It was the last week of school before the students' much awaited winter break. Kazuya was silently pondering in his seat. He was still thinking about how to improve himself after learning what he did from Mei.

He thought about asking her for help but she was already busy enough as it was especially after learning about what he was planning in detail. Kazuya thought of ways of training himself but as a child, he had no way of encountering such people currently.

Tomoyo who wore her new signature ribbon observed him quietly. She knew that whenever he was like this, he had been thinking about something serious. He had been very busy lately and an influx of new students even came to their dojo via his recommendation.

There was not much to do with the final week of school since the exams were already over so various sheets were pa.s.sed around for the students to sign. The forms were for attending the sport events the students wanted to attend since their school partic.i.p.ated in many winter tournaments.

This of course included their very own kendo team who were both going to compete in the individual tournament and the team tournament.

"Hey Kouzuki, why the long face?" Takaya nonchalantly entered the room and sat on his desk.

The students of cla.s.s B were already used to this special student's presence. Ever since the day he met Kazuya, Takaya has been coming to school more and more and made himself at home at the seat behind his. They were no longer intimidated by this S cla.s.s member especially since both their cla.s.smates seemed to have control over him.

"You're here again? Why aren't you using your privileges like you normally should. The exams are already over and I already expected you to scram" the way Kazuya interacted with him was one of the reasons why their cla.s.smates were less afraid of Takaya.

"There you go again you grumpy tsundere. Why can't I come to school to see my good friend? You should be flattered since I plan on supporting you two on your tournament despite my upcoming major role during Christmas week" he proudly declared.

"Then why don't yo—" Kazuya stopped and had an epiphany. His eyes looked seriously at the showy friend in front of him.

"W-what? Why are you looking at me like that for?" he was startled. He had spent enough time with Kazuya to know what he was like, it was uncharacteristic of him to give him such a serious look so he felt something was up.

"Come with me" Kazuya suddenly stood up and pulled Takaya out of the room without giving him any choice. Tomoyo wanted to follow but Kazuya gestured for her to stay put.

He pulled Takaya all the way to the Kendo dojo where he knew that there would be less people. The nervous elite thought about everything he did to make sure he didn't do anything to offend Kazuya. He was a little scared because he knew that Kazuya had gained a shocking reputation on his first kendo tournament.

"W-why did you bring me here?" Takaya stuttered. He couldn't think of anything so he asked since he wanted to know why he would be beaten up if he did get beat.

"I wanted to discuss something with you since you asked what was bothering me" Kazuya's words made Takaya relieved. He figured that since this guy was so secretive, he didn't want others to hear about what he wanted to talk about.

"What's up? I'm not saying I will help you with whatever you need but I can at least be persuaded if you just give my proposal a shot" he regained his usual demeanor and wanted to take advantage of the situation.

"Sure, but I want to discuss the ground rules" he replied without hesitation.

"Don't be so quick to reject my proposal so quickly now. I can offer up a… wait! What did you just say!?" He stopped, blinked a few times and thought about what he heard and made sure that he heard the right thing before asking him in surprise.

"I said I'll agree to your proposal. But like I said, we need to discuss terms before I agree"

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"Wait a minute, why are you suddenly agreeing to this?" he looked at Kazuya suspiciously. He knew that things were not a simple as it seemed. Kazuya never gave him a chance whenever he offered multiple proposals to get him on board but today was different.

"Is finding out why more important than me agreeing to your request? I can just go to the drama club you know. The consultants from there are from your place as well as others so it would suit my purpose just as well. I only went to you first because you've been bugging me with this for quite a while you know" Kazuya grinned.

This was a temporary solution he came up with. There was no doubt that he could learn a lot from the professionals from the Aokis place. Since one of their young master was willing to recommend him and offered him a bunch of privileges so he could join, Kazuya decided to give it a try.

The Aoki theatre group's reputation speaks for itself. There has been no idol or celebrity that didn't improve their acting skills once they have joined one of their cla.s.ses. They were well known for their theatre performances but because of the number of successful people who transitioned to stardom, they became a place where aspiring actors needed to learn from.

Kazuya was like Takaya and looked the other up after they met as well. He was quite impressed by his new friend's accomplishments at such a young age and was intrigued at what Takaya saw in him. He was never really interested in stardom especially after what he experienced in Edea.

But after Mei revealed a fatal weakness, he knew he needed to improve his social skills as well. He was confident in his abilities but if he was a summoned hero who had all the advantages, he was still in the end, human.

To avoid being used, he needed to play the whole game and not focus himself only on the battlefield like he did. This way, he would get a better grasp on what to expect or what plots were being formed. After thinking about it, he knew that learning how to act would not only improve his chances, but it would also allow him to observe and improve his ability to detect if one was acting or not. Although he appeared to be weighing out his options, he looked forward to learning what he could from Takaya's family.

"Ugh… domineering as always. Fine… although I'm really curious, I believe I'll find out why you suddenly had a change of heart" Takaya sighed and gave up. Even though he felt like he was being tricked, he still finally got him to agree. It was rare for him to find a person he liked, even more so a person like Kazuya who didn't care about his status.

"I don't really mind telling you. I was just fooling around to make you even more curious hehe" he scoffed.

"You!!"

"But I'll only tell you after I really decide to join" he laughed. Kazuya knew how pa.s.sionate Takaya was about what he did and knew that he was glad to have someone he got along with to join.

"Tell me what you want then"

"I want to focus on learning so I will reject every proposal to join any performances if I ever get picked. Also, you've tried to tell me that even though acting was not like kendo it still requires you to be in shape so I don't think I will be needing that because the amount of training I do is something you won't be able to imagine" Kazuya listed out the things he wanted that he could think of at the moment. He had not planned for this so he said most of the things that Takaya already tried offering to pull him in.

"So many demands… well… since I was the one who offered most of them in the first place then I will try to make good on my word. I'll talk to my parents about it. What about the schedule?" he was feeling excited.

"The nationals will be this week so I guess we can start during winter break and see where we go from there"

"Since you have so many demands, I want to ask you for something as well" Takaya was hesitant but he decided to ask since they were already at this point.

"What is it?" he was quite curious what this shameless guy wanted to ask him.

"Help me a bit with studying. You already know how high the bar is to keep my privileges" he looked a bit embarra.s.sed.

"Hahaha!" he laughed at Takaya causing black lines to appear of his pretty boy face. "I have no problems with that. Consider it done"

"Did you really have to laugh that hard…" he sighed.

"Of course. Here I thought you were going to ask me for something that might derail our deal" the boys reached a consensus and sealed the deal with a handshake.

The two returned to the cla.s.sroom after their discussion. The day went on like normal but Takaya had left earlier than usual to quickly report what he had achieved today. The ban on club activities were already lifted since exams were over so both Kazuya and Tomoyo headed for the kendo club.

It slipped Kazuya's mind after being away from the club since the previous tournament but he immediately remembered as soon as he felt her gaze as soon as he entered. Mahiru stayed in the kendo club.

Although he went with Kyouko and Mei after the previous tournament, Kazuya learned that she resigned from her position and tried to leave the kendo club despite her scholars.h.i.+p through Miyamoto's repeated interjections.

He ignored her and s.h.i.+fted his attention to the four strangers wearing kendo gear together with s.h.i.+royuki Jirou. They stood in the middle of the dojo and talked with Miyamoto who looked ecstatic to have them.

"You're finally here boy. Now we can start" Jirou grinned.

"Start? Start what?" Kazuya tilted his head. He knew something was up.

"Preparing you two for the nationals of course! These four are quite good on four different s.h.i.+royuki style stances. We are here to help you guys train until the day you partic.i.p.ate" Jirou glanced at his granddaughter and inwardly gave a sigh. She would have normally stood by his side by now yet she had been remaining where she stood.

"Will this so-called special training continue until we go to the dojo?" Kazuya asked. Seeing the geared-up adults in front of him, he couldn't help but let his intention to do battle leak out.

He had been training alone ever since club practices were cancelled. Kazuya also didn't go to the s.h.i.+royuki dojo because of the arrangements needed to be done in cooperation with Mei. Sparring with someone was something that Kazuya looked forward to, especially ones that looked strong.

"It's good to hear that the exam period didn't cool down that thirst to battle in you boy" he smiled. "I was greatly satisfied with your performance in the previous tournament so If you show me and your teammates here a satisfying battle against the four instructors, then I will grant the request you asked for when you first entered my s.h.i.+royuki dojo"

"You mean…" Kazuya was surprised, he didn't think he would agree this soon after putting it off for so long.

"It's what you're thinking. I've been personally training my granddaughter and thanks to you, she made tremendous progress. You even showed that you're quite suitable for our s.h.i.+royuki style like you showed in the match against her so I have no reason not to train a talent such as you myself" Jirou explained with sincerity.

Kazuya was excited of course. He knew that Jirou was observing him while he was training at their dojo. It was curiosity at first but as he kept watching, he grew more and more interested in knowing about his true capabilities.

It was only until the kendo tournament did he catch a glimpse of Kazuya's hidden talents which he used in the matches against Akabane Ayame and his granddaughter. He truly wasn't kidding when he said that he was only interested in fighting with him or the other instructors.

"So you want me to fight against the instructors? Should it be against all of them or…" Kazuya tried to clarify.

"You fool, of course it's going to be one on one!" Jirou thought that he was absurd but even wanting to battle more than one enemy confirmed how reckless he was.

"Haha…" Kazuya dryly laughed. He knew it was too early to ask for it but still gave it a shot.

"Go get changed. You know that you would need to wear gear this time, right?"

"I'll wear all the equipment except for the headgear. The only reason I even wore it at the compet.i.tion is because I would be disqualified if I refused. I have no intention on wearing it outside official compet.i.tions"

"You're aware that it's for your own protection, right?"

"I am. However, wearing it impedes my vision. It's alright in a one on one compet.i.tion but I would rather have my full vision because one on one doesn't apply in real battle"

"real battle…" Jirou crossed his arms and looked towards the instructors. "Fine. I guess they can take this as a handicap to try and not hit your head but I will immediately put a stop to it if you put yourself at risk" Jirou understood Kazuya's point of view.

He knew the boy was like his grandfather and never took compet.i.tions seriously. They would always bicker about compet.i.tion rules whenever they would duel. Jirou would encourage them but Kou would always disregard them saying that there were no rules especially in life or death matches.

"…" Kazuya didn't want such a handicap but it couldn't be helped. He would take what he could right now and immediately got changed. Tomoyo did the same as she was instructed to have a go after Kazuya's turn.

The seven partic.i.p.ants would be focused on by these special guests to prepare for what they were going to face. Miyamoto had already reviewed their opponents since he was the one who drew lots for their placing in the nationals.

The numerous members of the club were found surrounding the middle dueling area where Kazuya's opponent was waiting for him in full gear. Jirou had already told them not to underestimate this young boy so unlike him, they wore their full equipment.

"Good luck kid. I'll still instruct you regardless of the results of the spars. The only thing that will change will be how I will be handling you"

"(From what he said earlier, these instructors are supposed to be proficient in a specific s.h.i.+royuki style move. I guess I would need to watch out for those in order to be a match for them)" Though it sounded simple, actual battle rarely was. Kazuya was quite nervous since this would be the first battle he wasn't so confident in winning.

Tomoyo silently watched close behind her grandfather who had taken the main referee position. She was not a stranger to this test since she was put through it multiple times. It was only that these specific instructors were quite capable and Kazuya still refusing to wear protective gear made her feel a bit restless.

Kazuya breathed in deeply as soon as he got into position. He relaxed his muscles and focused his senses so that he could move at any moment's notice. He didn't know how long ago it was but he missed the tension he was feeling. Even though he was never interested in fighting, years of it forged him into having a warrior's spirit.

"Ready… BEGIN!"

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