Chapter 20 - Everyday relations

—" Yes... of course, I knew that Saeko was a guru in Kendo, but not so much..." — Alicia muttered, watching Saeko sparring with a girl from a parallel class.

—" Well, Saeko is really good. "— I agreed and noticed that the girl herself lost her pace somewhat when she heard my words. —"Where's Rei?"

— "She's changing clothes... as far as I understand, she ordered a special suit for training and wants to try it on." — the little sister waved her hand and looked at the bokken in her hand. Rei really ordered clothes for training... only she was a little strange and looked more like a costume of some cosplayer girl than a training one.

— "Rei, have you decided to become a magical girl? " — I smiled, looking at the girl.

— "Uh, like not?" — somehow, she said uncertainly. —" How do you like the uniform?" — she twirled.

— "It's like you're going to cosplay someone." — Alicia answered her honestly, skeptically examining the clothes on that one.

— "Hey, don't talk about these clothes." — she was a little indignant, and more out of embarrassment, because she herself understands that the costumes look ... not quite right. — "It looked different online. In general, I am ready to show you my skills." — Rei said with fervor and, grabbing the bokken, went to the center of the room where sparring is usually held. Saeko had already finished her fight, so she stepped aside.

— "Rey, I don't think you'll be comfortable in these clothes." — Saeko told her. — "But if you still want to try it, then fine. Felix, will you go out with her?" — she offered me to go against a friend.

—" I don't mind. "— I took my bokken.

— "Hmm, don't give in to me. "— that's all-serious Rei said and lunged forward... and holding a bokken with a rather strange grip, I would say that this is how you need to hold a rapier or something like that, but not like not a bokken.

— "Rei, you're not holding rapier in your hand." — I said, easily blocking the blow with a bokken and immediately counterattacked, walked around the girl and slapped the tip of the wooden bokken on her ass.

— "Ouch, well, wait..." — she attacked me again. It was obvious that she had enough experience with cold weapons, she just mixed different styles and attacked as she pleased. In principle, this will work against people unfamiliar with any techniques, but I easily saw the extra movements and some uncertainty of the girl herself. So, in less than a couple of seconds, my bokken met the girl's fifth point again.

— "Oh, again on the ass." — Rei hissed, grabbing at the damaged place.

— "Rei, you obviously have some experience, but it's not enough… It's like you've assembled some kind of Frankenstein from different martial arts, whether it's wielding a sword, a spear or the same jiu-jitsu. In general, there is something to work on."

—"I'm generally the best with a spear. "— the girl noticed.

—" Well, then let's…"

— "Rei!" — someone's voice interrupted me, as it turned out it was Takashi and his friend who came into the club. — "There you are." — he began to inspect the room and noticed me standing very close to the girl, which he clearly did not like. — "Ahm, Busujima-san, I'm sorry to interrupt." — he and his friend, Hisashi Igo, slightly bowed to the girl and she coolly nodded to them. — "I... uh... Rei, can I talk to you for a minute?"

— "Takashi... can't you see that I'm busy here?" — Rei said with incomprehensible emotions looking at her childhood friend. — "When I'm done, then we'll talk." — she said and turned to me. — "Felix, let's continue."

—" Hmm, well, whatever you want." — I nodded to her, and we continued sparring. Moreover, it often happened that I slapped her with a bokken on her ass or hugged her so that the girl did not fall after an unsuccessful blow. I didn't do all this on purpose, after all, when I was teaching my sister martial arts, something similar happened, there is nothing to teach without physical contact. And the blows to the fifth point showed that I could still hit her and that the fight was lost. Don't hit her on the face or on the body, that's how I sparred with Saeko at first. It's already now that we can wave the boken for a dozen minutes before someone makes a mistake, well, or until the girl gets tired.

Half an hour later, a new spectator could not stand another loss Rei and shouted:

—" But it's not fair! She's a girl and doesn't know how to fight, and you put her up against an older one."

— "It's best to learn when you feel your sword, that's what's happening with Rei right now. We will also teach the techniques and the necessary racks. "— Saeko answered him coldly.

—"Then why aren't you teaching her? You're the captain of the club and you have to do it". — he said, continuing to bend his line. —" And releasing a guy a year older than her against a girl is somehow completely unfair. He's simply bigger and stronger than her." — he expressed his opinion. He clearly didn't like the fact that Rei and I were pretty close anymore. If in high school he simply ignored our company, then now he clearly realized that he could be left out ... or maybe it's just jealousy and unwillingness to let go of what he thought should belong to him.

— "Komuro, why are you bothering us?" — Alicia said irritably, she didn't like that some left-wing guy started imposing his opinion here.

—" I'm not teaching her at the moment, because I've sparred with other people before and I'm tired, and Felix-kun is as good with a katana as I am, so he's the best teacher of all the other members of the club." — Saeko said calmly, trying to explain her point of view to him, but…

— "He's groping her! "— he couldn't stand it, and his friend was standing next to him and seemed to be apologizing for his friend ... although he also didn't like my closeness to the girl too much.

—" This is a learning process." — Rei said and looked at her childhood friend with some anger. — "So there's no need to slander Felix."

— "Now he's just Felix for you ..." — the guy waited for his lips.

— "Takashi, what the hell happened to you? Sometimes you ignore me for months, then you walk around like a jealous peacock and throw yourself at my friends! "— Rei couldn't stand the intensity of emotions and shouted in the direction of the confused guy.

— "I... I want to join the club too." — he found something to say and looked at me with a dissatisfied look, as if I was to blame for the situation, and not his passivity. Saeko only raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Meanwhile, the guy went to the counter with the bokken and took one. —"Can I go up against you... senpai." — he said the last with reluctance, but still showed respect.

— "Uh, of course." — I nodded. —"Are you the only one sure of that? It's like I'm already considered a Kendo master, just like Saeko." — I drawled with some doubt, trying to hint that it would be better for him not to try to show off. His friend also tried to dissuade him and said that maybe it's still not worth jumping to conclusions ... but he didn't listen to him.

— "I'm fine, I want to see what they are worth against an opponent equal in speed and strength." — he said, but Rei gave him a look of displeasure and pity.

— "Felix... be gentle with him." — Rei said softly, which infuriated the guy even more.

— "Take off your blindfold, otherwise it won't be fair." — the guy said.

— "Are you sure you want this?" — I asked him one last time and lifted the blindfold, thereby looking at the guy with my right eye.

— "Yes." — he nodded and sighed. His athletic build shows that he is just confident in his speed and strength, and the way he held the bokken ... apparently, he confused it with a bat. As soon as the sparring started, he rushed towards me, intending to beat me up. I didn't feel downright hatred from him, he's just very jealous of Rei and wants to prove to her that he's no worse. Quite a common behavior for a teenager of fifteen years.

I just started dodging all Takashi's punches, which was quite easy because of the big swings before the punch. After demonstrating my advantage in speed, I started attacking and showed that I was also just stronger physically, as Takashi retreated from my bokken strikes, trying to block my blows. In general, having beaten him in speed and strength, I immediately beat him in skill. If at the beginning I was just playing with him, showing that he didn't have a chance, now I became a little more serious and just hit him on the arm with a bokken, from which he dropped his weapon. Of course, the blow wasn't too strong, after all, I didn't want to break his arm.

— "Felix won." — Saeko said. — "And you... Komuro-kun, right?" — she tried to remember his last name. — "In general, if you really want to join the club, you should familiarize yourself with the rules."

—"I... got it." — the guy said not so confidently anymore, casting glances at Rei, who was already talking to me and was interested in the movement with which I knocked the bokken out of Takashi's hand. Moreover, she ignored him now not because of any anger or just a desire for revenge, she really just wanted to learn about the movement and be closer to me, to someone who pays attention to her and to someone who has not just ignored her for a long time.

Hisashi Igo did not join the club, as he was not eager to spend so much time on it, but he supported his friend.