"Apology for calling you here, Ikki Kurogane." A woman greeted him as he entered her office. The woman was wearing a formal suit consisting of a dark suit with a long skirt. Her hair was tied into a ponytail.

Her name was Kurono Shinguuji and she was the current director of Hagun Academy. As of now, she was sitting on her chair behind her desk.

"It's alright, I have some time." He sat on a chair that was placed in front of the director's desk. "So, what did you want to discuss, director?"

"It's about the upcoming tournament we're about to participate."

"The Seven Swords Arts Tournament. You're not confident with our chances?"

"I'm not. Just need input from an unbiased perspective. Coincidentally, you came to mind. What do you think about the current state of our academy?"

"You want to assess our winning chance in the upcoming Seven Swords Arts Tournament?" He wasn't surprised that she wanted the academy to win the national tournament. "If I have to say, we have plenty of strong people in the academy, but they lack experience and conviction, and personally I would add most of their skill level isn't tournament level since everyone here isn't risking their life or not afraid of death."

"Your answers are correct." She nodded at him. "Even the prize given to them wasn't enough to guarantee a victory for the academy."

A person with no reason to win won't be able to beat a person with one. The same goes with experience. What she needed was a student with experience and conviction to win the tournament.

"Do you have any plan for our academy path to victory, Director?"

"Yes, I'm confident it will result in our academy victory."

"Let me guess, an academy tournament system."

"Ye-" She was baffled at his guess. "Are you reading my mind or is it just that simple, Kurogane?"

"Wish I could do that, but no. Besides, it's a simple and easy way to find strong participants, right?" He wasn't surprised she was about to implement a tournament system.

The previous director was using an attribute score system. It uses the score of a student's magic and ability rather than their experience. When he was introduced to it, he found it to be the laziest method because of how they just select the top six of the strongest student base on rank.

While selecting the strongest was a good option, it doesn't mean they will put out a good fight with their lack of experiences. He wasn't surprised when a majority of the participants lost on the first round with one participant quitting at the second round, and only one was able to reach the quarter final. This remind him of the reason the current director took charge.

Even though the current director was an academy alumni, she still watched the tournament when she had the time. She was utterly distraught seeing her academy losing year to year. When she was asked by someone in the Knight Association to reform the academy, she accepted without hesitation.

"Correct, it would seem I don't need to explain the whole plan to you. Do you have a question?"

"Let me think for a minute." He laid back on the chair, thinking about a question.

Looking at him, she was rather impressed with how helpful he is even though it was little. It reminded her of the first time they met. A teacher mentioned him to have potential during his entrance test. She tried to approach him, but she can tell he didn't outright trust her.

She had a hard time approaching him to talk. Every time she tried, he use excuses such as working part time or busy with homework. She didn't have any choice to issue a duel just to talk with him.

"Director, there are a lot of tournament systems. Will it be the same one as the upcoming event? And how will the match be selected?"

"Correct, It will be similar. The academy tournament will use a single elimination to find six participants. As for the match selection, it will be done randomly to find the best. What do you think?"

She was confident about the system. It solved a problem with finding participants with experiences while testing their use of abilities in combat.

"It's alright, but I have to disagree with the match system."

She didn't expect him to disagree. Looking at his expression, he wasn't excited about it.

"I thought you would agree with me for a second there."

"I agree with the academy tournament, but the system has a problem with selecting participants and you're going to randomly select who they will face in a match."

"Problem? Randomly? Could you elaborate?"

"Most students in the academy have maybe little to no experience in fighting, the closest thing is class combat which only tests out their ability and sparring, and duel which isn't common. If they were to be matched with a strong and experienced student, they'll either give up or complain it was due to bad luck. Randomly selecting their match wouldn't produce the best participants either."

"I'm aware. Students will be discouraged fighting someone stronger than them, but in order to grow strong, they need to face the strong and cover their disadvantages."

"Challenges are one way to get experience and skill. It depends on how hard your opponent is. Our last duel, you were difficult to fight against."

"Difficult?" She scoffed at his words. "You're a difficult opponent as well. I was forced to use the rules of the match to win the duel, Kurogane."

"You have a reason to win the duel more than me. I was trying to get a knockout, which is difficult."

"Don't be so modest." She let out a small laugh. "Anyway, I get your point, do you have any other alternatives to replace mine?"

"Yeah, instead of finding the last man standing, what about a duel scoring system?" He raised his hand with his index finger lifted. "You will be matched with an opponent based on your ability or rank. If you win a match, you get a point and fight stronger opponents."

He closed his finger.

"You lose, points are deducted. The one with the most score will be selected."

Hearing out his idea widened her eyes for a moment. She never thought of a match scoring system like that for selecting participants.

She closed her eyes to process his idea. While it was a good system, it was bound to have a few issues like her system. She realized the problem with implementing it.

"It sounds good, Ikki, but I don't think we can implement it due to our current condition. I'm sure you heard that I fired nearly half of the teachers for their misconduct and it's going to take a lot of resources to find a new one."

"I heard, director, but you're the one deciding the system. I don't mind fighting randomly, but you should consider every student's potential if you want to win. There's a lot of potential students that are yet to be revealed."

Her thoughts conflicted. On one hand, she wanted to test every student's potential while on the other she was worried about resources. It was a hard decision for her.

A ringing noise appeared, interrupting them.

He felt a vibration and ringing coming from his pocket. He didn't expect a call right now. He looked up to the director who nodded, allowing him to answer.

He pulled out his phone and answered.

"Hey, boss, something happened?" There was a brief pause. "Alright, I'll be there."

He stood up from his chair.

"It seems I need to get going. Can we continue this discussion at a later time?"

"Sure, did something happen at your workplace?"

"Yeah, I'm needed there immediately. Thanks, director." He immediately went out of the office while waving back at her.

The city was far from the academy. The only transportation to get there was with a car or metro station. It wasn't as large as the capital city of Japan, Tokyo.

Ikki entered a building where he works. He saw his boss behind the counter.

"Sorry, I'm late, old man."

"I'm not old enough to be called an old man, kid."

The building was a ramen store. The owner of this store was an old man in his early 60's. His name is Kenshi. Ikki worked with him as a cook assistant and helped him out with daily tasks.

"Sure, Kenshi, about what you said, two people looking for me?"

A bunch of broken bowls, glass, and utensils were seen on the floor by him. Fortunately, the chairs and tables weren't broken. He was glad the store wasn't absolutely destroyed or wrecked.

"Yeah, they caused a ruckus here. Broken pieces are on the floor, be careful."

"I'm impressed you didn't beat them up. Did you have a change of heart?"

"Bowls and glass are replaceable and cheap. I could get another one at the market for 200 Yen each. Besides, they only broke a bowl and 3 glasses just for a threat, pretty tame."

"Anyway, what did they say about me?" He grabbed a broom near the entrance and swept the broken pieces.

"They said to pay back for what you did to them." He tried to remember every word they spew. "About getting fired or something along the line."

"I think I know someone that fits the description." He sweeps the broken pieces carefully to one place. "The former teachers."

"Did you humiliate their ass?" He laughs off on the idea.

"I wished. The previous director didn't let me participate in combat class, magic class, or even any duel. The only things I could participate in were regular classes."

"Well, on the bright side, you won't have to repeat a whole year. Your final exams scores were good enough to cover the score from combat and magic class."

"I had to study overnight just to pass the exam, Kenshi. Didn't you remember? I took a day off just to study." He placed the broom as he finished cleaning the floor of debris. "Anyway, I finished sweeping all of the debris. Are there any tasks left for me?"

Kenshi grabbed a note from his pocket and wrote it into it.

"Yeah, we're nearly out of ingredients. Head to the store and buy it. While you're there, get some tea leaves." He ripped out the paper from the note and gave it to him.

Ikki grabbed the paper and read the list. He headed out of the store the same way he entered.

"Alright, the sun is going to set soon so I'm heading out. Probably be back at night time."

"Yeah, just make sure to be back with it."

Ikki was on his way back with the ingredients. As he headed back, he was being watched from behind. So he decided to head to an alleyway that connects to another street he's familiar with.

As he walked through the alley, he stopped in the middle of it, seeing two people blocking the way out of the street. He looked back to see that it had been blocked with three people.

He was trapped.

One of the people in front of him stepped forward.

"It would seem you are mad at me, teacher." Ikki said while looking at his angered face.

"You're the reason I got fired! I've been working at that academy for five years! Now I don't have a job because of you!" He was furious with him.

"I can think of many reasons why you got fired that don't involve me."

"Student like you wasn't supposed to be accepted in the academy." He heard someone from the back and instantly recognized him. "And you're an F-rank student with no ability! Don't talk back to someone superior than you!"

"Since when you're my-"

"Shut up!" They become more agitated as Ikki talks to them. Seems they want to engage in violence seeing the way they act.

"What do you want? I don't have all day and it's getting dark." Ikki sealed the plastic bag he was holding as he prepared to fight.

"We want you dead." Ikki wasn't surprised with their intention.

Ikki turned his body to look at the front and back of him for a few moments to assess his situation. A person will assess that they have no chance to defeat all of them and would make a decision to fight two people rather than three people.

That was not the case. The teacher in front of him was the combat teacher of his academy. His reputation was infamous for his mistreatment of students with D rank and lower, but his combat experiences were undeniable.

The teacher behind him was the history teacher. He never talked about his ability in front of the students and colleagues, but the only one who has seen his ability was the combat teacher. A student will be in a panic if they are placed in a situation like this.

"Can you move on with your life? Ever try doing therapy?"

"No, I want to beat you up. This is better than therapy, and it's free."

"Teacher, killing is against the law. Don't you have a body that needs to be disposed of after killing me?"

"Your body will be disposed of and I have connection that can help me with that."

"I'm surprised that you have connection with that personality of yours. You planned all of this just to kill me."

"You got that right." The teacher replied with a grin. "Don't worry this will all be quick."

"And don't blame me for your arrest." He pulled out his phone in his pocket.

"What are you doing?" The teacher was quite worried about what he was doing. He saw him fiddling his phone screen with his finger.

"I'm sending a recording to the Director."

"WHAT!"

Since he was warned about them from Kenshi, he planned to record their conversation if they want to talk or their act of violence. He adjusted his phone camera and audio to record them before exiting the store for ingredients. He was lucky they spoke louder since the pocket was muffling the incoming sound.

He observed the surroundings. The teacher in front of him started to become more furious, while the teacher on his back was panicking, thinking his life would be over. The three people with the teachers realized their faces were recorded when he turned his body to them, making them nervous.

"Let's all calm down." He put his phone back in his pocket.

"I don't want trouble. The director hasn't watch the video, meaning that there is still time for me to delete it." He said with a calm voice to ease them. "I'll delete the recording after you let me leave the alleyway. What do you say?"

"Do you think we should trust you?" The teacher behind him was doubting him since he has no way of knowing if he will delete it.

"The director will read the message if you don't act quickly." He pressured them to make a decision, making them panic.

The group were offered an option. They either get caught and put in jail for attempted murder, or leave the area while he has the recording. They wanted to process the outcome for each scenario, but time was ticking.

"Let's just leave him alone." The teacher behind him decided prison wasn't a good option ever since he heard the treatment. "It's really not worth the tro-"

"What are you idiots doing!?" The combat teacher roared with anger at their worries. "He said that the new director hasn't read it. Let's beat him up and delete the recording ourselves."

"But we don't know if the phone is locked."

"Then beat him up. He will eventually spill the password an-"

Ikki sighed as he looked at them listening to their leader. He knew deleting the recording will be a terrible move since they will come back at a later time. Now, he has created a perfect opportunity for himself.

"You already missed your chance."

"Huh?"

Taking advantage while they were distracted, the group behind Ikki was shocked he had already reached them in an instant.

He grabbed the teacher by the neck, lifted him and slammed him down on the ground hard head first, making him unconscious by the impact.

The two people beside him materialized and thrust their sword-like device toward him. Since they were close to him, they thought it was a guaranteed hit, but it never hit him as he stepped back quickly and formed a fist.

The person on his left felt a hard strike to his head as he was unable to react to his quick movement, making him unconscious.

The person on his right took action by swinging his sword with his right arm at Ikki, but his wrist was grabbed by Ikki and felt a strong strike to his elbow, breaking his arm. He screamed in pain as he felt a strike to the side of his head, making him unconscious.

The two people left were shocked he defeated them with ease. The teacher felt frustrated by the fact a low rank student was able to defeat a high rank knight.

"Attack him!" He materialized his blunt weapon as the person beside him materialized a spear and rushed forward, adding a little magic to enhance his movement. Once he reached his striking range, he thrusted with all his power.

He saw him sidestep his thrust and moved forward. He pulled back his spear to defend, but felt a strong strike to the temple of his head, causing him to slump to the ground, unconscious.

"You're the only one left, teacher." Ikki said as he walked toward him.

"They're weak compared to me." He said as he lifted his device into the air with both his hands. "Time for you to die!"

He activated his noble art, waiting for him to approach. His ability was to control the speed of an object, meaning anything he touches the object will move fast or slow depending on his choices.

He observed the fight and made a conclusion that Ikki has an advantage over close quarter combat. He believes his ability can counter him, making him smile sadistically.

As he saw him walking forward toward him. He thought he was a fool walking to his death, imagining his inside completely out or skull caved in.

Once he was near his attack range, he moved one step and swung his device.

The device reached the ground in an instant, making an explosive sound when it hit the ground. It even made a crack in the concrete floor where they stood.

The device can't be seen since it was too quick for the human eye. Even if they could react to it, there was no way they could dodge or react. No matter what, it will always be a guarantee death.

"Perhaps speed boost doesn't apply to your head."

His eyes widen in shock as he sees him beside his device, still alive. He was in disbelief he could dodge his swing instantly. He tried to step back but felt a hard strike on his leg that step forward, causing him to lose balance and fall.

He looked toward his leg to see it was broken, and the pain finally reached his head.

"Aghh!" He clutched his broken leg, trying to mitigate the pain by holding it.

"Did you ever think of a plan in case I attack back?" Ikki questioned as he looked at the teacher on the ground.

"It's your fault that it got to this!" He blamed him as he kept clutching his leg.

Ikki observed the man laying on the ground. The kick that he gave to his knee broke it, making him unable to continue the fight. In conclusion, the fight was over, so he decided to make his way out of the alley with the bag.

"Since you can't fight anymore, I'm leaving with the evidence."

As he turned his body around, he heard a sound of clothes being rustled as if rushing to get something.

He quickly rotated his body and performed a kick which hit the pistol that was being held by the teacher, disarming him. He continued by forming a fist to strike his head.

The teacher lifted his arm and applied a magic defense to his own head and arm to protect him from his fist. Instead of a strike, he felt his wrist was grabbed hard and pulled forward. This resulted in his front body thrown to the ground with his face touching the rocky surface.

Ikki sat on his back with his legs securing the upper arm and his hands pulling the teacher's arm, trying to break it. The teacher screamed in pain as he tried with all his strenght to escape it.

"Wait, please don't break my arm!" The teacher begged.

"I gave you a chance." Ikki replied with doubt after his action. "Why should I give you another?"

"I'll leave you alone and this city." The teacher offered with a panicked voice.

"Why should I accept it?" He questioned with doubt. "You wanted to kill me and now you're begging me for mercy. It doesn't work like that."

"Because I have connection with a Yakuza, If you kill me, they will come after you." The teacher replied with panic in his voice. "Your life will be in constant danger."

The Yakuza was a group of criminals. They proclaimed that their lineage were of a samurai, though yet to prove it. Many of the citizens in the nation didn't like the activity they were doing and despise it. Their activity revolves around smuggling, prostitution, extortion, and many more illegal activities.

The government decided to act by arresting anyone that is a member or affiliate with them, declining their number.

Even though their numbers have dwindled, they were still a dangerous group if one encountered them.

"Think about it, kid. You don't want your life to be ruined because of me. I'll keep my word by leaving this city and won't tell my friend. You won't see my face again. It's a deal between us."

Ikki thought for a moment and made a decision. He let go of the arm he was holding and lifted himself up, making the teacher sighed in relief.

"Don't let this opportunity go to waste." Ikki said as he stepped away and turned his body around.

"Oh, I will." The teacher grinned as he held a pebble that was on the ground. He focused his magic on the pebble. The pebble speed when thrown will be twice the speed of sound, instantly killing him.

The deal they made was worthless in his eyes. He wanted to kill him no matter what. The previous director hired him to become a combat teacher due to his experiences and a friend. Now, he is unemployed thanks to him.

He will throw it when he reach the bag. He waited for the opportunity, but he saw him stop. He was confused on why he stopped.

"You didn't take it."

The teacher instantly realized what he meant. He quickly throws the pebble toward him which causes the pebble to fly, breaking the sound barrier and making a line of air that reached his target head.

He was smiling sadistically seeing he didn't move from his position. Not one person can dodge a projectile at close range and max speed.

But his smile fell down seeing that he was standing alive. He narrowly dodged the pebbles by tilting his head slightly, which caused the pebble to hit a store window that was facing the alleyway. The local bystander from the street screamed in panic as they ran away from the destruction.

Fear started to overtook him.

"You really need to pay attention to what I said and don't just throw it away immediately." Ikki rushed to him.

The teacher let out a terrified face and wasn't able to move due to his broken leg. He felt a strong strike to his face that was caused by a front kick from Ikki. The kick didn't cause him to go unconscious immediately.

"I'm impressed that you're still conscious. Maybe you're just built different." Ikki praised him as he slowly approached him. "Anyway I think you forgot something."

Both of them heard a ringtone coming from Ikki pocket. Ikki grabbed his phone and answered the call. He put his call into speaker to let the one on the floor hear.

"Kuragane, I notified the law enforcement of your location. They should be there in a minute or less. I apologized that thing got to this."

"It's alright, Director." He said as he looked at the teacher on the ground. "The law enforcement don't have to worry restraining them. I still have some unfinished job. Thank you for responding, Director."

The teacher stared at him with fear and anger as Ikki put his phone in his pocket.

"Do y-you think t-t-that this is o-o-o-ver?" He tried to form a sentence as police siren can be heard closing in to them.

"Yeah, It's over." Ikki said as he went to grab the bag. As he grabbed it, he took one look at the teacher that was slowly crawling to him. "Just rest from now on."

With that, he walked out of the alleyway as the teacher couldn't hold his conscious longer. As he entered the street, he saw a vehicle with a knight association logo and police vehicle approaching his direction. They soon stopped near the alleyway, and a group of police and blazers came out from their vehicle to arrest the teachers and their companion.

The cup Ikki has on his hand was being poured with tea by Kenshi. He felt the cup warmth began to reach his hand.

It was closing hour for the store. The only people left in the store were only both of them. They both had finished cleaning up the store and now relaxing while sitting on the customer stool.

"Thank you for the tea."

"I heard the police siren far from here. Seems like they didn't manage to kill you or at least put up a fight." Kenshi said as he poured tea into a different cup for himself.

"No, they didn't." He shook his head with disappointment. "I wish they put up a good fight, but they didn't. The teacher doesn't realize he was telegraphing his attack."

He never underestimated them but they didn't fought well enough and wasted a lot of opportunities. Even though they had strength in number and power, they didn't fight as one and underestimated him for being a F-rank, resulting in their loss.

"Anyway, they won't be a bother for us anymore. If what you said about his friend being a yakuza is true, then it will be a problem."

"I doubt it, he is a teacher. Having connection with them will end their career and future job prospects."

"Let's just hope it isn't true."

Both of them held their cup. They sipped the tea as they relaxed through the night. The silent night was what they enjoyed most.

"Why did you ran away from your home, Ikki?"

There was silence after the question. It was a sensitive topic for him. Kenshi wanted to know why he risked his life to run away from his home. He was aware of his family reputation in Japan and wanted to know his relationship with his family.

The silence between them lasted for minutes. He assumed that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Sorry, If you don't wan-"

"Wait, no." Ikki interjected. "I was... preparing myself."

Kenshi was surprised with him. "Alright, tell me when you are ready. I'll be listening to you."

"As a child, I wanted to be a knight like my family or like my great grandfather. The name 'Kurogane' is well-known across the nation for their achievements. You already know what they had done in the past."

"A reputable clan of knights that save and maintain peace across the nation."

"That's just public image. They have a lot of secrets they don't want the public to know. For example, my existence."

"Does this have to do with why you ran away?"

"Yeah, I was born into the family with no ability, and limited magic. My father and clan decided to erase my existence in order to not shame the clan status. I was frustrated after it so I kept trying to prove to them I can still be a knight."

Kenshi looked at the cup Ikki was holding. He was clenching it too hard that small crack started to form at the exterior of the cup.

Ikki realized the cup was about to break unclenched his cup and continued his story.

"No matter what I did, they still won't let me. I always get punished for disobedience by the servants and other clan members. It felt like the world was against me. Noone was there to help me so I rely on my own."

"So you train all by yourself?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I would learn by eavesdropping the instructor or crudely attempt the technique in my room." He laughed softly as he remembered something. "I never realized how crude my techniques was until you point it out."

"Learning like that won't get good results. There are other ways, but I can understand you don't want to get discovered by them. Since you said 'all by yourself.', does it apply to your run away plan?"

"It had been in my mind for a long time. As you said, I planned and prepared my run away alone. I thought when they see me run away, they would search for me. I even hope my great grandfather or any other family member will search for me after I run away. But to this day, they never appear before me. Maybe it's because it was winter night with storm and a search at that time will be hard or just assume I'm dead or missing."

"I don't think they were busy with anything since it was new year night at that time. Practically everyone celebrate it with anyone close to them." He shook his head.

"Except for me. I can't celebrate with anyone, making it perfect opportunity. I ran away and that's all that matters."

Talking about his past, Ikki was wondering what happened to his sister as well his caretaker since he ran away. He felt regret not telling them about his run away since they care about him. He knows that they cannot do anything against the clan or they'll face repercussions.

Kenshi looked at his watch and noticed it was almost nearly midnight. The metro station was about to close at midnight.

"It's nearly midnight, Ikki. I think you should head back." He got up from the stool as he urged him to go back.

Ikki did the same as him. He looked at him and offered a genuine smile. "Thank you for listening to me." He grabbed his bag and headed to the door.

"One last question, Ikki."

Ikki stopped but didn't turn around as his hand was grabbing the handle.

"Do you still want to prove to them?"

He wasn't sure. To this day, Ikki wondered why he wasn't allowed to be a knight by his family. He will never know why but there was one thing he understood.

"No."

They never want him.

Author Notes: Hello, this is my first fanfic and I apologize if my english grammar isn't the best. I had an idea of a fanfic about if Ryouma didn't encourage him to become a knight or help him. At first, the idea was great then I realized he will die without his help after a comment in a post. So I made Ikki a character that understand his clan won't acknowledge him, and plan a run away the moment an opportunity appear without his help. I was wondering why Ryouma didn't help Ikki from the start or just secretly meet him. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and give me some feedback.

Thank you.