Thank you very much for the comments, and apologies because this next arc will be short and really, really inconsistent, and the next update might be a while away. Anyhow, enjoy (if possible)!

"What power controls Poland and Lithuania and all those bits up north of there?"

Daisya had sprawled out on his bed, and held the atlas above his had to read.

"Russia."

"Lenalee?"

"Yes, Russia, I think."

"Correctamundo."

Daisya rolled over, and tossed the book to Kanda, who caught it with ease.

"What regions of Germany were Prussian before unification?"

Daisya's hand shot up, pointing straight into the air.

"The eastern bits."

Lenalee nodded.

"And some land on the western bank of the Rhine."

Kanda sighed, and handed the atlas to Lenalee.

"Correct. Daisya, don't write that on the test."

Daisya waved a hand.

"Like we'll ever be asked that."

"Well," Lenalee said brightly, "You never know. Anyway, what two empires are the 'sick' empires?"

"Austro-Hungary and the Ottomans."

The two boys spoke in unison. Daisya sat up with a grin, and Kanda scowled.

"Did we get it right?"

Lenalee nodded. "Yes."

"Hah! Told ya I was studying enough."

"Whatever."

Lenalee tossed the atlas to Daisya, who flopped back down on the bed.

"How about we do something harder, eh?"

"Um, okay. I might not know all the answers, though."

Kanda waved a hand dismissively.

"You don't have a test, so you'll be fine."

"Okay! What regions of the Ottoman Empire have the highest akuma..."

Here, Daisya paused, and frowned.

"In-key-"

"Incidence."

"...incidence, thank you very much Mr. Know-It-All, and why?"

The atlas got passed around a few more times. It bears mentioning that the maps in it were a bit different from your typical ones depicting geographical formations and political borders. There were a few of those, yes, but a significant number of the maps were coded with different colours and shades for odder parameters than just rainfall and heat. Some of the legends read 'number of akuma sightings in winter' or 'number of innocence pieces collected after 1815'. Needless to say, the atlas was thick, so tossing it around doubled as weight training.

...

The answer, for those curious, to Daisya's question is as follows: the Caucasus mountains, any regions with a high Armenian population, and Bulgaria.

Akuma incidence is dependent on roughly two factors: death rate, and Innocence concentration. That isn't all, sadly. The Earl uses akuma frequently to run errands, such as eliminate exorcists and finders, as well as brokers who have lost their usefulness. Thus, the charts are useful in determining whether or not the exorcists' top priority should be to find Innocence or to exterminate the akuma.

If the former is the case, a tag-team of up to three is sent. Single exorcists can also complete the job, depending on the usefulness of their finder and the skill of the exorcist. Notice that, while exorcists are skilful, finders are useful.

Anyhow, the second situation will call for more than just a few exorcists with more than just moderate skill. This sometimes a problem, as finding more than three free exorcists is difficult, let alone finding ones that can suppress the tendency to cabin fever. Let us define the latter term as follows: the symptom that a small group of people, when in close proximity with one another for an extended period of time, develop; the will to strangle one another or to yell, or just escape. Some are more prone to it than others, and groups from approximately three to ten people, depending on how similar the personalities are to one another.

The Black Order is good at people-managing. This will not be very relevant to our story for another, say, four or five years.

...

"Hey, that was actually a pretty decent game."

Daisya kicked the ball in circles, then switched to figure-eights. Marie and Lenalee had gone off to find some water, but Kanda was just leaning against the wall, and looking sullen. He did that a lot.

"Yeah, right. None of us has any idea what we're doing."

Daisya switched to kicking the ball against the wall, earning a glare, but continuing nonetheless.

"Well, I'm better than everyone here, and Lenalee's okay. You and Marie aren't so good, but hey, we've got even numbers."

"But we still don't have enough people to play a game with a goalie. Or even use any of the rules," finished Kanda contemptuously.

He seemed to like the rules, because he never missed an opportunity to complain about how bad the four of them were at football.

Hmm.

"We never played by the rules when I was a kid, so why should we do it now? Life doesn't have rules."

"Life isn't a game."

Daisya halted the ball momentarily, and grinned.

"And that's where you're wrong."

He resumed kicking the ball and bouncing it off of every available surface.

Kanda did like to complain, but he was sticking around.

Something clicked.

"Tell you what, I could teach you some stuff if you don't want to suck so much at it."

"It it gets you to stop making me play when I don't want to."

Aha.

Daisya wandered to the bag he'd leaned against the wall, and fished out some pills and a bottle of water. He downed a couple of tablets, and looked over at Kanda.

"Well, if you're just going to sit there, I'm going to make you play. What do you say to passing practice?"

"Whatever."

"Thanks very much."

Daisya grinned, and leaned over to give Kanda a token of appreciation. He'd play better if he was all riled up and competitive.

Thanks to his reflexes, he dodged Kanda's elbow of retribution. Unluckily, the kick caught him off guard.

…

"Do I have to?" Daisya whined, "Jiujitsu or whatever doesn't work against akuma. I can already handle my Innocence, you know."

Kanda folded his arms, scowling.

"You're going to end up fighting some human bastard sooner or later. Just suck it up and go to practice."

"But I don't want to."

"I thought you liked exciting stuff."

"Standing around and getting beat up by you isn't exciting."

"Then why do you keep asking for it?"

Daisya raised his hands.

"You got me there. Anyway, if I go now, then I'll have to practice my moves. Over and over again. That's why it's called practice. It gets boring."

Kanda, who had hitherto been standing in Daisya's doorway, strode through and caught Daisya by the collar. Before Daisya could voice a question to match his look of confusion, Kanda had turned and started to drag him into the hallway.

"Ow, hey, that hurts!"

"If you shut up and stop resisting, I'll let you go."

"But I don't want to and you're hurting me—"

"Just shut up. Aren't you taking enough of those meds to knock out Marie?"

"Well, my burns are still pretty — aargh!"

"I told you to be quiet."

"Okay, okay!"

Kanda shot down the hallway, with Daisya hopping along to keep up with his brisk pace.

…

"Keep your knees straight. And tuck in the back of your shirt."

Daiysa obeyed reluctantly.

"What does the shirt have to do with anything?" he grumbled, "Can we do some kicking now, or something? Th—"

"If you say 'this is boring' one more time I will give you kicking lessons."

The two of them stood facing one another in a corner of the training centre, on mats that definitely weren't thick enough. Or soft enough.

"Oh-kay," Daisya enunciated slowly. Kanda was a lot stricter when he was teaching.

The walls were simple plaster-covered stone, reinforced by wooden beams. It was pretty crowded most of the time, and now was no exception. A group of finders was having a wrestling competition, a few of the adult exorcists were going through drills, and the two older girls — Antonia and Hell or something — were having a no-holds-barred match in the boxing ring.

Daisya had already gone to another place when Kanda decided to take matters into his own hands. By matters, it meant Daisya's wrist.

"If you don't stand properly, you're going to fall over before you can do anything. Straighten up."

Kanda twisted Daisya's arm behind his back in one smooth motion, punctuating the last word with a wooden knife to the lower back. Daisya's balance shifted evenly between his feet.

…

Good, Kanda thought. He had a habit of balancing too much on one foot.

Also, he didn't complain about the pain for some reason. Maybe he'd finally sucked it up, but Kanda wasn't too hopeful.

"Now stay like that."

Daisya made a face, but he remained balanced. Good.

"Do you do this every day?" he asked, "Or do I have the only Innocence that doesn't need Kung Pao or whatever."

Kanda put on a pensive mask, but it wasn't too solid. Daisya was annoying, but he was also a fairly unshakable target.

"No, you're not that special. And that's a type of chicken."

Daisya slipped momentarily into his uneven stance, then balanced again. Not bad.

"Well, Jeanne's got the mace and chain, Kiki has her glove-things, and I think Isaac's Innocence is that set of brass knuckles, so they all have to be down here. What are the other Innocences?"

Kanda whipped a punch at Daisya's shoulder, but he managed to dodge in time.

"Don't get off balance. Anyway, how–"

"I hear them talking. Sometimes I come down here if I need to get you. The other ones don't talk about it much. "

"Quit interrupting me."

"Hah! I was right about your question. Can we do something else, now?"

Kanda sighed, and relented. Keeping him on one thing was only going to make it worse. Even if he just knew the basics, that might be enough.

After all, he wasn't pretty, like him or Lenalee. Not even in the dark of a run-down inn, to a drunk with only two things on his mind. Not at all.

…

Daisya was pretty disappointed when they did throws instead of strikes, but then Kanda decided to throw him on his back instead of his side.

Once he'd gotten his breath back, he went about it with a bit more dignity. No more complaining about it being useless, oh no. Not after Kanda said he hadn't even thrown him properly.

Damn, it was a pain in the ass. Well, pain in the ribs and the back and the burns.

Kanda lunged at him, not too fast, and Daisya pivoted to grab his arm, and turn so that they were both facing the same direction.

It was sort of fun, actually. It was all about letting the other guy go exactly where he wanted, and helping him get there.

Kanda landed perfectly, slapping the mat and rolling to his feet. It was pretty obvious that he was making his easy, otherwise Daisya would be the one on the floor and he wouldn't be getting up like that.

Now it was Daisya's turn to attack. He feinted a punch, but planted his foot and went for a roundhouse. You didn't need fancy training to know one of those.

But Kanda had fancy training, and he knew how to deal with it. Ouch.

Ah, and Kanda seemed…not angry. Which was sort of an improvement. His eyes were narrowed slightly in concentration, and there was the usual half-scowl, but he seemed relaxed. At any rate, he wasn't thinking about much that made him angry. He was probably enjoying the opportunity to get payback for the thing with the bucket of whitewash.

It was nice to watch, and any rate. Kanda didn't seem to be happy too often. When he was poring over maps with Marie he was, or practicing down here with Lenalee, or following the old man around and complaining about him. Hey, it was a fine old tradition.

They made him less angry. Daisya wasn't sure Kanda could ever be contemptuous of them. He could probably hate them, all right, but he seemed to actually respect them. Respect wasn't something Daisya did too well, he thought as another strike came flying at him.

He threw Kanda again, up and over his shoulder.

"You're using your arms too much. Do it again."