The group, disappointed, began to disperse and Grace quietly piped up.  Kyle turned to her smiling.

"You don't have to you know. I don’t mind if you want to have someone else as your partner.”

"I know I don't have to, but I want to, despite what you may think, or believe in, I think and believe that there's a lot of talent inside of you, and I'm gonna bust it out of you." Kyle then extended his hand forward to her, "you and I are gonna work hard this year, alright?  Before you know it, I think you're going to see a difference."

He really did mean that, her display today was pitiful, but he knew there was something waiting to be let loose and he wanted to help build up her confidence to unleash her hidden potential.  That and he wanted to see if there was any kind of mana source within her that she could link to, if she could do that, her power would increase exponentially.