"I'm back."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, fully prepared, pushed open the door, re-entered the room, and sat down next to Mikura.
"What did you go do?" Mikura sniffed, caught a faint scent of smoke, and frowned slightly: "Did you smoke?"
"How could I? I'm a good student. It's just that a smoking boy passed by just now." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka leaned closer to Mikura, pretending to breathe out: "How about it, can you smell any smoke?"
Indeed, there was no smell of smoke in his mouth; on the contrary, there was a fresh minty scent.
It smelled quite pleasant.
"If you didn't smoke, you didn't smoke. Why do you need to lean in?" Mikura pushed Ayanokoji away with a look of distaste.
Seeing Ayanokoji return, Ikishima Midari immediately sat up straight like a well-behaved student, eagerly looking at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka: "How is it? Are you ready? Shall we start gambling?"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's gaze fell on the dagger in front of him, and he made a request: "Before we officially start, can I practice a bit more?"
"Go ahead."
Ayanokoji picked up the dagger and spread his left hand on the mat.
After applying 4 buffs to himself, he felt completely different from ten minutes ago; his spirit was better than ever.
Originally, his left hand, pressed on the table, required strong willpower to prevent it from triggering a conditioned reflex and staying on the table.
But now, when his hand was pressed on the table, it took very little effort to calm it down.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka raised the dagger in his right hand and thrust it sharply towards the outside of his left thumb. Even without Ayanokoji deliberately pressing it down, this hand showed no tendency to jump and remained firmly pinned to the table.
This left hand seemed to have temporarily disconnected from his brain.
This was excellent news for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
He had finally resolved one of the biggest hidden dangers—the problem of miscoordination due to a chaotic left hand.
This was also the most common problem for beginners, and most people's injuries stemmed from this.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't perform the full action; he just tried to stab a few times while holding it in the air, and he had a good grasp of it.
"Alright, I'm ready. We can start."
"So, who goes first?" Ikishima Midari was already impatient.
"You go first." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka focused on her hand: "I want to see how many cycles you can complete in thirty seconds."
"Let me go first? If I make a mistake, you can win without a fight... A very good decision!" Ikishima Midari glanced at Ayanokoji with some surprise, but didn't refuse, saying with a smile, "Alright then, I'll go first!"
Ikishima Midari placed her left hand on the mat, pulled out the dagger that was stuck in the mat, twirled it in her hand, and gripped the handle tightly with her palm.
Then, she looked at a club member behind her: "Today, you'll be the Dealer."
"Okay!"
The club member whom Ikishima Midari had designated nodded excitedly, took out her phone, opened the stopwatch, and placed it on the table.
She explained to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, "I've set a thirty-second countdown. As soon as I say 'start,' the challenger can begin. Watch the president's operation carefully; you'll do the same later."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded and looked at Ikishima Midari.
She was already prepared, her gaze fixed on her left hand, her eyes incredibly focused. However, she showed no sign of nervousness; in fact, there was even a smile on her face.
"Start...!"
As the club member shouted, she pressed the stopwatch, and the countdown began from 30 seconds.
Ikishima Midari's demeanor changed instantly.
She went from stillness to motion, her right hand swiftly thrusting the dagger from the outside of her thumb into the space between her thumb and index finger, then back to the outside, and into the space between her index and middle fingers...!
Her movements were incredibly fast and precise, like a vigorously performing pianist, with a sense of rhythm.
Four seconds per cycle, three seconds per cycle... until the end, her speed was still increasing, even reaching two seconds per cycle!
"Time's up, stop!"
Although she had been told to stop, Ikishima Midari's hand didn't halt. As if still wanting more, she did two more rounds before stopping.
"President completed nine cycles in the first round." Ikishima Midari's club member truthfully stated her first-round score.
Although she completed a total of eleven cycles, she only completed nine within the allotted time.
Ikishima Midari's face was flushed, and she was breathing heavily, her eyes narrowing into crescent moons as if she was immensely pleased.
"Ayanokoji, it's your turn. Hurry, let me see your results!"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka realized when he saw Ikishima Midari smiling that this was not her limit.
If he wanted to win against her, the first round was the best opportunity.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka took a deep breath, pressed his left hand onto the mat, and raised the knife in his right hand.
His gaze was intently fixed on the palm in front of him, and his breathing slowed, as if he had entered a calm, sage-like mode.
"Start!"
Seeing that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was ready, the Dealer gave the command at the right moment.
At that instant, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, like Ikishima Midari, quickly made the dagger jump between his fingers.
The game was simple: just thrust the dagger into the gaps of the spread five fingers, starting from the thumb, then between the thumb and index finger, then to the next, and so on, cyclically. The person who completed the most back-and-forth cycles within thirty seconds won.
This game had no tricks. If there was one, it was the only trick: to stab down more quickly while absolutely not making a mistake.
You must quickly aim accurately before striking. Fast, accurate, ruthless.
These three words always work, no matter the situation.
With the buffs stacked, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka felt he was in excellent condition, faithfully adhering to the three-word mantra.
However, as the knife tip moved, there was still an unavoidable awkwardness, and the dagger inevitably paused when thrusting towards his fingers.
Mikura nervously watched Ayanokoji's challenge from the side, fearing he would make a mistake.
But to her surprise, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka seemed to transform from a novice to someone proficient with a dagger in just over ten minutes.
In her opinion, Ayanokoji's speed was not much inferior to Ikishima Midari's; his movements were also extremely fast and very impressive to watch.
For a game like Quick Knife Finger Stab, it's truly difficult to improve without long hours of practice.
The first thing to overcome is the fear of the knife, and this alone has caused countless practitioners to hit a wall.
How did Ayanokoji Kiyotaka manage to grow so much in such a short time?
Could it be that he is a genius at games? Or did he practice before and was just pretending to be foolish at first?
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