Campus Sanctuary 1

Hard Boundaries

Seiya gathers his friends for an urgent meeting about the battles they are allowed to talk about to prevent another incident. The rules must be clear ASAP, and the boys discuss various ways to accomplish this. Saori visits at night and reminds them they will be expelled if this happens again.

The weather for today is sunny.

This week concludes the May chapter.

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[May 20, Sunday - week 4]

The BBs gather on the sofa for an urgent meeting right after breakfast. Seiya then magically brings out a moving chalkboard to which said item comes from is anyone's guess. Anyway, Seiya begins his speech.

"Guys, thank you for coming!" Seiya takes a deep breath. "Look, you're the best friends in the world, and nothing can replace you. But we need to set some hard boundaries for ourselves to prevent another scenario like it happened last week. It won't do us good to get along with everyone at school if we can't be nice to each other."

"What's with the blackboard?" Hyoga asks.

"I dunno. I got it from somewhere here. Anyway, we can't afford to offend each other. Not even by accident, so the number one rule we must follow is..." Seiya begins to write. "...not discuss previous battles unless one or more of us faced the same enemy. If nothing else, this is the golden rule."

"That makes sense," Shiryu says.

"Talking about combat to someone who wasn't involved might invite unwanted judgement or criticism," Shun adds.

"This is especially true since a lot of the fights are personal," Ikki says.

"I agree. I would add it might trigger unwanted feelings too," Hyoga says.

"Yep! As long we keep that in mind, we should be good. Now to be fair..." Seiya writes. "...we can give general opinions on events like the 12 Houses or a god like Poseidon or Hades. Since we've been involved with the same event and fought the same gods, I think it's fair game. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, it is fair game. We've been involved so I don't see why we shouldn't comment. We should be able to comment," Ikki says.

"Of course, as long as we don't talk about individual fights."

"Those are good rules, Seiya. But there will be times when we might talk about specific things that aren't combat-related or close to it. For example, we can give an opinion about a particular house of the Zodiac but we cannot talk about the enemy unless one or more of us fought the same person. And even then, we might want to take context into consideration. I believe this is what happened between the two of you that day," Shiryu says. "You unintentionally offended each other."

"Speaking of context, we need to be mindful and call out if any of us tries to leak even by accident," Shun says. "It's very easy to blurt, especially if it gets heated and we might say things that can't be taken back."

Seiya notes the talking points on the chalkboard.

"Good! Anything else we need to know?" Seiya asks.

"Keeping in mind previous battles is good and all, but we might want to talk about life from our training days at some point," Hyoga says.

"But I would put a limit such as talking about daily life, giving an opinion about the place you lived in, etc." Shiryu says.

"Well, Hyoga and I are doing that already, but we only limit ourselves to daily life and mere observations like Shiryu said. We talk about non-training stuff and give very limited opinions on our training days."

"That makes sense. But still, if one of us refuses to talk, it'll be wise to respect their wish and refrain from asking further questions," Shun says.

"That's a good point." Seiya writes again on the chalkboard.

"Also another thing to keep in mind is that if any of us shows odd behavior, we must refrain from judging or criticizing," Ikki says.

"Odd behavior?" Seiya asks, confused.

"Such as behavior brought by distress."

"I see. Years of training and then fighting would wear us out," Shiryu says.

"Our behavior last week is a recent example of that," Shun adds.

"It made us act in unexpected ways," Hyoga says.

"We even knew what to expect and it still happened," Seiya says. "Moreover, we're still grieving over the loss of the Gold Saints."

"This is where sympathy and empathy become important to our mental state. That's why we must acknowledge and accept it for what it is without attempting to make any judgment whatsoever," Shiryu explains.

"We can also see Dr. Haruki if we need to. Something tells me he knows way more about us than simple celebrities. He outright said this."

"I can't help but think of Mu when we see him. He looks so much alike."

"Same here. Haha! Taking his advice isn't a bad idea."

"Befriending our teachers would certainly enhance our school experience," Shun says. "I don't see why we shouldn't do so."

"So should we address them as san or master?" Hyoga asks.

"I don't think we should address our teachers as masters, but we can address them as sensei. There will be exceptions, of course, depending on the individual and how comfortable we are with them."

"Sensei doesn't sound bad. I mean, we already addressed our homeroom teacher as Haruka-san and the director as Mitsuru-san." Seiya grins.

"And then we address Dr. Haruki by his name," Shun adds.

"Exactly!" Seiya nods.

Seiya writes again with the info gained.

"By the way, should be talking about this with Saori-san?" Ikki asks.

"It depends, but not everything needs to be discussed. We don't want to cause unnecessary worry. She did that a lot for us, so it would be best for us to solve our own situation. Does that make sense?" Shiryu says.

"I see what you're saying." Ikki nods.

"It's best for us to solve this and not worry Saori-san too much," Seiya says. He makes note of this on the chalkboard. "And with that ends our discussion. What do you guys think? Think we can do it?"

"Sure we can! The rules are simple enough," Hyoga says.

"They're all common sense too," Shiryu adds.

"I memorized all of them. They're perfect reminders," Shun says.

"With those rules, we shouldn't have problems from here on out."

"Yeah for the sake of school, we gotta know this."

Many hours have passed since the long discussion. Saori shows up at night like always and reminds the boys they will be expelled if another conflict occurs. But they reassured her it would not happen again and explained to her the long meeting held in the morning to address this issue. Saori seems to be pleased after hearing all this. She praises them for taking prompt action and congratulates them on their midterms.

To be continued...