The Finals (II)

Afternoon.

The tournament had taken the better part of the morning and it was decided that the final match was to be held after lunch and so, the attendees were dismissed for a break. Upon the end of this recess period, they were all ushered inside of the sparring circle specially created for the final match of the day. Spectators filed onto the prepared bleachers as they waited patiently. Over on the section for Osafune students, Suzuran giddily hopped up and down, her energy at a high. “You’ll be fine,” her cheer club declared. “After all, you’re you, Suzu. Just stay calm like you always are.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You’ve come this far; you might as well shoot to win!”

Suzuran nodded silently along with her classmates’ ardent claims as she clenched her fist. Steeling her resolve, she stared over at the opposite end where her opponent sat, meditating.

Tomoe—who really shouldn’t have any right to do so as she had lost her first match to Suzuran—tried comforting Noa in her own way, asking hesitantly, “Hiiragi-san… Are you tired?”

Noa opened up her eyes and replied, smiling gently at her worried friend, “No. I’m sorry, Ichihara-san, I want to focus.”

“I see…”

However, it wasn’t long until Noa’s meditation was broken for the second time when she heard mutterings of the appearance of the Origami head (“Look, it’s Nanae-sama!”, “She’s so fit in her role as the head of the Origami family!”, “She’s so refined!”, among other commentaries). Noa didn’t share in their sentiments as she narrowed her eyes, stabbing her with a hostile stare. Of course, Nanae did not notice this and proceeded to sit down on the elegantly furnished chair with Yomi Satsuki in tow. She arrogantly crossed her legs as she relaxed which only made Noa’s temper flare even more as she was bowing along with all of the other students to welcome her appearance.

“This is my first time seeing the head of the Origami family, Nanae Origami-sama,” Honami mumbled.

“Yeah, isn’t she the great hero from fifteen years ago?” Suzuran replied.

“Indeed, they say she’s the strongest Toji if you grant her possession of her two okatana.”

“The strongest, huh…”

“Fifteen years ago” is in reference to the Great Disaster of Tokyo Bay which occurred in Heisei 15, an incident where the largest aradama in recorded history appeared in Tokyo Bay. While civilian casualties were minimal, reports say that the casualties inflicted upon the Special Sword Administration Bureau were exceedingly high and would be far higher were it not for the actions of Nanae Origami and her party. It is said that she vanquished the large aradama by herself.

The referee remained unchanged from the preliminaries as she raised her voice, “We will begin the final match shortly. Suzuran Arisugawa, Noa Hiiragi, step forward.”

Suzuran turned back toward the front, her smile cracking on her face as she marched. She stopped at her designated location and so did Noa.

“Bow.”

The girls did as they were told.

“Now, both sides, take your stances.”

Both girls drew their okatana before they declared;

““Utsushi.””

Oh man, oh man, oh man, what’s going on? I can’t calm down at all! I’m so excited, I can’t stop shaking…! Suzuran thought.

“Begin!”

Both girls held their initial seigan stance but Noa proceeded to change to a stance that threw Suzuran off-guard. Sha-no-kamae…? Suzuran changed her own stance to a gedan-no-kamae in preparation for whatever Noa would throw at her. However, she was again thrown when she saw Noa glance to her left, where Nanae Origami was seated. Immediately, she felt Noa accelerate to her maximum possible limit with her Fifth Layer Shift and charge straight for Nanae.

The crowd simply had only one reaction as they were unable to make out the speed Noa was traveling at. “She disappeared…”

Nanae, on the other hand, simply casually stood up from her chair and drawing Okanehina, easily swept aside Noa’s pinpoint thrust. That deflection was powerful and it really forced Noa to lose her balance. Nanae scoffed, “Hah, so that’s your one thrust?”

This statement alone simply confirmed Noa’s suspicions.

Nanae Origami is not human.

To think she so easily swept aside my attack… I used a surprise attack with a Fifth Layer Shift…!! She attempted to recover her stance but was stabbed from behind by Maya who had used jin’i to accelerate to the vicinity from her post at the gate of the mansion. Collapsing on the spot, Noa tried to move but the backlash from reaching the maximum limit of her jin’i as well as the feedback from having her utsushi forcibly dispelled prevented her from moving a muscle. She glared at Maya in frustration as she brought down her sword.

However, Suzuran had accelerated herself from her starting position and blocked Maya’s stroke. She turned around and exclaimed, “Use jin’i!” This jolted Noa who forced herself out of her stupor and accelerated away from the foyer in the direction of the exit gate.

“Please leave it to me,” Yomi began as she placed her hand on the hilt of her sword but was stopped by a wave of Nanae’s hand.

“It’s fine, leave them be,” she said in a disregarding tone.

Maya along with Suzuka and Yume who assembled at Nanae’s side after Maya disabled Noa looked back incredulously as if questioning the absurd order to stay their arms. Yume, however, was a unique case; she giggled cutely before accelerating after the two, heedless to Nanae’s order. “Yume!” Maya called after her.

Suzuran ran with Noa in tow, the latter of which had some trouble due to the backlash from earlier. Suzuran put out her hand to stop Noa as Yume appeared in front of them, a fearless smile plastered on her face as she sang, “Let me play too~!” Of course, Yume had already activated utsushi.

Ngh… That stance… Ten’nen Rishin-ryū… That’s not something I need right now…! Suzuran grumbled as she engaged Yume. She crossed swords with her several times before breaking off; Noa attacked in that opening much to Suzuran’s surprise. Yume had no trouble shaking off the tired Noa whose strikes were nowhere near as strong as they should be. Assuming a rather poor tachi-no-tori stance, Suzuran thrust forward with a controlled jin’i on her upper body to accelerate the attack. Yume dodged it, smiling viciously and counterattacking, however, Suzuran grabbed Noa’s arm. “Noa-san, now!”

Skillfully avoiding Yume’s counterstrike, they both activated jin’i as they leaped onto the roof of the gate and down the outside, leaving an unsatisfied and complaining Yume, “Aww, no fair!” After watching them vault over the wall, she added, “Boo…”

Maya, Suzuka, and Yomi had mixed expressions but Nanae simply stated, “Chidori and Kogarasumaru. I see. They are still hatchlings. Leave them be.” She then turned around to leave, issuing further orders, “Call for the presidents of Osafune Girls’ Academy and Heijou Institute. Bring the representatives from both schools to me as well.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Maya replied as she began preparing to make the calls as instructed.

“Suzu…” Honami mumbled as Maya approached her, apologizing ahead of time for the possibility of any sort of rough treatment that she may receive during her detainment.

“Why did you help me?” Just outside of the walls of the Origami mansion, Noa voiced this question while she rested on the ground with her sword at her side to recover as much stamina as possible as she looked up to stare at the seemingly permanent smiling face of Suzuran Arisugawa. “This has nothing to do with you.”

She never expected the reply to be, “Um… Because we never actually managed to cross swords?”

“Haah…” Noa grumbled. “I see. You’re impossible to deal with.”

Suzuran simply laughed this off as she resheathed her blade and put out her hand with the intention of helping Noa onto her feet. “Come on, let’s go. We can’t dawdle now that we're technically fugitives.”

Noa sighed again as she also stored her blade and accepted the hand up. As a no-nonsense girl, Noa trusted her gut instinct which was telling her that arguing with Suzuran is a complete waste of time. As such, she begrudgingly agreed to her help before they together chose a random direction and bolted, with the sole intention of escaping as far as possible from the watchful eyes of the Origami family.

———————————

At the same time in the principal’s office of Heijou Institute.

Madoka Shinonome put down the receiver of the landline as she had just gotten off of a conversation with her superior, Nanae Origami. As the principal in charge of Heijou Institute, it is her duty to explain why one of her students—Noa Hiiragi—had gone rogue. Suddenly, her personal mobile device rang and upon calmly reaching for it, she immediately answered as if was expecting the incoming call all along. “It seems that it begins, Chi-chan.”

“Quit calling me that and I’ll agree with you.” The person on the other end of the line was Chikage Serizawa, the principal of Osafune Girls’ Academy. She too was contacted by Nanae just earlier and she had directly called her colleague in order to confirm if she got the same message.

“Aw, come on, quit being a spoilsport. What’s wrong with calling you that, Chi-chan?”

“Woman, that’s my nickname from when we were children. We’re both full-fledged adults now, you know?”

“Ahaha, let me have some of my fun…”

“Anyway. Let’s get this call back on-topic.”

“Yeah… It seems Manami’s daughter has finally made her move.”

“Gotta hand it to her. This Noa girl is as straightforward as her mother.”

“The blood ties are even stronger since the okatana, Kogarasumaru, was passed down from mother to daughter. Ah, wait, its name is Yatagarasu now, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Emiri-senpai’s daughter also.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, I never expected that.”

“To think Chidori and Kogarasumaru would reunite in this manner. Really, this concept called ‘fate’ is intriguing.”

“Mhm. Anyway, we both need to get ready. I’d rather not find out what would happen should we respond late to Nanae-sama’s summons.”

“Quite true. I’ll see you in Kamakura then.”

“Alright.” Madoka pressed the red ‘End Call’ button and pocketed her phone. “Haah… I better get ready.”

———————————

“Nanae-sama, I have received replies from the principals of Heijou and Osafune,” Maya reported to the seated head of the Origami family in her office in the headquarters of the Special Sword Administration Bureau. “They are on their way and are due to arrive at eight tomorrow morning.”

“I see.” She brooded silently for a while as she stared outside of the window with her swiveling chair; she didn’t even bother facing her subordinates when she ordered, “Call for my rebellious son. I have a job for him.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Maya escorted the other members of the Elite Guard out of the office before bowing at the door. “Do rest well, Nanae-sama.”

“So I shall,” she replied, waving off her subordinate—once again, without looking at her—who proceeded to close the door behind her after straightening up from her bow. Nanae stood up and out of her chair, placing her right hand on the glass window. “So begins the wild goose chase. I do hope those hatchlings will be able to look after themselves.” With the four girls gone, Nanae let slip a devilish smile.