Awaiting soft rains(An extra's novel)-Chapter 104: Deduction 2

"You’ve figured something out?"

Kaito remained calmly in his position, a mildly curious look across his face as he watched me grin. I didn’t answer him, my mind still engrossed in the buzzing going through my body.

It was hard to put into words exactly what I was feeling. It was completely different from what I felt when using the ability for stances. A lot more complex to be sure, with errors originating from places I couldn’t even see.

Paradoxically, perhaps because my will was used to define perfection, the path to it felt remarkably easier to follow. It almost visualized itself in my mind.

I felt an ache in my head, but I also felt more focused. Like my brain had shifted from juggling multiple different tasks, to a single, ultimately more complex one.

I took a stance again, fully immersing myself in the ability. In the buzzing.

Then I moved, in the path I instinctively knew would produce the least buzzing. My body made small, micro-adjustments to correct my posture in the process.

It wasn’t perfect, far from it, but it was leagues better than anything I was capable of.

The blade went true, straight for Kaito’s chest, and as always his blade was there.

That didn’t stop me, however, as the buzzing intensified and a new path opened up to me. It was a technique Maki had used countless times.

I shifted my feet, switching styles neatly, then angled the rapier, sliding it against his blade, sending the tip straight for his neck.

In my hyper-focused state, I barely noticed the slight widening of his eyes. Not that it mattered though; Kaito applied a little more pressure to his sword, throwing mine entirely off course.

Relentless, even while panting, I took a stance then lunged again. A new path had opened.

I went for his leg with a thrust; his blade was already there. My rapier paused just before reaching it, then suddenly I angled my sword upwards in a rising slash, seeking to draw a line through his abdomen.

Once again the blade was already there. He’d seen the feint from a mile away.

A new path opened, and I went for it.

His neck, his hands, his head, feints, diversions, high-frequency attacks. I targeted everything, and used any path, any trick the moment it revealed itself to me. With a single-minded doggedness that made me forget anything else.

Yet his blade was always there. Sometimes he’d indulge me, and fall for my tricks. Others he just wouldn’t bite.

Regardless, I could never make him move even an inch from his current position.

I took a stance to lunge at him again, but my legs suddenly weakened, just in time for a renewed wave of vertigo to knock me off my feet. It took about every bit of effort within me to not puke the moment I landed.

The throbbing in my head wasn’t making things any easier, neither were the nascent signs of essence exhaustion I could feel creeping up.

It was through a mix of luck and effort that I managed to get myself into a recovery position, providing myself a bit of comfort.

Kaito for the most part remained where he stood, but the look on his face had turned from indifference to one of considerable intrigue.

"Those moves... some were from Cadet Maki’s technique, weren’t they? Did she ever teach you?"

Unfortunately for him, I was barely in any position to answer his questions. Seeing that, he walked up to my laying form, and lifted me by my collar.

An act that almost undid all my efforts in wrestling my stomach.

Then he carried me, and dumped me to rest against the wall with all the grace of handling a sack of potatoes.

Still, it was a much better place to gather my wits. I managed to wrestle my mind into finally forming some semblance of coherent thought.

’Fuck... that was incredible!’

Regardless of how awful I currently felt, it could never be enough to dampen the raw feeling of exhilaration coursing through my veins.

It was like entering a flow state.

Kaito looked down on me from above, his blade already sheathed and hanging from his waist again.

"That’s an interesting ability you have. It isn’t perfect, but it’s much better than your previous form. There is will behind it. Almost obsessively so."

The man paused, considering for a moment before continuing.

"Does it leave you with muscle memory?"

"I... I think so."

I was still having trouble speaking due to the absolute riot going through my body. Yet I answered him.

I could feel it. A fading sensation, yet it was there. The sense of going through those stances and techniques fluidly. Of chasing that goal blindly.

If I practiced with it more, I was certain I’d become much more skilled at the rapier. Not just the basics, but a sort of technique designed from my current knowledge that was most perfected for killing enemies.

Kaito nodded, but just stared at me questioningly.

Although he didn’t say it explicitly, I could tell what he wanted. The man was curious about my ability.

I hesitated a bit, considering how much information to withhold and how much I could tell him.

Before any of that though, I had to try wrapping my head around what happened too.

It was an entirely new form of using [Error Sense], one that hadn’t crossed my mind before.

Normally, I defined perfection as a state, typically a stance or posture I memorized in detail from a manual.

Here I defined it as a goal, a technique that could kill Kaito. [Error Sense] in turn mapped out a path to achieve that perfection using my accumulated knowledge of the rapier.

It’d failed the first time due to me only using the memorized technique in my head. But once I supplemented it with my general observations and knowledge of the rapier, the ability suddenly worked.

It was still a comparative ability at heart. Comparing my current state to a defined ideal one.

But by setting a goal as perfection, and backing it with sufficient knowledge, the result of that comparison was a pathway to achieve that desired state of perfection.

A sort of deduction.