Sunday night Karai made herself comfortable in her dorm room which was empty when she arrived & decided to have an early nights rest. As the sun rose, Karai was awoken by the chirping of the birds at dusk. She felt revitalized and ready to take on her first official day at the Academy. She woke up approximately the same time as everyone else and felt pleased that she wouldn’t be late.
“Good morning Sunshine, I see you’re up early with no hesitation. It’s not common around here for a new student.” She heard her roommate greet her. A tall thin girl with blonde hair in a bun and green eyes. Karai waved slightly and smiled. “So any plans for the day?” Her roommate asked. Karai froze as she realized she’s being spoken to and with the new students being unaware of her being a mute. She looked at her bag and saw her kitten mug, grabbed it and thrusted it slightly in the air gesturing she will be making herself a hot beverage. “Alright so I’m taking it you’re the silent type and don’t talk either?” Her roommate came off tad hostile. Karai just nodded. “Are you trying to impress Lone Wolf? Or mock him?” Her roommate retorted. Karai was astonished at this hostility, she shook her head, got up with her mug and stormed out of the room.
At the cafeteria was a buffet table where everyone could dish their own meals, there’s not a wide variety to choose from as they are given a different meal every day albeit it is the same meal weekly in accordance with their training. Karai saw that there were already people in the line, took a deep breath and let it out to manage the courage to stand in line, praying no one would talk to her as she didn’t want to repeat this mornings’ ordeal.
Upon looking at the table she saw what was for breakfast, muesli, yogurt, mixed dried fruit and honey. Karai took a bowl and dished herself a bit of each and drizzled some honey over the yogurt. Lastly she saw a wide variety of fruit juice and teas that were displayed, black, green and red. All with different flavors: Green Tea, Green Tea with Lemon, Green Tea with Honey, Apple Cinnamon Green Tea etc.
Rooibos, Rooibos with Honey, Rooibos with Cinnamon, Rooibos with Peach, Rooibos with Lemon etc.
Earl Grey, Chai tea, Chai spice, Black Tea with Blueberries, Black Tea with Honey & Cinnamon, and so on and so forth.
Karai took a plain green tea bag and added honey to it after pouring boiling water in her Black Kitten mug & decided to sit at an empty desk near the entrance to avoid people for now until the announcement was made that she is mute.
Not long after she sat the cafeteria was filled with students like bees in a hive. She got quite nervous hoping that no one would speak to her until the announcement was made, so she finished her breakfast as fast as possible and walked to the training grounds.
There were 5 lessons a week;
Mondays: Physical Training – To strengthen the body, adjust it to pain, withstand weather changes, surpass torture methods etc.
Tuesdays: Yoga – To keep the body fit and flexible, to ensure keeping a cool mindset and when necessary fitting through tiny spaces.
Wednesdays: Meditation – To strengthen the mind, keep calm during stressful or tight situations and stay focused and orientated.
Thursdays: Intellectual Training – To get out of tight situations instead of falling deeper into it. Think fast on your feet and improvising.
Fridays: Challenges – To overcome temptations, keep pushing harder and motivate competitiveness.
Monday
Karai arrived at Master Yatoshi’s class before everyone else. It wasn’t a class really – training grounds more like it. This was the tough part because the students are to train regardless the weather to be fit enough to withstand any enemy attack or invasion. Luckily for Karai, her first day started off sunny.
“Ah, good morning young pupil. I see you’re here quite early.” An elderly man greeted her about the same height as herself. Karai placed her right fist in her left palm slightly diagonally forward, yet her fingers were still straight & bowed with a smile.
“I will make the announcement once everyone has gathered.” This seemingly old fragile master replied. Karai sighed in relief.
“Up and front young one. All new comers are always placed in the front. We will start off with warm-up exercises and stretches and then training will commence.” He said as he placed a bunch of bow staffs besides him.
Eventually when all 30 students gathered in their multi colored uniforms from white to dark grey, Master Yatoshi called Karai up front.
“Good day everyone, I’m happy to inform you all of our new student for this coming new year. Her name is Karai, code name Black Cat & she’s a mute. Please respect her and welcome her as any other student. She shows a lot of potential so let’s put it to good use.” He gestured politely with one hand behind his back and the other for Karai to go back in line. “Everyone, grab a bow staff & get into position.” Karai followed everyone’s lead as Master Yatoshi took things slow at first, giving her a breakdown of movements and positions before she rhythmically fell in to place.
For thirty minutes they would exercise individually and take a break for two minutes, then continue another thirty minutes duo sparring. This continued until 12pm before a big gong was banged to inform them of lunch time.
Karai panted heavily as this was a serious workout that she needed to get used to. She placed the bow staff against the wall and went back to the cafeteria along with everyone else. The first thing she did was pour herself a glass of water and then took a second glass to quench her thirst. On the tables were whole wheat wraps with various different toppings placed in separate containers. Diced tomato, cucumber, onion, feta cheese, olives, green peppers and garlic. The only condiment was tzatsiki (a mixture of plain yogurt with a dash of lemon juice) as everything else like sweet chilli sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise etc was too oily, sugar-filled and unhealthy. For the main fillings there was an option of chicken and tuna and turkey.
Karai filled her wrap with tuna, tomato, garlic, feta and green peppers adding some plain yogurt.
“Hey..” a faint voice called out behind her. Karai turned around to see her roommate clearly remorseful. “Listen, I would like to apologize for my hostility this morning. It was utterly rude of me & I would like to start over. If that’s okay with you?” She said placing her hand on Kairais wrist. Karai smiled and nodded. “Code name’s Crystal. Pleased to meet you, Karai.” She walked leading Karai to a table under some tree shade.
“We get an hours break between shifts.” Crystal started explaining whilst eating her chicken wrap. “We train thirty minutes and have a two minute breaks in between to help build stamina. At 12 pm we get an hours break to revitalize and by 1pm we hit the training grounds again. We then proceed to train until 4pm before the days work is done. Everyone can go bathe and then have dinner or vise-versa. The rest of the evening one can do as they please, go for a stroll, continue training, relax, etc. Communications are limited, no cellphones are permitted as you have realized as it minimizes tracking down the location of the academy. Strictly letters only unless it’s a dire emergency then the Deputy Headmasters will step in for any communication rights. Any other communication gadgets that are used are in the field when we do stakeouts or go on missions.” Karai was intrigued by every bit of detail being fed to her that wasn’t informed to her as of yet by the Headmasters. She’s well aware that the information will come through bit by bit as she’s only been there approximately a day and a half already. Not all the information can be given at once. “If you need a tour, I’ll give you one after today’s training once we’ve freshened up and had dinner?” Crystal said waving her arm 180degrees across the academy grounds. Karai smiled brightly and nodded.
Upon finishing lunch the gong went off again. Karai stretched her muscles and loosened herself up a bit before walking back to the training grounds with Crystal. The last two hours of training flew by as Karai was thrilled to see the full academy grounds. After placing away her staff, bathing and having minced meat, quinoa and sweet potato for dinner Karai was in her pajama suit ready for the promised tour.
From the dorm rooms, Crystal led her past the training grounds. There was a wooden dojo where all yoga would be done decorated with red and gold Japanese decor. Far across by a small hiss, there were crimson cinderblocks laid out on the floor where everyone would practice stances and weaponry skills. Right of the training grounds was a small wooden cottage where all the weapons were stored. There was no roof over the training grounds to ensure the students would be able to withstand the harsh weather when the time comes for battle. Mother Nature was cruel when she wanted to be, she wouldn’t hold back her storms on the day of an attack so everyone had to be prepared. In the field were most of the parkour equipment aiding in stealth missions. Up another hill were the bathrooms as shown by Chujitsuna before. Behind the hill was the great hall for gatherings that were held occasionally. Whether it be for meetings or feasts. They were still only human so every now and again feasts will be held to commemorate birthdays of the past 2 months. The entire academy was surrounded by a river and to the far right there was a gigantic tree. Students would hang out there often but Crystal knew of a place not far from it that no one else has ever set foot in. “I want to show you my favorite place.” She said tugging at Karais sleeve. “Past these poison oak bushes there’s a slip between those two mountains. On the other side, abandoned docs with cargo containers and obviously the ocean. All empty containers of course.” Karai lifted an eyebrow clearly indicating the obvious question. “I made it there and back over an open weekend when I didn’t have anything better to do. Curiosity killed the cat hah?” Crystal snorted. “We aren’t generally allowed to wander so far off grounds but like I said, I was curious. No one noticed I was gone & I mean, no harm no foul, right?” Karai nodded in agreement. “Right, so over here we have both yoga and meditation training-” Crystal showed Karai the pond with lily pads floating in it and fire flies reflecting in the water like candles to a mirror. “- and well our challenges are basically done all over the academy grounds. It’s never the same place in 3 months which also ensures that with the rain, heat and snow the challenges differ with the seasons – so we never get used to it.” Karai felt the excitement bubble inside of her like an over boiling cauldron. “That’s all for the tour, we can go back to our dorm now and rest before tomorrows’ training. You might be a bit stiff so I believe the yoga will help with that.” Both smiled in unison whilst Crystal snorted again.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Tuesday
Everyone was up and early as per usual. Crystal and Karai went to the dojo with the rest of the students laying out their mats doing warm up stretches. The day was perfect, the right temperature to be outside, not too hot and not too cold with a cool breeze flowing in the air.
“Alright everyone. Let’s get started.” Said a women approximately as old as Karai’s mom. She seemed healthy and fit for her age but of course, why wouldn’t she be. She’s a sensei at one of the country’s top academies.
“As per usual, everyone gets into the Tadasana Pose.” She said standing on her toes taking a breath as she stretched her arms into the air. All the students followed in unison. Karai caught her eye as she realized she didn’t recognize her face and remembered that a new student was submitted. “Hello, Black Cat.” Karai looked into the seinsei’s pleasant smile. “I am sensei Hiroko & I will be teaching yoga.” Karai nodded maintaining her pose. “It’s pretty simple. I am sure you are well aware of the poses otherwise you would not be here. If not, just follow the rest.” Seinsei Hiroko went back to her mat and led the class through the rest of the asanas, adhomukhasana, virabhadrasana, vrikasana, setubhandasana, trikonasana, ardha matsyhendrasana & bhujangasana. Each pose lasting ten minutes.
The gong went off at 12pm. “Lunch time!” exclaimed Crystal with pure joy. Both walking together to the cafeteria Crystal asked, “Are you staying this weekend?” Karai thought for a second and nodded. “Great, we can go to the cargo docs & I’ll show you around. We only get to go approximately once a month as if we were to disappear often the academy will start noticing.” Karai nodded again and they got themselves lunch. A wide variety of sushi was displayed for everyone, even the vegetarian sushi made of cucumbers, strawberries and carrots.
Karai’s facial expression didn’t hide the fact that she was excited to explore the cargo docks as she had a very adventurous spirit. As they ate their lunch Crystel ranted on about the docs while Karai was taking all the details.
The day passed faster than Karai had thought it would and went to take a shower, luckily Crystal didn’t follow her this time, not that she had a problem, but Karai did enjoy her solitude every so often. The hot water drizzled on her like thousands of tiny hands massaging her skin, the heat helping her muscles relax even more so. Karai got out and got dressed deciding if she wants to read or meditate. Karai felt very indecisive as she usually felt like doing four things at the same time but never had the time to do all of it in one day as one person. When she got to her room, she lit her lantern and took her book from her chest of drawers by her bed and read it in peace until she fell asleep.
Wednesday
Early the morning whilst it was still dark outside, all the students came out to sit by the pond, each at their own little comfortable spot. There was no instructor for this training as it is all about self-discipline. There was however a musician who would play the flute along with the water running in the background besides the pond with the birds chirping which all came together in a perfect harmonious sound. This lasted both before and after lunch.
Thursday
Training started off tough, on their way to the training grounds the overcast weather lead to rain. The grounds were slippery and instructions were given to retrieve a pebble on the tree top besides the training ground.
No weapons or tools were given to aid the students so each of them had to help one another up the tree. The men decided to be at the bottom to form the base of the man-made ladder and have the lighter weighing men stand on their shoulder following with the females climbing on top of the mens shoulders until they reached the branches. The muddy grounds didn’t make it easy for them but if one had to slip another would hold his feet firm. Karai and Crystal were the first set of females to be on the mens shoulders assisting other stealthier females upward.
Suddenly a flash of lighting appeared with thunder rumbling short after. Karai didn’t expect it and her legs gave in falling from the third tier. “No!” Crystal exclaimed grabbing Karai’s wrist and clutching to the tree with Karai sinking her nails into Crystals’ wrist whilst the guy beneath Karai grabbed her thighs and holding firm. Crystal grunted while trying to pull Karai up as the guy beneath her tries pushing her up. Karai groveled her way back onto his shoulders being relieved that the girls above her luckily were in the branches already otherwise that would have ended badly.
The girls up in the tree finally retrieved the black pebble, put it away safely and helped each other down.
The next task was to get the pebble across the river to a small scale and balance it out. The river and rain wasn’t very pleasant as it would start raging and could knock a horses feet out from under him.
“Alright, let the strongest men rush through the river to get the pebble across. I will volunteer and need two more for assistance.” Said Train, a pretty buff, tall student. “Great plan.” Answered Yumi as she took the pebble from her inner lined pocket.
Up the river they saw a big broken tree stump on its way down with sharp edges. “Alright, we should probably wait for it to pass otherwise we would either be knocked down and dragged down the river or pierced.”
Karai started panting as she knew this was an opportunity for them to take but she wouldn’t be able to gesture in time for them to understand what to do. She rand forward, grabbed the stone from Trains hand. “What are you doing?!” Train exclaimed. With all her might she threw the pebble as hard and far as she could and it luckily landed besides the riverbank. “Karai what the hell are you thinking?!” Yumi started walking towards her but Karai walked backwards gesturing everyone to give her space and then started running straight ahead as fast as her legs could carry her. Everyone was stunned and confused. Some seeming upset. As the stump drew nearer she timed it just right and jumped towards the river. Everyones reaction was of shock, fear, some were numb and fell to their knees, others hands covering their mouth in awe and others having their hands behind their head. This was definitely a jaw dropping action to witness.
Karai landed on the stump & held on for dear life as it rolled around pushing her under the water. She had to distribute her weight evenly to keep it still in the water. Eventually with the velocity she landed, it started to move from diagonal to horizontal down the river until it got pinned between the river beds. Karai sighed in relief and gestured everyone to follow her. She carefully made her way to the other side of the river trying not to let the gushing water push her off the stump. The three main guys rand across, helping one another across and kneeled besides Karai to check if she’s alright. Karai gestured them away, coughing up a bit of water but to continue the mission. All three ran ahead searching for the pebble besides the river bank whilst the rest of the students made their way across the branch to aid Karai.
“You’re crazy! You know that, right?!” Yumi exclaimed. A few students including Crystal, prepared to stand up for Karai. “- but that was really brave and exactly what we needed.” Yumi said stretching out her hand. Karai smiled and grabbed Yumi’s hand to help her to her feet. Everyone made it to the miniture temple up the hill where the three men have already balanced out the scale waiting for the rest of the students to arrive alongside with their current Seinsei, Gou.
“Well done to everyone for the immense teamwork. If everyone continues to work together like this, you will grow to be a strong group. Unity is the best way to stand against the enemy. Karai we commend you for your bravery and initiative to take action. You would be a great leader. To everyone else, we are immensely proud that you could follow orders and stand together when the time has come. You pupils have made us proud.”
Everyone bowed to their master and made their trip back to the academy over the stump, across the muddy planes.
Everyone made a mutual decision to go bath and shower to clean off and warm up after todays training. When Karai was at the hot springs with the other girls and removed their uniforms, they realized she was bruised and scraped up badly. “Karai, are you okay ?! Look at you! You’re probably going to need stitches. Your arms and ribs!” Yumi exclaimed. Crystal then took her to the showers to wash off the blood and mud then lead her to the medical department.
“Oh dear! This seems to have been a tough training session. How do you feel on a scale from 1 – 10. 10 being the worst pain?” The doctor asked while picking out cream and bandages as well as the stitching needle and thread. Karai lifted her hand with 4 fingers and a faint smile. “I believe the adrenaline must still be in your system, it’s going to wear off soon so I need to give you a dash of morphine to ease the pain otherwise tonight will be highly unpleasant.” He said whilst preparing the morphine drip. Karai grunted and grabbed her bruised ribs and arm then proceeding to lift both hands indicating a 7. “Ah, see, I knew it. Don’t worry, just relax the pain will subside soon.” He laid her on the bed, inserted the drip and stitched up a wound on her arm, wrapped it up and gave her pain killers along with antibiotics. “I’d prefer you just spend the night here to monitor the wounds just to ensure no infections from the river although we have given antibiotics. We prefer to rather be safe than sorry.” The doctor said putting away all the medication. Karai nodded before slowly slipping into a slumber.
Friday
All students have to skip breakfast that day, like fasting, they need to resist the urge for food and try push their body in training by crossing the river and climb the mountain to the highest dojo on the grounds that will take approximately four hours. Once at the top they will be presented with two types of meals on each side of the dojo. On the one hand they will be presented with red meats, drizzled in condiments, pizzas and pastas filled with oily cheeses and a variety of desserts and large plates with fizzy drinks. On the other table there will be much smaller plates filled with green salads, quinoa, rye breads, tzatziki sauce, poultry & hake and steamed vegetables with spring water.
The smell of the red meats are overwhelming and enough to make anyone’s mouth water which is perfect for temptation. Alongside it all there are soft mats and plain stiff mats to see which each student has the choice of making. No one is judged by another and everyone is understanding to each student’s choice. Surprisingly not one students gives in to the temptations of food but very few do choose soft mats.
Karai has woken up and was ready with all the other students. Since she fasted on a monthly this challenge didn’t affect her one bit and she completed her mission along with all the other students.