Chapter 54
As a result, I didn't score a point.
Because I hadn't struck with the striking portion of the shinai that could have scored a valid hit, but with the blade portion just below it.
Simply put, I had failed to judge the distance.
From then on, I couldn't even make a proper attack and lost after giving up two points in a row.
I hadn't even properly understood what was happening before it ended with two strikes to my waist, so she must have been attacking me in earnest.
‘What a shame.’
But I felt refreshed all the same.
Why? Because although I hadn't scored a point, I'd landed a solid blow on Renka's psyche,
because I'd accomplished my goal of becoming the main character of the event.
Renka would probably have me etched into her mind more deeply than Tetsuya, who had fought her seriously.
That was enough.
Come to think of it, this was amazing.
I'd never even practiced kendo, let alone a martial art resembling it, yet when I moved on instinct, an incredible moment had emerged.
Was this the protagonist's talent? It was ridiculously sweet.
“Matsuda-kun.”
At Chinami's call, I raised my head. I'd been wiping down the kendo armor with her in the storage room.
“Yes?”
“That was so close. You could have taken a point from Renka...”
Chinami's voice was somewhat subdued.
She wasn't jealous because I had nearly scored the point she hadn't been able to get.
Chinami wasn't that narrow-minded.
That reaction probably meant that, after seeing me beat on Renka's waist, she was seriously debating whether to teach me the upper stance.
I practically pressed myself against Chinami's side as she sat cross-legged.
Then I gave her a bright smile.
“It's all thanks to you, Master.”
“What...? Thanks to me?”
“I saw you attack Inoo-senpai's waist during your second match. I tried to imitate it, however clumsily.”
“Y-you did...? How did you see that...? Are you a genius...?”
“I'll give you a massage as a reward.”
“What...? No... I didn't do anything... Ngh...!”
A cute whimper escaped Chinami as I gently grasped the back of her neck.
I could feel the soft, fine hairs at her nape.
As I gently pressed the spot with my fingertips, giving her a caress disguised as a massage,
“Hwaaah...”
Chinami let out her characteristically drawn-out moan.
Her head had gone limp, swaying this way and that depending on the direction of the pressure I applied.
So the back of her neck really was an erogenous zone. Her reactions were so much fun.
“Eek...!”
Clenching her teeth, Chinami slipped sideways and escaped my hand.
She scolded me while huffing with a flushed face.
“Matsuda-kun...! I told you...! You can't grab someone else's neck without permission...”
“Are we strangers?”
“W-well, we are master and disciple, but... This isn't right...!”
“This isn't right?” Somehow, the phrase sounded lewd.
“I was only trying to give my master a massage as her disciple.”
“I'll accept the thought...! But ask me first from now on...!”
“Understood.”
When I obediently backed off, Chinami took a deep breath and fidgeted with her hips.
After sitting down beside me again, she rolled her neck from side to side and cleaned the armor.
Perhaps she was thinking about the massage from earlier, or maybe about food; Chinami smacked her lips while she concentrated.
I held out my phone to her.
“Give me your contact information, Master.”
“My contact information? Ah, right... If you have any questions about kendo, you'll need to ask me.”
I wasn't going to ask you a single thing unless you brought it up first.
I was just going to chat and have fun.
Chinami pressed the numbers with her dainty fingers and handed my phone back to me.
“Your potential is enormous. Starting tomorrow, it might be good to put more emphasis on the upper stance. But you also need to learn the basics properly. You don't have any experience and don't properly understand the middle stance, so you couldn't move at all after the second match.”
“Got it. But you've acknowledged me now, right?”
“That was an attack I couldn't help but acknowledge. But you must never become conceited. Understood?”
“Yes. I'm happy to have earned your recognition, so should I buy you some ice cream?”
“What flavor? I... Ah! No, that's not right... Since we're celebrating, I should be the one to buy it for you. I'll bring peach ice cream tomorrow. You just have to enjoy it.”
“Don't you have any other flavors?”
“I like peaches.”
“Aren't you going to ask what I like?”
“There isn't anyone who doesn't like peaches. I'm sure you'll like them too.”
Chinami would probably be good at running a business.
With that innocent-looking face, no one would be able to resist buying something if she used it to force a sale.
I wanted to excite her by touching the back of her neck again, but Chinami was still only at the beginning of her route.
Continued stimulation might only make her rebel, so I held myself back.
**
After leaving the kendo club, I saw Renka and Tetsuya talking quietly.
Renka was doing almost all the talking, and she seemed to be giving him advice.
As I approached them, Renka crossed her arms and asked,
“Where's Chinami?”
Her voice was quite flat, as though she was trying hard to appear calm.
“She went to the bathroom for a moment. Looks like you're going back together?”
“We're going together today. And... I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
“It was a practice match, but I beat you too easily.”
She wasn't trying to salvage her wounded pride. She was being sincere.
It was also an apology directed at herself, filled with self-reproach for losing control and pressing me so hard.
I shrugged and brushed off Renka's apology as though it were nothing.
“It doesn't matter.”
“.... Then that's a relief. And you... Don't try to teach Chinami anything weird.”
“Anything weird?”
“You know, that thing. Some kind of breathing technique... There are no breathing methods like that in this world.”
It was a technique from a character you liked, yet you called it some kind of breathing technique.
You knew exactly what it was, so why were you pretending not to know?
You went to Comiket and panted in front of your favorite author while desperately getting an autograph...
“You heard that? How?”
“I-I happened to overhear it... Anyway, don't do it.”
“I was only joking.”
“Chinami is innocent enough to believe what people say unless they clearly tell her it's a joke.”
“Then I'll tell her later that it was a joke. Is that good enough?”
“.... Fine. You worked hard today... Next time we spar, I'll teach you properly.”
Next time we spar? Far from teaching me, you'll only end up boiling with frustration.
I'll make her despair at being unable to defeat a ferocious male like me and acknowledge me as a predator...
I'll make that happen someday.
“Got it. I'm heading out.”
“Yeah. Take care. You too, Miura.”
Tetsuya replied by giving Renka a polite bow.
After parting with Renka and walking toward the parking lot, I glanced at Tetsuya, whose shoulders were drooping.
We'd challenged her together, but he'd shown an embarrassing performance while I'd shown the exact opposite, so his self-esteem seemed to be plummeting.
You do have talent at kendo, too, so keep at it.
It would be even better if I made your inferiority complex explode every now and then.
I smacked Tetsuya on the back.
“I have no idea why you're acting like this today. Straighten up, bastard.”
Apparently it had hurt quite a bit, because Tetsuya grimaced, contracted the muscles in his back, and nodded.
“Yeah. Thanks, Matsuda. But did you have to hit me so hard?”
“This is enough to hurt you? If you tripped while walking, you'd break a bone.”
“It's not that... Huh? That's Miyuki.”
Tetsuya's face brightened as he looked straight ahead.
Following his gaze, I saw Miyuki walking toward us from the parking lot, where she'd been waiting.
“Matsuda-kun! Why are you hitting Tetsuya-kun?”
She approached with a voice completely devoid of reproach, craning her neck forward.
I waved dismissively and asked Tetsuya threateningly,
“Did I hit you?”
“W-well, you did hit me...”
“I hit you?”
“I-I mean, not seriously... It was just a joke to encourage you...”
After hearing his answer, I turned toward Miyuki.
“There. Happy?”
“Matsuda-kun, who would tell the truth when you make your face look so scary?”
“There you go again with the mother-in-law nagging. Maybe I should shut you up...”
“Why shut my mouth? If you're going to shut something, shut Matsuda-kun's ears... Eek!”
Miyuki screamed and pulled her body backward.
I'd reached out and tried to grab her.
With a laughing smile, she ran a good distance away, all the way to the front of my car. When I unlocked it with the smart key, she quickly climbed into the passenger seat.
I clicked my tongue and complained to Tetsuya.
“She's getting more playful by the day. Does she act like that with you, too?”
“.... She teases me even worse than that.”
I know. That's why I plan to ban each and every one of the ways she teases you from now on.
“That must be tiring.”
“Not particularly... Isn't it fun?”
“Is that so? Let's just get going.”
“Yeah. Thanks for the ride again today.”
**
On the way home, Tetsuya refused to say a single word about my performance, even if it killed him.
He didn't want to praise me in front of Miyuki.
I snorted inwardly at Tetsuya's petty, pathetic rebellion and dropped him off.
As soon as Miyuki and I were alone, I grabbed her hand and laced my fingers through hers.
Miyuki giggled at what I did and said something she didn't mean.
“I told you not to drive with one hand...”
“Should I let go?”
“Nooo... I didn't mean you should let go... And Matsuda-kun, why do you keep hitting people? You promised me you wouldn't use violence.”
Miyuki was referring to my having smacked Tetsuya's back earlier.
She wasn't really complaining; she was only acting that way because she didn't want our conversation to end.
“He looked so down that I encouraged him to cheer up. Didn't you see Miura today? He kept spacing out even while talking with us.”
“Come to think of it... He didn't look well... I'll ask him what happened today and let Matsuda-kun know, too.”
“I'm not particularly curious, so you can be the only one who knows. How's the culture festival preparation going?”
“Yeah, we're almost finished. The people doing the costumes have worked really hard, too... Matsuda-kun, you've been playing around every day, so quietly check tickets during the festival. If I catch you sneaking off, you'll be sorry.”
“Miura's been playing around every day, too.”
“Tetsuya-kun helped us from time to time during lunch. And he's going to dress up as a ghost.”
“Really? What are you dressing him up as?”
“We were originally going to make him Shuten-doji... But it didn't seem like it would suit him, so we decided on a namahage instead.”
“A namahage? That red-faced demon who carries a kitchen knife?”
“Yeah.”
I was going to turn him into a kappa... I was far too indifferent.
Sorry, Tetsuya.
When we were almost at Miyuki's house, I drove into a deserted alley and stopped the car.
Then I brought my face close to Miyuki's.
She blinked and met my gaze, but as time passed, a deeper blush spread across her face.
“.... Why are you looking at me like that...?”
“Am I not allowed to look at you?”
“I-it's not that...”
“Are you required to attend the after-party? Because you're the class representative?”
“Yeah...”
“Have some fun, then contact me before it gets too late.”
“Contact you? Matsuda-kun, aren't you going to the after-party...?”
“I'm not going.”
“Why...? It would be nice if we went together... You don't have many friends, Matsuda-kun... Wouldn't it be better to make lots of them while you have the chance...?”
I smiled gently at the worried Miyuki and opened my mouth in time with the bob of her throat.
I spoke in the low, warm voice she liked so much.
“Contact me. Got it?”
Her face had turned completely red by then, and she lowered her head as she answered.
“O-okay... I'll contact you... But what are you going to do...?”
I paused for a moment and gently scratched the back of Miyuki's hand as though tickling it.
“D-don't do that...”
Ignoring her as she tried to stop me by tensing her hand, I said flatly,
“Let's spend that day alone together.”
“Alone...?”
“Yeah. Just the two of us.”
After saying this much, Miyuki would probably get the gist.
Even if she didn't realize it now, she'd think over my words carefully after returning home and figure out what I really meant.
Of course, she wouldn't be certain.
I hadn't explicitly told her to sleep at my house that day.
But just in case, she'd steel herself and make preparations.
“Yeah... I'll do that...”
After hearing Miyuki's answer as she fidgeted with our laced fingers, I placed my hand over the back of hers and smiled brightly.
Miyuki suddenly sucked in a breath and said,
“.... A-are you really just going to leave...?”
“What would you like me to do?”
“Here...”
She pressed her index finger firmly against her lips.
I snickered at her blatant gesture, then brought my face closer while looking at her almond-shaped fingernail with its faint sheen.