Awaiting soft rains(An extra's novel)-Chapter 105: Breakthrough

Seeing that I was still hesitant, Kaito shook his head.

"Catch."

He made a throwing motion, and I felt multiple pebble-like objects slam into the back of my head.

"Ow."

Running a hand through my hair, I looked at the ’pebbles’ on the floor and found them to be made of glass. Smooth, flat glass.

They were memory chips.

Each containing rapier techniques. Some focusing on purely attack, some on defense, and some completely ceremonial.

More so, they were all at least a grade above the basic techniques I knew.

I could already get a sense of what he meant by this; still, I looked at him with a question on my face. He answered before I could speak.

"Go through them. See if you can get your ability to pick up on them. I assume the only rapier techniques you’ve been exposed to thus far are the basic version and Cadet Maki’s."

I nodded.

"Good. If that ability of yours works even half the way I think it does, then it should make up for your pitiful skills. At least to an extent. Depend solely on it at your peril."

"Yes, sir."

"Then we are done here."

Kaito sheathed his sword smoothly before turning to walk out. I debated internally a bit before calling out to stop him.

"Will we be having any more meetings like this again, Instructor?"

Kaito answered without pausing.

"No. I see enough of you in my class already."

’Now that wasn’t very nice.’

Although I said that in my mind, I was barely affected by the man’s lack of enthusiasm. The rush from entering that flow state still left me in awe. So I spoke again.

"Thank you, sir."

The man didn’t even turn back, simply opening the doors silently before walking out.

Classic Kaito for you.

I couldn’t be bothered spending any more time on him and began gathering the chips from the ground. All the while, my mind raced at the new possibilities before me.

[Error Sense] was obviously much more versatile than I’d first imagined. I had been far too limited in my application of the ability.

As far as I could tell, the only noticeable constraints to it were my knowledge, the touch requirement, and the fact it had reduced effectiveness against higher-tier beings.

The fact it could even help deduce entirely new moves through comparison was still shocking to me. But then again, I shouldn’t have expected any less from a Gift with SSS-rank potential.

Lying on the mat of the dojo, new paths drew themselves in my mind as I was forced to change multiple expectations and plans to fit this new change.

It was all for the better in the end. I couldn’t help but let out a grin as I lay there.

’Next, my fight with Varic. Then the midterms.’

Hopefully, things would be a little quiet until then.

I didn’t get up. Not yet. I still wanted to immerse myself in the atmosphere a little more. It definitely wasn’t because I was too exhausted to even drag myself back home.

It wasn’t that at all.

---

The sound of heavy, distorted white noise greeted me as I opened my ’eye’.

Sitting on a simple swing.

A sky of endless shifting static, a similarly endless distorted world, a hill, and a dying tree.

I was here again. My soul.

It was Sunday now, and I could feel it. Tonight would be the night.

A breakthrough.

My vessels felt nearly free again, after having them clogged for nearly three weeks. It brought me no small amount of relief.

I closed my eyes, already used to the eerie landscape of my soul.

Then swung. Slowly at first, then speeding up gradually. It wasn’t long before I was moving back and forth at full speed.

That odd feeling of comfort grew again. The white noise grew louder in my head, but it was without its edges this time.

Overwhelming yet soft. Like an infinitely large embrace that I slowly lost myself in. The boundaries between me and its comfort slowly dissolved.

And right as I was on the edge of vanishing into that noise, it stopped.

I remained in that state of limbo—still myself yet almost a part of something grander—for what felt like days, possibly weeks even, but more realistically just a few hours.

Eventually, I felt something dissolve inside me; with that sensation came the intrinsic understanding that I made a breakthrough.

Gently, I shut myself off from the white noise, from the feeling of comfort, and felt myself regaining my bearings once again. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The swing slowly came to a halt.

I opened my eyes to check if anything changed within my soul.

’Nothing.’

Is what I would’ve thought, if I didn’t notice strange new features on the hill. A small bush, some rocks here and there, a few flowers on the formerly barren hilltop.

They were all made of the same static.

Besides that, everything else remained largely the same.

I was a bit disappointed, but more so happy that Medici hadn’t shown his face. The man, if I could even call him that, was a complete blind spot in my knowledge.

Any change had the potential of causing a reaction from him.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I exited the space after a final scan for any more changes.

The sight of my empty bedroom greeted me. The storm as always raged right outside my windows, but the interior remained completely silent.

A surge of energy rushed through me as I examined myself. Compared to how awful I usually felt when waking up, it was like I’d just had the best nap of my life.

I could feel the effects of my burden, still nibbling on the edges of my awareness. Waiting for me to strain myself enough so they could come back in full force.

Yet even then, I had a strange feeling I could handle it better now. Of course, that could easily be overconfidence talking.

Still, I couldn’t help it. It was like aches and stresses I didn’t even know I had, had been lifted. I opened and closed my fists carefully, feeling the changes, before looking into empty space.

It was time to see what exactly had changed.

’Status.’