I went on patrol and caught three Day Class students snooping around the gate. I sent them back to their dorms, and then continued my patrols.

Once I was finished, I hurried over to the small clesring that was in a nearby forest. It was where Zero had been training me for the past few months, and I'd expected he'd meet me there whenever he finished his shift.

I waited for about half an hour before he finally arrived. I waved to him, but he ignored it. He walked up to me.

"Got your gun?" he asked.

I grabbed my gun, which had been hidden under my skirt. "Yup!"

"Well, then start running. you need to build up your speed." Zero had a straight face the whole time.

I nodded, and started running. I'd had this exercise before. Random targets would pop out around me, and I had to hit them while running, making sure to hit them as close to the center as possible. I held up my gun.

A target popped up about five seconds later, and I shot at it. I hit the second ring from the middle, which was pretty godd for a newbie like me, but not good enough.

Another one appeared a few moments later, and I hit it dead center. Score! I thought with a smile.

We did that for about half an hour. We could have gone longer, but running at top speed for thirty minutes is pretty tiring.

Once I stopped running, Zero shut off the machine that contoled the targets. I walked over to a tree stump and sat down, trying to catch my breath.

Zero walked over and handed me a bottle of water. I smiled my thanks, and then drank half of the bottle. I set it down next to the stump, and then looked up at Zero, ready for a new task.

He thoght for a minute, and then said, "Let's work on your agility."

I nodded, and then stood and folloed him to the center of the field.

"We've covered speed and accuracy, now you need to dodge," he said. "Ready?"

I nodded again, and Zero threw a punch right at my face. I ducked in time so that he didn't hit me. He then tried to kick my legs out from under me. I jumped, and his leg cut throught the empty space.

We did that for about an hour, and then I held up my hands in surrender. He'd hit me once in the arm, kicked my side, and punched my stomach.

I walked back over to my stump and sat down. I sat there, again trying to catch my breath. I downed the rest of the water in the bottle, and decided I was ready for bed.

"It's almost one," Zero said. "Maybe we should call it a night."

I nodded, I was exhausted from what we had done. We'd break for a few nights, and then train again.

We walked to the academy side by side, talking about how I could improve my agility. Zero almost smiled several times, but he never smiled, so it was never the real thing.

When we reached the academy, we went our seperate ways. I went to my dorm and curled up in my bed. I didn't want to sleep, but it was best I did. I alid on the bed, and stared at the wall until I fell asleep.