Jacob thought about just going to Tanaka at the end of class, catching him before he left his seat, but there was a chance Camilla would see it and take it the wrong way. So he told her and Blake and Grace he was going to train and hovered outside the class.

Students poured out, chattering away. A lot of them glanced at him or nodded his way. Tobi Yengue congratulated him on his win as he passed by. There were only 16 students left in the tournament from the original 80. They knew who each other were, and more impactfully, everyone in the class knew who they were. A light notoriety had followed him from the moment he'd walked out of the arena the day before. It didn't bother him as much as it might have a month ago. He'd adjusted to everyone knowing who he was because he was a 'white mage.'

Tanaka, as usual, was one of the last people to leave the class. He strode out, wearing a baggy heavy metal t-shirt and those same black cargo pants covered in pockets. Jacob had a distinct deja vu about the whole thing.

"Tanaka!" Jacob said.

The transfer student looked up at him and narrowed his eyes. "What's up? Did something happen?"

Jacob shook his head. "No, um... I was wondering if you wanted to train with me."

Tanaka blinked, clearly taken aback. "When?"

"Now? I have a training room booked in fifteen minutes."

Tanaka's dark eyes flickered. He was silent for a while, and Jacob could feel him debating. He wouldn't be able to bring himself to beg, and he didn't have any excuse this time about it being 'the right thing.'

"Okay. Lead the way. Let's go."

No questions? "Oh, okay," Jacob said, yet again surprised by Tanaka's willingness. Maybe he'd misjudged the guy.

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The walk to the Equilibrium Building was a quiet one. Jacob still wasn't super comfortable around Tanaka, and he couldn't think of anything to talk about with everything hanging over his head. It didn't seem like Tanaka wanted to talk either.

They entered the building and went up to their designated training room. The dungeon-like rooms were starting to be familiar, even the stench of stale sweat that seemed baked into the walls.

Tanaka took off his baggy heavy metal t-shirt. He had a grey undershirt on underneath. The transfer student cracked his neck to both sides.

Jacob rolled his shoulders, squatted a couple times to get the blood flowing. "So... what do you want to work on?"

Tanaka scoffed. "Yeah, yeah, don't try that with me. I know you need help for Vanderbilt next round."

Jacob blushed. Was it that obvious? "Well, if there's something you want to work on..."

Tanaka grinned and shook his head. "I don't mind it, man. You need help. I don't. I'm going to destroy whoever I'm fighting next round. Training with you will at least give me a little practice against another person; let me get a sweat going."

Did he not know who he was fighting? Did he care that little, or was he that confident in himself? Probably both.

"Okay," Jacob said.

"Vanderbilt's stronger than you, magically," Tanaka said. "He's a better fighter than you. He has more spells than you. He's better than you. You fight him now, you'll lose."

Jacob looked down. He knew that. He didn't need to be told that.

"Do you want me to help you?"

Jacob frowned. "Yes."

"I'm not going to go easy on you. You're going to have to work hard. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"I'm making sure, because this isn't gonna be a daycare."

"I know."

"No, you don't."

"What do you mean?"

"You've never worked hard in your life."

"What?" Jacob frowned.

"I can tell. You probably thought coming here and casting spells for an hour and getting a little tired was hard work, but it's not."

Jacob stood up. "What are you talking about? You've never seen me train." Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe Tanaka was just an asshole.

But then why did he agree to help me? It wasn't like Jacob had a choice. He needed whatever help he could get if he was going to beat Archie. Just suck it up.

Tanaka took up a stance on the opposite side of the training room. He pointed beyond Jacob, at the door. "Look."

Jacob turned. The door of the training room was gone. The wall had melded into it, the surfaces swirling together like imperfectly mixed metals.

"What did you do?" Jacob hadn't even felt Tanaka cast. He hadn't even been thinking about it.

"Blocked the exit."

"Why?"

"When you lay a hand on me, you can leave."

Jacob spluttered. "What? But there will be other people scheduled to use this room!"

Tanaka's face became deadly serious. "Do you want to beat Vanderbilt, or do you want to be a nice person?"

Jacob wasn't sure things were that black and white, but he turned to face Tanaka full on and dropped into a stance.

Christ, what an asshole.

He pictured another student needing to train for their own match and showing up and not being able to get in the room because of Tanaka's bullshit. He clenched his fists. It shouldn't be that hard to get a hand on him, the training room was a little smaller than a volleyball court. There was only so much space for Tanaka to move around in.

Tanaka grinned and beckoned him forward with one hand.

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As it turned out, getting a hand on Tanaka was not all that easy. The moment Jacob had launched himself forward, casting strength and perception simultaneously, Tanaka—to Jacob's horror—had also cast both spells, at least as strongly as himself.

For the next thirty minutes the ground did not stay still. Blocks and pillars shot out right in front of Jacob. Great swells and pitfalls surged around him. He almost never stood balanced on his own two feet.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He came close several times, but Tanaka either blocked him with Decomp or whispered away at the last moment.

Jacob stumbled to his hands and knees, wheezing. His heart beat like a tiny drum gone into overdrive. Sweat ran in rivers off the tip of his nose. He sucked in great, heaving breaths. His core and his legs burned as if they were on fire. If he tried to stand they'd shake.

The nauseating floor stopped shifting. Tanaka's magic settled to a low buzz along Jacob's sense.

"I'm done," Jacob groaned. "I got nothing left in me," he let out a long, exasperated moan.

"Get up," Tanaka said. He was sweating too, his undershirt damp.

"I can't," Jacob said. He rolled onto his back and groaned again. "I'm exhausted."

"Why are you whining?" Tanaka said.

"I'm not whining!" Jacob whined. "I'm tired, man."

"Just what I thought," Tanaka grunted. "Whining and complaining. Waiting for mommy or daddy to come change your diaper."

"What?" Jacob said.

"All that noise you're making?" Tanaka said. "You're drawing attention to yourself so someone will come help you, just like a crying baby. That's your first lesson of the day."

"Lesson? Did you just call me a baby?"

"It's not an insult. It's just the truth. Accept it. You're soft, man. I knew you were soft and now you're proving me right. You've had an easy life and it's made you soft."

"You know nothing about my life," Jacob hissed. He didn't have to take this.

"I know everything about you. I know your type. Little momma's boy thinks someone's gonna come help him."

Jacob rolled over and pushed himself to his feet and ran at Tanaka, vision red. He was so angry he didn't even think to engage his magic. A pillar shot out of the ground and punched him in the gut. He fell back on his ass, the wind knocked out of him. He sat there, dazed, his rage simmering.

"See, you had more in the tank. You've just never pushed yourself to your limit," Tanaka said, looking down at him. "You think Vanderbilt's giving up when he gets a little tired? In fact, screw him, you think a magical creature's gonna go easy on you just because you're tired? They don't fucking think, man! They're brutal."

"I know that!" Jacob snapped. "I was in the magical realm by myself. I had to run from a chimera!"

Tanaka blinked. "Then you know I'm right."

Jacob clenched his teeth and rubbed the sweat from his eyes and glared at Tanaka. Damn him. Damn him. "You did that on purpose."

Tanaka grinned. "Got you angry? Yeah, I did, but I wasn't lying. That's lesson number two: You don't decide when you're done. You're done when your body is done. Now, if you think you're not soft, you'll come at me again."

Tanaka had barely finished when Jacob launched himself forward, engaging his magic.

The transfer student leapt back, grinning. They danced back and forth for a time.

Jacob rounded one of the thrusting pillars, half stumbling on his worn legs. Despite what Tanaka said, he couldn't go at 100% right now. His legs were too gassed.

He juked the next Decomp obstacle and came close to Tanaka. The transfer student's dark eyes tracked him. Jacob lunged forward, hand outstretched. Tanaka twisted and planted his own hand in Jacob's chest and pushed.

Jacob went flying back into the wall and dropped to the floor in a heap. He tried to push himself to his feet but several pillars of hewn stone jutted out from the walls and floor around him, trapping him in a makeshift cage. He struggled and beat on the pillars, but he was stuck.

His magic slipped away from him in his frustration, and he sat there, useless. Goddamnit.

Tanaka strode over to him. "Third lesson: Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you give everything you have, and then some, and it's not enough. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you fail. We're done," his dark eyes flickered, and his lip curdled.

The stone cage retreated, and Jacob sat back against the wall. Tanaka went over and picked up his shirt. Jacob wanted to hate him then, could feel his earlier blind anger simmering, but he knew the boy had nothing to gain from all this, and he knew that was by far the hardest training session he'd ever had.

"Thanks, man," Jacob forced out.

Tanaka looked over at him sharply, then nodded. "No problem. Thanks for asking me."

Jacob wiped his face on his shirt, which was already somewhat soaked through. He needed to remember to bring a towel. He watched Tanaka throw on his over-shirt.

"How did you get so good?" Jacob asked. Sure he was naturally strong, but his control of the Decomp spells... Too fine, too good. Better by a country mile than anyone else in the class. Even Archie.

Tanaka gave him a long look. Jacob thought he was about to leave, when he said:

"I got my magic early. Well over two years ago, now. And I've had a lot of... training."

"Training like this?" Jacob asked.

Tanaka nodded.

Jacob considered that. There had to be something motivating the other boy. No one worked this hard. Not even Blake had trained this hard with Jacob, and he was the most motivated person Jacob knew.

Jacob looked over at the other boy, puzzled. Tanaka had gone out of his way to help him here today. He'd also helped with the Necromancy for little to no benefit to himself. He didn't seem like a bad person. He didn't seem like the type of person to hurt a Ranger.

Jacob decided to take a small leap of faith.

"What happened between you and that Ranger?"

Tanaka's head whipped around, eyes narrowed. He tensed up, as if expecting a blow of some sort. "How do you know about that?"

Jacob shrugged. "A friend told me."

"What did they tell you?"

"Just that you fought a Ranger and beat them, and that the Order in Japan was so angry with you they sent you here for school."

"They exiled me," Tanaka hissed. He gathered himself. "Why do you want to know?"

Jacob shrugged and looked at the floor. "I don't know. I wanna know the truth, because you don't... You don't seem like a bad guy." Christ, that sounded cringey.

Tanaka stared at him. "Why do you say that?"

"You just don't. I've seen what a rogue mage looks like, and you just don't seem like the type."

"There's more than one type of villain in the world," Tanaka said.

Jacob shrugged. He was a little embarrassed he'd even asked. There was a long, drawn out silence between them, Tanaka weighing him with narrowed eyes.

"Why did you feed that magical creature?" Tanaka asked.

Jacob frowned.

"You told me you had to, but why? Why break the laws? Why risk the Councils?"

Was this the price Tanaka was asking for? 'You tell me yours, I tell you mine?' Jacob wasn't sure he wanted to tell Tanaka, but he knew now talking about it wasn't all that bad. He also knew he couldn't keep being selective in who he told. People were going to find out if they didn't already know. And besides, Tanaka had his own illegal nonsense.

"A couple months ago I was walking in this botanical garden..."

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"...that's why," Jacob finished. The sweat had cooled on his body, making him cold and grimy. Tanaka had sat down cross legged on the floor sometime during Jacob's recital. "That's also why I trust Camilla." He looked pointedly at Tanaka.

"D'Angelo..." Tanaka murmured. "Okay."

"So, why'd you fight that Ranger?" Jacob asked again.

Tanaka looked down at the floor, his hands clasped tightly around his shins. He looked like he was wrestling with himself.

"Fine," Tanaka finally blurted. He ran an anxious hand through his hair. "When I was thirteen my parents died in a car crash. Nothing magical, just a regular old car crash. My parents were Rangers in the Order, so I knew about magic and the other world and everything. I was stuck in the wreck for a long time before they were able to pry me out. Some of the people from the Order said that being stuck in the wreck kickstarted my magical development. I don't know. They sent me to live with an ex-Ranger on an old rice farm outside of Sendai because I had magical potential. Sendai's a city in the north-east part of Japan's main island. I... I hated the ex-Ranger because he was a piece of shit and worked me to death, and I hated it on the farm because there was no one else but the old man and it was far from the city. After two years I'd had enough, so I ran away, back to Tokyo. I... lived there for a while, on my own. Eventually, the Order found me again. They wouldn't leave me alone because I had magic. Because I was strong. They sent a Ranger to take me back to the farm. I refused to go, but he had orders to bring me in no matter what, probably because they thought I was a threat running around by myself. He attacked me, but I fought back. I beat him. I didn't injure him permanently or anything. They sent out a bunch more Rangers and I surrendered. Some of Japan's Council wanted to throw me in prison, but more of them thought I was too valuable," Tanaka scoffed. "They didn't give a shit about me, they only cared about my magic. The Ranger I injured was a cousin of the Vice-President of Japan's Academy, who then refused to admit me to the school, so they compromised and shipped me off here," Tanaka looked up. "That's why I fought him. I couldn't go back to that farm. I just couldn't."

Jacob nodded. "I get it. Sometimes you have to do something you don't want to."

Tanaka nodded.

Silence.

"I'm sorry about your parents," Jacob said.

Tanaka grunted. "Thanks," he stood. Magic flared out from him and he returned the door and wall to their natural states. "Oh, by the way..."

"What's up?"

"Tanaka's my last name. Yoshihiro's my first name. Call me Yoshi," Tanaka said.

"Oh, my bad," Jacob said.

Tanaka shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

Jacob nodded. Another silence passed between them, which Jacob promptly shattered. "I'm starving. You wanna go to the cafe?"

"Sure," Tanaka said.

They left the training room and made their way down to the lobby and out into the bright, sunny day.

A trickle of people were sprinting from the Basics building across the quad. A short man who must have been a second-year brushed past Jacob and Tanaka.

Jacob frowned. Was there some sort of event going on?

"Hey! What's going on?" He called after the man who'd brushed by them.

The man turned back but kept running. His eyes were wide.

"They found another body, in the Richter Building! C'mon!"

Jacob and Tanaka shared a long, scared look.

They took off.