And so, four days had passed quicker than an hour, it felt like. It was raining on that day, but Hiona and Yohiro couldn’t hear the rain from inside the abandoned bar, anyway. After those four days, Yohiro was sitting with his legs crossed on the ground, taking deep breaths and exhaling. He had taken his shirt off, with it having turned into a rag by then. His muscles had slightly enlarged; he had continuously ate all of the food Hiona brought him every day, throwing the packaging and leftovers all over the place. ‘’You ready, kid?’’ Hiona asked, waiting for him, similarly with her legs crossed, sitting across him, at about nice meters or so. ‘’Yeah, I think so…,’’ he answered calmly, standing up and clapping his hands, wearing the battle gloves with sharp edges on the knuckle section of them. He paid no attention to all the other weapons he had used, unable to handle them, which were spread all over the premises. Hiona followed suit, standing up.

‘’For four days i’ve been analyzing her moves; she prefers mocking you more than beating you, but I was just lacking the stamina and overall strength.’’ He thought to himself as he readied his hands, taking a neutral stance. ‘’I told you that stance was full of openings, didn’t I?’’ Hiona asked him as she cracked her fingers with nonchalance. ‘’They’re too complicated for me; I can’t maintain it for too much without breaking it and leaving myself open all over. Might as well start by being open, eh?’’ He laughed excitedly, expressing a decent amount of cockyness, which he himself didn’t know he had. ‘’Your way of thinking’ll get you killed too easily, but that’s not why i’m here and you know that. That’s why you’re doing it, right?’’ She popped an angry smile as she clenched both her fists, preparing to lash out. ‘’You’re way smarter than me, master! You understand everything!’’ He told her as he watched her move her leg by an inch, springing forward towards him.

‘’Ribs…!’’ He thought, moving his right arm to block her incoming punch, unable to block it, causing him to push himself with the tip of his foot, getting punched off-balance and falling to the ground. ‘’Your record for getting up after my hits is five. Get up!’’ She ordered him, watching him try to sweep her legs in a sudden motion, shocked as he couldn’t budge her even one inch. Yohiro jumped up, turning around fully and swinging his right leg, getting caught before reaching her face by her hand. ‘’Not yet,’’ he mumbled, letting his body fall as she still held onto his foot, landing a solid punch in her stomach, slightly facing the other way, gasping continuously, bathing the happiness of his first landed hit. ‘’You know, Yohiro,’’ she let go of his foot, leaving him to hit his head on the ground, ‘’You’re adapting to this confusingly quick; someone who couldn’t swing a sword four days ago shouldn’t be able to move that energetically.’’ She said with worry, scratching her perfectly unhurt, exposed belly.

‘’Isn’t that how the body works? You train it and it gets stronger, right?!’’ Yohiro yelled in confusion, not understanding what she meant. ‘’My point is, you’d probably be able to hold your own in a martial arts tournament, which is what I don’t get,’’ she sighed, ‘’but you’re improving, so how it’s going so smoothly isn’t my fucking business!’’ She giggled. ‘’Uhm, but master… I did hit you just now, didn’t I?’’ Yohiro asked in realisation, trying to get some confirmation, suddenly cutting her laughter short. ‘’Sure fucking did, didn’t you, kid…? Wait, you managed to hit me… Holy shit,’’ she began mumbling in confusion, walking towards the corner of the room, suddenly walking in a circle before Yohiro could realise.

She muttered under her breath, analyzing the situation in disbelief. ‘’D-did I cheat? Should I try to do it all over again? ’’He asked, slightly concerned as he watched her wide-eyed, menacing expression as she walked in a circle formation, stopping as she heard his question. ‘’No, that’s not the problem here. It’s because...I dunno. It’s like I couldn’t see what was in front of me for a split second.’’ She told him in all seriousness, confusing him. ‘’You mean...the gem, right?’’ Yohiro asked her, pointing at it with his finger, causing her to nod.

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‘’Like back at the army base. You think it activated itself or something?’’ Hiona asked, scratching her stomach again, with it itching intensely. ‘’I don’t really know, to be honest! It’s just there and does whatever it wants.’’ Yohiro smiled innocently, annoying her. ‘’That aside, wanna get back home or do you wanna waste another three days of your life here; this time i’ll use magic…,’’ she said menacingly with an excited glint in her eye as she pointed at her tome, which was attached to her belt. Yohiro chuckled nervously, shaking his head fastly and declining the offer.

After putting all the weapons away and Hiona gave Yohiro a new shirt to wear - this time with long sleeves - they exited the bar, starting to head back to the base. On the way back, he stared at his hands and his arms at the same time, happy at the fact that his skin had gotten a little thicker and he had felt less weak and reliant, smiling confidently. ‘’The boy’s a confusing case for sure, but it’s not like the gem some bug attached to him or something; it’s not a sickness to be examined either. How do I deal with him when he’s starting to think like some spoiled teenager…?’’ Hiona thought to herself as they reached the base.

‘’I want to ask you, master, did I do well enough?’’ He asked her, looking up at her with joy. ‘’Like hell; your technique was worse than even Clous. You’re despicable as a fighter. Your resolve is shaky, your smile is too honest and you can’t lie. You didn’t do well enough and wouldn’t have even done this if it wasn’t for that thing stuck in your chest. Was that a satisfying answer?’’ She asked him after her extensive explanation on his flaws and shortcomings, looking back at him with a smile filled with more joy than his. ‘’Ah, thank you for your honesty.’’ He thanked her, disappointing her as he was still enjoying himself.

Walking past Sebansio and ignoring him, as Hiona normally would do, they went through the door leading towards their base, hearing mutter-like talking from the main room, already annoying Hiona even more. Yohiro ran ahead of her, his steps echoing loud through the hallway as he reached the door, busting through it with a smile, met with the sudden head tilts of his teammates, as well as their suddenly confused and shocked expressions as they watched him stand there with his hands on his waist, gasping from having to run even that much distance. ‘’I passed!’’ He simply shouted, leaving them dumbfounded as Hiona walked in from behind. ‘’You passed? Through the door, or…?’’ Rosa asked in disbelief as she pointed at Yohiro. ‘’Master Hiona’s training, of course!’’ He elaborated immediately, causing Clous to fall off the couch.

‘’Master, did you let him win?!’’ Rosa shouted at Hiona, getting the look of an ashamed and angry person, saying ‘’Don’t talk about it,’’ causing her to back down. ‘’Okay, bastards, Yohiro’s fully qualified as a member of this piece of shit group. He’s technically better than you all and didn’t use magic to beat me and didn’t wait until he had to survive. Make that your motivation; the fact that a kid that’s not even one month old is better than you all. That’s all, i’m going to bed. Don’t fucking talk to me or i’ll kill you, etcetera, etcetera. Bye,’’ she explained it to them, not even looking at the as she entered her room, ramming the door shut loudly.

‘’Four days; that’s all it took you?’’ Clous asked as he crawled back onto the couch from the floor in a grumpy voice. ‘’Yes, four in total, more or less! Also, it’s good your voice is back!’’ Yohiro confirmed. ‘’Well, isn’t this an occasion to celebrate, you guys?!’’ Bernie asked them, excited as well. ‘’He deserves it, so let’s have a feast, maybe? We (I) did buy a lot of food, after all!’’ He continued, clapping his hands in a rhythm. ‘’Shouldn’t you be more concerned, Bernie…?’’ Clous thought. ‘’He’s never concerned about the shit that matters,’’ Rosa had a thought of her own, all of them ultimately letting their guards down and beginning to plan what to cook, especially Bernie, who was beginning to arrange eating utensils already, humming a song to himself as he did.