Chapter 139: Rainstorm, Drizzle And Vibrative
Since Harunaka had decided to attack first, she did not hesitate anymore.
At the same time that Harunaka made her attack, Kimura Kazuki felt a vigorous and speedy intensity. This intensity, of course, could not be compared with Yagyu Shizuka’s, where a single hammer kick of Yagyu Shizuka could seem to slash open the air itself.
Before joining the Kendo Association, he had also watched some matches to understand more about competitive Kendo.
The Jade Dragon Flag was his main focus because it was precisely the type of Kendo competition in which Sakura Kyu High School was going to participate in. It was also the competition that represented high standards among high schools.
In the instant that Harunaka attacked him, Kimura Kazuki could already estimate her approximate ability.
Above-average!
This was a standard made in comparison to all the high schoolers who took part in the Jade Dragon Flag. Such a standard was considered to be good since competitive Kendo was all about on-the-spot performance that happens in a split second.
Although Harunaka had been practicing Kendo for almost 10 years, some people had begun practicing since they were very young and were as good as Harunaka. From there onwards, the factor of talent could make all the difference in the world.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
Once Harunaka had begun unfolding her attacks, she did not stop. Her gaze was fixed not only on Kimura-senpai’s movements to avoid his counter-attacks but also on his face, hands, crotch, and throat. If she was able to hit those spots, she could then earn points.
However, no matter how vigorous her attacks were, or how fast she was,
Kimura-senpai could always block her attacks.
Listening to the crashing sounds of shinais, the people around them were astounded.
It went without saying that the norm for competitive Kendo competitions was that it usually ended very fast. Although each match was limited to five minutes, most of the matches would end within seconds of opponents bowing to each other. Even the longest match would not exceed half a minute. None of the members there had ever seen a match that lasted for long, with most ending within 10 seconds. This was because as soon as the match started, it meant that opponents had entered into combat mode and that life and death could be decided at any given moment. Thus, competitive Kendo focused, particularly on speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness.
However, the Head of Department Kimura was only blocking without making any counter-attacks. Everybody knew that he was trying to figure out Furuhashi Harunaka’s capability. The question was, how strong were the capabilities of the Head of Department Kimura who only moved to block her?
At that moment... nobody knew.
After one minute, Harunaka backed away cautiously, keeping her distance. The intense expenditure of mental focus and attack had left her breathless.
No matter how she had attacked just now, all her attacks had been rendered useless, even her frequent feints were clearly seen through by Kimura-senpai. Regardless, as she set her eyes on Kimura-senpai, she did not give up because she knew his capability. Wasn’t that the exact reason why she had hoped he would guide her?
Since Kimura-senpai is testing her now, she has to give it her all. With that thought in mind, she adjusted her breathing as her arms started to shake slightly. After maintaining it at a fixed frequency, she then returned to a one-step, one sword distance and shouted with determination as she began to attack again.
Kimura Kazuki’s gaze froze as he saw Harunaka’s subtle movements. It was because he had seen through her actions that he was shocked. This is... the ‘Vibrative
Style’?
When both shinais collided again, Kimura Kazuki felt a small wave of frequency that came from Harunaka’s shinai, bringing with it some slight vibrations that were passed onto his shinai from hers and even his wrist felt it.
Of course, such a feeling could only be described as scratching an itch at most. Kimura Kazuki knew that even if Harunaka went to the competition using this ‘Vibrative Style,’ it was still not powerful enough to defeat her opponent.
This was because her ‘Vibrative Style’ was still too crude...
Still, this was enough to shock him. Had Harunaka inherited the Yagyu Flying Sword Style as well? While Kimura Kazuki was thinking and blocking her attacks at the same time, the degree of vibrations in Harunaka’s arms became larger. Even though she was gritting her teeth in tolerance, but she could still feel her arms beginning to feel tired.
Bump... When both the shinais struck each other once again, Harunaka’s hands could no longer grasp her shinai, and it flew out of her hand. The shinai fell onto the ground, spinning a few times before coming to a standstill. Seeing such a situation, Iwai Hokuto was quick enough to raise the red flag together with two other deputy heads. However, he was momentarily stunned, managing to indicate that the match was won by Head of Department Kimura.
Kimura Kazuki took off his mask with a frown as he went over to Harunaka. Uncaring of whether she would mind or not, he grabbed her wrist and glanced at it to find that her wrist was somewhat red. Thus, he said strictly, “If you don’t know how to use the ‘Vibrative Style’ in the right way, then don’t use it recklessly, you’ll only get yourself injured.”
With Kimura-senpai holding onto her arm, Harunaka’s face was redder than her wrist, but since she was still wearing the mask, she felt braver than usual. Hearing what Senior Kimura said, curiosity flashed through her eyes, “Vibrative Style?”
Kimura Kazuki held Harunaka’s wrist as he gently massaged it, allowing the reiki from his hands to flow into it, fixing and soothing her injured nerves. Although the ‘Vibrative
historical
Style’ was a basic foundation of the Yagyu Flying Sword Style, this style was isolated as a special move whereas the ‘Rainstorm Style’ was the real foundation of the Yagyu Flying Sword Style.
Only after mastering the ‘Rainstorm Style’ and the ‘Drizzle Style’ can the ‘Vibrative Style’ then be practiced.
Rainstorm, Drizzle, and Vibrative were the three basics of the Yagyu Flying Sword Style.
“Seems like you’re not aware that you’re using the ‘Vibrative Style.’ So, where did you learn that from?” Seeing the curiosity in Harunaka’s eyes, Kimura Kazuki was curious as well and did not notice Harunaka’s face, which was becoming redder...
Feeling the sense of relaxation in her hand, Harunaka knew that Kimura-senpai was trying to lighten the pressure on her wrist. Yet, even so, she was still timid because there were a lot of people looking at them.
Stuttering, she said, “It was taught by Shintani-sensei... Shintani-sensei said that the human body has a lot of acupoints and that that’s true for the wrist too. While Kendo is about cultivation and meditation, in competitions, it’s more about the technique of applying force from the wrists, arms, shoulders, and even the entire body. She said that if the technique of force application could be used to pass maintained vibrations from my own shinai to the opponent’s shinai, affecting the opponent’s wrist, it could make the opponent lose his ability to fight. At the time, Shintani-sensei said that she was still developing this theory, but she passed away a few days after that.”
“So...you’re trying to figure this out as well?”
Harunaka nodded slightly, she dared not remove her mask now as she was afraid that someone would see her reddish face, “I only managed to figure this out only one year ago, but I’ve never used it in real fights, only in theory. I never thought that it would fail.”
“No, you didn’t fail. In fact, you succeeded! It’s just that it’s still too crude a method.” Kimura Kazuki let go of her wrist, sighing, “The style you just used was the ‘Vibrative Style’ in the Yagyu Flying Sword Style, and it is a powerful sword style.”
The ‘Vibrative Style’ was developed by Yagyu Isshin when he was already at the age of 59.
For this style, while Yagyu Isshin had depended on his own experience and technique to develop it, it had taken him three years to do so. Hence, it was highly likely that Harunaka was very talented as well.
Before this, Kimura Kazuki had been worried that Harunaka would not have enough time for practice because the district qualifiers were going to start soon. Now it seems like, with Harunaka in the girls’ category, they would have no problem at all in the district qualifiers.