Anime, but the Phantom Thieves of Heart

This undisguised desire to win made Busujima Saeko's eyes seem to contain a hint of indescribable emotion, but precisely because of this, she unconsciously lowered her body.

After all... for a determined challenger, giving it one's all is the best reward.

As Busujima Saeko lowered her body, the expressions of several old men in the dojo who were originally just watching the fun became serious. After all, they also realized that the fight between Busujima Saeko and Lan Ke might not be as simple as a simple sparring match.

Because it was a sparring match rather than a competition, there was naturally no referee to get in the way after the two of them got into their stances, which made Busujima Saeko a little uncomfortable.

After all, she rarely encountered opponents who required her to attack first.

But Lan Ke's stance was clearly intended to "defend and counterattack", so she couldn't let the other party down.

Thinking of this, he kicked hard with his right foot.

"Bang~"

Even on the tatami, there was an extremely harsh and dull sound.

Many people present didn't even react to what was happening before they saw Busujima Saeko appear in front of Lan Ke and suddenly swung the bamboo sword in her hand.

In response, Lan Ke swung his sword without hesitation.

The two bamboo swords collided in the air, and then the 'bamboo sword' that was taken apart and cared for every day could not withstand the force of the two swords and exploded in the air.

"Wow~"

Countless pieces of bamboo debris were flying all over the sky, and even Busujima Saeko couldn't help but show a look of surprise.

Instead, the smile on Lan Ke's face became even brighter.

really!

The sparring with Busujima Saeko... no, it should be said that the competition is really exciting.

The two of them dropped the handle of their bamboo swords and caught the bamboo swords thrown by other apprentices and got into position again, but when their eyes met, they were both stunned for a moment.

Because they saw the hard-to-conceal fighting spirit and desire in each other's eyes.

They longed for the chance to fight with real weapons.

And Busujima Saeko's smile is as bright as ever.

"Ah~ This is what she's pursuing..."

Chapter 36 'Narukami-kun!'

The confrontation between Saeko Busujima and Lan Ke was very strange, at least in the eyes of others.

Just as Busujima Saeko herself said, what she is best at is 'Iai', but that doesn't mean she only knows Iai. As the person in charge who teaches apprentices in the dojo as a 'teacher' at a young age, Busujima Saeko is proficient in almost all the moves in her own dojo.

But the strange thing is that when facing Lan Ke, she seemed to have completely thrown everything away and just kept using various moves to attack, which seemed very strange.

In contrast, Lan Ke, who was usually good at strong attacks, changed his style and chose a defensive counterattack. His fierce style of fighting to the death with the enemy even if he lost has now turned into an almost impenetrable defense.

Although the subsequent wrestling between the two did not directly destroy each other's bamboo swords like the initial one, the whistling sounds produced by the bamboo swords when they were swung and the wailing sounds produced when the bamboo swords collided were getting stronger and stronger.

But at this moment, Busujima Saeko suddenly stopped attacking, which even caught Lan Ke off guard.

"Ming-senior, aren't you going to use that trick you used before?"

Lan Ke's defensive ability was indeed beyond her expectations, but it also made her secretly happy. After all, a person's strength is like a bucket. The lower limit always comes from the weakest item. Now that Lan Ke has made up for some of his weaknesses, it means that he is getting closer and closer to her.

But this was an unexpected surprise. What she was really curious about was Lan Ke's strange sword move, a move that was not even found in the "Dushidao Dojo".

However, Lan Ke was obviously surprised when he heard what Busujima Saeko said.

"That trick didn't work on you, Senior?"

Just as Busujima Saeko said, although Lan Ke knew that it was impossible to defeat Busujima Saeko by relying solely on his swordsmanship after adding a DEBUFF to himself, he still did not give up and tried hard to defeat the opponent.

Therefore, in his opinion, the "blade back strike" is of little significance when used against weaker opponents, or in other words, it is a move that exists to hold back. After all, you can't hold back when dealing with Busujima Saeko.

But since Busujima Saeko asked him to use this move, Lan Ke did not refuse. After all, the other party's swordsmanship was far superior to his own. It would be a good thing to have some guidance from her. Maybe it could even improve his proficiency.

After all, 'Blade Back Strike' is very special and completely different from other abilities acquired before. When using it, the body will move unconsciously, but it is also possible not to act according to this feeling when attacking.

Rather than a 'skill', it's more like a 'trick'.

However, since Busujima Saeko said she wanted to try this trick, Lan Ke did not refuse. The two sides took up their positions again, and this time Lan Ke chose the "middle-section stance" that was both offensive and defensive and chose a strong attack.

Lan Ke suddenly took a step forward and slashed the bamboo sword in his hand towards Saeko Busujima's shoulder, but Saeko Busujima, who was also defending in the middle, easily blocked it, and even opened the middle door. Saeko Busujima took the opportunity to take a step forward and pointed the bamboo sword in her hand directly at Lan Ke's shoulder.

Seeing this, Lan Ke was not afraid at all. He stretched out his hands and pointed the top of the bamboo sword from top to bottom at Busujima Saeko's thumb.

Usuki

This move is called "cutting off" in swordsmanship, which attacks the enemy's thumb and makes it unable to hold the weapon.

This move does not seek instantaneous lethality, but rather seeks to weaken the enemy. The second move is the fatal blow.

The only difference from the past was that this time Lan Ke used 'Knife Back Hit' at the same time as 'Cut Off'.

But almost all the moves that Lan Ke mastered were taught by Busujima Saeko. She naturally knew the pros and cons of Lan Ke's sword moves. The move that was originally aimed at Lan Ke's shoulder turned to attack Lan Ke's bamboo sword.

Attack the enemy and save yourself!

"Crack~"

The two men's bamboo swords swung away again, but then an incredible scene appeared.

After Lan Ke's bamboo sword was knocked away, he actually used "Zanshin" before Busujima Saeko and adjusted his body, then swung the sword again to stab Busujima Saeko in the chest!

When this scene appeared, everyone present couldn't help but hold their breath and widen their eyes. After all, no one wanted to miss the scene where Lan Ke might defeat Busujima Saeko!

But at this moment, Busujima Saeko suddenly dodged Lan Ke's attack by turning sideways, and the bamboo sword only grazed the opponent's clothes.

As Busujima Saeko dodged, she suddenly pulled out the bamboo sword that she had put back at her waist in the same "Zanshin" posture.

While dodging Lan Ke's attack, he used the force of twisting his body to pull out the bamboo sword at his waist.

"Snapped!!"

With an extremely exaggerated sound, the bamboo sword suddenly hit Lan Ke's abdomen. Lan Ke, who was in a sword-wielding posture, became unsteady and almost fell to one knee.

"Crack~"

Lan Ke, who was leaning on a bamboo sword with one hand, covered his abdomen with the other hand and grimaced.

In the previous attack, Busujima Saeko had actually retracted her strength, but her strength, which was no less than that of men of the same age, combined with the power brought by twisting her body, the lethality brought by the two combined was far beyond normal.

Busujima Saeko didn't care about anything else and rushed to Lan Ke's side.

"Narukami-kun!!"

At this moment, Busujima Saeko's expression was even a little panicked. After all, she didn't expect that the effect would be so good when she used this trick in actual combat for the first time...even a little too good.

The others also hurriedly gathered around. Several middle-aged men who had a good relationship with Lan Ke tore off Lan Ke's kendo uniform without hesitation, and then saw a crimson-purple mark on his abdomen.

It was not until this moment that everyone realized how lethal Busujima Saeko's move was.

"Narukami-kun..."

Busujima Saeko bit her lip and didn't know how to start for a moment.

Although learning kendo is bound to involve bumps and bruises, this one was a bit too rough.

But what she didn't expect was that although the seniors were busy looking for potions to treat Lan Ke's crimson bruise, Lan Ke was looking at Busujima Saeko with anticipation while baring his teeth.

"Senior, that move just now couldn't be 'Tornado Flash', right?"

Looking at Lan Ke, who was obviously grimacing in pain but still looking at her with expectation, Busujima Saeko was a little amused and helpless for a moment.

But then he admired Lan Ke even more.

After all, if you want to reach the pinnacle of kendo, in addition to sufficient talent, you also need countless sweat and enough interest.

But at the moment, she snatched the "dressing" from an apprentice's hand, poured iodine on it, and helped Lan Ke gently wipe the scars on his abdomen. Looking at Lan Ke's trembling lips, she finally nodded.

"That's right. It's the 'Tornado Flash' from the 'Flying Sword Style' that you mentioned earlier, Narukami-kun. I only practiced it privately before, but I never thought that in actual combat..."

Looking at Busujima Saeko who suddenly fell silent, Lan Ke didn't care too much, and was even in a good mood.

After all, although the wound on his stomach looked a bit exaggerated, it was much lighter than the injuries he suffered in the "hall". If it weren't for the fact that his injuries would recover after he left the cognitive world after being healed in the hall, his body might have been covered with wounds long ago.

What made him happy was that his strength was recognized by Busujima Saeko.

After all, even though he blocked some of his own attributes, he was able to force Busujima Saeko to not hold back and to go all out just by relying on his moves. This is enough to show his growth in the past half month.

Facts have proved that actual combat is always the best teacher... of course, the premise is that you can survive.

"As expected of you, Senior~! By the way, Senior, do you know the other moves? Can you teach me?"

Looking at Lan Ke's trembling lips, Busujima Saeko really wanted to slap the dressing in her hand on Lan Ke's wound and tell him to take good care of his injury. But looking at Lan Ke's eyes that seemed to be glowing even though he was injured, Busujima Saeko's words changed unconsciously.

"Let's talk about it after you recover from your injury."

"Hehe~ Don't worry, senior sister, I'm in very good physical condition. This injury only looks scary. I'll be almost fully recovered by tomorrow. Don't worry~"

In fact, if Lan Ke wasn't afraid of scaring people, he could give himself two healing skills on the spot to recover most of his injuries.

Busujima Saeko naturally didn't believe it, but she didn't refute it.

With everyone's skillful techniques, Lan Ke's abdomen was quickly treated and bandaged, and Lan Ke also returned to the locker room to get his mobile phone.

Although Lan Ke was telling the truth and that she could cure him as long as he left the "Dokujima Dojo", Dokujima Saeko refused to let Lan Ke leave no matter what, and said that he would stay in the "guest room" tonight, and if he felt better tomorrow morning, she would send him home to get his schoolbag.

Lan Ke couldn't persuade the other party and finally had no choice but to accept the other party's kindness.

However, just as Lan Ke went to call Jotaro Kujo, Saeko Busujima, who was signaling everyone to continue training, fell silent.

It's not that she blamed herself too much for injuring Lan Ke. After all, they all practiced kendo and everyone had been injured. Instead, she was somewhat happy that Lan Ke could force her to use her full strength.

At this moment, she frowned slightly, more of her expression was confusion.

What happened just now?

Why is it that even though he is so skilled in the moves, he himself seems to have no idea of ​​the significance of the moves?

In Lan Ke's view, "Knife Back Hit" is just a special move, used to prevent accidentally killing monsters or to "educate (physically)" disobedient shadows, but in Busujima Saeko's view, this move is extremely special.

When attacking, not all the strength is used in the attack. This not only allows you to control the strength at will during the attack, but also allows you to quickly put away the knife after the attack misses or fails.

Lan Ko's 'Zanshin' move, which is faster than hers, originated from this.

Although Lan Ke's strength was still quite a distance away from his own, at least in this respect the other party had actually surpassed him.

"You really keep surprising me, Narukami-kun~"

At this time, Busujima Saeko, who was talking to herself, didn't even notice that the way she addressed Lan Ke had unconsciously changed from "Narakami-senpai" to "Narakami-kun".

Lan Ke, who was unaware of all this, was being "educated" by Jotaro Kujo. It was obvious that Jotaro Kujo was very unhappy about the injury he suffered while practicing kendo...

Chapter 37 'How can you drink?' 'I'm very brave!'

"Whoo~"

Lan Ke put down his phone and let out a breath.

It was obvious that although Jotaro Kujo didn't really scold him, the concern in his words still made Lan Ke a little overwhelmed. After all... he couldn't even remember the last time someone cared about him so much.

What Lan Ke didn't know was that when he hung up the phone, Noriaki Kakyoin on the other side first glanced at Jolyne who was quietly poking her head out of the living room, and then spoke pretending to be indifferent.

"Jotaro, I just heard you mention Narukami-kun, is there anything wrong?"

Although he felt that his friend's voice seemed a little high today, Jotaro didn't care and shook his head helplessly.

"Nothing's wrong. According to Narukami, he was injured during kendo training. Since it was late, Busujima Dojo asked him to rest in the dojo for the night and come back tomorrow morning to pick up his school bag."

Hearing this, Kakyoin Noriaki breathed a sigh of relief and sighed again in a different voice than before.

"Are you injured during training? But you'll be able to come back tomorrow morning to get your bag, so it doesn't seem like a big deal. It's a sports club, after all. It's part of being 'youthful,' right?"

Hearing Kakyoin Noriaki's sigh, Jolyne on the other side also quietly retracted her little head and breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter what, since the other party agreed to help me, if he is seriously injured, I should go and see him, but it would be best if he is fine now.

Seeing Jolyne retract her head, the smile on Kakyoin Noriaki's face became even brighter, so bright that Jotaro felt that something was wrong with him.

"Do you like 'youth' so much?"

"Yeah, I think 'Youth (by Jolyne and Naruto)' is quite interesting~"

Jotaro shook his head helplessly and picked up the phone again. The call was connected in just a few seconds.

"Hello? Jotaro? What's going on?"