A brief rain fell in the afternoon.
It was not heavy, but it came suddenly, pelting the academy's eaves as if someone had flung out a whole handful of beans. By the time the second class was about to begin, a corner of the clouds had already broken apart, yet the dampness over the playground remained. Yamashiro Takuma did not cancel training because the ground was wet. Instead, he led everyone outside.
"Today, we're practicing movement and stopping positions."
The rain had darkened the dirt on the playground, making the white lines stand out clearly. There were puddles near the target range, and a light breeze sent faint ripples across the water. Every time the children stepped down, their shoe soles picked up a little mud.
Kiyo lowered his head to look at his shoes. "I feel like falling today would be especially embarrassing."
Morita Yu said, "Don't schedule it in advance."
Che stood at the back of the line, his gaze falling first on those white lines.
The white lines after the rain were different from the safety lines in the demonstration room. One was indoors, the other out in the open; one stood before fire, the other in mud. Yet he still instinctively steadied his breathing. Yesterday's punishment of standing and those blunt reminders without any room to dodge still lingered in his chest. Today, he did not intend to make up for anything with words. He only wanted to figure out where to place his feet first.
Yamashiro Takuma divided the class into groups of three or four. The task was simple: move on command, stop within the white lines in the assigned order, without crowding, colliding, or crossing the lines. It sounded like a children's game, but what the teacher emphasized was anything but trivial.
"Watch