Onegai, Zetsubo-sensei [Asami, Nami]

It came as pleasant news when she had woken up, supposedly she was under consideration for graduation. Hard work had paid off and in a month she might be allowed to don the black and white robes of the shinigami in full rather than this student attire. While she did pursue hard work she was ashamed that she had cheated in places where it was written exams and assignments, sticky fingers were not so easily swayed when it was do or die for her dreams.

She was pretty good at it and though it was not something to take pride in, she certainly did.

Nami's eyes were set on a class for hakuda. She was competent at it but one could always use a bit more practice. Lightfooted as she was, she was never one to get into fights but rather run from them.

Always early summarised her. Some teachers like to arrive on the dot; or ten to fifteen minutes early to prepare. Not her though, she was habitually found thirty minutes early sometimes. It was better to be three hours early than a minute late, right?

So she stood at the door to the training room with her back leaning against the wood and her arms crossed. Quietly thinking to herself about the birds that she'd seen flying about on her walk here. They were quite pretty, she could name the species of each one.

Asami was one to arrive comfortably ahead of time for any of her classes, from her first days as a student until now when she was a teacher. That was not to say that she thought she was ever too early to those things, for she believed that was definitely a thing, so an eyebrow did cock up with intrigue as she spotted a familiar face leaning against the woodwork of her training room door.

"You're early, again, Miss Muira."

Her tone was subtly disapproving, a downward inflexion to her words as she tried to gauge exactly why Nami was making a habit of coming to her classes with notable punctuality. It was indicative of someone with too much time on their hands, or a lacking of ability that could only be accounted for by upping the intensity of their training. So, which one was it?

"I'm sorry, Furukawa-sensei."

She quietly said with a respectful bow to Asami. It was plain to see that she disapproved of her habit of arriving so early. Maybe she ought to consider dropping the habit of her's, though she thought it was a positive thing to be so punctual. She seems to have misjudged.

"I just prefer to be an hour early than a minute late. It allows for time to reflect and consider the material of the work is all."

Nami said with her concern quite plain at the idea she was doing something wrong. Hopefully this did not reflect poorly on her. It would be really bad if she was to find herself in trouble over being overly punctual. Just for good measure she did another display of bowing to show her sincerest apology for the error she has done.

It was easy to tell that she had flustered Nami, but if that was the price for setting her straight then Asami would gladly pay it. Though, naturally, she did not want to over-correct this process. That would do more harm than good, and she knew all too well the danger of taking things too far. Maybe that had made her harsher these past few months, but this was a learning process for her too.

"It is good to be punctual, of course, but be careful that you do not look like you have nothing else to do. I know you are on the precipice of graduation, if you want a career as a member of the Gotei United then do not give the impression that you have too much time on your hands."

She was chastising her, but it came from a place of genuine care. She wanted her students to succeed in their goals, after all, to be assets to whichever Division they eventually joined. If that meant a little tough love then she was not above that, for the sake of her future comrades.

"So, then. What have you been reflecting on? We still have a few minutes before the rest of the class is likely to arrive."

Moving to open the door, Asami went to head into her classroom. If Nami had gone to the trouble of catching her alone then the least she could do was show her the courtesy of hearing out her concerns.

"O-okay."

She affirmed with a bit of sudden meekness to her voice, the whole situation just left her feeling basful really. It was also embarrassing to admit that the reason she was so frequently punctual and obsessed with being early was due to an incident in the first year of the academy where she had fallen asleep in the bathroom after doing an all-night study session and missed her class.

Not that she confessed that being the real reason then, nor would she now.

"I was thinking about how hakuda could be used for gentle applications. It feels like most of what I've learned in my time here is not very subtle, it's all martial arts and enhancing ourselves with reiryoku but all of those higher level techniques seem to be very obviously destructive like the tsukiyubi or the tesshou."

She was of course thinking about pressure points and hakuda techniques which could wound people with just light touches. A thief had gentle fingers after all, moves that didn't arouse suspicion which wasn't the standard curriculum of the shin'o academy.

"Gentle applications of Hakuda are not something that most students seek out so readily. There is an inherent challenge to such techniques that do not make them ideal training material, not for novices anyway."

Asami explained as she entered the classroom, quietly enjoying that Nami had at least bothered to ask an interesting question. There were many more intricacies to Hakuda than the simple moves she taught to her students in regular classes. Being able to defeat an opponent quietly, with precise blows, was something expected of an Onmitsukidō hopeful - though that was less common these days. Certainly, Asami was of the belief that the quality of Hakuda practitioners had only deteriorated in their absence.

"Control is where everything begins, and it can be expressed through different means to serve different purposes. A tsukiyubi or a tesshou let this energy explode outward, but neither is as deadly as the subtle whisper of a harugasumi master."

Even Asami's knowledge of the particulars of harugasumi was limited to what she had learned from the Koizumi. A dangerous task in itself, for anyone that had not already bound themselves to that lineage. But it was only an example, there were other techniques that could be used to achieve the goal that Nami likely had.

She followed along quietly, her footsteps quiet and almost soundless to those that weren't listening for them. She wasn't the best hoho user in her classes but Nami's ability to walk around without people hearing her footsteps was a more subtle trait that she had and has led to be people being confused by her sudden appearance and creeping up without meaning to.

Harugasumi? That wasn't a technique she was familiar with, did that make her stand out as looking particularly incompetent if she acted like she didn't know? Best to try and play it off like she knew about what Asami was talking about so she quietly nodded at the woman's explanation.

"Right, so it is possible to achieve outcomes like this. I'm sure it must be very difficult and advanced. I'm not the best at Hakuda... I was just curious, Furukawa-sensei. Have you learned techniques like these?"

"I'd be a rather poor teacher if I didn't, wouldn't I?"

Her lips curled upwards into a slight grin, amused rather than irritated that one of her students was interested in her own abilities. Certainly, all the decades she had spent in the field were not wasted when it came to matters like this. Nami's exact intention was not her goal to read, but she had pleasant hopes for the young lady so perhaps it was worth a little extra investment.

"The complexity comes from a need to understand the anatomy of our foes as well as ourselves, and then being able to apply your power precisely enough to pick at these minuscule weaknesses. Come, some of them are a little easier to remember than others."

Rather calmly, she motioned for Nami to stand before her as she began to loosen up. The best way to teach was always to demonstrate, that was how lessons with Asami would often go.

Well they had a bit of time, Nami didn't pretend though that she wasn't a little concerned about what could happen if she was a training dummy. Asami could probably do some real damage to her but she also thought that if her teacher screwed up so seriously then she must not be that good a teacher, right? She'll keep that thought to herself though.

Not all birds were meant to fly from the tree.

"Alright."

She answered while getting into the position that Asami beckoned her to take, a marionette with her teacher pulling her strings, Nami would make the perfect malleable puppet for the teacher to work with.

"A key element in performing many of these techniques is the element of surprise, which is a challenge to training that cannot easily be overcome. But that does not mean you cannot study where exactly to strike someone, or the applications or these abilities. So."

Asami's hand raised to Nami's neck, tracking a little along the edge of her frame until it met the point where her thumb was brushing against the inside of her collarbone whilst the rest of her hand wrapped over her shoulder. She wasn't applying much force, it made the grip appear almost innocuous.

"It might not seem like much, but, with a proper application, a hold like this is all that you need."

Her grip tightened, not sharp enough that it would cause any lasting injury just enough to give Nami a jolt as Asami's energy suddenly surged through her fingertips and into her. It would not have been hard to press further, of course, but that was not the point. It was a demonstration, not a punishment.

"Now, try to find that same spot on me. Don't exactly pressure it, but try to find it quickly. Speed is as valuable as technique."