.

Jirou regained his composure and took another look at Kazuya. He had to admit that this boy was as reckless as his grandfather which improved the old man's impression of him.

"HAHAHA! I like you even more now Kazuya! Do you think you can win?" he excitedly asked.

"No I don't" everyone nodded and thought that Kazuya wasn't as unreasonable as they thought he was but that ended as soon as he continued. "My body needs to grow more for me to be sure since your physical advantage is too overwhelming at this time" he added as if it was a simple matter of fact.

"Is that so? Now I'm really interest—" Jirou stopped as Tomoyo moved in front of him and pointed her bamboo sword at Kazuya.

She was used to ignoring children her age, but this was the first time she was ignored by someone altogether. Even worse, the same person challenged the person she cared for and looked up to the most.

Jirou looked on with interest. This was the first time that his granddaughter had ever challenged someone of her own free will and it was his old friend's grandson! He was happy with the current development. He took another look at the confident Kazuya and noticed something. He turned to whisper something to one of the instructors who quickly nodded before rushing out of the dojo.

"I said I'm not interested in hurting you" he simply glanced at her before looking back towards her grandfather. His gaze was immediately blocked by the tip of her bamboo sword. He was getting annoyed. He kept stealthily glancing beside him and found that his mother was sternly gazing at him, so he couldn't help but hold his tongue.

"Kyouko-chan? Is that really you?" a tender voice interrupted the tense situation developing in the dojo. Everyone turned to find an old woman wearing a kimono standing at the entrance of the hall.

"Grandma Kaori! It's been a while" Kyouko ran up to her and bowed.

"Come to the house and accompany this old lady. Leave these smelly fellows to do their things" She smiled as she grabbed Kyouko's hands to guide her out of the dojo.

"But…" She turned back looking worriedly at her son whose gaze was locked with Tomoyo.

"Jirou! You better take care of Kyouko-chan's son or you'll be hearing from me!" the old lady threatened.

"R-right" he replied feeling embarrassed in front of his students. Everyone knew who the real boss was in the dojo,

The disciples held their laughter. Their strict master was a hard man to please, but he couldn't talk back to his wife. She would rarely intervene but when she does, no one could stop her. Kyouko hesitated but ending up leaving with Kaori and headed for the Shiroyuki's main house.

Tomoyo kept her emotionless gaze locked with Kazuya throughout the whole encounter. With his mother gone, Kazuya no longer needed to watch himself so he only waited until it was sure that they were gone.

"Step aside. You don't stand a chance against me" He spoke again but the girl remained unmoved.

The students that were admiring his bravery now thought that he was being arrogant. This was especially evident on the faces of the students close to their age. All of them were afraid of the master's granddaughter but this newcomer didn't even put her in his eyes.

"Kid, if I'm not mistaken, Kyouko-chan said that you are new to kendo?" Jirou decided to break the silence.

"That is correct" he ignored the ire he had invoked.

"I've been training my granddaughter since she could hold a sword. Her style is completely different from textbook kendo and no people from her age has even come close to beating her so I wonder what makes you confident that you can do it" He was curious of what this brave boy's answer would be. He wasn't the only one as all those listening in glanced towards Kazuya.

"Me not knowing anything about kendo doesn't mean I don't know how to use a sword"

"I see… so old Kou… hahaha! This is great!" as if realizing something, Jirou once again expressed excitement.

"?" Kazuya still couldn't understand or get a proper read on him. He realized that it should be mostly this old man that caused the emotionless girl to be as difficult as she was.

"Can you humor this old man and spar with her? I'll let you practice as you wish so you won't have to do the regular exercises the other disciples do if you win" he assumed that Kazuya would want something like this so he tried giving him an incentive. "What do you think?"

It was truly a tempting proposal. Complete freedom over his training would save him the trouble of convincing them to let him do as he pleases. This means that he could have more training time. He looked at the expressionless girl and could feel her intent to battle. The thought of battling with this girl was slightly interesting but not because he thought that she would pose a challenge.

"Fine…" he nodded.

"Great! Someone go and get a set of protective—"

"There's no need for that. I just need to borrow a weapon to use"

"You can choose from the rack over there"

Kazuya lifted the bamboo swords until he found a suitable one. Tomoyo was already in position and Jirou had taken the position of the referee.

"Please make her wear some protective gear on her arms at least. That way I can just hit her there without worrying about injuries"

Jirou looked at Tomoyo who was shaking her head in protest. She did not want to wear any gear if he wasn't. Jirou smiled since his granddaughter's eyes were clearly showing that she was irritated. Kazuya could only sigh after Jirou looked at him with an expression saying that there was nothing he could do. He prompted both of them to get in position as the duel was about to begin.

"Ready….!" Jirou looked at both sides. Kazuya shifted his body sideways and held the bamboo sword with his left hand. "BEGIN!"

Tomoyo wasted no time and rushed towards Kazuya. He smiled before taking a step forward to take action. Jirou's eyes widened at Kazuya's simple yet precise movement.

Tomoyo struck down with all her strength. She really wanted to teach this boy a lesson. At that moment, the boy who everyone expected to be clutching his shoulder in pain, motionlessly stood in front of her. Her gaze moved upwards to see a smiling boy with two swords in his hands. This left the students, not to mention her own grandfather speechless. She looked at both of her hands and found that she was gripping nothing but air.

He targeted and successfully hit Tomoyo's sword handle after she had begun swinging down. He really didn't want to hit a child so he disarmed her instead.

"I already told you that you weren't my match" he turned to walk towards Jiro but stopped when Tomoyo grabbed the tip of her bamboo sword to prevent him from taking another step forward.

"…" Kazuya let the bamboo sword go and continued his steps only to once again be stopped by the girl who once again pointed her sword at him. Jirou remained silent but he was smiling at the two's confrontation. He found this to be quite an interesting development. His own granddaughter was now getting a taste of her own medicine.

"I said I didn't want to hurt you but that doesn't mean I won't"

*shake shake* she shook her head. Kazuya assumed she was refusing her loss so he was starting to get irritated.

"What she means to say is that you only scored a point. In kendo, a single bout is made up of three rounds so to speak" Jirou decided to translate his granddaughter's intentions.

"Is that so? Fine then. Go and get yourself those arm guards the students are wearing"

*shake shake* she shook her head once again to refuse.

"She means that it would be unfair to you and will only do it if you do as well. Believe me kid, it's already a good thing that my granddaughter is willing to wear them" Jiro handed them each a pair of arm guards.

"Fine…" Kazuya reluctantly wore them before going back into position. He completely ignored his opponent and raised his arm before striking it with the sword he held on the other.

"What is that boy doing master?" one of the instructors decided to ask after witnessing Kazuya's weird actions.

"He's testing the arm guard. This would probably be the first time he's wearing one. He wants to know how much strength he can use before the other party can get hurt"

"With his skill? How can someone get that skillful without…" the instructor stopped and realized something scary. He stared at the boy who seemed to have gotten a hold of things.

This time, Tomoyo raised the angle of the sword she held and did a defensive stance. She would only use this against opponents that were older and better than her. Kazuya on the other hand casually did the same stance as earlier. This development invoked the wide grin on Jirou's face.

"(Old Kou's grandson really is an interesting one)" The senior instructors that saw the expression on Jirou's face made them realize that they should keep an eye on this boy. Their master had a keen eye and would very rarely get attached to a student. Those who were able to get this look of excitement from him usually turned out to be masters with their own right.

Tomoyo intently watched her opponent's movements. She admitted that he was an opponent worthy of going all out with. All those who watched only saw this side of her when they watch her spar against the main instructors of the dojo. Her actions made the students that were thinking Kazuya was arrogant earlier look at him in reverence. Even the master's genius granddaughter gave him such a treatment.

"Ready…!" Jirou wished his granddaughter luck in his heart. "BEGIN!"

There was no movement. There was only silence. Kazuya was aware that she had gone defensive and wanted to test her patience as he continued to stay still. What he was not aware of was that she was used to this. After a few minutes, he realized that he was at a disadvantage after she showed no signs of engaging. He wouldn't be able to perform well in the case of Kyouko's return. Kazuya knew this and was forced to take another approach.

*yawn* "I see you're set on countering my attacks but, can you?" he could see her gaze flicker after his taunt.

"…" She may not have moved but her battle intent grew.

Kazuya smiled. Her image coincided with the older version of her that he knew in his first life. This was actually not their first match but one of many where Kazuya who had no experience in kendo got beaten badly every single time. This was a chance fate had given him for some payback.

"I wouldn't be a gentleman if I refused such a request from a beautiful girl. Here I go then" he mocked and walked casually towards her.

Tomoyo's long ponytail swayed as her stance flickered at sight of his casual approach. She didn't quite understand it yet but she was sure that it was going to end up badly if she underestimated this person.

He raised his right hand which held the sword and attacked with a downward strike that was neither too fast nor too slow. She immediately reacted and positioned herself to counterattack. Her movements were stopped as soon as their bamboo swords made contact.

"!!" she gripped her sword tightly to avoid letting go of it and was forced to lower her stance. The strength of his strike surprised her and made her arms feel numb as she quickly took a few steps back to maintain her balance

"Hmm… not bad. You held on" Kazuya laughed before following up.

"(Impressive. This kid deflected a counterstrike with brute strength!)" Jirou gripped is fist as he worried for his granddaughter.

"Watch out. I'm coming" Kazuya walked towards her again and did the same action. Tomoyo already got a taste of his strength so she gripped tightly and went for another counterattack but the weight that was supposed to be on her sword was instead hammered down in her arm.

"Point! Kazuya wins!"

"Hmm? I won?" He stopped his follow up strike. The bamboo sword was only a few inches above her shoulder. He looked at Jirou who declared his victory to confirm.

"A solid hit to her arm counts as a point. You have two now, so you've won this duel" despite his neutral look, sweat could be seen on his forehead. He was glad that Kazuya stopped the next strike or his granddaughter would have really been injured.

It was true that he knew nothing about Kendo. The only thing he knew about it was that it was a sword fight with bamboo swords. He gazed at the girl in front of him with a hint bloodlust. This caused the emotionless girl to tremble. She didn't know why he was mad. He didn't get mad at her when she stubbornly challenged him earlier but he changed after learning that he had won.

Tomoyo's trembling caused her fall on her backside. The sword in her hand rolled on the floor as the numbness in her arm made her unable to grip it anymore. Her predicament caused Kazuya to come back to his senses. He simply turned around and left towards the direction where his mother went.

"Not only is that kid's skill top notch but also his thirst for battle is amazing. If this were olden times, then he would have been one of the greatest heroes we read about today" Jirou misunderstood him and gave his own opinion for the others to hear. He was truly impressed with this young man.

"Grandfather…" Tomoyo bowed apologetically while clutching her uniform.

"Don't take it to heart Tomoyo. He was simply too absurd" he patted her head gently. "It looks like I ended up on the beneficial eh old Kou?" he laughed out loud as he continued to comfort his granddaughter.

Meanwhile, Kazuya roamed around the area silently scolding himself.

"To lose control and scare a child like that. Even if she is that damn robot girl. I should be ashamed"

The reason he lost control of himself was because he heard Jirou say that a solid hit to the arm counted as a point. The memories that have been ingrained in his mind made him remember that he was not informed of this. Kazuya was hit repeatedly with a bamboo sword on either his head or his body multiple times. He was forced to do this countless times and he didn't even have the slightest bit of interest in kendo in his first life.

It was done by the same person he had expressed his bloodlust towards. Yes, it was the older version of the emotionless girl, Shiroyuki Tomoyo.