~Short~

An April Fool's Practical Lesson

Gosha Academy, a place where the next generations of Taimanins were passed on the knowledge and duty of protecting humanity from evil influences of other worlds. Divided into many departments such as combat training, research and specialized educations with a variety of curriculums, it was mostly the same as any normal school.

Today, Task Force members joined together in a single classroom to have a practical lesson about Taima Particles discharge.

"The problem is who will be measured first."

Sakura was first to speak up after Kotaro explained the purpose of the group gathering, she made a suggestive glance at her teammates who were pondering over the subject.

To be frank, it wasn't really that important of a question.

Lucky for her, Headmistress Asagi and Murasaki would come late since they were in the middle of a briefing with Chief Yamamoto of Section Three. Murasaki, who was famously known for being the strictest teacher among the staff, wouldn't be here to deal with her joke until then.

As the topic was about Taima Particles discharge and its efficient output depending on the design of the Taimanin bodysuit, Sakura took that as an opportunity to have fun teasing others.

Asides from Kotaro who didn't awake his Ninja Art, others had already changed into their Taimanin suit. Sakura decided to start with her Captain first.

"Fuuma-kun~! Do you want me to go first?"

Sakura intentionally leaned forward and rested her bosom on the table, letting the elastic part of her body to spread on the surface. Kotaro didn't meet her eyes, however, he was busy focusing on the tablet.

"Anyone is fine." Before he could respond, Su chimed in. She stared at Sakura in disinterest. "Perhaps, we can start off from the vice-captain position and use my output as the standard score for evaluation."

"Su-chan really is eager, eh~." Sakura grinned.

"I-It's an order of thing!" Su blushed. "That much is obvious."

"In that case, I should go first." From the backseat, Yukikaze stood up. "I'm a founding member of this team. That is also within an order of thing."

"Oh hoh! Yukikaze is also eager to try first!"

"Calm down, you'll get your turn eventually." Kotaro finally said. "I got the measure device right here, but it's a prototype so the result probably won't be as accurate as you expected."

"I see. Number is still a number, after all. But for the sake of understanding the purpose of the bodysuit design and its effect on our Ninja Art efficiency, this needs to be done."

Kotaro nodded at Rinko's words.

"Hey, Fuuma. Are we going to use these numbers for power scaling from this point onward?" Maika asked. "Is this really going to work?"

"Yeah, it sounds like an element straight up ripped from battle shounen mangas. It would make no sense in the long-run." Sakura added.

"Like I said, there's a reason why each Taimanin has different combat Taima-suits and rarely share the same design asides from the standard outfits. That is to maximize the output of Taima Particles release upon activating specific Ninja Arts, and this is just to provide you an insight into that connection."

Sakura immediately raised her hand like she had arrived at a conclusion.

"I get it! That means Rinko-senpai's exposed back and two golden pasties at the front of her suit also serves a purpose to her combat style! A distraction to her enemies!"

"Ehhhkkk?!" Rinko hugged her chest, staring wide eyed at Sakura in disbelief. "W-What are you talking about?!"

"That also applies to Kirara-senpai's skimpy outfit!"

"L-Leave me out of this!" Kirara retorted with a blush on her face.

"While we rolled on the battlefield, we were not only destroying the enemies but also distracting them with our sexy shape and curves. Am I right~?!"

Kotaro chose to stay silence in the face of that question.

"Aw yeah, that makes so much sense!" Sakura continued. "The skintight bodysuits maximize the potential of Ninja Arts and amplify our gorgeous beauty at the same time. We have become such a dangerous existence to the demons solely because of that reason. It's no wonder the thugs and Fuuma-kun kept staring at my chest, my mind's blown!"

"Enough with the joke!"

Together, Yukikaze and Su swatted the back of the mischievous girl's head with giant paper fans.

"Don't get so full of yourself just because you have an additional plump of meat to weaponize against your enemies!"

"Mama said every person has their own charms! It's just that mine hasn't fully developed yet! I'll show you how dangerous I'll become when that time comes!"

The two girls were enraged at their own disadvantage, and Sakura just had to point it out with her teasing. But Sakura wasn't done, she had to lure Kotaro into the landmine for the joke to become full circle.

Kotaro sensed a coming disturbance, he put down the tablet and quickly made his way to the door. The chalks by the board didn't run out, but he felt like he should get some more.

"Fuuma-kun agrees with me though!"

A lightning zapped through the air, striking the doorknob before he could grab it. Yukikaze stood in front of him, her bangs shadowed her whole face.

"Oi, Fuuma. Is that true?"

If he wasn't careful, the target of her frustration would switch.

"You really listened to what Sakura said?!"

"Then why don't you deny it and instead trying to leave?"

Su was right behind him. The two girls formed a pincer formation that guaranteed a bad end depending on his choice of words.

Gulp.

Suddenly, it became a life-threatening situation. Maybe he should have picked the Simulation Room for this meeting, there was plenty of spaces for him to get away from the dark aura emanating from Yukikaze and Su.

"I'm pretty sure he's also into legs~!"

Damn it, Sakura! Don't put words into his mouth even though it was partially true!

"Calm down, both of you!" Rinko left her seat. "Regarding what Sakura said as a joke, the topic today isn't something that simple. While it's true that the purpose of the Taima-suit is to amplify our abilities, it doesn't necessarily mean to invoke strange reactions from the opponents."

"It just makes us sexier than we should be!"

Someone please stop her!

"Answer the question, Fuuma." Yukikaze stared into his eye. "Are you into meat?"

"Or legs?" Su added.

"F-Fuuma. You know you don't have to choose, right?"

Rinko tried to reassure him, it wasn't working. Unless Kotaro decided to give an answer, the situation could go beyond his control. Even though he was the Captain of the team, he would be willing to make himself look pathetic to de-escalate the tension.

"I'm into legs."

He revealed.

"...oh, so it's legs." Rinko muttered with her cheeks turning a bit red.

"It's...not too bad for me, I guess." Kirara's eyes slowly shifted downward, bending the back a bit to get the view.

"You know, even though I look like this, I'm actually proud of my speed. And my spin kick is strong, enough to break a person's jaw."

"Legs. A capable weapon that has a combination of speed, agility and strength. Some movements of my martial art style also relies on legs to deliver heavy hits to the enemies. It seems you prioritized something beneficial to the Task Force, hm. Good choice."

Kotaro had no idea what they were talking about. Still, Yukikaze and Su seemed satisfied with his answer, the two returned to their seats without saying anything else.

"Wow. Did I just give myself a disadvantage?" Sakura couldn't believe the outcome of her teasing.

The classroom door opened as the head figures of Gosha arrived. Asagi and Murasaki were done with the briefing, now they could focus on the practical lesson about Taima Particles.

"Shiranui-san's not coming?" Kotaro asked.

"She's handling the paperwork for me." Asagi said. "We can continue the lesson, Fuuma-kun."

"..."

"?"

Kotaro noticed he was being stared at by Murasaki.

"Did you have everything set up?" She suddenly asked.

"I did, sensei."

"Good then."

After a nod of her head, she quickly took a seat at the front row. Unlike the other days, her gaze was neither cold nor strict. There was something else in there, a contemplation that had something to do with the conflicted thoughts.

"Legs, huh."

Despite standing a distance away, he could hear Asagi's whisper. When their gazes met, she simply smiled and walked past him in stride. The Headmistress was feeling confident.

Sigh.

Kotaro crouched down and hugged his head. They'd clearly heard everything.

...

...

"I'll go first."

Once the topic had been explained, it was about time for the demonstration. Kotaro rolled back the presentation slides and placed the measure device on the floor, stepping on it.

As expected, numbers on the screen turned to a single digit. His Taima Particles output was a zero. Despite his attempt seemed pointless, it appeared to be another effort to solidify a certain common fact about Fuuma Kotaro as someone who didn't awaken a Ninja Art.

While Murasaki simply nodded at the result, the faint smile on Asagi's face wasn't noticed by the rest of the Task Force members. She understood the intention.

"A question!" Sakura raised her hand. "Is that a weight scale? That measure device looks like a weight scale."

"It looks like a weight scale, but it's not." Kotaro vaguely explained. "It only displays the output of your Taima Particles discharge."

"I'm not sure how I should feel about this." Rinko muttered.

"That doesn't reassure me in the slightest." Yukikaze shot a half-opened gaze at the device. "Why can't they make it looked more...I don't know, fitting to its actual purpose?"

Kotaro raised an eyebrow at the girls' reaction.

"Why? What's wrong with it looking like a weight scale?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Maika was upset at his words. "You seriously have no idea, Fuuma?!"

"How insensitive! Y-You called yourself our Captain!?" Kirara complaint. "This is one of those things you're supposed to know about your teammates!"

"Woah there! It's not like the device it's my choice, I didn't pick it. I received it from Uraru as the research lab requested."

"Alright, enough with the ruckus." Murasaki spoke up, a slam of her hand on the desk brought silence back to the room. "I understand your concern. However, this isn't something that simple. Listen to Fuuma and take your turn."

"In that case, Mu-chan should go fist!" Sakura objected the idea.

"Oi, Sakura. Mind your manner, this is still a lecture. I'm not playing around."

"No no Non! This sounds like an April Fool prank to me! We're not convinced until you demonstrated it yourself!"

Young Sakura was being brazen today, Murasaki's glare had no effect on her. It was one of those matters only the girls know, and they mustered up the courage to reject this method of measurement even though it might have nothing to do with it.

Murasaki let out a sigh and looked at Asagi for permission to step forward, which the latter agreed.

"Fine, pay attention."

When she was about to step on the device, it made a beeping noise. In a small corner of that screen, the kilogram symbol appeared. Murasaki froze at the sight.

"Hm? Hang on, let me re-adjust the unit." Kotaro quickly picked it up and looked over the manual.

"Oi, Fuuma..."

A vice-grip placed on his shoulder, Kotaro met Murasaki's bloodshot gaze as she had a very important question for him. Now that she volunteered to do this for the team, this development wasn't what she wanted.

"Why does that thing have that measure unit? It was supposed to be about Taima Particles output. Are you pulling a prank on us because it's April Fool day? Are you?"

Murasaki was clearly upset, but the innocent Captain of the Task Force knew nothing of the reason why she'd got angry. Maybe it had something to do with the practical lesson taking place right after lunch break? Maybe it related to a woman's secret which she couldn't allow to be disclosed to the world?

Nevertheless, they had a technical issue with the weight scale-looked-alike device. He had to do something about the situation.

"D-Do you want to stop here and continue at a later date?" Kotaro nervously asked.

"That would take some time. Since it comes to this, we can work on the remote device later." Asagi had an idea. "Let's move to the Training Room. We will conduct the Taima Particles output evaluation on all members of the Task Force via sparring matches with the tech available there."

"All?" Kotaro pointed at himself, he had the lowest chance to possibly take a win from any of them.

"You've already demonstrated your output. You're exempt from the evaluation, Fuuma-kun." Asagi said with a smile. "I'd like you to continue to be in charge of the process though."

Yukikaze stood up from her seat, stretching both arms.

"Fine by me. I prefer an actual physical approach for this kind of thing anyway."

"Same here as well." Rinko agreed, eager to participate in the new idea with her sword, Ishikiri Kanemitsu.

Others nodded their heads in sync.

"Very good. You all will spar against me and Murasaki, that makes two turns for each of you. Just a head up, I will go all out."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Silence.

"Eh?!"

"Hah?! W-What?!"

"Two turns?! Against Asagi-sensei and Murasaki-sensei at the same time?!"

"It's an honor, Master Asagi!"

Asides from Su, who looked excited at her words, the eager look on the Task Force members' faces fell flat at the announcement. An ashen paleness quickly took over their horrified expression. Kotaro sweat dropped at the shift in atmosphere, it sounded too much like an April Fool prank. Unfortunately, Asagi didn't say it as a joke.

"Fuuma, what are you doing?! Fix that thing!"

"Hurry it up!"

Kotaro moved as Maika and Yukikaze urged him to solve the problem. Another hellish training section or not, she and the rest weren't ready for such trial. The result that came out would be the same like many times before.

"Oh my, you don't like the idea?" Asagi was amused.

"What is there to be afraid of us? You've had plenty of matches with the staff here." Murasaki wasn't surprised. "Although losing will still be the obvious outcome, this is to drag out the best result of your Taima output."

Even so, it was a scary experience to spar with an Elite who held nothing back.

After tinkering around with the manual, Kotaro found the solution.

"Okay, done! I changed back the measure unit!"

"My turn!"

Yukikaze quickly left her seat, took her indoor shoes off and jumped on the weigh-the Taima output measuring device. The number zero on the screen rose past a triple digit number.

"Hm hm!" Hands on her hip, Yukikaze made a triumphant face. "How's that for my Taima Particles discharge?"

"Pretty low." Kotaro commented.

"Say what?!"

"You're in your default state of non-combat status and you haven't activated your Ninja Art yet. This number is just the natural amount of Taima discharged from your body." He explained. "Basically, this is normal for every Taimanin who's not on duty. What we need to get here is the actual output at your most concentrated moment during combat."

"In other word, I should try to release more Taima Particles using the feelings I've experienced from battles. Is that right?"

Receiving a confirmed nod from Kotaro, Yukikaze closed her eyes and focused on the flow of energy within the body.

Immediately, the triple digit number shot up, breaking through the nine thousand mark.

"Woooh! Keep going, Yukikaze-chan! It's OVER NINE THOUSAND!" Sakura cheered.

Sparks appeared around the young tanned-skin Taimanin.

"Okay, I think this is good enough." Kotaro said while watching the number on the device continue to rise without a stop.

"Not yet. I can still go on."

Yukikaze had yet to feel the peak of her output. Electric currents engulfed her and increased in power.

"Woah woah! Yukikaze, you can stop now!"

Kotaro could feel the tingling electric shock on his skin. Things seemed to head toward a dangerous situation.

The number reached past a million and showed no sign of slowing down.

Crack!

The screen cracked after it showed a number bigger than what the display frame could handle. Yukikaze halted her focus when she noticed smoke coming from the device, it was about to blow up.

"Kirara-senpai!"

At Kotaro's calling, Kirara used her magic to freeze the device right after Yukikaze stepped away from it. Trapped inside the cold walls of a glacier box, the thing shattered in an explosion that reduced to a mere puff of smoke.

"Erm..." Yukikaze scratched her cheek in awkward. "Does this mean I'm passed?"

In a way, her output was too strong it broke the thing. Kotaro facepalmed himself as this would get him to either be scolded by Uraru or the Research Department.

"On the bright side of it, I'd say you set up a high record for others to follow." Asagi calmly said. "Yukikaze, it's also possible that your Ninja Art has limitless potential. Be sure to train harder and control it well."

"Yes!" The young Taimanin smiled at the compliment.

Kotaro shared the same emotion, but his smile dropped at the second he realized they would eventually return to an alternative Asagi'd mentioned.

"Let's us proceed to the Training Room as discussed."

The next words from the Headmistress swept off the smile on Yukikaze's face without mercy. She turned to her Captain in horror, and Kotaro could only look away.

"Right away, Master Asagi!"

While the rest of the members followed the Elites in dread, Su was in high spirit.

Later that day, the group completed the practical training without an ounce of strength left in their body. Kotaro still had to support Yukikaze on their way to Uraru's lab and apologized for breaking the device.

"Wow, you guys actually used the thing?" Mekamura Uraru laughed after saying such a thing. "The Training Room already has the tech available though, measuring Taima Particles output isn't something so simple like stepping on a weight scale and watch the result."

Kotaro's mouth dropped, he just heard something unbelievable.

"You said it would be convenient to use this?!"

"Duh! I meant it as a prank. Happy April Fool's Day!"

That was why the thing was made to look like a weight scale. It was a subtle April Fool prank, it had nothing to do with Taima output measurement in the first place.

"Fuuuuuuuummmmaaaaa."

An eerie voice raised from behind him, Kotaro slowly turned around to see Yukikaze enveloped in a dark aura.

"Hold on, I got pranked too."

And because of that, the Task Force had another hellish training to be remembered. Admittedly, he should have learned more about the Taima output measuring process before this. It was one of the lectures he'd skipped in the past.

Before Yukikaze decided to zap him with her lightning, Kotaro managed to get away in time. With all that exhaustion and fatigues built up from the sparring matches, he knew too well she couldn't catch him.

The Headmistress was smiling in her office as she went through the result of today's lesson. Asides from Kotaro whose circumstance was different, the team's Taima Particles outputs regarding the activation of Ninja Art and combat physique all reached her expectation.

"Everyone has improved a lot since then."

Ting!

A notification popped up from her phone.

[They found out about the prank.]

Uraru's message was a good news, the plan had come full circle.

"It's fine. Thank you for your assistance." Asagi typed back. "As requested, the budget for your next project has been approved."

[Thank you so much, Headmistress!]

The true mastermind behind the prank continued her work in delight.

"..."

Come to think of it, he said he was into legs.

Even though it was a deliberate answer to peacefully resolve the situation with Su and Yukikaze, Asagi still wondered. Would he pay more attention to her if she left out the stockings from her usual clothes? Maybe she should try it out. Considering Kotaro's nature, there would be no harm in doing so as she could pass it off as another April Fool prank.

Just like the way Fuuma Tokiko often sneakily stole her Young Master's glance with the purple Indomitable Taimanin suit hid underneath the business attire, Asagi would blend in the opportunities to attract his gaze. Asagi had confidence in her figure, she only needed to find a proper way, preferably not too obvious and one that Saika wouldn't deem unfair.

Perhaps, it wouldn't be too bold of her if she decided to take them off right now?

/