Following the departure of Taiyou and Hikari, Sukuna hastily moved towards the training field.

As he arrived, he noticed Marin-sensei and another female teacher by his side (whose name he doesn't really care for). Due to the class already being divided up by gender, the pink-haired boy could assume that today's lesson would be focused on people's abilities. While the females are together, they are learning how to effectively heal and support the males who have more offensive or defensive abilities. From what he has learned most of his life, that has always been the way of combat.

As he looked behind him, he noticed Taiyou and Hikari walking side by side. The raven-haired boy seemed to be explaining something to the girl. He looked like he was giving her an overview of today's training. Watching his friend point to the boys and girls, he saw the girl's face scrunched up in confusion, tilting her head to the side as she doesn't seem to understand what's going on, now looking at Taiyou with those questions in her eyes.

The new girl's lips began to part at this point, and she would speak back to Taiyou, saying something that might surprise him, but whatever she said to him, he seemed reluctant to reply to the question; as if for some reason, he was having difficulty understanding her. The new girl simply nodded her head in understanding, making her way over to the girl's side of the field where all the girls welcomed her. As she did, Taiyou ran towards the boy's side, patting Sukuna's back as he stood by his side.

In a mocking tone, Sukuna laughed, "What's up with the new girl?"

He rolled his eyes, "First of all, it's Hikari," He said, "and secondly, I just told our new teammate about today's lesson; however, she didn't seem too enthusiastic about how the class is divided."

"What do you mean?" Sukuna asked, raising an eyebrow."

With a small sigh, Taiyou glanced at the Navy-haired girl, who happened to be listening in on what the teacher was saying to the girls. As he paused slightly, he would scratch the back of his head in thought.

"From what I gathered from our conversation, Hikari was confused as to why our class was separated by gender," He explained, "she was taught that everyone would be gathered in one area and learn together. The whole issue of people's abilities made sense to her and she knew she ought to learn with the same group of people. But she didn't seem so eager to accept the fact that women are only supported and healers and men are defence and offence."

Sukuna raised an eyebrow at his friend, blinking a few times as he let out an irritated sigh. "Looks like the new girl is already complaining."

"It's not like she's complaining," Taiyou replied, speaking for Hikari. "It's just a custom she's not used to. In her school, the teaching styles are just different."

A second sigh would be uttered as he would turn away from Hikari as he looked towards the front, where Marin-sensei is explaining to the male students about how today's lesson will be based on sparring battles against each other. Due to the fact that the arena has two platforms, it made sense to Sukuna to have two matches going on simultaneously. Marin-sensei wants the students to learn how to incorporate their curse energy into their bodies and use it to their advantage.

"Today we will treat this lesson like a tournament," the older man explained, holding up his scroll. "However, since the male students were in an odd number, the brackets were changed. "So because it's an odd number, we'll be setting it up differently-"

If it's alright, Marin-sensei," said a soft voice from behind, cutting off the man, "I'd like to participate in this tournament if that's alright with you. That way, it would help equal out the numbers."

With his eyes blinking quickly, Marin-sensei looked towards the person who interrupted him. When everyone turned around in shock, all they could see was the girl with the navy hair, her hand raised as though she were volunteering as tribute.

A group of boys except for Taiyou, Sakuna, and Marin-sensei burst into laughter. Hikari's face scrunched up in irritation as she crossed her arms over her chest.

In an irritated tone, she asked, "What's so funny?"

"The very fact that you wish to fight us is already hilarious," Maru Zenin, Sukuna's classmate, said. "Aren't you supposed to be with the girls?"

Placing her hand on her hips, she would glare towards the male student. Glaring at him slightly as she was not amused by his insult at all, "I am, however, I felt like my skills can be better utilized in this lesson. Plus I want to learn hand-to-hand combat."

Putting her hand on her hips, she turned to the male student with a glare and replied, "I feel my skills can be better utilized for today's lesson, plus I want to improve on my hand to hand combat."

He walked over to the navy-haired girl and stood in front of her, towering over her, "It is not worthwhile for you to participate in today's lesson. You may be cute, but you should run back to the girls and know your place-"

Suddenly, all seemed to be in slow motion. With his eyes wide open in shock, Sukuna watched her raise her hand up and place it in front of the boy's chest. Her hand was glowing slightly in the palm.

With her star-filled eyes glowing slightly, she parted her lips and chanted a few words as though summoning energy into her hands. As she did so, the boy who insulted her suddenly flew backwards into a nearby tree. The girls from the other side seemed amazed while a couple of the male classmates flinched by the pain. Thankfully, the damage didn't seem so bad. But still, it looked terrible.

"I know exactly where my place is," Hikari said, her teeth clenched. Turning to Marin-sensei, she asked, "Do I have permission to join today's lesson or not?"

A signature fox-like grin appeared on the young man's lips as he started writing on the scroll. As he wrote, he turned it around and showed the class the best bracket for today's lesson. Her name now appeared in it.

"Of course, Hikari, I wouldn't want to deny a student their right to participate." He said, "All right, my students, now that the opponents are set up. The winner of their matches will continue to proceed until the final round. Those who have lost today's match should sit down and learn from their mistakes. The final winner will receive a reward for their effort."

After that, the sorcerer and teacher described some of the tournament rules to Sukuna. Since he won the tournament at least a couple of times before, he's aware of what's coming. Looking towards Hikari, he watched her as she listened to the man intently, trying to get as much information as possible. Her usual determination was visible in her eyes. In light of the insult her classmate flat out hurled at her, he doesn't blame her for feeling pumped up. But then again, he wasn't any better when they first met in the infirmary.

After seeing how long he stared at her, Hikari and Sukuna locked eyes once more. Hikari was not expecting her to notice his stare at all. He watched her raise an eyebrow, confused about his intention.

"What?" she mouthed in confusion at his stare.

His mind was blank, and he felt flustered as Sukuna questioned why he was starring. He couldn't turn away, and he could not ignore her question either. Rather than tell her good luck, he raised his thumb toward her, as though he was saying it to her. Seeing his sudden positive action, he saw her eyes glisten a bit as she was happy to see him doing something so nice. However, his intentions were the exact opposite.

Instead, he went on to dive his thumb into the air, giving a cocky smirk to the navy-haired girl and mouthed right back at her, displaying his prideful self.

"I'm taking you down!"

That gesture alone earned him a hard smack over the head. Hissing in pain, he would glance up at the black-haired boy. Turning angry toward his friend as tears snapped at the side of his eyes.

Sukuna hissed quietly, not wishing to attract Marin-sensei's attention. "What the hell was that for?!"

Taiyou whispered back, narrowing his eyes toward Hikari. "How could you think I wouldn't notice you making fun of her?"

Rolling his eyes, Sukuna crossed his arms over his chest, looking away from Taiyou and muttering under his breath. "Yeah whatever..."

Before he had time to say another word, Marin-sensei called up Taiyou, who was one of the first set of players to go up first. Hearing Taiyou sigh, he would pat his friend on the back, causing Sukuna to grunt in frustration and look at his companion.

"You'll get used to her at some point," Taiyou said, giving him a small smile of encouragement.

His response was "more like never," which made Taiyou's friend laugh softly.

He glanced one last time at Hikari and was startled to see something that he wasn't expecting. Shaking his head, he was unsure of what had happened. It didn't take him long to figure out that Hikari had a completely opposite reaction from his expectations. He had expected her to be upset, or even glaring at him. But instead, she gave him a completely unexpected response.

She was giggling, seeing a fleeting smile on her lips before it disappeared. Even though it was only for a moment, that sight alone made Sukuna blush ever so slightly, causing him to look away before she noticed him staring again.

These feelings were completely unknown to the poor boy.

'What's wrong with me?' Sukuna wondered to himself.

After a couple of rounds, Sukuna and Taiyou won their matches and we were able to advance to the next round. Seeing how there are two fights left before the second bracket, it was finally Hikari's turn to fight. Being the next in line to fight, all eyes were on her instead of the other students.

Maru, interestingly enough, was up against Hikari, and honestly, Sukuna never bothered to learn his name until now. In addition to not knowing anything about Maru, he does not care about him at all, he is only interesting because he is from the Zenin clan. He knows that Clan represents nobility, making them a major clan specializing in powerful curse objects.

They have become physically savvy as a result of learning how to wield such objects. Sukuna has only fought Maru on a few occasions, but he must admit that Maru is a good fighter.

While watching her stand opposite her opponent, Sukuna could not help but notice the rage in Maru's eyes; he knew he was not going to hold back and get revenge on the girl.

"I will punish you for embarrassing me in front of my peers," the student said as he ascended to his battle stance.

"It wouldn't have happened if you had kept your mouth shut," Hikari replied back, restoring her own energy to her body.

"I'm just saying what the others think," the male student grinned cockily at the girl, "there is nothing wrong with being honest."

"I appreciate honesty. I enjoy transparency and communication. However, being a misogynist was completely uncalled for. Let's rid ourselves of this battle and I'll show you what real power looks like."

After saying her words, the energy around her body began to change. It was no longer white and flowing freely. Instead, it was now a calm blue. Her aura looked as though it was coming from a watercolor painting, elegant yet threatening at the same time.

Upon hearing the arena bell, her opponent let out a loud roar and started charging towards her. Sukuna could see how animalistic her opponent is, as the boy seemed belabored by rage. The punches he threw at Hikari were deflected easily as he didn't hold back at all, revealing his intention from earlier to humiliate her.

When her opponent's energy was raging, Hikari's was serene, easy-to-evade and quiet like the waters. When her classmate was about to strike, she would simply knock his hand away. He's never seen anyone so calm in combat.

"For someone of the Bushida clan; you are quite a weak girl!" Maru roared, smiling like a cocky boy he is, "When I heard we were getting someone from your clan, I was delighted! My family told me there would be an heir who would join our school, but I was disappointed to learn it was a girl."

What was most frustrating was that he never once sensed her energy becoming negative. It was as clear as a sheet of paper and he couldn't tell what she was feeling at all.

Even though Hikari seemed tired, she kept her cool and remained calm, raising doubts in Sukuna's mind even more than he already did.

The boy asked with a surprised look, "Where is all this high and mighty talk now?!"

After the battle had lasted long enough, Sukuna noticed a glint in her eyes, as though something had clicked off inside of her. Her opponent was about to strike a powerful blow to the face, poised to knock her out. But before he could react, she evaded to the side, grabbing his wrist with one hand and his arm with the other.

The boy's eyes widened in shock when he saw her lift him into the air and then slam him down on his back with ease. His opponent gasped in pain from witnessing the pain. He tried to get up, but the moment he did, Hikari pointed her hand toward his neck. It immobilized Maru from moving any further. When Maru tried to get up, her pure energy pricked his neck, causing blood to trickle. Surprised at her powerful energy, he looked up straight at her even more furious.

Sukuna was expecting Maru to keep fighting, to defy her reasoning and beat her. But his anger suddenly evaporated. The look on Hikari's face echoed her worry. It was as if his silence was begging him to stop. Maru did not perform what Sukuna had expected. Instead of lifting his head back down, he paused and held his hands in the air, deactivating his curse energy. As he turned back to Marin-Sensei, the teacher understood what he meant.

"Maru is unable to battle," Marin-sensei called out, "Hikari is the winner of this round! She will be advancing onto the next round."

Following that announcement, people delighted in the announcement. While some applauded Hikari, others just yelled at Maru, telling him he did his best.

Before she removed her hand from Maru's neck, it would then glow green to help heal his wounds. At this point, she would lift the student from the ground and help him stand. While Hikari was about to walk off the arena Maru grabbed her wrist and began to speak to her as though he were asking her a question, seeing that her expression softened, she simply answered back to him. Having let go of her wrist and watching her slip away from the boy's grasp, Maru's expression suddenly changed.

While the students bowed to each other, he walked off the Arena and approached his squad mates. Since Sukuna was close enough to hear what was said, he listened in on the whole conversation.

A teammate questioned Maru, "What did Bushida-chan do to you? You seem shaken."

While looking beyond his teammates, Maru turned his gaze towards Hikari. His eyes weren't filled with rage but rather something else. He was looking more interested in the girl and for some reason that looks on his face annoyed Sukuna.

"I asked her why she healed me." He replied.

"So what did she say?"

As Sukuna watched Maru's movements, his eyes still fixed on the starry-eyed girl who was suddenly surrounded by many sorceresses, he chuckled a bit, then ran his hand through his hair and replied.

The Zenin boy replied, "She felt sorry for hurting me, so she healed me."

His teammate was shocked. "Even after all the insults, you hurled at her and everything?"

"Yeah," he said after a pause, "I wasn't expecting her to do that either. I guess it is true what they say about the Bushida family."

"What would that be?" asked his teammate.

Continuing to eavesdrop, Sukuna became more informed about Hikari's clan. Hearing the last words Maru said, the pink-haired boy felt his heartbeat against his chest. He was surprised to hear his classmate utter the following words.

He answered, "That clan is renowned for its kindness and compassion. Because of their compassionate disposition, their powers are completely different from ours. That's why everyone considers them just as powerful as the Gojo clan."

After hearing Maru's conversation with his teammate, Sukuna suddenly felt more determined than ever. This new fact made his blood boil even more than he'd like. He soared through his opponents during the lesson and became the victor for today's class tournament. After winning his last opponent before moving on to the final round, he sat back and watched the match between Hikari and Taiyou. From what he could see, they had been fighting for a while now. When one person was about to strike, the other would dodge. Out of each match so far, their fight went the longest.

Having known Taiyou for years, he knew he was a formidable fighter to spar with. The black-haired boy was the only one who was able to keep up with him in terms of strength and power. In addition to this, he is one of the only people in his class that he respects and acknowledges despite his annoying optimism. Sukuna knew that his teammate was able to put up such a good fight and was able to keep up with him.

After getting his hopes up for Taiyou, he was rather crushed when Hikari dodged his kick. Watching her duck down in the nick of time, she spun around and swept her feet under him, causing him to fall back. When Taiyou fell back, the girl quickly got up, summoned a ray of pure energy and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying backward and off the arena and onto the top of a grassy field; finally ending the battle in that instance.

"Taiyou is unable to battle!" Marin-sensei declared, "Hikari will advance to the final round!""

His words prompted everyone to cheer for the new girl, especially the female students in the class. As she walked off the platform, she was swarmed by the others and bombarded with questions. Throwing many compliments at her, she would give them a bare smile. Laughing nervously at the unexpected interaction between her new classmates.

Meanwhile, Sukuna would walk over towards Taiyou and help him up. Watching him dust himself off and give his pink-haired friend a sad smile.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the final round with you this time," He said. "I truly gave my all against Hikari."

"But it looked like you were going to win," Sukuna said, crossing his arms over his chest; "what the hell happened back there?"

"I don't know," Taiyou replied, chuckling a bit, "I guess I got careless."

A little grin spread across his face as he looked up at Sukuna. Standing by his side, Taiyou patted his back in encouragement, causing the pink-haired boy to question him even more. Which resulted in the raven-haired boy laughing more than usual.

Taiyou looked at the navy-haired girl, "She's definitely not someone to mess around with, so you should definitely show caution when you go up against her. She may look weak at first, but she will do something unexpected at the last minute."

"You honestly think I'm going to lose to the new girl?" Sukuna scoffed, glaring at Taiyou.

"With that attitude, you'll definitely win," Taiyou replied seriously, looking up at his friend with an eyebrow raised, "Everyone who has faced her has made the same mistake I did, underestimating her fighting ability. Keep that mindset and she'll definitely defeat you."

Marin-Sensei called both Hikari and Sukuna to the Arena to start off the final match for the day. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he turned back towards Taiyou who appeared to have a cat-like grin on his face.

"What the hell are you smiling about?" he snapped.

Taiyou snickered, "don't underestimate her. That's my only warning to you. Otherwise, have fun!"

Rubbing the back of his neck in annoyance, Sukuna muttered a few words to himself on how annoying his friend could be. He knew Taiyou was only trying to protect him, but his pride was too large for his own good. While he refuses to accept the warning, the pink-haired boy will settle things his way, just as he always has.

When he arrived at the platform, he saw Hikari already standing at the other end of the arena with her usual unreadable expression. She continues to remain a mystery about how she feels. Although, as Sukuna glanced towards her hand, he saw that it was trembling ever so slightly, indicating that she was indeed nervous for the match.

"Why are you shaking new girl?" Sukuna teased, getting into a fighting stance. "Are you scared of getting your ass beaten?"

Hikari glared at Sukuna after hearing his comment. Seeing her arm no longer trembled, she would now prepare herself in a fighting stance as well. Now summoning pure energy around her body. Even though she was in her battle stance, he could still see her hands shaking ever so slightly. However, her expression said something totally different.

Initially, he expected a negative reply from Hikari; instead... he received something completely different. Her face no longer bore an unreadable expression; instead, it radiated a different kind of smile.

Excitement.

Hikari smiled confidently as she told him, "I am shaking because I am looking forward to fighting you. May the odds be in your favor, Sukuna."

After hearing those simple words, Sukuna's eyes widened and the curse energy started to cover his own body. He wasn't sure why the words of his opponent made such an impression, but he too began to feel thrilled about this battle. Because this girl was testing his mettle, he was eager to prove to her that he was always the stronger one between them. He felt their energies clashing with one another as if water and oil were trying to mix. At the moment, he felt nothing but annoyance towards the girl, as he was looking forward to beating and humiliating her in front of everyone and proving to them that he wasn't the top student for nothing.

Once each opponent heard the sensei scream "fight," both advanced toward each other. The fight started without any hesitation as neither Sukuna nor Hikari held back.

After exchanging blows without a show of restraint, the pink-haired boy has finally accepted that Hikari is the force to be reckoned with. He is prepared to do whatever it takes if his victory against the girl is set in stone. All he wants is to make sure he beats her in this final match.

To show her that he is the best student in the school for a reason. However, he did not know that things did not turn out as planned.

[END OF CHAPTER 5]

Author's Note:
Sooo I have a Twitter account now!
Due to not being able to post my artwork here on fanfiction to share with you folks, I will be posting it on the Twitter account to share with you all! At some point I will be posting other stuff on Instagram as well. But that will be for a later date.

Its: NezuVIX

Maybe in the near future, I'll make an Instagram account. But until then just twitter ?

Hope all of you are staying safe during this pandemic ❤

Love,
Nezu