Hello there.
I am the Woman Who Failed to Make It Into the Advanced Class—Class 1—of the first years.
About a month has passed since the entrance ceremony ended and classes began in earnest.
The classes at the Spiritual Arts Academy operate on a system that feels like a cross between high school and university.
A certain extent of the curriculum is mandatory, and the rest is free choice. It feels like you can choose and learn the classes you like.
If you are worried about swordsmanship, you can train more in swordsmanship. If you want to improve your Kido, you can take more Kido lectures. Since there are individual aptitudes and preferences, those parts are free.
However, you do need to learn the minimum of all Zankensoki (Swordsmanship, Hand-to-Hand, Hoho, Kido). But it seems it's not impossible to manage by discarding the rest and focusing on one.
...I don't know if a Soul Reaper who neglects Hoho can play an active role in battle, though.
Ah, by the way, this free choice really is free.
Even if you do something like "I took swordsmanship last week, so let's learn Kido this week," you won't be blamed.
In the worst case, skipping is OK too. Not just free choice, but even mandatory choices. Perhaps because of this class format, attendance isn't considered important.
Instead, I suppose I can say.
Cooperative training like "Let's all work together to defeat a powerful Hollow" doesn't seem to be particularly conducted. Is this part of the pride of a Soul Reaper?
There is a part of them that tends to stick to one-on-one combat.
And, you might find it surprising, but written exams are almost never conducted.
In the Academy exams, practical skills are everything.
After all, what we learn in class are all matters leading to the practical duties of a Soul Reaper. So, they say if they look at each person's practical skills, whether they have acquired the knowledge is obvious at a glance and naturally understood.
They say no matter how much knowledge you have, it is meaningless if you cannot actually utilize that knowledge.
The gap between my surprise when I first heard there were no paper tests and the reaction of those around me saying "What are you talking about? Of course not" was a little painful.
That aside.
Currently, we are in the middle of a mandatory class.
However, some of the mandatory classes are quite out there in various ways...
"There!"
I dodge my classmate's attack.
Even if it is a blow from a wooden sword, it hurts if it hits. I am grateful he raised his voice to let me know his position.
"Hmph!"
"Whoa!?"
As we pass each other in the evasion, I knock down his wooden sword with a blow from the upper stance. Receiving an unexpected blow, he dropped his wooden sword in an instant. If this were real combat, that would be a fatal opening.
"That's enough!"
I hear the teacher's words, and simultaneously, I sense the lights going out and darkness returning.
"Next!"
"Yes sir!!"
Without a pause, a new opponent arrived.
A male student larger than the previous one. He is about the same height as me. Right now, he is carrying his wooden sword on his shoulder and not taking a proper stance.
Have you figured out what class this is by now?
The correct answer was "Combat Training in the Dark Night."
It is training to fight Hollows in the darkness of a night where even moonlight does not exist. Since it is a battle in a place where nothing can be seen visually, as countermeasures, they apparently create light with Kido or train night vision.
Basically, sharpening spiritual pressure perception to grasp the opponent's movements is the essence.
Yes, just grasping the opponent's movements. Even by mistake, this is not training to fight fully in pitch darkness.
But in my case, somehow, I can see the opponent's state very well with spiritual pressure perception. Let alone grasping the opponent, I am sensing every single move they make. It has come to the point where even the teacher makes unreasonable requests like "Since you can move better in the dark than me, won't you serve as the training partner?"
The result is this.
Closing my eyes to fight back is also in preparation for the case where the opponent turns on a light. Since I can perceive them, I thought it would be for the sake of that training even a little.
"Hey, even if it is training, it has already started. Does not taking a stance mean I can attack you?"
"...Wha!?!? Y-You can see me!? In this darkness!?"
When I say it slightly threateningly, the opponent gets flustered and holds the wooden sword in Seigan (middle stance).
Come to think of it, this was the last opponent for this class. In that case, shall I serve him a little?
"Even if you take a stance, you don't turn on a light, which means you are fine as is, right? Then... Haa!"
Here, I deliberately let the sound of my exhaling breath echo loudly to convey indirectly "I am going to attack now." Well, it seemed to have an effect, as he put strength into his body while twitching in reaction.
In that case, I jump high.
Even if nothing can be seen in the darkness, sound can be heard, so the sound of me jumping must have reached the opponent's ears too.
In pitch darkness, relying on sound. If so, that is the aim.
"W-Where are you coming from!?"
The opponent is looking around restlessly, searching for me. He is probably hoping to find even a single fluctuation in the darkness, but it is useless.
Because right now, I am running in the air.
A technique to solidify reishi (spirit particles) drifting in the air with spiritual pressure to create a path where there is none—Soul Reapers running through the sky is only possible because of this technique. And solidifying spiritual pressure with reishi can also apply the techniques learned with Bala and Cero.
If he strained his eyes haaard above his head, surely the opponent would have seen the path of reishi too.
"Where are you looking?"
"Eek!?"
Landing silently behind him, I call out softly. From the front, and since he thought the attack was coming, his surprise must be considerable. Even while jumping, was it the stubbornness of an apprentice Soul Reaper?
He attacked while tracing a messy trajectory.
—!
As if to match that attack, I silently activate Blut and secretly strengthen my physical ability. While experiencing the sensation of the attack becoming slow motion, I slammed in a blow in the manner of a counter-strike.
"Gwahhhh!?"
"O... oh my?"
"Th-That's enough!!"
Was it because he received a blow without being able to see, and without being prepared to receive an attack? The opponent was blown away.
The teacher must have grasped at least the simple situation with spiritual pressure perception. A flustered voice calling for a stop was heard a beat late.
"A-Are you okay!?"
"I'm sorry, I went a little too far!"
Because it is training in the dark, those who understand the situation, including the assistants present just in case, are swarming around. But my situational judgment is top-tier. After all, I am the involved party.
"O-Oh...!"
Hurriedly approaching the opponent I blew away, I immediately chant Kaidō (Way of Healing) to heal the wound.
"Hoh, splendid. You can use Kaidō already?"
"I am still immature, but this much."
Kaidō is a healing Kido used by members of the 4th Division.
And at the Academy, there are also classes on first aid and medical treatment—though they are elective classes and have almost no popularity.
You might have forgotten, but I am an aspirant for the 4th Division. I am taking those classes, and surprisingly, my grades in the first aid system are at the top!
...Though that is because the number of people is small and those with excellent grades aren't taking it.
"I'm sorry, I overdid it."
"N-No. I'm fine."
"It is just like first aid, so please go to the infirmary properly later."
After a while, perhaps the injury was completely healed, he answers while sitting up. his consciousness seems clear, and he is not making unreasonable movements to protect any part. That said, it is still an apprentice's treatment. I recommend he gets seen by a proper doctor.
"Airi-san! Good work!"
"Yukawa-san is amazing... I had a little confidence too, but to this extent..."
There was a commotion at the end—the cause being me—but anyway, with this, today's special class ended.
Since this class is a general training, everyone takes it regardless of Class 1 or 2. So naturally Ayase-san is here, and Renjōji-san too. Both of them didn't perform well this time and showed a somewhat depressed appearance.
"Ahaha, it was just luck. Besides, my method is different from the proper method."
"But if you can fight without a light, that in itself should be something to be proud of as a method."
"That's right! Even the teacher couldn't move like that!!"
The classmates around us also nod saying "That's right, that's right." Being told that, I feel a little proud that the time spent special training with Master wasn't wasted.
But that class, the objective seemed to be learning and thinking about how to fight advantageously from a disadvantageous situation like darkness, not the technique of fighting in the dark.
Is it okay for my movement like "Bring on the moonless night! I'll turn the tables on assassins!!" to be used as a reference...?
—Later.
The boy I sent flying at the end was apparently somewhat famous in the Advanced Class for being good at swordsmanship. Whether his confidence wavered from being sent flying by me, or perhaps he awakened to some strange fetish.
Whenever he sees me, he started calling me "Ane-go!" (Sis/Boss).
...I don't need that kind of thing.
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