To prepare for the upcoming Autumn Trial, Katori Nanatsuki began adding sparring segments to his swordsmanship classes.
Although the students had already spent a month learning basic swordsmanship, when it came time to fight for real, most of them just flailed wildly.
Only a handful of students with sharper instincts could actively apply what they had learned during their bouts.
Time was limited, so Nanatsuki would pick a few students each class to spar with personally. With over thirty students, it only took a few days to get through everyone once.
After each sparring session, he would point out the areas where the students needed the most improvement.
"You can't just focus on dodging. If your opponent's sword is faster than your reaction time, there's no way you'll be able to avoid every strike. Most of the time, blocking or counterattacking is more effective than evading." Nanatsuki parried a student's swing with his own wooden blade. "For example, by blocking your sword like this, your momentum gets cut off, and your attack naturally falls apart."
"Yes, teacher! I understand!"
Once Nanatsuki finished his guidance, he let the students draw lots and spar among themselves, correcting their mistakes from the sidelines.
After receiving instruction from Nanatsuki, Chijō Kana and Muguruma Kensei were far beyond the rest of the class. Normally, he'd just have the two of them spar with each other.
Ever since Kensei started practicing the Flagfish Suburi, he could finally go toe-to-toe with Kana again.
Kana had the edge in technique, but Kensei's Reiatsu was a bit stronger, making up for the gap in skill.
Hirako Shinji assumed that today would be the same as usual—randomly assigned an opponent and just go through the motions. But unexpectedly, Katori Nanatsuki announced, "Today, Chijō Kana will spar with Kobane Jin'emon, and Muguruma Kensei will spar with Hirako Shinji."
'So I did catch the teacher's attention... I guess that wasn't just my imagination.' Hirako thought to himself.
Though he wasn't fond of trouble, he wouldn't back down when it came knocking.
Hirako stepped forward and faced Kensei, drawing his wooden sword.
"Looks like the teacher has high hopes for you. You seem like a worthy opponent," Kensei said with a wide grin. Like Kana had done before, he planned to pour most of his Reiatsu into a single strike to create a showstopping, decisive blow.
"Hey now, we don't have any beef, right? So why am I sensing such murderous intent from you?" Hirako joked playfully, but inwardly, he was on high alert.
"What murderous intent? Relax, I'll finish this quickly!" Kensei channeled the bulk of his Reiatsu into his wooden sword, let out a fierce shout, stepped forward, and swung down with full force.
Hirako's eyes sharpened. Sensing danger, he didn't try to block it head-on. Instead, he immediately rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding Kensei's strike.
Boom!
Kensei's wooden blade smashed into the floorboards, instantly caving in a large hole.
"You maniac! Were you trying to kill me?!" Hirako's eyelid twitched as he stared at the crater in the floor.
Even while shouting, Hirako didn't forget to counterattack—twisting around after the roll and landing a clean strike on Kensei's back.
"Damn it! My sword got stuck!" Kensei's face turned red with frustration. After smashing through the floorboards, his sword had become wedged and couldn't be pulled out in time, leaving him wide open to Hirako's strike.
Hirako scored the first point.
In Soul Society, the rules for sword duels were simple—land a hit on your opponent's body to score a point. First to two points wins.
In real sword duels, the rule was even simpler: the first one down loses.
At the Spiritual Arts Academy, students never used real swords in their sparring—wooden swords were the standard.
Kensei hadn't expected something like this to happen. He didn't even dare meet the teacher's eyes as he yanked his sword free and signaled Hirako to resume the match.
Kensei took a deep breath to calm his scattered thoughts and decided to play it safe this time. Instead of pouring most of his Reiatsu into a single strike, he controlled its output more evenly—just like during his Flagfish Suburi training.
Once Kensei got serious, the pressure on Hirako skyrocketed.
Thud, thud—
Kensei's strikes were heavy and forceful. After a few exchanges, Hirako's hands were already going numb from the impact.
Wham—
Kensei seized the opportunity, slamming Hirako's sword aside with a powerful blow, then followed it with a rapid slash straight into Hirako's left shoulder.
"Tch—what's with your strength?! I think you just dislocated my shoulder!" Hirako groaned, rubbing his aching arm. It was probably already swelling.
"Heh, I'm not that strong. This is just the result of lots of hard training!" Kensei laughed heartily.
Scoring a point made Kensei genuinely happy. He could tell Hirako was a formidable opponent. Without the teacher's guidance in controlling his Reiatsu, winning would've been much harder.
Hirako listened quietly, deep in thought. He realized Kensei's powerful swings likely came from some sort of technique.
"Let's keep going."
The result was no surprise. Once Kensei got serious, Hirako wasn't able to keep up. It didn't take long before Kensei scored a second point.
Kensei won the match.
"Kensei, I assume you know what you did wrong," Nanatsuki said calmly.
The friendly smile on his teacher's face made a chill run down Kensei's back.
"I do! I shouldn't swing with everything I've got like that—I'll work on it, I promise!" Kensei scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"As long as you understand. Unless you're fighting for your life, swinging recklessly like that shows a lack of respect for your opponent. Don't make that mistake again," Nanatsuki warned.
"Shinji, your instincts are sharp. You didn't try to block Kensei's initial attack head-on, and your follow-up was solid too—you spotted the opportunity and counterattacked. But your technique still lags behind Kensei's, so you lost in the end," Nanatsuki added, turning to Hirako.
Reiatsu control techniques were taught at the academy—after all, they were essential for Shinigami—but not with the same sword-focused specialization found at the Katori-ryu Dojo.
Academy instructors usually began teaching Reiatsu control to third-year students.
Since Hirako and the others were first-years, it wasn't part of their curriculum yet.
After class, Nanatsuki stopped Hirako.
"Shinji, do you feel frustrated about losing to Kensei just now?" he asked with a smile.
"Not really..." Hirako blurted out, then hesitated. "I mean... I couldn't beat him anyway."
Nanatsuki spoke slowly, without pressure:
"You have remarkable talent—honestly, you're a genius. Soon, your progress will outpace the academy's teaching schedule. If you stay here, you'll just be wasting your potential. I hate seeing talent go to waste."
"You've probably already noticed that Kana and Kensei are both my disciples. You've seen how quickly they're improving. I'd like to think I know a thing or two about teaching."
"Hirako Shinji, would you be willing to join the Katori-ryu and become my student?"