The training from the moment I came back was on another level. I thought my spirit was going to break any number of times. Usato berated me until I was in tears, but I knew he was doing that for me, and for my sake, so I refused to break.
Then the day came for me to face Mina at a school event. At first, I thought I had the advantage, but when Mina got serious, I felt suddenly overwhelmed. I had tried so hard to tell myself that I wasn’t afraid of her, but those lies crumbled to reveal my fear. I was left running around in circles, powered by terror as Mina launched her fireballs at me. It must have been a pitiful thing to watch.
But when Usato saw me like that, he shouted with such rage that it buoyed my spirit.
“No more running away! Fight!” he had said.
That was when I realized that I had always been afraid of Mina. No matter how much I tried to hide it, and put on a brave front, the fear was there. So I swallowed it down along with all my doubts, and I turned to face my bully.
Naturally, I was scared. I was so scared I was on the verge of tears. But I refused to stop moving. And finally, I put all my fear into one last attack that put an end to our duel.
But Mina still wasn’t done. She crawled, forced her body to move, and did her utmost to beat me with her magic, no matter how reckless it was. That was when I realized that it wasn’t just me who was hurting. It was Mina too.
In the end, the week that I spent with Usato was priceless. Because of him, I had made connections with people I otherwise never would have met. The whole reason that I was here now, at the rescue team, was because I wanted to be just like Usato.
“I’m here now because Usato and I met,” I said.
Um, I kind of rambled on a bit, didn’t I?
I sipped some water to quench my throat after all the talking. Ururu had her arms crossed as she nodded to herself.
“That Usato. He really is the spitting image of Rose, isn’t he?” she remarked.
The rest of the rescue team chimed in straight away.
“No doubt about it.”
“When he flips the switch, it’s a terrifying thing.”
“Make him mad and he’ll try to knock you out flat. No hesitation.”
“I mean, he rivals even us.”
“And to think he was just some ordinary kid when he joined.”
“I guess we’re half-responsible for what happened to him, huh?”
“You got that right!”
The rescue team burst into laughter.
“Um, what?” I uttered.
While Ururu spoke with a heavy weight in her voice, the rest of the team were rowdy and rambunctious. Orga, for his part, cringed slightly.
“In any case,” he said, noticing my confusion, “Usato is clearly doing well, and I’m glad to hear it. Though I am surprised he recommended you for the rescue team.”
“Well actually he said I had a choice. He said it was here or I could work at his friends’ infirmary.”
“Oh, was he talking about us?”
“I think so, yeah.”
Perhaps he wanted me to have another place to go in case I broke during Rose’s training and couldn’t go on. Orga smiled kindly.
“That’s a pity,” he said. “We’d love the extra help.”
I laughed.
“But please, come and drop by when you’re in the area,” Orga said. “We can’t treat you to anything luxurious, but we’d love to see you.”
I nodded. In Luqvist, we had places to treat the injured, but probably nothing like the infirmary here in Llinger. I wanted to see it myself.
“Hey, Nack,” said Ururu.
“What is it, Ururu?”
“Usato put you through some of Rose’s training, right? Exactly what sort of training was it?”
“Oh, well . . . he spent a whole day chasing me around the academy with Blurin on his back, he showered me with insults while he made me run around casting healing on myself. He threw balls of healing magic at me that I was supposed to dodge.”
It was hell. He put me through layers of hell. My eyes probably clouded over when I thought back on it because the rescue team all flinched.
“Whoa, he really crossed the line. The kid’s only twelve.”
“Usato was hefting Blurin around in Luqvist too, huh?”
“Treating a kid like that. He’s the second coming of the captain.”
“That he is.”
“The spitting image, yep.”
“A real monster. He’s another captain alright.”
“Just terrifying.”
“I knew it all along. A monster’s disciple is always going to end up a monster.”
“Today is a day of celebration, so I’m not going to do a thing,” said Rose, a hint of anger in her voice, “but you are all in for it tomorrow.”
Everyone except for Ururu and Orga went completely pale.
“I had a hunch about your training based on how strong you are,” said Rose, crossing her arms to look at me. “But he really did adopt my training to help you, huh?”
I felt myself withering under her gaze.
“You’ve got some legs, but nothing else. Given the limited time you had, it’s impressive, but we’ll have to change things up a bit now that you’re here.”
“Oh?”
“I’ll watch your training for a little while. If you keep training the way you have been, there’s a chance it could impede your body’s natural development.”
Rose is going to watch my training? I mean, it’s an honor, but it’s also so much pressure!
We were still a ways off from even starting that training, but already I was shivering.
“Does that mean I’m fr . . . that I can do my own personal training too?” asked Felm. “That’s what it means, right?”
“Huh? Of course not,” said Rose. “Nack is going to train together with you.”
Felm looked utterly dejected.
Then again at lunchtime she was being dragged back here unconscious. Then when she regained consciousness, she was knocked out by the captain all over again.
“You’ll get to train with Rose. Good luck!” said Ururu. “We’ll be rooting for you!”
“Oh, thanks,” I muttered.
“It’s going to be almost too much to bear, I’m sure of it, but we’ll be around if you need someone to talk to!”
The way she said “I’m sure of it” made me realize that the difficulty of the training was a given. Ururu was trying to be kind, but I could only respond with a twitching smile. Ururu smiled at me, then seemed to remember something.
“Rose,” she said, turning to the captain.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been curious about this for a while, but how did you come up with the idea of using healing magic to help you train and strengthen your body?”
“Ah, that. Come to think of it, I’ve never talked about it, have I?”