Toki dematerialized again. If he couldn't attack straight forward, then from behind. He prepared his next hit while being in his dissolved state. Kazuo wouldn't have a chance to dodge this! His anger made his electric lightnings go up in volt. He appeared behind him and struck a blow. A scream resonated, however it wasn't Kazuo's, but … Sayuri's?!

Toki: "What the– Oh my, Sayu!" //How?!//

Kazuo was still standing there, with his back turned towards Toki, laughing like insane. But he was translucent. So he didn't only have the ability to control shadows, but also a tang incommon with Toki, just another peculiarity. Kazuo could dematerialize himself in place and so Toki's hit just went through him and struck Sayuri.

Toki: "Holy SHIT!" He hadn't planned on that. "Sayuri … I-I'm so sorry, I didn't w-want to, I–"

Sayuri: "D-don't worry … you just wanted to help me …" She forced herself to smile. //This hurts like hell, and I can’t even wince.//

Okay, so now Hana's healing would definitely be required afterwards. But what the hell was going on? How did this escalate like that? Tomorrow the new year would start and everyone was beaten up. Awesome. Hopefully no one would notice that. In the end they really would get expelled, before even starting.

Ryota still fought against Mitsukuni. Despite his speed and strength helping him smash and dodge all the stones thrown at him, he still got some hits. But the rock-guy also had to be on the receiving end. Hiroshi threw fire balls to Yoshitora and his shields without ceasing. They seemed less resistant against this element, because the barriers always vanished shortly after and the blonde guy had to create a new one every time. Hiroshi gave it his all and one time Yoshitora couldn't make a new shield in time and was directly hit in the face by Hiroshi's fireball, followed by a punch that knocked him out. At least one problem was solved. But this seemed to annoy Kazuo more.

Kazuo: "Yo, Mitsu! I'm leaving. I guess you're fetching Yoshi later?"

Mitsu: "I'll sort it out. Have fun with your prey." He dodged a kick from Ryota with a stone wall.

Toki: "Prey?!" //Doesn't he dare!!!//

Kazuo made his way, with Sayuri following him.

Toki: //He completely lost it! That's too much! What should I do?!//

He was afraid of hurting Sayuri again, he felt so useless at that moment. He looked over to Ryota, beating Mitsukuni at his own game. He managed to catch a stone thrown at him and dashed it back at him with all his strength. This stone crashed through Mitsukuni's defensewall and hit him in his stomach so hard that he got tossed back and hit the ground. Moaning, he tried to get up again, but his strength failed him. So now only one was left.

Then suddenly Hiroshi stood in front of Hana. 

Hiroshi: "I'll take you on my shoulders!"

Hana: "Huh, what?" Was that a joke? "We don't have time to fool around now?!"

Hiroshi: "Sigh …" Not waiting for Hana's response, he grabbed her and put her on his shoulders. Just like a father would do it with his kids. "Don't fidget too much, okay?" And he started running.

Hana squeaked and held onto his shoulders as much as she could. She quickly realized what Hiroshi wanted to do as they stopped in front of Kazuo.

Hiroshi: "Now just stop that crap already. Let me be, let my friends be and annoy somebody else!"

Toki: "Sayuri, Move!"

Sayuri: //What?// She didn't get what he meant and looked to Toki kinda confused. 

Hana: "RUN, SAYU-CHAN!"

Still not knowing what was going on, she tried to move and … her legs finally obeyed her. So Sayuri ran as fast as she could towards Ryota, who was the farest away from the shadow guy. Kazuo knew he was defeated now, also with his own weapon. Before he could do anything else, Toki placed his fist in his face.

Toki: "Serves you right and now just fuck off already and take your stupid friends with you!"

Kazuo held his cheek and looked around: Yoshitora was knocked out, Mitsukuni was lying on the ground in pain and he himself was surrounded by five people. Even with only three of them being relevant, he had enough. Without a word he went over to his friends.

🔹

Toki: "Ooooouch …" He sat on a meadow with all the others while Hana was treating his scratches and small wounds.

Hana: "Stay still! You can be happy your cheek isn't broken! You know I can't cure such things …" She put her hand on Toki's cheek again and a green shimmer surrounded that area. "It should be okay now." Hana smiled.

Toki: "I think so, thanks." He smiled back at her.

Hana: "And now you, Ryo! You also got a lot of scratches!"

Ryota: "Naaa, let it be, no one will notice …" He crossed his arms and looked away. He was just too prideful to admit his cuts and grazes.

Hana didn't let this count and just put Ryota's face between her small hands.

Hana: "Let me at least heal his deep cut beneath your eye …"

Ryota pouted, but finally gave in.

Ryota: "Okay, okay. I don't want a scar. My face is not insured. So go ahead."

Hiroshi got patched up as well and since no one got seriously injured, Hana was able to undo most of it.

Hana: "Sayu-chan, shall I check you, too? Are you in pain?" Toki hit her, even by accident, Sayuri would definitely feel lots of pain in her back.

Sayuri: "No, no. Everything is fine." //My back hurts like hell.//

Hana already thought that Sayuri would say something like that. But Hana didn't want to dig deeper for now. At least not until they were back in their room.

Hiroshi: "But seriously, guys, you should just have stayed out of it and none of that would've happened."

Ryota: "How can you know? Besides some collective damage … A problem shared is a problem halved! And apropos sharing … you owe me an iced chocolate!" He grinned.

Sayuri and Hana both thought Hiroshi was absolutely right. But none of them said a word. As it was too late anyways.

Toki: "Who the hell were they?"

Hiroshi: "Well … as mentioned earlier, old friends. This … we had to settle an outstanding score. Nothing worth talking about."

Ryota: "Oh, but obviously worth it. We fought together with you in the end, haha. Your mates are very strong. I mean, I'm way stronger but … what school are they attending?"

Hiroshi: "Yeah, they're not without merit. They're attending the local high school here." 

Hana: "Wow … with their skills they'd easily be accepted at the Northwind! Though I wouldn't like that …"

Ryota: "At least we already know some of their weak points."

Hana: "Ryo!! I hope you don't plan on fighting them again!" She seemed worried and angry at the same time.

Toki: "Guys, let's head back. I had enough for today."

Ryota: "But you almost didn't do anything."

Toki: "…" //All I did was hurting Sayuri …//

Back at the campus. The boys already headed off to their dorms and the two girls just entered their room. Something was off. Did somebody clean the kitchen? Where did the nice scent come from? Hana recognized the other door was ajar.

Hana: "AAAH, finally!" She hopped over to the other door and knocked. "C-can I come in?"

???: "Of course." a gentle female voice answered.

Hana immediately entered the room, but no one was there? The tiny girl looked around. purple walls, own furniture, all in white … pretty nice! So the girl had to be at least in the second year.

Girl: "Oh, my bad." 

Hana looked to where the voice came from: There was an upside down floating girl on the ceiling. She landed on the floor and her braided twintails also adjusted to gravity again. Her purple eyes sparkled like a galaxy as she smiled at Hana friendly.

Girl: "I'm Kira. Nice to meet you."

Hana: "I'm Hana! Awesome finally meeting you!"

Sayuri had been waiting outside until now, but she eventually joined the conversation and also came to them.

Sayuri: "I'm Sayuri, hi."

Hana: "What class are you in? And your room is soooo pretty!!"

Kira: "Thank you. Starting tomorrow, C.3"

The three girls chatted a bit. Well, it rather was Hana babbling all the time. Sayuri wasn't in the mood after this day and Kira didn't seem to be a very talkative person by nature.

When Sayuri went to her room, she let herself fall onto the bed and immediately felt the pain again. Damnit. This hit from Toki hurt really bad. She writhed to the side. Hana wanted to check her earlier, but … No, Sayuri would not let Hana take it away. The evidence she wasn't dreaming. That this wasn't a movie or a game. It was real. All of it. And while to others this all was just casual business, Sayuri still needed to learn all the basics from this world. She turned around and fetched the book she got from the secretary from the bag beside the bed and started reading.

About Gaiteki, being able to control physical tangs, what it meant to be a Shinteki – being able to use psychic skills and about Haigos, who had a combination of both. She browsed through some more articles and made up her mind.

Sayuri: //I'm powerless. I need to accept this all. I need to work hard. I will get to know my tang and I will master it. And then, I'll fight back if I have to.//