Tomogui POV:
The doors closed behind me.
Same hall. Same floor. Same instructor—elder, really—standing across from me with his longsword resting easily in his hands.
I didn't change my stance.
Chudan-no-Kamae.
"Begin," he said.
He moved first.
He got close enough for the tip of his blade to threaten me and began swinging, each was fast and they didn't feel fluid. They were erratic and unpredictable, raining down on me. I had no choice but to back up to avoid his flurry of attacks.
Step-by-step I was being pushed into the corner of the sparring circle, and I could do nothing, it was the same as before, he wouldn't give me a chance to get close enough to actually strike at him.
'Am I going to lose to this again, even after Futago bothered to help me against longswords?' My thoughts began to slow down while thinking about this.
'No I am going to win, if I fail here again the gap between us will continue growing. I am not even as good as Futago when it comes to Chiral Reversal'
'I'm just piggybacking on the weird connection between us to use Chiral Reversal, I'll never even be 60% of him at this rate'
The longsword carved through the air, claiming space the way it always had. I didn't rush. I watched his shoulders, the shift of weight that always came just before commitment.
Feeling the edge of the arena approaching my back, I knew I couldn't continue to fight orthodox, so I switched my stance, I spread my arms more wide, my left hand with my sword pointed forward, the other hand palm out to the right.
This time when he struck again, I stepped in.
I thrusted my sword toward his center one-handed. The elder reacted instantly, knocking my blade aside with practiced precision.
My fingers released the hilt mid-motion and snapped forward, seizing his wrist before he could pull them back.
After grabbing his wrist I pulled him towards me and stepped inside his reach.
My other hand drove toward his ribs. Fist clenched tightly as veins began twitching on my wrist.
Space distorted, and my cursed energy flashed black.
Black Flash.
The elder was launched backward, his longsword torn from his grip as his body crashed into the floor. After a few seconds the instructor coughed out "P-Passed the evaluation"
But I wasn't even paying attention to him, the feeling of landing a black flash was splendid, this was single-handedly the greatest pleasure I have ever felt in my 2 lives.
The moment it connected, it was like the world stopped and I felt everything. Not just the strike, but the flow of cursed energy itself. It surged through my body, folding and snapping into perfect alignment. The sensation was exquisite—raw, precise, and utterly complete.
Black Flash wasn't just a strong hit, it was a type of enlightenment. In that instant, I could see how cursed energy flowed, how it could be directed, condensed, released—and, most of all, how intoxicating it could be.
It was the ultimate high. Pleasure unlike anything I had ever felt in either life. Every nerve, every vein, every thread of cursed energy hummed in unison. I understood it instinctively: the efficiency, the potential that cursed energy had.
'This is the feeling I've been chasing my whole life. Everything I've done, every drill, every lesson, every moment I thought I was learning. It was meaningless compared to this one instant.'
I laughed out loud lightly, a small blush tinting my face.
Futago POV:
Tomogui was smiling.
Not relieved. Not proud.
Just… distracted.
The elder hadn't even stood up yet when Tomogui rolled his wrist, flexing his fingers like he was checking whether they still belonged to him.
"That was clean," I said. "Your timing was near perfect."
He hummed in agreement, still not looking at me.
"Did you feel it?"
I blinked. "Feel what?"
He finally turned, eyes bright in a way that didn't match the situation.
"The Black Flash," he said. "The moment it landed."
"I saw it," I replied, misunderstanding his statement. "The sudden enlightenment that it granted us, how cursed energy manipulation has become easier. It makes sense why Todo mentioned that those who hit black flashes are different from tho—"
"No," he said, cutting me off again. "Not the enlightenment."
I paused.
"…Then what?"
He thought for a moment, like he was searching for the right word.
"Ecstasy."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"A high," he repeated, as if that explained everything. "Like everything in my body lined up and stayed that way for a second longer than it should have."
I frowned.
"I remember what Black Flash feels like," I said. "The heightened perception. We've both—"
"That's a memory," he said lightly. "Not feeling."
"..." Slightly confused by his rambling I stayed quiet
"We share memories," he said. "Not emotions."
"I know what you remember," he continued. "You know what happened. You know the result of the black flash. The enlightenment that comes with it" He tapped his chest once, casually. "But the pleasure? That part doesn't transfer."
"Pleasure," I repeated flatly.
"Yes."
I took a deep breath and looked at him. The generally quiet Tomogui was saying all these things out loud, thankfully no one was paying any attention to us.
"You're overthinking it," I said. "Black Flash heightens perception. You are romanticizing the feeling."
"Maybe," he said. "But I don't think so."
He flexed his hand again, slower this time.
I paused, then tilted my head slightly. "You sound like some druggy chasing a high, you should calm down"
He considered that.
Then shrugged. "Maybe, this is what Mahito felt when he hit his black flash"
The elder finally groaned behind us, pushing himself upright.
"Evaluation over, here is your access card for stage 3" The elder handed a card over, it was the same as mine, gold with 2 purple lines.
Tomogui glanced back once, then turned away without another word, still wearing that faint, absent smile.