Volume 1 Chapter 3 Part2 (2/2)

“Certainly, those two cannot be said to have excellent behavior. However, they have never skipped club activities, and they do things like preparations properly. For me, I think that senpais who encourage something akin to match-fixing not only lower the dignity of Kirisaki High School, but of kyudo as well.”

“Anyways, in the future, don’t disregard your sensei and senpais and give advice to others! It’s impudent, got it!”

Seeming to have finished saying what they wanted to say, Kabas.h.i.+ma and his companion went back to the kyudojo. Senichi spoke as he watched them go.

“What was that all about?”

“He’s just venting his anger. So far Kabas.h.i.+msenpai has missed one shot.”

Shuu thought that those who disrupted their presence of mind themselves, even though the compet.i.tion was still ongoing, were vulgar. He worried about this within himself. But, he quickly switched heads. There was also the possibility that this was a psychological warfare tactic from his opponent before the compet.i.tion. There was no need to get taken in by the schemes of his rivals.

The second half began. Because victory or defeat was decided by the remaining four shots, everyone waited for their turn with a tense face.

Because they were first-years, Shuu and the twins were early in the shooting order. Not intending on missing the group of three, who were expected to hit all ten of their targets, the club members in the stands leaned forward.

Shuu, in order to make the second arrow he held between the fingers of his left hand parallel to his nocked first arrow, finished drawing out the second arrow with his right ring and pinky fingers (toriya), and then performed yugamae. After raising his bow up, he carefully followed the Shahou Ha.s.setsu. Hikiwake, kai, hanare, zans.h.i.+n—. Shouts of “Yes!” came at the same time as the matooto.

His next two shots also hit the target. They were so flawlessly accurate that if images of the first and second shots were overlapped on top of each other, they would be perfectly aligned. Meanwhile, the twins were also fighting bravely, and similarly they also landed their two arrows on the target. When Shuu finished his pair of arrows, he took the two arrows placed at his feet and went through with douzukuri again.

He also hit for his third shot, not having missed so far. Even the club members who were watching this trend felt that their palms were sweating. Watching the moment where a kaichuu might happen was also nerve-wracking.

For Shuu, the more attention he had on him, the more mentally alone he became. Once one stood at the shai, one could not turn back nor get advice.

There was only one enemy—himself. He will defeat himself.

From uchiokos.h.i.+ to daisan, he followed the exact tsurumichi. What he could hear was the sound of his yugake.

Sc.r.a.pe, sc.r.a.pe…

After kai was entered, the yugake stopped making sounds. It closed its mouth.

Well then, I shall speak in your place——.

Shuu’s tsurune dashed through the earth.

When he finished lowering his bow, he was engulfed in thunderous applause. After leaving the shajo he got praise from everyone, and he thanked them all.

Senichi, who left the shajo after Shuu, shook his shoulder.

“Shuu, I knew you were incredible! At the end, you hit it right in the center!”

“Rather than talking about me, what about you and Man?”

“I had nine hits, and Man got eight. After that, depending on how much the second- and third-years would increase their scores, whether or not we’ll be on the team will be decided. I wonder if we will be on it…”

The always confident Senichi seemed uncertain, perhaps because he didn’t know how his brother Manji would do.

The second- and third-years also couldn’t keep from being defeated. As Kabas.h.i.+ma also said, what was at stake for the third-years was whether or not they will be able to go out to the prefectural tournament, their last high school compet.i.tion.

However, the G.o.ddess of victory was unfeeling. The results for the boys were as followed.

The first-year Shuu and third-years Motomura and Sase got ten hits.

The second-year Kabas.h.i.+ma and the first-year Senichi got nine hits.

The second-year Yus.h.i.+ma and the first-year Manji got eight hits.

With these results, the seven who will take part in the prefecturals preliminaries were decided.

Shuu and the twins were invited by the club president Motomura Hiroki and the vice president Sase Daigo to take dinner together. They were at a restaurant purveyed by generations of kyudo club members, the interior filled with items such as Art Nouveau-style furniture and dome lamps. It was also supposed to be a friendly get-together for the representative archers, but the second-years Kabas.h.i.+ma and Yus.h.i.+ma did not join them.

Sase looked around at the arranged dishes and s.n.a.t.c.hed a piece from Senichi’s ordered dish.

“Hyah, so tasty. Thanks for the food.” (6)

“Sase-senpai! I was going to save that for laaaaaast. You’re so cruuuuuel. President Motomura, please say something to him.”

Motomura took his hand away from his gla.s.ses frames and answered with a smile.

“Sase, it’s impolite to grab food with your hands.”

“Okaaaay.”

“No, no, more than impolite, isn’t it bad to eat other people’s food without permission? Wouldn’t Noririn hate that?”

Hearing the name Noririn, Sase bent forward.

“That’s impossible. Noririn will forgive me. Noririn is G.o.d!”

As he had completely entered his own world, everyone got a distant look in their eyes.

Even though Sase looked like a refres.h.i.+ng athlete at first glance, it was well-known within the club that he was actually an idol otaku. Girls called him “disappointingly handsome,” but he himself did not care at all.

Sase continued the conversation.

“Even though it was just an in-school compet.i.tion, you twins are shooting too quickly. If you’re too fast, the guys behind you won’t be able to keep up. I think Sensei will decide the shooting order from now on, but if Kabas.h.i.+ma ended up going after you guys, he’ll get really p.i.s.sed off.”

“If we do it slowly, we won’t be able to hit,” Senichi said.

“I just copy what Sen-nii does,” Manji said.

“Since it’s a habit it might not be fixed soon, but that’s one step short of hayake. Are you two the types where the difference between your good and bad conditions appears obvious?”

“If you say such a thing, then doesn’t that apply to you as well, Sase-senpai? You’re not like that during practice, but at compet.i.tions you shoot like crazy. That’s so sneaky.”

“It’s bad to not hit during practice.”

Sase was the type who was strong during tournaments, someone who for some reason hits frequently when it was compet.i.tion time. When their advisor was talking about “we don’t need unlucky people,” from another perspective he meant “We will use very lucky people,” which was referring to Sase.

On the other hand, the president Motomura was a young man who normally boasted a high hitting rate to rival that of Shuu’s, and spoke politely even to his juniors. Everyone loved him because he was always smiling gently. Sase, who spoke pa.s.sionately about idols, and Motomura, who listened to him mellowly, had the air of close friends who were inseparably stuck together, and in this way they were the specialty of the Kirisaki High School Kyudo Club.

“When three first-years go out to a compet.i.tion, they will be resented by the other club members. I will also back you all up, so let’s strive to practice harder than ever before.”

“Yes, President. We are in your hands!”

“We are!”

After the twins responded energetically, Motomura turned his face to Shuu.

“Fujiwarkun, as you are now you are far from having any problems, and even I want to follow your example. You started kyudo in middle school, correct?”

“No, since I was in fifth grade. I fell in love at first sight with kyudo when I saw it at the prefectural budokan. Since elementary schoolers could not join kyudo cla.s.ses, my father asked a favor for me, and so I received personal instruction from a kyudo teacher for the Imperial Guards who was also a former Imperial Guard (7) . As he was elderly, it was for three years.”

Shuu suddenly felt nostalgic.

When they were borrowing a munic.i.p.al kyudojo for private coaching, a boy the same age as him often came to peek. That annoyance, when during sixth grade he unexpectedly stopped showing up after a certain day, even though they were being taught together while keeping it a secret from his father and others, and then meeting again in middle school. Who are you to do things like irritating me? What are you doing now?

——There is another man loved by the G.o.d of the bow.

Without noticing the subdued flames dwelling in Shuu’s eyes, Motomura spoke, seeming to be impressed.

“It’s no wonder your shooting is so elegant. That must be the reason why you are so skilled, Fujiwarkun.”

“No, not at all. Perhaps the biggest reason for why I improve my shooting skills is that—there is someone who wants to shoot through my heart.”

The twins whistled.

“So mysterious~. Does that mean there’s someone who was charmed by you that much? No way, could it be that whole 'the greatest hate springs from the greatest love’ thing?”

“Well, I wonder.”

Shuu smiled daringly.

At the Kazemai High School kyudojo, Seiya was holding a huge package.

Within the cardboard box was a total of ten pieces of white kyudogi for the eight club members plus the advisor and coach. The words “Kazemai High School Kyudo Club” was embroidered on one sleeve of the kyudogi. He took them out of the box and handed them out to everyone.

“Okay, here’s Minato’s.”

“Eh, I get one too? Even though I just joined?”

On both sides of Minato, Ryouhei and Nanao squished him between them.

“Of course? I, Nanao-sama, made the smart move of ordering it for you. With this, you can’t quit the club anymore. Right, Ryouhei?”

“That’s right, you can’t escape. We five will be going to the compet.i.tion. Look, this is so awesome! Hey hey, don’t we get a headband or anything?”

“Oh, good idea. I want to make matching headbands too. Minato, do you want to as well?”

“Eh, yeah, sure.”

“Right? We shouldn’t have the same colors as the other schools.”

Minato was being pushed from both sides, not being able to move with his body squeezed. As usual he wasn’t able to keep up with Nanao’s and Ryouhei’s energy, but he was oddly happy with his kyudogi with the school’s name on it, and his face unconsciously softened.

With a sidelong glance towards his enlivened fellow club member, Kaito approached Seiya.

“Seiya, you really didn’t enter the individual tournaments. Why would you do such a wasteful thing? I guess it’s because you won’t be able to match with Narumiya, huh.”

Seiya ignored Kaito’s words and went to the waiting room after handing out the clothes. Kaito threw what he had received into a corner of the dojo.

Minato had accidentally witnessed their exchange, and Kaito, aware of his gaze, turned his sharp eyes to him.

“Oi, Narumiya, don’t just stand there and stare. Shouldn’t you be collecting the arrows? You’re the newest person here. Rookies should take initiative and go collect the arrows.”

“I don’t remember skipping arrow-collecting.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Kaito and Minato sat at a distance from each other and put on their yugake in silence. With their bows and arrows in hand, they stood in front of the targets. After that, Ma.s.san came and coached each person one-by-one.

When practice was over, Ma.s.san spoke.

“Is there anyone here who has done kaizoe (8) work before?”

Seo, Seiya, Minato and Kaito raised their hands.

“Since the two captains have other jobs as well, I’ll ask Minato and Kaito.”

Kaito looked dissatisfied.

“Ma.s.san, I did it, but I might not remember it properly.”

“Sorry, Ma.s.san, but me too.”

“Well then, can the two of you come an hour before the meeting time? Let’s practice it a little.”

“What!?”

“Wow, you guys harmonized together perfectly. The archer is me, I’m counting on you guys.”

The spring training camp started tomorrow.

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