Aiki

Shishio and Shibukawa stood on the top of the mat, facing each other on the dojo inside Shibukawa's house.

Shishio had changed into aikido dogi that Shibukawa lent.

Shibukawa looked at Shishio and nodded secretly. If Shishio became his student, without a doubt, many female students would sign up excitedly, especially when he saw how handsome he was. "By the way, can I take a picture of you?"

"...Sure." Shishio's expression was weird, then asked, "You're not going to use it for an advertisement or something, right?"

"...." Shibukawa.

"I don't really mind, though," Shishio said simply.

"Thank you." Shibukawa smiled happily.

"...." Tokugawa and Mai.

Tokugawa and Mai were speechless, watching the interaction between Shishio and Shibukawa. They were sitting on the side of the dojo, watching Shishio and Shibukawa standing in the middle of the dojo.

Mai looked at Shishio and thought about the fighting video she had watched before. She felt quite conflicted when she learned that her boyfriend was fighting in the underground fighting arena. She was afraid that he would be hurt, but when she saw how strong he was, there was this sense of pride welling up in her heart, and somehow, it turned her on, watching him fight.

Still, Mai became dumbfounded when she learned the old man's identity beside her was the descendant of the Tokugawa clan, who had been the shogunate of Japan for the past centuries. She would be lying if she wasn't nervous, but she seemed amiable, and his relationship with Shishio was good, but even so, she decided to call him respectfully.

Mai looked at Tokugawa and asked, "Um, sir, what is aikido exactly?" She didn't know much about aikido after all, unlike karate or judo, even in Japan, there weren't many people who learned aikido. Even boxing was more popular in Japan than aikido even though it had more history.

"You don't need to call me, sir. You're his girlfriend anyway. Just call me, grandpa," Tokugawa said gently.

"Okay, grandpa." Mai nodded and didn't think too much.

Tokugawa smiled and said, "Well, if I have to describe aikido as a soft martial art. It's suitable for a woman to learn."

"Soft?" Mai was confused.

"In this world, there are two types of martial arts." Tokugawa raised two of his fingers and said, "There are hard and soft martial arts. Hard martial art is something that you usually see in karate or boxing. Practitioners of those martial arts train their bodies hard to give more powerful strikes. On the other hand, soft martial arts are different. They don't need to have a powerful body. Instead, they need keen observation and calm judgment. They use their opponent's strength and momentum, redirect them, and even use the opponent's force to win against their opponent."

Mai was surprised but also confused. "Using your opponent's force?"

"If you're confused, then you should watch them since they'll show you what Aiki truly is."

"Aiki..." Mai murmured and looked at Shishio. Still, no matter what he wore, he was so handsome, she thought at that moment.

---

Shishio and Shibukawa, of course, heard what Mai and Tokugawa were talking about, but neither of them cared much.

"How about we shake our hands?" Shibukawa suddenly said with a smile.

Shishio looked at Shibukawa's facial expression and could tell that Shibukawa prepared him another surprise. He somehow wondered whether the old man in front of him was a master of aikido or ninjutsu. However, he also felt that an element of surprise was necessary when your opponent was stronger than you, so it wasn't surprising if Shibukawa also learned ninjutsu.

"Okay."

Shishio knew it was a trap, but he still entered one without hesitation.

Shishio and Shibukawa held hands together, but suddenly...

"!!!"

Shishio suddenly felt his entire body was heavy. It was as if there was a massive boulder on his shoulders that made him unable to exert his power. He couldn't help but frown and try to fight back, but instead of standing up, he was forced to fall by Shibukawa!

"Hohoho, what do you think? It's amazing, right?" Shibukawa laughed when he saw Shishio's reaction.

Watching this situation, Mai and Tokugawa were dumbfounded since a short and thin old man like Shibukawa could force Shishio, an athletic young man whose strength was three times that of a normal human, almost to the ground!

"What's happening?" Mai asked with a confused expression.

"It's Aiki." This was the only thing that Tokugawa could say since he didn't understand the principle of Aiki.

However...

"Oh, I see."

Shishio fixed all the errors on his body, ignoring the law of gravity, then stood up normally.

"........."

Not only Mai and Tokugawa, but Shibukawa was also dumbfounded since when they thought that Shishio would fall on the ground, he suddenly stood up normally as if nothing had happened. After all, his position was similar to someone who was doing limbo dancing and was about to fall, but even with such an unbalanced position, he could stand up again as if nothing happened even though he was pushed by Shibukawa.

"Do you understand?" Shibukawa asked calmly, but his heart was racing inside, thinking Shishio was a monster.

"Yeah." Shishio nodded then showed the example to Shibukawa. "Like this, right?"

Shibukawa was familiar with his technique, but Shishio used this technique on him when he was unprepared, so he was quickly pushed by Shishio and almost fell to the ground before he quickly reacted, fixing his posture and standing up normally like Shishio.

The reason why Shibukawa could make Shishio fall to the ground during their handshake was because of the center of balance. It was hard to stabilize the body during a handshake, and just a slight change from that position would break one's center, so it was easy to make one fall into the ground as long as one was pushed.

Shibukawa was full of sweat, but even so, his smile became even brighter. "How about another one?"

"Do you have more interesting techniques?" Shishio asked. He didn't mind receiving and being attacked by Shibukawa's techniques since that was the faster he was to learn the essence of Aiki.

Shibukawa laughed then said, "Then try this."

Unlike before, Shibukawa held Shishio's wrist. Then without hesitation, he dropped him.

*BAAAM!*

Shishio fell to the ground, his entire body was slammed, but before his face hit the ground, he used his arm to stop the technique.

However, Shibukawa's technique didn't end, and he twisted Shishio's arm slightly before he raised his hand, forcing Shishio to stand up by himself and throw him into the air!

".........."

Tokugawa and Mai opened their eyes wide since the scene before them was like magic.

Shishio, whose body was almost twice or thrice, was thrown into the air by such a small old man!

If the two of them didn't see it with their own eyes, they wouldn't believe it.

However, Mai quickly reacted and shouted his name in worry. "Shishio!"

Shibukawa's throw was powerful.

Shibukawa added the weight and the force of Shishio before adding his own strength and weight into this throw, and without a doubt, Shishio would be injured if they were fighting on the street since the ground was made from concrete. Luckily, they were standing on the mat floor, but even so, it would hurt as long as one was slammed with such a powerful throw.

However...

Shishio twisted his body in the air before landing on the ground gracefully. However, he looked at neither Shibukawa nor Mai. Instead, he was thinking about the techniques that Shibukawa used.

Frankly, Aiki intrigued him since this martial art was different from what he had learned.

'It's different from the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that I have mastered.'

If the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that he had gotten from his reward would focus on the structure of joints, bones, and body.

Then Aiki would be more focused on the reflex movement.

Unlike joints, bones and the body could become stronger and bigger, depending on one's physical structure and training.

The reflex was different. Whether one was big, thin, fat, or anything, everyone had a similar reflex. Their reaction was similar, so whether one was weak or strong, it didn't really matter for Aiki.

There might be one who had a different reflex because of the mutation at birth, but everyone was mostly the same.

Shishio understood instantly that one needed to be a genius to understand this complex martial art.

'Understanding reflexes, huh?'

Still, Shishio instantly understood the weakness of the Aiki, but it was better to leave unsaid since the fewer people know, the better it was.

".........." Mai and Tokugawa.

Shibukawa frowned and asked, "You have learned gymnastics?" His lips twitched, and he thought that Shishio was really the ban of the Aiki.

"No, but I have confidence in my balance." Shishio had an "Enhanced Balance," and unless he was in the situation of a lucky pervert, he believed that he wouldn't fall or be thrown by someone since his balance was really that unbelievable.

"Balance..." Shibukawa sighed and said, "Well, you might understand the essence of Aiki, but can you explain it to me?"

Shishio thought for a moment and said, "Aiki is to pull when you are pushed and to push when you are pulled. It is the spirit of slowness and speed, of harmonizing your movement with your opponent's ki. Its opposite, kiai, is to push to the limit, while aiki never resists." This was what he felt when he tasted Shibukawa's technique.

Shibukawa had never forced his power into him. Instead, he used his strength to defeat him, which was why Shishio felt that this martial art was interesting!

"That's right!" Shibukawa smiled and said, "You don't need a huge body, a strong body to master Aiki. This is what you need." He pointed his finger at his brain as he smiled. "But what if you have a strong body and Aiki? What will happen at the combination of those two?"

"Not sure, but I'll probably show it to you soon," Shishio said with a smile.

Shibukawa laughed happily and said, "That's right! Show me then! I want to see it! How are you going to develop Aiki!"

"Don't hold back, Sensei. Let me learn all of your techniques," Shishio said and dashed, letting himself defenseless in front of Shibukawa.

"Sure, let me beat you up until you understand everything!" Shibukawa took a deep breath and prepared to use his all.

---

Shibukawa and Shishio had entered the "zone."

All voices, colors, smells, tastes, and everything disappeared.

Their minds were void, and in their minds were only focussed on each other, without letting their guards down.

They constantly moved from one place to another inside the dojo like flowing water that flowed around obstacles, finding the easiest path rather than strongly resisting them.

They kept moving without stopping until Shibukawa's body couldn't support his spirit anymore. His breathing was hard as he collapsed on the ground.

After training for an hour, Shibukawa was full of sweat, drenched from his face and body, and his face was pale, and he couldn't even move a single muscle of his body. "Damn, I hate being old!" He could feel the improvement when he had his spar with Shishio, and it was so fun that he didn't want to stop, but because of the limitation of his old body, he couldn't continue since his entire body was so heavy that he almost collapsed.

It had been a while since Shibukawa had this much fun, but this old body stopped him from having fun.

'Body...' Shibukawa murmured and thought that he might achieve enlightenment to develop his Aiki better.

Shishio was also full of sweat since his mind had been running at the fastest speed to understand every technique used on him by Shibukawa. "I'll come to your house again in the future, Sensei. When I come back, you'll be surprised."

"Hahaha." Shibukawa laughed as he laid on the dojo mat and said, "When you come back, I'll become stronger!"

"That's what I want to hear. Don't lose to me so easily," Shishio said with a smile.

'Don't lose to me so easily.'

This sentence might seem to look down on Shibukawa, but after fighting with Shishio for the past hour, he understood what kind of beast Shishio was. "Let me see what kind of Aiki that you have understood later."

The two were laughing and talking happily.

However, for Mai and Tokugawa, who had been watching their confrontation, there was only one word that could describe the fight that happened in front of them.

'Beautiful...'