CHAPTER 24: QUICK AND DIRTY

It was almost the end of the day and all the students were sweating under the afternoon sun despite their comfy physical training uniform attire.

Riku was sweating more than anyone. He ran breathless as his life flashed before his eyes and he tried to escape the beasts that were chasing him.

Riku was being chased by three ferocious pitbulls while Professor Michael was over in the stance cheering on his dogs.

The dog’s eyes all looked like they were mad and dying of hunger if it weren’t for the rather oversized state of the dogs Riku would have thought they had not been fed in a long time.

Riku tried his best to out run the dogs but the more he ran the faster they chased and the closer their lashing got to his rear.

The other students ignored Riku’s screams and continued their training as though it was just a normal day

“Max and Rex are so cute don’t you think Riku?”

Professor Michael seemed to just be walking casually beside the breathless Riku and asked.

Before Riku could answer he stumbled and fell and the dogs jumped him.

It was a few hours later that Riku dragged himself to his afternoon training with Okeeve.

“You’re late.”

Okeeve was already at the doorway wrapping his hands with kumpur wrap.

Riku gave him a blank expression and looking at his eyes Okeeve realized Riku was barely holding on.

Okeeve knew his method of training was not the best way to go about teaching but based on the timeline he had been given this was the only option.

Normally a student would figure out most of what he was teaching Riku through trial and error but what he was doing now was trying to force Riku to adopt the movements through muscle and subconscious memory.

Of course using this method for a prolonged period of time had its down sides, mainly being permanent brain damage or even shortening his lifespan due to cardiovascular issues.

But Okeeve went through with it regardless, noting that it was for less than four days so it should not be much of a major issue in the long run.

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But there was still one factor that he had overlooked. Riku wasn’t a second year, the physical tortur- “training” that Professor Michael placed students through in the first year was critical to getting students ready for this phase of training.

This caused Riku to be at a major disadvantage. During the spars Okeeve had noticed, sure Riku was becoming more and more proficient in seeing through his attacks but the issue was his body and underdeveloped muscles.

It was like Riku was watching a movie, sure he could see almost everything that was happening but his body just couldn’t respond.

This was an issue not even Okeeve could fix, this was just the limitations of an untrained body. It would take months to improve this.

Okeeve sighed as he watched Riku adopt a stance with both pistols.

*Sigh*

“Well today is the last day,

give me everything you’ve got!”

Okeeve rushed at Riku.

-

As always Dante, Jose and Nakita were to the side watching. This time Dante was the one holding the defibrillators.

“Have you guys heard?”

Jose looked away at Riku who was getting the beating of a lifetime and asked Dante and Nakita his question.

“Are you talking about the ban?”

Jose nodded in silence at Naktia.

“Yeah, they said that only third year students who are in the top hundred can go on missions now.”

“Well at least it doesn’t affect us right?”

Dante looked at Nakita like he was looking at a clown.

“Do you really think this ban is just about making students focus on the Rankings?”

Jose shook his head,

“It’s so obvious they are just buying time to deal with the murders.”

“...or to find the rat.”

Dante retorted.

“Well they did say first years can still go on missions for training since they are always escorted by a teacher.”

Nakita was the one pointing this out but Dante grew a serious expression,

“Guys, I think we should avoid missions for now, let’s take a break until this all blows over.”

Jose and Nakita were both shocked to hear Dante speak these words after all when it came to doing missions he was an unstoppable machine.

For some reason Dante never turned down a good opportunity to make money. Jose and Nakita always assumed that by now Dante was at least a multi-millionaire based on the sheer number of missions he had successfully completed.

But for him to be the one suggesting to take a break, this meant that it was definitely something serious. They had to assume that since Dante had two sponsors then he might have known more than he was letting on and might just not be allowed to say.

It had to be known that having sponsors, especially those of a certain standing would automatically put someone in the know of certain things that not even world governments could discover. Naturally this came with limitations on what someone of this standing could say to others.

Nakita and Jose smiled at him with an awkward expression and then looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Their moment was broken when Riku was slammed into the floor again.

Dante ran over with the defibrillators but he was stopped by Okeeve,

“No, don’t do it.

Let him recover naturally.

His fight is tomorrow afternoon, if he doesn’t wake up by then, then you can bring him back.”

Okeeve waved his hand as he unwrapped his fists and turned away.

Dante understood and nodded his head. Dante knew this was a ‘quick and dirty’ kind of training and while it may help in the short run, it was not sustainable long term.

Dante and Jose picked up Riku’s body along with Nakita walking behind. They all stopped at the doorway and looked at Okeeve before bowing their heads and speaking in unison,

“Thank you sir!”

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