The Window To The Soul

Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months. The winds of change were slow to start, but they were inevitable. 

"Hello, Sota speaking..."

"It's Sensei..." his voice immediately burst out through the phone. "Where have you been? I swear, you're only at class once or twice a month."

"Yeah, sorry. Been trying to figure some stuff out."

A throwaway excuse. The truth was that his life was continuing to cave in on him. The violence in the household had been increasing recently, and it was only a matter of time before he was dragged into something catastrophic. Suffice it to say, he had been losing more and more motivation when it came to attending class. 

"You're going to be at class today," Sensei finally responded.

"I'll try..."

"You will," Sensei corrected, not leaving room. "We're testing Ren for her first rank. She's been training for four months now, and she's made a lot of progress."

Four months? That caused a double take. Sota's sense of time was completely warped by his situation. It made sense once he took a moment to reflect on it, though. For her first month of training, he had managed to be there an average of once a week. From there, it dwindled until it was closer to once every 3-4 weeks. He knew she wouldn't be left high-and-dry. Sensei or Natsu would make sure she got the training she needed. 

"She was assigned to you, so you need to be there." Sensei confirmed. "It would mean a lot to her to have everyone there for the examination. Don't let your students down."

With that guilt-inducing statement, Sensei ended the call. Sota put down the phone and hung his head. The only thing Sota despised above his own situation was the idea of causing other people hardship. This girl hadn't done anything bad to him, so what harm was there in going to help with her evaluation? Sure, he hadn't moved around or spoken to anyone in nearly two weeks, but he'd manage fine. If anything, it would remind him for a bit that he still existed. 

He peeked outside his window and saw that the car was gone. One of the others must have taken it. He was going to have to rely on his backup plan. He reached over for his phone and dialed in Riku's number.

"Hey girlfriend!" Riku answered suspiciously quickly. "I heard you might need a ride tonight..."

***

Sota and Sensei stood at the head of the room, their attention focused on Ren. Natsu had taken the rest of the class for an outside training session, giving them the time they needed to evaluate her progress. 

"We're going to start with sparring," Sensei noted. "Self-defense is an important factor to your growth. If that hasn't improved enough, then there's no point putting you through everything else. Go get your gear on - Sota will be your opponent."

"Yes, sir!"

Ren, still as vibrant as Sota recalled, rocketed off towards her bag to get herself geared up. Sota grabbed his own gloves from nearby - he had brought them in the event they were needed. 

"Try not to break her this time," Sensei commented quietly as he put them on. 

After a moment, the two of them stood in opposition to each other. They bowed - Ren's eyes intently focused on her opponent. Sota's eyes were pointed in her general direction, but he was clearly off in his own world. He was distracting himself as best he could so he could make it through the class. 

"Good luck, Senpai!"

"Good luck."

"You'll continue until I call 'up' or a point is scored," Sensei instructed. "When you're ready, you may begin!"

Given that it was her very first grading, he did not expect to have to expend much energy. He needed to work just hard enough to push her towards the limits of her skill. Based on prior students, he had an idea what that would look like. He had worked with countless beginners, and four months of training usually wasn't enough to have significant improvement. Almost every new student attended class, but rarely would they practice at home or exercise of their own volition. Maybe she'd end up a little more coordinated, but nothing he had to be "online" for. 

His mistake. 

Ren dove in towards him immediately and went to slam him in the ribs with a roundhouse kick. Sota blocked it instinctively, but it was faster and had a lot more power behind it than he was anticipating. The sudden assault returned him to the present moment. She recoiled with precision and threw another kick towards an opening he had left exposed. He still blocked, but it was significantly harder while his mind was frantically trying to catch up. Her control was stellar, and it had caught him by surprise. 

He locked onto Ren's fiercely determined gaze amidst the mayhem, and was stunned by what he saw. Her thoughts and emotions in that moment were as clear as day - no hidden agendas or signs of eventual betrayal. Just a mindset that he could almost hear in his mind. 

Now's my chance to show what I can do. Sensei and Senpai's approval means the world to me, and I will NOT disappoint them!

He was not invisible to her. He was one of her instructors, and everything he taught her seemed like it was worth its weight in gold. 

That fact alone threw him off his game more than anything else.

It was in that chaotic moment that it happened. Between the barrage of kicks and the sudden weight in his chest distracting him, his footing tripped up. He tried to catch himself, but wasn't able to do so before falling backwards onto the ground. 

The moment froze in time as both of them stopped in momentary shock. Neither Sota nor Ren expected this outcome, and both of their brains were trying to process what came next. 

"Don't just stand there!" Sensei called out, suddenly very drawn to this match. "Get him while he's down!"

His words snapped both Sota and Ren back to reality. Ren lunged forward to continue, but Sota's ingrained instincts were faster. He rolled away and got back to his feet, able to successfully parry Ren's next attack. He was fully online now. Ren would not get a second opportunity at him. 

With Sota having collected himself, he left no openings and fully dominated Ren for the rest of the match. Even still, that moment lingered through the rest of the test. No one, not even the highest-ranking students, had ever managed to catch Sota unaware like that. 

Ren ended up acing every other part of the exam, but the result had been decided the moment that Sota hit the ground.

When the evaluation finally completed, Sensei sent Ren on her way to join the outdoor class for the cooldown. Her face was red, dripping with sweat and completely devoid of remaining energy. Her personality remained, though - like she had just had the time of her life. 

"What do you think?" Sensei asked once Ren was well out of earshot. 

"She's impressive, for sure," Sota commented, grabbing his water. "Are you sure she's never done this before?"

"Never. She works hard; harder than I've seen any student work in a long time. She ingrains every lesson like her life depends on it. I haven't seen her hands drop once since that first class..."

"Seems like a shoe-in for her first rank, then. I'm not sure that you really needed me here to decide that..."

"Don't pretend to be an idiot. You know you need to get your shit together, and you know exactly what I'm going to do about it."

It was incredibly direct, almost enough to catch Sota off-guard. Sensei had always been a pretty straightforward person, but it usually wasn't quite like that. 

"I'm not sure what it is exactly that gives that girl such an intense drive," he admitted, "and there's a chance it may not be good. I won't pretend to understand her situation anymore than I understand yours. You have admitted your own lack of self-worth, however. That's never changed, regardless of any praise you've received. She values you highly, however. You are her mentor, and she has taken that to heart regardless of your absences. As such, I'm no longer covering for you. Your absence is going to have consequences now."

Sensei's declaration struck deep. Sota looked out to the class that was actively cooling down. He could see that Ren was still giving it her all, smiling and laughing with everyone else despite being exhausted. He also couldn't get the image of her gaze out of his mind. Her transparency was something his mind couldn't help but fixate on. It was a massive change from the 'polite illusion' he was used to. 

He wanted to protest and tell Sensei that was ridiculous, but Sensei wasn't a man to play chicken with. It was either Sota do as instructed, or this potential-filled girl would lose out big time.

"Fine, we'll do things your way," Sota finally decided. "I'll do everything I can to be here every class and help her however I can."

"Good. We're having our annual tournament in three months, so the focus of class will shift towards that direction next week. Get her and your other pupils ready, hone their skills, and take pride in however well they manage to do."

With that, Sensei passed by him and headed off towards the field full of students. He left Sota standing there to ponder and reflect. He was pissed about his Sensei using what Sota felt to be an underhanded tactic to force his compliance. Sota wasn't about to let others suffer on his behalf - and Sensei knew that. 

It was time for him to commit like he'd never done before - because this time, failure wouldn't just affect him.