Does This Love Suit Your Taste? - Volume 1 Chapter 6.3

Duel 3

As a result, I went to the dojo secretly without telling Shirahime.

I feel bad for Shirahime, but staying silent and just enduring it goes against my principles.

The dojo was overflowing with people, and it was crowded even outside the entrance.

“A! Look! Kiminami Toui has come!”

“He really didn’t run away…”

I make my way through the crowd towards the inside.

The martial arts hall used by the Kendo Club and the Judo Club is half floored and the other half is tatami.

When I was challenged to a duel, I don’t know if someone saw it or if it was Tojoin who gathered them, but an unbelievable number of spectators had formed around the inside of the dojo.

In the center of the floored area of the Kendo Club, one person sits cross-legged with a straight back.

Facing him, I stood right in the middle of the Judo area.

“You finally showed up, Kiminami Toui. I’ll commend your courage to show your face here without fear.”

“That’s obvious. I don’t want you to tell me that I was running away later.”

Tojoin is wearing the protective gear used in Kendo, so there is not a single exposed part of his body; he’s in a completely defensive posture.

“You’re going to fight in that gear?”

“Just as you fight on your own turf in a brawl, I will literally draw my sword in the arena of kendo!”

From among the onlookers, a disquieting murmur could be heard.

“Hey, did he say he’s going to draw his sword…? If I remember correctly, isn’t Tojoin a national level in Kendo?”

“Is there anyone in this school who can match him with a sword…?”

Huh… This guy might be a fool, but he sure is intimidating…

Then Tojoin stood up, turned to face the crowd and called out to a boy who looked like a first-year.

“This is not enough, kouhai (Junior)! Bring me something suitable to defeat this man!”

“Y-yes…”

What now, what’s he bringing out…

What Kouhai-kun brought from a place like a storage shed in the back was something wrapped in a long, orange package.

“…Don’t tell me, that’s”

What Tojoin took out of the bag was a wooden sword, completely black from the tip to the handle.

A girl who seemed to be associated with the kendo club in the crowd overreacted to the wooden sword.

“Th-that is… the legendary wooden sword passed down in our kendo club… to think it would be used here…”

“Legendary…?”

I let out an involuntary remark, and the girl hesitantly began to explain.

“It’s the legendary wooden sword said to have been bought by a student who belonged to the Kendo Club long ago, breaking the rules during a school trip…”

What’s that all about…

As I slump my shoulders in dismay, Tojoin is checking the grip of the wooden sword.

“A bamboo sword is not enough to punish a villain who would dare manipulate our S-Hime. With this genuine ebony wooden sword, I shall thoroughly thrash you in front of everyone.”

Hmph-, Tojoin points the tip of the sword at me. 

Even if it’s just a wooden sword bought by some unknown senpai on a school trip, a wooden sword is still a wooden sword.

Its presence makes me tense up.

“Bring it on…”

“Prepare yourseeelf!!!”

The duel began.

As if to say the one who strikes first wins, Tojoin with his wooden sword approaches me without mercy.

I dodge it by a hair’s breadth.

Clank-

The sound of the sturdy wood hitting the floor echoes throughout the room.

I’d be in serious trouble if that had hit me…

“Mwahaha… This is the power of this sword… Take thiiss!!”

Tojoin, intent on seriously crushing me, doesn’t wait.

Without a moment’s delay, the second strike comes at me. I try to keep as much distance from Tojoin as possible.

“Always running away… how cowardly.”

“I don’t think I want to be told that by someone swinging a wooden sword at an unarmed opponent.”

“But how long can you keep this up?!”

Clank- clang- clang-

“Hahahaha! Dance, Kiminami Toui, Dance! Come on, come on! Un, deux, trois!” (One, two, three in French.)

In high spirits, Tojoin launches a fierce attack on me as I step and dodge in confusion.

Occasionally, I find an opening to throw a kick, but since I’m escaping and not in a stable position, my kicks don’t carry much power, and with the armor he’s wearing, my attack is even less effective.

Then, the inevitable happened. I lost my balance and nearly fell.

“Now’s the time!”

“Ugh…”

A dull thud of flesh was hit through the hoodie.

Pain shoots through my entire body from the shoulder where the sword struck.

But I didn’t have time to dwell on the pain. I quickly distance myself from Tojoin and face him again.

Clash- clash- thud-

Impressive swordsmanship, indeed. Just like before, I created an opening, and I took a full swing to the flank this time.

“Ugh… you bastard, swinging with all your might…”

“Meeeeeeeh!!”

“Hmph…!!”

Before he could follow up, I countered his attack with a roundhouse kick, but being unarmed against a weapon, I was the only one taking damage.

I can’t even count how many times I’ve been struck by the sword.

My legs are unsteady, and I feel like collapsing any moment now, wanting to just squat down and clutching the spot where I was hit.

There’s barely ten minutes left of the lunch break. So I had to take him down before then.

Damn it, how can I win this…

“…sigh, this isn’t even a match. You foolish coward. As expected, you’re not fit to stand beside S-Hime. Everyone else must think so too, right?.”

Growing impatient with my focus on deflecting attacks, Tojoin resorts to rather cheap provocations.

Then, the crowd, easily swayed by the mood, starts directing their dissatisfaction at me and vents their frustration that has been building up over the past few days for monopolizing Shirahime these past few days.

“That’s right! Give us back our S-Hime!”

“You’re a delinquent! First, change your everyday attitude!”

“Take his down, Tojoin! Crack his skull and split Kiminami’s head open!”

They say whatever they please…

Cowards who wouldn’t say anything on their own. If they have a complaint, I wish they’d say it to me one-on-one.

I squinted against the headwind blowing against me. Meanwhile, Tojoin laughed loudly in his privatized dojo.

“Hahahahaha! Look at this! Nobody here wants you and the princess to be together! A delinquent cozying up to a princess… she must have made some mistake! But worry not, my friends! Unlike this trash, there are many who love the princess! It is our duty as her fans to save the princess in her time of need and be the foundation of her happiness!”

“…Huh?”

Tojoin argued with words that couldn’t be ignored.

“Now is the time for the princess to be saved by those who love her! Yes! The salvation that corrects her path so that she doesn’t make the wrong choice! That is why I exist! That is why I lead the people! I won’t let someone like you have your way with the princess! I won’t let her become a delinquent! I shall become the princess’s knight!”

“What are you on about…?”

Somehow, the situation Shirahime is in now overlaps with the one I’m facing against my father.

Being popular, Shirahime is expected by many, liked, envied, and desired.

But Shirahime’s life shouldn’t be dictated by those around her.

Whether someone is suitable or not doesn’t matter. There’s no such thing as an ideal image that people should originally have. There’s no correct answer to the path one walks.

The trails we walk create forms as diverse as there are people, and that unique shape is what makes up one’s individuality.