and choking sound as Ranta spilled out from behind the pillar at that, unable to restrain himself anymore, followed by a concerned Moguzo heavily patting his friend on the back.

Manato recoiled as if he'd been slapped. "As if I'll allow this to continue! Let alone hold her hand – what kind of pervert do you take me for!?"

Shihoru, who looked a little hurt that Manato had rejected the idea of helping comfort her, looked at Ranta and Moguzo as well and said "A-all of you are here? Now I'm a little nervous… but it's okay, Manato. I want this. I asked him to do this. I'm sure he'll do it for you too, if you want."

Ranta began clawing at his eyes in the background as this new image forced itself unbidden into his fantasies, and Manato froze in shock. "What."

"I was just about to open Shihoru's magic circuits," Shirou explained. "By inserting foreign prana into the system, it will have no choice but to circulate its own prana in response to get rid of mine. It's an uncomfortable process, but afterwards, she should be able to open them and run her own energy through them at will."

"So… that thing about her 'abnormally high quality'…" Manato glanced down at Shihoru's notable assets momentarily, but luckily she didn't seem to notice.

"Her circuits. She has sixteen of them, which is really a lot for a first generation magus, and they're of a much higher quality than mine."

"How many do you have?" Shihoru asked.

"Twenty-seven, but each of my circuits only has about a third of the capacity of one of yours, which means your maximum output will be just a little under a hundred and fifty percent of mine."

The boys were still trying to process the sudden break between their perceptions and reality.

"If you don't mind, could you all start breakfast then? I'll be busy regulating Shihoru's prana flow," Shirou asked.

Moguzo seemed excited at the prospect. The large boy liked to cook, and he'd been a little upset that Shirou had been monopolizing the kitchen over the past few days, but was too polite to say anything about it. Ranta begrudgingly agreed to help him out and started chopping vegetables, his head still a little lost in the clouds, but Manato just leaned back against the other side of the pillar he'd been hiding behind with crossed arms and a disapproving glare as he prepared to watch the ritual.

"Ah, Shirou, how exactly will you be inserting your Prana?" Shihoru asked, realizing that that had been glossed over in the initial explanation.

"Well, the easiest way would be through the, er, exchange of bodily fluids… nothing crazy, it would only take a little, but it can be a little gross if you're squeamish about ingesting a little blood or saliva." He took the expression she was making to mean that she was, indeed, averse to the idea. "The alternative would be this."

With a soft blue glow emitting from his hand, he projected what looked to be a miniature sword, about the size of a thumbtack, with a needle thin blade. "My projections, as objects composed of crystallized prana, can work as conductors as well. I'd have to prick you with this, and leave it in for the whole ritual, but it shouldn't hurt too much compared to the pain of your circuits themselves."

The more Shirou talked, the more nervous Shihoru got, but she reminded herself that she needed to face her fears – and that Shirou would think less of her if she backed out now – and nodded resolutely.

Shirou paused, the needle hovering only an inch away from her smooth skin, and looked at her gravely. "I said this once before, Shihoru, but to be a magus is to walk with death. Some of the things I'm going to teach you are dangerous, both to yourself and others. Before I continue, I want you to promise me that you won't experiment with your magic unless you're under my direct supervision. If the magic the guild taught you is like pulling the trigger on a… crossbow, I suppose, a specific action that results in the same powerful effect every time, then mine is more like using a bow. The way you draw it and release it will affect the projectile… what I'm trying to say is that it's malleable, and easy to let it get away from you if you aren't careful. You could hurt yourself or others. Do you understand?"

She nodded again, even more firmly, and Shirou slipped the needle into the vein in the crook of her arm, which only felt like a slight pinch.

"Now just remember to breathe, ok?" He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and began to release a trickle of prana into her bloodstream.

It didn't hurt too badly, Shihoru thought at first. It was more like the feeling one got when getting a vaccination… whatever a vaccination was. She could feel Shirou's energy spreading up her arm until it reached her heart, where it was diffused through the rest of her body, like a slightly cold and tingling cloud. When it reached her head, she felt for a moment that her mouth tasted something almost metallic, but the taste was quickly forgotten as something… lurched into motion inside of her. That it hurt was obvious, Shirou had warned her of that much, but what took her by surprise was how it hurt. It was a pain unlike anything she'd felt before – certainly not the sensation of molten metal running through veins that Shirou had told her he'd experienced. It didn't burn, or freeze, or ache, or, stab, and yet somehow it was all of those at the same time. She realized at some point that she'd curled up into a ball, that tears were running down her cheeks, but that besides that, her expression was perfectly calm.

While still detachedly trying to categorize the pain, she saw Manato shouting at Shirou again, whose own face was as calm as always, before storming away. She saw Yume and Haruhiro crouching near her in concern, and realized that they must have woken up at some point. In fact, everybody else seemed to stop by at least once – even Ranta, she noted with surprise. She felt the tingling stop when the last bit of Shirou's prana had been eroded away, which was a shame, because that had at least been a reference point compared to the indescribable pain she was feeling elsewhere. Finally, the pain began to ebb as whatever was swirling around inside her finally began to slow down. When it stopped completely, she lay there for a few moments more before she realized the pain was gone completely, and with a deep breath, she uncurled and sat up.

Shirou was watching her with a soft smile. "You did it, Shihoru. You're a proper magus now, as well as a user of magic from the Age of Gods."

"I feel… the same?" She responded, looking down at her hands as if she expected them to transform before her eyes.

"Well, with your circuits closed, you're still just a human like everybody else," Shirou chuckled. "For now, it's impressive just that you've taken this first step. I'll try to teach you some of the basics tonight. For today, just focus on what you practiced last night – I'm sure it'll come even easier today. Anybody brave enough to go through having their circuits opened is brave enough to cast a magic missile at a rat with their eyes open."

Shihoru couldn't help but smile as well at his good-natured teasing, and went to join the others at breakfast, where Yume quickly tackled her into a hug.

"Yume knew you could do it! So now you're strong like Shirou, huh? You can beat all seven of us in a fight together?"

"You counted Shihoru as being on your side as well, even when fighting Shihoru…" Haruhiro deadpanned over Shihoru's stuttered protestations.

"Bullshit! I'm going next, it didn't look that bad! So you cried on the ground for half an hour, so what? Anybody can do that! Hey, Shirou, do me too right now! Wait, no, I mean, turn me on too. Wait! Shut up!" Ranta's tirade stumbled to a halt as he grew flustered.

"Nobody even said anything yet, but now that you mention it…" Haruhiro smiled as well, and Moguzo let out a chuckle as he doled out portions of food in front of Shirou and Shihoru.

Manato didn't quite seem to share the good mood, and was hungover besides. He excused himself after only a cursory congratulations to the newly dubbed magus and went to his room to get ready for the day's excursion.

"Hey."

Manato turned to see Haruhiro standing in the doorway of the room they shared with Shirou, and raised an eyebrow at him.

Haruhiro sighed. "Shirou might not have noticed – he's a surprisingly heavy sleeper for someone who gets up so early – but you didn't come back to the room at all last night, and you stink of alcohol."

Manato just scowled in response and remained silent, prompting another sigh from the thief.

"Are you doing alright? What's your problem with Shirou? I know he's a bit of a hard-ass, but aren't you glad at least that we have such a strong leader?"

Apparently it was the wrong thing to say, because Manato's scowl deepened as he turned a bit away from the sleepy-eyed boy before answering.

"Frankly, no, I'm not." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts while Haruhiro waited for him to continue. "I'm the kind of guy who would rather go at my own pace, you know? Not the pace somebody else has set for me."

There was another long pause.

"Fine, I like to lead, alright? Shirou should have gone off with Renji like he was asked to. I didn't ask for him to stay back and "protect" us like we need his pity, and I certainly don't need a "leader" who stands behind his team and just judges them."

"You should talk with him about this, Manato. It's not healthy to bottle it up like this and then try to drink your problems away," Haruhiro said softly.

Manato scoffed as he forcefully shoved the last of his supplies into his rucksack. "I don't want to. I can already imagine the smug, condescending look he always puts on if I were to show any weakness, like I've admitted he's better than me."

"I think you might be confusing smug and condescending with 'neutral…'" Haruhiro automatically slipped into his usual way of response, but Manato wasn't in the mood.

"Nobody asked you, alright Haruhiro? Just leave me alone," he said as he brushed past the boy in the doorway. Haruhiro looked after him with sad eyes, but said nothing more.

Shirou watched as Haruhiro approached Yume, who was silently scouting ahead. She excitedly turned to him and made a complicated series of hand gestures. Shirou wondered when they'd had the time to come up with their own version of sign language, but Haruhiro just stared at her blankly and then crept forward himself to see what she'd spotted. His eyes visibly widened, and he turned back to where the rest of the group were waiting silently in the bushes a short distance away from the bubbling spring they were surveying. Giving them a simple nod and thumbs up, he indicated that they had spotted their quarry: a mudgob. Haruhiro raised his hand into the air, a little shakily, and then dropped it in a cutting motion like a butcher's cleaver.

At the improvised signal, Ranta took off with a howl, instantly blowing their cover. Haruhiro followed his cue, albeit a little more silently, and Yume raised her bow over her head before beginning the draw as Shirou had taught her.

The goblin, startled by Ranta's war cry, took off running away from the majority of the group, coincidentally directly towards Haruhiro and Yume. Upon realizing a threat was coming from that direction as well, it slid to a halt and tried to adjust its course.

Yume chose that moment to release her arrow, which whistled through the air and pierced cleanly into the goblin's thigh. Shirou nodded his approval as it yowled in pain, and Haruhiro yelled "Nice, Yume!" as he and Ranta closed in on it.

Because it had stumbled and stopped after the injury to its leg, Ranta was able to reach their foe first, and screamed "[Hatred's Cut]!" as he jumped at the goblin. He failed to account for the treacherous footing of the marsh near the spring, however, and slipped on his takeoff, falling face-first into the mud. While ineffective, it at least served as a distraction, as the maneuver certainly occupied the whole of the goblin's attention. As it pulled back its arm to slash at the fallen Dread Knight with the rusty dagger it carried, Haruhiro stabbed it in the wrist from behind, causing it to drop the weapon and eliciting another shriek of pain.

By now, Manato, Moguzo, and Yume, who'd dropped her bow after the first shot, had approached the melee with weapons drawn and formed a loose semicircle around it, cutting off all avenues of escape with its back to the spring. Ranta stood up, spitting out mud, and joined the human net alongside Haruhiro, who had kicked the fallen dagger out of easy reach.

Shihoru stood on top of the ridgeline the others had scrambled down to get to the spring alongside Shirou. As the goblin had nowhere to run to, it was an easy target, and while Moguzo threatened it with his longsword to distract it, she held her staff in front of her and chanted.

"Marc em parc!" A ball of purplish blue light shot out and impacted the goblin right in the jaw. As its head was thrown to one side and it blinked heavily, dazed, Moguzo and Ranta struck as one, with the smaller boy's sword impaling it from the rear as Moguzo's crushed its head heavily from above.

It was over.

"Make sure it's dead!" Shirou called down from above. Only Ranta really took to the invitation, still riding his adrenaline high as he withdrew his sword from its back and then stabbed it several more times, wide-eyed and breathing heavily.

Now that the threat was neutralized, Shirou realized Ranta's condition was shared among most of the group. Despite the battle, if it could even be called such, only having lasted a few seconds, almost everyone was out of breath, and were staring at the fallen humanoid in shock.

To break the tension, Shirou started to clap loudly. "Your first real victory! Congratulations, all of you. You should be proud!"

Ranta, the most eager to give into bloodlust, was also apparently the first to come to terms with the fact that he'd killed a living being. Releasing all the tension in his body with a sigh of relief, he erupted into a smile. "And it's all thanks to me! Haha! I'm going to collect my first Vice! An ear's too big… maybe a claw, or something?" He started poking around the corpse with the tip of his sword.

Shirou approved. Willingness to kill was obviously necessary in this line of work, and remorse for your enemies would prove fatal in the long run. As much as his antics were annoying, he had potential.

Actually, they all had potential, he mentally amended as Haruhiro began to help loot the body and Moguzo congratulated Yume on her successful shot. He gave Shihoru a congratulatory pat on the back as well before they both made their way down the ridge.

"Good job conserving your energy in case anybody was Injured, Manato," Shirou casually called over as he went to inspect the corpse as well, missing the irritation that flitted across the priest's expression at what he took to be an underhanded way of saying that he hadn't contributed and the way he tightened his grip on his staff.

They found no more goblins that day; despite Shirou's otherworldly skill with a bow, the party was still limited to Yume's meager tracking abilities when it came to actually seeking out their prey. The silver piece with a hole punched into it and the wolf's fang they found dangling on a thin cord around the goblin's neck sold for a surprisingly high amount of 1 silver and thirty copper, combined. Split seven ways, that was eighteen coppers each, with four in change that went towards purchasing the night's groceries. Considering they each spent between twelve and fifteen coppers today on food and lodging, it was a total profit of around four coppers each. It wasn't much, certainly, but they were in the black for the first time! If the current rate continued, and the amount they gained from the single goblin was around average, they could continue to live as they were at the small price of one easy fight per day.

Ranta had wanted to go to the tavern to celebrate, but was shot down when it was pointed out to him that Shirou and Moguzo combined could create a meal worthy of any restaurant in the city for much cheaper. He eventually gave in, but not before demanding that in return, Shirou had to open his magic circuits before the end of the night. Manato ducked out as the other boys began preparing the food, mentioning that he had promised to meet someone at the tavern to exchange information.

After dinner, Shirou called Ranta over to the same table Shihoru had laid on that morning, and gave him the same warning about magecraft he'd given Shihoru before performing Structural Grasp on the boy.

"Hmm. You have seven dormant circuits, of average quality. You won't be a stellar magus, but I figure it's still worth learning."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Let's get this over with. The sooner I'm done with this, the sooner I can learn how to destroy things with a touch!"

Shirou sighed and once more projected a needle-like miniature sword, moving it towards the hot-headed boy's arm.

Ranta visibly paled, and drew back. "Wait, hold up. Nobody said this would involve needles, alright? I change my mind. No more spells for me. I'll stick to demons, thank you very much."

Shirou didn't make any moves to stop him as he started to stand, merely nodding his head. "You're right. If you flinch at the thought of a needle, there's no chance you could make it as a magus," he said earnestly.

Ranta froze and then angrily lay back down. "Fuck you, Shirou. You're saying I'm not man enough? Not as much of a man as Shihoru? Nah. Fuck you. You'll see."

When he finally grew silent and still, Shirou pricked him without further ado, which drew out a small yelp. A few seconds later, Ranta relaxed. "Whew. That wasn't actually that bad. I can handle this easy!"

"I haven't started yet," Shirou reminded him with an eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Well fucking get on with it then before I pass out!"

Shirou nodded, and began the influx of prana. Ranta's eyes widened momentarily before they rolled back into his head. Seconds later, his body began convulsing in agony, and he let out a strangled scream from between clenched teeth.

Moguzo, Ranta's closest friend of the group, was quick to run over. "Is he alright? Shihoru was nowhere near this bad," the soft-spoken giant asked as he knelt down beside the Dread Knight.

"His prana is just more volatile, and his circuits are more frayed than Shihoru's were. Hold his legs still so he doesn't hurt himself, and let him ride it out," Shirou answered as he himself took up a position where he could press his weight down into the boy's shoulders and the rest of the group arrived and watched on in concern, and Shihoru with empathy.

While more violent, Ranta also was finished far quicker. As the fit ended, he struggled to breathe in long, rattling gasps. "Fire… from the inside… it burned…" He managed to choke out. "Water."

When Yume arrived with a freshly drawn pitcher, he managed to sit up and gulp it down noisily and messily, not stopping until it was finished – or at least emptied, since more of it ended up on him than in him.

"You." He turned his intense gaze on Shihoru, who looked surprised to be singled out. "You went through that too, huh? I underestimated you. You're pretty tough too."

"Ranta… I think that's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say," Haruhiro said in awe.

The redhead snorted. "Don't get used to it, you got that? All that means is that we're both tougher than you, sleepy-head!"

"I told you, it's just my eyes that look like that! I'm not actually sleepy!"

"Heh. Yeah, whatever." He turned to Shirou with a forced grin. "Now we learn how to destroy panties?"

Shirou noted the small boy was still shaking slightly from his ordeal, and shook his head. "Now you take a break, and then we practice opening and closing your circuits."

Shirou went to get the boy some more water, trailed by Haruhiro.

"Why do you just let Ranta say whatever he wants? Do you just have the patience of a saint?" The thief asked casually.

"No, it's not that," Shirou replied with a very faint smile. "He kind of reminds me of someone, actually. He might be a pervert on the outside, but I have the feeling that even if he acts in a way that I really dislike, he could still be someone I consider a friend."

"I don't really get that… he gets on my nerves, honestly."

"He talks a big game, but he's never actually done anything really bad, has he?"

Haruhiro grudgingly shook his head.

"All bark and no bite. Deep down, he could be a really nice guy. He tries his hardest in the field, just like all of you, and even if he talks you down before and after, he's kind of reliable, no? Like, it's easy to work in tandem with him, because if you know him as a person, you know how he'll act in a fight."

Haruhiro cocked his head to one side. He hadn't really thought about Ranta in those terms before.

"And overall, under his rough exterior, he's just as lost as any of the rest of us in this world, acting the only way he knows how as he tries to fit in. If you indulge him the odd quip or two at your expense, he'll treat you and the rest of the party with more loyalty than money could buy, because we give him a place to belong."

"It's hard. Everything he does is just so annoying…"

"I know. Just don't give up on him yet, ok? He hasn't given up on any of us." Finishing refilling the pitcher, the pair returned to where Shihoru and Ranta were trying to share the particulars of their own awakenings, with Ranta insisting that his was by far the more intense pain, and Shihoru struggling to find the words to refute him.

After Ranta had drunk deeply for a second time, he looked a little less pale and more like his normal self.

"Alright, let's begin." Shirou once again began his professor act. "Yume, Haruhiro, Moguzo, you three should pay attention as well, if you plan on having your own circuits opened later as well. Now that your circuits are no longer dormant, you should be able to open them up at will. I want you both to close your eyes and breathe deeply and slowly. You're going to meditate on a trigger, a mental command that switches your circuits from the "off" position to "on." Or rather, depending on how you visualize your trigger, you'll have a different interpretation of the difference between your circuits being activated or not – for example, on and off versus open and closed. You'll know when you've succeeded; it'll be a sensation similar to your awakening, only far less so."

Both of the apprentice magi meditated, with Ranta squirming every so often and Shihoru furrowing her brow in mediation. After around ten minutes –

"Nnngh. I got it." Ranta spoke first, breaking Shihoru's concentration as he did so. "Burning and cold… it's like striking a match, and then pinching it out again. Damn, this sucks. You're saying it hurts this much every time you cast a spell?"

"You get used to it."

"Hmm. The price of a worthy prize, I suppose…"

"Keep at it, Shihoru," Shirou encouraged. "Ranta's experience was a little fresher in his mind, so he had an advantage."

The purple-haired mage's hard concentration was rewarded a few minutes later as she once again felt the indescribable pain spread through her body, although Shirou was right – it wasn't incapacitating this time. For some reason, she felt detached from it, and it was almost a comforting sensation. "A flash of lightning." She smiled at her teacher. "The blinding flash turns them on, and then it's like… afterwards, you know how your vision is black, but the streak where the lightning came down is stuck in your vision, softly glowing, those are the circuits… Glowing and dark, but it's almost like overall, there's more darkness when they're glowing, if that makes sense… What do you use for your trigger, Shirou?"

"A hammer, slowly being drawn back, building up potential energy, and then surging forward and striking against a block of steel on an anvil," Shirou said as he smiled back. "Good job, both of you. For the rest of the night, as long as you want to, I want you both to practice turning them on and off."

"That's it? Come on, man, get to the good stuff!" Ranta scowled.

"Not quite."

Shirou first had them just work on activating and deactivating their circuits from a meditative position, but the drills got harder from there. Activating them while holding a conversation. Activating them while walking, and then activating them while running. Activating them while dodging, as Shirou pelted them with pebbles. He had them focus on activating circuits altogether as well as individually – something Shihoru picked up easily, but Ranta couldn't quite get the hang of, only being able to ignite all of them at once.

While they worked, he had Yume, Moguzo, and Haruhiro spar each other, first alone, and then in pairs against the odd man out. "The advice I gave you last night about fighting while outnumbered still applies, but for this drill, we're going to pretend that it's only a momentary thing. Your allies are preoccupied elsewhere, but not out of the fight entirely, so prioritize your own survival. Just try to last as long as you can, without completely disengaging – if you run away entirely, the enemies you're holding off will be able to overwhelm your allies with ease."

Haruhiro and Moguzo made a good team against poor Yume, who was swiftly defeated every time it was her turn to be alone. Against just one enemy, however, she proved to be adept at holding their attention without injuries, and she even managed to beat Haruhiro when it was one vs. one. Haruhiro, when alone, forwent attacks entirely, focusing completely on dodging for as long as possible, which Shirou thought was a good idea, as it both accomplished his objective of surviving as well as raising his evasion skills so he would be less likely to be injured in the field. When Moguzo fought Haruhiro and Yume, Shirou was reminded of a pair of wolves taking down a frantic buffalo who couldn't keep his eyes on both of them at the same time. Rather than try to evade, he planted his feet firmly and tried to keep the space around him clear with huge, sweeping slashes, but it seemed as if one of the two was always behind him and willing to dart in for a quick attack, and he always ended up exhausted and beaten down.

A side effect of Yume being defeated so handily was that she was less tired than the other two, and so had enough energy left to practice her archery as well when the boys were too exhausted to continue sparring.

Eventually, one by one, they made their way off to bed, where they would sleep heavily after their exertion.

Before he closed his eyes, Shirou glanced over at Manato's bed. It was still empty.