Everything happened so quickly.

Everything was moving so fast in his mind even Sukuna found it difficult to comprehend.

As he advanced towards Hikari, he felt like he lost himself in the sparring match. Every time the boy believed that he had the upper hand against Hikari, she proved him wrong and did something totally different. Indeed, he had a gruelling time of it.

The more she evaded his attacks, the more frustrated he became. Her response to him when he thought he was about to score a hit was to keep dancing around him and step away from him. His head was spinning, but he didn't know why it was happening. Having finally realized what Taiyou meant by understating her, he can now say he understands.

It was no secret that Hikari was not looking so hot either. In spite of that, she had little trouble keeping up with Sukuna. Although her energy is faltering, it is her will and determination that keep her going. She is motivated to keep fighting because of how hard she has worked to reach this point.

As he narrows his eyes towards her, he appears puzzled by the hard work she is putting in to win this battle, as he narrows his eyes towards her. Why is she not giving up, despite the fact that the top student knows that he will win today's lesson?

"Pay attention!" Hikari yelled, swinging her leg in a roundhouse kick at Sukuna. Thus, causing him to lift his hands in the air and form an 'x' in order to protect himself.

His shoulders slumped as he re-adjusted to reality, realizing it was not the right time for him to be daydreaming. After a few blinks, it dawned on him that he was still in the school field on the wooden arena against Hikari. After feeling his body be knocked back, he descended his curse energy into his lower feet, which prevented him from leaving the platform. If he hadn't acted promptly, it would've been outside the bounds and he would've lost the mock battle.

Amidst loud gasps, he looked around to see that students from his class were gathered around the arena. The crowd erupts in cheers and screams as both parties cheer for their candidates. It's jaw-dropping to see the two strong individuals spar so intensely considering they've never met before. Throughout their sparring, nobody dared to look away for fear of missing an intense moment.

The only rule of the sparring match is that they can only use their energy towards strengthening their physical strength. It is against the rules to use any type of spell against another student as each person's ability varies, in the sense that each student is capable of hurting another in different ways. It was for this reason that Marin forbade students from hurting each other. He always liked to say:

We're all on the same side.

However, Sukuna didn't care about being on the same side. Although the boy and the girl share the same goal of ridding this land of evil spirits, at this moment he is only interested in winning.

Hunching and puffing, he winced in pain while lowering his arm. From her strong attack, he felt his forearms bruising. In the distance, he saw that her body was glowing lightly; but barely. Although it was a faint light, he could still feel a powerful presence flowing straight in front of her. The determination in her eyes showed that she intended to defeat him.

That look on her face was truly revolting to him. He grew even angrier as a result.

After throwing a few punches and kicks toward Sukuna, Hikari rose and continued fighting. Her fatigue was evident to the boy. However, she still tried her best to withstand his attacks. In his year, only Taiyou was capable of handling his combat skills. No one else was able to keep up with the boy's speedy attacks and reflexes.

But somehow, Hikari managed to handle all of it.

"Why?" He said, "Why are you so determined?"

Hikari would stare back at him as if she were reading his thoughts. Her committed expression remained unwavering as she deflected his attacks.

"Because I want to be your equal."

The slight tug on his heartstring that he felt when he heard her say these words was inevitable. Seeing how the insult he said was still lingering in her mind, his eyes widened a bit. Does that explain her determination? An idiotic comment such as that? Even though she is working so hard to win, Sukuna could not help but experience a certain emotion that he rarely experiences;

Guilt.

What is the reason behind Sukuna's emotional state? It's unclear what caused him to feel that way, but he knows that due to unnecessary thoughts and emotions hitting him hard. He decided it was time to end the battle against Hikari. Due to this reason, he began putting all of his energy into his sparring match. In his mind, his final move against the girl was going to conclude the battle and win him the sparring match for today. Taking every potential move into consideration, he calculated that his finishing move would be perfect.

Sukuna, however, did not realize that he had miscalculated his strategy.

While about to strike his final blow, he was stunned to see that Hikari would also be doing the same thing. As their fists are about to collide, they both close in on each other. Sukuna felt bits of her pure energy flowing through him. Likewise, if the boy had guessed correctly, she might have also felt his curse energy also coursing through her body as well.

Neither Hikari nor Sukuna realized that they had put a little too much power into their final attack due to the ignorance of their powers. Whenever their sets collided, everything around him brightened suddenly and darkened simultaneously. Seeing their power was beyond their comprehension. Due to a bad reaction between both energies, both contenders flew back.

The time Sukuna had to recuperate wasn't enough for him. Even though he tried to slow down his body's momentum, his body dipped off the wooden platform. His back would land on the ground after spinning into the air. The moment that his body impacted against the grassy field, the sparring match was over. Looking forward, he would think that Hikari would be standing in the Arena, but in reality, it was something completely different.

Her flight from the Arena was also abrupt. As opposed to a better land, her fox spirit appeared out of nowhere and caught her before she reached the ground. Her body was snugly tucked into the creature during her soft landing. As soon as she slowly opened her eyes, her reaction was no different than his. As well as being confused about what the hell happened back there, she was also feeling a bit frustrated with the results. Hikari looked especially worried when she noticed he didn't have the most perfect landing.

What an oddity!" Marin-sensei shouted with glee, clapping his hands together. "It appears we have a tie today!"

Around them, loud cheers erupted after the older man spoke. Many were delighted that the new making it this far, while others groaned as they bet on the other boy. Regardless, the response was very mixed. The sense of humiliation Sukuna felt was overwhelming, even beyond a tie. In his opinion, a tie is worse than a win. His hand was tightly balled into a fist as anger built up inside him again. The negative feelings he has toward her are growing stronger than ever. As soon as anyone approached him, he started walking back toward the school; his eyes did not meet anyone's nor did he want to look at anyone.

"O-Oi Su-kun! Are you listening to me? Please say something!"

The pink-haired boy could hear Taiyou calling to him, at one point even feeling him grab his shoulder to try and stop him. However, he was too defeated to say anything. In a single motion, he knocked his hand away from his body. He wanted nothing to do with his friend after being defeated. While he knows he is being a sore loser, his pride was so wounded that he couldn't help himself.

His ears perked up as he entered the school and heard someone running towards him in an attempt to catch up. He was about to turn around and tell his friend to leave him alone, thinking it was Taiyou. However, it was someone entirely different, and the last person he wanted to see right now.

"Sukuna!" The star-eyed girl exclaimed, "Are you ok? Is your body hurting in any way?"

'Look at her,' echoed a voice in the back of his mind, 'are you really going to believe that she really wants to help you?''

As he stared at her, he was shocked to see her here. Having seen the girl so suddenly flustered and worried, he wasn't sure how he should react. Besides being confused and angry, he also felt irritated and a fuzzy feeling around his stomach. There wasn't a clear answer to what it was.

'Now is not the time to get soft on me,' The voice said, snapping him back to reality, 'Keep in mind that she is your competitor. Just because she's worried about you does not mean that you two should be friends.

A shade of green was glowing on her hand as she extended it toward his. "Here, please let me heal you. My apologies for taking the fight too far; I just-"

Despite her best efforts, Sukuna slapped her hand away before she could assist him.

Sukuna raged, "Don't you dare touch me with those hands of yours. Did you not know defeating me was enough for you?" What else do you want from me?!"

Hikari frowned. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

He replied, "I'm peachy—just god damn peachy."

'Good,' said the voice. 'Don't let her see any signs of weakness.'

"Why do you act this way?"?" She asked, frowning even more, "If you don't want my help, just say so. However, you shouldn't be rude about it."

"I will act however the hell I want pest," Sukuna replied, watching her squirm at her new nickname, "Right now, I simply ask you to keep the hell away from me.

He would sigh in irritation and begin to walk away from her. His next step was cut short when Hikari's voice was heard calling out to him. Stopping him in his tracks;

"I'm sorry."

He was frozen in place when he heard those few simple words. He felt as if his brain had stopped functioning as guilt crept into his system. Even the dark voice in his death couldn't stop him from feeling what he was feeling. It has only been a few days since he met her, and he has never felt this negative toward anyone before. It is the first time he has had such intense anger towards one individual, and even he cannot explain how that happened. With Hikari joining the picture, not only does the boy have to work twice as hard, but he will also have to train even harder so that he can continue as the most talented sorcerer in his class. Before he can make a mark in the sorcerer world, he still has two more years to go. By the end, these are mostly his own selfish motives and jealousy that he used to justify his actions.

When he really thinks about it, Hikari has done nothing wrong towards him.

Turning around, he faced the girl with stars in her eyes. Taking the initiative to face her head-on. However, the moment he faced her, the expression she held on her complexion held so many questions and worries. As though she was pleading for a solution to put an end to this tension behind them.

He felt his lips part as though he wanted to say something to her, simply just anything at this point. However, he quickly closed them and felt his hand form into a fist. To his dismay, his pride somehow managed to triumph over his morals. All he did was stare at her for a few moments before he started to walk away from her. Not giving her any response, Sukuna turned away from Hikari as he could no longer look at her star-filled eyes.

As Sukuna decided enough was enough, he turned around and started to walk away from the Bushida heiress. Leaving her standing alone in the hallway as he was now left alone with the dark voice in his head.

[END OF CHAPTER SIX]

Author's Note:

Surprise, here's another update :3
Not as long as my previous chapters, but I really wanted to post this for you all!
Also as I mentioned in the last chapter, I will be posting some updates and other artworks on my Twitter account!

It's: NezuVIX

Anyway, thank you to those who had to follow me so far! It truly means a lot, ALL THE HUGS.

I hope all of you are taking care of yourselves and staying safe.

Until next time!

-Nezu