Kendo Club

Shun was walking to the locker room after the coach dismissed him early for the day. He wanted the regulars to play a game with each other without Shun's influence on the game.

And Shun had decided to take the rest of the day off from his personal practice.

Shun was passing through the Kendo Club's dojo and decided to see how Inuzuka was doing in his club.

Shun entered the dojo of the Kendo club and saw that all the members except two sitting on their knees on the boundary of the Kendo arena.

He saw that one of the two members in the arena was the one he came to watch.

Inuzuka was in full gear, he was wearing the hakama, and over the hakama, he was wearing the kendo-gi. He also had a cotton towel wrapped around his head to prevent sweat from getting into his. [1]

Shun: "Damn, he looks cool in that."

Shun looked at his opponent and immediately recognized her as one of the top scorers of his year. The girl had straight blonde hair and azure blue eyes.

Her name was Juliet Persia, and she too was a member of the Kendo club, and she was dressed similar attire to Inuzuka. [2]

Shun removed his shoes, quietly walked to the kendo club members, and silently sat behind them. He chose a spot so that he could see the match from the side and see both players properly.

Inuzuka and Persia put on their head guard, bowed to each other before moving to the starting point where they needed to stand at the start of the match.

They drew their shinais and squated, waiting for the referee to start the match. [3]

The referee gave them the signal to start the match.

Referee: "Begin!"

Both of them stood up and touched their swords while still standing at the starting points.

Shun knew the rules of Kendo after spending a year in the same class as Inuzuka.

There were a total of four valid targets, but only three of which are allowed below the professional or semi-professional level because the fourth target was the guard in front of the throat and any mishit on that target, could cause potential injuries.

The rest of the targets were the area on top or sides of the head protector known as Men-bu, the area padded area of the right or left wrist protector known as Kote-bu, and the area of the right or left side of the armor that protects the torso known as Do-bu.

One match was a three-point competition, the player who scored two points first won the game, or the player with the most point at the end of the time won the match.

The match started with both kendoka not moving from their spot and just standing with their shinais meeting in the middle, occasionally both of them would try to move their opponent's shinai out the way for a direct attack with no chances of a counter. [4]

Shun also noticed that the front foot of both kendoka was laying flat on the surface, but only the toes of the back foot were in contact with the floor.

Shun: 'The position with only toes touching the ground will provide a fast yet strong force to advance the body forward.'

Shun waited for a minute while holding his breath before Persia moved forward, and with a slight movement of her shinai, she hit the side of Inuzuka's headgear, successfully scoring one point.

Everybody cheered softly at Persia's score that was accompanied by finesse.

Shun also noticed that Persia's movements were accompanied by all the requirements for a valid score.

Shun: 'She stomped her front foot while attacking, a yell accompanied her attack, and maintained the form for defense against any further attack.' [5]

Both of them returned to their initial position, but this time Inuzuka didn't wait as he immediately attacked the top of Persia's headgear with extreme speed.

The crowd cheered softly again as Inuzuka scored with quick agility and speed.

They again reset their positions and again touched their shinais.

Shun waited in anticipation for the last point of the game.

Both Inuzuka and Persia moved at the same time, as they clashed their shinai, after contact they both extremely close.

Persia pushed Inuzuaka away and backed away herself and attacked the Inuzuka's wrist guard.

Inuzuka, who was off balance by the push, but he didn't back down as extended his hands forward and struck Persia on the top of her headgear.

They both struck each other at the same time, and everybody except the two on the arena looked at the referee for his call.

The referee raised his hand and signaled in Persia's direction awarding her the final point.

Everybody cheered softly yet again, but this time, Shun jumped up and cheered loudly, even though it was his friend who lost the match.

Everybody turned their head toward Shun and found him as the odd one out. He was the only one who wore a sleeveless tank top and shorts while the others wore a traditional hakama.

Inuzuka, who heard the loud cheer, turned towards the source saw Shun clapping and cheering loudly. His first thought was not to ask Shun why he was here.

Inuzuka: "Kageyama, you bastard! Why are you cheering? I am the one who lost."

Shun waved his hand dismissively as he rebuked Inuzuka while laughing at him.

Shun: "Oh, come on, don't be a sore loser. Show some sportsmanship."

As Shun finished his sentence, he felt the gazes of everybody in the dojo on him.

Shun scratched his head and then bowed towards everybody.

Shun: "It was a good match."

As soon he said that Shun ran off from the dojo. He didn't want to be caught by the coach of the Kendo club for barging in on their club activities.

As he grabbed his shoes, he heard Inuzuka shouting behind him.

Inuzuka: "I will get you tomorrow, Kageyama!"

Shun turned and waved his friend goodbye.

Shun: "Sure, we will see about that!"

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As soon as Shun got home, he received a mail regarding a practice game next week. Tokiwadai was going to the other school to play this time.

Shun's eyes turned serious as he looked at the name of the school, but a smile also made its way to his lips.

The school they were going to play the practice game against was Aiwa Middle School, and they were led by a third-year Hanamiya Mikoto.

Tokiwadai was going to play against an Uncrowned King.

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A/N [1] - Hakama is the traditional clothing for Kendo divided into two parts; upper and bottom. Search {Kendo hakama} for a visual description.

Kendo-gi is the outer armor worn during a match for protection. It consists of a head guard, torso guard, wrist protectors, and a belt that protects the groin regions. Search {Kendo armor} for a visual description.

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A/N [2] - Juliet Persia is a character from the series Boarding School Juliet. The link to her profile will be in the comment section.

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A/N [3] - Shinai is the general term for the sword that is used in Kendo. There are different types of shinais. Search {shinai} for a visual description.

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A/N [4] - Kendoka refers to the people who practice the art of Kendo. They are basically Kendo athletes.

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A/N [5] - Requirements for a valid point.

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