Kazuya Matsuoka's Daily Life

Toratoro has temporarily settled in with Kazuya. Yoko didn't say it wrong. From a dog's perspective, this puppy was considered clever, quiet, and didn't cause much trouble for him. So he just let it stay here. And sometimes he found it amusing to look at the flattering face of this guy.

Every afternoon after school, Yoko would come to play with Toratoro, bringing some cheap food for it. It's unclear whether she saved it from her own meals or earned it from picking up recyclables. She was quite considerate, running and playing with Toratoro only in the corridor and never entered Kazuya's room probably to avoid bothering him.

On the other hand, Kazuya practiced both academics and martial arts. When his body and vitality could endure, he practiced swordsmanship. Despite the dark circles under his eyes after half a month of hard work, his spirit remained vigorous.

As for the little radish, whenever she encountered Kazuya these days, , she had to exchange a few words. It seemed to have become a habit. However, both sides had not found the opportunity to escalate the conflict, so the clashes remained minor. But he was starting to find this little radish annoying. 

...

Late at night in his room, Kazuya put down his pen and picked up the exam papers, checking them over.He nodded satisfiedly. His academic performance was gradually recovering, and dealing with the basic content of the first year seemed to pose no problem.

He rubbed his temples, preparing to give his mind and eyes a rest. Turning off the desk lamp, he directly activated the [Meditative Battle]. After a moment, the scene before him shifted from the apartment to a dark and eerie forest. He was accustomed to it. With a sword in hand, he strode forward and searched for traces of enemies actively.

The forest had extremely dim lighting, and it seemed like countless enemies were hiding in the shadows among the trees, ready to jump out and strike him at any moment. Wind whistled through the trees, occasionally emitting sharp, eerie howls. Kazuya remained calm, keeping his eyes fixed ahead, making each step as steady as possible.

Suddenly, a white light flashed. A sharp sword strike came from diagonally behind him towards his back. Kazuya reacted swiftly, as if having eyes on the back of his head. He turned low in place, turned round and unsheathed his sword. This was the Battojutsu (the craft of drawing out the sword). The unsheathing and striking happen simultaneously, which is a small technique to deal with surprise attacks.

The opponent's sword missed, and before he could retract it, Kazuya entered the opponent's opening through a spinning motion. A slash from the lower left to the upper right smoothly cut into the enemy's body, creating a near-perfect incision without much resistance.

With one successful strike, Kazuya didn't quickly retreat from the opponent's counterattack range. Instead, he opted for a follow-up attack. Once again, he slashed from the upper left to the lower right, leaving a huge "X"-shaped wound on the opponent's body before stepping away. The opponent staggered a few steps, his sword fell from their hand, and he slowly knelt to the ground, standing but dead.

Kazuya walked over and delivered a swift kick to topple his fallen adversary. Stepping on the head, he swiftly thrust his blade down. After shaking off the blood droplets from his blade, he took a deep breath of the cold, blood-infused air. He slowly turned around and found two swordsmen emerging from the shadows of the forest—one wearing a conical bamboo hat, the other tying his hair loosely with straw.

Without a word, the opponents split, one to the left and the other to the right, drawing out their swords and circling with nimble steps. As Kazuya crouched down for a quick charge, he calmly adjusted his relative position with them, ensuring he could keep both of them in sight. Raising his sword to his ear, he assumed the eight-phase to face the incoming opponents. The opponents were both silent and advanced with drawn swords.

For a moment, the dim forest was illuminated by flashing blades, accompanied by the resonant clang of metal colliding, occasionally sparking with friction. Kazuya launched a fierce attack against the swordsman with the conical hat while continuously shifting sideways to avoid exposing his flank to the attacks of the one with the straw-tied hair. He had learned the hard way that in the face of multiple assailants, standing still and defending in place would only accelerate defeat.

The more enemies there were, the more foolish it was to focus on defense! Constantly moving with the conical hat swordsman as the center, Kazuya delivered rapid strikes, intending to quickly incapacitate him before dealing with the other one. The one with the conical hat responded with ferocity, showing no concern for the potential damage to his blade. In many cases, the sword was more valuable than one's life, and they wouldn't act recklessly unless it was a life-or-death situation.

Kazuya struggled to overpower him for a moment, feeling a bit anxious. He was about to attempt a feigned strike to test the opponent's defenses. But suddenly he watched the swordsman with the conical hat pausing, seemingly running out of stamina.

"Chance!" Kazuya's eyes narrowed, and he lunged forward with a sudden thrust. However, the swordsman with the conical hat had anticipated it and twisted his body at the moment the blade struck, avoiding any vital points. Kazuya quickly realized that it was a deceptive move! He hastily retracted his sword to defend, but it was too late. The swordsman with the straw-tied hair emerged unexpectedly from beneath the conical hat swordsman's crotch, and the blade struck into Kazuya's abdomen.

Kazuya's vision went black, and his head forcefully knocked against the desk. Gasping for air, he pressed against his lower abdomen, trying not to dwell on the discomfort of a cold foreign object entering his body. Recollecting the scene just now, he pondered how to handle a similar situation in the future.

Moreover, his recent meditative battles were becoming increasingly intense. Either surrounded or engaged in tag matches. His best record so far was defeating one opponent first, then won a two-on-one situation, and managing to achieve a one-for-one exchange under the siege of four opponents, being chopped into several pieces.

He needed to be faster and stronger! Immersed in dedicated practice, a strong sense of beating others and surviving surged within him. He even forgot for a moment that the initial purpose of practicing swordsmanship was to cope with the continuous provocations from that little radish Haruka.

Toratoro cowered in a corner and shivered. Its dog's life was short and it couldn't understand why this temporary owner seemed to transform every time he closed his eyes. He became a person exuding a strong killing intentand who made it afraid.

Kazuya didn't notice the fearful gaze from Toratoro. After resting, he held the bamboo sword to the side of his head and formed a guard pose. He felt that even if he had just retreated with a jump slash, he could immediately retract and use a thrust to counterattack. This would help him cope with the subsequent pursuit. Next time, he would definitely not be defeated so easily!