Sunday, 05 April 2009

• Chapter 17 - The katana match

  
  
  

  It was finally Thursday, the day of the Katana Match. So far I have won 4 matches on the girl’s division without even breaking a sweat. The last opponent I have for the finals was from the 3rd year level. I was sitting alone in the bench inside the locker room of the School’s Dojo building when I heard the girls talking about my rival.

  “Have you heard about Minami San’s opponent?” One girl whispered to the other while I pretended not to hear.

  “Yeah, she’s pretty strong. I didn’t even last a minute with that girl.”

  “They said she’s a senior.”

  “She is… but she never shows her face though, even when she wins, she doesn’t remove the head protector.”

  “What?!? And the sports committee is ok with that?”

  “Apparently they are…”

  “What about her name? Aren’t they supposed to put to put the names in the bulletin or something?”

  “Have you forgotten? They don’t put the names on the match sets, they only put the year level for representation.”

  “I wonder if Shinku would beat her?”

  “Shinku’s pretty good…”

  “I don’t know… I’ve seen her rival’s match.”

  “Let’s just see who wins.”

  “Want to bet?”

  “I’ll take our sempai’s side.”

  “What?!? I was about to say that!”

  That was end of the conversation because I got tired of listening, although it made me think of my opponents’ strength. Then again these were a bunch of high school kids, and most of the girls whom I fought with didn’t even last 30 seconds with me, so what difference would a senior in high school be?

  I walked over to where Sakura, Aoi and Mao were sitting. The three were sitting comfortably on the floor waiting for the match to start.

  “So Toma won again?” I asked with a skeptical look on my face. Since I heard a few girls talking about it on my way out of the locker room, I couldn’t help but confirm it with them.

  “Yeah… He was kakkoi too!” Mao gushed dreamily.

  I gave her a disgusted look.

  “Can’t I swoon for my prospect boy friend?” Mao said giddily to me while Sakura, Aoi and I shook our heads in unison.

  “Hopeless.” I muttered.

  “Definitely.” Both Sakura and Aoi said at the same time.

  Aoi was acting all normal again after 2 days of cringing every time I was near. I didn’t expect her to recover that fast, so she has once again exceeded my expectations. She stole a glance at me and saw that I was looking at her, then she gave me a small subtle smile, I just nodded at her to acknowledge it.

  After several minutes of hearing Sakura tease Mao, my match was finally called out to start.

  “Good luck!” Sakura called out.

  “She doesn’t need it Sakura, Shinku can win this undoubtedly.” Mao exclaimed enthusiastically.

  This made me smirk behind my mask as I stood before the referee. My opponent came walking up from behind me. I stood there by the mat following her with my gaze and started measuring her stance. She was approximately an inch shorter than me, but she stood straight. Exuding confidence by the way she walked and stood.

  There was something about her that was vaguely familiar I just don’t know where to get it from my memory.

  A small commotion from the crowd was stirring before the referee signaled his hands for us to face each other and start the match by formally bowing. When I turned to look at her, her eyes connected with mine and that’s when I finally figured out who she was. This was very much unexpected. The thought of her joining such a game has never occurred to me, not even in my slightest imagination.

  After the bow, the referee finally dropped his hand as a go signal to start.

  My opponent quickly lunged forward in one swift motion, the katana almost hitting my face mask. Good thing my reflexes weren’t as rusty as I though. I turned around to avoid the attack then pivoted to the right, smacked my opponent’s katana and angled mine upwards to hit her head but she quickly backed away missing the wooden stick just by an inch. As soon as she did this I moved my right foot backwards and pushed myself for a jump to get to her faster, this took her off guard and wasn’t able to react immediately, my stick hit her shoulder pad with a loud crack.

  This match was getting me excited, not just by the fact that I knew who was behind the mask but also by the way she fought. Her sudden movement earlier caught me by surprise because it wasn’t the usual move my previous opponents used. It was very much unexpected from a normal high school student, if she was like the latter, I would have been able to hit her at once.

  For one I haven’t seen any of her matches so I don’t have any idea as to what her strength could be or even her weakness but now I think I know what her next moves would be and until where her strength can reach.

  The way she held her katana was not slacking, her grip was definitely tight and she was also very sure of her target but she’s still missing a lot of things in her own skill.

  The buzzing sound from the back ground completely died out. The referee called out a point for me, this was only a three point match, I just need two more then it would be over.

  We started once again, this time it was my turn to jab my stick to her face but as predicted she moved the left and positioned her right foot forward, telling me she was on defense. I slowly shifted my steps towards her left side where she’s most likely to be unguarded. I tried to hit her left arm but her katana quickly went in the way before I could lay my stick on her. She thrusts her katana towards my left arm instead but I was able to smash her stick downward before it could reach me. Then I instantly shifted my katana back to her torso hitting her right at the middle of her chest.

  Yosh! Another point for me.

  Everyone started to shout and cheer as I breathed hard. Apparently my opponent was stronger than I thought but not that fast enough, she was able to read my movements momentarily but not as much as I could read hers.

  One last round and this would be over.

  The referee signaled for the third round but I stood in my place waiting for an attack. I thought she would quickly move again but instead she stared at me without moving an inch. For the first few seconds on this third match we both looked at each other, neither one of us making the first move. When I finally decided to shift my leg forward, my opponent did the same thing. I positioned both of my hands in front of me for a ready attack and she did the same thing. When I gave 3 cautious steps forward to my surprise, she did the exact same thing… it was starting to get annoying that I was even frowning behind my mask.

  What was she doing? Is she copying my every move now?

  I prepared for the last move which I was about to make. I took a deep breath and relaxed my shoulders, took a small step backwards then in split second I ran forward as fast as I could driving force into my hands for my last attack, but to my astonishment she did the same thing precisely.

  CLACK!

  Our katanas collided in a loud clacking noise. Strength fighting with strength, as I pushed her katana I couldn’t avoid but stare into her eyes through the face mask, she was looking hard at me. It was a loathing expression which took me off guard. I never thought that she was capable of giving this kind of expression but I wasn’t about to make her intimidate me.

  I am Shinku Minami. No one in this place… would ever get by me in Katana. Never would I let a high school kid step on my pride.

  I pushed the katana hard which made her stagger backwards for a quarter of a second, but that was enough for me to make a 360 degree turn to gain force for my counter attack as she lunged back at me with all her strength. The power she used to attack was vital to the swing I have to give to cast off her katana and because of the velocity I used adding to the strength my opponent gave, my sudden move was enough to send her katana flying off from her hand towards the floor and skid near the audience. Her gaze followed the stick as it slid across the floor and at that same moment I slowly placed the edge of my stick beside her neck. There was a moment of complete silence inside the gym and then the crowd went wild. The referee called for a win and pointed at me to announce it.

  A huge smile crept on my face just as my opponent removed her mask to give me a direct sharp look. I lowered the katana stick to my side, quickly removed my own mask and wiped off the smile on my face then we both faced each other and bowed.

  In the midst of triumph I felt in winning the match, I could not remove the feeling of animosity in her gaze even if her facial expression doesn’t reflect it. There was also something that kept bothering me about her since day one, an odd feeling that I can’t seem to remove from my chest every time she’s around. She seemed really graceful and almost perfect which I cannot deny that it is an admirable trait that I am even affected by it, only… something was not quite right every time she looks at me. To top it all… why the hostility behind the mask while we were fighting?
  But there is one sure thing I could say about her if I put aside all this observations.

  Aoi Kurori was good, but not good enough.

  “Oof!” I coughed out suddenly as an arm grabbed my neck.

  “That was really a good match Shinku. Where did you learn all those moves?” Shun asked as he held my neck in his arm. I casted a look over Kurori whose facial expression changed a tiny bit, her mouth faintly turned into a thin line when she saw Shun wrestling my neck.

  “Isn’t that your ex girlfriend?” I asked Shun completely forgetting that I hate it when people touch me without warning.

  “How did you know?” Shun asked completely startled.

  I just answered with a shrug not telling him that I have already eavesdropped from their break up conversation months ago.

  “Nobody knew about that.” He said while releasing my neck awkwardly.

  I gave him another indifferent shrug, which he obviously did not buy.

  “I’m not going into details.”

  Right then, Mao and the girls were already beside me. Even Toma was there grinning widely at me… Aoi was obviously giving Shun a look as she stole a glance at Kurori.

  What a coincidence, I just realized that they both had the same name.

  “Are you guys dating?” I blurted out all of a sudden to Shun as I pointed my hand at him and Aoi.

  “What?!?” Both of them exclaimed then Aoi went into a blushing episode once again.

  I knew it… they were definitely dating.

  Mao was now ogling at the two of them.

  “You two are dating?!? I didn’t even know…” Mao started to chatter at them while I tuned them out and looked for Kurori at the crowd.

  When I finally spotted her she was standing near Takumi and was engaged in a conversation with him. This sight made me confused for a second. Then I remembered that Takumi was an arts teacher and there was nothing wrong with talking to students.

  For a few seconds there I was on guard, I’ve never seen Takumi teach or talk to any other students at all.

  I shook my head to remove the uneasy feeling I had just a while ago and went back to listening to my friends squabble.

  ------------------To be continued------------------

  Notes from the Author:
  I finally got Kurori Aoi in the scene… ghaaa… the story line is killing me.
  Sorry guys if it took me so long to update. Been busy with a lot of things lately… also lacking the right inspiration to compose the story with. Hope you would still like this chapter… *hugs*

  
  

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