Takemura Itsuki

It was the same ground filled with brown soil beneath our feet which was filled with a crowd of people, all standing in front of a circular fighting arena. It was bright daytime, with all of the people enthusiastically cheering, “Itsuki! Itsuki! Itsuki!” I was at the center of the arena, my knees bent a little, my sword in my right hand, standing up vertically, my determined eyes looking at Katsuki angrily, my mouth open and panting, and clouds of dust beneath us flowing up until our knees. Katsuki, who stood three-four steps away, stood with his legs straight up, his sword hanging beside his right leg, and his eyes fixed on me.

“Yeah… Our fight with Katsuki was just like this one, right?”

My eyes opened. I stood in the middle of the amphitheater, my uninterested eyes fixed on the front. My mouth was open and panting. I stood with my legs straight up, my sword stationed horizontally in front of my chest, and a small cloud of dust climbing up until my knees. In front of me were the determined eyes of Tadashi, who had his knees bent, his sword in front of his chest standing vertically, and his frowning eyes fixed on me.

“How much time has it been since our fight started? Twenty minutes? Twenty-five?” I thought as I continued to pant. I then took down a deep breath from my open mouth. I then opened my eyes and mouth again, exhaling out. With my eyes still fixed on the front, I thought, “My legs are paining, my hands are paining.” My forehead was filled with sweat. “It’s… just like that time. But he’s not as tough as Katsuki was.”

Suddenly, my eyes opened wide. Tadashi moved his sword up his right shoulder, and then soon swung it down straight. It released the purple kazi, which gave a sonic boom, and headed straight at me.

BOOM!

SLASH!

I swung my sword horizontally, still standing straight up the ground, which released a purple wave of kazi of its own and headed right to the front. Just some steps in front of me, the kazi of the two of us clashed and exploded.

BOOM!

The gray smoke rose up in the center as I continued looking at it with my uninterested eyes, my sword right in front of my right knee just after being swung. Then, a horizontal kazi wave emerged from the other side, cutting the cloud of smoke into two.

SWOOSH!

I moved my right leg back and right hand up, coming into the position, and then swung my sword down vertically. This time, just as the kazi had reached me, the wave was cut into two and went from both sides.

SWING!

SWOOOOSH!

BANG!

The kazi hit the wall of the amphitheater more than a dozen steps away on my back and exploded. Behind my back emerged another cloud of smoke as it was raining little broken pieces of stones from that explosion behind. My eyes were fixed on the front at the first cloud, which had started to settle down and had become more and more translucent as the smoke rose up.

SWOOSH!

I turned my head to my left, quickly moved my left leg back, tilted my body to my right, moved my right hand up, and moved the sword right on top of my head, tilting my body down to see up. A sword was approaching from the top of me, which clashed with my own sword. Just as our swords stood in our midst, I turned my head a little to the down, looking at the confident eyes of Tadashi. I pushed his sword to my right down and shifted my body a little to my left. With my sword free now, I quickly moved it up to my waist and swung it horizontally. But, Tadashi quickly moved his sword up and jumped up as I swung at it, his knees bent and his feet touching his butt. His feet then landed on the ground again, and he moved his sword up his right shoulder quickly, and then swung it down vertically. I moved my sword up, which clashed with his sword, and pushed it a little to my left, so that the sword might go down in the other direction. The sword went from my right, and then I moved mine up my right shoulder, swinging it in a slanting position to my left down, but midway it stuck with Tadashi’s sword. With the sword at the center of the two of us, we both were looking into each other’s furiously frowning eyes for a second.

“Yeah, it’s exactly like the match against Katsuki at Surfurine Town. And this time too, Imma win the fight.”

“I gotta do it… for Haruto.”

“Ichika… I gotta talk to her. I gotta make sure that Ichika knows about Haruto’s last wish.”

“Haruto…”

“Ichika…”

“Airi…”

“During the fight, I had some really mixed emotions. At one second, I was doubtful if I should discuss Haruto’s last wish with Ichika, sometimes I was just angry at this shithead in front of me, and sometimes, I was just pressurizing myself to win this one for Haruto.”

“ARRRRGHHHHHHH!” I shouted at the top of my lungs angrily as I tilted my sword horizontally just as it was clashing with his sword, and then started to press the sword at him. He moved a step back, and then I moved a step front.

“And… this was one of the most mentally exhausting experiences I’ve ever had.”

I then diverted his sword to my right, and his sword went a little to my right. I then moved my sword up, swung it down, and he defended by moving his sword at the top of his head. I then moved it back, and the two of us continued to fight.

SWING! SWOOSH! CLASH! BANG! SWOOSH! KAT!

“All that time, I’ve been busy in the preparations of the rankings, and then this competition. All I was thinking about was winning and Haruto. But, now that this was coming to an end, my mind… was regaining back its consciousness. I had all this shit to do all this time which I had just forgotten about. I was back again.”