Between the clangs of metal and the aggressive yells that were echoing through the air, the young man knew that the situation was already ferocious. Of course, even if he were deaf, he'd already know that by the continuing trail of unconscious bodies belonging to minor shinobi that led him to a building that was off to the side of Hebijo Academy's main complex. It took a few seconds to muster his courage to keep going but, with another tug of his scarf and a long breath, the boy knew that there'd be little chance of him turning back without finding trouble along the way. So, even if it was still a very horrible idea to begin with, he pressed on.

In an effort to not seem as stupid as he was in that moment, the young man proceeded to look the building over for an alternative way in. As much as the front door would be a simple entrance, he felt it would be far too brazen for someone who had little to no live fire experience in actual infiltrating. So, he took a step back, thought about what other options would be available to him, and then noticed with sharp eyes the pile of rubble to the side of the building that made a perfect ramp up to the roof over two floors up. Wondering where such a convenient pathway came from, the young man looked up and found that a sizeable portion of the roof had somehow been blasted away from the rest of the building.

Finally beginning to grasp the magnitude of power that he would be going up against, the boy clapped his hands and turned around to walk away. Unfortunately for him, his mind went back to what he was initially thinking earlier: this would be the most difficult academy to confront and it would only be more insulting if he left, went through all of the other academies, and then came back to only die. Tightening his lips, the young man spitefully decided that he wasn't going to let it play out that way and turned around to carefully ascend the ramp of rubble.

He clambered up a few shattered rafters and, at the very moment he stepped onto what remained of the roof, a white explosion blew open a hole a short way up ahead. Instinctively throwing his arms up in surprise, the young man froze and stared blankly as the yelling and fighting began to sound out much more clearly. After regathering his resolve, the boy began to pat at his pockets as he carefully stepped toward the newly made opening. When he was close enough to peek his eyes in, his eyes opened wider in fear as a fantastic brawl took place before him.

Charging with her head low and near the floor of what appeared to be a large gym or combat practice room, Miyabi readied her katana back and swung it over her head as the features on her face twisted viciously. Dodging just under the blade with not even a fraction of a second to spare, Yumi spiraled her body while also slicing her fans around to force the woman to dodge away. When that happened, she danced her weapons between her fingers a few times before swinging her arms out and launching icicles to begin her push forward, all while her face remained cold and detached to whatever friendship the girls had.

Though Miyabi had positioned herself in such a way to cut down the oncoming projectiles, Imu dived in from the side with her bo and brought it down to smash one icicle before quickly swinging it around herself to the other. With a sharp look in her eye, she was about to charge at Yumi before a yell came from the side, "Get back here!" When the spectacled girl jumped away, Yozakura and her gauntlets struck the ground and cracked apart the floorboards. Unwilling to give any time for a recovery, the younger girl kicked off the ground again with a grunt and reeled back her metal fists for another strike. Imu rolled backwards out of the way of another punch and raised her bo to block another. A few strikes were exchanged and deflected between the two before Yozakura stepped back, though she was forced to fend off a few more hits when Imu advanced.

Suddenly, with her scythe winded back and its blade glimmering in the light, Shiki pushed in from behind the woman and communicated to her sister with only a nod. Catching the intent, Yozakura dropped defensive posture and proceeded to bring back one of her gauntlets for a finishing punch. Realizing her situation quickly, Imu parried the scythe before the blonde could cut into her but took a hard punch into her back and was thrown into the air. Just as Yozakura leaped to follow after her, a high-pitched yell rang through the air and the girl was suddenly forced to defend herself from a large spiraling shuriken as Imu landed on the ground. What she wasn't able to anticipate was Murasaki launching herself like a missile through the air to tackle and smash her into the ground. From there, the purple-haired shinobi threw a few weak punches before she used her hair to swing the shuriken for what would have been a dangerous blow had Shiki not caught one of the edges of the weapon with her scythe's handle.

As Imu picked herself up and prepared to support her sister with her bo in hand, a loud shout came from the other end of the gym, "We need help over here!" When the girl turned to analyze the situation, she saw the Murakumo was putting up a grand assault against Ryōbi and Ryōna with her spear and cleaver rapidly stabbing and cutting from one place to another. Beyond that, when she wasn't keeping up the onslaught, her black and white wolves, Kagerō and Kotarō, were striking at the twins' heels from various angles. Knowing that they wouldn't last long in a heated encounter, Imu dashed forward with her bo at the ready before Minori, who'd been sneakily waiting on the sidelines, suddenly appeared into her vision.

Blocking the first swing of the candy bucket easily, the spectacled girl parried a blow and dodged under another before she jabbed her weapon forward and sent volts of electricity straight into her opponent's stomach. When she moved to swing her bo again, Minori suddenly brought her bucket up and proceeded to slam it into the side of Imu's leg as she bit down the paralyzing pain of the electricity running through her abdomen. As she recovered from the coursing volts, the girl then realized that she'd failed to bring her opponent down and that the bo was coming right at her. Minori dodged herself back but, with her bucket swinging around haphazardly, she quickly realized that she'd made a mistake. With a swift and precise movement, Imu forced her bo between the bucket and its handle and swung her weapon upwards. As Minori clung tightly to her weapon, she was suddenly flung into the air and watched as Miyabi broke away from her fight with Yumi to fly through the air with both of her legs pulled back for a dropkick. At the very moment the woman's feet connected, Minori was suddenly blown away and crashed into a wall. Were it not for the fact that Yozakura and Yumi gave chase after the women before a finishing blow could be dealt, the young girl knew that she would have sustained further and much more serious injuries.

Once Minori managed to pick herself up and charged back into the fray, the young man pulled himself away from the edge of the fight and blinked a few times as his heart began to race with fright. Suddenly, dying later seemed like a much better idea than dying right then. With his hand still frozen over one pocket, which contained both his glasses and a particular band, he once again found himself considering the prospect of just leaving. As a matter of fact, he began to wonder about how far he would make it if he just abandoned his mission altogether. It was only after realizing that he wouldn't make it far at all, especially considering his lack of combat prowess against experienced fighters like shinobi, that he turned back to the hole in the roof and dragged a long breath.

Pulling the band from his pocket, which seemed very much like an electric watch at first glance, the boy stepped toward the opening and braced himself to jump in. In his mind, he was trying to hype himself up. He told himself that it was either then or later. He could either rip off the painful band-aid that was his mission or he could slowly peel it off and suffer much, much longer and, if he had anything to say, it was going to be the former option. The provocation, the first step required to fulfill an infiltrator's grand purpose, was going to happen at that very night.

Then, fitting his luck up to that point, he accidentally dropped his watch and observed in silent horror as it fell into the roof's opening and landed silently onto the floor of the gym. The young man said nothing nor did he even twitch. His hand was still outward and his fingers were still grasping, as though he were still holding the integral tool that would ensure he had a chance at survival. He then proceeded to let out a terrified squeak that lasted until he was completely out of air in his lungs. Grasping the sides of his hair, the young man swung his head around in frustration and cursed himself a thousand times.

As that was happening, Minori was kicked away from the brawl again and found herself rolling along on the ground. When she came to a stop, she let out a moan and rested her head on the floor for a brief second before her eyes found the watch and locked on it with interest. She extended her hand, picked it up from the floor, and curiously ran her fingers across it as she wondered who it would belong to. She'd fought with everyone in the room and had also spent time with them in various casual settings. Most importantly, she'd also seen just about every single outfit on them that each of them had in their wardrobes and never once had she seen them walking around with such a unique and fancy-looking electric watch before.

A wheeze rasped from the young man's throat as he watched Minori from above, extending a hand downward in desperation while wondering if there was a way to telekinetically bring the tool back up to him. He then stepped back and paced one way before turning around and pacing to another. A few grumbles came from his throat before his head wildly shook with anticipation. His hands clapped together and he grasped them a few times just off from the sides of his hips before he charged at the hole and braced to jump down.

It was extremely fortunate that his senses caught up to the young man, lest he would have jumped from the top of the gym all the way down to a pair of broken legs, if he was going to be optimistic about those chances. After coming to a halt and calming himself, the boy defeatedly slipped down into a seated position on the edge and began to slide his way down to a sturdy-looking metal rafter. As his eyes scanned a path along the beams toward the bleachers, which would require a much less fatal fall, his ears noted that the structure he was clinging to was beginning to creak. Though the young man was hoping for some kind of good luck so that he could take the safest path to the ground, the sudden silence of the rafter made his heart stop and he found himself clinging on for dear life as he anticipated what came next.

Without further warning, the metal caved between the structural damage it took earlier and the added weight of its passenger. Though all of the supports and wiring that were connected on the far side of the beam didn't break away, everything right beside the young man seamed to explode apart from the pressure and the piece of structure fell diagonally. On the ground, the shinobi didn't seem to pay any mind to the oncoming rubble and simply maneuvered their continuing fighting out of the way while Minori calmly moved to the side with some alarm on her face. Once the metal collided into the wooden floor, the resulting force pried the young man from his hold and threw him down to the ground where he would hit the back of his head and be left in a short daze.

The fighting continued for a bit, with most of the theatrical bouts taking place between Miyabi and Yumi. But as everyone noticed the presence of their unexpected guest, everyone's fighting steadily trailed to a halt and they watched with some curiosity as the young man pulled himself up and shook his head miserably. When the boy made eye contact with them, their eyes sharpened in alertness and their weapons were unconsciously beginning to turn toward him.

As all of that was happening, the young man managed to ignore the thumping pain on the back of his head as he instead thought about how likely it was that he was going to be killed. Still, having already been thrown into the situation and knowing that panic would serve him nothing, he sucked in a breath and stood up while making sure his scarf was as tight over his face as it was before. With a straight expression that didn't dare to even blink, he robotically walked to Minori. Though the girl held her candy bucket combatively, he simply held out his hand and said, "That would be mine."

Minori blinked once and looked down to the watch in her hand before she thoughtlessly offered it back to him. Immediately after, just as it was taken from her grasp, Yumi yelled from the side, "Wait, what did you just give him!?"

Bending under the pressure of being yelled at by her older sister, Minori turned and held up her hands, "It was just a watch! It was just a watch, I swear!"

At the same time, the young man was fixing the band to his wrist and winced a bit as he felt a few micro needle points at the center dig into his skin. He then clicked a button on it, closed his eyes, and brought it up toward his mouth to whisper, "Focus." As a strange tingling feeling akin to getting gently shocked by a metal pole flowed between his wrist, neck, and head, his eyes then sharpened and he looked up to the girls with an expression that showed none of the fear that he had earlier. Rather, he looked like a defiant general leading a hundred good soldiers against an army of one hundred thousand enemies.

Sick of the air of mystery that was seeping into the room, Miyabi turned to Yumi and casually asked, "Is he one of Gessen's people? I don't recognize him."

The girl shook her head, "No. I don't know him."

"Look at him," came a low voice from Imu, "The way he's dressed, the lack of a weapon, and no aura. He's no shinobi."

Without further warning, the air in the room felt extremely hostile to the young man. Everyone's eyes were either scrutinizing him as they tried to piece together who he was or were locking on him in such a way that said he was going to be attacked. Then he heard Miyabi order quietly to the shinobi under her command, "Capture or kill him. We can't let him escape."

Once he saw Ryōbi and Ryōna raise their respective weapons at him and prepared to go straight for a killing shot, the young man realized he needed to act then and there. Quickly formulating a shoddy plan in his mind and sticking to it, he threw up his hands and shouted in as commanding a voice as he could possibly muster, "Ye shinobi in this gymnasium of... ye Hebijo shinobi... hear me and my decree lest ye be damned to a needless death this dark night of nights."

Looking at him with a face full of doubt, Ryōbi lowered her rifle and turned back toward Miyabi to ask plainly, "Is he threatening us? I can't take him seriously if he's going to talk like that."

Keeping his hands in the air for a few seconds, the young man then theatrically crossed them over his chest and spoke more frankly, "In that case, I'll speak plainly with all of you. I am your enemy and, when the time is right, I will attack each and every last one of you."

Minori slowly turned toward Yozakura and murmured quietly, "Is he lying?"

"Well..." started Yozakura as she rubbed the finger of her gauntlet against the side of her head, "...there's something in his voice, an inflection maybe, that makes me want to say yes..." before she readied her arms into a fighting stance, "But we don't know who he is. Beyond that, if he feels the need to try and threaten us then he can't be good news."

"Your words mirror my thoughts," said Yumi coldly as she raised her fans and drew them back. A second after she yelled, "Surrender or ready yourself to fight, intruder!"

Catching the aggressive movement, the young man pointed to her and said, "I have no intention of fighting tonight!"

"What?"

While Yumi paused over the loss over her momentum, especially since she was anticipating the usual back and forth that she and the other girls usually had before a fight, the young man let his arms drop down to his sides and announced to everyone, "I have only come here tonight to say that we would fight another day... So..." He paused for a short while as he tried to think of some other words before he eventually shrugged and said, "I'll fight you another day. Goodbye."

The young man had completed his objective, one which was embarrassingly simple: he'd provoked the shinobi and, unless they followed an unlikely road and decided to try and foster peace with him, they perceived him to be their enemy. He wished that there were more steps to it, especially since he was more or less left on his own to figure out an escape route on the spot at that point, but that was all there was to it.

Looking toward the door of the gym and hoping that he'd have enough time to make it there while everyone else remained silent, the young man began to edge his way toward the exit while maintaining perfect eye contact with everyone else. In the meantime, the girls were either too shocked into silence by his brazenness or were still trying to piece together what he'd all said. Suddenly, Yumi reeled back her fan again and threw it forward. If the young man had not leaped his body out of the way, the sharp edge would have sliced straight into his stomach and he would have been killed. Letting out a low noise of fright, the boy quickly dashed for the door, threw it open, and made a run for it.

The hardest step will be the first...

Not a second after he took a step outside the door, the wall in front of his head exploded as a gunshot from Ryōbi's rifle echoed throughout the building. Just as the young man began to make a desperate sprint, he heard several voices shouting and calling after him in pursuit. Knowing that he wasn't nearly on the same level when it came to combat and athletics, he knew that they would catch up and that they would be able to easily overwhelm him if given the chance.

As if to demonstrate his point, a sizeable portion of the wall up ahead exploded into pieces as Murasaki and Imu charged through. Though the young man expected more bodies to follow after, no one else came and he realized that they must have been scattering throughout the academy to cover every possible exit. It was too much of a measure against someone as weak as him but, then again, he wouldn't argue if their paranoia bought him some time.

Feeling an electric sensation in his head as Murasaki began to whirl her shuriken his way, the young man could feel the device on his wrist reaching its full effectiveness. Still running forward and keeping his every movement deliberate, the young man bent as much of his upper body over as humanly possible and nearly skidded his nose onto the floor as the shuriken whizzed just above. Though he expected that it was quickly going to whirl back, he had just enough time to tackle straight into Murasaki. It wasn't enough force to shove her down but it was enough to push her back a few steps.

At least, that's how some stories go,

But the reality we know,

Is bricked on top of greater woes...

Before he could even get a glimpse of Imu, a sudden painful sensation smacked him on the back and the young man found himself collapsing with his body stiffened straight. By the time he got a hold of himself, two more electric jabs from the girl's bo thwapped him hard on the back of the head and he was almost thrown into unconsciousness. Were it not for the fact that he managed to anticipate the fourth strike and willed his body to roll away, he definitely would have lost then and there. But he not only managed to get away but, as Imu retracted her bo to have another go at him, the young man managed to latch one of his hands up and onto the weapon's grip before she could pull it out of his reach. When the woman forcefully pulled it up, she pulled the boy along with it and a brief tug of war took place. Of course, Imu had the stronger pull but the young man managed to use the momentum of one tug and was thrown past Imu. After ducking under another strike from Murasaki along the way, he was sprinting his way down the hallway again.

First, there's a need to get ahead,

Just as the young man rounded the first corner of the hall, silently panicking as he heard the two sisters yelling and gaining on him, a blue bucket was thrown at him and smacked him straight in the head with enough weight to make him think it was large rock. Once his senses came back to him, he found that Minori was striking at him again with a loud cry. Keeping in mind the two opponents right behind him, the young man straightened himself in anticipation of the girl's strike and extended a flattened hand forward as she whirled a fist at him. Extremely deliberate and gifted with a few lucky moments of carelessness on Minori's part, his hand managed to skirt the girl's arm off target while the other shot forward and gripped her shoulder. Using her own charge against her, the young man pulled and threw himself forward while all of the resulting momentum threw the girl crashing straight into Imu, who'd just came around the corner herself. As Murasaki paused to check on her sister, the young man was running ahead and making use of the time he'd just bought.

Followed by the barks of regret,

Then a loud pair of howls echoed from the hallway behind him and the young man felt that he would have rather been taking on those three girls than whatever was coming. Turning his head around and eying the corner of the hallway. A pair of large wolves, black and white, ran past his previous opponents and were quickly zoning in on him. Remembering everything he was taught in regards to wild animals, the young man spun on his heels and faced the two predators with a straight face. He held his position and then proceeded to yell at the wolves, who slowed their movements upon meeting his eyes and began to growl challengingly. In response, the young man avoided all contact with his gaze but still continued to make noise, stomping in place and making loud noise while holding his position. From afar, he could see Imu, Minori, and Murasaki watching in anticipation of something that he couldn't see.

For the plan lies in pools of red,

Suddenly, with only heavy footsteps betraying her hidden presence, Murakumo charged in from behind the young man and plunged her spear toward his back. With only a split-second to think of where she was coming from and how her weapon was angled, the boy began to twist his body around while also raising up his hands in hopes that he was on the right course. As his body was moving backward and just out of the way of the spear, he grabbed it by the shaft and was prepared to hold it for dear life. But, Murakumo swinging her cleaver toward him with her other hand forced him to alter his flow of movement midway through. With one hand remaining on the spear, he raised his forearm and smacked it into the broadside of the coming blade. Though the sharpened edge did slice into him and left behind a bloody gash, he did manage to push it away enough so that it didn't sink into his forehead.

From the rapid turns of the wind.

Then, flying in from the end of the hallway that he was going to run down, Shiki suddenly appeared and was raising up her scythe to kill the young man while he was locked in place with Murakumo. Before he could possibly think of a strategy to escape, the black wolf pounced toward him and buried his teeth into the arm that was still latched to his master's spear. Though he let out a cry at first, the watch maintained the young man's focus as he contemplated his situation. He knew there was nothing left that would surely let him escape so, against some instincts ringing in the back of his head, he decided to play a risky hand.

But where the heart beats in the chest,

He allowed the black wolf, Kagerō, to pull him down to the ground and watched as the white wolf, Kotarō, moved to snap onto his throat. Moving swiftly with his bloodied arm, he snatched the latter dog by the back of its neck and pulled hard while hoping to all heaven that he pinched the right muscle. Fortunately, the white wolf ceased all movement, going ever so slightly limp like it often did whenever Murakumo pulled the same move on him. Then, as the black wolf released him to go for the throat himself, the young man held its grip on Kotarō and rolled with him straight into the base of Murakumo's legs all while Shiki's scythe buried itself into the ground where the boy's head once was. Thrown off by the sudden force shoving into her shins, Murakumo moved to step back but tripped over Shiki's hunched form as she was trying to retrieve her weapon. The two girls collapsed and, after fending off Kagerō with a shove and then a neck pinch of his own, the young man threw himself onto his feet and charged straight into an adjacent classroom, realizing that the hallways were too defended at that point.

Built upon ideals that are dead,

The boy's eyes scanned the room for half of a second as he slid the door closed, taking in the desks lined in neat rows and the windows on the far side. Acting quickly as he heard the door crash open right beside him, the young man did the best thing that came to mind and leapt onto the closest desk. He then proceeded to run from one to the other as he made way toward the window, trying to ignore the barking dogs leading the chase right behind him. With no alternative as he ran ahead without a plan, the young man raised his arms to cover his face and crashed straight into a window, feeling the glass cut into his arms and several other places along his body as he went through. Then, as both of the wolves leaped out after him, the boy grabbed ahold of an outcropping from the second floor and backwardly hoisted himself up as he heard the snap of a jaw right where his foot once was. Sparing a second to look down to where he once was as he finished turning around to climb the rest of the way up, he found that the dogs were staring right up at him and barking. Not willing to see if they could jump all the way up from the ground, the young man stood next to another nearby window, used his elbow to shatter it, and climbed in as he did his utmost to keep any additional glass from cutting into him.

Bare strength that leaves nothing unsaid,

The room that the young man found himself in seemed to be some kind of custodian's closet. Yet, just as he made his way through it and reached his hand for a door, it was suddenly thrown open. Without meeting his eyes, one of Yozakura's gauntlets suddenly slammed straight into his stomach while the other grabbed him and pulled him out of the room. Even as the young man was still struggling to regain his breath, he was then thrown with the back of his head slamming into the ground before both of his arms were then pinned down by the girl as she called, "He's over here! I've got him!"

Burns from a start until the end.

Knowing the fatal trouble that he would be in if he didn't get away, the young man proceeded to violently struggle against Yozakura. Though his arms were rendered completely immovable by her grip, his legs and body began to twist and contort desperately against her. So, even as Ryōbi and Ryōna came sprinting up a stairway at the end of the hallway, Yozakura found herself sputtering, "What're you-, hey! Cut it out! Don't-, would you quit kicking me!?" Once his own eyes found the twins closing the distance with the intent to assist in pinning him, the young man's movements only got even more intense and wild. As the younger girls had their firearms directed at him, Yozakura was suddenly being lifted and kicked from the ground until, with one grand summoning of all his strength, the young man kicked her over him. Once the angle between her body and wrists was too awkward to keep hold, she released him and thumped onto the floor.

The wings are clipped;

The heart still beats...

Anticipating what he knew would come next, the young man launched himself straight at Ryōbi's gun and managed to push its barrel into the air as it fired, which left his hand feeling burned and his ears ringing painfully. When Ryōna was about to ready her own pistols at him, a blind swat of his hand connected to her shoulder and shoved her back. Not one to be defied, the fiercer twin wrenched her rifle back and began to twist it around so that its razor-sharp stock would hack into the boy's stomach, which was barely dodged with a frightened jump. As the young man began to run for the stairs to escape, Ryōbi reloaded her rifle as her sister took aim and the two were about to fire but were halted when they saw everyone from downstairs coming up the lower flight and getting into the line of fire.

Seeing that going up was the only option for him, the young man was going to make a mad dash and prayed for some kind of salvation at the top but stopped when he caught Shiki swinging her scythe in the corner of his eye. He knew that he had to do something while maintaining his momentum forward so, with growing desperation in his eyes, he spiraled his body around and, without much thought or care, slapped the broadside of the blade to the side. A couple of his fingers were nicked as they were grazed against the sharper end of the blade but Shiki's striking path was effectively diverted and the young man's body continued its spiral until he was facing up the stairs again. Unwilling to wait and see if another attack was coming his way, he continued upward.

As he pushed himself upward, the boy spotted a door at the top which was being bathed in moonlight via a window on the opposite side of the well. Not even passing a glance to the sign which stated that the door led to the roof, the young man clenched his hand onto the knob and began to push and pull desperately. Unfortunately, it was locked and he had barely a second to think of his next move. Even as the device on his wrist continued to send pings into his head that kept his mind as focused as humanly possible, there were no reasonable options to take when it came to his situation. So, deciding on what he considered to be the only thing left to do, the young man turned to the stairs and faced the frontmost attacker leading the charge, Minori, and eyed her candy bucket as it was swung backward.

As it began to whirl toward him, the boy jumped at the girl, locked his hand onto her oncoming wrist and jabbed the pointed fingers of his other hand to the inside of her elbow. With a quick shriek, Minori's unwillingly released the bucket and watched as the boy caught it in the air with his offending hand and pulled it back. Just as she was about to demand that he give it back, the young man proceeded to release her, pitched it at the window, and watched as it mostly shattered, which almost forced him to question what the bucket was made of then and there. As Minori proceeded back down the stairs to retrieve her essential tool, the young man climbed onto the stairway railing and made a desperate leap as several of the girls' grabbing fingers almost yanked him by the back of his scarf. His arms landed perfectly but his grip almost immediately gave away as more glass cut into him. Relying on his watch to push past the pain, the boy pulled himself up and skittered onto an outcropping that he followed to the roof.

So, when there comes the first and last,

The swan will not swear to be there...

But, if his body and heart can take it,

Then he can vow to never bend a knee...!

As he clambered onto the shingled roof and found himself taking heavy breaths of exhaustion, the young man wondered if he was going to be followed. But, just as the door leading onto the roof was getting violently kicked, he heard a voice, "Stop resisting," and found himself turning to find Yumi staring him down with her fan in hand at the highest point of the roof. Just as she gave it a wave, a couple of razors attached to the tool's ribs flashed with deadly intent under the moonlight. Making a sound with his throat, the young man began to take wary steps back toward the edge of the roof and considered his options. As if sensing what he was planning, Yumi calmly stated, "Even if you get down without breaking your legs, do you think that you can run from us?"

The young man would have replied, "Of course not," since that would have been the truth but, not wanting to embolden the girl, he kept his silence. Instead, he peeked down to the ground and found his vision twisting inside out at the thought of jumping down. When he remembered ascending the rubble at the front of the building, he neglected to notice just how high he was. As his options became fewer and fewer, the young man's head began to hang depressingly and he wondered what he was to do next. Yet, just as the door broke down and all of the other shinobi began to surge onto the roof, the boy snorted and decided to make the best of his terrible situation.

The young man shook a fist at Yumi before locking his other arm into the elbow, as though he were flipping her off, and spinning himself around to face the edge. He arced his head to get a view of the outcropping on the second floor and then proceeded to nonchalantly hop his way off. Unfortunately, only the back of his feet found the narrow bit of structure and the young man proceeded to bellyflop down to the ground. Though it was extremely fortunate that the outcropping slowed his fall and kept it from being crippling or fatal, he only found himself cursing the fact that he was in such a horrid situation to begin with.

As he pulled himself up and stretched his limbs preparation for another desperate run, the young man's eyes then found an intimidating silhouette standing just by the front corner of the building, where his original exit out of the academy waited. With yellow eyes burning in complete and utter hatred, Miyabi stared at the young man with her katana in hand. Most prominently, her fingers seemed to dance along the grip before they tightened in anticipation for a killing blow.

Tenacious as a wild wolf leaving its cage,

Relentless as a worn bear defending its cave!

It is within that starving heart that the young swan will keep,

His stalwart and unquenchable demand to be let free!!!

The young man stared at her tiredly, wondering which creator of the universe he'd angered to be put into such a scenario. He then sighed and grumbled before taking a breath and looking around mindlessly. It was only when his eyes found something hopeful that he turned back to Miyabi and said with a shrug of his shoulders, "Welp... life sucks," before throwing her a casual wave and proceeding to run madly for his life.

But when will the swan be let free?

Not needing to turn around to know that Miyabi was following him on foot, the young man eyed a tree positioned by the outer wall of the academy prayed that he still had enough energy to climb. When his eyes turned upward, he found that all of the other shinobi were flanking him and running along the rooves of the surrounding buildings. Still, with little room for anything else, he could only keep running in hopes of some kind of win.

Yet, when his sharp ears caught the ringing of a blade in motion, he instinctively ducked his head and spun around to find Miyabi right beside him. Though she was certainly an opponent whose strength dwarfed him tenfold, he saw no other choice but to stave her off for a few moments. While pushing away her grabbing free hand with very deliberate swats of his hand and dodging away from the swipes of her blade that followed, the young man edged his way closer and closer to the tree while he tried to place what the other shinobi were doing.

It was only after Miyabi dived back and launched forward with a protruding knee that he abandoned all other thoughts. With absolute control over his every little move, the young man leaped to the side, raised up the flattened end of his foot, and caught the woman's knee. Just as she realized that she was being countered, the boy then diverted the stab of her katana with his forearm and took another deep cut for it. At the same time, he swiped his other palm toward the back of her head and pushed down with everything he had. With all of the resulting force and momentum in play, Miyabi flew past the young man landed into the ground with a painless roll. Just as she caught herself and landed back onto her feet, the young man was making a final sprint for the tree with all that he had.

Latching himself onto the lowest branch, which required him to push his body beyond its limits as his arms screamed for mercy and rest, the boy had just barely managed to pull himself up. As he hopped onto another branch, Miyabi cut the previous one down with a raging roar that stemmed from his defiance. The young man looked down and found her staring up at him heatedly with her teeth grinding together. Not questioning the fact that she wasn't coming up after him, he motioned his fingers up to tip an invisible hat, "Later," and proceeded up a few branches. He then faced the outer wall and jumped for it with a shout. Once his hands latched on and he began to pull himself up, he thought that he was home free.

Then Imu effortlessly jumped onto the edge right beside him and stared into his eyes, which began to widen with fright. Just as he realized that he'd forgotten to account for all of the other shinobi, the girl blew some air out of her nose and stretched her leg back. Before any exchange of words could take place, her foot then connected into the underside of the young man's jaw and he fell to the earth below. When he landed onto his back with a loud thump, the remaining girls surrounded him and proceeded to pin him down... and the boy's eyes fluttered until they closed with apparent unconsciousness.