I Teach Kendo in Tokyo - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Are You an Idiot?

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Fujii stopped swinging her sword and looked at Kazuma. “You can tell?”

“Yes. Your left hand is a little weak.” Kazuma made up a story.

Fujii sighed. “I accidentally knocked over the rice cooker at home when I was preparing a bento for myself this morning. I wanted to catch the rice cooker, but I used too much strength and ended up spraining my arm and spilling the rice. I was scalded too. Look, this place is still red.”

Fujii showed Kazuma the large red spot on her right hand.

Kazuma poked it.

“Don’t touch it, it hurts!” Fujii punched Kazuma.

“You’re too careless. Have you seen the school nurse?”

“It’s just a small injury!”

“Don’t say that. If you don’t treat it well, it might worsen during the afternoon sparring session. Besides, it’s almost time to decide on the candidates for the prefectural championship. If you don’t perform well, you might not be selected to represent our school.”

“You should worry about yourself first. Assistant Cooaaach!” Fujii purposely dragged the last word.

Kazuma pursed his lips. He had not paid much attention to the club activities before. After all, the school year had just started, and the club training had begun only this week. Everyone was not very serious about the practice last week.

To be honest, since he had already transmigrated, he should be thinking about how to make use of the advantage of being a transmigrator to reach the peak of his life. He was not interested in being the champion of the National High School Kendo Competition.

Besides, he had not used his cheat before, so he might not be able to succeed if he were to choose the kendo path. Instead, he should focus on thinking about how to use his knowledge of the future to benefit his current life.

Therefore, Kazuma did not pay much attention to the club activities.

To be more precise, he did pay some attention. After all, there were girls like Fujii in the club.

Fujii Mikako was a pure and beautiful young girl with the traditional round face and sweet smile of a Japanese girl.

Usually, he would feel happy by just watching her from the side.

But now, this beautiful girl was looking at Kazuma with a provocative gaze and a mischievous smile on her face. She dragged her voice again. “Assistant Cooaaach~”

Kazuma clicked his tongue and teased, “Looks like someone needs to be taught a lesson.”

“Huh? Someone seems to have forgotten that he’s lost to me more than he’s won.”

Kazuma was not surprised. Earlier, he saw that Fujii’s kendo was at Rank 4 of the Muryu Style, whereas the original Kazuma had achieved only Rank 3 of the Rishin Style. The Shinto Style Rank 6 was brought along by the transmigrator Kazuma.

Whether or not one had been trained under an established style only determined the way they fought1. In kendo, the basic techniques were far more important than styles.

An expert with a solid foundation could beat the weak easily just from their precise estimation of the distance.

Therefore, it was reasonable for Fujii at Muryu Style 4 to defeat Kazuma at Rishin Style 3.

But it was different now.

Kazuma looked at Fujii. Although she was joking, he might get some rewards if he could defeat her.

A mischievous smile appeared on Fujii’s face. “My left hand is injured now. Perhaps it’s a good chance for you to win against me, Kiryuu-kun.”

Kazuma replied, “You have a point.”

“Huh, are you really going to fight me? Taking advantage of a girl’s injury to do whatever you want. I didn’t expect Kiryuu-kun to be such a person.” Fujii put on a look of disdain, but in the next instant, she burst into smiles. She ran to get the protective gear as she said, “Come, there’s just enough time. Let’s fight.”

Kazuma could not help but wonder if there had been something going on between Fujii and the real Kazuma. He was jealous, so he accepted the deal without hesitation.

However, Fujii was addressing Kazuma as Kiryuu-kun. In Japan, people were very particular about the way they addressed each other. Hence, it could be deduced that the original Kiryuu Kazuma and this girl were not yet lovers, though they might have harbored feelings for each other.

Kazuma pondered as he put on his helmet. As the club had not recruited any new members who could be bossed around to take care of chores, the current members had to clean their own personal protective gear. Kazuma had been slacking these days and had not washed his gear at all. Now, the helmet was reeking strongly of sweat.

When the club recruited new members, third-year students like Kazuma would be able to throw their protective gear to the new members for cleaning.

The sports clubs in Japanese schools were all like that.

Fujii said, “There’s not enough time to put on the full armor. Let’s fight like this.”

Kazuma glanced at her and noticed that she was wearing only a helmet and gloves without any protective gear.

“Sure.” Kazuma shrugged and put on his gloves as well before they returned to the center of the dojo.

Fujii squared up.

Kazuma gave her a puzzled look, but he still bowed according to the procedure. This was a habit he had developed from practicing the Shinto Style. If he did not bow, Master Hasegawa would be angry.

Fujii laughed. “When did you become so obedient? Didn’t you always say that this was an old habit that should be discarded?”

Kazuma was shocked. He didn’t know the old Kazuma had that mindset! It seemed he was not that traditional after all.

Kazuma decided not to explain because he would not be able to give a satisfactory answer anyway. He squared up too.

“Fujii, do you want to bet?”

Fujii tilted her head. “Hmm… Let me think. A week’s lunch… Forget it. If you win, I’ll treat you to a week’s lunch. If I win, you’ll run five rounds around the field. One round for one day’s lunch. Isn’t that fair?”

Fujii probably knew that the Kiryuu family was not well off at the moment.

Kazuma protested. “That’s not fair. Even if I don’t lose to you, I’ll still be punished to run around the field. How about this? If I win, I’ll let you touch my head; and if you win, you’ll let me…”

“Pervert! Take this!” Fujii suddenly shouted and sprang forward.

Her movements were smooth and precise. It was obvious that she had put in a lot of effort.

But Kazuma nimbly dodged it.

He dodged quickly and kept a distance from her. Then, Kazuma struck a pose for Tsuki and exerted his strength.

“Face!”

The tip of his bamboo sword accurately hit Fujii’s mask.

“Huh?” Fujii was shocked. Kazuma could sense her confusion even through the helmet’s mesh mask.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait! What? How did you ‘face’ just like that?”

Kazuma explained, “One must shout out the target area they intend to attack. That’s what Goro-sensei taught us.”

“Of course I know that! I’m asking how you did it.”

“It’s just… an ordinary thrust. What else?” Kazuma shrugged and returned to the starting position by holding his sword near his waist.

Seeing that Kazuma was ready for another round, Fujii took a deep breath and returned to the starting pose. She said, “Do it again!”

Kazuma went straight up.

“Face!”

“Wait! Slow down!” Fujii shouted. “I wasn’t ready! Again!”

She got into her position again and took two deep breaths this time. Her breathing highlighted the pleasant curves in front of her chest, which were rare.

In this era, there were not that many G-cup monsters among Japanese girls. Fujii’s were already considered big.

Fujii said, “Alright, I’m ready!”

Before she knew it, Kazuma hit her mask again.

“Wait!” Fujii stomped her feet. “Slow down! I didn’t even see what happened!”

“Then… should I do one move at a time?”

“No! Not that! Again! If you’re just a little slower, I’ll be able to see it clearly!”

Kazuma was in a dilemma. He really could not slow down. Once his body was in the right position and he exerted his strength, his muscles were no longer under his control.

He had activated his cheat skill to impress Fujii. But he had no idea what to do now.

Actually, Kazuma was very confident that he could beat her even without the cheat. After all, he had been practicing the Shinto Style for several years. It would not be a problem for him to bully a little girl using his true ability.

It was too late to regret it now. Time to leave.

Kazuma said, “Let’s call it a day. Class is starting soon.”

He took off his helmet and put away his bamboo sword. When he turned to leave, Fujii took off her helmet and rushed over. “Wait! Let’s do it again! You can definitely do it slower! Please teach me!”

Fujii was a kendo girl after all. Her arms were strong.

Kazuma tried to pull his hand out but to no avail.

“Doesn’t your arm hurt?” he asked. “Hurry up and go to the nurse’s office! Otherwise, in the afternoon…”

“I’m asking you to teach me precisely because the selection is in the afternoon! You’ve never used this trick before, so I won’t ask where you learned it from. But share it with me! I want to go to the National Competition too!”

“Then I’ll do one move at a time…”

“No! Do it a few more times and I can learn it myself!”

Kazuma didn’t know what to say. Had she always been like this? She definitely didn’t look like one. Kazuma had always thought that she was just a sweet schoolgirl.

However, after thinking about it carefully, Kazuma realized that it was understandable. As a kendo girl, Fujii probably had a strong personality.

“There’s no time! You still need to change out of your kendo uniform.” Kazuma tried to reason with her. He was wearing sportswear because he had just finished running laps, so he had to return to the club room to change back into his normal school uniform. It was even more troublesome for Fujii because she had to go to the Union Sports Club’s female changing room in another building.

Public schools had relatively little funds and did not have many facilities. Therefore, boys usually changed their clothes in the club room while girls had to use public changing rooms.

Of course, there were exceptions for public schools such as Chibo University’s affiliated middle school. Although it was a state school, it was more generous than most private schools.

However, this was not the case for the Northern Katsushika High School, so Fujii still had to walk a long way to the Union Club to change her clothes.

Fujii pouted, but it seemed like she had finally given up. She whispered, “Teach me at noon! Don’t even think about leaving me hanging!”

Kazuma decided at once that he would sneak to a place with no one around for lunch.

He didn’t have a choice because there was no way for him to slow it down. If he wanted to teach someone, he could only break it down into individual movements…

“Do! You! Hear! Me!” Fujii enunciated each word clearly. At the same time, she pulled Kazuma toward herself.

At this moment, a loud roar echoed through the dojo. “Kiryuu! Fujii! What are you doing?”

This roar made both of them shiver. They looked over together.

It was Daimon Goro.

“Don’t you know that inappropriate behaviors between girls and boys are against the school rules?!”

This was the 1980s. Japanese schools of that time were similar in many ways to Chinese schools in the 2000s.

It was only then that Kazuma and Fujii realized that they seemed to have gotten a little too intimate. To outsiders, it looked like they were going to kiss.

Fujii blushed and let go of Kazuma, bouncing back a few meters.

“Go out and run laps. Now!” Daimon roared. “Run until you guys don’t have the energy to be lovey-dovey! Quick, now!”

Kazuma said, “Sensei! Fujii’s left hand is injured. She should go to the nurse’s office!”

Daimon stared at Kazuma for a few seconds.

“Fujii, go to the nurse’s office! Kiryuu, run laps!”

Fujii said, “Sensei! I need someone to help me to the nurse’s office!”

Daimon fell silent, staring at the two of them and exerting an invisible pressure.

“The two of you, run the laps together until the bell rings. Then, write me a short reflection of 3000 words to explain your views on ‘integrity’ found in the school motto,” he said with a gloomy face.

“Yes, Sensei!” Kazuma and Fujii shouted together, their voices especially loud—if their voices were not loud, they would definitely be asked to shout again.

Daimon turned around and left. Kazuma glanced at Fujii. “Are you an idiot? You made me write an extra reflection.”

Fujii made a face at Kazuma.