4 days before the fight, Ryota brought Shinku down to the police training building, where Ryota intended to implement one last style of training.
“Today we’re going to start working on the final skill I want you to learn before going to school.”
He said as he handed Shinku his revolver blade and put on a special pair of boots. Other officers came around to look at their training session, and as they watched, they talked about how Ryota was a local legend among other police departments for his abundant amount of magic.
“Hey guys, Ryota is about to take on Shinku,” they murmured, and bystanders began to gather around.
“He’s going to absolutely destroy the kid. It’s a shame that Ryota wasn’t blessed with an element; he would be unstoppable.”
Although he couldn’t mold it into an element, most of his weapons and utility items were custom-made to handle his magic, which sat at an amazing level of 10. Most weapons he used couldn’t even handle his magic output without breaking, just in case he needed to push them beyond their limits. Ryota explained what they would be doing for the day.
“So far we’ve only practiced with still objects. Today, you’re going to try to hit a moving one, that target being me. I want you to get better at using that eye of yours I paid a lot of money for you to get it.”
“Um, Ryota, I don’t think I can do this. I mean, I know I can aim, but I think we’re going a bit too fast; I don’t think I’m ready for moving targets,” Shinku said, losing his confidence and doubting his ability.
“Too late now, I guess,” Ryota replied, activating his boots and dashing behind Shinku.
“These boots allow me to hover 3 inches off the ground and use propulsion to increase my movement. The more magic I put into it, the faster I go; it was made to mimic skilled wind magic users.”
“It’s just like what Batoru did the other day. If I continue to train like this, I might be able to fight against him,” Shinku thought to himself as he got into his stance, confidently inviting Ryota to attack, right before getting thrown across the room.
“(Shinku coughs) Why did you hit me so hard?” he asked.
“I thought you were being a bit too cocky. Also, I forgot to explain something to you before we start; I’ll get to that now,” Ryota replied. He explained to Shinku that the same way he channels magic into his revolver blades to fire at a target, he needs to flow his magic to his blades and his eye.
“Woah, what the hell, is that a scope?” Shinku asked.
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“Why’d you think that eye was so expensive? Trust me, you’re going to have a lot of time to make it up to me,”
Ryota replied as he activated his boots and began to dash around the room. Shinku struggled to lock in on where he was before finally taking a shot and missing. Ryota made a move, punching Shinku in the stomach again.
“Yeah, forgot to mention, every time you miss your shot, I’m going to hit you.”
“You stupid old bastard, you didn’t forget, you just wanted a reason to hit me again,” Shinku exclaimed angrily.
Hours passed as Shinku missed every shot he made, increasingly angering him. Shinku looked at Ryota’s movement as he tried to follow him. “I’ve got you, Ryota, take this!”
Ryota barely got out of the way right before dashing towards Shinku, but before reaching him, Shinku fell unconscious. “Damn, I’m surprised you even lasted this long shooting; your magic capacity is amazing.”
Several hours passed as Shinku finally woke up, feeling battered. He slowly got up and walked into the living room where he saw Ryota on the couch. “Screw you, Ryota!”
Ryota grabbed Shinku’s hand to block his punch. “Cool down, kid. You only just woke up, didn’t you? I made you something to eat.”
After Shinku finished eating, he brought up his training again. “Ryota, please give me some pointers for our training tomorrow. I need to work on this even more; I need to.”
Ryota brought Shinku out onto the balcony and gave him a toy gun, putting an empty can on the balcony. “Okay, I want you to use your eye to focus on the can and shoot it.”
Shinku shot down the can with ease before taking aim at the other can right as Ryota stopped him. “I’m going to cover your special eye this time. Now, I want you to aim with your normal eye.”
Shinku struggled to hit it as he complained he needed more practice aiming. “Damn it, how am I supposed to aim with just one eye, Ryota?”
Ryota came to Shinku as he aided in his training. “Okay, point your gun directly at the can. Line up your scope with the can.”
Shinku finally shot down the can only using his right eye. As he celebrated, Ryota then brought out a bag of empty cans he had been saving for 3 days. “You better start shooting, 'cause you’re not going to bed until you knock down every can.”
The next day, Shinku and Ryota continued their training. “There you are, I’m gonna hit you this time, Ryota.”
Ryota narrowly dodged the attack and rushed in to punch Shinku. He then walked over and picked him up. “Kid, I’m proud of you. You’ve made a lot of progress. At this rate, you’ll be able to hit me in no time.”
Even though Shinku was upset that he did not manage to hit him once, he thought that he would have to figure it out later. Shinku then threw up his breakfast onto Ryota. “Gross, what the hell? Couldn’t you have swallowed it or something, anything instead of spitting up all over me?”
Day after day passed by, with Shinku growing increasingly better over the days of training until finally, the day before the combat exams started. Before ending training, Ryota called Shinku to have a talk.
“Please, Shinku, no matter what, promise me that you won’t go all out with your magic. Try your best to keep it under control.”
“Hold back? What do you mean? I thought the point of the test was to see how capable I was. Wouldn’t that hurt my chances of getting in?”
“I understand that, but your magic is extremely destructive. You can’t risk seriously hurting someone or, worse, killing someone. I just want you to keep your magic under control. Can you do that?”
Shinku disappointingly agreed as he looked at the ground. Finally, the day of the exam arrived as Shinku confidently marched into the school building.
“This is it. I’m going to show everyone what I can do and get into Nexus Academy!”