The next morning, Jiro awoke and left the inn. He began to leave the village, when . . .

"Hey, you!!" yelled a voice. "Huh?" Jiro grumbled as he spun around to see the person calling him. He was a tall young man with auburn hair and blue eyes. "What do you want?" asked Jiro. "I want to ask you something, are you the guy who asked Kenji to train you?" he asked. Jiro answered, "Yes, I asked him yesterday." The young man smiled and asked Jiro, "Would you be my training partner under Kenji?"

Jiro thought this over for a moment and replied, "Okay." The young man grinned and asked, "So, what's your name?" "My name is Jiro," he responded. Jiro then asked, "What's your name?" "The name is Flik."

After a few minutes, the two young men arrived at Kenji's home. Flik walked to the door and knocked. "What is it now, I've already told you . . ." said Kenji, stopping when he opened the door and saw both Flik and Jiro at his door. He then asked with a smirk, "Okay, you two want to be my pupils, huh?" "That's right," Flik and Jiro said in unison.

For the next year and a half, Jiro and Flik became close friends under Kenji's tutelage. Both of them evenly matched when sparring with one another.