Torikawa Sekai

"I still don't understand why you accepted her challenge," I repeated for the seventh time since we had started cleaning the kendo room.

Kuromura gave an irritated sigh and rolled her eyes, "I have my pride, and obviously you've lost yours."

"Well, if you're going to go against her, why pull me in?" I stopped sweeping.

"She said to get a partner."

"What about-" I raised my broom to point. "Takagi-sempai?" He blinked, surprised at my sudden action.

"Third year art students have an art field trip on that day." Kuromura started arranging the bamboo swords.

"What about Kentaro-sempai? I'm sure he isn't an art student."

"He has no idea how kyudo works."

"As if I do!" I slammed my hand down on the wall, causing the bamboo swords that were in the rack that rested against the wall to stand messily again.

Kuromura picked up a stray bamboo sword from the floor and poked my shoulder with it. "Look, that blasted bimbo was against us. You. Me. Both of us. I suppose you would want to pay back her cockiness personally."

"Besides," Takagi stood up and walked towards me. "You can learn what you don't know. No big loss."

Exasperated and feeling very defeated by the two most intimidating people I knew in this current stage in life, I exhaled sharply and pointed my broom at Kuromura. "What if we lost?"

"We won't." Great. Was I supposed to feel relieved?

"Why aren't you helping us with the cleaning up?" I asked Takagi.

"I'm not supposed to. Haha... So sorry," he patted Kuromura and me on our shoulders. "I have to go and complete my art assignment. See ya, Sekai-kun! Aki-chan!" And he bounded out.

"This is good. Brilliant. So who's going to teach us kyudo?" I threw up my hands in frustration.

"Just shut up and finish cleaning," Kuromura snapped. "I want to go back early."

We are so doomed.

Please explain the reason for me being here at the kyudo dojo at nine in the night. Other than the fact that Kuromura had given me another of her glares and a death threat about tearing me apart and feeding my shredded parts to the stray dogs.

I walked in and found Kuromura, kneeling on the floor with a long slender bow beside her. Her eyes were closed and somehow, when she was not up and smacking me, she actually looked less menacing. Peaceful, even. It was as if time had slowed down and the only thing which moved was the gentle night breeze that was flirting with Kuromura's hair.

Ok, this was getting a little weird. Why am I so engrossed in her calm expression?

I ignored my thoughts and sat down opposite her, albeit a little unceremoniously. "So? Who's teaching? Do I have to pay?"

"Just shut up," Kuromura grabbed the bow and picked up an arrow before standing up. "And observe. I don't have time to go over the details so it will be enough for you to just learn from sight and experience."

She looked at the target and shifted her position. Spreading her feet widely apart, she fitted the arrow in and raised the bow. Slowly bringing down the bow while spreading her arms, Kuromura pushed the bow out with her left hand while drawing the string back with the right, until her right fist rest just under her right cheekbone, all the while keeping her eyes on the target.

Kuromura's pupils contracted slightly, as if she had confirmed that her aiming was correct, and she released the arrow.

It sliced through the night air and made contact with the target, missing the bull's eye by just a quarter of an inch.

My eyes were wide open. Very wide.

"Whoa! I didn't know you were good at this!" I exclaimed the moment Kuromura knelt back on the wooden floor.

"It is not necessary for you to know everything about me." She glanced back at the target.

"We are so going to win!" I did a small victory dance, which caused Kuromura to shake her head and rub her temple as if a headache was threatening to erupt.

"How would you know? It must have been the lack of practice; if it were months ago all my arrows would have hit the middle target." I looked at the target. Out of the handful of arrows on the board, only two were in the middle while the rest were on the intermediate ring that surrounded the middle.

"That's good enough. I would never be able to do that."

"That was my point exactly! You would need to be at least half as good as I am at this!" Kuromura rubbed her temple again. "That is going to be very difficult..."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"We'd better not waste any time. You had better start learning now." She picked up another bow that was lying on the floor.

"Uh... you mean, start straight away? I don't even know the basics!"

"Like I said, you don't have time for details. Besides, kyudo is quite instinctive. Just feel your way around- and sit up straight!" She whacked my head with that bow.

"OW!"

"The meditation process very important. Calm yourself. Clear your mind. Visualise the target board in your mind, if you even have one. Don't focus on the middle. Just concentrate on getting the arrow onto the target."

She pulled me up and handed me the bow, an arrow and a two-finger glove.

"Imitate my actions from before," she said as she put an arm guard of some sort on my left forearm. "DON'T BEND YOUR KNEES!"

"Ouch! DON'T KICK ME!"

Kuromura gave me a withering look. "Keep your eyes on the board. Straighten your arm. Now think of yourself as one with the arrow. Gather all your concentration. Aim higher! The arrow doesn't fly in a straight line, you blockhead!"

I could not hold it any longer, the strain of the bowstring was too much for me to handle. "Umph!" And I let go.

"Not the floorboard, you idiot! The target board!" She smacked me again.

"It's not as easy as it seems!" I complained.

"You're just not focusing enough! You're a guy, you were supposed to have more strength that what you demonstrated just now!" She snarled. "We are not stopping until you can get your arrows in the second ring from the middle consistently."

"WHAT?"

"We have a lot of time to spare. Last I remembered, you don't do homework anyways."

"@#$%*&..."

"Eyes in front!"

"Don't bend your knees!" Whack!

"Straighten your back!" Smack!

"Stretch your elbow outwards, not inwards! Do you wish to injure yourself?"

"Hand under your chin!"

"DON'T BEND YOUR KNEES!" WHACK!

"CONCENTRATE!"

Needless to say, I was forced to practice till near midnight until I managed to get ten arrows in the second ring. Well, some were by accident, a few were tethering on the boundary and Kuromura was frustrated by my pathetic attempts so she aimed the last few.

My arms were beginning to ache the next morning, spreading to my left shoulder blade the day after and my right arm had a cramp on Thursday morning.

"Can I please don't sweep the floor after school?" I whined and lay down on the floor. I took a deep breath and stretched my limbs. "OOF!"

Kuromura had walked over and poked me in the middle with a bamboo sword that she was cleaning.

"You're too careless," she said as she stared down at me. "If you're training in martial arts, it's better if you're able to pay close attention to your surroundings no matter what you're doing."

"Nah, it's too much work," I pushed the bamboo sword away and stood up. "Besides, it's only for this stupid competition thing. After this Sunday, there won't be a need for me to do this 'martial arts' thing anymore."

"It doesn't mean that you don't use it ever again," Kuromura argued with one hand at her waist. "It's an instinct for every living thing to be conscious of their surroundings. It's just that modern technology tunes it down."

"Whatever," I had no idea that Kuromura was into this kind of traditional stuff. "We're done here so can we go up to class earlier to get some extra sleep?"

A sudden movement and the tip of the sword was pointing less than a centimetre from my face.

"No. We train," Kuromura kicked up my broom and stood back as she held it out to me. "C'mon, I'm giving you a chance to attack first."

Huh? Oh, well. She could not have trained in kendo too, I thought as Kuromura took a few more steps to put considerable amount of space between us.

Sigh. "If it would even help at all!" I started to run towards her with my broom raised.

SMACK! It made contact with the bamboo sword in her hands. "Too slow," Kuromura stated from behind her weapon.

"ARGH!" I tried again, from the sides, and right in her face but she either dodged or countered them. I sank down on the floor and panted heavily. It must had been luck that she blocked all my attacks.

"My turn," was all the warning that I received before Kuromura thrust her bamboo sword at me. A little more to her left and it would have hit my head.

Quickly, I stood up and jumped away.

"I won't be so kind again," she said before she started attacking me again.

I backed away from Kuromura, step by step, with each move that she made, while clutching my useless broom in front of me.

"What's the use of holding it if you're not going to use it?" She asked as her sword hit my left arm.

"Hey! I'm not left handed but I still need my left arm, you know!" I swung my broom dangerously close to her stomach before dropping to the floor again with my back slumped against the wall.

"We'll stop here for now," Kuromura bent down to pick up my broom and moved about, putting things back in their right places. She even helped put my broom back. I did not remember her being this nice before, at least not to me.

"I didn't know that you were into martial arts."

"It's a family thing. It was compulsory to train in at least two kinds of martial arts."

"That explains a lot. What did you learn other than kyudo?"

"Just kendo."

"Cool," I said as I pushed myself off the floor, wincing at the strain in my left shoulder.

"That's what you think," Kuromura replied with obvious distaste, for what I have no idea, but I intend to find out one day. "You're hopeless," she shook her head when I fell back to the floor.

"My arm's cramping again, thanks to you," I complained.

"We'll be late for class." She said as she pulled her rubber band from her ponytail before extending her other hand towards me.

"Huh?" Was she actually doing what I think she was doing?

"Don't need help? Fine, no loss for me."

"Hey! No, wait!" I stuck out my hand before she could take hers back, making her roll her eyes before pulling me up.

Her hand was smaller than mine, but it was soft, warm, and surprisingly gentle as she helped me up from the floor.

...To be continued

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