Senran Kagura: Heart of Fire

Chapter 9: Limit Break

After getting ready, Tokei and Shizuku head out to the Academy. When they get there, Rei is waiting outside for them. She greets them with a smile, and they both smile back. Once they get inside, they immediately head towards the classroom. There, they are awaited by Kiriya, with Ikaruga and Katsuragi at his side, and Asuka, Hibari, and Yagyū are awaiting instructions. They all sit down and listen closely. Kiriya explains that today they would be working on aerobic exercise to help improve overall stamina, as getting fatigued during a mission would most likely result in failure. They are told to change clothes and wait for further instructions outside. After changing, they all follow Kiriya to a foggy forest. "This is where you will conduct your training, you are to run, non-stop to the other side of this forest, focus your attention on your heartbeat and breathing rhythm, if you are to stop, make sure to do it unseen, as Katsuragi and Ikaruga are instructed to attack without discrimination anyone who stops." explains Kiriya. He asks if there are any questions and instructs them to change to their Shinobi forms, except for Rei. They all shout "Shinobi Transformation!" and transform, except Tokei, he looks at Kiriya after his failure and tries again, but it does not work again. Kiriya notices that everyone had an aura on them except him and Rei. He tells Katsuragi and Ikaruga to take care of the other girls and that he will take Rei & Tokei elsewhere. They nod and start the exercise. Kiriya takes Rei and Tokei far away from the other training spot. "Rei, you have not achieved Shinobi Transformation, so I will show you, as for Tokei, I don't sense power in you, did something happen lately?" says Kiriya. Tokei explains everything about the woman in black and that she "stole his powers". Kiriya decides to believe him and turns to Rei. With a serious expression on his face he tells Rei to close her eyes and clear her mind, to only focus on what she most enjoys. A powerful blue aura revolves around Rei. Kiriya tells her to open her eyes and shout the words "Shinobi Transformation". Rei quickly opens her eyes, they are a brighter than usual blue, she yells out the words and the aura disperses, kicking up dust all around her. When it clears up, Rei's clothes change to a black and red leather skin-tight suit and she now has two pistols, one black and one white, with one on each hand. She twirls her new guns on her hands and squeals in excitement. Kiriya is amazed at how fast she achieved it and tells her to try out her pistols on a tree. Rei shoots the pistols at a far away tree and they release high energy laser bullets. With only two bullets the tree is knocked down, after shooting them Rei smiles and looks at her pistols and twirls them once more. "Well, this was faster than expected, I really didn't think you would achieve it this fast, for someone who didn't even know what Shinobi Transformation was, now that that's over with, time to move on to you, Tokei." Kiriya says while looking directly at Tokei. Tokei looks determined as he prepares for the trial he is about to undergo. Kiriya changes his mind and tells them both that they are to do what the others are doing, and that he will be looking out. Tokei looks shocked and Rei looks determined to complete this task. Kiriya tells them to run to the other side of the forest without stopping.

On Shizuku's side, she is clearly exhausted from jumping from tree to tree, her breathing is fast and heavy, and sweat drips from her face downward. She is moving slower than when she started, taking longer to jump from branch to branch, she looks focused on going forward, but occasionally looks to her sides to look for her classmates, she doesn't see anybody, and she looks behind her back. She doesn't see anybody either, which she deducts, she is either too far upfront or too far behind. She hears a faint sound coming from her left side, she sees someone also jumping on the trees, but cannot deduce who they are, she leaps from a branch to another branch on her left, to get a clear look on the person. She notices the person was Hibari, as she sees her pink, short hair. She looks forward and quickly turns to her again, and she sees that Hibari trips and falls down. Shizuku stops and goes left to check her classmate, but when she gets there, she doesn't see anybody. Ikaruga jumps down from a branch higher up and attacks Shizuku, she flips backwards to dodge the attack onto a different branch and continues onward with Ikaruga on her flank. She sees some light at the end so she makes a final push to make it out. When she makes it out of the forest, she jumps down and does a roll to land. She lands sitting down, breathing heavily. Shizuki looks in front of her and sees that the rest of the girls were already there, and looks to the floor, disagreeing with her performance.