✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

14:28.

21st of December 2020.

「Springing out of a hazy field of colourless conscience, my eyes opened up nearly popping out their sockets as I momentously propped myself up on the ludicrously warmed bed and its captive embrace.

The reason that being, is because in my sweet, captive embrace wasn’t Nii-chan, but superseded in his place was his plain white dakimakura. As surreptitious as always.

I can never seem to sense exactly when Nii-chan escapes, so now as wide awake I am as the sky, there’s no possible way I could return back to sleeping in that sickly cumbersome warmth when my lethargy was sent flying to space and beyond the stars.

Extracting my phone from beneath the pillow on the left; unlocking my phone with a tap for fingerprint recognition, I checked for Nii-chan’s location without bothering to glance at the time. It seemed that Nii-chan was right in the adjacent room beyond the wall to the left. Super precise, right?

The room was lit in a cool aura due to the ambient lighting all around and the picturesque scene of daytime out in the city space beyond the slightly curtain-drawn windows.

Wondering what to do, I slid off the bed in a stupor and sauntered near the wall before it split and a pair of doors opened to the sides like those you’d see in futuristic sci-fi films. Inside was my Sora-niichan, turning back without a word in a hoodie outlined in a near-silhouette from the light emitted by the monitors behind him within the darkness. He seemed to be watching a stream with a drink in hand.

He was probably immersed in Azure Rule1, a one-of-a-kind game which was the closest thing we had to mimicking Elfheim Online2. Of course, ELO was a famous fantasy sci-fi written by a very well-known author which to this day still hasn’t seen a game that came even the tiniest bit close to mimicking its marvel – a fully immersive, virtual world that was the epitome of MMORPGs.

It seemed that my worrying was uncalled for.

But I’ve still got this uneasy feeling that I’m missing something here. Oh well, too lazy to bother…」

“Fuwaa~”

「Since it was the relatively sweet spot for midday anime watching, although a bit late, Nii-chan suggested that we watch anime, so I proposed the idea that we could later move to the theatre spot in the living room after I changed once I got to my room on the other side. As I advanced toward my room with a light stretch and a yawn, I forgot that I turned off the central heating last night other than in Nii-chan’s bedroom.

Because, my god was it frosty once I breathed in the air of my simple and neat room. It was girlish, in some sense with floral designs on the sheets, and even a multi-piece canvas of lavenders hanging above the bed – each piece increasing in height as it got closer to the veritable prime meridian. The rest of the room was a bit bland, similar to Nii-chan’s room most likely because they're a close match, and since I was clueless with what to do about the appearances and decorations for our bedrooms. They even had the faintly lingering scent of incense.

Most other things are all hidden or just left in my PC suite behind closed doors.

After all, my room really had no use except for sleeping (which I rarely do here), changing, using the shower or occasionally doing homework from school. For the next few minutes, I would be doing just that plus other routine acts, except sleep and homework most obviously. Showering I'd leave for later.

After changing, I stepped out of the room and turned to the left leading into the sitting room. Everything must have been lit up as the lights inundated with the effect of swaying waves of water. The kitchen to the right was my first stop. Had to make sure our fridge was stocked with things essential for living. Nii-chan’s the type to spur onto things in the moment, leaving things that could be done whenever for later. He’s a pretty laid-back type, but when it matters, he’s always in the zone.

That's why it's dangerous letting the fridge gain extra volumes of emptiness. The sort of things he cooks are some of the most random recipes he finds online, which are still pretty good and he’s got skill to back it up, but still, it's not exactly a good habit to have. Recipes should be kept at heart.

After checking, it seems like we’ll have to go out shopping later. Need a few sauces and vegetables for dinner. We can make it past lunch at least and maybe after practice, we’ll need to head out for the supermarkets. I wondered what could be made on the menu for later as I turned my attention to my phone.

A visual widget revealed our total expenses and bills for the month so far. I had set up smart meters to monitor the flow of all spending done on necessities.

It’s a weird feeling. Having so much freedom you don’t know what to do with. Even if you had a lot of wealth to spend, use it frugally and it just builds up without any use. What’s the point of money then? All it does is it gives you monetary prowess to buy things, but what if there’s nothing you have that needs to be bought, except what’s needed every day? Have you ever thought of what you would do with a trillion pounds?

The automatic response from most is that they would buy the things that they immediately have on their minds, what pops up in their minds, what they desire, what they couldn’t buy alone without so much money, what people close to you want, setting up some business as a fail-safe, putting it in a bank for interest to build up, going on holiday etc. Fine, all your purchases are made, and at many times, even after factoring in these costs, there’s more than enough money for one to survive the rest of your life with extra left over.

Then what? Give it to charity? All the millions or even billions left over? You could save the world from poverty, but it wouldn’t always work out so flawlessly like a benevolent god had sent down its bountiful blessings on the world.

But depending on who it’s given to, even those trillions of digital numerics could be spent awash.

But the average person? Who knows? There are plenty of things they could want, but once they run out of ideas… it would just stay in one’s inventory, rotting away without any need. People who couldn’t ever spend so much on their own are most likely to end up being content once a certain extent is reached, and beyond that they no longer have any use for all that money other to sustain their lives and satisfaction in the worldly life. Because there are things they have that not even money could buy, like miracles, absolute safety, paradise, peace, family or even happiness.

Not even happiness could be bought with money.

People could live and die on happiness alone. Nothing else truly mattered. You needed nothing else but the embodiment of one’s euphoria. Like my dear, older brother was happiness itself for me. Family as well. I would kill to die in Nii-chan’s arms.

Speaking of Nii-chan, it’s been quite some time, yet Nii-chan’s still not here… maybe I should check up on him?

Returning back, peaking out my head through the curtain, I asked if Nii-chan was going to come, and he sat there, not moving an inch ‘cuz it was cold’.

Reassuring him that the central heating was on, we moved to the sofa over in the sitting room.」

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「The projector. Looking forward to watching the last embers of this season, my screen was projected onto the screen and I had been turning off the ambient effects and the blinds as Nii-chan informed me of his tryst with Sonia-neesan. It was just their usual flirting, he answered, pushing me away as Nii-chan informed me further of him giving her an entrance pass to our very own private residency…

I had been betrayed spectacularly.」

“What… now??”

「Please give me back my feelings!!! Where the hell did all the severity from earlier just disappear to!?!!

I doubted the auditory perception of my own auricles as I couldn’t just accept how offhandedly Nii-chan had divulged his sinful deeds. There was no way I could just let this one go without handing down divine retribution.」

˹ Y-yu…Yuki-chan’s mad… Oh no… ˼

“Nii-chan invited Sonia-neesan – without asking me???”

「Quite the audacity Nii-chan has… To invite a similar-aged girl over to our place without even consulting his one and only younger, little sister; we're even each other's one and only family member remaining the closest to one another. Doesn’t matter if it’s Sonia-neesan or anyone else, I can’t just let him go around doing whatever he wants. It's just too indecent!!!!」

“Y-yeah? Why? Is there… something… wro–”

“What do you mean by ‘is there something wrong’!?!? Of course there is!!? You're going to tell me more about this scandalous rendezvous of yours!!!”

“Eh…? N-no wait hold on, she’s just coming here to leave something. That’s it.”

“Hmm… is that all there is to it though?”

「With my omniscient eyes that can stare into the souls of miscreants, I solemnly swear I will get to the bottom of this. Sonia-neesan and Nii-chan have been having too much fun and have gotten way too close recently, even though I know it’s been like this for as long as I’ve known. They've been acting like intimate couples ever since. I'm not going to let Sonia-san snatch my Nii-san away from me just yet... I still need to keep a monopoly on him.」

˹ “As clingy as always… nya~ I mean, what?” ˼

“Y-yes…”

“Houuu… You really are obstinate when it comes to Sonia-neesan, aren’t you? Although it does sound like something Nee-san would do... what in the world could she be conspiring?”

“Aren’t you being a bit… too paranoid? But I’ve also wondered the same thing so I really can’t say that… ahahah…”

“Hmm… Last time, it became hell on Earth when we let her up to her own devices. In that case, what might Sonia-neesan be bringing?”

“S-she didn’t say… All she said was that it was a secret.”

“Houuu… so you're even willing to trust her as far as to bring just about anything to our place without even batting an eyelid?? Why don’t you just go and marry her alread–”

“…”

「I stopped. My exasperated voice halted with an abrupt pause near the end as I broke away from what I was about to say.」

“Aa… I'm sorry, forget what I said.”

「My voice faded to nothingness as I became dejectedly ashamed of myself. Having almost said something so impertinent, it could have deeply hurt my own dear brother. Even as a jocular remark, it was too extreme. Rueful sorrow had been inflicted on the tumultuous emotions stirring inside of my heart. I'd have to make sure it didn’t creep out onto my face to not worry my Nii–」

“Nnn… it’s alright. After all, maybe I might propose to her?”

“Eh?”

「But what came back was an entirely unexpected response. Never would I have thought that the day would come when my Nii-chan of all would have said something so outlandish.」

˹ “Fufufu… Sora would never. Ever. Say no to Sonia.” ˼

“N-no way, you don’t actually mean that, do you??? Wait, that can’t be, not yet!! There’s still a year ahead before you’re legally allowed to marry you know?!?!? Besides, I was only kidding when I said that!?!”

“I did say propose, didn’t I? Or even an engagement is still possible? I could ask her out in advance… Huehuehuehue…”

「Sardonic laughter came ringing out of Nii-chan’s mouth. Either he’s actually serious for once or actually joking about this and trying to jab at my sides, which are ticklish by the way.」

“Hmph! It’s still waaay too early for marriage! I won’t acknowledge an engagement happening between you two just yet! You hear me?!”

「Snorting in clear disagreement, I turned away my face such that I couldn’t see Nii-chan while puffing my cheeks in displeasure.」

“Ahaha, I’m sure you could tell I was only joking, Yuki. Even I don’t think I’m there yet to confess to her with all the courage in my heart. Still too far from it.”

「The latter half of what he said had resonated in a low, hushed whisper. A self-derisive guise appeared on him once I swivelled my head to look back into his gaze, as if Nii-chan was mocking himself for his own cowardice.」

“Do it and I'll kill you before you even get the chance.”

“But you can’t kill me though?”

“Huh? Why's that?

“Because it’s the living room?”

“...huh?”

「……………………………What a shitty pun.

I could just hear the peal of a reception service bell going off in the distance.

Both our faces had a poker face stiffer than Moai statues for a good minute before I broke the silence.」

˹ “My goodness. What is happening right now??” ˼

“Hahaha… how funny.”

「I gave up trying to come up with some smart rejoinder so I played along in a monotone voice. Wait, why would I be playing along?」

“You’re not laughing at all… and I know it was a shit joke. Here’s a reverse card...”

「With a completely smug look on his face as if he was proud of that joke, he pulled out a reverse card from God knows where.」

“Yeah right, like I’m about to ignore that shitty joke. Wait, how did we even get to this point? And where’d that card come from anyways?!?”

“Somewhere...”

「He shrugged off my question as if not caring in the slightest. The card disappeared just now. What the hell?」

˹ “Hm? Did something just happen? I wasn’t paying attention.” ˼

「How to change moods 101.

This was as sudden a change as a bipolar mood swing. Forgetting all the tension from earlier, I was about to open an app on my phone held within my hand, when surprisingly, my Nii-chan wholeheartedly wrapped his benign arms around me, bringing me into his fond embrace. I let loose an elated smile as my heart melted in his encompassing warmth.

How sudden. I truly wished that our time now would stay this way without end, while trying to forget the cringe from earlier. Is there a way to stop killing the mood every time? God damn…」

“It doesn’t matter either way… Oh, we should hurry and start watching!”

「Having said this, Nii-chan urged me to load up something to watch.

Silence instantaneously fell into the room, as I drifted my pale hands over a selection of intangible panels in an awkward succession of taps and swipes.

My time was beguiled by in cacophonous uncertainty.

Our time was beguiled by in cacophonous silence as the minutes steadily passed b–

W8 HOW DID WE GET HERE AGAIN!!??!」

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「Sora Amamiya. My dear, older brother.

He was an overprotective brother for as long as I can remember.

His name is written as the kanji『空』, read as ‘sora’ with a variety of meanings, mostly ‘the sky’ or ‘the heavens’. Amamiya written as 『天宮』, meaning ‘heavenly constellations’.

As a 16-year-old, first year student attending Feynman College Sixth Form, he is a natural-born genius who wants to major in quantum mechanics at the London Institute University. Having A-levels that were near the top 5th percentile of the UK were a must before one could even think of matriculating to one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Even then, it’s all up to luck and one’s abilities to get in, if not for graduating as a top performer from any one of its affiliated institutions.

For all his life, he’s always done ahead, doing whatever he wanted without a care. He wouldn’t let anything hold him back against his will. He’s done everything he needed to get this far. Everything.

Without regret.

Because our known pasts were filled with regret.

Ever since we separated from our guardians, we’ve been living here alone in London, abroad. We almost didn’t have a choice in the matter. Our family’s circumstances had belatedly been begging for it, but I’m sure Nii-chan had done something to get us far away from such bothersome and trifling conflicts. Even now, the influence of our family’s been preventing us from returning home to Japan.

Nii-chan used to be a bubbly and social child. The kind that everyone adored. But that was because of his very cruel childhood, the likes of which I’d rather not try to remember. Even thinking about a single one of those broken memories would send my heart deep into darkness. All but apart from our mother’s selfless love for us, her cherished children. But even then, very little about our own mother that I can clearly remember were vague memories, all of which were nearly forgotten, taken from me by infantile amnesia like some sick joke.

All I could remember was Okaa-san’s warmth, and even something like that was nothing more than expressive euphemism. It’s like knowing something was a part of my life, yet not once could I feel tangibly attached to that sentiment.

As if all of my feelings for Okaa-san were locked out.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’ve forgotten my past.

There’s one especially deep memory embedded and burned to the back of my retinas which I will never forget, even till the final day I breathe my last and die.

But nothing had made sense about that day.

Everything had been shattered.

Our lives, realities, hopes and delusions.

From then on, our fragile little hearts had something forcefully wedged between them, bleeding out in defiance, tearing it apart and breaking our sense of logic. Everything just went by in a flash, and the next thing I knew, me and my dear brother was ousted from sight. From that which children hadn’t belonged to. Nor should have.

But as if destiny took delight in our plight, we had been forced to know for ourselves.

That one moment had changed Nii-chan.

It changed me.

I’m sure Nii-chan knew a lot more about our Okaa-san than I did. He probably knew Okaa-san a lot better than I did, even closer than I could think. He’s more than two years older than me after all, but he never touches on what happened in the past.

And I'm sure because of what happened in that past, it weighed much more heavily on Nii-chan than it did on my blissfully ignorant self.

From that time onward, we were sheltered like new-borns from everything related to them.

For when Mother was gone, our own selves were equally lost to oblivion.」

˹ “Hou…? Now that was dark. They also have their own fair share of a hideous past. I could sympathise with them.” ˼

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「Finishing up the last episode of Magic Insurgence, thankfully it seemed as if the heavy ambivalence from earlier dissipated. Wait, did it just happen again? These zeitgeist changes need to stop happening…

In the midst of our anime session, I detached myself from Nii-chan as it was too embarrassing for me whenever Nii-chan boldly did anything so forward out of the blue like that, rare as it is. I'm just not used to it, when it’s mainly my role to act spoilt in that way... Hnnng, now I feel like as if Nii-chan was the one comforting me instead. Well, I at least tried to act boisterous like before to clear up the dreadful gloom. Nii-chan wasn’t too affected by what I said earlier. Hopefully he isn’t. But I hope that the day comes when Nii-chan is able to let all his heart out to Sonia-neesan. All those bottled-up feelings that he couldn’t express because he knew he would end up involving Sonia-neesan with our family affairs. But enough of that.

About the painstakingly horrific ending that was Magic Insurgence's last episode...」

“What a really STUPID way to end… Sonia was right, all the way up till the end. Why would they end it off like that?????? There’s sooooooooooo much left unaccounted for, heck the ending of the arc didn’t even get a decent denouement?? They just took it off to space again???3 There’s no chance of this getting renewed.”

“Cuzzzz…. TRIGGER!!!3 Another tragedy for another underrated series. This show’s going to go down in style like Magical Warfare3 did… How sad. It was really enjoyable as well before the ending had to ruin it...”

“…”

“Pfft… Ahahaha!??!! You really don’t have any more to say!?!?? Ahahahah, ahhhhh… that’s hilarious… Cheer up, cuz Sonia-neeesaaaan might be coming soon so let’s leave it here then. The Sun’s about to set, so maybe we should start heading up to the rooftop?”

「Yeah, I broke out laughing, not able to hold back the damn from bursting, but right now it couldn’t be helped y’know? Lightly extending my arms above my head, I touched down onto the carpet floor as I lifted myself off from the C-shaped sofa. Nii-san did the same, although he seemingly bent over in a lifeless motion. A haggard air about him as he wandered in his thoughts to who knows where?」

“…Yeah, lemme go and get the wooden swords from the storage. Sonia might be coming at any moment now. I wonder what’s she got to say about that unbelievably bullshit ending of an anime…”

“Knowing Sonia-neesan, she’s probably got something eccentric to say…”

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

˹ “Anyways, for now I might as well snooze away. I doubt there’ll be anything for me to see while they’re gone. Us four will meet up later anyways!” is what I am thinking as my magical form colliquated back to into Elyiere – and you’ll know what I mean by this soon! Aww, I’m running out of screentime. At this rate, hardly anyone will remember me. ˼

「After Nii-chan took out a pair of wooden practice swords and carried a bottle of water, we left our apartment complex through the front door, walking through the apartment’s lavishly tiled pathway. It led towards the clear doors near the end of the corridor beyond which were a set of spiral stairs that twisted like the helical structure of a DNA’s backbone. It twirled up all the ways to the roof.」

“Yuki, do you want to hold the wooden katanas?”

「With a smirk, Nii-chan proffered the sheathed blade cases from the hilts out to me.」

“Hmm… you sure? You better not regret giving them to me otherwise, ‘kay??”

「Taking up the blades, I held the polished scabbards to my chest.

The shapes of these blades were similar to katanas as they were imitations of them.

Practice swords, like these, are mainly made from ‘kiri’, a lightweight type of wood that allows for the blade to have this swiftness in its movement due to the material's feathery weight.

These types of katana are used to perfect one’s technique but it’s also used for sparring and practicing your form every day to keep said techniques from rusting. If you end up slacking in daily practice, your blade will dull from imprudence.

So, I take it upon myself and Nii-chan as well, to keep our sense of the sword in shape. A vital part of our lives.

Not only for the sake of maintaining ourselves and self-discipline, but also in memory of Mother, who taught us the way of the sword.

The combat art we practice is called the Kurogane Style. It’s simply a style which focuses on using weapons, mostly the sword, to its fullest extent and capabilities in any given situation at any time, for any use in any condition in order to kill and survive.

It teaches one to adapt to any situation and critically think of the best move to make in times of jeopardy. The sharpening of one’s senses and quick wit on the spot in order to take reign of one's circumstances, and at times to have the mettle to kill.

A form of war arts originating from the ancient past of Japan, a period in which Japan was at constant civil unrest and war – or so we were told.

A free way of utilising just about anything in combat. It may sound like a vague philosophy that tarnishes the integrity of weapons, as anything goes in our house of arts so long as you are able to hone your senses enough to use anything at your disposal on person, at once. After all, the purpose of a sword is to incapacitate the one on the other end of the blade. Ready to lose anything in a fight for the sake of killing and surviving.

And by anything, I mean any and all.

Inserting four fingers inside the pull hands, the vitrified door slid to the side, as a piercing gust of headwind blasted through the open space and stroked the rim of the door frame before trespassing to the inside. As we stepped out from glass box – sealed by a solid quartz lid excessively extruding down the sides of the cube’s face above us – and onto the crown of the apartment condominium, we were enclosed by an empyreal cage of twilight among the rooftop garden, peeking out from beneath the sheeting of precipitous clouds; shutting out the terrestrial view of space and its numinous wonders. A fiery sky as if the Sun bled into the clouds like a watercolour painting.」

“Yuki, isn’t a vibrant view?”

“Hmm... it is, but the wind is a bit strong. Well it did just rain earlier.”

「The concrete had darkened from absorbing all the raindrops till saturation, eventually forming tiny lakes of puddles that scattered about the ground. But that didn’t stop it from percolating into the soil either. And there it was.

The rooftop garden which is normally maintained by cleaners hired by the apartment management. Short trees and plants of lime lined the outer promenade and at the center was quite a large circle of cut grass with a perimeter of bushes that formed a hedge.

The winds that followed after the UK's weather depression kept flowing through the city and rustled the leaves jutting out from the thin branches above.

As such, my long, silky hair rode the elevated breeze present here at this high altitude of 300m above ground as I tucked my hair behind my right ear, fixing it in place.」

“It's super cold so let’s do some warm up exercises first to get our blood flowing...”

“Unn...”

「A spontaneous syllable spilled from my throat, resonating in the air.

Pulling back my hair, I wrapped it around in a circular coil before tying it into a bun with a hair tie from somewhere inside my jumper’s pocket which isn’t even visible unless you looked closely at the zipper. Inhaling a deep breath and leaving the wooden kiri blades at my sides, we started doing light exercises similar to calisthenics: joint twists, leg stretches, followed by arm stretches, bending our bodies, varied forms of push ups etc.

At times like these, Nii-chan is able to shut out some external stimuli and focus on his other senses. Evident in how he handles himself in a freezing cold that went beyond what our condo had housed. A testimony of one's mental strength.

Just as we felt the blood in our veins rise in circulation, we were finishing off the early warm up activity as it was time to move on to the next event. We relocated to the circle which would become our stage for…

Sword sparring.」

“Yuki, let's begin.”

“I'm right ahead of you.”

「Taking up the katanas in each hand, I tossed the one in my right hand towards Nii-chan just as he came to receive it, before I initiated a dash towards him.」

“Huh??”

「As the sheathed katana spun a curve in the air, he moved to where the sheathed blade was about to land outside on the concrete in confusion. Just before it landed in front of his feet, he flicked up the sword with his foot right into his left hand, drawing out the wooden blade in his right hand and holding the case on his left in brisk motion.

Smoothly unsheathed the kiri katana blade in the same way, dropping the sheath, I raised my katana diagonally downwards to his left shoulder as his whole chest was left wide open.

Getting out of range by retreating backwards, the strike went through empty air as he swung towards the middle of the blade to knock away my sword and trying to force an opening. I firmly met his attack by parrying his blade for a short moment before letting his blade slide down my blade's fuller as I aim for his neck. He countered directly by raising his scabbard in his left to meet with the blade and protect against the pointed edge of the katana, holding it in place before returning back the force.

Both of us had used that momentum to fall back.

I returned back into the circle and shifted back, as Nii-chan did the same and with caution. Aligning the tip of our blades against our opponent’s glabella, just above the nose and between the inner canthi, we judged our distance from each other while looking for a way to get a hit in.

The sound of the air cracking could be heard as our murderous intent filled the rooftop's vicinity. Not really, that’s just a figure of speech.

An impasse.」

“Damn… that was sudden...”

“Still, you dealt with it so smoothly. Can’t believe you’re doing something that crazy...”

˹ As always, it certainly is impressive witnessing Nii-chan react to such a rapid move.

The appellation given to this skill is [Blade Divergence]. It is an elegant and brisk technique where one would lead the opponent’s blade to slide along the groove of one's sword, diverting the direction it was sent in while attacking from the side where the blade can’t easily reach.

An advanced technique, even when pulled off at will. It’s like having one's blade suddenly slip on a slimy surface, lost from their control.

I’ve got a knack for using sly sword techniques as I have amazing dexterous control of my weapon. Taking advantage of my dexterity, I excel in technical sword arts, but unfortunately, it’s a bad match with Nii-chan’s quicker reflexes, not to say the least of how much of a pain it is having to deal with. Although I’m sure it’s a mutual feeling for Nii-chan vice versa as well. From the slightest of changes, he’s having to look out for my irregular timing whenever I fire off one move after another in succession. It takes extremely accurate hindsight to counter my techniques, no matter how used to them you are. Even if you’re human or not. ˼

“I mean, I knew you were bound to pull off something at some point. Of course I'd be all attentive.”

「That advantage I gave to Yuki as I handed her the kiri blades from earlier was gone, as I responded perfectly to each of her beginning attacks.

Simply put, her sword control is insane. Even I have to concentrate as hard as when cremating any evidence against me. But as I said, I met her attacks and held out.

Moving in to break the impasse, I raised my katana and stroked in front a downwards vertical line, before my blade was diverted to my right with her gliding her katana along the flat side of her own sword. Swinging the upper part of her blade down to the ground, she shifted the momentum of her katana back forwards as she was about to hand down a ‘cut’ on my right shoulder.

As my katana slid down her katana, I reversed the grip on my hilt, rotating my katana quick enough to intercept the coming blade by pulling in my right hand, following the path her sword took as it revolved in the air. The ramrod-straight wooden swords interlocked and was held in place, mine following up my arm in a reverse hold while her sword came down straight, forming something akin to a selcouth cross like on a lined paper’s crimson margin. Knocking her away, I was about to thrust the blade towards her but gave up once she jumped back a distance away.

Sprinting in, she and I exchanged a couple more hits in a heretical, unorthodox fashion. Sharp edge on sharp edge. If this was classic Japanese swordsmanship, we’d instantly be scorned for the disrespect of the blade.

Blades of steel are extremely brittle, despite how proficient its cutting edge is. The biggest problem about genuine katanas is that they need extra care in being maintained, which is a complete hassle. ‘What’s the point of a blade if it’s not used as intended?’ is the sort of philosophical questioning the Kurogane Style poses against other forms of swordsmanship.

An affront to almost all sword practitioners. A barbaric line of thought. However, it stays true to the conviction of weapons. What they are used for – they are meant to be used against others.

With that mentality, all the necessary instincts of a survivalist are brought out and distilled into those who practice our swordsmanship.

Even in the midst of fights, it’s no holds barred.

Up until the hit reaches.

It’s the one additional rule that the Kurogane Style enforces. Unless it’s a situation where killing is the only choice you are left with, you must not harm a hair on your opponent. This is because sword fights are always done without armour.

Zero Safety.

The swordsmanship of Kurogane insistently drives home the sense of imminent danger ad infinitum. Even to the extreme. That’s why any practitioner is well-cautioned and taught the basics to them before they earn the right to exchange sword strikes with others. And the line between violence and friendly sparring is clearly designated.

Sparring is also another integral part of bettering one’s technique, besides being taught the ways of the swords up from the basics. From fighting others, progress will always follow, and even more against stronger opponents.

As the speed of our exchange gradually increased, we threw a couple feints at each other in the midst of our blades numerously weaving in blurry afterimages. Our reactions dilatorily dismayed, we were at times close to being hit by the other from the succession of clacks. Toeing the line between a win or a loss, there was no way for either of us to deliver the deciding blow.

Even after a few rounds, our guards were as solid as stones as it was impossible to permeate the thick walls of our individual defences.

It’s been a couple of minutes since she's been on the offensive, so it would come across as no surprise that she’s lightly gasping for air by now. The pressure was all on me since all I had been doing was taking her attacks head on until I had been pushed back. Now it seemed that her stamina was almost gone for the most part.

Now was my chance!」

“Hm?”

「The cubic glass box was behind me as I faced off Yuki once again, at the edge of the marked territory of the gardens, before there was a subtle change in her eyes, and a single look suggesting she might have noticed something. She took her eyes off of me for a mere moment as I began to wonder what it was. Her grip on the katana became lax ever so slightly. As if proving that suspicion correct, I heard a silenced downpour of footsteps rushing towards me from behind and cushioned by the soft grass.

Her footsteps were quietly concealed, each step landing in a hushed tone I might not have noticed if it weren’t for the dead giveaway Yuki had subconsciously descried from her ocular vision. The sonorous sound effects of plinks I perceived from her encroachment was followed up with a pair of midnight black plimsolls flitting on the wet ground.

A quick twirl to the right extended the vista of the flaxen horizon, the world spinning with me at its center.

Engaging them sideways, I swung the kiri bokuto to parry her two-handed blade falling down in mid-air, jumping in while carrying her weight on her sword.

A simple and pure attack directly flew towards me, as if trying to bisect me in half down from the top of my head down to the middle of my legs, their blatantly obvious intent as if they weren’t even trying to hide it.

What came hammering down like thunder was a heavy attack I had to block with both hands, one on the hilt, the other on the flat edge of the blade on the other end. Pushing back with force as the motion-carried weight dissipated, our swords were balanced in an equilibrium of deadlocked forces.

I could just feel the wryness radiating from a smile plastered onto Yuki like the gentle breath of spring wafting through the air, despite it being a season away (literally and veritably).

In front of me, behind the intertwined blades of timber was another bewitchingly cute femme fatale. A caucasian with beautiful, artistic facial features rivalling my sister’s. Her caramel-coloured irises were open wide in surprise. Her wavy, ombré hair in a braided ponytail shook airily as it drifted along with her undulating movement before timidly falling in place. Wearing an outfit similar to what students would wear in physical activities: a plain white t-shirt covering her chest with black tights outlining her slender legs, giving off a dangerous appeal found in the opposite sex as a light smile floated on her gorgeous face.

A wild Sonia appears!」

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