Chapter 18

The next afternoon Laura walked up to the Gym's main entrance, where Daiki was already waiting for her, carrying a surprisingly big bag. While the actual practice was still half an hour away, they would need some time to find a set of clothes that fit the Kitsune, and hopefully would accommodate her tails.

"Hi Daiki." Laura greeted her fellow student as she finally reached the doors he was waiting at.

"Hello Laura." Came the prompt response as he pulled open the door for her. "Prof. Yakamura is already inside and doing some training on his own as he'll be spending most of today's session teaching any new people the basics."

"Well then let's be quick about getting everything I need, watching our instructor train would surely be a sight to behold." the German student said as the duo stepped inside the building.

"Yes, let's get this over with quickly." Daiki said before he turned to lead Laura past the changing rooms into a medium sized storage room.

Inside where a couple of cages containing various sportsgear, only one of which unlocked. A short time spent checking through the hakamas and gis later, they found a pair that should fit Laura well enough. Daiki then took out a sword made out of strips of bamboo and handed it to the German, before they each headed to the appropriate changing rooms.

Luckily for Laura, no other women were in the changing room yet, allowing her to dismiss the Illusion over her tails as she tried to figure out how to fit them into the hakama. In the end she was able to fit the tails into the legs of the wide, traditional pants, and after a bit of trial and error, she even managed a decent enough illusion to make the legs look less stuffed with furred tails than they actually were.

After a quick test to make sure she could keep up this illusion for the next few hours, the Kitsune stepped into the Gym, where an older man was already practicing. The white gi he was wearing gave a visual contrast to the blue one Laura was wearing, which helped him stand out from the students.

Watching whom she assumed to be prof. Yakamura was quite impressive, the attacks he practiced were quick enough that she would have problems following them, if they weren't precise enough to be the exact same motion every time. The loud shouts coinciding with every blow echoed in the nearly empty gym and added quite a different atmosphere to it all compared to what Laura was used to from HEMA training.

After a while, Daiki came out of the men's changing room and walked up to the Kitsune, where he joined her watching their teacher practice in silence. For the next five or so minutes prof. Yakamura continued practicing his strikes, until he noticed his audience and walked over to them.

"Hello professor." Daiki said with a short bow, Laura following suit just a moment later.

"Hello, aren't the two of you quite a bit early?" Came the response from their instructor, who was holding his shinai losely at his side, an eyebrow raised in slight surprise.

"Yes we are, I wanted to have enough time to find fitting clothes for Miss Rosenthal." Daiki explained before giving a short shake of his head. "Oh I almost forgot, Prof. Yakamura, this is Rosenthal Laura, Laura this is Prof. Yakamura."

"Hello professor, I am looking forward to training under you." The Kitsune said, half moving her hand forward for a handshake, before deciding to perform another, more shallow, bow instead.

"Ah you are one of the exchange students this semester right?" the professor inquired a slight curious undertone to his voice as he grabbed the still slightly outstretched hand and shook it. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you studying, annd where are you from?"

"I don't mind at all, I am studying aerospace engineering in Munich." Laura replied with a smile on her lips, her ears perking up past he rillusion for a moment before she extended it to cover them again.

"Interesting, so do you have any prior experience with Kendo?"

"No, but I do practice European sword fighting back home." Laura offered unsurely.

"Well then it is quite good you came this early." prof. Yakamura replied as he motions to the bamboo sword she had brought with her. "Could you show me some of what you know?"

Giving a short nod, Laura took a simple guard stance, before moving through a series of parries and attacks against an imagined enemy. As she started on half-swording techniques the instructor stepped forward to stop her. "That was all quite impressive I must say." Prof. Yakamura began his critique. "Although a number of those strikes and thrusts would not be worth points in Kendo. And on top of that, your footwork is quite different form what is common in Kendo. It might even lead you to trip on the hakama you're wearing."

"Thank you." Came the Kitsune's reply. "I do look forward to see what Kendo is like."

"That is good, I hope you won't be to bored if we end up with other beginners this semester that need even more basic training than what you would need." the professor said. "Now, in case Daiki didn't inform you, at the start of each session, you students will be sitting in a row there and once we begin we'll bow to each other in greeting. So how about you two sit down while I finish my practice until the rest of the students arrive."

Giving a nod in response, both Daiki and Laura kneel down where the instructor had indicated and watched him resume his practice.

Over the next few minutes, more and more students came in and sat down on either side of Laura and Daiki. In the end they had nearly two dozen people including prof. Yakamura. After the greeting ritual that had been explained to the Kitsune, the professor asked all first timers to come to him, while the rest of the student paired up for practice. When it turned out that Laura was the only one here new to Kendo, the instructor seemed a little relieved.

"So as I mentioned earlier, not all attacks that connect are worth a point in kendo." he began to explain to her after telling the paired up student which exercises to perform first. "Strikes to the head, or men, torso, called do, and the hands, referred to as kote, can be worth a point. A thrust to the throat, the tsuki, can also be rewarded with a point."

As the explanation carried on, the professor indicated each body part, by tapping Laura at it with his shinai. "Now beyond the target you attack, it is also required to give a loud Kiai, which is a loud shout of which body part you are trying to hit. Now give it a try would you?"

Giving a short nod as her only response, Laura took a hold of her weapon, which was quickly adjusted a bit by the professor.

Stepping forward with her right leg, she struck out with the bamboo sword at the right side of an imagined opponent's torso with a loud shout of "DO". After returning to her base stance, she simply leaned forward as she struck at a pair of imagined gloves, shouting "KOTE". Finally she again stepped forward in sync with a downward strike, shouting "MEN".

"Good good. The last condition is that you stay focused and concentrated throughout a fight, or your points may be revoked if the judges deem your distracted or unsportsmanlike." Prof. Yakamura explained before putting on his helmet and motioning for Laura to take a position facing him. After she did so, he continued, his voice slightly obscured by the metal bars before his face. "Now as you do already know how to use a sword we will try a slower than normal match to let you get used to hitting an opposing Kendoka correctly."