on a shocking clarity. The glint of the sun off the razor-sharp steel

blade; the faint whisper of the wind; the singing of the birds; his

very own heartbeat… Everything became sharp-edged and

amplified. His senses had never felt so acute. Death was looking

him right in the face and Kanno calmly met its gaze with a

profound sense of resignation. He had gambled all and he had lost.

He seemed to be drifting somewhere outside himself as he

watched his hand, as if it were somehow not a part of him, reach

down toward the knife. He felt his fingers close around the hilt, as

if they were doing so of their own accord. He picked up the knife.

The sun had never seemed so bright. The sky had never seemed

so blue. He opened up his shirt. He was profoundly sorry that he

had to die, but somewhere deep within, in a part of him that he had

never known existed, he had accepted it. He held the tanto by the

hilt with both hands, the blade pointing toward him. He took a deep

breath and let it out slowly. Quickly, he thought, do it quickly.

Resolve is everything. With all the force that he could muster, he

stabbed…

And the blade stopped, of its own accord.

His arms trembled with the shock. It was as if he had

encountered some sort of invisible wall, an impenetrable barrier…

but no, the blade had pierced his skin, only just barely. He looked

down, awestruck, at the tiny trickle of blood welling up out of the

small cut where the point of the knife had just barely broken his

skin and suddenly realization dawned.

Yohaku.

The master had been testing him. He had never intended for him

to die. He had only meant to measure the sincerity of his intent.

And in that moment Kanno had felt weak and dizzy, on the verge

of passing out, yet at the same time he had an almost

uncontrollable urge to break out in laughter. He stifled it, because

the significance of what had happened suddenly broke upon him

like a tsunami. Like a tidal wave, it overwhelmed him, because he

realized in that instant that he had prevailed over the master. And

that knowledge made him feel giddy with power.

He had fooled Yohaku. The master would believe in his sincerity,