The Space Left Behind

Ren moves with practiced mastery - performing beautiful aerial kicks before gracefully closing her fan and ending her form. 

"Excellent work, Ren!" Sensei exclaimed. "You've adapted to your weapon beautifully."

"And in no time at all," Natsu chimed in. "It's clear that you've been practicing daily to get yourself to this point."

"Thank you very much!" she bowed, ecstatic at the positive feedback. "I'll continue to work on perfecting it for the next tournament."

As she raised her head, she instinctively turned her gaze towards where Senpai Sota would stand. As the other assistant - and her primary mentor - it was common that he provide feedback as well when she performed. 

But he wasn't there - as had been the case for a few weeks now. 

"A fine example of what everyone should be doing!" Sensei called out. "With that, class is dismissed for the day!"

Everybody bowed in acknowledgement and began dispersing. Ren lingered for a few moments, briefly caught up in the confusion of Sota's random disappearance. It had been so abrupt, and he hadn't mentioned a single thing to her about taking a break.

She shrugged off the thought - he was likely just busy with other items. 

"You ready to head back home?" Natsu asked, approaching her.

"Yes, just let me grab my things."

She quickly and quietly packed up her things while Natsu waited. Once she was ready, they made their way to his car and he began the drive back to her home. 

As opposed to the first few rides they had taken together, the status quo was now silence. It wasn't awkward or malicious - they had just run out of things to talk about. They didn't share many interests or viewpoints, and neither of them felt the need to fill the air with small talk. It was a quiet, reflective ride - exactly what would be expected if a teacher provided a student a ride home. 

"Great work today, Ren." Natsu reminded her as he parked the car in her driveway. 

"Thanks, Senpai Natsu!"

She grabbed her things and made her way inside the house. As she entered, she expected to find everyone asleep or out for the night. It caught her a bit off-guard when she found her grandpa standing over the stove. 

"Hello, brat," he greeted her; his tone suggested he was both calm and sober.

"Oh...hello, grandpa," she replied. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No, you're fine. Here, have some rice."

He slid a plate of food across the counter to one of the empty chairs. Ren obliged, making her way over to the seat while keeping her eyes on him. This type of behavior was very unusual for him.

"So that boy that's been bringing you to class. Nasty, was it?"

"Natsu -  Senpai Natsu,"

"Yeah, that one... Didn't realize your Sensei's assistants were that close to your age. You're not doing anything stupid, are you?"

"No, grandpa," Ren sighed. "I'm not interested in Senpai Natsu in that way. Although, every girl in class in convinced otherwise."

"I see. Does that mean there is someone you're interested in at class?"

While her answer was 'no', she noticed the briefest flash of someone come across her mind. It was Sota - a memory of their training and their conversations at the last tournament. 

"No," she got out, dismissing the thought. "The people there are very nice, but it'd be silly for me to get that close to someone there..."

Her voice trailed off - the realization struck her that her grandfather may take that comment the wrong way. She honed in on the surprise dinner while waiting for her grandfather to respond. 

"Makes sense..." he affirmed, solace in his voice. "You know, it will only be a couple of more years before you graduate and are on your own. What are you going to do then?"

"Go to college, of course. My teachers believe my grades - as well as my new extracurricular activity - should make me a shoe-in for any college in the area."

"Then we won't see you again, right?"

Ren didn't respond right away. It was clear what was going on here. Every so often, her grandfather had these moments of humanity and clairvoyance - where he realized the gravity of her situation. 

"That's silly, grandpa," she spoke. "Why would I not come and visit from time to time? That's what families do, after all!"

The next few moments passed in ominous silence, with Ren eating and her grandfather contemplating.

"Yeah, duh," he cleared his throat, his posture shifting back towards his norm. "Keep sharp with that mindset, brat. Keep your grades up and work towards a successful career. Show the world how great the Shirahane family is."

With that, he grabbed beers from the fridge and made his way to the couch. Ren let out a quiet exhale of relief, finishing up her meal and beginning housework.

***

"That was...incorrect, Ren."

Sensei's words slammed into her like a freight train. She had practiced this new section of routine so diligently - what had gone wrong?

"What did you show her?" Sensei asked Natsu, clearing echoing the same question in his mind.

Natsu, also confused, calmly performed a different movement than she had done. Sensei's look made it appear that what he had demonstrated was correct, but it was different from what he had shown her. 

"That's the right segment," Sensei confirmed, "Mistakes happen, so no big deal. Just don't let your practice slip up - that's where most wrong movements come from."

Sensei meant it to be reassuring, but the insinuation that she wasn't practicing enough was like a hard slap. Sensei walked away, leaving Natsu there to correct her form. 

"Please show me that one more time," Ren asked Natsu, bowing. 

"Of course."

Natsu performed it again, but Ren could see it. There was a slight variation in the movement from what he had done for Sensei. He repeated it one more time, and a different chunk was slightly different. 

"Do you feel like you have what you need?"

"Yes, Senpai," Ren bowed. "I'll get to practicing now. Thanks!"

Natsu smiled earnestly and nodded before heading off. Ren began practicing in earnest. She worked full-force through the remainder of class, but her fuel was frustration more than her typical excitement. She got through it, though, and she made sure to drill the correct version into her head. 

"Hey, girl!" Riku, loud and charismatic as ever, stopped by as she packed up her things. "That was some fury you had out there practicing your form! Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

She continued to pack, but she could feel Riku still hovering above. He turned to look at him, and he simply stood with crossed arms and an unconvinced expression. 

"Fine," Ren sighed. "I guess it just feels like I'm being shown the wrong version of things. Then I practice it a bunch, only to find out it wasn't shown to me right. Or at least, I didn't remember it right? Is it me?"

Riku laughed aloud, before kneeling down next to her to put away his own things. 

"That's not you, honey. It happens all the time. Senpai Natsu - and even Sensei himself - oftentimes misremember certain movements. It can certainly be frustrating."

"That's bizarre," Ren questioned, thinking back. "I don't recall that being an issue with Senpai before..."

"You're talking about Sota, I'm guessing..."

Ren re-met Riku's gaze. It was unlike him to refer to Sota without his title while they were in class. When she did, she could see that his expression had hardened at the thought. 

"Is...everything okay?" Ren asked. "Did something happen?"

"What...no!" Riku announced, laughing it off. "To your point, though, your intuition is right. Senpai Sota is an encyclopedia. There isn't a single movement he misremembers or forgets. Even Sensei uses him as a reference point to make sure he's remembering correctly."

"I see. So without Senpai Sota - I have to be careful what I do and don't practice because the answer may change..."

"More or less!" Riku noted while standing to his full height. "Anyway, don't stress too much. Just practice like you have been and you'll do good enough!"

He walked off with that answer, but Ren did not like it. 'Good enough' would not keep her in class. It was already hard enough to practice before. Now, she had to second-guess everything she was shown? That would make things so much more unmanageable...

"Have you been in touch with Sota?"

Ren's ears perked up. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Riku had gone over to speak with Sensei. She normally blocked out conversations she wasn't supposed to overhear...

"No, I haven't," Riku replied solemnly. "He hasn't been answering calls or texts. I wish I could be optimistic, but I'm not sure if we'll see him again at this rate..."

Ren tried to keep a calm pace with putting her bags away, but her heart sank drastically at those words. 

"Are you at liberty to tell me what caused this shift? Or do you not know?"

"I can't say for sure, Sensei," Riku admitted. "His situation at home has always been really bad. Maybe something happened there? If I'm being honest, though, I think it was related to his disappointment around the whole Ren situation."

Ren dug her hands deep into her bag. She began pretending to look for something - just to hide her trembling. 

Senpai? Disappointed by me? What did I do?

"What do I do, Sensei?" Riku asked. "I'm genuinely concerned about him."

"Then perhaps you should get more aggressive with your approach," Sensei replied. "You are closer to him than anyone here. I know you like to keep your distance and avoid direct involvement, but sometimes we must act with deeper urgency."

"Yeah, maybe... I'll give it some thought. Thanks, Sensei."

With that, the two parted ways. Sensei went to his desk while Riku went to the bathroom. 

Neither one aware that Ren had overheard, and was fighting back tears. 

Senpai was gone - gone somewhere that she could not follow. And that absence was something that no amount of effort could fix.