Kuoh Academy

[Apollymi]

Youmu's eyes shifted towards Izuna in a manner which caused them to narrow just a little. She hadn't been mysterious on purpose, and she figured all who needed to know what she meant would understand in general. With that in mind, she went quiet once more. Eira chuckled noting this girl's shift back into her normal self. As for the matter of the actual punishments to be dished out by the President of the girl up for punishments had her eyes widen. "Why would you even say that many, Kagimi? It's too much, Buchou?!~" there was an extreme bit of whining involved. "I wasn't thinking five hundred, I was thinking... 100 you should still be punished, missing school because you can't keep your hands to yourself is a bad precedent to let stand," said Eira which made Maiko's eyes widen. "That's mean Buchou!" she exclaimed though she would accept the punishment just the same. "Yasukawa, huh? Well, I guess that is cool. We're gonna find out what you're all about," she said pulling those gloves from her side and beginning to put them on which made Eira's eyes widen.

"Outside, now!" she said seeming to make a chuckle come from Maiko. "You heard Buchou," she said having pulled the glove onto her right hand first she immediately moved aiming to punch the young man in the center of his being, with enhanced strength aiming to knock him out of the still open window and out onto the yard away from the building. This was her opener for no reason other than to check his reflexes as she put her other glove on.

[Bloodedge]

Izuna's grin grew wider when Eira admitted to intending 100 spankings for their recently-suspended comrade. He would be sure to secure himself a front-row seat for it. "Wooo! A full hundred smacks across the ass for Mai!" He was obviously quite excited for what was to come, and he intended to share this excitement with the individual who was likely to become something of a brother figure to him. "Taku, be ready for a show. But... first you should be ready for--"

Before Takumi readied himself to step outside by the order of Eira, Maiko had something else in store for him that interrupted the words of Izuna briefly. They were both to take this fight outside, but Maiko intended to send Takumi out with a sudden opening attack. There was no warning, and Takumi had no immediate reaction to defend himself before a mighty fist collided with his torso, launching him through the open window with a greater force than he could have expected. Interestingly enough, this did not exceed the limits of his imagination. It reminded him of something... something he'd done himself once. Still, he was surprised to realize mid-air that he would not end up hospitalized from that. Surely he was right about Devils having tougher bodies than humans, but the fall was sure to hurt almost as much as the punch had if he landed wrong.

"... That. You should be ready for that. Nice one," Izuna said, directing his last words to Maiko. In the meantime, Takumi's desire to not hit the ground from a fall - and a likely tumble - seemed to allow him a subconscious use of one of many Devil powers. Black wings sprouted from his back, keeping him elevated between the first and second floor of the building from the outside. He'd seen these wings once before on Eira, but he'd simply had the thought that they were a developed thing, or perhaps something belonging to higher-tier Devils than himself. There would be much for him to learn. "Kuso. Is that what they meant? Does she have super strength, and I do too?" he wondered aloud.

[Apollymi]

"You keep being so excited about it, I'll give you fifty just because," mentioned Eira as she watched her newest member get knocked clean out of the room. Of course, this was about what she expected. In the same way that Miyuki was meek and openly friendly, Maiko was quite the opposite and seemingly outwardly aggressive only really deferring to people like Eira herself (and even then mostly just to avoid punishment). Regardless, Maiko found her hit making contact the way she'd expected and slipped on her other glove while Izuna congratulated her on the hit she'd made. "Sankyuu, Kagimi..." she said as she jumped out of the window herself soon afterwards and heard the query of the lad while she aimed to make her newly covered fist hit him as well on her way down, her intention to finish the job of smashing him into the ground. 'Making use of his wings already?' Eira thought as she approached the window to watch the going fight only to notice Takumi hadn't actually made contact with the ground.

"Yare yare, they skipped the crash course in Evil Pieces, huh? Alright, I'll tell ya' now, I'm a Rook. My piece gives me exceedingly good offense and defense, in addition to what I am naturally capable of. Every piece gives their holder a bit of a boost in addition. Thus some people are naturally aligned to a specific kind of piece," she said. "Our leader is good at sensing what kind of piece a person will need. It's part of her job as King, building strategies and what not, but I'm not about that." she mentioned as if this wasn't obvious by her way of starting this training session. "I'm a Rook because I am all power, good at hand to hand combat and fairly durable as well," she mentioned of herself. "I also got something special, but I don't usually need it for stuff like this~ Buchou is really good at routing out the special ones, so what are ya'?" she asked, because unlike the rest of the group she didn't already know what position this young man had taken up, or what might have transpired that led to this young man being part of their family.

[Bloodedge]

"You'll have to catch me, Eira~♪" Izuna said in a sing-song tone. Apparently, not even their leader was spared his antics. He nonchalantly floated around the room, taking a side to Eira as she watched the battle that had been taken outside. "Besides, I might like it. Our new little Taku might too~"

Takumi's wings kept him afloat while Maiko's approach. He wasn't capable enough in his flight ability to avoid the secondary attack, but he was now wary enough to hold out his arms and take the brunt of the force. Doing so helped him quite a bit, though he was still sent rocketing toward the ground. After landing, it registered to him that the chess pieces assigned to each member of Eira's peerage had their own unique traits that coincided with, and aided, the natural abilities of their owners. Takumi thought this was strange. Had Eira made a mistake in granting him a piece? With him and Maiko seeming to be so similar in their abilities, surely he should have been a Rook as well. As he contemplated this matter, Takumi lifted himself from the ground, and gave his response. "I... I'm a Pawn. What does that mean?"

[Apollymi]

Eira indeed was not spared Izuna's antics, but she also knew the importance of them. Unlike many she in general accepted all of the quirks of her peerage, finding them to help bind them together as family above all things. His words though didn't go without causing her raised brow and crossing her arms under her chest. "Whatever you say, you might also just hate it, and have it deter your naughty behaviors," she said as she very noticeably avoided mentioning Takumi in her statement. She still rather obviously felt strangely about this boy, and was already quite attached to him, though there was no obvious reason for this to be the case, even if one put out her like in general of Bishounen boys.

Maiko on the other hand, got to see how Takumi's abilities were playing out. And she was colored impressed by his ability to try and block an attack after so recently receiving one. "Freshly made, and with enough sense to try to do something about the follow up. Respect Yasakawa, but you're gonna have to fight back eventually. I mean, it's good to take a beating and all... but bouncing back is just as important," she said as the boy seemed to get himself back together at ground level and question his place as pawn. This made Maiko's brow raise. She'd been a member of Eira Gremory's peerage for the last three years, and never knew the young woman had any inclination of making a pawn at all. "Don't say it so weak, you sound like you're thinking about it too much. I'm a Rook and you think you should be too given your current disposition, but you don't really know what pawns do, huh?" she said firmly as she bounced on her toes, to be honest she wouldn't be surprised if the boy heard his piece was a pawn and thought himself some sort of sacrificial lamb. But from what she was told, as an Evil Piece, pawns were so much more than that. "Pawns special trait, is Promotion. You will have the ability to promote yourself to one of the higher pieces, with Buchou's permission or in enemy territory. As such you should have base level skills in all possible attributes you could choose to be," she said as she moved forward once more this time aiming a swinging kick with her left leg into the young man's right side with enough force to send him flying. "Basically, Buchou made you and put her faith in your ability to grow to be whatever you wanted. Clutch position~" she said. Such an explanation made Eira's eyes widen, she didn't think her Rook had such insight about her, surely she'd have expected such a thing from Izuna or even Youmu given they knew how she operated.

[Bloodedge]

"Or I'll really like it, and I'll keep getting on your bad side on purpose to get more. Are you a gambler, Buchou?" Izuna continued to pester the president with his antics, but his eyes were glued on the two outside. Things were already becoming interesting for him to watch, and he even gained some insight as to how much attention Maiko had been paying to Rating Game-related information.

"Promotion, huh? So if I want, I can get the Rook's power?" Takumi wondered aloud. There was more to his train of thought, but the remainder passed through his mind alone as he stared at his left hand. 'If the pieces are based on the person already... could that be what happened?' he thought. Knowing this interaction wouldn't get very far unless he actually fought back, Takumi clenched his fist and looked toward Maiko with determination in his eyes. There was something else behind his gaze, though... something akin to worry. Either way, he didn't imagine there would be much choice in the long run, so something had to be done here and now. "I hope you don't mind, then, if I join you. I have an idea where I belong. If there's one thing I've always been, it's way too strong for my own good!" This time, when Maiko attacked, Takumi met it with a forward charge of his own. He did always have fighting capability, and though he wasn't exactly a martial artist or anything, he wasn't too bad off. As such, the outward kick of Maiko's left leg flew overhead as Takumi slid low to avoid it. As he rose from this slide, he aimed a full-force punch at Maiko's left side, boasting - somehow - double the strength he should have possessed, even as a Devil with a reasonably high amount of demonic power for one so fresh. Beyond this, something appeared on Takumi's arm mid-swing. He suddenly sported a red, armored bracer - one that left his fingers uncovered - with yellow accents and a green gem on top of the palm area. When his punching force doubled in magnitude, the green gem upon the gauntlet flashed brightly, and spoke aloud: "BOOST!"

[Apollymi]

Eira's left brow rose as her companion questioned whether or not she was a gambler, after of course, continuing to tease the idea that he might actually like being spanked probably as an attempt to directly deter her from the activity. A smirk came over the young woman's face as she watched the progression of the training below. "Obviously, I am... the question is are you calling my bluff, I-zu-na?" she asked spacing the syllables of his name in a very strange way.

Meanwhile, Maiko's kick went on to become a spin into nothing. She was admittedly impressed by this young boy's fortitude and ability to learn under pressure. Still, she was the one in charge of this present sort of training, as such she'd continue answering his questions to the best of her abilities. "I mean, yeah, if you thought a particular situation needed you to be strong. But... promotions to other pieces could be useful as well. I haven't really seen it though, Buchou didn't make any other pawns yet. Also you'd go back to being a pawn at the end of the Rating Game, as it stands though I wouldn't mind ya' as a partner," she mentioned only to have her eyes widen as the boy finally struck back and she went to catch his hand. And found herself surprised by the amount of force coming her way. Within her hand appeared a large glowing shield, mostly to absorb the impact, and even though she didn't have to touch the other weapon, she was still sent flying backwards by several meters across the yard. She was stunned and so was Eira in the window. "Sugoi, Takumi has one of those!" she said seemingly excited by the possession which had finally made itself known around the young boy's arm. Her faith in him obviously very well placed. "A Sacred Gear. Sou ka...." said Maiko as her own shield spun in front of her seeming to gather a bit of light before stopping. "Oi! Buchou, you could have warned me, I didn't think you'd ever end up with another like us! Three for the team!~" she said as a possessor of one of these magical items.

[Bloodedge]

"... Maybe," was the only thing Izuna had left to say. It was a risky move, going along with this topic, but the boy's playful spirit could not let him cease. Moving on though, the already interesting battle was quickly becoming something truly exciting. This previously hidden power of Takumi's revealed itself in great splendor against Maiko, and Takumi himself was totally surprised by the sudden appearance of a gauntlet on his arm. 'What the hell!?' he wondered. What was this? Was this simply how his Devil powers manifested whatever he had going on for him before? The term "Sacred Gear" was used, and it seemed a bit ridiculous as a concept. Simply calling it something sacred while he was a Devil, was strangeness itself. "Sacred Gear? Is this my Rook power or something? It feels like normal," he said, addressing the fact that this new gauntlet of his felt the exact same as the fights he'd had in the past, where his strength far exceeded the norm and led to a very undesired form of victory.

[Apollymi]

"Um-hm," having her bluff called in such a way made her decide that she was going to have to give Izuna a spanking as well. His playful insolence was to be put to the test this day, but before she could draw back her hand, she was looking upon a sight below which required her utmost attention. Beyond that she'd been directly addressed so she had to answer with a bit of a shrug. "Gomennasai, Maiko. I didn't know what he had, I only knew he seemed more than he appeared. I'm sure it's for the best though right, at least he's combat ready!" she said which made Maiko smile. As to the question of whether or not this ability was Rook related or not, Maiko looked at the boy and shook her head left to right. "Iie, such a thing would have nothing to do with a potential promotion to Rook. To do that you would have had to get permission from Buchou, you can't trigger it on your own," she explained. "Sacred Gears are born with the individuals who possess them, and between you and me, they can only be born with a human. It's like some kind of divine rule. Because, Angels, Devils, Fallen Angels, and Youkai, all have their own abilities. These were said to be given to mankind to allow them some respite from all. You lucked out having one, they are really rare, I have one too, but according to everyone mine is artificial. There isn't any record of it before me. But if yours is legitimate some of the older ones might have seen it before~" she mentioned.

In the moments in which this statement was being relayed, Eira made her way to the lower floor to inspect this development first hand. Upon getting to the ground she found herself at Takumi's side looking at his new gauntlet with wide eyes. "Basically this power has always been yours, you just needed the will power to make it visible." she said looking at the young man with something akin to pride in her eyes. "Buchou, you should be really proud, that hit was about twice what I expected. I might have taken a bruising if I hadn't used Twinkle Aegis~" she said seemingly happy with her new teammate.

[Bloodedge]

"Sou ka," said Takumi. Looking at his gauntlet-clad wrist, he felt as if he understood more about himself. This was something he was born with, but something that had never manifested in such proper form. Without a doubt, it was this Sacred Gear, as others called it, that caused his combat-related mishaps in the past. What could he do with it now, though? It seemed Maiko didn't have any specific information about his Sacred Gear, beyond the overall facts about Sacred Gear in general. She did mention that others may recognize it, though, and true enough... someone did. "Twice Critical," Izuna said. During the downtime of the battle, he'd floated out the window to hover above the combatants. Visually, Takumi's Sacred Gear was unmistakable. More importantly than that, what it did was something he'd seen a couple of times in his life as a Devil. "Whew, you're lucky~. You only had a few seconds left for that to not hurt like hell!" he said to Maiko. As if to mark his words, the green gem on Takumi's gauntlet soon flashed once again. "Boost!" it said. "Rating Games are gonna be fun~"