Lynne took another piece of bread and spread butter across it.
Then she pointed at it with the butter knife.
"This is Mamoru."
"Ah. He looked familiar."
She giggled.
"No. Pretend it's Mamoru."
"Well, Mamoru looks delicious."
Lynne gave me a look that somehow demanded I take this seriously while she struggled not to laugh.
I felt a cheeky grin pulling at my face.
"Sorry. As you were saying."
She scraped most of the butter into a thick mound near the center of the bread.
"The butter is his shield."
"Oh?"
"If you hit the spot where the butter is, you hit the part he's bracing."
She tapped the mound with the knife.
"It felt like his whole body was covered in butter, if butter somehow felt like steel."
"That's what he wants people to think. Like his whole body is just impossible to hurt."
She pushed the butter into a tighter mound.
"But the smaller the area he braces, the stronger it gets."
I leaned closer like she was giving me access to some highly confidential secret.
"So he can't make his whole body like that?"
"He can brace more of himself, but it gets weaker when he spreads it out."
I remembered the first kick.
Then the second.
"He moved it."
Lynne looked up.
"What?"
"I kicked his thigh twice."
I pointed at my injured leg.
"The first one felt normal. The second one nearly broke my shin."
I tapped the thick mound of butter.
"He moved the shield there after the first kick."
Lynne smiled.
"Exactly."
"So he watches where you're attacking and puts the shield there."
"Usually."
I thought back to Mamoru standing across from me.
His chest rising.
That strange rough hiss coming from somewhere deep in his throat.
"He was breathing weird every time he did it."
Lynne nodded.
"That's part of it."
"His breathing?"
"June told me his breathing helps him control the Bracing."
Memory returned of Mamoru standing completely still.
Inhaling deeply through his nose.
Then releasing the air slowly through his throat.
That sound like a snake warning something not to come closer.
"He breathes out when he braces," Lynne continued. "He can hold it for a little while, but eventually he has to breathe in again."
"And he can't brace while he's breathing in?"
"Not properly."
I thought about getting punched in the stomach while trying to inhale.
"Wouldn't that hurt anyone?"
"Probably."
"Good to know Mamoru has at least one normal human weakness."
Lynne smiled.
"It's also tiring. June said it's kind of like trying to flex your muscles as hard as you can for a long time."
I looked down at my bicep.
Then flexed.
Pain immediately shot from my injured elbow up through my arm.
"Ah!"
Lynne nearly dropped the bread.
"I didn't say go try it!"
"You made me curious how long I could flex for."
I looked at my injured arm.
"Apparently not long at all."
She shook her head.
"You're supposed to be resting."
"I am resting."
"You just hurt yourself while sitting still."
"I didn't know flexing was this dangerous."
She tried to look stern. It didn't really work, she just looked cute.
"So June's first method was just constantly putting him on defense," Lynne continued. "If she kept attacking, he couldn't safely release the Bracing."
"Wouldn't he just brace each place individually?"
As soon as I said it, I remembered watching June fight him.
Her hands moving toward his head.
Then his body.
Then his legs.
Another attack beginning before the first one seemed finished.
Lynne laughed.
"Yeah, June just hits him before he can move his brace to that spot.
"...I can't hit that fast."
"I don't think anyone else can."
June had moved so quickly that even watching her had been difficult.
Mamoru had blocked one attack only for another to already be coming.
"How does she do that so reliably?"
"What?"
"Her timing. It doesn't seem...human."
Lynne laughed.
"That's because it basically isn't."
I looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
"June gets more time than the rest of us."
I blinked.
"How, that doesn't make sense?"
"What do you mean, she just has more time."
She said it like that somehow explained anything.
"Time is the same for everyone."
Lynne looked confused by my objection.
"No, I mean her order."
"Her order?."
"Things look slower to her."
I stared at her.
"That's insane."
"Why?"
Right, magic is normal here.
Still, that just feels like a completely unfair ability.
"Never mind."
Lynne continued spreading the butter.
"June says it gives her time to notice things other people miss. She can see when Mamoru starts releasing his Bracing."
"So she just watches him breathe and hits him when he breathes in?"
"Sometimes."
"That's scary as fuck."
"For Mamoru?"
"For anyone who has to fight June."
Lynne smiled.
"She doesn't usually just wait anymore."
"What does she do?"
"Sometimes she makes him brace when he doesn't need to."
I frowned.
"How?"
"She pretends she's going to hit him."
"So?"
"So he braces."
"But then she doesn't hit him."
"Exactly."
I thought about it.
"He wastes the shield."
"For a moment."
"And when he lets it go..."
"She hits him."
"That's smart."
Lynne nodded.
"But how does she know exactly when he lets it go?"
"His breathing."
Right.
Of course.
I tried to imagine being good enough to time an attack around the exact moment someone inhaled.
Or changing my speed just enough to make them defend too early.
"That still sounds really difficult."
"It probably is."
Lynne pushed the mound of butter toward one edge of the bread.
"You can also make him put the brace in the wrong place."
I looked at the unevenly distributed butter.
"So I move the butter around and hit where the butter isn't?"
"Exactly."
"How?"
Lynne shrugged.
"There are lots of ways. June used to do that slappy thing to his face."
"Slappy thing?"
She demonstrated a few little open-handed motions in the air.
"Palm strikes."
"Yes that!"
“‘Slappy things’ is more descriptive.”
"She'd keep attacking his head until he moved more of the Bracing there. Then she'd kick him in the stomach or the leg."
I thought back to June's fight.
Her open hands flashing toward Mamoru's face.
Some of them had barely looked like strikes at all.
"She wasn't actually trying to hurt him every time."
Lynne tilted her head.
"What?"
"She was making him move the shield."
A smile spread across her face.
"Oh, yes probably."
"She kept threatening his head, so he'd protect it."
I pointed at the thick side of the bread.
"Then she'd hit wherever he moved the butter away from."
"Exactly."
I looked at her.
"You could have just said that."
"I was explaining it with the bread."
"The bread has been very helpful actually.”
I took the knife and dragged some of the butter toward the opposite side.
"So I make him think I'm attacking here."
I pointed at the thicker section.
"He braces."
Then I tapped the bare corner.
"And I hit here."
"Yes."
"That still sounds like I have to be faster than him."
"Or convincing enough."
I looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"June told me once that a good fake makes someone defend themselves before you actually do anything."
I thought about Mamoru.
He had reacted every time I fully committed to an attack.
But when I moved around trying to find openings, he hadn't seemed concerned at all.
Maybe I had been telling him which attacks were real before I even threw them.
"What does June do now that he knows the high-low stuff?"
Lynne took the knife back and began spreading the butter over the entire piece of bread.
"He got better at spreading the Bracing out."
The thick mound became a thin layer across almost the whole surface.
"So now he's butter everywhere again."
"Yes, but thinner."
"That sounds worse for him."
"That's the point."
She held the bread up.
"If he doesn't know where an attack is coming from, he can protect more places at once. But each place isn't as strong."
"So when he's able to block everything..."
"June says he's spreading his shield too thin."
She made little quotation marks with her fingers around the word shield.
"And then?"
"Then she picks one place and hits it as hard as she can."
Lynne pressed the tip of the butter knife into the center of the bread.
"She said it's like driving a nail through a wall. If his Bracing is spread out, she can break through one point as long as she focuses enough force there."
The image of June flashed through my mind.
Mamoru's arms dropping to defend a body shot.
June turning and jumping
Her heel changing direction to his head.
Something shattering.
Then the kick landed.
"Oh!"
Lynne looked up.
"What?"
"That's what she did!"
"You watched them spar?"
I nodded.
"She kicked him in the head."
Lynne gave me a knowing smile.
"She does that."
"I heard something shatter right before she hit him."
Her smile disappeared.
"What?"
"I heard his shield break."
Lynne stared at me.
"You heard it?"
"Yeah."
"What did it sound like?"
"Glass."
I thought about it.
"Sort of."
The sound returned clearly in my memory.
But somehow not actually inside the room.
"It almost sounded like it came from somewhere else."
"Somewhere else?"
"Like it wasn't in the hall."
I touched the side of my head.
"Almost like it happened in here."
Lynne lowered the bread.
Her expression had completely changed.
"Why?"l
"What?"
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I've never heard Mamoru's Bracing break."
"Maybe you weren't close enough."
"I've watched June break it before."
That made me pause.
"June doesn't hear it?"
"Not that she's ever said."
"So I wasn't supposed to?"
Lynne shook her head slowly.
"I don't think I've ever heard of anyone hearing an order break."
"Really?"
"Really."
I shrugged.
"Well, this is coming from the girl who can see ghosts, so..."
Lynne suppressed a smile.
"That's different."
"How?"
"My affinity is related to spirits."
"Okay."
I pointed at myself.
"And maybe mine is related to hearing butter shatter."
"Butter doesn't shatter."
"You know what I mean."
"Unfortunately I do."
She kept looking at me.
"You did see Estelle too."
"Well not exactly”
"You sensed her."
"I saw a weird shape out of the corner of my eye."
"Most people don't see anything."
I looked down at my bruised arms.
"Maybe my affinity just makes me really good at noticing creepy things?"
"Maybe."
She didn't sound convinced.
"Or maybe hearing Mamoru's Bracing had something to do with it."
"The affinity that turns crystals blue and otherwise refuses to participate?"
"We don't know what it does."
"That seems to be its favorite feature."
"Xu."
"What?"
"Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it does nothing."
That sounded familiar.
Understanding precedes power.
Apparently the universe had decided to repeat that lesson until I got tired of hearing it.
I looked back down at my injuries.
Lynne continued studying me for another moment.
Then her eyes suddenly widened.
"Oh!"
"What?"
"You saw June earlier, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Did you tell her to come to my house?"
My mind flashed back to June staring at me while I tried to explain something about Mrs. Daniels.
"I did."
"And?"
"I don't know if she understood me.”
"Understood you? June speaks multiple languages."
"Yeah, but she didn't say anything."
"Nothing?"
"Didn't nod. Didn't acknowledge me. Just stared at me and walked away."
Lynne giggled.
"June can be like that around strangers. She's actually pretty reserved."
"That wasn't reserved."
I looked at her seriously.
"That was a death threat conducted entirely through eye contact."
Lynne laughed.
"She's not that bad."
"You weren't the one she was staring at."
"I'll ask her."
"Please don't tell her I called it a death threat."
"I thought you were brave."
"I fought Mamoru. I'm allowed to be cautious for the rest of the day."
Lynne looked up toward the clock tower.
Her eyes widened.
"If you told her, she's probably already at my house."
"Is that bad?"
"Mum asked me to bring her."
"She'll probably understand."
Lynne stared at me.
"You don't know my mother."
"I slept in her house."
"And you still don't know her."
Fair.
Lynne stood from the bench and dusted off her dress.
"I need to go."
I looked at the bread in her hand.
"You don't want a bite of Mamoru?"
She stared at me blankly.
I pointed at the butter-covered bread.
Then she started laughing.
"No. Mamoru is all yours."
"Thank you for teaching me."
I took the bread from her.
"Now I know what I have to do."
"Oh?"
"Cover him in butter and take a bite."
Lynne laughed harder.
"That is not what I taught you."
"That's what I learned."
She shook her head.
"Do you need help getting back to your dormitory?"
I pushed myself upright.
My right leg immediately reminded me what a terrible idea standing was.
"I'll manage. Get home before Mrs. Daniels gets upset."
"I will."
She started toward the gates, then turned while still moving and waved back at me.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Xu!"
"See you tomorrow!"
She hurried beneath the archway leading out of the courtyard.
Only then did I notice the two men standing beside it.
Both wore formal black coats and tall black hats. Their brims cast enough shadow across their faces that I couldn't make out much beneath them.
As Lynne approached, both men tipped their hats.
She gave them a friendly wave.
Then she continued through the gate.
The men followed.
I frowned.
They had to be connected to Mrs. Massino.
At least, I assumed they were.
Maybe she had sent them to make sure Lynne got home safely after everything that happened.
Still, something about them made me uneasy.
I hadn't noticed either of those men until Lynne was already leaving.
I took one limping step toward the gate.
Then stopped.
Whatever they were, Lynne didn't seem afraid of them.
And there wasn't much I could do hobbling after her anyway.
I watched until all three disappeared beyond the archway.
For some reason, despite the uneasy feeling in my stomach, something deeper inside me stayed calm.
Like I knew she was safe.
I had no idea why.
I looked down at the piece of bread in my hand.
The butter had been smeared into a mess by now.
Mamoru wasn't made of steel.
He had to breathe.
He had to guess.
And if Lynne was right, every place he protected meant somewhere else was weaker.
I smiled.
Next time, I would watch him breathe.