Today was the day of the sparring match. Daichi-sensei had sent us our Gi uniforms for the upcoming matches.

“The sparring match is today,” I said, looking into the mirror beside my bed.

I clenched my fists with a nervous smile on my face.

“Now that I’ve learned how to control my broken ki, I could have a chance!” I said.

I left my dorm and went to eat breakfast. They served rice with miso soup. The simple yet flavorful combination fired me up for the sparring match.

I was surprised that we were fighting in an actual arena. I saw Akira, Yukui and Shoota. They were all preparing for the matches.

Shoota looked at me and pointed, “Well guess who’s here. The newbie,” he said, laughing.

I was nervous to respond to him, but I need to prove to him that I'm not the same guy I was a couple of days ago.

“I-I’m now stronger. I’ve learned how to control my broken ki now, and I can definitely beat you” I said, brave yet fearful.

Shoota walked up to me with anger in his face and grabbed onto my Gi, “Huh? You think you're on my level just because you trained for a few days? Don’t be stupid.”

“Damn I hate this guy,” I thought with an angry face.

“Shoota stop picking on Kaitou. You can fight him once you have the chance” Akira said with a bit of anger.

“Shut the hell up. Your next after I’m done with him,” he said, with dread in his eyes.

Akira looked at Shoota with an angry face.

“You can’t even wait till the match starts? How pathetic,” Fukui said, stretching his legs.

“Huh?!”

“Ya mind repeating that,” Shoota said walking up to Fukui with his fists clenched, ready to fight.

“Hey now. You don’t want to get disqualified this early, don’t you?” Fukui said.

Shoota's hands were shaking in rage, but he finally calmed down.

“Just wait till we fight,” he said.

A few minutes passed until Daichi-sensei walked into the room.

“Alright guys it’s time for your sparring matches,” he said with a smile on his face.

“Here are the rules. Each sparring match is one-on-one. There will be no interference from anyone else.”

“The winner will be decided when one of you admits defeat, is unable to continue, or crosses the red border around the match area.”

“There are no lethal moves allowed. Any violation of these rules will result in disqualification, and you won’t be able to go on any Onryo extermination missions.”

“Now are there any questions?” Daichi-sensei asked.

Fukui raised his hand, “Are we able to use our broken arts?”

“Yes you can if you don’t use any lethal techniques,” Daichi-sense responded.

“Broken arts. I remember what Yamaguchi-sensei said about every broken ki user having unique arts with sub-techniques,” I remembered.

“Does that mean Fukui has a broken art technique?” I said, nervously. “They all could have it now that I really look into it.”

Daichi-sensei continued on, “Now then! The first matchup will be…”

“Akira vs Shoota!”

“Heh, easy win,” Shoota said, smirking while side-eyeing Akira.

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“Don’t underestimate me Shoota,” Akira said, angrily.

“Now, go to the match area and wait for my signal,” Daichi-sensei instructed.

Akira and Shoota faced each other at a distance ready to fight.

Daichi-sensei raised his hand, “Your match will start …”

Akira gets into her fighting stance while Shoota grins with his hands on his hips.

“Now!”

Shoota rushes towards Akira.

“Stay put and let me end this quickly!” Shoota yelled.

Akira was still in her fighting stance, with her feet shoulder-width apart.

Shoota threw a left hook at her right cheek, but she parried his attack and countered with a punch to his gut using a vertical fist.

“Huh,” Shoota said, surprised as he was pushed back.

“I wasn’t expecting that from you,” Shoota said, rubbing his stomach. “Though it wasn’t all that painful.”

“There’s more coming,” Akira yelled.

Akira ran towards Shoota and did a tornado kick, following two jabs though he managed to dodged it.

She then tried to land some more attacks, but Shoota was able to dodge all of them.

“What? Is that all you have in store,” he said, laughing.

As Akira threw another punch at Shoota, he grabbed her fist and punched her stomach.

“Errh,” Akira grunted, as she was sent back, coughing up blood and nearing the red line.

“That’s how you pack a punch,” Shoota said, laughing as he cracked his fingers.

“D-Dammit,” Akira grunted.

Shoota looked at Akira, laughing.

“Tsk. I was gonna save my art once I got to the final match, but I want to end this match quickly,” Akira said, wiping blood off her mouth.

“Huh?” Shoota questioned.

“Broken Art—“

“Enhance!”.

The ground around Akira started to crumble.

“With my broken art Enhance, I can make my physical strength and broken ki 10x stronger,” Akira said, flexing her muscles.

*Though it puts psychical strain on her body after a while*

“S-so that’s her broken art,” I thought. “It’s pretty strong.”

Shoota smirks, “You really think you can beat me with your weak broken art—-“

Akira appeared in front of Shoota in a split second and landed a hard jab at him, sending him closer to the red line.

“N-No way,” Shoota yelled, trying to get back on balance.

“I will not let you win,” Akira yelled, as she landed a barrage of jabs all over his body.

Once she landed her last attack, Shoota was just standing still, looking up at the sky, probably unconscious.

“Seems like I don't have to get him across the red line after all. He’s already unresponsive,” Akira thought, smirking.

“This is what the outcome of the battle was meant to be,” Akira said. “Next time don’t be so cocky,” she said walking away from Shoota.

“Heh—“

“What?” Akira said, as she looked back at Shoota.

“HehEHa—“

“Hehehe—HAhahAhah,” he laughed uncontrollably.

“He's still conscious?!” I said, shocked.

“You really think I’d go down so easily?!”

“I present to you,” he said, spreading his arms out, “My broken art, Absorption.”

“Absorption?” Akira questioned.

“I can absorb attacks from my opponents and create pure broken ki added on to my own for 10 minutes,” he said with a dreadful smile on his face.

“W-what? He can do that?!” I thought, shaking. “So she had no chance to begin with.”

“Tsk! He’s a hard head, but he isn’t completely dumb,” Akira said, uneasily.

“Don’t think you’ve won just because of your broken arts Shoota—“

In a fourth of a second, Shoots appeared behind Akira.

“Heh,” he said with a crazy smile.

“N-No way—“

Shoota punched Akira in her back with enough power to make her immobilized.

“He actually beat her,” I said with my mouth wide open.

Daichi-sensei raised his hand, “The winner is Shoota!”

“Heh. As expected,” Shoota said pridefully.

“So he was that strong,” I muttered, losing hope by the second.

“Is Akira alright,” I asked Daichi-sensei.

“Yes she’s fine. Shoota limited his broken ki to make her unconscious. She should be awake very soon.”

I continued on, “So if he channeled all his broken ki into that punch—”

“Her back would have been completely shattered,” Daichi-sensei said, looking at Shoota who was chanting. “Well then, on to the next match!”

“He changed moods so fast,” I said, giving Daichi-sensei a dumbfounded look.

“The second matchup will be…”

“Oh?” Daichi-sensei whispered.

“Kaitou vs Fukui”

“I have to battle him,” I said as I looked at Fukui. He gave me a cold stare.

“Now then you two go to the match area,” Daichi-sensei instructed.

“I wonder how this is gonna play out,” Daichi-sensei said as Fukui and I walked towards the match area.