Chapter 19:The New Vector

The morning dew still clung to the ruins as the air was torn apart usually by the sound of both clashing weapons and immense strength.

This time,however,the vibration was different,a bit destructive.Rei was no longer moving like a wall meant to stop Mio,he was moving with his “Pseudo-Potential” 50% Potential to his three-section staff.Rei’s “Kinetic Fever” hummed with a controlled,rhythmic frequency that Mio met with a respectful,focused ferocity.

“Yes! Yes! Bring it on Koga!” Mio shouted,her eyes not filled with disappointed looks anymore but rather a satisfied look instead.

CLANG

“Calm down,Mio.You are going to get an adrenaline rush if we keep doing this longer.” Rei explained while parrying her attack just in time.

Clang

“Yeah yeah,whatever but at least I get to enjoy this along with my seniors.” Mio uses her Tachi’s blade to block the “Kinetic Fever” strike.

Now the sparring session feels like a hurricane.Stone pillars snapped it in half,the air rippled throughout the session.Both “Rivals” clashed with their almost complete potential.

Mio throwing her “Imaginary Slashes”,with some got to Rei but mostly blocked it.Rei counter attack by using his “Kinetic Debt” technique on his weapon which grants the user the strength of a high speed car crashing and the speed to create almost afterimage of an orbit around Rei.

There was chaos and destruction in their path,however no more shouting anymore – only the silent understanding of two warriors who had finally aligned their gears together.

“I’m here! And I’m ready for the ‘Secret Technique’!” Kenji yelled,skidding into the clearing.

Their session was suddenly interrupted by an excited Kenji.”You,Kenji or Data Nerd,why did you interrupt our sparring session?” Mio asked in an angry tone.

Kenji looked at Rei with wide,pleading eyes.”Rei… could you please! Teach me that kick you did on the rooftop? The one that defied the laws of angular momentum. Teach me!”

Rei paused,looking at his friend.He thought about the “Flashy” nature of the move and the sheer centripetal force required.”It requires a perfect pivot,Kenji.Not to mention,you also need to be flexible and your center of mass should be perfect to correctly perform the kick.So that means,if your center or mass shifts by even a millimeter,you’ll lose your balance.”

“Understood,but what’s the worst that could happen?” Kenji said without realizing it was his final words before he considered the training as “Hell’s Worse Training,”

Under Rei’s stoic guidance,Kenji spent the next hour stretching his legs,spinning and falling,his limbs flailing like an uncontrollable propeller.

“GOD It hurts…” Kenji shouted while Rei helped him with the middle split.

“That wasn’t the worst part yet,now hold still for at least 1 minute,” Rei explained.

Next was the kick itself,Kenji thought to swing his leg up from the ground but it was a floppy kick performance.Rei showed his one step at a time instruction for a perfect Spinning Hook Kick or Dwi Huryeo Chagi.

Rei’s instruction for Spinning Hook Kick:

1. Rotate and look at the target with eyes first.
2. After locking your eyes on the target,chamber your leg with your feet pointing at the target.
3. Then,extend your chambered leg to 45 degrees from the target.
4. Swing your leg across the target.
5. Practice each step first.
6. Finally put them all together.

With Rei’s instruction and guidance,Kenji finally managed a semi-decent rotation and kick.

“Finally! I did it!I’ve mastered the ‘Centripetal’ force!” Kenji jumped with celebration.

“Mio！Look and witness the legend!” Kenji roared,attempting to use the kicking technique he just learned a few hours ago towards her.

Mio looked at Kenji like she was looking at a delusional conspiracy theorist.Mio didn’t even drop her stance.She simply stepped two inches to the left with an average human speed,letting Kenji spin past her and face-plant onto the ground.

Click

A sudden camera click from Hiyori’s camera shutter as she giggled.”Got it! That’s going in the ‘Kenji Fails’ folder for sure!” Hiyori said while Rei turned around trying to hold his laughter.

“You… you keep that?!” Kenji looks up from the ground.”Could you please delete that,” Kenji asked Hiyori, to which Mio helped Hiyori to answer,”Sorry Kenji,or is that your name,but it is hilarious to see you fail.”

As they packed up the training,Hiyori checked her phone,her face lit up with a rare,excited glow.”Oh! He's actually here! Guys,my middle school friend just arrived in Inuyama.He is my male friend in middle school but he transferred right before high school started,but he’s finally back for the festival season!”

The group,curious about this new “variable” in their social equation,headed toward the city center.There,they met Haru,a friendly and athletic male who greeted Hiyori with a high-five that made Rei’s eyes narrow instinctively,”old habits die hard”,analyzing new “variables” entering his social with a bit jealousy.

“It’s nice to meet you all!My name is Haru,I'm from the city of Tokyo!” Haru’s lively response led Rei and Mio to be suspicious of his response.”City of Tokyo huh? Nah he couldn’t be… he looks way too innocent for his tone and personality.” Rei and Mio thought the same thing.

“Nice to meet you! My name is Kenji Sato.You look really cool and you are probably a statistically better person than those two,” Kenji greeted Haru while pointing at Rei and Mio.

“Oh I see,and nice to meet you too!Sato seems like a pretty nice gu-” Haru greeted Rei and Mio,however they both are hitting Kenji with softness in a way of expressing their anger.

“Ow stop that please,Haru, please help me!” Kenji begged for Haru’s rescue but Haru saw their shenanigans and just let out an awkward laugh.

“First day of meeting Haru and you guys act like this?” Hiyori angrily tells the trio.The trio stood immediately to not make Hiyori angry which makes Haru confused even more.

The five of them spent the afternoon navigating the Inuyama Festival.

Festival activities moment:

• Ring Toss Game:

The group decided to play the mini game.There were only two winners,Kenji and Haru.The rest of the three tried to use their pinpoint accuracy to toss even Hiyori pull out her photography technique just to precisely throw but ended in fail.Why? The booth owner rigged the mini game so that being accurate is the wrong answer.

Kenji,however, doesn't seem to be fazed by his friends losing even with pinpoint accuracy.He used his physics obsessed mind to calculate the distance and the wind direction and speed which he actually succeeded in scoring.He was later asked to leave by the booth owner not because Kenji was winning the rigged game,but because Kenji tried to explain the physics of “Ring Toss” game.

Haru on the other hand,looked at the target and threw just accurately enough to land on the place he wanted.Kenji saw this and decided to want to bond with Haru by doing the same with how he bonded with his friends,explaining the concept of physics.

• Street food market:

The group strolled through the food market.They came across a food vendor who challenged them to eat his spiciest ramen,a world record being the spiciest ramen.

Mio, with competitive sparkles in her eyes,challenged the food vendor.”I would like to challenge your spiciest ramen,along with all of them.” Mio said while pointing her thumb back to the others.”I can surely beat this challenge with ease.” Mio said while Kenji looked at the food vendor shaking his head in disagreement.The food vendor looked at Kenji and thought to himself,”Is that boy kidnapped here or something?”

Mio was the first to eat the ramen,however,she felt the intense spice from the ramen.She didn't give up,she kept on eating using her late strongest senior’s beer drinking technique to keep pushing forward.”She beat the challenge!She did it!” Hiyori said in celebration,while Mio nodded at her,looking like she watched a saddest drama.Haru gave Mio a cold sodas to help with her dying from spice,she thanked him and cracked open the tab,dunks the whole can down.”You did great but you should calm down on the drink,” Haru celebrated her success with a bit concerned for her health.

Rei was the second to eat the ramen,he tasted the ramen,was about to give up until the food vendor told him,”If you can finish the bowl like your friend,I will give you a small plushie,” the food vendor takes out a Capybara plushie.He looked at Hiyori,her face glowing when seeing the plushie then back at the ramen.”Does it look like I have a choice?” Rei asked the food vendor,which the food vendor smiled as his plan worked for attracting couples whose partner likes weird-cute things.Rei letting his ‘Ghost’ persona and consume the ramen.After the challenge,Rei looked like he’s fought the fight of his life but he successfully beat the challenge.Haru handed him a soda,”Here take this.” Haru said, looking a bit concerned for Rei.”Thank you…” Rei said with his dying tone.The food vendor gave Rei the plushie which Rei using his last bit of strength gave it to Hiyori which made her face glow brighter than the star.”Calm down Koga,man.. anything for a girl huh?” Haru teases Rei which makes Rei look at him angrily.

Haru was the third to eat the ramen,he calculated the probability of him surviving the whole challenge and the probability of him potentially dying.”The calculation in my head calculate the probability of me surviving this is about 0.0005% and probability of me potentially dying is about 98.92929… which means… I’M DONE FOR.” Kenji thought to himself but nonetheless challenge to eat it.He’s finished with only half the ramen left.

“I…I’m done..” Kenji said with his tiny bit of strength.”Poor Sato” Haru said while handing him a cold soda,it was indeed “Poor Kenji Sato”.

As the sun dipped below the horizon,the Inuyama Festival transformed.Thousands of paper lanterns flickered to life,casting a warm,amber glow over the crowded streets.The group moved through the festival,but the gap between Haru and Mio began to shrink.

Haru stopped at a stall decorated with colorful glass wind-chimes.He looked at a small,elegant chime painted with a single koi fish,an aquatic animal that is seen as a symbol of strength and perseverance in many Asian cultures.

“This reminds me of you,” Haru said,his voice soft enough that only Mio could hear him over the festival music.

Mio paused,her hand hovering over her bag.”A-a-a fish?”

“A koi,” Haru corrected with a smile.”They swim upstream ,against the current,no matter how hard it gets.It reminds me of how you eat the spiciest ramen and with perseverance.”

Mio’s face felt a slight red,”How can he read my mind?” Mio thought to herself.

“I heard about the National Tournament,Mio.Sadly,I wasn’t there but congratulations on your gold medal.You’ve been swimming against a lot of currents lately,haven't you?”

Before Mio could answer,the crowd surged forward.A group of excited kids ran between them,nearly knocking Mio off balance.In this world,she would have compensated with a perfect stance.But here,in the middle of a festival,she let her guard down.The world around her spun,she was too late to react.”Mio watch out!” A voice appeared.

She opened her eyes and saw Haru’s hand caught hers,steadying her.His grip was firm,but unlike Rei’s,it wasn’t a “combat grip.” It was warm.It was human.

“Got you,” he said.

Mio felted a “Kinetic Surge” that had nothing to do with her muscles.Her face turned into a crimson red that rivaled the red lanterns above.She didn’t pull her hand away.For the first time,the adrenaline in her veins didn’t feel like it wanted to explode,it felt like it was finally being contained by something gentle.

“Yeah,” Mio managed to say,her voice smaller than usual. “You.. you got me.”

Ten paces behind them,Rei stopped walking.He stared at their joined hands,his brain automatically analysed the situation and then,”Well aren’t you two lovebirds huh?” Rei teases them both.

Mio stood up and said “Shut your mouth,Koga….” With a bit of an embarrassed tone.”Oh I was just helping her up,Koga.” Haru explained

Kenji moves out from Rei’s back and says,”Mio’s pulse is oscillating at an irregular frequency.Her skin temperature has risen by 1.2 degrees Celsius.” Rei replied “Did she contracted a disease or virus?”. Kenji sighed,patting Rei on the shoulder while wiping away a tear of joy.”No,Rei.That’s not a virus.That’s what we call a ‘Positive Feedback Loop’ of the heart.Just let them have this one.”

Hiyori giggled,capturing an amazing shot of Mio and Haru from behind.”The lighting is just perfect,it looks straight out of a romance story.” She whispered. “Mio looks… happy.”

Mio and Haru walked together and along with her best friend and the two idiots tailing behind.

Author's note:

✍️ Fun Fact:

-The Spicy Ramen Challenge in this chapter is a real-world test of the capsaicin heat scale.

-The instructions for Dwi Huryeo Chagi/Spinning Hook Kick in this chapter are 100% authentic..By locking the eyes first,Rei ensures that his brain can calculate the impact point before the centripetal force.