Once it became apparent that the young man was unconscious, most of the shinobi surrounding his form breathed a sigh of relief. As Miyabi held her katana at her side, she bent down and proceeded to pull down the scarf that had been covering the lower half of his face. She got a good look at his features before looking to everyone around her, "Anyone recognize him?"

There was a quick shake of heads from all of the girls before Yumi suggested, "We should bind him and report to a teacher. Rin would want to know"

"No need," Miyabi said before standing and raising her blade, "I'll finish it here."

Immediately, Shiki raised a hand and stuttered out from Yumi's side, "Woah, chill! Chill! We don't even know who he is."

Most of Gessen seemed to take her side almost reflexively as Minori's fervently shook her head and was on the verge of tears while Yozakura opened her mouth to say something, only to have Yumi place a calm and seemingly indifferent hand on her shoulder. Even Ryōbi piped up from behind her leader, "We aren't going to find any information on him if he's dead, you know."

Keeping her eyes cold and calculated, Yumi gestured to the young man, "If you do not wish to handle him properly, we'll gladly take him into Gessen's custody."

In response to the dissension, Miyabi loudly boomed, "He dies!" While a few shinobi took a step back at her frustrated outburst, she took a breath and calmed herself before stating, "All of you know that he must be dangerous. He's effectively and deliberately broken onto school grounds and managed to spot us despite our shinobi barriers. When we pursued, he managed to effectively keep us at bay only until we managed to overwhelm him. In extension of all that, the honor of Hebijo has been violated by his actions. I don't see any reason why we should be lenient with someone who was clearly asking for death."

Yumi held out a palm to object, "If we want to know and understand why he's done what he has, then we'll need him alive. If you're so insulted, you can carry out your sentence once we've learned what we can."

Gripping her blade tightly at her side, Miyabi stomped toward Yumi and looked down to her before growling, "He's a walking insult to Hebijo and myself. He dies. You want to learn from him? Dissect his corpse!" and shoved the kimono clad girl back as she raised her sword to strike the stranger. She barked at everyone standing close, "Step back!" In the face of her escalating anger, everyone by the young man's side abided her order with unsure looks. Bending her arm back, Miyabi drove the blade downward toward the young man's peaceful face.

But, before contact could be made, his eyes opened with a gleam and a devilish grin spread across his face. Acting quick, he rolled to the side and narrowly avoided her downward blow, before he pulled his body up and launched himself into the air with his arms. As Miyabi rerouted her blade to try and slice him during his leap, his hand whirled around and took hold of her sword arm before swinging his body underneath. While she kept her balance as the momentum pulled her down, his body dangled around her and twisted to blow his weight straight into her back while he snaked a hand under her free arm. Miyabi barely managed to stay on her feet in spite of the blow to her back as the young man brought his freehand to her forehead before his face fell serious.

"You're distorted," he groaned as he tried to maintain his hold on her sword arm and head, "I'll fix it, though... Here and now!"

By the time Imu had recovered from her shock and proceeded to rip the young man off of her best friend's back, it'd already been to late. Miyabi's eyes went blank for a moment when his fingers left her head before they twisted ugly with rage. Immediately after, a violent burst of red light and wind blew through the air, forcing the surrounding shinobi to step back from whatever was happening to the girl. As Imu's expression switched to concern, the young man easily pulled free while she tried to approach and help Miyabi. Bringing his watch to his face, the young man read the word 'Vibrant' on the digital panel before pondering for a moment. When he seemed to settle on an idea, he clicked his watch and shouted, "Patience!" before watching the letters reshape to the spoken word.

Miyabi screeched into the air as the red aura around her seemed to die along with the wind, before her yellow eyes and enraged features settled on the young man. When her target was set, she proceeded to stomp straight toward him as the shinobi all regained their footing only to hold their breaths in anticipation for what was to come. Still, the young man simply brought his scarf back up before raising his arms combatively into the air. Seeing as he was prepared to fight, Miyabi looked around to her comrades and nastily ordered, "KILL HIM! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? KILL HIM!

Though Yumi and her team hesitated, Ryōbi and Ryōna nodded and readied their weapons. Anticipating the counterattack, the young man reached down to his watch before producing a pinky-sized capsule with a notable chink. Throwing the object into the air, the young man dived for the ground while covering his eyes and ears before a series of blinding flashes proceeded to detonate in the air while producing earsplitting explosions. As a result, almost all of the shinobi proceeded to stumble and fall to the ground while covering their faces in mixes of strain and shock.

Still, despite most of her allies being on the ground and having her senses overwhelmed, Miyabi kept herself up before proceeding to madly swipe and stab her weapon at where she last saw the young man. Seeing as her movements were extremely unpredictable at that point, the young man retreated away from the crowd while goading her, "Over here! This way!" so that she didn't wind up catching someone else in the crossfire.

Once her ears began to recover and she managed to place where he was yelling from, she bent her knee and kicked herself forward while twisting her other leg around to deliver a merciless kick straight into his throat. The resulting blow threw him into the ground and gasping for breath before rolling out of her blade's way again, only to be elbowed in the stomach before he could pick himself up. Though Miyabi used the opportunity to restrain him and bent her arm to try and stab her katana into him, one of his legs were still carelessly left loose and managed to settle a foot on her stomach before successfully prying himself away. As the blade drove down at him, the young man raised his already bleeding arm and managed to line it parallel to the katana's path before pushing it away, only suffering another cut. Though Miyabi continued to wrestle him, he managed to chop his flattened hand into the inside of her elbow and made her reflexively drop the weapon before getting thrown to the ground again.

In response to being disarmed, Miyabi let out a cry of rage before unleashing a series of punches to the side of the young man' head. Once he managed to successfully guard a few strikes, she stood to pull him up only to hook him in the jaw and blow him back into the ground. Though sore, he managed to stand himself up before Miyabi put all of her force into one final punch that sent him flying through the air and landing hard onto his back.

Briefly losing clarity in his vision, the young man brought a hand to his head as he watched Miyabi's advancing form. His saving grace was found when the two of them heard Imu shouting, "Miyabi! I'll be there...!" while still trying to recover from the young man's flashbangs.

Turning to face her still blinded comrade, Miyabi sneered before roaring back, "Oh, keep yourself back there! You'll just make yourself a nuisance! A pain in my side!" In response to the stabbing words, Imu stopped in her tracks with a look of shock. While everyone else proceeded to pick themselves up, unsure of whether or not they'd heard the unbefitting words leave Miyabi's mouth, the yellow-eyed girl continued, "You're a pest! A curse that cost me my mother on that damned mountain... Do you remember that!? She's dead because you wanted to play like a real shinobi! She could be here with me today, I could show her all I've become, and I could see that proud look in her eye, but she's fucking dead!"

Tears were steadily rolling down Imu's cheek as her vision began to return, showing her the contempt and hatred that was reflecting in the eyes of the woman that she'd been so loyal to. She raised a shaky hand toward her best friend and quietly pleaded, "Miyabi..."

With a scoff, the girl growled, "Go to hell, you worthless wretch!"

To that, Imu's face fell and a hand went up to cover her mouth before she fell to her knees. She hiccupped a few sobs as the rest of the girls glanced over and fully took in all that was happening. As a few vocal objections were raised at Miyabi's cruel words, she waved them off before turning to retrieve her katana and faced back to the young man. Much to her surprise, he'd leapt up from his resting position and was a moment away from her face with his arms raised again. Though she attempted to throw a punch his way, he ducked his head underneath as his arms wrapped and locked around her neck and extended arm. As she began to struggle against the lock, he hooked their ankles together and pulled her straight into the ground with him. Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, she was effectively pinned with him attempting to bring and hold one of his hands to her forehead again. In frustration, she began to roar and wail into the air while trying to reach over with her other arm to peel him off.

She struggled and wriggled in his grip but he finally made contact with her forehead, he uttered, "That's enough," and she finally froze where she was. Her eyes, fully aware, watched and glared at him furiously as he offered, "I think you've unearthed a bit more than you'd like. I'm sorry for that. But I'll fix it..."

With no other words said while the shinobi began to quickly advance on him, he cupped her cheek and gently brought his forehead to hers.

To Miyabi, the world shifted all around her before the ground and sky seemed to shift into an enclosed space. In the blink of an eye, she was back in Hebijo academy, practicing in the training room with her arms throwing eager punches at a wooden dummy. Realizing where she was and what she was doing, Miyabi quickly lowered her hands and looked down to find she was in her training uniform. On wiping a hand across her head and doubting all that had just happened, a voice softly called from behind her, "Take a moment," to which she turned around and found herself facing the young man.

Not daring to give him another opportunity to act, she proceeded to deliver a punch into him that threw his body against the wall. Remembering the nasty things she'd roared at Imu outside, Miyabi cried "HOW DARE YOU!?" before rushing forward and proceeded to punch him again and again, "What did you make me say!? What's your game in all of this!? WHO ARE YOU!?"

As though he hadn't been harmed at all, the young man calmly said, "I'll wait until you're calm before I explain."

Unlike his previous state, he had no cuts or bruises and carried no injury from the punches she had just delivered to him. With a groan that evolved into a growl, she threw him aside and demanded, "Tell me where we are."

Raising his palm to try and calm her down, the young man simply stated, "There's a bit to discuss if you want a straight answer," before he brought himself into a seated position by the wall.

She looked as though she was going to kill him for a moment but, seeing as any punch that she threw would be useless, she begrudgingly complied and stood in front of his resting form, "Let's discuss it then."

Rubbing his chin in thought for a moment, the young man stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "We are in a place that you find the comfort in."

Harshly, Miyabi mumbled, "So what? Why are we suddenly here!?"

He locked eyes with her and answered, "We are in your mind."

She bent down and smacked him across the face before pulling him up by the throat, though he looked unfazed, "Don't... test me. How did we get here?"

He answered again, "I've brought us here so that I could fix your head."

She loudly demanded again, "Speak frankly! How did we get here?"

His eyes narrowed a moment but his tone remained gentle, "In more detailed terms, I've brought my cognition into your mind. At the moment, you're suffering from an ailment that is referred to as distortion. I've since successfully removed rage from your cognitive functions and have brought you here, a place where you'd find great comfort."

Miyabi stared blankly at him before closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to make sense of what he'd just said. She thought for a moment before opening her hands and releasing him, "I'll indulge you. We're in my mind or... cognition... or something. You said I'm distorted? What is that?"

With a shrug, the young man replied, "The best way to put it is that an aspect of your personality got twisted and screwed up. It's okay now, though. I fixed it."

She remembered his words before they appeared in the training room, when he laid his hand to her forehead for the second time. She seemed to relax a bit before the words she'd hurled at Imu sank in again. As her face fell, she mumbled to the young man, "Why did I say... everything that I said out there?"

With a brief aversion of his eyes, he looked back at her and empathetically said, "In order to fix the distortion, I had to bring out your rage all onto the surface. Somewhere in your mind, that's what you were internally thinking-"

Immediately, her head shot up to stare at him before she boomed, "That's a lie! Imu has been my best friend for years! My childhood friend! Everywhere I went, she followed. Every time I needed help, she was there! Every step of the way, every crack in the road behind me, she was there and she stood by me at my best and worst!"

He stared up at her, calm as a flowing stream and patient as a sage, "Indeed, she is your best friend then."

She threateningly waved her fist at him, "So, why did I say those things!?"

With a thoughtful look and wandering eyes, he offered, "In all of us, every human being who walks this earth, there is a side of us that we aren't proud of. That same side spews seemingly random and terrible things, such as when someone is surrounded by their friends and thinks about how much they hate them when, in reality, they couldn't be closer. Or when a young mother is holding her first child after birth and wonders what would happen if she chucked it out a window when, in truth, she couldn't be any happier to be a mother to the child she has nurtured through nine months of labor. That voice is a part of me too. It's also part of you. And that part is what spoke for you."

Miyabi stared at him incredulously before stepping back with a hand in her hair. She thought for a moment and stared at him blankly, "So, those were just random thoughts? They had no real meaning, right?"

To her dismay, he shook his head and stated, "Those things certainly don't reflect who we truly are or how we feel... But they are still a part of us and reflect our darker halves. In the mind of that someone surrounded by their friends, they may think of every little inconvenience caused by their companions' presence and allow that resentment to build up inside of them. That young mother may find herself afraid of parenthood and its prospects or frustrated by the baby's cry and may internally loathe it," he paused for a moment with consideration before continuing, "As for you... I don't know what you or Imu have been through but there must have been some moments where she's caused you frustration."

There was no hint of deception in his face or words. Unsure of how to bear what she was hearing, Miyabi let her head fall into one of her hands. With a guilty look on his face, the young man continued, "I'm sorry that those thoughts came out. I thought correcting your distortion would go a bit smoother after that flashbang... Obviously, I was wrong."

Miyabi released her head from her hands and looked at him with weary eyes. He looked back at her patiently and awaited her next question. After an uncomfortable silence, she spoke frankly, "So what now?"

To that question, he stood up from his seated position and craned his head up toward the taller girl. With a breath, he extended his hand to her, "Now, I need you to accept back your rage."

Miyabi stared at him with a quirked brow before asking, "Isn't that what caused this whole mess? Isn't it distorted or... something?"

He looked at her, his expression gentle but otherwise unreadable, "I brought this rage all out of you before so that I could collect it and starve out the corruption on this aspect of your personality. Now that it's gone, it will be safe to take back.

With a quick shake of her head, Miyabi crossed her arms, "No. I said those horrible things because of it, right? I don't see a reason to take it back."

"All that you said out there was because of me," the young man said as his face fell a bit, "Yes, rage is what made you say those things out there, but you have other aspects of your personality that keep it in check. You'll be perfectly back to normal, the same way you were before the distortion settled in."2

Shaking her head with a bit more determination, Miyabi stated, "There won't be any damage if I don't take it back, will there? I won't take it. Especially if it means I'd be thinking those horrible things about Imu."

Heaving a breath and running a hand through his hair, the young man brought a hand to his chin. After some thought, he offered, "No one likes that feeling of uncontrollable anger. But it's still a part of you. If there's no rage that forces you to call out vexing circumstances, where will you find respite? Without rage, you'd progress through life while letting all of that frustration build within you. Rarely would you vent it to someone, even more rarely would you vent what you'd be more ashamed to talk about. Do you really wish to carry that weight?

At that question, Miyabi felt her conviction falter for a moment before the young man placed a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes looked down on him unsurely before he smiled up a bit, "And remember... it doesn't define who you are. Your conscious choices in the face of outside forces and internal feelings is what makes you. And if you feel ugly because of some uncontrollable thought popping into your head, know that your friends love you for you. They're there through your ups and downs because you've been there for them."

Sliding his hand from Miyabi's shoulder to her hand, the young man raised his free palm for her to accept. Though there was significant hesitation that held her back for a moment, the girl ultimately took his hand and let in the rage that was once within her. She was surprised to find that she didn't feel any different from before and looked down on the young man with confused eyes, "It worked?" With a gentle smile, he nodded and moved to release himself before finding that Miyabi was still clinging onto his hand.

A brief look of confusion crossed his face when he looked back up at her. When she didn't say anything while her face was lost in thought, he asked, "Are you... okay?"

With a pondering look and wandering eyes, Miyabi turned back to him before asking, "Could you tell me who you are? Your name?"

With a soft snort through his nose, the young man looked up reluctantly before answering, "I'm you and your friends' enemy right now, so I can't tell you."

As her look twisted into shock, she found the environment around her was dissipating into light before she felt herself getting hauled back into the real world. As grateful as Miyabi was to be cleared of the distortion, his last statement hurt. From all that he had said, he'd been nothing less than a help to her. Hopefully, she would talk with him in-depth again or, if nothing else, find out some sort of information on who he was. Perhaps, she'd even find a way to show her 'enemy' gratitude.

____________________________________________________________

A mind at peace and a heart's yearning beginning to bud...

With the correction of rage bringing tranquility to a clouded heart, you have saved a young woman from a fate of senseless abuse and attack.

For this, she looks to you and sees the young man who has endured through physical and mental punishment in order to save her. From this, respect is born. And from this respect, the seeds of a love to come will blossom.