Quoted By:
You opt to head towards Shen first, since you wanted to find out why he was in trouble before anything else...and it felt like it would be most appropriate to learn such things directly from him. Otherwise it would feel like gossiping behind his back, and you would never even dream of doing such a thing - let alone to a friend. You raise your hand up and give him a big grin on your approach, loudly saying "Shen! It's been a while, huh?" to greet him.
"H-Honta! Yes, it most certainly has." He says, adjusting his sunglasses with an uneasy smile. He ducks into the room fully on your approach, and naturally you follow him in - it's just the room where some of the equipment gets stored. He immediately moves to start organizing said equipment, which seems to be in a state of disarray from the younger students finishing up their training session and carelessly leaving their tools around instead of putting them away properly. "I didn't really expect to see you again, you know...you're always moving on to the next thing, aren't you?" He admits.
"Yeah, that's true. But I'll always have time to visit with old friends, no matter what! My training has been pretty intense, but I bet you heard all about that already, huh?" You say, lightly prodding him with an elbow in a teasing fashion.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He says in an unconvincing way, clearly trying to suppress a grin of his own as he lies about his eavesdropped. "But it certainly feels like you've eclipsed all of us already, judging by your energy...even Master Mutaito's ki doesn't hold a candle to it. I'd kill for your talent with martial arts." He says, now sighing out wearily even as he effortlessly lifts up a hundred kilogram weight and puts it away. Must be the mental kind of exhaustion...
"Don't sell yourself short, Shen. You're still way better than me at a lot of things - I'm still just a country bumpkin, no matter how many books Mutaito tried to bury me under. Besides, I'm going for breadth, you're going for depth...it's only natural we'd progress at different rates in different fields, right?" You respond, patting him once on the back to reassure him.
"Hm...I never thought about it that way. I guess you're right, yeah! Heh, in fact, I know for sure that I've got you beat in one field...my secret technique that I've been developing and refining since before we even met. I think it could even the playing field between us, if I used it at the right moment." He says, now chuckling to himself in a devilish manner. You just shoot him a supportive thumbs-up.
"Maybe I'll test that theory with a spar sometime, when I have more free time! By the way, I don't mean to bring up any sore subjects, but...I've gotta ask. What did Mutaito mean when he said you were on thin ice?" You ask, causing Shen to stiffen up and stay faced away from you.
"I don't see how it's any of your business..." He says defensively, apparently unwilling to reveal such things immediately.
