REPLIES: COMING SOON
Love is a Battlefield
~Pairing: WMatsui~
~Part 5.3~
We win together...and lose together
-
During that ten-minute break before the Open Team event started, each school grouped up to discuss their team order and their strategies to fight. Meanwhile, Mayu had a quick chat with Yuki before she stepped out for the team to discuss with each other. As the Miyuki from Sakae saw her Watanabe cousin standing on the side, she went up to her and decided to have a little talk with her.
“What’s up? You’re not going to fight in the Opens Team event?”
“Not interested. I’m only there to substitute for the injured player. There is already a full team for the Opens Team event.”
“Ehh…I thought we would be able to have a rematch in the event again.”
“…You know I quit kendo already, so I don’t really have that much motivation to go back again.”
“Jeez…Mayu, you’re too good to just quit halfway like this. Also…I’ve wanted to ask you for a long while already, but why did you quit? Didn’t you love kendo to your very bone marrow?”
“…Long story, Miyuki.”
Mayu didn’t seem she wanted to talk about it now but it made the other Watanabe sighed. However, they had that short moment of silence between the two before Miyuki decided to speak up once again regarding their long enchou fighting they had.
“You could’ve beaten me…you always do.”
“You beat me two years ago and today. You’re much stronger than me Miyuki.”
“…Are you a moron?”
Miyuki nudged her cousin right at the head and caught Mayu’s full attention in an instant. She looked back at her with misbelief and the Sakae kenshi crossed her arms and sighed with that grumpy expression. Miyuki knew well that Mayu was a very strong talented kendo player, and the pride of Watanabe. She’s always humble and kindhearted to everyone at the dojo even at the worse situation. Even though both of them are the same age, Miyuki truly respect and idolized Mayu unconditionally.
“I don’t accept that it’s my victory.”
“C’mon Miyuki, win is still a win.”
“To win someone that quit for two years doesn’t make me proud at all, you idiot.”
“…Jeez, you’re so much more stubborn than before.”
The Akiba Watanabe sighed softly, but then wrapped her arm around Miyuki to give her a pat on the girl’s head. Obviously she was surprised with Mayu doing that to her before but before she could respond back, the Akiba girl took her hands off and walked away from Miyuki.
“By the way…Miyuki.”
“Yeah?”
“Just out of curiosity, your feelings…are you still…?”
“With Yukirin? I won’t steal my sister’s girlfriend. I got over it already.”
Miyuki seemed to be very chill when she told her sister that she was no longer interest or loved Yuki anymore. Judging from her voice it seemed she was completely over with what happen two years ago between the three of them and moved on from it already. Mayu let out a soft sigh before she decided to leave her sister behind.
“You’re so lucky to get your hands on such a hot girlfriend. I didn’t expect the innocent looking Yukirin will turn out to be this sexy.”
“Oi, that’s Yukirin you’re talking about there…”
“Your property you mean? I’m just complimenting your girl! She is truly in love with you. I’m glad that it’s her that is with you…and vice versa. ”
“J-Jeez…what are you saying? This is quite all of a sudden…?”
“…Mayu I know you long enough. We’re know each other too well than how normal siblings to do each other.”
Mayu didn’t deny that fact and remained in silence to allow Miyuki to continue. The Sakae girl looked back at her and realized Mayu was waiting for her instead. That made her sighed before continuing where she left off.
“To be honest I’m still pissed with you running away and letting me win that quarterfinals two years ago…even worse you pushed Yukirin away towards me. Your selflessness is just damn annoying, do you know that?”
“…”
“So this is my love advice for you! I’ll say just once so better remember it!”
“Huh?? W-What??”
“Be more selfish and stingy about her. I actually do like you two together…so when it comes to Yuki, do whatever it takes to not let her go okay? Even you have to become such a heartless horrible person…and that is my first and probably the last love advice for you.”
“…”
The two siblings remained in silence and exchanged that short smile with one another. They didn’t need words to convey their feelings to each other since they knew one another too well. Mayu walked in a bit closer before she extended her fist forward and Miyuki quickly responded to her by pounded softly against it. Their smiles got wider and the Sakae girl could no longer hold back her happiness to reunite with her sister after she chose to quit kendo.
“Good luck with your fight, Miyuki.”
“Thanks sis. Let’s catch up after this, okay? You have to tell me everything that happen.”
“…Alright, that’s a deal then.”
Mayu smiled softly before she left Miyuki behind. Apparently, Yuki saw both sisters conversing with one another and got curious with what Mayu and Miyuki were talking about after all. As Akiba already finalized the team order for the last event of the competition, they had some spare 7 minutes to relax before their first match against Hakata team. Yuki couldn’t help but to be very curious about the two sisters having a smile while chatting with each other.
“What are you two talking about?”
“Curious?”
“Of course!”
“Well…just catching up. We have a lot of things to talk about.”
Mayu ended with just that and Yuki understood her message. She nodded softly before she held the younger one’s hand and smiled out of pure happiness. While all members were using their time wisely to stretch and prepare for the next battle, Rena was utterly anxious with the situation. Now that the Kyu Team event was done, she could see that the Sakae team was done with their little team meeting as well and she saw Jurina walked off into the corridor. Without further ado she ran after her since she needed to talk to her Matsui friend no matter what…and she couldn’t possible wait till after the competition.
-
“JURINA!”
She followed Jurina and it seemed she was heading towards the bathroom. The moment she was close enough to her, she called her name out loudly and grabbed Jurina’s attention. The shorthaired Matsui turned around swiftly with tinge of fear across her face as if she did recognize Rena’s voice. How coincidentally they were the only two that were in the corridor and the last person Jurina would least want to face right now would be Rena.
“Jurina…”
“…Rena.”
“I…I really don’t know where to start. But…why?”
“I know this is difficult. I don’t know where to start this too…I…its been very difficult for me as well.”
“Why didn’t you tell me anything??”
Rena went straight to the point and Jurina could only bit her lips while trying to figure how to deal with this situation. She sighed while tightened up her fist with pure frustration towards herself. She glanced over to the clock and realized that Rena had only 5 minutes left before she would need to go out to fight. At least her match would be after team Akiba so she would have roughly 15 minutes of spare time to get ready. She really did wish she could explain everything to Rena right here and right now, but she couldn’t possible simplify all of that within 5 minutes and be confident that she passed on her message to Rena.
“Rena-chan, I really do what to explain everything to you right now. But…this is not the right time.”
“Then when?? I can’t even focus on anything without you telling me anything! I’m really frustrated right now!”
“R-Rena-chan—”
“You know what pisses me off even more? It is the fact that Yukirin knows you more than I do…I feel like I’m a failure as your friend.”
“No you’re not!!!”
Both of them were literally arguing and it seemed there would be no end to this at all. Jurina tried to catch her breath and calmed down after feeling her heart pounding against her chest madly. She rested both of her hands against her forehead as she was desperately trying to figure out what to do to bring out the best outcome right now. She wished she could tell about Kawaei’s condition but that would make Rena worried about her. Therefore it might just frustrated and made her lose concentration in the team event.
“…It is my choice to do this. I want to tell you the reason but it will definitely frustrate you even more when you know it. That’s why I’m really afraid to tell you even before today…and right now.”
“…”
“Please…I know it’s so hard to do it, but please trust me. ”
“…”
Rena didn’t respond anything, but she somewhat received the hidden message hidden within Jurina’s voice. She had been with her childhood friend long enough to be able to tell that Jurina was actually serious and honest with her. She wouldn’t hide and do this behind Rena’s back unless it was actually serious… Rena knew Jurina long enough that the shorthaired Matsui was not that kind of person to hurt anyone. While waiting for Rena’s response, Jurina didn’t expect to be forgiven or receive any sort of reply…but then she couldn’t hold back her guilt emotions when her loved one broke the silence between the two.
“…Is your ankle okay?”
Jurina froze and couldn’t believe Rena would ask that question at situations like this. Despite the Akiba kenshi was mad and pissed at Jurina for not telling her anything…she didn’t fail to show concerns towards Jurina’s chronic ankle injury, which was actually the cause for her to quit kendo in her Junior High years.
“Y-Yeah…don’t worry. Mariko-sensei will never forgive herself if I injure myself again because of this.”
“…Okay, if you say so. I guess I don’t have anything to say then.”
The tone of her voice changed. Jurina’s eyes grew wide with realization and she watched Rena walked away…but somewhat her body went after her without further ado. Her heart raced crazily and she ran after her without her knowing why she didn’t want Rena to go. Jurina felt that if she let Rena go like this without talking anything…it would be the end. She didn’t understand why she was this nervous, but the moment she grabbed for her arm the raven-haired girl shook if off brutally that it made Jurina pulled her hand back.
“R-Rena-chan…I-I’m sor—”
“We have a match to focus on right now. So just leave me alone.”
“…”
Jurina didn’t know what to respond and only could curl up into a fist with anger towards oneself. She felt pathetic for being a coward and unable to confront Rena directly, thus this was the result of her being weak. However, there was nothing that she could do to help with the situation as much right now because Rena was right. They still have their matches to go and if both Sakae and Akiba won in their first match…they would confront each other again in the finals. It seemed inevitable for the two teams to clash and the two would be fighting off each other once again.
“Before the finals, there would be a 5-minute break…can we talk again?”
“…”
“Please, Rena-chan…”
“I don’t know. I want to focus on my match right now. I don’t want to think about this.”
[THE OPEN TEAM EVENT WILL BE STARTING IN 2 MINUTES, TEAM AKIBA AND HAKATA, PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR TEAM ORDER AND GET READY AT YOUR STATION]Rena left without further ado and there was nothing Jurina could do. Thankfully the announcement broke the tension between the two, but no words were being exchanged between the two of them. It seemed Jurina didn’t have a choice but to leave Rena alone for now…and she slapped both of her cheeks to regain her focus back to the competition once again. Jurina used to be a kendo player before and understood it very well that this wasn’t the exact proper time to have a serious discussion…because both of them had duty to fight for their team and they needed to be at their best for the team’s sake.
-
Rena came back quickly to join with her teammates and Yuki just had submitted the team order to the staff. When everyone was having their last minute break, Mayu came up to Rena and gave her a tap on the shoulder with that cyborg emotionless expression. The older Matsui wasn’t sure what the freshmen girl wanted to convey and she couldn’t help but to look back with such a puzzled face.
“Don’t tense up too much. It could tell from your body language.”
“T-Thanks…I just…had a little talk with Jurina. I guess I’m still frustrated.”
“That she didn’t tell you anything about this?”
“…”
“Well, I don’t seem to be a position to say as much. I don’t know her as long as you do, but for sure I know that she would never do anything to hurt you even it kills her.”
“Mayu…”
“Trust me, she’s that dumb enough to die for you.”
She gave Rena a soft shove from behind and made her go forward. The older Matsui was still surprised to realize that Mayu was actually trying to cheer her up. It was as if the young Watanabe understood her feelings and before Rena could say anything she interrupted her first.
“…Trust that idiot. It’s worth it.”
She blinked several times and finally let out a smile of relief. Rena nodded back with thankfulness before taking her gears and catch up wither teammates. Only Mayu and Ikoma would be sitting on the side watching their team fight. Despite the two were in the same year, Ikoma couldn’t help but to feel awkward around Mayu due to how quiet and emotionless she was. Therefore, she didn’t expect Mayu to be the one to break the silence between them.
“…Thanks.”
“E-Eh?”
“I know I shouldn’t say it, but thanks. It has been a long while since I last enjoy kendo like that.”
“Mayu-chan…”
Ikoma let out a smile, since she was happy for her friend. She knew a little bit about Mayu regarding her quitting kendo two years ago due to some personal issues. At very least, she was glad that Mayu opened up to her a little and Ikoma felt that the two of them would get along just fine.
“After the competition, can you teach and give me some advices?”
“Huh? Me??”
“Yeah! You’re really good and have such a beautiful kendo…I always want to have that. So…would you?”
“…Well, fine I guess.”
“Hehe, that will be awesome.”
Mayu felt a little bit shy that Ikoma praised her kendo so highly like that, since she was naturally a humble kenshi girl. At least, that was the opening to their friendship and the two started to talk to each other much more than what the two expected. …Meanwhile on another side of the competition ring, Jurina just got back from the bathroom and joined up with her teammates once again. She came back to watch Akiba’s match against Hakata and couldn’t let her eyes away from Rena at all. While Jurina neglected her surroundings, Mariko came up to her side and gave a pat on her head to catch her attention.
“I guess it must be hard on both you and Rena-chan…what did she say?”
“…That we should focus on the competition first.”
“Heh, she didn’t really change at all…but really, how did it go? I saw her went after you.”
“Its…not so good.”
“I see, I’m sorry about that Jurina, I can explain things to Rena about your situation—”
“Its okay Mariko-sensei, I’ll deal with it.”
It would be much easier if Jurina let Mariko helped her, but she preferred to deal with the situation by herself because this was an issue between her and Rena. Honestly, Jurina still didn’t know what to do yet and despite she said she wanted to have a talk with Rena again during the break before finals… she still didn’t know what to say at all. Just by looking at Jurina’s troubled face, Mariko knew straight off that the young Matsui girl was overthinking too much with the situation and then she decided to give her a little advice.
“Just be honest to Rena-chan and trust her more.”
“Eh?”
“I could tell how close you two are…and you just need to trust her…and be honest with yourself and to her.”
The teacher ruffled her head before she walked away to give Jurina the time to think alone. The shorthaired Matsui took a peek towards Rena who was already in the shiai jo and exchanged bows with the Hakata team.
“Otagai-ni-Rei!”
When she realized the team order on Akiba’s side, Jurina saw Rena being in the 2nd position of the team. She realized that team Akiba decided to go with ‘top heavy’ strategy by putting strong players in front in order to secure the team’s win straight off. The first player was Yuko, followed by Rena, Sashihara, Sayaka, and lastly Yuki as taisho. For most of the time, Jurina didn’t seemed to be so focused on watching the fight at all…since she already knew who would win already. It was as she expected, Yuko literally obliterated her opponent with 2:0 in about one minute and then it was Rena’s turn this time. She sighed out to herself and gave some attention to watch this match…and the moment the judge announced the start, Rena charged in like a merciless beast towards her opponent.
“Hajime!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH—!!!”“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!”
She struck in and it was a good cut, but it wasn’t good enough for the judges yet. Rena used that momentum to tackle her opponent and bounce off while cutting down right onto the head.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNN!!!!”
“KOOOOTEEE—!!! MEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!”
The moment she got the right distance from her opponent, without further ado she sprinted in again without losing balance and did a two-strike combo against her opponent and both strikes were clean cuts. She immediately got a point straight off and gave a huge intimidation towards the Hataka team.
“Kote-ari!”
“Nihon-me!”
Others probably didn’t realize it but Jurina could see through Rena’s kendo…and she could tell that the raven-haired Matsui was mad and unhappy. It showed it out from her kendo and she could feel it… and that made her felt terribly guilty for what she did. After she was able to process Mariko’s advices, she realized that she was being all secretive and not exactly honest towards Rena when she should’ve done that. It would be normal for Rena to be pissed at her…and when she tried to think of what she should do she realized that she needed to be honest to Rena and trust her a little more.
“…Be honest with Rena-chan…? Then…my feelings…”
“Why are you acting all gloomy and serious like this? That’s so unlike you.”
Jurina suddenly felt the pressure on both of her shoulders and that literally caught her off guard. She turned around with shock and saw that plain emotionless Watanabe standing behind her. Furthermore, before Jurina could say anything, Mayu interrupted her instead and just said whatever she wanted to say at that moment.
“Jeez, you two could just be so much like each other.”
“W-Wha—”
“Confess your feelings to her already. Wouldn’t that give an interesting result?”
“…For me to tell Rena-chan how I felt when we’re having this big cold war right now??”
“Why not?”
Mayu replied with such a simple tone that it did crept Jurina out a little. However, she knew that the young Watanabe was smart and probably had a logic reasoning to back up what she was saying right now. Jurina just sighed out while she turned her eyes over to the shiai-jo and continued watching the match.
“Be honest with her already.”
“…!?”
Jurina turned around and it caught her completely off guard. She actually didn’t expect Mayu to give her the same advice that Mariko gave to her and started to question her own actions during the past month before this competition. She only stared back at Mayu in silence and the younger one could see that her friend was helpless and was lost with what to do from now on.
“Jeez…you just as naïve and helpless as Matsui-senpai.”
“W-Wha??”
“Everything is a double edge sword, your kindness and good intentions to protect Rena is now damaging the relationship between you two right now.”
“…”
“Ugh, I never knew I would say this but be more selfish! Be greedy and stingy about her. Quit with the play nice-person game and just selfishly get her already before Matsui-senpai wakes up in another man’s arms.”
“…”
“Be filthy and hideous as you can, do whatever it takes to never let her go or else you’ll ended up regretting this. That’s my advice.”
“W-Wow…that’s…wow…harsh?”
“Truth must be told. I’m leaving.”
“W-Wait!”
Just right about when Mayu was to leave Jurina alone. They had a short eye contact with one another and the shorthaired Matsui bowed her head down in a slight angle before looking back up at Mayu again. She let out that smile of relief and was utterly thankful for her friend’s advice despite it was heartless and harsh. It seemed Jurina needed a good slap in a face like what Mayu gave to her in order for her to realize what she should do.
“…I think I know what I should do now, thanks.”
“You better, and good luck with your fight because Akiba will whoop Sakae’s ass.”
“Heh…that’s our line. We won’t go easy on you.”
Mayu only gave that smirk of excitement before she left. However the young Watanabe didn’t expect that she would be using Miyuki’s advice on Jurina like this…and somewhat it made her understand the meaning behind it even more. She finally turned to Yuki and realized how she wasn’t that exactly honest with her girlfriend too…she was actually not that different from Jurina, but the differences between them was that Yuki was extremely persisted and honest. Since both Jurina and Rena were quite passive unlike Yuki, the shorthaired Matsui would need a push to make a move. Just thinking about how she was similar to Jurina just pissed Mayu off and made her understood how she probably had gave her girlfriend some heck of a difficult time too…
-
“DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!!!!”
“Dou-ari!”
The taisho match was between Kashiwagi Yuki and Kodama Haruka and she was definitely having a very difficult time fighting against her. Especially, Haruppi was a 1st Dan and Yuki was just a 1st Kyu kenshi. However, she was able to fight equally and gave Haruppi a hard time to land a score on her. The match went on for almost 4 minutes and no one had scored anything yet until Yuki pulled out her signature dou cut on her. The point was awarded to Akiba completely secure her team’s win with that point. After the match went on for another 10 seconds, the whistle was blown and the match ended.
~BEEEP!~
“Yame!”
The match was over with Yuki’s victory, however as overall she did very well as a taisho for her team as she was able to withstand against a 1st dan player despite she was a kyu grade. It was thanks to her strategy and planning that allowed her team to win and secured their spot in the finals.
[THE WINNER OF THE MATCH IS TEAM AKIBA][THE NEXT MATCH IS SAKAE IN RED AGAINST NAMBA IN WHITE. TEAM SAKAE AND NAMBA, PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR TEAM ORDER AND GET READY AT YOUR STATION.]Everyone stepped out and both Mayu and Ikoma welcomed the team with clap for Akiba’s victory. Takamina went up to them and told everyone to keep up with the good work and gave a little brief about the possibility of the finals. Everyone was focused on what their coach had to say but Rena couldn’t help but to have her mind filled with frustration and irritation. There were so many mix feelings going on inside her chest and honestly she actually let some steam out against her opponent in her match. Rena felt somewhat sorry towards her opponent, but at least she could saw it’s for the sake of the team. They would high likely confront against Sakae and Yuki had a lot of pressure to decide the next team order in order to win. She was using that time valuably with Takamina whilst others decided to have a bathroom and water break before doing some more stretching to keep their body warm and active. However…Rena took a break and stayed away from everyone because she didn’t want to accidentally let out her steam against her friends at such a crucial time like this. As she watched team Sakae and Namba walked into the shiai-jo…she saw that Jurina and the heartburn feeling started to get worse. It was a mix of anger, frustration, depression, and fear. She was mad that Jurina didn’t tell her the truth and what was happening whilst Yuki and Mayu seemed to know what was going on. Rena actually felt jealous that it wasn’t her that knew the whole story…and it made her terribly annoyed with everything and especially on Jurina. Before she had the time to process any of these feelings, she saw Mayu walking up to her and she seemed to be worried about Rena’s mental state, but the raven-haired couldn’t help but to hold back her steam when she had a feeling that the young freshmen knew everything.
“…You knew about Jurina, don’t you?”
“I’ll be honest with you. Pretty much she told me most of it.”
“Okay then.”
Mayu could hear some slight annoyance in Rena’s voice and she couldn’t help but to let it slide. She had this similar tantrum two years ago before when she learned that Miyuki was in love with Yuki. Somewhat Mayu could relate her feelings to Jurina and Rena in a way.
“After Sakae’s match, you should go talk with her. At least to settle down that disturbing feeling.”
“…”
“Just a suggestion. I’ll leave you alone now because that’s what you want to.”
“…Thanks, Mayu.”
“I wish I can tell you, but I promised Jurina not to.”
“I understand, its okay…thanks.”
Mayu left her alone and Rena finally had the time for to be alone to think about a lot of things. Despite she wanted to tell the older raven-haired friend that she should trust Jurina, but she didn’t like to repeat things again once she said it. Rena finally had some time alone and just thinking about having to talk to Jurina again after she finished her fight made her scared. She wouldn’t know what to say or even act in front of Jurina right now. The worse case scenario would be Rena pouring out her anger and steam onto Jurina, and she didn’t want it to happen. The raven-haired girl went to the bathroom and splashed some water onto her face to cool her head down. However, it didn’t seem to calm her mind down at the slightest.
“I still don’t know what am I suppose to do or feel right now…its just…it hurts…”
She pressed her hand against her heart and felt it pounding hardly against her ribs. She wanted to be angry with Jurina and blame her for all the frustrations she was having…but the truth in her heart was that she could never be angry with her. She cared and loved Jurina enough to forgive her with everything. However, she still didn’t understand what was this feeling she actually had for Jurina. The more she tried to figure it out the more she got nervous and anxious.
-
Meanwhile, Yuki finally finalized her decision and she walked up to Mayu without further ado since the younger one had been waiting for her. Before Yuki could do anything else Mayu dragged her to the bathroom since she wanted to have some private talk with her alone. In the match between Sakae and Namba, it was still on the 2nd player of the team and so Mayu predicted that she would have about 10 minutes to be with Yuki. As they went to the bathroom and into the secluded corner and the team captain couldn’t help but to be curious with what Mayu wanted to talk about.
“What’s wrong? Is something a matter?”
“…I want to apologize to you.”
“E-Eh? What happen??”
“T-That I’m always passive and indirect all the time? So yeah…”
“What do you mea—?”
The next thing Yuki realized was to feel her back against the wall and Mayu resting her hands against the wall behind her to prevent Yuki from escaping. Obviously she could never expect something like this from a shy passive Watanabe and it actually made her heart skipped a beat.
“M-Mayu…?”
“Just…s-shut up and let me do this…”
She dove in and pulled her girlfriend’s gi to the side so that she could kiss her on the collarbone. Yuki flinched with surprise and she blushed while holding back her voice. The younger one sucked gently and it was a terrible tease towards her girlfriend. Kashiwagi clutched tightly onto Mayu’s gi while her voice became huskier… while enjoying every second of it.
“A-Ahhn…Haah…”
Just the moment Yuki was about to let out her voice, the younger one pulled it off first and left a little red mark underneath her collarbone. Both of them remained in silence and Yuki blushed horribly with a dumbfounded expression. Obviously she didn’t expect Mayu to make such a bold move like this to her and then Mayu bent in to give a peck on her girlfriend’s cheek.
“…A good luck blessing from me. Is it enough?”
“O-O-Of course!!”
Yuki hugged her tightly and couldn’t hold back her childish joy since her girlfriend was such a turn on to her right now. Her cuteness was beyond overload and if she could she wanted to just do her right there and right now. She whispered softly into Mayu’s ears and asked her out of burning desire to hold onto her tightly.
“…Can we continue after the competition?”
“E-Eh!?”
“Please? You’re just too adorable!! I’m seriously holding back right now…”
“…O-Okay…just this once.”
“Yay~!”
It seemed Yuki appreciated just a little action from Mayu and it made the younger one felt like she’s being the mean one in the relationship. She realized she should express her feelings even more so that she could make her girlfriend happy. Just to see Yuki’s joyful smile instantly brought happiness to her heart. She hugged her back and felt that taking this approach wasn’t such a bad thing at all… so it seemed Miyuki’s advice paid off quite well for both Mayu and Yuki.
“Can I have a kiss? Please~ just one!”
“J-Jeez…and you want me to do it right?”
“I would love that.”
Mayu sighed softly and did as what Yuki asked. She gave her a soft kiss on her lips before she parted away from her. Obviously Kashiwagi was wondering what made Mayu became more intimate out of a sudden and it seemed she had enough fun already. It was such a drastic change that Yuki just had to ask Mayu no matter what… instead of being overly excited, she was worried about her.
“Mayu…is everything okay? What’s with this being all intimate out of blue?”
“…Just…I ah…”
“Really, you don’t have to do this. I’m happy just the way you are already.”
“Yuki…”
“Neh? So don’t force yourself to be someone else you’re not.”
“No, I wanted to do this!”
“Eh?”
“I want you to feel good…and make you happy. S-So yeah! We should get out of here since it’s about ti—”
Yuki quickly pulled Mayu in and kissed her passionately out of love for her. The young one didn’t expect that coming but she eventually accepted and kissed her back without further ado. Unfortunately they didn’t have much time to express their love for one since they still have their last match to worry about. After Yuki pulled away, she bent in and pecked against Mayu’s forehead with a huge smile across her face.
“You’re just…too cute and adorable that I can’t resist!! I love you so much Mayu.”
“…me too.”
The two exchanged a smile with each other and Mayu could see her girlfriend smiling out sincerely with that cute joyful smile. That was the best smile she ever saw from her and it couldn’t help but to make her heart bloomed with contentment. She was glad that she received and took Miyuki’s advice, and she hoped that Jurina would make use of it as much as she did.
-
Rena was still using her time to be alone thinking through a lot of things. She wanted to clear her mind for the competition but it wasn’t working as well as she thought. The match proceeded on and got into the taisho round, and Rena still couldn’t decide what to do yet. She wanted to be honest with Jurina but she was afraid that her outburst would ruin everything between the two of them… despite the shorthaired Matsui appeared to be tough and strong, she’s just a young sensitive girl to Rena. Obviously the raven-haired kenshi cared for Jurina enough to be afraid to do anything. Furthermore, with her unable to understand the chaotic feelings inside her chest she was far from ready to face Jurina right now.
“Shoubu-ari!”
That caught Rena’s attention and that was when she realized that the taisho match came to an end way faster than she thought. It was as expected that the 3rd Dan of Sakae, Nakanishi Yuka, had a clean win against Namba’s taisho with 2:0. Unfortunately, Nishishi faced a young kyu grade kenshi instead of facing Annin. They bowed out and the winner was obviously the almighty Sakae team. How coincident that while Rena was staring at Jurina…she looked back at her too and their eyes met. It made Rena recalled her best friend wanted to talk to her during the break before the finals between Akiba and Sakae, and that instant her body started to tremble with fear. She didn’t understand why but all she could do was to run away from that spot immediately. She turned away and ran into the corridor without looking back to see Jurina…she was too scared…and all she could do was running away from her.
The moment Jurina saw Rena ran away…she couldn’t wait to step out from the shiai-jo and put away her gears to the side before running after Rena. However, she wasn’t sure where her Matsui went and she felt quite lost…
“She went towards the bathroom through that corridor. If you go now you should catch up.”
Mariko smiled and gave Jurina a shove on her back. The moment the young girl made an eye contact with her teacher, she couldn’t hold back her smile and nodded firmly before taking off without a single word. Jurina just ran after her…despite she didn’t know what she wanted to say to Rena. All that she knew was that she needed to talk to her no matter what…she needed to confront the truth and be purely honest to Rena before she would have regrets. She kept running after her with all the energy she had left in her muscle after her match and it seemed the adrenaline was doing its job well to keep Jurina sprinting at full speed. As the turned at the corner, she could see that familiar girl in front of her as she was leaning against the wall alone… Jurina obviously recognize her despite she looked from behind and she unconsciously blurted out her name without thinking.
“Rena-chan!!”
Rena turned to see the woman she wanted to meet the least… she recognized that voice but she didn’t want to turn around to see who it was. She literally froze with fear and ran away. However, Jurina didn’t let her get away that easily and litearlly sprinted harder towards her while trying to talk to her.
“Rena-chan, please! Please!!”
“N-No! Leave me alone! I don’t have anything to talk to you!”
“Rena-chan!!!”
She grabbed Rena’s arm before Jurina pinned her against the wall. The raven-haired could see her friend puffing hoarsely with exhaustion, and she seemed to have quite a long sprint before catching up with Rena. However, the raven-haired still avoided to look into Jurina’s face and simply closed her eyes without any response. The shorthaired Matsui was still panting and was clueless of what to do or say to Rena, but she wished that her voice would reach Rena and somewhat Rena could forgive her.
“…I’m so sorry I haven’t tell you anything…it’s been a very hard month for us…and I felt really bad… I’ll tell you all the details after everything is over. I promise.”
“…”
“Rena-chan…please, believe me.”
“…But why Mayu and Yukirin knew about this?”
“I consulted with Mayu before I make a decision…and I guess she shared it with Yukirin”
“…”
Rena remained in silence and didn’t say a single word…but at least she gave herself sometime to think before she could ask Jurina furthermore questions regarding Yuki and Jurina’s relationship. Whenever she thought that there was something going on between the two of them, it gave her a sting pain feeling in her heart. Furthermore, she felt terribly annoyed by it. Rena felt that she needed to know what was going on between the two of them to help ease this frustration inside her guts.
“…What’s gong on between you and Yukirin…?”
“Eh? Me and Yukirin?”
“…Tell me.”
“We just hang out? Because she knew my secrets about training kendo again…she used it to drag me around and do what she wanted. We had lunch and talk about kendo, friends and life…?”
As Rena listened to that, she had an image of Jurina and Yuki spending time together and she didn’t like it at all. The more she had an image of them smiling, the more she felt the chaos and turbulence accumulating inside her heart. She never understood this feeling…but all she knew was that she hated it so much. She bit her lips and still kept her vision down to the floor. She was still avoiding any kind of eye contact with Jurina.
“I don’t like it…”
“Yes?”
“Just thinking about you and Yukirin having fun…and smiling together… i-it makes me feel so annoyed…! It’s so annoying…!”
“R-Rena-chan…”
“What is this feeling? Why am I so annoyed? I feel so horrible to have these thoughts towards you and Yukirin… Tell me, what am I suppose to do with this annoying feeling inside my chest!?”
Jurina finally felt Rena’s true feelings. She made an eye contact with her and saw her teary eyes. She was actually in pain, but Rena didn’t know how to deal with this feeling inside her chest. It seemed just the thought that Jurina would be happier to be with Yuki than her snapped one last string holding back Rena’s emotions. Just seeing her beloved one in pain like this made Jurina felt like there was a knife stabbing her heart multiple times. She froze in shock when she watched Rena shedding tears and covered her face with her hands while trying to hold back her tears.
“I feel so horrible…s-so horrible just thinking about it…! I’m the worse friend ever—”
“No you’re not! Rena-chan…don’t say like that.”
“B-But isn’t it wrong…? For me to be jealous of m-my best friend…!”
She was still crying and it just pained Jurina to keep watching this. She silently brushed her tears with her finger and cupped Rena’s cheek gently and that made her stared back at her with teary eyes.
“It’s my fault for never honest to you…but now…I will tell you everything. Even my own darkest secret…”
“…?”
“Rena….I…”
Jurina bit her lips and decided to make the biggest decision of her lifetime. That instant, she dove in and sealed her lips against Rena’s and it made the raven-haired girl got a shock of her life. However, she automatically pushed Jurina away out of fear and surprise…it was just pure reflex. Their lips parted and then she couldn’t even think straightly anymore.
“N-No—W-Wait a mi—”
The moment Rena looked up she froze in silence. She never saw Jurina made that kind of face before in her life… but she could tell that she was terribly embarrassed. Before she could process anything else, Jurina’s lips crashed back against hers and this time, she cupped both of Rena’s cheeks so that she would prevent Rena pulling or moving her head away. The moment the raven-haired girl unconsciously parted her lips…Jurina took that chance and pushed her tongue in to feel and taste her. The moment their tongue made contact with each other, it gave Rena an oddly excitement that became addictive… The soft warm sensation resting against her lips made her heart raced even more…she actually felt excited. The feeling of their lips resting against each other gave such a blissful feeling inside her stomach. Her heart started to pound so hard enough against her ribs and Jurina probably could feel it while she rested her body against Rena’s. She couldn’t even breathe properly and the moment she tried to push away to grasp some air, Jurina didn’t let her. Even worse, Rena didn’t have anyway to escape as she was pinned against the wall.
“Nnngh…M-Mmhnnn…! Mmmghhhh…Haaahh…”
Eventually, Rena unconsciously wrapped her arms around Jurina and kissed her back. That second was when Jurina couldn’t describe how happy she felt at all. It was as if Rena returned her feelings…and she had more hunger for Rena’s lips and moans. However, the kiss couldn’t last forever and she slowly broke off the kiss since it was long enough to start suffocating the two of them. Both panted against each other’s lips and flushed horribly with embarrassment. Before Rena could say anything else, Jurina cut her off and confessed her feelings to her. Neither fear nor regrets could stop Jurina anymore.
“…I love you, Rena. Not just a childhood friend…but as a woman, romantically.”
“J-Ju…rina?”
“I’m afraid to always tell you…I don’t want to be a burden to you…and I would want to do anything it takes to be by your side even I have to lie to you about my feelings…but I can’t anymore. I love you with all my heart.”
Jurina smiled and rested her forehead against Rena’s as she shared her truth to her. She prayed the feelings she poured into the kiss and her confession would reach her. Jurina hoped that she made Rena realized that she wanted to make them be more than just friends. While the two remained in silence, Rena was still holding onto Jurina tightly…and had her eyes closed to feel her Matsui closely to her body. She took some few more breaths before Jurina resumed where she left off.
“I want to kiss you…hug you…and always be with you, that’s why…I have a favor to ask you.”
“…?”
“…Let’s fight with all we’ve got, without any regrets, and enjoy kendo together. Let it be the best battle that must be remembered, because kendo…is meant to be fun.”
Rena remembered those words from the past. When both of them used to train back in Sakae Junior High School, they trained hard together and did kendo solely because they enjoyed it. She still remembered that feeling when she trained along side with her Jurina…and that excitement and happiness of doing kendo with everyone. Her words and presence didn’t fail to give such peace to Rena’s mind no matter what. Somewhat, the raven-haired Matsui never felt complete and fully content like this before.
“Jurina…”
“…After the end of the competition, I will ask you out…like how I always do. However, it will be the last time I will ask you. I want to hear your real answer.”
Rena remained in silence and her heart was beating so fast…but filled with overwhelming happiness. There was no longer that persisting annoyance or chaos inside her heart… only but butterflies of joy within her stomach. Before Jurina could push herself out, Rena pulled her back in to hug tightly and buried her face onto her shoulder. That wasn’t something Jurina expected and she began to blush with nervousness. She didn’t expect Rena to do anything, but for her to pull her back in to hug like this made her extremely nervous. Jurina’s heart was pounding so hard against her chest enough that Rena could feel and heart it clearly.
“R-Rena…chan?”
“…I’ll…can we stay like this…for a little longer?”
“A-Ah…M-Mmhm.”
Jurina blushed horribly and then she embraced Rena back tightly. She rested her head against Rena’s and she lost the ability to hold back the smile. This was the first time Jurina ever hug anyone desperately like this. The tighter Jurina hugged her, the harder Rena held onto her and buried her face onto her shoulder.
[THE FINALS WILL BEGIN IN 2 MINUTES BETWEEN AKIBA IN RED, AGAINST SAKAE IN WHITE.]They wished they could stay like this forever, but it was about time they broke off the hug. The two of them had a passionate eye contact with one another before the smile appeared across their faces. However, Jurina still have some curiosity that needed an answer from Rena right now.
“So…about what happen—”
Out of blue, Rena rested her finger against Jurina’s lips to shut her up. The shorthaired girl blinked repetitively with surprise and didn’t continue even after Rena pulled her finger away.
“We can talk about that later…we need to go back out there.”
“…Y-Yeah. I wish we can stay like this.”
“Hey, we have a match to fight…and Akiba won’t lose this time.”
Rena smiled out before Jurina let out a smirk of excitement. The shorthaired slowly backed off a little and extended her hand towards Rena with intention for a handshake. The taller Matsui only smiled softly and knew Jurina’s intention behind her actions…and she shook hands with her without any hesitation. They both looked into each other’s eyes and they didn’t need any more words to communicate between the two of them. They trusted each other enough to believe that everything will be okay between the two of them.
“Let’s fight all out…Matsui Rena of Akiba.”
“…Same to you, Matsui Jurina of Sakae.”
-
The two walked side by side one another and as they arrived in the competition area they walked on their separate ways without saying a single word to one another and eye contact. Other Akiba members were waiting for Rena to arrive and she was much more calmer and collected than 3 minutes ago. If was as if the usual calm Rena was back once again and it made the team captain sighed with big relief.
“I’ve decided the team order for our final match against Akiba, and I hope we can all agree with it. Senpo will be Yuko-chan, followed by Sayanee as Jiho, Sasshi as Chuuken, myself as Fukusho…and Rena-chan as Taisho. ”
The team order was different from the first round and some were not surprised with their position whilst some were. Especially Rena, she didn’t expect herself to be playing as Taisho on such an important match like this, but she believed in Yuki’s final decision. No one had any objections and agreed with her format. Without further ado the team captain went up to the staff to give the finalized team order before went onto the prepared mat for the team to sit on. While they still have the time for finals to begin, Yuki went to Rena’s side and gave her a tap on the shoulder without uttering a single word.
“Hm? What’s a matter?”
“You can do it, I believe in you.”
“…Thanks Yukirin. Let’s win this.”
“Of course we will.”
Both of them bumped their fist against each other and Rena realized that her best friend knew the situation but chose not to say anything. That was one thing that Rena truly respected about her friend and that was why Yuki was the most suitable one to become the team captain. Meanwhile, Rena diverted her eyes to the opposite side and saw Sakae members getting ready at their station. She watched Jurina wearing her headgear on couldn’t help but to remember that embarrassing moment they had few minutes ago. However…despite all that craziness that happened, Rena was amazingly calmed and felt ready for this fight.
[THE FINAL WILL BE TEAM AKIBA IN RED, AGAINST TEAM SAKAE IN WHITE.]The two teams stepped into the shiai-jo and bowed at the same time when the judge spoke the command. The first player remained at the edge of the shiai-jo before they stepped in to start the first match. The senpo match was between Yuko and Miyuki, which was indeed a revenge match for Oshima. That instant the judge commanded them to start the fight; it was as if it was an explosion going on in the shiai-jo. Both Miyuki and Yuko were fighting fiercely and aggressively against each other.
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”
“EEEEEEIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”This time, Yuko played a little differently and she was very serious this time. Miyuki eventually realized how difficult it was to fight against Oshima due to how she could absorb force easily and perform accurate dynamic cuts on her opponent. They kept whacking each other but the judges didn’t give any of it a score.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!”
Yuko was able to sneak in and hit right on top of Miyuki’s head, but only one judge gave a flag for it. Everyone felt that it was actually a point, but no one could possibly argue with the judge’s decision. The match kept on going and it seemed Yuko’s new strategy to constantly pour in 300% effort in every single second worked out well. Despite Miyuki had a stronger and better center, Yuko easily could absorb that force and deflected it away using her body movement. Both of them kept clashing in at the same time and time would run out soon. Due to using tremendous physical and mental energy each second that passed by started to exhaust them.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—!!!”
“KOOOOOTEEEE!!!!”
Miyuki found that perfect timing to whack right onto Yuko’s forearm and all three judges awarded that score without hesitation. Watching from the 3rd view, it was very clear that Miyuki’s strike hit first before Yuko’s cut could reach Miyuki’s head.
“Kote-ari!!”
The first point went to Sakae team and the 2nd half was about to begin. The moment the judge started the match, and Yuko went all nuts and tackled in against Miyuki without any warning. The young Watanabe was in surprise and she lost her balance while tumbling backwards. The red lion of Akiba charged in with solid confidence and slashed her right on the right torso before she ran diagonally passed Miyuki fluently.
“Dou-ari!”
Finally, Yuko was able to payback against Miyuki from yesterday’s match. They went back to the starting line and the final round began once again. The two didn’t let their guard down and poured out 300% they had left. Despite all the cheers at the background were loud and energetic, none of them reached the two as they were too focused on what they were doing.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!” / “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!”
~BEEP!~
“Yame!!”
One match down and four more to go. Both of them went back to the starting line and the judge announced a draw between the two of them. Unfortunately Yuko was unable to kick Miyuki’s butt and get her revenge, but somewhat did much better than yesterday. None of them were having an advantage or disadvantage in this match and the baton of pressure was passed for the 2nd match players. The jiho match was between Jurina and Sayaka, and it would be very interesting. While Sayaka switched out with Yuko, she recalled what Rena had told her about Jurina’s fighting style. Obviously the raven-haired Matsui do whatever it took to help increase Akiba’s win.
“Jurina is a very strong stable player.
She’s not fast…but has high precision and timing in her strikes…
the best advice I could give is to focus and don’t fall into her play…
In kendo, she’s very strategic.”
Sayaka stepped into the shiai-jo and looked straight into Jurina’s eyes before the match started. The pressure was place onto both of their shoulders in order to push their own team to have the upper hand in this match.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”While Sayaka fought against Jurina…she finally understood what Rena actually meant. The usual energetic puppy suddenly changed into this composed predator when the match began… it was a huge leap from a little naive puppy became this fearless wolf. The moment Jurina moved, Sayaka tried to find her way around to deflect the hit away but it was a bait after all. Matsui’s sword changed its course and rested on her shoulder to create that delay gap before throwing it out swiftly onto Sayaka’s head. That loud pop of the sword contacted against the thick leather armor made everyone amazed with how that cut couldn’t be any perfect than that already.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN!!!!!”
“Men-ari!”
The young Matsui was able to get that score quickly against Sayaka and she confidently walked back to her starting line without looking over to her opponent. The match went on very quickly and Rena could see that Jurina was fighting at her best potential. She was completely relaxed and had absolute focus on what she was doing. In terms of experience and skills…Rena knew that Jurina would have it more than Sayaka.
“Hajime!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”Sayaka didn’t expect this kind of intimidation coming from the playful senior of hers…and she hate to admit that she felt absolutely dominated and intimidated by her opponent. At very least the young Akiba kenshi decided to play safe and buy time in order to prevent Jurina from gaining anymore points. However, that strategy didn’t work and Jurina started to push hard after she realized that change.
“ KOOOTEEE—MEEEEEEEEENNN—MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNN!!!!!!”
“Ooph—!”
Matsui tackled in after doing three consecutive cuts in a row and it gave Sayaka a little choke along with a slight opportunity for her to score a point. Without further ado she forcefully smacked Sayaka’s sword away and that caused the Akiba girl to pull it back up with pure reflex. In that moment of mind blank that Sayaka had, Jurina took that opportunity and whacked right onto her opened forearm.
“KOOOOOOOOOTEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! KOTEEEEE!!!!!!”
“Kote-ari!”
It seemed the young wolf was not planning to play safe with Sayaka. She completely obliterated her opponent and went back to the starting line. Obviously Sayaka didn’t expect this and the chance that she lost was due to her underestimating Jurina’s kendo experience. The Sakae cheers got louder as they were now in a lead with two points. The match ended much faster than what they thought and it was the time for the 3rd players of the team to enter the ring.
“Don’t worry, we’ll bring it up.”
Sashihara gave her a pat before they switched places with one another. The one and only dan-grade kenshi of Akiba, Sashihara Rino, finally entered the shiai-jo and her opponent was Yokoyama Yui. Despite her opponent was a kyu-grade; it didn’t convince her that she could go easy on her.
“Hajime!”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUHHHHH!!!!”The younger Sakae kept tackling in constantly as she knew she was facing a dan-grade kendo player. The only chance for her to win was to prevent Sashihara from having any time to execute a cut. The more that the Akiba girl stepped away the more that Yui kept pushing her.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNN!!!!”
She charged straight into Sasshi, but then the older kenshi moved away and also whacked her sword forward to give her a charge forward. The moment Yui tried to change her direction towards Sashihara, she tumbled due to excess momentum from the sprint.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNN!!!”
That was a big fat chance for Sashihara to whack right onto her opponent’s head easily and all three judges raised their flags for her. It was too clear that the judge couldn’t deny it. To keep chagrining in against a dan grade player wouldn’t be such a smart idea since they could easily adapt to the situation.
“Nihon-me!”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUHHHHH!!!!”“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNN!!” / “MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNN!!”
The two came in at the same time, but then Sashihara’s strike was much more powerful and thus cut through her strike and gave a clear smack onto Yui’s head easily without demonstrating fancy techniques. She simply showed strong solid basics and being composed under pressure, as a result of that she obtained a clean victory that pushed Akiba team back up again. Only two more matches remained and the two teams came down to a tie.
“Shoubu-ari!”
The winner of the match was Sashihara as expected, and the pressure came down to the fukusho players instead. Yuki and Sae switched places with their team member and entered the shiai-jo. By judging the player’s, Akiba seemed to be in a disadvantage against Sakae. Miyazawa Sae and Nakanishi Yuka were the two dan grades of Sakae, and the players that had to fight against them were two kyu grades.
“Hajime!”
It was Sae and Yuki’s match and obviously Sae was confident to push her team up, however the black demon of Akiba wouldn’t allow her to do that. Without further ado, Kashiwagi let go of her brakes and allowed her instinct to run wild in the battlefield. She yelled out loud like a beast and the two tackled in against each other while trying to score a men cut.
“EEEEEEEIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”Sae was a year older than Yuki, but that didn’t make her fear at all. The young one was playing the mean way and the moment their body tackled against each other, Yuki literally shoved her hand forcefully against Sae’s chest and caused her to tumble back. She ran after her like a hungry beast before she whacked her opponent with her signature gyaku-dou before tackling in straight into Sae using the side of her body.
“DOOOOOOOOOUUUAAAA!!!! DOOOOOOOOOUUUUU!!!!!!!!”
~THUDDDDDD~
“Dou-ari!”
It was a point to Yuki despite Sae fell on her back. Yuki demonstrated all the aspects that qualified her to receive that point. Obviously Kashiwagi was confident with her strike since it was her signature cut after all. While Ikoma and Mayu were watching from a distance with coach Takamina. The young kenshi couldn’t help but to gawk in awe with how amazing Yuki executed that difficult cut so easily and naturally like that.
“Wow…Yuki-senpai is so amazing…”
“Gyaku-dou is her signature cut. Surprisingly she felt very natural to do it than any other cuts.”
“I bet Takahashi-sensei taught that to her.”
Ikoma smiled but then it made the teacher giggled softly. She shook her head in response and told her student that Yuki’s style was particularly different from the usual gyaku-dou they practiced in Akiba High School. Her style actually belonged to Watanabe dojo and it could be seen easily because Miyuki also had the same exact executing style as her.
“E-Eh? Watanabe? That means…”
Ikoma turned to Mayu and the young cyborg girl sighed softly. She began explaining to her kendo colleage that Yuki used to train at Watanabe dojo about five years ago, but she stopped attending regular trainings after she entered High School. Since Yuki was a member of dojo owned by Watanabe family she would obviously learn Watanabe’s particular style and gyaku-dou was one of it.
“She’s much better at using that cut than Miyuki and I. Her natural style always turns out to be the most suitable for all difficult strikes.”
“Wow…Yuki-senpai is so amazing…”
“She is good and judging from that…she is very serious too.”
Focusing on the match once again, Sae bit her lips with anxiousness while walking back to the starting line. This was indeed a difficult match since her opponent was no ordinary kyu grade. Her skills, style, and spirit qualified her to be a dan-grade player already. Sae felt like she was fighting against someone at the same level as her more than to be her junior.
“Hajime!”
The 2nd round began and the two tackled against each other, hard. Both sides could feel the pressure tackling into their stomach, which caused both to flinch slightly at the same time. Yuki was actually struggling to fight against Sae despite she poured everything out. The younger Kashiwagi went in for the forearm the moment she saw it opened…but Sae took that force and used as a momentum to spin her sword around and lauched it right onto Yuki’s head.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNN!!!!!!”
“Men-ari!”
That came down to a tie between both sides, and the final round was about to start. The two got back to the starting line once again and they poured everything out to obtain that one last point on their opponent. Akiba and Sakae members were cheering for their teammate. Mayu took a deep breath and yelled out loud from the top of her lungs that it overpowered the crowds’ cheers easily.
“GANBARE!!!! YUKIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!”She wanted to make sure her voice reached her girlfriend and that unimportant cheers from the crowd wouldn’t cover it. Obviously the Akiba members at the mat were surprised but it got them to be hyped up as well.
“EEEEIIIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!”She screamed out like a banshee right into Sae’s face in response to Mayu’s cheer. The two tackled into each other again and the Sakae player shoved Yuki to the side to make her lose balance. However, Yuki didn’t let her use that opportunity to win as she dashed out while she could before Sae could do anything.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNN!!!” / “MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNN!!!”
The moment Yuki went out, Sae chased after her and young Kashiwagi didn’t hesitate to sprint in at the same time as her opponent to steal for that men cut. Unfortunately, none of them got that and as soon as their body momentum hit each other, Yuki used it to get out and how coincident that the two though the same thing. Without highly professional eyes, it looked as if the two scored at the same exact time…but Yuki lost that balance when she dashed out and ended up landing on the floor with her back.
“Men-ari!”
Someone scored the point and two judges raised the flag for the red whilst one gave to the white… Takamina smiled with contentment as she could see who scored that men cut first as well. It was indeed Kashiwagi Yuki who got that point before Sae could do so. If the Sakae kenshi were slightly faster for about 0.1 second, then she would’ve got that point. It was a difference between a blink of a second of losing and winning. Yuki slowly got up and went to the starting line to end her match with her victory. It seemed Mayu knew that her girlfriend would win and she couldn’t hold back her smile. She was indeed proud of her that she was able to win and now the match came down to the taisho round.
“Shoubu-ari!”
The 4th match was over and now…the real finale was about to start. All members in the venue sat on their knee in respect to the final match of the day. They started the fight without further ado. Finally, the taisho went in and it was a showdown between Matsui Rena and Nakanishi Yuka. This would be such an intimidating match for Rena since Nishishi was the winner of Dan Individuals event. The crowds and other kendo players remained in silence in deep respects to the final round until the judge broke the silence with the start of the match.
“Hajime!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRHHHHHHH!!!!!!”The final match that would determine the team’s victory had begun. As Rena had calculated the points of both teams so far…in order to secure the team’s win she could either prevent Nishishi from scoring a point…or get one point and win with 1:0…or even better win with 2:0. However, to lose 0:2 to her were not an option because that would mean Sakae’s victory. If Rena were to lose with 1:2 or 0:1, it would be daihyousen again like what happened earlier in the finals of Kyu Teams event. Rena had a little flashback on the past when she used to train with Nakanishi in the past…she used to be in Sakae School before she moved to Akiba School. Basically, she was an ex-member of Sakae Kendo club…but that wasn’t the time to think about it since she needed to focus on the match right now.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!”
“U-Ugh—!”
With Nakanishi tackled in after she executed that ridiculous powerful men cut, it made Rena felt as if she was punched into her stomach. Rena didn’t give in and stood firmly on her ground. She yelled back into her opponent’s face and she did the same exact thing to Rena as well.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”Nishishi pushed Rena away and did a backward cut onto her dou and made sure she dashed out fast enough to avoid any cut Rena could possibly threw. However, it wasn’t good enough to impress the judges. She roamed into the raven-haired girl again and did a two-hit combo before tackling her with her body again.
“KOTEEEE—MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNN!!!!!”
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNN!!!!!”
~THUDDDD~
Rena ran in at the same time as well but Nishishi’s body power was much stronger than hers. She ended up flew back and landed on the floor. The judge stopped the match and allowed Rena to get up back on her feet. Thankfully she didn’t fly out from the shiai-jo and that her opponent’s cut didn’t appeal to the judges. Somewhat, Rena felt that Nishishi was playing safe and will catch her when she let her guard down.
“Fighting Akiba!!”
“Rena-chan! Faito! Faito!!”
“Ganbare!! Nishishi!!!”
“Ganbatte Rena!!”
Both Sakae and Akiba were cheering from the top of their lungs since this match would decide who would win unless it went into Daihyousen again. They both tackled in again and again, but this time Nishishi knew that it was happening. She went in and did a two-hit combo onto Rena before tackling in again. She poured her heart and soul onto this and Rena kept striking in without any fear. Normally she would be afraid since she was the one deciding the victory or lose of the team…but she wasn’t at all. She felt utterly relaxed and calm for some reason. Rena felt that she could do this; she felt that she could win despite Nishishi being 4 grades higher than her. All she needed to do was to believe in herself and be confidence with her skills no matter what. After all the explosive spirit had died down, the two was having a cold war against each other. Both tried to bait one in as well as staying in a proper distance away from one another to make sure it wasn’t too close or too far. Rena could see that instant Nishisi moved…and her body just went in without realizing it. At that same time, Sakae was going for the men cut as well and everyone could see two swords having a race whether, which would land a decent smack on their opponent. Takamina’s eyes grew wide slightly as she realized Rena’s timing was absolutely perfect, and she knew straight off that who would score that point without even have to wait for the judge to raise their flags.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!” / “MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!”
“Men-ari!”
It was the red flag. Even Hakata and Namba were in a moment of shock mixed with surprise which they saw the young kyu grade from Akiba scored that perfect debana-men on a 3rd dan player. It was unlike those cuts that happened at the same time and it was subtle which landed first…but from the audience’s view they could see that Rena’s sword reached and hit Yuka first. The moment the Akiba members saw their taisho scored that first point…Yuko clapped her hands loudly and yelled out loud to give Rena all the support she needed.
“FAITO RENA!!!!!! ONE MORE!!!!!”
“GANBATTE SENPAI!!!!”
“GO GO SAKAE! GO GO SAKAE!!!”
“AKIBA FIGHING!!!”
Rena couldn’t believe she did it, and it felt amazingly easy for some reason. Without thinking, she was able to achieve that perfect timing even against a 3rd dan player… and that was ho powerful timing was. Speed wasn’t the essential key to win, as it was the timing. With a perfect timing, one could score a point at any speed. Nishishi obviously didn’t expect that and was actually surprised by it…and excited at the same time. It didn’t make her disappointed at the slightest, but instead it made her grinned with how impressive Rena’s timing was.
“Nihon-me!”
However, this time the cheer went louder…because Namba and Hakata team were actually cheering and showed support for Rena. They were amazed for a young kyu grade to create that miracle like that and couldn’t help but to support her. They both were fighting much more seriously and composed than the beginning. Rena’s breath was in a steady pace and her body was completely relaxed. They two clashed in at the same time and the intensity kept rising as time passed by…but Rena didn’t panic. She still felt calm and composed as if everything was under her control.
“MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!” / “MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNN!!!!!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”The two backed away from each other and had that stare with one another before one of them went in for a strike. Despite the two were standing apart from one another, the intensity still built up and somewhat the two realized that this next cut would be the perfect moment to land a score. If one of them lost that concentration…and other would win in an instant. There was no chance that both of them could let their guard down…even in a blink of a second. Rena couldn’t possibly hear the cheers any longer since she was too focused…and felt like it was just she and her opponent in this dimension. Rena could feel and see every movement her opponent made and that instant she felt the hole in Nishishi’s defence. It probably was a moment of luck that Rena could use to win and she managed to find it. Rena went in without hesitation and Nishishi wasn’t well prepared for it…she aimed for the forearm and then—
“KOOOOOTEEEEE—!!!” / “MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENN!!!!!”
Both tackled in against each other and then Rena whacked another men cut while dashing backward but then the judge already announced the owner of the point. The judge repeated the point they awarded and made the raven-haired girl realized that it was over…she looked to the head judge and saw they raised the flag for the red team.
“Men-ari!”
In that exchange they had… Nishishi’s kote was not scored because completely missed it since Rena’s arm was way higher than she expected it to be. Both men cuts executed by Rena was good enough to be awarded a point, but what made her won was the first men cut she delivered. Obviously Rena was still in a moment of shock but still have enough conscious to know what she needed to do. Both of them went back to the starting line and Rena could see Nishishi’s big grin through her men armor.
“Shoubu-ari!”
As Rena stepped out, she was welcomed by her teammates that stood by her side. As the both sides were ready in their position, they waited for the judge to go to their position and then spoke the command for them to bow towards the scoring table. Also, the people at the scoring table stood up and faced the big Japan flag that was on the wall.
“Shomen-ni-Rei!”
(Shomen-ni-Rei = bow to the Founder of Kendo and the ancestors)
They all bowed towards the flag, which was their shomen. The Sakae and Akiba members faced each other with that warm smile for one another and Rena could still see Nishishi looking at her with such excitement across her face.
“Otagai-ni-Rei!”
They bowed towards each other before they walked backward out of the ring while clapping hands for one another. The audience and other kendo players that were watching were impressed with the match and clapped for all of them.
[THE WINNER OF THE MATCH IS TEAM AKIBA][THE WINNER OF THE OPEN TEAM EVENT IS TEAM AKIBA][THERE WILL BE A 15 MINUTES BREAK BEFORE THE AWARD AND CLOSING CEREMONY. PLEASE BE BACK TO THE VENUE 5 MINUTES BEFORE THE CLOSING CEREMONY AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE.]Finally, all the matches were over and without further ado, Nakanishi walked around the shiai-jo to go to meet with Rena. Takamina saw that coming and she gave her student a notice and push for her to go over to her opponent first before they had a team moment together. The moment the two met, the two of them knelt down and took off their men without further ado. Rena was quicker and so she waited for her opponent to take it off before they formally bowed to each other.
“Arigato gozaimashita!” / “Arigato gozaimashita!”
Both of them said in unison and Nishishi couldn’t hold back her smile at all. She went in and gave Rena a big hug, which obviously surprised the young raven-haired girl. Despite the Sakae’s taisho lost, she seemed to be very happy and excited for Rena instead.
“That was amazing Rena-chan! That was just impressive. Very impressive! You deserve that win. That little cute Rena-chan is growing~ Ah~ Now I feel old.”
“T-Thank you for that wonderful match Nishishi-senpai. It’s been a long while since we met. I’m glad I get to fight against you.”
“Beautiful men cut, that’s a very great timing. That was amazing!”
The two shook hands with one another before they left since they needed to go join up with their team. They needed to go have their own little team moment together before Rena could catch up with her friends from Sakae kendo club. It was Takamina that spoke and she gave such a soothing speech to every Akiba members regarding their performance today in this competition.
“We did amazing, we won the Open Team event. We all won this and be proud of this achievement. Right now, it’s all over now. It's the time to relax and let out your stresses. Also, special congratulations to Rena-chan for winning the taisho match with 2:0, that is very impressive.”
Everyone agreed what Takamina said and Yuko was the first one to give Rena a big hug. Everyone was utterly proud of what Rena did and she was the one that made Akiba shine out the most. Her flawless and remarkable performance grabbed everyone’s attention… literally all kendo player’s, sensei’s, and audience’s attention. She was indeed the star of the day. Rena couldn’t believe it all happen in less than 2 minutes…and finally all the fight was over. Also, that was when she remembered about Jurina. Right after the little team moment was over, she needed a water break and went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face before she would go meet with Jurina as they promised…
-
After Sakae had finish their little group talk, without further ado Jurina threw her eyes around the venue to look for Rena but she was no where to be found. At least she spotted both Mayu and Yuki, and she ran up to them without waiting to ask for Rena’s whereabouts.
“Mayu! Yukirin!”
Jurina came over to the Akiba team while she was still in her kendo uniform. Soon after she placed her headgear and shinai at her bag, she rushed over her as soon as possible to look for her only beloved Matsui. She was taking deep breaths due to exhaustion and judging from Mayu and Yuki’s reaction they seemed to know that Jurina was here to ask about Rena.
“Where’s Rena-chan??”
“She went to the bathroom, you should be able to catch up with her.”
“T-Thanks!!”
She rushed out without further ado and it made Yuki smirked with excitement. She seemed to be so excited for Rena and Jurina getting together and embraced Mayu from behind tightly. As for the younger one, she simply sighed softly as she placed her hand on top of Yuki’s arm. She didn’t refuse the hug and let her girlfriend do whatever she wanted…since it was her day after all.
“Aw~ don’t they remind of us two years ago?”
“…With Jurina as you, and Rena as me? Wasn’t it me that was suffering from this one-sided feeling instead?”
“Our feelings are mutual but we believe that it’s one-sided for the whole time like an idiot, I remember the times I have to chase you down…and now I got you~”
“…Hmph, I know that… and I’ll always be yours.”
Mayu leaned her head back to rest against Yuki’s shoulder with a vague smile across her face. Obviously, Yuki loved every second that Mayu expressed her affection in public like this despite the younger one didn’t like it. The only thing they could do was to wait for the good news from Jurina and Rena soon about the upgrade to their relationship.
-
Jurina ran towards the bathroom with all the energy she had left in her muscle, and then she saw that familiar raven-haired girl in front of her. She felt the instant energy rushing through her veins and muscles, and that gave her the energy to run with her life towards the woman of her love. Thankfully Rena was walking and it allowed Jurina to catch up with her much faster than the first time.
“R-Rena!!”
“…!”
The raven-haired girl in kendo uniform turned around and their eyes met. That instant, Jurina dashed in and wrapped her arms around Rena tightly with her life. She finally was able to catch her breath at last and her trembling arms were holding onto her. The raven-haired Matsui could even feel Jurina’s heart pounding against her chest and she embraced her back tightly as well. She longed for this warm cozy feeling and didn’t want to let it go of it.
“…Rena.”
“Jurina…”
They both slowly broke off the hug and they looked into each other’s eyes passionately. She held both Rena’s hands tightly and smiled back to her with that awkward nervousness. She was about to ask her only childhood friend to become the love of her life and despite she had been throwing out that question countless times…this was different than before. Even Rena could feel her hands shaking due to frustration, and she could even see on Jurina’s face that she was extremely nervous and was about to hit the state of panicking. For the past months Jurina was able to say it so easily…but because she was very serious this time it made her extremely nervous than ever. Rena believed that she never had seen Jurina this stressful before in her life and it made her heart pounded so fast. It made her realize how serious the shorthaired Matsui was regarding her feelings towards Rena. However, Jurina was surely taking her time to gather enough courage to propose to her and it was long enough to make Rena nervous instead. After the kiss they had before the finals…it made her realize so many things regarding her affection or feelings towards Jurina. Maybe for so many years…she had been in love with Jurina but never ever have realized it. Despite how much Jurina had become bold and strong than before…she would still be that little stressful crybaby Jurina that Rena knew.
“R-Rena! I have always love you, always…so please…”
“…”
“…Rena, this time…will you be my girlfriend?”
“Jurina…”
She nodded softly with teary eyes and she couldn’t hold back her feelings anymore. She threw her arms around Jurina and kissed her lips in that instant without further ado. Obviously that gave the puppy Matsui a shock of her life, but she quickly accepted and returned the kiss back to Rena while she snaked her arms around her waist. Surprisingly Rena initiated with her tongue and the intensity of the kiss escalated quickly. It seemed she had been holding back for a long while due to not able to understand her true feelings…and now that she realized it, she couldn’t hold back from Jurina. She expressed and poured it all through the kiss and the hug.
“Mmmgh…Haaah…Aah….Nnngh…!”
“Haa…haaah…ahh…”
Both of them panted against each other’s lips as they gradually broke off the kiss. Slowly looking into each other’s eyes, Jurina cupped her cheeks before she bent in to peck her lips softly to confirm Rena’s answer.
“So…I guess it's a yes?”
“Mmmhm…”
“Thank goodness…!”
Jurina pulled her in for a hug instantly and suddenly she had recovered her strength and was able to carry Rena up from the floor and spin around. She couldn’t hold back her smile with happiness that her feelings are returned and the moment she put Rena back down onto the floor, she embraced her tightly again. Just to see the shorthaired Matsui’s smile of contentment couldn’t make Rena any happier than this.
“…Finally I understand it now.”
“Hmm?”
Rena smiled softly before she pushed back and gave Jurina a teasing peck on the lips. She couldn’t hold back the happiness blooming inside her heart and had her arms wrapped around Jurina’s neck. Their noses were resting against each other and Jurina was blushing really hard with how Rena seemed to just change all of the sudden from before and after the finals.
“I guess…I’ve been in love with you for the entire time already.”
“R-Rena…”
“…and…I love you too, Jurina.”
Rena smiled her heart out before she bent over to peck on Jurina’s forehead in a teasing manner. The more they opened up to each other…the more they both wanted express their feelings for each other. They let loose of their breaks and let their feelings run wild without holding back since they truly longed for one another for many years already. Jurina couldn’t resist the temptation and sealed her lips against hers to share this sweet moment with her childhood crush. They felt as if it was just the only two of them in this world…but they did not expect to be interrupted by someone though.
“Aw~~!!!! It seemed everything went well~!”
Both of them flinched and broke off the kiss to turn to the origin of the voice, and that was when they saw both Mayu and Yuki witnessing them kissing each other. Kashiwagi grinned with excitement and happy for the two of them as they finally got together, while Mayu remained in silence and had that smirk across her face.
“M-Mayu!? Y-Yukirin!?”
“Congratulations Rena-chan! I’m so happy for you!”
“A-Ah…t-thanks?”
“I told you, we didn’t even have to follow up on them.”
Mayu ruffled her hair and could see how awkward Jurina was when both of them were caught kissing each other. It was like a silent revenge from MaYuki on Rena since the innocent raven-haired girl accidentally caught Mayu and Yuki having a kissing session in the bathroom.
“I guess it’s about time I teach Rena-chan the ‘lessons’ as well!”
Yuki seemed to be overly excited and Rena was completely dumbfounded by what she meant. As she came in and whispered into the raven-haired Matsui’s ear, she blushed instantly as if she just dipped her face into red paint. Her mind literally exploded as Yuki exposed herself to a brand new world of adult to Rena’s young innocent mind. Jurina was shocked and couldn’t help and got anxious with what Yuki told Rena.
“E-Ehhh!?!?!? W-Whaaaa—!@#$%^&*()….”
“Yukirin! W-What did you tell her??”
“Just something very beneficial for you, Jurina~”
She gave a wink and Mayu knew instantly what Yuki told to Rena based on her response afterwards. Watanabe didn’t say a word and she grabbed Yuki’s arm to pull her away from the two Matsui girls. Mayu simply didn’t want the two to become new victims to Yuki’s sadism and this was the best she could do for the two of them.
“Don’t be too mean to them, Rena-senpai is too new for this.”
“She’ll have to learn it eventually! At least she has a partner to try these new things out with.”
“Oh god Yuki, no. Why don’t we just leave them alone for now?”
“Ehhhh…”
Yuki sounded like a spoiled child, and Mayu simply ignored it and dragged her away from the two Matsui girls. The young one gave Jurina a stare and that was more than enough signal that she was indeed doing Matsui girls a big favor. As the two get to be alone again, Jurina held her hand and she couldn’t help but to laugh out.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Well…just thinking about a lot of things back when we’re kids. Who expected that we would end up together?”
“…Yeah…and I guess I preferred this way. I would be sad if someone had you instead...of me.”
“Me too. I wouldn’t want anyone to hold my cute Rena-chan~”
“Hey, stop teasing me like I’m a kid already!”
“Hahaha! Aw~”
Instead of a heavy romantic conversation, it was back to their usual relaxing conversation while holding each other’s hand firmly. They decided to use the remaining time left to go buy a drink and went to catch up with the Sakae members because some of them were Rena’s friends. Obviously Mariko, Nishishi, and Sae were excited to catch up with Rena again. They sure had a lot of things to share and talk about and time flew by quite fast until they heard another announcement once again.
[THE AWARD AND CLOSING CEREMONY WILL START IN 2 MINUTES. PLEASE LINE UP ACCORDING TO THE SCHOOL AND BY HEIGHT PLEASE.]It was about time Rena had to go back to join with her friends. They all lined up and then the hachi-dan sensei made a speech to all the competitors that came to compete this year. He was impressed with everyone’s spirit and talent, and wished to meet with all of them in the future as well as next year’s competition too. After the speech was made, it was the time to give awards to each category.
[WE WILL NOW BEGIN GIVING AWARDS TO THE WINNERS OF EACH CATEGORY. BEGIN WITH THE KYU INDIVIDUALS. THIRD PLACE GOES TO OSHIMA YUKO FROM AKIBA, SECOND PLACE GOES TO KASHIWAGI YUKI FROM AKIBA, AND LASTLY, FIRST PLACE AND WINNER OF KYU INDIVIDUALS GOES TO WATANABE MIYUKI FROM SAKAE. PLEASE COME UP AND RECEIVE YOUR MEDAL.]The three girls went up and there were a couple of hachi-dan teachers holding the medals to put over their heads. After that, the three of them went to the side and had their photos taken by the school’s photographer especially for this event. They always did this every year and these photos would be put up in the hallway of all schools where they kept they sports awards and trophies. After they were done they ran back to their line before the staff announced the next award in the Dan individuals event.
[NEXT IS THE DAN INDIVIDUALS. THIRD PLACE GOES TO SASHIHARA RINO FROM AKIBA, SECOND PLACE GOES TO IRIYAMA ANNA FROM NAMBA, AND LASTLY, FIRST PLACE AND THE WINNER OF DAN INDIVIDUALS GOES TO NAKANISHI YUKA FROM SAKAE. PLEASE COME UP AND RECEIVE YOUR MEDAL.]The next three girls went up to receive their medals and took a group photo together. As each category went up, everyone clapped for them and what were left were the team categories. Unfortunately in team events there could only be two team winners.
[NEXT IS THE KYU TEAMS. SECOND PLACE GOES TO TEAM AKIBA. PLEASE COME UP AND RECEIVE YOUR MEDAL.]Since there were 5 members per team, the announced each team one by one instead of asking all of them to come up at the same time. Mayu didn’t intend to go up and receive the medal, but Ikoma insisted her to since she was the one that fought in the team in the finals. They had a small short argument with each other but then Takamina insisted Mayu to take it for Ikoma’s sake. Obviously it made Watanabe sighed before she reluctantly went up with everyone to receive the medal. After they did, they stepped aside to take a photo as a group.
[FIRST PLACE AND WINNER OF THE KYU TEAM EVENT GOES TO TEAM SAKAE. PLEASE COME UP AND RECEIVE YOUR MEDAL.]Everyone clapped hands for the first place since they needed to be strong to be first place. It was Sakae’s turn to go up and receive their medals, and without further ado they had a group photo before returning back to their line once again.
[LASTLY IS THE OPEN TEAMS. SECOND PLACE GOES TO TEAM SAKAE. PLEASE COME UP AND RECEIVE YOUR MEDAL.]Some members went up again to receive their medals and it was obvious that Sakae School had taken a lot of medals this year once again. However, Akiba didn’t lose to them too.
[FIRST PLACE AND WINNER OF THE OPEN TEAM EVENT GOES TO TEAM AKIBA. PLEASE COME UP AND RECEIVE YOUR MEDAL.]The Akiba members went up again and received the medals along with taking a photograph as a whole team before returning to the line. As some people thought that it was over, but there was one last award category that was yet to be given to the competitors. The organizer, Akimoto Yasushi came up and did the speech regarding the Fighting Spirit Awards for the chosen competitors across all 4 schools that demonstrated good kendo, attitude, and etiquette. The people that received these awards were recognized to be a kendo idol that everyone should look up to. These chosen ones were specially selected by majority voting among the teachers that were the judges during the competition.
“Only 10 competitors from all competitors that competed today are chosen and we will announce the names shortly. Please save the claps after all names are announced since it would be hard for everyone to hear…”
[THE COMPETITORS RECEIVING THE FIGHTING SPIRIT AWARD THIS YEAR GOES TO…OSHIMA Yuko, WATANABE Miyuki, IRIYAMA Anna, MURASHIGE Anna, KODAMA Haruka, WATANABE Mayu, KASHIWAGI Yuki, MATSUI Jurina, OGASAWARA Mayu, and YOKOYAMA Yui. PLEASE COME UP AND RECEIVE YOUR MEDAL.]After all names are announced, everyone clapped hands for the chosen ones as they went up to receive their medals. Obviously Mayu and Jurina were both in shock, but an award is an award. They least expected a fighting spirit award and everyone was forced to take a photo together with their medals around their neck. As soon as all of them returned to their respective line, Akimoto Yasushi continued where he left off and declared an official end to P48 Annual Kendo Championship this year once again. Everyone left out a smile and the competition was officially over. The groups dispersed and that was when Yuko and Yuki were having their annual argument after the P48 Annual Championship.
“Dammit! I didn’t get to kick your ass this year?!”
Yuko grumbled out and ruffled her hair vigorously with frustration. She was actually looking forward to meet with Yuki in the finals, but then Watanabe Miyuki beat her in the semifinals first so she didn’t have that chance to have a revenge match against her rival. As for the team captain, she only smirked and gave that winning stare at Yuko.
“At least I got into finals. Since I got 2nd place does it mean I win this time?”
“Hey! We both lost to the same person!! The deal is invalid!”
Both kept arguing since Yuki got 2nd place medal, while Yuko got 3rd place medal. Ikoma watched from afar with frustration but then Sayaka came to her and tell her that it was their usual thing. They would always have some sort of their own private deal with one another and a fight right after the competition.
“I told you it is invalid, you BLACK-Mamimokkori!”
“Oi, HENTAI oldman, I’m not mamimokkori!”
“That’s why I say it is invalid! Invalid!!”
“Now that doesn’t make sense!”
“I told you its invalid you idiot!”
Both of them glared at each other and nothing but silence remain between the two of them. Other old kendo players saw this every year and were not so surprised at all, but for the new kendo players this year would be extremely worried and panicking like how Ikoma was right now. However, Rena told her not to worry and wait for a minute to see how it went, and then she would understand what Rena meant.
“P-Pft… / P-Pft…”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”Both of them cracked up and laughed their guts out as if the world was going to end. Ikoma swore that she never saw Yuki laughed out loud and expressively like this before. After they had their loud outburst, they looked at each other again with that exciting smirk across their face.
“Next year you giraffe, I’m going to kick your ass into the bucket for real.”
“Tough luck squirrel, because I’m getting 1st place as my graduation gift.”
“Tch, you’re such a bitch sometimes do you know?”
“…And you’re such an asshole.”
“Hey! You bitch.”
“Not nice! You shall not be blessed, child.”
“THE HECK IS THAT!? That’s the most random and lamest crap ever.”
“Just like you. SNAP!”
“You asked for it you asshole!”
Yuko threw in a punch on Yuki’s shoulder and then they start playing around like young energetic kids. They both laughed together and Yuko threw her arms around Yuki’s shoulder while they kept having their little argument with each other. Their rivalry relationship was indeed unique and it made them establish such an unbreakable bond between one another. Then as soon as Yuki spotted Mayu coming up to the two of them, she couldn’t hold back her smile and she ran up to her.
“Congratulations to the two of—Yuki?!”
Yuki cuddled Mayu and it made Yuko sighed out. Oshima even called Yuki a pedophile since the freshmen was about 2 years younger than them and now Kashiwagi-senpai was being very friendly and cuddling her like this.
“She is cute though, don’t you think so?”
“Not really, Mayu is damn a coldhearted chump.”
“Hey, I can hear that Oshima-senpai.”
“Oh right, you got the fighting spirit award~! That’s amazing Mayu!”
Yuki was overly excited for her girlfriend to receive fighting spirit award. Some people said that it was way better than achieving 1st place in the competition. Akiba’s team captain kept rubbing her face against Mayu’s and that was when both Jurina and Rena came to join the chat. The shorthaired Matsui looked at the couple and sighed softly with wry smile.
“It’s quite rare to see Yuki overly joyful like this…”
“Oh hey Jurina. You got a long ass explanation to give to us!”
Yuko launched onto Jurina and locked her arms around her neck. Obviously the Akiba team would want the entire story of why and how Jurina ended up on Sakae’s team. It was about time Jurina told the story that she kept hidden from everyone…it all started with Kawaei Rina got injured and unable to compete. Usually they would just put a substitute into team instead, but then she requested and pleaded Jurina personally to replace her in the team. Jurina couldn’t obviously decline that offer…also, Kawaei had done so many things for Jurina in the past when she used to be in Sakae Junior High.
“So…that’s about it?”
“But how the heck are you so good like this? How many years you’ve been doing kendo??”
“Jurina and I did kendo in Year 5 and continued in Sakae Junior High. However after that incident 3 years ago she hasn’t been doing kendo ever since…until today?”
Rena explained and everyone started to have a bigger picture of the situation. However the question remained on how Jurina could still compete for Sakae, when she was enrolled in Akiba High School. Before the shorthaired Matsui could explain anything, Sakae’s team coach came up to them from behind and spoke out clearly and loudly.
“The condition to participate the P48 Annual Championship is that they need to be a highschool student of Project48 Institute, and just need to be affiliate to a club. Therefore, doesn’t mean that a student from Akiba is restricted to Akiba-only clubs.”
They all turned around and saw Mariko standing behind them. With a smile, Takamina walked up to her and gave a pat on her back. Somewhat, these two knew each other quite well since Takamina was acting very friendly to her.
“It’s been a while Mariko, how do you do?”
“Not bad Takamina, you sure raised your students well! I’m amazed, as expected from our Taisho.”
“Hey, cut it out already, that’s ages ago.”
“Takahashi-sensei? Taisho?”
The kids were confused and that made Takamina realized that she needed to explain things to them. The current team coach of Sakae was actually an ex-member of Akiba Kendo Club ten years ago…and the team captain of the year was Takahashi Minami. Obviously that surprised all Akiba students since Mariko was literally their alumnus, as well as ex-member of Akiba Kendo Club. So after Shinoda explained the situation, she told everyone that Jurina used to be a member of Sakae Kendo Club and all she needed to do was to renew her membership that could be done in one day. She also apologized with the chaos she made since she personally asked Jurina to do this as well. After Rena listened to the whole story she finally understood why Jurina was afraid to tell her…since she was very close to Ricchan as well. Obviously she would be emotionally affected after she learned that her best friend from Sakae was hospitalized.
-
Despite the entire ruckus, everything ended nicely and it was about time everyone returned back home to where they belong. Takamina personally dropped everyone back to their homes, and both Matsui girls dropped off at Rena’s place instead.
“See you guys at school on next week! Enjoy your study break week.”
“Bye!”
The two replied in unison and finally the two were alone together once again. Jurina sighed softly and apologized to Rena again for not telling her with the situation Jurina was in, and obviously Rena forgave her. She finally understood Jurina’s feelings and if she were to be in her position she would’ve done the same exact thing too.
“Rena…thank you.”
“…By the way do you have any plans for tonight?”
“Eh? Not really.”
“…Since tomorrow will be the beginning of the study break…do you want to come sleepover?”
“Eh? Tonight??”
“S-So we can study! Also…I want to catch up with you since the competition is over…so yeah…”
“O-Of course! I’m certain that my parents would let me~ How about I take a shower and dinner first before I come over?”
“Come have dinner with us, my mom wouldn’t mind that.”
“Eh, but—”
“I said so…no excuse.”
“…Yes ma’am~”
Jurina let out a laugh of relief while she watched Rena blushing and being quite passively clinging on her. Maybe the raven-haired girl was passively aggressive and Jurina probably would discover more once she spent more time with her girlfriend. Without further ado, the young shorthaired Matsui went home to take a shower before coming over to Rena’s place to have dinner and sleepover together. They just spent their time like how they would do but they were more opened up to each other as well as smiling much more often than before. As it was getting late, Jurina was about to sleep on the futon prepared next to Rena’s bed…but then the raven-haired pulled her shirt and caught her attention.
“What’s up?”
“…Come sleep on the bed.”
“I-I can? Is it actually going to fit all of us?”
“Why don’t we try? It is pretty big for one person.”
The closed the lights and then Jurina joined with Rena on the bed. Apparently it was big enough to fit the two of them and surprisingly it was comfortable for two people to sleep in. As the lights were out and the two of them were facing each other in darkness…Jurina stroke her girlfriend’s head and this moment reminded her of their childhood times when they always have sleepovers.
“Doesn’t this bring back the old times?”
“…True that…Hey, Jurina?”
“Yeah?”
“…Can I hug you until I fall asleep?”
Jurina blinked with surprise but then it made her remembered Rena’s fear for darkness. She would always need a pillow or a plushy to hug in order to make her feel secure. Despite all these years Rena haven’t grown out from her fears yet. Jurina couldn’t hold back her laugh and then hugged Rena tightly to make her feel secure in this darkness.
“Of course. I’m always here for you.”
“…M-Mmhm, I know…and…I love you.”
However, Jurina didn’t expect that coming and thanks to the darkness it hid her blushing cheeks from Rena. Only a smile appeared across her face while she moved in closer to Rena and could smell the jasmine-scent shampoo from her hair. Rena hugged her tightly and the sleepiness finally kicked in for both of them. It’s been a very long and stressful day for the two…and finally they were able to have a sleep.
“Me too…”
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~XXX~
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-2 months later-
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~XXX~
-
“Mayu, I’m still amazed until now with how you’re able to be with Yukirin. You’re definitely one of a kind for her.”
“Oi Jurina, Is that an insult or a compliment?”
“Oh well~ I wonder.”
The two of them were having a chat while they were walking towards the kendo dojo after they bought a bag filled with electrolyte drinks for the kendo members. As they both opened the door and entered, it caught everyone’s attention. They didn’t seem to be surprise since they all knew that this was the time that the two of them would show up to the dojo.
“Hi guys, we got the drinks!”
“Awesome! Thank you Mayu! Thank you Jurina!”
The members rushed in with thirst and grabbed a bottle each. Then it was about time Yuki and Rena came up to them and took a bottle from the bag they were holding. During training, Yuki surely maintained her composure very well so that other members wouldn’t know that she had a romantic relationship with Mayu whilst other knew about Jurina and Rena already.
“Thanks for doing the hard work. We really appreciate it.”
“Don’t worry. It’s all good and we’re bored anyway.”
-
After the training, the four of them walked back home together and dropped by the café close by to the school and had a little chat with each other. Obviously Yuki kept teasing the couple and there was nothing Mayu could help either. Furthermore Kashiwagi would always teaching something weird to Rena and made Jurina very embarrassed and nervous.
“Y-Yukirin…how did you know all of these things so well-detailed?”
“Well~ I search it up and practice it—”
“Oh god stop it Yuki…”
Mayu was too embarrassed and Yuki couldn’t help but to tease her even more. The older one kept poking her girlfriend’s cheeks and Watanabe tried to maintain her cool side but it wasn’t working that well. Despite Mayu disliked and avoided showing affection in public… its still considered public to both Jurina and Rena. Then suddenly, Jurina was able to remind her young friend about something important…
“Oh wait, Mayu! The form…did you give it yet?”
“Oh right…crap…”
“What form?”
“…Oh well, I guess you can see this and pass it to Takahashi-sensei.”
Mayu took out a form and handed it over to Yuki. The moment Kashiwagi looked at the form, her eyes grew wide with shock since this was the Club Membership Form and the sport Mayu wrote in for was…Kendo. Without any words, Yuki looked up to her with shock and the young shy Watanabe decided to explain all the things to her girlfriend.
“The membership Takahashi-sensei did for me only lasts until the end of this semester…so I would need to renew my membership again to…join kendo again.”
“M-Mayu…a-are you joking?? Is this a dream? April fools??”
“This is not April! Also, this is real…but I wouldn’t want to train without you around…JUST so you know!”
“M-Mayu…!”
Yuki couldn’t hold back her happiness and she threw her arms around Mayu tightly to the point that she was about to suffocate her. The young Year-9 girl squirmed for air and Yuki couldn’t resist Mayu’s overloading cuteness at all. The moment she pushed out she dove her face in but Mayu blocked her face before she could kiss her.
“No! NOT HERE.”
“B-But…you’re just too cute I can’t resist it!!”
“Oh here we go again.”
Jurina sighed while Rena chuckled wryly while the couple in front of them was having their usual fluffy argument. That moment, Rena felt her hand being held gently by Jurina who was busy drinking her drink. That subtle cute action her girlfriend did made smile out before she held her hand back. Unfortunately, both Mayu and Yuki saw that and couldn’t help but to tease them.
“Eh~ Rena-chan why are you smiling?”
“E-Eh!? Nothing!”
“I bet Jurina is doing something romantic like holding her hand right now.”
Mayu read them like a book despite it was just a mere prediction that came up in her head. Yuki had a peek and they were actually holding hands underneath the table like what the freshmen girl said. The target changed to Jurina instead and Yuki couldn’t stop teasing on how the shorthaired Matsui could be such a sweet person and how she’s perfect for Rena. Meanwhile, another Matsui was watching Jurina being bullied but they were still holding each other’s hands firmly and tightly. So many things changed this year to the point that Rena couldn’t believe it…but she loved how things were going despite the bumps and obstacles on the way. At very least it was worth it…as long as she can be with Jurina like this.
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~THE END~