Gilded Ashes-Chapter 51: Ugly but Efficient

Kori stood on a balance beam like it had offered her a balcony. "Public practice" she called, wiggling her fingers. "Unarmed. No themes. No hurting each other too much. Compliments are mandatory. If anyone complains, I will invoice your ancestors."

Raizen yawned so wide his soul nearly escaped. Hikari elbowed him in the ribs. "If you fall asleep mid-fight, I’m disowning you."

"Try" he said, and yawned again.

Arashi unbuttoned his cuffs like the room was a gala and he needed to look attractive. Keahi tightened her wrap with small neat tugs. Lynea’s braid looked... Messier than usual, to say the least. Esen rolled his shoulders and the way they cracked reminded Raizen of the sound popping plastic wrap made.

"First up - Esen vs. Four Volunteers Who Won’t Sue Him" Kori shouted with a jolly tone.

Four normal students stepped in - a jittery first year who’d been doing pushups while waiting, a tall kid with very careful posture, a girl with wide eyes, and a stocky second year trying hard not to look arrogant.

Esen bowed low. "Welcome to my chaos masterclass!"

They circled. Esen clapped once. "No, come closer! Come on, I ain’t gonna bite you!"

He moved with a grin that kept melting into focus, then back to the grin again. The careful-posture kid lunged straight - Esen pivoted and patted him on the shoulder like congratulating a door for letting him in. Fast-eyes feinted high - Esen ducked so fast the feint looked like a miss. Pushup kid charged, got hit by a gentle redirect and ended up hitting air.

"Great entry" Esen said cheerfully, still moving. "Next time, put your heel down or I’ll steal it."

"Steal what?" the second year grunted.

"Your heel, of course."

Second year cut through a tight angle and trapped Esen’s wrist. Esen beamed, gripping his wrist back. "Good!" Then he threw himself and rolled, which made the second year fall on the floor like a sack of potatoes.

The crowd made a pleased noise.

Fast-eyes came in again, smarter now. Esen let her tag him in the ribs, winced theatrically, then lifted her elbow with two fingers and showed her the path she’d just opened on herself. He didn’t take it. "See?" he asked.

She nodded, flushed but smiling.

They reset. He counted footwork out loud like a coach - "one, two, small three, you’re not an elephant" - then went still enough that all four opponents had to think at the same time. When they moved, he always found a way to counter them, hurting only feelings, nothing else. Two steps, one sweep, a polite shoulder check.

Raizen looked at him with sleepy eyes. Esen knew quite well how to fight. His style looked quite similar to a combination between kickboxing and something else Raizen couldn’t identify. Pairing that with his special luminite rings, no wonder he was this strong.

Kori clapped once. "Average" she said, which from Kori meant pure gold. "Hydrate."

Esen bowed in four directions, winked at the mirrors, and jogged towards Saffi, which was holding his water bottle. The benches kept buzzing. Someone whispered "Last year’s Scholars would have destroyed us" and someone else answered, "The second years didn’t even smile."

Kori dropped lightly from her balance beam. "Professor Lynea, if you would..."

Lynea stepped in, looking like she didn’t feel like living today. Four new volunteers lined up. She examined each one, frowning.

"Your stance is too wide" she said, pointing at one of them. "You - lower. You - stop trying to apologize with your shoulders. You - if you’re tall, at least don’t try to lower yourself like everyone else. Be tall."

The regular students rushed, but Lynea did the complete opposite. She let the first two show her the exact mistakes she’d already predicted, then corrected them by demonstrating what the correction felt like. She grabbed a wrist, pushed an elbow where it actually needed to sit, and set a knuckle down so softly it didn’t even feel like an attack.

"Stop turning your hips away from your own spine" she told the tall one. He blinked, confusd. She nudged his hip with the side of her leg, trying not to kick him too hard. "There. Again."

They went again. He didn’t turn away this time. She smiled a small, sharp approval and dropped down on her back, catching herself with a hand. Then she stole his balance, swiping both ankles. The small crowd "oohed" like they were at a magic show. Lynea ignored them.

Another student tried a low sweep. Lynea stepped over it, dangerously close, then froze everything with a word: "Pause." Everyone paused, completely taken by surprise.

Lynea knelt, tapped the exact place the student had started the sweep. "This line is too long. Make it better, like this." She drew a shorter path with her finger. "I know, it looks ugly, but sometimes ugly is efficient."

After that, Lynea let herself get cornered once, on purpose, then showed them what "cornered" actually means if your hips and shoulders are coordinating. She twisted between two students, and placed her hands on their necks faster than they could react.

"What is she doing...!?" Keahi frowned.

Kori, from the sides, answered: " Lynea only aims for vital points, and she’s showing them just that. Teaching while sparring is illegal unless you’re good at it. "

"I’m good at it" Lynea shouted back, and knocked the last student with a soft thump without breaking anything.

The normal students looked... Not defeated, but thoughtful. A first year near the bench whispered, "I feel like I just got caught cheating by someone who actually invented the game."

Hikari took a turn next - two quick drills, no weapons, no enemies. The rods in the ceiling moved quickly, on close to high speed, and Hikari moved just as fast.

Keahi followed with a presence that made people shut up without knowing why. She wasn’t smooth like Hikari yet. She was stubborn, but punishing at the right time. When someone tried to break her guard, she just stood there until they realized that they were trying in vain.

Arashi refused to be normal and therefore put on a show. He made simple things look inevitable. When a second year tried a flashy spinning kick, Arashi stepped away and let the spin miss, then he raised his hand at the right moment, nudging the student mid-air, letting gravity do the rest of the job. After that, of course he offered an elegant hand to help the victim up. "You have style" he said. "Learn timing. Style will still be there later."

The bench laughter turned into easy chatter. The room’s temperature shifted from wary to curious to "yeah, alright, maybe I’ll ask them something after". A cluster lined up to tug Hikari’s sleeve with questions. Keahi had acquired three people asking about something else. Esen was holding a masterclass about falling correctly and also incorrectly. Lynea had four students straighten their postures just because she looked at them.

Kori drifted down and broke the circle with a smile. "Good. You made them sweat without taking their souls. Bare minimum achieved. Scholars are examples, not exhibits, remember."

Someone in the crowd whispered "they’re not like last year’s lot" a bit too loud, and then looked like they regretted it. Kori grinned, whispering back "compliment accepted on their behalf. I know those little devils, they’re honestly nothing too good to be true."

Raizen yawned again - catastrophic, jaw-cracking. He done one lazy warmup round and then spent the rest of the hour pretending the floor was a comfortable mattress. Hikari handed him water. "You alright?"

"Midnight is a social construct" he said. "Kori made me reject it."

"Shh! She might hear you." Arashi hissed. "And then she’ll schedule midnight laps."

Kori had apparently heard anyway. "Midnight laps noted" she said without looking at them.

✦ ✦ ✦

The hall began to empty. The buzz of conversation trailed out into the corridor where banners made long shadows. A pair of second year students leaned against the door, talking under their breath. One of them glanced back into the room, measuring. On the ring, Esen and a student ran through one last exchange - laughter, a clean counter, a fist-bump. "You’re weird" the guy told Esen, breathless.

"Thank you" he said. "I strive for it."

Kori slid her hands into her coat pockets and tilted her chin up at the high windows. "Wrap it up" she said to the eight. "You’ve got classes now. Eat something with protein. If anyone asks for help, try yes before you try no."

They picked up their school bags – Esen being the exception. He had all of his books and writing instruments neatly packed in a thick plastic bag.

Hikari took a last question and sent a girl off with a scribbled drill. Keahi stacked stray gym mats because leaving them messy wasn’t her style.

As the last voices thinned, a hush drifted in that sounded like attention shifting elsewhere. Raizen, halfway through his fifth yawn the same minute, glanced up.

High above the mirrors, in a narrow pane that looked out from the corridor of the upper classrooms, a figure stood - still, unbothered by the glare. Not a student - the shape carried a confidence that had survived many years. They didn’t move. They didn’t make a show of watching.

Raizen blinked and the silhouette was still there. Hikari followed his gaze, frowned, and then the figure mysteriously decided to disappear.

"Something wrong?" she asked, trying to figure out what made Raizen stare like that.

"Nothing" he said, and didn’t believe himself.

The eight drifted into the hall, normal students peeling off with quick bows and smiles. Above, somewhere in the lattice of corridors and windows, someone kept watching the room a few breaths longer, then turned away.