The Worthy and the Worthless

"Eh... did I really make it that obvious?"

"It was pretty clear judging by how you were fighting. Not only that, but you can also see your opponent's future movements, right?"

"Aw... I really let my guard down."

There was enough noise in the gym so that no one else could overhear their conversation. The sound of wooden swords clashing with each other never ceased as other students sparred with each other.

Shiina's opponent walked over.

"Are you ready for another round?" she asked.

"Yeah," Shiina replied.

Kay took a step back before being confronted by the coach. Coach Eastwood didn't seem to have an unpleasant look on his face despite what had just occurred. The two of them walked away and found a relatively empty area of the gym.

"Kay, your opponent is having a rest right now, so you're going to spar with me."

"That's fine."

Taking a step back, Kay raised his sword and stared straight at the coach. Coach Eastwood was quite a large man, with wll-toned muscles, wide shoulders and and a dense puffed chest. Standing with one foot in front, it was clear that the coach wasn't new to swordfighting. Kay braced himself, carefully watching Coach Eastwood's movements as he closed the distance.

All of a sudden, the coach swung his sword. Like an explosion, the attack came out of nowhere, catching Kay off-guard. Kay barely managed to manoeuvre his sword in order to block the attack, with a dense thump, the wooden blades collided. Kay stepped back but the coach had already recovered his position.

Again, the coach's wooden sword slashed through the air. Kay quickly got into a defensive posture and blocked the attack. Then the coach attacked again. Kay raised his blade. The two swords smashed into each other. However, Kay found himself off-balance.

He saw that the coach about to swing again. Kay realised that he was in no position to block the attack. As fast as he could, Kay lowered his head. He felt a gust of wind brush past his head as he barely managed to duck under the attack. The wooden blade flew past his head, mere millimetres away.

"Nice dodge."

Kay got up as fast as he could but he felt a shock of pain run through his arm. With a dense thump, the coach's sword smacked into his elbow. Despite being in some pain, he quickly jumped back, creating some distance between them.

"Your technique is quite good, however, your strength and speed just isn't enough."

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Kay lowered his sword.

"Ahaha, sorry, I completely forgot about the time... Everyone, swords down!"

Everyone gathered around the coach once again.

"Good job, we're going to do some weights training now, everyone put your training swords back into the container."

The rest of the lesson, the students did various different gym exercises.

***

After the class, Shiina met up with Kay in the reception area.

"Hey hey, did you know that my partner came from the Sinclair Cult?"

Shiina was quite enthusiastic as she bounced around, looking up at Kay. She had a small white towel wrapped around her neck, drying the remainder of her sweat from the class. Despite the training they just did, Shiina did not appear especially tired. She was glancing at Kay who was as cold as usual.

"What's the Sinclair Cult?"

"You don't know about the Sinclair Cult? They're known for producing some of the strongest swordsmen in the entire world!"

"I've never heard of them."

"Seriously...? What, have you been living under a rock?"

"Basically."

"Ehe, well, it's what it sounds like. They do highly intensive training and they've made some of the strongest swordsmen ever. Do you know Karin Sinclair?"

"Oh yeah, I have heard of her."

"Well she's from there!"

Eventually, the two of them made their way to the cafeteria. Everything in the dining area was clean and modern. The tables were sanitized several times a day, janitors wandered around collecting any rubbish. Furthermore, there were large windows allowing for lots of light to enter, allowing a beautiful view into the professionally kept garden and courtyard of the school.

After lining up for a little while, Kay reached the front, being greeted by the cafeteria lady.

"Hi, can I see your student profile?"

Kay opened his phone and showed her.

"Ah, class-A rank #29, I see."

The lady grabbed one of the large trays from the display and passed it to him. Holding a big tray of various different foods, Kay made his way over to an empty seat. A few seconds later, Shiina took the seat opposite him.

"Ah, you didn't get a deluxe milkshake!" commented Shiina.

"I guess this is the difference between our ranks."

On their trays were a bowl of steamy white rice, hot miso soup topped with tofu and spring onion, a plate of teriyaki beef, some vegetables and a slice of cake. Looking around at some of the other students sitting around them, some received as little as just bowl of rice and some miso soup.

There was nowhere where the class difference was more clear than in the cafeteria. For some students, it looked as if they had hardly enough to even fill them up. The students were allowed to have seconds but only of their designated meals, meaning the lower-ranked students would have to eat quite a bit of rice.

Shiina smiled and filled her mouth with her colourful, nutritional meal.

"The food here's pretty good!"

"I suppose."

"It's way better than what I used to get in the Colours Project!"

"The Colours Project?"

"Ah, don't mind it, it was the experiment that I used to be a part of."

Shiina's expression seemed to darken when she talked about the project. However, her mood was quickly healed as she continued to stuff herself with food. Their plates slowly got emptier and emptier until the two of them finished their desserts.

"Ah, that was good, are you going to go back to training, Kay?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Well, I might actually go to English class so I'll see you later then."

"Don't you need to supervise me?"

"Aw~ are you getting lonely without me?"

"Nevermind."

"Ehe, it's fine. I don't need to watch over you 24/7, you know? Unless you want me to~"

"I'm all good."

Shiina giggled before taking her tray back to the counter.