Chapter 18: The Dragon's Test

I just stand there, frozen in the center of the dojo. This is not Ayako's home. This is a secret, windowless, high-tech training facility. This is a black site. Ayako is not here.

"You are inefficient," a voice rumbles.

Kenichi is standing at the edge of the mat. He has taken off his suit jacket, his tie, and rolled up his white shirtsleeves. He looks less like a driver and more like a mountain that is about to fall on me.

"This," Kenichi says, "is a procedural update. You are a brawler. You are chaos. You have no form. I will give you form."

"You are going to teach me?" I laugh, my voice hoarse. "I do not need teaching."

"You are a cup," Kenichi rumbles, his voice low. "And you are full. Full of inefficiency. You must empty your cup before you can be filled."

"What is that? Some kind of yakuza proverb?" I spit.

"It is a correction," Kenichi says. He walks onto the mat. He is a mountain. I am a river. A very, very angry river.

"Fine," I growl, my body aching from the village. "Let's correct this."

I am tired and sore, but I am a brawler. I am chaos. I lunge. I use my messy style. I pivot, I swing.

Kenichi does not move. He just receives my punch. His hand just catches my fist. It is not fast; it is just there.

"Your chaos," he rumbles, "is predictable."

He squeezes. My knuckles scream. It is not a punch; it is a correction. I drop to my knees.

"You are a rock," he says. "You think you are a river, but you are a rock. You are stiff. You are inefficient."

"Get off me," I gasp.

"Again," Kenichi commands.

For the next hour, he corrects me. I punch. He blocks. I kick. He parries. I am chaos, and he is order. He does not hit me, not once. He just stops me. He just corrects my form, my stance, my breath. He is a teacher, a brutal, efficient, terrifying teacher.

"You are full," he rumbles, as I am on the mat, gasping, my body a solid block of pain. "You are full of inefficiency. You cannot flow because you are stiff."

"I do not understand," I gasp. "Why are you doing this?"

"The Ojou-sama has taken an interest in you," Kenichi says, his voice a little softer. "This is unprecedented. She is the future. And you... you are a variable that she values."

"She values me?"

"You are messy," he says. "But you are adequate. You are a brawler. But you are loyal. You fight for justice, even if it is inefficient."

He offers me his hand, a giant, bear-like paw. "Empty your cup, Shoujo-kun," he says. "Let us correct you. Let us make you efficient."

I just stare at his hand. This is it. This is the invitation. This is the next procedural update. I am a delinquent. I am a brawler. I am chaos. But maybe, just maybe, I can be adequate.

I grab his hand. He pulls me up.

"Good," Kenichi's voice rumbles. "The correction is adequate. Now, the Kaichou-sama will see you."

My blood runs cold. "The Kaichou? Ayako's father?"

Kenichi just smiles. A cold, terrifying, adequate smile. "The Dragon," he says, "is curious."