"K-Kaminari?!" Duaka stuttered.
"It's been a while," she teased, "You're a bit tight on time."
"Huh?"
"For the Testing Grounds," Kaminari clarified, "Knowing you, you haven't trained in two years."
"Well, I-" Duaka gestured with his hands, awkwardly.
"Shocker," she laughed, "How do you plan to pull it off?"
"I haven't thought that far ahead," he smiled faintly, "I'm going to try my luck at getting my cousins to help me out with training though."
"A little Tsumetai crash course? I like it." Kaminari placed her hand gently on Duaka's shoulder, with a warm smile, "Just let me know if you need help with anything, alright?"
"Thanks," Duaka smiled back.
The rest of the class came in and took their seats, people made small talk before the teacher arrived.
Taris walked in, with her blonde hair caught by her bandana and tied into a ponytail.
She glanced at Duaka and Kaminari and averted her gaze with a grimace.
Rex came in behind her and waved at Duaka and Kaminari.
"I'll let you two catch up." Kaminari grabbed her bag, "See you around, Ice Boy."
"Hey Kaminari," Duaka called out, "I missed you a lot."
"I know," she laughed and put her tongue out, walking to her desk.
"I see you two have caught up," Rex sat down next to Duaka, "Aw man, these two weeks are gonna be lit! It feels like we're back in the first year."
"Tell me about it."
Most of the class was already seated, waiting for the instructor to arrive.
Taris sat down next to Kassandra.
"Wasn't that your boyfriend with Princess Bubblegum over there?" Kassandra joked.
"Shut up already," Taris crossed her arms.
Amidst the chaos of the restless classroom, the instructor emerged from the shadows of a dark corner, impossibly so.
He flicked his dark blue poncho and turned on the lights.
The dark skin, in his early twenties, the white scarred left eye, the dark mouth mask and the black beanie with the symbol of a crescent moon were unmistakable.
"Chosee is a teacher now?" Duaka asked Rex.
"Yeah, he was discharged from-" Rex was interrupted.
"I will ask that you all please be quiet," Chosee addressed the class, "Rei, can you do me the favor of cleaning the blackboard?"
Rei nodded and wiped the chalkboard clean.
"Two weeks for the testing grounds and you'd rather waste time flirting around," Chosee shouted, "You're not children anymore, most of you are eighteen, nineteen... Open your books on page 124."
Rex placed his book in the center of the table, sharing it with Duaka.
"The Five Elements of Prana, as I'm sure you can read on the page," Chosee said loudly as he wrote on the chalkboard and drew the runes for each element, "Coming from the Aether: Air, Fire, Water, Earth. The base form of every composite element, and the basis for every waza."
Duaka counted on his fingers, "...three, four... Where's the fifth?"
"Dude, seriously? We learned this in first grade," Rex whispered, "Aether counts as one of the elements, where the others are drawn from."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot."
"How can you even forget that? It's the fundamental of the fundamentals." Rex said.
"I guess it never really made sense," Duaka gestured, "I get it's the source and all that but I can't think of one Aether-based waza... It shouldn't really count as an element."
Duaka was startled by the sound of the instructor's chair being dragged across the floor.
"Here, do you want to teach the class yourself?" Chosee asked sarcastically.
Taris and Kassandra laughed and whispered under their breaths.
"Kassandra, you can grab your bindle and swap spots with Duaka," Chosee instructed, while fidgeting with his stress balls, "I'm getting tired of all the chatter, guys, seriously."
Kassandra tsked as she got up. Rex's eyes and mouth opened wide as he looked back and forth between Duaka and Taris, quietly laughing with his hand over his mouth.
Duaka took his notebook and approached Taris as she was looking in the opposite direction, with her arms crossed, "Hey."
Taris looked back at Duaka unamused, "What do you want?"
"Well, can you scoot over?" he asked, keeping his composure.
Taris grunted as she dragged her chair to the right.
"Appreciate it," Duaka sighed.
"For a change," Taris muttered.
Duaka let it slide.
Chosee went back to teaching the class, resuming his recap of the elements.
Duaka looked down at his desk, he didn't have a book now, "Hey, Taris. Do you mind sharing your book with me?"
"Where's your book?" she hissed back.
"I don't have one."
"Figures..."
Duaka's eye twitched faintly, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Taris threw the book to Duaka's side, "Just pay attention to the class, Casanova."
"Hey, what the hell is your problem? Can't you just play nice for once?"
The class was startled by the sound of chalk snapping against the blackboard.
Chosee placed his stress balls on his desk, "Since you can't stay quiet for two whole minutes, you probably already know full well what a waza is. Care to explain it to the rest of the class?"
Duaka glanced at Taris from the corner of his eye, annoyed, before he got up, "A waza is any technique using Prana, with the elements as the base. It can be as complex or as abstract as it is designed to be. Most often expressed with rune formulas in tomes, or written into flash paper scrolls using inkstone, called kaku-"
"That's good enough, I'm not sure anyone here would have explained it as well as you," Chosee looked at the rest of the class, "Fine, you know what it is. Now do one."
"What?"
"Perform a waza," Chosee gestured, "Any waza."
Duaka hesitated and then walked to the front of the class. Everyone was looking at him.
Kaminari and Rex observed with bated breath.
Even Taris watched him with curiosity, her arms crossed.
It's now or never.
Duaka raised his left palm upward, holding his wrist with his right hand. He focused on his hand, closing his eyes and controlling his breathing.
After five seconds of perfect stillness, steam came off his left hand. Dissipating into the air.
The class burst into laughter. Taris averted her gaze, unamused.
"You call that a waza?" Chosee asked, squinting his eyes, "Your sister is out there fighting a war you know nothing about, while you've been rotting away at home all this time. And you come here with this shit, two weeks from the finish line?"
How the hell does this guy know that?
The classroom went silent. Duaka looked away.
"Why did you even show up at this point in the race?" Chosee probed.
"I want to become a Tokken," Duaka said, "I'm trying, alright?"
"Then sit down and learn!" Chosee shouted, "Instead of speaking with your classmates, pay attention."
Duaka sat back down next to Taris, facing away from her.
"And that goes for all of you," Chosee sat down at his desk, "Taris, you're up. Show us a waza."
Taris rolled her eyes and pretended she didn't hear.
"Taris," Chosee called out, "Could you please demonstrate a waza for the rest of the class?"
Taris got up abruptly, walked over to Chosee's desk and grabbed one of his stress balls.
She then closed her hand into a fist, crushing the stress ball into a handful of dust.
How can she even do that?
"Come on, that's hardly a waza," Chosee said as Taris walked away toward the door.
The bell rang and the class got up, Duaka grabbed his things and bolted toward the exit. With his heart skipping beats.
He avoided locking eyes with anyone, he could feel them looking at him.
Sneering.
Seething with pure hatred.
You just came here to be pushed around by everyone and swallow it.
Go back to the couch where you can't burden anyone with the sight of you.
You're a fucking disappointment.