Meteor Arts Saga

Chapter 3

There were over fourty members, inside the dojo, wearing kendogi and hakama. Some already wearing some protective kendo gear such as the tare and do. The old architecture, the stench of human sweat sponged by the uniforms and equipment, and the war-like screams? That took Koki back. After putting on his armour and grabbing his shinai, he joined with the main group for warm-up and sword swinging. Then they grabbed their men and kote, and formed into one long line in ranking order performing an etiquette ritual of beginning the session. The head instructor of the dojo, Mitsuki Tachibana, who was also the head strategist of the Renmei, went to introduce himself and some new faces like Koki and Saito. They all even clapped for them.

"As you all know," spoke Tachibana-sensei, "our enemy, the Hagetaka, will arrive in Osaka and Kobe in two days, and the Meteor Samurai are here to train tonight, in preparation of foiling their campaign in Kansai. I want the rest of you here to help them get up to shape, should we do everything to fend off the Hagetaka from expanding further into the region. Without further ado, let's begin the session, shall we?"

The head instructor had known many members had not been practiced kendo for long due to work and family commitments, so he decided to start teaching them the basics. As training began, he instructed everyone to strike men, kote and do. With every round passing, he encouraged the students to accumulate the fighting spirit.

After days without kendo, especially waking up feeling air-headed, Koki wondered if the techniques he learned may have slipped off his mind, but he was glad he was wrong. Throughout training, he remembered what was supposed to do. A simple, straight cut to the head made the muscles in his body working as if it they have minds of their own, even cutting straight to the wrist and the side of the torso. He remembered them all, and with each strike, it got much easier.

An hour has passed and all the kendoka went straight to sparring. The lower grades pour all their spirit into fighting their opponents, while the uppers search for opportunities before striking. And with the applied teaching of Tachibana-sensei, the sparring made it more effective and engaging. In Koki's sparring with a random kendoka, his opponent fell down for making a clumsy move. Koki generously lend him a hand, and his opponent thanked him, now resuming the fight.

Meanwhile, three people at the sideline, Issei, Hitomi and Tachibana-sensei's five year old son, Kohei, stood by watching the entirety of the training. While Hitomi has been observing the kendoka throughout the session, she suspected Issei would not take his eyes off of her.

"I wonder... Do you always have to watch me the whole time?" she asked him.

"It's not I like I have a thing for you or anything," said Issei, "I just do what I got to do."

She grinned at him. "Is that so? Is it because you think you're too good for a pretty girl like me? Or do you simply have no reason and just go with it? As far as I can tell, you're not very honest with yourself, no?"

There was a twitch in Issei's eye, yet he still stood firm.

"Can you even tell what you're really even doing? Besides, don't you feel lucky to watch me over? You never know you might fall for me eventually."

Out of plain sight, Issei drew a grim face close to the woman. "Don't tempt me," his voice was steel.

An awkward moment emerged when Issei tilted his head and Hitomi spun around, altogether facing the boy. Kohei gaped at them, so innocent that he was curious of interpreting the interaction between a dark and tense samurai and a girl acting sensuous. In response, Issei and Hitomi exchanged looks and both decided to refrain themselves without saying a word. They continued watching the kendoka sparring and pretended like nothing just happened.