Black tapestries painted with Japanese characters were hanging on the walls of that room. A little drum was placed in the corner. Half of the floor was shiny and clean, and right now, Takeshi was washing the other half with a mop that he was holding in his healthy hand.

I walked into the room and knocked. Takeshi shivered and looked at me, eyes widen in surprise.

After that, he smiled.

"Right, we have some training today…"

"We do," I nodded.

I took off my shoes and went into the hall.

"I have to finish washing the floor. Can you give me a moment, Ki…"

"Kiryu. Or Kyle, whatever. Sure I can. Do you need my help?"

I walked through the hall and sat down on the red gymnastics mat that was lying just below the window.

"here's only one mop…"

"…Okay."

I killed some time browsing net on my phone.

After finishing washing the floor, Takeshi went to the stock room and walked out holding three swords in his hand.

However, then he suddenly looked around and froze:

"Em… Where is…"

"Shirogane? Don't now. He did not attend today's classes either."

After yesterday's accident, Shirogane somehow managed to stand up and pass the exam. He wrote down his name on the list — his handwriting turned out to be surprisingly refined – and became not only the member of the club but also my rival.

At least that is what I had thought before, but now doubts were brewing inside of me. Officially, our training has been going on for about five minutes already, and yet there was no sign of him.

Is he going to show up or not?

"Maybe… He's busy with something," said Takeshi with a very pathetic voice. "Maybe we should start without him..?"

Well, maybe we should. No point to waste time if my dear rival decided to play truant. However… I doubt that a real main character will agree on something like that. He would rather say something like…

"Let's wait some more time."

I shook my head.

"I think he will show up. I'm sure of it."

I tried to sound as cliché and naïve as possible.

"…Okay," Takeshi agreed. For some reason, there was relief in his voice.

After five more minutes of waiting, I started feeling nervous. If that bastard really won't be showing up, I will have some serious problems. He was the only rival-type character that I had. I was trying to make my life into something like an average SpoCon to earn points, and without a rival, that story will be crippled.

Ten more minutes passed by. At last, the door opened and Siro walked in. He was looking very reluctant. However, his face became blank once he saw Takeshi and me, looking straight at him.

Seems like he was surprised that we had been waiting for him so passionately.

"Hello," said Takeshi. He sounded joyful. Siro nodded and said:

"I had some stuff to do… Why are just sitting there? Too lazy to train?"

"We had been waiting. For you," I said.

"Yes," added Takeshi. "I was about to start with the training, but Kiryu-kun said that you will come. And you did."

I smiled at his confused face.

Suddenly…

'1 Point! The real main character always believes in his friends!'

Seems like my idea was right.

Siro looked at me with an expression of surprise and said:

"Are you r*tarded?"

"…"

To hell with you too, bastard.

"Whatever. It would be humiliating if there will be only a cripple and a gaijin in the club, I have no choice but to be here…"

"M-maybe… So, should we start?"

Takeshi gave wooden swords to Shirogane and me.

Wait, should not there be…

"What about armor? And everything else?"

"Ha!" Siro suddenly laughed.

"As expected from a gaijin. You don't know anything, do you? The kendo that we have on Aozora is special. It's called Shin-kendo!"

His voice was full of pride.

"We fight without armor, and not with dull sinai swords, but with bokken! Because of that, some coward in the government even tried to cancel the Tournament of Thousand Leaves. Stupid traitors… "

Takeshi nodded his head. Meanwhile, one of Siro's words attracted my attention:

"Tournament?"

Shirogane looked at me as if I was a heathen asking about the name of God. Then, he provided me with an exposition. Not only about the tournament, but about the Shin-kendo of Aozora itself.

He said it wasn't just a sport. It was a tradition, honor, glory, and many other things… It was the treasure of the nation and even a real military force. A true Shin-kendo master could defeat even a dinosaur.

Sure, sure…

In addition, kendo was very popular. The strongest swordsmen were celebrities. They were billionaires. Hundreds of thousands of people were watching their duels in the stadiums. Millions were watching them on TV.

Even the high-school division was very well known.

They were holding a tournament among high-schoolers every year. The Tournament of Thousand Leaves. More than 60 schools from all around the island were participating in it.

There were two stages in that tournament. First, the preliminary stages among the seven or so schools in each county. It was starting in a month after the beginning of the academic year. Then there was a long summer break and finally the second stage in the authom…

The winner of the tournament was rewarded not only with "eternal glory", but also with a huge amount of money. Everyone on the island… No, in the entire world knew his name…