The students stood lined up in neat rows, swords to the side, sweat already glistening from the brief warm-up they thought was the workout.
They were wrong. A cruel conditioning awaited them for the second half of class.
Emelio: "Now, we will strengthen your bodies and spirits. Because what good is grace without endurance? Elegance without stamina? Artistry without the lungs to breathe through it?"
The students looked uneasy. Dakota whispered to Erika: "Why do I feel like this is going to kill us?"
Erika: "He's just trying to motivate us, right?" She laughed nervously.
Emelio: "Silence in the ranks!" He clapped his hands once, producing an oddly powerful echo. "We begin with the Endurance March of refinement. You will run ten laps around this entire field—"
A collective groan rippled through the class.
Emelio: "—while maintaining perfect posture!" He finished dramatically, ignoring their despair. "Shoulders up! Chin lifted! You are not beasts, you are artists of the sword! Now run!"
They obeyed, more out of fear than enthusiasm. Erika and Sylvie led the pace, determined and focused, while Dakota trudged toward the back end. Mike ran efficiently, saving his stamina.
Emelio followed their progress like a general inspecting troops, shouting encouragement and critique in equal measure.
Emelio: "Keep your posture! Ms. Erika, splendid energy! Your spirit shines brighter than the sun!"
By lap eight, the first victims began to falter. Two students stumbled aside, gasping for air. By lap end, another clutched his stomach and sprinted for the bushes.
Emelio merely nodded solemnly: "Ah yes, the purge of weakness. A necessary step in every hero's journey. Now we proceed to Refined Strength Training."
The groans turned to muffled whimpers.
Emelio demonstrates all the exercises they will be doing: "You will repeat these one hundred times," he said cheerfully. "With poise, of course."
Student: "One hundred? Is he serious?"
Sylvie: "Emelio Sensei looks serious to me," she said, already starting the motion with calm focus.
An hour and a half passed and not one student was smiling. They were all grunting, short of breath, and drenched in sweat.
Erika's hair clung to her forehead as she kept motivating everyone: "We can do this! Just a little more!"
Emelio circled around them, hands clasped behind his back, every word both inspiring and cruel: "Pain, my dear students, is but your muscles crying tears of transformation! Embrace it! Control your breathing! If you faint, do it gracefully!"
Students staggered to the side, pale, collapsing onto the grass.
Dakota stopped mid-rep: "Sensei! He's—"
Emelio raised a hand: "He has ascended to enlightenment. Let him rest."
By the end, sixteen students had given up entirely. Some were flat on the ground, and a few were hunched away from the others, retching miserably. The rest stood shaking, on the verge of collapsing
Emelio surveyed the scene like a proud sculptor admiring a rough masterpiece: "Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous! Weakness has been shed, and what remains are diamonds still buried in stone!"
Erika wiped her brow, laughing breathlessly: "He really… doesn't go easy, does he?"
Dakota, barely standing, managed a weary grin: "I didn't think I could finish even half of that. But… I did." 'I have Tsukihi Sensei to thank for getting me into shape.'
Emelio: "The blade dulls without pressure, and the heart strengthens only when tested."
A student collapses backward into the grass: "I can't feel my legs…"
Emelio: "Good. That means they're alive."
Student: "This is going to be a long year."
The class wrapped up, Emelio addressed the class one last time, his cape catching the light of the setting sun: "Today, you learned more than technique. You learned that mastery of the sword is mastery of self. To doubt yourself is to dull your own edge. But to believe, to truly believe is to cut through any obstacle. You're dismissed."He then walks up to Dakota. "Remember that, my boy. Pride is not arrogance. It is the dignity of knowing you matter."
Dakota bowed deeply. "Thank you, Emelio Sensei. I won't forget."
Every single student here has been pushed to their limit by Emelio, but they don't have any complaints. They can tell their sensei is the real deal.
Mike: "I need a shower immediately. I'll be heading out."
Erika: "Bye, Mike!"
Slowly, people start to clear out. Just as Dakota and Erika are about to leave, a girl with orange hair approaches them. They can tell her hair is dyed because her eyebrows are black. They also noticed she was one of the students who kept up the most. Sylvie also wanted to talk with them again but sees someone else beat her to it, so she smiles and leaves them to it.
?: "Hello. Erika and Dakota, right?"
Erika: "Yep, that's us."
?: "Looks like sensei really took a liking to you, Dakota."
Dakota: "Heh. What can I say."
?: "I'm I'm Remi Tsuikina. I actually have a couple classes with you guys."
Erika: "Oh, really?"
Remi: "Yep. And I've actually heard of you guys."
Dakota: "Heard of us? Wait, I feel like I've heard your name too. Where was it?.." He takes a moment to think. "Do some of your friends perhaps call you, Rem?"
Remi: "They sure do."
Dakota: "So you're Austin's friend!"
Remi slyly smiles: "That is correct."
Erika: "Austin already told someone about us?"
Remi: "Yeah, he thinks you two are really cool."
Dakota starts blushing: "Ho… He said that?"
Remi: "Well, I don't wanna keep you guys too long. I'll see you around."
Erika: "Bye bye."
Erika cheerfully waves while Dakota gives a cool little gesture with his hand.
***
Later that night back in the dorms, Austin returns after being way past curfew.
Dakota: "Welcome back."
Austin: "Honey, I'm home."
Dakota's face turns with disgust: "I am not your honey."
Austin: "Haha. My bad."
Dakota: "You're joking but I bet you're late cuz you were out with a girl or something."
Austin gasps with surprise: "How'd you know?!"
Dakota: "I can't tell if you're being serious or not."
Austin: "I guess we'll never know."
They stare at each other for a few seconds, then Austin made a face that not even a mother could love. Yet it made Dakota hold in a laugh.