The rain began before dawn.
Not a drizzle.
A downpour.
Sheets of water fell from the sky, hammering the rooftop, splattering the windows, and turning the quiet street outside into a dull, muddy mess.
Inside the house, the rookies stared out at the gray world with various expressions.
Yuzu clutched her cloak tighter. "It's raining…"
Selena tied her hair into a high bun, unfazed. "We'll probably reschedule."
"No way he makes us train in this," Rika added, already reaching for her bow to clean.
Lio yawned and peeked through the door. "We'll just rest today, right? Even Red doesn't like rain. Probably sipping coffee in a cave somewhere."
Then the front door swung open.
Red stood there.
Soaked.
Silent.
Expression unreadable.
His cloak clung to his broad shoulders. His boots dripped mud onto the floorboards. The only sound was the thunderous roar of rain behind him.
He looked at them.
And said, simply:
Red: "Outside, Now!"
Everyone froze.
Even Greenie slithered under the table in fear.
Minutes later, the rookies stood in the middle of the training yard.
Soaked.
Dripping.
Shivering.
Mud pooled around their boots. The once-firm grass had turned into a slick battlefield of puddles and squelching terrain.
Selena tightened the strap on her shield. Rika muttered curses under her breath. Yuzu looked like a drowned cat. Lio had somehow already slipped twice just walking outside.
Red walked along the muddy path, hands behind his back.
"Why train?" he asked, not looking at them.
Red: "Because monsters don't wait for the sun. Goblins don't cancel raids because of bad weather. And your instincts, the ones you're so proud of, slip just as fast as your boots in the mud."
He turned, now facing them.
Red: "Today's test is team cohesion. Movement under pressure. Timing when you're cold, tired, and uncomfortable. If you can't function when the sky turns against you, you'll die the next time something really goes wrong."
No one spoke.
"What's the objective?" Selena asked.
Red pointed toward the edge of the yard, where he had erected a row of new training dummies, each now dripping, swaying in the wind.
Red: "Cross the field in formation. Avoid slipping. Don't break formation. Hit your targets together. Reset if any one of you falls."
Lio groaned. "If any of us?"
Red tossed him a stick. "Especially you."
The first attempt was a disaster.
They hadn't taken three steps before Lio slipped and took Yuzu down with him.
The second attempt? Rika's boots caught a root, and she face-planted into the mud.
The third? Selena slipped sideways and accidentally shield-bashed Lio, who spun and crashed directly into Yuzu's chest.
THUD.
"Off!! Get off!!" she shrieked, punching his back.
Lio: "I'm trying! I'm trying!!"
Yuzu: "Not there! NOT THERE!!"
Lio: "IT'S THE MUD, I SWEAR!"
Rika laughed so hard she fell again. Hina just sighed and started preemptively casting a minor healing ward on Yuzu's pride.
Greenie, meanwhile, flopped in and out of puddles, fully enjoying himself.
"Poyo~ Poyo~!!"
Red watched silently, rain soaking into his hair.
But he didn't stop them.
Because amid the failure… they were learning.
The fourth attempt was different.
Selena called cadence.
"Left! Step! Hold!"
They moved slower. More controlled. Their boots slid, but they adjusted.
Rika shouted wind warnings. "Gust incoming, stay low!"
Lio rotated, giving Yuzu a hand without breaking formation.
Hina whispered timing marks for healing pulses, reinforcing stamina.
Together, they reached the target dummies.
Together, they struck.
Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. CRACK.
The last dummy toppled in the wind, or maybe because Greenie threw himself at it.
Red raised a hand.
"Again."
By the sixth round, the rookies were soaked to the bone, but their eyes were sharper than ever.
"Shield line ready," Selena said, voice firm.
"Arrow nocked," Rika echoed, water dripping from her bangs.
"Spell primed," Yuzu nodded, focusing through chattering teeth.
"Healing pulse steady," Hina whispered, magic pulsing softly under her breath.
Lio looked back at them and grinned.
"We're doing it."
Then his foot slipped, again.
But this time, he caught himself on Selena's shield and pushed upright without falling.
She looked at him, impressed.
Selena: "No more flailing?"
Lio: "I've evolved."
Then came the final run.
This one was smoother.
No one fell.
No one slipped beyond recovery.
They struck the dummies with coordinated timing, even Greenie, who threw a mud-ball at the last target and squealed in triumph.
When they turned to Red, chests heaving, eyes squinting through rain…
He didn't nod.
But he stepped forward.
And said, simply:
"Acceptable."
Which, from Red, meant excellent.
Then, just as they started to walk back, tired but victorious, Lio slipped.
Hard.
In the mud.
Right into Yuzu.
Again.
And this time, lip-first.
SMACK.
Their mouths collided in a sloppy, wet, utterly accidental kiss.
"MMMMFFFF!!"
Lio's eyes went wide as saucers.
Yuzu screamed into his mouth, arms flailing, and shoved him off.
He rolled backward, coughing mud.
Lio: "Oh no, oh no...I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!!"
Yuzu was frozen.
Absolutely frozen.
Cheeks redder than any fire spell she'd ever cast.
Selena dropped her shield and howled with laughter.
Rika fell into the mud with her face in her hands.
Even Hina gasped.
Greenie cheered. "Poyo~ Poyo~!!"
"Again?!!"
"NO!!" they both shouted in unison.
Dinner that night was a mix of silence and stifled laughter.
Yuzu wouldn't look anyone in the eye.
Lio wore a blanket over his head and refused to speak.
Greenie made kissing noises every five minutes until Rika threatened to shoot him with a blunt arrow.
But beneath the chaos, something was different now.
A little closer.
A little stronger.
A little more real.
They had trained in the worst weather.
They had fallen, bled, slipped, and, in one case, smooched by accident.
But they had also succeeded.
Together.
Even Red, quietly sipping his tea that night, allowed himself the faintest of smiles.
Tomorrow would bring new pain, new pressure, new storms.
But today?
Today, they had stood the test.