Days in Training

Days in Training (特訓の日々, Tokkun no Hibi) is the 41st episode of the Kekkaishi anime adapted by Sunrise.

Summary
The episode begins at the Sumimura Home, with Toshimori calling Yoshimori to eat breakfast. Toshimori is surprised to see Yoshimori packing his baking tools away in a box. Yoshimori says he has bigger problems now, and Toshimori wishes he was old enough to help out. Yoshimori tells him not to worry, since he plans to train and get much stronger (though in true Yoshimori fashion, he has no idea how to go about it). Toshimori advises him to ask their grandfather, and recalls how skillfully Shigemori handled himself against Kokuboro's forces. Shigemori overhears and walks in, but his boasting annoys Yoshimori, who decides to train alone in the dojo. Yoshimori puzzles over a way to get past Kaguro's speed, but eventually falls asleep.

Annoyed with himself, Yoshimori races to a local temple for exercise, where he finds an old priest that hasn't seen him in years. Yoshimori tries to describe his problem without providing any details, but the priest just assumes he's going through "the pangs of youth." The priest reveals that Shigemori was just as stubborn as Yoshimori in his youth, and advises Yoshimori to keep striking out blindly as he has been, on the off chance that things may become clearer. Yoshimori trains behind the temple, trying to catch crows with Kekkai, but they all dodge him, then attack all at once. Yoshimori decides that his goal with be to catch all of the crows with individual Kekkai, and spends the rest of the day in his attempt. At home, Yoshimori collapses just beyond the front door, totally worn out.

Early the next morning, Yoshimori begins an intense workout, including launching and catching the iron boulder in the backyard with Kekkai. Shigemori interrupts, and is nearly crushed by the boulder. Tokine overhears them fighting and decides to train harder. Yoshimori gets to class late that day and goes straight to sleep, breaking his previous record for the fastest he falls asleep in class. Yurina Kanda guesses that he's tired from his duties. Kirara Kawakami is surprised to see Tokine nodding off in class, noting that it's completely unlike her. Mao Shinohara volunteers Tokine to answer a difficult math problem hoping to make her look bad, but Tokine solves it easily. Just when Mr. Kurosu decides that nothing will wake Yoshimori up, the bell chimes, and Yoshimori immediately leaves class. Tokine advises him not to train so hard that he's exhausted in school, and asks what he's been doing. Yoshimori describes the crows, but Tokine misunderstands and thinks he's referring to bugs, which she finds extremely creepy. She gives him advice on how to defeat them (having seen her mother kill bugs). When Yoshimori realizes what she's actually talking about, he makes the mistake of mentioning them by name, causing Tokine to freak out and hit him.

In Kokuboro, Byaku observes part of the castle collapsing. He runs into Kaguro, who thinks the castle is impressive despite its current condition. Kaguro is eager to return to Karasumori, but Byaku refuses, worried that he would kill their targets. Yoshimori challenges the crows again, this time applying Tokine's advice to great success at first, but the crows put up a good fight and eventually get the best of him. Yoshimori wears himself out again, so the priest advises him to pay more attention to his surroundings. Armed with this new tip, Yoshimori finally manages to catch all of the crows.

At Karasumori that night, Tokine asks about all the scratches on Yoshimori's face, and he asks why she was half-asleep on the way to school. They are both determined that what happened to Gen will never happen again. Suddenly, they sense intruders at the same time as Madarao and Hakubi, who guide them to the trespassers. Tokine tries to catch them with Kekkai, but misses. Yoshimori realizes they're humanoid, and guesses they might be from Kokuboro. Hakubi detects a large number of enemies, and Yoshimori applies his training, managing to catch them all, but none of the intruders seem worried.