He might break 50 on his 8th try. That would be much too late. Hopefully, Jiro would be able to compensate by then. He was almost out of his underwear during his pulse emissions. It was after the third time they attempted that a sneering Minato approached the pair. He pulled Jiro off to the side to talk to him. Kazuki was just left high and dry. Normally he would not care, but they were close enough away that he could see Jiro's facial expressions. It was confused, then anxious and then extremely excited as the conversation progressed. Jiro was an expressive person. It was clear they were talking about Kazuki because they kept glancing at him. Kazuki could respect that he never held anything back. Whatever it was that they were talking about, Jiro was looking very smug when they returned. "Minato and I had a discussion about a big switch in partners just now." he said. Kazuki just crossed his arms. Minato nodded his head. "That is why next week, you and I'll be partnered up to synchronize." Minato added. That was big. Kazuki was surprised. It looked like Jiro was just as surprised.
Neither Kazuki nor Minato were ready for Jiro to point at Minato and said "You're a big, fat liar! You were asking me about all of my results! Why the sudden interest in his skills all of a sudden!?" That caused a massive scene that everyone in the hangar could hear. Minato looked insulted at this challenge to his honor. Ryuga and Aito came over to see what was going on. Eiji was waiting a ways off, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He obviously was aware of this and not happy about it. Minato just slapped the finger away from him. "If I must explain myself, I am angry that you guys are bringing the results of the whole squad! After 3 attempts to synchronize, I see you have failed every time. Eiji and I are the only ones that are pulling our weight here." That was true. Ryuga and Aito had not managed to synchronize either. The 3 of them looked down hearing that. "If I need to weed all of you out starting from the weakest link, I won't hesitate! That's why I'll start with Kazuki. If I can't get a proper connection with him, that means he's truly useless. You might as well pack up after."
Doing it like that was certainly a good way to identify the weak Tops. Kazuki raised an eyebrow. "You're trying to be a Bottom, right? How are you going to be able to see what I can do? I've been a Bottom all this time. Are you going to Top me? Or am I supposed to accept having to leave after Topping you only once. How good are you even at Topping?" were some of the questions he raised. Minato's cheeks went bright red. Being born to a foreigner father, he was taught to speak up when people were bullying a person that could not stick up for themselves. He was of course included in that. It usually stopped most people. A lot of people were not actively malicious. He was taught instead that most just went with the flow and contributed to the banality of evil over time. That was all done for the sake of the collective status quo. No one really wanted to stand out in polite society. Being born with red hair already made Kazuki stand out. Minato was flustered as he was not expecting to be challenged here after establishing his place as the best. It was also clear he had not planned it fully.
