Chapter 11:The Secret Shield
The morning began with a shift in atmospheric pressure.Rei had Kenji back at the ruins,but the training was different today.No sprints,no resistance bands.Just Isometric holds.
“Hold the horse stance,Kenji.Don’t let your quads collapse,” Rei commanded,standing beside him.”If your foundation isn’t solid,your speed will be your downfall.You need to become an immovable object before you can be an unstoppable force.”
Kenji’s legs were barely holding on,vibrating like an electric toothbrush,but he held on,his eyes shut tight in “Zen focus.”
Later that afternoon at Inuyama Academy,the air was thick with the scent of floor wax and cedar.Mio had cornered the duo near the lockers,her arms crossed over her Kendo sparring armor.
“Koga.Data Nerd.My dojo is short on sparring partners for the regional tournament,”she said,her voice echoing.”The juniors are getting soft due to their instructor giving them light training.I need some ‘unconventional’ people to wake them up.No need to worry about gear,my dojo provided them.”
The Inuyama Kendo Dojo was a place of high discipline.Rei and Kenji were handed heavy protective armor and bokken or wooden swords.
“First,the warm-up,” Mio announced to her students.”Face the guests.”
Rei stepped onto the mat.Three senior students lunged at him simultaneously,all three were giving their all,striking speed increase with each strike however,Rei learned their patterns and used Rapid Spatial Calculation/Awareness .He moved like a shadow,slipping past their strikes and using the tip of the bokken to tap their armor plates.It was tactical and rapid speed,something even Kenji uses his brain to calculate the reaction time of the senior students to see what is the rate of them winning against Rei with their reaction time and is it even possible to match to that speed.
Now it was Kenji’s turn.However,Kenji was in a panic.A student twice his size swung a heavy vertical strike or Men.
“Calculations… vector of descent… 45 degrees!” Kenji yelped,barely parrying.He didn’t do too much as he took three hits to his ribs,but he stayed in his “Laminar Flow”.On the fourth swing,he spotted it,the student’s lead foot flared out right before the strike,The Pattern. Kenji ducked down,sliding past the student’s guard and tapping the side of his protector.
“I.. I achieved a successful countermeasure!” Kenji gasped,for him,it was the toughest match of his life.
“Enough,” Mio stepped forward,her presence changed into something lethal,something that matched Rei’s presence.She looked at Rei.”Koga.To the center.”
Rei knew he had to go into “Flow state” and his almost all his skills in order to match the strength of the match.
The duel was a blur of high-velocity motion.Mio and Rei are exchanging powerful strikes that are enough to shook the air around them,the speed of their strikes are “Subsonic Friction” level.
Rei tried to use his redirection techniques,but Mio was a master of Ma-ai or Combative Distance,a concept of strategic distance and timing between opponents,requiring intuition,skill and adaptation skills to make it effective.However,Mio has pushed the boundaries of this skill to the limit.She didn’t give him the momentum to steal.
Rei lunged,attempting a swift thrust,but Mio anticipated the shift in his weight.She performed a lighting-fast Ashibarai or Foot Sweep,a very famous leg technique used in many different martial arts,to disrupt an opponent’s balance by sweeping their ankle or foot.Mio combined the technique with a strike to his wrist.Rei’s feet left the polished floor,and for a split second,gravity won.
THUD
Rei hit the mat,his wooden sword clattering away.Silence fell over the dojo.Rei looked up,breathless,seeing Mio’s blade pointed toward his throat,”an inch away from his throat precisely,” Kenji thought to himself while in complete shocked that someone who he sees as strong as the gods has fallen into Mio’s trap.
“You’re fast,Koga,” Mio said,breathing hard,her eyes filled with a new kind of respect,something Rei first time seeing a person like her.”But you rely too much on your own rhythm.In Kendo,you have to read the rhythm of the sword,not just the man.”
She offered him a hand.Rei took it,a rare look of genuine admiration on his face appeared,two hardened warriors respected each other's strength and abilities."I was outplayed.Your center of gravity never wavered.”
“What is this,are you sucking up to me.” Mio jokingly said that Rei pretended to laugh but Mio could sense his anger from him.
Mio then turned her gaze to a shivering Kenji.”Now,Data Nerd.Your turn.If your bokken so much as grazes my sleeve,you win.I won’t play nice even if you are just a beginner.”
Kenji looked at Rei for help.Rei just leaned against the wall,crossing his arms.”Apply the training,Kenji.Find the opening in the frequency.”
“And if I win?” Kenji squeaked,a small way to build up his confidence.
“If you win,” Mio smirked,a predatory glint in her eyes,”I’ll start training with you two at the ruins.I think your ‘Data-driven’ methods need some real-world aggression.”
Kenji’s face went pale.To him,the thought of Mio joining their morning sessions wasn’t a reward– it was chaos,waiting to be released.He raised his wooden bokken,his hands shaking.”The probability of my survival…just dropped to zero… possibly in the negatives.”
Kenji stood in the center of the dojo,his feet sliding on the polished wood.Mio didn’t even take a stance,she simply stood there,her bokken held loosely in one hand.The air around her changed similar to how she duel Rei.The pressure made it hard for Kenji to breathe.
“Ten seconds,Kenji,” Mio said,her voice dropping into a low,competitive hum,that reminds Kenji of Rei.”They are almost a splitting image of each other! How am I supposed to graze her sleeve which according to my statistics was impossible!” Kenji thought to himself.
“Move,” Mio commanded.
Kenji didn’t calculate.He didn’t have time.As Mio lunged– a blur of white cotton and dark cedar,Kenji’s body moved out of pure instinct.He remembered the resistance bands.He remembered the feeling of the river current.
Instead of backing away,Kenji’s air begins to change into something Mio and Rei detected as a behavioural change.Mio tried to a quick and fast strike however,she felt emptiness when she land her strike.Kenji was not there anymore,she looked behind and saw Kenji holding his bokken.Kenji threw himself forward.It wasn’t a strike,it was a desperate,high-velocity stumble.He tripped over his own lead foot,but because of his recent endurance training,he gathered his remaining strength and used it to accelerate forward before he collapsed.
Clack
A sudden clack was heard.The tip of Kenji’s wooden sword grazed the fabric of Mio’s sleeve just as she was about to swing over his head.
Silence gripped the dojo.Kenji lay face-down on the wood,panting.Mio stared at her sleeve,then at the “Data Nerd” she called,on the floor.A slow and terrifying sharp grin spread across her face.
“A fluke,”she whispered,”but a touch is a touch.Fine. Starting tomorrow,I’m joining your little morning sessions,but we’re doing things my way.”
“I don’t believe in your ‘redirection’ Koga,” Mio announced,turning to him.”If a storm is coming,you don’t step aside,you break the wind.The best defense is more offense.I’m going to teach this nerd how to strike so hard the opponent doesn’t have a energy to redirect.”
Kenji looked up from the floor, his glasses lopsided. "I... I think I'd like to go back to the resistance bands now."
As the trio walked out of the dojo, the evening sun was casting long, orange shadows. Rei and Kenji were talking about the "physics of the fluke," but Hiyori had stopped near the gate.
She was looking toward the street.A black sedan with tinted windows was idling near the school entrance.It doesn’t have a local license plate.As Rei approached,the car slowly began to roll away,disappearing into the twilight.
“Hiyori?” Rei asked,noticing her stillness.”Something wrong?”
Hiyori looked at Rei. He looked peaceful. He looked like a student who had just spent a long day with his friends, not a "Rank 2 Predator" hiding from a ghost. She remembered her promise to keep his world quiet.
"Nothing, Rei," she said, forcing a bright, genuine smile that masked the racing of her heart. "I just thought I saw a rare bird. Let's go—I want to show you the edits of our shrine photos before the festival opens on Monday.”
Rei nodded,but as they walked,his internal instincts flickered.He saw the car and he felt the atmospheric change.
Back at the Sato household,Rei took out his gym bag,opened it and took out a Sam Jeol Bong or Three section staff,a versatile and challenging weapon made of three connected sticks used in martial arts such as “Taekwondo” and “Kuk Sool Won”.”Welcome back,old friend.” Rei talked to the weapon as if it had a soul and it was released from captivity.
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