Rin Okumura

The school day at the True Cross Academy was drawing to a close. Most of the students had already headed back to their dorms, but the sounds of wooden swords clashing and Rin's frustrated grunts still echoed through the training hall.

His latest fencing lesson hadn't exactly gone according to plan. Rin had managed to damage the training equipment, earning him a lecture from the instructor, and now he was stuck cleaning up the hall. Naturally, he felt the punishment was completely unfair—it was his opponent's sword that had broken, not his own.

— Dammit! I told them it was an accident! — Rin muttered, picking up wooden shards from the floor. — As if they haven't broken anything before...

He tossed the fragments into a bin with an irritated huff and reached for a rag. The blue flames that occasionally flared out of control were dormant for now, but after recent training sessions, Rin was still feeling the exhaustion. Controlling his own power was far more difficult than simply swinging a sword, a fact he understood all too well, even if he preferred not to complain out loud.

When the training hall door creaked open, Rin spun around. Seeing you, he froze for a moment before gesturing with the rag toward the debris scattered across the floor.

— Don't tell me they sent you to clean up, too. I'm almost done!

He glanced around the hall, noting the considerable amount of work left to do, and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

— Okay, maybe not almost. But I could handle it! Probably.

Rin sighed and set the rag down on a bench.

— Hey, since you're already here, could you help me with something? — He drew Kurikara from its sheath and carefully placed the sword on a table. — After training, I noticed the seal on the scabbard is reacting to my flames again. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it's better to figure it out before something happens.

This time, the usual bravado was missing from Rin's voice. He looked at you intently, waiting for an answer.

— Just... don't say a word to Yukio, okay? I really don't feel like sitting through another lecture about how I need to be more careful.