The barracks registration room smelled like old paper and rust.
It was a wide low ceilinged space with long tables running down the center, forms already stacked and waiting like someone had known they were coming. A registration clerk sat at the far end with the expression of a man who had processed too many of these to feel anything about them anymore.
"Line up, one form each, read before you sign."
They lined up. They took their forms.
For a moment the room was quiet except for the shuffle of paper.
Then someone laughed nervously. Then stopped.
The form wasn't complicated. Name, rank, cursed energy classification, emergency contact if applicable. Standard stuff at the top. But somewhere in the middle, tucked between equipment liability and fortress jurisdiction, was a single paragraph that nobody had warned them about.
By signing below the participant acknowledges that excursion beyond the fortress walls carries a non-guaranteed return status. Shingen Fortress assumes no liability for injury, capture, spiritual possession or death occurring outside designated safe zones.
Non-guaranteed return status.
They read it twice. Some of them three times.
Nobody said anything out loud but the room had changed. The excitement from earlier hadn't disappeared but something had settled on top of it now, something heavier. This was the first time it had been written down in plain language in front of them.
You might not come back. Sign here.
One by one they signed.
-----
Daichi left them with the clerk and walked further into the barracks, down a narrower corridor that smelled even older, until he reached a door at the end with a nameplate that had been replaced so many times the wall around it was pockmarked with old screw holes.
He knocked once and went in.
Captain Ren was behind his desk with a map spread open and a cold cup of tea beside it. He was a broad shouldered man with close cut grey at his temples and the permanent look of someone doing math in his head. He didn't look up immediately.
"Daichi."
"Captain."
Ren finally leaned back, rubbing his jaw. "You heard about the sighting on the eastern perimeter last night."
"Earth grade, the reports said."
"The reports were being optimistic." Ren's eyes dropped back to the map. "Whatever it was it moved wrong for an Earth grade. Too deliberate. We've got two senior teams running assessment sweeps this morning but nothing confirmed yet."
Daichi was quiet for a moment. "People are spooked."
"People are right to be." Ren folded the map closed. "An Earth grade this close to the wall is manageable. A Mortal grade is a different conversation entirely. We're tightening the northern posts and pulling the overnight solo permits until we know what we're dealing with."
The room sat with that for a second.
"I have fifteen fourth grades needing their first outside clearance." Daichi said it plainly, no cushioning. "I made them a promise."
Ren looked at him.
"They completed an overnight endurance task. Full compliance. They've been registered downstairs."
Another pause. Ren picked up his tea, remembered it was cold, set it back down.
"Supervised clearance. Designated low activity zone, western corridor, two hour window. You don't extend and you don't deviate."
"Understood."
"And Daichi." Ren's voice didn't change tone but something in it did. "If anything grades up while you're out there you pull them back immediately. I don't care how much they want to fight."
Daichi nodded once and left.
-----
The students were still gathered in the registration room, forms submitted, energy shifting between nerves and anticipation, when Daichi reappeared in the corridor and gave them the nod.
The reaction was immediate. Shoulders straightened. Someone punched someone else's arm. Even the ones still half dead from the overnight drills found something to stand up straighter for.
Daichi was already turning to lead them out when movement at the front entrance caught his eye.
Yuno stepped through the doorway.
He wasn't rushed. Wasn't out of breath. He just appeared in the frame like he'd simply decided it was time to be there, glanced around the room once and walked in.
Then he stopped.
The cold pulse behind his eyes. Sharper than usual.
[You have checked in at the captain's office]
[Secondary task complete]
[You have received a Grade 2 Cursed Tool: Infinite Blade Cutter]
A faint pressure at his side, there and then settled, like something slotting into place that had always belonged there.
He looked down briefly. Then back up.
Daichi was watching him with one eyebrow slightly raised.
"You done?"
"Yes." Yuno said.
"Then get in line."