**Chapter 113 – The Fourth Day**
The fourth day dawned clearer than the previous ones.
In Room 214, Harley woke up first this time. She stayed lying on her side for a moment, watching Joker still sleeping, before poking his shoulder with her finger.
— Get up. If we're late, Astrid is going to complain the whole way.
Joker opened one eye, voice rough with sleep.
— You're strangely responsible today.
— I know. It scares me too.
They got ready without hurry and went down. In the courtyard, the group was already forming little by little. Astrid and Marina arrived together, still discussing something from the previous day. Rina came yawning. Sylvara and Lirien talked quietly. Kuroe appeared last, as she almost always did, quiet and already ready.
— Fourth day — Astrid commented, stretching her arms. — I'm starting to think we're actually going to survive this routine.
Harley laughed.
— Surviving is easy. The hard part is not dying of boredom.
Joker didn't answer. He just shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking toward the classroom building. The rest followed.
The first class of the day was practical again, but this time in a different format. Master Ragnar took them to a smaller field, surrounded by lower barriers, and explained the exercise in his usual rough voice:
— Today you're going to train in pairs. One attacks, the other defends. Then you switch. I want to see movement reading, not brute force. Anyone who relies only on power is going to have a bad time.
The pairs were formed almost randomly.
Joker ended up with Astrid.
Harley with Marina.
Rina with Sylvara.
Lirien was paired with a student from outside the group.
And Kuroe… ended up with Elowen again.
This time it wasn't such a big coincidence. Ragnar seemed to be testing combinations that had worked before.
Kuroe and Elowen positioned themselves facing each other without any comment. The space between them was the same as always — neither too close nor too far.
When the signal to begin was given, the field filled with movement.
Astrid attacked in a direct and heavy way, forcing Joker to move with precision. He barely counterattacked at first, only dodging and correcting the distance, as if he were measuring her rhythm. Harley, on the other side, turned Marina's defense into something almost choreographed, laughing every time she managed to make the other lose her balance by a little. Rina and Sylvara worked in silence, one using speed, the other creating small interferences on the terrain.
In Kuroe and Elowen's space, the training was the quietest on the field.
Elowen attacked in a clean and economical way. Kuroe defended the same way. There was no hurry. There was no need to speak. Each movement was answered with another in the right measure, as if the two had already grown used to each other's rhythm.
At a certain moment, Elowen advanced a little faster. Kuroe dodged by a narrow margin and, for the first time, counterattacked directly. The movement wasn't strong. It was just enough to make Elowen take a step back and readjust her posture.
The two stopped for a second.
Elowen looked at her. There was no irritation in the gaze. Only a silent evaluation. Then she nodded once, short, and returned to the starting position.
Kuroe returned the nod the same way.
On the other side of the field, Harley noticed at a glance and commented quietly to Joker while still dodging an attack from Marina:
— Those two again.
— I saw — he answered.
The exercise continued until Ragnar ordered them to stop. Most were out of breath. The orphanage group, as usual, seemed less worn out than the average.
As the class dispersed, Kuroe and Elowen separated without any conversation. Just the same contained recognition as always.
On the way back to the next period, the group walked together again.
— I'm starting to think Kuroe and that girl understand each other better than we do — Astrid joked.
Kuroe simply shrugged.
— We don't need to talk much.
The answer was simple enough to end the subject.
The fourth day was still only beginning.
But little by little, some things inside the academy were finding their own rhythm — including the silences.
**End of Chapter 113**