The Darkness In Our Hearts (TDiOH Bk1)

Chapter 4: What's the point?

I didn't do too well, I thought, pushing open the Soul Reaper Academy doors.

The sky was tinted with pink as I strode through the lavish gardens dotted throughout the academy gardens, fat catfish leisurely swimming in ponds covered in dark green lily pads.

They have such an easy life, I thought bitterly, envious of the stupid catfish. They scattered from my reflection as I leant over the pond.

Sighing, I mulled over the examinations that I had to endure. The exams weren't particularly hard, since I had done hem before; but my examiners decided that because I was 'unofficially' (as they put it) in a squad, they would spice things up a bit.

They had decided to test me to see if I could withstand fighting and using large bouts of my spiritual pressure for a long time. Hence why it took me a whole day to finish them all. All day I was put through grueling tests that even a graduate wouldn't do after lots of training.

In my mind and with my fingers, I tried to tally up the points I believed I racked up to see if I passed or not:

1. The Entrance Exam

Because I was 'coming back' into the academy, I had to complete another extrance exam. I thought I did pretty well on that, considering that it seemed that they didn't alter the questions from the first time I did it, which was a while ago.

2. Hakuda:

I'm pretty sure I failed this one. I might be fast and quite capable of fighting with my bare hands, but even my skills were puny when weighted against the Captain of Squad 2, the Stealth Squad, Soi Fon, who might I might add, had special training from the widely known Lady Yoruichi, the famous Hakuda Master. I couldn't get out of the way fast enough to dodge her damn fists; the test was over before it even began after she knocked me out.

3. Kido:

Another failure. This didn't end up too well; poor Kenpachi is going to have a big bill to pay. I was using Hado number 31 as per requested, aiming for a red and white target across the other end of the room. When I released the power, not only did I manage to blow myself and the teacher up, but the WHOLE training field and everyone who had been watching me.

They had to evacuate part of the academy because of me. The exmainers were not too pleased with that and I tried explaining that I had trouble focusing my Reiryoku into a single point, but they didn't take any excuses.

The most depressing part – when the smoke and dust cleared, we all noticed, to my utter horror and shame, that the target I was aiming for was the only goddamn thing still standing in perfect condition.

4. Combat:

I loved this test the best and I did very well. I seemed to have mastered the Zanjutsu technique, as they called it, even becoming particularly handy with the more basic forms of Kido. That's where the praise stopped though.

A problem I had was that when my opponent began to use Kido with their own attacks to throw me off, I became erratic with my own Kido spells, resorting to more 'dirty' abilities, they said, to fight such as my shadow step and camouflage ability.

They were not impressed.

I tried explaining that in a real battle, dirty tricks were common because an enemy isn't always known to be respectful and follow traditional techniques. The look and lecture they gave me after my spiel left a bitter taste in my mouth.

My anger flared again, thinking of all that, and I smacked the surface of the water, making a large splash. Grumbling, I went on my way again. Fury was extremely depressed as he bumped against my leg. I felt every emotion he had, as if he also knew my chances of passing were low.