Jin wakes up in the morning, but he doesn't get out of his bed, instead, he thought about some stuff that happened during that day and what Kratia said to him,
"You're worthless"
"You're weak"
Those were some of the words he had heard from Kratia during that day, now, Jin started to think more about it.
"He is technically right though, even though I have this Lightning element, I'm weak as hell," Jin says but as he says it, it hurt his ego as he admitted that he's weak,
"Well, if I do have to protect someone, I need to be stronger," Jin says
But no matter how many times Jin trained his combat skills, he still fought the same, maybe it's because of the fact, he fights the air instead of actually fighting someone.
"Hm? You want my help with your sword combatting?" Shin asked
"Yes, you can use swords so you're the perfect combat partner, and also, I never really got to learn actual sword combat as I just self-taught" myself by fighting the air"
"What did the air ever do to you?" Shin playfully asked
"Well, Shin, are you gonna help me?" Jin asked again
"Sure, I'll help you" Shin replied
"Thank you! Let's get started!" Jin says
"Wait, already?" Shin says as he gets dragged by Jin to the yard for sword fighting.
Jin and Shin suited up in their battle outfit, Jin finally had a battle outfit, he wears a normal shirt with a purple cloak while Shin wears light armor for his battle outfit.
"You ready?" Shin asked
"Oh, I'm born ready" He replied.
Jin rushed in as fast as he can at Shin and strikes him aggressively, Shin manages to block it and counterattacked Jin by hitting him with the sword grip and kicking him. Jin shrugged it off and strikes him once again, ending again with him getting counterattacked by Shin.
"Your attacks are off, you're not timing your strikes, you're not finding an opening to your enemy," Shin says as he observes Jin's fighting style.
"Honestly, how can you fight people or monsters like this?" Shin gave his honest observation. Jin seemed to get pissed off by his comments, but it's not because of the comments Shin has been giving him, it was because of what Kratia told him during that day,
"What a weakling, you can't even protect your own partner"
Those words had been bothering him since after that encounter in the tomb. Time passed by and they were still dueling, during the passed time, Jin couldn't land a single blow on Shin and he keeps getting countered by Shin.
"HAAA!" Jin yelled as he strikes Shin again, but ending again with Shin counterattacking Jin by kicking him, this blew him away, Jin tries to get up, but can't because he's exhausted.
"Hey, I think this is enough for today, Jin" Shin says as he is worried about Jin's condition.
"No, not yet," Jin says
"There's a tomorrow, Jin, this is enough," Shin says
"You just want to end this for today because you pity me, don't you?" Jin says
"Hey, Jin, you know that's not what I meant," Shin says
"Then if that's not what you meant, fight me," Jin says
Shin is hesitating to fight Jin again because of his weak condition and has no more stamina to fight.
"FIGHT ME!" Jin yelled at him
"Let me prove that I'm not weak, that I'm not a burden to others."
"You're not!" Shin replied to him
"You think I don't know, Shin? During the times you weren't here, I was being a burden to Mizuki, fainting due to exhaustion and her always caring about me. If you think that I felt grateful during that time, I wasn't! I felt like a burden to Mizuki. I felt like all I did to her was to make her suffer by looking after me!"
Shin didn't speak anymore, he is listening.
"The reason why I wanted you to train me is so I stop being a burden to Mizuki, and help her instead! I just wanted to prove that I'm not useless, that I'm not weak. I just wanted to prove Kratia wrong! But..." Jin says
Jin slams his hand to one of the fences,
"He was right! I am weak, I am worthless, I am just a burden to others!" As Jin says this, he started to tear up
Shin had nothing to say but...
"If that is what you wish for, Reshiro Jin, I will grant it" Shin replied with a cold and emotionless voice.
Shin stances, looking serious. Jin gets back up on his feet and stances, then Jin rushed at Shin,
"Speed!" He yelled as he runs at Shin, ready to strike. Shin dodges the strike and kicks him in the stomach and back, finishing him with a punch, which blew him away. He teleports, due to his sonic agility.
"Are you happy now?" Shin asked
Jin looked at him, pissed.
"I know how much you want to not be a burden to Mizuki but..."
Shin grabbed him by the collar of his cloak,
"Do you think you can get stronger just by training with me in one day?!"
Jin couldn't speak, he had no words.
"Just because I look like what you wanted to be, that doesn't mean training with me will make you stronger!!"
"Look here, Jin, if you want to get stronger, you must have patience, learn to be patient, Jin. From here on out, Jin, Let's start on our training from the beginning." Shin says while giving Jin a smile
Jin who was moved by Shin's words, nodded at him as the sun rises.
'Thank you, Shin, for snapping me out of this' He thought to himself.
"Looks like the boy is finally getting serious about getting stronger," Hana says as she observes from her room. Suddenly, Hana got a severe headache,
"Urgh..."
And Hana had a worried face, tearing up,
'This presence...' She thought.
'He's coming, or they are coming'