Living in Tokyo, all I want to do is laze around.

###Chapter 350 First Day of the Preliminaries###

Living in Tokyo, all I want to do is laze around.

"Was it you who won the Kyudo Emperor Cup at the Budokan last year?"

"Are you the leader of the team?"

"Excuse me......"

"Excuse me......"

......

Kai Uesugi had seen this scene before; it was the same when he first won the championship—he was very popular.

Even walking down a corridor gets you surrounded and interviewed.

But right now he's a complete nobody in kendo... The reason... is probably because this team has won two championships, and as the champion team's captain, he's received a lot of attention.

After answering a few questions he could, Uesugi Kai declined the rest of the interview.

Before leaving, he glanced at the front of the guild hall.

The draw results were displayed on the big screen in the stadium, showing that Uesugi Kai's group had two somewhat strong opponents.

I heard they are all prestigious schools of thought with hundreds of years of history.

The competition started in the afternoon, so we went out of the stadium first and found a restaurant to sit down and have lunch.

Senior Brother Nan looked at his fellow students around him and said with a smile, "I feel like our team is quite peculiar. We came to participate in the competition, but neither the teachers nor the teachers' representatives came to see us."

Judging from their tone, it's pointless to watch the game, since they're going to win anyway.

Keishin turned to look at Uesugi Kai, who was sitting next to him and focused on eating, and said, "I feel like Junior Brother was quite good at dealing with those reporters just now."

Higuchi Yoshiyuki then asked, "I think I heard them talking about archery champions, what's going on?"

"I've seen my junior brother's videos online, and the comments all praise his archery skills highly. He's definitely a champion."

"Junior brother, you actually practice archery? I heard that the etiquette and footwork are quite complicated."

"...It's alright..."

His four senior brothers were all discussing his archery championship.

To be honest, it doesn't feel good to have your past exposed, because a lot of questions follow, and answering them can be quite troublesome.

"I'm going to the restroom first."

Kai Uesugi put down his chopsticks and got up to leave the dining area.

When I reached the entrance of the passage, there were two people standing on either side, seemingly waiting for someone.

They spotted Uesugi Kai and quickly gathered around.

"Excuse me, may I trouble you for a moment?"

"reporter?"

I noticed their name tags: Kazuhiro Miyata, Nanahiko Eto, and Nikkan Sports.

The last one should be the name of the newspaper. Uesugi Kai wasn't too surprised. "Okay, ask whatever you want, but I don't have much to answer. Your colleagues have already asked you a lot of questions."

Questions such as identity, rank, why a kyudo champion participates in a kendo competition, and dreams, etc.

As a newcomer, they asked me so many questions without holding back.

Kazuhiro Miyata was in charge of asking questions, and Nanahiko Eto was in charge of taking notes.

He first smiled and asked, "Mr. Uesugi, you practiced kendo at the Mushin Dojo, right?"

"Ah."

"Then, what is your relationship with Norishi Sakakibara?"

“I guess I’d say I’m his disciple,” Uesugi Kai said after thinking for a moment. In the past few years, his master had taught him diligently, but after returning to Tokyo for less than two months, it seemed that his master had no intention of continuing to teach him and just let him practice on his own.

"May I ask your age? It's okay if you can't tell me."

"eighteen."

"Eighteen!?" Both of them seemed to be stunned for a moment.

"Do you know which team Fujimaki Asuka is currently on? I checked the roster twice and didn't see his name."

"I don't know about that."

"If I may ask, is there some discord in your relationship?"

"I don't know either, since I've only met him once."

Miyata Kazuhiro pondered for a few seconds, then greeted him with a smile: "Thank you for answering our questions. In return, we'd like to tell you something. We've heard that one of the players on a certain team is particularly strong, and they're in Group A."

Kai Uesugi didn't seem to care much and nodded slightly: "Okay, I understand."

After exchanging a few more words, Kazuhiro Miyata politely left with his colleagues.

Kai Uesugi's gaze fell in the direction they had left, completely ignoring the news they had shared, and turned to walk towards the other side, towards the restrooms.

.......

"Why did it take you so long to get back?"

"Two reporters just came up to me with questions."

"Haha," Senior Brother Nan patted him on the back, "It seems that Junior Brother is really popular. Your name might be in a corner of tomorrow's newspaper."

Kai Uesugi casually replied, "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Kendo matches are held in a square area within the stadium.

This preliminary round actually selected participating teams from the 23 wards, 1 metropolitan area, and 6 prefectures of the Tokyo metropolitan area.

In other words, the current 16 teams are the strongest players who have emerged from all walks of life in the entire Kanto region.

Weakness will not make us weak.

The first day was the Group A matches.

These are the various dojo teams represented by Nenshu, Chiba-ryu, Kurama-Yoshin-ryu, and Noshin-ryu.

If you take a closer look at their professions, you'll find that some people treat Kendo as a form of training; among them are transportation workers, electricians, and construction workers.

Can you say they are weaker than the disciples who have been training in the dojo all along?

Most of them won't work because they mostly have club experience in school.

Japanese clubs are not just for fun; they have formal competitions with prize money and rankings.

Perhaps any random electrician won the championship in the Jade Dragon Flag Deathmatch tournament during their college years.

They are older, but their advantage lies in their rich experience.

For young people who want to advance to the national competition, they are a hurdle.

Kai Uesugi decided to watch the first day's matches first, so he went to sit down in the stands.

"Aren't your senior brothers going to come and see?" Uesugi Shio glanced at Uesugi Kai sitting next to her.

"They're not coming."

The staff signaled for the contestants to enter the arena.

The positions in a five-a-side game are: forward, second forward, center forward, vice-captain, and captain.

Best of five.

If the opponent is determined, they will use a strategy similar to Tian Ji's horse racing, employing the method of the weak against the strong and the strong against the weak to gain an advantage.

However, in the first game, there was no strategic maneuvering involved in selecting players based on their positions.

Forwards versus forwards.

The Noshin-kage-ryu of Tochigi Prefecture flows towards the Chiba-ryu of Chiba Prefecture.

One young man and one middle-aged man, dressed in protective gear and carrying bamboo knives, walked barefoot to the competition venue.

There were three gray-haired referees around the field, each holding a small flag in their hands.

At the referee's whistle, they bowed to each other, then to the audience, before stepping back and crouching down with their hands gripping their wooden swords.

At this point, they had already begun to observe each other's movements and details.

They all held the knife at mid-section.

Immediately, the referee gave the order, waved the flag, and the match began.

The middle-aged man's pupils behind his mask snapped open, and he roared as he took the first step forward, his entire body lurching forward.

At the same time, the mid-section knife grip was changed to the upper section knife grip.

With each step and a swing, the sword tip repeatedly struck the opponent's head.

The offensive was swift and powerful.

Because he was attacked first, the young man could only defend passively, raising the bamboo sword held in the middle diagonally upwards while turning his body to the side to defend.

This is the advantage of starting in the middle stage; it allows for both offense and defense.

"noodle!!"

A deep, booming shout came from inside the middle-aged man's mask, followed by a loud clanging of bamboo sticks that echoed throughout the venue.

The young man managed to defend himself, but his stance was disrupted and his breathing became erratic.

"Mian! Mian!"

Two more times.

The young man hurriedly parried, but the middle-aged man saw an opening and stopped his advance immediately, launching a mid-attack.

"Card!!"

With a snap, the bamboo sword struck the young man's abdominal protective gear, creating a shockwave in the air. Then, a whistle blew, the referee lowered the flag, and the middle-aged man took a step back, maintaining his Zanshin stance.