The Heroines Want to Confess.

By the time Kojima and Sakurai walked up to the instructor, the members who were sparring had just finished.

"Miyazaki, take a break. You too, Kinoshita, stop practicing, your body's about to give out."

Seeing Kojima approach, Teacher Daimon told the others to step down.

He glanced at Sakurai, feeling that this guy didn't have a shred of enthusiasm, like someone reluctantly forced to come here because of some kind of benefit.

"Daimon-sensei, this is the guy I told you about before, someone really formidable — his name is Sakurai Saki, currently the General Affairs Officer of the Student Council." Kojima said while feeling a slight ache in his shoulder.

Previously, because Sakurai mocked him with a few words, he got so mad that the two of them started a barehanded fight. It escalated to the point where Kojima pulled out two wooden swords from the club...

As for why two swords were needed? Because Kojima still followed the rules quite well — he handed one to Sakurai. After all, he was the son of the Superintendent General of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department; even if he was pissed, he still had to uphold justice and fairness. Otherwise, it would be too much of a bullying act.

In the end, Kojima slashed Sakurai twice on the shoulder, while Sakurai returned with five strikes.

"The guy who confessed publicly at the sports festival, right?" Daimon Saburou remembered that more clearly.

The girls in the Kendo Club had been gossiping about it recently.

"Umu." Sakurai nodded.

It was said that the Kendo Club's instructor was at sixth dan level, considered the peak an ordinary person could reach. Teaching high school students didn't even require him to use his full strength.

"Impressive! Even in my time, there were no more than three people who dared to confess publicly like that." Daimon Saburou reminisced about the past.

Back then, he was still a hot-blooded teenager suffering from chuunibyou, dreaming of using a sword to escape his miserable situation. At that time, he was running his family's dojo, and in his first year of high school, he got targeted by local yakuza. They intended to forcibly buy it out. His little sister, who had just entered middle school and didn't understand the cruelty of the yakuza, stubbornly refused to sell the ancestral dojo...

Kojima interrupted him: "Daimon-sensei, I'm here to invite Sakurai to join the club."

Teacher Daimon was good in every way — nice personality, strong skills — except he often suddenly drifted into flashbacks.

Do all masters have to have tragic pasts?

"Join the club? Does he know competitive kendo?" Daimon Saburou asked.

"A little, I used to learn at a dojo." Sakurai replied.

When he was in Kyoto, there was a kendo dojo right next to his house. His mother said he didn't have any manly aura at all, gloomy and brooding, so she forced him to learn for a while.

"Classical swordsmanship?" Kojima added another question.

"Seems like the Ashina Isshin school." Sakurai rubbed his chin.

"Was the dojo called Sekiro?" Teacher Daimon teased.

"You know it?"

"A student once told me that when fighting me, the word 'Danger' appeared above his head. I got curious and looked it up later, but the scenes in there were completely insane — no way swordsmen in the past could make sparks fly like that."

"A sword style that can finish in one strike or ensure survival — that's what swordsmen of old pursued."

Who would've thought he was a middle-aged man keeping up with the times? He looked to be around 50, hair cut short, full of energy, even livelier than some high schoolers nearby.

"The owner of that dojo was someone who had received Menkyo Kaiden certification of the Yagyuu Shinkage-ryuu school, but when I learned there, I only practiced some Suburi movements and simple Kata and Kamae."

Menkyo Kaiden — the highest certification of a school, granted only to those who had mastered the entire style, including its secret techniques.

Suburi — swinging the sword in the air.

Kamae — the guard stance.

Kata — to put it simply, the principles and fundamentals of kendo.

"I originally wanted to learn Mutoudori." Sakurai recalled.

Mutoudori — the ultimate technique of the Yagyuu Shinkage-ryuu, simply put, catching a sword blade with bare hands.

Why learn it? Just because it's cool!

"Are there even any dojos now that teach classical swordsmanship? They all teach competitive kendo." Kojima said.

"Doesn't your family run a dojo? Don't you know it too?"

"My dad knows, my older brothers know, but at first I was forced into it. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police are really fond of the Shintou-ryuu style, later I also found it not bad — the technique of raising the sword overhead, the overwhelming pressure, really imposing, it's just that…"

Teacher Daimon finished his sentence: "Just that it can't be used in matches."

His face was full of helplessness: "You absolutely must not use classical swordsmanship in a tournament. Last time I saw you sparring, you were even about to raise your leg to kick someone."

In real combat, of course, you could use any move, but in competition, you couldn't.

"If Sakurai-kun wants to join the club, all he needs to do is sign a form." Daimon Saburou said as he started to step aside to get the form.

"You're in the Student Council, so entering the data will be convenient too."

He hadn't even taken a few steps when—

Kojima spoke up: "I want him to be an official member to participate in the Gyokuryuu-ki tournament."

As soon as the words left his mouth—

"I can't just pretend I didn't hear that!!" The Kendo Club member Miyazaki Kazuki, who had just been told by Daimon Saburou to take a break, immediately stepped forward.

Letting someone who just joined the club become an official competitor? This Kojima guy must be joking! Don't think that just because you beat a senior and became the club president, you can do whatever you want! The Kendo Club is not a place where you can say whatever you please!

"If you want to joke, go somewhere else, Kojima."

"I think he deserves it." Kojima glared at him, eyes sharp as a blade.

As president, he had a lot of authority in the Kendo Club. In fact, even among all the sports clubs, he was recognized as strong.

But there was one person who didn't like him — the son of the National Police Agency's Inspector General, Miyazaki Kazuki.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the National Police Agency were two different organizations.

The former only managed Tokyo, while the latter managed all areas outside Tokyo. Neither could control the other, but they resented each other greatly, even going so far as to plant spies in each other's organizations.

"Come fight me." Miyazaki raised the sword in his hand.

He didn't regard Sakurai as anything.

"I still have to go tutor some idiots." Sakurai didn't regard him as anything either.

"Kendo sparring, first to three points." Miyazaki said, then ordered a member nearby: "Go get him armor!! If you don't beat me today, don't even think about joining the club!"

He deliberately raised his voice and shouted loudly.

Immediately, all the members of the Kendo Club heard the news.

Although they had a hunch when they saw Sakurai arrive earlier, they didn't expect… he really wanted to join the Kendo Club!

Last year, Sakurai had sparred with President Kojima once.

Sakurai, the General Affairs Officer, had an impressive Gatotsu thrust, and his strikes from jodan stance gave an extremely powerful sense of force. That presence — it was truly extraordinary.

"He said he wants to fight you in kendo, best of three." Kojima translated.

Sakurai glanced at him, "Something like that, I understand."

He originally didn't plan to make a scene, but there was no other choice now.

Sakurai reluctantly went to change into kendo gear.

When he returned to the hall, less than a minute later, a female member of the Kendo Club came running with the protective armor.

"Sakurai-san! Let me help you put it on?" The one who came was the club's female manager.

Sakurai smiled and replied: "Sure, it's not convenient to do it alone."

After changing into armor,

Sakurai did a bit of warm-up, then took the bamboo sword Kojima handed to him.

"Help me teach him a lesson." Kojima said, then stepped aside.

...

He placed his sword in chudan stance, the tip of the bamboo sword aimed straight at Miyazaki Kazuki's throat. Sakurai's expression was no longer indifferent but focused.

"A rookie should know his place. Trash like you shouldn't think that just because you're clinging to Kojima, you can—"

"Shut your mouth."

Sakurai coldly cut him off: "I just hope your sword doesn't stink as much as your mouth."

If you're going to fight, then fight — why talk so damn much?