Chapter 201: Killing a Man Isn't Enough, You Have to Kill His Heart Too?
Inside the kendo dojo, for a moment, the surroundings fell into silence.
Mainly because Sakurai Saki's earlier statement was just too bizarre.
"You… no rank?" Yagyuu Munehide asked.
"I've only been practicing kendo for a few months at most. Where would I find the time to go take a test for ranking?" Sakurai held his sword, assuming the chūdan stance.
'And yet you acted like some kind of ace just now, goddammit, nearly scared me to death!' Yagyuu cursed silently in his heart.
Normally, the last fighter, the fifth position Taishō, is always the ace, the strongest member—what kind of Taishō doesn't have a ranking?
Or maybe this school never planned to win, just came here to practice?
"Ready! First match!"
The referee gave the order.
The two stepped to their designated positions, preparing their stances.
Roughly two meters apart.
"Begin!!"
As the words fell—
Sakurai stepped forward and slashed down!
Defeating someone in the field they're best at—surely that would be a real blow, wouldn't it?
"Haaahhhh!!!"
After training with Kojima so much, Sakurai had also started enjoying shouting when swinging his sword.
"Clack!"
One strike!
The bamboo swords collided with a crisp sound!
"What? Is that all your strength amounts to?" Sakurai's sword pressed down on his opponent's, preventing him from exerting force.
Yagyuu Munehide's grip on his sword wavered slightly.
'What the hell has this guy been eating to be this strong?'
The strength he'd always prided himself on was completely outmatched.
Sakurai dissolved the pressure, then once again swung from the jōdan stance!
"Clack!"
Another strike.
"Seeing how you kept using jōdan just now, I got curious and wanted to try it a bit myself." Sakurai smiled as he spoke.
'Goddammit.' Yagyuu Munehide cursed inwardly.
Try a bit? And that speed too! Fuck! Where the hell did this crazy bastard crawl out from?!
In response, Sakurai launched yet another attack!
"Thwack!"
A flurry of blows like a raging storm.
The entire hall was filled only with the sound of clashing bamboo swords. Yagyuu was being pushed further and further to the edge of the ring.
In kendo matches, being forced out of bounds also counts as a loss!
"Hey, don't you know that hitting the bamboo sword doesn't score points?" Yagyuu Munehide gritted his teeth and said.
Sakurai didn't answer.
He simply curled his lip slightly and slashed down once more.
"Weren't you having a lot of fun bullying my Kouhai earlier?"
"So I bullied him, and now you want to bully me back?" Yagyuu Munehide struggled to withstand the attacks.
Hearing that, Sakurai realized—huh, that kinda made sense. The guy hadn't really done anything to him personally.
Making him drop his sword and lose—wasn't that a bit rude?
So he changed his target from the bamboo sword to the valid scoring area on the head!
"Clack!"
The attack was blocked again, with great difficulty.
"What? Not giving up yet?" Sakurai asked.
"I thought you were about to surrender."
"Behind me are all substitute players—can't even last one round against you!"
"Then wouldn't it be better to just lose outright? You guys made it to the top 4 last year. Losing one match—does that really hurt your pride so bad?" Sakurai mocked.
"Thwack!" Another strike.
Yagyuu's sword nearly slipped from his hand—fortunately, he managed to grab it in time.
"Shit! You Tokyo bastards are ruthless—actually letting an unranked guy fight last!" he shouted.
"I'm from Kyoto." Sakurai corrected.
If you want to curse out a region, go ahead, but don't drag me into it. I'm from Kyoto—don't go throwing accusations around!
"Referee, he's insulting a competitor—doesn't that count as a violation?" Sakurai turned and asked the referee.
"That doesn't count as an insult to a competitor, not enough to be a violation." Daimon Saburou replied impartially.
You're about to win, your strength is this overwhelming, and you're still playing mind games?
Sakurai really doesn't give a damn about anyone.
Bored of the game, Sakurai once again raised his bamboo sword, slashed down, and shouted loudly:
"Men!!"
Along with a sharp "thwack", Yagyuu Munehide let out a long sigh.
"Valid strike! Ippon!" The referee raised his flag and announced.
Finally, it was over.
He turned around, ready to walk off.
"Hey! There's still one more round!" Sakurai called out.
Hearing that, Yagyuu turned his head, face filled with despair.
Bro, have mercy! Stop torturing me already!
Isn't killing someone enough—do you really have to kill their heart too?!
(ง ͠ಥ_ಥ)ง
...
Afternoon, after finishing kendo practice, by evening, the whole group headed to the hotel that had been booked in advance.
It was an extremely luxurious place, with a large garden outside the hotel planted with bamboo and seasonal flowers.
Next to it was a bamboo device called a shishio-doshi, filled with running water that hit a rock and produced a soft echoing sound.
All the members of the kendo club simultaneously groaned that they were exhausted to the point of collapse.
Practicing while wearing protective gear was already tough, and on top of that, there wasn't just one school present today. Basically, each person had to fight over a dozen matches, and even the reserve members were not spared by Daimon Saburou.
After entering the hotel, everyone walked toward the rooms that had been booked.
This time, the rooms booked for students were communal tatami rooms, with six people in each.
As for the teacher, he used his own money to book a private room—seemed like he didn't want to sleep with the students, probably afraid he couldn't keep up with their conversations, and might ruin the group's atmosphere.
...
In the evening, after dinner—
Sakurai went to the public bath to take a hot soak.
After washing his body clean, he stepped into the outdoor bath area, and Sakurai's footsteps came to a stop.
"Hmm? Sakurai-kun?" A man with sharp eyes and center-parted hair was leaning against the edge of the bath, soaking in the water.
Upon seeing Sakurai enter, he greeted him.
It was the father of the Nakano quintuplets.
"Nakano-san?" Sakurai Saki couldn't make sense of it.
Why was his employer showing up at the hotel where his kendo training camp was being held?
"What a coincidence, Sakurai-kun." Although he said that with his mouth, Nakano Maruo was clearly thinking about something else.
'It was Nino who suggested coming here, but the other four didn't object either.' Nakano Maruo was seeing for the first time that all five of his daughters agreed on something.
Could it have something to do with this student Sakurai?
There was definitely no way it didn't.
"Yes, Nakano-san, are you here on a business trip?" Sakurai recalled that the man was the director of a private hospital.
As he spoke, he stepped into the open-air bath.
"Family vacation." Nakano Maruo's voice was very flat, but that seemed to be his usual tone of speaking.
"They all came too? Coming to Kyushu in the middle of summer, what for? Isn't it hot?" Sakurai Saki spoke while unconsciously revealing a somewhat hopeless expression.
(Note: according to Google, Fukuoka is a province on Kyushu island.)
He had finally managed to get out of Tokyo for once, and yet… those five idiots still followed him?
'Am I really this unlucky?'
In this kind of summer weather, wouldn't going to Hokkaido be a better idea?!
"You didn't know?" Maruo looked at his expression and found it a bit amusing.
This tutor didn't seem to be very fond of his daughters.
Possibly even slightly annoyed by them.
'He doesn't like them, and yet in just one semester, he made their grades rise by fifty ranks… interesting.'
Sakurai's thoughts ran wild, and a few seconds later, he also guessed who had taken the initiative.
"It was Nino and I who proposed the trip to Kyushu." Nakano Maruo gave the answer.
"I did mention to them last time that I'd be participating in a kendo match. Didn't expect them to really want to come and watch." Sakurai Saki explained further.
"I see. But Sakurai-kun, you know kendo? I heard that both last year and this year, you didn't join any club?"
This overprotective father really did his homework.
"Just average level, not worth mentioning."
"Is that so."
Looking at that confident face of yours, I don't see anything "average" about it, Sakurai-kun.
But knowing Sakurai Saki's attitude toward his daughters, Nakano Maruo, as a father, felt somewhat relieved.
"The results from this term—I'm very satisfied. Next semester, I'll increase your pay a little."
"Sakurai-kun, thank you for becoming their tutor. I'm truly grateful." Maruo had always been worried about his daughters' academic performance.
These words came completely from the heart.
"No need to thank me."
Hearing that, Nakano Maruo let out a quiet laugh.
This kid's really something.
Doesn't even bother to say a humble word.