Anzu waited nervously in the lobby for Yami to arrive.
It had taken two months of paperwork and then another month to clear it with her superiors, but cosmically, the waiting paid off because a mixed batch of cadets and returning officers were hand-picked to attend the classes Yami would be directing.
Seto's criminal defense lawyer was working hard for them.
Waiting to gather paperwork from everyone in the class had taken another week.
The 'two-afternoon session' turned into a two-week session.
Yami had put some thought into it, and after watching some of the footage from past training on obstacle courses, he understood what they wanted from him, and he insisted they provide him with the files of every officer who would be studying under him.
He was essentially...passing on a variety of combat secrets, so competition to get into the class was high. There was a silent struggle between the heads of departments, all wanting to submit their best agents and some of their worst agents, but spots were limited, because Yami was only one person.
And conditions for the class were strict.
No talking about it to others while on the two-week training.
No cameras, no recordings.
Classes would be held on academy grounds to use their facilities, but Yami wanted to set up his own signal jammer perimeter.
It was...wild.
Her agency had agreed.
After all, it was tactical training from one of the world's most dangerous people.
Anzu was secretly glad Yami was her friend first, and then combat instructor second.
Since she had suggested it, she got a default spot in the class.
Everyone who earned a spot was now waiting inside with tense anticipation.
Yami was supposed to arrive last, and... there he was.
The group of black vans pulled up around the front of the building's parking rotunda, and Yami got out wearing a black face mask and a plain gray hoodie with the form-fitting classic athletic pants, looking relaxed.
He was flanked by two senior officers, and was made to turn away when they unlocked the doors with a keypad, the security card, and a palm scanner.
Yami obediently turned around and smirked when he saw the reflection of the code being entered on the panel of the car door, and decided not to say anything.
Their attempts were cute.
Walking in through the glass doors, he immediately saw Anzu, who beamed at him, waved, and he waved back. Then he was instructed to walk arms-up through metal detectors, and was given a badge. How nice.
What made his stomach twist was the name on it.
"ASSET 1" was printed in bold. Awesome.
Seto had made so many ass jokes to help ease his conflicted feelings towards this word, and he hated to admit that it might have worked, because he smiled.
And at least they weren't printing 'ATEM' on the badge. He'd made it clear to Anzu that if anyone addressed him by that name, he would walk.
He didn't want to know how many officers had seen his file.
He wanted a clean slate and to have fun. That was the goal.
After he stepped out of the elevator, the security detail left and Anzu took him to a closed door, where she knocked on it and then turned to give him a smile, "everyone was so excited. I told you all the drama about people fighting for a spot, and well, see it happen in real-time."
Yami beamed and nodded, giving her arm a squeeze. "I'll enjoy myself," he said earnestly, and followed her into the conference room.
Long tables were set horizontally, lecture-style and a podium in front of a whiteboard was waiting for him.
Aw. How nice.
It was like playing teacher for a bunch of 'baby cops' the way Seto had described.
Everyone sat up straighter when he walked in and the silence was...thick.
Yami took down his mask and bowed, pleased to see everyone dutifully bowing forward in their seats in return. Mokuba had given him a run-down on how to play teacher in this country, and that had been fun.
So this...was fun too.
He straightened up and saw Anzu loyally take a seat right in the front, and give him a warm smile.
"Good morning," Yami said calmly, eyeing every face and slowly putting a name to each one, thinking he needed name tags for them.
Everyone was wearing the standard-issue cadet uniform—a gray t-shirt with a navy belt, and black pants. In response to the uniform, he'd made sure to wear gray on top too, for...kinship.
The faces staring back at him were eager, and serious. There was a disproportionate number of women in the class, and only two men in the room. One, thick, muscle-man sat in the back, and a tall, lanky, man similar to Seto's build.
Interesting.
"Nice to meet you all, my name is 'yes sir' and 'no sir', is that clear?" Yami asked plainly as he swept a hand over the low table supposed to be used for instruction and decided to sit casually on it to swing his legs, seeing eyes widen.
"I said," he spoke out louder, narrowing his eyes at the windows in the back of the class. "Is that clear? I want to hear an answer."
"...Yes sir," came the tentative chorus, and Anzu broke out into a sweat.
Oh man, this was another side of Yami she had yet to experience.
Her co-worker shifted uncomfortably beside her, and Yami sensed the tension had gone up.
Well, they weren't going to get anything done this way.
Everyone was more scared of him than they were of the dangers they might face on the job.
"Line up outside the door and please stand against the wall. I will be learning your names," Yami said as he hopped off the low table and walked over to the desk, rummaging around in it, looking for name tag supplies. He found them, along with a roll of calendar marker stickers in multicolors.
Perfect.
He glanced up and noticed no one had moved.
"Why must I repeat my orders twice? This is going to be a long two weeks if this is how you all listen," Yami began, and everyone stood up in a rush, chairs scraping, feet pattering, and heads lowered respectfully.
He let out a sigh and shook his head.
Seto was right.
They were terrified of him!
He grabbed a marker and walked out of the empty conference room into the hallway, seeing a row of heads standing quietly and obediently against the wall.
Tearing out each nametag sticker, he handed it down the line and gave the first person at the front of the line the marker, watching them use the wall or a friend's back to write the names, like it was grade school all over again.
He could see whose hands were shaking and who was annoyed.
"Name tags will go on the left side of your chest," Yami's voice carried down the hall, and people began sticking their names on.
A couple of guards were walking towards him, and he tilted his head, seeing them carrying a big black box filled with props, and he asked them to set it down by his feet. Inside, were the items he had requested for the first class, and was pleased to see the neon green, toy-gun and the 2kg work-out weights.
Double perfect.
Everyone shifted, watching Yami kneel by the box and wrap two thick rubber bands around the gun and slide the work-out weights into it, and the silence was ringing.
Standing to weigh the bulky weapon in his hands, Yami nodded in satisfaction and recalled several files he'd read of these officers receiving trauma in the field because a gun had been snatched from their hand or got tennis elbow from the recoil.
He would start there.
Since this country had more problems with stabbings, knife combat was more popular.
Anzu had emphasized that his firearms knowledge would be life-saving.
Walking up and down the line, feeling very much like an army officer, Yami gazed into the faces of the officers again and spoke, "I've read your files, as I'm sure you've read mine. So I'll say this as the first thing: Your biases will kill you. That is a fact."
Everyone tensed and didn't move, and Yami could feel the mood sinking lower and lower.
Ahh, couldn't be helped.
He'd cheer them up soon enough.
"I'm here to help with your weakest points so here's what will happen," Yami said as he held the weighted toy gun up in one hand while trying to see who was making the most eye contact with him as he talked. "You will enter that room like there is a hostile situation. I will attack you. You will defend."
He paused to see a reaction, and sure enough, several people shifted uncomfortably in their stances.
"I will group you by how you managed to defend against me," Yami continued, seeing one young woman with jet black hair giving him fiery eye contact, so he handed her the weighted toy. "Not by how well you fight. Because Iwill successfully disarm you," he paused, and then added, "so mentally prepare for that if you have a trauma there... I will give you five minutes to think about how to enter."
With that, he picked up the box of props and walked back into the room and closed the door, getting ready to move the tables and chairs.
The hallway was filled with a quiet tension, and the cadet holding the weighted gun had to set it on the floor, hissing under her breath, "he's insane! This is heavier than any standard-issue gun I've ever held! And we don't draw our weapons that often anyway!"
"And why would we ever enter a hostile situation alone?" Another woman piped up, crossing her arms. "That is unrealistic!"
Anzu felt the need to stand up for Yami, "he's getting to know you. He'll learn what you'll need to work on if you just...do what he says, okay?"
There was a dissenting sigh, and Anzu grimaced. Oh boy. This was off to a rocky start, and maybe Yami knew that, because he was at ease the whole time.
Their 5 minutes were up.
No one had been devising a strategy.
They had been too busy discussing amongst themselves if this 'class' was worth it.
Yami listened to them complaining and smiled to himself.
They would learn the hard way then.
He had stacked all the tables legs-up against the wall, creating space in the middle while leaving the podium at the front. That would be his distraction point.
Pulling the door open, he called down the hallway, "I will say 'ready!' and someone will enter. You can choose the order yourselves. I won't force you to come in. Ready."
And he left the door open a crack, walking back along the white board to bang on it with his fist, knowing it would scare them even more. This was enjoyable. He couldn't wait to tell Seto how he'd terrified a bunch of baby cops in a small room.
He made sure to pick out a toy ball from the box of props and then hid behind the door with the squishy dog toy in his fist, listening to them talking to each other.
"I'm going!" The first cadet said, and there was an encouraging reply from the group.
"You can do it, Ohara-san!"
"Ohara-chan, ganbatte...!"
"Go, Ohara-sannnn, good luck!"
Smiling to himself, Yami listened to her footsteps quietly approaching the door and it was pushed forward slowly...slowly... and Yami stayed standing behind the door...waiting...waiting, hearing her let out a shocked gasp, "...what?"
And he darted out from behind the door to grab her weapon, wrenching it out of her hand to angle the muzzle upwards, hearing her hiss and fight back with a front kick, which he dodged and his other hand grabbed her connected wrists, sending her shoulder-first to the ground...almost too easy.
He cushioned her head with his chest after twisting around to let her fall on him, and she laid there, stunned, staring up at the ceiling lights, her chest heaving with hitched breathing.
"Are you okay?" He asked instantly, wondering if this was too much for a first lesson, and to his shock, a palm was coming to his face, which he dodged, and rolled away, hearing her let out a shriek, "GET AWAY!"
And Yami held his hands up defensively, down on both knees while grinning.
"Fail," he said and then stood gracefully to grab a sticker from the roll of calendar markers.
He handed it to her and said, "Stick it on the upper corner of your nametag. You are now Red Leader, and your group will be assigned to you shortly. Please wait in the far corner and sit down."
She accepted the red sticker with a trembling hand, affixed it to her name tag and walked in dignified silence to sit down in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest, her face dark red with fury and embarrassment.
Outside, having heard the struggle, everyone in the hallway shifted anxiously.
"I quit," someone said instantly, and a couple of others nodded.
"Yeah, he's volatile, and that sounded like a real assault!" Someone else added, and Anzu let out a defeated sigh. Well, if they wanted to quit, their loss.
"Wait it out and see the end of this lesson, maybe? Come on, you fucking chickens," Anzu snapped, and she faltered when Yami stepped out with the weighted gun, walking down the line with a cheerful smile, picking the exact person who had said she wanted to quit first, and said, "you're next. I said I wouldn't pick, but I heard the word 'quit'."
And he walked back into the room to let out the same call, "ready!"
Everyone in the line exchanged a fearful glance, and Anzu rolled her eyes. "Good luck, Tenji-san."
She received a poisonous glare from her co-worker and watched her raise the weapon and nudge the door open with it. Everyone watched and listened with bated breath.
There was a shriek, a scuffle, and then a deep voice, "...good attempt." A pause, and then, "Yellow Leader, please sit an arm's length away from Red Leader. Your group will be assigned to you shortly."
And Yami stuck his head out cheerfully to hand the gun to the person right by the door with a cheerful wink, "for whoever is next," and he eased the door half-way shut again.
There was a cold silence, and one of the two men in the group walked forward to take the gun, grunting, "I will go. He's puny. I'll sit on him."
There was an echo of nervous laughter, and Yami, hearing this from the other side, grinned.
Fun.
He took the squishy dog toy out of his pocket and decided to use it. Muscle-man was up, it seemed, and the other two women were watching him with wide eyes of intrigue. Good.
He made sure to flatten himself against the wall, using one foot as the door stop, knowing the man might come charging in like a meathead, and he was right.
The man let out a yell and barreled shoulder-first into the half-open door.
Seriously?! Yelling while entering a hostile situation?
This man was the worst one so far.
At least the women were quiet.
The door flew open and stopped right at the tip of Yami's nose from the way he was using his foot to buffer it, and he carefully threw the toy out to bounce it off the podium.
It jingled with the bell and made a squeaking sound on impact.
Muscle-cadet stared at the empty podium for a brief second, then at the ball on the ground, raising the toy gun, shouting, "come out—!" And he was tackled from the side with a sweeping ankle-kick and shove.
The floor was rushing up to his face, so he braced himself with one arm, but he had to let go of his weapon for that, and a slender shoe came resting atop his wrist, pinning his gun arm to the ground. The spiky-haired assassin was grinning, standing above him with the roll of circular stickers while holding up a playful peace sign beside his high cheekbones.
"Fail," Yami said with a gleeful smirk, picking out a green sticker and bending down to press it onto the man's name tag, seeing him flinch, wince, and hiss. "Green team leader. Sit an arm's length away from either person. Oh, and here's a tip..."
He raised his voice, knowing everyone outside was listening, "don't yell when coming into a hostile situation! Have you all forgotten your training?! I've been told not all of you are cadets! I now have three hostages! The stakes just went up!"
His 'three hostages' sat glumly on the floor in angry defeat.
Good.
He needed them to be a bit angry and determined.
Outside in the hallway, a mild panic was rippling through the group.
Yami had somehow taken down their most muscular man in 3 seconds, and all they heard was a grunting 'oof'.
And no one could fathom how he'd done it.
"I'll go next," Anzu said dryly, seeing Yami emerge with the weighted toy gun, and to her surprise, Yami shook his head.
"You're needed out here for morale. I smell fear," Yami said with a wink, picking the person who looked the most like they were trying to disappear into the wall. "This is only a practice and you're this afraid? I'd suggest a new line of work...Nakano-san...?"
He had to tilt his head to read her shaky handwriting on the nametag. "You already let the hostile person inside that room terrify you? One of those hostages might be your sister. Head up. Enter when ready."
And he walked back into the room to hide behind the door, wondering if he was being too harsh. But...real life situations could play out like this.
He was giving them real pressure.
Criminals didn't wait to yell 'ready' through the door.
They could be slaying hostages already.
"Ready!" He called, almost forgetting he had to do that.
And there was a long silence.
A silent minute ticked by, followed by another, and then another.
Yami shifted his stance, feeling a twinge of excitement.
This one was smart.
Trying to make him bored.
On the other side, the cadet was waiting patiently, trying to play the waiting-game while everyone in the line was gesturing wildly for her to enter.
She finally did, inching the door open slowly and then having the gun wrenched out of her hand in a similar way as the first woman, and she did fight back when there was every opportunity, until Yami had a gentle armlock around her neck and said, "...done?"
She growled and tried to smash her head back to hit him in the face, but he merely angled his head to the side and tightened his grip around her neck, applying gentle pressure, "three minutes like this... Fainted, because you just exposed your neck for me."
He released her and saw her fall forward with huff and shout, "DAMMIT!" really loudly, and it made him jump.
Gods.
Loud yelling still triggered him.
He patted his own chest and smiled, reaching for the stickers and handing her a red one, reciting what he'd been saying all along, "red group. Please sit down and be a good hostage."
She huffed, snatched the sticker from him and plopped herself down beside her co-worker with another red sticker, and received a pat on the shoulder.
Picking up the gun from the ground, Yami handed it off to the next person and hid behind the door again, pleased with how this lesson was going.
The mood had changed.
The cadets entering had silent pride and determination, but every single one of them kept being disarmed in the two simple ways Yami kept performing it, and when Anzu finally walked in as the last person, she put up the most valiant fight, earning encouraging shouts from everyone as they scuffled for real.
A heel-to-neck kick was really coming for his face, and Yami had to dodge so fast, his back hit the wall, and she was throwing a punch with all her might, her eyes narrowed, knowing she couldn't hurt him, and Yami admired that confidence. He dodged her punch and charged forward to pick her right up by wrapping his arms around her waist, and she let out a shriek, thumping his back and kicking out every which way, while everyone gasped in horrified shock and cried out, "let her down!"
Yami planted his feet apart with Anzu hanging loosely off his shoulder and spoke to her, "Pause for a moment, and we'll turn to the side here..." and he had to catch his breath, shifting to give everyone a side-view of their 'attack', wavering from her weight above him.
"You get picked up like this, and he will aim to either slam you down, or keep carrying you," Yami announced, and the room grew deathly silent. "What do you do?"
Anzu dangled off Yami's slender shoulder and let out a huff, "ow, your shoulder is really skinny and it's hurting my boob."
There was a tense chuckle from someone in the corner.
"Bear with it until someone answers," Yami said seriously, and he only received fearful looks. "No one? Call out your answers. No...? Okay she's dying then—"
"Kick! Knee to chest!" someone shouted.
"Weapon! Stab him in the back! You have the perfect angle!" Someone else yelled.
"I have no weapon! I just got disarmed!" Anzu cried, her air leaving her chest in a quick whoosh when Yami shifted her higher on his shoulder, his grip slipping. "And my knees are straight because he's holding me like this. I can't bend them. If he were larger, it wouldn't work. Hurry up, I'm falling off. No one knows?!
Heads shook solemnly, and Yami cracked a smile.
This was why he'd been asked to teach today...
"Watch closely. You will wrap your arm around his neck," Yami said, feeling Anzu do just that and tighten playfully, making his voice crack. "...I...can't... breathe now, and will let you down..."
She kept her arm around his neck, pulling him head-first to the ground and everyone burst out into applause.
"Not yet!" Yami held his hand up to shout at the ground between Anzu's legs. "I'm still conscious and will fight back. Watch." He grabbed her legs from underneath her knees to attempt pushing her off his shoulders, and everyone let out another terrified gasp.
Yeah, it looked like assault.
Anzu felt Yami's hands coming for her thighs and she swung her heels up over to thump them down onto his back, just like they'd practiced before, pinning him in a leg-and-arm chokehold.
"Three minutes like this, I'm out," Yami said, his nose centimeters from the ground, patting the side of Anzu's knee to be let up. "But that's worst-case scenario. Unlikely, but now you know, if ever, this is how you do it. Tighten your arms while pressing down with your legs."
He sat up with a refreshed huff and slowly dusted his knees off to stand, giving Anzu a hand and helping her to her feet too.
"Most common, medium-scenario, he will drop you at the first chokehold, you can knee him in the face... Anzu, please?" Yami walked back to the door and Anzu followed dutifully, feeling the temperature in the room rise. "Enter like before. I will disarm you...we won't perform the entertaining dance because no one is paying..."
There was a brief laugh from a couple cadets.
Anzu smirked and stood behind the door, "Ready!"
The weighted gun was handed to her.
Yami leaned back by the door, and called out, "okay!"
She swept in through the door with her weapon raised, and Yami wrenched the gun out of her hand, charging forward to loop her over his shoulder, and she retaliated just as quick with the elbow around his neck.
Slowly letting her down to her feet, he narrated in the ways he did for Mokuba and Shizuka, "She has my head. Now she's not taking me to the floor like before because I'm not fighting as hard because I think she's just being annoying, not doing it on purpose. But watch. The top of my head is now under her chest... knee, up!"
Anzu raised her knee and rested it gently beside his nose.
Yami jerked upwards and palmed his face in pretend-pain, exclaiming, "my nose is broken...my grip is loose..."
She reached forward to yank the gun out of his hand, kicking it far away and then palm-striking him in the groin for good measure, leaving him pretend-crippled on the ground on all-fours, "ow my balls!" And he felt an elbow come down across the back of his neck, "apprehended while he's in a convenient position..."
His arm was yanked behind his back, and Anzu clamped her warm hand down around his wrist, "Cuffed."
There was a stunned silence, and no one clapped.
"That would be...scenario most-likely," Yami said as he was let up and Anzu had to fan herself, puffing with exertion. "Let's get a water-break. That was fun and educational, wasn't it?"
Heads shook in unison, and Yami let out a laugh.
"What's wrong? Let's ask the questions freely," he said, choosing to sit down as well while Anzu remained standing beside him, hands on her hips, still catching her breath.
There was a tense silence and one of the green-team cadets raised her hand and spoke, "That was scary accurate, and almost like a real-life incident that happened to me. But the man grabbed me ...between the legs, and not together like that."
There was a thicker silence and Yami nodded, rising to his feet and preparing to sweat today. He might have to take off his hoodie for this.
"If you're comfortable coming up to demonstrate, I will show you how to get out of it," Yami said with a nod, dusting his knees off again even though it wasn't dirty. "I did ask for soft mats to be delivered...tomorrow. But we can work through the basics today."
Heads nodded and the cadet stood up bravely, receiving a hand-squeeze from her nearby co-worker and she stood in front of Anzu, giving her a nod.
"I will demonstrate here?" She said and Yami nodded, giving them room to reenact it.
Horrified, he watched her grab Anzu's hand, put it right under her crotch, then ask Anzu to lift her up on her shoulder, to which Anzu grimaced and said, "I'm not strong enough...Maybe we should wait for the instructor."
"No, it's fine," Yami called, walking forward to kneel and holding his arms out. "You can do it like this. I'm kneeling but pretend I'm standing. We can act it out more seriously when we have a soft ground. Right now, I will answer the question the best I can." And he nodded.
He didn't think they would want to have physical training, because the first two days of his lesson plan had all been lecture-based.
That was quickly changing.
She crossed her arms defensively and gave him a suspicious side-glance. "I don't feel comfortable..."
"Okay, that's fine," Yami said with a blithe shrug. "I need a break anyway! I just 'fought' a whole room of people. See you all in 30 minutes."
And he walked right out the door, aiming for the refreshments he saw set up on a far table at the end of the room. Grabbing a bottle of water, he tossed it up in the air and caught it cheerfully, also snatching up an apple and sinking down into the leather seat of the nearest couch, pleased with himself.
This was fun.
He was glad Seto pushed him out of his comfort zone to do it.
Author's note:
Yami progresses and teaches women self-defense hehe