After the wooden sword class, even the wind over the training ground seemed to carry a sharper edge.
Even though there was no more sparring the next day, the children could not stop adding things like, "That move you made yesterday," "The opening you gave was way too convincing," and "I almost really went in." It was as if, once they had tasted the struggle for tempo, the string in their minds had tightened itself more than before.
Yamashiro Takuma clearly had no intention of letting that momentum simply fade away.
During the last class of the morning, he led them to a slightly larger practice room beside the small demonstration room. There were no braziers or white lines inside, only several low tables, a wall chart, a few scorched wooden boards, and bundles of dried grass. Takuya was already waiting inside, his sleeves rolled halfway up, with a shallow basin of water beside him.
The moment Kiyo entered, he lowered his voice. "Are we finally learning the names of Fire Release techniques today?"
Morita Yu said beside him, "First learn not to set your eyes on fire whenever you hear the word 'fire.'"
Takuya seemed to have heard him. He turned and glanced at Kiyo. "The names haven't been taught yet."
As soon as those words fell, Kiyo visibly wilted, like a puppy that had charged too fast and run straight into a doorframe.
"Today, we'll teach what comes before the names," Takuya continued. "When you truly learn techniques in the future, technique names, hand seals, and chakra natures will all come into play. But before that, you need to understand that fire isn't finished just because you open your mouth and breathe it out."
Standing among the crowd, Che felt his mind settle at once.
This class had