>>5255976You screw your eyes shut for what seems like hours. You slow your breathing, pay less attention to your surroundings, focus only on your mind and your sword… And almost feel like giving up. Nothing’s happening. Until… it clicks.
You open your eyes again, and you’re no longer in the training ground. You’re in… a room? You can’t see much of anything around you other than what you’re sitting on… some kind of animal skin? All of the rest of the room fades out into static more than an arm’s length away from you. Despite that though… you can hear a fire crackling not far away from you, despite not being able to see it.
Could it be that the room exists, but you just can’t see it? Why is that?
You hear a creak, though it sounds… off. Distorted. And then footsteps, those too sounding wrong. A shadowy hand, enshrouded in fog reaches out to you, accompanied by words that you can’t make out or understand.
You don’t trust this.
You don’t trust anything, especially not this, whatever it is. But then you remember the confidence you took your zanpakuto with, and you remember that whatever <span class="mu-i">this</span> is, it’s a part of you. And so you reach out to it, some of the fog flying away to reveal human fingers, reaching out to you. The two of you are about to touch, when…
You awaken.
With a start, you realise it’s pitch black. You had thought you had only been out here for a few minutes, but it looked like it had been hours. You began to get up to head back into the dorm, when you looked down.
Your zanpakuto had shifted, morphed. It was longer now, not quite a nodachi but still bigger than any normal katana. The tsuba had changed too, going from the standard rectangular guard to a more angular one, that reminded you a bit of… a lightning bolt. And the wrappings on the hilt had changed colour into a deep, dark blue, the ends of which fluttered loosely from the end of the hilt.
You checked your waist, realising your sheath had changed size to match, and as you stood, your sword fit in your hand perfectly, like it was the weapon you were meant to wield. You sheathed your blade, smiling, as you headed back to the dorm, finally realising what you had done.
“Late again, Hokkyokusei. You realise that- Well, I never…” Your instructor paused as you walked into class the next morning, purposefully late as you had been getting into the habit of doing. “In all my years, I have never seen a student imprint on their asauchi in a single day.”
“It’s only natural.” You smirked. “It’s a part of me, right?” You felt… something… from your sword as you said that, the feeling making you grin even wider.
“Excuse me for a moment.” The instructor said, leaving the room, as you walked to your seat, everyone in the class having eyes on you.
You…
>Ignore the stares to go to ‘sleep’>Ask Kazeko and Shin what they did yesterday>Speak to the class as a whole (write-in?)>Other? (write-in) 