Night fell on the tournament's first day and Ji-hu sat alone in the dojo yard, unable to sleep.
His body ached from the fight with Taejin but his mind ached more. Dohyun had watched today. He would have a plan for the steam techniques by tomorrow. Ji-hu needed something new. Something Dohyun hadn't seen.
He stared at his hands. Fire in one palm. Water in the other. Ara had told him to find the nature of his elements. He found heat. Steam. But there had to be more.
Ji-hu: What about the opposite?
He focused on the water and tried to pull heat out instead of adding it. Nothing at first. He tried again, slower, imagining the warmth draining away.
A thin layer of frost formed on the surface.
Ji-hu: Ice.
---
He worked through the night.
By midnight he could freeze small amounts completely. By dawn he could shape ice into rough shards. Nothing stable enough for combat yet, but proof it was possible.
He experimented with combining hot and cold. Flash Boil created steam. What if he followed it with cold? The vapor would condense rapidly. Maybe freeze.
It failed dozens of times. Then something worked. Steam burst from his palm, then cold rushed out behind it. The vapor crystallized into tiny ice particles, glittering in the air like dust.
Ji-hu: What is that?
He touched the cloud carefully. The crystals were sharp, almost invisible, clinging to his skin with biting cold. If he could create this around an enemy, they would breathe it in. Cut them from inside.
He filed the idea away. Too dangerous to test now.
---
Morning came. Minjun burst into the yard and stopped dead at the sight of all the destruction.
Minjun: WHOA! What happened here? Did you fight someone without me?
Ji-hu: Just training. All night.
Minjun: All night? That's CRAZY! That's AMAZING! Can you teach me to train all night? I have SO MUCH ENERGY I could do it EASY!
Soojin: Oppa, you fell asleep in your soup last night.
Minjun: THAT WAS DIFFERENT! I was resting my eyes!
Soojin: You were snoring.
Minjun: I DON'T SNORE!
Soojin: You do. It's loud.
Minjun: ...okay maybe a little. BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!
Yuna came out of the dojo and stopped at the destruction covering her yard.
Yuna: What did you do to my yard, Ji-hu?
Ji-hu: Figured out some new things.
Yuna: Like what exactly?
He showed her. Ice shards forming in his palm. A frost barrier crackling with cold. The strange crystal cloud that sparkled in the morning light.
Yuna: You did all this in one night?
Ji-hu: Heat was one direction. Cold is the other.
Ara: Good.
She stood at the edge of the yard. No one saw her arrive.
Ara: You figured it out yourself.
Ji-hu: You said find it myself.
Ara: And you did.
Minjun: WAIT WAIT WAIT! You can make ice NOW? That's THREE THINGS! Fire AND steam AND ice?
Ji-hu: It's all the same two elements. Just different ways of using them.
Minjun: I don't understand any of that but I'm VERY IMPRESSED! Can you teach me to make ice?
Ji-hu: Your power is different. You manipulate mass.
Minjun: SO? I can make ice if I TRY HARD ENOUGH!
Soojin: Oppa, you can't make ice. That's not your power.
Minjun: MAYBE I HAVE SECRET POWERS NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT!
Soojin: You don't.
Minjun: YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!
Soojin: I know you. You don't have secret powers.
Minjun: ...okay that's fair.
---
They walked to the tournament together as a group. Minjun bounced ahead and circled back and bounced ahead again while Soojin held tight to his hand.
Minjun: You better win today! I have HOPE riding on this!
Yuna: Hope isn't money.
Minjun: It's BETTER than money!
Soojin: Hope doesn't buy food, oppa.
Minjun: IT BUYS SOMETHING! I don't know what but it buys SOMETHING!
Ji-hu glanced at Ara. She scanned the crowd, the arena ahead, the shadows between buildings.
Ji-hu: Ready for this?
Ara: Are you?
Ji-hu: I don't know yet.
Ara: Good answer.
---
Inside the arena, the team bracket was posted. Their first opponents were unknowns. But in the second round bracket, another name caught his eye.
Dohyun's team. They would meet in the semifinals.
Yuna: He planned this.
Ji-hu: I know.
Yuna: Wants us tired before we face him.
Ji-hu: Let him plan.
Ara: Plans don't survive first contact.
Ji-hu looked at his hands. Ice and fire both waiting.
Dohyun wanted a war.
He was about to get one.
---
END OF CHAPTER 25