Saeko(2)

*CLANK!!* *CLANK!!*

The noise of shinai clashing reverberated in the large Dojo looking room, causing the audience to look at the figures of Yuuji and Saeko with amazement and shock.

No one expected that the new transfer student would be skilled enough to stand his ground in front of their Saeko senpai.

It is to be noted that Saeko was highly respected among the underclassmen and her classmates as well. Aside from being extremely beautiful, she was also very kind and considerate of others, giving her a boost of popularity.

But those who were close to Saeko also knew that she was very skilled in holding a Shinai. Due to being so popular in school, there are bound to be creeps who try to get into her pants, but one look of hers was enough to make them lose any form confidence.

Due to this fact, many people were stunned by the fact that Yuuji could contend against Saeko for so long.

The girls present were cheering for him while the boys were cheering for Saeko.

But the reality couldn't be any different, in truth, Yuuji was struggling to keep up with Saeko's pace.

It wasn't about Stamina, but more about skill. Yuuji was confident that he would lose in a battle of attrition but the main problem was her skill and technique. Each of her strike was precise and flawless.

*CLANG!!!*

Their shinai clashed again as Yuuji felt himself getting pushed back. Jumping backwards he made some distance between themselves.

Both of them stopped their movements and took a moment to catch their breaths. It was their eyes doing all the talking. Even though she was highly skilled, after so much time of continuous sparring, her breathing had also turned slightly heavy. But even then, they didn't mention anything about stopping the match. They could see in each other eyes, they both weren't satisfied yet.

Looking into Saeko's eyes which were filled with slight hope, Yuuji clenched his weapon and closed his eyes to get rid of any thoughts.

The noises of the surroundings seemed to have been ceased as he calmed his mind of any distraction.

Silence pervaded his whole mind as he could no longer listen to the cheering of the students in the background or any other sound. His entire focus locked on to Saeko's figure as he felt everything else other than her get blurry.

In that moment, his senses had already closed themselves and if body moved only on his instincts. It was as if he had control of his body, but at the same time he didn't.

His knees bent forward while his hand went to the shinai on his side, he tightly clenched onto it and shot forwards with renewed vigor.

------

Saeko saw his approaching figure and calmly took out her own Shinai while taking a new stance.

She pulled out her shinai in a quick draw style and met with Yuuji who had leapt towards her.

*CLANG!!*

Their shinai clashed together yet again, but Saeko's eyes widened a little as he felt the strength behind the attack.

Getting caught off guard, Saeko wasn't prepared for a heavy attack causing her to skid backwards.

A series of gasps rung out in the surrounding as the students couldn't believe what they were watching.

Saeko looked at Yuuji with a slightly surprised expression which returned to normal in a moment.

"It is remarkable that you could push me back, but from now on I won't hold back."

Yuuji also stopped for a moment and replied with a calm voice: "Never wanted you to."

Saying this, he leapt towards her with his shinai drawn back through midair.

Saeko's expression turned serious as she also jumped towards him…

Their weapons clashed in midair as Saeko used Yuuji's shinai to increase her own weapon's momentum.

Surprised by this outcome, Yuuji barely had any time to react before Saeko's shinai hit him square in the chest causing him to fall to the ground with a thud.

Contrary to anyone expression, their was no cheering as the match ended. The girls were a little bit disappointed with Yuuji's defeat but that's all.

No one said anything or even dared to make a voice. This was a type of silent respect for both of the athletes fighting.

The ghastly silence continued until Saeko slowly walked up to him and offered her hand to him.

"You did well." She said as she held out her hand towards him.

Yuuji sat up on the ground and looked at her face and then her outstretched hand, with a small smile on his face, he held onto her and stood up.

"I hope this won't be the last time we fight."

"As long as you join the club."

"Then it seems we will be meeting each other quite often."

With that Saeko went to the side where a girl offered her a towel.

Just as Yuuji was trying to figure out what he should do next, a voice broke him out of his musings

"You were great out there. Well done."

Turning his head towards the source of the voice, Yuuji found himself staring at the Izumi, the girl who was fighting Saeko before him.

She held out a towel towards him and gave him a bright smile "You looked so cool out there. I never thought someone would be able to fight with Busujima-senpai for so long."

Sending a thankful look towards her direction, he took the towel and wiped his face which was wet from sweat.

"I still lost though."

"It doesn't matter, the fact that you could hold a ground against her for so long is already incredible. Moreover, I can tell that you are very talented… unlike me…"

She whispered the last part with a self depricative tone, causing Yuuji to look over at her…

Watching her looking down with a sad expression, he thought something for a second before he said

"True…"

"huh?"

Izumi let out a confused sound as she saw him staring at her.

Watching him staring so intently caused her to blush and look away.

"It's true that talent is an important factor, but that doesn't mean you can't be a master of Shinai..."

"What do you mean?"

"Talent is basically a headstart which few people have over others, it just helps those people to learn something faster than others. But... this also means that talent isn't really necessary if you want to do something."

"It sounds good and motivational, but the credibility of your words is pretty low, you know." She said with a hollow chuckle.

"All I want to say is that with enough hardwork, you can do almost anything."

"Maybe… Maybe what you are saying is true, but it still doesn't change the fact that I will never be able to catch up to Busujima-senpai."

"It isn't important to chase after her, if you really want to master sword, then you should chase after the sword rather than her..."

"Chase the sword?" She mumbled to herself.

"What does that mean?"

"That, you have to find out of yourself." Giving her a kind smile which made her blush again, Yuuji made his way out of the shinai club.

He soent much more time than he initially predicted here, causing him to alter his plan for the day.

For now, he decided to first go to the homeroom teacher and submit his application for joining this club.

------

Getting all the chores done, like applying to join the Shinai club, putting his clothes in for the wash and eating dinner, he was sitting in his dorm room.

The flashes of his fight with Saeko was going through in his mind, replaying all of his moves, he couldn't help but reprimand himself lightly for his mistakes.

At that moment, he did what he thought was the best move and what came to his mind, but now that he was analyzing his fight, he realized that he made some very stupid decisions.

Like jumping and clashing with her in midair, it was a pretty idiotic move. The odds in that situations was obviously in favour of the one who was more skilled, which was obviously not him in that situation.

But even after all that, Yuuji felt pleased after realizing that his rate of growth was absolutely terrifying who never had a proper fight before.

He only seriously fought with the monarchs of Ice and Beast back in the Soloverse, but he didn't used sword in that too.

So this was basically his first time even fighting with the sword. Even though he lost in the end, it was still worth it.

With the rate in which he is growing, he calculated that one month would be more than enough for him to become efficient enough in sword before 'they' arrived.

The only problem was that, he didn't knew if Saeko would fight him daily, once in a while was fair enough, but wouldn't it be strange if he asked her to spar everyday?

But unknown to him, the same girl he was talking about was also thinking about him.

Saeko was sitting in her own bed with a dazed expression on her face.

Today's events were rather memorable to her, she didn't knew if it was good or bad but she knew that she won't easily forget this day.

It was because, after a very long time, she nearly let her hidden side show in front of everyone else.

Recalling his figure which pushed her back more than once today, her heartbeat couldn't help but increase ceaselessly.

Unknowingly a huge smile appeared on her face when she remembered that moment when she was caught off guard by him.

This feeling…. She didn't feel this in quite some time…

It was… excitement!!!

When fighting with Yuuji, she felt herself being liberated from a cage, she didn't had to pull back her moves in front of him.

The only reason she cut the fight short and knocked him out with a complex technique, was because she wasn't sure if she would be able to stop herself from going crazy if she continued. She somehow had this feeling that it would be fine even if she did so, but she didn't wanted to show that side of her's to everyone.

Suddenly, her eyes widened a little as she realized something...

"I… I forgot to ask for his name!!!"

She bit the nail of her thumb with a frustrated expression on her face.

Even though, she was kind and reliable senpai to others, but only she knew that she wasn't that perfect.

"He joined the club anyway, I will just ask him tomorrow."

The reason she was so intrigued by him wasn't because his impossibly handsome looks, she couldn't care less about that.

The main reason was that, in the starting of the fight, she felt like he was struggling a little, but after a few minutes into the fight, not only his movements refined marginally but his strikes also became more aggressive, this was the reason Saeko was so excited when fighting him. She realized that he wasn't holding back at all, his strikes were fatal which would have killed her if not blocked, this cause her excitement to grow to a level where she wanted to fight him again and again.

That feeling of fighting with your life on the line was very exhilarating as well as extremely addicting to her.

Now that she had gotten a dose of that, she couldn't help but want more.

...