Chapter 22 - The Fierce Tiger of Heaven

Yōta's face is covered by something soft, and it smells really good too for some reason.

"Hm... Fuu..."

Yōta grumbles under his breath as he hears a very familiar voice nearby, and judging by the voice, then this has to be Miyako's boobs.

"Mm..."

He doesn't know why, but she's pressing her boobs against his face first in the morning like this.

It's a quite mystery, but he decides to not wake up just to enjoy this warm sensation for a bit longer.

As much as he wants to deny it, he also a pervert guy in heart. He means, only certified pervert who would attending Mōryō's Gathering, after all.

"Ah~" Miyako moans as her nipples pressed against Yōta's nose, and he can hear her breath loudly too.

But damn, she has pretty big boobs.

"Yōta... It's morning." She moaned while smiling softly at her love who's slowly opening his eyes.

Yōta couldn't help but to smile back when he looks at Miyako's face, "Good morning, Miyako-san,"

"Hm, good morning." She nods and her boobs shake in response as they get off his face.

Yōta starts to stretch himself as he looks at the blue bright sky from the windows, and Miyako put out his uniform on tatami floor like usual.

He stares at Miyako for a moment before he shakes his head.

It seems his word and action from yesterday affected her more than he could ever thought.

She's becoming more agressive than usual with how she shows her affection to him since yesterday. A strange glamour is emitting from her flushed face right now.

["Fufu~ What can you expect?"] The usual voice sang through inside his head once again, ["With how passionately you said those things to her yesterday, it's bound to make her this unstable, my dear Yōta. She's currently overflowing with love. Her pink aura is almost bursting out like a dam."]

Yōta scratches the back of his head when he heard that.

He honwlestly doesn't mean this to happen at all, he really want them to be happy and smile all the time.

He's just that type of a simple man.

The most happiest moment for him is when everyone near him is happy and all. That's it.

["Ah, love~ Such a beautiful emotion~ This is why I love you human so much. You guys are fun, especially you, Yōta. I'm really glad I found you back then."]

'Me too, Ava-chan, me too.'

The voice, Ava-chan, giggled cutely for the last time before her voice disappears together with a humming wind.

Yōta takes that as a signal for him to go to school as he thanked Miyako for putting out his uniform.

He changes to them and went to the school together with the usual group.

-Scene Change-

"Good morning, everyone!!" Kazuko's energetically pulling tires to school again today.

"Yaa, Kazuko-chan." Yōta waves his hand and smiles at the youngest Kawakami, "Good morning."

"Wow." Yukie looks at Kazuko with sparkly eyes, "You sure train a lot every day, Kazuko-san."

"I hella respect you. Training's your life, huh!?" Matsukaze exclaimed.

Kazuko rubs the bridge of her nose with big smile on her face, "Of course. I started late compared to everyone else, so I have to work hard to make up for it. So, I'll run today too! Ryaa!!"

She then jumps excitedly before running forward, leaving everyone behind.

"She ran off..." Yukie stares at Kazuko's figure in far until she lost the sight of the youngest Kawakami, "She got that strong in less than ten years..."

"It must be because of her hard work." Chris hummed from the side, "I respect her in that regard. But I can't be losing against her."

Momoyo laughed with pride as she looks at the others, "Isn't my sister really amazing? She runs 200 if you tell her to run 100. She does 1000 if you tell her to do 500."

She crosses her arms and sports a gentle smile on her face as she looks far in the distance, "She's the only person who would do such a foolish thing for a training menu that already takes her to the limits... Oh, wait, I totally forget that she clearly takes after this man."

She reaches her hand out to Yōta and pats his head with a grin on her face.

The others also look at the Nagakura with the same expression.

"You're right. Wanko is clearly taking after Yōta." Yamato grinned while stuffing his hands in the pockets.

"Well, Yōta is indeed a bad influence to Wanko." Gakuto joined from the side.

"Not as bad as you." Yōta cooly retorted the musclehead.

The others laugh in response to that, while Gakuto grumbled under his breath.

"Her hard work might bear fruit and she may one day match Momo-senpai." Takuya said as he turns the page of his manga over.

"Oh." Momoyo perked out at that, "That'd be an interesting development. Hahaha. Rather, I want that to happen."

"A fight between sisters?" Shōichi also perked out at that statement as his eyes burn bright, "That sounds exciting! I'll sell the tickets!"

Miyako hummed from the side while reading her book, "It'll happen. Right, Yōta?"

"Right." Yōta nods his head in response, "I'll make sure that happen. But to fully match Momo-senpai? It'll take years and more, to be honest."

"It's still amazing if you can match Goddess of War in years only." Yukie remarked.

"But then again, Momo-senpai will grow more stronger in years later too, so yeah, it'll take long, but..." Yōta shrugged his shoulders before he looks at the group with serious expression on his face, "Kazuko-chan will eventually reach her. That's for sure."

The others look wide eyes at Yōta when he said that with such confidence that stops them to move for a moment.

He also lets out his aura intentionally for a second there, just to point out how serious he is.

The group could only stand in their place and look at Yōta's back in wonder as he starts to follow Kazuko from behind.

-Scene Change-

"What's happening here?" Yamato asked when he noticed the crowd up ahead.

As the Kazama Family finally arrived at the school, they could see a crowd of people surrounding the school yard with exciting murmurs flying around.

"This is..." Takuya started while looking around.

"Duel, isn't it?" Gakuto grinned as he starts to flex his muscles.

"Damn it!" Shōichi cursed out loud and he starts to push the crowd away forcefully to look at the battle in front, "I miss the chance to create money!"

The group look at each other for a second before shaking their head at the same time as they start to follow their leader through the crowd.

They then found Yōta in the front of the crowd, looking at the duel with eyes full of concentration.

He's currently peered and analyzed every movements that the duelist executes.

"Huh, it's Wanko and Makoto from 2-B." Yamato remarked from the side.

Just like he said, in the middle of the school yard, there's Kazuko and Makoto, a young woman with of average height, with long black hair that extends down to her legs and thin eyebrows, fighting each other.

She wears a dark colored vest over a white button down shirt, with both layers left open at the top, exposing her hefty cleavage.

The boys are staring opently at her boobs with perverted grin on their face.

"Damn, she's so sexy like always." Gakuto said while wiping the drool that's coming out from the corner of his mouth.

"..." Takuya on the other side averted his eyes shyly, but he sometimes discreetly take a glance at the bouncing boobs of Makoto as she moves around nimbly.

"Is there a reason why she exposed her cleavage like that?" Chris asked with distaste. How lecherous.

"She's got them rack, baby!" Matsukaze exclaimed excitedly.

Yukie is currently covering her face with her hands in embarrassment, but there's a big crack between her fingers that enables her to easily peek at the obscene movements of her senior's boobs.

"Which one starts this?" Miyako asked Yōta as she stands closely to him.

"It's Makoto-san." Yōta hummed his answer, "She suddenly came to Kazuko-chan and requested a duel between them, saying that she wants to show the result of her training to Kazuko-chan."

"Ho." Momoyo looks quite curious at that as she looks at the battle between her juniors with very keen eyes, "I can see that she's indeed improving since last three weeks."

Miyako slightly tilts her head and squints her eyes, she takes every movements that the fighters made with focused eyes, "Oh, you're right."

Yōta chuckles and crosses his arms over his chest, looking quite proud at that, "Man, Tenrai is getting stronger and stronger nowadays, I'm so happy for them."

"Don't talk like you're not the cause of that, Young Emperor-dono." Yamato retorted from the side, "I saw you trained them together with Wanko from times to times, you know."

Yōta simply shrugs his shoulders at that statement, "It's Kazuko-chan's little request. Like hell I'll refuse her, and I want her group to get stronger too, so it's a win-win situation for me."

"What a doting owner."

"Hey!"

"What are you guys talking about? Tenrai? What's that?" Chris asked from the sideline as she overheard their conversation.

"Hm?" Yōta looks at Chris and Yukie who's looking quite confused right now, he then points at the fight in front of him with his chin, "The girl over there, who's fighting against Kazuko-chan right now is her subordinate."

The newest members looks quite surpised at that statement.

"You see..." Yōta started, "Kazuko-chan in her first-year formed this group named Tenrai after she beat all of the deliquent girls who likes to bully and messing around with the juniors."

"Fufu, she's quite pissed off back then." Miyako giggle behind her hand.

"Yeah, that's the first time I saw Wanko seriously enraged at someone." Yamato nods his head in agreement.

Since she had this sweet and friendly girl who always love to smile image, seeing her looking so furious like a fierce tiger as she charges at the senior's building absolutely shock the hell out of Yamato.

That was one of the scariest thing that Yamato'd seen in his life, to be honest. Because he simply didn't expect that!

He's getting used to this funny and sweet Kazuko, that's why it's caught his guard off and scared him so much that Kazuko's demanor suddenly changes like that back then.

After that whole incident, Kazuko got her own moniker, Tenmōko, the Fierce Tiger of Heaven.

She then creates the Tenrai with the girls who got bullied afterwards. Yes, Tenrai's members are all girls, and Makoto is the Co-Leader of the group together with the other one.

"And that's also the first time I saw her Tiger Stance." Momoyo chimed in from the side as she locks Yōta's head and grind his head with her knuckles, "Just how much secret you both hold from us, huh!?"

"Ouch! That hurts!" Yōta complained as he thrashes around in Goddess of War's arms, "It won't be secret anymore if I tell you, you know!?"

"He's got point."

"He is."

Miyako looks at the group with amused expression on her face before focusing on the battle between two friends in front of her.

...

"Haaa!!" Makoto jumps above and swings her bisentō at Kazuko.

Kazuko steps overhead in response to that as she brings her naginata in wide-arc swing to knock the attack with brute force.

"Hehe, that was a good one, Makoto-chan!" Kazuko grinned.

The youngest Kawakami then spins to her upper-left with her naginata extended, slashing upwards in rapid twirls.

Makato has a hard time to block the attack and she's being forced to jump backward to take a distance between them.

But Kazuko doesn't let her go as she thrusts the naginata forward then followed by a great turning sweep slash.

"Kyah!"

Makoto was blown away to the sky.

"Kawakami Style – Scourge of Swallows!"

Kazuko grabs the naginata tightly before performing multiple swings that unleashes a barrage of orange energy wave in the form of swallows towards Makoto in the sky above.

Makoto squints her eyes and grabs her bisentō with two hands, she then twists her body in mid-air and swings the bisentō up and down repeatedly to deflects the flying slashes away.

She leaned her body forward before launching herself to Kazuko below.

Kazuko smiles brightly at that and start to twirl her naginata swiftly, then swing it in front, meeting Makoto's bisentō in mid-way.

The clash between of them is powerful enough to create a quake and massive craters.

"Dragon's Spell!" After the clash, Makoto does a full swiping motion accompanied by two additional thrusts.

Kazuko once again grins at the move Makoto made as she holds the naginata sideways and swings them in a large circular slash, "Kawakami Style: Third Dragon Stance – Half-Moon Tail!"

An orange dragon meet a blue one and it causes multiple chain explosions in the middle of the yard.

BOOM! BOOOOM!! BOOOOOOM!!!

And in the middle of that explosions, two silhouettes charged at each other with a shout.

"Haaa!!"

"Hyaaa!!!"

Kazuko stabs the naginata forward, but Makoto avoids that by hair's breadth.

And as Makoto was about to attack Kazuko, the youngest Kawakami followed up the attack with an overhead strike.

Makoto steps overhead to bring her body close to Kazuko and by using that as an advantage, she pushes the shaft of Kazuko's naginata away with palm strike.

It results in Kazuko to miss her target and that give Makoto a chance to strike her from close-range.

But Kazuko is quick in response as she suddenly throws a knee strike to Makoto to intercept her strike by attacking her hands.

"Agh!"

Kazuko then goes behind Makoto and jabs her with rear end of the naginata, knocking her down.

She then performs a downward slash from a slight turning pivot.

Makoto leans to the side to dodge the downward swing from Kazuko as she swings her bisentō back to Kazuko's side.

Kazuko brings her naginata fast and blocks the strike with the shaft, but it's powerful enough to push her away from Makoto.

"Makoto-chan, you're really getting stronger." Kazuko spoke out as she twirls her naginata and smack the rear end of it on the ground with big smile on her face.

She's just feel happy right now. Her friend is getting stronger, so of course she would feel happy for her.

Makoto smiles back at Kazuko before she takes her stance, "Thank you, Kazuko-san. I just don't want to fall behind against others after all."

"You silly." Kazuko giggled in response before she takes her Wolf Stance by leaning her upper body forward, almost touching the ground in crouching position as she holds her naginata with two hands, "You don't have to worry a thing. You have good potential, Makoto-chan. You clearly getting stronger in these three weeks after all. You won't fall behind, and I won't leave you all for that, I'll just wait for you all to reach me one day!"

Makoto gulps at the stance Kazuko just took. She already knows. Her leader is trying to end this duel with her next attack.

"That's answer is so like you, Kazuko-san."

She said before she grabs the bisentō with two hands and ready to execute her technique as well.

"Hehe, that's just who I am."

"I know."

...

"This is it." Momoyo commented from the sideline.

She's been looking at the fight with undivided attention. She's already knew who's gonna win this fight.

Yōta who's currently in Momoyo's arm doesn't say anything, he simply looks at the duel with smile on his face.

Miyako who besides him can't help but to smile in fond manner when she saw the pride in Yōta's face.

He's really a softie.

"Oh that's a new one..." Gakuto hummed as he looks at the stance Kazuko took, "What stance is that?"

"It's Wolf Stance." Yōta answered.

"So she finally completed that stance?" Takuya asked as he glances to Yōta who nods his head in response, "Good for her."

"Wolf Stance?" Chris pinched her jaw with her thumb and index fingers, doing a thinking pose, "I think she used that stance against me. Are you telling me that stance isn't completed back then?"

Yōta gives Chris a wry smile, "Yeah, that's why when she used Wolf Fang back then, it's kinda unstable."

"Ah, I noticed that too." Miyako inclined her head in agreement.

"Me too." Yukie chimed in, "I thought that's because she executed the technique too briefly that she doesn't have enough foundation to properly perform it."

Yōta chuckles wryly at that, "I mean, she made a mistake when she grabbed the san-dan maki part with one hand. She still doesn't know the proper way to hold the stance back then."

"Ah, so that's why." Yukie nods her head understandingly.

"It's incomplete and it's still have that much power..." Chris murmured to herself, "It seems I need to train more, I can't let myself fall behind the Dog after all"

"So..." Yamato started as he crosses his arms while looking at Yōta in curious manner, "How many stances she already completed, by the way? I only know the Tiger one."

"Three. She already completed three of five stances." Yōta answered with a smile.

"Man, she's so dedicated." Matsukaze remarked.

Momoyo couldn't stop herself from forming a big smile on her face as how happy and proud she is when she heard that.

Her little sister's getting stronger and stronger each days is the best thing ever. That's meaning her dear sister is getting closer to achieve her dream and Momoyo wants that to happen.

But it seems she doesn't need to worry about it. As long as Yōta stands beside and support Kazuko, she believes that Kazuko will definitely reach her dream in the future.

That's for sure.

...

Both fighters smiles at each other for the last time before they narrows their eyes, sporting a serious expression on their face.

The hold on their weapons tightened as their blades burning with intense aura.

Without wasting any moments, they both charge at each other at the same time with a shout.

"Kawakami Style: Fifth Wolf Stance – Ignition Bite!!"

"Great Typhoon!!!"

Kazuko delivers a powerful piercing attack with her charged-up naginata that unleashes a head of a wolf from the tip of the blade that's trying to bite its prey.

Makoto on the other side makes a great swing that propels her body and bisentō to spin like a top in a diagonal angle, creating a sharp cyclone that'll cut everyting in its way.

The two great attacks meet each other in mid-way and it causes massive explosion that almost blow the onlookers nearby away if not for the teachers' perfect timing to put a barrier around them.

The barrier shook with great intensity but it's still stand strong.

The cyclones that Makoto produced are trying to force its way through Kazuko's attack, but it seems like it's meaningless.

Kazuko's Ignition Bite is more stronger and more fiercer than Makoto's attack.

The wolf that materialized by Kazuko's Ki is currently tearing the cyclone down with its fang, biting and destroying it aggressively.

Kazuko grins widely and infuses more energy into the wolf as it's getting bigger and stronger.

The wolf finally makes through the cyclone and fiercly hit Makoto dead in the torso.

"Kyaaaaaahhh!!!"

It's powerful enough to blast Makoto far into the sky as she coughs a mouthful of blood.

"That's it! Kazuko wins!" Tesshin announced as he raised his arm above.

Makoto who's in the sky almost hit the edge of the school's wall if not for Yōta speeding his way to Makoto and catches her in his arms.

That's the reason why teachers didn't move at all to save Makoto, they saw Yōta moves first before they could, and they believe in that man, so they let him to handle it.

He's a capable man after all.

"Man, that was close." He mutters under his breath before tapping the wall behind him gently with his toes to stop the momentum of his speed.

He then lands on the ground in gentle manner as to not hurt Makoto in his arms.

"Are you alright, Makoto-san?"

"... Nii-san." Makoto opens half of her eyes to look at Yōta who's currently smiling at her, she unintentionally averts her eyes, "... I'm fine."

Yōta stays silent for a second before his demeanor softened, "You're getting stronger. I'm proud of you."

Makoto bites her lower lips as she covers her face with hands, she couldn't stop herself from trembling because of the praise she just got from her master.

Ah, she wants to cry now.

Yōta chuckles at his disciple before he adjusts her position in his arms and move to the crowd that's looking at Makoto worriedly.

That attack earlier is scarily powerful to the onlookers, they mean, Makoto just coughed a mouthful of blood right there!

But thanks to Makoto's sturdiness, she can tank that attack enough to not let her pass out.

But it doesn't mean it's not hurt. It still hurts like a bitch, mind you. She thinks 6 or 8 of her ribs are broken right now and some of her bones are fractured as well.

And she's quite thankful that she only had her ribs and some bones are fractured right now, because Kazuko's attack earlier can kill her on the spot.

If Kazuko doesn't de-materialize the wolf fast enough, Makoto is positive enough that half of her body would be bitten off mercilessly by that wolf.

Though she won't worry about that at all because she knows that Kazuko is good enough to not make a mistake like that.

There's a reason why she already mastered the Wolf Stance after all, it's so that she could control the power properly.

"Makoto-chan!" Kazuko zoomed in to Yōta's front as she looks at Makoto worriedly, "Are you okay?"

"Kazuko-san... I'm fine, but I don't think I could move for today." Makoto replied with a wry smile, "It's will be hard to take a bath after this."

Yōta and Kazuko laughs at that statement, even in this situation Makoto doesn't change at all.

"Don't worry, I'll help you." Kazuko smiles brightly before she grabs the naginata with both hands and then smack the rear end of it onto the ground, "Kawakami Style: Fifth Phoenix Stance – Blazing Wings of Immortality!"

A pair of majestic flaming wings suddenly sprout from Kazuko's back, it produces a strong burning shockwave to her immediate vicinity that's making the crowd to move away from them.

The onlookers, included the Kazama Family looks surprised at the display of power that Kazuko just showed.

"What now? Phoenix Stance?" Yamato asked as he wipes the sweat on his forehead because of the heat, "Man, she's becoming ridiculously powerful now."

"Goddamn, that's so cool!!" Shōichi excitedly exclaimed from Yamato's side. Flaming wings!? How cool is that!? Damn, these people are having such super cool power!!

"Even from this distance, the heat that wings generated is still hot." Chris commented from the side.

It seems Kazuko is still holding herself back in their duel back then.

"Hot damn! She had Dragon, Tiger, Wolf, and now Phoenix? And Yōta-boy said that she had five stance earlier. I wonder what's the last one... Don't tell me, it's Horse Stance!? It's Horse Stance isn't it!?"

"Calm down, Matsukaze..." Yukie tried to calm the tsukumogami down.

"So she finally completed that as well..." Miyako murmured to herself as she smiles in Kazuko's direction. She feels happy for her best friend.

Momoyo doesn't say anything, but her whole body is trembling with excitement right now. Her eyes are gleaming with such happiness and a slight of battle lust, but she killed the battle lust inside her mercilessly.

She won't let the phase to ruin her mood right now. No-no.

The flaming wings then encases Kazuko, Yōta and Makoto, and as the flame of the wings licking Makoto's whole body, she's slowly regenerating.

The flame helps Makoto to regenerates faster than usual as the flaming feathers that surrounds her right now were filled with pure energy.

While she still feels the pain around her stomach, but at least her fractured bones are already recovered and she can stands with her own feet too now.

"Oh, you're finally completed that technique as well?" Yōta smiles brightly while looking at Kazuko with pride, he doesn't expect this at all.

What a nice surprise.

The flaming wings on Kazuko's back slowly retracting itself until it reaches the size of mini pair of wings and it pops off from existence all of a sudden, leaving nothing behind.

Kazuko rubs the bridge of her nose shyly in response to the question, "Hehe, yes! I'm awesome, don't you think? You can praise me, you know!"

"Good job! You're just the best, believe it!" Yōta happily ministering her needs and Kazuko also happily preening at the attention.

Makoto shakes her head fondly when she saw that these two never really change as well.

They're like they were made for each other.

"Hey, Makoto, are you okay?"

Makoto jumped out on her feet when she heard that familiar voice, she shyly looks at the source of it and there's standing Tadakatsu with his usual serious expression.

"I-I'm fine, Tadakatsu-san..." She averts her eyes from him as she twirls her hair, "Kazuko-san already heal me..."

"That's good then." Tadakatsu nodded his head understandingly.

"Now, now, I think you should take her to infirmary still, Gen-san." Yōta chimed in from the side with amicable smile on his face, "I can confirm that Makoto-san still feels the pain with how she slightly hunches her body right now."

"That's right, Tacchan! Makoto-chan still needs to rest." Kazuko confirmed while nodding her head repeatedly from Yōta's side.

Tadakatsu looks at Makoto with focused eyes, and that make Makoto stands upright in response, but due to that sudden movements, she flinched and her face slightly twisted in pain.

Upon witnessing that, Tadakatsu sighs and grabs Makoto's back, making the girl squeaks out, before suddenly picking her up in princess carry.

He then casually makes his way to the infirmary, ignoring the looks that onlookers give to him right now.

Meanwhile Makoto in Tadakatsu's arm is covering her red face with her hands as she's trying to hold her scream back so it won't leak out.

She's so embarrassed and so happy that she could die right now!!

Yōta and Kazuko shares a look before they starts chuckling and giving a high five to each other.

"Man, as expected from Gen-san. What a chad." Yamato said as he also looks at Tadakatsu with impressed look on his face.

"He clearly lives in different dimension..." Takuya murmured under his breath while closing his eyes.

How can he be that so confident and casually picking a girl in his arms like that!?

"I'm so damn jealous..." Gakuto on the other side bite his uniform in jealousy.

Makoto is one of the sexiest girl in this school, but too bad for the boys since she's already taken by Tadakatsu, while it's not official but it's already confirmed that Makoto has a feelings for the man.

It's already a lost cause for the boys in this school.

And with the duel between Kazuko and Makoto finally end, the crowd start to disperse as they move to their own classrooms in hurry.