We're Talking about Magical Combat, right?

“Damn, you still reek like shit, Otaku!”, Yamada groaned disgusted and held her nose.

“Really? I took a bath yesterday and showered today in morning!”, Kuro replied and sniffed himself.

“Then you’re not doing it right… Otakus are not known for their hygiene after all…”

“Maybe I should give him a hand and show him how to clean his body.”, interjected Hinako with a mischievous smile.

“I can clean myself perfectly fine, thank you very much!”, Kuro protested.

“Oh? Don’t you want me to wash at least your back? Might never get the opportunity again to have a young and beautiful woman give you a thorough rubbing down.”

“You don’t smell any better!”, Yamada threw in.

“Well, then how about Kuro and I take a bath together when we get home tonight and help each other wash our bodies… thoroughly?”, Hinako suggested cheekily.

Kuro scratched his beard slightly flustered. The loud thud made him and Hinako flinch, as Yamada’s hands slammed her desk.

“Nobody is gonna thoroughly wash anybody here besides him or herself! At least not while you’re on duty! Speaking of which, since we don’t have any current missions for you, you’ll be on standby until further notice.”, She said with a cold voice, glaring at the young adept.

Hinako sighed in discontent.

“Anything new from the Research Department?”, Kuro asked quietly.

He seemingly shrunk a bit as Yamada’s gaze switched to him. She sighed and Kuro relaxed a bit.

“Apparently the dagger from Akihabara and the box from yesterday have similar sigils on it, so they may be connected somehow, or at least from the same origin. But we still don’t know the demon behind it.”, Yamada replied.

Kuro nodded.

“Well, that’s all I have for you right now… I’ll give you a call when I got something.”, Yamada added.

Kuro nodded again and turned to leave the room. Hinako followed.

“And Adept Homura…”, Yamada remarked.

Hinako turned around nearly at the door. Kuro was already out and nowhere to be seen.

“Yeah?”, Hinako asked.

“Being on standby in our occupation technically means that you’re on duty all the time… day and night… Understood?”, Yamada emphasized emphatically and glared at her.

Hinako swallowed nervously and nodded.

“Good, then if you need anything let me know… have a good day.”, Yamada added and changed her expression to a friendly but somewhat strict smile.

Hinako turned around and went out of the room. She found Kuro waiting for her a bit to the side of the door leaning against the wall.

“Want to do some training, since we’re here already?”, He asked.

“Do I have to cast barriers for hours again?”, Hinako inquired with dread in her voice.

“No, I thought we will do something else today.”

“Heck yeah!”

They both entered the trainings hall soon after.

“Soo… what’s on today’s menu? Finally, some combat training? Do we spar?”, Hinako asked eagerly.

“The fiery spell, that boosts your strength, which you used against the slime… Is that an original spell of yours?”, Kuro inquired instead of answering.

“Y-yeah.”

“How long can you maintain it until you run out of energy?”

“Umm… like five minutes? Maybe ten… “

“That’s not very long…”

“Some guys would be glad to last that long…”

“True, but those guys don’t have to fear getting killed if they’re spent before they finish the opposition.”

“Maybe they should…”

Kuro raised an eyebrow. Hinako smiled cheekily.

“Isn’t that a bit harsh? They may have tried their best…”, Kuro suggested with a shrug.

“I’m sure they did, but good intentions alone aren't enough to get the job done.”, Hinako replied with a wink.

“Okay… So, to get to a satisfactory ending and finish the job, what do you think should be done?”

“Hm… maybe tap out and let someone other finish?”

“Huh!?”

“Well, that’s why the MDF acts in teams of at least two, right? If one spends all their juice the other one can jump in and plough on.”

Kuro looked for a moment with surprise and astonishment at Hinako, who just smiled innocently.

“Well, true… if you are so inclined you can do that, I guess… But I pegged you more for the independent type of person.”, Kuro continued.

“That’s right, I do like to take matters into my own hand. But speaking about pegging… what about you? I heard you like to get your own hands dirty as well?”, Hinako confirmed and asked with a big smile.

“… I do prefer to do things myself, yes... But coming back to your issue…”

“My issue?”

“Well, I always finish my jobs and satisfy my opponents… at least no one ever complained after I finished them off…”

“I bet Yamada-san has something to say about that…”

“Sa-… Yamada-san does not count! I was talking about direct opposition… A bit of collateral damage can’t be avoided, when it gets heated… You know… You can’t avoid bumping into things and knocking stuff over, when you get really going…”

“Huh? Is that so? Makes me kinda curios to experience you getting really down and dirty.”

“Be careful not to bite off more than you can chew…”

“Don’t worry, I have a very big mouth and can swallow quite the load, even without using my teeth to chew… so give me your best shot.”

“I was talking about magical combat…”

“Of course I was as well! Whatever did you think I was talking about?

“Right…”

Hinako flashed him a smile as innocent as fresh, not yet peed on snow was white. She watched with satisfaction as Kuro scratched his beard and looked away slightly flustered. But it only took him a few moments to recover and lock eyes with her again.

“Whatever… Let’s return to my question.”, Kuro steered the conversation back.

“Sorry… I forgot… what was it?”, Hinako replied with her innocent smile.

“What to do to last longer.”

“Think of something disgusting?”

“Wrong! Well, maybe… but the right answer here is pace yourself! That spell you yours is very inefficient.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I may be wrong, but to me it looked like you burned through way more magical energy than you can control.”

Hinako looked surprised.

“How do you know that?”, She asked.

“Well after I made you cast barriers for hours in our previous training sessions, I know that you should have more magical energy in you, than a few minutes of fiery explosions. Also, I have a quite trained sense for magical energy flow around me, so I could feel a lot of power just emitting from you but not going into your spells. Basically, it’s like your magic energy storage is a reservoir. Under normal situations there is a steady flow, which you use for your normal spells. But in that heightened state of yours you open the floodgates, which allows you to get the required energy quickly enough to activate your more powerful spells. Picture like a box in the stream, where the box represents the amount of energy you can effectively handle, but the problem is, that the flood coming out of your reservoir is way thicker than your box.”, Kuro explained.

“That makes kinda sense… I always felt like it drained much more power out of me than I could use. I tried keeping the output as low as possible, but even then, I felt like I wasted a lot. What do you think I should do?”

“Let the excess flow back.”

“And how do I do that?”

“Make it a circular process, like in a fountain or with the rain.”

“Easier said than done…”

Hinako let out a sigh.

“Well, yes. Since your box is too tight”, Kuro said casually.

“My box is perfectly sized, thank you very much!”, Hinako replied aghast.

“If it was you could fit it all in.”

“… And what should I do?”

“Stretch it out and make more room in it.”

“Stretch out my box?”

Hinako raised her eyebrow and gave Kuro a confused look.

“And how does one… stretch out one’s box?”, She asked a bit hesitantly.

“Well, like you stretch everything with an opening. Repeatedly stuff it full to the point of bursting. That way you’ll get used to handle larger outputs of magical energy.”

“Even as large as yours? From what I witnessed you do seem to have a quite big… stream…”

“You haven’t seen me in my full glory yet… trust me, it can grow way bigger.”

“That’s what all guys say! Show me!”

“No…”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not allowed to pull it all out when people are nearby…”

“Now I’m even more intrigued!”

Both looked at each other for a moment but neither caved in.

“Well, enough about the size of my magical output and let’s get back to stretching your box.”

“Okay… So how do we do it? If your magical power output is that big, can you just fill me… my box up and it will just expand?”

“No… If we’re not careful and I ram too much power into your box, it could rupture and all of the magical energy will come gushing out uncontrollably.”

“Somehow that sounds low-key enticing…”

“And very dangerous. Trying to control way larger magical energy than you’re used to, can lead to permanent injuries.”

“Okay I get it… your stream is too girthy for me.”

“Interesting choice of words but yes… it’s to big for you to handle.”

“For now…”

Both looked at each other again and both tried their best to keep their stoic faces.

“You have to fill up your box yourself.”, Kuro continued.

“Typical… If a woman wants to have it done right, she has to put her own hands to work, I guess.”, Hinako sighed.

“It’s the same for men too…”

“Somehow, I doubt that… But you’re the expert… so, okay… I’ll do it myself… but isn’t there a risk of tearing my box up myself too?

“That’s why you’ll do it slowly and gently. Work yourself up in size of your spells, trying to squeeze a little bit more juice in every time. Just enough to go beyond your comfort zone but not to the point where it gets painful and you run the risk of tearing. You’ll do that from now on multiple times a day every day. Do that and you will find that you can fit much more into your box, than you’re able to now.”

“So, you’re telling me, that I should stuff my box full of an increasing size of power every day… multiple times a day even… In order to wear it out and be able to put much larger… amounts… into it?”

“Exactly!”

“And you’re gonna just watch me while I do it?”

“Yes! Somebody must keep an eye on you after all and make sure you do it right. And maybe there will be some uncontrolled overflow, then it will be good if someone is around to mop it up.”

“Right… and you know how to do it right?”

“Of course, I have experience with stretching out boxes!”

“And mopping up overflow?”

“That too! I spilled a lot when I was younger and had to learn it the hard way, how to control my stream…”

Both, still with locked eyes, tried their best to keep their facial muscles in control but struggled with the corner of their mouths.

“We are still talking about magical combat things here, right?”, Hinako asked and a slight snicker escaped her.

“Dude, I don’t know anymore…”, Kuro replied and shook his head.

Both began to laugh out loud at the same time. It took a while for them to calm down again.

“Okay… so what was your point again? I kinda got lost with all the talk about stretching boxes, girthy streams and uncontrolled overflow…”, Hinako mentioned, still a bit teary in her eyes.

“Ah, fuck it… It’s better I show you.”, Kuro said defeated.

“Thought you were not allowed to pull it out?”

Kuro looked at her and sighed.

“Sorry…”, Hinako apologized, still a bit snickering.

“What I meant with all that was…”, Kuro began and held out his arm to the other side of the room, “This is the level of energy you can control right now.”

A small blue fireball emerged from his hand and flew across the room. It exploded in a blaze of blue flames. Hinako felt the heat of the flames even from across the room.

“While this is, what it could be, if you could control all of your magical output.”

A second fireball emerged from his hand. This time it was pure white. It flew the same path and detonated at the exact same place, but the explosion and ensuing inferno made the previous one look like a candle in comparison. Hinako was nearly swept off her feet from the shockwave. After the flames had died down, she turned towards Kuro and looked at him. He didn’t even have to ask if she understood what he was trying to show her, the flames that flickered in her eyes told enough.

“How do we start?”, Hinako asked eagerly.

“Open up your floodgates with the spell and then start casting simple fireballs, putting all the power into it you can manage, without any incantations to compact the power.”, Kuro explained.

“Just simple fireballs?”

“Just simple fireballs… remember… slow and gentle.”

“Got it! I don’t want to rupture any of my boxes after all!”

Hinako smiled, flames began to erupt from her body and her hair changed color. She then took a step forward and began to cast one fireball after the next.