Chapter Five: we have a Teacher?!

Zach's recovery days went well, minus the part where Mika kept jumping on his bed, which definitely delayed a few ribs from healing properly.

When Class D strolled into their classroom, bets were already flying like tradition.

"Five bucks it's just computers with automated tests." Mika blew a bubble that popped across her face.

"Ten says it's nothing," Sato muttered, still fiddling with some gadget only he understood. "Like not even the basics."

"Would be on brand for this school," Elle added, walking in behind them.

"Fifteen says it's just a projection of some guy explaining basic power controls," Zach said, tugging one hand from his haori as he pushed the door open.

What shocked them all was that none of them were winning money.

Because sitting at the front of the room was a man, real and breathing—writing on the chalkboard with the calm of someone who'd already finished a dozen meetings and crushed a half-gallon of caffeine. His hair was slightly out of place, like he hadn't noticed it had been messed up hours ago. His suit? Sharp enough to cut glass. His vibe? Tax season personified.

"You're late," he said flatly, not even sparing them a glance.

Zach leaned toward Sato's wrist. "Actually, we're two minutes early."

They filed in, finding seats without really being told to. The man didn't respond. Just finished writing a single word on the board in clean block letters:

ANALYSIS

"Someone want to tell me what that means?" His voice sounded like if a robot was bored.

Sato raised a hand.

"Don't do that you're not five just talk."

Sato cleared his throat. "Analysis. A detailed examination of the elements or structure of something, Analysis."

Zach snorted. "Alright, spelling bee champion."

A piece of chalk shot past his head like a sniper round and buried itself in the floor with a sharp crack.

Zach slowly turned to the teacher. "Hi?"

The man adjusted his cuffs without looking up. "Hi next time, keep your commentary to internal monologue or bring a helmet." The mans said as he wrote on the board

T O M A

Y U K I S H I R O

"Greetings, Class D. I'm Toma Yukishiro, and I'll be your instructor. If you were expecting some laid-back, quirky mentor just because you're bottom ranks, destroy that fantasy now. You want laid-back, rank up to Class C.

He adjusted his cuffs.

Then, without a word, he tapped the screen behind him—pulling up a frozen frame of Zach mid-punch, Lucien's fist connecting squarely with his face.

Then, without a word, he tapped the screen behind him—pulling up a frozen frame of Zach mid-punch, Lucien's fist connecting squarely with his face.

Mika tried to hold back a chuckle as Zach looked away and started whistling, like he wasn't watching himself get rocked in 4K.

"Would anyone care to tell me what's happening on the screen?" Yukishiro asked, pulling out a pointer and circling Zach's face like it was forensic evidence.

"Zach's… life flashing before him," Mika said, finally losing it as she burst into laughter and kicked her feet.

Yukishiro didn't even blink. He rewound the clip to one of Zach's earlier sequences.

"What about here?"

"He ducked the left, saw the right coming, blocked with his sword, pushed off the hit to throw Lucien off balance, then followed through with a kick Lucien barely dodged," Derrin said quietly.

That got a raised eyebrow from both Zach and Yukishiro.

"Yes. Perfect, actually," Yukishiro said, a faint thread of pride hidden under the tone of paint on walls

"Where'd he learn to do that?" Zach whispered to Mika.

"I dunno. Kinda hot," she whispered back.

Another sniper-round of chalk screamed past them both.

"Pay attention," Yukishiro muttered, clicking forward to the part where Zach managed to cut Lucien.

"Since the rest of your squad knows your plans, you mind telling everyone what happened here?" he said, a faint edge of challenge in his voice. "Or are you one of those 'act on instinct' types?"

Zach's eyebrow twitched.

He stood up without a word, marched to the front, and grabbed the pointer out of Yukishiro's hand.

"Alright, bet."

He let the video run for half a second, then paused on a frame where Lucien looked mid-punch.

"I didn't block here. I'd already dodged the first one—this was a feint. If he followed through, he'd be off-balance. I knew that. So did he."

Click. New frame—Lucien going for an overhead.

"If I blocked this, I'd eat a gut punch. So I turned and prepped to dodge the follow-up."

He ran through the entire fight like a UFC commentator, breaking each beat down with surgical confidence. By the end, he had a smug smile as he let a puff of air blow through his nose

"How's that for 'instinct'?"

Yukishiro let out a slow clap.

Zach's smug grin widened.

"It's amazing," Yukishiro said with a smile. "Truly incredible how simple-minded you are."

The smile faltered. "W-What?" Zach chuckled nervously, turning to face him.

"You've done it, Zachary. I didn't think I'd live to see a genius so stupid," Yukishiro said, still clapping slowly like he was watching a circus act.

"The hell are you talking about? Everything I did wasn't simple," Zach snapped, confusion bleeding into irritation.

"Oh really? Let's see here." Yukishiro rewound the clip back to Zach slipping Lucien's punch. "So you ducked and blocked with your sword to throw him off balance? Cute. What about the ground he cracked earlier? You didn't think to angle your movement toward that? Maybe mess with his footing?"

Zach blinked. "Huh?"

"And this part—overhead swing. Why didn't you pretend to get hit, dodge last second, then drive your knee into his face while his arm's down?"

Zach tilted his head like a dog hearing a vacuum cleaner. He didn't look insulted. He looked like he was processing.

Yukishiro raised an eyebrow.

He started going frame-by-frame, pointing out every missed opportunity, every half-second delay, every instinct-driven choice that could've been something smarter.

Weirdest thing was—Zach didn't argue.

He just kept nodding.

Like he was learning.

And that was basically how class went—breaking down every single frame of Zach's fight until even Elle stopped taking notes. Mika and Sato were slumped over, dead asleep. Derrin looked focused at first, but a fly landed on his face and he didn't react.

"And that is why you lost," Yukishiro concluded, sliding his pointer away. "Not because Lucien is some unbeatable titan—but because you're stupid."

Zach nodded, like he was mentally scribbling notes on an invisible whiteboard.

The bell rang.

Everyone jolted awake and bolted for the door. Zach followed, still deep in thought.

"Oh my god that took foreverrrrrr," Mika groaned, flopping her hands over her face. "I thought I was gonna be eighty by the end."

"He spent fifteen minutes explaining all the ways Lucien could've stepped on a crack," Elle muttered, adjusting her uniform with surgical precision. "That's when I broke."

Derrin nodded, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"I didn't think it was that bad," Zach said honestly.

Mika and Sato turned at the same time like he just confessed to liking sandpaper.

Mika gently pulled Zach to her shoulder and started patting his head. "Oh you poor baby… he's under Yukishiro's mind control."

"What."

Sato tapped something on his wristwatch. "Checking for lingering brain trauma. Maybe Lucien knocked a sense out of him."

"We might need to send him back to the nurse," Mika said, hugging him tighter. "He's not the Zach we knew…"

Zach tried to squirm out. "I'm fine—it wasn't that bad, seriously, I don't know what you guys are talking about—"

Mika let out a gasp. "He's too far gone." She wiped imaginary tears and grabbed one of Sato's drone barrels. "We have to let him go, guys. It's what he would've wanted."

She pointed it at Zach with a dramatic sniff. "Don't worry… I'll do it. We'll miss you, buddy. It's been a hell of a week.

Zach rolled his eyes, pushing the barrel down into Sato's bag. "Yeah yeah, alright, Travis Coates—relax. Let's go. I want noodles."

"Maybe try not to pick another fight today," Elle said, flat as ever. "I hear humans only have so many ribs."

She almost smiled

She thought no one saw

They all did

The moment passed, and Class D made their way toward the lunchroom doors—Zach in the lead, still dreaming of noodles

He reached for the handle

"Watch out," Derrin muttered, eyes still closed as he lazily cracked one open

"Huh?" Zach turned his head, hand pulling the door—

CRASH

A swarm of glass shards blasted through the air like hornets, slicing toward them in a glittering spiral

Elle shoved Zach sideways, snapping a bubble shield into existence—but it popped the second it touched the shards

"Shit"

Zach barely regained footing before swinging his wooden sword wide, deflecting the biggest shards in a clean arc that cracked the tiles

"Well," he said, breath catching, eyes scanning the hall, "looks like we've made friends already"

It wasn't hard to spot her

She stood in the middle of the hall like it belonged to her—like everything did

Long, moonlit hair in a gleaming, backlit blue flowed past her waist. Porcelain skin, rose-thorn lips, and eyes that burned with the shade of wilting petals. Her coat—high-slit, mirror-streaked, stitched from ego and venom—glimmered with every step. Her earrings clinked like icicles falling one by one

Each step cracked the tile beneath her heels. Each blink stabbed judgment into your ribs. Every movement screamed: I am the moment, and you're the footnote

"So who pissed off the banshee?" Mika whispered, peeking over Zach's shoulder

"ZACHARY!!!" she roared, her voice ringing out like a cracked bell as glass shards floated into perfect rings behind her, orbiting her head like a deadly halo

The rest of Class D turned in unison

"Figures"

"Me???" Zach shouted, pointing to himself like he was just accused of murder