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

He gripped the bamboo sword tightly with all his might, and as the sword slashed upwards with overwhelming force, it seemed to unleash a power beyond what Uesugi Kai's physique could achieve.

"Very strong..." Hongo Taito thought to himself, feeling the feedback from the bamboo sword on his palm.

next moment,

Hongo Taito deflected Uesugi Kai's counterattack, tightened his wrist, and continued his attack using his physical advantage.

Kai Uesugi refused to back down and launched a series of counterattacks.

The sound of bamboo knives whizzes continuously.

This was a rare sight in a kendo competition, and the intensity of the fight was so great that even spectators who weren't particularly interested in the matches put down their phones and turned to watch.

Hongo Taito's bamboo sword strikes were quite powerful, giving him an absolute advantage. Uesugi Kai was forced to retreat and raise his sword to defend.

at this moment,

Anyone could see that he was in a weaker position.

However, this is understandable, since Taito Hongo is more physically fit and has a more robust build.

If he gains an advantage from the start, the smaller player will have almost no chance of launching a counterattack.

The bamboo sword's attack and defense entangled for almost two minutes.

Bang!

Bang!

No, no!

As time went on, Taito Hongo increasingly felt that Kai Uesugi wasn't completely being dominated by him.

Although every strike of his bamboo sword firmly suppressed his opponent.

But when he stopped to defend against Uesugi Kai's counterattack, he always felt a sticky sensation in his sword.

Unable to break free, yet unable to be twisted away.

"The Sticky Knife Technique?"

auditorium.

Kazuhiro Miyata, the reporter who interviewed Kai Uesugi last time, also came to the Tokyo Budokan to watch the match as scheduled.

He recognized the technique used by Kai Uesugi.

His friend, Eto Nanahiko, took a picture of the center of the match with his camera and heard the title that Miyata Kazuhiro mentioned.

Jiang Teng didn't know what it was, but he knew that Miyata had been covering kendo competitions for many years and had extensive knowledge of kendo.

He then asked, "What do you mean?"

Miyata Kazuhiro put down his pen, looked at the knotted rope fluttering behind Uesugi Kai's helmet in the arena, and explained:

"The so-called sticky sword technique refers to the technique where, during a fierce battle, if the enemy blocks our sword, we should try to stick our sword to the enemy's sword."

"'Sticking' refers to the katana not being easily separated, the body staying close to the opponent's footsteps, suppressing their attack, and not using too much force, maintaining balance, and controlling one's breath. In general, this is one of the techniques used in swordsmanship in ancient swordsmanship."

"So... Uesugi is trying his best to entangle his opponent, hoping to make him waste his momentum?"

"Entanglement?"

Miyata Kazuhiro glanced at Uesugi Kai in the arena and smiled slightly, “It’s ‘sticking’, not ‘entanglement’. ‘Sticking’ is strong and powerful, while ‘entanglement’ is weak and powerless. ‘Sticking’ is active, while ‘entanglement’ is passive. The two are completely different.”

As he was speaking, Miyata Kazuhiro's eyes suddenly lit up.

His excellent journalistic skills enabled him to quickly raise his camera and capture a rather handsome photo of Uesugi Kai.

Looking at Uesugi Kai's calm and composed expression in the camera lens, he said with some excitement:

"There are very few young people this talented!"

In fact, it wasn't just the two of them who noticed this; many experienced people and shrewd individuals in the audience also saw it.

Uesugi Kai may seem passive, but he is actually the smarter one among the two opponents.

"Junior brother is amazing!" Nanmiao Maru seemed extremely excited. What he hated most was the police inspector style. Police officers who learned that style were like rocks in a latrine, smelly and hard, and extremely difficult to beat.

"Hmm, the Sticky Blade Technique is great, but... how do you win?" Higuchi Yoshiyuki analyzed.

"this......"

While sticking to someone can certainly help you stay close, it doesn't mean that sticking to someone guarantees a score and a win.

Like several of his senior colleagues, many experienced people fell into deep thought.

How can we break this deadlock?

......

Compared to their contemplation, Hongo Taito was much more frustrated during the match.

His attack strategy, which he had judged based on experience, was actually countered by the opponent's defense and counterattacks, keeping him pinned down for a full two minutes.

Keep in mind that a round lasts a maximum of three minutes.

When the time is up, the referee will blow the whistle and forcibly pull them apart.

He even felt that his nearly ten years of experience as a criminal police officer was being used to apprehend the cats and dogs that had gone missing from citizens.

Criminal investigators help citizens find their cats—a situation often characterized by helplessness and despair.

The nearly two and a half minutes of continuous and intense fighting was quite intense.

Outsiders may not understand the intricacies, but they enjoy watching it.

The sound of bamboo knives striking bamboo knives, along with the continuous and forceful shouts, flooded their ears like a tidal wave.

Hongo Taito's voice was naturally deep and resonant, and he also had the appearance of a hero.

They could feel the power in his voice and movements.

This level of excitement is several times more thrilling than watching a fighting movie.

Because they are in it.

Kai Uesugi's gaze shifted within his mask as he stared at Taito Hongo's dangling bamboo sword and the trajectory of his movements.

Kai Uesugi could accurately discern the rhythm of Hongo's taito sport.

He belongs to the "fast" style school.

It should be one of the police inspection streams.

It's not hard to see from Uesugi Kai that things were fine at the beginning, but now that the standoff has reached this point, Hongo Taito is somewhat disorganized.

—His knife strikes became faster and faster.

From an outsider's perspective, his suppressive power seemed to be even stronger because of the faster speed of his strikes.

But in Uesugi Kai's eyes, he had lost his rhythm.

Simply pursuing speed in sword strikes is not the right approach.

The concept of speed arises precisely because things can deviate from their original rhythm.

What most people consider "fast" in Kendo is not so in the eyes of Uesugi Kai, or in the eyes of a skilled instructor with decades of experience.

for example.

For example, cars.

A car traveling at 120 km/h.

Taking into account a person's work and rest schedule, one can travel approximately 1000 kilometers a day on the road.

But what if it's a tractor?

A tractor travels at 40 km/h.

All things considered, even if you run the wheels for a whole day, you still wouldn't be able to travel 1000 kilometers.

Not to mention the driver's rest time.

If a tractor's wheels break, can it still travel 1000 kilometers?

But if we drive a little slower, won't the tractor be able to reach it in a few days?

The saying goes, "Haste makes waste."

Running too fast can actually make you more likely to fall and disrupt your rhythm.

In Uesugi Kai's eyes, this was exactly how Hongo Taito attacked.

He's lost his rhythm, and now he's ruined his own wheels, making all sorts of mistakes.

Everything has its time to decline.

Uesugi Kai seized the opening revealed by Hongo Taito, and with one burst of energy, fiercely struck back at the bamboo sword that his opponent was about to swoop down.

Snapped--!

The air vibrated and made a sound.

This time, it came on quite fiercely.

This counterattack slightly dulled the bamboo sword in Hongo Taito's hand.

Kai Uesugi seized the opportunity, without hesitation, and pressed forward to pursue the attack.

Hold the bamboo knife with your middle finger in a natural position, and clench your ring and little fingers together, then rotate both hands inwards at the same time.

This is the standard way to hold a knife.

Then... he thrust forward in an instant!

"noodle!"

The "sticky knife technique" is like running oil off a bicycle chain, making every step extremely difficult.

A counterattack that seizes the opportunity is like completely snapping the chain of a bicycle that has lost speed, causing it to lose all rhythm.

The final blow came when the chain snapped, jamming the wheel and bringing the bicycle to a complete stop.

Now, Uesugi Kai's bamboo sword, Sakikabe, aimed directly at Hongo Taito's mask and struck perfectly.

The sound of the bamboo knife abruptly stopped.