Jingyi Bo was pretty sure she had gone truly, genuinely mad. Having spent her entire life trying her very best to be as known by as few people as possible, she was now faced with a situation in which she needed to go and find more.
“I’m telling you Senior Bo, if we can get enough people to join us, our Saoka games will be amazing!” Chao Da was busy scribbling plans on a piece of once-leaf paper. For some reason, Bo’s powers were currently finding a niche as a one-stop stationery shop. Still, Da’s plans weren’t entirely awful. Bo picked one of his scribbles up and looked it over.
The last few days, they had alternated between meditating and playing Saoka. Every session of their game ended with its own kind of ‘cultivation’ - they would discuss what had caused grief during the game and figured out whether there should be a rule involved or if it was just something they would have to strategise around. Elder Ienaga would no doubt have told them that there’s no rules in combat, but Bo didn’t want to get into a fight. She wanted to play Saoka.
Their games had evolved from a full-contact melee with a ball involved, to a low-contact game of wits, back to a kind of middle ground. They were permitted to use their spiritual techniques, and Bo was allowed to use it as practice for her printed talismans. That way, it would be an exercise for all of their abilities. The only stipulation was that techniques and spells couldn’t be aimed directly at people. It functionally turned the game from a direct melee to a game of strategy - Bo could turn the ground you were about to step on into a slippery patch of mud. Da could blow the ball off course. Wei could mimic whatever the last technique was. De … was not allowed anywhere near Bo with his grease-tendrils.
But, looking down at Chao Da’s scribbles, it was obvious what the game lacked. More players would help liven up the game, giving more meaning to distributed roles. There could be attackers, defenders … even one more person a side could make the difference! That meant, however, involving more people in what was ostensibly a secret. A third, unofficial martial arts class that was slowly becoming something else. At least they had solved the ball problem - Bo had fashioned up some glass trinkets to trade to a mortal trader for a nice Cuju ball. Even a martial artist’s kick wasn’t going to pop this thing, or so Bo hoped.
---
“... and so, if that sounds like an ideal arrangement for you, I would be honoured if you would join us in our practice.” Bo gave a deep bow and a quiet sigh of relief. Her first recruitment had gone really well, bar one small detail - she was talking to a lump of clay that vaguely resembled a person. The tiny clay doll’s expression conveyed its regret at being unable to accept such a fine opportunity, but it would surely tell all its friends at the earliest convenience (never).
“Yeah, this isn’t going to work.”
“But Senior Bo! You were really good!” For some reason, the guys had piled into Bo’s shed. They had been rather helpful, so Bo was willing to give them some slack.
“Perhaps we could prepare a formal letter of introduction,” Wei offered. “This way you could hand over a note and simply ask a candidate to read it.”
“I’m not running up to people, shoving a note in their hands and saying ‘read this’, Wang. Besides, all the people we would need to talk to are very specific. We need to make sure this goes well, or we won’t have anyone to help us at all.”
On the table was another of Chao’s brilliant scribbles, where they had written down everything they knew about the people they could ask to join. It was almost entirely people that Bo had seen - she was starting to suspect that Chao Da didn’t actually know very many people at all. In fact, almost all of the ‘names’ on the list weren’t names at all, but very crude sketches of faces. They had basically no intel.
There was Tatsumaki Ryu, the muscle-bound pillow-placer with no friends (as far as they could tell). If he was as lonely as he seemed, getting him on-side would be trivial. Next down the list was the dog-like half-spirit Bo had pointed out in Elder Hwang’s class. Given that they literally had no idea who he was, Bo wasn’t even sure why Chao put him there - or why he drew little flowers around the caricature of his face. There was an entry for ‘Admin’, along with an impression of this mystery woman’s face. Bo had a strange feeling that Ms Admin would come to them. Last on the list was Pan Da-Han. Before the ink had even dried from drawing a sketch of his face, Bo had crossed him out.
Their list was … well, awful. But their criteria was worse. They couldn’t be Qin that were part of Yan Zhihao’s followers or sympathisers (the entire reason they were keeping things low-key was to avoid his apparent distaste for martial arts affecting their reputation), which was nearly every single Qin student. While Bo was, essentially, a commoner, the others knew enough to realise that if anyone among the Qin saw advantage in ratting them out, they would do so immediately. Siding with Yan Zhihao was, currently, enough.
The other main criteria was that they needed to be martial artists, which limited them practically to only Yamato or Goryeon students. As the Qin made up more than half of all the students here, it narrowed the pool down to all the Yamato and a handful of the already limited supply of Goryeon. Of their already established list, Mr Tatsumaki was their only selection that they even knew of. The rest they would simply have to ask.
---
The next day was something of a recruitment drive. Having been the only person to meet Mr Tatsumaki, Bo was left in charge of finding and talking to the intimidating man. Chao, Wang and Youni were left to approach others - Bo insisted they go together, if only to spare some innocent bystander a strange and sudden meeting with Youni De.
It didn’t take long to locate Tatsumaki. Anyone she asked for directions knew immediately who she was talking about, based entirely on description, and she was able to find him at the training yard that was used for Elder Ienaga’s lessons. There wasn’t a class right now, but there were a handful of people training here. Mostly Yamato, though there was a half-spirit pair practicing their martial arts. Bo had the strangest feeling that they made for a very cute couple, though she wasn’t going to tell them that.
It was impossible not to find Tatsumaki. He was currently lifting a large rock - Bo guessed it must’ve been around 10 kilograms heavy - and grunting loudly every time he did so. At some point since their last encounter, the sleeves of his robes had evidently burst, causing him to tear them off.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“E-Excuse me, Mr Tatsumaki?” Bo approached. She had resolved to not be sheepish, but sheepish was just what she was. Tatsumaki looked up, loudly dropped his boulder to the ground with a grunt, and acknowledged her with a second grunt. “I was wondering - did you need someone to train your martial arts with? Because, myself and some associates--”
“You would train with me, winner of the Okinaniku Martial Arts tournament? Why would I lower myself to your level? Your muscles aren’t even half as large as mine!” Tatsumaki flexed a bicep - the thing was almost the size of Bo’s head. Wait, was the martial arts tournament thing real?
“I, um, we can …” Bo floundered for a moment. Then, it hit her. Clearing her throat, she straightened herself out and addressed him with more confidence. “I couldn’t help but notice you were in Elder Hwang’s class. Perhaps you might like help awakening your mana sense? Or possibly your Qi?”
Giving her best ‘Isn’t this a great deal?’ grin, Bo started to lose confidence as Tatsumaki continued to stare her down. A full ten seconds passed before he spoke again, his expression deepening into a frown as he thought.
“You would help me in such a way, despite my reputation? I’ve made several enemies, you see.” That part was true too?!
“W-Whatever your past, we don’t care! Our training is discrete and away from prying eyes!”
Tatsumaki’s eyes narrowed, and another awkward silence passed between them. Is he just bad at speaking, or … ?
Suddenly, his hand shot forward - a massive slab of calloused muscle. Bo frankly had no idea what he was doing, his open palm hand like a knife pointed towards her. Was he going to attack? Or, did he mean to ask for her hand? He kept glancing down there. Bo had heard some foreigners clasped hands together to seal deals, so she grasped his hand. Tatsumaki’s grip nearly crushed her fingers.
“Hm. You have awakened your ki. You are a martial artist, but you are weak. Alright. I will train you.” Bo smiled brightly. That sounds promising!
“Great! Amazing, Mr Tatsumaki! We meet at a clearing behind the male dormitories, around this time whenever Elder Ienaga’s lessons are not on!” She couldn’t help but be enthusiastic - though it did take some prying to free her hand from his colossal paw. The strength of it reminded her of a particular tiger.
“You can just call me Ryu. Besides, I never got your name.”
“Ah. Jingyi Bo.” She bowed.
“Jingyi. It heartens me to see such a young lad eager to grow stronger as a martial artist.”
Bo didn’t have the heart to correct him.
---
Jingyi Bo did, however, bring Ryu to their clandestine training field. She had asked a couple of other Yamato martial artists at the training field, but those that didn’t ignore her out of turn were seemingly put off by the looming, muscle-bound man standing behind her. It was like being followed around by some immense bear who couldn’t help but draw attention by the mere bent of existing.
As soon as Bo came into sight of the training field, she had to stop and rub her eyes in disbelief. Chao’s gang had pulled in four other people. Frankly, Bo hadn’t expected them to bring back anyone, let alone four. There was currently a three on three match of Saoka underway on the pitch, one of the newcomers sitting off to one side frantically scribbling notes. As Bo and Ryu came closer, Chao noticed them and called a stop to the match - the ball he had been about to intercept instead smacking Youni directly in the face.
“Senior Bo! You got Mr Tatsumaki!” Ryu raised an eyebrow at that, but if he had anything to say about either ‘senior’ or his name being noted specifically, he kept it to himself.
“And you guys got … lots of people.” The rest of them had all stopped, leaving Youni on the floor. He seemed content there, so they came over. There were two boys and a girl, all Yamato, that had been playing Saoka with Chao’s gang.
“This is Amai Ichiro,” Chao gestured to a surprisingly attractive man around Bo’s age, “Who is a big fan of Saoka.”
Ichiro laughed amicably and nodded. “It’s such a fun game! All the sports back home are all fighting and weapons-practice. It’s nice to kick at a ball instead of a person for once.” He looked nice, he sounded nice … Bo couldn’t imagine why a man as blessed as him would ever deign to spend time with Chao and company.
“Over here we have Hoshikawa Junpei, apparently a cousin of Mr Amai’s.” The boy in question was probably closer to Chao’s age, and decidedly more plain.
“I’ve always stuck close to Ichiro,” Junpei nodded, “Just in case. He has a bad habit of acting before he thinks, so I’m here to make sure you won’t take advantage of him.
Friendly kid, Bo frowned. Still, he was one more training partner. Speaking of which, there was one more of this group yet to be introduced! The only girl of the three, she was almost as tall as Tatsumaki. Probably about a year younger than Bo herself, she had certainly grown in all the places that Jingyi Bo herself hadn’t-- Bo stopped herself from staring at the last second, focusing instead on her face. She had a smile like the sun, all sweetness and enthusiasm. Too bright! Let me live in the dark a little longer!
“Why howdy there, my new li’l friend! I’m Hizashi Kokoro! Aren’t you just the cutest li’l thing?” Hizashi leaned down and ruffled Bo’s hair. Her accent was a bit strange, but Bo was willing to let it, and the impromptu hair-ruffling slide. Bo wasn’t really sure why she was so willing to let it slide, but she just was.
“... Hm, more interested in girls …”
“Oh, I almost forgot about her!” Chao looked shocked, and all sets of eyes turned to the final Yamato girl, sitting a short distance away. She had straight black hair that Bo felt inclined to describe with a voom, and she was short - roughly her own height. She might have even used the term ‘mousy’. The girl was scribbling some notes down in a small book. When she looked up and realised they were all looking at her, the girl momentarily balked.
“Well, Senior Bo? Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
The eyes all turned back to Bo, who began to sweat under the scrutiny.
“M-Me? Didn’t you bring her here … ?”
“She said she was here for you, so I just assumed … ?”
All the eyes turned back to the young woman. She sighed, put down her book and stood up, before giving them all a slight bow.
“Chao speaks truly. I heard you needed help, Jingyi, so I came to help.”
“But how did you know I needed help?”
“I do some administration work around the Academy, and have been supplying you with things … maybe a little longer than necessary. I felt sorry for you being all alone, so I’ve been, um, watching you!”
The air turned electric for a moment as the pieces finally fell into place.
“Are you Admin?!” Bo couldn’t help but shout.
“That I am. You can call me Izumi Makoto.”