Applause erupted from the class as they walked over to Sensei and stood apart in silence, waiting for his evaluation, I could see a ripple of stillness flow throughout the rest of the class as the mood caught and the applause stopped. Sensei stood there, saying nothing for a while, rubbing the edge on his jaw bone, “Well, Aryan I am afraid that I am dissatisfied with what just happened here, the most that I can give you is a silver.” He said in a disappointed voice, Roan took a deep breath in worried anticipation, waiting for Sensei’s words. “However Roan, I think that it is only fair that I give you an gold.” He smiled at Roan and the rest of the class bubbled with whispers of congratulations.

“Right, up next is Shigeru and Terse. Please take your positions.”

We walked out to the middle of the combat field together and shook hands briefly. Then we drew our swords. “Cover them as I taught you.” Sensei called from the edge of the field. We rubbed the blades of the swords with a cloth that Sensei had given us and watched them turn a dull grey colour. I carefully felt the edge of the blade; it was as dull as a branch. We took our starting positions and faced each other wordlessly, sword in one hand, shield in the other. “Begin.” The word rang out loudly in the silence.

Terse flew at me quickly and I watched him come, standing statue still until the last moment, a crash sounded as his sword bounced harmlessly against my shield. I dropped quickly and slashed my sword at his ankles, he had to jump out of the way and I hit his shoulder with my shield as I rose up, swinging my sword out to keep my other side blocked from Sensei’s invisible enemies. I swung back around and drove at Terse, swinging my sword at him, he blocked it with his shield, but I saw his arm buckle slightly under the blow as it dented his shield. I smiled to myself as he tried to do a comeback attack, we battled around the field, spinning and paring, then I finally did another upright flying slash, keeping my shield to my side to protect from the ‘other’ enemies, his sword flew out of his hand and landed behind him deeply in the grass. I still ran at him, knocking him to the floor and holding my sword at his throat as he lay on the grass.

No applause met us as we walked back over, only a stunned silence. Sensei was frowning deeply and I could feel the trepidation flowing through me; what had I done wrong this time, I’d tried so hard, I’d worked on my form all morning, holding the different stances so that I would be in top form for the evaluation, I’d even practised that upwards flying slash so much that my legs had grown weak from the effort. I dreaded being torn down again in front of the whole class.

“Well done Terse, I am impressed by your combination of moves, that is easily a gold.” polite applause rang through the rest of the class and stopped quickly as Sensei cleared his throat. “Wait for me at the end of the class please Shigeru.” Was all he had to say to me; I had been that bad.

Several more pairs went up for evaluation during the lesson. I barely watched, just stood there feeling disappointed and ever so slightly numb. The bell rang for the end of the lesson and Sensei let the rest of the class go. Roan nudged me on the arm as he left, “Good luck.”

Sensei waited until everyone had left the combat field and then turned to me “How many hours did you take training out of class this morning?”

“Erm, I’m not completely sure Sensei.” I said monotonously

“You were already training when I passed to Morning Prayer at sunrise,”

“Yes Sensei.”

“And you were still training when I passed again for the morning meal, two hours later,”

“Yes Sensei.”

“And when I passed for my first lesson two hours after that,”

“Yes Sensei.”

 “Well Shigeru, what can I say; You have shown dedication and passion for fighting that is beyond any other student in this whole school and it has paid off, you have just disarmed the second best swordsman in the top class with evident ease, you have shown amazing versatility and concentration when fighting with any weapon, you make it seem as if you don’t have to think about a single move that you make, a single stance that you hold.

I have taught you so far this year and watched your progress through other years, you shoot with a bow and arrows as if they were extra extensions of your arms, you fight in martial arts as if you were born with it in your blood, I have only ever seen natural talent and so much dedication like yours a handful of times, and never have I seen it as promising, you are truly a force to be reckoned with in any area. There is no higher level of fighting than diamond, but if there was, you would just have achieved it.” He said with increasing enthusiasm.

I just stood there in respectful silence, unable take in his words, my brain seemed to turn numb, had someone taken over Sensei’s mind?. “Th…Thank you Sensei.” I stuttered completely overwhelmed by the praise he was giving me; I had never received it before. Sensei was a hard teacher, who had never made a secret of the way I thought he felt for me; whatever I did, there was something wrong with it, there was always some way I could improve, nothing ever seemed to be up to his standard, always just below it. My mind simply couldn’t understand the words that had just come out of his mouth; they were alien coming from him.

We stood there for a while, neither of us speaking; I could see the concentration and thought on Sensei’s face, in comparison, I was gawping like a fish. “I cannot just teach you in these group classes anymore, I will need to speak to the Masters about this.”

“About what?” I asked, confused

“About private lessons.” He said, as if I had just asked the most stupid question in the world. I stood there with my mouth open in surprise, ‘what the hell?’

“Close your mouth, you look like a fish.” Sensei said sharply, I closed my mouth quickly, that was more like the Sensei I knew. “Leave me now; I must go talk to the Masters.” I bowed my head and walked to the edge of the combat field in a dreamlike daze; private lessons with Sensei? That hadn’t happened at the Academy in over twenty years.

I walked up to the main building, seeing the other students around me and waving at a couple that called my name, but hardly feeling like I was there. I walked over the grass and towards the surrounding wall of the ‘Academy of the guardians’ and stared over the tree tops below. ‘Private lessons with Sensei.’ I still couldn’t believe it.

Suddenly someone jumped on me and wrapped their arms around my neck. I yelled and nearly threw them over the top of my head, “Wait, wait!” they yelped, I recognised the voice as Midori’s and laughed in mid throw, letting her tumble over the top of my head safely. “What was that about?” She demanded from the ground.

“You surprised me.” I said simply.

“How did I surprise you? I ran over shouting your name!” She said gruffly, standing up and brushing off her skirt. I laughed at her annoyed expression and she turned away from me, about to walk off, she was probably still a bit put out about the fact that I didn’t stay with her last night. I grabbed her wrist and then lifted her up into my arms, she fought me playfully, but gave up after a while, “You do realise that this is completely unfair.”

“And why’s that?” I asked her mischievously.

“Because you’re lot stronger than me.” I laughed at her again and pulled her in tighter. “Not that I don’t appreciate this, but you’re slightly crushing me.”

I loosened my hold on her a little and let her rest her head on my shoulder. I looked out over the tree tops again and took a deep breath, I could feel Midori looking at me but avoided her gaze. “What are you thinking about?” Midori asked, looking up at me thoughtfully. I smiled, then sighed, “Sensei kept me behind at the end of today’s lesson.”

“What did he say?” she asked me defensively, she had seen how he had hurt me yesterday with his criticism; Was that truly to help me? To give me the drive and determination to get better?

“He said that he wanted to give me private lessons.” I said slowly, trying to make the reality sink in.

“I’ve never heard of him doing that before.”

“He hasn’t done it in twenty years.”

“So is this a good thing?”

“It’s an amazing thing; I’m going to be taught the art of combat by a man who is in line to become the next combat Master, there is no higher rank for a fighter.” As I said it, it finally sank in; ‘the next combat Master thought I was good enough to have his private attention.’

I started spinning around with Midori in my arms and smiling my head off, she shrieked loudly so I put her down, ‘I was to be taught be the best’ I smiled elatedly and ran off over the grass laughing loudly. I suddenly sprang into a front flip and did a combination of acrobatic moves that I had never tried to put together before; front flip, half flip, round off, back flip, cartwheel. I was so happy, it had finally sunk in and I realised what this training opportunity actually meant.

I ran back to Midori, she was standing in exactly the same place that I had put her down, just watching me. I locked her in my arms again and smiled at her exuberantly, a wild gleam in my eyes, “Don’t you dare spin me round again.” she warned playfully. I just smiled and tilted my head towards hers, kissing her enthusiastically. She pulled away after a while and looked at me incredulously, “Hey, we’ll get in trouble if you start doing that,” she warned half-heartedly. I laughed and kissed her again, “I mean it, you’ll get us both into trouble if you start doing that so openly, any of the teachers could see.” She said. So I spoke slowly, kissing her neck between each word.

“Don’t tell me you don’t like this, that you don’t want me to do this.”

She shivered under my lips and spoke quietly, “Of course I like it, but just not now, someone’s got to keep us out of trouble with the teachers or even the Masters and as you’re so against it, it’s up to me” I carried on kissing her neck.

“Shigeru stop it, I’ve only got so much will power.” I laughed and looked into her eyes again I could see the real worry in them and kissed her once more on the hand, “Alright, as you wish.” I said smoothly and put my arm around her shoulder, she neatly slipped hers around my waist. We walked up to the main building again, talking as we went.

“You do realised that Roan will be ecstatic.” She said to me

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he’s been looking for a good reason to have a party for ages and you’ve just presented him with one that could probably be big enough for at least two.” I smiled and thought of the look that would be on Roan’s face.

“Let’s go tell him then.” I smiled at her and we walked up to the head common room.