28 Squad 13 7 (2/2)

Kuro huffed trying to catch his breath.

Kuro had fallen to the safety net. He felt his heart beating wildly. He looked shocked and he had trouble enduring his racing heart.

”uuh,uuu.”

Kuro groaned. It was difficult to breathe. Intense stress and nerves caused an imbalance in his body.

”Kuro!”

Han jumped into the safety net and helped drag Kuro out. Squad 7 were busy screaming up in the air.

The battle tactic of this round had centered around Kuro. Without Kuro, everyone had become helpless.

'This was inevitable when Kuro broke down. He understood that a single mistake would cause the whole squad's failure.'

Kuro barely managed to breathe as his whole body trembled.

”Will we… lose because of me?”

Han did not answer. The announcement of squad 7's loss rang. The squad who was covered in wounds glared at Kuro with menacing eyes.

'He could have easily blocked him. If only he didn't mistakenly crash the two airbeats together…'

Kato's calculations were accurate.

Kuro had prepared airbeats to intercept the opponent. But Kuro's mistake had messed up his whole plan.

”huu.”

Kato took off his helmet and stared to Kuro.

”I won't say anything, Kuro.”

He looked thoroughly disappointed.

Kato swallowed back his anger that boiled through his whole body. The squad looked to Kuro with coldness.

Kuro didn't have the tenacity that fit with a military lifestyle.

'No, Kuro is normal. He is behaving properly for someone his age.'

Everytime Han looked to Kuro, he was reminded of his younger siblings.

Kuro forcefully held back his tears. His mouth that remained shut tight held strong feelings of guilt.

'It's abnormal that any of us are able to adapt to this kind of place and survive.'

Kuro rejected Han's helping hand, and returned back to the dorms while his head hung low.

”Was Kuro the reason for failure?”

Han mumbled to himself in his own room.

Kato was not a bad squad leader. He had shown good results all this time. There would be no chance that the instructors would allow an unfitting person into a position of squad leader.

He excluded all his personal grudges and thought objectively.

”Kato had used a cowardly method. This isn't Kuro's fault but the squad leader's fault entirely.”

The squad's failure is the responsibility of the squad leader.

He wasn't able to objectively judge his own squad's skills; it's his own fault for underestimating and overestimating his teammate's skills.

'Kato could not accurately calculate Kuro's competency, strengths, and weaknesses. He blindly put faith in the mathematical scores of Kuro's psychic talent. He didn't personally see Kuro as a person for himself.'

That was a squad leader's duty and job.

”If I was the squad leader, I would not have let Kuro be alone. Kuro is too new to be able to be successful in any close combat situations. Otherwise, Kuro should been given a position that was less burdensome until he gained enough experience.”

Han thought about and memorized all of Kato's mistakes. He took this as a lesson for himself. He memorized all of Kato's strengths, and made sure not to forget all of Kato's mistakes.

Three weeks had passed.

Han could manage to comfortably control two airbeats with ease. All this time, squad 7 experienced various things. They had won their fair share, but they also lost a lot of times as well. Kuro had been the reason for their loss a majority of the time.

”Even if we had to be forceful, we should have recruited Simon.”

Kato spoke to a few of his squad members. They had finished their training and were drinking sports drinks while taking a short break.

”Simon, he's really amazing these days. He looks like a fish who met water for the first time.”

In year two, people continued to compare Simon and Kuro frequently.

They were both psychic geniuses, but the opinions of the two were polar opposites.

”Kuro can't do anything by himself. His battle skills are weak, though his psychic skills are off the roof. We're just continuing to allow him to participate since we have no replacement member…”

”Simon's psychic skills are brilliant, and his battle skills are excellent. He can easily take on two to three others by himself.”

Han didn't add his own opinion while listening to them talk. Everyone predicted Han would transfer to a different squad in a little while. Squad 7 had many members who excelled in close combat already.