Sensei Ichigorou

If Hikaru had someone equivalent to the skill level of his instructor, Giichi would not be able to beat Hikaru before he graduates in a few years, even if the person backing Hikaru had a lower skill set than his instructor.

Neither Giichi nor Hikaru will pursue a profession in Kendo and so can only grow so strong within a time frame.

They both resumed their positions. Giichi calmed his breathing and focused his senses. His concentration was like cold steel. The surroundings went silent as everyone became quiet. The world in his peripheral vision disappeared as his opponent settled on his focal point.

Hikaru attacked with the same strike as before.

'I won't fall for the same move twice!'

Giichi parried Hikaru's strike then he turned over his blade and swung from his opposite side. He landed a hit onto Hikaru's torso. Giichi also felt a hit on his head the moment he struck Hikaru. It must have been a draw. He moved back to his earlier position for the last round.

However, Hikaru didn't resume his fighting position.

"Have you given up?" Giichi said feeling elated as Hikaru understood who was the better swordsman.

"I'm done sparring with you today," Hikaru said disinterestedly.

"Hah! Just because I was about to win?"

"Don't you get it? You'll never win a round against me ever again." Hikaru said cold-heartedly.

Giichi glared at Hikaru with bulging eyes. Hikaru was getting too cocky. Giichi thought that he had to knock him several notches down.

"Has it gone to your head? Don't be ridiculous. That was a draw." Giichi scowled.

"Uhh actually Hikaru won, didn't you see?" Aito interjected.

"What are you talking about! See what!" Giichi snapped.

"He hit your head and left side so he won with two points"

"What! He only hit my head!"

'Giichi, I saw it too." sensei Ichigorou interrupted.

"Sensei!" Aito and Giichi both called out.

Giichi kept quiet and bottled up his frustration. He wasn't sure that Hikaru didn't hit him twice since he was too focused on attacking. If Hikaru did hit him, it was probably too fast for him to follow. He hated thinking that, but since his sensei said so it probably did happen.

Ichigorou was baffled as he saw three strikes with his trained eye. The head, the wrist and then the left side. Strikes counted when they hit their target with the correct posture and technique. This was time-consuming and made it difficult to land multiple hits simultaneously.

For Hikaru to have hit three separate spots, he had to transition back into the correct posture and strike again yet he did it so fast and seamlessly that it looked like he only executed a single slash.

Ichigorou did not correct Aito as he did not want to cultivate the jealousy in Giichi nor boost Hikaru's ego. Something was wrong with Hikaru. There seemed to have been a change in Hikaru. It confused Ichigorou that Hikaru had improved so quickly in such a short time and the change in behaviour made it more puzzling.

Chiho thought that maybe Hikaru was challenging these rookies because he wanted to impress her and that made her feel guilty. She pitied Giichi but not much since he was being rude to Hikaru.

'Hmm. Wasn't I rude to him too?' Chiho blushed as she remembered something embarrassing.

"Hikaru, that was cool and all but you know I don't get impressed easily if you fight against rookies. Fight someone your size."

Giichi growled as he heard that. A vein popped from his temple.

"Uhh, Giichi's the second-best around here," Said Aito awkwardly. "And I'm third place haha," He said while brushing the back of his head with his hand.

"Re-really?" Chiho said blinking rapidly.

'Was there that much of a gap between the number 1 and 2?' She thought.

"Hikaru..." Ichigorou muttered.

"Yes sensei."

Ichigorou didn't continue talking. He let his actions speak for themselves. He stood a couple of metres opposite Hikaru and entered chudan.

The whole class gasped. Hikaru smiled lightly and followed him. The commotion quickly died down as they watch the battle begin.

Hikaru stood still while Ichigorou closed the gap. Their swords were overlapping and almost touched each other. Ichigorou spun and swayed his sword around Hikaru's sword. He simulated the possible strikes with each instantaneous position of his sword from Hikaru's in his mind and so predicted his opponent's moves.

Everyone practices to keep their sword steady but Hikaru's sword wasn't moving at all. It was frozen like a statue.

Ichigorou thought this was a bluff at first but as he tested the waters, he saw that Hikaru was just standing there. He couldn't glean anything from Hikaru's still sword.

'He must be waiting for the perfect opportunity for a flawless strike.' Ichigorou deduced.

This was an insane maneuver. One can only dream of waiting for the opportune moment. A real warrior would make his chances to strike.

Hikaru's posture was solid. There were no openings and fear. He was completely calm like still water.

In an instant, Ichigorou whacked his sword over Hikaru's and pushed it down to create an opening. However, Hikaru's sword did not budge at all. It was like hitting a rock sculpture.

Unable to believe what is happening, he put all his weight into his sword to return reality to its normal settings. Yet the sword was rising!

Hikaru lifted his sword in a rising-slide and upward-sweeping motion which was a technique called suriage-waza. Suriage-waza traps an enemy sword in an upswing and then tosses it to the side by the following curvature, which the blade traces around in to strike the opponent's torso.

"Kiai!"

*Tap*

Ichigorou was a bit dazed by the pain as Hikaru hit very hard. It doesn't seem to be an accident but of disrespect.

Round 2 began.

The audience muttered as Hikaru entered into Jodan which is an upper-level posture. Hikaru held his sword over his head pointed back at a 45-degree angle from the vertical.

Jodan no kamae was the most aggressive out of the five kendo stances. It prioritised offensive power and was intimidating but lacked defensive power.

Jodan is impractical for most high-skilled fights in tournaments. For Hikaru to face his sensei, it was a suicidal move.

Giichi had a big grin as he thought Hikaru's overconfidence will be his downfall.

'Facing sensei with Jodan is the height of foolishness. Serves you right for getting too cocky.'

'No.' Ichigorou realised something.

It wasn't so much as disrespect; he could sense something much more sinister from Hikaru's posture. The intent to kill.