Important Discussion

After everyone gathered at the dinner table, Takeda cleared his throat to speak. However, before he could say anything, Satori spoke first. “Hey, Tarou, weren’t you gonna beat me? What happened?”

“Huh? I’ll beat you next time! I only didn’t because I was tired! That’s all!”

“Didn’t or couldn’t beat me? I don’t think you can.”

“Oh, really? We can settle this outside right now!” Rentarou was about to stand up, but before he could, Hinako tugged on his shirt.

“You shouldn’t. You didn’t eat anything for a few hours.”

“You’re right, I didn’t.” His initial laughter came to a halt as he shifted his attention to say one more thing to Satori. “You’re lucky Hinako bailed you out, or you would’ve been dead!”

“I’m sure I would be, Tarou.”

“Ahem!” Takeda cleared his throat once more to quiet down mostly Satori and Rentarou. “First off, congratulations to Rentarou for winning the three-way battle.” Rentarou was expecting applause, but only light golf claps could be heard from Hinako.

“So, since he won, that means Rentarou will lead the four-person team of Ozeki Hinako, Ozeki Rentarou, Yasura Shin, and Yukimura Suki against the Yuki-onna.”

“Hell, yeah! Suck it, losers!”

“Huh? I didn’t know about this. If I did—”

“The results would’ve been the same, Shin. I chose not to tell you despite that, because I didn’t believe you could win. If anything, the pressure could’ve worsened the results, right, Yukimura?” Yukimura didn’t respond to Takeda’s question; she didn’t even meet his gaze. Her eyes were only fixed on her food as she continued to eat.

“And also, Rentarou, don’t get a big head because you won. Sure, you may have beaten Yukimura and Shin today, but all three of you have your faults.”

“Oh, really? Then what are mine, Takeda?”

“You’re too reckless and overconfident; you rely too much on your muscle, and you’re hard to work with in a team.” Rentarou wanted to argue back, but when he saw Hinako nodding along to Takeda’s words, he silenced himself.

“You need to be more like Yukimura. She doesn’t let her emotions guide her in a fight; she knows her own abilities well, and she does her best to be adaptable to the situation at hand. But that doesn’t mean she’s without faults either. She knows herself too well, and because of that, she pushes herself too hard to try and secure a hundred percent chance of victory, but there’s no such thing.”

Takeda turned to look at Yukimura, who was now looking him in the eye. “No matter how hard you train, there will always be variables you can’t account for. So instead of trying to perfect your own abilities, pushing yourself to do everything, believe in the people who will be there to help you.”

A long silence filled the room as everyone took time to take in Takeda’s words; everyone but Satori. “Taku, do you have any faults of mine you wanna talk about? Like how I’m too smart and how I’m too good at my job.”

“I’m not even going to get started on you.” Shin gulped as Takeda’s eyes shifted from Satori to him. “Lastly, Shin. You’re inexperienced; this is your first time properly engaging and fighting a yokai. With that said, you made good progress within these first two days in learning how to control the K-word inside. But it’s not enough. You’re nowhere near the level you need to defeat the Yuki-onna…”

Takeda stood up before he said his next words, looking down at everyone sitting at the table. “That goes for all of you. Individually, you have some strengths and may be able to challenge the Yuki-onna, but as a team, you guys don’t stand a chance against it… That is why I will be training you three over the next three days on how to work as a team and fix your individual faults. Any questions?”

The only hand to raise when Takeda asked was Shin's. “Wait, you said the three of us will be training, but aren’t there four people in the team?”

“That’s because Hinako doesn’t need to train. She—”

“Huh? Why not?” Without raising his hand, Rentarou asked a question of his own. “Are you trying to say she’s weak and doesn’t even need training? If that’s what you’re trying to say, Takeda, even if it's you, I’ll kill you!”

“If you’ll let me finish, Rentarou. I was trying to say that, unlike you three, Hinako is a noncombatant. She is the person who will be supporting you through the fight; however, to do that, she needs to prepare. That is why she will be spending these three days taking the necessary precautions.”

“Good. You better not be underestimating my sister!” Hinako smiled at Rentarou’s words as Takeda responded to them.

“Trust me, I do not. If she had the same proficiency in more combative magic as she does with sealing magic, then I would still say she wouldn’t need training. But that’s enough what-ifs, ands, or buts. Does anyone else have any questions?”

However, no one raised their hand or spoke up before Takeda spoke again. “Then, tomorrow morning, training will start immediately.”