Yuuki's long-range throwing attacks were terrible at first—his aim was all over the place. But after about the sixth throw, they started getting sharper and sharper.
"At this rate, it'll never end. I should've put a time limit on it…"
Inside the "prison" he'd drawn for himself, Kaname Ryougi kept sidestepping left and right. Up to now, he could still evade everything with ease. And even Yuuki understood that if it dragged on like this, he'd be the one to gas out first—so Kaname wasn't in a hurry.
The one getting desperate was Yuuki.
To maintain speed and conserve strength, he'd already removed all his protective gear. He even ripped off a few smaller pieces and threw them as projectiles, leaving only his headguard. A bamboo sword had weight; it was abandoned without hesitation.
Even so, not even a minute had passed before Yuuki was drenched in sweat.
So when one of his thrown wooden daggers wasn't dodged—but instead casually flicked away by Kaname's wooden sword—Yuuki didn't hesitate. Even though that dagger had been one of the last two weapons in his hands, he charged straight into a spot that was almost a blind angle for Kaname.
"You're rushing."
The moment Yuuki abandoned the bamboo sword, he'd essentially given up any real close-range means of attack. Charging in with short weapons against Kaname would only get him beaten senseless and disabled.
And Yuuki had ditched his armor too—so it would probably hurt. A lot.
Kaname thought that, but didn't say it aloud. Nor did he have any intention of going easy. He reset his stance in a flash and snapped into a lightning-fast turning cut, slashing toward Yuuki.
Crack!
The sound of bamboo striking something hard rang out—and Kaname's vision abruptly dimmed.
Clothes…?
Kaname blinked, stunned.
Yuuki had stripped off his kendogi, wrapped it around his faceguard, and thrown it—creating a crude trap, almost like a smoke bomb.
Kaname's bamboo blade collided with the faceguard hidden inside the cloth. The impact made the clothing burst open midair, spilling a sudden canopy of shadows above Kaname and blocking his sight.
And Yuuki's final dagger was still thrown—launched from behind the scattered cloth like cover, a concealed shot aimed at Kaname.
At the same time, Yuuki didn't slow down. On the slick wooden floor, he threw himself sideways, hit the ground, and scrambled—rolling and crawling—straight into Kaname like a human battering ram.
A bowling-ball tactic.
He'd deliberately kept the headguard on for this moment. If he could blind Kaname, Kaname wouldn't be able to see the line of attack. And the last time Kaname had seen him, Yuuki was charging with his remaining weapon—so by inertia, Kaname would naturally assume Yuuki was making a final all-in gamble before his stamina gave out.
But even if Kaname reacted in time to avoid the dagger, he couldn't counter Yuuki—because the dagger was thrown.
And Yuuki himself had lowered his body even further, turning his own weight into the weapon… or rather, using his body like the bowling ball. Kaname's movement area was limited. It was ugly, but a full-body collision into Kaname's lower half—caught off guard—would knock down even the steadiest stance.
Either being hit by the dagger, or being bowled down and forced out of bounds—either way, it was Yuuki's victory.
[Mind's Eye]
At the razor-thin moment before impact, Kaname closed his eyes.
Unfortunately, Yuuki had misjudged him.
Kaname often claimed Shiki Ryougi was stronger than him—but that was because Kaname lacked talent in exorcism, especially the ability to detect inhuman presences.
In pure combat ability—strength, speed, skill, experience—if the opponent wasn't inhuman, Kaname was simply superior.
In matches at the sword dojo, Shiki had never once beaten him.
A heavy strike snapped upward.
The white-wrapped tip of Kaname's bamboo sword hit Yuuki's chin with perfect precision, rising from low to high—lifting Yuuki clean off the ground.
The thrown dagger, hidden behind the kendogi, had its trajectory masked—but it was also slowed by the cloth for a fraction of a beat. The result: it was knocked away by Yuuki's own airborne body.
Yuuki spun in the air in an exaggerated arc, crashed to the floor, eyes rolling back—out cold.
The wooden dagger skittered away. The discarded kendogi drifted down and settled over Yuuki, covering his bare upper body.
[Destiny Power +1]
"Ah… damn it, damn it. I hit too hard…"
Only then did Kaname realize—because the faceguard had been used as a weighted "smoke bomb," Yuuki's face had no protection.
"Hey… Yuuki? You alive? I'm stepping out of the ring now."
No response.
Kaname approached carefully, slid his fingers beneath Yuuki's nose, and finally exhaled.
"He's alive. Just unconscious. Shiki—help me carry him to the infirmary."
In the shadow by the dojo entrance, Shiki—wearing an orange kimono embroidered with chamomile—turned as if to leave without a sound, pretending she hadn't heard.
"Hey! Shiki! I already helped you teach him a lesson. You can handle the cleanup yourself, can't you? He came here to see you."
"…Haa."
Shiki sighed and stuck her head out from the darkness. "Nobody asked you. If you'd just ignored him, he would've gone home on his own."
"He came to see you even with fractured ribs. If we don't give him a strong enough 'medicine' to learn, he'll keep coming back. If you truly don't want anything to do with him, then reject him more thoroughly. Now get over here—I still have to clean up the dojo."
Kaname insisted it was Shiki's problem. In the end, Shiki reluctantly walked over, staring down at the unconscious Yuuki with open exasperation.
"Oh. Not bad. Looks expensive, too."
She was wearing one of the apology gifts Yuuki had brought—so at Kaname's praise, she didn't look happy. Expressionless, she simply hoisted Yuuki onto her back.
Normally it would be the other way around. Yet lately, the woman—Shiki—had carried her heavily injured, unconscious childhood friend twice.
Why, on the night she'd found Yuuki near death… had she wanted to save him?
Maybe, just like her brother said—if it hadn't been that sudden whim, Yuuki wouldn't now be trying so hard to draw closer to her.
He kept making her angry.
And he kept getting hurt.
Feeling the weight of Yuuki's body—he seemed heavier than before—Shiki's thoughts twisted into something complicated.
Kaname watched her retreating back and murmured to himself, "Consider it a reward for effort."
Shiki didn't know that, in that brief moment, Kaname had activated [Mind's Eye] against a complete amateur.
Kaname had opened with enough technique and power to make Yuuki clearly understand the gap between them. Even so, Yuuki had still cast off all protection and launched a desperate, all-or-nothing attack that Kaname hadn't even imagined.
That could only mean one thing: for Yuuki, repairing things with Shiki was worth any injury.
Maybe this kid—about the same age as Kaname's sister—wasn't what he looked like on the surface.
Maybe he'd already "broken" early, in some quiet place inside.
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