Chapter XI.

That night, I had another sleepless night. And the following day, I had two special prayers to address to the Kami, when I visited the shrine in the morning after a small jump at the hospital to visit my mother. 

Kami-sama, Shunsui was just teasing me when he told me to be cautious, wasn't he? I asked in my thoughts.

I was standing in front of the Haiden with my eyes closed, and hands, folded.

I still had not been able to shake off the jittery feeling it had procured me; it had stayed with me since last evening. 

Yes, I'm sure that he was just teasing me, I ended up telling myself, in reassurance. I shouldn't think badly of Jojima-san! He is doing such a big favor to me! 

Now, coming to my second prayer… 

My expression turned uneasy at the thought. 

Today, it was training day. The Kendō match was for Monday; there was almost no time left.

Gōjun and Shunsui had decided that it was high time to initiate the other scholarship students and I to Kendō practice. We were to meet up in the school gymnasium in a while for this purpose. 

I had never been good in sports and I had two left foot- I knew it- and this made me incredibly nervous.

'Oh, Kami-sama, protect me!' I begged.

As I opened my eyes and turned around, preparing to leave, suddenly, I was surprised when my eyes fell onto the young woman I had met the other day at the shrine, the very one from my first day at Shigeizumi High School.

She was coming into this direction, and the moment she caught sight of me, she paused down to look at me, her face illuminating with equal surprise.

'Hey, there!' she called at me, with a cheery smile, waving her hand a little at me, and returning the smile, I half-ran to meet up with her.

'Hello!' I greeted her back when I reached her, feeling a bit shy.

'I'm happy to see you,' she told me, in a pleasant tone. 'I was hoping to see you again after the other day! It is so rare to meet with someone here!'

'Same here!' I admitted, and in tacit agreement, we moved away to sit under the Torii at the head of the staircase to talk to each other.

'However, the shrine has not always been in this state, you know?!' she told me, pressing her chin with her forefinger and looking upward thoughtfully. 'Ever since I have the age of reason, I have been visiting this shrine every day of my life. At that time, there still were a few recurring visitors, but now there are none. I have been really saddened to discover upon my return to the Kokubunji that the shrine has been completely abandoned during my many years of absence.'

'It's true that it's sad,' I murmured, lowering my eyes, filled with sorrow.

It was a real tragedy that there was no one to take care of the shrine anymore; no one who would to visit it other than the two of us. The Kami of the shrine must be feeling so lonely… so sad.

'Have you've grown up here, then?' I asked her, after a few minutes of silence.

'Yes,' she replied, with a small smile. 'And you?'

'I come from a small town towards the east from here, named Monden. I arrived a few months ago.'

'I see. And how is your new school?'

I cringed away at this question, my expression turning awkward.

'W-Well...' I stuttered, closing my eyes and smiling uneasily.

'What?' she asked, her tone curious.

Looking down again, I scratched the back of my head uncomfortably for a minute, before - for some reason that I couldn't understand- I began to tell her about all the incidents that had occurred to me ever since I had joined Shigeizumi High School.

'Well, well!' she declared, in a chuckle, after I was done, 'Those two young men seem to be very interesting characters to me!'

I smiled creakily at the floor in response, and for the first time, I admitted to myself, aloud, 'They're not entirely the two delinquents that I believed them to be!'

She nodded in approval, while she contemplated me humorously. 

'I'm not going to retain you any longer,' she told me, then. 'They must be waiting for you.'

'Yes, it's about time that I get there,' I said, getting to my feet.

We said goodbye to each other after that, and I began to descend the stone stairs of the shrine, parting with her. But then, as I had reached half-way down the staircase, suddenly, she called out for me to wait. 

Pausing down, I turned half-around to look at her, where she was still standing at the head of the staircase.

'I was thinking that we could meet each other here next Sunday!' she called. 'We could clean the shrine together to give it a fresh look. What do you think?'

My eyes went wide at her, and I held my breath.

'I think that it's… It's a marvelous idea!' I told her, more than happily. 

I had been thinking about the same thing, but had not dared to ask her about it.

'Great, then!' she exclaimed, beaming with joy. 'See you next Sunday! Oh, and by the way, my name is Katsura Hiō!'

'And my name is Hime Kirigakure!' 

***

Sometimes later…

When I reached the school gymnasium, the other scholarship students had already arrived, and so had Gōjun and Shunsui. Everyone was in the uniform used for Kendō, but none had worn their Men yet. Gōjun was acting as the instructor and all the other students were grouped around him, while Shunsui was sitting close by against a wall, not listening, busy playing with his new mobile phone.

'You're late!' Gōjun muttered at me, angrily, the moment I entered the hall, and bowing down immediately, I apologized to him and everyone present for my lateness, feeling sincerely sorry.

'It's not enough to say sorry,' he stated, in a merciless tone. 'It's you who is going to be in charge of the cleaning of the gymnasium today! You'll also be in charge of putting away the equipments!' 

Eh? 

Cringing away, I looked at Shunsui, hoping to be rescued.

'Don't look at me!' the latter told me, blankly, without lifting his head, still staring at the screen of his phone. 'I'm not going to save you on this! The punishment fits the crime!'

I shrank. That-That's so cold! 

'This is your equipment!' Gōjun told me, after that, as he handed to me an armor and the clothing components, as well as a Shinai.

'Do I really have to wear this?' I asked him, pinching my nose and grimacing. 'It stinks!'

'Are you really asking me this question?!' he demanded, with an impatient look. 'Wear it without discussing!' 

'Ha-Hai!' I stuttered, intimidated by the look on his face, and taking the equipment from him, I hurried away to get changed immediately.

The uniform was composed of a Dō, Tare, Kote, Men and Tenugui, and under the Bogū, a Traditional Japanese style clothing- a Hakama and Kendogi- was used. 

Gōjun started the lesson by explaining to us the basics of the art. 

He taught us how to do Sonkyo. Kiai was the shout used to express our fighting spirit when striking. When making a strike, the Fumikami-ashi, which resembled a stamp of the foot- was made.

Techniques consisted of thrusts and strikes. Trusts were permitted at the throat only, and strikes at specified target areas. He taught us what is a scorable point. This, was a precise thrust or strike made onto a Datotsu-bui of the opponent's Kendo-gu, with the Shinai making contact at its Datotsu-bu- the forward or blade side of the top third of the Shinai- together with a demonstration of high spirits and proper posture by the competitor, followed by Zanshin. 

And thence, the whole day was spent in the practice of this art.

***

Several hours later…

Having changed his clothes now, Shunsui Shigeizumi had been about to head to his house when, he decided to pause down for a moment outside of the main door of the gymnasium to observe Gōjun Shoran and Hime Kirigakure.

'Now, let's see how you do it!' Gōjun was saying to the dark-haired girl, and in response to the prompt, the latter hit him on the head with the Shinai she had in her possession just like he had taught her to do. 

'Not me, you idiot! Him! You have to hit him!' he scolded her, unnerved, pointing at the partner that had been assigned to her. 

'Oh, sorry!' the girl said very quickly, becoming more and more flustered.

At this scene, Shunsui covered his mouth with his hand to hide his smile.

It was the first time that he was seeing Gōjun and the dark-haired girl interacting with each other like this. Even if Gōjun was for the most part scolding the dark-haired girl and the latter was mainly panicking, there was much more communication going on between the two of them than ever before. And this pleased Shunsui a lot.

He had not liked his own idea of a match between the students of the school, but it was the only solution that he had found to protect the dark-haired girl and the other scholarship students. The reddish-brown-haired young man hated this kind conflict, because he believed that such division should never have existed. He found the match quite unhealthy; it represented a real tragedy to him.

But well, at least, that's one positive thing about it… he said to himself, smilingly, as he watched his friend and the dark-haired girl.

'Oi, Gōjun,' he called, giving him a small sign of the hand, 'I'm leaving first! See you in the evening!' 

'Yeah!' the latter called back, distractedly. 'See you later!'

***

When Gōjun finally declared that today's training was over, the sky had gone from azure blue to orange, and there was not one of limbs that was not aching. 

But I was far from being done for the day. 

I still had to clean the gymnasium and put all the equipments of Kendō away!

Well, good luck Hime! I said to myself, with a pitiful smile, taking a wary look around of my person at the vast hall of the building. 

Hanging my head, I let out a heavy sigh.

'Want some help?' came a feminine voice from behind me, suddenly.

Turning around, I looked at the person who was holding herself there and proposing me her help.

The girl measured average height and was slender, with waist-length ginger hair, and large gray eyes. Her hair was banged in the front, her skin creamy-white. She was wearing a pleasant expression on her face. She was one of the three other female scholarship students of the school, excluding myself. Even if we were both scholarship students, it was the first time that I was having the chance to speak with her.

'Th-Thank you,' I replied, shyly. 'But I don't know if I can accept. It's supposed to be... a punishment.'

'I think it should be alright!' she assured me, taking a glance over her shoulder to check where Gōjun was. 

The latter was nowhere to be seen and all the other students were gone too. 

Putting her forefinger up at me then, and drawing her face closer to mine, she added with a pout, 'It's not very polite to refuse somebody's help when the latter is proposing it to you so kindly! It's vexatious!'

'Huh?' I uttered, cringing backward a little, before I pressed my eyes shut and smiled, goofily, to tell her, 'I- I see. I'm sorry.'

Now that she had convinced me, she became cheerful again. 

'Well then, let's get started!'

'Hai!' I responded, with a grateful look.

And on this, we began to clean the hall together. 

I found it extremely generous of her to help me. And it was pleasant to have someone's presence by my side, especially somebody as cheerful as her. 

We had presented ourselves officially to each other. 

Her name was Natsui Mizoroge, and she was someone pretty amazing. She was so full of life, and she worked with great enthusiasm and dedication, so much that her positivity gained me and I couldn't help but feel motivated too. 

After we were done, we were both pretty proud of ourselves. The gymnasium was spic and span. I felt extremely thankful towards her for having made this experience all but unpleasant.

As I had been about to express my gratitude to her, out of the blue, we both felt a presence appear behind us, causing both of us to tense up. We didn't have to turn around to know who it was. It could be no one else but him.

'Can you tell me what's going on here?' Gōjun demanded, in a cold, dark tone, and scared out of our wits, we made a small jump away from him, only to fling around to face him, letting out a squall.

'W-W-Well...' I stuttered, closing my eyes and smiling nervously.

'It's okay,' he declared, unexpectedly, and I opened my eyes to see that he was speaking to Natsui. His tone was serious, but not harsh. 'You may leave. I'm going to help her put the equipments away.'

'O-Okay,' the ginger-haired girl said, stammering too. 

Looking at me then, she scratched the back of her head a little, hesitating to leave, perhaps wondering if it was going to be alright for me.

Gōjun assured her, at that moment, 'Don't worry, I'm not going to punish her more than I have already done.'

I stared at him for a minute, deeply astonished. 

He's not going to give me another punishment? 

Turning to Natsui then, I bowed down to thank her infinitely for her help.

'You're welcome,' she told me, with a smile, seeming more relaxed, and saying goodbye to me after that, she left.

Still a bit nervous, my eyes returned onto Gōjun to stare at him again. 

He didn't tell me anything, but instead, he began to pick the equipments up and handed some of them to me, while he kept the others for himself to carry.

I had a little difficulty to believe it. Not only he was not angry, but he was actually helping me to put away the equipments, while it was supposed to be my punishment.

This made me realize that he, too, was someone full of surprises. 

'Thank you,' I whispered, as we were walking together into the changing room carrying the equipments, and lowering my eyes, I smiled very shyly.

He didn't respond, but I could feel his eyes on me.

We put the equipments away into the set of cupboards situated against the back wall of the room, but just as I was closing the door of one of the cupboards, suddenly, I hurt my forefinger.

Letting out a small cry, I clenched my finger instantly with my other hand, pressing my eyes shut in pain for a second. 

Oh, it hurts! It hurts! It hurts!

'You've hurt yourself?! Let me see!' Gōjun told me, in an urgent tone, and against all expectations, he reached out and grabbed my hand, bringing my injured forefinger over his lips to suck at it just a bit.

At this action of his, my face flushed tomato red and I thought I was going to have a nose-bleed.

'Wah! What are you doing?' I exclaimed, pulling my hand away, and turning around instantly in a panic, such that my back was facing him. 

My heart was going at a million miles per second, and I was breathing hard. 

What he just did was so… so… so intimate! 

'Oh, sorry! I didn't truly realize what I was doing!' he said, his tone blank.

My mouth went agape. He- He didn't realize it?! 

Placing my hand over my heart, I tried to calm down the tumult in my chest, the pain in my forefinger already past.

'You're too distracted!' he muttered at me, then, giving me a small punch of the head as he made his way past me, heading for the door. 

Rubbing my head with my hand, I stared after him in surprise, my heart still a bit flustered.

***

Later on, in the evening...

'Oi! You wouldn't be cheating, by chance?' Gōjun Shoran demanded at Shunsui Shigeizumi, in cold displeasure, as the latter put his cards down on the table to announce that he has won- once again.

They were at the reddish-brown-haired young man's house and were sitting on the floor around the coffee table in the living room, playing poker. 

'Not at all,' Shunsui asserted, with an easy smile, and he began to mix the cards again. 'I'm just lucky. Don't be such a bad loser!'

'Uh-huh!' muttered Gōjun, his eyes narrowing at him. 'You take me for an idiot?! That was the fifth time that you have come out with a royal flush in six rounds!' Leaning over the table then, he reached out for Shunsui, urging him, 'Come on! Show me your sleeves!' 

He managed to grip the reddish-brown-haired young man by the front of his shirt, but Shunsui's hands closed around his immediately, only for him to begin to rubbing his face against Gōjun's cheek to appease him, telling him in an innocent, babyish tone, 'Oh, come on! You know that your Shunsui would never do this! You know it, don't you?!'

'Stop doing that, will'ya!' Gōjun shouted at him, peevishly, trying to push his face away from him, but to no avail; the reddish-brown-haired young man was resisting. 'And since when are you MY Shunsui?!' 

'Oh?! What is it?' sniveled Shunsui. 'Don't you like it when I do that?!'

They were struggling at close quarters now; Gōjun was trying to push Shunsui away, this time more forcefully, but the latter was still refusing to back off.

'No, I don't like it! I've repeated it to you countless of times!'

The two males continued to struggle with each other like this for another half a minute, before Shunsui decided to back off by himself, and turning his face slightly to the side, he laughed to himself, while Gōjun shook his head and muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

The reddish-brown-haired young man's aim had been to prevent Gōjun from checking his sleeves and this had been achieved to the perfection. Gōjun had been about to make a remark about it when, Shunsui's cellphone rang, at that moment. 

The latter became very serious suddenly, and Gōjun watched the reddish-brown-haired young man as he picked his phone up from the floor to go through the content of the message that he had just received. 

He saw Shunsui's clenched his jaws, with his eyes tightening on the screen.

'I knew it!' he exclaimed, his tone upset, and getting to his feet, he slipped his cellphone in his pocket, grabbed his jacket, and began to make for the front door, calling out to Gōjun, 'Come on, let's go!' 

'Huh?' the latter uttered, as he stood up, intrigued. 'To where?'

'You'll see,' was the reddish-brown-haired young man's only reply.

Thank you for reading!

Glossary

Men – helmet

Dō - breastplate 

Tare - waist protector

Kote - special gloves 

Tenugui - traditional Japanese towel 

Bogū - protective armor 

Hakama - pant-like garment

Kendogi - jacket

Sonkyo - a way of greeting to show respect towards the opponent

Datotsu-bui - point-scoring targets 

Shinai - Japanese sword 

Datotsu-bu- the forward or blade side of the top third of the Shinai

Zanshin - the competitor being physically and mentally prepared to attack again