Chapter 7: Capture The Flag

Asumi woke up bright and early at 7:00 AM, rolled out of bed, and got ready for the day ahead. She peeked through the room divider, ready to see Taichi still asleep, but to her surprise, he was already out of the room without a trace.

“Wow, early riser, huh?” she muttered, heading out.

She walked to the cafeteria, where she saw Taichi calmly eating a breakfast of broiled salmon, rice, miso soup, and pickled vegetables – one of the cafeteria’s cheap standard sets.

“Oh, good morning, Asumi,” Taichi said between bites, glancing up at her.

“Yeah, good morning,” she replied. She tapped through the kiosk menu and ordered a Western breakfast platter, sitting beside him. “When did you wake up?”

“Around 5:00 AM – I did 10 laps of the campus, went to the campus gym, did some sword drills, and I just lounged around the cafeteria for the rest of the time.”

“Rest of the time, huh…?” Asumi murmured, stunned.

“Yeah. Do you know what we’re doing today?” Taichi asked.

“Oh, every week, Kodaka Sensei prepares a battle simulation game where he’ll split the class into two competing teams. Today’s Capture the Flag,” Asumi explained.

After seeing Taichi’s blank expression, Asumi sighed.

“You don’t know what Capture the Flag is, do you?” she asked, to which Taichi shook his head. “It’s pretty simple – each team has a flag they’re trying to protect, and you’re trying to steal the other team’s flag. If you’re on the other team’s half of the field, the moment they get a clean hit on you, you’re frozen in place. If you parry or block the blow, you can keep going. To unfreeze, you need a teammate to tap you. If you lose your entire health bar, you’re removed from the game. Following?”

“Yeah, I think so, but what stops people from just blocking the flag with a human wall?” Taichi asked.

“There’s a radius around the flag that players aren’t able to enter unless an attacker from the opposing team enters it, meaning that it’s hard to form a wall. It’s too large a circumference. Besides, you can’t win the game with just defense – you need to capture the opponent’s flag to win,” Asumi explained.

“Alright, I think I get it. How are teams arranged?”

“Random selection once we get there – I hope you’re on my team. I know exactly how I’d use you,” Asumi said with a devious grin, finishing off her breakfast. “Should we head off early and find out our assignments?”

“Not sure if I should be scared of how you’re planning on using me, but… sure,” Taichi said, with an empty plate in front of him. “Let’s go.”

The two of them exited the building and entered Training Hall 1 – a field-sized, roofed building with large lights spotlighting the center stage. The entire floor of the building was just like the dueling mats that Taichi had fought on before.

“Hayato Taichi! Yuki Asumi! Team B,” Kodaka Sensei yelled out from across the room, showing them their vests and shinai.

Taichi felt a shiver crawl up his spine when he noticed Natsu waiting on the opposite team’s side of the field.

“Us two against Natsu, huh?” Taichi muttered.

“There’s a ceiling here, Taichi. He can’t use that lightning trick he used last time. So long as you watch his sword, we can win.”

“Interesting,” Kodaka said, smirking. “Usually, people get discouraged when they’re placed on the opposite side of Natsu, including you, Yuki.”

“Well, being on the same team as Natsu isn’t too fun either – and now I know… he isn’t unbeatable. Right, Taichi?” Asumi asked with a smirk.

“Yeah, we’ll win against him this time,” he said confidently, gripping his pendant. “And I’ll finally rank up.”

Asumi and Kodaka both paused for a moment and looked at Taichi blankly.

“Yuki, did you not tell him how to rank up?” Kodaka asked.

“I figured you would take care of that, Sensei…”

“Wait, do I not rank up by winning competitions?” Taichi blinked.

Kodaka sighed. “Okay, Hayato… to rank up, you have to have a duel with an official referee, unlike your match against Natsu two days ago, and it has to be a full battle to 0 HP, unlike your match with Yuki. Upper ranks don’t usually have a reason to accept duels from lower-ranked students, so there’s a tournament held every month where everybody below rank 10 fights in an organized duel, and whoever wins that tournament gets to fight one of the top 10 of their choosing with their rank on the line. As you fight people in the tournament, if you beat somebody at a higher rank than you, then you get to steal their rank, so by winning the tournament, you’d become the automatic rank 11 at a minimum. If you then decide to fight, let’s say, Natsu, and you win, then you’d become Rank #1, and Natsu would be bumped down to Rank #2. If you lose, you stay as Rank #11.”

“Oh… then what do we get out of winning this game?” Taichi asked.

“I told you before – competitions get you cafeteria credits,” Asumi said. “But more importantly… intel. People put everything they have into these competitions. Watch them, learn them, and you’ll know how to beat them in the tournament.”

“Officially, intel is not the intended purpose,” Kodaka interjected. “Take what you will out of it, though.”

“Another thing,” Asumi said, ignoring Kodaka. “If you completely dominate this game, once the tournament comes, they’ll fear fighting you. They might even concede. As it is right now, since you brought Natsu down so low a couple of days ago, people are already wary, but today, you’re going to prove that it wasn’t a fluke. I’ll draw out your maximum potential, and we’re going to win.”

People started rolling into the field as the clock approached 8:00 AM. Asumi was made the de facto leader of Team B, and she organized the team by offensive and defensive aspects. Most people who were using water and earth aspects were placed on the defensive side, while fire and lightning were placed on offense. Wind aspect users were placed in the middle as floaters.

“Taichi, you’re on offense,” Asumi said.

“I figured as much – my aspect doesn’t seem very useful on defense,” Taichi said, nodding along.

“We’re using a three-person strike unit – me, you, and Meguri.” Asumi gestured to the girl beside her: short, brown-haired, soft-featured, and fairly cheerful. “Rank #5. Lightning user.”

“Rank #5?!” Taichi yelped in surprise.

“That much of a shocker, huh?” Meguri grinned. “Nice to meet you, I’m Isshiki Meguri, Rank #5.”

“I’m Hayato Taichi, unranked. Nice to meet you… I really was surprised,” Taichi admitted. “But I get it now. You’re a speed-based fighter, right? Perfect for this type of game.”

“Bingo!” Meguri exclaimed. “You’ve got a smart new pet, Asumi. You better share.”

“Oh, shut up, I’m sharing right now, aren’t I?” Asumi replied with a chuckle.

“Who’re you calling a pet?!” Taichi protested.

“Anyway, setting that aside-”

“What’re we setting aside so easily?!” Taichi tried again.

Asumi ignored him and continued. “Meguri and I will rush forward with you and help you swoop by everybody without issue so that you can reach Natsu and engage him.”

“How do we know Natsu’s playing defense?” Taichi asked.

“He’s playing defense,” Meguri stated confidently. “The rest of the team will believe that having Natsu on their defense will make their flag unstealable because of his strength. He’ll stay as the last line of defense.”

“So I’m bait,” Taichi concluded. “I draw fire while you two sneak in, and once I reach Natsu, one of you grabs the flag while the other handles the defenders.”

“Something like that. Don’t think too much – just rush in, Taichi. You won’t be hit,” Asumi said. “If you do get hit, we’ll get you back in. Just keep pushing until you find Natsu and engage him.”

Kodaka stepped up to the center of the field holding a megaphone.

“Alright, planning time’s over! Get to your ends!” he yelled out.

The students scrambled to their starting zones.

“The game starts… now!”

Taichi immediately ran forward at top speed, gripping his shinai firmly as he crossed the halfway line and entered the danger zone. Defenders from all angles began to converge upon him, shinai raised, but Taichi kept pushing forward regardless.

You’re behind me, right?

A bloom of fiery roses exploded in front of Taichi, blowing every person ready to attack him back, giving him space to continue pushing forward.

“Keep going!” Asumi yelled out.

Taichi weaved through the defenders and deflected some stray shinais that came to attack him. Nobody was using their aspect against him after witnessing his fight with Natsu. They knew it was pointless.

A wind user attempted to blindside him, but a crackling flash appeared at Taichi’s flank – Meguri, her body streaked with lightning.

“Don’t you dare stop!” she screamed.

Taichi pushed forward, and suddenly, Natsu stood before him. The rest of the defenders backed off, staying closer to the halfway point of the field, fearing they’d get in Natsu’s way.

Without hesitation, Taichi sprinted straight at Natsu. A flash of fiery lightning ripped past him, but missed. He didn’t flinch. He’d nullified it before. He would nullify it again.

Five feet away, Natsu’s eyes flicked over Taichi in one smooth glance. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as if he’d noticed something.

Above them, fire and lightning spiraled into a familiar sphere, identical to the one Taichi had nullified days before. Every instinct in Taichi told him to ignore it and charge straight through like last time. Natsu flicked his wrist and released the blast as soon as he entered the range.

Taichi took a breath. The same way he had before, when he had nullified this blast for the first time. As it did last time, the blast was meant to dissolve harmlessly.

But it connected.

Agony tore through Taichi’s nerves, his body locking mid-stride as fire and lightning slammed into him point-blank. The freezing rule triggered immediately, trapping him in place as the aftershocks raked through his muscles.

“Wh…why?”

Taichi hit the floor, trembling. His health bar didn’t drop to zero, but his strength evaporated. Every muscle refused to obey.

Above him, Natsu approached, sword lowered but eyes sharp with certainty.

“I knew it,” Natsu murmured, stopping over Taichi’s fallen form. His eyes flicked once more toward the pendant before settling on Taichi. “So that’s how it is.”

Taichi could only stare back in confusion and pain.

Whatever had protected him before wasn’t protecting him anymore.

The nullification was gone.