[Shield bash? So fiddling with the glaive was a bluff? Well played!]
(Your true nature is showing. I understand the feeling though. But that misunderstanding is unacceptable.)
“No. He was gripping the glaive with his other hand. If the dodge had succeeded, he probably intended to sweep at the moment when stance was broken.”
[……! No openings or gaps at all!]
To dodge that, would it be rolling sideways?
But even if the dodge succeeded, stance would definitely be broken.
If struck at that moment, it would be over.
In the first place, against charging cavalry coming at high speed, there was no room for martial arts to intervene.
Well, someone called a master might be different, but at least Shoko couldn’t do it.
(Can’t defend. Can’t dodge. Counterattacks don’t work. There are no moves to make. What do we do about this? Poor at close combat? Don’t make me laugh!)
[Kuu!]
Shoko cursing internally, and Nana, who had probably reached the same conclusion and was still desperately trying to think.
[Still want to continue?]
Whether he knew their thoughts or not, Keita made his fifth inquiry of the day.
[Y-you!]
“Calm down.”
[……Shoko-san. But this is!]
When watching from outside, Nana had received it as [You’re still going to do more? That’s appreciated]. But after actually being defeated, her reception was different. She completely misunderstood that she was being provoked.
But Shoko knew.
(He’s not provoking – he simply wants the 100,000 yen.)
Not provocation but expectation. And not expecting them to fight well, but simply expecting them to properly pay money.
(It is annoying, but when we instruct underclassmen, we don’t think of them as enemies either. Given that there’s such a difference currently, I have to accept that attitude.)
She wasn’t without feelings about not being seen as an enemy.
But when she put herself in his position, she could understand it.
(It’s wrong to think of this as a mock battle with a classmate. I should think of this as receiving instruction from an ace.)
In this case, what should they do?
Get angry at the opponent’s attitude?
No. Continue challenging by putting up the 100,000 yen.
“Nana.”
[……What is it?]
“For now, fight at least two more times. One round in [Wide Battlefield]. One round in normal [Battlefield]. ……You understand the reason without me saying it, right?”
[……Yes.]
One reason was simply that Shoko wanted to see Keita’s movements in those two locations.
And the other major reason was wanting to see how Nana would move after watching Shoko and Keita’s battles.
Naturally, Nana hadn’t just watched Shoko get defeated either.
She had been simulating, applying it to herself: “What would happen if I did this? How would Keita move if I moved like that?”
The reason she hadn’t told Shoko was due to the difference in skill between Shoko and Nana, and fear that Keita would get bored and say “that’s enough.”
This might seem like Nana overthinking, but given that she couldn’t see how Keita would gain anything from the mock battles so far, it wasn’t strange for Nana to think this way. Rather, it was a natural thought.
However, unlike Nana, Shoko had grasped Keita’s personality to some extent and didn’t have that fear.
That’s why Shoko could make such a proposal.
“Keita. Next, one round in [Wide Battlefield]. After that’s finished, one round in [Battlefield]. After that, I want to do two rounds in [Arena]. Can you do it?”
[Wait!]
[It’s fine. No problem.]
(This guy is really…)
Even though she had suggested it herself, when he accepted so readily, that was also not amusing.
But getting angry here would be meaningless. For Shoko, the real point started from here.
Shoko put a vein on her temple while forcing out a calm voice to state the plan she had been considering.
“……In the [Arena], I intend to fight you with both Nana and myself. Is that alright?”
(Now, what will you do?)
[Huh?]
The one who let out a dumbfounded voice at the unexpected proposal wasn’t Keita, but the other party involved, Nana.
Leaving such Nana aside, Keita considered Shoko’s proposal (though he wondered about it himself, it would be nice if it worked out) and decided to convey his demand.
[Hmm? Hmm. If it’s against two people, I’ll receive payment from both of you – is that okay?]
[What!?]
(……And he says he’s not provoking. How impressive.)
What Keita was concerned about wasn’t fighting two-on-one, but whether he could receive 100,000 yen from each of them.
From Nana’s perspective, she would completely think she was being looked down upon. Shoko thinks so too. But the truth is different.
Keita just wants money. While this could be called looking down on them, Keita’s track record denies that.
(We don’t even have the qualification to be looked down upon)
“Of course that’s the plan. Nana, so please prepare accordingly.”
While being aware of the gap between them and him, Shoko accepts with a suppressed sigh toward Keita, who shows an attitude that is, in a sense, without distortion even toward classmates—girls of an age that others would call beautiful.
[Wait, hold on! Shoko-san!?]
It was Nana who objected to Shoko’s frustrated yet accepting attitude, unable to accept the match that had been decided over her head.
Mock battles in [Wide Area Battlefield] and [Battlefield] are fine.
It’s an opportunity to test things she wanted to confirm herself.
If Keita would allow it, she’d want to do it twice each like Shoko.
But what’s with those two rounds in [Arena]?
Certainly, she probably couldn’t win if they fought properly.
It’s natural since the gap between them isn’t at a level where technique can intervene.
She understands that considerable preparation and handicaps are necessary to grasp victory in the current situation.
But what kind of intention is it to have that handicap be two-against-one—and specifying close-range combat, which the opponent is supposedly weak at?
Are they telling her to torment an opponent who isn’t even a warrior?
Nana was about to get furious, but Shoko wasn’t thinking about nothing either.
“Nana. There’s that much of a gap between us and him. No. We can’t win even two-against-one. First, acknowledge that.”
[That’s—!]
“What we need is experience. An overwhelming, inexcusable, complete defeat. Only by experiencing that can we eliminate the pride that exists somewhere in our hearts.”
[……]
Because we’re from warrior families.
Because we’ve been training since childhood.
What use are such things on a battlefield overflowing with unreasonableness?
Nana said this before the mock battle:
[Please savor the wonder of martial arts.]
Shoko said this before the mock battle:
[Nana’s victory.]
But what was the reality?
A match? They weren’t even standing on the same ring.
If this isn’t pride, then what is?
On the battlefield, the proud die first.
Isn’t this common sense for warriors?
“Let’s experience it. A hopeless defeat. Let’s learn. Unreasonableness. That’s what we need right now.”
[……You’re right. Yes. That’s right. You’re absolutely correct.]
Didn’t she think from the beginning that she couldn’t win?
If so, then what would be the point of not showing the spirit to cling on no matter what?
Pride? Such a thing isn’t necessary in mock battles.
Just desperately, by any means necessary, cling on.
Isn’t that the attitude of one receiving instruction?
Thus, Shoko and Nana steeled their resolve.
The resolve to lose. The resolve to expose the shame of challenging a civilian two-against-one and suffering complete defeat.
Humans who have steeled their resolve are strong.
[Haaaaaa!]
[Aaaaaa!]
Even Takafumi, who dislikes military factions, involuntarily muttered [That’s not the spirit you’d expect from students] at the fighting spirit the two displayed. The result of the mock battle they challenged with such spirit was…….
[Complete victory. Each of you think about why you lost by tomorrow.]
[[……]]
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
[SITUATION CONCLUDED]
Isotani Shoko: 0 wins, 6 losses
- [Wide Area Battlefield]: 2 losses
- [Battlefield]: 2 losses
- [Arena]: 2 losses
Taguchi Nana: 0 wins, 6 losses
- [Wide Area Battlefield]: 1 loss
- [Battlefield]: 2 losses
- [Arena]: 3 losses
It was a complete defeat. Moreover, a complete defeat so inexcusable that Keita took no damage whatsoever.
……On this day, the two girls were able to understand with their souls, not just knowledge, the reality that [the battlefield isn’t sweet enough to be won with fighting spirit and guts alone].
TLNOTE:
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