Maoki Nakoyama entered the conference room.

Her eyes swept over the four professors who were sprawled out on their chairs and talking loudly. With their scars and scruffy looks, they looked more like mercenaries than respectable adults.

“Hello everyone”

They raised their heads and greeted her politely.

She wasn't gullible enough to believe that nobody heard her open the door, but at least this time no one greeted her with a knife at the throat, asking if she was who she said she was.

HR would be happy to know they were making efforts.

“Miss Connors, if you will...”

The forty-year-old blonde turned on the video projector with the remote control. Maoki took a seat at the end of the table.

“Hello everyone and welcome to our annual evaluation meeting. Before we get started, does anyone have any questions for me ?”

Connors raised her hand.

“Yes ?”

“I just wanted to remind you that no one has heard from the little Prager since the last holidays”

Maoki starts to rummage through her pile of papers to pull out his file.

Mizuki laughed.

“ ‘Little' ? Letting him ride one of the center's ponies was animal cruelty”

De Rives looks at him reproachfully:

“We’re talking about a missing pupil”

Still amused, Mizuki crossed his arms over his chest.

“So? Missing students happen every year. And this boy was overweight. He was here for what, eight months ?”

Maoki pulled out the 'Anton Prager' sheet from the others. She read it briefly.

“Eight and a half months, that's right”

“That's what I said. The reason he stayed at S and W for so long without losing a single ounce is because he didn't want to make the effort. You all know that we can't do anything if the students don't put in the effort. His disappearance is his own fault”

No one found anything wrong with his reasoning, but no one joined in Mizuki's mockery.

“Anton Prager's disappearance is certainly tragic", Maoki said, "but Mizuki-sensei is right. Our school and the training we offer reduce the risk of disappearance and premature death of our students by sixty percent, but if the worst should happen, it will”

Everyone nodded somberly.

“If the worst is meant to happen, it'll happen" was the unofficial credo of the Sword and Cross teachers.

After seeing even their best students disappear over the years, they had all begun to distance themselves from the children. They did not want to suffer if they did not see them again after the holidays.

Mizuki had been particularly affected by the case of a little Korean boy he had taken under his wing a few years ago.

The boy had been kidnapped for ransom, and when the money was received, the kidnappers had sent his fingers to his parents through the mail.

His mother had left the heroic scene shortly thereafter.

Everyone had a similar story about a child they had made the mistake of getting too close to.Maoki knew how hard it was to stay away from them, especially since some of them were already traumatized and in dire need of affection and human warmth.

But she also knew that it was even more difficult for her colleagues to get too close to children who had an almost fifty percent chance of disappearing without ever leaving a trace behind.

It was cruel to say, but she would rather have them be cynical like Mizuki than to be broken by each new missing child.

And then there were the sixty percent who survived.

That was already something.

Mizuki raised his glass.

“Let's thank little Anton for shortening the meeting !”

He drank it down in one gulp, in the same way he would have done for alcohol.

Maoki exchanged a look with De Rives: he sniffed the air and shook his head.

“Let's get back to work”

Connors launched the first slide.

The photos of the twelve students appeared on the screen in alphabetical order.

They all looked tired or indifferent to varying degrees.

Not really the kind of expression one would expect from kids their age.

“So we have eleven students in class Alpha this year",Maoki said, “I'd like to hear your opinions about their group”

Mizuki shrugged.

“Meh, not different from other years”

Tanjiro shook his head:

“We only have one in knife practice...”

Connors looked at the pictures as if she was looking at them for the very first time.

“Oh yeah, that boy over there is really good at manual labor. But he's a real wreck when it comes to survival skills”

Mizuki followed his gaze.

“Isn't he the nephew of US number one ?”

“Yes, and he's a scaredy cat”

Maoki tapped her pen on the blank paper.

“Focus. I asked for views on the group as a whole”

It was good to know if a class had enough group spirit to reshuffle it if needed.

There should not be too many lazy people in one place, otherwise they could influence the others and make them dive with them.

“All in all, they're okay," Mizuki said, “Without the fat kid, I can say that the survival rate of this class has gone up to 80%”

De Rives gave him a pointed look.

“They have a good lead with the quatuor up there”

Maoki handed the remote to Sarah to zoom in on some faces.

She pointed at the Anglo-Turkish twins first.

“They're pretty self-contained, but they follow the exercises well. They are also complementary enough to have a good chance of getting through it as long as they stay together”

Maoki scribbled furiously.

“Why is that ?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“They do a kind of selective learning. Each one has its preferences and learns what the other one doesn't want to”

“How many survival estimates ?”

Sarah took some time to think.

“Together, 70%. Individually... it depends on the circumstances”

Good news then.

Sarah zoomed in on the little blonde. Mizuki straightened up when he saw her.

“The French one, huh ? She's pretty good in close combat.”

Sarah nodded.

“Her parents are training her to be a hero, as she told me. And she has a good Quirk. It would be nice if we could help her train it starting next year”

“Telekinesis, yes”

Maoki wrote to give her parents this option.

“She is quiet but learns very fast. 75%”

“80”

Everyone turned their heads to Mizuki.

“She knocked down my assistant with a judo hold on the first day. She took him by surprise, but it still counts”

Tanjiro whistled in admiration. De Rives raised his eyebrows.

“She knocked Kenji out ?”

“The second before he smiled at her and the second after he looked at the ceiling wondering how he got there”

“80, then”

Maoki was happy. The frontrunners looked extremely promising this year. Connors zoomed in on one of the few asians this year.

“Did you know that little Shiranui goes around with needles in his pockets ?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“That little bastard tried to stick one in me the other day when I told him to give it to me. He almost poked my eye out, but I have to say he is good with them. I recommend we offer his parents the knife option next year. Who knows what he could do with one.”

Maoki took note of everything she said.

“How much ?”

“Right now ? 60. But I'd say he has a potential of 70 or even 75 if he takes the option”

Sarah finally zoomed in on a last student.

“This isn't four”, Mizuki said.

“The twins are siamese, so it counts as one”

The image of a small boy with red and white hair appeared on the screen. Maoki did not miss the renewed interest of Tanjiro and De Rives.

“Is he your protégé ?”

Tanjiro nodded:

“More than that. He is a true genius of Kenjutsu”

De Rives took over:

“He soaks up everything you teach him like a sponge. I already had the impression that he had learned the basics somewhere, but he said he hadn't, so I concluded that he was a natural in the field”

Tanjiro continued:

“He had no problem being one of the best in the second year, but lately he's just gotten better. He has no trouble keeping up with the third years and even beats most of them”

“Tell them about the knives”

“Oh yes. As you know, in the second year of Kenjutsu we offer the opportunity to learn how to use knives. Well, the other day, I wanted to see what Todoroki was worth if he could start training earlier with them, so I gave him some. And...”

Tanjiro stayed silent to create suspens. He looked around the room and felt proud about the effect it had.

Mizuki became impatient.

“And ?”

“Bull's eye every time”

Sarah straightened up.

“How many times did you made him shoot ?”

“Fifty”

Mizuki and Connors were quite surprised.

Maoki noted with appreciation. An excellent group this year.

“Hopefully, you've put him on moving targets ?”

With such a talent, his chances of survival went to the next level.

“Of course. His average score is eighty out of a hundred, but he's only been training for three months”

Maoki pushed her files until she reached Todoroki's.

Sword and Cross was based on a European school cycle to accommodate as many students as possible. For them, the year ended in July, so they would start again in September. And since the little one was born in December…

“Not yet five years old”

She was pleasantly surprised.

Mizuki raised his eyebrows in bewilderment. But he recovered quickly.

“I always thought he was rather small for an eight year old”

Even though S&W was - in the eyes of the general public - a high-end children's preschool, it was actually more of a training center than anything else.

The first year children were "supposed" to be about four years old and the last year six.In reality, the average age was between seven and ten, although sometimes there were a few younger and a few older, like little Todoroki here.

For fear of jeopardizing their coverage in the eyes of the media, they could not accept any older ones for the time being.

Not only would they be in trouble, but the Japanese government would bear the brunt of it when it was revealed that they had agreed to open a "children's military camp" in their country.

More than an advantage, being a child of heroes was a damnation for a short and painful life.

Although times were changing, the public still refused to open its eyes to this alarming situation.

“If he can reach a hundred percent hit each time, we had the idea to make him start the practice of a third weapon”

Maoki took a few seconds to think about it.

“If he agrees himself, I have no objection”

Mizuki held up his hand.

“If he's that good, I can also teach him close combat with a knife”

Sarah turned to him.

“You would go out of your way to help a brat ?”

He shrugged.

“He and the little French girl are progressing too fast. If I were to ask him to practice knife attacks on her, it might keep the two of them busy long enough for them to stop bothering me when I take my smoke breaks”

An answer worthy of Mizuki.

“Anything else to add ?”

Maoki looked around the room. Connors shook the plastic remote control.

“Yes, I didn't have time to give my opinion”

Maoki let him speak.

“He learns fast, but he is a bit strange. He has trouble with everything manual, but not in the way you would expect. He has problems with trivial things”

“Such as ?”

“He can build a campfire in a minute, but you can't ask him to get his hands dirty to collect the wood. In fact, when it comes to anything close to chores or anything he considers 'beneath him', he is simply incompetent”

Tanjiro and De Rives looked a little surprised to hear such things about their star pupil.

“He acts as if he's never washed a dish or held a rag in his life. When he's alone in unknown territory, I'm afraid he'll act more like a lost prince than one of the locals”

Maoki noted the remarks with application.

“You'll have to find a way to get rid of his mannerisms next year”

Connors nodded.

“How much is it ?”

“70”

The other teachers got agitated.

“80”, sayd De Rives,“Or even 85”

Sarah rejected it.

“His arrogance will be his end”

“Put a knife in his hands and I can tell you that this boy will work wonders”

“What if he finds himself in a situation where he has no access to a sword” - she smiled - “or a knife ? 70”

Mizuki interjected:

“He is quite good in close combat and has no problem beating older students. 75”

“He has two very good Alter," Tanjiro says. We can go up to 85”

Maoki looked at the teachers one after the other. Each of them stood their ground.

“I'll say 75 with a potential of 85”

The session went the same way for the other students. They were less promising, but with time they could increase their chances of survival.

Maoki knocks her stack of sheets against the table to align it.

“Conclusion: good leadership, good group, good chances of survival”

She smiled at her colleagues.

“Thank you all and have a nice holiday”

*