Tsukasa goes on to take the admission exams with the rest of the candidates. Upon arrival, the man introduces himself, Coper being his name, hi informs them that the exam is just a simple practical test of their abilities. he hands each of them a small white stick.
"Those are conduits." he says, "you just have to activate them by connecting with the soul stone.
He then sends them towards an open arena were they stand face to face with a horde of wild spirits.
"Those ones are pretty weak so I'm not too worried about whether or not your safety"
as the gates begin to lower, releasing the spirits, they activate their conduits. Takaharu and Shinomiya run in first, showing off their weapons of choice. conduits can take the form of any weapon based on the wielder. Takaharu summons a huge scythe while Shinomiya uses a katana. Kijiri's weapons are twin daggers that allow her to run and jump around the area with little to no issues. Homura runs in and calls forth his weapon, which happens to be a spear. he begins mowing through the spirits and runs rampantly, cutting through each and every one that comes in his way. Tsukasa watches in awe at their strength, suddenly, a spirit attacks him from behind, but it get impaled with several arrows. These arrows were shot by Nana elodea. She then shoots another arrow, which the other girl grabs onto. The arrow then curves upwards, just above the group of spirits. She drops down and a strong shock wave sends the spirits flying. This is Kaede Nozomi, she has a large hammer, useful for for large and strong opponents. They all continue to brutally kill the spirits while Tsukasa just watches.
Up in a control room, Coper watches everyone, stating that the talents of this generation are quite strong for their young age. The other man, whose name is Jared, agrees.
"But there's just one issue here" he says as he looks directly looks at Tsukasa.
As Tsukasa marvels at their strength, two spirits attack him from behind, but before they can do any serious damage, Kijiri and Shinomiya take their heads clean off. Kijiri turns to ask if he's okay, to which he confirms. Then Coper and Jared come down from the control room to congratulate everyone on passing the exam, except Tsukasa. Tsukasa asks why, to which Coper answers him.
"You think in a real battle, you can just stand and do nothing?" he says, "how many men do you think risk their lives to fight spirits, knowing that they may never see their families again, yet they still put their lives on the line?"
He tells Tsukasa that this world is cruel, and that only results matter. Just as he was speaking, someone entered the room, it was Mira. She greeted everyone, as they all bowed as a gesture of respect. The woman, without uttering another word, walked straight up to Tsukasa and kicked him square in the stomach. Everyone is shocked by this sudden action.
She looks down at him and with a cold glare, she tells him to get up, to which he complies. He asks her why she kicked him, to which she responds by punching him in the face. He falls down and looks at her with confusion and a hint of rage in his eye. Everyone wonders why she is attacking him.
"What a disgrace. Mizu-san would be disappointed"
But right as she says this, Tsukasa falls silent. He just blankly stares at her, thinking about what she just said. He then asks her to kindly take back what she just said, to which she refuses, stating that it's the truth and he is a disgrace. He tries to stand up but she coldly looks him in the eye before kicking him again and again until he finally has enough. He grabs her leg and stands up, but the woman grabs him by the neck and brings his face closer to hers.
She begins talking bad about him, saying that he's a let down and has no real reason for being there. She says that if he can't even handle a few light hits then he isn't cut out to be a spark. He then begins to have flashbacks of when he was a child, getting bullied for not being able to activate a conduit. they mock him, saying that he will never be a spark like his grandfather.
Mira begins to use the same words that were said to him that day, and before she could continue, Kijiri pulls them apart. She stands between them and tells Mira that is she wants to hurt Tsukasa, she'll have to go through her. Mira looks at Kijiri and sees potential in her. Mira walks away and tells Tsukasa that he shouldn't even think about trying to join the sparks from that day.
As she walks away, she begins to question her method, and if it was really necessary for her to hit Tsukasa like that, thinking that she was holding back quite a bit. She thinks that if he fails to tap into his strength then she will have to apologize for attacking him, but before she could leave, she hears a voice.
"wait!!" Tsukasa yells, as she turns around, she sees him standing on his feet as he continues to speak, "one more... just one more chance!"
Mira stands there shocked by his resolve, as he stands silently, but his silence screams with a burning passion and desire, a desire for strength. She gets the message and finally agrees, saying that he passed the admission exam. Tsukasa then wonders why he is said that. He has no drive to be a spark, yet he still decided to call out to her. He just wanted a quiet life. If he had just stayed quiet, everything would have gone back to normal.
"Oh well. I'll figure that out later." he thinks.
Meanwhile, on a island far far away from Japan, a masked man walks towards a beach, he sees the water currents begin to move unnaturally, someone tells him that the spirit has a disturbance level of 14.
"Nothing to worry about" he says to the woman no the other end of the communicator, "i'll be back to base in a jiffy"
Right at that moment, a huge whale-like creature jumps out of the water and heads straight for him. As it falls on him, he wonders what he'll eat when he gets back. when the spirit opens it's mouth ready to eat him, he simply places his hand on the handle of his blade. In an instant, the spirit is cut into pieces, and it's blood begins dropping from the sky.
"Oh in know, I'll order sushi" he says enthusiastically as he walks away from the scene.