Volume 1 Chapter 4 Part2 (2/2)

Kaito pursued the running Nanao, and two of them headed for the venue for the opening ceremony.

At that time, Minato and Seiya looked truly apologetic.

“Sorry, Ryouhei. You didn’t do anything wrong at all.”

“It’s fine, Minato. I think Kaito-kun was just a little surprised, that’s all.”

Seiya then spoke.

“Kaito might be right. I should have talked to everyone properly. And then, finding out things about your teammates from an outsider on top of that doesn’t feel too good, huh. I’m disqualified from being the club president.”

“What are you saying? You’re the only person I can consider to be the club president, Seiya. You’re smart, and nice to everyone—a friend I can really be proud of.”

“You’re making too much of me. What if I was a bad person who was trying to use everyone?”

“You’re not. I guarantee it. You’re a good guy.”

Seiya widened his eyes at Ryouhei, who spoke without any hesitation. Although he never tricked him, Ryouhei was completely unaware that Seiya’s good qualities were all because he was highly calculating and extremely careful, and he always honestly admired him. He did not know how much Seiya was healed by that purity. Ryouhei’s eyes, just like his dog Bear’s, turned towards him. He didn’t want to be the kind of man who disappointed them.

“When I get the chance, I’ll be the one talking to Kaito properly about it. First, let’s focus on the compet.i.tion.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

Ever since Kaito had hit the nail on the head about him, Seiya had cosntantly reflected on whether or not he had been acting a little cold towards him. When Kaito returned right before the opening ceremony, Minato and the others felt relieved for the moment.

After the yawatas.h.i.+, the girls’ individual compet.i.tion started.

Hanazawa, s.h.i.+ragiku and Seo put on their yugake, took their bows, arrows and tsurumaki containing backup bowstrings (kaezuru) and went to the third waiting area (hikae). Tomi-sensei also accompanied them as their manager. Kaito and Nanao also headed there a little later.

The first tachi of girls did their yuu bows with the signal to “start.” While a great crowd watched, the oomae rose after nocking her arrow and went into the as.h.i.+b.u.mi position. Douzukuri, yugamae, she distinctly carried out the Shahou Ha.s.setsu.

The cheering squad for Kazemai High School took their places in a section of the stands and waited for their turn. The stands were filled with groups putting up cheering banners and girls holding uchiwa fans (2) with kasumi-mato (3) designs on them. After many tachi finished, it was finally the Kazemai High School girls’ kyudo team’s turn.

Hanazawa hit with her first shot. They all shouted out “Alright!” at the same time. Cheering in kyudo was not permitted except for calling out “Alright” and applauding, but there was an especially good feeling at the moment where one was about to witness a kaichuu. Because the archer wasn’t allowed to express emotions to their results, they could not take a triumphant pose when they hit, or feel bitter when they missed, only dispa.s.sionately moving on to their next action.

In the first round, Hanazawa hit, s.h.i.+ragiku missed, and Seo hit. The second round was miss, miss, hit… Thus, Hanazawa, s.h.i.+ragiku, and Seo put out the adequate results of two hits, two hits and three hits respectively.

On the other hand, for the boys, Kaito was out of form. Even though he hit for his first shot, for his second and third shots he kept landing his arrow right in front of the target.

For Minato in the stands, Kaito’s bad form felt like it was his own. He wondered if the confrontation with Kirisaki High School from before had a bad effect on him. Next to him, Ma.s.san also had a “hmm” look on his face.

“Isn’t it unusual for Kaito be nervous? His tenouchi turned back to its form from before the training camp.”

Even though it could have been fixed with one shout, once nyuujou began no one could give advice to the archers. That applied to even Tomi-sensei, who was standing right next to the shajo as the manager.

After all the individual compet.i.tions ended, the results were Motomura and Shuu from Kirisaki High School both getting kaichuu, and then after the subsequent izume compet.i.tion (4), Shuu was crowned as the victor of the boys’ compet.i.tion. For Kazemai High School, Seo with seven hits would be advancing to the prefectural finals, but Nanao with five hits, Hanazawa with four hits, and Kaito and s.h.i.+ragiku with three hits would unfortunately not be advancing. Everyone got advice from Tomi-sensei, and there were few words spoken as they set forth on their way home.

For the second day’s team compet.i.tion, the sky was covered with gray clouds—a completely change from the day before.

The first round. When the first tachi finished, the target viewers went to the azuchi to perform verification work. They held out a number plate that displayed the number of hits, and were crouching down on the left side of each target. An announcement came on.

“Please return the arrows. The results will be announced as follows. First shajo, for the first group:  one, three, two, one, four, total eleven hits. Second shajo, for the second group: two, zero, one, one, two, total six hits. That is all.”

By chance, Kirisaki High School and Kazemai High School ended up shooting alongside each other, with Kirisaki in the first shajo and Kazemai in the second. The shooting order for Kirisaki was Motomura, Senichi, Manji, Sase, and Shuu.

With the confirmation of names in the third hikae, the officials gathered their tsurumaki. They were worried about what would happen with Kaito’s poor condition in the individuals, but instead of returning to his normal mode, he was more motivated than ever.

“It’s possible to make up the difference between us and Kirisaki. Everyone, put in more spirit!”

“Roger!” Ryouhei and Nanao responded.

Minato could barely sleep last night, probably because of his meeting with Shuu, but now his head felt strangely clear. He was glad to know that Shuu hadn’t given up on him, and a strong desire was born within him, not only for his hayake to not act up at all, but also to not expose an unsightly figure to Shuu.

A desire that was too strong—an obsession that the bow hated.

The nyuujou began. At the signal to start, they did their yuu bows, then stood up and went to the shooting line. Minato hid his fast-beating heart, putting on an expression of ignorance as he chose a hitote from four arrows.

The first shot. The oomae for Kirisaki High School was the third-year Motomura. A person who shot calmly, appropriate for a club president, he won the individual compet.i.tion at the prefectural tournament last year. He drew his bow as though he was having a leisurely conversation with it, and hit right on the target.

On the other hand, Kaito shot offensively with plenty of vigor, releasing an arrow with a force that made his opponent flinch from the spirit, no matter that it was just an unmoving target. However, he still hadn’t come out of his slump from the day before, and his arrow went over the target.

When the oomae entered kai, the second archer of each team began uchiokos.h.i.+. Since gyousha was carried out at intervals in individual compet.i.tions, one raised their bow at the previous person’s “tsurune,” but team compet.i.tions had a time limit so the intervals were quickened. Ryouhei stood up when the person before him finished his douzukuri, and smoothly switched over to shooting.

However, tsurune consecutively resounded twice from Kirisaki High School. That was because their second and third archers Senichi and Manji shot their arrows in exact rapid succession. Kirisaki’s cheering squad seemed used to it, since they cheered “Alright!” “Alright!” rhythmically. But others were semi-dumbfounded at the unexpectedly quick hanare of the third archer. It could be understood if the time limit was imminent, but there was no need to shoot it that fast from the start.

Bewildered by the twins’ time-difference attack, Ryouhei, who was entering hikiwake, missed the timing of his hanare and lost his chance to get a hit. Seiya, going after him in third, kept his own pace and got a hit.

Kirisaki High School’s fourth was the vice-president Sase. Sase was an idol lover and called disappointingly handsome by those around him, but he was the type of person who only had to know the key points of hitting the target once, and then he would never miss on that day. He nimbly did hikiwake and clinched a hit.

Kazemai High School’s fourth, Nanao, was always sparkling. Him feeling the strong urge to please others might have been because of the idol-like disposition he was born with. When he got a hit, there was a big cheer from the girls.

The ochi of Kirisaki High School was Shuu. His shooting was different from that of a high schooler. Perhaps it was because his grace was revealing itself from within. It was still different from Ma.s.san’s dignified shots, but they both had a picturesque quality in common. He capitalised on the physique he was blessed with, and elegantly and grandly performed hikiwake. A strong kai without the slightest tremor. At the right time, his readied arrow ran ahead. He of course hit the target.

Kirisaki High School’s intervals were quick, and Motomura finished his second shot with a hit, but Minato was slowly raising his bow.

Minato’s shot was similar to the moment one immersed one’s hand in running river water. The beauty of the limpid water and its crisp coldness were pleasant. He stretched out at kai, then got a hit on the three o'clock position on the target.

At his second shot as well, Kaito did not hit.

And then, to make matters worse, Ryouhei had a “s.h.i.+tsu” even though he had hit.

When shooting, there were times when a mistake could be made. This was called a s.h.i.+tsu, and it could be dropping the bow at hanare, or it could be a “hazukobore” where the nocked arrow came loose from the string during the gyousha after torikake (nocking the arrow), but in Ryouhei’s case it was a “tsurugire” (bowstring break).

Ryouhei’s head turned completely blank. There was an etiquette for dealing with s.h.i.+tsu, and it must be carried through properly, but he was at a complete loss as to what to do with his hands. Ah, he remembered. I move the broken string closer with my foot and get into kiza, pick up the string and hold it with my left hand and roll it into a ring with my right hand, then pick my bow up with the other hand, slide back to the shooting line on my knees and do a yuu bow that signifies shame.

He handed over his bow and broken string to the facilitator, and then the manager re-stringed the backup string outside the shajo, but during that time the other members continued shooting, with Seiya and Nanao hitting, but Minato missing. Ryouhei could not move onto the next movement because he had no bow, so he restlessly waited for it to be returned to him.

When he received his bow with the stringed bowstring, he quickly finished nocking his arrow and stood up. Although there wasn’t much time lost even with a broken string, Kirisaki High School had faster intervals than the norm, with Manji already finis.h.i.+ng his third shot. For that reason, Ryouhei got the wrong impression that they were late.

As Kazemai High School also went into its third set, Kaito finally got his shooting down. The cheering squad also cheered with all that they had.

Ryouhei hurriedly did hikiwake, and even Seiya did hikiwake as though following him. Nanao, standing behind them, also got fl.u.s.tered. If Seiya shot earlier than Ryouhei, then even if his arrow hit it would be invalid. Caught up in it, Nanao shortened the interval as well and lifted up his bow. Perhaps because he lifted his bow quicker than usual, the arrow missed the target along with an unpleasant-sounding tsurune.

While Kirisaki High School was smoothly making matooto (sound of arrow hitting target) resound, for Kazemai High School only Kaito and Seiya hit for their third shots. Minato was swallowed up by the premature course of events, and he ended up holding out at kai longer than usual. But, on the contrary his hanare became slacker, and his arrow bounced once before hitting the target.

In the stands, Hanazawa, s.h.i.+ragiku, and Seo were fretting.

“I wish they’d also count arrows that bounced once as a hit.”

“It is because 'hakiya’ are arrows that swept against the ground and did not properly reach the target.”

“Kirisaki High School has so far almost never missed. I can’t believe this is just the qualifiers for the prefectural tournament.”

Ryouhei’s rhythm was completely thrown off by his tsurugire. The matooto coming from the first shajo and the cheers from the stands made him feel as though he was being rushed. The more he thought about how bad it was to be slow because there was a time limit, the more he got impatient, until he couldn’t even do torikake.

As though laughing at the Kazemai High School club members, Kirisaki High School went into their fourth set, one by one clinching kaichuu. Shuu got his kaichuu, just as expected, and exited the shajo while bathed in thunderous applause. That gave more and more pressure, and Ryouhei did not understand at all what he was doing right now.

At the fourth set, Kaito and Ryouhei missed their last shots and exited. Infected by their impatience, Seiya also missed his chance to get a hit, but Nanao managed to recover somehow, and Minato also got a hit with his last arrow just as the warning bell sounded.

After Minato exited the shajo, the announcement informing the results came on.

“The results will be announced as follows. First shajo, group seventeen: four, three, four, four, total eighteen hits. Second shajo, group eighteen: one, one, three, three, two, total ten hits. That is all.”

Ryouhei knitted his brows together.

“Haa, why did my string break right at that time… Even though I replaced it with a new one yesterday.”

Hearing that, Nanao had an “aah” look on his face.

“Normally, it breaks in the middle, but yours snapped from the end.  Occasionally, there are strings that have ends that immediately snap. Also, it’s not good to change to a new one just before a match, since the string isn’t experienced.”

“I see, I didn’t know…”

“Well, tsurugire is common, you know? Let’s switch our heads now!”

Tomi-sensei patted Kaito on the back.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Predicting outcomes can be a hit-or-miss affair. Let’s make a comeback for the next round.”

“…Okay.” Kaito answered with a meek expression.

In the afternoon, the second round began, but the wind that would boost the five from Kazemai High School did not blow.

Even Seiya, who was in good form during the first round, missed his first shot, and then the five ended up in the state where there was only a total of three hits by the time half of the ten shots were drawn. From behind Kirisaki High School, who was smoothly making matooto resound, the shouts of “Alright!” did not stop as the shooting continued.

Ryouhei’s chest pounded as his palms became slippery with sweat.

Kaito fell into a state of losing self-confidence.

What’s wrong with me. No matter how much I ask and answer myself what’s wrong with me, this wave of slumps won’t end. Somehow or other, I don’t care how, please let one arrow hit, please, he ardently prayed.

Perhaps because Kaito’s wish reached someone, all five members. .h.i.t the target for their third set.

The results after the two rounds were finished were as followed.

(Circle means. .h.i.t, x means miss; shots in order from left to right)

Kaito: ××〇×　××〇× 2

Ryouhei: ×〇××　××〇× 2

Seiya: 〇〇〇×　×〇〇〇 6

Nanao: 〇〇×〇　〇×〇〇 6

Minato: 〇××〇　×〇〇× 4

A “hawake” with twenty hits out of forty shots.

Ryouhei murmured as he looked at the record table on the wall.

“Could we advance to the finals with this…?”

“There’s a fifty-fifty chance. We can only wait for the results for all the teams to come out, I guess.”

Nanao rubbed his cheek with his thumb.

Kazemai High School got tenth place in the results from the prefectural tournament qualifiers.

They just barely made the last qualifying place.

Meanwhile for Kirisaki High School, Motomura and Shuu both got eight-shot kaichuu, Sase and Senichi got seven hits, and Manji got six hits—obtaining the high achievement of getting thirty-six hits out of forty shots, and achieved a pa.s.sage to a first place that overwhelmingly outdistanced the others.

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