Hikaru hadn’t seen Yuki look tired before and thought he would never see her in such a state. He realized there was a first time for everything during the two’s training session on Tuesday morning.
On that morning, Iziya was smashing heavy masses of compressed air in his back while he was doing push-ups half-naked in the Summerbolt Residence yard, the mad genius somehow managing to observe Miss Iceflame despite the torture he himself was being put through.
She was creating tremendous amounts of ice shards at the other end of the yard with Rose by her side. Her every breath was heavy, her eyes were barely open, her ankles were shaking and everything about her indicated she was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.
(Rose) ‘More, Yuki. You’ll have to learn to create more ice if you plan on making battle-able clones.’
(Yuki) ‘G-got it, Rose. I’ll do my best.’
Another minute of torturous ice-making passed and then Hikaru’s grandmother tapped the amnesiac’s shoulder.
(Rose) ‘OK. I think that’s good enough.’ – Yuki put her hands down, the streams of ice shards coming out of them disappearing as Rose supported her as best as she could considering the height difference between the two – ‘You did great with this one. Next up is shaping mirror images of you from all the ice.’
(Yuki) ‘Right.’
Rose allowed the white-haired beauty to lean on her a bit longer before she let her take a step forward on her own. When she was able to do that, Yuki directed her hands toward one of the piles of ice shards, causing a shift in it with some shards starting to come together to form more complex structures.
(Rose) ‘Remember. Think about molding a body of clay piece by piece. Start with the torso, then the head and finally the limbs. The details come later.
And try creating only one clone for now. We’ll work on the speed and the numbers with time.’
Hikaru had focused too much of his attention on his friend and her struggles, one of the masses of compressed air sent at his back by Iziya proving too heavy for him.
He was hammered in the ground, some dirt reaching his mouth and some of the dust that had risen from his fall stinging his eyes, the pain in his back from the contact with the air mass suddenly becoming more acute. Upon turning his head around, the young Summerbolt saw his aunt had driven her shoe’s sole into the area of his back where her attack had hit, pushing him down with high levels of annoyance on her face.
(Iziya) ‘Focus on what you’re doing, damn brat! You want those bastards from Ulura’s class to grind you to dust so bad?!’
(Hikaru) ‘I’m not even sure I’m going to survive until the Class Battle, so …’
Under normal circumstances, Hikaru would have known better than to further aggravate Iziya with such comments, but in the present he was too exhausted to think about that, which lead to more suffering soon after. His aunt waved with her hand, lifting her nephew up in the air with a gust of wind and using that wind to squeeze and turn him around so she could look at his face.
(Iziya) ‘You’re fighting in that Battle even if you’re in a wheelchair and connected to an IV, boy!!! You got that?!! This whole thing started cuz of you, so don’t you dare bitch about it now!!’ – taking a moment to compose herself after that outburst, Iziya sighed and released the wind squeezing Hikaru – ‘Maybe you’ve had enough training for this morning, though. Go and get ready for school. We’ll get back at it later.’
After falling back on the ground, Hikaru rubbed his hurt back with a deep sigh while looking at Yuki again. She had now successfully created a humanoid figure from one of the piles of ice shards, Rose patting her on the back with a smile before starting to instruct her on improving the details of her creation.
(Hikaru) ‘Well, at least one of us is making progress.’
*
Going to Sunbird and doing all the normal school stuff there was actually a relief for Hikaru compared to what he experienced at the Summerbolt Residence daily. The only part of the school day the spiky-haired teenager wasn’t looking forward to was the lunch break. While he usually welcomed the fights that broke out in the canteen, right now he was not nearly strong enough to deal with any opponent that would attack him.
Luckily for the young Summerbolt, he was saved from having to deal with any fighting when Tenji Line called all his students to their classroom just before lunch. Then came the problem of everyone being too hungry to focus on the meeting, the one responsible for solving it being King.
His stores had been significantly increased to provide more sustenance in preparation for the Class Battle, so the gluttonous giant had more than enough food and was happy to share it with both his classmates and his homeroom teacher.
(King) ‘Eat up, guys! Sensei, you too!’
(Tenji) ‘Thank you, King. And I’d like to apologize to all of you for taking you away from lunch, but I thought this the best time for a Battle-related discussion.
Ulura’s classmates are busy now and won’t be able to listen in on us, so this is the only chance we have.’
Mr. Line started coughing after finishing that sentence, Hikaru noticing the cough didn’t pass as when he had coughed before. It kept torturing the Biology teacher for a while even after Seiren went and patted him on the back a couple of times.
After the cough eventually passed, Tenji took a couple of deep breaths to slow his breathing down and then turned again to his students who had now become worried.
(Tenji) ‘Thanks for that, Seiren.’
(Seiren) ‘You OK, sensei? I know King’s food tastes like shit, but that cough sounded pretty bad.’
(Tenji) ‘No, I don’t think it’s from the food. I’ve been coughing like this since this morning. It’s probably nothing, but I’ll go and get checked up after classes are over.’
Quickly changing the focus of everyone’s attention, Mr. Line took out a rolled-up piece of paper from his bag and unfolded it on the desk in front of him.
(Yuki) ‘Is that … a map?’
(Tenji) ‘It is, Yuki. It’s the map of the battlefield selected for the Class Battle – the Nebula Park just outside Deckstoru.’
(Vega) ‘That place is used for Class Battles only, right?’
(Tenji) ‘It has been so for a while now, yes. Since this is your first Class Battle, I’ll give you a detailed explanation. I’ll only be doing it once, so …’ – Tenji stopped because he realized the sound of his voice was drowned by the loud noises that came out of King’s mouth as he viciously devoured his food, the homeroom teacher and his student looking at each other now – ‘Did you think because you gave me food, you can eat as loud as you want while I’m giving an explanation that concerns your survival?’
(King) ‘Sorry, sensei, but my survival depends on food more than anything else.’
As it often happened when one of the boys from the class went off-course, one of the girls intervened to get King back on track.
(Annabel) ‘King! Just stop eating for a second and listen to sensei! I don’t plan on dying because of your bullshit!!’
(Tenji) ‘Now then, if we’re done with the interruptions, I’ll get back to it.’ – although annoyed, King stopped eating, so Tenji continued with his explanation – ‘The high-school education in Barilia consists of four years – Mercurian, Venusian, Earthling and Martian. Class Battles are to take place within those four years only between classes from the same year or between classes which are one year apart.
The current Martian Class No. 3 has fought in a Class Battle twice already – first when they were still Mercurians and then the next year when they were Venusians. They faced older opponents both times and won in both Battles.
As the tale of their might and brutality on the field spread, they made a name for themselves in the school. Then they received the patronage of the Nightsongs and that turned them into the masters of Sunbird.’ – he paused for a moment to look around at the faces of all his students – ‘That’s who you’ll be facing.’
(Exo) ‘Sensei, if the explanation so far was meant to make us despair even more, it sure did the trick!!’
(Tenji) ‘No, Exo, that wasn’t my point. I just want all of you to understand the seriousness of this. You can’t ease up for a second and must give it your very all. More than that, even.
The Martians have beaten more experienced classes before and since they’re facing younger opponents for the first time, they’ll surely underestimate you. Use that. Release as much power as you’ve ever thought you could and turn the tables on them.’ – having become invigorated all of a sudden, Tenji Line smashed his fist on the desk with more passion in his eyes and voice than Hikaru or anyone in the room had ever seen – ‘I say the time has come for the birth of a new legend. The legend of this class! The true heroes of Sunbird!!! So I want you to go out there, end those bullies’ reign and change our school’s future!!!’
The room was swept by a wave of battle cries led by Hikaru himself in response to Mr. Line’s words, even Exo looking cheered up by the homeroom teacher’s short speech. If even the spirits of someone as exhausted as him and as cowardly as the techno-genius could be lifted, surely victory could be achieved – that was what the mad genius believed.
(Tokura) ‘We’re gonna bring them all down!!! Together!!!’
Tenji smiled and then raised a hand to calm the class down, his expression becoming more serious.
(Tenji) ‘I’m glad I’ve lifted your spirits, but while I did say that you have to release all your powers, just going all-out will not be enough to bring down the Martians. The other thing you’ll need to ensure your victory is a good strategy.
That’s why I brought the whole class here. So we can discuss your strategy for the Battle.’ – after he said that, Tenji’s gaze and those of his students focused on the map he had unfolded on the desk – ‘As per all previous Class Battles, the two classes’ starting points will be at the opposite ends of their battlefield.’ – he used the pointer stick in his hand to point at one end of the map where a lighter green area was drawn – ‘Your starting point will be here, at the lowest height of the deciduous area near the entrance of the park.’ – the Biology teacher then pointed at the other end of the map, stopping at a gray-colored area – ‘The Martians’ starting point is here – the highest part of the rocky area at the other end of the park.
Between the two points is a pinewood area with a big open field at its center, there being a smaller field before it at a lower altitude back at the deciduous area. The Kisdeya River passes through the park a bit further beyond the central field and after the river lies the rocky area where there is almost no vegetation.
That’s what your battlefield will look like.’
(Yuki) ‘How will the victor of the Class Battle be decided?’
Mr. Line coughed a little again before turning to Yuki in particular to answer her.
(Tenji) ‘The two classes are to fight each other until all members of one of them have either yielded or have been rendered incapable to keep fighting. Only murder is strictly forbidden during the Class Battle. You can wound and maim your enemies to your hearts’ content, but I would suggest to not go that far unless absolutely necessary.’
Having focused on analyzing the map during the time Tenji had spent giving advice to Yuki and the others, Hikaru now joined the discussion with strategic suggestions of his own.
(Hikaru) ‘From a geographic standpoint both sides have equally favorable positioning. They can defend themselves more easily from the higher area they occupy but we’ll have the cover of the trees in the deciduous area.’ – he put his finger on the light-green ellipsis at the center of the dark-green area of the map – ‘I think this field here will be where the outcome will be decided.’
(Seiren) ‘The biggest advantage we’ve got is that we have more people with sensor and healing devas. We’ll definitely have to keep those safe.’
(Tenji) ‘Indeed. That’s why that group should be placed in the center of your class as you move through the field, protected on all sides by their classmates.
You’ll need strong deviants for the front group that should focus on attack and for the rear group that can focus on defense. The flanks can be made up of fighters of a middle power level to act as the main defenders of the sensors and healers in case any enemies slip past the assault and defense groups.’
(Tokura) ‘I’ll definitely be in the front, then.’
(Exo) ‘And I’ll definitely be in the back.’
(Tenji) ‘In previous Class Battles Ulura’s class has used the tactic of sending small groups to separate some enemies from their classmates while their main force waited further in the field. Once the main group had crushed most of the opposing class, they would rejoin the smaller groups.
All that remained then was to deal with the separated enemies those groups had been holding off to achieve victory.
In short, you can’t let them split you up.’ – Tenji singled out Tokura with his gaze before continuing with his explanation – ‘Your role in this will be key, Tora.’
(Tokura) ‘Meaning?’
(Tenji) ‘If they attack the class with small groups, you’re the one who should stay behind and deal with them. You’ll be able to do it faster than any of your classmates and rejoin the group to provide support against the main Martian force.’
(Vega) ‘What if they split us up even more before Tora can get to us? We can’t leave our healers and sensors alone.’
(Hikaru) ‘Each of them can join the assault group, the defense group and the flank groups. We’ll have to pick the members for every group in such a way that they can both fight the enemy and protect the sensors and healers.’
(Tenji) ‘I like that idea. Given the numbers of students in your class, the ideal version will be to have four people in the assault, the defense and the flank groups each. And there can be an extra member for the assault group in case Tokura is forced to stay behind.’
(Yuki) ‘I can be an extra member of the assault group, sensei. I’m pretty sure Hikaru and Seiren will be in that group, too, and I have the best teamwork with them, so we’ll have a better chance of defeating our enemies if we’re together.’
(Tenji) ‘If I’m able to secure your participation in the Class Battle in the coming days, Yuki, you can do that, yeah.’ – he paused to cough a bit yet again – ‘Now, back to our plan. While Hikaru’s idea is great, it’s not likely the enemy will just allow you to split each group in a way that will make it easier to fight them and protect the sensors and the healers at the same time.’
(Seiren) ‘Nice strategy, Summerbolt. We keep listening to you and they’ll beat us in no time.’
Hikaru was about to snap at his rival for questioning his judgement, but Mr. Line didn’t let that happen by intervening preemptively.
(Tenji) ‘No, no, Seiren. His idea can be put to use. You’ll only need to match the timing of your moves.
If Tora gets separated from the rest of you, he’ll need to pass through each of the other groups your class has been split into after he’s dealt with his enemies to gather up the healers and sensors. Should he put some distance between them and the main enemy forces who are fighting the rest of your class, it won’t be a problem to protect the healers and sensors, even if Tora has to do that alone.
After the healer-sensor group is secured, all other members of your forces will be able to focus on pressing the attack. And Ulura’s class will no longer have any back-up to rely on at that point because Tora will have already taken them out.’
(King) ‘That sounds great, sensei!! We might just stand a chance against the bastards if we follow your plan!’
In the midst of the excitement that had come over pretty much the whole class, Exo intervened with an inquiry of an entirely different nature, being ever the level-headed analyzer that even Hikaru was envious of sometimes.
(Exo) ‘You still haven’t told us who’ll be monitoring the Battle besides you and Martian Class No. 3’s homeroom teacher, Line-sensei. There have to also be other people present to judge our performance, right?’
(Tenji) ‘Oh, yeah. It had slipped my mind. Thanks for reminding me, Exo.
The Summerbolt family has been chosen to monitor this Class Battle.’
