Guidance

Although a fight had just happened, the dojo was already buzzing with students beginning their morning drills. Bada then dropped a bombshell on him.

Bada looked below, admiring his students. "Stay here for a while."

Arjuna halted his tea. "Stay? Here?"

Bada chuckled, drinking his tea. "You've got potential, but you're sloppy."

He put his cup down on the coaster. "A week here, and you might learn how to fight."

Arjuna scoffed. "Didn't I just prove I can fight?" He continued drinking his tea.

Bada shook his head and finger. "That's different."

Before Arjuna could argue, Genderuwo came inside with rice crackers in hand. "I agree with Bada. You should stay and train."

Arjuna frowned but remained silent. He had nothing urgent to do and was intrigued by the prospect of honing his abilities. A week should be fine to decide.

"Fine," he put his tea down.

Bada grabbed a cracker and walked out. "Training starts tomorrow at dawn."

Arjuna stayed overnight at the dojo. He was woken up by the students' making sounds at the training ground outside.

Their fists struck wooden posts, feet shuffled across the mat, and the occasional bark of instruction from their seniors.

The sky was still tinged with the deep blue of dawn, the air crisp and cool. Arjuna rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he stepped outside the room.

Bada stood in the center of the courtyard, arms crossed, watching his students like a general surveying his troops.

He noticed Arjuna staring from above and gestured at him to come down. Arjuna splashed his face with water from a wooden basin and headed down to Bada.

"Glad you didn't oversleep," Bada looked over at Arjuna, standing beside him.

Arjuna yawned. "Oversleep? You didn't even tell me what time training started."

"Dawn." Bada turned back to his pupils diligently training.

"That's vague." Arjuna glanced at the students.

Bada shrugged. "Figure it out next time."

Arjuna sighed, rolling his shoulders. "Alright. What's first?"

Bada turned to Genderuwo, who had settled onto a wooden platform at the courtyard's edge, already munching on another bag of rice crackers.

"Think he'll cry before noon?" Bada asked.

Genderuwo let out a deep chuckle. "If he does, he won't be the first."

Arjuna crossed his arms. "I'm right here, you know."

Bada grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Then prove us wrong."

Before Arjuna could respond, a wooden staff was thrown at his feet. Arjuna picked up the staff, feeling its weight in his hands.

Bada stepped forward, tapping his staff against his palm. "Your first lesson—endurance."

Again?

Bada swung. The staff smacked against Arjuna's, sending a vibration up toward his neck. He barely managed to hold on before the next strike came, then another.

"Move faster!" Bada bellowed as Arjuna parried his staff, his body barely hanging on.

"I just woke up!" Arjuna continued parrying.

"Why? Are you already tired? Do you think real fights let you breathe? Move, or you're dead!" Bada continued his relentless barrage.

Bada suddenly backed out. "This isn't going to work."

"What's wrong?" Arjuna wiped his sweat with his shirt.

"I've noticed it since yesterday, but your basics are nowhere to be found. Go train over there," Bada pointed.

Arjuna followed the direction of Bada's staff and immediately felt his stomach drop. There was a group of younger students, some barely in their teens, practicing their stances at the far end of the courtyard.

They made the same basic motions again while an older student watched them closely. Blocking, stepping, and striking. Again and again.

"You're joking." Arjuna's shoulder dropped.

Bada smirked, tapping his staff against his shoulder. "If you want to learn how to fight properly, start from the ground up."

Arjuna clenched his jaw. "I already know how to fight."

Bada stuck his staff to the ground, using it as a cane. "You know how to survive. Big difference."

Bada tapped his staff against his shoulder. "You've got a week. Learn the fundamentals, or you'll never be more than some reckless brawler getting by on luck."

Arjuna bit back a retort and exhaled sharply. He felt like a fool as he glanced at the younger pupils. He knew that Bada was right.

"...Fine," he reluctantly agreed.

Bada grinned. "Good."

Arjuna ignored him and walked toward the training group, where a senior student raised an eyebrow at his arrival.

"Alright," the senior student said, arms crossed. "First things first—show me your stance."

Arjuna planted his feet firmly, raising his fists. The senior noticed Arjuna's sloppy stance and looked at Bada. Bada stood there, smiling. The senior student sighed.

It wasn't until the third day that Arjuna realized he was being observed. A young woman stood at the edge of the dojo, arms crossed as she leaned against a wooden pillar, watching him with a curious gaze. Her dark hair was tied neatly behind her, her expression calm but unreadable.

When their eyes finally met, she didn't look away. Instead, she gave him the faintest smile before walking towards him.

"You're stubborn," she remarked as she stopped before him, her voice smooth but firm.

Arjuna blinked. "...Thanks?"

"It wasn't a compliment." She eyed his posture. "Your stance is still unstable. Too much weight on your back foot."

Arjuna furrowed his brows. "You can tell just by looking?"

"Of course." She reached out, pressing two fingers lightly against his shoulder.

Her fingers were heavy; Arjuna barely resisted the pressure. Arjuna nodded, absorbing her feedback as he adjusted his stance accordingly.

"You need to distribute your weight evenly," her touch lingered for a moment before she pulled away.

Arjuna adjusted his stance hesitantly. "Like this?"

She nodded. "Better. But still lacking."

Arjuna exhaled sharply, wiping the sweat off his brow. "Are you always this blunt?"

She hummed in thought before smirking. "Only with people who need it."

He couldn't tell if she was teasing him or genuinely unimpressed. Before he could ask for her name, one of the younger students called for her.

She turned without another word, walking away with a grace that starkly contrasted Bada's brute-like movements.

She was precise, like a blade unsheathed with intent. Yet, despite her sharpness, she carried herself with an air of elegance, like a flower blooming in the middle of a battlefield.

Arjuna watched her go, rubbing the back of his neck. "Who is she?"

None of the younger students looked surprised at the question. One whispered, "That's her first time talking to a newcomer."

Another one grinned. "She must be interested in him."

Arjuna frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The students exchanged glances before one finally spoke up. "Bada's going to be pissed."