Day 44: Sun Room (4th Shift)

[mizuhomaiden]

As soon as she had the chance, Sheena ninja'd herself out of the cafeteria and away from the conversation she'd been semi-forced to have. She probably could have just clammed up and told the boys to go away, but she'd kind of owed at least Endrance some kind of explanation. It wasn't everyday the embodiment of darkness pops up and delivers a

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[notachick]

[Waiting for JunpeiSensei. He hadn't been called that since arriving here. Even when he was teaching Heiji and Shinichi, they never called him that. Since he knew them less as his students and more as his friends and allies, he preferred it that way, but Okita couldn't deny that he missed hearing someone call him 'teacher.' Up until the move to Kyoto, that had been his job, after all. He, with Kondo and the others, had spent his childhood teaching at the Shieikan, moving through the countryside to collect more students. While they weren't particularly famous or rich, they were well known in their area - and following their move to Kyoto, the Shieikan had gained prestige in leaps and bounds

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His instincts were good. As Junpei slid one foot back, Okita turned to the side to avoid the diagonal attack. The nurses were definitely looking at them now, but Okita smiled, patting Junpei on the shoulder. The nurses were wary whenever it came to him, and they seemed to be watching a little more closely now, but they weren't heading over. Yet. "Keep that position."

Okita lifted one hand to hold Junpei's hands where they were and then looked over his stance - solid, but there was an opening. Tapping Junpei's left shoulder, he looked up at the taller boy and smiled. "Once you have speed on your side, this won't be a problem, but any time you cut down at an enemy, know that you'll be exposing a vital location - here." He tapped Junpei's neck now. Then he moved back, putting his hands behind his back. The nurses seemed to relax when he did that and began going about their business again. "You do seem to have good reflexes, although you'll want to rely less on your strength and size and more on your agility for kenjutsu."

[whos_da_man]

Oh good, they weren't going to come after him. In fact, the staff seemed to be paying more attention to Okita than they were him. Huh.

Paying attention to Okita again, he nodded. Power and stamina were what Junpei used to get through Tartarus and be the S.E.E.S. front line, but maybe he was too used to having Yukari and Minato there to cover for his mistakes, like when he overextended in an attack and ended up on his butt when the damn Shadow dodged. As it was, he was far more experienced in fighting the Shadows than another sword-wielding person. There were only a few Shadows that used swords and they tended to do that pokey thing than the slashy thing.

"Yeah, I'm kinda more of a beatstick than a speedy guy." That was Minato. "Do you know what baseball is, sensei? Cause that's my original basis for using a sword. I've learned a lot through Tartarus runs and having to fight to stay alive, but it all goes back to baseball."

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Again, that baseball thing. He'd been hearing about it since he came here, but so far no one had been able to show it to him. He knew it involved a ball and people, and something with sticks, but beyond that? "I'm afraid I don't, no

[whos_da_man]

"Yeah, I don't have Yuka-tan healing me here when it gets bad enough," Junpei replied. "Well, not as much." With his senpai being gone, so did the reminders that he really shouldn't be talking about his Persona or magic and the like. "So I can't just take a lot of the hits I normally do."

Junpei knew speed and accuracy were his biggest weak points. Maybe if he improved those by even a fraction, it'd make him better more than increasing his strengths would.

"I'm going to spend a lot of time picking myself up off the floor, aren't I?"

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So Junpei fought in some kind of war, one that was fought by the regular townspeople. But people had powers. This Yuka-tan? Apparently was the healer. For some reason that name struck him and Okita paused. Yuka-tan... Ah! The girl Kaito had been with most recently. The pieces fell into place and Okita smiled slightly, nodding his head. "Yes, putting strain on the few healers we have here is something best avoided."

As for Junpei's question? The swordsman laughed, shielding his mouth with the back of his hand. "Yes, I suppose, for the first few lessons you will." Okita was undoubtably faster than Junpei, even if he was shorter. On strength they might have been equal for Okita was not exactly one to rely on that unless he was pushing his blade against another person's in a fight. Putting up his hands, Okita nodded for Junpei to do the same. "Let's test that strength of yours though, hm? Push against my hands - the object is to match me, not overcome."

[whos_da_man]

Junpei always found it interesting that out of all of S.E.E.S., the only ones that did not have Dia spells were himself and Aigis. It made sense why Aigis didn't have it, being a robot and all. She didn't have any magic-magic either. But Junpei had fire, so he should have been able to

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Surprising strength he had. Okita adjusted for the heavier weight and then slowly let up, seeing how well Junpei would do. Okita was used to going up against larger people with greater strength than him, so adjusting for Junpei didn't take him too long. The boy definitely had the strength of a fighter despite his lanky frame, which went along with the fast movements he'd seen earlier. If anything, the teen needed refinement more than straight training.

Okita leaned his weight subtly to the left and waited to see how fast it would take for Junpei to adjust. "Relax your shoulders," he said suddenly in a quiet voice. It was obvious to anyone who knew him that he was concentrating, reading Junpei's movements as a teacher should, looking for weaknesses and strengths as he shifted his weight between his hands, waiting for Junpei to follow him.

[whos_da_man]

Brow furrowed in concentration, Junpei was paying possibly too much attention to the task at hand. When the pressure shifted to the side, he responded quickly, but overcompensated and rushed a little.

"Tch." He reeled himself back in and tried to realign himself. His shoulders relaxed, but only for a short while before they tensed again.

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"I said to relax your shoulders," Okita said again, his voice turning a bit harsher than before. If he hadn't been teaching before, he was now, and he disliked it when his students didn't listen to his instructions. He would consider this Junpei's second warning - the third would come with a swift reminder of why he needed to listen

[whos_da_man]

"Uh... sorry," Junpei replied, forcing himself to relax and stay that way. It was hard, but he'd try. He needed to remember that he didn't have the stamina of a truck anymore and that he needed to conserve what he could.

This time, when Okita shifted the pressure, Junpei was not as quick to respond. Yet, when he did, this time he didn't overcompensate. He wasn't sure which he liked better, even though he knew both were wrong.

Feel my opponent's movements...

Junpei's shoulders started to tense again, but he caught himself. With an irritated expression, he relaxed again. This whole control thing was hella-hard.

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This time the shift was slower, but it was better controlled. Okita didn't say anything, but the fact he didn't said more than words could. Again, Okita shifted his weight back to the other hand, waiting a moment before moving it back again. A constant flux of motion was better for improving his speed and ability to read an opponent anyway. Okita kept it slow, however, not wanting to frustrate Junpei anymore than he probably already was.

He could feel the tension in the boy's shoulders, it transferred to his palms and the way he pressed against Okita. He was trying hard, however, and after a few moments, Okita hummed quietly in approval. "Can you feel the difference? When you're tense, you can't tell how much pressure I'm giving you, but when you relax..." Here, he again switched hands, putting a little more weight into his right. "You can tell, can't you? Your hand will immediately sink back if you're relaxed and you can push back with the right amount of strength to maintain the balance."

[whos_da_man]

Okita kept changing which hand he was pushing more with and, every time her did, Junpei had to tell himself to relax. He was much more used to just keeping everything coiled up for a strong attack that it was hard to keep his body relaxed. He kinf of felt like one of those weird puppets with the strings with jerky movements; sometimes the strungs just let the puppet hang there and other times, they were so taut the puppet was spazzing about the stage.

"...yeah. This is harder than I thought it'd be," Junpei replied, watching their hands as if the visual attention would help him. "I'm so not used to other people, like this. The Shadows just try to eat you when they get this close."

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The constant movement was far more telling of Junpei's abilities and even as he struggled to keep relaxed, Okita was getting a feel for what they needed to work on. The teen's desire to use his strength was evident. He'd probably gotten by, as he said, just by powering through his enemies, striking wherever he saw them. While that might work against some of the easier monsters here, Okita had been up against far too many nurses and abominations capable of real fighting to allow his pupil to continue using that strategy

[whos_da_man]

The teen's eyes fell closed as he listened to Okita's words. It was hard to pay attention to both that and the movements, especially when they weren't as easily detected as before. Junpei's reaction time was far less than before, his brow furrowed in concentration even though he started to feel more and more lost.

Then suddenly Okita's hands weren't there and Junpei stumbled forward, eyes flying open.

"Oh, shit!"

Thankfully, his teacher's hands were there to keep him from doing a ridiculous face plant right onto the floor. Or worse, Okita's chest. Righting himself, Junpei rubbed the back of his neck and averted his gaze from Okita, feeling embarrassed. He was right. He was going to be picking himself up off the floor a whole lot.

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Junpei had, admittedly been doing better, getting the feel of the exercise and learning (ever so slightly) to relax. The combination of Okita's words and his softer touch, however, was apparently too much when he suddenly took them away. When Junpei pulled away, rubbing the back of his neck, Okita merely smiled at him. "You're still too tense. We'll start every session with this exercise for now. Then we'll move into accuracy and speed training."

He already had a plan formulating in his head about how to train this boy, but it was important not to frustrate him. Unlike the students at home, Junpei didn't have pain of seppuku hanging over him if he suddenly deserted. "You were improving, however. Remember that embarrassment, and remember how quickly the playing field can change." Putting his hands back up again, Okita waited for Junpei to do the same. "Try again. This time, you lead. Try to get me off guard."