The Preliminaries (I)
The waters of the large indoor bath sloshed around as Suzuran nestled her way into it. She let out a long sigh, the lethargy of the day washing away into the steamy waters. Sitting inside, she stretched her arms, her rather modest chest in full view (although there was no one in the vicinity who would admire it). With her beautiful silver hair held in place by a neatly folded towel, she drawled, “Leave it to the Origami family! Even their bath is gaudy!”
Honami, on the other hand, couldn’t share her sentiments. She was busy running her hands softly through her hair, massaging shampoo all the way down to their roots. “Hmm... I think it’s safe to assume that that girl we met earlier today is indeed one of the four representatives of Heijou Institute. She looks pretty strong… especially considering that she could be our opponent tomorrow.”
Picking up on her unease, Suzuran smirked before standing up from the bath and walking over to her partner. “Here, lemme wash your back for you.”
“He-Hey!” Honami yelped as she struggled to stop her friend from washing her.
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Suzuran said with glee as she tore off the towel covering Honami and began working on her sleek back. Honami could do nothing but squirm in silence as Suzuran gently scrubbed her down. Honami slapped her when Suzuran tried to sneak her hand to her front with the intention to grope her bountiful chest which was several sizes larger than Suzuran’s.
“Hey, hands off!” After successfully fending off Suzuran’s grabby hands, Honami herself seized Suzuran by her neck and flipped her over onto her back, slamming her into the wet floor before grabbing her discarded towel and tying the floundering (but laughing) Suzuran’s hands together. She then grabbed the sponge that had been thrown out of Suzuran’s hand with the intention of returning the favor, however, in a bout of meanspiritedness, ensuring to use just a little more pressure than necessary when washing someone. She also alternated from minimal pressure to maximum pressure, torturing Suzuran with random stimuli that came irregularly. She couldn’t help herself from giggling as her friend struggled against the towel binding her wrists.
The two friends horsed around some more until the proprietress came hurtling in and gently scolded them for making too much noise.
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Following their horseplay in the baths came food.
Suzuran, who was usually a clean eater and able to pace herself, couldn’t help but disregard her ingrained manners and gorge herself on everything she found on the table. She stuffed her mouth full with fried fish, spicy bulgogi, bowls of imported ramen brought to Kamakura from Shinagawa Prefecture, assorted pieces of vegetable and seafood tempura, and karaage. After eating as much as she possibly could, she slowed down, patting her abdomen which was already so full it was practically bursting. “Ah, I ate, I ate!”
Honami, admittedly, also ate quite heavily but she could not hold a candle to an unhinged Suzuran’s appetite. “It doesn’t feel like we’re going to be fighting a tournament at all. This just feels like we’re having fun on a hot springs trip.”
“Well, yes and no,” Suzuran replied. “The real fun starts tomorrow!”
“You really do like kenjutsu, eh, Suzu?”
“You bet I do!” she replied immediately before adding, “Oh, but I also really love your cookies!”
Honami flashed a smile before her expression fell. “Hmm... I guess I still feel a bit uneasy. After all, tomorrow, we duel not with our training swords but our real swords—our okatana.”
After thinking for a moment, Suzuran clapped her hands. “Well, why don’t we burn off some of our dinner and do a little practice outside?”
“Eh?” Honami stuttered. “…I mean, okay.”
They were in a private room, reserved for pairs of representatives for the National Swordsmanship Tournament. At the center of their room lay their dinner table and on one side attached to a wall was a wooden stand where they had put their okatana to rest. They both took their respective okatana before Suzuran went over to the nearby porch, sliding open the door and stepping out into the stone garden. They then followed their muscle memory and stood apart from each other at the same distance where an official duel would begin from. Upon turning to face each other, they held their blades at their sides from their scabbards.
Suzuran slowly drew her sword, stating its name, “Suijingiri Kanesada.”
Honami reflected this, drawing her own sword and stating its name: “Himezuru Ichinomiya.”
Having already had the command drilled into her head at every official duel she participated in, Suzuran parroted, “Both of you, take your stances.”
“ “Utsushi.” ”
Utsushi—.
A term with the definition of “duplicate”, utsushi is a vital technique that all Toji use when they obtain their okatana. Outside of Japan, the technique is referred to as Mirage. Utsushi is a technique where via the user’s okatana, transmogrify their body into one made out of energy. Upon invoking utsushi, the user’s body glows white and should they move, lightning-like streams of energy emanate from their eyes. While in the state of utsushi, any damage the user receives is instead received by their energy duplicate at the cost of slight feelings of pain and mental fatigue for any damage taken; as a result, the user is not actually injured. In the case where a blow is received that removes a body part, such as having one’s hand cut off, this damage is done only on the utsushi, temporarily rendering that body part unusable, however, upon returning to their original state, the missing body part remains untouched.
There are, however, multiple downsides in this technique. Being distracted enough to ruin one’s concentration will sever one’s connection to their utsushi and the same goes for when the user loses their grip on their okatana. Falling unconscious will also break the utsushi. To prevent this, Toji train to prolong the duration of the technique as well as increase their mental fortitude so that they will be able to take more attacks to their utsushi without the technique failing on them. In accordance with statistics provided by the Special Sword Administration Bureau, the average Toji can activate utsushi once per battle but seasoned Toji are able to redeploy their utsushi once or twice more after having it broken or dispelled.
It should also be noted that should a Toji in the middle of combat fail to be able to produce another utsushi that they are to immediately retreat. The Special Sword Administration Bureau only allows combat with aradama if a Toji can produce an utsushi. While not a required necessity, a Toji is also recommended to use utsushi in combat matters outside of their mission, such as fights with other Toji. This is to minimize the risk of a Toji suffering an injury that would affect their career.
Both successfully activated the technique and Suzuran said reassuringly, “You seem completely fine, Honami.”
“Yes, but…”
“Okay, in that case, how about we do a short spar before bed? Maybe by moving, you’ll regain your confidence.”
“No, I think that’s enough for tonight,” she said, sheathing Himezuru Ichinomiya and dispelling her utsushi. “After all, the real matches are tomorrow and it wouldn’t be good if we both exhausted ourselves the night before with a practice match.”
“Well, I suppose that’s true too.” Suzuran dispelled her own utsushi and followed Honami inside, returning their swords back to the wooden stand before cleaning up the room. “I’m just worried about you, Honami… You’ve never been this jumpy.”
“… I really don’t think that’s the right way to put it,” Honami began. “Although… I suppose you’re right.” They then silently split the duties with Suzuran cleaning up the dishes and remaining foodstuffs while Honami put away the table. Five minutes later, they opened the closets and pulled out two futon, laying them next to each other. Suzuran also extracted a traditional lantern, lighting it with the box of matches she had packed with her, resulting in a dim warming glow being cast over the dark room. She then crawled under her covers and soon fell fast asleep.
However, Honami couldn’t bring herself to fall asleep immediately like her friend did. Her mind was constantly on the next day. The weight of using real swords seems to have already sunk in for Suzuran but for some reason, Honami couldn’t bring herself to accept it that quickly. She voiced her worries as a question, directed at the sleeping face of the girl next to her.
“Suzu… If we were to face each other tomorrow, would you be able to fight me for real?”
Of course, Honami received no reply.