Megumi picked at her food for another moment, then said, "He seems easy to be around, though."
Yukino didn't disagree.
They finished their meal at a more measured pace and headed back.
Meanwhile, Ren was already halfway back to the classroom, when something shifted in his head.
A new piece of information — assembled itself, without his actively trying.
He slowed down, processing.
Did I just… copy Megumi's talent?
He went through it carefully. Somewhere between the hallway and the cafeteria, with no deliberate activation on his part, Jianjigu had apparently observed Megumi Kato long enough to complete the pattern.
And the version he'd acquired wasn't identical to hers.
Megumi's talent was passive — always on, no override switch, bleeding into every interaction she had. The ability Ren now possessed was active. He could engage it at will, or leave it dormant.
"Presence Concealment," he murmured, testing the name. The ability sat in his mind like a well-oiled gear — ready, waiting, completely under his control.
Megumi being permanently anchored in that state was genuinely unfortunate for her. People weaker than her couldn't see her clearly. As she grew stronger, the problem would only worsen — the gap between her strength and those around her would widen, and more and more people would simply cease to notice her.
Ren had none of those drawbacks. In his hands, the same ability was simply a tool.
I should look up some assassination techniques, he thought, turning back into the classroom.
Most of the room was still empty — lunch rush. Ren settled into his seat and swapped from general martial arts tutorials to dagger combat.
By the time Megumi and Yukino got back, he was deep into a comprehensive breakdown of close-range blade work. They greeted him as they passed; he acknowledged them without looking up.
Megumi sat down behind him and watched him scroll for a moment.
She'd noticed this pattern. He'd been watching videos since she first walked in this morning. Entirely of his own initiative, with complete focus.
Do those online tutorials actually do anything for him?
She couldn't quite figure out how a talent for learning translated to meaningful combat skill from a phone screen, but he clearly believed it did. She decided not to ask and opened her own books.
The lunch break ended.
As the afternoon bell rang and students filed back in, a woman walked through the door with the energy of someone who'd arrived five seconds before deciding to run.
Waist-length hair, sharp features, the brisk economy of movement that said she'd spent years in places where hesitating got people hurt.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Shizuka Hiratsuka — your martial arts instructor. Grab your things and follow me. Training hall, downstairs."
She was already leaving as she finished the sentence.
Several students exchanged glances. Then they moved, quickly.
Ren was among them, and he was — in full honesty — surprised. Of course she's here. Yukino's here, so it tracks. Still, seeing a face he recognized from a completely different context standing at the front of a real classroom had a specific quality of surreal to it.
He filed downstairs with the rest of the class and walked into a training hall large enough to fit several apartments.
"Find a spot and line up."
They found spots. They lined up.
Shizuka swept the room with a practiced look, confirmed everyone was present, and got straight to business.
The lesson opened with a demonstration — a standard fist form that most of them would have encountered in some version at their previous schools. But Shizuka's version had nothing theoretical about it. Each punch broke the air with a sharp crack; there was a faint, visible shimmer of energy at the end of her extension. The sequence flowed with the kind of control that only existed on the far side of years of very serious application.
"Most of you know this routine already. What you don't know yet is the advanced application." She turned back to face them. "I can see that a number of you have already reached Tier 2. Today's goal: learning to condense True Qi."
Breakthroughs to Tier 3. That was the subtext.
"Sensei — for those of us on the magic track, do we also need to condense True Qi?"
Shizuka's answer came with a wide, unrepentant grin. "Every single one of you is going to do it. Nobody in this class is specialized in just one path. Welcome to the Special Class."
A beat of silence.
"The Director went through a great deal of trouble to put you all here. Now start preparing for the most exhausting period of your lives."