15. I don’t want to get hurt, yet I can’t max out my defense

It was like passing out. One moment I was in a liminal chamber, the next at the edge of a whimsical lake. It reflected the colors of the iridescent, giant mushrooms. “Now,” Surin said, as she hopped beside me. “Second trial: stand in a line at the shore. I’ll be testing your shell’s strength.”

Reactions varied. For example, some girl with highlights and heavy makeup was all but jumping with excitement. She’d probably been the first one to teleport. Others grimaced. My pulse raced, yet failed to reach my limbs.

Surin pointed at me. “Starting with you, Mr. Last Place. Stand still, put your hands up, and put up your shell. The stronger you connect to it, the stronger your spell will be. Now!”

Had I been alone and I would’ve ignored her, but there were thirty eyes on me. The world closed down to a dot.

“Ready?”

If I spoke, my voice would wobble for sure, but I had to know: “Will you, um. Hit…”

“Duh. It shouldn’t hurt with your shell up. Since you ended up last, I’ll use the least amount of strength on you anyway. Now, hands up.”

I did, as though getting aimed at. She got into what was very distinctly a boxing position.

The other schoolkids held their breath, Aoko included. If I as much as winced, she’d probably get even more nervous and probably do poorly, too.

Based on the way she leaned, it’d be a right hook. I’d just have to–

She struck.

–dodge. Surin glared at me. “What are you doing? Block, don’t dodge. If this had been a battlefield, the magician behind you would be dead.”

Someone behind me whispered: “That doesn’t look too hard.”

“I’ll just act like I have a boxing mitten,” replied the guy next to them.

Right. Good idea. “Again,” Surin said, then struck.

Somehow, as my hand audibly cracked, I managed to choke back the scream. I wasn’t going to react. I wasn’t going to react.

Surin raised an eyebrow. “Huh. Well. Let’s call you a work in progress. Who’s next? Oh, his friend.”

I was pretty sure she’d shattered my hand with that punch. Fuck. I tried to keep my breaths even, though, discreetly hiding it under my cape. “Yeah,” Aoko mumbled. “So I just… put my hands up…”

“I guess. Out of curiosity, who’s in charge of you two?”

“Charge? Do you mean Connie?”

Surin’s annoyance evaporated into mirth. “...ah. Connie. Actually, how about a volunteer?” The goth girl raised her hand. “Theeere we go. Mr. Last Place, turn around and see how this works.”

If I turned around, they’d see the… oh, whatever. Even facing my back, they’d probably seen me flinch when my fucking limb became unusable. I was pretty sure my face was snow-white, but since the cape hid the actual damage, I obeyed. Aoko grimaced when she saw me. “You alright, Ishi… Seishin?”

Amazing, actually! Never been better! I ignored her.

Surin got into position. Ah, a straight right. How a dragonkin could box was beyond me, but what mattered was that the goth girl didn’t even flinch. The second punch was strong enough to lift a small gust of wind. By the third, the other students had gathered in a circle. “And this is how you do it!” Surin said. “Put up your shell, channel your element, and focus. Don’t worry, I’ll only aim for your hand. Now, I usually go from last to first place, but uhh… we’ll go in reverse for a change. Those who did poorly last time can see what the rest are doing. Don’t worry, your placement won’t affect anything, just the result.”

By then, the pulverized bone was really beginning to hurt. Asking for sweet sweet medical attention would be physically impossible with thirty eyes on me, though, so I’d just have to wait until downtime. I’d gotten pretty nasty injuries before, so this was nothing. Really. Excruciating pain? Pssh.

When it came to Aoko’s turn, Surin didn’t bother getting into position. She threw a punch the way a novice would, using only her arm. When Aoko’s hand didn’t shatter, Surin nodded, then tried again. “Nice,” she said. “Pretty nice.” Yet when she tried a straight right, Aoko flinched. “What’re you slouching for? You’re doing well. You’ll do poorly if you’re afraid of it hurting.”

Against my best interest, I sat on a mushroom. I was actually getting dizzy from pain; it’d spread up my arm, through my shoulder, almost to my chest. Come to think of it, this was the same arm as the one Tissu had slashed through. If the next trial ended with it falling off, would I get a mechanical limb?

“Good, good,” Surin said as she stepped back. None of the turtle kids looked the least bit affected after a creature with enough strength to break bones like glass had hit them. “You guys are doing great. One of the better groups I’ve seen in a while. Well! I’ll raise the bar a bit.”

God no.

After clapping twice, eight prions materialized before the group. “Recognize these? Well, since most of you opted to shield them–or else you wouldn’t be here–you’re gonna do it again. Quick, form pairs. One of you attacks, the other one defends. You’ll switch once I clap.”

At least I had Aoko to go to, but she could be annoyingly perceptive sometimes, so if I didn’t keep a poker face on, she’d realize I was experiencing endless agony, and then… bad things would happen. She waved at me. I reciprocated using my good hand, wobbled up, then approached her. “I can start,” she said. “You can attack.”

A familiar, blue film materialized over the prion again. This one seemed to be made of wood, not flesh. Very nice. If I hit hard enough, I’d break it and create a shockwave so strong it’d destroy Korova and send everyone back home. I thought that, and then… nah, kidding, I couldn’t do shit to it.

“Ishida? Everything al–”

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Focus.”

I pantomimed a front kick which failed to break the water’s surface, then, out of self-pity and self-amusement, tried a roundhouse kick. The problem was that I ripped the prion off the ground. “Oh,” Aoko mumbled, and other turtles stopped to watch.

Surin tilted her head as she approached us. “Hmm… you sure you’re a turtle?”

I nodded frantically.

“Hmmmm… sure. I mean. We get offensive types every now and then. You get no points for this, though. Put it back.” She clapped. “Switch!”

I tried to steady the dummy with my good hand, but the prion kept tumbling to the side. Aoko gave me an awkward smile. “I don’t have your strength,” she said. “You can probably just… hold it?”

The best and worst part was that, while I’d made it topple by accident, Aoko’s shield remained unbroken. This thing was heavy. For a ‘turtle’, it could’ve felt normal, though. Who knew. I had to hold it between my knees.

“Uh. Is the shield up?”

I nodded.

Aoko punched it (using only her arm). She stood there, awkwardly, then tried a kick. “Uh,” I echoed.

“The shield is up, right?”

I looked away. Did she forget she was using a miniskirt, too? Was this my life now, getting flashed after dragons beat me up?

She slapped the prion this time.

“Switch!”

…oh, great, now I couldn’t even stand up. The world was a dot against my consent. “K-Kawakami, could you please hold the dummy while I stand up? Please…”

“Sure! Sure.” She did, with infuriating ease.

Upon counting to three, I counted to ten, then got scolded by Surin for slacking, so the next count went to four and a half. Then I stood, using my last three limbs.

Aoko did that stupid watery smile again. “Ishida, you don’t look well.”

“Don’t care. Don’t care. Just.” I gestured at the prion.

“But–” She shut up when I brought the good hand to my face. “Sorry.”

“Switch!”

We hadn’t even done anything, nor did she attack the prion again. Thankfully, the exercise ended there. “Great job, everyone! For the most part, you’re all scoring quite decently. I’m impressed. Well, this last exercise is voluntary, buuut if you participate, you’ll get bonus points based on performance. If I were you guys, especially the ones with negative points, I’d give it a try. Now, there’s sixteen of us. We’ll do four groups of four. This one’s pretty similar to that last exercise… except the prion is now one of you! Woo!”

For obvious reasons, nobody cheered, but Surin was smiling for a change.

“One of you defends, one of you is defended. The other two attack. No need to wait for me to clap this time. Each of you will defend and be defended at least once, though, or you won’t get any points. Have fun!”

Getting hit by one of these losers didn’t scare me as much as Aoko getting socked once I inevitably failed to shield her. Despite the supposed ‘voluntary’ activity, it was clear that Surin expected all of us to participate. After snapping at Aoko again, I couldn’t bring myself to look at her.

Aoko said, “Hey,” but not to me. “Ms. Surin? I don’t think we’ll participate.”

“No?” Surin’s tone was as kind as her fists.

“No…”

“Girlie, listen. Your first test went poorly, but you recovered nicely after that. Your partner, however…”

“I–I know, but…”

“But? Give it a try. These are free points. If you do well enough, you might even end up first.”

This attracted unwanted attention. Whatever. I gave them a thumbs-up.

Aoko glanced at me, at Surin, at the floor. “Come on,” said the goth girl. “We’ll spar with you two. Let’s see who ends up first.”

The goth girl didn’t bother me, but the guy towering above all of us certainly did. His hands were paws. “Sorry,” he said. “I don’t usually hit girls, but y’know.”

Aoko’s eyes were saucers behind her glasses. I raised my hand. “I’ll be the dummy. Shut up.” I added that the moment Aoko opened her mouth.

In case Aoko’s shield broke, I could still dodge this guy. Compared to a dragonkin, he’d feel as slow as an actual turtle. His position was limp, unskilled, relying on strength alone. When he struck, I dodged by instinct, but his fist clashed against a blue shield anyway. “Pretty cool!” He said, and he seemed to mean it.

“Thank you,” Aoko replied. She also seemed to mean it.

“Our turn. Mr. Last Place can attack me.”

Mr. Last Place will break your face, asshole. I would’ve said that, but I was a pacifist. Making someone bleed would probably make this horrible experience even worse, so my kick was light. I hit an invisible wall that pulsed red for a second. They switched. Same thing, except the shield was white this time. If I had to guess… a flame and snow fairy, respectively?

Anyway, it was Aoko’s turn to be… defended. “I’ll do it,” said the goth girl. “I’m a muay thai champion, so don’t (OF FUCKING COURSE) get mad if it hurts.”

Surely this wench wouldn’t actually use muay thai moves on Aoko, would she? Based on the position she took, she absolutely would.

I ended up shielding her all right–with my body.

“Ouch,” was the big guy’s commentary.

I agreed. Somehow, I managed not to collapse. “Bzzt!” Bzzted Surin. “Mr. Last Place, how could you fail every single trial? Then again, at least you proved you’re a turtle now, standing with those injuries…”

..so she’d KNOWN about them all this time?