Sei

Training

       Osamu and Kasai were training in Osamu's garden. It was wide and well-kept considering Osamu was barely around. A gardener regularly visited to tend to it. It was a wide square shape with flower patches all around the outside and the inside being clean cut grass. It had always doubled as a training ground for Kasai, who was currently in the middle of trying to defend against Osamu. Osamu sent a flurry of palm strikes towards Kasai with quite a speed, landing nearly all of them. Kasai fell backwards scuffing the grass and leaving a patch of dirt. He was breathless and in a lot of pain.
       "Seriously old man, are you trying to kill my chances of graduating tomorrow? How am I supposed to pass if I'm in too much pain to even move!?" Kasai shouted.
       "The quicker you learn to localise your barriers, the less I'll be able to strike you." Osamu replied coldly.
       "Well do you have to go so damn hard whilst I'm still learning!?" Kasai argued back.
       "I'm seriously holding back Kasai, using only about a tenth of my speed and power, and that's before Buteki release is involved. Besides if you want to learn this by the end of the night this is the speed we need to practise at. Now get up and let's go. Again." Osamu scolded.
       Kasai jumped to his feet and closed his eyes. Osamu took his fighting position. An idea occurred to Kasai and he began to smile a little taking his fighting stance. They both stood there momentarily in silence as a zephyr blew through the air. Then Osamu started to send his palm strikes for Kasai, they were just as fast and powerful as before but not even one was landing. instead they were all being repelled. Osamu paused his attacks momentarily and stepped back to observe Kasai, who had a smug smile on his face.
       "What's the matter Osamu? Can't hit me?" Kasai taunted.
       Osamu said nothing but his eyes momentarily lost their cool and calm look, being replaced by a look of mild anger and disappointment. His hands began to glow blue as he threw an extremely powerful palm strike towards Kasai, breaking his Senzai barrier completely. The strike landed on Kasai's chest and as it hit he cried out in pain. Kasai flew nearly a metre back through the air and then hit the ground tumbling backwards. When he stopped tumbling he held the point on his chest where the strike hit tightly and sent a look of fury towards Osamu.
       "Are you kidding me you crazy bastard!? What's wrong with you!?" Kasai barked.
       The cool look had returned to Osamu's eyes. He walked slowly closer to Kasai until he was stood towering over him.
       "Don't cheat." Osamu said dispassionately.
       "What are you talking about? I did the barrier thing, just like you said, you sore loser!" Kasai argued back angrily.
       "Kasai, when you achieve the level of Noryoku I have, you can use see the flow of Sei inside a person and the Sei being exerted from them. You can use this to detect what type of Noryoku they're using, what release it is, where they're concentrating Sei and many other things. The point is I could see that you were just putting a barrier up around your whole body, I already told you not to do that." Osamu lectured.
       "Why not!?" Kasai rebelled. "It worked, didn't it? Why can't I just do that instead and cut this training time out."
       "Because you only have a limited amount of Sei use before you need to rest and recover. The competitive tests come right at the end of the graduation exam which means you'll have already used up a lot of Sei. Using a Senzai barrier to cover your entire body is a last resort and it uses an extreme amount of Sei. At most, you could hold it for ten minutes and then you'd be totally out of gas." Osamu replied sharply.
       "Well I can beat my opponent in ten minutes!" Kasai responded with a defiant look.
       "Arrogance. Ignoring the fact that you wouldn't even last for the full ten minutes when using other Noryoku on top of a full body Senzai barrier, what if you come up against a student like Satoru Tatsuya?" Osamu asked sternly.
       "What about Satoru, why does everyone think he's so special? I hate that guy, he's just so full of himself. He walks around acting like he's the coolest guy in the room. I could beat him with my hands tied behind my back!" Kasai replied spitefully.
       "Drop the attitude Kasai. Whether you like him or not you can't underestimate him, he's been offered to take the graduation exam early for six years running now, since he was ten years old. He is talented even if you refuse to admit it and many call him a prodigy. As a comparison, you have failed the graduation exam twice now, most people pass the second time round but you're on your third try, meaning you are comparatively nowhere near his league in ability." Osamu warned harshly.
       "Whatever! This is stupid anyway, all of this, I don't need your stupid training! I'll prove you wrong, I'm gunna beat Satoru on my own, I don't need any help." Kasai screamed at Osamu and stormed towards the house.
       "Kasai!" Osamu raised his voice ever so slightly, an extremely rare occurrence for him, it was so shocking Kasai nearly jumped out of his skin.
He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face Osamu, glaring angrily at him.
      "What do you want old man!?" Kasai asked moodily.
       Osamu did not speak to reply, instead, he slowly and gracefully raised his arm out in front of him, maintaining icy cold eye contact with Kasai's fiery glare. Then, in a rather sudden movement, like that of a gunshot, he released his finger so it was pointing at the floor just in front of him.
      There was a silence as another zephyr blew through the air, both Kasai and Osamu maintaining a combative eye contact, engaging each other in a battle of will. After about twenty seconds of this silent war of the mind, Kasai broke eye contact, looking towards the floor and letting out a sigh of defeat. Then he looked towards Osamu who had not moved nor waivered from his position, and began to walk slowly towards him. He reached the patch of dirt Osamu had been pointing to the entire time and averted his eyes to the floor, ready to receive a lecture. He braced himself ready, but then he felt Osamu's hand fall lightly and warmly on his shoulder.
       He looked up, catching Osamu's eyes, which instead of their usual icy look, seemed to be filled with warmth.
"I want to see you wipe the floor with him one day." Kasai's eyes widened as he heard Osamu's words. "and I know if you work hard, you'll be able to show everyone just how capable you are, I'm only pushing you so hard because I know one day, people won't be able to look down on you anymore. You'll force people to recognise your presence with your strength and determination." Osamu smiled warmly.
       Kasai's eyes began to glisten a little, he quickly looked to the floor smiling as a single tear rolled down his cheek.
       "Careful old man, if you keep this up, someone might think you actually feel emotions like a normal person." Kasai joked trying to wipe away the tear so that Osamu wouldn't notice it. "Alright then." Kasai held his head high with a look of determination. "If that's how you feel, then I've got no time to waste."
       Osamu gave a final smile and then the cool look returned to his face.
       "Well then, take your ready position." Osamu instructed taking his own battle position. "Again."